The Hill workouts are an important part of any training plan.....Especially when you have some hilly courses coming up....it also makes the flat courses that much easier. Having said that, this morning was one that I really wasn't looking forward too. I've been battling some weird Lower Abdominal/Groin Pull thing...I'm still not sure what it is, but it's definitely still there. I guess I'm just getting more used to it, because even today I noticed it.
I decided that I would just take the first 9 sets nice and even, then see how the issue felt.....and push if allowable on the last three....Which is exactly what I did...My first 9....every single one of them was 1:20 on the button. Never strayed. At the end of number 9, on the way back down the hill, I kinda took a little inventory to see how I felt. I decided it was okay to open up the throttle a bit. My next two came in at 1:17....Very nice and respectable pace. Finally, my last one, I clocked in at a 1:15.... I made the jog back to the start and chatted with the group for a few minutes, but had to forgo the cool down jog since I had an early morning meeting at work.
Absolutely nothing earth shattering to report, and tomorrow I'm planning a little nice and easy jog.....Until then.....Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
An absolutely BRUTAL workout....
Okay..so when I looked at my schedule last night, I totally underestimated today's workout....I wasn't even in the same ball park with regards on degree of difficulty. I haven't blogged this week because I haven't really run much. Last week I managed to do something, and I'm not sure actually where I'm injured. I can't tell if it's a tweaked groin or abdominal strain..All I know is that I get a cramp just to the right of my belly button, and it showed up last Thursday. Thursday I blew it off as a cramp because I had drank a bottle of water on the way to my workout that I don't normally do. But it was there on Saturday, and Sunday was absolutely painful. I guess lets start there. That was a long an tough workout. 6 miles at a brutal effort. 2x800, 2x2mile, and 2x800. I toed the line and had a pace that I'm supposed to run, and I hit those goals. ran a 6:40 average pace on all of the 800s and a 7:15 pace on the 2 miles. I was actually kind of shocked.....Especially on the 2 mile segments. That's where whatever is wrong seems to hurt.
So onto Sunday....Pain....Pain....and more Pain.....I was slow.....and I even had to stop at one point. I only got in 5.5 miles, which wasn't good....And I just wasn't feeling it. So, being the smart engineer that I am....I decided that two days rest would be best....I did that, and went for a nice easy jog on Tuesday....Whatever the problem is....It's still there, but it doesn't seem to be as bad and piercing. So with that, I figured today would be a good workout to come back to the group....especially after I looked at the workout... 8x30sec, 8x45sec, and 8x30sec all with a 60 second rest..Heck...that's only 14 minutes of hard effort...allllll righty then....what I didn't realize is that the goal of the workout is 14 minutes of SPRINTING......
Yes.....These were up tempo, all out sprints. I did manage to get through them, and I was running a large majority of my sets at a 5:40ish pace. That is sprinting for me. Even more so, I was shocked to see the mileage when we were done....according to Dr. Garmin, we just did 4.42 miles. And there wasn't a LOT of movement going on during the 1 min off segments....we're talking a reallllllly slooooooow.......almost walking jog......In fact...I think I've seen elderly peeps with walkers moving quicker. But that's what's necessary to keep that kind of up tempo effort....It was crazy. As for the pain....I think I was in pain in so many other areas, that I didn't really notice it. I do feel it a bit now, but it's not like it was this past weekend....hopefully whatever it is gets better....and QUICK!
So onto Sunday....Pain....Pain....and more Pain.....I was slow.....and I even had to stop at one point. I only got in 5.5 miles, which wasn't good....And I just wasn't feeling it. So, being the smart engineer that I am....I decided that two days rest would be best....I did that, and went for a nice easy jog on Tuesday....Whatever the problem is....It's still there, but it doesn't seem to be as bad and piercing. So with that, I figured today would be a good workout to come back to the group....especially after I looked at the workout... 8x30sec, 8x45sec, and 8x30sec all with a 60 second rest..Heck...that's only 14 minutes of hard effort...allllll righty then....what I didn't realize is that the goal of the workout is 14 minutes of SPRINTING......
