I'm getting spacey

Sometimes I just lose all sense of reason. Today's workout called for swimming as many yards in 15 minutes as possible. I figured I was good for an 850. Warmed up with a 200 stretched and off I went. Here's where I got spacey. I know an 800 is 32 laps making the 850 34 laps. Somehow I got it in my mind that I had to swim 42 laps.............so I did. So when I finished in 18:56 I was baffled, distraut even. I was like, wow! I know I haven't been getting enough sleep and my diet is a little off, but this is crazy. So, I know you're saying this guy is a dope, but it gets better.

My next workout was 50 foot walking lunges with 25# overhead, 21 burpees times four. I forgot to check my workout plan before I left the office so I was going by memory (actually, going by Erica's blog which I read earlier in the day - just assumed we had the same workout). That being said, I thought the workout called for three rounds. It is just as well as I'm not sure I could have done the fourth. My legs were burning with pain while doing the lunges and the burpees weren't feeling too good either.

So, I was still thinking it was a sucky day until I started writing the blog and realized that a swam a 1050 vs. an 850. Suddenly I wasn't feeling bad at all :)

I'm going to bed - might even get eight hours tonight.

10k for time

I thought about switching things around in order to get another day off from running after the half marathon, but decided that it was better to get back on schedule. I ran a course that I knew would be over 10k and went by my GPS. I hit the lap button at 6.2, but kept running hard until my GPS said 6.5. I warmed down with an easy run for about a half mile and then jumped in the car to clock the run. On the way home I drove a measured mile (part of a road race course) in order to make sure that my car odometer was accurate. It is. The 6.5 mile distance per the GPS was the 10K as I suspected. Nothing like using a little Kentucky windage to get a run distance right. Time was 53:42, or in other words, not too shabby especially considering that I just ran a half marathon two days ago.

Late night crossfit

I'm all caught up now. I did not do my burpees yesterday as I, ughh, kind of took a nap. Anyway that screwed up my schedule so I doubled up on Xfit tonight. Did the 50 burpees for time first. 3:54 vs. 4:00 the last time. Incremental differences - that is what we are looking for.

300 squats for time. 11:51 vs. I don't think I ever did 300 for time before. Did 250 in 8:34 a couple of months ago. There is no way I could have hit that today. Legs and hips are definately fatigued from yesterday.

Race results - half Mary

First, I confirmed that my GPS needs to be recalibrated. It clocked in at 13.6 vs. 13.1. I think the reason for this is that I totally changed my running form since I first calibarated it.

I ran the Westfield half marathon today. I biked one loop of the course before running it - it was an easy bike so I would not even count it as a workout. The good thing about it was that I knew where all of the hills were and was able to plan accordingly.

Erica and I ran the first five miles together (probably should have ran the whole thing together, we came in very close to the same time). The first mile is flat and then the course climbs for three miles. We did the first mile in slightly under 9 minute pace as we were conserving for the hills. At mile four a gentle descent starts and there were some decent descents after that. Course climbs again at mile 10 - not too bad; however, it is at mile 10.

My main concern today was about running technique. I perceive that I am significantly improving my technique; however, I would like to get some video of me running in order to analyze it. My secondary concern was putting up a decent time (my goal was to complete the half in under 2:00). I'm not sure how fast we ran up the hills, but I felt pretty good coming off of them. I concentrated on keeping my legs loose, landing midfoot, keeping my hips forward, and letting the road pull me forward. I broke at the hips a few times, but I am getting much better at recognizing it and making a correction - it's amazing at how much of a differnence I feel when I make the correction - it's like I've been riding the brakes and just released them.

I clocked in at around 1:58:30. Considering that I would have been happy with anything under two hours, this is a great result (I would have settled for 1:59:59). I'm a little tight in the hips and I feel some tightness in the lower legs, but overall I think I feel a lot better than I have in the past. I still may be straightening my leg too much which is one of the reasons why I would like to get some video of me running.

I swam and did the thrusters yesterday. swam 8 100s with each 100 followed by five pushups and five squats. finished in 17:22. Did the thrusters in the morning as I wanted them as far away from the run as possible.

