Strengthening the shoulder

More TGU work today!

TGUs:
LRLRLR 12kg
LR 16kg
LR 10kg 23seconds at each of 12 positions on each side

Then I went outside and ran a mile.

Sailing, etc.

We just got back from a week of sailing. It was fun. Total, we had 8 races, 3 qualifying races and 5 competition races. Each was about an hour plus time to and from the race and time in between. The first two were on a day with strong, gusty winds. The last two were on a very hot day, as if we were sailing in the wind from a hair dryer. That last day, we started another race in the morning but the wind died down and the race was abandoned. It still took over half an hour to return to the harbor.

The facilities at Carlyle Sailing Association were great. There was a lot of room for boat and plenty of dock space. The docks were in a protected harbor and they had a nice clubhouse, too. We stayed at a cottage in the state park just up the road. It was directly on the lake. All in all a good time.

While there, we walked the trails a couple times, then ran 4 miles on a trail before we left. I also got up early four times to do yoga outside by the lake. That was nice!

Today, I got a lift in:
foam rolling
BB back squat - 3x5x45#, 2x4x55#, 3x65#, 3x75#, 3x5x85#
Chinup - 1
BB OH Press - 5x45#, 3x5x52#
Deadlift - 4x135#, 5x155#

20km down!

Ooops, haven't updated in a while... again.

This past weekend, I ran the Dam to Dam 20k again with my brother. It went really well, considering we both hadn't trained for it like we should have. The longest run I had done was a 6-miler last Monday. I've been wearing my Merrell Pace Gloves and my Vibram Five Fingers exclusively for running since I got them. Of course, I haven't been running much, so that doesn't mean I've run in them a lot.

I was a bit weary, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and wear the Five Fingers for the 20k. It actually went really well. I was worried that my calves would seize up like they had done during my earlier practice runs. They actually did fine. I had zero problems with them. In fact, afterwards, it was my hip flexors and knees that were sore. That is normal for me. I had no abnormal or scary pain. Yay! We took the run easy and ended up at 2:24, which was more than a minute faster than my first D2D, even though we stopped for a bathroom break this time. My second D2D was longer due to an extended bathroom break :)  All in all, I think this speaks volumes to my current state of fitness. That I could even hold a slow pace for more than twice the distance I trained is satisfying. I'm happy.

So, today, I'm back to lifting. I created a plan for the next month or two based on Starting Strength. (I've had the 2nd edition, but recently sprang for the Kindle version of the 3rd edition. I also love his DVD companion to the book. I don't know how many times I've watched that!) I wanted to go back to the basics and focus on strength. A lot of the plans I've been doing do increase strength, but they are more focused on fat loss. This plan is pure strength. I will also make up a plan for kettlebells, which I will alternate with this. Also, I'll probably run once or twice a week when the weather is nice.

The first couple weeks have a lot of squats and deadlifts. Depending on how bored I get with this setup, I may drop the last two workouts. The idea is to do warm up sets and then three "sets across," which means to do them at the same weight. If you can't complete the three sets with good form, you drop back a bit next time (or stay the same?). If you do complete them with good form, you increase the weight next time.

June 8, 2012
Foam rolling
Back Squat - 2x5x45#, 4x65#, 2x75#, 3x5x80#
Overhead BB Press - 5x45#, 3x5x50#
Deadlift - 5x135#

I held the deadlift weight low because of an injury I got a week ago. I slammed my hand in a sliding closet door. Ouch! I bruised something deep in two of my fingers and it hurt like crazy. My grip has been affected and it is still sore when picking up heavy things, so I'm keeping the weights low until it is healed up.

That's it for now!

Healing knee

The knee is healing well, except that I tore the scab a bit trying to do a Turkish Get Up this morning.

