3 Years

Today is the 3 year anniversary of my first date with my wife. I skipped my Chest/Tricep & Shoulders workout and bought Ellen some flowers.

Denton Arts & Jazz Fest 2012

"Barefoot" Day 3 Week 2

Ellen and Winston joined for the first 0.5mi of my 1.25mi run. She amazed me with her energy and speed. We jogged 0.25mi then turned around. With about 0.10mi left to where we started Ellen beganrunning and then got up to a 7min pace finishing in 6:37. I gave her the leashed and finished out my 1.25 mile run at a faster pace inspired by her energy. I ended up doing 1.3mi in 13:29 and it felt great.

Chest, Tricep, & Shoulders

This is my first CST workout. I plan to do it on Mondays but this week is all switched around.

Decline Chest Press 4 sets 8 Reps
200
230
250
280

Tricep Kickback 4 sets 8 Reps
35
40
45
50

Incline Dumbbell Fly 4 sets 8 Reps
70
80
90
110

Dumbbell Overhead Tricep Dips
70
80
85
95

 Dumbbell Lateral Side Raise/Arnold Press Supersets 4 sets 6 reps x 2
30/30
30/30
40/30
40/30

Primal Challenge Day 10

Sagittarius Horoscope 4/25/12: You are feeling the urge to talk more today -- things are kind of stumbling along slowly, and it may be a good time to forget about progress and just rethink what you need to do next.

The primal challenge is going great! 10 days in and every meal but one has been home cooked so far. The meal out was at Chipotle and healthy. We are buying organic produce and some meats and grass-fed beef from a CSA we joined. I love eating primal. I do not get super hungry/angry every 2-3 hours anymore. I am looking forward to our chickens laying eggs. It is also helping us budget our food better. Saturday we spent the last of our money (minus bills) on groceries. I challenged Ellen to plan it out to make it last 6 days till our next paycheck. The RNG showed me a number I have never seen before this morning. I went to but some new cargo shorts on Friday and found out I am at a new size but they only had plaid so I didn't get anything.

 I am still considering building a home gym in my detached garage. It would save us $75 a month for 2 gym memeberships. My roommate moved out in July but left alot of stuff and it takes up half our space. I asked him to get it out by November but no such luck. He is getting married in September and we should have it all gone by then. It gets too hot here anyway. We have the option to suspend our gym membership so maybe I will try out having a home gym when it cools off this fall.

 I just spilled coffee all over my shirt...

"Barefoot" Day 2 Week 2

Today's high is forecast to be about 88-90 degrees so I decided to get the run in before work. Ellen said her ankles hurt from Monday's run. I suggested she use her old running shoes and join me but she was not interested. This means my hopes of training together the next 4-6 weeks have ended. I am pretty bummed but our dogs Winston is still up for it. While Ellen cooked breakfast/lunch I just ran up and down the street twice with the dog twice completing 1 mile in 11:08.

Lower Body & Core

Since I am switching up my cardio and strength training days this week I decided to do lower body today. Last weeks LBWO was on Wednesday and I was very sore on Friday so I decided to do it today instead of Thursday so I won't be sore walking around Jazzfest on Saturday.
I got to the gym at 5:20 so I decided to do quad/hamstring supersets to cut down my workout time and still get everything done.


First off I did a squat/deadlift combo:
Dumbbell Squat - 6 reps 4 sets
Dumbbell Straight-back Straight-leg Deadlift - 6 reps 4 sets
Set 1: 100
Set 2: 110
Set 3: 120
Set 4: 130


Next superset combo:
Seated Leg Press Machine - 8 reps 4 sets
Weighted 45-degree Hyperextension - 8 reps 4 sets
Set 1: 195/BW
Set 2: 225/10
Set 3: 255/25
Set 4: 270/45 (the 45 degree stand was taken so I just lifted a 45lb plate on my upper back/shoulders and did it deadlifts)


Calves:
Lever Seated Calf Raise (plate loaded) - 10 reps 4 sets
Set 1: 90
Set 2: 115
Set 3: 125
Set 4: 140


Lever Seated Calf Extension - 10 reps 4 sets
Set 1: 215
Set 2: 245
Set 3: 275
Set 4: 290


Core:
Lever Seated Leg Raise Crunch - 12 reps 4 sets
Set 1: 60
Set 2: 65
Set 3: 70
Set 4: 75


