17 And Counting!

I'm up to 17 miles this week which is about my weekly average in 2009.  The Lord is going to bless Chicago with warmer weather the next few days, so I'll be able to go outside, PTL!  I've been "tweeting" and "facebooking" a lot and have built up my network of runners and trainers who are located across the entire world. That's pretty good for a guy who was not even running this time last year!

Today I did some speed work: 1 mile warm-up/cool-down & 4x400 sprints.  I also incorporated core training exercises used by Lolo Jones.  Tomorrow I am going to do a long run outdoors.  Now if I can just figure out where to run...hmmmm.

Re-Discovering Disco Music

What does disco music have to do with running?  For me music is everything.  I need music to run or else I'm bored.  Since I have more than 3000 songs on my iPod, you would think I do not need any more music.  But I Love Music!  I also collect Old School R&B, Disco, and Rap.  So, with extreme caution, I downloaded five new disco songs to add to my collection.  And I played all five of them to death too.  The music helped me get through 6 long miles on Saturday and 3 miles today.  I think I got my ROI on a $5 download.

Week 5, Day 1: Two Hundred Sit-Ups

Here we go: I'm on Week 5 of The Two Hundred Sit-Ups Challenge.  I modified my crunch just a little - now I hold my legs at a 90° angle to my torso.  I have read that this gives my upper abs and lower abs a better workout.  And, I could feel it about half way through set 1.  Er, um, 255 crunches in about 10 minutes is pretty good to me!

Week 4, Day 3: Two Hundred Sit-Ups

I'm done with Week 4 of The Two Hundred Sit-Ups Challenge.  This was the toughest day so far - I did well over 200 crunches!  I didn't stray off the minimum requirements this time.  Week 5 will really be a monster as I will be doing 8 sets of crunches

Practice, Practice, Practice!

Practice is the key right?  The more I practice, the better I'll get.  This week I decided to modify my training routine.  I added two workouts on Tuesday and Friday because I can not last for more than hour on the treadmill no matter how hard I try. Those long runs of 10 miles or more won't happen, for now.  Tuesday's run is a Hill Workout and Thursday's run is another Easy Run.  Once the weather allows, I'll go back to my regular schedule and run outdoors at least once per week.

Just Hydrate Me!

I got off my rear today and did 6 miles speedwork on the treadmill.  After mile 2, I started feeling a little strange - like something was sucking the life out of me.  I was unsure what was going on, so I pulled over to the side of the rode at mile 3, i.e., I paused the treadmill!  A few seconds passed before I realized I had not drank enough water before I started the run. Sooooooo, I chugged as much H-2-0 as I could stand and hit the pause button.  I immediately felt better and finished the run with more energy than I started - at least it seemed that way to me.  The lesson for the day:  Just hydrate me!

Week 4, Day 1: Two Hundred Sit-Ups

It's getting a little tougher now that I am on Week 4, Day 1of The Two Hundred Sit-Ups Challenge this morning.  I am still able to do 50 sit-ups in set 5.  However, the burn is starting a lot earlier - like in set 2 instead of set 4.  My abs are getting tighter although I can not see any physical difference.