Get over it!

Worked past lunch and at 2:30pm even though I didn't want to run, I knew I had to. It was the plan when I got up. When it comes to running, it's really easy for my mind to talk myself out of it. Not today. Although I didn't really push it, at least I got down there.

3 x (.75mile @ 6.0 mph, .25 mile @ 3.0 mph)

3 miles total

Knee had hint of pain only a couple times, but nothing major. But I wanted my first go to be nice and easy and not overwhelming.

Back to it

With the spring Masters swim meet over, I now need to switch gears to prepare for the Boise Half Ironman in Early June. Plus I need to lose about 15 pounds which I believe will come with a few habit changes, increased aerobic exercise that will come with the biking and running that I will be doing more of. Some habits that I will get back to doing:

• Always take the stairs at work instead of the elevator


• NO SWEETS - I've been allowing myself a bite or two now and then, that has to stop


• Drink more water


• Be more careful about how many calories I'm taking in

Today I slept in. I had a stomach flu yesterday, so today I'm still in recovery mode from that so I didn't swim. I ended up lifting during my lunch break:

Seated Quad Extension - 6 x 15 @ 55
Lying Ham Curls - 6 x 12 @ 55
Standing BB Curls, Rows, Overhead Presses: 2 x 12 @ 75
Leg Press: 6 x 12 @ 120

The tendon below my right knee was really complaining with the Leg Presses at the end. Same tendon that hates it when I run. Got to get that guy to grow up and shut up!

Short run and 1000M row

Did 25 minutes (2.65 m run) on the treadmill and 1000 M rowing (4:00). Need to have this as a base this week and slowly build it up.

Back on the trainer

Did 40 minutes while watching Coach Troy walk around and harass athletes in the Spinervals 100 DVD.

Castaway Cay 5K

Today Cathi and I did a 5k fun run with other cruise travelers. It was very windy. I just stayed with Cathi. My pace was slow, but it was nice going with Cathi and she was very encouraging. We did it in just over 30 minutes. The cruise people gave us each a very nice water bottle as a thank you for participating.

From DisneyWorld2009

From DisneyWorld2009

I'll have to figure things out pretty soon.

Attempted to run again on Disney Magic, but was foiled

Went to run with Cathi again, but noticed that some runners were running the wrong way around deck 4. Once we got 3/4 around found out why. They had closed off a portion of the deck to do some painting. So people were running back around. That is dangerous around the stern where there is only room for one person and it curves fast. You could have a pretty serious head on collision with other runners. So I went biking and lifting instead.

Today was a full day at sea so I didn't get to swim. The pools on Disney Magic suck (for laps)

3.5 miles on Deck 4 of Disney Magic

This morning I got up with Cathi and we ran around the deck of Deck 4 which is 1/3 mile. I planned on 9-12 laps and did 12. Had a pretty good headwind on the starboard side, but a tailwind on the port side. Only about 4 other runners. Afterwards I went to the weightroom and did some biking and lifting.

Good day

5 mile run in the fog

This morning Cathi got up at 5 to go run with Carly and Tiffany. The phone rang at 5:10. Carly said it's way too foggy and they weren't going. So I got up, got my running stuff on and went out looking for Cathi knowing she wouldn't feel the same way about cancelling. She was parked in Tiffany's driveway waiting. I told her and she was bugged, but I also told her I was prepared to run with her so we went out and stayed on the trail where we wouldn't get hit by a car.

It was foggy. About 30 feet visibility. I had my flashlight with me. We had a good talk and Cathi was glad to be up and running this morning. It was probably 30 degrees. Ran from our house around Jensen Park and up to the turn around point and then back. About 5 miles, but Cathi had to keep going.

Thanksgiving Run

This morning Cathi and I got up and went on a 10 mile run with Korey, Ele, Eric and Kristen Buchi. When I got to mile 6 my knee started acting up and at mile 7 I got the stabbing pain.

From now on, I need to wear the pat band no matter what. I ended up walking the rest of the way while Cathi ran on up ahead with Eric. I didn't mind cause I had Flight of the Concords on my mp3 and they were new to me and I was cracking up hearing their songs. Cathi drove back and picked me up. Then we drove back further to get Kristen who also had knee issues. Need to pick up the running training (and figure out what to do to get my knee to play nice).

Had a great Thanksgiving evening at the Lows.

Feeling awesome - 5 mile run @ 45 min

This morning I did other miscellaneous stuff at home rather than go swim. So I had to do something at lunch and something tough. So my goal was to run for either 5 miles, or 45 minutes which ever came first.

Well I had paced it so that they both came within just a few seconds of being at the same time:

5 miles @ 45:06

Felt so good throughout this run. I didn't have any joint issues, or pain which caused me to wish to quit early. I'm sure I'll get to the point one day where I wish I had an unlimited amount of time and then I could try running for 15 miles at lunch just to see if I can run that long. Thing is I only get like an hour or so. Will have to save that kind of activity for a weekend, or super early like Cathi and her masochist running friends.