Weighted Incline Crunch - 12 reps 2 sets
Set 1: BW
Set 2: 10
Set 3: 25
Set 4: 25

Lying Twist - 6 reps 2 sets
Set 1: 25
Set 2: 25


45° Side Bend (holding plate)- 12 reps 2 sets
Set 1: 10
Set 2: 25

"Barefoot" Day 1 Week 2

This week we are running/jogging MON,WED,FRI instead of TU,THUR,SAT because of Denton Jazz & Arts Fest. We started on our jog after Ellen finished cooking dinner. I decided to go a different path because we are doing 0.75mi the sidewalk we had been using has a big hill the last 0.2mi. We got on a dirt/gravel trail and Ellen ran in the grass. We went 0.4mi then turned around and did 0.35mi. Winston was pulling alot and I had to keep slowing him down so we could all stick close together. We finished 0.75mi in 12:31 then walked for 0.25mi. Wednesday will be our first full mile together and I am excited. Our plan we are following is 3 days a week adding 0.25mi each time. I hope to do a 5k together at the end of week 5 at South Lakes park..
 

"Barefoot" Day 3 Week 1

Ellen had alot of school work to do, I needed to return a movie to Red Box, and it is Earth Day... Solultion: I took Winston for a run and stopped by Kroger's to return the movie while Ellen stayed at home. I had alot of extra energy. We walked to the gym then started our run. We kept a 10-10:30 pace and the 0.75mi ended at the top of the hill on Spencer Rd in 7:56. We turned around and started walking down the hill towards Kroger's. After about 2 minutes of walking I decided to do a 0.25mi sprint and it lasted 2:01. We dropped off the DVD and got back on Spencer. When we crossed Loop 288 we sprinted another 0.25mi in 2:19. We walked/ran 2.5mi in 33:22. Since Ellen could not join me we will do 0.75mi on our next run so I do not get ahead of her in our training.
 

"Barefoot" Day 2 Week 1

This is our second "barefoot" run. I got home from work early and we were able to start at 6:30pm. Ellen had more energy this time and after 0.15mi she bumped up the pace to 9:30 for 0.1mi. We did 0.5 mile in 6:38 then walked back finishing 1 mile in 22:16.

Lower Body & Core Workout

I checked my workout calendar in my spreadsheet and my last Lower Body Workout was on 4-21-2011 in the middle of Week 11 of my 3rd BFL challenge. Since I am putting my endurance running on hold for a few months I figure it is time to build some strength and mass (calves are big enough) in my legs. I am not a huge fan of the BFL pyramid anymore so I just planned out this workout using the low rep supersets I have been using on my upper body workouts.

Lower Body & Core Workout:

Quads/Hamstring Supersets:

Dumbbell Squat - 6 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/DBSquat.html

Dumbbell Straight-back Straight-leg Deadlift - 6 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/DBStrBackStrLegDeadlift.html

Seated Leg Press Machine - 8 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/LVSeatedLegPress.html

Weighted 45-degree Hyperextension - 8 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Hamstrings/Wt45Hyperextension.html

Calves:

Standing Calf Raise - 10 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/LVStandingCalfRaise.html

Lever Seated Calf Raise (plate loaded) - 10 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Soleus/LVSeatedCalfRaiseH.html

Lever Seated Calf Extension - 10 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Gastrocnemius/LVSeatedCalfExtension.html

Core:

Rectus Abdominis

Lever Seated Leg Raise Crunch - 12 reps 4 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/LVSeatedLegRaiseCrunch.html

Weighted Incline Crunch (arms crossed) - 12 reps 2 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/RectusAbdominis/WtInclineCrunchX.html

Obliques:

Lying Twist - 12 reps 2 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/BWLyingTwist.html

Dumbbell 45° Side Bend - 12 reps 2 sets

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Obliques/DB45SideBend.html

"Barefoot" Day 1 Week 1

I have been looking forward to this day for a long time. I super excited that Ellen and I get to train together at the same level. I have been wearing my Vibram fivefinger Speeds every day for exactly a month and now I get to run/jog in them. I read to take it short and slow and add distance 0.25mi at a time.

