I'm never going to make the Olympic track team

Runner and coach Greg McMillan wrote a 5 Habits of Highly Effective Runners. for Running Times. I read it but didn't understand it really so I re-wrote it for myself. I feel like I probably got it wrong. What I mean is, I took what he said and applied it to myself and so this isn't exactly what he said but works for me. This summer I'm running with a goal or two: don't get injured, get faster.

These are my 5 guidelines to help me be a better runner:

1. When you have a bad workout, look at what might have gone wrong and adjust for it i.e. running long or hard too soon after a race, then make a note and move on. Let it go. Your next workout is a new day.
2. Find the training rhythm where your stress/rest cycle is in balance. Frequent injuries and bad days mean you aren’t recovering enough.
3. Training plans are a moment by moment series of decisions with a long term goal as the result. Your decisions should all be made with that goal in mind. That goal should not be date specific i.e. a particular race on a particular date but rather “I want to be strong enough to run a marathon.” You build toward that goal and when you get there, you run a marathon.
4. Success is about keeping on keeping on. Foster tenaciousness in small ways every day. This means that success is earned over time. It means consistently working out, committing to the plan and following through on a day by day basis until you get where you want to be. It does not mean working out come hell or high water with injuries or when you’re under rested. Being tenacious means knowing when rest is the right move and resting when your mind tells you to just go out there and do it.
5. Listen to yourself and what you need. Sometimes you need to run long and slow with good tunes because that feels good. It’s fun. Sometimes you need to run a fast 5k. It’s fun. In the end, feeling strong is almost as important as being strong. Do things that will make you fast but also things that make you feel fast.

Running Log: April 19 - 25

Miles for the Week: 9 (118)

04/20/10 Ran 9 miles with Steph and Steve. It was pretty hard at first but I warmed up around mile 3 and I think, if I pulled back enough, I could have just kept running. Its the first time I felt like an ultrmarathon was do-able while I was running. Its easy to say you want to do it while you're sitting in front of a computer daydreaming. Everything is a little cranky this morning: knee, back, hips but no major ouchy. I feel stronger. Thinking aboutrunning as a series of choices (heel strike vs mid-foot, hanging arms, floppy hands etc) rather than one continuious homogenious thing makes it work better.

Running Log: April 12 -18

Miles for the Week: 28 (109)

04/12/10 Ran 8 miles at the Grenway. I found the trails out past the Interstate. They lead up to Crump Road. It turns out that its 1 mile to the cross over which means its either 3 miles to Crump Road or 4. It was a slog of a run. I felt better going in then half way through. I ran hard the last mile or so but it was the longest warm up of all time. Today my knees hurt like motherfuckers. I think its the shoes I wore at the race, Nike Skylon, but we'll see. I plan to lay off road running for a few weeks and not wear the Nikes for running. I still need to go to Shaw's Athletic and see about something between the Nike's and the Asics. I like the way the Nike hug the pavement but I need more control and cushion.

04/13/10 My knees is sore under patella, feels a little like the knee is bending backwards. Changed from Converse to Creepers.

04/14/10 Ran 5 Miles at Forest Meadow. There was a long warm but but a pretty decent run.

04/15/10 5 miles on the Fern Trail with Steve and Steph. Hard but good. I need more sleep. I need to be putting my lap top away at 9, maybe earlier if I want to get up at 4 or 5.

04/16/10 The knee is feeling good but every now and then I feel it and get nervious.

04/17/10 Ran 10 miles with the whole crew at the Greenway. It was hard but good. My breath was labored. It could be a lack of sleep or exhaustion, both maybe.

Running Log: April 5 - 11

Miles for the Week: 20 (81)

04/06/10 Ran 6 miles at the Greenway. I had a good strong start, maybe a little too fast, and ran negative splits coming back. 29 going out. 27.5 coming in. Not great. Not shit.

04/7/10 Ran 3 miles in the neighborhood. Ran the hills hard. Couldn't help it.

04/08/10 Ran 4 miles with Steph in the rain, discussed strategy. Good run. Fun run. I need to have more fun runs with her but not until my time is better.

04/10/10 Ran 7 miles at Palace. 3.1 on the race and about 4 on the warm up and cool down. Ran a 24:01. Steph says it was fster and the timers were wrong. I don't care. I could have shaved some seconds off at the end. I wasn't used to how hard I was runner and had a hard time judging what I had left. I should have pushed harder. I have all summer to work it out. I am excited.

Running Log: March 29 - April 4

Miles for the Week: 29.5 (55)

03/30/10 Ran 5+ miles at San Luis Mission Park. I ran the loop three times, the second two laps hard on the hills and then one last hard run up the big hill plus I crisscrossed one the road portion to build in more distance. I was on my feet for an hour and a half. It was a great run. I felt like I could catch my breath easier.

03/31/10 Worked out at the Park. Bit of a cluster fuck but also heavy learning. I did slow push-ups followed by supermen (arms out and then in), arm leg extensions (imgine a pointer) followed by modified kick outs and then plank for 30 seconds wioth side planks and 15 roll unders (top arm comes around and under the body.

Slow push ups are fucking hard. Got a weak ten and did the rest as straight PU's. I figured out the supermen worked best of I considered each in and out as a rep and just never relaxed my torso. The points were the same, hold the extension and then do the modified kickouts in sets of 15, same with the planks,

Next we jogged over to the dip/PU station and did that. And then off to the Inverted row bar for some fun (45 reps) chased by 1.5 miles of jogging. All in all, a keeper with some work. I think I got in 90 PU and 40 dips.

