A Decent Week

This last week was a pretty good one. I felt stronger each day I ran and was able to cap off the whole thing with a 9.75 mile run. I ran a very hilly course for this long run. It is a bear to say the least. Up, up and up and then down down only to go up, up, up again. I will keep with this course for my long run for the next few weeks as the half marathon is fairly flat and the hill training will help with my endurance. The end result was a 20.55 mile week. That is impressive for me these days. I haven't broken twenty with any regularity as of late and hope to make two in row this week. My long run is slated at 10.5 miles. Wish me luck.

Getting into a Groove

It has been hard for me to get into a rhythm when it comes to running. Since I hurt myself last year I have had a lingering calf injury, that turned into a lingering hip injury, that turned into a lingering motivation problem. One thing just led to another and then another. I am ashamed to say that I let myself get derailed. I seem to be back on track now, but it has been a long time coming. I have not run a race in a year. I know a whole year, that is quite some time. The last race I ran was the half marathon at the Philadelphia Marathon last year.

So now I return to the scene of the crime. I believe I have myself sorted out but I have to stay vigilant when it comes to my running. Keeping on schedule can be tough when you have a busy schedule but it is easy to make excuses for yourself. The bottom line is that successful people do not make excuses they get things done. I have to admit my short comings when it has come to my running. It is true that I had some injuries but I could have been more diligent in working through it.

I have noticed over the last month that my ability to push my running has returned. I think I was flat out not working it hard enough. Now I am getting back into the groove, which for the record does not really start until mile 3 or 4. This was when I was ending so I was selling myself a bit short. Running is an endurance sport, to get the most out of it you have to sport your endurance. (I just made that up, but I like the way it sounds). So here is to a PR at the up coming half marathon.

A Couple of Weeks

It has been a couple of weeks since the last post. It doesn't seem that long but I have been super busy trying to promote my business. On the running front I have been getting in 15 or so miles per week. I managed to get in an 8 miler last night even though I was jammed up this weekend. It seems that weekends have turned into times to meet with clients. But that is good thing after all. I feel I am on pace for the half marathon and should be in good condition for the November 22 race. Happy running.

P90X: D5

Today I went for my little morning run and pulled a muscle in my lower right calf at mile 2 of 4. In the past I would have looked at this as a devastating injury. I mean it hurts and is a bit tender but I know the score on this one. I can't get any speed on it but it will carry me if needed. So I will move my running game indoors until it works itself out. So that means I will be doing 9 miles on the treadmill tomorrow. Not somethin I am looking forward to but I will do it.

On the P90x side I had to do legs and back today. But I had to take it easy on a few of the exercises due to the muscle pull. I did an honest workout and feel wiped out. but I can't sleep for some reason.

Day 4: P90X

Today was the 4th day of P90X and the program called for Yoga. To be truthful, I am not sure if I will ever do this program. I am sure it is a fine program and has a good deal to offer. The down side it is a little over 90 minutes and I am training for a half marathon. I just will never have 90 minutes to dedicate to the cross training. Sorry, just the truth. That said today was a 2 a day. I started the morning with a 3.55 mile run and finished with the Cardio program.

The Cardio program is allegedly the least intense of the workouts. I think I would beg to differ. There are no breaks. it is only 45 minutes where the others are 55 to 57 minutes. The program starts a bit slow with some yoga. But the killer is the end and there is a part where you roll on your back and come back up and jump in the air. I think I threw up a little in my mouth on that one. This is a disgusting truth. But I knew I worked that is for sure.

I am 4 days in with a rough weekend ahead. Between meeting clients and taking care of errands I will have to put in a 4 mile run, a 9 mile run and two p90x workouts. I will report how that goes. I will do my best that is all I can promise.

Finally Back in the Swing Again

The trip to Vegas really put things out of whack for awhile. I think I used it as an excuse to take some time off from doing other things. So my running is off a bit and I had started the P90X before I left and then took a week to get back to it. Well it seems that things are back to normal.

I managed a little 3.55 mile jaunt this morning. Well I think it was 3.55, it usually is when I take that route but my Garmin was quirky today and could not find the satellites until I had about 1.25 miles in. So I am flat out guessing today. That said the freedom was nice. I just able to push myself and didn't worry about what my watch said. It was a good feeling. I think I was fast, I felt fast. Well you know not Jesse Owens fast but fast for a middle aged guy on a Friday morning. So fast enough, fast enough to feel fast.

