Day 88 and I LIED . . . to myself :(

It's Day 88 of the 30+ Day Running Challenge.

And I lied. I thought I had nailed down the food issue, but apparently not.

I went for my run at Manzanita Park last night after work and I got WORKED! I was beat before even starting the run! I managed to crank out at least 3/4ths of the run before having to run/walk the rest of it. I walked a bit at spots where I usually run up (just a few feet) and the big hill just kicked my ass.

And as exhausting as this run was, I kinda liked that it did that to me. Weird.Still, I hope my body gets used to this change fast! Cause it leaves me beat the next day, too.

Tonight I have a flat 2 miler scheduled . . . maybe three . . . or four. Depends on how much exhaustion I want to feel.

Tomorrow I'll be in Monterey for my birthday. I'll be 39 years old and I'll be running a short mile there. I've also got to finish paying off my tux rental for next week and I've gotta start writing my speech as a best man. I'm still debating if I should be humorous or somber. As I don't know either family very well (I don't know why he chose me, either), I may be going for somber. Dammit.

It is a day of reflection for me as well. It's my day to recharge my faith in humanity. What better place to do it than a tourist trap town with a bunch of foreigners and the locals being helpful.

Damn. That last bit makes me sound terrible. It's supposed to be taken in a positive light. Trust me.

GD

p.s.
too beat to check. run smiley :)

Day 87

Today is day 87 of 30+ Day Running Challenge.

And I think I finally nailed down my food intake for the 4 Hour Body lifestyle change.

Gotta call it that because I don't want to look at it as a diet. It should be something I'm comfortable with. And so far, I would say I am.

FYI: On Monday I felt pretty bad. I don't remember if I posted about that on my last post. But I had a pretty bad carb hangover. You might think it's a bunch of BS, but when you stick with 4HB, you do feel the difference after having loaded up on bad carbs.  I don't think allergies helped, but the queasiness I was feeling had nothing to do with allergies. And I had a different type of headache than what I usually associate with allergies. It really did feel like a minor hangover.

Most of the symptoms went away when I had my run at Manzanita Park, but that run was hellish! I mean, it is a diffcult trail to run, but I usually do better on it than I did that day.

This week has also been better as far as food intake. I think I nailed down what I needed to function normally.  My runs haven't been great, but they also haven't been terrible. I'm enjoying them, they're fun again.

Here's what I've been having as far as food for this week. It's just what I had when I first tried 4HB about a year ago and dropped 40 lbs.

Breakfast
8oz of Lentils
3 scrambled eggs (with olive oil)
70 grams of spinach (love my kitchen scale)

Lunch
A cup of pinto beans (either whole or mashed)
10 medium sized shrimp
A bunch of stir fried veggies (broccoli, cauliflower . . .)

Dinner
Dinner has been the same as lunch, except with chicken instead of shrimp.

As far as snacking, I haven't needed any. I've done well. Last time I did this, I needed my spoonful of almond butter. I anticipated this and I haven't had to crack open the jar, yet. I had some merlot last night. I think it was a bit old. I only had a couple of mouthfuls and tossed it out, blah. I'll be cracking open a bottle of Trader Joe's Charles Shaw Cabernet tonight. That'll be good. I know it doesn't really go with chicken, but I want some wine, dammit!

Gotta go. It's lunch time and I'm hungry.

GD

p.s.
too hungry to check. run smiley :)

Day 85

Today is day 85 of the 30+ Day Running Challenge.

And I'm beat.

I was a nice full weekend. Saturday morning, up early to take my godson to practice. Go to pick him up and the daughter decides to tag along for breakfast at Mickey D's. I've already had breakfast (lentils, spinach and eggs) so I get them their grub and then head over to Starbucks for a cup'o'joe (grande).

The email from the coaches said practice was from 8 to 9:30am. BUT . . . there was disclaimer that they would use the allotted time given them for use of the field if needed.  I guess they needed it because the kids weren't released until a bit after 10:30.

Once I took him back home, I headed over to my moms restaurant to help her out for the day (ALL DAY). It wasn't too busy, but Saturday never really are. So the cook plays catch-up for the week.

I was outta there by 7:15 and headed out to the Toro Park Estates trail for my run. Ran a quick mile and then headed over to my cousin's house to figure out the schedule for the next day.

Apparently her and the daughter made it a baking day and made pineapple enpanadas. And she had a piece (for shame!). She couldn't wait for Sunday to break into her cheat day.

We made plans to have breakfast at First Awakenings and then I headed home.

