Posts Tagged ‘cross training’

I knew last summer that I needed to do something else to compliment my running, but I failed miserably at that. Lesson learned. Let’s move on.

Last week for the first time in a long time, I looked forward to do some of the other things that have slowly crept into my workouts in the past few months. In addition to having a good running week — 16 miles complete with speed work and hills — I had a good “other” week.

All told, I did 60 jumping jacks, 50 squats, 72 crunches, 2:40 of plank and 107 push-ups. It was a nice mix of “regular” exercises and doing some of them on the Bosu ball. My max plank was 1:40, which is just 20 seconds away from my goal for this month.

I know I need to do more and I know I can do more, but this is a drastic improvement from what I’m used to. My change in actually looking forward to it is also a major step in the right direction.

As for my other “commitment” post, I weighed in at 187 last week. With weight loss not being a top goal right now, I’m just looking to stay consistent. I am ready to kick soft drinks to the curb again. Since the marathon I fell off the wagon. It hasn’t been all that bad, but it stops today. No more soft drinks until I feel like I’ve done something good enough to reward myself.

I love the Bosu ball. I just don’t know why I don’t use it more often. This week, though, I’ve got it out a couple of times. I have a long way to go to make workouts with it feel completely satisfying, but I’m taking small steps to make that happen.

Tonight I had a good variety on it for 20 minutes or so, totaling 42 push-ups, 25 squats, 70 sit-ups (including 20 “crunchy frogs”), about a minute’s worth of balance and the bird dog again (two 20 counts). If I can keep doing these things a couple of times a week this month it will become routine. That routine will only help with my running. Getting to that routine, though, is a major constant trouble I have.

My friend Jeremy started a blog this year — Train to Tri — and has been doing a great job at documenting his training as he heads toward his first triathlon (and, I hope, beyond). It’s very motivating to read his blog for several reasons and I greatly admire his attention to detail with his training.

It makes me realize how I don’t get too detailed with my runs or workouts whether they’re good or bad. I’ve tried before. In the summer of 2008, when I was training for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in Virginia Beach, I regularly posted what my workouts were … then I hurt my tail bone that messed up that whole training cycle. I’m not making any promises that I’m going to immediately change things, but I think it’s important that when I post my goals that I write more about what’s happening in that process. I have to hold myself more accountable.

So … yesterday I set that goal of a 2-minute plank for March. Tonight the march toward that goal started. Among other things, I maxed out my plank at 1:25, 12 seconds better than my initial test last week.

I also did this, with two 15-second reps:

(No, that’s not me. Click on the photo for more details on the Bird Dog exercise.) I somehow managed to stay fairly upright and didn’t fall on my face. Thanks to Steena for suggesting this a couple of weeks ago.

For more details on tonight’s workout, visit my Daily Mile entry.

* I quietly announced in a few places that I hit running mile 1,000 for the year on Saturday. I’m working on a blog post about my 1,000-mile journey, but it started sinking in how much it means to me. It’s one of the biggest goals I’ve ever had, so it’s taking me a while to put together the highlights of this quadruple digit milestone. For now, though, running is over.

* So a few people did read last week’s “Dear Santa” post and just a few days later I was hooked up with P90X. I don’t have any intention of doing the entire program, but instead use it as a supplement to running. True cross training. For now, since I can’t really run, I’m giving myself a slow introduction to the program. All I have to say after two DVDs … two partial DVDs … is WOW.

My arms were sore for almost three days after the first disk, and I just finished up the Plyometrics disk. Who knows how I’ll feel tomorrow, but it’s very nice to do a full lower body workout with my knee not bothering me at all.

* Speaking of knee issues, I’ve had a couple of visits with the chiropractor and things seem to be going well. (I was supposed to have appointment No. 3 today, but my SUV wouldn’t start after work. Ugh.) I probably won’t blog about it too much. Honestly, I have to see how it all goes. I’m confident that getting things lined up will go a long way in making 2011 a great year. For now, I just have to wait.

* Speaking of 2011, I announced on Twitter today I wouldn’t be running a marathon next year. It’s certainly not a big deal, and I’m not sure why I tweeted it, but it’s just something I don’t want to do. I won’t say “never again,” but it’ll be a while before the urge hits again. I want to stick to half marathons, but I want my first focus to run pain free again.

* And speaking of Twitter, #runchat was awesome last night. If you haven’t joined in the conversations yet, please join us for the next one Dec. 26. As a reminder, #runchat is the second and fourth Sundays of every month.

In a time when running isn’t at the forefront of my mind, it’s kind of weird for me to even think about wanting anything running-related for Christmas. I know, though, that this injury is just a minor setback in the big picture and one day this will just be a story I can tell to others. So that being said, it’s time for my annual Christmas wish list. It’s probably not too drastically different from years past — I’m not even going to look at what I’ve done in the past couple of years.

Keep in mind that I’m doing this all in good fun … like if I could sit on Santa’s lap one time, this is what would spill out of my mouth.

