A warrior born!!

It has been 7 days since the warrior dash. I finished the race, under an hour which was my goal. I would like to tell you that i ran full out and graced over the obstacles, but that would be a lie. Truth is i was way under prepared for the dash, and I almost quit several times, but I pushed through. I was also under prepared for how emotional the race was on me; I found my self in tears at the end and still haven't really figured out why.
So, Now the question is "whats next?". Well, I have an answer. I will continue to train having noticed that while i trained for distance, i didn't train for speed, so I will be implementing some sprinting into my training. A new weight regimen is on the docket, and i will be working on muscular hypertrophy as the goal. Finally i will try to be prepared for a 5k next year with my wife, and there is always a warrior dash in Georgia in may..........

32 days

You know I'da thunk I'd be more prepared by now, but here we are, a month away from running the dash. I have really stepped up my training this month trying desperately to get my miles in and turned my weight training into more of a metabolic exercise regimen. I have studied the map of the course, and come to the conclusion that anything under an hour will be good for me. Now, I have to get ready for a vacation in which for the first time in my life, i plan to exercise during WTF?
that's all!

seeing results and a case of the walks

ok, i have been slowly trudging with little of note. but today was a great day. my shoulder which has plagued me all summer has finally calmed down thanks to intensive rehab with Indian clubs, rubber bands, and a little thing i call Gilligan. Now Gilligan is a piece of bamboo approximately 6.5 feet long. to this i attach weights held by a bungee. Now I press this, curl it, done benches and bent over rows. 2 things, it Always makes me giggle like a school girl, and it's chaotic movement has gone a long way to helping rebuild the stabilizer muscles in my shoulder girdle. Now i have search the internet and you can find one of these for sale for Oh, 250.00 but take my advice, go out and hunt and kill your own Gilligan, you'll thank me. Oh yeah a side benefit is the bamboo is thicker than my regular weight bar, so my forearms have really tightened up, and a stronger grip means a stronger person all around.

Now, my jogging has not been where i wanted it to be, but I like to blame a couple of things.1 it is way hot here in the south, and for some reason i get out the door at 5pm, so i'm already tired, and its cookie tin weather outside.
2, i want to be one of those runners that look cool, you know the one that makes jogging look effortless, and literally leaps down the road at defiance of gravity.
Well, that ain't me. I have found however, that when i check my ego at the door, I seem to run a little slower, but cover alot more ground. I still take the walk break once a while but they are fewer, and so what? they give my knees a break, let me soak up the endorphins, and i catch my breath. Yep i like a walk break, and if i need it in the race by God I'm takin it.
Thats about it. Next Month I plan on starting hill training and obstacles Yum!!

the dog days are here

I can't remember the last time it rained here in good ole NC. but i know the last time i sweated. pretty much when i huffed outside this morning. It is hot I mean Devil's Dangle hot. Yet, I still have to run. I think the secret is to take it nice and easy, drink a ton of water, and take a cool shower when i get in. Otherwise I have been trying to keep my workouts up to schedule, the shoulder is better, but still very stiff. I did however order some Indian clubs to help rebuild and strengthen the shoulder girdle. If you want some I would suggest you look here: http://www.oldtimestrongman.com/indian_clubs.html its a neat site full of old and forgotten workout lore. Other than that I keep chugging along, I think the serious training is coming up in August and September, but this groundwork is making it easier and easier to imagine me running this race.
that's bout it, go eat a salad and stay cool!

What dreams may come, and I got SLAPed

Cigarettes are an insidious lot. I spent more years than I care to speak of at the altar of the devil's sticks. After the birth of a first child, and the inevitable coming of a second, I finally spoke to my doctor and got the assistance I needed to quit. However, for at least a year after quitting, I had dreams of smoking. I would sneak off in my dream and fire them babies up with abandon. What's this got to do with getting healthy you may ask? Simple, the other night I dreamed of jogging. In my dream I ran with the effortlessness and grace of a gazelle, swallowing miles upon miles under my winged feet.
Now I consider this a turning point in my training. If you saw me on the street and said "how's the running" I would spit at you "I hate it." But, can you really say you hate something that you dream about, and find enjoyment in the dream? I think not. Truth be told, I am finding a little enjoyment in the running, and certainly enjoy feeling good about myself when its done. My 1.5 mile jog has now gone from 40 minutes to approximately 23 minutes, and I foresee soon moving up to the mighty 2 mile run.

Now, I have for some time had a pain in my left shoulder. being the macho com-macho man meat I am, I have soldered thru to over a 200lb standing military press. then one day i couldn't raise my arm laterally in line with the shoulder except under extreme pain. I made an impassioned plea to my friend who is a physical therapist, who after several questions told me I been SLAPed! A SLAP stands for Superior Labrum from Anterior to Posterior, and generally is a pain in the tookus. what this boils down to is 1. stretching, and therapeutic movement to repair the shoulder. 2. a big hocking shot of cortisone into the joint. 3. surgery.
I opted for the least invasive of the three. this means my lifting has been on hiatus for 2 weeks while i have been running and doing what i call sissy stretching, which is NOT sissified at least for the first couple of days. I now can happily say most movement has returned to the shoulder, and next week I will resume lifting although it will be a modified 5X5 system, with shrugs instead of presses, and some serious attention to my shoulder in benching. if it hurts, push ups and light flies will be the order of the day.
Anyways, things are progressing, and that's the key slow steady progress is what built behemoths of men, and it just might turn me into a warrior.

the runner's high

Being a man who abused himself quite regularly thru college, I found the promise of a runner's high very inviting. The concept of a sudden release of endorphins into my blood stream made me giddy enough to contemplate putting some Phish on the ole mp3 player when it happened. Sadly, it happened today while listening to my couch to 5 k podcast, which i highly recommend if you are trying the couch to 5k program. It plays some generic electronica while you run, but most important, it tells you when to start, when to walk, and when to rest. Being a lazy man who needs to be taught to run i find it invaluable, especially because it's free! get it here http://www.ullreys.com/robert/Podcasts/
Now back to this glorious high: yeah i felt good, i felt good about myself for schlepping along in what i call my zombie run mode ( shuffling, spit flying out the corner of my mouth, occasional groans) I felt good I have stuck with it when i really haven't seen the weight loss i so desire ( i do however think my body composition is changing) and i didn't seem to mind the pain in my calves. Now i was hopping to break out into a spontaneous free flow spin of yester year chasing trails of light from my finger tips, but this wasn't to bad either.

Now for the actual training. I am running about 1.5 miles 3 times a week, but i have cut 10 minutes off of this since i started. I am pressing and squatting over 225lbs for full reps, my push ups have gone up as have my pull ups. Soon i will begin to pepper into my workout sprints and what the boxers call "roadwork" thats when the real puke should fly.
Until then see ya in the ice bath!

And we're baaack!

Sorry I disappeared there, i had somethings taking precedence (bum shoulder. bum knee. kids), but i am back and now for an update:
My training has switched over to its second phase, I am now lifting weights Monday and Friday, while running Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Now this may seem like a recipe for over training, but bear with me a moment. Marines, soccer players, and various other fit individuals run every day. I was finding that my jogging was slow to progress while my weight training took off. but I did notice that the progress was quicker when i ran 2 days together, hence this plan. I am now military pressing 200lbs as of last week, but my jogging is barely a mile, and whats worse is my beautiful wife has taken up jogging as well, and is moving ahead of me. Now lets take into account that i carry roughly one and a half times her weight while having tree stumps for legs while she has nice long legs, still. So i will keep you abreast of this change and let you know in the coming weeks how it fairs. till then i got some legs to look at!