Up early Sunday and took care of my morning ablutions. Then out the door I went. No waiting at First Awakenings (first for me) and had excellent grub. I ordered their Triple Bogey which has two pieces of Texas Toast (awesome), two eggs and two sausages (or bacon). And I grabbed some of my godson's country potatoes . . . and some of the daughters strawberry topped blueberry pancakes.

I HAVEN'T HAD BAD CARBS ALL WEEK! LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!

So . . . anyway:

Heading back to my cousins pad, the daughter and her mom are arguing about who's going to drop the kids off at the pool first. It was the funniest and strangest conversation I've heard in a while. We stayed there for a while until it was time to head out the door to our respective game sites.

My godson had his Toro Bulls game at RLS against the Carmel Panthers in Pebble Beach and I was taking the daughter to Seaside to coach her Cubs cheerleaders there against The Raiders.

I'm not sure what happened with my godsons team cause there was an issue. But the Steinbeck Cubs had a bit of a blowout game against the Seaside Raiders (26 to 6, Cubs).  Good game.

After the game, the daughter and I headed out to the Monterey Wharf and had  clam chowder bread bowls. Awesome. There also happened to be Turkish Day festivities in the plaza. Good music and fun for all.

The back home we went. Arrived a bit after 5pm.

I had a couple of Sierra Nevadas and the godson decided he wanted to go run with me. He's not used to running long (for him) distances so he went off and ran to fast. I gave him some tips and he did better.

But this old, fat ass still beat him . . . and I mocked him. I'm a jerk.

GD

p.s.
too much of a jerk to check. run smiley :)

Day 81 of the 30+ Day Running Challenge

And I've been kinda lagging it.

What with my godson's football practice and the daughters cheer practice AND their games . . . time is a precious commodity.

Typical week as of 2 weeks ago:

• Monday
• I can leave work late.
• Head over to Manzanita Park for hill work run
• Go home
• Tuesday
• Need to be out the door from work no later than 4:45pm
• Haul ass to daughters high school
• Crap! I need to feed her!
• Go ALL the way across town to other high school for her cheer coach gig.
• Go ALL the way back across town and out to usual running trail
• Try to squeeze in at least a mile.
• Pick up godson from football practice
• Go home
• Wednesday
• Go to Tuesday
• Thursday
• Repeat Tuesday until 5th bullet point
• After picking up godson, head ALL the way back to pick up daughter
• drop them both off and go home 
• Friday
• Run at Manzanita Park at lunch.
• No time after work anymore on Fridays
• Starting this week, High School Football
• Need to support the daughter in her cheering endeavors.
• Chat up the single moms. 
• Go home
• Saturday
• Help out at mom's restaurant
• Go for run around 8pm 
• Sunday
• Sleep in
• Pick up godson OR daughter
• Go to football game around 12.
• Get sunburnt.
• Go for run around 6pm.

Aaaand repeat.

So I'm a bit beat. Not much time for tv or anything like that. I'll get lucky if I can watch an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. And I just wanna finish it! I'm on the last stinkin' season about a third of the way through. So I've gotta decide: sleep or TV.

Ugh, priorities.

GD

p.s.
too tired to check. run smiley :)

Day 73 and still on a roll.

Here we are . . . Day 73.

73 days. 73 straight days of running at least a mile a day.

Who would'a thunk? 73 days! Damn.

I personally didn't think I would make it the first month.

I still don't know how I just kept walking out the door and heading to the trail. I guess initially the motivation was that I had to get ready for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon. I didn't want to miss that one.  I also didn't want to come through the finish line with a worse time than the previous year.

I improved my time a bit, but not as good as I hoped. But a 13 minute improvement is pretty decent, I guess. Need to do better for next year. So I guess I'm going to keep up the running everyday. I want to get comfortable. It's gotten relatively easier, but not much. There are days where I feel great, and most days when I'm just slogging through.

Hopefully that'll change beginning in a couple of weeks.  I'll be jumping back into the 4-Hour Body wagon on Monday. I know the first week is going to suck! So my times next week will be horrible. But when my body adjusts, things'll be back to normal and hopefully better than before.

I'll attempt to log what I'm grubbin' as much as I can. I'll be noting weight loss and possibly inches lost as well.  Hopefully, within a month, I'll be down to 220 lbs.

HOLY CRAP! 73 DAYS!!!

GD

p.s.
too excited to check. run smiley :)

Day 68 and SVHM Race Report

I don't really recall too much of the race, which is why I took pictures . . . which didn't help in me recalling much.

So here's my report in pictures with maybe a few blurbs.

This is an image from behind the wheel a bit after 6 in the morning heading to the place where it's HAPPENING! The beginning of the day. From Soledad, we are taking buses to the mission where the start begins.

