Posts tagged training

Three hours later and I’m still riding a major endorphin high!  I don’t even know where to begin writing.

In case you haven’t figured it out I don’t want you to go too much farther without knowing that my first real race is in the bag!

*self high five*

So many different things to fill you in on.  It was crazy and enjoyable and awesome and did I mention crazy?

Let me start with last night, where the race kind of actually began.  

A friend invited me to a concert by Tamer Hosny and one of the reasons I agreed to attend is because my buddy wasn’t planning on drinking since it was about 30 minutes away.  I didn’t want to drink the night before my first race so it sounded perfect.

Well the concert was great but since we didn’t drink we decided to each do a shot of extra strength 5 hour energy.  Let me say this, to hell with Redbull, Monster, and Rockstar. 5 Hour energy xtra strength is legit.  It’s the only energy supplement that ever had any effect on me and I will stand by that till I’m proven wrong.

I started the night off a little lackadaisical but after the energy shot I was ready to party ALL NIGHT LONG!!!! We left the concert around midnight and headed back home.  We picked up our buddy “Dhaka Flaka Flame” on the way and then to my other buddy’s house to “pre party”

UHOH!

5 shots of Jameson and a vodka shot later we were on our way to a local club.  Inside a Jameson on the rocks.  

ERIN GO BRAUGH!!!!

I was still feeling super energetic and the alcohol had not hit me.  We closed down the club then headed to a nearby afterhours spot.  We ended up smoking our weight in hookah and eating a pile of yummy hummus.  Party Time! [inside joke ;)]

Fast forward and I stumble in the door at 430AM.  Tried to “carbo load” mom’s spaghetti but figured I was being ridiculous and hit the pillow at 500AM.  Woke up around 630 then…

The genius that I am forgot to account for Sunday public transportation schedules and the fact that I had a brisk walk from the train station to the event. 

Wait for it…

I missed the start of the 5k by 20 minutes!!  :(

What would you do?

Me?  I said screw it and did the 10k like a BOSS!! 

Now is where the fun starts.  I had no proper warm up or stretching.  Dogged the last few training sessions.  Didn’t have a proper pair of footwear, AND I was carrying a backpack and a shillelagh.  

So how did I do?  According to my unofficial tick I finished in 1:26:32.  A little slower than I wanted but keep in mind this was twice the distance.  Also I was NOT prepared for the hilly terrain.  I heard there was a hill but Jeebus they didn’t say it was ALL hill.

For non-Angelenos not familiar with the Griffith Observatory/Dodger Stadium area it is a STEEP climb.  Not sure of the exact altitude but I was high enough to see a real live hawk land on a tree.

I gotta hand it to the Firecracker organizers, they picked a very scenic and serene route.  SO many people stopped to take pics and I noticed a lot of people with GoPro cams documenting their course.

I can honestly say I didn’t cramp up once, no shin splints, no stopping and not one stop at ANY water station.  Is that good?

I could go on for pages about my experience but I think I’ll save it for future posts.

One important thing I want to get to is this:

since I made an error and did the 10k this time should I do a makeup 5k in April or another 10k?

Last week was the second week into my training program and unfortunately road blocks were hit.

I had to reschedule two training sessions and, very unfortunately, had to cancel the last two sessions of the week which to me were the most important.

I’d like to be able to place all the blame on the fact that my sports tracker crashed on me and I either spent too much time trying to get it to work or getting frustrated and postponing the workout.

At the end of the day I don’t think I can endorse the Endomondo app anymore.  It’s a great tool and the website offers great motivation tools and incentives but the lack of support makes it virtually worthless.  Maybe they’ll come up with a fix for the bug in the future but for now I’ll be doing my workouts unaided.

One other thing is clear and I touched on it in previous posts.  I can’t rely solely on the ChannelOne training program to prepare myself.  I’ve been out of shape far too long to put this much pressure on one training program.  I definitely need to up the tempo a bit.  I originally intended on just sticking to this one program so I could give a fair review of it at the end but the big picture is meeting my goals and it’s just not possible at the rate I’m going.

This third week of training I’m going to experiment with adding extra cross-training workouts to the program focusing on lower body and core strength.  As usual I’ll stop over at mensfitness.com for some tips and find a routine that I can make work for me.

Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll be a sore sweaty lump ready to call it quits.  Hopefully I’ll have someone around to tell me to keep going.

Every now and then that comes in handy.

“Today’s a training day, Officer Hoyt. Show you around, give you a taste of the business. I got 38 cases pending trial, 63 in active investigations, another 250 on the log I can’t clear. I supervise five officers. That’s five different personalities. Five sets of problems. You can be number six if you act now. But I ain’t holding no hands, okay? I ain’t baby-sitting. You got today and today only to show me who and what you’re made of. You don’t like narcotics, get the f4ck out of my car. Go get you a nice, pu$$y desk job, chasing bad checks or something, you hear me?”