This morning I did this:
2H swing - 10x20kg
jump-up chin-up + negative
10s RKC plank
chin-up (regular)
2H swing - 5x20x20kg
alternated with:
push-up - 2x10
goblet squat - 2x5x16kg
then:
1H swing - 20x20kg alternating, 6R6L4R4Lx20kg

Yesterday I ran 3.24 miles. This time I stayed upright. I used my Merrell Pace Gloves and managed to stay upright. I ran to a 170bpm Podrunner podcast. That seems to be a comfortable cadence in these shoes.

May 14, I did this:
Bench Press - 10x45#, 5x75#, 3x85#, 3x95#
Chin up - 1, 1, 1/2 + negative, negative
Goblet Squat - 4x3x16kg

Fine, sidewalk, you can have that skin, but leave me alone!

Yes, the sidewalk got some skin from me today. Ouch.

I had a positive this morning, though. I managed a second chin up. Not back to back with the first, but two in the same hour is good for me. Focussing on them sure helps.

During my run, at about 2 miles in, I tripped over a lip in the sidewalk. I caught myself pretty well (while making a very weird muffled grunt) but still managed to rough up the heels of my palms and skinned up my right knee decently. My right thumb is a tad sore, but I think that's the only internal issue I'll have to worry about.

The mud run is next weekend, so I need to get my knee as healed as possible before then.

Even with the spill, I did a 10:35 pace, so I'm happy with that. Overall, I didn't feel winded.

I did this today:
Foam rolling
TGU LR 12kg
Chin up
TGU LR 12kg
Chin up
Run 2 miles
Fall and make a weird noise
Run 2.41 miles
Walk 0.13 miles
Hold paper towel to stop blood

During the run, I wore my Merrell Pace Gloves with thin socks. I listened to a Podrunner 10:1 podcast, which had 10 minutes each of 165 and 170 bpm with 1 minute slower between. (There is also a 175bpm interval, but I stopped before that.)

Moving on

I got to bed at a decent time and felt energetic this morning. Got a workout in and finished with a little over a mile run. It was 42deg out, which is a little on the cool side, but at 9:27 min/mile, it helped me run faster than I normally run. This was in the VFFs, too. I can tell I'm adjusting to them.

Foam Roll
TGU 12kg RL
1 chin up
2x(5xinverted row + 10xpushup) - legs straight and on bench for row
1 pull up w/ red band
1 chin up w/ red band
Arm bar 12kg 2R2L
KB snatch 18# 10R10L
1.05 miles

Yes, I'm here!

Between vacation and a week-long sickness, I got of rythym a bit. I did get back to working out last week, in not a little slowly. I feel much better now and even improved a lift today!

I've been working a lot on kettlebell stuff, checking form mostly. My HKC class is coming up soon! I've also started running in my minimalist shoes. I have Vibram Five Fingers and Merrell Pace Gloves.

Today, I did a Simple Strength I workout from Beautiful Badass.

Standing Overhead BB Press - 7x45#, 2x7x65#
Suspended Push-up - on JGXT, hands ~2ft off ground - 5x8
Neutral Grip Chin-up - feet on ground with JGXT - 5x8
1.2 mile run in VFFs

I decided that for lifts like the OH press, I can't stand a lot of warm up. It's too fatiguing. So, I only did the one warm up set to get the form down and then went straight to the working set. The last rep in each OH press set was a grinder!

Back home

This week I was on a business trip.  I took Body of Fire with me to do at the hotel gym.  I completed Phase 1/ Week 4/ Workout 1 at the packed hotel gym.  The next day, I had planned on the next BOF workout, but I got sick and had to skip.  I did that workout (1/4/2) this morning. I'm still doing the pushups with elevated hands.  I tried the first couple on the floor and couldn't see how I'd ever get through all 85 on the floor.  Maybe I'm being a weenie. The sprints went well outside, even though it was 31F.  Since I was already warmed up and it wasn't too long, only 6 minutes all together, the cold didn't bother me.

Sunday, I got out for a longish run.  I went 5.28 miles. Felt good!

