A Nice 4 Miler.......

So yesterday was a very good day to workout.  I didn't get started until pretty late just because I couldn't break away.  After dinner I took Bogey out for a walk 2.3 miles and 40 mins later we came back home and it was pushing 7:00 pm.

P90x was next once we got the kids setteled down to bed - by 8:30 Beth and I were working up a sweat (actually Beth doesn't really sweat, but I do enough for both of us.)  And we both felt pretty wiped after about 60 mins of Kempo.  Since we skipped the ab workout the day before we threw that 15 min workout in also.

Right after P90x I went out again for a run this time.  I had planned a 5k but I felt pretty good and since I had mentioned going for a 4 mile PB a few posts back I changed routes about 4 mins in to attempt a 4 mile PB.  My PB was set last year (4/18/09) at 42:47 so I knew I was going to set a new one.  (I really need to run this distance more.)  Plannng on the fly I wanted to run 9:40 mile pace and I knew this was totally within my grasp since I just ran a 9:14 mile pace for my 10k race last week.



MIle 1 was run in 9:55 - but I always start out a little slow on this course so I wasn't worried.  I slowly started to pick up my pace and I felt really good despite P90x earlier.  Mile 2 came in around 9:00 flat.  A little too fast but I did feel good and my legs felt pretty strong.  Core muscles felt strong also and I was able to get better movement throughout my hips which for me is has been uncommon these days.  As I get stronger in my midsection I've become less stiff while I'm running.  Mile 3 was uphill quite a bit and I was able to log another sub 10 min mile (I'm not sure what he actual time was here other than the face I was under 28 mins at tis point.) Mile 4 is all downhill and I finished off with a 37:34 total time.  9:14 pace!  I DESTROYED my year old PB by 5 mins!  I'm guessing I could have shaved another :30 - :40 seconds off this if I was really trying.

Total workout time:
Walking: 40 mins
P90x: 75 mins
Running/Cool down: 42 mins

Total Time:  2 hrs  37 mins

I'm very pleased with my runs recently - mileage is up, and my body is recovering very nicely between these efforts.  I' setting PB's almost everyother run right now and I feel like I'm still improving with plenty of room to grow.  I'm not sure how much more I'm goig to improve but for now I'm very happy with the results, workouts, and training runs.

I still haven't signed up for my half marathon, but I should get that completed sometime this week.  I know  can finish the distance, and I do have some 'goals' set this far out.  2:15:00 is my main goal with a stretch of 2:10:00.  I'd love to be closer to 2:05:00 but I'm not there just yet.  Still a 2:15:00 for my first half is a good goal right now and I can always improve on this at a later date.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Too Much Information

I've got a ton to update today so I'm sorry if I ramble more than usual on this post, but I just want to get it all in.  Therefore you get bullets today.....

• I was going through my log for this month and realized that my consecutive day streak is actually 19 days not 18.  That's huge because it actually 'breaks' my record of 18 days rather than just tying it.  I've made the correction on my sidebar to reflect this.
• Monthly mileage is now up over 150 miles and I'm going to finish this month/week off strong with another 20+ miles.  That will DESTROY my previous best month of 108.6 miles.  I feel so strong right now I think I can add to this next month.  We'll see how I feel doing the P90x program too.  Because of this I've only scheduled 100 mile month.  Anything beyond this will be good.
• Last night was my first scheduled interval training session - I had a small problem.  The local college track was closed (by 7:00 pm) so tried a local HS, that was closed also.  I ended up coming home and running a tempo 2 miler.  I hadn't run this course in a while and I DESTROYED my previous time of 19:02.  I clocked a 17:25 or a 8:43 per mile average with more to spare in my tank!  This is my fist recorded run over a mile where my average pace per mile has been under 9:00 mins!  The 19:02 was done in March of last year so I expected an improvement and a :90 second improvement is wonderful, I'm completely jazzed over my results.  With the increase in monthly mileage I expect to see this kind of improvement to continue throughout this year.  Maybe not this big of a jump, but I can always dream can't I?
• Weightlifting is going well - no real pains and I'm on my third week.  If I wasn't doing P90x, I'd up these workouts - but I'm going to use these just to say I got the workout in.  Weights never hurt anybody unless you drop them o your neck. (see USC)
• Tonight I have a 4 miler easy pace planned.  Nothing special just right around a 9:50 pace would be good.  My hammies are a little tired/sore but nothing too bad.  Tired in a good way - which is what I want.  I should take my running buddy, we'll see, it all depends when I actually get out the door for this run.

• This distance coupled with my two walks and my warm up and cool down I should log about 7 miles today.  The weather is nice enough for this to happen pretty easily.
• My overall progress this month has been amazing - even though I want to change my 10k RACE GOAL, I'm going to stick with a sub 60 min goal.  The race is 52 days off and with my 10k race last week (1:01:33 - race report) that I struggled with I think a 2 min improvement during this time frame is more than good.  Continuous Improvement I've always said.
• Finally after three tries I found my next pair of shoes - in fact I ran with them for the first time last night, and set a PB!  I'll log about 50 miles in them and then FINALLY give you my SHOE REVIEW - here's my last one.  Isn't it amazing how good a shoe feels and how bad a shoe can feel?
• I've added music to my blog - if it's too much let me know.  Hey Nicole thanks for reading, and I have to give No Doubt some play time.  OC band, good music......  ok the song is kind of wierd in this context.  If anyone wants to put in music requests drop me a comment and I'll try to add it to my list, that is if I like it.  If the load times are getting too long for the blog please me know also - I'll cut back on some sidebar items.
• Beth and I did our P90x pretest last night.  Not too difficult - I can tell I need work on core muscles and suprisingly my quads.  The conditioning part I don't think I'll have too much of a problem but either way, I can tell this is going to be an intense 90 days.  We're starting the actual program Sunday, but we'll most likely do the one of the Bonus workouts between now and Sunday.  I'm so looking forward to working out with Beth.  If we don't kill each other it will be fun!  Beth still won't admit that she sweats...... she glistens.  Yeah right.  I still can't look too closely at my 'before' pictures.  I think the reality is slowly seeping in.....

Keep Steppin'
Bob