Still ticking

Yesterday's workout got cut short, but I did over half of it. I went to LAF after work (got there around 9:00). They close at 11:00 (bastards used to be open until 12:00!) so I knew I was not going to get it all in. I did the burpee/rowing workout first. 21 burpees, 500m row, 15 burpees, 500m row, 9 burpees, 500m row. Finished in 11:00 flat. I must say, I liked this workout.

I rested for a whole 90 seconds or so and got on the stationary bike. I immediately started in on the three miler as I figured I was already warmed up. I lacked power - perhaps from the workout I just did or perhaps because I am not getting enough rest. Rested my one minute and then did the six miler, rested 2 minutes, did the 9 miler and that was all I had time for. I finished just as they were turning the lights off.

I was planning on doing 12 miles on the indoor trainer tonight after my 400s but decided that rest is an important element. I am just going to have to let myself off the hook this one time and hope there aren't too many more misses in the next couple of weeks.

You don't want to know

What time I did the second WOD yesterday. Actually it was today if that is any hint. I decided I would have more trouble sleeping if I had it hanging over my head and it was a quick one so I just did it. 10 of Box jumps, squats, pushups and burpees, then 20, then 30. twelve minutes even.

Today's workouts will be done late, but not as late - need to use the equipment at LAF and they close at 11:00. Have to do bike WOD on stationary - hate doing that, but it is a very infrequent thing so I think I will survive.

I will probably get a little more sleep tonight, but it won't be great. I know that this is effecting me, but it is only for a couple more weeks.

500 yrd swim TT

8:32. I think that's a little slow for me - felt like I was moving pretty good and had power, but you can't argue with the stopwatch. My turns were not great, but then again they never are.

Nothing much to write about

So why am I writing. I think I'm addicted to this. I better stay away from Facebook - I know people who are spending way too much time on Facebook (then again, they are not working out twice a day).



First workout was 20K bike TT at 80%. On the trainer again due to the weather. Now that I got a taste of the great outdoors, the trainer was even harder, but I have goals - workout had to get done!! I figured 80% to be a HR of 144 - 148. HR monitor did not work at first but came on after I got a good sweat going. I'm getting good with the perceived effort as when it started working (after about 10 minutes) my HR was at 146. Time not really important on this workout, but I will post it - 40:30.



Next up was 5 sets of 3 squats. No squat rack at home so I did leg presses. Managed to get to 320 on my last set. I love leg presses - they make me feel strong, but they were not the intended workout. I don't deviate often, so I don't feel bad.

Signed up to do a half marathon on Sunday do I will be switching Saturday and Sunday's workouts.

Rest day reflections

I need the rest day. not that I'm too tired to do a workout - using the day to catch up on some work.

Tax season is almost over and I have not missed any workouts due to work reasons. This is more to a level of committment to the fitness regime than anything else. Last year I did not workout from about March 1 to April 16th. Maybe not a big deal when you are young, but I find that as I get older a long layoff like that takes forever to overcome. Plus I put weight on much faster than I used to.

Exercising and proper diet have actually kept me more alert and less stressed than I have been in past busy seasons. I'm not working as many hours, but I am sharper and more focused when I am here.

I am a little surprised by some of my good results lately. Not because I am not working out hard, but my rest is definately being shorted. In addition, as much as I try to keep my diet in line, I do occassionally miss a snack or the meals are too far spaced out, etc. Saturday for example - I only ate breakfast and lunch before those workouts - was about two snacks behind - both workouts were phenomonal. I do need to keep in mind that even with occassional cheating and missing a meal or snack, I am still doing much better in the diet department than in years past (I've been known to pack on ten pounds during busy season). I have kept my weight about even. I am not worried about gaining a pound or two over the next three weeks as I will get very strict again as soon as April 16th gets here (today was a good day - all Paleo except a few pasta shells). Also, my idea of cheating these days is to eat a zone like meal instead of pure Paleo - so am I really cheating?

I'm hoping that as soon as April 16th gets here we can start planning some rides or runs together. I would like to meet you guys in person (Erica, we met once, but you probably don't remember). Perhaps we should get Dave's uncle involved.

I am doing a duathlon in Wrentham MA April 18th if anyone is interested.

O.k. - back to work for me.

Didn't like this one

I have been enjoying the swimming a lot more than I did in the past. It's great when you can feel your stroke improving and your times are coming down, etc.

