Finish Right

Well after the 6 miler in the snow not sure what condition my legs where going to be, but they felt great this morning and I continued on the schedule run. I did realize that the run in the snow did work a different part of my leg so probably need to do it more often, well I guess I may get to do it again at my race on Saturday weather permiting.

Today's Workout
1 mile warmup @ recovery pace
3x200@1 mile pace 600 recovery
1x800 @ 3k pace 600 recovery
2x100 All out , 600 recovery
1 mile cool down @ base pace

5.23 miles

Barry's Bootcam Mission Specialist Upper Body Advanced - 12 mins, I slept in today so had to do a shorter UB worker but this is one of my favorite, hits every part of the UB.

Sun Salutation A-5 rounds with 3 breath of pigeon on each side.

Listen to Motion Traxx Tribal Dive during the run, I really like the drum beat in this music really get you to wat to move faster.

All in all a great way to finish out the month of April, bring on the snow and ice storm.

Feet Fleet Fun Run

On schedule for this weekend was 15 miles on Saturday and 6 on Sunday, the intention for the Saturday was to join the NERC Saturday group but it was snowing when I woke up to go and my husband had a problem with me going out their so I gave in and just did the run on my treadmill since I wasn't going to do the 1 mile loop around my house like he suggested just wasn't in the mood for that. The treadmill run actually turned out great, did 10 miles base pace and then using Runerval 1.0 Easy interval with the Clydesdale, I finish off the last 5 miles repeating intervals 1 & 2, so the last 5 miles was much faster than the first 10.

Since I didn't get a chance to run with NERC on Saturday, I decided to join the Feet Fleet group for a 6 mile fun run at the Station Bridge towpath, it was actually quite fun, you get to go 1 mile out in 3 different directions to a shoebox to pickup a strip of paper with words on it, 2 was on trail with packed snow and 1 was on the road. The weather was great, no wind with temps at 29 degrees, I was able to meet up Shelby and Sheila from the Towpath Turtles and we got in 6 miles together. After the run we headed back to the feet fleet store for coffee and to make as many words with the letters in the words we picked from the shoebox.

Got back home, did 20 mins stability abs workout with Cathe and then 10 mins recovery yoga with fitness 360, all in all a great week.

Cathe Butts & Guts

When I start craving some serious strength training I always go back to Cathe, just because her programs are so well done with very great instructions and perfect body part target. Nothing say pain after a run like doing Butts & Guts after a run, I got in my scheduled 3 miles run this morning, it was really hard getting out of a warm cozy bed just for 3 miles but part of the resolution is stick to the program, I can do less but not more since I will be violation the 10% rule, cycle down run and probably setting my self up for injury. Sorry back to today's workout, after my 3 miles using itrain9 30mins, pulled out Butts & Guts and decided to tackle the standing portion, between the walking lunges, squats, deadlifts and firewalkers my legs were toast but really it hit the spot.

Hanging with Coach Troy

The schedule called for 1.5miles tempo after warmup, so I decided to pull out Coach Troy's Runervals 2.0 Treadmill Tempo, this is an incredi\ble workout and time really flies when doing this, even though this is dubbed as a tempo run, it really include lots of hills.

warmup 5.4mph
2 mins at base pace 6.4mph, I did not really ramp up like the program is designed, kept to the pace on my schedule.
4x90 secs @ base pace + 3mph @ 2% incline  - 7.0mph@2%  30secs recovery @7mph
with recovery you stay at the same pace just coming down on the incline.

2 mins BP - 5mph

4x90secs @ base pace + 4mph @ 3% incline - 7.1 mph @ 3%, 30secs recovery @ 7.1mph
with recovery you stay at the same pace just coming down on the incline.

2 mins BP  - 5mph

3x90 sec @ base pace + 5mph @ 4% incline - 7.2 mph @ 4%, 30 secs recovery @ 7.2mph
with recovery you stay at the same pace just coming down on the incline.