Yes.....These were up tempo, all out sprints. I did manage to get through them, and I was running a large majority of my sets at a 5:40ish pace. That is sprinting for me. Even more so, I was shocked to see the mileage when we were done....according to Dr. Garmin, we just did 4.42 miles. And there wasn't a LOT of movement going on during the 1 min off segments....we're talking a reallllllly slooooooow.......almost walking jog......In fact...I think I've seen elderly peeps with walkers moving quicker. But that's what's necessary to keep that kind of up tempo effort....It was crazy. As for the pain....I think I was in pain in so many other areas, that I didn't really notice it. I do feel it a bit now, but it's not like it was this past weekend....hopefully whatever it is gets better....and QUICK!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
12x300m Hill Repeats
Today was another staple of the workouts....Well at least for the next several weeks. After that they get harder. Guess that's why it's PROGRESS! Things are actually progressing very well. You know that you've made progress when you have an 'off' day.....And you still run fast. And that's just what today was. An 'off' day. First off....I didn't sleep real well. The temps here in Tucson have been record highs the last couple of days, and yesterdays morning run was 63 degrees at 5am. Needless to say, I overdressed...I had gotten through that, but when I woke up this morning, my stomach wasn't feeling all that great. Not like sick, but just not right. I went out for the run with the group anyways. My split times were equivalent with 2 weeks ago and I altered between 1:18 and 1:19 on each of the 12 sets. I really think that I could have gone faster, but I didn't want to push my stomach to where I'd end up throwing up. That's not the goal of the workout.
Afterwords, I decided a good cool down with the group was in order, and for once I ran with them. I don't know, but that mile+ actually felt pretty good and I ran really relaxed. I noticed that we were actually going at a pretty nice 8:30 pace. It was kinda funny, because I started having flashbacks back to my military days. We were in two rows running in formation at one point. I should broke out into one of the Jody's....Now that would have woke a few people up...
When I got home, my stomach still didn't feel right, so I took a couple of Pepcid, and I have to report, that I actually feel pretty decent. Hungry...but decent. Tonight, I'm going to break out my bike and to some nice and easy spinning on the trainer. I'm sure the wife will just LOVE that....but hey....I need to start getting my legs in riding shape too so that I can ride into work a couple of times a week once my sons football season is over. Tomorrow it's going to be a nice and easy jog through the neighborhood. Thursday.......4 miles of 30seconds fast....30 seconds not as fast....Whatever that means... :)
Until then....Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!!!
Afterwords, I decided a good cool down with the group was in order, and for once I ran with them. I don't know, but that mile+ actually felt pretty good and I ran really relaxed. I noticed that we were actually going at a pretty nice 8:30 pace. It was kinda funny, because I started having flashbacks back to my military days. We were in two rows running in formation at one point. I should broke out into one of the Jody's....Now that would have woke a few people up...
When I got home, my stomach still didn't feel right, so I took a couple of Pepcid, and I have to report, that I actually feel pretty decent. Hungry...but decent. Tonight, I'm going to break out my bike and to some nice and easy spinning on the trainer. I'm sure the wife will just LOVE that....but hey....I need to start getting my legs in riding shape too so that I can ride into work a couple of times a week once my sons football season is over. Tomorrow it's going to be a nice and easy jog through the neighborhood. Thursday.......4 miles of 30seconds fast....30 seconds not as fast....Whatever that means... :)
Until then....Train Hard and LIVESTRONG!!!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Another New PR!
This was an absolutely ROCKIN' weekend for running. You couldn't have asked for better weather at the 7am start, and I went balls out on our 2 mile time trial. This was technically the first time we've EVER run a time trial at this distance. Sure, we've done numerous workouts with 2 mile intervals, but realistically, they are not at the same level of effort. This was at your 5K race pace or a bit higher. It's quick and fast from start to finish. Leave everything you've got on the course, nothing less.
The course was on our normal path, but instead of starting at our normal meet place, we were a half mile further back. This gave us a nice point to point, slightly downhill, wind assisted course to run on. I didn't do my normal warm up jog, but I did a much more abbreviated version and went into some quick tempo striders in order to wake up the legs from my morning slumber. Once everyone was there, we all toed the line, and hit the course. I started off VERY FAST. I think the first quarter was 1:30, it was all a blur. My goal was to hang at the front as long as I could. And that I did for the first mile which clocked in at 6:38. From there, it was hold on and come in under 14:00 for a 6 sumthing per mile pace. Anything with a 7 would not satisfy my competitive fire. And hold on I did. I checked my pace every 200m mark on the road to make sure I was where I should be. And once I got the finish line in sight.....It became an all out sprint. I managed to get across the line in 13:25 which gave me a 6:47 second mile!!! That's ABSOLUTELY HUGE!!!! Think about it....3 weeks ago, I ran a 22:03 5K. Yes...22:03. Even if I slow to a 7 minute mile, I still come in at 20:25 with a tenth to go. That's a HUGE PR!!!! IN JUST 3 WEEKS!!!
