Well let's make it official! Oh yeah

Tuesday-08/28/07 Started things off with sets tonight

block super sets no stopping, I had meant to rest but kept going-

5 pullups
25 push ups otb
50 crunches otb
kick box for 5 minutes
40 pound dumb bells til failure
50 crunches otb
25 push ups otb
5 pull ups
kick boxed for 10 minutes
10 pullups
50 push ups otb
100 crunches otb
40 pound dumb bells til failure

ok stretched for 5-10 minutes then ran my neighborhood loop twice(roughly 3.5 mile loop)
7 miles in 1 hour 10 minutes, I kept trying to run slow but couldnt go slower then a 10 minute mile.



Ok so I have Vacation September 24-30th and will be flying to Tahoe to run the lake tahoe marathon. I was attempting to run the midnight express event(72 mile ultra around the lake) But was having trouble finding a crew and although I could have ran the distance it wouldnt have been fun because my mileage is'nt quite up to par right now as far as my long runs and would have had to push myself a little too much to make the cut off times comfortably.

The marathon itself should be plenty. Runners are warned not to expect a p.r. due to 2 large hills one is about 3.5 miles long around mile 13 and another a bit past that thats 5 miles long.

So I am setting some goals for myself,very humbling goals.
1-Have fun
1-get blown away by the experience
1-Let my body flow,do my best to settle into my pace and just let it guide me dont fight it, just go with it.
1-Dont get upset or down on myself regardless of my time, just finish.
1-Survival,finish under the 7 hour time limit.
2-finish under 6 hours
3-finish under 5 hours
4-finish under or around 4hr30min- This is California dreamn right here:)

If I had to predict a finish time it would be between 5hr50minutes and 6hrs10minutes. Then again I will have several factors in my favor. The major one being my whole level of fitness and my taper the next 3 weeks are going to be heavy that still leaves me a good 2 weeks to taper. I plan on fitting in 3 more long runs of 18 miles or 4 hours or more in before my taper. Oh the final thing I have going for me,I havent drank a coke in 2 years and know I can still stomach one and know that it will set me off. Not planning on this though. Also I will not be working that week and am used to working ten hours and then working out and running til bed time. Oh and the clincher,the last 6 miles are all down hill.


I know I will finish under 7 hours!

a little add on

ok so yeterday I ran from my front door around a few city blocks creating a loop back to my house. I measured it with the odometer in the jeep . It came to a little over 3.5 miles.

bah humbug

monday 8/27/07- Sets-
super blocks
10 pullups
25crunches
otb25 push otb
40 pound dumbells till failure
10 min kickbox on the heavy bag with 16 oz gloves
rest
the following was also done as a super block, no rest between max sets
5 pull
max off the ball sets
push 70
100 crunches
10 minutes kick box w/the 4 ounce gloves
short rest (maybe 5 minutes)
40 pound dumbells to failure.

Sunday 08/26/07- BOUGHT A NEW PAIR OF KICKS-ASICS NIMBUS 9 GELS .

Although I'm still pretty sore from sprints earlier in the week I just had to take my new zapatos for a spin. Nice I think my old road shoes may be blown out already. The new ones are very supportive, supple, and take all the shock out of the pavement for me.

I only ran for 33 minutes and decidedto make up a loop around my area leaving from my front door. I'll plot the distance in the jeep later but it felt like 3 mile @ best

I noticed some races that may coincide with my vacation@ the end of September!

Friday 08/24/07- So I ran for a while on campus with C-lo.
About an hour or so.

Well heeeere we go

08/23/07-I've been back and forth working graveyard shifts and have had a touch of the stomach crud.


So my vow to mix things up after my birth day is in the works.

1-I purchased a set of 40 pound dumbells and a stability ball.
I had these goodies prior to my move to Az. but some things got left behind or sold.

2-I started creatine loading today-I've used and loaded on creatine before but never for a more running based excercise platform.


So I ran @ the U of A tonight. C-lo joined me for 45 minutes or so.

I ended up running for 2 hours or so total.