Ok that quote isn’t 100% accurate but I hope you get the idea.

Today was my first day of training for my first 5k.  I spent about 20 minutes online last week looking around and decided on this training program.  I’m guessing the average runner doesn’t need to train for a little 5k but I’m not a runner.  This is my first (sorta) competitive event.

“This shit’s chess, it ain’t checkers “

Regardless of whether it’s 1 mile, 5k, a marathon, or a fun run there’s more to competitive running than lacing up and hitting the road.  I like having as much information as possible before I do ANYTHING and this is no different.  I’ve been reading so much about running that I’m thinking of going into coaching.  I’m kidding.  I know nothing.

So if you clicked that link you got to see the nice, simple PDF training schedule.  It’s a beginner’s training program that I thought suited my level perfectly.  I was really hoping to start yesterday but the inner sloth in me took control.  Then I was going to start early this AM and “nature” took control. :/

I knew that if I talked myself into putting it off until tomorrow morning it just wasn’t gonna happen.  So I sacked up and hit the road.  I even convinced my buddy Sal, aka Dhaka Flaka Flame, to join me.

The 20 minute circuit was much easier than I thought and based on the data from my sports tracker my pace was decent and by the end of the program I should run the 5k in a competitive time.  Not that that’s my goal.  All I wanna do this time out is finish.

“To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.”

My pride is the sheep and the wolf is failure.  I refuse to let THAT wolf eat THAT sheep.

So I made it through the session and didn’t die.  I feel pretty damn good actually. I don’t have a second thought about saying that this training program is going to be a piece of cake.

“ It’s not what you know, it’s what you can prove.”

No matter what I SAY, it doesn’t mean a damn thing until I whip it out and show everybody why I walk with a limp.  I have five weeks to get ready and let everybody know that:

“King Kong ain’t got shit on me! “

So next week the training starts but I still haven’t gotten the most important piece of equipment…

SHOES!

I’m new to this running thing.  I’ve jogged before, ran on a court and on a field but never actually “ran”.  I would always just throw on whatever pair of sneakers I had and hit the pavement.  No worries.  

If I’m going to get serious it’s time for a serious pair of footwear.  Doing research, picking the right shoe is an actual science.  

This 5k next month isn’t meant to be competitive at all and is more of a fitness test/warm up for the real training.  That said I don’t plan on dropping major bucks on a pair of running shoes.  My goal is to stick to the $50 range.  

I got some advice from my favorite fitness bunny Marie who suggested a nice pair of Asics or New Balance.  Both are pretty popular familiar brands.  Not the best looking if memory serves me but from what I’ve always heard they’re tops when it comes to running.

The plan this weekend is to pick a comfortable pair ASAP and get them broken in before training starts on Monday.  Hopefully these will last me through the 10k in April and maybe even the June Mile.  I’ll get a new pair for the 1/2 mile and for the marathon I’m planning on getting two really good pair to alternate during training and for the actual event.

                     VS.

If a former President of THE United States of Amuureca says it’s a word then it’s a gosh darn word!

So with introductions and preliminary research behind me I think it’s time to plot a course of action.  I’m starting to realize something about myself and that’s that I’m a bit of a stickler for definitions.  On that note I’m going to make this post about my “strategy” as opposed to my “plan”.

To put it simply, I think of “plans” as something you try, and only works once.  Hence the terms “plan b” and “back up plan”.  I look at a “strategy” as something that is well thought out and can be used over and over again in multiple types of scenarios to success.

If you happened to read my last entry prior to this you’ll see I touched on the subjects of training, healthy livers, and nutrition.  I’ll take you a bit deeper into how I plan on incorporating all that.

leggo!

Before I even think of signing up for or even training for a marathon I need to get myself into shape to train.  

Stop laughing.

It may sound like one of those generic excuses people use for not getting into the gym but I have it on good authority that before training for a marathon you should be able to meet a minimal level of fitness.  It’s really to keep you from dying 5 miles in.  I am the first person to admit that I don’t meet those minimal fitness requirements.  I may look good in a suit but my cardio is waaaay down!

In order to make it to that minimum level I’m going to use a workout routine I dubbed the “Go Hard Prison System V.2”.  And yes, there actually was a part one to it.  It’s really just a bodyweight routine that I tweaked and for V.2 really did try to upgrade.  I’ll cover the complete “system” in a seperate entry.

The routine I’ll be using doesn’t have a companion diet program and I don’t much plan on incorporating one into it.  I do know the importance of proper nutrition but I really struggle to practice what I preach.  Since I do have a few secondary and tertiary goals I don’t want to interfere with them by having to stick to a strict diet program.

I will however be paying attention more to what I put into my body in the next month or so.  I need to trim a few inches to look good for a wedding and I need to shed some fat to look good at the beach.  Not that I’m not already a sexy beast, I just want to be the SEXIEST beast at the beach. ;)

While on the topic of nutrition and diet, in a separate entry I’ll go over for you how I’ll be tweaking my current non-existent diet to benefit my training program without sacrificing cost, quality, or taste.

