Jeff's training blog: 3 months, 30 pounds lost!

[veginator]

Sunday: 3-mile mostly slow jog. Feet were pretty sore.

 

Monday: Swam 1500 meters.

[veginator]

Tuesday: Swam 1750 meters.

 

Wednesday: Played 4 games of racquetball.

 

Friday: Played 4 games of racquetball in the morning, jogged 4 miles and swam 1500 meters in the evening.

[veginator]

Saturday: 6-mile run, 53 minutes, pace 8:49, splits 8:29, 8:21, 8:25, 8:58, 9:08, 9:34. Avg HR 139, max 153.

 

Swam 1500 meters in the evening.

[veginator]

Sunday: 3.65 miles, 30:43, pace 8:25, splits 9:33, 8:06, 7:44, and pace of 8:12 for last .65. Avg HR 142, max 161.

[veginator]

Monday: Did 200 meter intervals. 1 mile warm-up in 11:26, followed by 11 intervals alternating with 100 meters of jogging and/or walking. Forgot to hit the lap button for the first interval, but I think the times were as follows: 1 minute, 47.6 seconds, around 45, 42, 52, 38.15, 44, 45, 45, 43, and 42, and slowly jogged 700 meters to cool down. Aside from the first interval (8:28 per mile pace), the pace for the others ranged from 6:40 to to 5:01, with most faster than a 6-minute pace, so I was very satisfied with the intensity of the workout. Avg HR was 131, high 161, and total workout time including warm-up and cool-down was 36:23, of which the intervals were about 9 minutes.

Edited November 12, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Biked 19.63 miles, 1:32:38, avg speed 12.8, avg HR is I would guess about 118, max of 151.

[veginator]

Wed:

 

Ran 3.75 miles; forgot to turn on my watch until about .25 miles in. For that 3.5 miles, time was 29:06, pace 8:19, splits 8:43, 8:04, 8:07, and last .5 at an 8:23 pace. Avg HR was 144, max of 162.

 

Played 4 games of racquetball in the afternoon.

[veginator]

Thursday: 1500 meter swim.

 

Today: 10.57 mile bike ride in 41:13, avg speed 15.6, avg HR 129, max 150.

[veginator]

4 miles, 36:46, pace 9:11, avg HR 133, max 161, splits 9:26, 9:28, 9:12, and 8:39.

[veginator]

Wed. 11/17: Did two short rides of 20:55 and 24: 15 on my bike trainer, average HR about 100.

Sat. 11/20: Played two games of racquetball, then my opponent got hurt. Later, ran 2.91 miles at a 10:14 pace, avg HR 132.

Sun. 11/21: Rode 22:35 on the trainer, avg HR 104; ran 4 miles in 33:35, pace 8:23, avg HR 146 and max 167, splits of 8:20, 8:40, 9:13, and 7:20. Did another 21:42 on the trainer later, avg HR 92.

Tues. 11/23: 4 miles in 31:35, pace 7:53, avg HR 160, max 175, splits of 7:35, 7:53, 8:15, and 7:51.

Wed. 11/24: 3 miles in 35:19, avg HR 124, max 144.

 

Today: Ran a 4-mile race. Time was 29:59.9, just barely breaking 30! My Garmin didn't work during the race other than for heart rate, I think it may have been too full of data. So, best guess is my average HR was a little over 160, and highest was in the low 170s. Not a bad time considering I haven't been running very much the last few weeks. I think my splits were 7:02, 7:41, 8:00, and around 7:19.

Edited December 3, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Ran 6.22 miles in 55:56, pace 8:59, avg HR 142, max 161. Splits were 9:42, 9:01, 9:13, 9:07, 8:37, 8:29, and 7:50 pace for the last .22.

[veginator]

Saturday: Ran 7 miles in 1:01:57, avg HR 150, max 163, pace 8:51. Splits were 8:00, 8:18, 8:45, 9:14, 9:32, 9:03 and 9:02.

 

Today: Took a break.