As for the P90X, I hurt ... everywhere. It is a nasty, nasty sequence. My abs actually quiver the day after the ab workout. I decided to start the clock over as I only had 4 days in before Vegas. So I have done three days, only 87 to go. (phhaa, 87 to go).

Vegas

I was in Las Vegas over the last weekend and have to give a proper update. I was visiting my brother for a few days which was a nice change of pace. I did manage to run but my routine is all messed up and I hope to get back on track for the weekend.

P90X: Day 4

I started the P90X workout this last weekend. I have been concerned that I wasn't getting enough cross training for my core and with a half marathon coming up in November I thought it was a good time to mix things up. I have seen the infomercials and did a quick ebay search to see what I could come up with. I managed a very good deal for the product and I would say that in the 4 days I have been doing that it really does work you. So far I have done:

Chest & Back: This is pretty intense chin-up and push-up program the next day I felt so dead.

Pylometrics: This is an hour of jumping. It is hard, really hard. It probably didn't help that I ran 8 miles that morning.

Shoulders and Arms: This is another tough work out much like the first one. It is hard.

Kenpo: Well I train in Kenpo but his is just a little cardio kick program and for me it is light weight. But it does make you break a sweat and that is good thing, any time you can add an hour of sweat to the day is a good thing. I also, ran three miles before I started. I was supposed to do yoga but that is 1.5 hours in length and I really needed to keep on my run schedule.

Overall I feel good and I think that if anyone keeps with this program for 6 days a week for three months they will have great results. I am hoping that two months will give me extra strength and spring for my half marathon.

I am in Vegas starting on Friday, I will let everyone know how it went.

What a week

This has been a heavy exercise week. The running went well. I was able to run 4 times. I started with a short 3 miler, just a recovery run, on Tuesday. On Thursday, I did some mile repeats for 3.5 miles. Saturday, was a little longer as I was feeling good and managed 4.5 miles. I finished with an 8 miler on Sunday. This gave me a total of 19 miles for the week. This was a great total and I felt pretty good, well aside from being dead at the start of my run on Sunday.

Why was I dead? Well on Friday, I received my P90x kit in the mail. This is a very intense cross training program for those who have not seen the ads. I did the first installment on Saturday as well as having done my martial arts class. When I woke up on Sunday, I was tired to the bone. But I did my 8 miles like a good boy, it just was about a minute off my normal pace. I finished Sunday, with installment two of the P90x and now I am tired from my 5 workouts in two days. Whew!!! I mean it really I do.

I will say this so far about the P90x, it is as hard as you want it to be. Tough stuff if you want it to be. I started this as I was looking to build my muscles before the half marathon in November. Plus, if I can gain some more tone, I would be happy with that as well. I will keep everyone posted.

Injuries ... Again

I was doing fine with my program and then I went to my martial arts class on Saturday and ended up with a weird injury. We were doing these drills where your opponent holds your leg and then you hop. The drill is intended to help you practice keeping your balance and prevent take downs. I am not sure how well this works. But it is a good concentration drill and hoping for a couple of minutes is difficult. It is very difficult for me. Since I did my marathon last year, my right hip is not 100%. When you are not 100% your body adjusts to keep the injured part from taking all the impact of an activity. This is what happened. As my hip was crying over the impact I was subconsciously turning away from the impact of the hopping and this meant I was landing to the side of my leg and I ended up with a bit of a high ankle sprain in my right leg. So as last week was a down week anyway, I took two days off to recover.

I ran last night without incident but sometimes things happen and you have to adjust. Today is for speed work so wish me luck.

A Decent Rest, but you know....

I am not very good at resting. This is a rest week but I have a hard time cutting back. I was supposed to do just 4 easy runs this week. Nothing fancy and no real goals just get out there and be steady. I hope I don't regret it later but today I did some speed work. I did a warm up half mile and then did two mile repeats with a half mile cool down in between. My pace was 8:45. I don't make too much of this speed as I was on a treadmill and I tend to find that pace easier there than on the streets. Everything is harder on the streets. But it was quick and at the same time serves the recovery week theme. There was less impact on my body after all. But I did break the rules of the 4 easy runs. Oh well, I am sure I will be fine.

Next week I am back into action with tempo runs and what not. Well happy running.

Strong Week

Last week was an excellent one. I managed to put in 19.61 miles, this is a big number for me these days. On top of that my Sunday run was pretty difficult. I happen to live part way up an incline that goes on for miles. I usually do not run north from my house as it is almost all hill. That is an intimidating thought to know that you are going to be running up and up with almost no break until you decide to turn around. But Sunday, I decided to take it on and went 3.5 miles up and then 3.5 miles down. I will say that I did like the last half better. The first half felt like I really did something difficult. Monday, my muscles complained over my motivation but Sunday was a good day to be a runner.

