Beachbody Coach, Running, Insanity, P90X and My Personal Blog » Running

Vibram Bikila: 1st run

mark — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:33:51 +0000

I had to say that this run was different compared to others. I haven’t really even ran is a long time. It has been since February since I really ran anything. I put on the Bikilas. It is good that they were kinda already broken in. I wear my other Vibrams KSO very often especially on the weekends. These Vibram Bikilas are a lot different than the KSO. They have a thicker material on the top and the stretch of the material is thicker than the KSOs.

I started off with a moderate pace considering I haven’t run in a long time and that my achilles tendon was bothering me. I think about 2 months ago, I hurt it chasing around one of my friends sons. I regret it now. I was almost sprinting and I think I might have pulled it a little bit. Anyhow, the run started off slow. I think I was going about a 12 minute pace or so in the beginning. I was trying to get a feel for the Bikilas. I knew that I would be hitting the front part of my foot first and then the heel would go down. I think I was compensating on my left side a little for the pain in my achilles didn’t really let up till I was about 1 mile into the run.

I would run .20 miles then walk about .05 miles. I ended up going a little bit over 2 miles in distance and had a great feel for the shoes and how my legs would adapt to the different running style. Prior to my running in the Bikilas, my shoes ranged from Asics, New Balance and Nike. I was a heel striker and tried to change it up to a mid foot striker but it seemed much more difficult. These new Vibrams will help me in strengthening my feet and also correcting my running form. I am looking forward to the next run as I will probably increase the distance by a little.

April 3, 2010: Team in Training 60 mile ride

mark — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:13:13 +0000

Well, what do you know a new ride this past Saturday. I did like this ride a lot. It proved a lot of things to me for the last couple of weeks of training though.

We started our way at the Carlsbad Pointsettia Train Station. It was a new location to me but I remember riding by this train station so many times now on the last couple of rides we have had. Now we are starting here. I didn’t know much of the terrain at all on this ride. I remember seeing so many new things and sites I did enjoy on the ride.

We headed south for a small distance to go to the restrooms at the nearest Jack in a Box and talked a little before we took our morning ride. It is funny sometimes how we always seem to be the last group to leave but in the end we are always first. We followed Avenida Encinitas till we hit Carlsbad Blvd.

Onto Carlsbad Blvd and we headed north for a quite a distance and followed into S. Pacific Street. We then got onto the San Luis River trail that seemed like a large bike and running path that was single lane and had traffic coming both ways. There were a lot of people on this pathway. I liked it though. It gave a new scenery to look at and it proved a little tough with the headwind we were experiencing here. We did do a lot of changing here on the front. This pathway followed the 78 freeway east and we took this for a good distance till we got to College Blvd and made our way to N. River Road.

N. River Road was a different road. It seemed similar to roads in Rancho Santa Fe. There was a lot of rolling hills here. I remember going up and down a good amount of them. We followed it to Mission Rd and then back onto Old River Road and then to McDonalds where our SAG was stationed at. We met with the Ace Team riders. We were in Bonsal, I didn’t know of this area at all. It seems that doing all this training is great and has many new sights to see around San Diego.

After the SAG, I asked about our new path. We were going to be doing some climbing. I decided to keep a mindset of taking it easy on the hills so that I wouldn’t get an overall burning in my legs. I had to keep my heart rate down. We headed onto W Lilac Road and it proved to be a tough hill with different grades. At the top it intersected the 15 freeway on a bridge that I seem to drive by on the way to Temecula. I always wondered how to get onto it and now I know.

We took a break at the top and then rode down onto Old Highway 395. We were screaming down this hill at 40 mph max. As this road connects into Champagne Blvd, I knew I was in for it. This climb was a steady grade that was something around 3 miles long. I think it took me around 15 minutes to get to the top where we had another SAG. I was tired. I am glad the weather was nice or it would have been worse. We had a long rest and waited for one of the other team mates as he was having a hard time that day.

