Archive for May, 2004
Core Workout: Week 5, Monday
Tonight’s Work:
Movement Prep (Stretches)
Prehab- Shoulder, Hips, Core (deeper stretches, some with ball, and ab planks and stuff).
Elasticity (Plyometrics, like hopping and moving really fast)
Regeneration- Foam (Physical therapy-like work with a foam roll; it feels nice).
Working out using Core Performance is like a planned-out ass kicking every night. It’s such a challenging workout, but I’ll take the fact that I have no injuries (knock on head) and that trail running wasn’t much different than street running to mean that it’s working well for me.
Congrats to all the various racers from this past weekend.
Trav’s Trail Run- 34:55 (long)
I had breakfast with Kat and the kid at our local place. I had most of the kid’s chocolate chip pancake, my two eggs over medium, and both slices of toast. What the hey, right? Oh, and I drank green tea.
The weather was perfect. 64 degrees and sunny with a strong breeze. There were hundreds of people at this race, which was a better turnout than I’d expected, but visually less amazing than the 108th Boston, which was my first ever race to view.
Kat and my daughter and Amadis came to support me. I was very happy to have a few people there, and also glad not to have a crowd (what if I blew it?). It was just right for this race.
I ran with Damon, who’d completed the Disney marathon in January, and then the 108th Boston in April. He said he doesn’t normally run this little a distance, but he was happy to run with me. I felt excited to have him there, and also nervous, as he explained to me later (somewhere around the last mile) that he did the Disney in mostly 8 minute miles.
The path was something like the two attempts I made earlier in the week, but different on where it turned up. Just the same, my pre-running of the course proved to be PERFECT for getting the mental preparation.
I hydrated like a son of a gun, and the only bad thing was the race started with me having to pee again. Just the same, I pressed on. Look at this calf, captured at the start. That’s mine?
So, we were near the back of the pack (my choice and his), and we chatted along the entire race. The only thing was, it was easy for Damon to chat, and it was effort for me. I pumped my heart rate up into the 160s most of the trip, as opposed to my typical 151. We passed a few folks, then a few more, then a few passed us. In the end, I think there were 20 or 30 people left running behind us, which felt good for a first race. Hey, finishing felt good.
When it was all over, I’d finished in 34:55, so a hair under 12 minute miles.
And then I did my after-run stretching on the tick-infested grass of Maudslay, while my daughter shutled grass back and forth to put on my belly.
It was a great day, and I’m glad I did it. I feel otherwise fairly normal. I’m also now more anxious to train up for the 5K on July 4th. Rock!
One Race, yes.
I’ll write lots more about this later today, but I did it. I finished. I did it in 35-something minutes, so not fleet like Mercury, but finished like Chris. Thanks to D.J. for running with me, but it’s also you that got my heart rate up to 160-something because we chatted the whole time. : )
Race Day
A year ago around this time, I weighed 290 pounds. I wasn’t a couch zombie, but I wasn’t doing anything that resembled regular exercise. There were lots of unhealthy things going on in my life. I’m looking at a picture from this time frame, and though I’ve always carried my weight well, there’s no disputing that in that picture, I’m a fat, soft person.
This morning, it’s 5:17AM. I slept in. My normal time to wake up is 4:45 now. I slept in because I have a race today. A race? What happened?
No greater skeptic of such changes existed than myself. I didn’t believe in me. I figured anyone out running was crazy. Weight loss was for people who took the surgical route. But no. I did it.
I weigh 236 today. That’s 54 pounds down from the weight I was when I decided to change my life forever. That’s 8 pounds down from where I hit a five month plateau that didn’t end until the beginning of this month.
I’ll be running a 5K (3.1 mile) race through the woods and I am very ready for this. Mind you, when I say running, I’ll be running for four minutes, walking two, and then repeating that cycle throughout. I have to. That’s where I am in my training for another race in July.
I exercise six days a week. I run four. I hit the gym at lunch time for a quick burst of cardio three or four times a week in the middle. No, I’m not obsessed. But I’ve made fitness and nutrition very important things in my life. The time I used to spend doing unhealthy things, I’m now using for positive change.
I wish you well.
Last Minute Jazz
My daughter woke screaming at 9:25PM. Bad belly. She snagged an ear of corn on the cob at a friend’s birthday, and I think it gave her a cruddy belly. So, I tried consoling her, gave her belly soothing meds, and it was really all for naught. She just wanted her mommy, who was still at the party for a short while longer. Now, mommy’s home, so I can go off to sleep.
Only, I’m jazzed about the 5K tomorrow. Good news is, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. : )
Visualizations
One day before the race and I have to purge some things in a positive way.
