7 naked miles

No, not naked as in without clothes, nakes as in without tunes!  I wanted to see if running without music would help me keep up the speed during my speedwork.  The routine was warm up for a mile, then 3x1600m at 10:09 with 800m jogs ending with jogging for a total of 7 miles.  I had to walk some after the fast portions, but over all I average pace of 11:46, the fast portions were 10:17, 10:09, and 9:52, so I made my pace goals!!! yipee!  I did work hard.  My heart rate got into the mid-180s toward the end of each fast section.  The big thing that made this run so hard was the weather.  It was over 80 degrees and very gusty.  I was pouring sweat when I got done.

This morning, I actually got up in time to get out and run. However, I wasn't feeling the best and I was tired, so instead of running, I napped on the couch.  I would have been very mad at myself if I wouldn't have gotten the run in later.  Tomorrow it's supposed to storm, so I couldn't have delayed it.

My left foot is a bit sore, but I think it will subside quickly.

Update:  Hubby reminded me about one thing.  I did the majority of the run on a nice path that is somewhat sheltered from the wind and somewhat shady.  As I was in my first or second fast mile, I crossed paths with hubby and the kids.  Hubby had ridden his bike to work and to drop off and pick up the kiddos.  That was a nice surprise!  It was extra-nice because earlier, I had heard sirens and the protective mom/wife in me had immediately thought of the bad things that might have happened to the most precious people in my life.  So, I detoured to go up a street where the sirens seemed to stop.  I didn't see the emergency vehicles and I figured it was 15-30 minutes too soon for the group to be there, so I was a little relieved.  Of course when I saw them on the path, all doubt was removed!  After that, I could focus on not passing out.

Check and good news

I got my 2 miles in this morning.  My legs felt a bit heavy.  I wonder if it was because I used a bit slower bpm podcast.

Bunnies - 3

I just found out the my brother IS coming all the way over here and will be running the 20k!  I'm very excited, even though I know he's probably mostly doing it to see his nephew and niece, ha!

Attack of the worms!

My long run scheduled for yesterday got pushed to today, thanks to rain and cold, windy conditions.  Of course, the family still went on a bike ride, but that was for adventure.  That rain made for lots of worms on the sidewalks today.  I wonder how many I killed during my run.  It was impossible to avoid them.

I finished my 4 mile run with a pace of 11:41, which was a bit faster than goal.  That's fine.

Bunny count: 7

Last Thursday, I got my 3 mile run in.  I don't think I blogged it.  The bunny count was 4.

Two more rounds to go!

I admit, Fat Loss III had been tough and rewarding, but I'll be glad to see the high reps go away.  Today was a good workout.  I went up a bit in squats.  The back squats went rather well.

FL3B4

Front squat - 1x10@55#, 3x10@60#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@92#

Step-up - 4x10@20# each hand

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# each hand (oops, I did shoulder presses with no push!  No wonder it was harder!)

Squat - 2x20@60#

Wide grip lat pulldown - 2x20@75#

Step-up - 2x20@20# each hand

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@20# each hand (last rep of each set was very hard!)

Swiss ball crunch - 1x10@25# on head, 1x10@30# on head

Loop-dee-loop... and 7 miles

Sunday I got in a beautiful 7 mile run.  Some of it was on the cross country field, which is very wet in the morning.  I don't like that.  Luckily, my shoes tried off rather quickly.  Only one bunny.

Today was a 4 mile easy run.  This is a drop-back week.  I'll only do 11 miles, after 15 last week.  All easy runs.  Sometimes I play with my runs.  Today, I decided to do loops around the neighborhood.  The picture in my mind was more fun than the actual run looking at the GPS track.  Oh well, I still had fun!

Bunny count: 5

More deadlifts

Today was a nice lifting session.  Again, lots of deadlifts.  I increased my weights again.  Last time, I took it down a notch since I had been away from lifting for a while.

Fat Loss III A4

Deadlift - 4x10@135#

Push-up - 4x10 (regular)

Bulgarian split squat - 4x10@15# each hand

Two-point dumbbell row - 4x10@35#

Deficit dead lift - 2x20@115#

Walking lunge with side bend - 2x20@20# each hand

Cable seated row - 2x20@71#

Hanging leg row - 2x10

6 mile tempo run

Today was 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at 10:58 and 1 mile cool-down.
I was a bit disappointed that the tempo portion of today's tempo run didn't seem very "tempo", but after looking at the Garmin history, I see I averaged a 11:08 pace during that portion while my goal was 10:58.  Not too far off, considering it was 4:30am and I was pretty sore from squatting yesterday.  My pace was rather erratic, though.  I tried to take a path that would lead me by as many houses as possible. So, my map looks rather funny.

Bunnies: 9

My run map.  The brown was the faster section.

Halfway there!

Today I finished Fat Loss III B3, which is halfway through the Fat Loss III routine in New Rules of Lifting.  It was a great workout, but I'll be glad to move on to a lower rep workout after this.  The times are pretty consistent.  I finished today in 1:08.  The outside of my right hip/thigh is a tad sore.  I better go foam roll.

One guy I see at the gym often came as I was well into my program.  I felt bad hogging the squat cage, since my weights are so light, but I do get light headed and have to rack often.  One thing he was doing was cleaning and front squatting... something like 150-160#!  Yikes.  Maybe he actually wanted to clean that much.  He was only doing a couple reps per set.