2 mins BP - 5 mph

3x1min @ bp + 5mph, @ 4%, 5%, 6% - 7.2mph @ 4%, 5%, 6%, 1 min recovery
this time drop pace and incline

Back to 6mph to get to 5 miles.

After running did Cathe Med ball then 5 rounds of Sun Salutation; I have to say the sun salutations are definitely worth doing, when I skipped for 3 days because I was doing a different yoga routine, I noticed tightness in my calves that really required quite a bit of foam rolling and stick rolling about 90% better now.

Long Run

Well, I chickened out Saturday, it was 9 degrees with a windchill of -4 when I was dressed to go running, I weighted the pros and cons of going out to run and decided treadmill it is. I really have no problem running on m y treadmill, since I have lots of great program that I use that actually makes it quite fun since I tend to just hand on to one pace when doing long run, but today did hills, sprint, tempo by combining 2+ itread 60 mins programs together to get in my 15 miles run. I loved that my cadence is slowly improving.

Great Treadmill Programs
Itrain-itread
Cardio Coach
Runervals
Personal Running Trainer

Finish things off with 15 mins of stretching with Joseph-istretch

Sunday

3.1 miles easy
10 mins Restorative yoga

This was a great week, went to the store today and stocked up on Amazing Grass Meal and Raw Protein

Chicked

For Jamoosh, not sure if I chicked them in the end but I like the fact that it seems like I am running very fast and they are trying to catch up.

12 miles today then 5 rounds of Sun Salutation A and tree pose, love this for balance. I love the animation of the guy doing the pose here

Recovery

I struggle all of last year with running 6 days, there is really no reason why I wanted to do except it was a challenge and there was no reason not too except for the fact that my body wasn't responding, not as much as injury but pure fatigue and dead leg syndrome.

During my Christmas vacation in Arizona, the weather so beautiful and the scenery great I got out more and I also enjoyed the time spent working out with my 19 year old son, since I got back from vacation initially with no training plan I was just going out and run, all of a sudden I realized I was going out more days and was recovering better, right now my nutrition seems to play a key in how I recover from a run, you can say I am still on the New Year Resolution high of clean eating so hopefully with all the good benefit I can stick with it.

Today's workout

1 mile warmup
3x800 targeting 3:45 - 4:00, right now I find I am comfortably pushing at  4:08, so have run to grow.
1 mile cooldowm

Since I am doing the Yoga Journal 21 day Challenge, I am doing those workout since it normally include some sun salutation, I will go back to the sun salutation after the challenge is complete. Day 10 core focus.

Need recommendation for another winter running, love my cw-x but need a second pair since I am actually running outside more this year and will like to try some else that great for the cold.

Easy

Easy 6 miler today and I am trying to really keep the easy run at the right pace and heart rate zone, there is always that need to want to go a little bit faster just because you are feeling great. The easy runs are sandwich between speed workouts, so the easy has to be on target so as not to be too tired for the speed work the next day.

With the Garmin footpod, I am trying to under stand more about cadence, with easy run my cadence is about 88 and with speed work I am getting as high as 97, still no quite sure what an ideal cadence or target is suppose to be, but like the fact that my cadence is pretty consistent when doing easy or long runs.

I won a container of Amazing Meal from Molly, and since I got it I have been using it as my recovery drink after my runs and I have to say I am pretty impress, all I do is mix it with Almond milk, it taste pretty good, at least I don't chug it down. When I didn't take it on Sunday and Monday after my runs I could clearly tell the difference.

New Week

Today's workout

1 mile warmup
10x100 all out shooting for 23 secs with 300 recovery
1 mile cooldown

Ended up with 4.5 miles, learning that I really need to significantly reduce the recovery pace so I can hit the 100 meter pace but was amazed I could hold on to a 6min/mile pace for a whole 23secs, yeah me.

28 mins of yoga - Hip openers from the yoga journal 21day challenge

Just still need to work on cleaning out the diet, got my order of STS from Cathe so will probably be starting it at the end of this month, finally broke down and bought it based on the special she is currently running which brings the price down to less than $140. Love her workouts.