Shorts
My running shorts are in a sad, sad state. Many of them are five years old or older. It probably doesn’t help that I often will put them on to lounge around in. I’m not too picky — I just ask that they not be lined. Any brand is fine with me.

Shirts
Thanks to the increase in races giving out moisture-wicking shirts, I don’t necessarily need running shirts, but it doesn’t hurt to have another one or two so I could filter out some older ones in the closet. I could use a new solid green one, and I have zero red shirts. Kind of fitting for a Christmas wish list, right?

Socks
I recently tried out Injinji toe socks thanks to my local running store — Riverside Runners — finally carrying them. They were pretty cool — very different feeling, but I know I’ll use them for long runs and races down the road. But I bet I won’t buy myself another pair at $16 a piece.

On a similar note, my running socks are getting worn out. I need socks worse than shorts and shirts. Remember the greater than/less than things from math class? Here’s what I’m looking like: socks>shirts>shorts>pants. I guess what I’m saying is a need a running gear overhaul … nothing a gift card couldn’t solve. (By the way, local friends, Riverside Runners now has gift cards.)

Gloves
This is a separate issue than mixing it in with the above. In nearly seven full years of running I’ve had two pairs of running gloves — a pair of Brooks and a pair of Nike. My wife has bought me both and they’ve easily been the best running gift ever. I love a fairly thin layer of gloves to keep my hands from freezing off when the temperature drops. Both pairs are still in existence and can probably get me through this winter OK, but both pairs now have their fair share of holes.

P90X
With as much as I’ve enjoyed cross training lately, I think I could get into P90X. They’ve promoted enough on ESPN Radio this year that I’m sold on it. I probably wouldn’t want to do the entire program, but would instead just incorporate the workouts a couple of times a week into my routine. It’s expensive, so even a couple of the DVDs off eBay would be fine for me.

Fruit of the month club
Do these still exist? Since I’ve been trying to eat healthier and eat less, I could go for something like this. I should expand my fruit intake anyway, so maybe I’ll start my own fruit of the month club in 2011.

Garmin
Another year is nearly gone with my Garmin still hanging on. At various points in the past couple of years or so I thought it was over. I’ve had dead screens; the beeping is sporadic; I’ve had random dead batteries after it was charged; but my Garmin 205 that I bought on eBay many, many moons ago is still ticking away. So head over to the Garmin Forerunner website and just pick out a new one for me. Any of them will do.

RUN, the book
On a more serious note, I’d really like to have the “RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel” book by Matt Fitzgerald. I’ve had at least a half dozen people, if not more, tell me that I should read this book. Running by feel has worked for me for most of this year and I plan to continue running by feel once I get back to regularly running again.

That’s all, for now.

I’m not even sure what this title means … I need to type it out. Rarely do a write a title before writing a blog post, but that the line that’s stuck in my head. I have been thinking for a week now about a lot of running-related things, even though I can’t run much. I ran a mile on my recent 5-day trip to my in-laws’ house in Ohio, but that was it. It wasn’t even a good mile.

Through all the ups and downs that running has brought me over the past seven years, there’s no doubt that this year has been the second best running year of my life. The best will always be 2004, the year that it started. Had it not been for that year, I wouldn’t be doing this today.

Despite such an awesome 2010, it’s ending on what many people would think is a sour note. Oddly though, I was only mad and sad about my knee problems for a couple of days. Now I just have to take it for what it is – an opportunity. It is an opportunity to get back to the basic things of working out that I should have been doing all along. Lifting weights, push-ups, sit-ups, walking. Just not much running.

I have been paranoid in the past few weeks that not running very much will mess up what I have done on the scale this year. This morning I was exactly 183, which is actually about a half-pound from what I was marathon week. I couldn’t have been more pleased. While Thanksgiving wasn’t the best of eating holidays, I did something unimaginable, and I’m not sure if anyone at the table even noticed: I had only one helping of food for dinner. I’ve been trying to eat slower and chew my food more, and so far it’s working. It’s back to basics. It’s what worked years ago and with taking most of my running away for a little while, it’s what I have to do. My goal for December is to maintain – if I stay at 14 pounds lost for the year, I’ll be completely satisfied. If another pound goes away, then that’s an even bigger victory.

As far as running goes, I’m so close to 1,000 miles that I can taste it. Only 4.6 to go. The odd thing is, I’m not overly excited about it. Yes, it’s going to be nice to get there, but I’m not getting there at 100 percent. I’ll get there in half-mile or mile increments sometime in the next couple of weeks. A couple of months ago I was ready to party when I hit the mark, but now it’s very anticlimactic. It’s like a really good movie with the plot line falling completely apart in the last 5 minutes. The mileage just isn’t important to me right now; getting healthy is. All I want for Christmas (besides my annual Christmas wish-list post coming soon) is a knee that can go for more than a mile without hurting.

