austinjason

http://austinjason.blogspot.com/2010/09/back-on-blogger.html


Sorry, ya'll. I do love you, and RSS, luckily will keep us connected, but I just hate this LJ interface.

Tuesday

I thought today was going to be a hills day, but it ended up super duper hot & kinda sticky outside, and I knew after I got started that I just wasn't feeling hill repeats. However, coming back with fresh legs - I really did feel awesome and like I could do a speed workout.

So, I ended up doing 6 miles - on a course that at an "easy" pace takes me normally about 1.5 hours - I did it in 1:15 - so i was kinda happy about that.

My goal was to run out 3 miles, and be sure that my trip back was faster than my trip out. Warm up on this run did take a while - seems like when the weather is steamy, it takes me 2-3 miles to feel good. I was honestly VERY displeased with my time out to the 3 mile mark - seriously I was so unbelieveably slow going out. I stopped unusually long - about 5 minutes - at the halfway mark and drank water and ate some energy food.

Coming back in, I was on fire - I felt incredible, it was sunny and beautiful and my legs, core & breath were in lovely synchronicity and I flew back in. My 1:15 time did NOT count the 5 minutes that I stopped to rest, but it did include my .3 miles or so of walking to cool down. Awesome workout, although difficult.

Wednesday: doubles

1. Yoga

I did my own yoga session design today. It was so so much ashtanga/vinyasa. I didn't really do any balance poses, but I spent about 45 minutes doing various vinyasa sequences and various other poses. It was a core torturer, although I readily admit I avoided exercises in my normal yoga routine I know I need to get better at. I was so fatigued I could not do another vinyasa at the end. owww.

2. Run

This run was so awful. At least, however, it did start out kinda funny. I decided to run with bottles, instead of my harness/hydration pack and I didn't have one of my lycra shirts on, I had one of the "nipple grinder 5000" shirts on. So, I decided to bust out the NipGuards. God these things are just ludicrous looking - on anyone. I just can't help but giggle at myself when I put them on. Basically they are these little octagoal foam cushions with a very slick plastic coating on the outside of them to keep your shirt from rubbing you raw. Since I was running alone, at kinda late, I didn't really figure I'd see anyone I knew, so I headed out.

Well, I had a new neighbor moving in. As I come down the stairs, this nice lady is helping her daughter move in, and is carrying a piece of decor that is the name "Jesus" done is all sorts of colors and patterns. I said hello and we started to talk a moment and introduce ourselves. I could not help but notice that her glance kept going down to my chest - I finally just said, "they're cushions to help keep me from being rubbed raw while I ran." She blushed I guess at the fact that she was busted - but at least she had her answer. As I ran off into the rapidly-setting sun, I could not help but wonder, "What would Jesus say about my enormous, protruding, octagonal robot nipples?"

I decided to head down to Shan's. And do just one repeat of it, since it was getting dark and I had done so much yoga earlier in the day that my core was just wasted. Warmup took FOREVER on this run - I only did 4 miles and it was absolutely awful. I was slow, I didn't feel like I did worth a damn on the hills really - it was just miserable. Physically, I could tell that I did get something - I did feel better having worked out, but nothing went like I had hoped. I think I, perhaps, just overdid today with all of the stuff I did before and maybe should have chosen just an easy 1.5 hour run instead of a quality workout on the same day as yogatorture.

Thursday: I knew I was gonna do a long run Friday evening, so I didn't do anything. I skipped Yoga, since I did some yoga the day before. I really should have stretched.

Friday: Long run at night with Elizabeth, Dawn, Mike. It was awesome. They are so much faster than I am, I really did try to keep up when I could but man, it was just too fast for me. For a night run, on a muddy trail - we still made pretty good time. I think we'd have finished 15-20 minutes earlier if it weren't for me slowing them down, but we had a good time.

