Healing....

Well I've been takng it easy over the past few days, my toe feels better and the swelling is almost gone, but my thumb that I hurt at soccer last week is still tender to the touch.  I'm guessing that since this is the 'worst' pain I have than I'm good.  I dd do something to my right foot though, it almost feels like a strained arch.  Last night I woke up from a dead sleep with a massive cramp in my foot.  This is the first time in a while cramping has bothered me - I'll have to pay a little more attention to my diet over the next few days.

 Later this week I'm going to write my review on my new shoes - I'll start writing the review tonight but I don't think I can get it finished so look for it most likely on Friday.  What shoe did I pick?  Post a guess (make and model) and as a prize I'll link your blog to mine :)

Running hasn't really happened over the past few days - I'm getting in my daily walks and Beth and I are doing our P90x stuff but the running is just not there.  Tonight I am planning to get in an easy 2-3 miler just to test out my feet.  I'm only 11 days out from my 10k now and I do want to ge in a few more runs before the race just to keep my legs loose.  Other than my little aches and pains I do feel good - I feel pretty rested and relaxed so I'm hoping I'll actually 'run' in the past few days.  This time period includes a bad toe, rain, and a distance PB so I'm happy over my accomplishment.  Hopefully I'll be able to extend this PB (streak) upwards towards 30-days.

Somehow over the past 6-months I've become a blog addict - I'm now following over 120 blogs and trying to keep up with reading them all.  I don't comment a ton but I do get to read them all (most of the time), usually when I'm watching my Lakers on tv.  Please keep writing I lover reading about your running adventures.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Took a Day Off

Yesterday I took the day off pretty much.  My legs were just a little too sore and I was just a little too lazy.  Still it wasn't a total loss - I walked the girls to school, and Beth and I did our P90x program for the day.  So today instead of talking about what I did, I wanted to take some time totalk about my monthly plans and beyond.

This month I've set just a few goals:

• Run / Walk / Cycle 110 miles for the month
• Break 58:00 for my 10k Race on March 21st
• Create a new PB for distance - longer than 11.45 miles
• Cycle 15 miles for the month
• Break my running streak of 19 days

Beyond this, I'm still working towards my half marathon in May with my goal of 2:15:00.  Training I'm going to do my own plan - I've been running long enough to put it together, nothing too formal but something to push me along.  Most likely I'll have a long run of 13+ miles sometime between my 10k and the half.  I know that most plans don't have a long run that long, but I really want to know what my body will do at that distance. 

P90x is getting close to our 30-day mark now and I'm starting to see subtle changes, nothing drastic, but enough to keep the program going.  I still can't say enough about the core strength though, It's making me faster for sure.

My running streak is now 15 days and going strong - I'm going to shoot for breaking 19 days in a row (a new PB).  Hopefully yesterday was my 'down' day and I'll be able to string together a good 7-10 days now.  This morning my legs feel pretty refreshed.  Either way, from here on out to my race every run is going to be very easy.  I want to be strong on race day  (16 days away) in order to give me a chance at that PB.

Keep Steppin'
Bob
 

Workouts Going Good

I haven't posted in a few days, but I'm still working out hard.  I've missed a few planned workouts so I have the 'guilt' thing going on, but I have to keep telling myself that in the big picture it's not going to matter that much.  My streak ended at 14 days - just too much rain to get out of the house over the weekend.  California just isn't used to getting 2-4 inches of rain in a 12 hr period.  The ground is just too hard (or made of concrete) to let that kind of water soak in.  And add the 4-6 inches we got last week; and the ground is totally saturated - I'm sure we'll get some more mudslides later this week when the next cold front rolls in (thursday).

P90x is going pretty good - week one is over (yesterday) and Beth and I only missed about 2 hrs of workouts during the week. Half of that was the day off stretching workout they have.  Bodywise I'm sore all over, and actually during my long run Sunday I was barely able to move my arms due to the fatague in my back and shoulders.  Still that run was nice.



