Okay so it is Saturday which means another double workout day! This fitness lifestyle is just killing other aspects of my life. My yard looks like crap, I have a ton of chores to do around the house, we never go out anymore, I barely watch TV, the laundry pile keeps getting higher, and I have never felt better!!!
Today is the beginning of Week 4 for this edition of P90x. All of you P90X enthusiasts know this as the recovery week. Well, not for me! We woke up early this morning and did a 5 mile run in the neighborhood. My wife Annie is training to run a 1/2 Mary and Saturday is her schedule long run. According to the program she is following the pace is supposed to be "conversational". So, I have been doing this run with her and she has been pacing me. This morning was awesome because we are having what the weather people here in Houston call a cold front. Yes, if you look on weather.com is will still say our temperature is 94 degrees, but the humidity is drastically reduced. And for us Houstonians in August that is some much welcomed relief!
Anyways, we did our conversational 5 miles at 54:54. A pace of a little under 11 min/mile. My average HR was 148 BPM and my Garmin said I burned 672 calories. This was a nice base run that kept me in the aerobic zone for basically the entire distance. I have never been a long distance runner and was unsure about this "training in the aerobic zone" thing, but I am now a believer because my running has improved drastically over the last 6 months of this type of conditioning.
After the run we had some breakfast and relaxed for awhile and then I went to the gym for Chest, Back, & Ab Ripper X. I love going to my crappy gym on Saturdays in the early afternoon because I practically have it all to myself. I don't mind when a crowd is there but it makes it easier when I am the only one using the dumbbells and lat pull down machine. By the 2nd time through Chest & Back my body was feeling some fatigue. When I got to the wide push-ups again, which I am doing with dumbbells on a flat bench, it was hard to initially get the weights up to my chest. And my arms were shaking some as I struggled to heave the 40lb DBs in the air - it felt awesome.
Ab Ripper X was a good time today as well. My intensity was good (thanks again NO Xplode) but my results we a notch below good. I made it through but struggled more than usual. I ditched using the medicine ball for the Mason Twists because I was too darn tired to walk to the other side of the gym to pick it up! That is usually a sign of a good workout!
I came home and slammed some Muscle Milk (my new recover drink - 22G Protein) and am now going to take a nap on the couch until dinner. Guess the house chores can wait until tomorrow, again!
Tomorrow morning I plan on getting up for a nice bike ride on the Q-Roo. I might just stay in the neighborhood since traffic is so light on Sunday mornings but if I am real motivated I might just make the 20 minute drive to Huffman.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Awesome post today. The conversational pacing helps increase the heart's stroke volume. During a 5k pace, the heart beats faster, but doesn't take in a big "gulp" of blood per stroke. Going aerobic trains the heart to be more efficient... at least, that is what I have been reading.
ReplyDeleteI give you big time props for your hard P90X workout after your run. Sounds like you had a good training day. Man, I wish I was 33!
Oh, I had to laugh about all the stuff around the house not getting done since you have been doing all your training and workouts. Boy, I can relate!
Keep up the good work!
Boomer - So true about the conversational pacing. I used to really struggle when I was in the anaerobic zone trying to push it ... now it is still hard but not as uncomfortable because of the base conditioning.
ReplyDeleteYou feeling it after the 8 miler?
Amazingly enough, I recovered well from the long run. Go figure! I still hate running.
ReplyDelete