I was not feeling real motivated and was going to put this workout off to late in the day/early evening as I was trying to get some work done (still am, just taking a quick break). Carol says to me "why don't you take a break and get your workout in." Well that was my cue. She does not encourage me to get my workouts in often and sometimes I feel like she tries to derail them. If this is the new her I like it - did not want to discourage the behavior so off I went.

Like I said, I was not feeling very motivated so I went to Dick's first to look for new goggles. The leaking has been getting worse so this was a great excuse to delay the workout for a little while. Dicks only carries Speedo, but I figured that's o.k. because I have been using Tyr goggles (that's all Sport's Authority carries) and I wanted to try something new. Well, they worked good.

I finally got in the pool and there was no more delaying - once I was in the water I got right to work. The workout consisted of three sets of 1 250 followed by 5 50s five seconds faster than the 250. I assumed that this meant each 50 had to be done five seconds faster than the average 50 for the 250. The first 250 was done in four minutes which equates to 48 seconds per 50 meaning I had to hold 43 seconds per 50. I easily hit this on the first 50, but struggled to hold it (I did the 50s on 1:00). I did the second 250 in 4:04, around 49 seconds per 50. I also did these on 1:00 and struggled to hold 44 (last couple were definately over). The last 250 clocked at 4:10 or 5o seconds per 50. I decided to do these on 1:15 and was able to maintain 45 for three and last two were done at 46/47. Between warmup and cooldown did a total of 2200 yards.

After all of that delaying. I found it easy to push myself during the workout. Its weird, but I was suddenly mentally focused when I got in the water.

Second workout was five sets of three shoulder presses. warmed up with the bar and then 65 pounds. First set I counted was 85 pounds. Then I did 95, 105, 105, 105. I initially thought I was going to do more weight than this, but these were shaky. I think the swim may have sapped some power.

Two goods ones

I would not call it a tough day at work, but it was tough working while it was such a nice day out. I got out around 4:00 and headed to the gym for 30 deadlifts at 1/2 my bodyweight and a 1000m row for time. I'm not sure how the deadlifts were supposed to feel, but that part of the workout felt pretty easy. The rowing on the other hand was brutal. 500m is an all out sprint. 2000m plus are pacing events. 1000m is a difficult distance to pace.

I decided pre workout that between 3:45 and 3:50 would be an accomplishment. I started off hard and finished the first 500 faster than I normally do 500s. Shortly thereafter I could feel my power declining even though I was pulling with everything I had. The computer was kind enough to show me the decline in power as well. I maintained as best as I could and actually got the power meter back up a little in the final 100. To my surprise I finished the workout in 3:36. I was totally out of gas when I finished - could barely walk. Thankfully, I'm in decent shape, recovered quickly and was on my way home within 5 minutes so I could tackle my next workout - a 20k TT.

Once again I picked a poor route due to lack of time for planning; however, there were less obstacles (intersections) to slow me down. I warmed up for two miles, reset my computer and I was off - well for about a half mile or so. My damn computer wasn't working again. I slowed down, popped it off and wiped off the leads and put it back on again and it worked. I reset the computer, started off again and looked down at it and what the #@$! It was not working again. I popped if off, wiped off the leads and put it back on and thankfully it worked and kept working from this point on.

Off I went on a fairly flat course (by CT standards). I felt good and rode hard - finished in 34:13 (21.74 avg). This is faster than I was racing last year. I am fairly certain that if I picked a better route I would have averaged 22 (I had a left hand turn which caused a significant slowdown and there was one very sharp right hand turn which caused a slowdown). Avg HR was 154 with max at 162.

The only regret that I have is that I was not able to go for a decent ride. I was about out of daylight when I finished. This was such a gorgeous day that I would have liked to have been outside enjoying it.

Nice day

I'm sure everyone is enjoying this beautiful day we are having. I am stuck behind my desk - I will definately squeeze a ride in today though. No way can I waste a day like this!!

Fun

21 situps, run 200m, 18 situps, run 200m etc. down to 3 situps run 200m. 9:02.

Looking forward to tomorrow's 20k for time.

Bike intervals

six times 5k, cadence at 60.

10:34, 10:39, 10:25, 10:32, 10:57, 11:02

HR in the high 140s to 150.

