Okay-getting a little dumbell workout in for the last couple evenings.
haven't done as much running as i'd like, but I did play a lot of minutes at the soccer game on Thursday and I have another one tonight.
next week, I definitely need to get out on the road 2 or 3 mornings a week. The training schedule doesn't start till february for the Colfax marathon, but I've got to be up to about 18 or 20 miles per week by that point.
Anyways...ditching out of work tonight to get to the game, then coming home at regular time tonight.
Last game was a beating, but we'll see how this one goes.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Once more into the breach
So I started again this morning. I'm shooting for the Colfax Marathon in May 2010.
This morning I got out at 6:40 and jogged 3.6 miles around City Park in Denver. It was a little cold--weather.com said about 36 degrees when I left the house.
The run itself was fine. Took just over 28 minutes. I didn't feel tired, but running with all that gear on feels draining.
I'm going to try to lift a little when I go to my lunch break (around 1600) but I'm pretty hungry so I'm not sure if that will happen.
Actually, I just remembered I have some stuff in my locker to eat, so maybe I can slip out and get that now then still workout on my actual break in a couple hours.
This morning I got out at 6:40 and jogged 3.6 miles around City Park in Denver. It was a little cold--weather.com said about 36 degrees when I left the house.
The run itself was fine. Took just over 28 minutes. I didn't feel tired, but running with all that gear on feels draining.
I'm going to try to lift a little when I go to my lunch break (around 1600) but I'm pretty hungry so I'm not sure if that will happen.
Actually, I just remembered I have some stuff in my locker to eat, so maybe I can slip out and get that now then still workout on my actual break in a couple hours.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
No End in Sight
So with fencing tourneys et al., I've got no idea which marathon I am actually training for. That's not that bad considering I hadn't, until 3 days ago, run over 100 yds. in 3 weeks.
On Monday, I woke up and ran 6.6 miles around City Park. On Tuesday I was able to do 7.2, and on the third day, Wednesday I rested. Unfortunately, I rested on Thursday as well since I was busy moving more stuff out of the Ida Dr. house and trying to get it all up to the new apt.
When the move is complete, and we have our deposit back from the old place, I'll earnestly seek out a new marathon to set as a target and get back to serious training. Right now it's just too hectic. I spend hours in the car and hours carrying boxes every day.
On Monday, I woke up and ran 6.6 miles around City Park. On Tuesday I was able to do 7.2, and on the third day, Wednesday I rested. Unfortunately, I rested on Thursday as well since I was busy moving more stuff out of the Ida Dr. house and trying to get it all up to the new apt.
When the move is complete, and we have our deposit back from the old place, I'll earnestly seek out a new marathon to set as a target and get back to serious training. Right now it's just too hectic. I spend hours in the car and hours carrying boxes every day.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Beach Week and Week 4
On the road again...
So thankfully, I'm more faithful with my running than I am with my blogging. Though I haven't added a post in over a week, I've kept to my training schedule with only a few minor changes during Beach Week in VA.On Monday of Beach Week, I jogged the perscribed 4 miles up and down the Sandfiddler and Sandpiper Roads in Sandbridge. It turned out there was a perfect 2 mile loop starting from the house my family rents, north as far as I could go, then back around on the second street off the beach to Marlin, then back to the Regency.
I took that run really light and slow and just enjoyed being in VA and running with the sounds and smells of the ocean just behind the houses on my right.
Tuesday, the schedule has a rest day, but I was feeling good, and my brother was going to run anyway, so I did 4 easy miles with him, then finished 2 more miles a quicker pace including a .3 mile kick at the end that really burned.
Wednesday, I rested and Thursday did 6 more miles at a moderate pace though the schedule called for 5. Since we were leaving on Saturday, and I guessed I wouldn't have time to run, then come back and pack and leave, I did my Saturday long distance run on Friday.
I ended up going almost all the way down to Back Bay Wildlife Refuge area before turning around and doing the 2 mile loop once. That worked out to be a long 10.2 miles. The schedule called for 11 and I felt bad for stopping early, but the last 6 miles were into a stiff headwind, and I had not rested the day before as the schedule had suggested so the work done, I think, by running on consecutive days in addition to the wind, was about the same had I made that last .8 miles. I also tried to keep in mind that I had run 1 more mile than the training schedule said to on Thursday.All in all it was a pretty good week of training. I didn't splurge too much on soda while I was there and managed to eat relatively healthy meals most of the week.