Creatine results in regards to running- WOW I felt like I only ran for 30 minutes. It should also be noted that I mixed in sprints and high tempo in here as well and never stopped running. I believe I covered a little over 13 miles or so.

Draw backs-When using creatine it is required that one drinks a lot of water. My thirst was up a bit more then usual. My plan is to use it to make gains in performance. Also it has to be cycled so When I generally use it it's usually only for a month then I get a weird chemically/too much vitamin feeling. We shall see.

So totals ran for 2hrs/started creatine loading. Supersets continous no stopping for 20 minutes-
10 pullups
25 pushups off the ball(otb)
curls
25 crunches otb
curls w/40pnd dumbells
25 push ups otb
curls same weight
crunches otb

I had forgotten how much core balance the ball takes, I feel like I'm gonna barf

Ok sets Are getting Boooooring I need to spice it up.

Ok so where to begin... ahh the beginning!

Tueday 08/21/07- Attempted to work monday and was sent home and told to come back and work graveyard! Nice thanks for the short notice and for screwing up my day! So I got 2 hours of sleep worked my overnight and am now home and its now tuesday! Yuck well I missed my sets yesterday so I am taking care of them now then will sleep and go back for another graveyard. Grrrrrrrrr..........................


Sets tuesday 8/ 21/ 07 afterwork @ 9am-

5 pull
25 push
50 bicycle
5 pull
25 push
50 bicycle
5 pull
25 push
50 bicycle
5 pull
25 push
50 bicycle
10 minutes on the heavy bag
knees
elbows
punches
kicks

rest

5 pull
25 push
50 bicycle
25 dead hang leg lifts

rest

kickboxed for 15 more minutes straight.

mix it up.

Sunday 08/19/07-Afterwork I ran for an hour on the U of A campus. Up tempo, I ran for an hour total.

just running

08/18/07 saturday- ran 6 miles @
reid park. C-lo ran the last lap with me.

Eye am an Athelete

08/17/07-friday- Headed up to the canyon and started running @ 6pm.

Darn bugs kept flying directly into my right eye over and over, I guess cause its shiny or something, I dont know.

As usual I was packed to run long. After running the canyon road once I decided to head back up. It was getting dark and I was a tad bit nervous about running for another hour or so . There have been Mountain lion sightings lately and every so often, every couple years someone gets attacked. Or so I'm told.

All of the water crossings have dropped significantly, now they are only ankle deep or so but still flowing.
I was planning on running to mile marker 2 and heading back and then doing out and backs to mile marker 1 so as to not strand myself so far up the canyon in case something did happen. Normally I dont see many people running the canyon @ night.

Well As I was approaching mile marker 2 another runner passed me. So I paced with him for a bit and made the decision to run the whole road again.

I paced probably a minute behind the other runner. I locked in a mellow, low/no stress pace.

So 15 miles in 2hours 44 minutes- mellow... I was really crusted with salt by the end of this run.

Back @ the car- @ some point I must have run into some cacti because as I was changing out my shoes I noticed a dozen or so little spines stuck in my leg that I had the joy of picking out one by one.

Time for some sets.

SETS

Mild warm up-
5pull
5push
25 crunch

5 min break-

5 pull
5 push
25 crunch

5 minute break

max sets

pull 17
rest
push 80-DAMN IT!!!- 11 short of my best
rest
crunch 313- oh darn- 4 short
rest

block sets-

10 pull
25 push
50 crunch
10 pull
25 push
50 crunch
200 variety crunches

I smell so bad that even I think I stink. Gack!

I just realised something 1-I have very little food in the house and
2 -all I've ingested all day is as follows

1 and 1/2 pb & j sandwiches, 1 vitamin pack, about 60 ounces of water, a bit of gatorade-like whatever was left in the bottom of a bottle, 20 ounces of cytomax, 1 carmel power gel and 2 cola flavored cliff blocks.
Umm Im freakn out starving, @ least my sugar levels feel stable unfortunately all my sodium is busy making a new crusty layer of skin. Ok it's official I feel gross and need a shower and food food food. :)

A little change of scenery

Tuesday 08/14/07- So my buddy c-lo and I ran on the campus of UofA for like 4 miles. We even mixed in some sprints on the move . Such a nice campus we even managed to find some stairs and a huge swathe of grass to run on.

feeling strong despite the circumstances

08/13/07-Monday- Ok I hate excuses, strongly dislike them... Ummm so I had to switch my schedule around because my Jeep got broken into stereo stolen window broken etc...So my day shifts had to become night shifts because I had to get the jeep in deal with insurance etc...Whenever I miss a run for whatever reason I always feel like there was something I could have done.

