Tuesday

Today was a pretty good day. I didn't get my morning run in, but I did get in a 30ish minute bike ride to class. I had an interesting time at crossfit this afternoon. First of all, the strength workout was weighted squats. My one rep max is 125 lb. and todays workout required that I do two sets of 5 with 75 lbs. on the first set and 85 lbs. on the second set. Then I was supposed to do a fail set with 95 pounds (a fail set is, as it's name implies, a set where you keep doing reps until you feel like you are going to fail on the nex rep). For some reason I could not do my sets. I mean I could do them, but they felt terrible. I was having trouble getting low enough and my weight kept shifting to the front of my feet. I gave up after two sets, took off a lot of the weight and tried to work on form. Even with a lot less weight I felt sloppy, so I stopped to avoid injury or bad habit formation. It was really strange. I think I'm just really tight from yesterday's workout.

Then there was the WOD. The WOD was:

21-15-9

Front Rack Lunges (same as the video only we step forward instead of backward)
Pull ups (I had to use a band)

Time: 8:18

That is a terrible time! I got it for two reasons. First, nearing the end of my first set of lunges (the set of 21) I fell backwards into the rack. When you do a lunge, it's important to keep your back straight while lowering your knee to the ground and bringing it back up. Once your knee is as straight as it's going to get and you are standing up right, you bring your feet back together. Because I was getting tired, I guess, I stepped back as I was standing up. This caused me to lose my center of gravity while my mass shifted backwards. The result is a big and awkwardly located bruise. The second reason for the terrible time is much simpler. I suck at pull ups.

In other news, I have a half marathon coming up this weekend. I'm kind of freaked out because I haven't been running that much lately. Also my exercise routine has been stop and go. We'll see how it goes. My thought is that I'll be quite pleased if I finish around 2:30 and satisfied so long as I'm under 3 hours. If I'm over 3 hours, I'm going to be quite unhappy with myself.

Also, I'm thinking of deferring my marathon registration for a year. Time is flying by and I don't feel I have probably acclimated my legs to that kind of distance running. A lot of this decision will be based on my performance this weekend. I have until the Friday following this race to decide.

The first day of classes

So I'm seriously starting to freak out about the races I have coming up because I have not been working out nearly as much as I should be. Races are a blessing and a curse because they are so much fun, but the lead time can be stressful (a blessing in disguise, I suppose, because it gets my butt off the couch).

Anyways, due to my schedule it's looking like I'm going to have to go the gym at 8 AM on MWF. I have an 8 AM class on Tuesday/Thursday so it would be nice to maintain a consistent schedule (we'll see if I can pull it off). I've also decided to bike to and from school as much as I can. This morning was day one and my bike basket broke and my bike chain slipped. Not only did it add several minutes to my bike time (making me almost late to the gym), but my stuff spilled into the street and a nice gentleman had to help me pick it up. I was very thankful for that kind stranger. Anyways, the ride to the gym took about half an hour and the ride home took around 24 minutes. We'll see if I can get that time below 20 (no I'm not competitive!).

The workout today was pretty awesome. We started with a crossfit warmup, which I won't go into, and then overhead press (5 x 40 pounds, 5 x 45 pounds, and 6 x55 pounds). My trainer gave me some excellent tips to improve my overhead press. As I got tired, my back started to arch so he told tighten my abs and squeeze my butt. He said something like "protect yourself like a prisoner in a shower." A bit crass, but it definitely helped. After that, we worked on form for the olympic squat (aptly timed, given some of the more recent posts). It's amazing how much form really matters. I love my gym because we focus on different aspects of form each week. Little things like grip, bar placement, and timing. It seriously makes a difference.

Then came the workout. The workout was in two parts. The first part was the baseline. The baseline consists of a 400m run, 40 air squats, 30 situps, 20 pushups and 10 pullups for time. My previous time was 5:32 and I got it down to just over 4:50. a 40 second improvement! I was happy with that, though I felt like crap. The second part was one minute each of burpees, sumo deadlift high pulls, american swings (16 pound kettlebell), push press (45 pound bar), and double unders for max reps. I lost count of how many reps I did at about the halfway point, but it was a killer workout.