[veginator]

Ran 8 miles in 1:13:56, a 9:14 pace. Avg HR 145, max 159. Splits: 9:21, 9:02, 9:29, 8:43, 9:15, 9:09, 9:26, 9:27.

[veginator]

Tues. Nov. 30: Ran 3 miles at a very easy jog, 36 minutes.

 

Today: 8 miles, 1:21:28, pace 10:10, avg HR 134. Just wanted to get in some easy miles before tomorrow's 5k, the last one of the season.

[veginator]

Did 5k race in the snow today! Not one of my better times, around 23:51. Footing was fine but with my asthma I found it a little harder to breathe in the cold, and I'm just not in quite as good a shape as I was a month ago due to resting my feet and not running as much. Anyway, splits were 7:17, 7:52, and 7:48, average HR 158, max 164. Did a warm-up of .61 miles at a 9:13 pace and cool-down of 1.41 miles at a 9:50 pace (average HR 134). Total mileage for the day: 5.12.

[veginator]

Sun. 12/5: 6.3 miles, 68:07, pace 10:49, avg HR 124. Ran the last 1.3 at 8:00/mile pace, HR around 145.

 

Mon. 12/6: 10.04 miles, 1:39:55, pace 9:57, with miles 3 and 4 the fastest at 8:30 and 8:46. Avg HR 135, max 158.

 

Wed. 12/8: 4.5 miles, 42;23, pace 9:24, avg HR 141, max152.

[veginator]

Fri. 12/10: 8 miles, 78:08, pace 9:45, avg HR 135 and max 152.

 

Haven't posted my weight in a while because there's been nothing good to report--I've put on about 5 pounds since my low of 150.8 back in October. But as long as I keep up this amount of exercise, I should be able to hold it under 160 through the winter. We'll see what happens.

[veginator]

Sat. 12/11 and Sun. 12/12: Rode bike on trainer for 40 minutes one night and 20 the next. Easy spinning while I was watching the NCAA soccer championship game and a basketball game.

 

Sun. 12/12: Did about 7 miles (watch didn't start until about a mile and a half in, so I'm just guessing) in bitter cold and blowing snow. Took a lot of walking breaks due to at times slippery footing, so it's not even worth bothering to record my time.

 

Mon. 12/13: 4.25 miles, 48 minutes, pace 11:18, avg HR 122.

 

Tues. 12/14: 7.24 miles, 72:24, pace 10 min./mile, avg HR 138, max 161.

[veginator]

I'm missing data on a workout somewhere since the last one posted, and I really can't remember any details. In any case, yesterday (12/20), I worked out at a gym in the town I grew up, Wilmington, NC. About half an hour's worth of machine and free weights, then about 22 minutes on the treadmill at an average of around 8 mph. I forgot to stop my watch, so I don't have exact heart rate data, but I would guess around 150, with a max of 170.

 

Today I walked and ran the dogs about 5 miles on the beach. Fort Fisher is beautiful!

[veginator]

Tues. 12/21: Hiked about 6 miles in a beautiful state park (Carolina Beach). My feet were complaining a lot by the end--not having as much opportunity to ice them after exercising makes a difference.

 

Wed. 12/22: Ran 4.01 miles. Pace 9:43, avg HR 129, max 146.

 

Thur. 12/23: Did a full-body workout with free weights and machines, and about 12 minutes on the elliptical, avg HR 146, max 168.

 

Fri. 12/24: Hiked about 2 miles in a park on the trip back to Indiana.

 

Sun. 12/26: Ran 6.08 miles. Pace 10:36, avg HR 129, max 165, fastest mile was 9:33. Alternated faster pace, including a couple of sprints, with slower pace and some walking.

 

Mon. 12/27: Must not have fully pressed the start button on my watch, didn't notice til a little over a mile in. My best guess is that I went about 5 1/2 miles. For the part I do have timed, it was 4.20 miles in 38:43, pace 9:13, avg HR 138, max 157, splits 9:39, 9:34, 8:20, and 9:29, 8:12 pace on the last .20.

