09.26.2011 - Running

Waking up at 5am to run is never easy.  I'll be honest, last week I woke up a couple times.  Got ready and was outside ready to run at 5:30am, but turned right around and got into bed.  It's not fridgidly cold by any means.  Maybe it's due to the fact that it looks scary at 5:30am.

Well, for one morning I conquered my fear of the dark and got out and ran 3 miles.  I definitely needed to work off all the bad stuff from yesterday's tailgate.


[HOLD FOR GARMIN INFO]

Afterwards I finished up with a workout.

3 rounds:
 - 1 min of Double Unders
 - 1 min of Toes to Bar
 - 1 min of Burpees
 - 1 min of Presses (36# kb)
 - 1 min rest

Planning on finishing my day off with some mat time this evening.

9/15/2011 - Run and Training

Got out and ran on Thursday. A good steady 4 miller. Flat course around downtown. Need to get in a better groove of working out.

Saturday morning trained at SH Eastlake Big lesson learned...combine guard passes to leg drag. Leg drag won't be the first in your combo. It should be the 2nd to 3rd.

MUST DRILL:  TERERE > LEG DREG TORRIANDO > LEG DRAG X-PASS > LEG DRAG Key to leg drag is when they try to get their top leg back in. That's when you leg drag.

05.02.2011 - Swimming and BRICK Recap

Got in the pool this morning and swam 800 meters. I felt so off when trying to swim. Breathing was off, EVERYTHING! I'll blame it on not being fully awake.

800 meters - 23:54

This past Saturday I got out and did my first BRICK. That was interesting. First cause I ate it when I tried to get out of my clips and second when I started to try and run.

Bike portion:


Run portion:


When I was running I felt like my feet were stuck in cement and I was going nowhere. Good thing is I was actually moving pretty well. Took awhile to rediscover my stride, but I powered through.

04.29.2011 - Swimming and Recap

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to get some swimming in. There was another swimmer in the pool at the time and watching him made me realize how inefficient I am as a swimmer. He seemed to glide across the pool and cut through the water as if it was butter whereas I felt like a buzz saw trying to cut my way through. But hey, the guy told me he's been swimming at the pool since November and I've been at it since last week.

750 meters - 22:46

On Thursday I ran around downtown and covered 5 miles. Garmin connect info to come soon.

04.25.2011 - Running

First day running since the La Jolla Half. I felt sluggish and my legs felt heavy. I haven't really done much since the La Jolla Half. I focused on rest and having a good time. I was able to train for the first time in almost 6 weeks on Saturday with Laird and Lee.

It felt like I didn't come out of my funk until mile 3.

04.17.2011 - La Jolla Half Marathon

3 weeks before the La Jolla Half I felt confident that I was going to SMANG the crap out of the race. My training was going great. I felt strong and I felt confident. Then something happened. I ran Torrey Pines and got my @$$ handed to me. Just like that my confidence was shot. To top it off, work was becoming more and more stressful and I felt like I was losing focus.

After the dry run of Torrey Pines, my training fell off. I called it tapering, but inside I felt like I was taking too much time off. I ran only 4 times prior to the La Jolla Half. Everything felt like I was heading for a complete disappointment. The night before KC and I were up in LA for the Janet Jackson concert (amazing BTW) and had to race back down to SD. My carb loading was Pink's hot dog wrap (overrated), filled with bacon, chilli and cheese. We didn't get home until 1:30am and I wanted to be in La Jolla by 5am to catch the bus. It seemed as if I had a lot of things going against me. LACK OF REST. BAD NUTRITION. ALLERGIES.

I woke up at 5am and was stressed. I knew I couldn't make it to La Jolla in time so KC ended up driving me to the Del Mar start and then went down to La Jolla to meet me at the finish line. The start of the race was typical. Bob and weave through runners. By the time I got out to mile 3 it opened up a little bit, but surprisingly it was pretty bunched up the entire race. The overcast did wonders for me and I was able to finish strong and finish within the time frame I had set (1:43 - 1:47).

A couple of things for the next race.

- Try and get to the front so I can get in my pace right away. I may have lost at least 30 seconds from the start.

- Make sure you tie your laces good. I had to stop twice to tie my laces.

- I ran 40 seconds slower than my PR on a course that is considered way more difficult than the one I PR'd on. I know on the right course I can hit a sub 1:43 maybe even a sub 1:40, but when will that be?

04.02.2011 - Running

Created by me

So I finally got out to run 10.5 miles of the La Jolla Half. I'm so glad I did cause now I know my enemy and I know what I'm up against. I think with all my recent success in training I was getting a little ahead of myself and I think today's run brought me to reality.

A couple of side notes that I know and hope won't happen come race day:

1. Diet. I ended up having a Rockstar and Donut for breakfast and that's all I had. Definitely won't be eating like that come race day. Oatmeal and a banana 2-3 hours before the race.