Behind in posting

I might come back and post old workouts, but for now, I did Body of Fire Phase 1, Week 3, Workout 4 today.  I've done all the ones in between this one and the previous one I posted.  I promise.
I've also run a few times, including a 5k Monster Madness Run.  That was fun.  I got in at under 32 minutes with almost no practice, so I feel good about that.  I've also done a few kettlebell workouts, but not a ton.
That's all for now!

TGUs and a little running

This morning was my TGU workout.  It was short, so I added on a fast (for me) mile.  I wanted to get out and run a mile as fast as I could.  Considering I haven't run in a while, it went well.

Warm up - 2 rounds of 10x wall squats, 10x halos, 10x pumps
Workout - TGUs for 5 minutes, alternating sides, did 4 left and 3 right with 20# KB
Finisher - 1 mile, 9:27, lots of sweat

Beautiful clouds

I really didn't want to get up. I almost fell asleep getting ready to go.  I dilly dallied way too much.  BUT I still got out for a run.  I had been talking about how my favorite temperature to run in is about 55F.  Well, it was 56F this morning, so I just had to take advantage of it.  I was treated with a beautiful dawn.  There was a large group of striated clouds right were the sun was coming up.  The effect was red and blue stripes across the sky.  Beautiful!

I ended up at 2.13 miles at an average 10:48 pace.  Not bad for not having run in ages.

4 bunnies

Intervals!

This morning, I did a quick interval run workout.  I set my Garmin for 10 rounds of 0:45 run fast, 0:30 recovery jog.  In total, I went 1.59 miles in 16:22 with an average pace of 10:16, including the 30 seconds of walking at the end.

Looking at only the ten run portions, I averaged a pace of 8:23min/mile.  I even got under 8:00 for four of the run sections. 

I should do more of these short, but sweet, workouts!

A bit faster!

Today's run was shortish... 1.5 miles. At first, I didn't feel like running at all.  But, I got into it and sped up.  The last half was almost all under a 10 min/mile pace.  That's fast for me.  Overall, I averaged about 10:10. An overall nice run to a 165bpm Podrunner podcast called Breezy.  It wasn't breezy here, though.  It was still and 68F with high humidity.

~5 bunnies

Some outdoor fun and another lift

Yesterday, the sun broke through for a while. Before lunch, we decided it would be a good time to get in a quick walk/bike ride.  The kids would rather ride their bikes, but I need to be on foot, ready to help my daughter.  So, we set off with my son noting how slow we were going and my daughter working on getting over that initial terror.  (She's very afraid at first, but wants to ride so bad, she does it anyway.  Plenty of screams and maybe even some tears.)  She's only four, but she's doing great riding a regular 16" bike with no training wheels.  About a block down the road, we stopped to talk to some neighbors, the family of a friend of my son.  During this time, my daughter got VERY impatient.  We said we were going to ride bikes, so LET'S RIDE BIKES!  We ended up leaving my son to play and my daughter and I continued on.  After a while, she mostly forgets she's afraid and I have a nice walk/jog while we talk.  Before too long, she's zooming along and I'm barely keeping up!  At this point, I no longer have to keep my finger on her back.  When she's scared, she likes the reassurance of my finger/hand lightly touching (i.e. not helping) on her back.  It's funny.  Anyway, I got in over a mile of jogging!

This morning, I got in my lift.  Felt good!  I was able to increase some loads.  Nice.  These workouts may not use the heaviest weights, but I can tell they are beneficial.

Define Yourself B2
Foam rolling and warm up
Reverse Wood Chop - 2x8ea/30# (rope attachment)
Prone Jackknife - 2x8
Stepup - 8ea/15#ea, 8ea/17.5#ea (7 risers)
T Pushup - 4ea/5#ea, 4ea/8#ea
Single-Leg Squat - 2x8ea (to bench)
Alternating Lateral Raise - 2x8ea/10#ea
Supinated Hip Extention with Leg Curl (SHELC) - 2x8
Inverted Row - 2x8

Less than two weeks!

Yikes!  There may be some walking during the 20k :)

I did get out for a good run this morning.  It's so nice to have the light earlier in the morning!