Now I'm back in Colorado, and working on my next week. Monday mileage has gone to 5 miles and I ran early in the morning. It was tough. Not only was I expecting only 4, but I had not eaten yet, and was running low on calories. Also, because I did the Saturday run on the Friday before, I had a two day rest which I think hurt me a little more than I would have though. I really didn't feel like running.
Today I had a 6 mile run which I got done about 2 pm. It is very hot, so I've been trying to up my water intake as much as possible. I am, thanks to my wife, eating plenty of bananas since Nora likes them for breakfast, but usually only eats about 1/2 to 3/4 of one. So I get at least half a banana every day. I've cut out beer almost completely, though I'll allow myself to indulge a bit on the weekends or in social situations.
I am losing weight steadily. I'm down to 155 which is still about 5 lbs heavier than I was when I got back from basic training, but I think it's the lightest I've been since being back from Cuba. So I'm happy with that. I certainly don't want to run myself into being one of those skin-and-bones runners that look like a stiff wind could break their bones, so on my off days I'm continuing to do a little weightlifting focusing on my back, arms, chest and abs.
Well, run tomorrow that should be 5 miles so I'll try to get back on here after that.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Week 2: Day 6
This morning when I came home from work, I reset my trip odometer at one of my known mileage points and proceeded to drive 3.5 miles more to mark out my 9 mile run for today.
Since it was my first day of work (my Monday in Dispatch Talk), and I had not slept at all yesterday afternoon but worked through the night on the sleep I got Thursday night, my concentration level was down.
I was anxious to get back home, crawl into bed and get a few hours sleep before the longest run to date in my training program. Even when I was driving it (and this should have been where I realized I was making a mistake) it seemed like an awful long 4.5 miles from home. My turn around point ended up being directly in front of Grandview High School on Arapahoe Road.
But, I thought, "Hey, this is the longest run I've done so far, it's bound to feel long." I turned around, drove home and went to bed.
About 4 and a half hours later, I woke up to the sound of jet fighters (F-16's) flying around the area. Since I have trouble getting back to sleep once I've gotten even 2 or 3 hours, I laced up my shoes and hit the road.
I started nice and slow, and figured it was more about getting the miles in than any kind of time target. While I was running I did see a flight of 4 F-16s flying in formation in circles around the area. I imagined they were practicing their fly-over formation for the festivities tonight since it's Independence Day.
But I was jogging and thinking about this and I realized that I restarted my odometer at the 1.5 mile mark, not the 1 mile mark. If I went all the way to the turn-around I picked out earlier in the morning I'd have gone 5 miles from home resulting in a total 10 miles. Worse than that, I had no idea where my actual turn-around should have been.
Arapahoe Rd is beautiful this far east and reminds me of Virginia. There are gentle ups and downs, no sidewalks, washed out shoulders, and vegetation growing right to the edge of the pavement in places. The weather too, was cooperating and the sun stayed hidden for much of the early morning and temps weren't too high. There was even a refreshing breeze that promised some rain later in the day if not an exact replay of the tempests that swept through the area yesterday.
So I did all 10. I felt good. Made sure not to push too hard, and just enjoyed the long slow run. I recall having done 10 mile runs about 1 time a week through my senior year of high school, maybe a little less if there were several soccer teams I was playing on. But I would run down 622, cross at English Tavern, then over to Sunnymeade (sp), up that steep curving hill and down the other side, then out 677 to some railroad tracks just past the rock quary. I did that run almost regularly. Those were good runs.
Anyways... training for today complete. I've got work tonight, but I leave 2 hours early for Virginia!
Since it was my first day of work (my Monday in Dispatch Talk), and I had not slept at all yesterday afternoon but worked through the night on the sleep I got Thursday night, my concentration level was down.
I was anxious to get back home, crawl into bed and get a few hours sleep before the longest run to date in my training program. Even when I was driving it (and this should have been where I realized I was making a mistake) it seemed like an awful long 4.5 miles from home. My turn around point ended up being directly in front of Grandview High School on Arapahoe Road.
But, I thought, "Hey, this is the longest run I've done so far, it's bound to feel long." I turned around, drove home and went to bed.
About 4 and a half hours later, I woke up to the sound of jet fighters (F-16's) flying around the area. Since I have trouble getting back to sleep once I've gotten even 2 or 3 hours, I laced up my shoes and hit the road.