03/01/10 Ran 5 miles along the Fern trail. I felt slow and sluggish on the out and strong on the back. I pushed for speed on the last bit to the railroad tracks and fought the hill. It was good.

03/02/10 Ran 3 miles in the neighborhood late into the evening (9:30). I was going to take it easy but when I hit the hill set at mile two, I decided to work the hills and try the hilltop surge instead i.e. instead of backing off slightly - pushing harder at the crest. Maybe not the best ideas since I was running fifteen tomorrow.

03/03/10 Ran 15 miles with Saiju and Brad and Steph. The first 5 was normal crew training hard. The second two sets were easier but still high nine minute miles. It was a good run. I think Brad kept asking questions to slow me down for Saiju. He's smart about that kind of thing. It was interesting watching him. He knows Saiju pretty weel and hads built a training plan that Saiju feels good about. That's impressive.

Running Log: March 22 - 28

Miles for the Week: 26 (27)

03/22/10 Ran three miles in the neighborhood. I tried real hard to hold back and use it as a recovery run. A) I still needed to actaully recover from last week's workouts B) There is no good reason to waste 3 miles the day before you plan to run 18 miles. This is a hindsight thing.

03/23/10 Ran 13 miles at the Greenway. My legs weren't right. I was running lactic by mile 6 and developed a twingy pain in my right (the injured one) calf and hamstring plus I staretd worrying about time. I needed to get to work. I should have planned better. I shouldn't have worked my legs like that last week. I shouldn't have run with the crew on Saturday. This run, today's run, should never have happened. I felt like I needed to catch up and I got prideful. Its either going to cost me a long run down the road or I'm going to need to find a differant marathon. Let's extrapolate: A) Only one leg day a month and only on Sundays B) If you have a long run scheduled, don't except another offer to run and then reschedule the long run. Trying to catch up will get you injured. C) Injury sucks.

03/25/10 4 miles with the crew on the Fern Trail. We ran and it was drizzling and then raining and by the time we got to the basin, there was lightening so it became a tempo run back. Steve picked up pace midway and I missed it at first and had to play catch up on the way back. It was a good tough run.

03/27/10 Ran 6+ miles at Forest Meadow on the Lake Overstreet loop. I wore my old GT-2150's which caused some ankle discomfort. And there were some weak spots hbut I did pick ups throughout and finished on a sprint. It was good.

03/28/10 Worked out at Julia's: Javorek barbell complex #1 (Upright Row, High Pull Snatch, Behind the Head Squat Push Press, Behind the Head Good Morning, Bent Over Row x 6) followed by35lb snatches (9 x 3) and the 50lb dumbbell deadlifts trapbar style (3x5+)

Running Log: March 15 - 21

Miles for the Week: 15.1 (7)

03/15/10 Ran neighborhood 5k at around 27 minutes. I think I went out too fast by a minute and could have finished faster. I also wore heavy camo shorts because it was ass fucking cold and I was too lazy to suit up so I believe I have a faster time in me for the Palace Saloon 5k.

03/16/10 I went to the park and did: 15 hindu push-ups, 30 hindu squats, 15 reverse crunches, 30 glute bridges x 4 to dips 20/20/10 with planks inbetween jogged over to the inverted row bar 20/10/10 with sets of 30 lateral squats to 6 50m hill sprints. I was supposed to do squats to overhead press and then weighted hip thrusters but I forgot the sandbag. I should have done the glute bridges one legged. Otherwise it was a decent workout. Oh yeah, my back was cracking like a motherfucker on the hindu push-ups.

03/18/10 Ran 5 miles with the crew. We did two 1/4 miles. My best time was 1 minute 38 seconds. Not too shabby.

03/19/10 Workout at Julia's: 6x 3 25lbs each arm (goblet squat, swings, squat to snatch, squat to press, squat to high pull), 3 x 6 50lb per hand db deadlift, trap bare style, 50lb farmer's carry.

03/21/10 7 miles with the crew at new trails on Tom Brown Park. It was pretty roough. This week beat the shit out of my legs. If I want to do legs it needs to be on Sunday only. It was disrespectful to my training partners and the value of my workout to not show up Saturday with my best legs.

*The number in red is the number of miles I have on my current pair of running shoes, Asic's GT-2150.

Running Log: March 8 - 14

Miles for the Week: 27

03/08/10 Ran 6 miles with Neil and Steph. It was fun. We ran some road and some trails. We did a fast half. I felt like a kid. We ran but we also explored around this bridge, into the wetlands. That was my favorite part.

03/09/10 Did a bodyweight workout in the park. 20 pushups to side planks with 12lb. dumbbells (both sides) to renegade rows (dropped after the first set) planks to bicycles with the standard 20/10/10 inverted rows. It wasa bit of a cluster fuck but it has elements of quality. I got to sort this one out.

03/10/10 Ran 6 miles at the greenway. It was hard. I was tired and under rested. I wasn't even sure if I could finish and tehn I hit mile five and started picking up major steam going all out in the last 200 meters.

03/11/10 Ran 5 with Steve and Steph. We ran hard and did a fast 300. It felt good, very good. The weight loss is finally paying off.

03/13/10 Ran 10 miles at Forest Meadows. Never run with country music on your iPod unless you hate yourself. I think I was at mile seven when I found ANdre Williams on my playlist. I just kept playing the same five songs over and over until I was done. Strong fast finish.