I should have taken a picture of where the buses picked us up, but I'm a dumbass. We were picked up in the towns lone high school.  Below is probably the only picture of me on the web. Along with my friends sitting behind me. Ernesto and Charity. They are engaged and I'm supposed to be his Best Man. Though I'm really slacking off in the that department. I have NO idea what I'm supposed to do for his bachelor party. Any suggestions?

Everyone here is milling around trying to stay warm. It wasn't too bad when we arrived. But a few minutes after, it got a bit breezy and colder.

And as you can see, this is Ernesto embarrassing the shit out of Charity. In the tent behind them is the bagel and banana spread.

It's like 10 minutes before the start of the race and we've been ordered to go to the start . . .

. . . which Ernesto wanted an action shot in front of.

From here on out in the picture report, it'll mainly be pictures of the mile markers. Like I said, I'm a dumbass and should've planned on taking more of the surroundings. So here's a picture of the first mile marker next to the port-o-potties and hand wash station . .  and some runners and fields.

Keep an eye out for that tutu. She was taunting me throughout the race. I passed her and she's like "Oh, really!"
 Not really. I was thinking that after mile seven because she passed me and I was like "Hell no!" I did pass her AND her sister. Their mom beat the crap out of us though.

And here' s mile marker two. The chick stretching was with this dude who was in the port-o-potty behind us and she was getting antsy waiting for him. We passed each other at least twenty times throughout the race.

Here's mile marker three . . . and a car . . . and some barbed-wire fencing . . . and trees. Sorry, nothing interesting to report on this picture.

This is a blurry-cam picture of mile marker four and some of my fellow masochists.

And we arrive to our first aid station. Manned by the lovely young ladies of Notre Dame High School. FYI: At the time I arrived at this aid station, Danny Tapia (winner of SVHM 2012) was pretty damn close to crossing the line. He finished in 1:07:17.613 (Like thousandths of a second matter to ME!). At every aid station I passed, I tossed back at least three cups of fluid. I didn't get sick this year because of it.

Here's blurry-cam pic number 2. This one features my fellow masochists and fields and a hill.

Here we are arriving at mile marker six. As a side note, the shirts for this year were pretty sweet. Beautifully designed. Here are our beautiful models showing the back of it.

Mile marker six again along with our model. Also of note, I was feeling pretty good at this point . . .

It was a bit before mile marker seven that I had to start the run/walk strategy. The marker was also set up weirdly.  It was parallel to the road. Oh! And here's a small cliffside with a field on top of it.

As you can see in this picture of mile marker eight, runners are starting to drop off and begins seeing walking more. The lady in green was a badass. She was an older woman who finished WAY before I did. I think this was the only time she walked. The freakishly tall dude next to the marker on the other hand finished WAY behind me . . . like 30 minutes behind me. I don't know if he got hurt or what.

This picture was supposed to be a gratuitous picture of a smoking hot chick and her friend. The one in red. She also happened to be wearing Vibram FiveFingers Bikilas! I kept up with them as best I could using the view as an incentive, but they just kept going and I had to walk :(

Here's blurry-cam pic number 3. And mile marker 9 along with my fellow masochistic laggers. The VFF Bikila hot chick was still within reach . . .

Mile marker ten marked the point where I felt like I was back in East Salinas. The ladies on the right were speaking spanglish and annoying the shit out of me. Speak english or spanish! FUCK! Sorry, it's one of my pet peeves. I used that as an incentive to get the fuck away from them as quickly as possible.

Mile marker eleven and this guy knew NOTHING of who had won the race. Though he had a radio which he pulled out of his pocket just as I was passing by when he got a call from someone at the finish area. Jerk.

And this was probably everyone's favorite station. The Strawberry Stop! I think I ate like 10 strawberries. They were SOOOO friggin sweet and juicy!  Then again, maybe it was just my body screamin' for fuel. Oh! And mile marker twelve.

 Here we are at the bend nearing the finish line, which you can see in the distance. Also that annoying bitch must've passed me (and lost her friend at some point) while I was wolfing down the strawberries because I don't remember her doing that. I did beat her though. She walk into the finish area.

And here is me crossing the timing mats (there were two). I was really running at this point, hence the crappy angle of the camera. And also another lover-ly view of one of our models in the tech shirt.

I finished the race in 2:47:05.983 (Seriously?! Thousandths!) It's funny that in this shot of so many people, I can only spot one Waldo wearing this years tech shirt.

This is my godson's football team volunteers serving up some awesome tri-tip sandwiches!

And that's it. I hope I made it an entertaining read. Next year I hope to break 2:15!

