2 Mile Run

Happy Saturday!

Today marks the end of my first week of training. It has been tough on me. I started this week in quite possibly the worst shape of my life. I'm talking, I was back to as bad as I was pre-P90X. A mounting injury list coupled with bad eating and feeling sorry for myself got me inthis situation. So, I'm quite happy I made it through this first week.

Today was supposed to be a 1.5 mile run. When I woke up today, we were blessed with some unseasonably mild weather in the Baltimore area for this time of year. It's roughly 45 degrees right now and sunny. So, I put on shorts (no cold gear running pants today), a cold gear top, grabbed my Garmin and my iPod and headed for the Ma nad Pa trail for my run.

The Ma and Pa trail is a really nice State Park and trail and it's around the corner from my house. It is packed gravel and is all through the woods. It has two sections that will one day be connected. Right now, the section by my house runs 4 miles. the other one is 1.7 miles. and it will add another 3-4 miles to connect them.

Anyway, I started out running my 1.5 miles. But, between the nice weather, and my overall feeling (feeling good), I decided to push myself and see if I could make it 2 miles. and I did. Now granted, I was moving at a snails pace. And it was wet and muddy as all the remianing ice and snow were melting, but I did it. And without stopping. I know this is a long journey, so I have to celebrate the little accomplishments along the way. I have full confidence that as my fitness improves, and my weight goes down, I will see my pace picking up.

Tomorrow is a stretch and strengthen day. I'm planning on getting up and doing the P90X Yoga workout. Have a great weekend! Go colts!

PS: Not a Colts fan- I'm a Steelers fan. and I HATE the Ravens. So...go ANYONE WHO PLAYS THE RAVENS!

Cross Train Day

Today wasa scheduled 20 minute cross train. Tis means I coulddo basically anything for 20 minutes. So, I decided to stay in the house and do 20 minutes of an Insanity workout.

So, I just finsihed up. I'm dripping with sweat. My legs are burning. I'm going to puke. good workout.....

Tomorrow is a 1.5 mile run. I'm planning on knocking it out in the morning. Hopefully I can get my lazy ass out of bed!

Mile Run

Another day and another mile. actually, this was a mile and a quarter. and my feet felt pretty good. I'm easing bck into this running thing.

I've also decided that I need to kick my fitness into high gear. so, when I start my actual half marahon training on January 31st, I'm also starting P90X. Between the two, I should drop a lot of weight and get crazy fit!

FYI- starting all this in January in one of the coldest winters in a long time- not so fun! The cold SUCKS!

Day 3- 1 mile run

So, 3 days in a row now! It's a habit!

At least I hope it becomes one. I'm trying to shock my body back into running mode. That is a slow painful process. I'm taking it a mile at a time. In fact, my plan for the first 3 weeks (before I tackle the Hal Higdon Half Program) is somethign like this:

Week 1:

Sun: 1 mile, Mon: 1 mile, Tues: 1 mile, Wed: 1 mile, Thurs: REST, Fri: 20 min cross train, Sat: 1.5 miles

Week 2:

Sun: Stretch & strengthen, Mon: 1.5 miles, Tues: 2 mile run or cross, Wed: 2 mile run & strength, Thurs: REST, Fri: 20 min cross train, Sat: 2 miles

Week 3:

Sun: Stretch & strengthen, Mon: 2 miles, Tues: 2 mile run or cross, Wed: 2 mile run & strength, Thurs: REST, Fri: 25 min cross, Sat: 3 miles.

That will hopefully get me sort of ready to tackle the Hal program. The encouraging sign is that my feet barely hurt tonight when I ran. The negative? Well, i ran slow as crap! I received my Garmin Forerunner 305 today, so I tried it out while I ran tonight to get used to it. The bad news is I got to keep track of exactly how fast I ran the mile in. Let's saw that I would lose to the turtle and the rabbit right now! I know it will come in time, but it's frustrating to know that at one point in my life I could run two miles in 11:30 mins, and now I can barely run 1 mile in that time!

It will come...slow and steady...1 foot at a time!

Training Day 2

So far so good. I managed to get my ass out there anrun a bit. Granted, I'm not running far. Just another mile. But considering I'm starting from ground zero, with a messed up knee and a messed up hip flexor, I'm not picky. I just need to get my body conditioned to the pounding. My feet hurt again today when I ran- though not as much and for not as long. I'm hopeful that as I break in the shoes and get my feet used to the running, I will be ok.