4 mile run at lunch

Goal was to run 35 minutes straight at 6.5 mph. Which I did, but added a little extra to get to 4.0 miles.

4 miles @ 36:20

Not giving up

Today I worked through lunch and didn't get a good time to break away until 2pm. At that point I went downstairs initially aiming for a 45 minute run. I started out at 6.5 mph and at 15 took it up to 7.0 mph. Did fine with that until 20 and then started to get more tired than normal, so I brought it back down to 6.5 mph. That made things better and I was able to catch my breath and maintain that pace.

Then when I got to 30 I thought to myself, "Hey you did 30 minutes last week. If you quit now, you'd still be doing just fine." But then I had a vision:

I'm halfway through the French side shipping lane, when my body hits a wall and starts to use fat as an energy source. Do I give up or keep on going?!

That gave me the mental sharpness I needed to hit my goal that I started out with of going 45 minutes.

Total time: 45 minutes
Distance: 5.11 miles

cooled down and went 5.25 total.

Boot Camp

So last night Cathi begged me to go to this Boot Camp workout in Clearfield. This morning got up at 5:30 and got ready to go over. It was a tiny little gym with about 6 treadmills and about 15 different weight machines including a Jacob's ladder (with a broken stat meter).

We started the workout with a 1 mile run around the neighborhood. When we got back they had us rotating in two stations. The first station was doing 14 reps using 20 pound dumbells on the following:

Overhead Press, Curls, Kickbacks, Rows, Lat Raises, Squats, Lunges, Floor Press, Flys, Crunches and then get up on your feet without hands touching the ground. The weights weren't supposed to ever touch the ground.

Next station: 4 minutes on the treadmill at 6-10% incline and 4.0 mph. Rotated three times. Pretty good, but that was just the warmup. This next thing kicked my butt.

20 sets of Squat jumps and crunches with 20 pound dumbells. First set 20 squats, 1 crunch and then next set 19 squats, 2 crunches. Last set... 1 squat 20 crunches.

The first 4-5 reps were tough with the number of squats, and then it got easy in the middle, but then at the end the crunches were tough.

Very nice workout. But not something I'm willing to pay money for. I'd rather swim.

The two "drill sargents" were getting on other people slacking. I don't get why someone would come to a workout and then slack. With anything that's tough. You have to deal with it for about two weeks and then your body adjusts and adapts to it and you get way stronger.

This made me think about my running this week. I've really come a long way in one week on the running. I've run four days in a row(even though today was only 1 mile)1 now and if I can keep it going (except Sunday's), then my body should be totally used to it by the time I do the Ogden Marathon next spring.

New PR - run three days in a row

I'm feeling great about this running thing. I've now three days in a row during my lunch break. Today I did 4 miles. I was planning on running 35 minutes and stopping, but I only had a little further to go to get the 4 miles, so I actually went 35:40 today. Started out at 6.5 mph and moved it up to 7.0 the last few minutes, and then 7.5 the last 30 seconds.

Then walked a half lap to cool down. All at a 2.5% grade.

My knee didn't even ache at all. I'm liking this even though its hard as ....

4.125 miles total

Another 5k, this time faster

Stretched for 3 minutes, then ran 3 miles @ 6.5 mph/2.5% grade. What I did mentally was once I got to 3 minutes into the run is envisioned running the Columbia River Half and every minute represented a mile. So when I looked at the clock and saw that I was at 5 minutes into the start of the run I was at mile 5 (which is the turn going south down the big hill before going back on to the bridge).

Then once I got to 28 minutes put the speed at 7.0 miles, and then at 29 minutes 7.5. Once I got to 30 minutes I was at 3.25 miles. Then I put it at 3.0 mph and walked a half lap (0.125 m), took my pulse (160 bpm) then put it on 8.5 and ran a half lap.

Got off and stretched real good.

Total distance: 3.5 miles @ 32:30

Nice 5K run

At lunchtime today I went down and ran a 5k straight on the treadmill at a 2.5% grade. First 2 miles at 6.0 mph, third mile at 6.5 mph, Then at 29 minutes ran 7.0 mph, 29:30 @ 7.5 mph. Stop at 30 minutes. Ended up being 5K. Sweat alot and didn't have any water with me.

Forgot to stretch beforehand so I stretched really good afterwards (about 10 minutes). Then did 10 minutes of abs.

Need to swim tonight. Oh yeah, It's official. I'm registered for the Ogden Marathon on May 15th, 2010. No backing out now!