GD

i'm done typing. run smiley :)

Day 66 . . . and a promise.

And that promise will be a race report on the Salinas Valley Half Marathon in the near future.

Just not today.

 If you look to the right, you'll notice my Dailymile mileage is LOW! I'm still feeling the aches of the relative long run this past Saturday.  Once I get back down to nine minutes for my mile, then I'll start racking up the miles again and progressing to longer and longer runs.  I want that half marathon to be CAKE next year, dammit!

I've got a whole year to work on that.

GD

p.s.
too lazy. run smiley :)

Day 61 and my MRG's

I love my Merrell Road Gloves. And I already need a new pair.

Here's a pic:

If you look back to Day 27, they were fine. Now I've somehow poked holes with my pinkie-toes after only about 140 miles in these shoes. The rest of the shoe is fine! My lace fix is holding up well and I will be running in these tomorrow for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon.

I'll be running a short mile today to keep up with the challenge and later tonight have some pizza and beer (maybe wings, too).

I'll try to post tomorrow after the run and maybe even some pictures. I'm still debating taking my iPhone for pictures during the run.  We'll see . . .

GD

p.s.
too excited to check. run smiley :)

Day 57

And I'm feeling pretty good!

Though that may have to do with the last four runs only being a mile each.  But I'll tell you, I'm surprised at the times I was pulling in for those.  On the first two, I felt like crap and I only went out there to keep with the spirit and law of the 30+ Day Challenge. And to make things a bit weird, on the last two days I was actually feeling much better but pulled in slower times . . . ? Weird.

And for today, I've already gone for a run. So I CAN write if off the books . . . but I can't. It was such a disappointing run that I have to run another tonight. I was about a mile and a half into it when I began feeling that twinge on my calf that I know means it wants to cramp up. It it was a flat trail, I would've kept going. But it occurred just as I was going up the BIG hill.

So I walked it . . . and the most of the rest of the trail.  Last thing I need right now is for me to damage something and not be able to make another race. I skipped out on the Santa Cruz Half because I was laid up with a horrible cold.

The Salinas Valley Half Marathon is on it's 3rd year. I was there for the inaugural run, so it'll be my 3rd year, too. This race is special to me. This is the race that got me running. I don't want to skip this one because of illness or injury.  I will limp the damn thing if I have to! I've put in too much time on the trails to not make it. I have 2:30 in my sites and I truly believe I'll make it!

If  don't injure myself.

So to make up this afternoons crappy run, I'll be going for another one tonight before picking up my godson from football practice. Don't know how long yet, but not too long. I'm calling it taper time now. Though I haven't even gone half the distance yet on ANY of my runs. Looking forward to it, though.

GD

p.s.
too tired to check. run smiley :)

Day 50

It's day 50 today with a run to come this evening.  I've got 128.43 miles accumulated.

As for the GPS watch . . . well I picked up the Nike+ GPS Sportwatch (powered by TomTom).  I ordered it through Amazon for $152, shipped. I have four runs logged with the watch. I like it so far. You can set up the watch to give you whatever information you'd like, except elevation. But once you plug the watch in and download the info to Nike, you get a decent rundown of what your run was like along with elevation.

You can add information like you can on DailyMile, too. Like where you ran, weather, shoes . . . and you can export the run data to DailyMile. You only get the stats exported to DailyMile, though. Like time, distance and pace. I've gotta figure out how to send the map, too. I think eagerfeet.org will allow you to download it. I've gotta figure it out still.

From what I understand, you can use it on several other running blog sites. If Googled, I'm pretty sure the info will be there.  I'm already using enough. I'm on Fitocracy, which is fun if you're a gamer. Also DailyMile, and Runmeter through my iPhone. Though Runmeter is mainly a datalogger which allows you to send data to sharing sites . . . like DailyMile, Facebook, Twitter . . .

It can connect to the Nike shoe pod thing to help track distance in case you lose GPS signal. Also a heart rate strap. Not sure which one though as I'm not planning on needing one . . . yet.

I'm actually pretty glad I went with this instead of just a watch that measured the distance but didn't allow you to download it. I kinda keeps me motivated to keep running, too.

I'm feeling tired right now and I think it's stinkin' allergies. A lot of others around me seem to be feeling it, too. Once I get running though, sinuses opens up and I feel better. I guess that's another benefit to running. Damn.

Anyway . . . Day 50's run is supposed to be 4 miles. Hopefully I can kick it in without shorting myself. I'm feeling beat.

GD

p.s.
too lazy. run smiley :)

Today is day 38 . . .

And I feel like shit.

