Monday, Fun-day: 8/30 workout

Just like every Monday this summer I headed up to Red Bank Regional to workout with the boy cross country team. I usually try to get there early so I can get my training in before they arrive. I found over the years of coaching that training with the kids although fun and convenient is not always what's in the best interest of the kids or the program. I've also found the less you run with them the more they appreciate it when you do. With the team having their time trial today I wanted to get in some light strength work before practice and then I planned to head over to Hartshorne Woods to run some hills with a little bit of a twist. My morning strength work consisted of three super sets of bench (15), dips (10) and push offs (5) moving from exercise to exercise with as little rest as possible then taking two minutes between sets. Since I don't have access to a GHD machine I did 3 x 25 sit ups on the roman chair set up.


At 7:30 I briefed the team on how the time trial would be run and what my expectations were. At 7:35 they got their game faces on and got ready to bring their A-game. Although we had some promising things happen this morning it's very clear that we have our work cut out for us this fall if we intend to turn some heads. Win, lose or draw if the kids can work their butts off, give 100% everyday and understand the value of hard work, I will be a very happy individual at the end of the season.


After practice I headed over to Hartshorne Woods for a little hill training. Today's main workout came from the Crossfit Endurance site and consisted of a 1 mile weighted uphill run. If you've ever run at Hartshorne you know exactly where this run is headed!

Since I know longer have a Garmin 305 I decided I would run for 10 minutes just to be on the safe side and not miss any distance in the workout. Since I don't own a weight vest I decided to use my 26 lb. Suples Bulgarian Training Bag. I figured I can use it for everything else I might as well use it for my weighted hill run.

I did my normal 8-10 minute easy jog just to get a sweat going and then completed the warm up with a few form drills. Today's drills consisted of; skips, a-skips, b-skips, high knees and a few body squat with some stride outs after each set of squats. From there I grabbed my bag and headed to the start. Running on the hills at Hartshorne can be brutal enough but when you add 26 lbs. on top of that you're dealing with an entirely different animal. As I made my way up the climb I passed a few runners going in the opposite direction and the looks they gave my were priceless. Towards the end of the run all I could think about was the fact that I would have to run back to my car with the extra 26 lbs. on my shoulders. I knew the way back down would be easy running so I tried to focus on the discomfort and pushed through until my timer went off. I took 5 minutes dropped the bag and gathered my marbles for the run back down to the parking lot. After I dropped of the bag I continued on for another 10 minutes of easy running to cool down. After my cool down I did some light kb swings (25) and SDLHP (25) to finish up the days training.

8/29 workout

This morning I attended a free hour yoga class at lululemon athletica this am. That's right I said FREE! If you are into yoga and into things that are free I would highly recommend you check it out. You may also want to check out some of their gear. Clothes made for working out but also functional as lifestyle wear.

After yoga I headed over to Holmdel Park to do my run. Today's workout consisted of 12 x 1 minute hard running w. 30 seconds recovery. The goal was to consistently cover the same distance during each and every interval. I would say I was successful in reaching my goal, 11-12 stung but I got through it. Most of the time when I run fast I try to focus on my form and my mechanics, it helps take my mind off how crummy I feel. The only thing I can't seem to get a hold of is the way my right foot strikes the ground. No matter what shoes I have on. The second I start to move the pace along I get the worst hot spot on the outside of my forefoot. I've gotten a few new shoe suggestions to try so hopefully one of those will help my problem. I warmed up with a light 8 minute jog followed by a few form drills to help activate my hamstrings and finished with an easy 2 mile cool down. After my cool down I completed a few of the Mobility WOD I picked up from Kelly Starrett's blog.



Feeling a little beat I decided to postpone this afternoons strength session until tomorrow morning before practice.

8/28 PM. Workout

Easy 6 mile run at Holmdel Park w. 25 push-ups and 25 squats every mile and 10 burpees at 1.5 and the finish. Nice easy recovery workout. Did not time, just enjoyed the park!

