Turned the Corner

I think I'm over my yearly period, as my wife likes to call it. Goals and workout wise, focus is resharpening and intentions clear, which is exactly how I like it. I think the most helpful changes I've made in the last week to help me turn things around are...

• going to bed before midnight
• reestablish that I'm training for something (NYC marathon - 16+ wks left!)

I wish those were magic bullets every time I feel lazy, worn or burned out, but it seems to change every single time. I've come to realize that I just have to try and minimize the damage whenever this period happens.

That said, I'm off to do some pushups, pullups and stretches. I haven't been keeping up with my strength exercises as I should because I realized I'm not going to reach 100 straight or 30 straight. As of tonight, my max numbers are as follows:

• 25 pullups. Last two barely got my chin past the bar.
  
• 65 pushups. I think this number is affected because I do it after my pullups.

Anyways, it's good to feel reenergized and no longer mopy dopy.

Strength Training Update

It's been over week since me and a couple of colleagues started our strength training challenge, with the ultimate goal being 100 pushups straight and 30(?) pullups straight. I've done reps about every other or every 3rd day. The following is a comparison of my baseline start last week and where I am today.

6/26/09
60 pushups
13 pullups

7/2/09
65 pushups
19 pullups

Quite a big jump on the pullups, so I think it's a combination of a weak night last week and doing them wrong today. I think I'm supposed to straighten my arms and hang before I start my next one. Have a little less than a month to be my mini version of a ninja warrior! :-)

Strength Training

Suffice it to say that for now, I'm out of running mode. That does not mean that I'm not running. I'm just running to maintain now and not push so much to get faster times. I have about three weeks left in this mode. Until then, I've decided to devote some time to a little bit of strength training. Specifically, some of my colleagues and myself are competing to be able to do 100 pushups straight and 30 pullups straight. I'm about halfway on the pushups and almost halfway to the pullups. I'm hoping that 5 short weeks will help me to my goal. I'll try to document my progress here on a biweekly basis.

My starting point on June 26, 2009:
60 pushups
13 pullups