Uphill Battle

Hey Kids,

Well yesterday was my first "Speed Day" but it was mostly an uphill day. The workout said 4 X 100 m. I'm sure I did more than that but the whole part I was running wasn't necisarily uphill so it evens out. I was in upper Bidwell Park running up and down the North Rim Trail. Here is a PDF map: MAP. It was very rocky which made it a bit exciting. It was about 102 degrees here yesterday which isn't as bad as southern California but still pretty hot. After going up and down the trail a couple of times I could tell a big contrast in the temperatures at the parking lot to the top of the hill where I turned around. I'm talking 5-10 degrees cooler at the bottom of the hill. I'm not sure the physics of that, but it was interesting.

While running I was ran off the road by an out of control mountain biker. Luckily I am as sure footed as a mountain goat.

I think that this workout was meant to build leg muscle mass because it wasn't really long enough to develop endurance.

First Real Workout Completed!!

Well I did it! I made it through my first workout. Chelsie Rusty and I went on our run to the church on the corner and back. I feel good about it. I wasn't sore afterwards or anything which is excellent. It may be intimidating but I know that I can do it! For all of you out there that are wondering if you can, YOU CAN. Just start taking those first steps and when you finish it wont be nearly as bad as you thought it was. If you are wondering what training program I am using here is a link: 10k Training Plan

The Running Plan

For all of you that are sitting on pins and needles wondering what my training plan is, here it is. Yes it is an easy plan, but it is doable and it isn't so hard that I will have any reason not to do it. I also want to stay injury free. Sorry about the odd format, this is the only way it would fit on to the page.

So Nervous

Hey Kids,

I'm getting ancy because my workout begins tomorrow and I'm locked into doing my running 6 days a week for the next 8 weeks. It isn't that the workouts are that hard, its that I'm going to be doing them almost every day. I know what your saying, you'll be less tubby if you do it and its good for you, etc. All this may be true, but its still a little nerve racking looking down the barrel of a big schedule change. Its been nice coming home and relaxing for a few hours after work. I can assure you that I know I will be happier and healthier if I do the workouts, much happier than just sitting on my bum playing video games, but its a change and its scary. Tomorrow will be a 2 mile workout. I'll probably start at home which means I run down the street until I get to this church on a corner that just happens to be exactly 1 mile away. Then I will turn around and come back. Doesn't sound to bad. . .

Sore Calves

Hey Kids,

Well I had my longest run to date in the current workout cycle yesterday. My wife and I went on a run with the dog in Bidwell Park. We went on our normal route which starts at the parking lot near the playground. I run down the path with wife and dog in tow and run back the way I came. This particular path will eventually meander its way to upper Bidwell park which in an off road fashion will go a long ways. I know that on this path without going off roading I can go at least 6 miles in one direction because I have done a 12 mile round trip when I was training for a half marathon. Anyway about five minutes into the run the dog needed to stop to do his business and my calves were already sore!! Not a good sign, but they held out and with only 1 break in the middle to walk, and the dog's business break which isn't really a break at all, I was able to run 3 miles which felt great.

My wife and I were also able to discover that she is jealous of a girl she grew up with who started a very profitable website. Quite frankly I'm jealous too but we agreed that we shouldn't dwell on it because it will just make us envious and unhappy.

Quick Run

As much as I like to run in Chico's beautiful Bidwell park, sometimes it isn't practical to load up in the car (my wife's bike) drive the 10 minutes or so to the park, unload, realize the tire is low on air, pump the tire, kick the tire pump after I slip and hurt myself, lock up the car, go for the nice run, worry about having a doggy bag, get back to the car, reload up, etc. Sometimes you just want to have your run.

So we went on a nice loop through a few residential streets and through a school that is about 1.89 miles like. I was proud of myself because i didn't stop to take any breaks except for at the 1 red light that we encounter, but I could have kept going without it. It took less than 20 minutes and I felt great afterwards. It was strange because I warmed up a lot when I ran(that part isn't strange) but I kept warm for the rest of the night. That hasn't happened before.

First two runs

My wife and I have had our first two running workouts in a long time. We used to run together (and when I mean run together I mean I jog with Rusty our dog and she rides her bike next to me) This works out very well because on the days where I need to go fast Chelsie can make sure I go the right speed with the speedometer on her bike. She can also put Rusty in her basket if he gets tired for for some reason doesn't want to go fast enough. On the slower runs I get to talk to Chelsie which makes the time go by much further than anything else, including my iPod. It is also a great time for us to talk. When we don't do our workouts I'll come home and we'll eat dinner then go about our evenings with our hobbies or watching TV and we don't get that much time to talk. By having the 20-60 minutes with nothing to do but talk it really helps us to properly communicate with each other. I would advocate it to all married or courting couples.

So the first two workouts. I haven't had any runs since early August when I was working towards a triathlon. This means that I am easing myself back into the workouts. Both days I ran approximately 2 miles with a 2 or so minute walk in the middle. Currently I have a good amount of soreness in my lower quads which should go away pretty soon. This is good because it means that muscles that I have lost are going to soon be coming back. I was running at a pretty easy conversation pace which probably means between 5 and 5.5 mph. I will need to go faster if I am going to meet my goals, but for the first runs in a long time, I thought this went very well. At some point I will be adding core exercises and perhaps some weightlifting as well.

Shameless advertising for my Favorite Running Product

One of the products that I absolutely love, and that I use, and not just for shameful advertising, is Body Glide. Here is a link: Bodyglide Chafing Stick .45 oz (12.8 g) This stuff is amazing for workouts, racing, etc. I have especially found it useful for triathlons since your feet are wet when you get out of the water and this increases friction and unpleasantness. You put this stuff on like deodorant. It doesn't feel greasy and it doesn't smell like anything. You put on on places that get chaffed or blistered like your feet. I would sometimes start to bleed at my Achilles tendon from my shoes rubbing but not with this stuff. It is awesome. If you click on the link and buy it from the site (amazon.com) it will cost you the same, actually less than in a store, and i'll get a piece of the action. You'll love the stuff.

Not a lot of 10-K workouts

To give you a brief amount of my sports background I have finished 5 triathlons and an uncountable amount of 5-K's. I will need to have a separate section in my will for the mountain of sport t-shirts I have in the closet. So I am not a beginner although I have never been that fast. This is 80%+ due to genetics and training. I would say a little higher than that for running and a little less for biking, but I digress. . .

I would call myself an intermediate in that I really know my body and my limits, I just don't keep a very steady amount of workouts and I'm not that fast. The point of this being that I have searched the internet and books for training plans for many different types of endurance racing events and at the top of the list numbers wise is the Marathon. Next would come the half marathon and 5-k followed by triathlon. Eventually the results trickle down to the 10-K and sadly just about all of the workouts plans for this race are 5-K plans that someone has multiplied by 2 and called it a 10-K. It is really sad that this race is so underrepresented, especially since this distance is the running distance for Olympic triathlons. You'd think it would get a little more publicity. Sadly though we work with what we have and since I have the "Frugal Price gene" I wont be paying for a training program so 5-K X 2 training program it is. I'll keep you updated as to how I feel things are going. I will most likely be augmenting my workouts with stretching and core exercises. As an added bonus I will give you updated body measurements and my weight. Hopefully weight loss will ensue.

Try Again

As my wise sister has often complained of me, I seem to never be able to stick with a blog, but I'll try again. This is to document my workouts towards a Thanksgiving 10-K in Dana Point. I'll try to post pictures, gear reviews, and my workouts to show how things are going.