 

Tues. 12/28: 4.34 miles, 43:21, pace 9:59, avg HR 127, max 161, splits 12:03, 9:22, 9:21, 8:55.

[veginator]

Wed. 12/29: 5.01 miles, 49:05, pace 9:48, splits 11:18, 9:36, 9:21, 9:18, 9:28, avg HR 136, max 166. Later, ran 4.4 miles, 43:41, pace 9:55, splits 10:13, 9:40, 9:55, 9:47. Avg HR 135, max 167. Did 5 sprints toward the end.

Edited December 31, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Thur. 12/30: 9.13 miles, 1:23:25, pace 9:08, splits 10:20, 8:50, 8:39, 8:39, 8:56, 9:07, 9:04, 8:52, 9:33, and 10:01 pace for last .13. Avg HR 147, max 159.

[veginator]

Fri. 12/31: 3.20 miles, 31:34, pace 9:52, avg HR 120, max 140, splits 10:10, 9:12, 10:07. Took it easy, as I had a little right hamstring soreness from Thursday's run.

 

Sat. 1/1: 10 miles, my longest run in quite some time. Calves were a little sore and tight the last couple of miles and my left foot was starting to hurt more, so I didn't push it. Time 1:48, pace 10:48, avg HR 126, max 160.

 

47.66 miles for the week, my highest ever I think. But running has been my only exercise lately.

[veginator]

My, how I've neglected this blog! It's been a challenging last few weeks as far as staying in shape. My racquetball partner is out for a couple of months with a groin injury and I really haven't come across anyone else I can play regularly who is at about my level. It's been bitterly cold most of the time, AND I had an excruciating neck injury a month ago. Suddenly had intense pain in my left upper back/lower neck which radiated out to my shoulder and upper arm as well as shoulder blade. Eventually I also had numbness in my left thumb. Apparently in addition to lots of really tender trigger points in my left shoulder, neck and upper back, the main one in my neck was pressing pretty hard on a nerve. I still, after about $500 worth of massage and other treatments, have some numbness and a little bit of pain, but it's gotten a lot better.

 

Anyway, here are the past month's workouts:

 

1/3: rode bike 7 miles, ran 2.95 miles at a 10:50 pace, avg HR 123.

1/4: 4.01 miles, 43:53, 10:56 pace, avg HR 119.

1/5: 3.5 miles, 29:22, 8:23 pace, avg HR 149, max 164

1/7: 8.53 miles, 1:23:22, pace 9:46, avg HR 136, max 155.

 

INJURED

 

1/15: 5.1 miles, 50:59, pace 10:00, avg HR 135.

1/17: 3.06 mi., 28:09, pace 9:12, avg HR 142

1/18: 5.06 mi., 52:34, pace 10:23, avg HR 140

1/19: 2.58 mi., 27:57, pace 10:51, avg HR 126

1/21: 2.02 mi., 23:11, pace 11:27, avg HR 129

1/23: 2.84 mi., 30:06, pace 10:35, avg HR 128

1/24: 5.03 mi., 48:02, pace 9:32, avg HR 143, max 160

1/25: 4.08 mi., 41:54, pace 10:15, avg HR 133

1/28: 5.7 mi., 1:00:18, pace 10:35, avg HR 131

1/29: 7.1 mi., 1:11:58, pace 10:07, avg HR 136

1/30: walked 2 miles

1/31: 5.08 mi. 54:14, pace 10:40, avg HR 131

2/3: 4.41 mi., 45:03, pace 10:12, avg HR 140

2/6: 5.5 mi., 53:01, pace 9:38, avg HR 149, max 165

2/8: about 5 miles, will post details later.

 

Thankfully, knock on wood, unlike the past two winters I haven't gained very much weight so far this winter despite the relatively light workout schedule. Holding it below 160 last I checked.

[veginator]

Decided to rest my feet for a while, so I haven't been running in a couple of weeks. Have been riding the bike indoors on the trainer as well as a couple of outdoor rides, but definitely not enough to make up for the lack of running. I'm getting pretty frustrated with the lack of progress with my foot ailments.