8-28-10, AM. workout

Death by pull-ups: 15 pull-ups every minute on the minute until failure. Failure is taking the entire minute to complete 15 pull-ups. Once failure is reached take one minute rest and start the next minute with 10 pull-ups. Hit failure today at the 7 minute mark. This type of workout is way harder then it appears.

NYC LIVE

NYC MARATHON

LBI 18 Mile Run

Since I never wrote a report for the Liberty Half Marathon I figured I better do one for the LBI 18 miler. So it's 3 days after the fact but better late then never.

You would think by now, at 33 that I wouldn't still be doing stupid things and if one of my athletes did it, forget about it. Being that I was pre-registered I had my number, I thought do I really need another race t-shirt. I opted for no an skipped the race headquarters and headed right to the start. Problem was in the process of skipping the t-shirt I also skipped getting my timing chip, FML. Looks like I'm really doing a training run today I said to my brother Jimmy. Regardless my game plan was to run as relaxed as possible for as long as possible. I did my normal 2 mile warm up run followed by my active warm. 20 minutes from start time I changed into my race gear and made my way to the starting line. Thanks to Rob at Runner's High I was able to rock my new EPT gear.

Even before I forgot my timing cheap I new I wanted to approach this as a progressive Sunday long run. I decided I was going to wear my ipod in hopes that my soundtrack would keep me relaxed early and positive and mentally tough over those final hammer miles. I am continually intrigued by the effects music has on the brain while working out and it's ability to allow one to push at such a higher intensity. The night before I searched through my itunes (had I put in a little more effort I could have planned the whole effort song for song) and dropped about 60 songs into my ipod and hit shuffle. All in all it turned out pretty good, I was relaxed in the beginning and positive and strong at the finish. The follow is the playlist of the tracks that kept me focused for 18 miles in a straight line; 1. days go by - dirty vegas, 2. the sky is not crying - john digweed, 3. arcadia - gabriel & dresden, 4. louder than boom - tiesto, 5. organ donar - dj shadow, 6. afrika shox - leftfield, 7. when the levee breaks - led zeppelin, 8. boogie down - atomphunk, 9. kan kan - spanna, 10. fresh fruit - tiesto, 11. move - christian smith, 12. in white rooms - book shade, 13. charlotte - booka shade, 14. rhythm your life - calling the freak, 15. gravity - grayarea, 16. going down - freddie king, 17. narkotic blue - sasha, 18. big love - pete heller, 19. mandarine girl - booka shade, 20. your are my diamond - tiesto, 21. gebrumn gebrunm - paul kalkbrenner. With my soundtrack in place here's how my run played out.

After averaging 5:56 for 13.1, two weeks ago and not felling comfortable after six miles, I figured 6:00 minute pace was a little over my head for 18. Knowing how I felt last year's 18 and at Newport I knew I didn't want to feel uncomfortable to early and decided that 6:15 pace was a reasonable goal for 18 miles. Early on I may have been a bit to relaxed and opened up with mile splits of 6:25, 6:22, 6:38 passing three miles in 19:26. Not exactly 6:15 pace but I knew I would get there and I knew I was feeling good. Miles 4-6 were 6:13, 6:28, 5:53 running the next three miles 18:34. At the time I thought 5:53 was way to fast and put the brakes on, covering the next mile in 6:33. Turns out the mile markers where off a few times which lead to a few wtf spilts along the way. By 6 miles I was feeling really good but continued to remind myself that 18 miles is a long way and 6 miles in, is way to early to be pulling the trigger. From 6:33 at 7, I went 6:15, 6:04, 5:44 (wtf split), again feeling good but still thinking it's a little early for 5:44 pace (10 miles in 1:02:39). Again, putting the breaks on a little but also off markers leads me through mile 11 in 6:35. At this point I had decided I was close enough to make a run for home and really see what I had in the tank. Miles 12 - 18 were 5:45, 5:54, 5:51, 5:44, 5:40, 5:36, 5:34, running my last 3 miles in 16:50 finishing unofficially in 6th place stopping my garmin at 1:49:22 (starting/stopping as I crossed over the line) averaging 6:04. Besides totally blowing it by not getting my chip I ran what I would consider a great race maybe even one of the best I've ever run in terms of effort both physically and mentally. Looking at my average pace per mile you can get a better look at the progression of my run; 6:22, 6:27, 6:19, 6:22. 6:15, 6:14, 6:14 6:02, 6:00, 5:58, 5:54, 5:50, 5:46, 5:38, 5:39, 5:30.