I started nice and slow, and figured it was more about getting the miles in than any kind of time target. While I was running I did see a flight of 4 F-16s flying in formation in circles around the area. I imagined they were practicing their fly-over formation for the festivities tonight since it's Independence Day.
But I was jogging and thinking about this and I realized that I restarted my odometer at the 1.5 mile mark, not the 1 mile mark. If I went all the way to the turn-around I picked out earlier in the morning I'd have gone 5 miles from home resulting in a total 10 miles. Worse than that, I had no idea where my actual turn-around should have been.
Arapahoe Rd is beautiful this far east and reminds me of Virginia. There are gentle ups and downs, no sidewalks, washed out shoulders, and vegetation growing right to the edge of the pavement in places. The weather too, was cooperating and the sun stayed hidden for much of the early morning and temps weren't too high. There was even a refreshing breeze that promised some rain later in the day if not an exact replay of the tempests that swept through the area yesterday.
So I did all 10. I felt good. Made sure not to push too hard, and just enjoyed the long slow run. I recall having done 10 mile runs about 1 time a week through my senior year of high school, maybe a little less if there were several soccer teams I was playing on. But I would run down 622, cross at English Tavern, then over to Sunnymeade (sp), up that steep curving hill and down the other side, then out 677 to some railroad tracks just past the rock quary. I did that run almost regularly. Those were good runs.
Anyways... training for today complete. I've got work tonight, but I leave 2 hours early for Virginia!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Week 2: Days 3,4,and 5
On Tuesday, Septemper 23, 1997 I ran 19.2 miles without stopping. Now I'm training for a marathon and you can follow my progress here.
I'm nearing the end of my second week of training (week 4 on the schedule in order to meet the training deadline). On Monday, I wrote that I ran 4 miles. After writing, I did a second 4 miles bringing to total for Monday to 8 miles.
Tuesday was a rest day and I did Push-Up, Sit-Up improvement--doing each of the two exercises for 2 minutes, then 1 minute. For Push-Ups, I managed 65 in two minutes, and 34 in one minute. For Sit-Ups, 53 in two, and 38 in one.
Before the end of our deployment in Cuba, I was doing over a hundred of each in the two minute time limits.
On Wednesday, I did a slow 6 miles and felt pretty good. I have found that running without an iPod makes me run faster though it is harder because there is less distraction for the mind. Time for the 6 miles was about 53 minutes.
Thursday, following the training schedule I did 4 miles early in the morning. I went out before I ate, and really didn't have a good evening meal the night before so I knew my energy would be low. So the 4 miles, again done without music or timer, took me about 33 minutes.
I'd really like to get my per mile time down to 8 minutes instead of the 8.5 to 9 that it is now. For that, I might have to add in some kind of speed work on a day off. Or, if I join a soccer team, that should probably do it. Fencing hasn't really helped my speed, but my leg strength is pretty good.
Long story short, the training is going well, and I feel like the acceleration won't be too much to handle.
Nine miles on tap for tomorrow so for today I am resting. I won't be doing any kind of weights or swimming so that I can make sure I have enough calories for tomorrow's run. I'll have to check where the 4.5 mile turn around is since I've learned I can't really depend on the mapquest mileage.
September 20th will come soon enough and I've got a lot of miles to go--407 including Saturday--hopefully I won't be hampered by injuries of any kind.
For beach week, I'm going to combine the Wednesday and Thursday runs into one day, and run Saturday's run on Friday. That way I'm only running 3 days, but I'm not sacrificing any mileage. In fact, I'll be doing 11 miles on both Wednesday, and Friday. I wonder how that will effect my longer runs--if doing those two in one week will help me with those slower, longer mileage days.
Right now, I'm back down to about 156 lbs. This is the first week I've weighed that little since before Nora was born. I'm guessing I'll get down to about 150lbs. I stayed at that weight during basic training which during which my body fat percentage dipped pretty low. I think it will dip a little lower here, but I've added more muscle than I had in 2001 and 2002 so I think I'll stay right around 150 lbs in the next several weeks. I could be wrong, by a pound or two in either direction, but I think that sounds reasonable.
While my body is adjusting to ever increasing mileage every week, I'll continue to lose, until I get to a point where I'm eating the calories I'm burning and there aren't many more calories for me to burn off as fat.
Keeping hydrated is one of the tougher challenges. I've been weighing myself before and after my runs to make sure I get the water weight back, but I really don't like drinking water that much.
Well, time to go rest and get ready for vacation!