We eventually got going again and left him at the SAG and continued our way west again through Deer Springs Road. We continued our way through N. Twin Oaks Valley Road and followed that as we crossed the 78 freeway. We made our way and got onto W San Marcos Blvd. and continued to head west and get back to the coast. This area was nice. It was just some rolling hills and we got to our last sag with about 10 miles left next to a Carls Jr.

We followed San Marcos Blvd. till it intersected with El Camino Real and followed that and then we got onto Cannon Road where we saw our last hill of the day. It wasn’t too long of a hill but it proved to be steep and tough. I was burning my legs at the top with some standing and I knew that we were almost home. We crossed the 5 freeway and got back onto Avenida Encinas and got to the parking lot. It was a tough day.

I know now that I will be prepared next week for the ride. I know it will be tough but with some riding I will do this week, hopefully I can do better.

March 1, 2010: 2 mile run

mark — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:13:32 +0000

So my gf and I decided to go for a run. We originally thought that we were going to run at Miramar lake but since I was already sore we decided to run around the neighborhood.

We decided on a distance of two miles since she is comfortable with that distance. So we took off right when we got outside. My calves were already sore form the 2 previous days of cycling and snowboarding. I knew that I didn’t want to go out fast anyways.

We were running at a moderate pace of around 15 min/mile. She did well and it was nice. I am glad that the route isn’t too crazy but it is a nice run. We run along side the road though with the cars. It gives us something to see. I would rather not though. We did some part in the beginning in the neighborhood before getting out to the main road.

We finished around Palomar Hospital and then came back. It was good!

February 27, 2010: Spin Class

mark — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:14:21 +0000

Another rain day for us on a Saturday morning. It was earlier than last Saturday. 8am is the time. I got there and we had Kim Mueller come in to talk to us about Nutrition and what we need to do before, during and after our cycling. She gave us a lot of information about this. She is a registered dietitian and has a Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology.

After her talk we continued onto our spin class. Our Coach Jay led the class. He is the ace coach and I had the luck of sitting right in front of him. Little did I know at the beginning of the class that I was going to get a crazy workout from him. He really pushed me that day and I was going through many things in my head and throughout my body.

In the end, the workout was awesome and I pushed it a lot. He made me go harder than any of the other previous workouts with the team.

I was able to pickup a new cycle computer from Garmin to pair with my Forerunner. It was the bike cadence/speed sensor. I had some issues at first but I was able to get it going to work with my watch. I think I like it more because I can see my whole workout on my watch and to help pair it with the running and now cycling. It has more advantages now.

Garmin Connect.

February 25, 2010: 4.5 mile run

mark — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:29:15 +0000

Wow, I never knew how tough running this distance at a pace that I normally would run would feel like after not running in two weeks. This run was tough. I felt rushed though. I would have liked to start earlier and stretch a little bit, but time was not on my side.

I drove home from work knowing I wanted to get in a run because it was early day for me. I told my gf that I was planning on running. We got home and were out by 5pm. I had to drop by my mom’s house to get my brother who was going to cycle.

We got to Miramar Lake around 530ish. I didn’t have a lot of time, it was going to get dark fast. I had to get out and go.

I started running and was going at a good pace. I felt like the first mile was ok. It was good. I stopped and walked for a bit and then got going again. The mile 2 was tough. I couldn’t keep my 9 minute pace and was slowing. As I got to around mile 1.5, I told myself to go some more but my legs started feeling tired. It was getting dark and I hate running in the dark without any lights.

I ended up getting to the 2.25 mile marker and turned around. I knew now that my pace was around a 10 minute pace. I was slowing down and couldn’t keep the pace. By the time I got to around a mile left, I felt spent and couldn’t finish. I was glad I finished but not in my performance. I need to get back into it.

Feb 20, 2010: Spin Class

mark — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:51:39 +0000

We were not able to get outside again for a ride this past Saturday due to the weather. I am beginning to think that we won’t be doing much cycling outside. I am kinda bummed because I wanted to get outside. We just did a spin class. I think my butt needs to break in faster though. The new seat helped and also did the new gel liner that I bought but it still doesn’t feel quite right.

