Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Back in Chicago. Staying at Club Quarters whose fitness room is not nearly as nice as The Wit's last week. Therefore, I found myself on a Cybrex machine this morning. It looked like an elliptical but was more of a glider. I'm not all that familiar with fitness equipment since I rarely use it.

By way of update, I tried running last Saturday but didn't even go a block before my right calf was flaring. I decided rest was the order of the day and have been doing so since. All this rest is going to make the half in a couple of weeks an interesting challenge.

WU ~15 min. Cybrex glider
10x20 sec. all out w/10 sec. rests on Cybrex glider
CD ~15 min. Cybrex glider

Wanted to use the recumbent bike for the Tabata intervals but quickly determined that it wasn't working.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Circa 1968


For some reason this picture really cracks me up.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

WU 15 min. elliptical
Tabata intervals 9x20 sec. w/10 sec. recoveries recumbent exercycle
CD 15 min. elliptical

Back to the hotel fitness room. Went a little harder on the intervals this morning than yesterday. Used a different bike and it seemed much more stable. Also used a tuck position (leaning forward) rather than yesterday's recumbent. (I'm not I cyclist so I probably have this all wrong!)

Felt fine. May try running tomorrow or Saturday to test the calf out.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

WU 15 min. elliptical
Tabata intervals 8x20 sec. w/10 sec. recoveries recumbent exercycle
CD 15 min. elliptical

Calf not a problem as long as there's no impact. Figured I'd take advantage of the equipment in the hotel's fitness room this morning. Wasn't able to go 100% all out on the bike because it started shaking so much that it was drawing too much attention.

Monday, February 28, 2011

OBJECTIVE
2 mi.@ 8:35

ACHIEVED
4.96 mi.@ 8:45

5:06 AM 67° 71% 1 mph

Well, it's official. I'm injured. I laid off running over the weekend sensing that my right calf was still pretty tight. I headed out this morning with a six-miler in mind to somewhat "makeup" for the lost weekend mileage. A little over 3 miles into it my right calf kept getting tighter and tighter. In the past I would have just pushed through. This time I tried listening to my body and just walked for a while then ran ... a little and slowly ... then walked some more. It's the exact same thing that kept me out of Boston last year. I'm wondering what the cause is and what the true diagnosis is. I suppose it could be repetitive muscle strain as I was told last year. Or could it be something else? As far as I can tell the only thing that remedies it is time.

PRE RUN
weight=165

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Friday, February 25, 2011

OBJECTIVE
2 mi.@ 8:37

ACHIEVED
4.10 mi.@ 8:17

6:18 AM 53° 85% 2 mph

Recovery run after yesterday's track workout. Calves were tight especially right but seem to be somewhat better than they would have been had I not rolled them yesterday (How do I know that? Pure speculation, I suppose.)

Rolled again today after the run and will roll again later.

Scheduled for 8 tomorrow. Thinking about turning it into 10.

PRE RUN
weight=163.5
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/almonds, brown sugar & skim milk

Thursday, February 24, 2011

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. inclu. 2x1600m @ 6:47 w/800m active recovery

ACHIEVED
1.95 mi. WU
2 x 1600m (6:16/6:17) w/800m active recovery
1.89 mi. CD

total distance = 6.33
total time = 50:04

6:04 AM 69° 87% 4 mph

Went to the track uncertain how this one might turn out. Happy with the result and the effort. Fairly tough workout.

After the run, I "built" a rudimentary rolling device (basically a cut down broom handle threaded through a section of PVC pipe). Rolled my calves using quite a bit of pressure. Optimistic this could provide some relief for my tight calves. (fingers crossed ...)

PRE RUN
weight=164.5
water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

OBJECTIVE
3 mi.@ 8:36

ACHIEVED
4.09 mi.@ 8:27

5:35 AM 67° 85% 1 mph

With a final push over the past three days, the all-consuming project at the office was completed yesterday. That's almost 8 weeks of +70 hours per week. Hoping to get back into a little more reasonable "life balance" now! That includes more consistent running ....

PRE RUN
weight=165.5

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Saturday, February 19, 2011

OBJECTIVE
8 mi.@ 8:39

ACHIEVED
8.43 mi.@ 7:48

6:05 AM 63° 87% 0 mph

Had a conference call this morning so I stayed close to home for this run. Slogging along for a couple miles before a solo woman jumped on the Faulkey Gully Trail about 40 meters ahead of me. Had the darndest time reeling her in. Finally got her with a 1/4 mile left on the trail. As luck would have it, her route crossed mine two more times on the way back in. I marked her and passed her both times. I don't know who she was but she sure helped my run today. Thank you, Anonymous Fast Asian woman along my run this morning!

