Contest Training Journal for markc7 and WendyRC

Wendy got home from work early today so we went for a 5.5km run together, nice and slow.

Now how does your "nice and slow" compare to that of us slugs?

Wendy got home from work early today so we went for a 5.5km run together, nice and slow.

 

Now how does your "nice and slow" compare to that of us slugs?

yes, do tell.

Actually, it was really really slow, like 35 minutes. Wendy hasn't run in the heat yet this summer, so she wanted to keep it easy. I'm running a 5K race this weekend, so I'm going easy on the running until Sunday.

I feel better now

I was worried that you we're going to say 24 minutes or something.

Do you guage your speed/pace by time per KM or by mile?

I'm still more familiar with pace by mile but I'm trying to use KM more.

I use min/km all the time. Wendy runs with a Forerunner (a GPS unit that tells pace, time, distance, etc), so she always knows the exact pace. I never use it but I've run and raced enough that my estimates of pace are within 10sec/km of Wendy's watch.

I did another awesome back and bicep workout today. I might go for a run with Wendy this evening, hopefully a bit faster than last night.

Wendy wasn't up for a run last night, and since I had already done a gym workout I decided to skip the run as well. This morning I went out for a 6.5km run on my own. It felt good, nothing too special. This afternoon I'm going to do a chest triceps and shoulders workout in the gym.

ok, so yesterday's workout didn't quite go the way I had planned. I did a set of bench press, then some shrugs, and then I moved on to some shoulder exercises. On the first rep of the second set, my shoulder dislocated. Ouch. I've always had some trouble with my left shoulder ever since it got dislocated when I was hit by a car 5 years ago. Until yesterday it had been over a year since it has redislocated.

So I had to cut the workout short. It's not too sore today and it should feel fine by tomorrow although probably a little weaker than normal. I'm running a 5K race Sunday morning, and I'm confident that it won't interfere with the run. In fact, when I set my 5K PR two years ago I had dislocated my shoulder the day before! Hmm, seems like a kinda crappy tradition. But at least I feel that I don't have to worry about it affecting the run too much.

My current 5K PR is 22:47. My plan for the run is to go out at 4:30/km for the first half, then see what I have left for the way back. This isn't my main goal race of the year, so I won't be disappointed if I don't break that time. Mostly I just want to see what kind of speed I have in my legs after months of ultra training.

my shoulder dislocated. Ouch. I've always had some trouble with my left shoulder ever since it got dislocated when I was hit by a car 5 years ago.

OUCH!! Hope you feel better soon!

Apparently I'm in better shape than I thought. 21:48, a PR by 59 seconds. I'll post some photos and a bit of a report later.

Oops, I forgot to post a report about my 5K yesterday. Not too much to tell really. I warmed up well, started fast and didn't slow down too much during the race. I reached the halfway point in 10:40, just a couple seconds faster than my second half. My time was good enough for 6th place in my age category (out of 30), and 57th out of 550 overall. Now I can't wait for the next 5K in two weeks.

Today I did an APK workout of 50 pullups, 75 pushups, and 100 squats. Then Wendy gave me a whole bunch of bodyweight exercises to do. She's tough! My legs felt like rubber after a dozen burpees.

Tuesday I met up with Wendy at work and we left to do a short run together and with some people Wendy had been training. As we got outside it started to rain, so I ran with one other guy and kept it short, maybe about 4.5km. It was still a nice run, since we did a fairly good pace.

Today I did a chest, shoulders and triceps workout in the gym. Incline and decline flys, incline/decline dumbell press, smith chest press scapular dips (reverse shrugs); chest dips, bench dips; lateral raises; rear fly, dumbell shrugs and barbell shrugs.

I might go for a run later today, but we'll see.

I just got back from an 8.5km run. Felt good and it was a nice day for a run.

My legs were feeling a bit sore last night so I stretched out a bit with Wendy. Today I did a back and and bicep workout at the gym, instead of the leg workout that I would have wanted to do. I'll make sure to fit in some legs next week.

I always feel a bit funny when I look at my log and see that I've spent more time that week working out at the gym than running, since it's usually the other way around. So today I went out for an hour and a half long run to bring my numbers back to normal. My run was about 16km, although I'm not sure of the distance because I ran into Wendy part way through and ran with her along her route for a little while.

I had a bit of a setback at work today, so I decided to do a run to clear my head a bit. It was about a million degrees out there today (well, more like 40), but I did a pretty good pace for just over 10 km.

This morning I ran over to Mountain Equipment Coop to buy a couple books. It's usually about 6km each way, but there was a bunch of construction and detours so I think I ran closer to 15km. Felt good, although my knee was acting up a bit towards the end.

Today around 11 I did Thursday's APK Workout of the Day: 20 minutes for rounds of 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats. I finished with 17 rounds, for a total of 85 pullups, 170 pushups, 255 squats. When I got home I was feeling pumped so I took my final set of pictures for the bodybuilding contest. My quads didn't feel quite as strong as my upper body, so I also did a set of 50 more squats.

Man, posing is hard. My hat is off to Robert or anyone else who does bodybuilding competitions!

On July 1st Pamela and I ran a 5K race. I was about 20 seconds off my time from two weeks ago (probably because of the workout the day before), but I'm still pleased with my time. I managed to come in third in my age category, out of 7. My time was 22 minutes flat. Here are some pics:

The start of the race

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_1280.jpg

About 3.5 km into the run.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_1281.jpg

The last 100m. I beat that kid, but not by much. He's fast for a little guy.

http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k123/markc7/100_1284.jpg

You look really healthy and buff. Congrats on the third place!

You look really healthy and buff. Congrats on the third place!

Thanks offense and bunny! It's not often that I place in races, especially such short ones, so this was quite the treat. Yesterday I took it easy. Today I went for an easy paced 5.5km run.

I'm not sure what to do with this log now that the contest is over. I really appreciate everyone taking the time to read my journal. According to the thread count, about 40 people have been reading it on a regular basis! I honestly didn't think most of my training was that interesting. Apart from the few of you who posted I don't know who you are, but I'd still like to thank you for reading.

I might start a new log now, or maybe just keep this one going. I haven't decided yet. I've got some cool events, races, and workouts planned for the next few months, so I'll definately be sharing them with you.

I think I'm going to keep posting in this journal for the time being. Yesterday I went for a ~10km run in the afternoon, and this morning I did 9km with Wendy. I'm going to keep weight training to a minimum for the next few weeks, because I need to focus more on my running. Big stuff coming up soon.

This morning I ran about 32km with some fellow ultrarunners. Nice trails, not too hilly, great weather. Our pace varied for quite slow and easy to a faster push towards the end.

One of the runners I was with this morning is representing Canada at the World 24-hour Championships this month, and this was her last long run before that race. She's one heck of a runner, and someone that I try to learn from.

Man you look HUGE! In a good way! Your muscles are awesome, especially your thighs, but including your arms, chest and pretty much everything else.

Great photos and thanks for sharing your racing updates as well!