03/14/10 Worked out at Julia's. Did a complex (deadlift, high pull, row, press, good mornings, squat to press) with the bar. Worked on snatch and ended three sets of ten on 30lbs. I'm pretty sure I can go higher. I need secondary snatch exercises. Farmers carry, both hands with 50lbs. One full yard pass and two almosts. This is the heavy weights workout. Needs secondaries, the TFW warm up and maybe end on jogging.

The Truth About Adrenal Fatigue

This article is mostly about the explosive energy weightlifters need to do their workouts. I confess, a lot of it is lost on me. The part of this article that interests me, however, is how adrenaline works:

At the sight of a near accident, your brain (sends) a nerve impulse directly via the preganglionic sympathetic fibers to your adrenal medulla to secrete adrenaline, otherwise known as epinephrine (or what's widely known as adrenaline)... Epinephrine increases blood pressure, respiration rate, heart rate, increases glucose, and dilates the pupils, all for the purpose of enabling you to quickly and safely get out of a potentially life-threatening situation. This (is) a purely autonomic reaction that came straight from your brain.

So we have a stress situation, say a face-plant, and our bodies dump extra glucose into the blood stream to help us deal with the emergency. This is glucose over and above the levels we might normally have. Our bodies don’t realize we don’t need it for something like a face-plant. It just happens.

This gives me some idea about the Mount Sano 15k. I had a bunch of rolled ankles (pain induced stress leading to small glucose dumps) and a few face-plants (major glucose dumps) so that I nearly bonked on a race I should have run with enough energy to kick at the end. Each incident was extra energy being pissed away.

It seems to me that that is the why of staying calm and under control. This applies to panic at catching up, training against face-plants and rolls or something as simple as passing. Instead of wild burst to get ahead of someone on a tight course, just ask them to move, “On your left.” These burst passes leave me fatigued. Passing should be gradual and under control.

We start the race with a set amount of available energy and get precious little from carb drinks like Gatorade or GU packets. Like Steve always says, everything helps.

Running Log: March 1 - 7

Total Miles for the Week: 26

03/02/10 Ran the 3 mile loop in my neighborhood. I tried to run slow, as this was a welcome back recovery run but it felt soooo good to run fast. I reckon if I let myself do that once every two weeks, it should be alright. If I can stay healthy between now and April 10, I should easily set a PR at the Palace Saloon 5k.

03/03/10 Ran 5 junk miles. I was surprised at how fatigued I was last night. Got more sleep last night and tonight, more of the same. Thinking about going south for a few days to see friends and family. Deeply melancholy.

03/05/10 Ran an easy 3 miles at the Park. I was going to do some body weight stuff but thought better of it being I planned to run 15 miles the next day and I was still recovering from the Thrill in the Hills.

03/06/10 Ran 15 miles at Forest Meadows. It wasn't good. I mean, the running was what I expected. Maybe a little harder and I'm pretty sure I was pushing a Baatan like death march fatigue but the running was about right. It was having to dodge city busses and Mercedes on the trail that kind of sucked ass. Also, the goddman diesel fumes. Thank you rich horse riding assholes. The run was good though.

A note about the week after a big race: Next time I need to respect the level of recovery I'm looking at. I needed a much lighter week than I gave myself. It will be three times worse in May. Respect that.

Running Log: February 22 - 27

Total Miles for the Week: 23


02/22/10 Ran 4.8 miles at Layfayette Park. I did .8 mile repeats, one slow lap and then one fast lap. The fast laps went 7 minutes, 6.5 minutes and then a bonk. I reckon if I can get four 6.5's, I can narrow down the jog and then string them together for a sub 24 minute 5k. We'll see.

02/24/10 Ran the 5k loop in my neighborhood. I started off easy and quickly accelerated to race pace. I ought not have done that. It was supposed to be a medium effort run but if felt so good going fast. I couldn't help it. My knees are a little ache-y today and my quads are a tad sore but not worse for the wear and I think I'll be fine to race on Saturday.

02/26/10 Ran 2 miles on some of the nicer trails around Fort Yargo. Real easy. There was one hard hill where I worked on running with the same effort versus same speed.

02/27/10 Ran a freaking half marathon. More on that later. Not much to say. It was hard.

Running with P-nut

He was a white chihuahua mix and he was a nervous dog. You could make him roll over and act dead like a cartoon dog just by staring at him hard enough. He was beta to our beta dog but he could love on you like no ones's business.

He had this thing where he'd walk behind you on the back of the couch and fall sideways so his back was pressed against your neck, curling into a tiny white ball of fur and warmth. He would stay there as long as you'd let him.

This is a running story though...

We were at the cemetary in Milledgeville Georgia visiting Flannery O'Conner's grave. We had all three dogs. And P-nut got loose. He tore off around that garveyard, stopping to pee on differant gravestones, looking back at us and running again.

I had never seen him run like that. He looked like one of those greyhounds racing after a rabbit, legs swung in and under, fast as lightening. It was such a shame when my wife finally stopped him. She just stood there and grimaced. Thats all it took. He stopped, looked up at her, rolled over and played dead.

Mostly P-nut was timid. He always had this whooped look on his face. You know it when you see it. You know it if you'd had it. Somewhere along the way he'd gotten beat and that never left his mind except that one day in Milledgeville.

P-nut died a few months ago. We came home one rainy night and found him curled on the floor. I hadn't paid him much mind all that week. I'd been busy. I dug his hole, tugged his ear one last time and buried him in the rain.