I was thinking that I'd do the 15 miles I was supposed to do last weekend, but everyone else was doing 10 miles. We ran out 5, had a quick recharge/break at the store and then turned around to come back. I felt really good on this run. Staying on top of my nutrition (duh) was the ticket. I might not have been as fast as them, but what I did maintain was a GOOD pace for me. The only times I really stopped that we were not all together were a few times just to wipe the sweat from behind my glasses or blow my nose for a second, I kept moving and felt just awesome.

We got in, visited and enjoyed a cold beer. After everyone left, I felt SO incredibly good and awake, that I wished I had gone back out for that extra 5 miles. By then, I had showered and my muscles were well cooled down, so I decided I'd just run 6 miles Saturday - sorta like a doubles workout, since I"m running Sunday, too.

This night time 10 miler took us, excluding our aid station stop, about 2hrs 15 min

I'll finish out last week, and then just do a whole week's entry for this week.

Last week, it seemed like everything hit the fan, especially late in the week. I was glad to be busy with projects and work, but I was not glad to have to deal with the ensuing automobile problems. The microwave decided to die too. When did my life become a country song?

Thursday - I really have no excuses though. I was supposed to do Yoga, and I skipped yoga. Friday night was going to do a long run, and then take he following weekend as a rest weekend. My last long run was really awful, only because I got so sick from not staying on top of my nutrition and hydration like I know that I should.

One of my friends had posted on facebook that he needed to do a night run for the following (my rest) weekend, and that sounded like fun, so I decided to switch off weekends. It had been a kinda crummy week. The weather was lovely, and I enjoyed a fantastic rest weekend.

what: trail run
who: just me
when: 6:30pm
where: BCGB

distance: 6.5 miles
time: 1.5 hour


Today was supposed to be a morning workout with a friend of mine at St. Ed's/Forest Ridge. Instead, I came out to find a flat tire & my truck surrounded by parked neighbors in my apartment so I couldn't do anything to it until everyone went to work. Let's just say this was a craptacular way to start the day and it spiraled downward from there. I had to cancel workouts AGAIN - I'm sure I seem like the biggest flake in the universe now. NOT a good day when you start it feeling like the World's Biggest Lameoid.

But - the day was considerably cooler and just GORGEOUS and I knew that I had an afternoon trail run in me. I was ready to unleash some of the blahs on the trail.

The run ended up being soooo great - I decided to try to push whenever I could on this run. This ended up working out well. I went out to HoL, up HoL and then back home. My goal was the make the trip back faster than the trip out (not counting HoL because DUH- you'll be going down that faster than you go up)

I really did well, felt great & strong - and had a gorgeous run. This was just what the doctor ordered, and I felt like a new person after this. I was pretty used up by the last mile, and used the last mile as a nice, easy cooldown.

what: street run
where: NW Hills
when: l0:30pm
who: just me

workout: 4.5 miles


This was a really weird day, and a really weird workout. Today was SUPPOSED to be 5 miles of awful hill repeats at St. Ed's. I felt rested, and ready for that workout and was actually excited about it. However, it was so, unbelievably hot during the day. At 3pm, it was 109 with a 112 degree heat index, and I decided that I would send out a notice canceling the workout and doing a night run instead, since I knew that in THAT much heat, a "quality workout" was not even possible - it was going to be merely a survival workout.

So, I canceled the damn workout and within 1 hour, the temp had dropped almost 20 degrees and it was raining in some areas (although with cloud to ground lightning.) Hmpf. By the time I realized it might be nice to at least TRY to run - it was too late to get to where the hills workout was in traffic, so I decided to stick with my night run. I decided that I'd just focus on this being a speed workout. I haven't done any speed workouts in...well a long time.

