Last Work of 2010

so bring on the celebration before the 2011 training starts :)

Took Wednesday and Thursday off from training due to jet lag and fatigue, even though I was still dragging today kind of felt I needed to get a run in especially since the weather was so  beautiful. 50 degrees in Ohio in December is incredible so you kind of wonder was is yet to come. Once  I was dressed and running I felt great, but by mile 3 started having problem with my right mid foot from the shoe I am wearing so even thou this was a style that worked for me before the new update is not working so I have to give the shoe up before I damage my foot again. Right now have some KT tape on it.




After the run finish up with one of my favorite leg matrix from Alwyn Cosgrove

24 bodyweight squats
12 lunges on each leg
12 jumping lunges on each leg
24 jumping BW squats          do as fast as you can, took a 2 mins break then repeat.

3x12 pushups on my toe
2x50 mountain climber
2x50 bicycles

2010 was an incredible with so many ups and downs but here is to a great 2011


Wishing you all the very best life has to offer in 2011.

Back from Vacation

After 2 weeks in sunny Arizona and Southern California, I am back to the cold/gray days of Ohio, I had a very good time getting away from life and work for a couple days just to recharge and reflect on the year ending. The weather at both locations was so perfect that it just beg for a run. I am so in love with the Scottsdale/Paradise Valley area, sidewalk and running path all over the place, blue skies and lots of mountains to climb. A lot of the resident complain about the 3 months of 120 degree heat but in the midwest we are looking at 6 months of cold so oh well.

I kept up with my running finally passing the 1000 mile mark, ran about 52 miles during my vacation, did lots of cross training, swimming, weight training and hiking with the family. Lots of time to reflect and reconnect but now back to real life and to plan for the up coming year.

Had a great Christmas but I always do anyway, the get away trip was our gift to each other and a way for the family to reconnect and recharge. I always love watch my 2 boys interact during this time, life is good.

Need to decide on races, goal, training plans and ... for the new year.

Arizona Road Race 30k

The day before did a quick 4 miles run to access how my body react to the increase temp since I was coming in from 19 degrees to 60 degrees, the run went fine but I can realize that I need more fluid and electrolyte but come race day the temperature was hotter that my practice run at  about 70 for the start and I was not interested in taking any gel or energy drink my stomach was having none of it which was going to be a problem so decided to just treat this as long training run.

The race took place in the Rio Vista Park, basically we ran to a location in the park turned around and ran back, since the whole race took place in a park there was no spectator, so it was just like a long run, someone running in front someone behind we were all just doing our thing. There was water and gatorade on the course and bathroom but really it was a long boring route, desert sand, occasional trees, occasional biker and hikers.

With only 113 30k runners, it means you didn't see too many people at the turn around and also that  by the time we slow 30k finisher got to the post run food most of it was gone even though I know they had a lot of food at the start but with 89 5k runners and the relay runners it was really beyond their control, but they had lots of drinks which was what I really wanted.

The race was very well organized, start was fine went off on time, at the finish there was just one guy waiting to collect the timing chip. This was a small race, probably offering a 5k  and a 30k  was a big jump, really felt bad for the volunteers out there but they were great, cheering and offering encouragement to keep us going.


I will probably run it again, it was a very challenging race and mentally/physically I wasn't ready for it but it was a nice way to get a long run in.

Total Finisher 91/113  

Female Finishers  30/42 

Age Group 6/6 

Chip Time 3:15:10 

Pace 10:29 

Gun Time 3:15:42 

More snow today but not as windy as yesterday so the roads were better, I did manage to get to work today since I only have 2 working days left for the rest of the year need to get lots of things done as not to be called in to help doing my tie off.

I woke up today with incredible pain in my butt from yesterday's workout, and the spin session was hellish. Today's workout was 4 miles run interval, 32 mins on the stepper, 30 mins on the spin bike and Cathe Back and Biceps.

I got my new Garmin 305 and footpod yesterday, so was able to try them out today, worked great may have to recalibrate the foot pod so as to be able to handle varying speed change.

Snowed in

Snowed in today, with a normal day travel to work time of  about 1 hour there was going to be no way I was going to be able to made it in anything less than 2 due to the blowing and drifting snow, so ended up working from home.

So of course with a snow day it meant I had more time to workout in the morning but this was also my taper week before my 30k on Sunday in Arizona so what to do, on schedule was my 7 mile base run which I did, decided not to do more running than that since my toes are still recovering from Saturday's race frostbite added on 3 miles of hill walking using itread 18 walking series, then 6 mins of stretch from Grace next up was Cathe Butts and Guts, this workout hits every single muscle in my legs, butt and abs.

Ohio Outside Trail Series #3

I didn't do a race report for # 2 since there was not that much change in the running condition but I did reduce my time by 1:30 but this time around with the temps at 26 degrees and the trail snow covered it was going to be an adventure.

I got to the park around 8:15, race is schedule to start at 8:30, it was cold and I really wasn't in the mood for a long warmup, so I jogged to the pavilion to pick up my bib and beer glass then back to my car to put things away and then jogged back to the race start. Because of the icy condition there was no stairs, so we had to get on the road which was just as slippery due to ice.

