Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Smoking During Downtime

OK. I attended the Florida Music Festival and Indie Film Jam and week and a half ago. I did some drinking. It was mandatory. The disturbing part is that people around me were smoking and that made me crave them while I was drinking. After a day in, I starting bumming ciggies.

Last day of the fest, I broke down and bought a pack. I figured what the heck. I'm already not going to be running since my calf hurts too much to run. Why not go all the way and have fun with drinking and smoking.

It's been another week and I'm still enjoying my cigarettes. My calf still hurts. I haven't even tried running on it. It hurts if I walk too much (anything more than a 1/4 mile or so). It's really getting annoying. I am going to lose all my progress over the past 6 months in a very short time. Oh well. Hopefully I don't lose more than a min/mile off my average training pace.

Only time will tell. I think I am going to finish off the pack of smokes I'm working on right now and call that quits. I need to start rehabbing my calf.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Calf Is Hurt and Needs Recovery

I hurt my calf to point that I have been limping. It hurts. I don't remember the exact day, but it's been about a week and I haven't run since. Sometimes I wake up and it feels really sore.

I am definitely not running this weekend over Memorial Day. Hopefully by next weekend it will feel better.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Running in the Heat

I have speedwork planned for today, but I am going to the Indie Film Jam tonight and won't have time to run after work. This means that I had to find another time to run. Lunch it is.

Weather.com says that it was 86 degrees. All I know is that it was blazing out there.

Smart Coach says to do mile warmup, 2 x 1600 @ 6:49 with 800 recovery and mile cooldown for a total of 5 miles.

I got the mile warmup and lots of water. Did the miles in 6:48 and 6:55, so I was close on both. On the first mile, I started off too fast. I hit the quarter at 1:30 and was supposed to be at 1:42, but evened out around 3:20 for the half and hit about as close as you can get for the mile. On the second mile, I was perfectly paced through all 3 laps, but struggled on the last lap. I felt like a dog in summer with my tongue out dragging on that last one. I had to nearly sprint for the last 100m to even break 7 minutes.

Finished off with a half recovery and skipped the mile cooldown. Total mileage: 4 miles.

I don't know how people run in the middle of the day. It was way too hot and it is only May and not even close to the humidity level of the summer here. That was a hard workout to make the times. I don't know how I am going to run 5 x 1600 @ 6:37 in 3 months. It's only around 10 seconds per mile, but the thought of 5 of them is intimidating right now.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Calf Hurts Again

I warmed up with half a mile going into an easy 3 miler. Not even a quarter mile into the main part of my workout and my left calf tweaks again. It was like a pull, but a real small amount. Enough pain to keep me from running the way I was, but not enough to completely stop me.

I tried stretching a little bit and that didn't help.

I had to change my running style. I usually run with the balls of my feet striking the ground first. I modified my running to land on my heels ever so slightly. Lowered my center of gravity a little and kept my feet moving very quickly so as not to land very hard. It kept the pain away and actually made me keep up a much faster pace than I wanted. Because of stopping for a minute to stretch out my calf, my first mile was 9:35. I was supposed to be doing 8:40s.

I tried to make up for it and got the next one in 7:00 (total - 16:35). Last mile was too fast as well. 7:10 (23:45)

This was supposed to be an easy run. After walking a little bit and sitting down at the computer, my calf is stiffening up. I will have to ice it down tomorrow and instead of any cross training, I will rest.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Red Wine and Running

It doesn't mix well. I'm not even talking about at the same time. I went to a movie premiere last night. Probably the best that Orlando has ever hosted. The movie was RoboDoc. I started drinking before I got there and didn't stop until a couple hours after the movie ended. Needless to say, I was wasted.

Hangover ensues the next morning. I ate a hearty breakfast and had some coffee. I almost felt OK by this early evening. So I go out for my regularly scheduled long run. That's when I could feel the difference.

It was very windy, so I ran on the treadmill. BORING, but yet very good for keeping pace. I was sluggish the entire run. My Smart Coach says to go 8:39 pace. I plugged in 1 hour when I started without doing the math and realized that I needed more time at that pace to finish. Part way through the run, I had to adjust my speed up. I ended up running the 7 miles in 59:46, so 8:32 pace.

My left calf started getting tight around the 5 mile mark, but went away after half a mile.