2. Nutrition. I left my 5 Hour Energy in the car and I typically take one before I run along with a Gu 45 minutes later.

3. Weather. I ran around noon and it was surpisingly warm with no clouds.

4. Adrendaline. I found myself a bit too pumped up when running. Hopefully I'll have that under control come race day.

With all the excuses out the way, here's the run.



Based off of all the training leading up to the race I truly believed a time between 1:43 and 1:47 was possible. I still think 1:47 and faster is definitely possible. Averaging below a 8 min pace the first 5 miles will get my stride going. I'll concede a 9:40 at the big hill then start chopping away until I can get down to hopefully an 8:20 or faster pace.

I'll probably hit Torrey Pines again next Sunday to get another crack at it before the race.

03.30.2011 - Running Recap (3/26)

Created by me

I'm a firm believer in train how you intend to compete. So if it means wearing a head band...wear it, if it means running with music...run w/ music. So in the last 2-3 months of training for the LJ half, I've come to one clear epiphany and that is I don't need music to run. I was notorious for always running with music as if it was a way to keep my mind focused. I've recently discovered I don't need music and actually find my stride faster than I would wearing headphones. So heading into the LJ, I'll be running my first half marathon without headphones.

This leads me to this past Saturday where I intended to run a course that mirrors the LJ half as best as possible and to introduce GU into my runs as well (as I plan on using it). Typically on long runs my dilemma is what to do about water. Should I run with a water bottle or a belt? I find the belt a bit bothersome so lately on long runs I typically just hold it in my hand. Saturday's run was pretty surprising and kinda zeroed me in on my strategy for the race.

NO MUSIC.
GU.
WATER BOTTLE.

03/25/2011 - Running Recap for the week

Created by me

Thursday 03/24/2011 - Hill Sprints


This was the first time doing sprints at that distance. I definitely felt tired, but could have pushed harder. I was trying to feel the distance and incline out too much. I wanted to make sure I was pushing strong the entire time but not gas out at any point. I have 2 more sprints lined up at this distance so let's get at it.


Tuesday 03/22/2011 - 6 Miles (Flat)


Really trying to get more distance in on my Tuesday runs. I think for the next 2 weeks I'll be doing anywhere from 6 to 8 miles to get the legs ready for the race.

03.20.2011 - Running Recap

Created by me

Tuesday - 4 Miles around the neighborhood

Thursday - Hill Sprints 4 x 0.4 Miles

Sunday - 8 Miles (no headphones!)

03.07.2011 - Running Recap

Created by me

Missed my entries for last week.

March 1st



The Incident



Went for a run late Saturday night. I should've known it was going to be fucked up run. First, my iPod was dead and typically if that happens I call it quits right there. Second, I was gunning for 8 miles and the route I took I decided to do in reverse. Being without my music ended up not being such a problem. I ended up feeling more focused than I typically am when running with it.

So as a good runner I always run facing traffic so that I don't get blindsided by idiot drivers. This is probably even more important at night, with drunk drivers and visibility at times being poor. So in and around the 5 mile mark I see this car driving really slow. Just creeping. Right then I knew shit was going down. Immediately I thought, I'm getting shot at with something; a paintball gun maybe a bb gun or I'm just going to have shit thrown at me. Worst case scenario, a kidnapping. As they come up a guy is hanging out the window and throws something at me. I didn't know what it was until it hit. An egg. So I start charging at the car telling these fuckers to come out of the car. They of course start speeding off like a bunch of pussies, yet talk shit. I give chase and just stop because they're in a car.

Of course this fucks up my run and I start to walk. I continue to look back and notice that these guys bust a U-turn at the light. Seeing this, I bolt across the street and start sprinting towards them in the middle of the road. These fuckers stop the car. Back up and go speeding off away. I felt like the T-1000 giving chase.

I'm thinking of running at night all the time now in hopes of running into these fuckers.

02.27.2011 - Running

Created by me

Due to time constraints I ended up only doing 6 miles when I was scheduled for about 8 miles.

02.25.2011 - Running

Created by me

F'd up when I was doing my hill repeats. Instead of hitting the "Lap" button after my rest I hit the "Start/Stop" which screwed up my second rep. Being almost 3/4th of the way up I just did one more rep.




Need to focus in on getting more miles in.

Final set

02.22.2011 - Running

Created by me

Need to focus in on getting more miles in.

02.20.2011 - Running

Created by me

Felt really strong.

02.17.2011 - Running

Created by me

Hill repeats suck when you have the following:

1. A f*cked up lower back.
2. Sore hamstrings

It took me 15 minutes to do my warm up mile.

02.15.2011 - Running

Created by me

Missed out on running in the morning. Made up for it at lunch downtown. Good rolling hills.

02.13.2011 - Running

Created by me

Worked on distance today. Felt strong on the hill.

02.09.2011 - Running

Created by OnePlusYou

Hill repeats. Did considerably better than last week. I'm wondering if it's the rest I'm taking between sets or if it's the fact I ran at night instead of in the morning.

02.07.2011 - Running

Created by OnePlusYou

Definitely felt very fatigued this morning when I went to run. HBO's 24/7 makes waking up early and running look way sexier.