The rest was good, mental as well as physical.

So it is monday and I will do my sets, they are extra nasty today anyway-

Sets- block super sets done just as listed

5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch

10 minute rest

50 bicycle crunches
10 pull
25 push
200 variety crunches

10 minute break

200 straight crunches
10 pull
25 push
50 bicycle crunches

20 minute rest

5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
5 pull
25 push
50 crunch
200 crunches
The last bit of crunches was basically like doing 250 in a row.

Ok time to shower mayb read for 20 minutes and sleep, gotta be up in 7 hours.

So I will wait til after y birthday to decide for sure, but I'm thinking road bike,fluid trainer and a membership to a pool...we shall see,my mind changes like the wind. Oh and it's time for another pair of running shoes. I would like to get another pair of NB 1060's and another pair of trail shoes.

runrunrun

081107 sat after work ran 6 miles @ Reid park. C-lo joined me for the first lap.

hmm...

ok ok ok o8/10/07-Friday got off work @10pm took a bit to get ready and going but managed to run 6miles @ Reid.

Ok it's friday so Sets

Block super sets no stopping-

5 pullups
25 pushups
50 crunches
5pullups
25 pushups
50 crunches
5 pullups
25 pushups
50 crunches
5 pullups
25 pushups
50 crunches

10 minute break

10 pullups
50 pushups
25 deadhang leg lifts
50bicycle crunches
200 crunches

10 minute break

max sets

pullups-17

break

pushups-91- yea

break

crunches-350 or 360 not sure! Im noticing growth! Max set increase overall and my run was fast-ish.



Mental Blather-

Been thinking about swimming again.
Swimming is love/ hate for me.
I have issues with it.
I havent swam seriously in a little over 6 years. I swam competitively for like 10 years and find it difficult to even go in the water and just soak or swim for pleasure, it's really weird. I dont hate anything but have a weird, strange loathing for swimming now. It's fascinating and kind of sucks at the same time. It's difficult for me to even get in the pool or ocean, lake ,body of water. I know its totally mental I'm just not sure whats up. I've been thinking about hooking up with a club for winter swims( hopefully a heated pool).

I just cant bear the thought of swimming, I really don't want to it's just a thought that keeps popping up in my head.

I've been really honest with myself about the whole swimming thing but just cant figure out how to drag my ass in the water. I know I have issues with it(swimming) but am unsure how to work through them. Sometimes when it's really really hot I can get myself in a pool but it's like once or twice a year. Last year I was able to swim a little.

I used to swim year round much like everything else I do.

I'm not even sure what triggered me stopping other then I was going through an unhealthy time in my life and then bam I developed a weird repulsiveness to the water. Funny...

Ok 08/08/07 wednesday. The canyon is back open ooh yea!!!

So I went up to Sabino and ran bear canyon out to the end of the road. The water is still too high to run 7 falls. So from there I ran back up to the phone line links and headed up to Blacketts ridge. On the way up I saw a hiker crouched over a desert tortoise. It was a small one like last time. Cool. So I topped out on Blacketts and took a walk break through the waist high boulders and rocks. I still managed to catch up to another hiker on the top.
Ok So on top I had a hammer gel and headed back down taking phone line link all the way over to the road. Just as I was topping out on the link trail I saw a big ol' tortoise! It was like 2 feet from front of shell to back and it had all sorts of battle scars on its shell from predators! I talked with it for a bit and thanked it for making an appearance and wished it luck on its long journey down to the water.
Well I still had a little day light so I popped a cola flavored cliff block and headed up the canyon road. All the creek crossings were about knee deep and every time I went across one I felt like I was a big ol' draft horse or oxen or something.

