Day 89: Quick Poll

As some of you know my wife is pregnant with our first child. In fact she could pop any day now. Obviously this will affect my Exercise/Training Streak. I'm pretty torn as to how I'm going to handle the streak so I decided to create a poll to see what everyone suggests. You can find it on the right sidebar of my page. It'll stay open until next Wednesday. I'm eager to see what you guys think!

6:00AM

Team Intensity/Technique Swim

This swim went a lot better relative to my past several swims. The main set consisted of 6 x 200s at Olympic distance race pace with very little rest in between. For the most part I held on. I had a couple of stops at the wall to either pass someone or let someone pass me.

I know my swim is getting stronger but its still a drain on me mentally. I guess that's why its my weakest of the three sports. For the next winter I'm thinking about taking a break from biking and running and just focus purely on swimming. Its so technique driven that I think I need to lay a better base down.

Day 88: The Streak is Still Going

The streak is still going on. I just had too many activities over the weekend (10K, Birthday, VCU game) to keep up with posting. Somethings got to give right? I retro blogged most of my workouts. You can find them here, here, here, and here. One cool thing is that people are actually starting to ask about this streak. I ran into an old running buddy at the race and he asked me all about it. People are reading!

6:00AM

Team Intensity Bike

I wouldn't say this was our hardest workout but it was challenging. It involved building from zone 3 to 5 while spending x amount of time in each zone. We did two sets of this. I felt really strong at the end until Coach Tyler told me to kick it up two gears. I think that might of been the longest last 30 seconds of a bike ever!

Brick

By the end of the Bike my legs were dead. They were also still worn from football. Looks like I have to work on those fast twitching muscles. I gingerly got off the bike and leaned against the wall as I put my run shoes on. I can honestly say it was probably my slowest transitions.

The first mile was tough. I threw in some striders but I found myself trying to catch people in the process. I decided to take the pace down just a little since I didn't want to risk pulling a hamstring.

After the workout I did stretching, a massage roll, and an ice bath. I'm still walking gingerly around the house. Hopefully I'll recover soon.

Anton Krupicka: On Being Real

Anton manages to concisely describe while he does trail runs. Excellent read. Any description or quote wouldn't do it justice. Check it out! NOTE: For Facebook and Twitter people that got here, just click on the post title to get to the article.

[Source: Running Times Magazine]

Day 87: Stretching Again

6:00PM

Group Yoga/Stretching

I know it has to do a little with playing football yesterday but I lost a little bit of my flexibility. I've also been guilty of not stretching too hard after exercises last week. I need to get back into though. Race season is upon us and if I don't keep up with stretching the potential for injury and body fatigue go up.

Day 86: A Little Flag Football

I was supposed to get a ride in today but I was still recovering from the VCU game and my birthday party. I kept on putting it off for the rest of the day until I heard from my buddy about their football game in a flag football league. They needed an extra person so I figured that would count as enough exercise.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared because I didn't want to risk injuring myself again. But hey, taking a break from your usual routine is okay just as long as you're smart about it.

What I found out is that football is not my thing anymore. I think I had as many interceptions resulting from me fumbling and tipping balls as actually caught passes. Had fun though, it was just like old times being out there with the guys and playing some ball. Time to go back into retirement though.

Day 85: 2011 Monument 10K

Hooray! I finally get to participate in an event that I payed for. I had to miss the Richmond half and Shamrock half due to injuries. I didn't race my fastest but it was great just to be out there.

Race Nutrition

Race day for me started the night before. Last year I took nutrition for granted since I was just coming off doing a marathon. Several members from the team went to PF Chang's. I had the chicken noodle soup with extra noodles plus some white rice on the side. Had to carb load! I'm really happy with this meal as I didn't feel any stomach issues during the run.

Henry

When I got to the race we all met at the Cathedral for pictures. We went early because we wanted to cheer on one of our younger athletes in the Kid's Run. Henry is a 10 year old kid whose been working hard to finish his first mile race. What make's Henry unique is that he has cerebral palsy. Rusty described the disease as a "group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that causes physical disability in human development. With CP, your muscles become spastic and can tighten up for no apparent reason, making physical movement VERY difficult." In Henry's case he equated that running a mile would seem like running an ultramarathon for traditional runners.

I wanted to go out and support this young man for a couple of reasons. For one was because he gave a wonderful impromptu speech at our annual banquet. I'd try to describe it but I wouldn't do justice to his delivery. The second is a bit selfish, I just wanted to feel a little inspired prior to the race. I think that often we take some of the basic things we do daily for granted. I can't recall every mile that I've ran but I bet you Henry can. For these kind of reasons, you'll sometimes just see me smile or yell during a workout just to appreciate the experience.

The 10K

The run went really well. I paced a teammate and she ended up getting a PR. I was surprised at how my body responded. I had some hesitation as I was scared my legs weren't ready for that many miles at that speed but I felt strong. I'd even say that I probably had a couple of more miles in me at the end of the race.

I just love doing this event. For one it was my first endurance event in my adulthood so I figured I'd do it annually no matter what. Its also fun for the sheer amount of people. I think there were something around 41,000 people registered. That's nuts! There's a ton of support and fun games like the costume contest. Costumes were a little toned down this year and I think its probably because everyone was more worried about the game later in the day.

Once again, I'm just glad I got to go out there and experience it. This run got me really amped and I can't wait for my first race next weekend.

Training Streak: Day 84

2:00PM

Technique/Intensity Swim

This swim wasn't too bad. The workout called for a lot but I shortened it because of tomorrow's race. I'm not sure if I'm back to my swim form from last year. These pool workouts are starting to drain me a little bit. I'm looking forward to open water swimming. We usually do these with the sunrise so its great to just be out there and enjoy nature. I know. I'm becoming a granola.