This morning was a scheduled 45 minute run for the 1/2 mary training program. We woke up and it was raining lightly. Overall it was a pretty decent run. The pace was a 9:40/mile and I sprinted the last 3/4 of a mile to get the HR going. I got it all the way up to 171 bpm!
I actually am enjoying running!
Tomorrow is a cross training day and I am going to try and swim in the evening.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Monday, October 5, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
P90X Stretch X & Rain
Oh well - some days mother nature just doesn't cooperate with your plans - what are you to do?
I woke up around 7:30 this morning. Which is crazy because I went to bed at 9:30 last night! I usually never sleep that long but when I woke up I felt great! A little sore but completely rested. Now I didn't set an alarm like usual and just figured I'd wake up when ready. Part of the reason I snoozed so long was that when I did finally get up it was still pretty dark outside. It was raining. Not a thunderstorm or a torrential down pour which is very common to us Houstonians but a mere shower.
Now I planned on driving down to Huffman with my bike to bust it up on a hard 10 mile ride, but I really didn't want to do this in the rain. I can't say I really mind the rain but it can be dangerous for us bikers. Drivers have lower visibility and the skinny tires on the Tri bikes become slick. I just figured I'd wait until a little later in the morning until it stopped raining. Well, the morning came and went and it was still raining. Then the afternoon came and went and it is STILL raining. The one good thing that has come from this experience is that I have decided to save up and buy an indoor trainer for the bike. This would be a perfect item for watching football all day on Sundays - I could do Century Rides in my living room! Not sure which trainer yet but if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.
With the day being a washout, literally. I still wanted to do something. My legs and hips were feeling some of the residual effects of yesterday's run and because of that doing anything high impact was out so I did --- P90X Stretch X!
It has been months since I have done Stretch X and after doing it all I can think of is that the rain must have been a sign from above! I mean I feel so freaking good right now. Especially my ankles, calves, hamstrings, and quads. I guess I didn't even realize how tight I actually was until I am no longer. That may not make sense but just know that Stretch X is just what I needed!
Well, I am in the middle of watching my Steelers kick the stuffings out of the Chargers right now. It is only the first quarter but they are finally looking like the Super Bowl Champs from last season. Now they just have to close! Here we go Stillers!
Tomorrow is a 50 minute easy run with a 5am wake-up call!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
I woke up around 7:30 this morning. Which is crazy because I went to bed at 9:30 last night! I usually never sleep that long but when I woke up I felt great! A little sore but completely rested. Now I didn't set an alarm like usual and just figured I'd wake up when ready. Part of the reason I snoozed so long was that when I did finally get up it was still pretty dark outside. It was raining. Not a thunderstorm or a torrential down pour which is very common to us Houstonians but a mere shower.
Now I planned on driving down to Huffman with my bike to bust it up on a hard 10 mile ride, but I really didn't want to do this in the rain. I can't say I really mind the rain but it can be dangerous for us bikers. Drivers have lower visibility and the skinny tires on the Tri bikes become slick. I just figured I'd wait until a little later in the morning until it stopped raining. Well, the morning came and went and it was still raining. Then the afternoon came and went and it is STILL raining. The one good thing that has come from this experience is that I have decided to save up and buy an indoor trainer for the bike. This would be a perfect item for watching football all day on Sundays - I could do Century Rides in my living room! Not sure which trainer yet but if anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.
With the day being a washout, literally. I still wanted to do something. My legs and hips were feeling some of the residual effects of yesterday's run and because of that doing anything high impact was out so I did --- P90X Stretch X!
It has been months since I have done Stretch X and after doing it all I can think of is that the rain must have been a sign from above! I mean I feel so freaking good right now. Especially my ankles, calves, hamstrings, and quads. I guess I didn't even realize how tight I actually was until I am no longer. That may not make sense but just know that Stretch X is just what I needed!
Well, I am in the middle of watching my Steelers kick the stuffings out of the Chargers right now. It is only the first quarter but they are finally looking like the Super Bowl Champs from last season. Now they just have to close! Here we go Stillers!
Tomorrow is a 50 minute easy run with a 5am wake-up call!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Saturday, October 3, 2009
1/2 Marathon Training: 10 Mile Run
The alarm clock went off at 4:30 am, I promptly hit the snooze button. Nine minutes later I was up and trying to explain to Annie what the heck was going on! She finally came around and we each had a slice of toast with peanut butter. I loaded up my water bottles with a 1/2 concentration of Gatorade, strapped on the Garmin, and slowly walked out the door!