So … it’s back to basics. And when I can run normally again, it’ll be back to basics with that too.

I ran a mile last night. Nothing more, nothing less … well, technically it was 1.1. So I ran 1.1 mile(s) last night. It wasn’t too bad; it wasn’t all that great either. It was a mile, much sooner than I expected after my marathon. A mile is a mile. I’m not sure when the next mile will come. It could be tomorrow; it could come on a turkey trot; it could be December before it happens again. Just like much of this year has gone, I will continue to do this by feel.

I do have a consultation appointment with a chiropractor in a couple of weeks. My wife’s chiropractor is doing a patient appreciation event and is offering free appointments in exchange for toys for a Toys for Tots drive. It’s one of those things I shouldn’t pass up. When I was running Saturday, I was thinking about my issues of lack of core training, and if something is out of whack now would be a good time to address it. I’ve been reading a lot this week about chiropractors and runners who use them … some good, some bad, some neutral. So, we’ll see.

So speaking of core training, this week I have busted out my dumbbells twice, done the plank a couple of times and done several sit-ups. It’s not unusual to do something like this, but in the past few months I lost sight of how important these types of cross training things are. When it comes to the core, cross training might not even be the right words — it’s necessary training that I haven’t done regularly in a very long time.

With the holidays approaching and doing less running, I can’t have too much out-of-control eating. A week before the marathon I was 183, so I’ve done a decent job of maintaining. But when I saw my marathon photos this week, I know that I have a ways to go. I need to burn more fat … what the end result is on the scale, I don’t care. I just want to feel better about myself.

So this has become a very random post … but that’s what happens with no running. I’ve got a variety things on my mind and I need a good 3-4 miles a few times a week so those thoughts don’t make it to the blog.

It was only about 3 miles, but tonight’s run was one of the happiest runs I’ve had in some time. After a horrible weekend with the knee bothering me, I took nearly three days off before running again. Sunday morning to Wednesday night felt like forever.

It’s been an interesting few days having to do things I’m not used to: I’ve foam rolled for the first time in forever — it’s painful, yet satisfying; I’ve stretched several times at work; I walked about a half mile before running tonight; and I’ve thought a lot about what I need to do after the marathon to improve my running. This knee issue has been eye opening with realizing how poorly I’ve cross trained and focused on my core. I can’t keep doing that.

For now, though, all signs are pointing to doing the Richmond Marathon no matter what.

These binary dates are just cool to me, and since I have nothing specific to write about, it just looks good as a title. Anyway …

* 31 in 31 has been an interesting challenge. Doing something different every day hasn’t been all that hard. In fact, it’s helped me be more conscious of what I am doing. It’s helped me focus better on each individual day. My biggest non-running activity so far was on Friday when I was able to make it to my old gym and got in 30 minutes (4.3 miles) on an elliptical machine. Otherwise, my “other” activities haven’t been too strenuous — they’ve just been a nice bonus.

To keep track of my day-to-day activities, you can click here or on the “31 in 31″ tab at the top of the blog.

* Running is going very well so far. Last week I ran nearly 15 miles with a long run of 6 miles. That, coupled with the elliptical workout, was a perfect week one for training for the Shamrock Half. Six miles now sits me up very well for the best training I’ve ever done for this race.

* I’ve restarted the 100 push-ups program, again. This time instead of restarting on week 3, I just started from scratch, but at a higher level. My max push-ups last week were 22, 25 and 28. I did a total of 193 push-ups in three days. I think before I was getting too caught up in the week-to-week aspect of this and letting one day throw things off. This time around I’m not going to worry about that so much. While it’s important to keep to a schedule, it’s also important to allow for adequate rest between days and after exhaustion tests. If this goes well, I’ll complete this program before Shamrock!

* My quest for finding good blogs to read never ends, and in the past week or so I found a new one to read. Actually, I think he found me first. Either way, check out Steve over at 265 and falling and follow his weight-loss journey. Steve recently just completed his first 5k and plans to run a marathon later this year.

So a nice little cold has kicked off my year, but that’s not stopping me from my goal this month — 31 exercises in 31 days. Since my clogged head didn’t want to run yesterday, I opted for 30 push-ups to kick off the year. Here’s to hoping this jump-starts the 100 push-up challenge again this month.

As for today and still feeling bad (plus I didn’t bring any running clothes with me to visit my brother-in-law in North Carolina), it may be a Nintendo Wii type of exercising day I have to let that count for at least one of my days, so why not get it out of the way now when I’m not feeling great? I hope by tomorrow afternoon I can get in my first run of 2010 — “official” training for the Shamrock Half can’t wait any longer, nor can the hard work to shed a few pounds.

Lastly, with my “31 in 31″ kickoff to 2010, I’m looking for some alternative, but easy exercises to do this month. This is meant to be a simple way to do something different every day in addition to my usual running. If you know of anything that might not be obvious, please let me know in the comments section!

Happy New Year everyone!