Project 365 – Day 3

HOME.  It was cold and snowy when we arrived in town last night.  I was less than motivated, so back to the dreadmill.  Thinking back I believe this is the first time that I have used the big treadmill in the exercise room for running.  I have walked on it to warm up but have never tried a workout on it.

I hopped on and did a little harder 20 minute workout with a 5 minute warm up and a cool down cycle.

It was kind of cool, the treadmill has a TV built in and I was able to catch up on the news by watching CBC newsworld as I was running. 

The bike yesterday was fun as I could tweet while biking and can not do that with running but can watch TV (nice) – takes the boring out of the treadmill.

I have also noticed that it is easier to think about my gait on the treadmill and make sure that I am evening my stride so the left leg is doing it’s share of the work.

Not bad but I still prefer running outside.

Project 365 – Day 2

I woke up in Spokane, WA, last night as we were driving to the hotel it was very snowy and icy. It looked like there had been a very big storm go through in the last few days so … back to the hotel fitness center.

Upon arriving I discovered that the treadmill was missing the dead man’s key and would not function. My gaze fell on the recumbent bike and it was that or go outside.  So the bike it was.

 

Did 22 minutes at 80 rpm’s at some level that felt rough but not impossible.  I found it very challenging and was working muscles that had not been worked in a while so a good thing that I need to do more of.

Again faced a long drive from Spokane to Calgary (500 miles) a long day of sitting in the car.

Project 365 – Day 1

I have not posted for a long time, I have been running but not with motivation and not training for anything.  I have been seeing a Sports guy getting acupuncture and deep tissue torture to fix the hamstring problem and it is starting to feel better.

I saw a blog where the author started a Project 365 for photography. This is a self improvement plan  where they took a picture and posted it and a description every day.  Then I saw an interview with a runner that had been on a streak for the last 20 years he had run every day and it got me to thinking. 

My Project 365 is going to be at least 20 minutes of either cycling or running every day in 2011, which I will attempt to document here.

Day 1 – Medford, Oregon.  Woke up to – temperatures and snow so I decided to do my first run on the dreadmill in the hotel fitness center.  Did 25 minutes at 2% grade. Fork I hate treadmills.  Then drove from Medford to Spokane, WA.

Speed Play – Session 1

Distance : 5.0 mi
Time 50

I started the summer session for the interval workout workshops with Kory (again).  This set goes for 10 weeks and finishes in early June.  So with my legs still very heavy from the half marathon effort we headed to the outdoor track at the Glenmore Athletic Park to do workouts outside.  (Ah summer).

There was another group working on the track so our group laid out an ad hoc track on a vacant soccer field.  What could be better doing speed work outside on grass – but not barefoot.   Running on grass should do a lot for foot confidence and ankle strength.  I can feel the difference in required effort, it is about halfway between beach running and track running.

We did the usual warm-up 4 min @50%, 3 min @ 60% and 2 Min @70%,  then did dynamic stretching and finally the speed workout.  It was a random fartlek like workout.  We would jog for a minute and then at a whistle pickup the pace for a random interval between 30 seconds and two minutes.  The tough parts are that you never know what effort to put out as the time is random and you never know when the intervals are going to end.

The reasoning behind the workout is to teach pace for sustainability.  I find it to be one of the harder workouts.   It was a good thing that the session was on Tuesday night as it started to snow on Wednesday afternoon and was downright unpleasant by this morning.

 

Plod On.

Calgary Police Half Marathon

Distance : 21.1 km (approx) 
Time 1:49:00 (approx)

This is my first half marathon so I guess I set both my best time and my worst time at this distance.  Times are approximate until they post the official results.

Tough race – the first half was fast and seemed to be all downhill.  The second half seemed to be all uphill and into the wind.

The long trek up the 90 avenue hill and the weasel head hill just about did in my hamstring and had to slow to an almost walk to avoid doing damage.

Alexandra at Making Waves has some great graphics showing the route, race profile, and the white stuff that we woke up to this morning.

This is a great race with great volunteers and is very well organized, the course is scenic and a little challenging.  I give it 2 thumbs up. 

Kudos to the Westhills running room group I thought we were well represented.

 

Plod on

Let the Taper Begin

30th Annual Calgary Police Half Marathon 8 A.M.
5th Annual Calgary Police 5km Run & Walk 8:30 A.M
Sunday, April 25, 2010,
Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW

Number: 423

I have been silently running a little but not really training for this event.  I just might set a personal worst in the half marathon.

Weekly Weigh-In #2

Well Maybe not so Weekly.

Before we look at the chart I want to say that I Blame it on Team Canada and Olympic Hockey.  See how the line rises the more important the hockey games become.

There seems to be a direct correlation with the increased stress levels caused by the lack of performance late in the game by our “super stars” and the proliferation of available snacks and beverages.

That coupled with the fact that I am more less stuck with dreadmill workouts for the next week (causing a lack of exercise) seem to be the big contributors.

Better luck next week. I read this post on Clean Eating on  RuntotheFinish blog and have picked up the book Clean Eating for Men and am going to give it a shot.  The plan seems more common sense than diet, only eat things that are good for you and do not come in a package.

Plod On.