Learning to Enjoy the Journey

After a trip to Brazil and a week in Las Vegas for work, I had the joy of going with the Scouts on the long-term summer camp. Now I am right back where I started! I have gained weight and will have to start working on getting my intervals up to speed again.

I have decided that at some point in life, I must learn to enjoy the journey, because I keep repeating it again, and again. My workouts are no longer to break past records, now have been focused on not getting injured so I can keep working out. It used to be all about the improvements and progress, now I am thrilled if I can just get thru one more workout in one piece. Travel, work, allergies, and most of all injuries have been a serious obstacle. From what I understand it is not going to get any better with time.

Tomorrow is going to be my first day back to running, I wish I could say I looked forward to it. I much prefer Saturdays when I can run outside with Dad.

Ahhh..., those allergies!

Last week was so bad I thought I could not even walk. However I was able to recoup thanks to Claudia's Homeopathic 'Chochitos' and this morning I was able to run my two miles with the best time so far (which it is not something to write home about), but it is something considering my present condition. Here are my postings to this day. ... Isn't this fun???? 

I Finally Made It!

This week has been a good one for me. Although I stumbled across some fairly serious challenges, I finally reached my goal. For the past 4 months I have been systematically working on increasing the speed at which I run my intervals. The goal was to be able to run the same speeds I ran back in 2000 when I first started to do interval training. In order to force the issue, I determined to make myself only run on a treadmill until I had reached the intensity I used to run at.

Each week I have added speed to at least one more interval and today I have been able to creep up from where I started, to finally being able to match the runs I did before. I almost didn't make it because Saturday's run (after Friday's leg workout) made my piriformis lock-up and caused me to have some serious back pain all weekend. I decided to stretch a lot and give it try any way. It worked!

Now that I have reached the intensity of the runs, I will allow myself to run outdoors and have nice enjoyable run on Saturdays.

So since we started I have been running 3 miles, three times each week. Now, after a two minute warm up at 5 mph I am running four minutes at 6 mph, four at 7, four at 8, four at 9 and the last minute at 10 mph.

Now that I have done my penitence and reached my goal, I am looking forward to enjoying some outdoor runs. Hello sunshine and fresh air!

Found exciting routes for up to 11 miles

Now 'el chiste' is to be able to have the physical shape to do them!
The elevation changes are kind of though, but fortunately found that the Hal Higdon program that I am following tends to initially ignore the time it takes to do them, as long as you stick to the program and do not skip sessions, (it even suggests that you can stop running for a bit to catch your breath if the hills get too tough). This is specially the case where the yellow marker for Return for 6.0 miler is.

My weekly report through today:

Martha's training:

week one 4/25-4/30
Running: half mile
Walking: 3.2 miles
Just dance: 2 hrs.

Foam Rollers!!!

For anyone who is running frequently and trying to improve their times and distances, a good foam roller is a must!

Nothing can kill your ambitions like aching knees or pain in the lower back. If you recall that is why Topher had to quit running Cross Country, his knees hurt so bad he could hardly walk. This type of pain can usually be avoided by making the foam roller a part of your routine.

Yes, it KILLS at first. But, that is only a sign of how badly you need it. Keeping your IT band from getting too tight is essential and once your muscles are no longer in spasms, or locked up, you will not be so miserable each time you roll.

If you are interested in getting a roller we should all combine our orders and get a volume discount. If you are in a hurry, just go to Big 5 and get one. Do not get the wussy ones (soft and comfy), you will really want to get the stiff ones if you want to get the benefit.

Come on people, anyone that can endure the pain of running, can certainly endure the pain of the foam roller!

My Wussy Runs

I am going to be doing interval training for the next couple months. My runs are short and over quickly. I will be running 3.0 miles 2 times a week and then once I should be doing a longer run.

Once I get my speed up on my intervals, I will consider longer runs (maybe).

But get this... Amy is running and measuring her distance, Topher went for a run as today as well. The atmosphere is very enthusiastic at this point. I hope it lasts.

The program that I am following (Hal Higdon's) and posting

I will update my report once a week. You probably can't read it but I will keep track of my times as I finish each run and write it in red so that I can see if I am going in the right direction or not.

Martin mentioned that my training route might become too boring after a while, and that's a good point.

Does anyone know another route where I could do my Saturday runs?

My training path

It´s exciting to feel the response! Thank you.

Here is my training path.

 

From 366 to the extreme southern part by the Church and back to 366 is 1.5 miles  and from 366 to the area shown in construction (now it is a nice park) where I give to turns around and back to 366 there is another 1.5 miles, i.e., 3.0 miles total.

Yesterday ( Apr 25) I ran the upper section for 1.5 miles, Today I ran the 3.0 miles,
Tomorrow will be 1.5 miles, Thursday I will walk for 30 mins., Friday I rest and Sat will run 3.0 miles again for a total of  9.0 miles and one 30 min walk through the mountains, for this week.

Elder Spike's first contribution....does biking count?

First day and I'm already late!

When Dad requested we all get involved in preparing to run a marathon, Amy got all excited and volunteered to create a blog.  We all agreed it would be fun for us to share the experience of getting in better shape and, for those more ambitious ones (or more traumatized old farts), getting ready to run a full marathon.

Amy knew she could enlist some help with the project, but neither of us expected that the very next day two people ask us where the blog was!

OK, here it is. This is the beginning of this ambitious family activity.

"Now, be honest, this is for posterity!"