We started at the gym parking lot to save time going to the park. Ellen, Winston, and I were being a happy active family. I let Ellen set the pace and we did 0.25mi in 3:15 and then walked the rest of the mile. On Thursday we are going to do 0.5mi

End of the Beginning

Goodbye standard running shoes, Hello minimalist/barefoot running. I am ditching my shoes. I like running and I dislike being sidelined by soreness and injuries.

I began running outside on Labor Day 2010 after buying my first pair of actual running shoes. I had read up on pronation and based on my footprint I thought I was a under-pronator but the lady at Get Fit in Amarillo, TX said she could tell I was an over-pronator from just looking at my feet. She also made fun of my "small flinstone feet." She sold me the only pair of New Balance she had in a wide. They cost $125 but with the coupon my Father-in-law game me I paid $90. I took them back to Ellen's parents house and ran 1.82 miles in approx 18 minutes. I did the same distance the next day.

I ended up doing my first 5k 20 days later but I used the pair of Nike Air Max Light my brother gave me because it was raining and I didn't want to get my new shoes wet. Two weeks later I had soreness in my calf/ankle after my first 4ish mile run. I took off 8 days from running.

I had already signed up for 5k a month after my first one and finished 1:19 faster and got 3rd place in my age group. At this point I was hooked on running and decided I wanted to do a 10k. I found a 6 week 10k training program and started running 4 days a week working up from 3 to 5 miles. After 4 weeks while I was running at the park my foot started to hurt. I had planned on running 3-4 laps but I had to cut it short to 2 laps. I took 9 days off from running and focused on lifting weights and used spin class as my cardio workout. I ran a 5k on the treadmill and it still hurt slightly. I ended up not running again for 7 days due to the holidays. After Christmas I found a 10k that was 3 weeks away and ran 3 days a week to finish out my training. On my last training run 2 days before the race my opposite foot started to hurt in same place and intensity. I blamed it on my shoes and dusted off my trusty old Nike shoes and ran the 10k in pain finishing in 1:02:14. At this point I retired my New Balance shoes.

Over the next 4 weeks I only ran 3 times. A friend facebook messaged me asking if I wanted to run with him. I had been posting maps of my runs on facebook when I was training for the 10k. He said he was training for the FBI fitness test. I took him up on the offer and we started running together once or twice a week. On February 26th Ellen and I walked/jogged the Cowtown 5K together. I kept running with my friend until early May. I ran my 4th 5k on April 16th in 2:01 faster than my previous best and Ellen did it alone 35 second faster than the Cowtown. I got excited again and set my sights on running another 10k race about 7 weeks away. I kept persistent on my training. The race was at night on the first weekend of June and it was 98 degrees. I ended up only doing 5K (the 10K was two 5k loops) due to overheating and poor planning from the race coordinators (no water available before the race). It was my slowest 5k ever. I felt robbed and ended up doing a 10k training run 3 days later 1:02:15 during the middle of the day in the mid 90s. 1 second slower and 50 degrees hotter than my first 10k.

I took a month off for our Wedding and Honeymoon. The week after our honeymoon was probably my laziest week since the summer of 2008.

Right before my month off I had picked out some races to train for so I would not slip back into old habits after the wedding. I found one race a month from July to November and set my sights on running a Half Marathon at the end. I found a 12 week training program and picked a half marathon that was on the first weekend in November. I started running 4 days a week for 4 weeks before my training program to get back in shape. My training started August 7th, my sister's birthday.

The first week of training I bought a new pair of running shoes. I was annoyed that I went to an expensive running store for my last pair and got fitted incorrectly so I decided to do my own research. I found a few pair I really liked and planned to custom order them from the Nike+ online store. I went to a few local stores to try on a few different shoes to pick which model and size fit me the best. Only the Nike Pegasus 28 fit me but the store did not carry them in a wide. I went to another store and was amazed to find them in an very similarl color pattern as the design I made online and they were only $80 instead of $125 for custom online. I also ordered a garmin GPS watch from Amazon.com.

I ran 4 days a week for 12 weeks building up my distance from 3 miles to 10 miles. During my training I ran 3 races:

8-14-11 Touchdown 5k 26:42

9-24-11 Rahr Oktoberfest 5k 26:18

10-16-11 FWRC Mercury 10k 54:47

During my training I went to a chiropractor and he told me I have scoliosis and hinted I needed to stop running and fix it. After searching online I found alot of negative information about the organization/program he worked for and that running does is not affected by scoliosis. I did not go back after my adjustment and so far no more back pain.