I'd like to remember him as that racing dog because I think he had big dreams just like I got. He just had less chance to try them out. He was mousy most days and awkward but that one time he was Emil Zapotek or whatever the dog version of fast and dangerous is. I think in his heart that's the dog he always wanted to be.

I sometimes think of all those "all or nothing" racers when I run but I end up backing off. I'm afraid to fail. I'm afraid, if I just go for it, I might come up short. P-nut saw his chance and took it. I need to step up. I need to leave it all on the trail. I need to race like my boy P-nut.

Motivational Quote #16

Risk! Risk anything! Care no more for the opinions of others, for those voices. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth.—Katherine Mansfield

This is such a big idea. You will never get what you want until you know what you've got and what you need to fix.

Its like my rush to run a marathon, for which, I want to put in a about a time of 4:30. A very modest goal. I was looking at the Twisted Ankle which is a trail marathon in some pretty rough terrain, hills, single track etc. That would be the cool race. That would be the "see how badass a runner I am" race.

I need to be honest with myself. I'm not badass. I'm losing weight which is making me stronger. I'm reading my body better. But with the time I have to train, if I want a good race time, I need to pick a race I can run easy peasy. I'm pretty sure I'm going with Scenic City.

Its a trail run, like the Twisted Ankle, which is good for my knees but its smooth and even and relatively flat. Its fast so I have half a chance of getting a decent time. It doesn't mean giving up what I want, running marathons, running crazy dangerous trail races. It means, I'll get this one under my belt and then I'll start upping the ante.

It means maybe doing the Pike's Peak Ascent but not the marathon. The Ascent will be hard enough. I need to recognize the difference between suicide and a challenge. I need to push to the impossible but have a realistic plan to get there. Its like the stunt men say, stunts are well calculated risks.

It means looking at what I have and figuring out how to get what I want in a way I can get it.

Running Tip #5

Things you need to know:

You need to know I’m running my first ½ marathon in two weeks and that in one of my weekly HIIT workouts, doing sit-ups, my back went out. Funny thing is I can run just fine with a bad back. It actually feels better to run than to walk.

The other thing you need to know is that I’m injury prone. I do face plants, roll my ankle etc all the damn time. I'm not proud of this fact. It hurts. No seriously, it really hurts. My last big race I rolled my ankle 12 times and took three face plants and one of said face plants involved snowplowing on my arms with my legs in the air about 20 yards down a hill. That night I spent an hour picking gravel out of my flesh. We call that race The Trail of Tears.

Now Saturday was the last long run before my race and I did everything right. Mostly. I got enough sleep. I had the perfect breakfast. I forgot my leggings but, like I said, I’m scrappy. Anyhow, I ran the first 12 miles brilliantly, avoided injuring myself for 12 hard ass miles but I’m now, at mile 12, I’m spent and we come up on this section of trail where a small gulley has formed in the middle of the trail and its full of rain water from the previous night. I have two choices, in my exhaustion riddled mind, either spend energy running high on the bank or just go through the water.

I’m not sure how far I got down the stream when my foot went down into a cloudy patch of water and just kept going and then it locked out. I spilled hard, a real yard sale. I think I howled. Stephanie said I was Navy SEAL tough to just pop back up and keep running but the truth was the water was freaking ice cold, really ice cold like frostbite burn your skin cold so staying down was not an option and not getting back to the car fast was also not an option. I ran my balls off.

Everything went numb eventually and I finished strong. Wait for it…

… Here’s the tip:

You’re probably thinking the tip is Don’t step into anything you can’t see the bottom of and anywhere else in the running community that would be the tip but not here. The tip is this, sometimes a bad thing like a wrenchingly painful fall can turn out to be a good thing. Don’t get me wrong. I could barely stand after we finished running. I was, in fact, miserable all day because my back hurt so much but the next day and even now my back feels great. I’m not advocating this as an alternative to physical therapy or back cracking but in this case, it worked for me.

Running Log: Feruary 15 - 21

Total Miles for the Week: 24

02/16/10 Ran 6 miles at the Greenway. I did it in reverse this time. I started at the Interstate entrance and ran to Fleischman and back. My time was the same both ways, almost exactly the same, and trip back to my car seemed harder. I think there are more subtle longer uphills in that direction. I feel like I ran strong though and I could definitely feel how much better I ran warmed up. I could have run harder but I thought I needed to hold back a little. In the end, race day will get here and I'll have what I have to do the race. These two weeks I need to focus on healing and keeping up my cardio.

02/18/10 Ran 10 miles at Forest Meadow. I was stronger than I'm used to running, not faster, just stronger. It ebbed and flwed between fast and just hanging on. It felt good and I finished fast.

02/20/10 Ran 8 miles at Mission San Luis with Stepn, Steve. Neil, Doug Mariska and Ashton. This is the place to train. Its single track with fast downhills and steep ups. The only draw back is thathe loop varies from 1.5 miles to 1.8 miles so you end up covering the same ground over and over again but its so fucking hard it won't matter. It was tough but worth it.

Thrill in the Hills 1/2 Marathon

It's week one of my taper and its proving harder than I thought.

I've commited to giving up bodyweight workouts and any non-running resistance training. That said, I just started a set of pull ups and my back already feels ache-y. Not sure if its injured or just cramping. I can't risk any of that crap. I can't just go "knock a few reps out". None means none. I can't live in a bubble and I definitely don't want to get mental about this but I think I'm grown up enough to avoid push-ups and such.

