High Intensity Leg Work

So, I'm spending the summer trying build speed and endurance (I also want to lose ten more pounds, but that's another post). In the vein, I'm loving my workouts on this:

I set the platform so that I have to step up far enough that my knee is higher than my hip, grab the handle with both hands for balance (no fair pulling yourself up) and do a series of quick step-ups. Twenty-five reps a side takes me more or less one minute. I follow this as quickly as possible with ten or twelve squats using fifty pounds on the EZ bar. Take a minute or so to recover between sets and repeat for a total of five. Add in the mile warm up and the mile cool down I do on the treadmill and I'm still done in under an hour.

What''s Round on Both Sides and High in the Middle? or Rutherford B. Hayes Was a Stud!

I'm back from my trip to the wild Midwest and I can't begin to express my relief at just how true all the stereotypes are. The problem I've noticed most often when academic and midwestern values collide is that while it's sometimes necessary to move on after an approach as outlived its usefulness, your classic midwestererner is both too polite and too conservative to simply rush into some sort of fancy new idea. "Don't mention the sock," they might say, "I've got lecture notes that old, don'cha know." As nice as it can be to get away from the rush to out-theory the Jones that I often see at academic conferences, I do like my lectures fresh rather than from a jar.

 Academic work aside, I managed to get in a good run every morning until the last (I can't stand packing still sweaty workout clothes). During my five-day excursion I manged to clock around twenty-five miles, most of them around the generally boarded up downtown. It was a generally in the 60s (quite the relief as we left those temperatures behind about two months ago back home). As all three meals every day were of the buffet variety I ate poorly, but the general lack of vegetarian options probably saved me from doing too much damage--image how embarassing it would feel to be the guy who got fat on relish sandwiches from hot dog day.

Summer classes start in a week (though I still don't know whether my class will make). Either way, I plan on shedding another ten pounds and continuing the power/enduro workouts I've been following since my last race-more on them in later posts.

Before and After Part 1

A friend sent a photo of me finishing my latest race.* I've placed it next to a photo of me running in a duathlon last November for comparison purposes. In the left, I'm around 195 pounds and banging out a respectable (if jiggly) 27:43 5K. On the right, I'm hovering somewhere just south of 180 and wrapping things up in 22:27. 

Timing aside, I think the difference is starting to show. Eventually I'm hoping to get down closer to 170 so I can see if there might be a twenty-minute racer under there.

* N.B. I'm doing my best Steve Stenzel on the right, but I'm doing it really, really slowly compared to him.

Winning *and* Losing

So I ran the local 5k this morning and although I won't have an official time until Monday, I feel pretty confident that my watch-timed 22:27 is pretty close to right. This course was pretty hilly (and I think a tad long) so I'll go ahead and call that a win. The organizers left my name off the awards list (I was 4th overall)--no doubt the universe reminding me that I'm really not that big a deal after all--so that's the loss.

This was a lot smaller race than the one I ran last weekend--so small that I was alone almost the whole time. The winner went off the front within the first half mile and I lost sight of him before the first mile marker. I kept two and three in sight for the rest of the race, but couldn't reel them in. I was hoping for a better time, but according to my HRM I averaged 178 bpm with a max of 188 bpm (97% and 102% of my theoretical max, respectively) so I can't really say I wasn't working. This sort of proves what I've been suspecting --that while I'm making decent progress I'm not really in the shape I thought I was.

This works out well, however, since all I really want to do right now is pile on miles and run intervals. I'm just going to focus on training and eating as well as I can for a while and see how things look when the weather begins to cool off again.

Speaking of longer runs, I did a test jog with this yesterday and, much to my surprise liked it quite a bit. I'm hoping to put in a couple of double-digit runs with it over the next week and really see how it feels. If it makes long runs that much more comfortable, I might actually consider running the local marathon in December.






As for the intervals, I guess the only equipment I'll need is this:

Race Day Deux

My next 5K is Saturday and I'm actually nervous about it. After my dismal showing last weekend I feel like I have to make a good run this weekend. I be satisfied with anything under 22:00, but something under 21:30 sure would be nice.I took the last two days off, but will be doing an easy half hour tonight and tomorrow with something very light on Friday.

Whatever the outcome on Saturday, I've decided not to race anymore this summer. Instead, I'm going to do two or three months of good training (emphasizing power and good diet) with a few travel breaks.

Wrapping up the semester is an ongoing and less than satisfying endeavor. I have a serious case of whatever you call senoiritis when the sufferer hasn't been a senior in close to two decades.

Celebration Cake

Even if I hadn't tanked my last race this summer would still be all about the missus.

Not only did she score a fellowship to study Renaissance art in Venice (and guess who gets to tag along for part of the trip?), but just last week she solved the age-old two body problem by accepting a tenure-track position at this campus.

 There can be only one response: celebration cake.

That giant sucking sound . . .

My excuses are as numerous as my complaints, but the short story is that I really stank up the joint at my race yesterday. In fact, when Ross Perot said we'd hear a giant sucking sound going south, he must have been thinking about my second mile. Bad preparation, lack of focus, whatever it was, I clocked a pathetic 22:54--essentially a full minute and a half off my goal.

 There's another 5K on the 8th, so I 'm hoping for some redemption then.