My half marathon was alot of fun but I ended up with black toenails and my left one fell off. I finished in 2:01:50 beating my goal of 2:15 by over 13 minutes. I took off 2 weeks due to pain in my left knee. I retired my Nike Pegasus and went back to my old Nike Air Max Lights.

The running bug was in full force and I set my sights on a full marathon. I ended up picking the Big D Marathon because it was the last one in the area and I had plenty of time to prepare. I found an 18 week marathon program from the same author as my 12 week program and for 3 weeks to worked back up to 5 miles. I ran a 10 mile trail run in 2:04:09 the weekend before my training started.

My first week of marathon training was the same amount of mileage as week 10 of my half marathon training so it was pretty much a continuation of where I left off. I went to the running store near my office and tried on some running shoes but decided to get second opinion at a store that had a treadmill. At the end of week 2 I went to Luke's Locker in Southlake and expressed all my concerns and ended up with a pair of Asics Cumulus Gel 13, the same pair the previous store recommended. 


Training was fun and I was loving it. At the end of week 5 I ran the same 10K I had ran a year before as my first. I was set on beating my PR and my friend ran it with me. With all my training I had forgot to charge my GPS watch the night before and it died right as we started. I pushed myself but ended up finishing 7 seconds slower than my PR. At the end of week 8 I ran my second half marathon in Galveston while visiting family. I finished the very flat race in 1:58:03 (including a minute long port-o-can break). 


Two week later at the end of week 10 about 12 miles into my 18 miler my right knee started to hurt. I ended up cutting the run 1.5 miles short. Two days later I ran on the treadmill and had to cut my 5 miles short and the next day I could not run at all. That coming weekend was the Cowtown Half Marathon so I took the rest of the week off and swam laps instead. I had signed up to run with my friend and decided to run until it hurt. I made it about halfway before the pain got too intense and started walking at mile 7. I did a mixture of walking and sprinting and finished in 2:15:48. 


I decided to take off two weeks to recover and started looking for another Marathon race at a later date. During my time off I found out a friend from high school was training for the half marathon the day of the full marathon I had been training for so I decided to put my marathon goal on hold and do another half. The first week after my break I ran 1 mile with no pain then 2 miles the next day and 3 miles the day after that and still no pain. That weekend I met up with my high school  friend and his girlfriend and did 9 miles with barely any pain. During my two weeks off I had picked up a pair of Vibram fivefingers but I decided to wait on running in them until after my training ended.

Last weekend was my 4th half marathon and I did it without any pain but I am done with standard cushioned running shoes. I am hoping for no more foot and knee pain.... 
I will post my slow 6-10 week transition into barefoot/minimalist running.

Hopefully this is the end of running in standard restrictive overly cushioned running shoe. Here are some charts that document what I have done since September 2010.
This is the end of the beginning and the beginning of a new chapter.

Big D Half Marathon

Big D Half Marathon:

This morning I woke up around 6am and Ellen had a migraine and it was raining. I debating skipping the race and just sleeping in but my inner drive got me out of bed. I got on the road a little later than I had planned and stopped by QT and got some coconut water, sandwich bags (to keep my keys dry), and a banana.

I got to fair park 30 minutes before the start and had to park pretty far away. I geared up and headed towards the race area. It had stopped raining on my drive and felt decent outside. I met up with Eric and Andrea at the start line and chatted for a bit. The sun started to break thru the clouds. I lined up next to the pacers with the 2:00 sign.

The race started at 8:02am due to NBC5 broacasting it live on the morning news. I felt well rested and avoided drink water before the race to prevent having to make a pit stop like I did during the Galveston Mardi Gras Half Marathon (GMGHM). The first mile I felt great and I had to keep slowing myself down. By mile 2 I got ahead of the pace leaders and there had been a constant incline. The first water stop was not until about mile 3. I kept my pace under 9 mins as I planned on beating my PR (1:58:03). We finally got off the city streets and on the sidewalk around White Rock Lake. It was very humid in the low 70s and I was sweating alot. I reached mile 4 about 20 seconds faster than I did in Galveston. The heat start to get to me on the next incline and I had pain in my lower abdomen. I slowed down and had to push myself to keep a 9:30 pace.