The issue is that most of my weight loss came from HIIT workouts between runs. I'm a little afraid of gaining some of that back because with HIIT dieting is a bear. I'm pretty sure I won't make my goal (150lbs) but I've dropped 10lbs in a month. I need to be happy with that. I just have to be careful to cut back my feeding on non-workout days, try and figure when to eat and how much.

Its nerve wracking.

I remembered something today about my last weight loss push and how it ended. I started thinking, Is this how I'm going to have to live? i.e. eating under calory, eating bars and oatmeal, no bacon or fired food etc It started wearing me down. I started thinking I can workout like this and eat anything and hold my weight. I didn't put on weight, I think. There was a period around the same time where I was doing heavy muscle building lifts and its possible it was muscle. It doesn't matter because I bottomed out at 165. And then, like I said, I stopped caring. I ate whatever I wanted and told myself it was alright. I wasn't getting fatter.

That's some bad thinking, huh? Its such a fucking mind game. I need to calm down. I need to relax.

 I can't have that happen again and that means changing the way I think about this. I need to like eating less. It needs to make me feel good. I've got to see a way to wanting to eat like this the rest of my life.

I have to believe.

Postscript: I was running today thinking about how to come to love this way of eating. I have always been defined by my lust. I need to redefine myself. The whole me needs to change.

Running Log: February 8 - 14

Total Miles for the Week: 23

02/08/10 Ran 5 miles on the Forest Meadow loop. My legs felt pretty tired from the workout yesterday and my back being out-ish. I feel like I ran strong enogh, mostly. It was sketchy. Also, Joe Strummer is not good runnin' music. He's a punk rock fucking warlord but really bad for running.

02/09/10 Worked out at the park. It was supposed to be dips/sit-ups/push-ups/reverse crunches to 100. What a cluster fuck. I started off with 9 real, hanging from the bar dips and then proceeded to knock out 41 sit-ups. The thinking was I would try doing each set to failure until a 100 except when I got to the push-ups I knew I was in trouble. I did knock out 40 RC's and 40 dips but on the sit-ups I realized my back was wrecked and only managed two more sets of ten and I had no real push-ups left in my arms so I had to switch to dips and reverse crunches which I ned up doing to 200, give or take. Oh yeah, I hadn't fixed the iPod playlist issue yet so everything was wan and mumbly.

02/11/10 I either ran the fastest 6 miles of my life or a very strong 5. Either way, I feel better being lighter. Gotta hang on to this tiger's tail.

02/13/10 Ean 13 miles with Doug, Mirishka, Steph and Steve. I managed to stay injury free until the last mile when I stepped into a two foot deep puddle and face planted. To my created, I popped back up and kept going. Steve sidled up to me and was like, how are your legs and I was like, they're okay. And he was like, okay then pick up the pace Bud. My knees were on fire, everything was soaking wet and it was 30 degrees, eventually everything went numb. Thank god for that. It was a great run.

Thrill in the Hills 1/2 Marathon

This is my next race. I'm not sure how to write about it.

It's funny, to me, how I never thought this would be something I'd want to do or worse that its just one more step closer to what I really want to do which is to run my first ultramarathon which is just one more step to something worse that I want, something I can't even say out loud or even allow myself to think.

I'm still trying to sort out how many more long runs I have before the race. Get my weight down (151 by Feb. 27th). Trying to stay injury free that long. That's kind of fucked up. I mean, do I get injured that much?

Running Tip #4

They call it training for a reason. You can stop if you need to stop and correct something. Let's say your shoes untied or you're lost or, for instance, your iPod Shuffle dies and you need to figure out if the batteries ran out of juice or the headphones just came loose like they did that one time on Jacksonville Beach. Stop running and figure it out. It's easy peasy. What you don't want to do is be 25 feet in front of two well know Tahassee runners and roll your ankle because you're trying to get your Shuffle to work while you're still running. Its dangerous and you look like a jackass.

Running Log: February 1 - 7

Total Miles for the Week: 24

02/01/10 2 Minute Metabolic Drill per Men's Health: 15 seconds of 1/2 Jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and mountain climbers x 2. I'm going to do this every morning until next Monday to see if it boosts fat loss. I have my doubts but we'll see.

Ran 6 plus miles at the Greenway. I think I'm a 10k runner. Not sure about longer distances but I've run the second half of the Greenway (3 miles) faster than the first half and way stronger. One thought is coming back from the interstae is just faster. I'm going to start from the interstate next time, the other direction, and see.

02/02/10 2 Minute Metabolic Drill per Men's Health: 15 seconds of 1/2 Jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and mountain climbers x 2. It was harder the second day and my back hurts more than usual. I got real hungery, kind of dizzy in fact. I had taken some Ibrofen though. Anyhow, I had a Nutragrain bar and promptly fell asleep. Something is happening.

Worked out in the park. I did not feel worked out, just tired. Not so great, not a keeper:
20 Push-ups
25m Bear Crawl
20 Reverse Crunch
25m Lunge
x 5
50m Farmer's Carry
x4
100m Shouldered SB (backload not up/down)
x 2

02/03/10 2 Minute Metabolic Drill per Men's Health: 15 seconds of 1/2 Jacks, push-ups, sit-ups and mountain climbers x 2.

Ran 8 miles at Forest Meadows - Faster than I thought but not fast enough to brag about it. A real slough fest though. Took two piss stops and had to back-track. I decided on the second lake loop I'd go in the other direction, the whole turning left instead of right thing was just confusing. Note to self: next time I need 8 miles, do the reverse "new" loop first, finish on the loop you know and trust. It'll seem faster since you can predict how its going to roll out. I had some minor calf ache.