Whole new world of hurt

Now that I know the proper way of doing the Tabata workouts I'm not so sure that I view them the same when they hit the plan. Now I know why some people were grousing about the Tabata workouts while I was thinking that they weren't so bad. Results:
Box Jumps: 11, 11, 10, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9
Pushups: 19, 18, 12, 10, 8, 7, 8, 8 (can't believe the degradation here)
Lunges: 12, 12, 13, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11 (walking lunges)
Situps: 14, 17, 17, 16, 16, 14, 15, 15

Swim 1000 yd TT - 17:26. Last recorded 1000 was 1/13/2010 at 18:14.
Warmed up with a 200 and down with a 300 for total yardage of 1500.

Chi Running works!!

I ran a 5k TT today. I used my GPS as my guide as it appears to be my most accurate tool. I later did a mapmyrun on the the course and they came out identical. I feel very comfortable that this was an accurate 5k and I AM PSYCHED!!

I finished in 23:17 which is over a minute off of my best time of 24:20. I would be more psyched if it was on the same course, but this was still a great result and the terrain was similar (slightly rolling). The biggest difference is that I'm running different. I know I have a long ways to go before I am truly rid of all of my bad habits, but I think I have made a big improvement since I began reading the Chi running book. Very similar to POSE, but slightly different and if I'm not mistaken it's in line with what Max has been explaining as the correct way to run - especially the emphasis on the mid foot strike. Additionally, I am doing drills. Probably not as many as I should be, but more than I was.

Would you believe that my goal was to break 24:00, not shatter it. Well I need a new goal - 23:00 here I come!! That's probably not lofty enough - how about 22:30.

I was so pumped up after the run that I went right into the WOD. I was at Alicia's Gymnastics studio - went out back to where there was a decent lawn and paced off 100 feet. Workout consisted of 100ft walking lunges, 10 burpees and 25 situps three times for time. Finished this one in 8:01. I kept thinking of David's uncle, retired Captain Mason, and it really motivated me. I tried to push myself hard enough to throw up, but it just did not happen.

Push Press

Ran out from work to do the push presses. 5 x 5.

Warmed up with the bar for 10.

Figured the next one at 95 would be part of my warm-up, but it was much heavier than I thought it would be so it counted for my first set.

95 x 5
105 x 5
115 x 5
125 x 4
120 x 5
120 x 5

Very shaky on last set.

Yes, I know I did six sets - that's because I only got four up on the fourth set.

Swim and Wall Balls

The wall balls were on the schedule for yesterday's workout, but I do not have a medicine ball at home (asked for one for christmas, but didn't get it) and I was going to LAF today anyway so what was the harm in moving it a day. I knew I had to swim before doing the wall balls - doing them before a swim would have really trashed my stroke. Well.............doing them after the swim was no easy feat. You use your back in wall balls a lot more than you think - you can really feal it when you do them after a swim. I used the same ball as the last time and it definately felt heavier. Somewhere around number 75 I started to get into a rhythm, unfortunately it did not last long. On rep number 127 I caught the ball off balance and fell over backwards. It's kind of funny now that I think of it :). Finished this workout in 8:05. I don't really have a good comparison for the last time I did this as I guestimated the time at 7:30, but it could have been a little more or less.

Splits for the swim were as follows: 6:49, 6:54, 6:59. I lost five seconds on each 400. The 6:49 is eight seconds faster than the best 400 from the last time I swam 400s; however last time was at 80% effort vs. 100% effort today.

Night off the diet

I have a friend going through a tough time so I went out to dinner with him last night. We had pizza, wings and beer. I had four beers and let me tell you - that really hit me. I woke up this morning feeling like crap, but ironically got over it rather quickly. So, low on food in the house - went to Dunkin Donuts for the family and got myself a ham egg and cheese on a crescant (one of my old zone standbys). Went shopping today and stocked up on fresh meat and fish. Here's what I had for lunch - grilled cod with an orange, lemon, lime marinade with a little garlic and cayenne pepper. Had broccoli and string beans and a tangerine to round it out. Marinade had a little kick due to the Cayenne pepper, but not much - I am really starting to wonder why I did not eat much fish in the past - this was really good! Currently baking a chicken that should get me through a couple of days.

