Training updates, I need to lose a few pounds, and my latest workouts

It has been busy and hectic at work for me lately,  My little girl is also battling a cold/ear infection.  I have had to modify a few of my workouts.  Thank goodness I'm just a hobby jogger and not a professional athlete.

I'm also in the process of trying to lose a little holiday flab.  I'm not fat, but I did stop tracking my food points last year (maintaining your goal weight is the hard part).  Last year around this time I was 121-122 pounds.  Currently I'm sitting at 126lbs.   Not a big deal but, it will make a difference with race weight.  I'm hoping to get down to the low 120's in the next few weeks.     I don't even like talking about my weight on this blog because, Hello! this is a running blog! But, again these things will matter on race day. I promise I won't take pictures of my meals or thigh gap.

My Latest Workouts

Friday 1/9  4 miles tempo,  I ran four quick miles before work in the morning.  Here's the data

Mile 1-8:19
Mile 2-7:54
Mile 3-7:39
Mile 4-7:54

Saturday 1/10 Rest

Sunday 1/11  8 miles (3 at pace).  I was a little nervous about this run,  I love having a Garmin most of the time, but I don't like obsessing over split times or constantly looking at my watch during a workout.  So I set my Garmin to time and distance only

I ran the first three miles easy then I ran the next mile  a little faster, then it was go time.  I ran two miles hard, one mile active recovery (slow running), and the final mile was at hard effort.  Here's the data.

Mile 1-9:41
Mile 2-9:18
Mile 3-8:51
Mile 4-7:59
Mile 5-7:07
Mile 6-7:14
Mile 7-10:17
Mile 8- 7:16


Monday 1/12  3 mile run with strength training.   I did the weight training first on my lunch break.  I did a few exercises:  cable rows, lat pull downs one arm shoulder rows, reverse ab crunches, Smith machine assisted pull ups, one legged balance exercises on the Bosu trainer, alternating lunges on the Bosu trainer.   Then I ran 3 miles at recovery pace.

Tuesday 1/13  Rest-   I was supposed to do speed work, but that didn't happen.  I stayed home in the morning with my daughter (she had a cold) , and then I went to work in the afternoon.

Wednesday 1/14  Strength Training/Speed work  I was supposed to do 11 X 400 yesterday.  I also forgot to bring my Brooks Pure Flows with me to work today for speed work.... I ended up doing a fartlek workout on the treadmill in the gym at lunch time.

I did some strength training first: Roman chair leg lifts, cable flys, body weight squats & lunges on the Bosu Trainer, sit-ups, bicep curls, and shoulder lifts, and shoulder overhead presses with an EZ Curl bar.
Then it was time to run.  I ran 4 miles in just over 31 minutes on the treadmill.  I ran the first 1-8 minutes at 7.0 (8:34 pace) to warm up,  Then I did 11 x 1 minute at hard effort with 1 minute active recovery (slow jog)in between the intervals.   My first hard effort was at 8.8,(6:49 pace) and then I kicked the treadmill up to 9.0 (6:40 pace ) for the next interval.  Towards the end of the workout my hard efforts were at 9.2 (6:31 pace)  My recovery pace was 6.4 (9:22 pace)

I also had the treadmill set at a 1% incline for the whole workout.

Thursday- 3 miles at cornerstone park at recovery pace.   I had to hurry up and comeback, but three miles is better than no miles.


Friday  1/16- I was going to run, but I was pressed for time, and I felt that I would benefit from some more strength training. I like to do circuit training/giant sets.   Where you go from one exercise to another to keep your heart rate up.  So I will typically do four different exercises before going back to the first exercise for the second set.   I will do three sets of each circuit.  For reps I do about 10-12 reps per exercise.

First Circuit
Bench Press
Leg Lifts w/ reverse ab crunch
One arm rows
Back extensions

Second Circuit
Body weight squats
One legged balance on Bosu
Push ups on Bosu Trainer
Mountain Climbers


Third Circuit
Alternating lunges on Bosu Trainer
Smith Machine assisted pull ups
Single leg body weight lunges (front, side, back) x 6 then switch legs
Cable flys



Saturday 1/17-  My little boy turned 4, we went to the Shark Reef as a treat for him.  He also got to eat birthday cake for breakfast

Sunday 1/18  8 Miles 3/1- On my schedule I had an 8k race,  So I decided to do an 8 mile run, with 2.5 miles of hard effort at the end.  The first 5.75 miles were a gradual uphill and the last 2.5 miles were downhill,  It's easy to run tempo progression runs this way.  Here's the data.

Monday 1/19  Rest(sort of)-  I went to Chuck e Cheese for more birthday fun with two small kids and I got a pretty good workout in.

Tuesday 1/20  Speed work...I have 12 X 400 meters on the calendar today.  I will save that for the next blog post.

Thank you for reading :)