Project Exercise

I had a pretty good 6 mile run today.  It is so much easier to run 6 miles outside than 4 miles on the treadmill.  I do the treadmill because it fits my schedule on my short run days.  Anyway, I started a new audio book called "Rules of Deception" by Christopher Reich.  Listening to the audio books on my runs have helped a lot, especially on long run days.

I worked on my triceps in my home gym (ok, its is really my home office/gym).  I have enough equipment to get a pretty good workout.  I have a curling bar with olympic weights that I use to do skull crushers and I also have Bowflex SelectTech adjustable dumbbells.  When I was done with lifting "iron", I did 100 triceps presses on the bench (body weight) and cleaned up with the bands.  I was also able to get a fairly decent abs/core workout too.

Tomorrow I will be doing a short 4 mile run on the "dreadmill".

Ok, so I am about 3 weeks ahead of schedule on my long runs.  I can either back off on the distance this Saturday, increase my distance or hold my distance.  I ran 15 miles last Saturday.  I am kind of thinking about holding my distance and do 15 miles this weekend.  What do you folks think?  Who knows, I may get out on the road and have my body (legs) stop me at 13 miles.  Anyway, my goal is another 15 miles.

I had a pretty uneventful and boring workout today.  4 miles on the treadmill with the typical boredom.  I also did a bicep workout.  My weekly mileage has increased to a point where I need to break up my strength workouts.  Instead of doing all my muscle groups in 2 days, I am spreading it over the week.

So did any of you catch the Biggest Loser?  Wow, Tracy (I think that is her name) really got a lot of people upset!  Anyway, I really admire these folks.  Whenever I feel like complaining about doing a workout, I look to these people for inspiration.

I was going to do a 4 mile run today, but I thought I would give my legs an extra day of rest.  While my legs don't hurt from my long run I just felt that I could benefit from giving my legs more repair and recovery time.  My total mileage last week was 29 miles.  I know that is not much to a "real" runner, but I am a relative non-runner trying out for my first marathon.  My legs don't hurt so that is a good thing.  I will do my 4 mile run tomorrow. 

I had planned to just take a rest day, however, right before lunch time I decided that I would knock out a strength workout.  I did chest, shoulders and core today.  The long runs are definitely affecting my gym workouts.  I have adjusted by lifting lighter with more reps.  However, I may come to a cross road sometime during my marathon training program where I may have to cut back my strength workouts even more… maybe even suspending it all together, at least until after the marathon.  I think it is important to do some sort of strength workout even for endurance athletes.  Further, keeping the core strong can only benefit a runner.  However, once the training gets insane, something has to give.

The runner's body takes a beating during endurance training.  It is very one dimensional.  I prefer training for a triathlon where the edurance training is spread out over other sports, especially since 2/3 of the sports are non-impact.  I find that it is easier to strength train during triathlon training.  Of course, that all goes out the window if we talk about Iron Man training where the run alone is marathon distance.  I will probably limit my triathlons to olympic distances or perhaps I may try a half Iron Man, but a full Iron Man would take more training time than I willing to give.

I was supposed to get up at 4am to do my long run today, however, prior to waking up I was throwing up due to stomach problems.  I have been experiencing stomach problems for a few days.  I think its due to food poisoning.  It comes and goes. 

Anyway, we went to a high school football game this evening at Kaiser High School in Hawaii Kai.  We like to support the high school sports, especially since my wife is a high school teacher.  I took my running grear with me so that I could run home after the game.  When we got to the ticket booth, my wife asked me if I wanted to begin my run so that I wouldn't be running into the wee hours of the morning.  I thought it was a great idea.  So as my wife and son went in to watch the game, I took off on my run.  The high school is about 7 miles from my house so I had to run past my home and out to Waikiki to make the distance I wanted to run.

At mile 6 I took a GU gel with water that I carried on my hydration belt.  I could actually feel the boost about a half mile after.  I continued on to a park that had a water fountain and drank more water.  Around mile 10.5 I had another GU gel and water.  I could feel the fatigue setting into my quads so I drank some Power Ade hoping to replace some electrolytes as well as some glycogen.  I headed down the backside of Diamond Head and into Kapiolani park.  I continued to run around the park where I found another water fountain.  I refilled one of my bottles with water, took a swig and started towards home.  As I got back to the bottom of my uphill run I stopped at a gas station mini-mart and bought a bottle of Power Ade.  I carry a few dollars in my hydration belt.  I was only 2 miles from home and I was feeling beat.  The last 2 miles were tough.  My right calf began to intermittantly spasm and cramp.  I really had to push both physically and mentally.  I hit the 15 mile mark about 25 yards from my house.  Man, I was happy to get home.

