Running Through Life

A time of reflection
A time of remembrance
A time of hopes
A time of thoughts
A time of regrets
A time to ponder
A time to start anew

This is the time of the year that we look back with our friends and by ourselves and say, "Hey, what's going on". We think we should have done this or that. We think we should not have done this or that. We wish, we repress, we cherish.

This is the year that I will look back on as a good year. A year of incredible change. A year of some growing up. A year of some regressing. A year og happiness and a year of sorrows.

I will not make a resolution for the next year. I have read that resolutions are easy to break. Instead I will make promises to myself. As quoted "You may think that a promise to yourself broken is a victimless crime, but honestly if you cannot keep a promise to yourself, then you need to think of yourself as a more important of a person than you may right now." And I think there is sound reasoning in those words. Therefore, promises I will make.

I will be a better person.
I will be a better athlete.

That's it. That's enough, isn't it. Those two things will be hard to achieve and will take time. but I have a year to make good on my promises.

Now for the running part.

Yea, it's about time.
only have a few things lines up for now, but these I want to do.

Running 2009
1/3/2009 - Siberian Express 7.1 mile trail
2/14/2009 - Fat Ass Runs - 21.3 mile trail
3/??/2009 - Soaring Eagle Run - ??
3/28/2009 - Clinton Lake 30 mile trail (maybe - 2 weeks before marathon)
4/11/2009 - Illinois Marathon
5/3/2009 - Indy Half Marathon

I am sure to add more but that is a good start. And I have TNT to keep me busy with mentoring and coaching.

Yes, I am a TNT coach for the Summer session of 2009 which starts it's official training in February. Probably be coaching for the Indy mini, RNR marathon in Phoenix and who knows. I just know I can't wait.

Until next year to my two readers -

Laimingų Naujųjų metų

Did my normal Wednesday track practice tonite. It was supposed to have been done on Xmas eve but the Armory is closed until next year. I did the math and set the treadmill speed the desired mph's. it kind of sucked because I could not pour on any extra speed during the last 30 or so meters. I also ran quarter mile splits instead of 400 meters that the Armory track is. But it is done. 8 quarter mile splits all done in the same speed with 2 minutes of rest in between. Did them in approximately the same time as I did last week at the Armory. This Wednesday (2 days from now) is track practice for the week. It is now 10x400 meters but since the Armory will still be closed I will be running on the treadmill again. I suppose i could mark out something on the road by I am not sure. Then I have to deal more with wind and weather and possibly ice. So most likely treadmill again in the same speed again staring out that little garage window at an empty pasture. Ho hum!!! Kind of like this blog if you got through it.

Saturday - December 27, 2008

average temperature for the day - 37 degrees
actual temperature for the day - 63 degrees

7am when I started running it was 57 degrees
of course it rained a few times on us, but overall, a great day to run

just a few of us there
kevin, sarah, karen and of course randy and jayme

halfers ran 4 and full ran 6
i ran 7.38
supposed to run 9
underachieved again 2 weeks in a row

but ran it faster than stated pace
was tired and sleepy when i got home
good thing kids were still asleep

next week is 11 miles
out at lake of the woods
siberian express race is next week as well
signed up for siberian and i will run it
will probably just go out and hang with group
save myself for the siberian

i am recovering quicker after my runs
i don't seem to be having any muscle aches afterwards
that denotes good progression
maybe my goal is achievable

tonite i need to do last wednesday's track practice
8x400 meters in approximately vieną penkiolika
or something close
so that i can run this wednesday practice on wednesday
10x400 meters in apprximately vieną penkiolika

i will be building up to 16x400
that is a lot of laps at the armory

until then
gerai veikia

Mike

Did not happen. Not because of the holidays, but because the Armory was closed.
Had it been open I would have gone. Possibly with one or two or no kids in tow. But I would have been there.

It is now Friday and my scheduled 8 x 400 meters has not happened. If the treadmill is working I might try it on that. At least it will be a consistant pace. Roads are still too icy to try and run on them.

Time will tell.

On another front the kids are well and seem happy with the little Christmas that I was able to buy for them. Hopefully they really were. Jake got an iPod Touch and Tori got her RED digital camera. I think that everyone was happy. Now to finish up Xmas shopping for the wonderful, considerate girlfriend.

3 more slow hours (I hope work doesn't read this) and off to the kids. Think Tori is cooking chicken for her daddy and brother tonite. I will try the treadmill during that time. May have to go chase Hobbit(the horse) as well. Don't know if Rachel will be back tonite or not.

So for tonite's practice, delayed from Wednesday's practice, I have 8 sets of 400 meter runs in 1:10 - 1:20 or were they supposed to be in 2:05 - 2:15. I forget. Oh well, it is in the book.

9 miles for tomorrow.

stay tuned.