Here's something else I uncovered on this road of self discovery - I like to cook!

13.1 mile TT

The result was not exactly what I was hoping for. It took me 2:07:33 to complete this run. I was looking for 2:00 or less. I concentrated on hips forward, mid foot strike and supple muscles. Running actually felt different to me - perhaps a little more comfortable. Felt it a little bit in my knees at the end, but not too bad. I can't expect to erase 40 years of bad habit after doing a few days of drills. Will keep at it.

I used mapmyrun.com to help me select a course. I found a 6.5 mile (each leg) out and back. When I got to the turn around point my GPS indicated that I only went 6 miles. I modified the course on the way home to get my 13.1 according to the GPS. I drove the course on my way to work this morning hoping mapmyrun was right and that the GPS needed calibrating. I actually got a third result with the car's odometer - closer to the GPS than mapmyrun though. This is the second course that mapmyrun had very wrong.

Does anyone else use mapmyrun and if yes, do you find it to be fairly accurate?

Another one down

4 by 800m runs with three minutes rest at 80%. Did the first two at around four minutes and got carried away on the third as that one went off at 3:45. Slowed the fourth one down to 3:55. Did some running drills - wall drill, posture drills, running in place and hopping. Attempted good form on the 800s. One thing I am trying to be cognizant of is not straightening the leg - I'm pretty sure that is the cause of my knees aching on the long runs. Will be running 13.1 miles in the rain tomorrow - have the alarm set for 5:30 a.m. (rain supposed to be heavier later in the day so it does not make sense to try to wait it out.

Not sure how I'm doing it

I only missed one workout since the beginning of the year (not counting the two days after the Mary) and this was due to illness. I have not let work interfere and hopefully will get through the remaining five week unscathed.

I am pretty sore from yesterday's effort - 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps and 100 squats. Most of the soreness is in my arms - can feel it in my back, but not too bad. my final time was 27:23. I broke it up into tens as that was all I could handle for the pullups. Actually had to break the pullups up after the first round. I threw a couple more pushups, situps and squats in at the end (untimed) as I was feeling pretty good.

Last night (10:00 p.m. - relatively early) I did the 15 1 mile repeats on the bike on one minutes rest. I enjoyed this workout - legs were a little numb by the end, but it was a great workout. finished in 1:03:47 so work effort was 49:47. Bike computer working again - so was HR monitor.

Completed 100 pushups this morning in 4:42. Remember me mentioning the power of raw youth? When I was in the military (age 19) I had a pushup contest with a couple of musclehead body builders - one of them was juicing. The contest was to see how many pushups we could do in a minute. I blew them both away with 85 pushups to their 50 - 55. If only I could recapture that raw power. On the flip side, I did not have near the endurance that I have now.

Actually, today's effort was pretty good. I got 50 up nonstop and then did the remaining 50 in sets of 10 taking as little rest as possible between sets. I could barely do 20 pushups a year ago.

700yd swim

Completed in 12:21. A slight improvement from last week. Still lacking some zip, but it will come back. Goal for today is to get a good nights sleep. Over and out!

P.s. I had a physical a couple of weeks ago and the lab mailed a copy of the blood results to me. Now, just in case anyone is wondering, never send something with numbers on it to an accountant if you don't want to be grilled with questions. I called my GP to have him go over the blood results with me as it looked like I was close on some of the ranges. He actually explained that the results were awesome. My good cholesterol is up, bad is down, sugar is good, sodium good, liver good, etc, etc, etc. The only thing he recommended was a Vitamin D supplement which he said is normal for that to be low in the northeast especially this time of the year. He mentioned that it was good for the muscles - he said why, but I can't remember. The only thing I heard was "hey it might help my training."

He also did an EKG while I was in his office. It actually changed from four years ago. He said normally he would recommend a stress test, but he knows what I am doing and fears that I might break their treadmill if he sent me for one. What he sees is indication that the heart muscle is strengthening. This can't be a bad thing!