02/05/10 Worked out at the park. 100 Push-ups, 120 Sit-ups, 120 Dips, 140 Reverse Crunches, seven sets plus three sets on the Inverted Row bar (20, 10 and 10 each ending with a 90 degree isometric hold). A nice day in the park.

02/06/10 Ran 10 miles at Forest Meadow, front and back. I didn't run fast but I felt strong the whole time. Decent. Ran a pick up in the last mile and 95% the last half, did the hooping thing the last 400 with a little Mike Jennings "Come on!" thrown in for motivation. Came up on a totally geared out walker as I nearly puked at the finish line. He seemed nervous watching me. The doubled over "Motherfucks!" couldn't have helped.

02/07/10 Did the Outside magazines workout in the park. 100 Glute Thrusters, 70 Squat to Press, 50 Hindu Push-ups, 50 Rows and 50 Reverse Crunches (unassisted). Nice. And a keeper. Next day: No soreness to speak of and I'm going to try adding weight to the Glute Thrusters. Everything else was hard. GT's could have done those all day long.

Running Log: January 25 - January 31

Total Miles for the Week: 21

01/25 Ran 7 plus, 5 miles on back side of Forest Meadow straight down to the 1 mile mark on the front side and then back to my car. It was tough. I wasn't recovered enough from the 13 miler on Saturday. Need to rethink how I'm scheduling these bitches. Last few miles felt strong. And there was some pain in both my legs (ankle and calf) from never warming up. My legs felt weary. And I need to start rethinking my playlist. Its starting to feel stale.

01/26 Worked out in the park:
150m SB Bear Hug

Drop-set Workout
20 Push-ups (20, 20, 20, 15, 10, 10, 10, 15)
10 Lunges (10 second hold) (10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 5, 5)
10 Inverted Rows (10 X 7)
10 Kick-outs (5 second hold) (10 x 7)
20 Lateral Squats (20 x 7)

150m Suitcase Carry

Its the same idea as a weight based drop set, once you fail at a set, the next set is halved until you get to zero and then it actually is dropped. The numbers in parenthesis are the numbers for each set.

Kick-outs: I should have got faster between sides or held longer or moved to the modified knees to elbows version
Except for Push-ups and Lunges: I need to increase the set size

01/28 I either ran 7 of the fastest miles I've ever run or 6. I mean, I feel way stronger. I'm pretty sure there were like twenty fuve whole contigious minutes yesterday where I felt no pain. It still doesn't make me faster like that. I'm pretty sure I took a short cut somewhere. It was a good run. I started off miserably slow and and found my breath at the 3 mile turnaround which really got me thinking I'm a distance runner and I felt wicked strong on the second three, stronger than I ever feel on 10's or 12's which gets me thinking 10k  is my magic distance. Is there such a thing?

01/30 Ran 8 miles with Steph and Steve out at Bradley's. It was Steph's last run as a sinle lady. It was cool. It was hard but I fel trong and I ran hard. The last to miles were low 9 whioch in Mikey land is okay.

Running Tip #3

Let's say you have a favorite playlist for your iPod Shuffle and the night before your run, you load on a bunch of songs but instead of loading them into the playlist and then onto the shuffle, you go right to the Shuffle.

And the next morning you synch the Shuffle to the playlist. This will effectively remove the songs from the Shuffle. Just a heads up on that.

Motivational Quote #13

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. - Mahatma Gandhi

This speaks to me. I have so much guilt and shame. They're like muscles that I can't seem to stop working on. I know that's contradictory but its like this: I have to let go of what I think I ought to be doing and do what the moment asks for. I should listen to my body, my mind. Am I tired, am I cheating? I need to do things right or not do them at all. And even that's confusing. Its like if I castigate myself ofr failing or doing wrong, if I punish my body than no one can say I didn't do my best. Its like I have to try and in failing be my own father to saw the work I'm as tough as my Dad. I gotta get beyond this. Nothing good can come from this.

Running Log: January 18 - January 24

Total Miles for the Week: 29.5

01/18 Ran 10 miles at Munson Hills with the Steph, Neil and Steve. It was hard. I keep saying that but I'm not back to that place where its hard but whatever. I'm really fighting for my miles these days. And my back was out. It forced me to keep my upper body steady and my pace even.

Steph says it went well and I'm inclined to believe her since she saw my run and I'm sure I am biased from the fatigue driven pain I felt.

01/19 Worked out in the Park.
Thai Planks (right, middle and left, 6 reps of each) to 10 PU's x 5 *
100 Mountain Climbers (50 on each side
10 Inverted Rows to 1 minute Wall Sit (10 total) ** x 5
50 Mountain Climbers (25 on each side)
100 Suitcase Carry (on each side) to 20 Squats x 5 ***

* This was a bit of a cluster fuck. I get why Mike and L.A from Train.Fight.Win had us practice exercises first. You get to sort out how a thing will work and adjust. I did a series of Thai planks, hold plank and then knee to elbow on the open side which takes hella-balnance, mixed with 10 push-ups - side plank, standard plank otherr side plank and then 10 push ups. I did them on the mountain climber bar though so instead of my elbows resting on the ground, making my abs do all the work, I was up on my arm holding the bar like a T-up which is a much harder variation so I only got 50 push ups total and the planks only worked my back, chest and arms never really touching my abs.

** The inverted rows were brutal at that point and I ended up doing a wall sit every time I had to stop which ended up giving me 10 Wall Sits.

