Stength training for the new year.

Hitting the weights for the first time in weeks is really killing me - so sore...

Getting back into the routine is enjoyable. Ran the stadium yesterday - the best hill repeats in Southern Mississippi by far - and the calves are killing me. Hit the push-up and chin-ups and my back is killing me. Hit the medicine ball and Swiss ball and my abs are killing me. I am sure that I will not be able to lift my arms tomorrow after the chest today.

Good times - but still missing the swim.

The time is now!

Got down to freezing last night and I enjoyed a brisk run into work. It was about 35 degrees when I left the house. I was dressed just about right and got a good workout in without getting chilled or overheating. I have done enough of these runs in the past that I have a pretty good idea of how to manage. I did the 6 miles run in a comfortable pace of 8 minute miles. This is a conversational pace for me and I am just adding base miles. It is much easier to run in cool / cold weather than bike. Many more layers are necessary with a 20 MPH wind chill.

My Achilles tendon started hurt just a little towards the end of the run. I need to baby this so that it does not get out of control and actually affect my training.

At lunch I decided to skip the "Dot Race" (everyone was pretty wussy with the temperature outside anyway) and I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes. A pretty challenging effort but I was still able to read most of a Women's Fitness magazine - good stuff. After the bike Richard, Chad and I hit the WOZ (workout zone) for arms. I generally do not do isolation exercises so these always kill me.

So, it's true, I am very goal oriented. I firmly believe that if you plan something then you will succeed! Write down what you want to do, make it a priority and you can achieve it (sounds like an infomercial - you'll be saying sham wow everytime). I found a social networking site regarding goals ( http://www.43things.com/ ). Not sure if this is the site for me but I registered and put down my exercise goals - (complete half marathon, complete full marathon, complete half ironman, complete full ironman, lose body fat). You can also encourage others on goals that you believe to be worth while. It might help to motivate a little. BTW - do not do a search for fat girlfriends - you will find this guy - link ... and whatever you do - please do not go to his myspace page - link ...

Anyway - back on track -

A glass of water was knocked over on the alarm clock last night - not sure how that happened - the lights go out early at my house. Anyway I awoke to the 'zero hour'. Wake up call?

zero hour - The scheduled time for the start of an operation or action, especially a combat operation of great size. Thesaurus: A decisive point: climacteric, crisis, crossroad (used in plural), exigence, exigency, head, juncture, pass, turning point. See decide/hesitate.

I used to listen to a podcast from (I think) everydaysystems that had an episode about resolutions not just being for New Year's. Why put everything off to one time of year? Why not do resolutions (forming positive habits / breaking negative habits) all year long. So starting next month I am going to pick a new resolution and attempt to stick to it. They (I don't know who they are) say that it takes 21 days to start / stop a habit. A month should be plenty of time for self improvement. I've got tons of stuff that I would like to improve on - and fortunately I have already started some good ones and broken some pretty bad ones. (I already exercise a lot and I don't smoke anymore - if you do these then this is the place to start - let me know if you need any encouragement or to be slapped around if you slip - I'm good at this.) I'm going to try to stick to a little better diet and lose some body fat. I already eat fairly well but I get into trouble as the week goes on. I get in a calorie deficit and I overcompensate with bad food (binge - I like the cake). I have started tracking everything that eat with http://www.fitday.com again. Complete transparency! - my fitday - I'm going to track everything.

Trace running

Went for a 3.5 mile run on the trace yesterday at lunch. On the way back to the gym saw a guy with 2 of the Ecoeagle free-ride-on-campus bikes. These bikes were provided to the campus last week and all of them have been stolen.

Anyway, I approached this guy and told him that the bike could not leave campus. He argued with me for a new minutes and I finally just told him that I was taking the extra one back to campus. I could not get the one that he was on but getting one back will do.

Got a lift home with Jodie - she had to drive in. That means I had to run in this morning. Not as cool as it has been. But a nice run none the less.

We did our adventure run around campus today. Hit the ROTC play area and I was much stronger on the rope. Ran 100 yard intervals on the soccer field. A good solid 30 minutes of hard work. Hit the weights for another 20 minutes.

Ran into Chris and set up a hard ride / run (brick) in the morning. We will see how it goes. I'm trying to get a few good workouts in late this week since I will be out of town all of next week for work.

Stadium - To the top

Wednesday has become Stadium day. We have started to run the stadium stairs - up and down each row. I spoke with Coach Wayne in the gym if this would have benefit in racing, specifically swim-bike-run. He said that hills had a lot of benefit for sprinters (100M, 200M, 400M & 800M) and not so much for endurance athletes. However, he did say that it was effective for adding lower body strength and would add power and stamina on any hills during a race. For the time being I think that I will keep this up instead of adding lower body weight exercises.

Back to the stair run. As with most group activities there is a bit of competitiveness. Chad and Vic left the gym a few minutes before me - in fact, they were leaving the gym as I arrived. I told Chad that I would beat him. He said to the stadium - I said YES. I changed clothes and raced to the stadium. To get the the top of the bleachers you have to run up the ramp. Round and round I raced up. When I got to the top of the first staircase, Chad was behind Vic pacing him up the second flight of stairs. I quickly started down the flight at full speed. No rest, no recovery.

Chad saw me coming and passed Vic and pushed the pace. My goal was to "stair" Chad - pass him by a complete flight. It would not happen on the first lap.

We regrouped at the end of the first session. I had run the 'lap' in 5:39. The second 'lap' I was able to 'stair Chad on the last flight. Once again my time was 5:39. Pretty consistent but I had some recovery before this leg. I pushed the pace on the last lap. You can always did a little deeper knowing that the end is near. I 'staired' Chad with two flights to go. I completed the final 'lap' at 5:27.

We ran back to the gym but I wanted to hit the ROTC area. Chad and Vic went inside the gym - I ran on. A few minutes later I got to the ROTC area and looked up at the rope climb. It is a little daunting and I did not realize how much of your legs you have to use. There is a skill set involved. Last week I was not able to reach the top. I had new shoes (the blue ones) and they have a soft tread compound. I did not want to damage them.

With 'regular-old' shoes on I was able to reach the top! Then I hit the chin up bars and back to the gym. Saw Chad and Vic in the WOZ - work out area and they were doing medicine ball push ups (someone throws the ball and you catch it and do the crunch - the 10 - 12 pound medicine balls are a challenge.)

This morning got up early and hit the rollers for 30 minutes zoned out reading the Lance Armstrong book. Met the guys for the group ride at 6:10 AM and got another 1:15 on the bike.

Pretty good cycling day so far.