I started wondering why I was running and if I had pushed too hard at the beginning. My training the last 5 weeks was at a much lower volume and less hilly than the 7 weeks leading up to GMGHM . The weekend before GMGHM I had done 15 miles and last weekend I only did 10.25. Also Galveston is FLAT and so far the race was nothing but hills. I kept pushing myself even though I was not even halfway done. At mile 5 we crossed a small bridge and reached the lake. I spotted a port-o-can and got in line. I had to wait a long time because of them was sealed shut. I did my business and got back on the trail after a 3 minute 10 second delay. My average pace had gone to 8:55 to 9:30.

I felt refreshed and was now in a slower group of runners. I got on the left and started passing everyone at a 9min pace. We got to another slow incline and my steam ran out and I decided to push and take a break at the 10k mark. A dark cloud was approaching from the west and it looked like rain. A cool breeze started blowing and people cheered and some stuck their arms out like they had wings. I got to the 10k mark and slowed down but 0.1mi later we reach the peak of the hill and I took off running downhill. I made it half a mile and slowed down to a power walk (15:00 pace) as the next hill was wearing me down. I was going 10:45-11:00 as I crossed the 7 mile mark and reached the top of the hill. At 7.2mi It started raining and it was felt great. I pushed to a 8:30 pace for the next half mile. I was on the steepest hill so far going thru a really nice neighborhood (Lakewood Blvd) full of large house with big lawns. I walked for about a minute and enjoyed the view. At 7.7mi I started running again and this time I made it a whole mile at a 7:45-9:00 pace. When I slowed down a man in his yard said, "This is the highest point and it is all downhill from here." I perked up and ran to the next water station and had a gel pack. When I slowed down to throw away my cup some girl in a group I had been passing on and off with my walk said, "Hey watch it" very rudely. This pissed me off and I took off running at a sub 7 minute pace. I crossed mile 9 in about 1:25 and decided to not take any more walk break or slow down. It was raining again so I was dodging puddles and felt like I had just started a race and not just traveled 9 miles. I finished mile 9 in 9:01 and said outloud, "Just a 5K to go!" and the guy next to me said, "Uh huh." I picked up my pace even more as I might be able to finish closer to 2 hours and beat my time from the DRC Half 2:01:50 (my first) back in November. I kept a sub 9min pace for the next two miles. I hit mile 12 in about 1:52 and it took everything I had to keep a 9min pace. I turned to corner back into Fair Park at 12.4mi and gave it a burst of energy that lasted about 2 minutes. When I was about 100 feet from the finish line a high thunder clap made all the spectator jump and I finished in 2:02:56.

I started to walk to my car to grab my phone and it the rain started pouring down really hard. I decided to go inside and grab something to drink/eat. I had a banana Muscle Milk and got in line for my victory beer. I found a table and just relaxed for about 15 minutes until Andrea found me. She said Eric can't walk and asked me to come outside. His hip was bothering him and felt numb. He described it as the feeling you get with you a lifting weights and workout until failure. He got up and stretched a little and went inside.

Eric and Andrea ran it together and finished in 2:29. This was Eric's first half marathon and first race even and Andrea's second. After they changed and grabbed a beer I headed to my car and got my dry clothes. Afterward we met up with my cousin at a burger place for lunch.

Tomorrow is the start of Ellen and my 4 week Primal Challenge.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

My plan is to move away from traditional running shoes and more towards barefoot/minimalist running. Here is my list of races/event since I first bought overpriced running shoes and starting running outdoors in September 2010.

Training Day 3 Week 18

This is the last training run of my 18 weeks. I have been running 4 days a week for 32 of the past 36 weeks. In January I ran a training 5K in 25:02 so I decided to try an beat my PR this evening. I set off on a good pace and finished the first mile in 7:48 and reached halfway in 12:23. I turned around to come back and did my best to stay at an 8min pace. When I got back onto the dirt trail I started breathing heavy and at 2.35 mi I stopped and start walking. I was sweaty and overheated so I paused my garmin and walked for 3 minutes to cool down and catch my breath. I started up again at a slower pace and finished out to 3.1mi in 25:54 garmin watch time, 3.24 mi in 28:43 total time. Being about 80 degrees outside makes a big difference for me. I may be a Texan but I live for the cold weather.