We closed with 3x10 overhead press at half maximum and 3x10 sets of up GHD sit ups. It was a good day at the gym! :)

I'm going to try and run 13 miles this weekend and I'm planning to run 7.8 on Thursday with a group of people. I'll try to squeeze some other runs in as well. We'll see!

Just another manic Wednesday

Today's workout:

my warm up - mile run

50 wallballs (14 pounds)

40 hollow body rocks (arms by my side)

30 burpees (I f-ing hate burpees)

20 tuck crunch

10 sit to stand

Time: 9:27

Skill: 2 max false grip holds (I should have done better with this but it took me too long to figure it out)

I really liked this WOD because it was mostly core, which is one of my strengths. I kept up with everyone through the wall balls and rocks, fell a little behind on the burpees and then blasted by on the tuck crunches and sit to stands. I was generally pleased with my performance. 

Lately, we have been doing quite a lot of hollow body gymnastics work at the gym which it has been incredibly helpful for me. Working on hallow body really helps you to get in the habit of engaging core muscles that need to be engaged during various movements. For example, the kip portion of a kipping pull up requires you to engage your abs at the appropriate time in order to be effective. After today's WOD I did some work on my kipping pull-up and was able to, for the first time, do two or three at a time repeatedly. I'm really excited about this because I've never been able to complete pull-ups without using a band for assistance. During future workouts, I might start trying to do the pull-ups, or some of the pull-ups, without bands. I feel confident that, with practice, I'll be able to string more of them together without stopping!! 

I am a little frustrated with myself for not doing a 3 -5 mile run today. Doing the one miler was kind of rough. I think my body was too sore and my back was too sore from the WOD yesterday to really propel myself effectively. The nice thing about crossfit is that, even if you don't run, you did still something that was pretty damn difficult!!

Lower back pain

As suspected I feel like I broke my lower back after last night's attempt at a 215 deadlift. I guess I'll take it as more evidence that I did something wrong.

GOAL FOR TODAY: 5 mile run, advil, WOD ...I should probably do some work as well... :/

Running Plan (11 weeks out!)

I've never been particularly good at organizing and following a set training plan, but as the marathon draws near I'm started to think that I should. As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been reading a book on marathon training which suggests the following training schedule for novice runners:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	rest	3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	rest	6 miles	cross
2	rest	3 miles	3 miles	3 miles	rest	7 miles	cross
3	rest	3 miles	4 miles	3 miles	rest	5 miles	cross
4	rest	3 miles	4 miles	3 miles	rest	9 miles	cross
5	rest	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	10 miles	cross
6	rest	3 miles	5 miles	3 miles	rest	7 miles	cross
7	rest	3 miles	6 miles	3 miles	rest	12 miles	cross
8	rest	3 miles	6 miles	3 miles	rest	13 miles	cross
9	rest	3 miles	7 miles	4 miles	rest	10 miles	cross
10	rest	3 miles	7 miles	4 miles	rest	15 miles	cross
11	rest	4 miles	8 miles	4 miles	rest	16 miles	cross
12	rest	4 miles	8 miles	5 miles	rest	12 miles	cross
13	rest	4 miles	9 miles	5 miles	rest	18 miles	cross
14	rest	5 miles	9 miles	5 miles	rest	14 miles	cross
15	rest	5 miles	10 miles	5 miles	rest	20 miles	cross
16	rest	5 miles	8 miles	4 miles	rest	12 miles	cross
17	rest	4 miles	6 miles	3 miles	rest	8 miles	cross
18	rest	3 miles	4 miles	2 miles	rest	rest	race

This week would correspond to week 8 on the schedule, which means I haven't done too bad. My actual schedule will be slightly different because I usually crossfit on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. My plan moving forward is to sacrifice crossit on Saturday for a long run and I'd like to try and do yoga on Sundays (offered at my gym). As I typed up this schedule I noticed that it contradicts the notion that one can train for a marathon without going much over 30 miles in a week. I guess there isn't much one can do when the long runs start to approach 20 miles. 

