4 Days till race day.
Today I ran a 5k at my favorite park - but this time I ran the course the opposite direction I usually run. I think there are more up-hill sections going in this direction - at least that’s the excuse I’m using for my 31.53min time. I actually had to stop and walk about .01 or .02 km but I was able to push myself to “sprint” the last .10km. I don’t think I’m going to be winning any awards on Sat - not even for my age category - but whatever. It’s all about showing up and giving it all you got.
7 Days till race day.
Today was our typical Sunday - sleep in late, get-up and go to XFlowsion, eat at M Cafe for lunch then go home and take a bath with 20lbs of ice. Ok, that last part isn’t typical, it’s a new thing I’ve started to try in order to prevent soreness in my legs the next day. Today was the second time I’ve bathed with ice. You can’t help to let out a scream, yelp, shout, whatever when you lower yourself into the ice water. I sat there with the melting ice for about 20min. I actually don’t think it was cold enough and what I should’ve done was fill the tub with cold water, then dump the ice in. By keeping the water running with the ice already in the tub I think I lost some of the freeziness of the ice. (yeah I know that’s not a real word but whatever.)
Today I took a day off from training and Heather and I started the day off with a French crepe with bananas, honey and sliced almonds. Afterwards we strolled through the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market and bought fresh vegetables and produce. For lunch we had turkey sandwiches with heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella and basil on sourdough bread - all from the Farmer’s Market. As a snack we had greek yogurt with wild honey then went for a 5k walk around the park. For dinner we had wheat pasta with shitake mushrooms, onions, garlic, basil, mozzarella and olive oil.
A delicious day of recovery. Tomorrow… XFlowsion.
Today my office had a half-day with a BBQ down on the beach. Afterwards I thought it would be good training to run from the beach back to the office. I had already calculated the distance using google maps - 3.6 miles. I knew it would be a challenge since I would be running up hill from the ocean.
For the 1st mile I kept a pretty good pace and was able to pass the 1 mile mark within 7min even though this part of the run was completely up hill. But I was out of breath so I walked for a block then sprinted a block then walked again and continued this cycle until I reached my office. My Nike+ iPod reported the exact results
1km - 6.08min avg pace.
2km - 6.22min avg pace
3km - 10.52min avg pace.
4km - 4.49min avg pace
5km - 5.15min avg pace.
At this point I am absolutely exhausted and I’m having problems keeping my eyes open long enough to write this blog post. - so goodnight.
I have 10 days to prepare for the Baldwin Park Pride of the Valley 5k - my first ever 5k race. Up till this past Monday my training has been non-existent for this month because of travel and work. The last time a ran a 5k was in May. Not good. So this week I knew I had to train hard and eat well to prepare for the race.
Sunday Heather and I did XFlowsion which is a pretty killer cardio/yoga workout with stretching. Afterwards we had a healthy macrobiotic lunch at M Chaya. I knew that I would probably be sore the next day so I decided to try an ice bath so I could run a 5k on Monday. The ice bath made me scream when I first got in since it was literally freezing cold but I was hoping it would prevent soreness in my legs so I could run the next day. I soaked for 15min then took a hot shower. It’s crazy ’cause my legs were cold to the touch for about an hour afterwards.
Monday I felt pretty good. No muscle soreness except in my shoulders from all the “down-dogs”. I guess the ice-bath really works. For breakfast I made a sourdough avocado and egg sandwich. At noon I attempted a 5k run at my favorite park. I forgot my Nike+ iPod so I just tracked my time using my watch. My pace was pretty good - in-line for a 30min run, but I gave up on the last kilometer and walked the rest of the way. FAIL.
Tuesday I ran stairs in my office building and did sprints in the parking garage a few times. At night I stretched for an hour. Nothing crazy.
Wendsday I went back to the park and attempted to sprint 1 mile, walk 1 mile and sprint 1 mile. The first mile I sprinted actually ended up only being 1.02km because I was retarded and forgot my iPod measures in kilometers instead of miles. The last mile I sprinted ended up being only 1.2km because I just ran out of energy. FAIL
Tonight I plan to do a bunch of squat-jumps then stretch for an hour - that is, after I eat my avocado-cheddar burger on wheat bread with sweet potato fries. It’s semi-healthy right?
Tomorrow I’m going to attempt another 5k.
At this point I’m going to be lucky to be able to finish the 5k without walking.