Quote of the Day

"You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Don't let the days of your life pass by
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Don't spend all your time tryin to get high
You need git up, git out and git somethin
How will you make it if you never even try
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Cuz you and I got to do for you and I"
- "Git Up Git Out" by Outkast

SAD: Standard American Diet

I experimented with the "Standard American Diet" aka SAD the last 4 days. I felt bloated, unfocused, and tired. I had been doing AWESOME for a long time (about 3 months) but the end of 41 days of no bread for Lent mixed with knowing I am going 100% Primal/Paleo on 4/16 opened the flood gates on Easter Sunday.
Here is a summary of the past 4 days:

Sunday:
Breakfast (at noon): 4 Sausage, Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Tacos, 2 Pancakes, a ton of Hummus and Pita Chips
Dinner 6pm: More Hummus and Pita Chips, 3 slices of Papa John's Pizza

Monday:
Breakfast: 7:45am Footlong Subway Sunrise Melt on Flat Bread. Ham, Bacon, Egg Whites, Shredded Cheese, Tomato, Spinach, Chipotle Sauce. Low Fat Chocolate Milk
Lunch: 12:00pm Pei Wei Shrimp Pad Thai and a Pork Egg Roll
Dinner: 6:45 pm Del Taco Baja Shirmp Burrito and a 1/2 pound Bean & Cheese Burrito with Green Sauce.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: 11am Jack in the Box Steak & Egg Burrito
Lunch: 4:15pm Wendys 2 Value Menu Cheese Burgers

Wednesday:
Breakfast 6:30am QuickTrip Chorizo Breakfast Burrito and a Chocolate Whole Milk
Lunch: 12pm Schlotsky's Medium Turkey & Guacamole Sandwich. Braums Medium Banana Milk Shake
(End of SAD eating)
Dinner: 7:30pm Ellen cooked Chili with grass fed beef and buffalo and organic ingredients. I had 2 bowls.

I have no guilt about it. Now I can go into this Primal Challenge not feeling like I am missing out. Eating the easy greasy carb loaded food that causes cravings is not a good feeling. I got all the cravings out of my system and I can just write it off as carb loading for my last race this Sunday.

The RNG (Random Number Generator aka Scale) has moved up just slightly 3 weeks in a row (169.4 to 171.2and I am 6 pounds away from my goal marathon weight (165) but I don't care because I am not running a marathon just a half marathon. I am 3 pounds lighter than when I set a Half Marathon PR in Galveston in early February. I started eating healthy again last night and this morning (banana and 2 hard boiled eggs). I plan to eat in control the rest of the week and have a big pasta type meal Saturday night as my "farewell to grains" last supper. Know my body I will drop another 2 pounds by race day back in to the 160s if I keep hydrated and avoid/ignore cravings.

Training Day 2 Week 18

I got home a little early and helped clean out the chicken coop while Ellen cooked dinner. I decided to go run before eating and Winston got excited. He followed me up the driveway to the street and I had Ellen call him back into the yard so I could leave. I got up the street and looked back and Winston was standing in the middle of the busy street that runs south of our house watching me. I ran full speed towards him and he ran back towards the corner. Ellen had just noticed he wandered off and she yelled at him to come back. I decided to take him with me and run 2 miles instead of 3.1 mi. I ran him at an 8 minute pace the first mile and he got tired. I had to almost pull him on the way back and we stopped to walk 3 times. We finished 2 miles in 17:37. I guess I will shoot for 3.1 miles tomorrow. I am in peak training and want to attempt a 5k in under 25 minutes.

Training Day 1 Week 18

I got off work early to take care of some errands. Ellen did not get home at 5:30 so I texted her that I was taking Winston to the park. She had to work late and ended up meeting me. We walked 1.5mi together and it felt nice. She headed home with the pooch and I decided to do a mile and shoot for 7 minutes. My left shoe came untied so I paused my watch and tied it really quick then kept going finishing the mile in 7:11 (not including the pause).