I might need to get the seat at the correct angle and position. I hate to change anything on my bike because it might always change my cycling. It was crazy at the spin class because it seemed like everyone was there. We had about 30 or so people in the intermediate class and about 20 people in the advanced class.

I ended up going to trek after the spin class to get me some new livestrong bands and also to look around. I also picked up some chamous butter. I wonder if it might help at all. We will see!

February 13, 2010: First Team in Training ride

mark — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:53:34 +0000

I found a new love for cycling now with Team in Training. It is kind of weird though. I learned so much this past Saturday about cycling. We had some first discussions about what to do before each ride and also what to look out for. The most that I learned was when I was riding in a pace group. There are a lot of things going on when riding in a pace group. We have to learn to yell out commands to each other while riding.

There are some hand signals that we learn as well. There is this chicken wing thing we do with our right arm to signal the person behind us that we are coming off of the front to go to the back to rest. The person that is behind the first person is supposed to acknowledge them by saying “got it” then the first person can then look over their shoulder to check traffic then back off. Then each person behind them says “rider coming back” till the last person of the group says “last rider” to tell them that there is nobody left. Then when the rider goes to the rear, the rider says “rider on” and they message passes all the way to the front till the first person says “got it.”

We also learned the “pace” and “gap” words to use when somebody is falling behind and there is space between riders. The first one to use is “pace” because it signals the first person to slow down. “Gap” is used when there is a large gap behind.

It turns out that my bike has some issues. I have a wobble and the wheels need to be trued. I have a bad cable on the front shifter and I need a new tire. Man that is a lot of money. I think I need to find a new mechanic.

I was able to get in a run on Sunday for 5 miles with my gf. It was a tough one for here but we got through it! She wants to go every Sunday now so that is going to be something we do together!

one hundred pushups: Week 3 Day 1 repeat

mark — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:38:47 +0000

I managed to get this workout in yesterday. I did them pretty early in the evening and not wanting to beat the bush and wait till later that evening after dinner. I was supposed to also go to a Team in Training spin class that night but I didn’t eventually go because it was raining and I didn’t want to deal with a wet body and wet bike in the class. I know I should have gone. Maybe this Thursday will be better.

The workout was easier than I expected. I don’t know what will be for tomorrow though. The reps really do go up. I did rest a lot between sets so I don’t know if that might have helped also. I think it was over 120 seconds between sets. The last set was tough but I slowly got the last 10 in. I guess we will see what happens next time for tomorrow on the new workout. Hopefully it won’t be so tough and I can finish the last set.

workout: 20,25,15,15,25
actual: 20,25,15,15,30

100 pushups: February 5, 2010

mark — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:32:18 +0000

This is a tough workout no matter what. I can’t seem to get all the reps in the last set. I wonder if I am supposed to be going to a lower week or just get to something that I can finish. I am feeling that I am getting stronger though. I think I will probably have to repeat Week 3. Even though this week is technically my week 3 I should be doing Week 3 I guess. I probably should be posting some videos along with them to see where I am and to show the peeps out there my progress.

Team in Training seems promising. I need to get on my letters and to create those and to also mail some of them out.

100 pushups Week 2 Day 2

mark — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:51:42 +0000

That workout was tough yesterday. My rep counts were supposed to be: 22,30,20,20,28. I was able to do 22,30,18,20,18. I didn’t read that I had to take 2 minute breaks in which I probably should have. I think I would have been able to pump out a little bit more reps if I did.

I think my progress is getting better. I have gotten a little bit stronger and still been able to keep up with the workouts. I just don’t know if I will do it in 6 weeks, but I guess I am ahead of the schedule so I am in some type of advantage. I guess this wasn’t going to be easy so I just have to work at it to get things done.

I missed my workout yesterday for Team In Training on the bike doing some spinning. I wanted to go but my car is having trouble.

It looks like it might rain on Saturday. I am a little bit skeptical though. I don’t like being in the rain running or on a bike. I guess we will see how it goes though.