Lost in Space

My plane is crashing, my ejector seat is malfunctioning and I have no idea where I'm at right now. Alright, enough of that. Athletically, I've been drifting a little bit over the last couple weeks. I think I've let my knee issues get the better of me. Last week was ok. I was able to get some consistent mid-range running in and even hit the gym for some good Crossfit workouts. On Wednesday, I attacked the filthy 50 workout from Crossfit:

For time:
50 Box jump, 24 inch box
50 Jumping pull-ups
50 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood
Walking Lunge, 50 steps
50 Knees to elbows
50 Push press, 45 pounds
50 Back extensions
50 Wall ball shots, 20 pound ball
50 Burpees
50 Double unders

I really love doing this workout. It's tough, but it's so rewarding when done. Took me 40 minutes to complete it. Most of the time was on the knees to elbows. (Apparently, my abs are weak). My gym only has a 3 foot box to jump on so I get off to a fun start that way. On about my 12th jump, I ended up smacking my right pinkie finger into the box - it still hurts today (1 week later). Fun stuff. I'll probably do a run-swim double today to get my self going again. Talk soon.

One more thing...Today I officially registered for the Skyline to the Sea 50k (on 9/20). No more excuses!

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Hi. How's It Going?

If I've been sniffing glue, this would be a great time to stop. The last 10 day period (basically everything after my last post) has been one of my best tapers ever. The only problem is, I'm not tapering right now. After my nice 12 mile run on that Friday, I've done approximately 2 Crosffit workouts, two 6-mile or less ez runs and 1 tempo run that knocked the crap out of me. That means there were 5 days that I did nothing (morning/night push-ups don't count). I'm so tired of not running in the morning (my own fault). The noon/afternoon runs have been beating me up and taking their toll - physically and mentally. I've lost all my confidence on these runs because my legs get filled with lactic acid and get so damn tired too quickly. I run through fluids like theres no tomorrow. No good.

So last night, I'm basically yelling "pull yourself together" to myself ("allow myself to introduce myself"). Before hitting the hay, I set the alarm for 5:00 AM and had my running clothes ready to go. Let's just say I allowed a couple of Snooze operations, but was successfully out of bed, dressed and eating a banana at 5:20. Filled a bottle with water and one with Gatorade and headed out the door. 2 hours, 10 minutes later I was done with my 15-mile run! Finally, I was able to get a decent run in. It's amazing how much better I feel in the morning (and when it's not 90+ degrees outside). Wasn't all good though. Did have some pain in my knee at the end of the run (not totally unexpected. I was mad at myself for not wearing my knee wrap). I'm bouncing all over the place on my runs right now so I had a feeling this might happen. I'm not gonna worry about this now since I'm not running Skyline on August 3rd. Despite the knee pain (and general leg soreness), I'm really happy that I got this run in this morning.

I'll be ready for a lunchtime nap today.

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Where Are You Hiding, Mr ITBS?

Quick post today. Ran easy 12 miles (1:42) in the smokey, afternoon sun (actually not too hot today). And the knee? No pain! Nothing! Yes! First time I've been able to go 7+ miles without the pain. Funny thing is when I was approaching the magic 7-mile marker, my knee kind of gave me a little tingle and then went away. Hello mind games! Afterward, my body seemed to have forgotten what it's like running over 7 miles. I'm gonna need to do some serious stretching tonight along with some tennis ball-leg loving (whatever the hell that means).

Previous workouts:
Yesterday was softball night so I decided to take a rest day (our team was terrible, although our beer drinking was very impressive)

Wednesday I did the following Crossfit workout (from a few weeks back):

7 rounds of:
135-lb Sumo Dead Lift High Pull (7 reps)
30" box jumps (7 reps)

I forgot to save my time but it was 14 minutes and something. Box jumps were fine but the SDLHPs were pretty tough at that weight.

Please don't wake up my knee.

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A Breakthrough Perhaps?