I will be looking for new and different goals as this is the last week of my 18 weeks of training and the end of being focused on running 4 days a week and time time to enjoy the weather and just have fun. I have been running 4 days a week 32 of the last 36 weeks. I need a break and time to enjoy myself. Ellen has committed and is excited about doing a 4 week Primal Blueprint Challenge with me. I bought her the book and she reads it to me every night. We plan on starting on Monday and we are using this week to plan out our meals and get ready. Back in August/September I read The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Endurance Athletes by Dr. Loren Cordain but I like The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson way better. It is an easier read and covers the same information. I am almost over halfway thru reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. One of the main character of the book, Micah True aka "Caballo Blanco" died March 27th. He went out for a 12 mile run in New Mexico and did come back.

Since 1-9-12 Ellen has lost 10.6 pounds of fat and I have lost 6.9 lbs. She was doing amazing dropping 5.8 pounds the first 3 week of the year but breaking her wrist was a real setback. Right now the motivation is back an her wrist is healing but she might have to have the plate removed.

Shoulders & Triceps

My parents dog-sitted for us while we where in San Marcos. We did not leave until 7pm and got back to Denton around 11pm so I decided to pick up Winston after work today. I left early and went to the LA Fitness by their house. When I got into the gym it was really crowded and I was just not in mood for my normal routine. I did 8 pullups to warm up. I wandered around and ended up doing Arnold Press 4 sets of 6 reps. I started with 30 lb dumbbells and worked up to 45 lbs. Then I did 4 sets of 6 reps of dumbbell tricep kickbacks.Then I headed over to the shoulder press machine and did 4 sets of 8 reps. Then I mess around on other machines and it was nice to change up my routine.

Easter Sunday

After 40 days of no bread Lent has come to an end. We are in San Marcos visiting my brother and sister. Ellen and I decided a long time ago we want pizza as it is the main bread based food I tend to crave. Being amazing hosts my sister and her roommates and boyfriend decided to cook a breakfast feast. The local grocery store was closed so we braved the hell-hole know as Walmart to get supplies. We snacked on Cadbury creme eggs on the drive back. Aaron made pancake while Melissa and Jonathan made breakfast tacos. Ellen made hummus from scratch while Scott and Kara cropped up the veggies. We feasted at noon and then Kara had to hit the road.
We got out swim suits on and headed out to 5 Mile Dam with Scott's dog Lonesome and Aaron's dog Friday. It was packed full of families cooking out and we headed down the the end of the shore and set up camp. We played in the water with the dogs while the sun shined in between the clouds floating slowly across the sky. After a while we got out and moved further down stream past the dam and everyone tossed the frisbee around while I sat on the shore with Friday soaking up some rays. Around 4:30 I said we needed to go (Ellen and I had planned on leaving town at 3pm).
Melissa and Jonathan has planned to take us to Valentino's Pizzas on the square but most places were closed for Easter. Luckily Papa Johns was open and we had another nice meal before we hit the road. Neither of us felt like making the 4 hour drive back but around 7pm we finally left. We drove straight home and got in right at 11pm just in time to wake up at 6am.

Training Day 3 Week 17

We got to San Marcos around 10pm last night and stayed up visiting a little past midnight. I woke up at 6am with cotton mouth. I laid in bed debating on running today or tomorrow. Next weekend is my last race of my training season so I have to get my long run in this weekend. I figure tonight we will go out and that would make waking up tomorrow even harder. While debating I fell back asleep. I woke up again at 7:30am and it was cloudy outside. I put on my running gear and filled up my water bottle. At 7:45am I was out the door.
My marathon training plan called for 8 miles today but I wanted to 10 to 12 miles. San Marcos is very hilly so I just set out to do 8-12 based on how I felt. The first quarter mile there was an 80 ft elevation change. I powered up the hill slowly and thought, "How am I going to manage these hills?" There was another 45 feet of elevation change over rolling hills up to the 1 mile mark. From there the next 3 mile was downhill losing 230 ft of elevation. At mile 2 I was near the town square but I decided to do the other direction to explore the town. I ended up on San Antonio and it was a Historic neighborhood with other joggers and walkers. It was only a mile long so I made a turn but it was a dead end and I back tracked and turned into another neighborhood that was quite the contrast. I ended up on a road that was closed due to what seemed to be a monthly trash drop-off with trucks and cars lined up to dump their junk. That was mile 4 and I headed toward the town square.
I made a pit stop at Jack in the Box at mile 5. Then I decided to head east on Hopkins. I was about to cross a pedestrian bridge where I noticed stairs leading down to a trail along the river. I jogged along the clean spring fed water until I came upon a park full of families setting up chairs, grills, and canopies. I reached dead end along the trail at some train tracks so I turned around. I got back on Hopkins towards the busy shopping center part of town. I ran up to the HEB store and turned on Thorpe and decided I need a walk break and a gel pack. It was very humid and in the mid 60s and at some points it was almost misty. I got back on pace and found a trash can to toss my empty gel wrapper.
I was at 7.5 miles and my shirt was beginning to rub my chest so I took it off. I have only run without a shirt once before at 5am in the dark alone. Running in daylight towards a college campus felt liberating. Half a mile later a railroad crossing came down ahead of me so I took a right but I got stuck at another crossing. Luckily it was an AMTRAK train so it was only 3 cars long and I never stopped moving. I headed back towards my sisters house. At mile 8.5 I started back up the huge hill where I began heading up North LBJ from Sessom Dr. Over the next 1.5 miles I gained 230ft in elevation slowing me down to a 12 min pace as I trotted uphill. What a great way to end a long run. I got to the top of the hill at 9.9mi so I decided to enjoy the downhill losing 115 ft in a quarter mile and getting up to a 5:40 pace. I finished 10.26mi in 1:43:35. When I got back nobody was up yet. I was worried my run might cut into visiting time.