6 x 400 meters was the scheduled practice at a horrifyingly fast pace. But I persevered at a slower pace. Or did I? (pinky finger pointing to corner of mouth)

I am not sure what my maximum heart rate but I think it was 99.99% of max. It was thudding. My chest was heaving. My lungs were burning. And all I did was lace up my shoes. But seriously, the first 400 was way too fast. Recovery is one thing, but expecting the ambulance. Doesn't cut it, slow down.

So I did. My second 400 was 8 seconds slower. Big help. Let's try to slow down again. So I did. Another 3 seconds.

11 seconds. That's 44 seconds slower per mile. Sounds like a lot, but I can't run a 5:05 mile. I am pretty sure that if my legs moved that fast the friction would burn the donkey parts off me.

The next 400 was another 7 seconds slower. Much better. Still out of breath, legs still hurting on the last 100 meters, but doable. And this time doable for the last two 400's as well.

That is the time to run them in. After all, next week is 8 x 400 and then 10 building up to 16 of them.

The Armory is closed for the next two weeks. Not sure where I am going to run my 400 meter repeats at. Especially since my treadmill appears kaput.

So times were good. But what were they? You really want to know. But if I listed them here my competition will see it and train harder. Not sure I can have that. My competition keeps there training secret. Hidden. Undiscovered. In the dark.

1. vieną trisdešimt vienos
2. vieną trisdešimt devynių
3. vieną keturiasdešimt dvi
4. vieną keturiasdešimt devynerių
5. vieną keturiasdešimt aštuonia
6. vieną keturiasdešimt aštuonia

I feel good. I was tired this morning. That workout is hard and wears my body out. Last Thursday wasn't exactly my normal grouchy self.

This Saturday is a long run. 4 miles for the full marathoners and 3 miles for the halfers. My training calls for 7 miles. Not sure if I will or not but I might try. That a little bit under 4 laps of Meadowbrook Park.

OK, now so long. Just 40 minutes. But they will get longer. Up to 23 miles for a training run. But I am a marathoner and I am awesome.

Somehow I think some of you will contradict that. So be it.

Anyway, I took it easy. Walked with the walkers and talked with the joggers. Did my mentor duties.

Next week - halfers - 3miles and fulls - 4 miles. I will run 7 because I am on a different training schedule.

A new system. One that is guaranteed success. I can not tell you much about it because it is special training. I may not even be able to blog about afterward. I am still trying to get permission to do so.

If you keep it quiet I might be able to slip in some times in Harrappan or Sanskrit. I'll just have to see. If this information fell into the wrong hands it could be deadly for the world.

See ya laters, runners and readers.

Today was the start of training.
I went.
To the armory.

Only the coaches - Randy and Jayme.
But I ran.
We ran.

Multiple 600's.
I wanted to do 800's, but after three laps (yes, small indoor track). Whew!!
So yes, repeat 600's with 3 minute recovery.

Set 1 - 2:50
Set 2 - 2:44
Set 3 - 2:50
Set 4 - 2:39 (thought we were done, but coach Randy said one more)
Set 5 - 2:53

Not bad. Felt tired but good. Lungs still not back to normal an hour later.
Ease into it stud. You got 4 months.

I ran 600's thinking i needed to run 800's. Getting home and reading my training schedule I see that I was mistaken. Again. I only needed to run 400's. 6 of them, but 400's. So I am ahead of schedule. I can take it easy.

Hah
ha
ha
ha

I will read the schedule better in the future.

Tomorrow is a 30 minute easy jog and cross training on Friday.
Saturday is a group run with my fellow TNTers.

It is a start.

On another note - my pushup routine is on hold. I did my first set of 10, rested tried the second set and dropped like a rock. My elbow is bad. If it doesn't heal in a week I may have to see a doctor. Unfortunately I still have a lot of hammering to do to finish the coop.

To try and save some money I bought a large bag of animal crackers from Walmart.

this was a mistake.

The ones in the vending machine have a pleasant and slightly sweet taste.
The ones from Walm@rt are bland. And they have very little detail in the animal shape.

I am sorry disappointed.

Confusing? Not really - just think like me.

Week 2 of pushups - elbow still in great pain.
Set 1 - 9
Rest - 60 sec
Set 2 - 11
Set 3 - 8
Set 4 - 8
Set 5 - max (at least 11) 7 - failed again.
Total - 43/144

Week 1 of Core Training - this is the training that was developed for Tyler Hansbrough and myself. I think he reads this blog and it pushes him to do better. Well, probably not, but it makes this old man feel better. Anyway, a set of 10 exercises with a medicine ball.

Medicine balls are expensive. I bought a kettle ball. 10 pounds. Smallest I could find. Steel ball with a handle on it. Should be close enough. Though I think the medicine ball would strengthen the fingers more during gripping. Note - don't use handle of kettle ball.