That was definitely a tough challenge, but shouldn't have been. Next time I go drinking and I have a run scheduled other than an Easy Run, I'm going to have to stop my intake at 3 or 4 glasses. It's so hard sometimes, though, once it hits your lips.

Total miles today: 7

Total for this week: 17.5 miles

Friday, May 9, 2008

I must be Committed

Not like that. I mean that I must be committed to this running thing. I just passed up happy hour, but I really was in the mood for a movie marathon to escape after a busy day at work.

What I do instead? I look at my training schedule and get my workout completed. On the schedule for today was 3 easy miles.

Let me start over by logging the past 2 workouts.

On Wednesday, which is Rest or Cross Training, I hit the gym and did 15 minutes on the bike keeping my pulse at 120. Did a quick weight routine on chest, back, biceps and abs. Finished off with another 15 minutes on the bike at 120 bpm.

Thursday is speed. I was supposed to do 5 miles. It was a tempo run with 3 miles at 7:13 pace with 1 mile warmup and cooldown included in the run.

I did this on the track to help keep pace. That part was good. I did my warmup mile and then hit the first mile at 7:18 (5 seconds slow) and then 7:09 on the second (4 seconds too fast). I had some serious grumblings at this point.

I recently watched the Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. One of Nicholson's lines stuck with me. He gives a quip of advice, "Never trust a fart." Keeping with that idea, I decides that it was time to leave the track and find the restroom.

I dropped a deuce.

Going back to all 4 years of running in high school, whenever I ran into this same problem, I never had a good session afterwards. Same case can be said for yesterday's workout.

I ran back to the track and tried to get back to the same pace. I did get my pace, but just gave up after one lap.

All said, I ran 3.5 miles (including running to the restroom).

Today's run was easy. 3 miles plus .5 warmup and .5 cooldown. 4 miles total.

Hopefully, I can still get home, eat dinner, and make a movie anyway. Perseverence persevered!!??

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Easy Run

It's amazing how much easier it is to keep your pace on a track. It is mundane, but it is what it is. The track is a tool for running.

I have been running faster than I am supposed to when I go out and run the streets or when doing laps around Lake Eola.

I was able to keep nearly perfect pace throughout my 3 miles run today. My pace was supposed to be 8:39 per mile. I ran the 3 miles in 26:02. That's only 5 seconds off pace for the entire 3 miles. That's awesome. I was able to speed up and slow down according to my times.

I figured that 8:40 miles breaks down into 4:20 halves, 2:10 quarters, and 1:05 220's.

I started out a little tight in my thighs due to yesterday's workout at the gym doing squats. Not as bad as last week, though.

I started with a mile warmup and cooled down by walking a mile. Total mileage running today: 4 miles.

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Yesterday's Cross Training was the usual gym workout.

Delts, Thighs, Tris, and Abs. I stayed away from doing leg extensions and leg curls and stuck with the pure strength lifts. Squats of 135lbs - sets of 15, 12, 10. Leg press machine same thing with 2 45plates on each side. Last week, I couldn't do much with my triceps, because I worked them immediately after my delts. Since most shoulder work also uses your triceps, they were already taxed. This week, I separated the 2 groups by putting my leg routine in the middle. It worked out well in that my triceps weren't as fatigued and I was able to control the workout better and have a little more intensity.

Finished off with 20 minutes on a stationary bike. HR at 130 bpm for the entire session.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Back from being sick

I've had a cold for a few days this past week. I think it is was due to stress and not enough rest. I was supposed to do speedwork on Wednesday, but my nose and throat were too thrashed. I called for a pizza from work, went home and ate as soon as it hit the door, and passed out. I slept from 7:30pm till 8:30am the next morning. Why take 2 aspirin when you can take 2 slices of pie?

Well, my respiratory system is close to 100%. I went out on my regularly schedule long run tonight. The calendar says 7 miles @ 8:39 pace. I haven't run in a few days, heck, nearly a week. I felt great and I probobly could have done another 2-3 miles at the same pace.

Take into consideration a warmup and cooldown of 1/2 mile each, I actually got 8 miles logged.

My time was 54:50, which is exactly 7:50 pace. 49 Seconds per mile too fast. Oh well. I wasn't pushing myself hard, which is really weird, because I only managed to go 35 seconds per mile faster on my 5K race. You would think that I would be able to get under 7 minute pace on 3 miles with relative ease.

Next run is Tuesday. Tomorrow is rest or cross training.

Miles this week: 13