Second Workout

Helen was my date for tonight. I was convinced I was going to smash my prior time. Either my prior time of 11:11 is wrong or I really dogged it tonight. I felt like I gave it everything, but in the end I finished in 13:05 almost two minutes slower. For a short workout like this I feel that this is enormous. I almost want to do it again so I can have another shot at the record, but alas, there is no energy left. I am going to blame this on still getting over my weekend ailment. Fever gone, but still have congestion and nagging cough. I'm still a little baffled though. I had my treadmill amost all the way up (I was over 9mph, max is 10mph) so each 400 was finished in less than two minutes. For rounding purposes, that puts the 400s at about six minutes. I got right to the swings - it can't take more than a minute to complete 21 swings so now we are up to nine minutes. The pullups can be tough after the swings. I generally get four or five up the first time and then the rest are broken into two sets. It probably took me a minute (perhaps a little less) on the first round, but it climbed after that - more rest needed on the second two rounds. I guess 13:05 sounds right in retrospect. So, either the 11:11 is wrong or I had a real good day that day. I don't think I have another date with Helen until June.

Electronic devices are failing me

I decided to sneak my 20k ride in after dropping my daughter off at gymnastics. Nice day and some daylight left. Got my bike setup and was about to take off and noticed that my HR wasn't registering. I figured that's o.k., if I can't push myself without the monitor by now then there's something seriously wrong with my motivation (still nice to get some feedback though). I warmed up for two miles and then reset my computer for the TT (was going to base the TT on the computer, not a preplanned course). Afer I reset the computer I started going and got three minutes into the workout when I realized that my computer wasn't registering. I slid the unit off and noticed that the leads are all corroded. I tried to clean them but just could not get the damn thing working again.

The only thing working was my stopwatch so I adjusted my plan to ride 38 minutes as hard as I could. At least I would get the workout in - just wouldn't have data for the workout.

I clocked the ride after and it comes to 14.2 miles (including the first 3:28 before I stopped. Total ride time (in the red) was 41:40 for an average speed of 20.45. Not bad considering that it includes a stop, a left hand turn at a stopsign with traffic (so I actually had to stop) and a traffic light at a busy intersection (I got the red).

Second workout coming soon............................

Forced day off

Ailment forced me to take a day off. I mentioned that I was not 100% on Saturday - well it was wishful thinking that it was allergies. As the day (Saturday) went on I just became more and more lethargic. I got dizzy every time I stood up. I fell asleep around 7:00 p.m and did not wake up until about 9:00 on Sunday. I had zero energy all day Sunday and even took a nap in the afternoon. Went to bed early and woke up this morning in a pool of sweat. You're probably saying "That's gross," but I was thinking "cool, the fever broke!" Sure enough my energy started to come back throughout the day and I decided to do yesterday's workout today.

First workout 12x100 swim 4@75%, 4@85% and 4@95%. For some reason the second set of the last four was the hardest. I pushed the very last one as hard as I could and it took a while to catch my breath after doing it, but mentally the second one was harder.

I could think of 100 reasons not to row the 5000m after the swim and only one reason to do it (IMLP). I did it. Finished in 20:47 - 26 seconds slower than my last time. Considering I was barely functional yesterday and that it was done immediately after the swim, I think it was a good result.

If I get up early enough I will sneak the deadlifts in to get caught up, otherwise I will have to squeeze them in Wed.

Amazing ride

There was no way I was going to waste a nice day like this. I took my bike off the trainer, found a water bottle and stuffed some CO2 and a spare tube in my pocket and off I went. This was a 20 mile time trial. It took me 59:40 to complete - my goal was to average 20 mph so this was accomplished.

Now, let me explain why this was an even better result than it looks on paper. I woke up this morning feeling like crap (pretty run down). I think my allergies are rearing their ugly head. I picked a poor route (due to lack of time for planning) and had to stop at two Traffic lights. Then, when I got to where I thought my finishing spot was going to be I still had three miles to go. My immediate reaction was to take a left turn towards home and go past my house to get 20, but there was traffic coming so I made a last minute decision to take another route so I did not have to wait for traffic to clear. I was convinced that the two stops and altering the route plus the fact that my bike is not set up yet (no aero drinking system in place) would slow me down considerably. I was very pleased with the end result.

My heart rate teetered between 157 and 158 and climbed a little over 160 on the hills. Pedal stroke felt somewhat smooth, but not as fluid as it should. Considering this is the first ride outside in a long time, I will take it!