This was my hardest run to date.  I only had a 12 mile run on marathon training program scheduled today, however, I ran 13 miles on my last long run so I wanted to do at least 13.  In the back of my mind, though, I wondered if I could make 15.  I don't know what drives me to push harder than I should.  It can't be good.  I really should get back on my schedule.  All this pushing would be fine if I was 20 or 30 years younger.  At my age a more reasonable person would be a bit more careful.  Oh well, I have never been accused of being a reasonable person.

Seriously, though, tonight gave me an insight into how difficult the marathon will be.  I hope I can condition myself to endure 26.2 miles.  15 miles were tough enough.  As a non-runner trying his first marathon at age 53 (I turn 53 5 days before the marathon), it is a tough challenge.  Holy cow, I just re-read this last paragraph.  Did I just make a commitment to run the marathon?

Oh, btw, during my run this evening I finished listening to "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown (I listen to audio books while I run).  It is a great read and has a neat twist.  I like to think I can predict the twists in the mystery books I read, but this one came out of nowhere.  The main character is Robert Langdon, the same character in the "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons.  Instead of the story revolving around the church, however, this story involves the Free Masons.  Its a good book and I give it 4.5 stars out of 5.  Why not 5?  After the twist and tension releases, the last few chapters ramble a bit.  Anyway, if you get the audio version, the narrator is pretty good.  Well, at least the narrator for audio book I downloaded from iTunes for my iPhone was pretty good.  I am assuming they use the same narrator for the audio books one buys on Amazon or some other outlet.

I had it pretty easy today as far as training goes.  I only had core/abs on the schedule.  I did a home workout early this morning instead of going to the gym.  So I knocked out the P90X Ab Ripper X and the P90X+ Abs/Core Plus workouts back to back. 

Tomorrow I have to do my long run.  I would like to run, at least, 13 miles.  I have to wake up at 4am to get my run finished in time to go to football practice.  I added another practice for my youth football team since we are headed for the Championship game this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

I usually do my short runs on the treadmill during my lunch break so that I don't have to wake up early to run before leaving for work.  I take my lunch break early (around 10am) so that I can use the gym during non-peak periods. 

So, like clockwork, I grabbed my bag and headed to the gym.  As I was changing in the locker room, I noticed that I forgot my gym shorts.  I was wearing cargo shorts, but I didn't want to run and sweat all over them and subject my office buddies to my funk.  I am a software engineer and we have casual dress days so I can wear shorts to work.  Anyway, I did not want to waste my trip to the gym so I decided to do some strength training.  I did "push" yesterday so today I did "pull".  I worked the back and biceps.  I got great pump so I was pretty happy with the workout.  The plus side is that I got tomorrow's workout done today.  

I still had to reschedule my run, though.  So I decided to run after work.  I don't like to run in the afternoon because it is hot.  This time of the year is humid too.  It was over 90 today.  This is my consequence for not bringing my gym shorts to the gym.  I could feel the heat as I headed out, but to my surprise, I was feeling pretty good… well, at least until mile 3.  The last mile I began to get a stomach ache.  I normally run in the morning on a relatively empty stomach.  However, today I had a breakfast, snack and lunch with me on my run.  The stomach ache was getting real bad.  I finally had to walk around mile 3.5.  When I got within .25 miles from home I started to run again.  It was painful.  I was so happy to get home.

I woke up at 4am to do my 6 mile run.  The run felt easier than doing 4 miles on the treadmill.  Of course, it is a mental thing.  When I am run outside, I pick out little landmarks and as I run pass them I get that feeling of forward progress and, in effect, little victories.  As a non-runner, this is important for me.  On the treadmill, I can run and run and the next thing I know, I haven't moved an inch!  I know, I can watch one of the TV's that my gym has conveniently mounted in front of all the cardio equipment, but, for me, that is only effective for about 2 miles… maybe 3 miles if there is a good football game to watch.  Ok, so that is enough about the treadmill.

When I set out on my run this morning, I really did not have a planned route.  I decided to just take off and let my Garmin 310XT click off the miles.  I made last second decisions to turn down roads.  While running down a road I would think of a landmark a mile away and then head towards it taking a non-direct route.  Doing my run like that kept the it interesting and decreased the boredom.  I also listened to my audio book ("The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown) on my iPhone.  That helped a lot because I am at a point where some of the mysteries are getting revealed.  It was almost like every step I personally took solved one of the mysteries.  Ok, so hey, whatever it takes right?

During my lunch break I headed to the gym to do some strength training.  I am lifting lighter now.  No more heavy lifting while I train for endurance sports.  This week I decided to do push/pull.  Today was push so I did chest, shoulders and triceps.  The workout felt pretty good, especially since I took a recovery week last week.  I did lots of reps with light weights and I got a pretty good pump.  