When I started this run, I was so uninspired to run. I don't know why, because the moon was bright and big and it was lovely out, but I just was not feeling it. Seriously, I bet I hadn't gone .25 miles before I almost thought of turning around and calling it done. Warmup SUCKED on this run. I did a pretty thorough stretching before, and I still felt like I needed to stretch more. I actually stopped a couple of times during the first mile just to stretch more. Also, MAN deep in my hips/pelvis hurt. This was unique and I realized this was a function of my body running on the street - I have clients describe this pain to me that are transitioning from trail to street a lot. What I felt was the SI joint & ligament - ouchie. It got better after I warmed up a little more.

I got really frustrated on this run because I could NOT seem to push. This is not usual for me, but I felt like I had only one speed, and merely maintaining that was all I could do. I did do pretty well on the hills, although on the last big hill, I did walk about half of it.

I'm going to tweak my nutrition. I've been running on a LOT of protein and very few carbs. That might be nice for trimming down fast, but it SUCKS ASS for running. I have a feeling that was what this was about. I just had ZERO push, zero extra to give. I was so disgusted with how slow I was on this run - even though I felt physically really good afterward, I was mentally down on myself. It sucks a ton when you really want and try to push and get absolutely nothing extra - and this was supposed to be a quality workout.

So, I've been playing around with TrainingPeaks. Wow. I love it.

It does take some effort to get it set up if you're going to track your diet with it, but it's fabulous that you can search the USDA and other databases directly.

I've made my basic workout data public at http://www.trainingpeaks.com/austinjason

This only gives you some information (although you can search by date range and even view individual workouts once you submit the query), but the info that you can see and track about your own workouts/nutrition/health is just AWESOME.

This is my new best friend to help me reach goals and see where I need improvements. The basic version if free. I plan to upgrade to the premium version pretty soon because I want to be able to plan workouts and meals in advance and also use some of the nicer tracking and management features locked to premium accounts.

And speaking of goals....and tracking:

I've lost 4 lbs since I weighed last. Yay.

I'm publishing my metrics now, maybe that'll motivate me more to keep them moving the the right direction:

weight: 211 lb
% body fat: 24.9 (oink) I think it was 27% when I started!
% muscle: 35

I really want to see body fat about 10% or so less. I'd also like to see more muscle %. Whatever weight that ends up being...is what it ends up being, but I'm more interested than composition than what the weight is.

Sunday:

what: 6mile-ish street run
where: NW Hills
when: 9:30pm-ish
who: just me

actual distance: 5.56 miles
time: 1hr 09 min


I was originally planning a morning trail run, but I didn't sleep well, and hit the snooze, and it was so. freaking. hot. that I decided to just do a night run on the street, instead.

It was a clear, gorgeous night. I wanted to run half of what I had done on long run day on the day before (well finished during the wee, first hours of Saturday, anyhow)

This run felt nice, there was a slight breeze part of the time, which I didn't mind running into because it felt cool, even if it did require more effort. I never really felt like I pushed on this run, but when it felt good to pick up the pace, I did. I gave myself a little .25 mile cooldown at the end, this was a nice recovery run. My core was a little sore, but I wasn't as sore as I expected to be after my long run.


Monday: Off Day!!

I did 1 hour of stretching (the X Stretch DVD from the P90X series). I love this, and needed it badly. every flexibility workout, I can tell I am improving, though!!

This is confusing to put in a calendar context - sorta.

Friday - technically is a day off. I do not do any exercise that day, and I generally work a short day on that day.

Since I normally used to get up very early to do my Saturday long runs, but would rather build my miles at night than in the increasing, oppressive heat of the day, I start my run late on Friday evening, and it spills over into Saturday. So really, my Friday night workout is a Saturday workout that just starts....several hours earlier than it used to. Anyhow -

Fridurday Night Workout :P

what: Long night trail run
where: BCGB
who: me, Dawn, Elizabeth W
when: 9:24pm

planned distance: 12.0 mi
actual distance: 12.15 mi


I was pretty excited about this night run. My shiny new Timex GPS (which I LOOOOOOVE) would be taken on its maiden voyage.

