P90X Day 2 - Plyometrics

No wonder I'm not a fan of exercise videos. They feel like they take forever. The workout itself wasn't too bad. Cardio wise, I definitely would get a better workout doing intervals. But this P90X program is not about the cardio. This was about the nearly 1 hour of various squats and jumps. Doable, but uncomfortable. The hardest was for me was the swing kicks over the back of my kitchen chair.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to do either a run or the P90X workout in the morning so I can squeeze in two workouts. Not really looking forward to it. It's forcing me to have to bed earlier. But it is what it is.

Diet wise, it has been only two days. Can't see a difference in appearance. However, I can feel the difference that I've been away from sugars for a couple of days. I feel a little "cleaner." I'm also staying away from fatty beef and dark chicken meat. Desserts and baked goods have been my addiction over the years and I doubt I'll ever kick the habit. For 90 days though, I think it's doable.

Lastly, our Vitamix blender came in today! I don't like whole fruits. So what's a boy to do? Turn them into smoothies! Can't wait to try it out.

P90X Day 1 Recap

The first workout absolutely kicked my a**. The workout consisted of various push-up stances and pull exercises - back and chest. Maybe I just paced myself badly, but my second round of workouts couldn't even produce half the reps I did in the first half. It was definitely a great workout.

My rep numbers were as follows:


Hardest exercises were definitely the diamond push-ups and the military push-ups. For the second round of pull-ups, I needed chair assistance to complete the sets. Embarrassing.

As far as the diet's concerned, no sweets today or for the next 89 days. Got in most of my portions of protein, carbs, fruits, vege's, etc.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to mix in at least a 5 mile run somehow with the day two plyometrics workout.

Final Thoughts on Queens Half

• Those hills starting at mile 9 were brutal. How about a course reversal a la Brooklyn?
  
  
• Enjoyed rooting for runners, especially colleagues, at ~mile 12.25, top of the last and seemingly highest and steepest climb.
  
  
• More sore today than I'm accustomed due to the downhills, especially down hills. Quads mostly.
  
  
• Racing heart rate was 176 getting as high as 189, albeit at the finish! No wonder I needed a walk break. And the hills didn't help.
  
  
• Comparatively, my NJ Marathon race barely broke 170 over 26 miles. Lacking training manifesting.
  
  

Race Report: Queens Half Marathon

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Hadn't really raced for the the last few months, nor have I done any speed training. This has been one of my most relaxing marathon training sessions in a long time and I've been really enjoying it. Not that I've been taking time off completely. I've just been running really reduced mileage. Max mileage in a week so far has been 38 and change, and longest run some 18 and change.

To start mixing things up a bit and give this season a semblance of training, I thought I should at least try to race the Queens Half today. Last time I ran this race a couple of years ago, I was so late that the timing mats at the start were gone. I saw some poor runners experience the same today. At mile 3, the shuttle buses were just dropping them off...they still had to run to the start! But I digress...

This year, I got there in time to start around the back. At least the timing mats were still there. I wasn't sure how I would push, but the first few miles I couldn't anyway because it was so crowded. I ended up running on the sidewalk for the first 4 miles. Here's a play by play of my splits:

Mile 1: 7:52 - stuck in a crowd in tight streets
Mile 2: 7:21 - as I warmed up, I started to pick up the pace
Mile 3: 7:18 - many turns in this race
Mile 4: 7:04 - feeling decent, so I start to continue to ratchet up the pace slowly
Mile 5: 6:47
Mile 6: 6:50
Mile 7: 6:54
Mile 8: 6:45
Mile 9: 7:52 - 1.15 mi on my Garmin. Regardless, I remember this mile because this is where some wicked hills started to show up.
Mile 10 -11: 13:49 - Forgot to hit the lap btn. After the 7:52 on mile 9, I decided to take it easy because the pace I ran felt unsustainable. Took a walk break at a water station.
Mile 12 - finish: 7:59 - Tried to at least finish strong. A guy passed me with about 100m to go, and I wanted to finish before him at the finish. Luckily was able to do it.

Official final results: 1:34:15 (7:11/mi)


The race was a lot of work. I do not enjoy racing down hills. I actually prefer up hill running. There are also a lot of hills at Central Park. I think I'm going to stick with that course from now on. Queens was too inconvenient a race, but I had a lot of fun.

Congrats also to my colleagues who ran their butts off today. You know who you are :-)

August miles

I think I'm doing just enough to be complete a marathon without injury. I ran just over three miles in the second week, which is ridiculous for not being sick. Like I said in previous posts, I just haven't been into it. But now that September's here and with nine weeks to go, I have to start picking it up a little bit. I told my wife that I think it's time to start getting serious about training the remaining weeks and she seemed rather pleased about it. That came as a surprise to me because putting running at a higher priority means less time home. Anyways, we'll see how it goes.

Here's the link to my Google spreadsheet for my training thus far.