10 exercises -
1. Big circles - hold ball above head and big make circles (up, left, down, right, up). Do 10 in each direction.
2. Woodchopper - Start with ball overhead. Bend over, swinging the ball through your legs (do not let go or the TV will suffer) and then swing the ball back up over your head. That's 1 rep. Do 10
3. Standing Russian Twist - Hold ball straight out in front of you. Pivot on your right foot, rotating the ball and your torso to the left. Then reverse, pivot left foot and rotate right. 1 rep. Do 10
4. Squat to Press - Hold ball at your chest, squat down and then explode up pushing the ball overhead with full extension of the arms. Back to start position. That's 1 rep. Do 10
5. Medicine Ball Situp - with ball on your chest and preform a situp. Do 10

And there were 5 more. I successfully did the first 4. Then I tried a situp. No go. So I dropped the kettle ball and tried a situp. Nada. I cannot do a situp. I tried. My diaphragm is telling me that I tried. I CANNOT do a situp. How many times do you want me to say it here. It is impossible. I even know the secret of the Dragon Warrior and still cannot do a situp.

I can crunch. I got my shoulders off the floor. Maybe 3 inches, maybe 6 inches. I don't know. I did 5 of the best situps that I could. And because of that realization I quit. No, I stopped. And I was tired. The last 5 exercises all had something to do with some type of crunch work. It is possible that I shouldn't do these right after my pushup routine.

Maybe, pushups in the morning. Hansbrough's workout at lunch and Alwyn Cosgrove's workout at night. Think that is too much. Maybe. But how else am I going to beat Tom?

Week 1 Running workout - This starts the first
week of running with Team in Training. 40 minutes of running today. Basically a weekly running work is -
Mon - 40 minutes running
Tue - 45 minutes cross training
Wed - 30 minutes running - specialized, strides, pace laps, etc
Thu - Rest day
Fri - 40 minutes easy running
Sat - various long runs - 4 miles up to 20
Sun - rest

This is always the part I failed to do. I would always run with the team on Wed and Sat but never run on my own during the week. I was still proud of my last marathon time as it was what I wanted to run.

With the new Illinois marathon in April of 2009, I have a time as well. I think a sub 4 is doable. I just need to train. So maybe I will. And my competition will be looking at this to see what I am doing, but it is a blog and I can write anything I want. Is it real or is it Memorex?

That is what I have done today except for the running part. And Cosgrove's part. After all, it is only 8:33am.

taip ilgai, nes dabar (so long for now - in Lithuanian)

Woo hoo!!! i made it through the first week. My left elbow feels like I cracked it. My right pec feels like I sliced it. But I made it.

101 push-ups in 1 week. This mornings sets -
Set 1 - 8
rest 120 secs
Set 2 - 10
Set 3 - 7
Set 4 - 7
Set 5 - max (at least 10) - made 10 - barely.
Total - 42

@ days off from push ups. Hooray!!!
But with the construction going on I will still be using those muscles. What a drag. If only there was someone that could do what I do? Alas, I will do.

Ciao

Yes, from one day of pushups I am ripped. But not in the good way.
The girlfriend noticed bruising on my pecs. Apparently I have ripped muscle tissue. Know I understand the pain I was feeling yesterday and this morning.

So this morning was my catchup day to get on schedule for the first week of my 6 week pushup workout. Did I do it? Of course! It is what a man does. No time to be sick or tired or forgetful or just don't want to. Be a Man!

Day 2 - 5 sets with 90 seconds rest in between
Set 1 - 6
Set 2 - 8
Set 3 - 6
Set 4 - 6
Set 5 - max (min 7) I only made 6 and fell down.
Total - 32

2 day total - 59
probably 50 more pushups than I have ever done in my life.

But by not making the 7, I flunked. Zero, below average, failure, loser, no good, color-blind, diabetic, Lithuanian. Craptacular.

Tomorrow is my last day for week 1 than I will be on a MWF schedule for my 6 week pushup workout.

I hope to add a medicine ball routine on TThSa as well. If Tyler can do it so can I.

And maybe, a snow boarding routine that Hooker pointed out. Should be able to fit it in somewhere as well. Running starts Dec. 13 with TNT, so I can't wait for the days to start getting longer.

yes, today was the day. I started training. And now I want to quit. My left elbow and my right inside shoulder area are killing me.

I'll I did was 27 push ups. And not at once.
Set 1 - 6
rest 60 seconds
Set 2 - 6
rest
Set 3 - 4
rest
Set 4 - 4
rest
Set 5 - max (but at least 5). I did 7.

Dead. Tired. Exhilarated. Still tired.
and now aching.

And the girlfriend wondering what the noise was. My normally than louder breathing to help control the abdomen. like I said - karate guys make noise, so can push up guys.

Hey, it is a start. A start to something glorious.

We will see.