mediocre runners

It was about time that I did a “normal” running workout.  So no CrossFit today. Pat gave me a cool marathon training plan from Runner’s World, that I am going to work with for my half marathon training plan.  Today’s workout was:

2 mile warm up: I did about 10:00/mile

5K race:  I think I did that in roughly 27:00, which is huge for me. I did the GW Parkway 10 miler at about a 9:30 pace.

1 mile cool down @ about 10:00/mile

My legs were hurting the whole way from the previous WODs, but I’m glad I got it out of the way!

Today’s WOD was a running WOD, which I got really excited for. Instead of heading to PCF, I went to the local track.  I’m training for a half marathon and I can use all the running I can get.  Here’s the WOD:

I warmed up with a 1 mile run to the local track in about 8:45.

8 Rounds
Run 200 meters
Rest 3 minutes

It took my two rounds get the distance right, so I think those rounds were about 250m.  Here are my times:

59, 56 (still adjusting distance), 40.8, 41.1, 42.5, 42.7, 39.7.

It didn’t seem too hard of a workout, but 4 hours later my legs are cashed and I’m beat.

Today’s crossfit WOD was

5 rounds for Time:

25 Wall Ball Shots (20#)
30 Pull-Ups

I did 15# wall ball shots and band assisted pullups.  So what does 150 pullups do to your hands?  Take a look below!

OUCH!

OMG!

“People should learn endurance; they should learn to endure the discomforts of heat and cold, hunger and thirst: they should learn to be patient when receiving abuse and scorn; for it is the practice of endurance that quenches the fire of worldly passion which is burning up their bodies.” -Buddha-

I’ve spent most of the winter running on the treadmill at the gym and when I went outside a few weeks ago, when it was actually nice out, I felt like my shins were going to burn off before I made a mile. I took the next day off and stepped up on ibuprofen. I finally have started building up my shin muscles and last week I made it 3.48 miles. Today I broke the 4 mile barrier for the first time ever when I did 4.36 miles around the lake here in Columbia.  I’m enjoying the days off of the treadmill more and more…

“No matter how bad you feel, there is always someone out there who feels worse, and is still moving.”

I just started training today for the Cherry Blossom 10 mile in D.C. on April 5th.  My initial plan was to start by running and doing bootcamp with Pat but since I got back from Japan at the beginning of November, I’ve been too lazy to do anything real.  My initial course of action will be to get a few weeks of running under my belt before I attend bootcamp or do anything other than running.  I want to build up a base of endurance before I start mixing it up too much.  The ‘official’ cherry blossom training program doesn’t start until Jan 26 but I’d like to get a head start so I can at least run 2 miles when it starts.

Today I hit the treadmill and did 28 minutes total in blocks of 5 min running 2 min walking.  It covered about 2.2 miles.  I felt pretty good and I think I could have done more but I don’t want to push it in the first week.  I really like the run/walk combination for training. When I ran before I trained for the Baltimore 5k I tried to just go out and do as long as I could before I needed a break but this seems to get me a lot further and build me up easier. It also doesn’t put as much strain on my shins (since i’m taking mulitple breaks), which seem to be my main problem when I run.  I did this for the 5k and got up to 2, 20 min runs with 2 min walks in between and I was able to run the whole 5k without stopping with no problem … after about 6 weeks of work.

Tonight I’m going to try and plan out a real schedule for myself instead of just deciding what I’m going to do when I get to the gym.

It’s been forever since any of the Mediocre Runners have made a post.  That’s our bad.  I’d like to say it’s because we’ve been super busy training for HL50k, but to be honest one guy has dropped, one guy is in another country, and I’ve been nursing some injuries.

Well I have to get this out of my system right now.  The Lions went 0-16 for the season.  How is that possible?  What was the Vegas line on that happening?

Ok, enough of that.  As for my injuries..it started three weeks ago.  Well four weeks ago I ran 50 miles!  Including a 13 mile track workout (52 laps on the track) and a 16 mile trail run on the Appalachian Trail.  That Sunday (last day in my training week), I noticed my bad pain in my right Achilles.  I could barely walk!  This is on top of my left knee just killing me after I run about 8 miles.  After a doctor appt, turns out I had Achilles tedonitis and IT Band Syndrome.  So thankfully it’s nothing terrible, but does require me to tone it down a bit and go to physical therapy a bit longer.  Luckily, I’m all signed up for Holiday Lake and The Beast!

I head back to the MD and will resume my training–toned down a bit.  Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Just wanted to make it officially known that I have begun the 50K training.  I’ve been busy on the treadmill as opposed to the trails.  I joined a gym in DC not to far from me and its convieniently located between my house and work… a good outlet after a long day on the job.  Im going to get a Garmin 405 with the gizmo that tracks speed, pace, and time on the treadmill.  Hopefully ill pick one up when I get paid this week!

Good luck Pat and Tim on the training.  Im looking forward to some joint training on the weekends starting after Thanksgiving!