Dangers of Running

As runners we face many dangers, cars, bikes, dogs, deers, bears, snakes, mountain lions and you can throw in mother's nature sense of humor with snow, rain, wind, heat humidity.... and according to my non running friends that is why they don't run too many cons that pros.

Today was the runner's encounter with man's best friend the dog, in my development just about every third house have a dog, I have come to understand most their personality and we have a mutual respect of each other except for this one pure white Siberian husky, there is something about runners that this dog hates and I always do my best to avoid him so to keep peace. Today, as I turn into his cul-de-sac, I miss seeing him outside, mind you he has never been outside before, inside the house, back of the house which is fenced in or being walked, by the time I saw him he was already at alert and I did consider turning around but knew that wasn't going to work. I made the assumption that since he was outside alone there must be invincible fencing and I was fine, well did I assume wrong, I cross the street so I was not directly in front of his house and he moved back over to the garage and I kept him in my sight, making sure I was fine, mind you he was now barking madly and I was wondering where the stupid owners were. Before I knew what was happening the dog starting running at full speed towards me, I was telling myself he should stop now, invincible fence should be right there, well he wasn't stopping and he was right behind me chasing. I stopped and  scream for the owners to come get him, he also stopped, growling and barking, no he didn't want to play because his tail wasn't wagging, he was mad. When the owners finally came out, they called and he won't come, we stood there, me scream, him growling and barking, the owners calling and whistling. The wife finally had to come across the street to grab him since the husband was holding the other big dog down, mind you the third dog a small purgy thing, came running out to have fun too. Of cause through out this incident the stupid man is telling me, he is harmless just wants to go for a run with you. I really need to brush up on what to do when approach by a mad dog, I knew what to do with this dog just because I knew the dog. Another thing when I go running in my neighborhood I do  not wear my roadID or have any form of identification on me thinking I am just around the corner  from home and should be fine, I think that is a big mistake and from now on will make sure I always have a form of ID on me when ever I am running.

The dog chase happened at mile 1, I did 3 more miles and called it a day, it was very cold but the sun was shinning so can't complain. Got back home, did 10 mins abs workout and then I did the standing poses with Jason Crandall from the 21 days yoga challenge.

Group Run

I went out today with the North East Running training Group, I always have miss feeling about group runs, since I am not very fast will there be someone to run with, it is kind of hard to drive 40 mins only to end up running by myself. Well, I did most of this run by myself, had a couple of problems it started snowing when we started running and since I had a beanie on and not a cap, the snow was building up on my glasses which means I couldn't see(no wiper on glasses to remove snow) and with everything I had on being wicking I couldn't even clean my glasses. I was running behind a group until about mile 3, when I noticed a restroom, but someone was in it so waited for about 3 mins for her to get out so I could get some toilet paper to use in wiping my glasses, which means now the group was completely gone and I was definitely on my own, I know it was an out and back, I just have to get to 5 miles and turn around. I was concern about the last 2 miles since that was in a residential area and I wasn't sure where to turn but once of the runners came back to bring me back since he knew I was new and didn't know the area.

The run back was miserable, since now not only was it snowing it was also windy, I ended up taken my glasses off since I could see a thing, at least with them off I could see right in front of me. the neighborhood roads weren't plowed so it was like running through mud I was just ready to be done. I did enjoy meeting the group but not sure if it was worth the 1 hour 20 mins trip to run by myself.

We do take a lot of things for granted by running through the neighborhood in Concord today with so much snow on the roads, I realize how lucky I am that the Solon City Snow crew takes cleaning the side streets as important as the main street.