My long run was 6.8 miles of 'hilly' terrian around my house.  Other than my shoulders and back I felt ok.  My legs were a little tired, but I was able to fight through that and I finished the run very strong (9:43 pace).  That's pretty fast for me and puts me right at a sub 60 min 10k that is my goal for March.  Considering that I was trying to keep the pace rather slow I'm pleased with the results.  Once again I'm going to go back to my improvement that is related to P90x.  With only a ween my pocket, I can attest that the program has given my confidencein my ability.  I'm pushing myself to the brink during the program workouts so I now know just how hard  can push myself during a run.  I thought I knew this already, but I didn't.

Tonight's run was sandwiched between my back/arm workout and my ab workout.  I only ran 2.3 miles plus a small cool down.  I started out just taking it easy, but I felt so strong after about 5 mins, I cranked it up a notch.  Then I cranked it up another - and finished with a 20:10 or a 9:03 pace.  That's 5k race pace for me!  And I did this on a hilly course!  My form near the end of the run was good, and I felt really strong.  I'm guessing if I really tried I could break 20 mins on this course - before too long I'll be logging a sub 9 min mile and that will be a major goal reached for me.

I'm thinking tomorrow I'm goig to try to get out on my bike.  It's been a month since my last ride - so I want to get some miles logged in the saddle.  Maybe 12-15 miles would be good.  I haven't decided if I'm going to add a run with this, but I'll have to play it by ear.  We'll see how I feel after my P90x morning workout.

I'm still following my 10k training plan but it being followed VERY loosely.  I'm getting the mileage in and maybe I'm doing just a few more tempo runs and now quite enough slow mileage.  I'm adare of this, and will try to adjust over the next few weeks.  I've also made another adjustment to the plan.  This weekend calls out a 5k race.  I was going to do this becasue I wanted to attempt a PB at this distance, but another blogger, (Becca) is holding a virtual 10k run over the weekend (12th, 13, or the 14th) so I decided I'll enter this.  If you want to join up, you still can, just check out the link and be ready to report your 'race'.

This week will be most likely mimial with posting - I'm working on taxes this week and I HAVE to get this finished.  I started this weekend, and hopefully I'll finished in the next few days bt until then I might not post as much as I'd like to.

Finally I'd like to welcome my new followers/stalkers.  Thank you for dropping by and reading what I have to say.  Seeing new followers always encourages me to write more and to share more.  Please feel free to ask questions, I'll try to answer anything brought to my attention - what I'm doing right, and what I might have done wrong.  I've been running now on and off for 30 years so I do have a lot in my head that I'm trying to get out. :)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

P90x day 3

So day two went by without too much of a problem.  The program has us doing Plyometrics and that fit perfectly into my running routine.  I felt really good thoughout the workout that was 58 mins long.  This time  took it a little easier and paced myself better so I wouldn't burn out at the 30 min mark.  I could work harder, but for the first time though these programs I'm going to pace myself better. 

Last night I was supposed to go out and do a 4 miler, but I was pretty shot so I stayed in and watched my new favorite show: White Collar.  I love this show so far, if you haven't seen it I'd recommend it to anyone.  So I skipped my 4 miler but still I walked twice for over 2 miles so I kept my 'new' streak alive at 10 days.  HopefullyI can break the 19 days I set in Jan.

Physically I'm bone tired. not really muscle tired, but weary like I used to get in HS and College after a tough workout.  So I know I'm doing things right.  I think I did one too many tempo runs with Alex over the weekend, and that plus the P90x workouts are starting to tire me out.  I'm keeping an eye out for injury possibilities so I'm not worried about pushing myself too hard - in fact I'm sure I'm only about two thirds to my max right now.

This morning was Day 3 of the program - Shoulders & Arms, and Ab's.  The shoulders and arms section was 58 mins, so Beth and I ran out of time and will be completing the Ab section later this afternoon.  This morning's workout was good, I felt under control but not helpless like the first day - I think I'm getting used to getting up in the morning and getting that workout done.  Also even though I haven't done all the different workouts yet, I feel like I know what to expect and how hard I need to push myself.  I'm already itching to do these workouts next week so I can improve on them.