Well . . . not really. I've just had a couple of bad runs and I'm feeling down.  The real bad ones I blame on my boss who had a cold and kinda passed it to me. Bastard.  I got over it fairly quick but it was enough to bog me down.

And then yesterdays run . . . ugh.  I had already planned to make it a short miler because I wanted to the take the daughter and my godson to watch Brave (awesome movie).  I had to drag'em to it with bribes.  Anyway . . . I don't like the work trail.  The elevation changes are drastic and steep (though short). The trail itself if real short unless you take the older park trail, then you'll have an arduous run you'll regret unless you like LONG climbs. That part of the trail has what I call the hill-on-a-hill. 

It's a part of the trail that fools you.  You climb a couple of hundred yards up a steep, meandering hill and it veers off to the right (going up).  As it begins to veer off out of sight, it appears to level out . . . then you get to the next straight-away. Which is an even steeper hundred yard (at least) climb.

I like walking that trail, hell no am I attempting to run it.

I've gotta post pictures one day.  Today's nice. I might go out for a walk this afternoon.

Anyway, the run sucked and I paid for it all last night. You'd figure with ALL this running I've been doing, my legs would get better. NOPE. I was doing fine until I got sick. Then I think I got lazy on my runs and started screwing up my form.

OR

Maybe I've been running too much?

I've been seriously debating this. I have (including today) 25 days until the Salinas Valley Half Marathon. If I continue with crappy runs by Friday (day 40), I'll be taking the weekend off and focus on flats and distance beginning Monday (July 16th).

So my 30 day challenge will have been extended to 40 days.

IF my running feels better than it has this past week by Friday (day 40), I'll continue with the challenge. But I'll still take the weekend off. Kinda.  I'll keep those short with the shorter Toro Estates run (1.77 miles) and on Monday begin my flat/longer distance runs.

I'll be picking up a gps watch because I HATE running with my phone. There's a cheapish $100 watch called the Soleus GPS 1.0 that's had decent reviews. For tracking distance, it's fine.  Their upgraded version sucks balls (2.0) and only because of the software issue. You get the same watch with crappy software. Though I see that they've upgraded the software, so maybe they fixed it?

I just want to track distance and time. The 1.0 should work great for that. But I'll be shopping around (the Nike one looks pretty cool).

GD

p.s.
too lazy and hurt to check. run smiley :)

Day 32?

Yup. Day 32 today. Wow.

I've accumulated 81.43 miles in these 31 days, previous.  Tonight will be another day to log in.  I feel good, no major aches like I used to have when training for the SVHM in the two previous years.  The only problem is that I haven't run any real distances during these runs.

I've been running a brutal (for me) trail near work. Lots of terrain changes, sandy, long and steep hills, etc . . . and my times on it have been kind of improving on it.  I have noticed that my times on the flats have gotten better, but . . .

I suck at flats.

I'm not sucking wind or anything when running them, it's just that my legs don't do well.  I guess it's because it's the same set of muscle groups working for longer periods of time on the flats.  And seeing that the SVMH is MOSTLY flats, I'm going to have to start working on that. Damn.

I'm going to try something beginning tonight.  I've heard anecdotes of Crossfit people never having run long distances using Crossfit to train for a Half. So I'm going to attempt something similar.  I'd like to incorporate my trail run with Crossfit.

Seeing as I'm pretty well beat up after my run, that should mean I've got a pretty good warm-up in, right?  So . . . I'm going to take a 45lb plate with me to the trail and use it for some simple Crossfit workovers.  Like a modified Fran or something.  I'll get my post stretch in first then get to work.  Hopefully I don't look like a TOTAL doofus killing myself out there.

I know I'll be able to do it, too. By the end of the run, I'm pretty well spent.  But after the stretches and a bit of a rest as I'm walking back down the hill to my car, I feel as if I can go again.  I'm hoping to get to work after that. Though where the hell I'm gonna stash a 45lb plate while I'm running is going to be a bit of a problem. I don't wanna imagine running with that plate.

Though I could probably strap it to my back . . . hmm.

GD

too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Two more days :)

And I've accumulated 74 miles to date. I wanted to be further along in mileage but I think being a overweight bastard doesn't help recovery as quickly. I know I was feeling ok this last week, but beginning Thursday evening, I was feeling a bit off. Friday and Saturday went great as far as the run was concerned, but post-run . . .  not so much.

I'm beginning to suspect that I do need my fish oil. I haven't been taking any for about three weeks. I'll have to pick some up again. I've been eating half decently, and my appetite has changed. I'm not digging the carb loaded stuff like I used to before all this extra running. Proteins, veggies, fruit . . . I've been trying to be a bit smarter this time around.