Arms

Hit the weightroom today at lunch. Did arms:

Seated Preacher Curls: 15 @ 75, 3 x 12 @ 95
Standing Alternating DB Curls: 12 @ 35, 2 x 8 @ 40, 8 @ 45
Wrist Curls: 12 @ 35, 2 x 8 @ 40, 6 @ 45
Standing Reverse Curls w/Armblaster: 12 @ 75, 3 x 8 @ 80

My hands are so city. Don't have any callouses any more and my hands are burning with the rough part of the bar turning in my hand. Good lift. Was actually fun. Just wish I had more time to really get in a 10 lift day.

Results of the 2009 Columbia River Power Marathon

We left on Thursday after work and drove for 9 hours to Hilgard Junction State park, about an hour before Hermiston, OR. I was so tired and I promised Cathi that I'd stop when I got sleepy. Trying to sleep in the van with 9 people all scrunched up was tough. It was cold outside and every 10-15 seconds someone would whine and then go back to sleep. It was extremely uncomfortable. Never again.

Got up around 5 am and drove the rest of the way to Umatilla. Got to the Umatilla Marina and got a tent site. We set up camp and I then slept for another three hours while Cathi took the kids out with the van to explore. When they got back we went to get the packets. It was a very rainy day. We went to go see "Where the Wild Things Are". Not the best movie ever, but it was pretty fun. Sam and Oliver laughed out loud several times throughout the movie. Definitely a kid movie.

Then we went to Pizza Hut. The kids loved it. I had a salad bar and all the crusts the kids didn't want. Sleeping that night was so much better than the night before even though the wind for most of the night was extremely violent. It broke one of the side poles and I got up in the middle of the night to tie it up to a nearby tree. Then Isaac had some sort of stomach flu and threw up all over inside his sleeping bag. He had vomit all over his pajamas, his face, in his bag. Thank goodness the campsite had showers. So I carried him over to the bathrooms and got him showered up and in some extra pajamas we had that were way too small for him. Then carried him back and he slept with Sam in his sleeping bag. It was great after that. The wind died down and I slept for another several hours.

Cathi, Jacob and I woke up at 6:30 and got ready. I told Austin the computer password so he could sign in and play movies for the kids while we were gone. It was a chilly morning. Probably low 50s. Here's the route:


This route was fun because we got to Cross McNary Dam and run the next several miles in Washington State. The hardest part was miles 9 - 11 where it was uphill. Mile 2.5 - 4 was also hard, but since it was so close to the start not that big of a deal. I was very pleased with my pace on this race. At mile 5 I started to feel a little discomfort in my left knee. I said a prayer that it wouldn't get worse and that I would have a good race. I sure got an answer to that prayer! It didn't get worse (it didn't get better though) and it was a constant ache, but nothing that really prevented me from running my normal pace. At mile 6.5 we start across the McNary Highway Bridge. On the switchback up to the bridge I saw Cathi was only about 200 yards behind me. I yelled out for her and gave her a wave. She smiled and waved back.

When I got to mile 10.3 that is where the Full Marathoners keep going down a trail while the half marathoners loop back and finish their last few miles. At that point where I looped back, I saw Cathi and hooted for her and she ran a great first 10 miles.

There was a guy who passed me at mile 3 who stayed ahead of me up to a quarter mile. But after the hills at mile 11 I was able to gain on him and ended up passing him on the last stretch of the race on Willamette Ave just after mile 12 and he fought the pass, but couldn't keep up. I gave this race my all and my legs are making me pay today. I'm hobbling around like an old man. Anyway, my time was 1:54:49. I waited for Jacob to finish and that poor kid had a tough race. He came in at 2:27:28. He took first place for the 17 and Under division (too bad there weren't any other kids in that division at all).

We hurried back to camp. The kids just finished a movie and we loaded up the van. We got back about 10 minutes before Cathi got there. Because of the hills, I thought her time would at best be 4:00. She ended up getting 3:51:19. That's a fantastic time considering the two good sized hills to climb. She took first place overall for females! There were 16 female marathon runners and she took first! Here are the official results. Way to go Cathi!

We had such a great time on this "vacation". The kids got along great considering the close quarters. Thank goodness for the movie setup I have in the van. It helped keep the kids minds off the very long drive.

Chest workout

Since doing cardio so much the last year, I haven't spent as much time in the weight room and man I miss it. Today I did chest:

DB Flys: 4 x 8,10,12,14 @ 40
Decline Press: 12 @ 135, 10 @ 155, 8 @ 175, 12 @ 135
Pushups: 4 x 20 slow ones

Not much I know, but should be enough to get the pecs a little tender.

Six mile run with Cathi again

Ran six miles with Cathi this morning. Felt like giving up several times. Not because I had any specific joint pain, just felt lazy. I didn't end up giving up though. My pace wasn't the fastest, but I did run the whole time (except once when Cathi had to make a quick pit stop).

It wasn't cold this morning. It was starting to sprinkle a little, so we had plenty of cloud cover. What a good morning.