*I will finish easily. I know this because I’ve already run more than 3 miles at a shot, and I’m still doing run/walk splits so I’ll have plenty of energy.
*The course can be whichever trail it is. I won’t worry about it not being the ones I practiced. They’ll all be similar and my training will have been the same.
*It’s okay to walk mixed in with the run, because you’re still technically in the middle of a 10 week training program to practice up for a 5K in July, so this race is mid-stream. Don’t be a new guy and run the whole time when you should rest.
*The people there will be supportive and friendly. They’ll be into their own little failings and worries, so it won’t matter what they think of your running. You’re only there to finish this time around.
A-Ha!
So, I decide to sleep in. It’s a rest day. Fine by me, eh?
The classical radio station just busted out the Hungarian Dance #5. If you know the piece, you know that I just shot out of bed like a groggy bullet.
Bonjour!
Two Days to Go
I took tonight off from running, as was my plan (my attempt at tapering before the 5K on Sunday). Instead, I did two brisk walks, on top of the morning run. Tomorrow, I have nothing. Just weight training. So, I’m feeling a little edgy and anxious.
First race. Or rather, a first time to run for a while and try to complete something. I’m really looking forward to learning about myself from the experience, and to meeting other runners.
And all the way around, this is training for the race on July 4th. I’m starting to wonder if they’ll let me switch over to the 10K instead of the 5K. Too greedy?
Just picked up this book because I liked his other one so much:
I’m looking forward to reading more of it once I’m done with Lynne Cox’s book.
Food Log- Friday
Boring to read, but I need to track this a while.
Morning
Two fistfuls of dry oats (pre-run energy)
Two scoops whey in water (post-run recovery)
1/2 cup oatmeal & 1/2 banana, canadian bacon & egg on english (breakfast)
2 tbsp oatmeal & 2tbsp black beans, 1 slice toast w/ 1tbsp olive oil (snack)
1 can tuna w/balsamic vinegar and salt, steamed broccoli w/1 tbsp olive & sesame oil, 20 blue chips (lunch)
A few tortellinis and a few chocolate pieces (snack)
Organic pizza with hand-made organic free range … you get the idea sausage, mushrooms, glazed onions (supper)
Oatmeal cookie, water, a little bit of popcorn (like ten kernels) — (snack/treat)
Decent Run- (long Checking In post)
My first run in my Under Armour. I’m glad it was 5:20AM and I was alone, because the bottom of my shirt kept popping up out of my shorts and I’d feel like sausage coming out of its casing. But it felt good, and I didn’t have a lick of sweat on my body. It went to the outside of the fabric and made me look like a sleek upright running sea lion.
I got lost in the woods again, but this time, I didn’t let it phase me a bit. Based on Wednesday’s success, and the fact I returned home in one piece, I just ran the course that was in front of me. I also tried pushing mental placeholders into my head about the course for Sunday. I told myself that if it seems longer, it’s probably just different. I ran an extra six minutes just to make sure I had distances covered.
I felt fatigued about 25 minutes in, which came just seconds after feeling really good. The six minutes before were perfect, and then the last bunch were slogs. I wonder if it’s to do with knowing the finish is coming, so I surrender a bit of something. If so, I’m going to train my mind out of that, because I could really have used that energy.
The mental game is becoming the focus of what I’m doing, because my muscles are feeling tip-top, and even though my cardio could do to be 20 points better, I know that’s a product of building up so I can’t “fix” it. But boy, the stuff I slip into my head while running is crazy. I really did a lot of work reeling in bad thoughts, negative feelings, and all kinds of putdowns. I’ve got to have a word with my inner coach about that. Maybe that’s the deal. I have to be a little more formal in setting the mood.
Running without music is bugging me, but not on the trail runs, because I like hearing the birds all around. Besides, I think I’d be a little freaked out by being THAT inside my head while being in the woods.
I’ve put back a few pounds recently, and I think it’s related to seeing that “calories burned” number on my heart monitor. It’s given me the sense that I can eat anything I want whenever I want because I’m burning so much more, and I’m in training. That’s not true, Chris. You still have 30-40 pounds to lose. You’re in training. Eat like you’re in training. I really have to read a little more about it, but man, there’s nothing so conflicting as sports nutrition books. Nancy Clark? She starts off with the old food pyramid. Not the new one from Harvard that actually makes sense, but that old thing?
I think my Core Performance training has been the key to my running success. I work my abs and other core muscles a lot more than someone just running alone, and I also do lots of weight training that focuses on recruiting lesser-used muscle groups in support of the larger ones. These things are making a difference.
Anyhow, I’m doing great. I’m ready for my run. I’m feeling like a superhero.