Suprisingly there was quite a few people out. So @ the end of the road I popped one more cliff block and shuffled back down. I strapped on my headlamp around this time also. Well good run.
It felt like I was on another planet today.

All in all I ran for 3-4 hours and had one hammer gel and two cola flavored cliff blocks.

Ok It's wednesday so sets... I am so not in the mood...

SETS
pullups 5 sets of 10(50)
pushups 4 sets of 50(200)
deadhang leg lifts 5 sets of 30(150)
bicycle crunches 4 sets of 50(200)
200 crunches

Tuesday 08/07/07-Went north and rode 50 year trail for a few hours. Rode all the way out to an area aptly named the chutes. I was pumping through the chutes and came to a kind of down hill ramp. I pointed my front tire down and little did I know a 3 ft drop off lurked to my left. So as my front tire went down the ramp my rear tire turned a little sharper and decided to go down the drop off. I ended up slamming into the wall of the chute. Ha that was fun. Great trail, next time I'll pack the pads for the chutes so I can ride a little faster. Great trail I like that all of it is very rideable.

add on

ok I thought
I was done. I boxed for about a half hour. Kind of putting different stuff together on the heavy bag. Lot's of switch kicks and knees.

It's funny I havent been kickboxing as much lately because of the toll it takes on me. Well Its as if Im becoming more cordinated or something. The left footed switch kicks are more then a distraction they actually have accuracy and a litttle power now. Over all I'm way stronger and feel better connected to my body.


And now for some modest mouse...and food, I've only eaten once today.



MODEST MOUSE LYRICS"I Came As A Rat"Well I ain't sure, but I been told He's baking cakes inside our souls Stayed awake, took a nap Got myself my bottles back I'm breakin' them out on the street Walkin' around in my bare feet I do not need you to tell me that I am not a cat I caught a ride, we caught some air He's never gonna cut his hair It takes more time to make a fake We night swam down in the lake Washed the dirt off our intentions Prattle on 'bout bad inventions I came as ice, I came as a whoreI came as advice that came too short I came as gold, I came as crap I came clean and I came as a Rat It takes a long time, but God dies too But not before he'll stick it to you Well I don't know, but I been told You never die and you never grow old Uh oh!I came as a call, I came as flat I came too soon so I came backI came as flowers, I came as niceI came as dirt and I came as its priceIt takes a long time, but God dies too But not before he'll stick it to youI don't know, but I been told You never die and you never grow old Uh Oh!

08/06/07 mon-After work I went up to Molino Basin. Sabino is still closed due to flooding. So I started running the Arizona trail( never been on it before). After about 3 minutes I lost the trail and ended headin east toward a notch in the canyon. So I began following a faint game trail that runs parallel to the creek. After heading cross country for a while and skirting the hillside and creek I came to a cool waterfall thats actually running because of the floods. Well I scrambled and clawed my way up the slick rock to the left of the waterfall. Doing a mixture of 3 and 4th class scrambling.
So it was a run, walk, crawl ,butt scoot, and jump, jump, jump. Or it was an adventure run instead of the regular kind. But, is'nt every run an adventure?

After a while of this it started to get dark and since I was no longer on a trail I decided to head back using the creek to guide me . I eventually found a real trail of sorts.
Well after reaching the trailhead I decided to run the road for a while so I pointed myself up hill
( all uphill). I ran for 2 miles up so that means 2 miles back as well.

All in all I played for a bout 2 hours total.

It's monday so its set time- I've been tossing around different ways to put together the same excercises. This week will surely kill me. :)

SETS-ok- 3 minute circle sets no stopping for 3 minutes-5 pullups-25pushups-50 crunches I made it through the rotation twice plus one extra set of pullups completing a total of 15 pullups 50 pushups and 100 crunches.

10 minute break

BLOCKSET- Also no stopping between excercises. Done as one big block.

10 pullups
50 pushups
25 deadhang leg lifts
50 bicycle crunches
5 pullups
25 pushups
25 deadhang leg lifts
25 bicycle crunches

pulse bpm-150
10 pullups
25 pushups
50 bicycle crunches
10 pullups
25 pushups
50 bicycle crunches

5 minute break

oh god-

10 pullups
50 pushups
200 crunches the last 75 of these were done with one second breaks*very close to barfing*-pulse bpm only 120.