I did a 160bpm-180bpm interval mix from Podrunner called Driving Spikes.  I've done this one before and I still like it!

I started getting a side stitch, which hasn't happened in a long time.  I worked it out, though.  I think that might be because I was tensing my upper body a bit.

The stats are that I went a total of 3.33 miles in 35:50, for an average pace of 10:45 min/mile.

My heel felt a tad funny at first, but that went away.  Now, a half hour later, I'm starting to feel a little funniness again.  I will do a little more stretching and probably ice it just in case.

12 bunnies today!

A short trial run

I must have been pretty worried about today's run.  From about 1am on, I kept half waking up debating on whether I should run this morning or not.  When the alarm clock finally went off, I pressed snooze, and when it went off again, I popped out of bed and got ready to head out.

I put on a 165bpm podcast called Stentorian.  I wanted something faster with the thought that I would hit with my heel less.  I think that did help.  I did 2 miles with an average 10:30min/mile pace.  Not bad for me.

I've been icing and stretching and taking some ibuprofen.  Seems to be okay for now, a little tender, but not worse, at least.

I didn't count bunnies, but I should have.  They were all over the place!

Quick run, testing the heel

So, a bit of self diagnosis and I'm suspecting tendonitis or a trigger point in my calf.  We'll see.  I've stretched and rolled and massaged.

This morning, I went for a short run to give it a test.  I felt a slight soreness, but not much.  I only went 1.5 miles and tried to keep my foot turnover up so that I wasn't striking with my heel.  I'm going to stretch a bit and maybe ice it.

The pain really isn't extreme.  But, I believe if I'm feeling pain, that's telling me I need to take care of something.  I like to take care of it rather than make it worse and have even more down time.

Oh bunnies, where art thou?

Oh, that's right.  It's Easter.  They must have all been hard at work, because over more than an hour, I only saw 3 bunnies, and they were all in one spot.

It was 34F this morning, but it was still a beautiful day for a run.  No wind at all.  I bundled up and headed out.  I wanted to try for 6 miles and I was aiming for 11 min/mile.  Although I make my distance goal, which was my main goal, I was not able to keep an 11 minute pace.  I kept trying, but couldn't.  Oh, well.  I ran without music.  I figured it was a good day to do that, since there was no wind.  When it gets really windy, I like to have my headphones on.  They help block the wind.

I noticed even before I set out that my right quad was still sore from squats on Friday.  During the last mile or two, I noticed that the outside of my hip starting to ache a little, too.  I think it might be because I was doing something different because of my quad.  I did manage to finish and now I don't notice either issue.

"Tempo" Run

I decided to do a faster pace run this morning, or a tempo run.  As I was preparing, I just couldn't get my mind around 3 miles at a faster pace.  My brain started trying to talk me out of running.  But I was up early and there was no wind (but it was 32F), so I told myself I had to do it.  So, I conceded a little and decided 2 miles was enough for my first tempo run of the season.  After foam rolling, I set my FR305 Virtual Partner for 2 miles at a 10:30min/mile pace, which is about 30 seconds faster than I've been averaging for long runs, and set out.  The run went great.  I think it was the right distance for this time.  I find the VP motivational.  The only problem is, in the dark or twilight, it's hard to read the distance between me and my VP.  I can see if I am ahead (clear) or behind (black), though.

I need to see if I can use VP with a warmup and cooldown...

4 bunnies today!

Intervals - woot!

I thought I wasn't going to want to get out and run today.  The forecast was calling for 36F and rain.  It wasn't much bettre than that, but it was acceptable.  It was 38F, windy (10-20mph) and 90% humidity.  Although, I think it might have been even more humid.  The air was thick.  It may not have been raining, but water was at least condensing out of the air, because I was getting misted.  The wind alternately fogged my glasses and unfogged them.  How annoying!  At least I was on striaght sidewalks!

In the end, I went 2.94 miles in 32:23.  Not horrible.  Better than my recent runs.  That makes for a 11:01/mile pace.

As usual, I was reluctant to get out, but I'm glad I did.