I ran on the Ma & Pa trail today. It's a very well maintained trail that winds by an old railroda that the original head of Johns Hopkins used to travel from his mansion down to the city to go to work. It's really nice. Packed gravel and very scenic. I will enjoy running it very much I think. While I was there I found a flyer for a 5k on the trail on April 3rd. On my training schedule that date was supposed to be a 10k race. However, since I can't fidn a decent 10k closeby on that date, I'm going to signup for this one and then after the race, run another 5k on my own. What's nice is this trail entrance, parking, etc (and for the race too) are literally right down the street from my house. It's less then 2 miles from door to trail. That will make it very easy for the 5k that day!

The Reboot and The New Goal

Hello all! It's been a long time since I've been on here sharing my journey through P90X. Well, after my successful completion of P90X, my journey got a bit derailed. I attempted multiple encores of P90X, P90X+, and Insanity- and each would fail. Not because they don't work, and not because I don't have the desire to complete them. Since the end of my first time with P90X, I went through a string of injuries from various sports, etc that derailed my efforts.

Now, that is a big part of the story, but I also am partly to blame as to where I am right now. I let myself get discouraged, and stopped doing the things that I needed to do to be healthy. I stopped eating right, stopped exercising (though I had to due to injury), and let myself fall back out of shape.

So, I need to get my ass and my life in gear and get back to being healthy. So, today, I'm startign on a fitness journey that will allow me to complete my first half marathon. I'm targeting April 24th as my date. There is a nice half marathon in Ocean City, Maryland along the beach and boardwalk (i.e. NO HILLS) that date. So, I've got 15 weeks to get myself ready. This blog is my way of motivating myself and tracking my workout progress, diet, etc.

So, the program I'm using to get ready is a 12 week program. Since I have 15, and I'm a little (ok a LOT) out of shape, I'm going to modify it a little to add in a little extra time to try and build up my base a little bit. Starting today, I'm switiching over to a fairly strict diet and I will be doing runs of some kind 6 days a week for 3 weeks. Some long, some short, in an effort to build up my base fitness level and break my body into this running thing. Then I will jump into the training program for the half marathon. I may work some P90X workouts into this as well (for sure the Yoga and the Ab Ripper).

Today, I ran my first mile (and a quarter). It sucked. I haven't run in so long, and I had brand new shoes. My feet were killing me after about a minute. I know I need to get myself ready, so I'm not too fazed. I'm an over-pronator (with NO arches), and these shoes are designed for my gait, but I still need to get my feet conditioned to the running, and get my shoes broken in. Add to this the fact that it was a balmy 27 degrees with a 10 mph wind and snow and ice on the sidewalks in somne spots, and it was an interesting run to say the least. Cooled down after with about a 400m walk. thank God for my iPod- I don't know if I'm going to be able to do all this without my tunes!

Diet started off decently. Egg whites and low fat cheese with some turkey bacon for breakfast. A slice of meatloaf made from lean gound beef for lunch. Dinner was some ground turkey and wheat macaroni noodles with cheese and some sauce. Also I had some carrots with a small amount of low fat ranch as well as a handfull of sweet potato chips (no salt and no trans fats). There was also a P90X recovery drink after the run and lots of water today. Overall, a BIG departure from my poor eating habits as of late. I'm looking forward to eating clean again and getting my fitness back where it belongs.

The Return...And A Bonus

Hello all! I'm not sure if anyone out there si still reading. I've been away from both the blog and the P90x for a while. To sum it up in a nutshell, a combination of an injury (non P90X related) and job issues forced me to take some time off. But I'm back and ready to go.

Actually, I'm not just back, I'm on Day 10 today. That's Shoulders and Arms tonight. But the bonus is, my wife Danielle decided to join the P90X party. She and I decided to start together on June 1. So we've been rocking it out together (and apart) ever since.

I only have time for a quick update for now, but rest assured I'll be back with more details. I hope to post our pics as well, though they may not be up until Day 30. So far so good. I've been sore, but not too bad. The wife is doing really well. She's always been pretty fit. She teaches dance and coaches dance at her old high school. And she still dances in some adult groups as well. So her cardio is pretty good and her flexibility is tremendous. We're focusing on gaining some strength in her core and arms. But she's been DESTROYING the ab ripper already. makes me sick....

Anyway, hope everyone is well. nice to be back on the X!!!!