Tuesday night WOD

Today's workout was rough. First of all, I went in intending to increase my deadlift one rep max from 200 to atleast 215. I was fine lifting 205, but nearly broke my back trying to lift 215. Needless to say, it didn't happen for me tonight. My trainer pointed out, and I agree, that I started the lift with my chest two far forward which doomed me from the start. He argued that I would have had no problem lifting the weight if I had been lifting properly. He's probably right, but my back was sore and I was in an early onset bad mood.

Once that was finished, I had to do tonight's WOD (workout of the day). It was a 21/15/9 (on the first round you do each exercise 21 times, second round you do each exercise 15 times, etc.) consisting of hollow body push ups, bar facing burpees and 45 lb clean squats (85 lbs. was recommended but I was a wimp). Hollow body push ups are like regular push ups except you end in a hollow body position where your back is arched and your abs are engaged. What we did was very similar to this video only we started with a regular plank and pushed up into the hollow body position (he is in the hollow body position throughout the entire movement). Also note that crossfit push ups are a bit different, and in my opinion much more difficult, than a regular push up (This video shows several different types of push ups, the one we traditionally do is the one with the hands and elbows in tight, it's shown about 21 seconds into the video). The second exercise was a bar facing burpee (the ones in this video look terrible but you get the idea). These are just regular burpees only you jump over a bar after each one. The final exercise in the set was a squat clean. I was frustrated because my trainer insisted on modifying it after my interesting deadlift performance. At first he wouldn't let me do the squat, but I refused to omit that because my squats are only starting to get good. I really wanted the practice, so he decided I shouldn't start from the floor. That was fine with me.

There was a 25 minute cap and I finished in just over 22 minutes. I was kind of pissed that it took me that long, but out of five people only three finished. Also, I was the only girl in the group and I finished second so I guess that's something to be proud of.

As for running, I didn't do any of that today and I should have. I conquered an 11 mile run this past weekend and I plan to undertake a 13 miler this Saturday. That being said, I haven't decided how to lay out my mileage for the balance of the week. I'm thinking a longer run tomorrow (maybe 8 miles), a track workout on Thursday, and a shorter/easier run on Friday (3 - 5 miles). I want to keep my weekly mileage above 20 and steadily progress towards 30 as I train for the marathon in October. I've been reading a book on marathon training which has some interesting suggestions regarding weekly mileage. Among other things, the author argues that an individual can easily train for a marathon without exceeding 30 miles per week. Hopefully he is right because I don't see myself going much over that. He also argues that the longest training run should not exceed 20 miles. I'll create a second post with more information about my ever evolving training plan.

Long Time no See

It's been a while since we've seen a post, so I've decided it's time to make a new one. A lot has happened since the last time I posted, so I'll try to catch everyone up. First, Kait and I ran a nine mile loop around our neighborhood. This was exciting for two reasons. First, this is by far the farthest Kait has ever run and it's the furthest non-race run I had done up to that point. It was also the furthest I had run since recovering from an injury. The run provided a much needed morale boost for the both of us!

A few days after that run, I participated in my first triathlon. The event consisted of a .5 mile swim, a 13 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run (or a 5k, I'm not really sure). Other than crossfit and running, I hadn't really trained for this race. I don't bike much and I don't swim much, but I figured I would do decently enough. I wasn't hoping to win or anything. I was completely wrong. This race totally and completely kicked my ass!! I can honestly say that I have never done anything so challenging in my entire life. It made my first half marathon look like a walk in the park.

First of all, it was a miracle I didn't drown. I realized I was doomed in the swim about five minutes in, at which point I decided to shift my goal from finishing the triathlon to finishing the swim portion of the triathlon. I couldn't swim in a straight line to save my life and, as a result, kept swimming into the kayaks position along the way to rescue drowning idiots who randomly decide to do a triathlon. By the time I finished, everyone else was several minutes into the bike ride and every volunteer with a boat in the water was circling me and cheering me on. It was a humbling experience.