So you’ve read a lot of words already and you probably already got bored and started playing angry birds or words with friend but if you’re still around let me just lay out the strategy for you:

1. Get in shape to train by working out at a ferocious pace until I’m past minimal
2. Condition myself to run for two hours straight without rest
3. Ditch the “workout routine” for an “active lifestyle” 
4. Compete in a 5k
5. Compete in a 10k
6. Compete in a half marathon
7. Finish a marathon in under two hours

I think step one has been laid out for you so let clarify the rest.  Step two is to condition myself to run for a prolonged period of time.  I want to do this because quite simply I’ll need to be able to do it at some point in order to just finish a marathon. Step three is probably not easily comprehensible and probably won’t be still after this explanation but I’ll try.  Marathoning is running.  Running is a basic human skill and ability.  It differs from weight training and sports training in that it’s just simple.  Spending hours in a gym, or studying won’t prepare me for a marathon.  Being outdoors and “going through the motions” will not only prepare me physically but mentally for the task.  Once I feel like I’m in proper shape physically I’m going to cut back on the schedule workouts and gym time and focus more on being active on trails and pavement so my body can get used to real air and terrain.

The next few steps I’m going to consider warm ups to the big event.  I’m not going to aspire to win in the 5k, 10k, or half marathon.  I want to compete in those events as a personal test of my abilities and to experience running with the pack.  You can liken it to a pro fighter engaging in a few sparring sessions before a title fight.

Lastly I plan on getting across that line in under two hours.  Might not happen the first time out but I’m going to keep trying until I hit it.  I won’t be mentally prepared for what it really takes to muscle past all of those top athletes, break free from the pack, hit my stride, and cross that line until I’ve done it once or twice and built a callous over my mind.

So as long winded as that was it’s all laid out now.  I know what I have to do, let’s hope I can actually do it!

Well I’ve been thinking about a blog for a little while now, not because I have anything of relevance to say but because more than two people have suggested I have one.

Nothing has changed, my opinions are still irrelevant to most but I do have a goal now.  A few days ago I finally came up with a topic to blog about and I had this really cool introduction all written out in my head.

Unfortunately my “old gray head” has forgotten most of the words to that kick-ass intro so what you read below is just an incomplete skeleton of that idea.

Yeah…I’m off to a great start!

So this thing that I’m blogging about is something that any sane and logical person would find mind boggling.  Long story short, I’m on a mission to become the first person in recorded history to do a sub two hour marathon.

…

Not a bad goal you say?  Well here’s some background on me.  I’m about 6’2” and roughly 210#s.  My best guesstimate puts me at a conservative 20% body fat.  I haven’t had a regular gym routine in approximately 2.5 years.  To say I exercised sporadically would be an insult to the word “sporadic”.  

I’ve never even attempted a marathon or anything more than a 2k in my underwear.  Yes that actually happened but it was a for a good cause, don’t judge me!

The closest I’ve ever come to competitive athletics is when I joined my high school dance team cause I didn’t know how to say no to girls.  I am NOT a good dancer by the way.

By now you get the idea that I am in no way, shape, or form ready to do a marathon.  I’m not even ready to TRAIN for a marathon!

So what are you? Stupid?

No not stupid, a little crazy but not stupid.  

The only reason I got the idea to do that is because of this BBC link.  Yeah, I read that on the way to work and decided to try it.  Maybe I am a little stupid?

Anywho, let me get this out of the way if you haven’t already guessed it.  I have no intention of reaching that goal.  Not even gonna pretend to get my hopes up.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not planning on half-assing it but I am a realist afterall.

No the point of this project is to give me motivation to reach other, “smaller” goals in life.  For one reason or another I have not felt very motivated in life.  I’ve spent too much time living in the present with no regard for the future and correlatery the past! Ooh, one blog post and I invent a word! #WINNING!

My theory, and my hope, is that by training hard to accomplish this out of atmosphere goal I’ll reach other goals along the way.  To name but a few: I have a summer wedding I’d like to look good for, I’m too close to 30 to not worry about my health anymore, I need to learn to focus, my body is begging for a detox, I need to… I need to work on a lot. :(

Consider this:  Perfecto Perez is the champion body builder of Mexico.  Perfecto’s dream is to bench press a VW Bettle with four bikini models stuffed inside.  Perfecto trains hard everyday and all day for years and years.  On Perfecto’s 40th birthday he prepares to attempt his great feat.  To Perfecto’s shock and dismay he fails!  But, much to Perfecto’s shock he is awarded the Golden Burro award by the President of Mexico because during his warm up he was able to bench press two Harley Davidsons that were carrying Twin Mexican Playmates.  Perfecto didn’t accomplish his goal but came out a winner!

Yeah, dumb story but I never claimed to be Aesop!  

So with introductions out of the way…time for research!