But beer will always be there. But the craving has been only a bottle a night so far. Arrogant Bastard Oaked! Awesome. Looooove this stuff. I had been on an IPA kick (Stone Ruination), but ABOaked has been hitting the spot wonderfully post-run. Usually when sitting back before crashing for the night, reading.

I'm still feeling kind of blah right now, but that usually goes away during the run. Maybe it's a bug, who knows.  All I know is beginning Wednesday, I'm starting up Crossfit again and I can't wait!

GD

p.s.
run smiley :)

Today marks 24

 . . . and though that run still isn't easy, I keep improving on time.  Monday was a dog of a run.  I felt like I was dragging someone else with me, it was so hard.  But as hard as it was, I was able to improve my time somewhat compared to the previous run there.  But what I think dragged me down was my shoes.  I bought a pair of Yanks.  They are supposed to help in keeping your shoes on without having to tie them all the time. They're elastic, bungee laces.  I can see how they may help other people, but I need my shoes LOOSE!

Like so:

Those are my really well worn Merrell Trail Gloves. I love the lacing system on those. Really adjustable, and I can have them loose and comfortable. As you can see, I tied knots onto the laces ends. Perfect. The only reason I don't use them on the trail is that the sole is worn enough . . . sorry that's a load of bull.  I just wanted a newer pair of shoes. I use these at work in the lab. I have a pair of Redwing boots that I bought a year ago that still look new cause I use those only when I have to.

If there is any constriction on the top of my foot, it annoys the shit outta me.  It feels as if my foot is always flexing or something. It works harder than it should and I can't relax on my run.  I really tried to get the Yanks to work, but alas . . . they were not long enough to satisfy my requirements for a comfortably loose shoe. The original laces were also not long enough to tie.  That's why I went with the Yanks. So what were my choices if the Yanks didn't work nor the original laces?

I stuck with the original laces . . . with a bit of a modification:

These are my newish Merrell Road Gloves . . . with added zip ties :D

Yesterdays run was the first relatively comfortable run where I wasn't pissed at my shoes, just the trail. I wish it had the same lacing system as the Trail Gloves, but I made do. I still tied the lace ends but they were a bit too long, hence the zip ties. Perfect.

My times on this trail are all OVER the place.  Some days are good, others not so much. I'll say the bad days are due to the shoes being too tight. The good days prior to the lace fix, were due to having been wearing my Vibram Bikilas. Those are always comfy.

I'm feeling a relaxed kind of tired today.  It shouldn't hold me back on my run. I'm looking forward to a good one.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

22 days into 30 day running challenge

So I'm looking at my calendar this morning and I notice that Day 30 ends on July 3rd and I've been wondering what I'm going to do.

I think I'm going to continue . . . kinda. What I mean is that I miss lifting mass. I was noticing improvement when I was doing Crossfit and I'd really love to incorporate that into my running again.  Do CF one day and run the next. That could be my next 30 day challenge. Or just a lifestyle change.

I was expecting to hurt a lot more than I am.  As a matter of fact, I believe I'm hurting less than if I'd gone full out with the recommended training of one day on, one day off.  Of course, the training also recommends doing SOME cross-training on those OFF days and increasing mileage on the ON days.

My gauge of improvement is how well I'm doing on those hills at Manzanita Park.  How far up can I go before I have to stop and walk. They're bitchin', killer hills with a sand pit right before most of 'em. The hills here in Prunedale are sandy because they used to be under water eons ago.  Prunedale's at about 100 feet in elevation and Manzanita Park is about 200 feet. It's not that high up from sea level. There are certain parts here in Prunedale where you can just see the ocean between hills, so we're not that far from it. If one goes digging through around here, you can still find seashells. Pretty cool.

So . . . anyway . . . for the morning of the 4th of July, I'll be beginning Crossfit once again.  I believe the inaugural CF workout will be Fran.  I wanna see if I can improve on my time.  I don't know what it is off the top of my head but it was over 15 minutes. Hopefully I've made some improvement in stamina.

I've run a bit over 55 miles so far.  I was hoping to get near 100, but it doesn't look that way. If I continue with what I've been posting up, I'll have added another 20 miles by the end of this week. So by day 30 I could be close to 90 miles. I'd like to break 100, but that means really pushing myself and cranking up the daily miles. I'd have to average 5 miles a day . . . oof. Maybe do the 4 during the week and do longer weekend runs. We'll see.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Tonight should be Day 19

And along with it, I'll have broken through 50 accumulated miles since this weird endeavor began.

