A New iPod to keep the Beat of my Feet

I went out and bought a refurbished second generation 8gb iPod Nano today. It was $75 and conveniently replaces the one I ruined while running with a backpack of water. It works wells so far, save for the fact that it doesn't play any music when plugged into an iPod stereo system (i.e. an iHome). I'll bring it back tomorrow and hope they can fix it. They said it has a 1 year warranty.

Anyway, I used it today for my run, which was a bit longer than the past few I've done. It was nice having something to occupy my mind.

WOD
Run:
2 x 800m holding best possible pace. Not slowing more then 3 sec. 2 min recoveries
2 x 1k holding best possible pace. Not slowing more then 5 sec. 2 min recoveries

I ran on a treadmill and kept it at 10mph for the two 800's (6:03/mile) and then lowered it to 9.5 mph for the two kilos (6:18/mile). I think it was a good pace, at least for the 1k's, because I was really hurting after the second one.

On a related not, my calves felt great today and during the run. I hope they have built up enough endurance to take the beating of a marathon, which is just under 3 weeks away.

Doctor's appointment in the morning for my shoulder...

Treadmill Tabata

No time trial in last weekend. I am planning on running a long one this weekend...hopefully.

Today I did a tabata treadmill, or rather I attempted to complete said tabata.

WOD
Tabata Treadmill
Grade: 12%
Speed: 8mph

I made it to round 6 before my legs/lungs couldn't keep up. On rounds 6 and 8 I only ran 10 seconds, but did an extra round to make up for it. Room for improvement. I tried my best to maintain POSE form, but it was tough with such rapid fire. My calves are definitely building up endurance which is good.

I go in Wednesday to find out about my shoulder and hopefully join a gym the next day so I can get back at the regular WODs. I have spent too much time without those.

Sprinting

I had some time yesterday and decided to fill it with a sprint workout from CFE. It went a little something like this.

3 Rounds of:

5 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 10 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 30 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 15 seconds on, 10 seconds off, 25 seconds on, 10 seconds off

This one was a real gasser since you could only rest for 10 seconds. I got a lot of funny looks from the slower runners on the trail when I would sprint past them then stop and they would jog past me, sprint past them, then get passed. It was sort of the tortoise and the hare type thing going on.

Hopefully, I can get a time trial in this weekend. We shall see.

Time Warp

Some of you may think that I've been neglecting my blogging responsibilities. This is simply not true. What really happened was, I fell into a time warp and BAM here we are one month after my last post. Weird.

What really happened was well quite a lot actually. My three jobs realized that I'm an awesome worker and started using me a lot. As in 8-12 hours of work done over 10-14 hours each day. Not only was it quite stressful, but I didn't have any time to work out. Not good. In fact, I worked 18 days straight somewhere in there (mind you I was only working 4 hours on Saturdays and Sundays, but it still counts). After this work spree, I went to Colorado for 10 days to enjoy a bit of the outdoors, family, and friends. To be specific we spent 7 days at a condo in Copper and the other time at my Uncle's new house in Parker (for you Omaha folks, it's the one they were building when we were there last year, and it is huge). After taking that much needed vacation, I'm back in Boston and about to step it up a notch with work again.

I'm still planning on running the Boston Marathon this April, but am not sure how prepared I'll be. I've been doing Crossfit Endurance WODs about 2 times a week, but I'm not sure how much that will pay off. I haven't done a proper WOD in quite a while and am missing it like a fish misses water or a cow misses grass or a space monkey misses space. I might be joining a globo gym around the corner, but I'm waiting to see what my schedule shapes up to be in the next few weeks. Hopefully, I won't have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to drive to a psych ward and tutor kids who, for the most part, would rather be doing anything other than tutoring. If this ceases, then I will begin my day properly with a solid WOD.

Another reason I'm waiting to join is because I hurt my shoulder in Copper skiing. As many of you know, I have a bad habit of dislocating my shoulder. Well this time it didn't dislocate. It just was slammed on the ground. I'm not sure if it's broken, but it has been hurting quite a bit since Friday. No need to worry though, I've got an appointment set up with a sports medicine doc. Next Wednesday that is. At least I'll know if it's serious by then. More to come on that.

On to workouts. As said I've been doing CFE WODs in preparation for the marathon. I've done a few sprint/interval workouts and once ran 5.25(?) miles in 40 minutes or so (nothing special). I did a lot of hiking in Copper since we built a kicker (jump) in one of the back bowls and pretty much hiked the hill and hit that most days. But, I didn't do any running there. Wait, I take that back, we did a drunk job back form the bars one night.

Here was today's
2 rounds for Distance
3x1min run, 30 seconds rest between
2x2min run, 45 seconds rest between
3 minute run, rest 2 minutes

2.93 miles (1.54 mi. in round 1, 1.39 mi in round 2, no walking during rests)

6:50 average mile pace

My form felt decent, so that's a bonus. My calves aren't as sore either, double bonus.

I plan on doing something Thursday and then again on Saturday or Sunday. I'd like to get a long run in this weekend to work on the mental aspect of the ordeal. We shall see.

Oh and for those of you who managed to read this whole mess, a little info on that awesome new picture at the top. Yes, that is me pulling a huge daffy. No it is not photo shopped. Yes, it is off of the aforementioned jump we built. and Yes, I stuck the landing. If there are no further questions, I will retire for the evening. Cheerio!