Got in 10.1 miles in Concord, OH

PM

10mmins on the spin bike to warm up

Exercises in the Shoulder workout

• Pike Push-up-n 15/15/15
• Band Front and Lateral raise Combo-using Reebok light band 12/12/12
• Band Reverse Fly's - Reebok light band 15/15/15

5 mins on the Stepper

Exercises in the Leg  workout-using 15# dumbell

• Forward Lunge-10/10/10/10
• Side Lunge-10/10/10/10
• Back Lunge-10/10/10/10
• Seated Calf Raises-30/30/30/30
• Standing Calf Raises30/30/30/30

Sun Salutation A - 6 rounds

Tackling Speed

Today was speed work and based on the new program the pace is faster, I think I was already scare of the pace before I even started, it also didn't help that I forgot to convert from yards to meters when I did the pace  calculation, but the funny thing I di0d maintain0 the pace even though I was ready to puke.

Today's Workout
Am
1 mile warmup recovery zone
2x200, 400 recovery
2x400, 400 recovery
2x800, 400 recovery
1.79 mile cool down   to get to 6 miles

PM
10 mins on the Elliptical to warmup

3 sets of 15 reps of each exercise and 12 reps for the combo exercise.

Exercises in the Chest workout

• Band Push-ups15/15/15 on my toe
• Dumbbell Fly's 12#/12#/15# -15 reps
• Combo ( Dumbbell Chest Press + fly's ) 15#/15#/15#  -12 reps

5 mins on the stepper

Exercises in the Bicep workout

• Band Chair Dips15/15/15/15  - no stable position for band so use 22# barbell on my leg
• Band Chair Close Grip Push-up 10/10/12 on my knees last round on my toes

Flexibility
6 rounds of Sun Salutation A
Pigeon pose

Break Through Weekend

In December, I was wondering why it was hard for me to hit the high range of my training pace, so the goal was to start pushing my pace, I know I can run the pace since I do it in races when I have other people around me. I was wondering can running faster(fast is relative, so take this with a grain of salt, fast for me) in training, help reduce the fatigue my body feels at the beginning of a race and how log it takes to warmup. It seems like I have placed a lot of limitation on my running probably because I got injured and am afraid of getting injured again.

I read a lot and love to read and the book I was reading in December was The Self Coached Runner by Allan Lawrence & Mark Scheid.

I actually get it and have been working towards the goal of starting slow but finishing faster and pushing where that slow start, also just going all out with some runs and see what happens (pass out-have RoadID, puke or walk home), to my amazement my body is fine with it.

Okay back to the book, I have a 50k race coming up in 10 weeks, so since the book's 4hr marathon program has back to back long runs, I decided to give it a trial before training truly began this week, am using the marathon training for my 50k. After a heavy week of running, strength training and yoga, I did 15.72 miles on Saturday the goal was the last 10k has to faster than the beginning and then to get up the next day and run another 10k as fast as possible with the hope of keeping above a 10 min pace.

Saturday
9.62 miles 10:24 pace - treadmill
6.1 miles 9:40 pace - treadmill

Sunday
6.1 miles 9:53 pace - outdoor icy, cold and wet.

I felt fine, didn't die, didn't puke and didn't walk home after reading Mike's blog today, I will have to agree that Running is mostly mental, my body never place a limitation on me(ok I could stand to lose another 10#) but my mind did, most of my PR was after my injury so why was I haven't problem with the pace. In trying to run a 4hr marathon, the book indicates that my easy pace should be between 9 and 10 mins per mile, well working towards since breaking 4 hours is a goal not sure when but I know it will happen.

The book is really a gem and even though dated it is one of the best running book I ever read, there is nothing outdated about the training information but the device well that is a different thing, there is a book 2 which I also own & like that is for cross country and shorter races.

No Excuses

I needed more sleep this morning so I skipped working out, today was the first time I got out of bed since my trip back from Arizona that I didn't wonder if I slept or not. Today I was in such a deep sleep, my body felt great so I slept with that said the intention is to get in my workout after work which is hard since I am currently very busy and I climb up and down a 4 story building all day, but the real problem is not to loss time in front of the computer.

The plan was get home, make/eat dinner, pay bills, change then workout, I am so proud of myself that yes I did things in that exact order ignoring the computer pull.

Today's Workout.