I'm nearing the end of my second week of training (week 4 on the schedule in order to meet the training deadline). On Monday, I wrote that I ran 4 miles. After writing, I did a second 4 miles bringing to total for Monday to 8 miles.
Tuesday was a rest day and I did Push-Up, Sit-Up improvement--doing each of the two exercises for 2 minutes, then 1 minute. For Push-Ups, I managed 65 in two minutes, and 34 in one minute. For Sit-Ups, 53 in two, and 38 in one.
Before the end of our deployment in Cuba, I was doing over a hundred of each in the two minute time limits.
On Wednesday, I did a slow 6 miles and felt pretty good. I have found that running without an iPod makes me run faster though it is harder because there is less distraction for the mind. Time for the 6 miles was about 53 minutes.
Thursday, following the training schedule I did 4 miles early in the morning. I went out before I ate, and really didn't have a good evening meal the night before so I knew my energy would be low. So the 4 miles, again done without music or timer, took me about 33 minutes.
I'd really like to get my per mile time down to 8 minutes instead of the 8.5 to 9 that it is now. For that, I might have to add in some kind of speed work on a day off. Or, if I join a soccer team, that should probably do it. Fencing hasn't really helped my speed, but my leg strength is pretty good.
Long story short, the training is going well, and I feel like the acceleration won't be too much to handle.
Nine miles on tap for tomorrow so for today I am resting. I won't be doing any kind of weights or swimming so that I can make sure I have enough calories for tomorrow's run. I'll have to check where the 4.5 mile turn around is since I've learned I can't really depend on the mapquest mileage.
September 20th will come soon enough and I've got a lot of miles to go--407 including Saturday--hopefully I won't be hampered by injuries of any kind.
For beach week, I'm going to combine the Wednesday and Thursday runs into one day, and run Saturday's run on Friday. That way I'm only running 3 days, but I'm not sacrificing any mileage. In fact, I'll be doing 11 miles on both Wednesday, and Friday. I wonder how that will effect my longer runs--if doing those two in one week will help me with those slower, longer mileage days.
Right now, I'm back down to about 156 lbs. This is the first week I've weighed that little since before Nora was born. I'm guessing I'll get down to about 150lbs. I stayed at that weight during basic training which during which my body fat percentage dipped pretty low. I think it will dip a little lower here, but I've added more muscle than I had in 2001 and 2002 so I think I'll stay right around 150 lbs in the next several weeks. I could be wrong, by a pound or two in either direction, but I think that sounds reasonable.
While my body is adjusting to ever increasing mileage every week, I'll continue to lose, until I get to a point where I'm eating the calories I'm burning and there aren't many more calories for me to burn off as fat.
Keeping hydrated is one of the tougher challenges. I've been weighing myself before and after my runs to make sure I get the water weight back, but I really don't like drinking water that much.
Well, time to go rest and get ready for vacation!
Monday, June 29, 2009
Week 2: Days 0 and 1
On Sunday I managed a short weight-lifting session:
3x15x50 lbs DB Presses
90 crunches + 10 lbs
3x10x25 Bent Over DB Rows
about 30 lunges
3x12x25 lbs DB flys
Today's distance was 4 miles. I woke up from working last night and got the run in about 1pm. I came in at 34 min 38 sec. just a shade over 8.30 per mile. That's not too fast, but I'm at the end of my work week and hadn't eaten a substantial meal since early yesterday evening. I'll need to do better with timing my eating so that I'm not so depleted when I wake up and run.
Mileage for this week should be 24 miles. I feel like this will be a good week of running. Six more on Wednesday, four on Thurs, and 9 on Saturday.
Sunday morning we leave for VA Beach and I'm going to try to change up my running from 4 to 3 days a week for that week. It'll also be a little different running at sea level again. So I'm going to try and get in 3 long runs. Distance should be 26 miles for the week, so I was thinking of doing two 11's one on Monday and one on Friday with 4 or 5 miler in the middle of the week. I'll have to see how it goes.
Hopefully I'll be able to get over 26 miles in. but it is vacation...so if I don't, I'm not going to beat myself up--just try to work harder the next week.
3x15x50 lbs DB Presses
90 crunches + 10 lbs
3x10x25 Bent Over DB Rows
about 30 lunges
3x12x25 lbs DB flys
Today's distance was 4 miles. I woke up from working last night and got the run in about 1pm. I came in at 34 min 38 sec. just a shade over 8.30 per mile. That's not too fast, but I'm at the end of my work week and hadn't eaten a substantial meal since early yesterday evening. I'll need to do better with timing my eating so that I'm not so depleted when I wake up and run.