We started pretty easy, I didn't have aggressive pace goals for this, since I am JUST getting back to building my base back up in the past two weeks. Our course was mostly flat, to Zilker & back. The plan was to run out to the 5 mile point (store) refill/refuel, then head down to the park & back home.

This run would have been really good for me, if I hadn't screwed up my nutrition. I was having a good time visiting, and generally didn't pay much attention to the time. It did not seem to be a problem for me to remember to take salt, but I wasn't really staying on top of eating, and this would doom me late in the run. At mile 5, I ate a package of Honey Stinger chews. I didn't' really want them, but we had been running about 1 hour by then, so I made myself take them because I knew I really needed something. We refilled water, I had 16 oz of gatorade as well, and we took back off.

About mile 6 during this run, my hip flexors started to have a dull ache, but it wasn't a huge deal.

On the way back in, I should have had more food, at least by the time we hit mile 7, but I didn't. At mile 10, I started to get soooo sick. I lost my stomach, but then felt a LOT better afterward. I started to run again, and then it was just a rollercoaster back and forth from being violently ill and feeling okay to run. I really could not even hold water down. This is the point I get to when I reach a blood sugar spiral like this. Water won't stay down, gels won't stay down, most food won't stay down. The last 1.5 miles or so of this was a walk/run (with emphasis on walking) and my stomach was going back and forth on me. My hip flexors were also PISSED at this point, and the last trail up to my place is suuuuper duper technical and it was hard to pick my knees up enough with my core so fatigued.

When we got in, I decided to lie down for a few moments, and that made me feel some better. I was pretty out of it. I tried to drink water, because I was thirsty, but it would not stay down. I knew I needed some kind of food, but NOTHING sounded good to me but a small amount of soda, so I showered, went and bought a can of Coke and then came home and passed out (without eating).

My hip flexors were so sore when I got in bed that it actually hurt me to lie down flat. I did sleep really well, but wish I had slept a little longer. I didn't want food until 11:30am - which seemed....really odd.

what: 1.5 hours ashtanga


I missed Yoga last week, so I went into this workout a little unsure what to expect. I also, for some reason, really had trouble making myself start this workout today, it was almost the workout that did not happen.

Very fortunately, it did happen, and it ended up being my best yoga workout in months.

Overall, I did better with every part of this workout, well sorta.

I did great everywhere, except:

-Half Moon and Twisting Half Moon are very hard for me still. I struggled through these, and even though I sucked at them, I did ever-so-slightly better

-I still cannot do crane

-my core was wasted at the ab-focus at the end, and I just could not do any of it. I got about halfway through the first exercise, tried to rest until the next and I could not even get into the pose.

I went ahead and cooled down once I was at fatigue and knew that was the last of the workout. I felt really nice after this workout.

Things I noticed: my flexibility is still improving, which is good. There is lots more to go, though. I also am very pleased with my upper body and core strength. It's really noticeable in the Vinyasa.

I am having a swimming problem. The problem is: I want to start doing it regularly and I don't have a place to do it. The "creek done run dry" on a vast majority of the greenbelt. Barton Springs is so cold that I almost have convulsions. The Lifetime Fitness near me has a lovely pool, but that is the ONLY thing I want to use there. I have my own weights, bands and other stuff and need nothing but a place to swim, rinse the nasty chlorine off and get the hell outta there. Unfortunately, it seems they don't have an option for folks that just want to swim, and it's rather pricey.

It seems like Deep Eddy and Stacy Pool are taken a lot of the time for the lap lanes. Anyone have any ideas? I live in way south Austin, and I really don't want to drive too terribly far if I can help it. I wish our apartment pool wasn't a shallow, narrow boiling pot (in full sun + shallow = hot water) full of kid pee.

I miss Santa Klaus. I'd totally ask him for a gym membership. Sadly, he was bought my Hallmark, made into cheap trinkets and sold across the nation in lurid, schmaltzy stores.