I still cannot explain to myself why I'm continuing with this. I've not had these kind of masochistic tendencies since I was in high school.  I start out ok and then on come the stinkin' hills! They are a BEAR!

For Manzanita Park, you start out going down hill for a while.  It's a decent warm-up, and then you gotta make it back up!  Well, by then I'm drenched and the legs are starting the feel it.  Now I've gotta climb back up the hill?!!! Ugh!

And to make me feel even better, you've got the CX team out there running up the hill . . . chatting away like it no thing. Bastards.  OH! And the cherry topper, little league soccer players right behind them laughing and chatting!  FUCKING bastards!

So whenever I come up on a walker (not Walking Dead walkers, enjoying the day walkers) I tell them they still have a LOOOOONG way to go uphill . . . to discourage them.  So they can go back to being potatoes.

Not really. But I really want to . . . sometimes.

I say the "Good job", moral support thing. I know there have been times when I'm draggin' ass and then someone comes along says that and it reminds me to keep pushing. Gotta "Pay it forward" and all that.

I'll be going for four tonight.

To the Pain!

"It means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever."

GD

p.s.
to lazy to check. run smiley :)

I've gone 15 days!

The mileage for those days aren't any big deal, but for ME to say that I've gone 15 days straight of running some amount of distance greater than a mile . . . awesome.

I had started running flats for the first nine days. It's the trail by the Toro Estates. It's one of those ninja trails because it fools you into thinking you're running a level trail.  But you're not! It's a very slight rise in elevation of about 45 feet.  It doesn't sound like much, but I always thought the run back was much easier.  Now I know why.

I started running Manzanita Park Last Wednesday. I'd heard there was a trail there last year but because I was a chicken-shit and didn't want to run it solo at first, I never went.  But I'd been wanting to try another trail for a while. Toro Park is cool and all, but it's kinda out of the way for me. It takes about 20 minutes to get there because I've gotta go through town and there is no straight shot through.

Manzanita Park is on the way home from work. Because I work on a mushroom farm, it was built on an old Foster Farms poultry farm. Because it was a poultry farm, it was built in the middle of Prune-tucky (Prunedale, CA).  Nice hills and valleys to prevent chicken shit (and now mushroom compost) from annoying neighbors.

Manzanita Park is a county park that is used by youth athletic leagues.  They have baseball, softball, soccer and even BMX races there. They have batting cages on-site, too.  And one neat-o running/hiking trail.

This is what I ran last night after work:
http://j.mp/Kws2NW

 
What I did to mark the 4 miler is take my phone with me to and used the Runmeter app to log the run. As I reached the 2-mile mark I was looking for a landmark I could use. When I did get to the 2nd mile, there was a convenient lone tree off to the side to use as a landmark and headed back the way I came.  I could complete the loop for an under 3 mile run, but for this week I'm going to attempt to keep with the 4-miler.

My legs were bugging me, but I think it was because the shoes I was wearing. They're fine for the "shorter" run, but I was getting beat up and it was because I couldn't get comfortable in my shoes.  They're relatively new and on flats, they're fine. But with this more challenging trail, my feet need to be free!  I'll be using my VFF Bikilas today and from now on for Manzanita.

I'll tell you what though, after my first couple of runs there, my calves were aching! They haven't ached like that since I began running in minimalist shoes. The funny thing is that while I'm churning through the trail, I'm hating life and wondering what the hell I'm doing when I could be at home enjoying a beer. But after the run . . . SEVERAL MINUTES AFTER . . . I'm so glad I did it. It's not really about the accomplishment, it's more like the stinkin endorphins have finally kicked in!

Why the hell couldn't they kick in while running!

GD

p.s.
too pissed to check. run smiley :)

Today could be Number 10

Last week I read a post that inspired me to accept a challenge put forth by the blogger. The challenge was to run at least a mile everyday for 30 days.

Today's run could be run number ten!  And so far I've kept with running more than a mile a day.  And it hasn't been that difficult.  I'll admit some days I just didn't want to go, but after the run my mood had been lifted and felt MUCH better.  Those days have been the reason for me to continue on this challenge.  I just let go . . . and go.

The little bit of miles rack up and last week I cranked out about 18 miles. Not bad, but I'd love to do better.  I know what I've got to do to improve, but it'll be a bit before I can make some of those changes.  I hope to start this weekend, if things don't go to shit again.

So far the one major improvement I've noticed has been I've been sleeping the sleep of the dead. No more waking up several times a night, tossing and turning.  Drawback?  I can't seem to wake up the hour earlier so I can go for my run and do my crossfit workovers in the evening.  That's going to have to be one of the changes I need to make. That one's going to be difficult.