Once I made it out of the water, I tried to make up some time by keeping my transition as brief as possible. Most likely my second mistake. I threw on a shirt, shoes, socks and helmet and took off within three minutes of finishing the swim. The bike ride was fine for the first five miles and miserably difficult for the second 8. Haha....by the time I was done with my bike ride, the slowest runners were more than a mile into the 5k.

My second transition was even shorter than my first. I threw off my helmet, dropped my bike, grabbed my water belt and took off. That was the roughest three miles I have ever run. I literally had nothing in the tank. The only redeeming aspect of the run was that I passed one person and saw a few people that weren't too far in front of me.

All in all, I finished second to last. My boyfriend, who did the triathlon with me and did remarkably well, was there to hug me, as was my friend who ended up finishing forth in her age bracket (she's a beast). I have to say that my biggest fear going in to this race, like most races, was coming in last. Now that it's happened, I have to say that it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. As challenging as that race was, I was so grateful just to finish. I realized pretty early on that I was going to be last, so, for me, it was a mental game from the get-go. I had to consciously challenge myself to think positive, do the best I can and remember to have fun. I made sure to smile at every volunteer, keep my head held high and finish the race, however slow, with as much pride as I could muster. It was a positive experience that I would trade for a faster time in a million years (maybe..)!

I've already registered for another triathlon in mid-September, the Pocono challenge, with my former high school chemistry teacher. We'll be doing it as a team and there is no swim (instead there is a 10 mile paddle down a river). In preparation I've started biking to and from work more frequently (which is fairly challenging after crossfit). I don't know how much it will help, but it's a start. I've also registered for another half marathon, the Harrisburg Half, on September 9th in an attempt to train from the marine corps marathon on October 27th! So many races!!

Trial run and Foot Numbness

Kait and I hit up the firecracker 4k course for a practice run in preparation for race day (July 4th). Our time was a blistering 28:48 which wasn't too bad given that we were both pretty tight and the course pretty much sucks (certainly not one of my favorite). There is no doubt in my mind that we can shave a couple of minutes off of that on race day. I'd like for us to get under 26:00, but that might be pushing it for a 4k this early in our training.

Kait experienced some numbness in her feet towards the end of the run which isn't uncommon, but is a serious pain in the butt (and feet). For me, I find that this generally occurs when I first get back into running, get a new pair of shoes (especially when I get new shoes), or run on the treadmill (less frequently). I've read numerous articles that suggest that it may be due to feet swelling during a more intense workout. I've run with quite a few new runners and they all seem to have this problem at some point or another, which leads me to believe that it's a combination of swelling feet, tight tendons in the feet and shoes that have not fully broken in yet. As the article suggests, it's common, but something worth keeping an eye on.

In other news, I'm starting to think about a training diet and will be posting my suggested diet in the next couple of days (if not later tonight). I think it's important to start tracking meals sooner rather than later. Ideally one would plan all meals in advance based on the desired caloric intake and distribution. A good website for such planning or on the fly assessments is fitness pal . You can make an account and get the nutrition information for individual food items or recipes. It's a great place to store foods that you commonly eat and it even allows you to track your workouts. It has a lot of nifty features, more than I've ever used. It even has an app for your phone!! Oh the world we live in...

Jess

Baseline 1 - First Attempt

Today, we did a two mile baseline run (what I like to call baseline 1....yes there will be others) with a time of 24:38:45. The idea being that we'll run it again periodically to measure our progress.Our time was def. not bad for less than a week of training (in my opinion). The course is a 2 mile loop which includes a decent downhill at the beginning and a wicked hill at the end (the last .8 miles)! We def. need to do some hill training at this point and maybe some upper body as well. Perhaps over the next few days. I expect that we can shave a few minutes off that time pretty easily, but we'll see. It's a difficult baseline, so progress might be a little slower than it would be on a flat course.

I'm looking forward to the firecracker 4k next week. I also just remembered there is a triathlon in Hollidaysburg on August 4th. It would be my first tri. I think I'm gonna do it!

Jess