10 min? break maybe a little longer- ate the last of my cliff blocks and water.

200 crunches then 50 bicycle crunches then writhed around on the floor clutching my abs. :)

Gee that was fun... So I'm planning on really mixing the next m0nth and a half of building block excercises up... I need to add a little muscle confusion again. Im adapting to the excercises too fast. Although today hurt plenty. Im considering getting a road bike again and maybe a fluid trainer maybe some free weights and a bench or excercise ball.


Not til after my birthday though!

forced rest

08/04/07 Saturday-well I headed up to Sabino and upon arrival was informed that the canyon was closed due to high floods one casualty and 26 people still stuck up bear canyon.

Well after skirting around my pointed questions about water depth and why the entire canyon was closed the Ranger was getting a tad irritated.

So I decided to run up the road north and adjacent to the park.It should be said I would never try and access the park through one of the side gates and I would never ignore the orders of a big green park ranger. I most certainly wouldnt try and access the park through private property either. :) All in all I got in about 2 miles maybe 3 all on public streets. I didnt subvert authority and sneak into the park through one of the many other ways. My legs hurt and in all honesty the rest is probably needed.

I ran for 30 minutes or so.

Hope

Im hoping to get 5 hours of sleep. 08/03/07 Friday- got off work @ 1145pm and have to be back @ 730am and as much as I'd like to run I'm pretty sure this would be a bad idea.

I feel like this is an excuse. I dont make excuses. I just do it!

Well I have sets tonight any way and my legs could use a rest so hey no biggie. I must be pliable, flexable,moldable. Like go with the flow man.

SETS

Warmup

5 pullups,slow and clean
10 pushups slow and clean
100 crunches also slow and clean

Ok Pyramid sets-

So for every 1 you do you get 10 seconds break.
Example 1 pullup 10seconds break then you do 2 pullups in a row and get 20 seconds then 3 pullups 30 seconds etc until you achieve muscle failure.
This is really fun when you have a group of 5 or 6 motivated friends so instead of timed breaks you all form a line and take turns its a fun game and can be done with any excercise.
Not as fun by yourself! It may not seem like your doing much but the recovery time is minimal and eventually the compound interest catches up.

pullup pyramid- ok so I made it up to 10 so thats a total of 55 pullups

ok 10 minute break

push up pyramid-up to 10 then back down then back up for a total of 165 pushups, this was'nt doing much so after 1 minute 40 seconds rest after my last 10 I did a set of 25 then 30 second rest and was only able to 12 more.so grand total 202 pushups

ok 10 minute break

200 crunches

ok 5 minute break

50 bicycle crunches

5 minute break

cool down block

5 pullups
25 pushups
200 crunches

shower
sleepy time.

afterwork

08/02/07 thursday .Got off work @ 1140pm got into my running stuuff and ran 6 miles @ the park in about 55 minutes or so.

yup!

08/01/07 Wednesday afterwork-Well I planned on running 7 falls and then the road but because of the flooding I had to make several sidetracks and cross the creek. Well I ran out to 7 falls and had to cross the creek a bunch more times. Eventually I came to where the trail became damaged prior to this years monsoons and chose to turn around. I didnt feel comfortable with the weather or having to crawl down those rocks right above the flood swollen flowing wash.

So I headed back and ran around Sabino dam west for a bit, eventually connecting to upper road via bluff trail. So I ran the road out and had to cross the creek 5 or 6 different times because it was coming up over the road.
@ one point it came just up to my knee!
So on the way back down the road I picked up rattle snake/ esperero to hopefully make up for the missed time on 7 falls. Rattle snake was dark and fun and I've never ran it in the opposite direction before today.

So total run time 3 hours or so.
Sets
pullups 4 sets of 10(40)
pushups 4 sets of 50(200)
deadhang leg lifts 4 sets of 25(100)
bicycle crunches 4 sets of 25(100)

Well my work schedule is erradict so no trail runs until saturday. I'll be running the park after work.