Chest/Back Superset & Shoulders

Last Friday I decided to skip my bicep/tricep workout so I would be fresh and rested for the Tough Mudder. Monday I did my bicep/tricep workout instead of chest, back, and shoulders so this morning I did my CBS workout. It was nothing out of the ordinary. I got to the gym at 7:15am and it was not too crowded. I pushed hard on all my sets adding weight to a few of them.

Training Day 2 Week 17

I woke up with my alarm but I felt zapped of energy and a dead weight glued to the bed. Luckily my lovely wife woke up ready to go and even went to my car and grabbed my 5-hour energy drink. I drank it and slowly got up. I told her to go ahead to the gym and I would just start my run from the house. She convinced me to ride with her and just start my run from the gym parking lot like usual. I ran with our dog Winston last week and he wanted in on it. We started at 5:40ish which is a little later than ideal but I should have got up earlier. Ellen went inside and Winston took off pulling the leash with more energy than our last two runs. We settled into an 8:30 pace and even sped up after the 1 mile turnaround. Winston was right at my side and I did not need to coax him to speed up until the last 0.2 mi. We finished in 16:37 which is 59 seconds better than last week. I accidently called Winston Lucky (my childhood dog) twice during the run and I feel like we are connecting more even though I have known him 3 years.

Training Day 1 Week 17

I met up with a friend after work to run. I have decided that running alone is lonely and running with someone makes it more enjoyable and less likely for me to push too hard and hurt myself. We went to a park in Watauga near where I used to live in 2008-2009. I have been to the park once before back that was when I was way out of shape. It was a fun run and the smell of Pei Wei was making me even more hungry. I did not have my usual 3pm snack because out office was shut down due to a Tornado warning. It hit a nursing home about 2-3 miles west of us.
We ran 2.5mi then start walking back to the car. After we caught our breath Eric said lets run back so we got up to an 8min pace. I decided to run as fast as I could the last bit and when I got to my car I was at 2.9mi so I kept going to 3.0 for a nice number for my spreadsheet.

Bicep/Tricep Supersets

I woke up sore from the weekend and did not want to get up. I snoozed my 4:45am alarm and went back to sleep. Somehow I got up and got to the gym. I decided to do arms instead of chest and back because I skipped my arm workout Friday and my back is sore. I got to the gym and for some reason I was able to do 90lbs and then 100lbs on the preacher curl. It was amazing and then.... beep beep beep. I woke up and it was 7:15am and I was running late for work. Darn it, I was dreaming and I overslept...

I got to work at 9 am (two hours late). I got alot of work done and decided to leave 30 minutes early. I had promised Ellen I would help with the garden. I need to cut open and pour the compost and manure and spread over the new raised bed. I got home at 6:15 and did my duty really quick and headed off the the gym to get my workout in.

Inspired by my dream I planned on doing an arm workout and attempting heavier weights. It was about this time last year I upped the intensity of my workouts in honor of my friend James who had just passed away. The gym was so crowded I could not use the free weights but I pushed hard and had a good intense 29 minute workout.