Btw, I was doing some stretching at my desk today and my left knee hurt every time I tried to do my typical hams stretch.  You know the one… spread legs and bend over with your arms folded (P90X'ers know this stretch well).  Everytime I tried to do the stretch I had stand back up because my left knee would not cooperate.  When I got home today I iced it up.  I am sure it is just some inflammation.  I am not limping.  It only hurts when doing that particular stretch.  I will probably ice it up again tomorrow before my 4 mile run.  Oh, btw, I will be doing the run on the treadmill.  Umm, did I mention that I don't like running on a treadmill?

After missing my long run this weekend due to illness, I was looking forward to get back on the saddle.  Although my legs got some rest and recovery, I wondered how I would do.  So I started slowly.  After a mile I realized that my legs were fine and my breathing was under control.  So I cranked the treadmill up a bit and headed for mile 2.  It was about that time boredom caught up with me.  So now it became a mental game.  To help combat some of the boredom I am listening to Dan Brown's new book (audio book), "The Lost Symbol", on my iPhone.  So far it is one of the better audio books I have listened to, albeit I have only listened to about 4 audio books total. Anyway, the book got me to 4 miles.

So why do I run on the "dreadmill" if it bores me to tears?  Well, I don't have to wake up at 4am to go running.  A 4 mile run is short enough to do during my lunch break.  I can do the run and still have enough time to shower up before heading back to work.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work for runs longer than 4 or 5 miles.  For one thing, it would take too long during my lunch break and, secondly, I don't think I can combat the boredom on the treadmill for longer runs.

I did not feel well this weekend.  It was like I had food poisoning or the stomach flu.  I had food poisoning before and it felt very much like that.  I was throwing up like you read about.  While I have trained while sick, I just didn't feel that jarring my body on a long run was going to be a good decision.  I especially needed to stay close to home.  I am extremely disappointed.  I would like to run the Honolulu Marathon, but I can't prepare correctly when I miss long runs.  If you folks have been reading my posts you know that I am very dedicated to my workouts.  So missing an important run really depresses me.  This morning, I felt a bit better.  My stomach still felt a little wierd.  Not as bad as Friday and Saturday, but I still had that unsettled feeling.  I considered doing a run, even if it was a medium length run, however, I had a commitment to my youth football team.  I am the head coach for the Vikings, a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds and we had a playoff game today.  I didn't want to make myself sick and miss the game.  Oh, btw we won 32 to 6. 

Ok, so I will just slide back into my schedule.  The good thing is that I was about 3 weeks ahead of schedule as far as mileage and long runs.  Tomorrow, I will begin week 7 of my 18 week marathon training program.  I need to run 4/6/4/12.  Although I am scheduled for a 12 mile long run, I may go for 13 or more.  I will make that decision later this week.  Another problem I have this week is that I normally go to bed very early on Friday evening and wake up at 4am on Saturday to begin my run.  It has been hot and humid lately so I need to be on the run while it is dark and cool.  Well, this Friday I will be going to a high school football game on Friday evening (my wife is a high school teacher and we like to support the school).  As a consequence, I won't be able to go to sleep early on Firday evening.  Therefore, I will need to get up extra early on Friday and do my long run before leaving for work.  Man, this marathon training is nuts.

Since I couldn't do my long run I decided to read up on the benefits of doing long runs.  First of all, Hal Higdon states, "do not cheat the long runs".  Oh great!  I cheated myself out of my long run.  Anyway, my research revealed that these are some of the benefits.

Benefits of the Long Run

• Provides the necessary endurance to complete the marathon.
• Strengthens
  the heart (increases stoke volume) and opens the capillaries, both
  sending energy to working muscles and flushing waste products from
  fatigued muscles.
• Other
  physiological benefits include the increased number and size of
  mitochondria and increased myoglobin concentration in muscle fibers.
• Strengthens the leg muscles and ligaments, thus improving your endurance.
• Recruits fast-twitch muscle fibers to help with slow-twitch tasks (like running a marathon).
• Teaches the body to burn fat as fuel.
• Develops
  your mental toughness and coping skills, thus increasing/enhancing your
  confidence level that you can go the full marathon distance on race
  day.
• Increases your overall speed, even for shorter races.
  

Well, I have been taking it easy for a couple days.  Yesterday I was not feeling so well so I did not do any training.  I was supposed to run 4 miles yesterday.  Instead, I ran 4 easy miles this morning.  I am still not quite 100%, but I felt good enough to do a slow run.  Usually Friday is a rest day , but I just didn't want to drop my weekly mileage.  Tomorrow I have a long run.  If I was to follow my schedule, I would have a 11 mile run.  However, I am going to try to run, at least 13 miles.  This is the same distance that I did last week so I want to see if I can do it again.

Anyway, I will cut it short today.  Thanks for stopping by.