So needless to say....My legs are back baby....and it's getting into the FUN time of the season!!!!!
Stay tuned for what's up NEXT..............................
The course was on our normal path, but instead of starting at our normal meet place, we were a half mile further back. This gave us a nice point to point, slightly downhill, wind assisted course to run on. I didn't do my normal warm up jog, but I did a much more abbreviated version and went into some quick tempo striders in order to wake up the legs from my morning slumber. Once everyone was there, we all toed the line, and hit the course. I started off VERY FAST. I think the first quarter was 1:30, it was all a blur. My goal was to hang at the front as long as I could. And that I did for the first mile which clocked in at 6:38. From there, it was hold on and come in under 14:00 for a 6 sumthing per mile pace. Anything with a 7 would not satisfy my competitive fire. And hold on I did. I checked my pace every 200m mark on the road to make sure I was where I should be. And once I got the finish line in sight.....It became an all out sprint. I managed to get across the line in 13:25 which gave me a 6:47 second mile!!! That's ABSOLUTELY HUGE!!!! Think about it....3 weeks ago, I ran a 22:03 5K. Yes...22:03. Even if I slow to a 7 minute mile, I still come in at 20:25 with a tenth to go. That's a HUGE PR!!!! IN JUST 3 WEEKS!!!
So needless to say....My legs are back baby....and it's getting into the FUN time of the season!!!!!
Stay tuned for what's up NEXT..............................
Friday, February 20, 2009
A tough first week of hard training!
This was a really tough week of training. I came in well rested since I ended up not being able to run my Saturday session with the group due to a conflict with my flag football coaching duties. But I did a really good Sunday run of 8 miles where each mile I got progressively faster. It felt good to finish the effort at 66 minutes, and means that my distance legs are still there.
Tuesdays session this week was absolutely BRUTAL! 4x200, 4x1000, 4x200. The 200 sets were to be run at a split time of 47 seconds. That's just plain and simple QUICK! And I'll say this, over the entire workout, I was incredibly consistent and hit 47 seconds on the money, every single time. That works out to be a pace of 6:14/mile for each 200m set. My goal times for the 1000m sets was 4:10. I'm not sure where coach came up with that, maybe is was an overestimation, but I didn't hit that mark, and to be honest....I was quite a bit off. I ran every set at 4:17....Consistent, but off of the desired times. However, I will say this, I don't know how I would shave 7 seconds off of my times. That's about 1-2seconds per 200m, and I was really pushing it as it was. But I do feel good that I was at least consistent, and I can use that as a building block.
Thursday was another bear! On paper, 16x1min doesn't look all that bad. But, it's the decreasing rest intervals that will get you. The rests go 60, 45, 30, 15 and then repeat. 60 seconds isn't much...15....your barely turning around before you have to muster the gitty up and go! But, I kept each of these sets consistent and around a 6:51/mile pace. I'm not going to complain.
That was the easy part of the week.....so to speak. On Monday, I started the first week of my 100 push ups challenge.
Last Friday I did the initial, how many push ups can I do at one time. This sets your weekly program that will take you to being able to do 100 push ups. After 6 weeks. I managed to get 20 push ups.....We're talking good form, chest all the way to the ground and back up, good push ups. Honestly, that's pretty good for me considering that I have been doing them off and on, nothing real regimented. So week one looks like this in the plan for me:
Mon: 10, 12, 7, 7
Wed: 10, 12, 8, 8
Fri: 11, 15, 9, 9
Wednesday was actually really tough. I was still a bit sore from Monday, but I managed to get them done. Today's will be very interesting. Again, I'm still a touch sore but I think I will be able to bang them out. I'm really looking forward to getting my push ups back to where I can do at least 70 in two minutes like I was able to do when I was in the military at boot camp....16 years ago! I remember being sore back then the first couple of weeks. Just need to get through theh first couple of weeks of soreness and all will be good.
Since that's M, W, F....I had to add something for T, Th, and Sat. Those days will be focused on Sit-Ups and back exercises. This weeks target sit up count is at at 50. Next week, I'll jump that up to 70. When I'm done with the push up challenge, I'll move on to 200 sit-ups, and put the Push Ups in maintenance mode.