Mileage for this week should be 24 miles. I feel like this will be a good week of running. Six more on Wednesday, four on Thurs, and 9 on Saturday.
Sunday morning we leave for VA Beach and I'm going to try to change up my running from 4 to 3 days a week for that week. It'll also be a little different running at sea level again. So I'm going to try and get in 3 long runs. Distance should be 26 miles for the week, so I was thinking of doing two 11's one on Monday and one on Friday with 4 or 5 miler in the middle of the week. I'll have to see how it goes.
Hopefully I'll be able to get over 26 miles in. but it is vacation...so if I don't, I'm not going to beat myself up--just try to work harder the next week.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Finally, A Finish Line to Start
Last week, I decided I wanted to run a marathon.
I'm not a "runner" per se, I'm a fencer. But I enjoy running for the fitness and theraputic properties of the exercise.
Anyway, I went online and looked up some information on prepairing for a marathon and started running according to a schedule meant to prepare me for the 26.2 miles in 16 weeks.
The schedule has me running 4 times per week, with Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday off. Since I didn't have a schedule last Sunday, I had already run just over 6 miles that day and my total for the week was 25 miles.
This week, I actually picked a target marathon. The trouble is that it's only 12 weeks away. So I either have to wait an entire year for one, or really lock down on my training regimen and diet in order to get ready for the Boulder Backroads Marathon on September 2oth.
I am fairly confident I can do it. My final run for this week, 6 miles done earlier this afternoon, felt really good. To be honest I felt I could have added 2 to 3 miles to it-despite having done an additional 6 miles earlier in the week--so on the return trip I kicked a little harder.
With these two facts in mind, I'm going to accelerate my training program by three weeks, which is an increase of 4 miles over the course of the week.
After two weeks of this advanced time table, I'll see how I feel and reevaluate whether or not the September 20th marathon is a realistic goal.
Ordinarily, I would consider this kind of jump reckless, but I think the regular fencing, indoor soccer, and frequent, though perhaps not regular running have kept me in fairly good shape. I will be eliminating some things from my diet to help me as well. With the shortened time frame, I simply can't afford to give away some of the gains I'm making to fast food and soda.
I'll be sad to see it go, believe me. And I used to joke that I exercised so much just so I could eat and drink what I want, but if I want to have a chance to make the deadline, I'm going to have to go at it from all angles.
So...updates to come. I'll try to write at least on running days, and if I do any kind of workout on a rest day (ie fencing or soccer or weight lifting), I'll try to add that info in as well.
I'm not a "runner" per se, I'm a fencer. But I enjoy running for the fitness and theraputic properties of the exercise.
Anyway, I went online and looked up some information on prepairing for a marathon and started running according to a schedule meant to prepare me for the 26.2 miles in 16 weeks.
The schedule has me running 4 times per week, with Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday off. Since I didn't have a schedule last Sunday, I had already run just over 6 miles that day and my total for the week was 25 miles.
This week, I actually picked a target marathon. The trouble is that it's only 12 weeks away. So I either have to wait an entire year for one, or really lock down on my training regimen and diet in order to get ready for the Boulder Backroads Marathon on September 2oth.
I am fairly confident I can do it. My final run for this week, 6 miles done earlier this afternoon, felt really good. To be honest I felt I could have added 2 to 3 miles to it-despite having done an additional 6 miles earlier in the week--so on the return trip I kicked a little harder.
With these two facts in mind, I'm going to accelerate my training program by three weeks, which is an increase of 4 miles over the course of the week.
After two weeks of this advanced time table, I'll see how I feel and reevaluate whether or not the September 20th marathon is a realistic goal.
Ordinarily, I would consider this kind of jump reckless, but I think the regular fencing, indoor soccer, and frequent, though perhaps not regular running have kept me in fairly good shape. I will be eliminating some things from my diet to help me as well. With the shortened time frame, I simply can't afford to give away some of the gains I'm making to fast food and soda.
I'll be sad to see it go, believe me. And I used to joke that I exercised so much just so I could eat and drink what I want, but if I want to have a chance to make the deadline, I'm going to have to go at it from all angles.
So...updates to come. I'll try to write at least on running days, and if I do any kind of workout on a rest day (ie fencing or soccer or weight lifting), I'll try to add that info in as well.
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