I think the biggest key to my effort today was the ability to have proper nutrition the entire race. Many thanks to my brother Jimmy for being my pit crew. Jimmy had HEED by Hammer Nutrition for me every 2-3 miles through 10 miles and then switched to Accelerade by PacificHealth Labs. from 11 - 18. Between 10 - 13, I started to get a little reflux but nothing to bad. The only other downer of the day was my continued blistering of my outer right forefoot. It is something that has plagued me throughout my running career. It gets to the point where my foot just burns and become even more painful once you stop and the adrenaline wears off. A blister under calloused skin makes for many uncomfortably runs following hard efforts .

Recovery has been good. Nothing you wouldn't expect from running 18 on the road. I'm keeping my milage low this week to recover from the effort but also to recover from August and September. Thankfully I do have a day off scheduled this week and I'm looking forward to taking it.

Marathon Debut

On January 10, 2010 I will take my first crack at the marathon. That's right 26.2 miles. Yes all at once without stopping. I've talked about it for long enough now it's time to put up or shut up. My plan is to keep everyone informed of how my training is going as I build toward January 10. Stay tuned for more as the weeks progress.

Joint Mobility Video

Check out Evolution Performance Training videos on youtube. Click here Evolution PT training videos.

Pier Village5k

Race Report for 9/7/09

Here it is, the long awaited race report from the Pier Village 5k. The day started out like most race days do, with nerves and butterflies. With my ipod jamming to Radio 538's DJ Dennis Ruyer I made my way to LB trying to enjoy the music and just relax. Once in LB I made my way to the registration table got my number, checked out the course map and headed back to the car so I could start my warm up.

The course was a simple out and back along the beach. The conditions were great with a constant 10 mph wind out of the northeast. I did my warm up on the course because I wanted to check out the impact of the wind running in both directions. I knew the wind would be at my back for the first mile and a half and wanted to run as controlled as possible on the way out. Finishing up my warm the wind didn't really seem to be much of a factor but I still wanted to stick to the plan and run controlled through the turn around. As always I finished up my warm up with 2 x 30 second pick ups, I do these just to remind my mind and body that were here to race. On the warm up I felt about I good as I've felt in a long time and knew I was ready for a god performance. After a quick pit stop I headed to the car to finish with an active warm up and some strides.

I decided that to ensure a controlled opening mile, I would start a few rows back of the front line. I got a good laugh when two women standing in front of me at the line chatted about hopes of breaking 24 minutes. Shouldn't people know better? If you're not fast don't start in the front! After about ten minute of standing around not being able to hear the race director we finally got going. As I started to get rolling a gave a quick look at my Garmin to check my pace, saw I was dead on and just tried to keep my eyes up and be patient. As I approached the first mile it appeared I was a little fast but the mile mark was a little sort (.98) and I cruised through at 5:17. As I headed to the turn around, I prepared myself for the wind on the return to the finish. The wind hadn't pick up since the start but it certainly seemed as if it did once I made the turn. As I got to two miles (1.02 in 5:21) the wind was starting to beat me up mentally a little. Luckily, some of my former MU runners and current RBR team was there for support and I got the boost to keep me tough through the rest of the race. As the finish approached I could see the clock and new I had a good one going. I reminded myself to stay loose and focused on running fast not hard. I crossed the line in 10th with a time of 16:40 (1;13 in 6:05). It was 14 seconds faster then my last 5k in August. Going in I told myself I could be pleased with 16:45 so for now 16:40 is a very good day. Although I was very happy with my time improvement I was most pleased with how even a pace I ran the entire race averaging 5:20 per mile.

Next up will be the Newport Liberty Half Marathon in Jersey City, September 27.

IAAF update on Caster Semenya

Read about it here.