Also on the books is a 2 mile time trial tomorrow morning. This will be a fast up tempo effort, that's at a much quicker pace then the 5K effort. My goal....sub 14!!! You'll have to tune in on Monday to see how close I came!!!
Tuesdays session this week was absolutely BRUTAL! 4x200, 4x1000, 4x200. The 200 sets were to be run at a split time of 47 seconds. That's just plain and simple QUICK! And I'll say this, over the entire workout, I was incredibly consistent and hit 47 seconds on the money, every single time. That works out to be a pace of 6:14/mile for each 200m set. My goal times for the 1000m sets was 4:10. I'm not sure where coach came up with that, maybe is was an overestimation, but I didn't hit that mark, and to be honest....I was quite a bit off. I ran every set at 4:17....Consistent, but off of the desired times. However, I will say this, I don't know how I would shave 7 seconds off of my times. That's about 1-2seconds per 200m, and I was really pushing it as it was. But I do feel good that I was at least consistent, and I can use that as a building block.
Thursday was another bear! On paper, 16x1min doesn't look all that bad. But, it's the decreasing rest intervals that will get you. The rests go 60, 45, 30, 15 and then repeat. 60 seconds isn't much...15....your barely turning around before you have to muster the gitty up and go! But, I kept each of these sets consistent and around a 6:51/mile pace. I'm not going to complain.
That was the easy part of the week.....so to speak. On Monday, I started the first week of my 100 push ups challenge.
Last Friday I did the initial, how many push ups can I do at one time. This sets your weekly program that will take you to being able to do 100 push ups. After 6 weeks. I managed to get 20 push ups.....We're talking good form, chest all the way to the ground and back up, good push ups. Honestly, that's pretty good for me considering that I have been doing them off and on, nothing real regimented. So week one looks like this in the plan for me:
Mon: 10, 12, 7, 7
Wed: 10, 12, 8, 8
Fri: 11, 15, 9, 9
Wednesday was actually really tough. I was still a bit sore from Monday, but I managed to get them done. Today's will be very interesting. Again, I'm still a touch sore but I think I will be able to bang them out. I'm really looking forward to getting my push ups back to where I can do at least 70 in two minutes like I was able to do when I was in the military at boot camp....16 years ago! I remember being sore back then the first couple of weeks. Just need to get through theh first couple of weeks of soreness and all will be good.
Since that's M, W, F....I had to add something for T, Th, and Sat. Those days will be focused on Sit-Ups and back exercises. This weeks target sit up count is at at 50. Next week, I'll jump that up to 70. When I'm done with the push up challenge, I'll move on to 200 sit-ups, and put the Push Ups in maintenance mode.
Also on the books is a 2 mile time trial tomorrow morning. This will be a fast up tempo effort, that's at a much quicker pace then the 5K effort. My goal....sub 14!!! You'll have to tune in on Monday to see how close I came!!!
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
My Review of Action Images Arizona Cardinals 2008 Conference Champions Poster
This officially licensed Arizona Cardinals 2008 Conference Champions poster from Action Images is a true collectible. The 24-in x 36-in poster is ideal for framing and displays the official team graphics, the Super Bowl® XLIII logo, and a recap of all regular-season and post-season scores.
Get the LOGO right....
KidStallyn Tucson, AZ 2/11/2009
Pros: Shows Off Team Pride
Cons: Unattractive Design
Best Uses: Office
Describe Yourself: Die Hard Sports Fan
I hate it when a company comes out with something new, but doesn't take the time to get the logo correct. Great miss there guys...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Interrupted Weekend....