Fat Loss III B3

Warm up - 10 lunges, 5 body weight squats, 5 front squats @ 45#

Front squat - 4x10@55#

Underhand lat pulldown - 4x10@92#

Step-up - 4x10@20# each hand

Dumbbell push press - 4x10@25# each hand

Squat - 1x20@55#, 1x20@60#

Wide-grip lat pulldown - 2x20@75# (felt the burn in my shoulders after the second set!)

Step-up - 2x20@20# each hand

Dumbbell shoulder press - 2x20@20# each hand

Swiss ball crunch - 2x10@25# on head

Backing up

No, I'm not backing up, the cars are! I must have hit the time of morning just right.  Every now and then, I have to wait for a car to back up, but today it was three or four.

A good run.  2 miles.  It was still dark, but aobut 50F and no wind.  Nice.

Bunnies: 1

7 miles!

Today was a beautiful day for a run.  I was aiming for 12:30 pace, but ended up at 11:30 and I felt like I could go on a lot longer.  But, instead I stopped at the prescribed 7 miles, since I always stick to my plan!  LOL!

I dropped by the coffee house on the way home and grabbed my "treat" of a coffee.  Simply, an all-round perfect run.  I even had DOMS from lifting yesterday, but that didn't affect me at all.  Nice.

Return to the gym!

I've been wanting to get back to the gym for over a week now.  I made it back today.  Since I was still a little weak from my cold and from being away for over a week, and also because I didn't want to trash my legs for my long run tomorrow, I dropped back on my weights a bit.  That is a very hard thing to do mentally.  I always want to improve and increase weights, but practically, that's not necessarily the best thing to do.  It's not like I went back to barbie weights.  After 1:10, I feel great.  I did get dizzy quite a bit during the deadlifts.  I paused a bit every 5 reps so that I wouldn't go overboard and faint.  My heart rate only made it up into the 160s, but I was sweating like crazy and definitely pushed it.

It looks like a beautiful day today.  I'll certainly be outside as much as possible!

Fat Loss III A3

Deadlift - 1x10@115#, 3x10@120#

Push-up -4x10

Bulgarian split squat - 4x10@10# each hand

Two-point dumbbell row - 4x10@35# per arm

Deadlift - 2x20@115#

Dumbbell bench press - 2x20@25# each hand

Walking lunge with side bend - 2x20@15# each hand

Cable seated row - 2x20@71#

Hanging leg raise - 2x10

Not-so-tempo run

Despite my cough. cold, drainage, etc. I got up to do my tempo run this morning.  It took me a lot of dilly dallying to get out of the house.  I wanted to do a mile slow, 3 at tempo, and another slow.  But, the tempo part didn't happen.  In fact, I came close to quitting all together.  But, I talked myself into continuing and finished out 5 miles.  The self encouragement was hard.  I told myself I will run down the street (slightly downhill) and then I can walk back or whatever.  Of course, I knew when I got there I would tell myself I should continue running and finish, so it took some convincing to talk myself into that stretch.  Naturally when I got to the bottom, I decided to finish because I felt good (having just run down a slight hill) and I only had a little over half a mile left.

Even though I didn't do the faster speed, I'm still counting it as completed!

Bunnies - not sure, but at least 2, maybe more but it was dark

2 miles - check

I managed to get in my scheduled two miles this afternoon.  This morning it was storming, so I wasn't going to go out and get struck by lightning!

It was a bit chilly and windy, but not as chilly or windy as I expected, so I was overdressed.  No bunnies.

Loop around the lake

Sunday, hubby and I had a wonderful run around the Wehrmann Lake at the Chalco Hills Recreation Area in eastern Nebraska.  It is something like a 5.8 mile loop.  Since I was scheduled for a 6 mile run, it was the perfect length!  Even better, the walk back to the car after the 6.0 mile run was 0.2 miles, making a total of 6.2 miles or 10km!  With the walking, the 10k ended at 1:11, which I don't  think is too bad considering it was supposed to be an easy run and the last bit was walked.  I felt like I could have run faster through most of it if I wanted to.  The last few tenths of a mile, I did run faster, though.

It was a nice place to run.  The walkway was concrete and in great shape.  We saw many birds, including a western meadowlark that serenaded us.  (The western meadowlark is the Nebraska state bird.)  I think in the summer it would be rather hot and probably thick with mosquitoes.  Maybe still good for early morning runs, though.

Western Meadowlark

Picture courtesy the National Fish & Wildlife Service's National Digital Library

Record number of bunnies...

... I think.  Of course, it was a longer run for me, so I had more time to see them.  Also, I did count a couple twice because I came around the same path a couple times and they were back to their spot by then.

Today's run was a 5 mile speedwork session:

1 mile warm up - easy (actual 12:55/mi)
1 mile speed - 10:15/mi (actually 10:02/mi)
1/2 mile rest - easy (actual 12:53/mi)
1 mile speed - 10:15/mi (actually 10:18/mi)
1/2mile rest - easy (actual 11:57/mi)
1 mile cool down - easy (actual 11:41/mi)

It went really well.  I did have a problem keeping a constant pace during the speed parts and hitting the target pace.  But, I guess I'll get better.

Bunny count: 16!!