Tonight's run is going to be an easy 4 miler this  time.  I feel well enough physically that I don't think I'll have any problems getting out the door.  (That was my 'real' problem last night.)  Actually I need to get some slower miles in this week - too many runs were too fast recently and mentally I'm having issues.  A slow run will do wonders for me right now.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Pacing

We all have our own pace - having over 30 years of running expirence (wow that's getting scary) I can pretty much nail my pace without looking at a watch.  It really doesn't matter if I am in or out of shape, I just know in my head how far I've gone and how far I am from finishing a run.  Some of you most likely are saying, "What's wrong with that?  I wish I could pace myself like that."  But really this ability can be counterproductive when I'm doing a tempo run or trying to push myself harder through some 'pick-ups' during a run.  I tend to hold a little back on these runs becuase I know in my head I'm on my target pace when it would be more productive to my running growth (ie improvement) to beat my target pace for that run.  Tempo runs are usually the thorn in my side. 

In addition I tend to improve in leaps, like my 2 mile PB from the other night when I don't make any assumptions on what my pace will be before a run.  That way I tend to push myself just a little harder than the pacing voice that is talking in my head. I just wonder if I didn't have this pacing ability would I be a better runner in the long run? 

A prime example of what I'm talking about is from my long run from about a week ago.  I estimated to Beth that I was going to take 2 hours to finish over at her parents house, 9.5 miles later and 1:59:14 (Yeah :46 second off from my estimate.)  I crossed the finish feeling pretty good.  My overall pace was crappy but maybe if I couldn't pace myself so well I could have improved on this time.  Would running this training run faster make me a better runner?  Personally, for this example since this was a new distance I was pleased with my time.  And that's when I have to be careful, I have to plan exactly how fast I want to push myself before I leave the house.

I'm currently on a 7 day running streak again.  If it hadn't been for the rain and my hip during this month I think I'd be looking at 28 straight days.  Still I have to be pleased with my month.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

BTW yesterday I mentioned I wanted to run my 4 mile training run at a 9:50 pace...... I did it at a 9:53 pace.  Pretty damm close.

Hal Higdon's 10k Plan - Started!

Well I started my 'official' racing plan yesterday.  I'm looking forward to using a plan over the next few weeks - I can use a little structure in my training right now.  Even though the plan calls for some days off, I'm electing to use the off days as easy, short runs to add a little to my overall weekly mileage.

Yesterday I got in about 5 miles total which I thought was good because of the massive amounts of rain that fell for the most part of the day.  Around 5 pm the skies cleared and I was lucky enough to get in a run after Cade fell asleep around 9 pm.  It wasn't that cold so I didn't have to bundle up too much but I did wear my sleeves.  Pace wise I kept it pretty slow since I've put in some difficult runs last week.  My pace was actually a 9:35 per mile so it was about :10 seconds faster per mile than I had planned, but I'm ok with that.  I have to keep showing improvement right?  Actually I went and looked at my training log and noticied and the 9:35 pace on this course actually 'beats' a race time I had last January.  So I have to be pleased right?

We're still supposed to get rain throughout the week so I'm not sure what my runs are going to look like over this time.  Today I'm supposed to do another 3 miles easy - so I'm pretty sure I can squeeze this in sometime later today.  I may have to get wet but that won't be too bad.  I'm just going to play it by ear.

My streak is now 19 days which is my personal best.  I really would like to finish the month without taking a day off.  And actually I'm starting to eye going another 60 days from today.  Why 60 more days?  Well my 10k race is 60 days from today so I think that would be a good goal.  Physically I feel pretty good.  Last nigt's run went better than I expected, with just a little soreness overall nothing too bad.  Stretching this out another 60 days may be good for me mentally.  What I'm worried about is the interval training that starts nexrt week - how will I respond to that?  I'm not sure since I haven't done any of this kind of training since college.

A final note: Beth purchased P90x last night, she's wanted this program since before Thanksgiving.  I'm sure its a good program, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to do it.  Still Beth and I talked and we're going to try to do this together.  I think I'm going to take before, during and after picture and I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Keep Steppin'
Bob