We started right on time after we went through a brief race info, the trail was snow covered so I knew it there was going to be no PR at this one. So the goal for the race remains the same avoiding getting pass by the front pack since this is a double loop course and stay ahead of the 60 year old guy, he is faster than me but does lots of races so I expected him to be running on tired legs. Well, he went blowing pass me about .25 miles into the race and I really couldn't go any faster due to the conditions of the trail, it is amazing how much more tired the snow covered trails made the legs, I settle into a comfortable pace and prayed not to fall since this was a very windy trail, and each turn was heart pounding and the downhills were free falls. About mile 3, I saw the 60 year old guy ahead and wonder if I could catch him, I was running at a comfortable pace not really race pace, so I worked on increasing the pace by mile 4 I passes the lady I had been following for the past 2 miles, it took me awhile to pass her every time I go to pass on her left she will speed up, she was tired and was wasting too much energy speeding up so I back off giving her time to breathe, but by the fourth time I kept up with her pace and eventually pass her and kept on going at the same pace, now just had to see if I can catch him since I was running out of miles, finally I went pass him at about mile 4.5 so can I hold the pace to the end without him passing me back, I was able to and finish in 51:23, really not as bad as I was expecting based on the trail conditions, I had some problem with my left feet actually 2 middle toes got frostbite due to a whole in the front of my trail shoe.

So to see how I really did since one of the goal of the series was to improve with each race but because of the snow at the 3rd  race so I went back and compare my 3 results to the first female results because the same person won all the races, so not too bad

#1    48:32      4/8     87/135     First Female   34:33
#2    46:49      3/7     97/152                           33:03
#3    51:23      3/9     69/113                           39:17

So for being an age group winner you get to pick you own price of the table, for race #2 I picked the tram bar and really enjoy them so picked them again for #3.

Long midweek run today at base pace, was aiming for 12 but ran out of time and only did 9.5 miles this morning so after work added on the required 2.5 miles, this was a long steady run, it always amazes me how hard it is to run at the low pace but I also know how important it is to do.

My next race is this weekend, I know the trail has about 6-8 inches of snow on it so it is going to be an interesting run and so far the stairs are out due to being icy so I am not sure how the double loop is going to work without the stairs then it is off to Arizona next week for next race and Christmas.

Ordered a new Garmin 305 from Amazon currently have a 301 which is in good working condition but I need a foot pod to use on the tread and the 301 does not have that capability also since my company pays half of what I spend on fitness up to $500, I was able to convince them about paying for the Garmin, am hoping I can convince them next year to start paying for races, even if I have to end up wearing a company tech shirt.

Itri - Running + Xtraining

Using the iTri series from itrain is really a great way to get in a short run and cross training, since I only have 4 miles on schedule today, I decided to do iTri 8 which is one of my favorite since I love anything with Keith. You start out with 15 mins on the treadmill warmup and hills, kind of amazing how she snuck in a 4% hill while I was running at my marathon pace, look mum no hands was able to keep running without holding on to the treadmill , then off the treadmill for more climbing on the elliptical for 13 mins (1 added 4 extra mins to make 17 mins) then unto the spin bike for 20 mins of more hard climb and sprint just about the time I was getting ready to die on the bike it's back to the treadmill for 23 mins of sprints and recovery. This is really a great workout and I love the banter between Grace and Keith, just when you though you couldn't do any more that section is over and on to something else. Finish off the workout with 15 mins of Fit stick Upper Body Blast, had this workout for a while bought at target at clearance, great workout, really hit every UB muscle in a short period.

Itread 5

Awesome run on the treadmill today, I know most people don't like running on the treadmill, but since I wake up at 4:30am (although may not start working out until 5:30am) there is no way I am going out that early without a partner or dog which I have neither. In the winter the safety issue also gets factor in with the crazy drivers, on weekends when I can delay my run till about 8 or 9am going out is not an issue. Training for my first 50k was all done on a treadmill never even got on a trail once and finished with no issue could have been faster but had no recovery issue. So yes I love my treadmill.

For today's run, I used Itread 5 Indoor Marathon Training, it really is a fun way to challenge myself and I probably do more that when I just run especially with hill climb. Perfect workout to get the blood pumping, even thou she says this is a 2 phase workout, I'll probably call it 4, phase 1 - warmup to base, phase 2 - hill training, phase 3 - sprints and phase 4 - base to recovery. Definitely an A+ workout perfect to challenge you but not to kill ya, she does give you a walking, jogging and running pace range. Got in 7 miles before I had to call it a day had to get on the road for work early due to the snowy conditions, took 2 hours to get to work today there is nothing like going 25mph on a 65mph zone

November Review

It has been a very busy couple of weeks at work, the last couple of weeks was workout, work,eat sleep and I am afraid hopefully I can get a better handle on things and go back to having a life. Even with all the craziness I was able to keep up with my workout actually I think my workout kept me sane.

So for the month of November ended up with 113.37 miles which means I have less than 100 miles to get to 1000 miles before the end of the month and the strength training has also been great what I have not been able to add in as much as I want is yoga and pilates just can't seem to fit them in.

Goal for December is to continue to work on speed, I am running a lot slower than I did last year just because am being lazy so I need to challenge myself again. Still have 2 more races before the end of the year and may add a new years eve run.

Today's workout

9.5 miles using Motion Traxx Go Easy, Moderate and Hard Fitness Mag program, didn'e finish the hard program since my friend came bearing dinner.