The beginning of every run is always the worst for me. I keep looking at my Garmin to see my distance and pace and say things to myself like, ".5 miles down only 9.5 to go!" ... yes I am that brutal on myself (-:
After about 2 miles I was able to settle in for what turned out to be a refreshing 1:47 minute jaunt through my dark and quiet neighborhood. As my buddy Boomer has mentioned in many of his posts, hydration and nutrition are key on long training days. About every two miles I would take in a few ounces of gatorade and at mile 6 I had myself a vanilla GU gel. By the time I was done with the 10 miles I was ready for breakfast but overall I felt pretty good and plan on maintaining this type of nutrition in the future.
On Sunday when I did a 9 mile run I averaged a 9:40 minute/mile pace in awful humidity. Today I averaged a pace of 10:26 in perfect weather conditions. This had nothing to do with the distance and more to do with the fact that Annie was pacing today and my legs were starting to feel the effects of the 25 miles that I had already run this week! So that means since Sunday I have accumulated 35 miles. The main reason for this increase is because last week my long run was done on Sunday instead of Saturday, thus making it appear that I have increased my mileage way to aggressively. That is not the case because if I take that 9 mile Sunday and add it to last week I would have done 22 miles last week and 25 miles this week.
Now, a lot of you maybe reading this and saying to yourself, "why the heck does Jeff count all his miles? Who cares, just run!"
Well, a couple of reasons. First, I am anal. Second, I have found that if you plan your workouts in advance it is much easier to hold yourself accountable. If you didn't have a workout planned it is much easier to take a "day off" as opposed to "missing a scheduled workout" .... Semantics? yes. Effective? YES.
Thirdly, when it comes to any type of increased physical workload increases, especially running, it is important to know your mileage stats in order to know how much to increase so you can prevent injury. Studies (and personal experience) have shown that increasing mileage too quickly can result in injuries. Running is very hard on your body - joints and muscles in particular - and your body needs significant time to get used to the added workloads. In running the general rule of thumb is to increase by only 10% each week.
Anyways, today's run was fun and I could have easily went another 3 miles that would be required for a 1/2 Mary. Tomorrow morning I am going to try and go all out on my Tri bike for 10 miles to see what kind of time I can average. I have a Triathlon coming up on Oct 18th and it is only a 10 mile bike ride. I need to see where I am.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
The beginning of every run is always the worst for me. I keep looking at my Garmin to see my distance and pace and say things to myself like, ".5 miles down only 9.5 to go!" ... yes I am that brutal on myself (-:
After about 2 miles I was able to settle in for what turned out to be a refreshing 1:47 minute jaunt through my dark and quiet neighborhood. As my buddy Boomer has mentioned in many of his posts, hydration and nutrition are key on long training days. About every two miles I would take in a few ounces of gatorade and at mile 6 I had myself a vanilla GU gel. By the time I was done with the 10 miles I was ready for breakfast but overall I felt pretty good and plan on maintaining this type of nutrition in the future.
On Sunday when I did a 9 mile run I averaged a 9:40 minute/mile pace in awful humidity. Today I averaged a pace of 10:26 in perfect weather conditions. This had nothing to do with the distance and more to do with the fact that Annie was pacing today and my legs were starting to feel the effects of the 25 miles that I had already run this week! So that means since Sunday I have accumulated 35 miles. The main reason for this increase is because last week my long run was done on Sunday instead of Saturday, thus making it appear that I have increased my mileage way to aggressively. That is not the case because if I take that 9 mile Sunday and add it to last week I would have done 22 miles last week and 25 miles this week.
Now, a lot of you maybe reading this and saying to yourself, "why the heck does Jeff count all his miles? Who cares, just run!"
Well, a couple of reasons. First, I am anal. Second, I have found that if you plan your workouts in advance it is much easier to hold yourself accountable. If you didn't have a workout planned it is much easier to take a "day off" as opposed to "missing a scheduled workout" .... Semantics? yes. Effective? YES.
Thirdly, when it comes to any type of increased physical workload increases, especially running, it is important to know your mileage stats in order to know how much to increase so you can prevent injury. Studies (and personal experience) have shown that increasing mileage too quickly can result in injuries. Running is very hard on your body - joints and muscles in particular - and your body needs significant time to get used to the added workloads. In running the general rule of thumb is to increase by only 10% each week.