So I'm in the middle of this training period and I'm just kind of rolling along, but not really training anything. In lieu of getting in my longer runs, I've been working on Crossfit trying to improve my overall strength and work on some core conditioning. Well yesterday, I had to go into the Bay Area to meet with some folks at work. I brought my workout clothes with me so I could get in a workout at lunch. Since it’s hotter than hell right now and I can’t breathe outside with all the smoke in the air, I decided to see what kind of workout I could get on the treadmill. My plan was to warmup for about 12-15 minutes and then do some 800s followed by 2:00 minute recovery jog/ez runs. After that I would ease it down for a few minutes and then crank up some 1-minute hill climbs (at 15%) and then run “downhill” for a 3-minute recovery. Turned out to be the best workout I’ve had in a long time – and no knee pain whatsoever! Here’s how it went:

• 14 minute warmup ranging from 9:00/mi to 8:00/mi pace and then...
• (4) 800’s @ 6:35/mi followed by 2:00 minutes recovery @ 8:30/mi and then...
• 3-4 minutes @ 8:30/mi and then...
• (4) 1-minute hill climbs @ 15% @ 8:30/mi followed by 3:00 minutes @ 8:00/mi and then...
• After the last hill and recovery, did the last ¾ mile @ 6:35/mi. (sweat was dumping).
• Totals => 7.5 miles in 60 minutes (added .25 in cooldown)

I was excited to see a Concept 2 rower in the room so I did that for 5 minutes afterwards. Whew.

Monday’s workout:

Did one of the Crossfit workouts from the Crossfit Games:

• 30 reps of 155-lb Squat clean-and-jerks for time – didn’t bring my watch, but it was around 15 minutes – a blaster of a workout.

(If you want some inspiration, check out this video of a 14-year old (103-lb) Kallista Pappas cranking out the same workout from the CF Games (100-lb for the ladies). She is competing against the adults. If this doesn’t inspire you and make you want to tear up at the same time, then God help you.)

Sunday: Off

Saturday: Golf (walking 18) + 4 miles with the dog at night

Friday: Ran a 10k from my house to the in-laws at hot/smokey time (time: 48:14)

Overall, my health feels pretty good. I think yesterday was the first day my knee didn’t hurt when I went over 6 miles on a run. I’m still not really sure if I’ll be able to run Skyline or not. I’ll shoot for a nice 6-8 miler tomorrow (early AM) and then try to crank up the miles this weekend. I actually got a tennis ball out this morning so I could start rolling around on it to break up the trigger points in my legs and try to get rid of the ITBS for good (for now).

On a side note (and another reason why I love working at home), the train (ACE) coming back from the Bay Area to Stockton yesterday had to stop on the track before Pleasanton because the track up ahead had buckled due to the heat. Are you kidding me? This is the 2^nd time I’ve been on the train in the last two weeks and it’s the 2^nd time I’ve been delayed in the exact same spot. This time, we had to sit there for 3 hours!! If the AC wasn’t working, I probably would’ve jumped off and ran home (give or take 40 miles). Sheesh. That stunk because I didn't get to spend time with my boys when I got home last night.

Have a great rest of the week!

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Ultra...Painting?

Whenever I'm out of work for for more than a couple of days at a time (a week off in this case), I have a tendency to get far away from the computer and everything that exists in computerland (the blog, other people's blogs, email, news, etc.). In other words, I feel like I drift away from the world for awhile. I really start to miss reading the blogs and I feel like I missing out on certain events.

This week has been even more of a "where the hell am I" phase. For the last few days, I've been painting most of the downstairs of our house (kitchen, family room, office) and I today my body feels like I've been pressing 500 lbs over my head for a week. Holy sore muscles! Yes, I am definitely a sissy office worker these days. Oh well, the house looks great and now I can do something else for the rest of the week -- like run.

With the wife working today, I took the boys to the gym so I could blow off some steam (i.e. do something other than paint). They get to play in the kids area and I did 30 minutes of a random workout that I made up - 5 rounds of: 45 double-unders, 20 walking lunges, & 10 push ups. Then I followed with 5 minutes of death on the stair climber (basically, as hard as I could still go without falling off). Due to the knee, I've only run once in the last week & a half (a fun little five miler on Sunday from my house to my in-laws). Since I haven't been proactively treating my knee, I'm hoping the time off will help it out a little.

Tomorrow is my oldest son's 4th birthday so we'll be doing whatever he wants to do- probably bowling (real, not Wii) and the park. I'll be shooting for a nice 6 miler in the morning. I'm ready to start beating myself up again. Hope all is well in the connected world.

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