*** The FC's were freaking brutal. The last two sets were half ad halfs were I had to switch hands right before failure. My arms and shoulders got worked alright but I need to rethink my non-back wrenching abs workout.

NOTE TO SELF: Correct form is critical and don't do anything that isn't done under control. If it isn't under control, stop wait and then go or just end that series. Correct form doesn't just activate the most muscle. It protects the muscle form strain.

01/20 Ran 6.5 with Steph at the Greenway. She actaully rode her bike which was fine because she kept my pace. I ran some good hills and felt like my pace was steady - not too much drop back or bursting. I feel like I work harder when I train with Steph or Steve but I'm not sure I like that. I want to be able to train that hard onmy own. I need to sort that out

01/21 Worked out at the Park.
SB Bear Hug for 200m
10 Inverted Rows/30 Lateral Squats x 6
5 Inverted Rows/30 Lateral Squats x 8
Farmer's Carry 20m x 10
20 Bent-over Rows x 6
10 Deep Lunges (10 second hold) x 2

It was harder than I thought. It was supposed to be standing skull crushers to walking lunges to curls but after the inverted rows, my arms were fucked. Normally, my farmer's Carry is 3x that distance. This might be a keeper.

I need to figure out and settle on how lateral squats should work. Its hard to go fast enough for a burn stepping side to side but dodging the bar doesn't seem big enough either.

01/23 Ran 13 miles at the Greenway. I rolled my ankle in the first five minutes. I pushed through. The thing about long runs is there's a lot of time to think. There was the split tree, maybe lightning, maybe something less exotic but it was growing in two dirrections and I could see how eventually, it would either grow back together and survive or continue groing apart and destroy itself. I need more time to process the idea but its in there, its in me. The second is that biblical quote, "The stone that the builder reject has become the cornerstone. Thats me. That's the way I've always felt, abandoned by my birth father, outcast, alone but here I am heathly and tough. You know to Christians, the great paradox is that Jesus is 100% man and 100% God and that, regardless of what you believe about God and Mary, Jesus grew up in a world were he was 100% bastard in the eyes of his neighbors. So when he said, the stone that the builder rejected, in his world, he was the stone. More to process.

Training Idea: Tornando Training

I'd heard about Tornado Training and it seemed kind of fad-y using hurricane balls and, just another take on the same GPP stuff that's hot right now but the article in On Fitness broke it down into five principles make a nice formula for building any bodyweight or lo-fi (couple of dumbbells, a kettle bell or sandbag) workout:

1. A twist exercise like bicycles
2. An up/down like a squat
3. a plyometric exercise like clapping push-ups or box jumps
4. Keep it fresh and mixed up, even timed versus rep based workout
5. Can be whole workout or just part of a workout.

Once I've reduced my injuries to nil I'm going to use it as a my template for a month. It looks like fun.

Finishers

These are nice ways to end a gym workout. They're like drop sets to get that last burn in and they help ramp up your metabolism and burn a little extra fat.

1) Five minutes of burpees or swings
2) Squat Progression (30 seconds for each exercise 6 to 10 minutes)
      Jump Squats (for height)
      Speed Squats
      Squats with a 3 Second Hold
      Wall-less Squat Sit for 30 Seconds
3) Knee to Elbow Variant (Hanging from the bar, legs slightly bent, raise them at the waist move them horizontally and bring them down. No rocking or swinging. 5 sets for 60 seconds.)

Go-to Workouts

These are a few ideas I put together for workouts that hit all the major groups. I like to either pick a set amount of reps and sets or you could do the sets for time. Both would probably hurt real nice.


Med Ball
Sumo Squat with Overhead Med Ball Chop
Med Ball AB Roll-out
Russian Step-up (arms extended holding med ball)
Med Ball Chop with Lunge

Dumbbell (DB)
Lunge to DB Press
Push up to forward DB Arm Raise
Walking Push-up
Split Squat with DB

DB
Jump Lunge with DB
Push-up to Row
Lunge with DB Push Press
Burpee

Heavy DB
Heavy weight DB Swing
Squat to Press
One-Arm Row with Twist
Woodchop to Twist Squat

DB
Punch-out with DB (shadowboxing)
DB Squat
Push-up to Row or Lateral Raise
Jump Squat to Curl
Bodyweight
Mountain Climbers
Sit-ups
Push-ups

New Years Resolutions

These are my goals for this year:

1. I'm going to run a sub 24 minute 5k
2. I'm going to do a one armed barbell snatch with a weight bar
3. I'm going run my first ultra-marathon
4. Handstand Push-up
5. I'm going toget my body fat down to 9%
6. I'm going to run a race with my Dad, my sister and my brother
7. I'm going to work on finding balance in my life

This list is going to grown and change. I think resolutions ought to adapt to the world in which we live.

Running Log: January 11 - January 17

Tital Miles for the Week: 19

01/12 Ran 6 miles at Forest Meadow. I went slow and easy. It didn’t hurt that I was exhausted for not sleeping right for two days. But it could have.

A note about vanity: I didn’t wear my leggings because I thought they’d be constrictive but also because they’re essentially long johns and I didn’t want to go dork. My leg ached the whole time. Its fine now and was fine last night after it warmed up but I should have worn the leggings. I wonder if I could have injured myself doing that, like cold weather achiness could acting like working a muscle cold. I bet it could. Not going to do that again.

I was ready to go and warmed up for hard running by the fifth mile. I warm up way too slow. I took it slow and ran the last mile tall. It felt good to have some distance under my belt again. I felt hungry and worn but in a good way. I felt worked out.