1 min jump rope
50 prisoner's squat

 5x12 30 secs rest between sets, 1 min between exercise
Bent Over DB Row 20/20/20/20/20
DB Bicep Curl 20/20/20/20/20 last set was a struggle
Exercise ball DB Press 20/20/20/20/20
Triceps Kickback 15/15/15/15/20
Plie Squats 44/44/44/44/44  16kg KB
DB Shoulder Press 12/12/12/12/12  Kept the weight low due to pain in right shoulder not sure from what
Straight leg deadlift 20/20/20/20/20 last time I used 25# but I felt too much pull in my lower back so dropped the weight, 20 was perfect.

Flexibility
Sun Salutation A
Bent Leg Seated Twist

From Here

Motion Traxx

I love to run with music but don't necessary listen to the music just the beat, and I enjoy having the right bpm when I run. Even though I have a large collection of music am not quite sure they are suited for running especially since in most cases when they come on I think of dancing. Most of my current running music belongs to my son, while they have the right beat and it's a good thing I don't listen to the words.

A while back I found Motion Traxx on itune, workout out music put together by DJ Deekron

What is not to like, it free and already set to the right bpm, occasionally you also get the Fitness Magazine workout special and there is even a special 30-30 run walk interval Jeff Galloway, so what you waiting for.

Today's workout from the workout club was cardio HITT (30 secs on 1 min off)x10 and Abs

What I did today.

Cardio
5.5miles at base pace then 30 secs at 8mph 60 secs at 5.8 -6.0mph repeat 10X, cool down at base pace. Think of the HITT as stride out or 100 meter dash at the end of a training run, the extra kick am going to need to come in strong.
Ended up at 7.26 miles, now you see why I don't mind my treadmill, for this run I use the new Motion Traxx Tribal 5K, absolutely love it, give it a try and listen to the beat of the drums.

Abs
The instruction was to go to failure then move to the next exercise am too anal for that, so did 1 min each and note when I went to failure(rest) before getting to the 1min mark. Repeat 3x
Crunches -ok
Straight Leg Raises (need serious work, barely getting to 20 secs before rest)
Cross Crunches - need some work, failure at 45sec
Plank - ok

Flexibility
Sun Salutation A, don't forget this has the slow plank to pushup to cobra, so seriously working my arms - 5x

Today's Card Straight Leg Seated Twist (Parivrtta Marichyasana)

From here

Thinking of signing up for my 3rd 50k in March, will be nice to see if I can shave some time off my current PR, but not really sure about the weather.

Workout Club with Peter Carvell

I have been hanging with Peter now for about a year, although I still don't have a 6 pack but that is no fault of Peter, but with a offer of the Workout Club I couldn't pass it up since I love his workout routine, they are normally short and to the point and I believe will complement running quite nicely. The intention is to be a day behind so I always know what to do the day before so I got today's workout yesterday and this is absolutely free, so maybe I may achieve that 6 pack abs this year after all.

Below is the email for today's workout

Workout

 

 

Warm-up

5 minutes progressive cardio (Click Here to learn more about different types of Cardio )

Full Body Dumbbell Workout

Click here to see a video of today's workout ( Note: We are not going to do the ab exercises at the end and the workout structure will be different so look at the structure at the bottom of the workouts ): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCyhYkljIMw

·         Exercises in this workout

·         Bent Over Row ( Back )

·         Dumbbell Bicep Curls ( Bicep )

·         Exercise Ball Dumbbell Press ( Chest )

·         Triceps Kick Back ( Triceps )

·         Plie Squat ( Quads )

·         Dumbbell Shoulder Press ( Shoulders )

·         Straight Legg Dead lift ( Hamstrings )

 

Workout Structure

·         You will do 8 exercises, one for each body group.

·         Do 4 sets of 12 reps of each exercise.

·         Do all 4 sets of one exercise before moving on to next exercises.

·         Rest 30 seconds between sets and 1 minute between exercises.

 

Cool Down

·         Today I want you to do a nice stretching session for around 5 to 10 minutes.