Did I mention I love my new bike!

Late night workouts - yikes!

I worked a long day yesterday. Our first big deadline is 3/15 (corps) plus we try to get as many partnerships done by then as well since people are waiting for their K-1s. I got home at 11:30 and decided what the hell, let's do the workouts. I srarted with the Xfit 20 box jumps, five push presses, 10 burpees amrap 15 minutes. I must say that I am feeling more recovered from the Mary, but can stil feel it especially doing a workout like this. Managed five full rounds and got two burpees in on the sixth round (finished the round, but only two of the burpees counted).

I did the 4 x 5k bike next - increasing intensity on each 5k. My program did not specify any rest and it was too late to call Max so I decided that I didn't get any - I just stepped each one up. I was totally gassed by the end - HR hit 170 and I was swimming in a pool of sweat. After reading a couple of other blogs it appears that I was supposed to take a short rest in between each one.

Today I did my workout at lunch time as I did not want to get in the habit of doing midnight workouts - need rest too. Run 400m, 20 burpees times four. I thought I was going to bang this one out in no time. The run time was only going to be eight minutes, perhaps a little less afterall. Well, I find it hard to do burpees while I am gasping for breath. The 400s went well - it was taking two minutes each, but it takes the treadmill a good 10 - 15 seconds to get up to speed. I did not run less than 8mph and bumped it up to 9mph by the time I finished. Total workout was 16:58 so you can see that the burpees took me a while to finish (I think this was the third day in a row that I had burpees on the schedule).

Yesterday I felt like puking when I finished the bike workout and today I was dizzy when I finished. Am I pushing myself hard enough?

I still have a few latent pains from the Mary, but feeling much more "normal." I supect all will be forgotten by Monday.

Watched the POSE running DVD while biking. I need to watch again as I was having trouble concentrating on keeping my intensity up and on the DVD at the same time - decided that workout came first.

Back on the Horse (w/addendum)

Or, in the pool anyway. I figured a swim workout was the perfect way to get back into the groove. Today's workout was a 700 yard time trial. I warmed up for 200 yards, rested a couple of minutes and off I went. My time was 12:32 which works out to 1:47 per 100. This is very slow considering that I was averaging much closer to 1:40 per 100. I knew I did not have the zip - still feeling run down from the Mary, but much better than the last couple of days. I concentrated on form and worked it as hard as I could. Overall, it felt great to get a workout in. I will do my Xfit workout tonight and see how that goes. I'm not expecting to break any records, but it feels good to get going again.

I'm hopeful that I will get outside this weekend to ride. I have been checking out the roads and other than the road that I live on, they look pretty clear. Sand is kicked off to the side pretty well.

Calves are still sore, but much better - I'm hopeful that I can start my running drills tomorrow.

The more I think about it the more I know I was running exactly the way Max said I was. Here I was thinking I corrected my bad habits only to find out that I formed some new ones.

When I tell people that I don't run right they look at me like I have two heads. They just can't get their minds wrapped around the fact that running is a skill. The assumption is that we are born knowing how to run - so not true!

SECOND WORKOUT - worked late today. This is the norm now. Worked out when I got home (11:30 p.m.). Deadlift 70% of max x 5, 10 burpees and 15 squats AMRAP in 15 minutes. I manged 6 full, 7 of the deadlifts and 7 reps into the 7th round of burpees. My legs were burning - still tired, tight and sore, but they actually felt better after the workout. I am writing this the day after and my legs definately feel a lot better - still some soreness in the calves and hamstrings are tight, but definately much better - I can actually walk normal today (I felt like an old man on Monday and Tuesday).

CHI Running book came - need to find some time to squeeze reading this in.

Still sore

Well....I decided to take a couple of days off. It's not programmed this way, but I can barely walk so a workout is not going to happen. I am a little looser today than I was yesterday so I expect to be in the pool tomorrow. I'll see how I feel before I decide if I'm doing the Xfit circuit tomorrow.

Hopefully I'm in much better shape on Thursday as I am eager to start doing my running drills. I ordered the POSE running technique DVD and the CHI Running book yesterday.

I'm still a little off mentally, but I'm not a quitter by nature. If there is a way to resolve my running issues I will find it (with some much needed help from Max).