Back to reality...

Back to work and all of its glory.

No running today after 23 miles this weekend. Hit the gym for some chest work. I still have some very tired legs, but they are getting better.

Chest

Barbell Decline bench press - 6x12
Barbell Flat bench press - 4x12
One-armedDumbbell bench press - 4x12
Superset - Dumbbell flys - 4x12, Dumbbell pullovers - 4x15
Superset - One armed Medicine ball pushups - 4x15, Tricep medicine ball pushups - 4x12
Low cable flys - 4x15
Incline Pushups - 4x20

Abs

Leg lift - toe touches - 4x15
Planks - 4x75secs

5:30am chilly run in the morning. Hoping my legs have some more "pop" in them than right now.

Sunny Sunday

Today, my legs felt dead from the speedy 15 miler on Saturday. I headed out for my normal 8 mile recovery loop. I was unusually slow today running 8 min paced miles with a few stretching & walking breaks. It was just one of those runs to get the blood flowing through some tired and beatup muscles. Trying to eat and drink a little extra today as I have felt under-fueled over the past few days as I cut my caloric in-take as much as I could over the Thanksgiving holiday to compensate for the unhealthy food I was eating. Of course, I could splurge, but I just feel better not playing the entitlement card. Its just the wrong attitude to have.

Tempo 15 miler?

This morning it was a bit chilly with starting temps at around 25 degrees F. Its starting to feel like winter out there. We were running an out & back today through a very very hilly course so I knew it was going to be tough. We proceeded to warmup slowly running in the mid-7 minute range for the first 3 miles. Then, it kicked in. We pushed the pace to 7 mins per mile flat for the next 9 miles which had me struggling to hang on to the group. I felt under-fueled due to conservative eating over Thanksgiving. I managed to makeup ground in from miles 9-11 even passing a few people. During the last 3 miles though the pace was increased to around a 6:45 min per mile pace. I took a GU gel at mile 12 so my energy was a little better. I was very very tired as we finished up. I was only about 15 feet behind the front 2 at the end so it could have been worse. We ended up averaging around a 7:10 minute per mile pace for the 15 "hilly" miles which I was very pleased with. It was a very good yet challenging training run. not too bad considering my effort on Thursday morning.

Lots of chores today as I need to do laundry, dishes, etc. No rest for the weary.

Black Friday Arms....

No running today as I rest up for a hilly 15 miler tomorrow morning out at Todd's Road. I hit the gym early today since I was off work.

Arms

Weighted Dips - 4x15
Overhead tricep press - 4x12
Cable preacher curls - 4x12
Superset - Tricep extension - 4x12, Tricep close handed press - 4x12, Hammer Curls - 4x12


Shoulders

Barbell Shoulder Shrugs - 4x15 hold for a 3 count
Arnold Shoulder Presses - 4x12
Superset - Plate Around the heade - 4x24, Shoulder press - 4x12


Abs

Scissors - 4x24
Side Planks on a medicine ball - 4x75secs

Happy Thanksgiving

This morning I joined the group for a 5:30am run. With there being a local "Turkey Trot" at 9am some of the group opted to wait for the race, but those of us who are training for Hangover came out this morning. I knew from the beginning this was going to be a fast paced run. We dropped runners right out of the gate with our last runner being dropped at the 2.5 mile mark. I managed to hangon about 10 ft back of the front 2 in the group today. Our 3rd mile was in the 6:15 min per mile area. The overall time for the 6.3 mile run was 40:37 which is a sub-6:30 paced run for the record. Pretty crazy given I just did squats & lunges last night. I did struggle more than the front 2 did, but hey, I didn't get dropped so I was happy. We then did a 1.5 mile cooldown to shake the kinks out of our legs.

No better way to start the day with a great run. Big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and on to eating some turkey & veggies.

Happy birthday to me...

Today, I'm a year older. Truly, I feel younger each year as I get in better shape. I feel better than when I graduated high school. I'm stronger & faster than ever before.

No running in the spirit of resting up.

Hit the gym for some early legs so I could go out to dinner for the evening.

Legs

Barbell Squats - 7x12
Superset - Medicine Ball Lunges - 4x30, Hamstring pushoffs - 4x24
Goblet Squats - 4x15
Fire Hydrants - 4x24 - 3 second count
Hip Adductors - 4x15
Seated hamstring curls - 4x15

Lots of stretching with a big night out, sort of. Also, meeting the group for a turkey day run in the morning.

Very nice 5:30am run?

Met the group for a 5:30am run this morning. The weather was amazing only needing a light long sleeve shirt this morning. I was feeling good initially running hard through the initial 4 miles of hills. I put in around a 6:45 min pace for this period backing off to pickup 3 other runners for the rest of the run. We finished running around a 7:05 min per mile pace for the remainder. When I'm leading the group I've noticed I have a hard time pushing myself as fast as I should be running. I do much better in chase mode.

Hit the gym for some back today. The gymnasium floors were being redone today so we couldn't use our normal pullup bar that we normally use. As a result, we did pulldowns instead.

Back

Barbell bent over rows - 4x12
Wide Grip pulldowns - 4x12
Low rows close grip - 4x12
Inverted Rows - 4x15
Close Grip Pulldowns - 4x12
Reverse Flys - 4x12
High Cable Rows - 4x15

Abs

Passing a stability ball from hands to feet - 4x12