 

Tip of the Day

·         Make sure your dumbbells are heavy enough so that you can only do 12 reps. If you can do 20 reps for example this workout won't be effective.

 

And that is it for today! Tomorrow you are going to do Cardio and Abs!

Have a great workout and leave a comment below on how it went!

Your Trainer and Coach

Peter Carvell Health Disclaimer: Due to the physical nature of the exercise regimes contained in the following presentation, it is highly recommended that anybody considering any exercise regime or diet plan consult a Doctor or physician before embarking on any workout, training or eating plan.

What I did today

Warmup

50 Jumping Jacks

1 min Jump rope 

100 high knees

Kettle Bell Swig 16kg - 25 per hand

50 Prisoner's Squat

Workout  (4x12)

DB Biceps Curl  15/15/20/20

Exercise Ball DB Press 20/25/25/25

Triceps Kick Back 12/ 12/15/15/20* failure at 11 for 20#

Plie Squat 20/25/25/25 use bigger KB

DB Shoulder Press 12/12/12/12

Straight Leg Deadlift 25/25/25/25

Finisher

1 min jump rope

50 hand to hand kettlebell swing-16kg

Flexibility

Sun Salutation A 5 round 

Three legged tabletop ( Ardha Purvottanasa)

picture from here

but instead of both feet on the ground ,one feet is off the ground and across the other knee, so your left ankle is on your right knee, repeat on other side.

Starting things off right

Using iTread 9 60 mins I did a 10k on the treadmill, I am really coming to enjoy using the iTread workout, initially when I bought them it was such a struggle to use them and keep up that I hardly do them but now they are such a nice workout to do on the treadmill and sneaky add in speed/hill workout when doing a steady state run. I still keep the pace at my already determined pace which is close to what Grace have for the joggers. I probably need to invest I some new ones.

After the run did a kettlebell total body circuit, can't remember where I got this one from

double hand KB Swing 10x - 20kg
Double KB Press 10x - 15pounds
double hand KB Swing 10x - 20kg
Double KB Row 10x - 16kg
double hand KB Swing 10x - 20kg
KB Squats 10x - 20kg
double hand KB Swing 10x - 20kg

 then the Leg Matrix - 1 round



2x50 Mountain climbers

For Flexibility did 5 rounds of Sun Salutation A



or this site has a great poster version  the intention is not to stress myself out with yoga but to do either Sun A or B and then shuffle the Baron Baptiste yoga deck and pick a card. Today's card Ardha Virabhadrasana
(deep hip lunge)

From here

So for about 90 mins, got in cardio, strength and flexibility, then I drank a glass of my amazing meal mixed with unsweetened Almond milk that I won from Molly, shower, changed and went to get my mammogram.

Trying with Newton again

Have had the Newton now for over a year and I think may be worn it 5x, I just seem inpatient to have to slowly break it in and of cause when I wore it and run I was going more miles than required which means I have unnecessary pain and soreness, so I decided to bring them out again and use them anytime I have less than 5 miles to run so as to slowly make the adjustment to them.

Today's run was great, of cause woke up late and was running late for church so instead of running 5 miles decided on 5k and challenge myself to see if I can make all miles less than 10 mins mile.

mile 1 8:56
mile 2 9:14
mile 3 9:11

Part of my goal this year is to challenge myself more, it is okay to fail, I just need to dust myself of and try again.

"Making mistakes simply means you are learning faster" Agor, Weston H

ch

First run of 2011

Easy day today just to make sure the right foot was okay and not to do any extra damage to it. Changed shoes to the Adidas Response 17 and tried out 2 miles, slight pain in the ankle but it felt better after 5 mins and only slight pain in the mid foot, after running 2 miles got on the elliptical for 10 mins and then on the Spin bike for 15 mins.

I am still trying to figure out what races to do for the year, do old races again to see if I can better a time on the same course or try different races for different bling. I only have 1 HM I know I am going to do just because it is a challenging course and my goal is to break 2 hours and I have yet to do that, will need lots of hill training.

Mountain Climbers for Christina @ Lazy Bones Running