This week is a rest week so I will be toning down the miles to recover a bit.

August is Over

I am glad August is over. For running it is the worst, it is a month to be survived more than anything else. Now that it is over, I think I will run much easier. I did a little three miler and the cooler weather really made a difference. I did 53 miles for August and considering that I spent the first week swimming I think that is good. I am going to shoot for about 75 miles for September. I think this is a reasonable goal and not quite 20 miles average per week. I would like to add 100 miles for October and another 100 for November. There is no plan for December. Here is to plans and hoping it all goes to plan.

A Good Effort

I was able to put in 4 days of running last week, I had only been able to put in 3 the week before and my numbers were a bit down as a result. I will say this I was not as fresh for my long run this week as I was last week. There is something to be said for less running. But for my 4 runs I managed:

Tuesday: 3.0 miles - just a slow and easy nothing to write home about but it got the lead out of the legs

Thursday: 3.5 miles - a tempo run and I was very pleased with my speed portion and I have been doing much better on the hills.

Saturday: 3.0 miles - A steady but quick run; however, with my martial arts class later in the morning I was tired on Sunday.

Sunday: 7 miles - I started slow but found a nice pace at mile 4 that carried me the rest of the way. I was dead when I was done and didn't feel better until Monday morning.

Over all it was a 16.5 mile effort. I have been experimenting with some new shoes. I picked up a pair of END shoes that I have been mixing in on shorter runs for the past few weeks. I think I will write a shoe review later this week.

Seven Miles

My long run on Sunday was 7 miles. The heat and humidity are a bear in August and I will say that I was suffering throughout this little ordeal. I have felt for some time that August you merely survive until the better running weather of September rolls around. The heat has been chewing me up even on these not quite long runs. I dropped 4.5 pounds from start to finish on Sunday. That is way too much dehydration for a run that is only an hour and change. I had to put down 80 ounces of water and sit in a cold shower for 20 minutes before I was normal again. Well as normal as I get anyway. I will say that I will be happy when this month is over and the cooler September air rushes in.

But I did manage 15 miles on the week, so not too bad for only three days of running.

Weekly: 15.0 miles

First Week of Training

The First week of training went well enough. I managed to run 4 times last week and did well enough for a week one. I was especially proud of my efforts for the tempo run mid week but not so thrilled on the long run. It was very hot and humid and I struggled to get to the 6 mile mark. But it is in the books and I am looking forward to building on these efforts going forward. My speed was super slow and I felt destroyed when I was finished and needed 60 ounces of water before I felt normal again. My body was telling me "Dude, what they hell were you thinking."

This week I have a speed day instead of a tempo run mid week. I am looking forward to the mile repeats. It should be a good time. But first I need a nice calm recovery run. It is too bad that you can't just do a recovery run for other parts of your life when you feel over your head.

The Philadelphia Marathon is about 95 days away. I am pretty excited to be training for a race again.

Tempo Run

With the new half marathon program I had my first tempo run in months last night. Wow, I forgot how brutal those can be. But it felt good to really push myself through the three middle miles of my run. Nice! I have a good feeling about being back on the wagon. Plus I was stagnating without a true goal.

Back to a Program

I haven't really followed a program since I ran a marathon last year. I think as a result my running has not really progressed the way I would like it to. So as of today, I am back on a program and I will be registering for the half marathon section of the Philadelphia Marathon in November. I like the course, even if I did hurt myself running this same race last year. Truth be told, I was undertrained and I suffered the effects of that.

In other news, today is my birthday. I am 41 today. I don't feel as old as the number sounds.

Swimming Makes Me Tired

My swim week is at an end. I should say I am tried. I swam 5 times this week and three days in a row at the end of the week. Swimming just saps my strength, I have a great respect for those that do this on a more constant basis than I do. I needed a nap this afternoon to recover from my week in the pool. This was a good move. My muscles feel worked but without the damage that a week of running can do to your body. I feel ready to get out there tomorrow and go back to my running program.

In other news, I was a dummy for a black belt test on Saturday. I can always go with a good ass kicking so I volunteered to get beat on a bit in the name of school spirit. It is always nice to be there for those moving up the ranks. Plus, as I always say a good deal of what training provides to you as a practitioner is the removal of the shock of actually being hit. If you can get over that you have a much better chance of getting through a fight.