Anyways, today's run was fun and I could have easily went another 3 miles that would be required for a 1/2 Mary. Tomorrow morning I am going to try and go all out on my Tri bike for 10 miles to see what kind of time I can average. I have a Triathlon coming up on Oct 18th and it is only a 10 mile bike ride. I need to see where I am.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Friday, October 2, 2009
1/2 Marathon Training: 30 Minute Easy Run
So today called for an easy 30 minute run. We woke up a little later than we wanted. Mostly because we had some crazy storms around 3am that woke me up time and time again and I was tired ... Annie slept right through the storms but didn't debate when I hit the snooze a few times!
When Annie and I did finally roll out of bed I looked at the outdoor thermometer and saw it was 65 degrees and got excited to go run! We ended up doing 3.4 miles over 32 minutes. It was a nice easy pace and my legs feel ready to tackle the scheduled 10 mile run tomorrow
I just weighed myself about 20 minutes ago and was a lean 154 lbs with a BF% of 13%. About a month ago when I was alternating P90X weight lifting and cardio and taking supplements my weight was 163 lbs. This running really takes the weight off!
Also I have been keeping my training stats over at BeginnerTriathlete.com and here is my mileage totals for September:
Bike: 4h 28m 51s - 77 Mi
Run: 12h 56m 07s - 79.66 Mi
Swim: 2h 25m - 4616.8 Yd
Strength: 7h 00m
I am pretty happy with my Run totals. This month I am trying to get over 100 miles running. The strength totals are going to go down and this will help add time to my swim and bike. I really enjoy the BeginnerTriathlete.com Training logs!
Tomorrow is a 10 mile run!!!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
When Annie and I did finally roll out of bed I looked at the outdoor thermometer and saw it was 65 degrees and got excited to go run! We ended up doing 3.4 miles over 32 minutes. It was a nice easy pace and my legs feel ready to tackle the scheduled 10 mile run tomorrow
I just weighed myself about 20 minutes ago and was a lean 154 lbs with a BF% of 13%. About a month ago when I was alternating P90X weight lifting and cardio and taking supplements my weight was 163 lbs. This running really takes the weight off!
Also I have been keeping my training stats over at BeginnerTriathlete.com and here is my mileage totals for September:
Bike: 4h 28m 51s - 77 Mi
Run: 12h 56m 07s - 79.66 Mi
Swim: 2h 25m - 4616.8 Yd
Strength: 7h 00m
I am pretty happy with my Run totals. This month I am trying to get over 100 miles running. The strength totals are going to go down and this will help add time to my swim and bike. I really enjoy the BeginnerTriathlete.com Training logs!
Tomorrow is a 10 mile run!!!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Thursday, October 1, 2009
1000 Yd Swim & 3.1 Mile Run
I was feeling bad about missing my workouts yesterday so I decided to hit it hard today. I was going to get up early and run outside but when I did I decided it would be nice to swim too.
So I went to the gym and got in 1000 yards in the pool. I decided to work on speed so I did a bunch of 2x50 interval sprints and finished with a couple of slow 2x50 to cool down and reclaim my form.
I then hit the locker room, showered up and jumped on the treadmill. My starting pace about a 9 minute mile but then I became increasingly bored and upped the pace. The whole reason was because I was so bored on the treadmill that I wanted to finish faster! Ended up doing 3.1 miles in 24:46 minutes. Not a bad time but I should have started harder!
Tomorrow Annie and I are going to run at an easy pace for 30 minutes. Then on Saturday we have a 10 mile run scheduled. The good news is that a cold front is coming through and the temperature is going to be in the high 70's, but it is supposed to rain.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
So I went to the gym and got in 1000 yards in the pool. I decided to work on speed so I did a bunch of 2x50 interval sprints and finished with a couple of slow 2x50 to cool down and reclaim my form.
I then hit the locker room, showered up and jumped on the treadmill. My starting pace about a 9 minute mile but then I became increasingly bored and upped the pace. The whole reason was because I was so bored on the treadmill that I wanted to finish faster! Ended up doing 3.1 miles in 24:46 minutes. Not a bad time but I should have started harder!
Tomorrow Annie and I are going to run at an easy pace for 30 minutes. Then on Saturday we have a 10 mile run scheduled. The good news is that a cold front is coming through and the temperature is going to be in the high 70's, but it is supposed to rain.
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)