PRE RUN
weight=165.5

POST RUN
SlimFast

Thursday, February 17, 2011

OBJECTIVE
3 mi.@ 8:36

ACHIEVED
3.24 mi.@ 8:16

6:01 AM 63° 84% 3 mph

Ominous sign ... tight calves this morning ....

New Boston qualifying requirements announced yesterday. I need to get faster.

PRE RUN
weight=165.5 <---- chicken fried steak & brownies yesterday ... that's really not like me

POST RUN
orange juice, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Wednesday, February 16, 2011



OBJECTIVE
5 mi. incl. 3 mi. tempo @ 7:13

ACHIEVED
WU 1.01 mi.
3 mi. tempo @ 6:51
CD 1.05 mi.

5:34 AM 57° 73% 0 mph

This was a surprise. After no semblance of speedwork in months, I was able to uncork a very solid tempo run. I was targeting a 7:13 pace but started a bit too hot and, surprisingly, was able to hold it. My fitness certainly isn't anywhere near what it was last fall but it hasn't fallen off as much as I thought it may have. Good news!

PRE RUN
weight=164

POST RUN
diet V8 splash, multivitamin & Kashi GoLean cereal w/skim milk

Monday, February 14, 2011

OBJECTIVE
4 mi.

ACHIEVED
4.06 mi.@ 8:18

5:31 AM 46° 94% 0 mph

Work life has not been kind to my running life as of late .... Very frustrating. Decent run today. Felt okay.

Will be moving to Chicago ... eventually.

PRE RUN
weight=163
FRS orange chew

POST RUN
diet V8 splash, multivitamin, oatmeal w/brown sugar, almonds & skim milk

Sunday, February 6, 2011

OBJECTIVE
Run

ACHIEVED
4.51 mi.
.5 mi. WU
3.51 treadmill hills
.5 mi. CD

Westin Galleria Dallas treadmill. Eating too much and running too little ... but having a lot of fun.

On the bus to tailgate party now. I guess Keith Urban, Maroon 5 and another gluttonous food fest are in my immediate future.

PRE RUN
Water

POST RUN
Water
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

Saturday, February 5, 2011

OBJECTIVE
run

ACHIEVED
3.37 mi. ???

Dallas Westin Galleria treadmill (I question the mileage calibration). Counting down to the big game ....

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
weight=167 (clothed)
water

Wednesday, February 2, 2011



Photographic evidence (circa 1976) that I'm not a bandwagon Steelers fan.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011


OBJECTIVE
3 mi.

ACHIEVED
3.21 mi.@ 7:35

6:08 AM 57° 90% 9 mph

Nothing like a shirtless run on February 1. Until the temperature drops 17°F over 20 minutes, torrential rains start falling in buckets and a cold north wind starts gusting to 14 mph. My friends, that will get your attention .... (And made me run a little faster! ha)

The front wasn't forecast to hit until around 7 AM. Obviously moving faster than the forecasters expected.



PRE RUN
weight=165
GrapeNuts & skim milk

POST RUN
orange juice, multivitamin & oatmeal w/almonds, flax, brown sugar & skim milk

Monday, January 31, 2011

OBJECTIVE
3 mi. easy

ACHIEVED
3.21 mi.@ 8:05

5:55 AM 58° 85% 1 mph

Nice morning. Easy run. While I was out this morning, thought about my goal for the Seabrook Half. Preliminarily targeting 1:35. It's a little disappointing to set that target after hitting my 1:28 PR last September but realistically that's probably the best I can shoot for. I'll have a better idea after 3 weeks of training. To be continued ....

PRE RUN
weight=164.5
corn flakes w/skim milk

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk

Sunday, January 30, 2011

OBJECTIVE
4 mi. easy recovery run

ACHIEVED
4.08 mi.@ 8:27

6:07 AM 63° 84% 1 mph

I bit achy this morning. Lower abs generally.

PRE RUN
weight=163.5
water

POST RUN
water, multivitamin & oatmeal w/brown sugar & skim milk

Saturday, January 29, 2011

OBJECTIVE
13 mi.

ACHIEVED
14.44 mi.@ 8:48

6:06 AM 58° 82% 3 mph

This was a fun run. The men's and women's US Half Marathon Championships were run in Houston today. About 8 miles into our run, we intersected the course and watched for a while before moving to another vantage point. They were absolutely flying. And they looked really young. Ryan Hall ended up second to Mo Trafeh. Jen Rhines looked very determined when we saw her. She won the women's.

Randy, Michele, Augie and me.

Good luck to everyone running the Houston Marathon tomorrow!

PRE RUN
weight=165.5
oatmeal w/skim milk

POST RUN
SlimFast