Tuesday 12 Days and Running: 3/29

After two runs through Umstead and an honest attempt to re-center myself, Monday turned into an off day due to fatigue and some errands that needed to be done.  Resting Monday helped me take time to gain some perspective on my weekend runs and their significance.  By Tuesday, I gained a bit of clarity and felt rested.  I also felt the need to really push myself, to cause myself pain, and to take it.  Hiroko needed to go to different store to help train a new person, which gave me an opportunity to step up and help out by cooking dinner.  I enjoy cooking, but Hiroko's meals have more balance and are just better, so I usually cook dinner when she is busy or struggling to come up with a fresh idea.  I focus upon cooking breakfast on days we have off together and try to do the bulk of the dishes following our meals.  However, I told Hiro that I would cook that night since she would be getting home late. 

At first I thought about attending the Toning class after work and then making dinner, but I was afraid that it wouldn't leave me with enough time to finish before Hiroko go home.  Things would be a bit more complicated by the fact that Hiro would have the car and I would by either on bike or foot the entire day.  I rode to work in the morning and decided that class just didn't make sense, so I rode home and put together the soup/chili I was making for dinner, which I knew could use some time to sit for the flavors to blend.  After finishing the soup/chili, I ran to the gym.  I tried to push myself on the run.  I wanted to be nearly beat by the time that I arrived at the gym.  Traffic was difficult but I was able to run the whole trip without having to wait for a light or stop at an intersection, which was a minor accomplishment in and of itself.  I completed the 1.64 to the gym in 14.42.24 -- the fastest time I have made it to the gym in since I began running there.  My pace was 8:57, which is pretty good considering the hills are more challenging in this direction.  The first mile was took 9:32.28  and the last .64 - 5:09.42 for an 8.03 pace.

Once I got to the gym I decided to do a 12 days of Christmas:

1. Burpees (with a push up)
2. Lunges with 10lbs. dumbbells (each leg)
3. Fire Hydrant (each leg with a leg extension)
4. Curls with 10 lbs. dumbbells (each arm)
5. Push ups
6. Bicycles
7. Prisoner Squats with an elbow to knee leg raise on each side
8. Hamstring Pulls with exercise ball
9. Arm extensions
10. Crossover crunches
11. Heel Raises
12. Standard Crunch

The Hamstring pulls, Prisoner Squats, and Push ups were by far the most difficult of all of the exercises during this workout.  By the 12th day I wasn't sure if I would be able to do the last 5 push ups with anything close to a good form.  As soon as I finished the last Burpee, I put everything away, and got my stuff from Locker 29 and began the run home. 

I was able to do the return 1.66 in 14:16.45 at an 8:35 pace, but I was crushed at the end.  I benefited greatly by a good size downhill at the end of the run.  My general idea was to see how hard I could push myself to run after having run to the gym and done a pretty difficult workout.  I think that I am trying to convince myself that I have more left in the tank at the end of my races that I think and can get away with pushing harder over the last mile than I had previously thought.  We'll see if this helps in anyway or not.  I did the first mile towards home in 8:39.95 and the last .66 in 5:36.50 for an 8.28 pace.  I also, didn't have to stop for traffic on the return run either. 

HIroko, enjoyed the dinner that I made, so all in all everything workout really well.