I walked back to the parking lot and stretched in the twilight listening to The Wrestler and feeling like an old man. I empathize with that song so much. No matter how hard I work, I feel like I’m losing ground.

Have you ever seen a one-armed man punching at nothing but the breeze?
If you've ever seen a one-armed man then you've seen me .

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door.
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before.
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor.

I stood in the sun’s last best red glow and cried like a baby, cried like an old man. I have got to figure something out. I just don’t know what is or how to even start.

01/13 Did 120+ dips and 200+ sit-ups. I started with a 30/40 but it shifted through the workout so all I can say is got 120/200 plus. i felt huge afterward walking out of the park. I followed it up with 5 suitcase carries on each side with the sandbag, about 50m each way.

01/14 Ran 6 miles slow and stupid at the park. It was just ugly but I finished. And I ran with a squirrel. There was a miniture dachsund who scared a squirrel, as I passed by, who took off in the same direction I was running. He had more kick than me as we sprinted it out but I think I could have taken him in the long haul.

01/16 Ran 7 miles at Forest Meadow. It was raining lightly. I started off trying to avoid the puddles but eventually just gave in to the sheer fun of running in the rain and I started aiming for them. It was a hard run. My cardio is still recovering. Its either that or I'm fighting all the injuries I have and that's what's wearing me out. I really have to fight for my miles now. I think that's when my back went out.

The rain picked up in the last mile. I stretched in the rain and drove home. It felt good to be back.

Motivational Quote #12

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. - Mahatma Gandhi

I'm going to run 2 miles today and then 4 miles on Sunday and then 6 miles on Tuesday. I will gradually build my mileage back up. I will take small incremental steps to get to a very large goal.

I think when I have the impulse to create a goal, the next step should be to see how it breaks down and maybe complete this iteration a few times.

I think this is what is meant by plot a course.

Motivational Quote #10

On a good day, it all blends. I feel a part of a private universe where everything comes together and feels great. - Matthew Shafner, lawyer

I get the Runner's World kick in the butt quote every day.

Most of them are inane things some runner of little consequence has said and it doesn't matter that they're runners of little consequence. It’s just that what they have to say is usually of little consequence. And today’s quote is almost the same as all the rest except for that bit about a private universe which I mistook for public universe, while I was reading it.

I mean to say, I thought he meant running was a way to escape solipsistic mind, the trapped in your own thoughts mind because, for me, running is about escaping from my own narcissism and being part of the world.

I forget my mind. I become nature. I become the city, the trail, the lake. My legs become deer legs, pigeon legs, dog legs, all legs. I’d like to think it’s the thing Buddhists call being or what my friend Al called pre-reflective cogito, the mind experiencing without reflection.
I do not care for the kind of running where runners think about things. All day long, I sort the flotsam and jetsam. Running is for me about escape from that. I really have no idea what this runner meant but I believe I understood what I read.

Running Log: January 4 - January 10

Total Miles fot he Week: 6

01/05 Went to Lafayette Park for a bodyweight workout that went a little something like this: 20 mountain climbers, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 20 SB rows x 5 sets. I think I was dehydrated though. I got serious cotton mouth, wicked queasy and almost passed out. I had that I think I might die feeling

I stumbled to a bench and had to lay down which I know was pretty dangerous. I was, for my part, not of a right mind. I was laying on the bench looking up at the trees actaully thinking, Is this my time? Am I gonna die here? I started trying to suck in as much detail as I could: the feel of the cold, the trees pulsing, the bright pale blue sky.

Then I remembered James telling me to breath as deeply as I could to keep from hurling. And that seemed to calm the nausea enough so I could sit up again. I think having water nearby or Gatorade would have helped that mess. I was going to end with the farmer's carry but due to the "almost vomiting/couldn't stand up thing", I backed off.

This workout is a definite keeper. The MC is a deceptively hard excercise if performed in the right combination. I had it right before sit-ups and push-ups, pre-exhausting both muscle sets (abs and arms/back) as well as stretching the hip flexors and building explosive cardio.

01/07 Swam at Wade Wehut, about 1200 meters. Did some sprints and then some board work and used the pool bouy to work on stroke. I could feel the kicking improve, worked on using the hips. I think I could feel the differance in power. Stroke work was a cluster fuck. I need to ask Steph how to do that and what the 1 thing she can teach me to improve my stroke. Her words. Swim loose, just like running. That helped too.

01/09 Ran 2 miles at Lafayette ark and the did 20 push ups and 30 sit ups x 6. It was weird. People were walking passed me. Three girls stood there giggle as I struggled to finish the last set. Today, I have some shin pain in the non-injured leg and the calf hurts but no much and I think most of it is the cold. I'm going to avoid road running for a while and take it easy on the speed. This last year has been injury hell: first ITB then the arch thing then the ankles and now the calf and maybe the shin. I am doing something wrong. I need to sort this out.

01/10 Ran 4 miles at the park and then did 20 dips and 30 sit ups x 6. Not too brutal. I need to start increasing my set length and looking at intensity. Not sure how to go but I have a few days to think about it. The run was easy paced. I did high steps, butt kicks and side steps first and then finished with a mile walk, backward running and a good stretch. It was a little achy in the cold with a few dull flare ups later but not the crippling death grip of old. (see calf injury, I need to do a section on my injuries) Sporadic stretching all night. Saw Men Who Stare at Goats. Damn fine movie.