This was a very interesting weekend. I pretty much spent all of last week playing catch up from all the Super Bowl festivities, and managed to get back into the swing of things. My running hasn't taken that far of a back seat as I had thought, although I was pretty darned sore after the Thursday workout from mamma Michelle that I posted about the other day. Saturdays workout was a 5K time trial. If you remember, I started off the new year right with a new 5K personal best of 21:57. My first 21 anything at that distance. But with the playoffs and Super Bowl really getting in the way of my running, I hadn't been putting in the same kind of miles over the previous 3 weeks. I was very interested in seeing how far I had fallen off the 5K time. My weight had stayed almost steady until I got back from Orlando. When I hopped ont he scales, I had noticed that I had gained a few pounds, I guess not totally unexpected since we were eating out, and that's just plain a simple a recipe for disaster. And not too bad since it was only 3 pounds....That increased to 5 as I re-hydrated throughout the week, but that was just water so I wasn't totally worried that I'd fallen off the wagon. We had a pretty good sized group, about 25 in all. We toed the line and took off. I actually felt really relaxed through the first mile at a 6:46. My goal was to hang with Butch as long as I could, and I did that pretty well. My second mile was a little slower, but half of it included the turnaround and uphill back stretch, and I came in at a 7:20. I wasn't real excited with that, but it was still better then the 7:40ish I had run on New Years day for mile two. This is where it gets kinda sketchy. There's a little dip that include a pretty steep climb out....This is where I lost it...I lost the rhythm in my breathing and really struggled. Even though I had passed one of the runners who was in front of me...I just felt labored, and really started feeling the lactic acid that was still there from Thursday run. I made a quick recovery plan where I slowed down, and managed to get my breathing back in order. from there it was just get back to the start in one piece and see how close you are to the PB. I figured that since I had some slack in the first two miles, I could get pretty close and possibly beat it if I just held on, and really hammered the last tenth. So that's what i did, I got back in a good rythm, but I missed where I wanted to start picking up the pace. I missed the mark on the road, and started my kick about 7-10 seconds too late. I came in with a time of 22:03, only 6 seconds slower then what I ran on New Years, but it wasn't a smooth effort by any stretch of the imagination. That's what I've really got to work on over the next few weeks of building miles back on my legs.
Sunday was interrupted by rain showers and the phone call that nobody wants to get. Just after I had gotten out of the shower from running on the treadmill (which I despise by the way), my sister calls me from Denver. She says that she got a frantic call from mom, and my father was rushed to the ER and was having a possible heart attack. So, in a frenzy, I get the kids all bundled up, and get them to mom and I rush up to PHX. By the time I got there, things had settled down a bit, and they were beginning to think it wasn't his ticker after all....WHEW! Turns out, he was having issues with his stomach as a result of all the chemotherapy treatments, and it felt a LOT like a heart attack. After 6 hours of observations and a couple of lab works to confirm, they sent him home....and I made the trek back to Tucson. Sheesh...We were just in Orlando a week ago. Thankfully that didn't happen there. WHEW!
So, back to running.....Today was a great start to that. we had our 12x300m hill repeats with a jog back to the bottom of the hill. Today was unusually cold, as we had a winter storm roll through that dropped snow on the Tucson valley floor. Really cool to look at, since we don't get that very often, let alone in February. When we ran this workout 2 weeks ago, my target times were in the 1:25 range, but I managed to run them all at around 1:18. Today my legs felt incredibly fresh. I beat my time from two weeks ago, and ran every single one of the efforts in 1:16 or 1:17. It was INCREDIBLY consistent. So, I think my legs are getting back to the grind quite nicely, as I figured it would take a couple of weeks to get them going.
Tomorrows I'm going to do the 5 mile loop, and then Thursday is a 4 mile effort of 30 second repeats between fast and not as fast. Until then.....train Hard and LIVE STRONG.
Sunday was interrupted by rain showers and the phone call that nobody wants to get. Just after I had gotten out of the shower from running on the treadmill (which I despise by the way), my sister calls me from Denver. She says that she got a frantic call from mom, and my father was rushed to the ER and was having a possible heart attack. So, in a frenzy, I get the kids all bundled up, and get them to mom and I rush up to PHX. By the time I got there, things had settled down a bit, and they were beginning to think it wasn't his ticker after all....WHEW! Turns out, he was having issues with his stomach as a result of all the chemotherapy treatments, and it felt a LOT like a heart attack. After 6 hours of observations and a couple of lab works to confirm, they sent him home....and I made the trek back to Tucson. Sheesh...We were just in Orlando a week ago. Thankfully that didn't happen there. WHEW!
So, back to running.....Today was a great start to that. we had our 12x300m hill repeats with a jog back to the bottom of the hill. Today was unusually cold, as we had a winter storm roll through that dropped snow on the Tucson valley floor. Really cool to look at, since we don't get that very often, let alone in February. When we ran this workout 2 weeks ago, my target times were in the 1:25 range, but I managed to run them all at around 1:18. Today my legs felt incredibly fresh. I beat my time from two weeks ago, and ran every single one of the efforts in 1:16 or 1:17. It was INCREDIBLY consistent. So, I think my legs are getting back to the grind quite nicely, as I figured it would take a couple of weeks to get them going.
Tomorrows I'm going to do the 5 mile loop, and then Thursday is a 4 mile effort of 30 second repeats between fast and not as fast. Until then.....train Hard and LIVE STRONG.
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