Legs have been feeling better as well. I'm still working out running form, even though I thought I was good. Nope.  I've got to learn to relax.  Every time I ask myself if I'm relaxed, I notice I'm not. It's hard to be relaxed when running, but it's doable. It's just minute changes, but they are noticeable.

I'm looking forward to tonights run. I'm thinking it's time to push for four miles . . .

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Not dead. On hiatus.

I was on a 10 day exercise hiatus.  Crap too deep to get into, but . . . I'M BACK!

I began on Monday with my usual under 3-miler at the Toro Estates.  I NEEDED to get out there.  I'd been needing to get out and do something for the last couple of weeks and I finally went.  I felt ok.

The next day (Tuesday) I was checking out the blog-roll and Trisha Reeves of [barefoot] Monologues had this posting about a running challenge being done by a friend of hers who was first inspired by a challenge proposed by Jason Robillard of Barefoot Running University.  Sorry about all the links but I figured someone might want to know if I'm making this shit up.

ANYWAY . . .

The challenge was to run AT LEAST one mile every day for 30 days . . . or longer. Trisha's friend was just about to reach 120 days straight. She says it's helped him get strong enough to complete an Ultra with very few runs longer than 10 miles! When I read the that, I was dumbfounded.  I was like, "CRAP! That sounds reasonable! Running 30 days straight shouldn't sound reasonable!"

But if you ONLY have to run AT LEAST 1 mile a day . . . that's reasonable.  Everyone has AT LEAST 15 minutes of time to kill (p.s. I don't run 15 minute miles . . . just sayin').

So far, I've stuck with my regular trail run of 2.68 miles since Monday.  That's a tad over 8 miles over the last three days.  Tonight will be my 4th day of the challenge and I'm not hurting.  The legs have been tad stiff after Monday's run, but I think that was because of the unintended hiatus (I was a total potato).

The only problem I see is how I'm going to incorporate some Crossfit workovers into this. Right now, my plan is to run 5 to 6 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. I'm thinking run in the morning and do a good workover in the evening.  But I want to do some workovers during the week, too.

I think I may have to finally turn into one of those annoying morning people and get up at the ungodly hour of 6am for a run . . . ugh.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

What the hell is a barbell complex?!

Well, I learned what it is and I hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon!

This weekend I didn't do anything for my well-being.  I just ate bad food . . . but at least I wasn't overdoing it.  So I guess that kinda counts . . . ?

I was itchin' to do something yesterday and I felt like doing some Crossfit.  I checked out the local Crossfit website (Crossfit Ranch) and saw their workout posted for the day:

5x3 tempo back squat @70% (135lbs)
(smooth descent, hold at bottom for 3 whole seconds then fire up)
Run 400m
3 rounds of the BB complex (BBC)-
5 Deadlifts 85#
5 Hang Power Cleans 85#
5 Push Jerks 85#
Run 400m
2 rounds of the BB complex
Run 400m
1 round of the BB complex

After the warmup (about 10 minutes), I rested a couple of minutes and started the workover.  The back squats were difficult.  Especially because I had to hold the squat at the bottom for those three seconds . . . and then try to explode up?!!! Ugh!  My legs weren't necessarily gone,but they were pretty close to it when I got back from what I used to think was a relatively short 400 meter run!

The deadlifts felt good, the HPC's started out good and the PJ's were beginning to wear . . . in the first round.  The next two were a friggin' fight.  The run sucked so bad the neighbors (who are awesome cause they work on really cool jacked-up Jeeps) were looking concerned.

When I got back, I took a few seconds to attempt to catch my breath and started up the next two rounds of the BBC.  I've never really worked with the HPC before, just some practice with the Burgener Warm-up.  I can tell you, I will definitely be using the Burgener Warm-up every friggin' day!  My form was all over the place!  I had to mentally check myself way too often that the bar stayed in a vertical line over my feet when popping the bar up and that I bent my elbows to get it to my shoulders.  And my shoulders were burning when doing the push-jerk.  IT WAS ONLY 85 POUNDS!

And then to run again, except the neighbors were smirking this time . . . jerks.  I completed the last round at 14:33 mark.  I took a while to get my breath back, which I felt was TOTALLY unjustified!  I can run three stinkin' miles non-stop damn it! WTF!

And when I was running . . . Oh! I wasn't running.  I was clomping like the fat guy I am! I had to remember to keep my head up and lead with my chest . . . which I usually did in the last half of each 400m run.

I'm only looking forward to tonight's run because I don't have to think about that workover.  Shoulders are sore which only means it's gonna be bad tomorrow.  Can't wait.

GD

p.s.
ugh! run smiley :)