Hawaii and Miami On My Mind . . .

Yesterday was the official National Run Day and more importantly, it was the 5th anniversary of Hiroko and I wedding ceremony.  It wasn't our actual anniversary because we were married in Japan at Kasukabe city hall in September, but waited until June to have our wedding because of work and the difficult nature of having a wedding in Hawaii and asking all of the guests to travel there from either Japan or the east coast of the U.S.  Regardless, June 1st is still a very special day for us.

Has it really been 5 years?

But, since it was in the middle of the week, we had decided to move most of our festivities to other days.  We had planned to still go to a workout class after work and then just have a nice dinner and chill, but I failed to notice that the class wasn't on the schedule this week.  Therefore we waited until the evening heat had started to die down, and went to Shelley Lake.  Hiroko wasn't feeling up to running so she walked around the lake while I ran.  I got about 2/3 round the lake before doubling back and meeting up with Hiroko to walk the rest of the way.  All told I ran just shy of 2 very sweaty, sticky, miles, which I thought was just about all that was needed because I wanted to spend some time at the lake with Hiro. All day yesterday, we found ourselves talking about how much we have changed in the last five years.  We remembered that trip to Hawaii for our wedding and just couldn't imagine that it was five years ago.  Running was a big topic in this conversation because it has unexpectedly become a major part of my life.  At the time of our wedding, I had lost a great deal of weight, but most of that was do to my lifestyle in Japan.  I still was not health conscious and running was not something that either of us ever though that I would do, let alone, have it become such a major part of my life.

Which brings me to Miami . . .

Recently I signed up to run my first Half Marathon, The Neuse River Bridge Run, and can feel that it has changed the we I am living.  I am already changing my diet, mixing up my workouts, and feel like I have a real goal to strive towards.  Also, the idea of running a full marathon has gone from "something that I might one day do" to part of a natural progression.  I have been trying to find the right Marathon that fits in with my commitments, running goals, and Hiroko and I's work schedules. 

This morning I was reading Emily from Sweat Once a Day 's blog post about signing up for races on National Run Day because she was unable to run.  One of the Races was the  Miami Marathon on January 28th, 2012, which would fit exactly into my schedule.  Also, Miami is one of those places that I have always wanted to go, but just don't have a great reason to go.  Well, it looks like I might just have a great reason to go!  None of the Raleigh Marathon's will work for me until at least April, and if I am going to travel to a marathon I want it to be some place on the east coast and warm.  The only thing that is holding me back from registering is that I haven't yet run a half marathon.  But, I really like the idea of setting up a great goal and working towards it for the remainder of the year. 

I know that I could wait and think things through some more, but that is just not my style.  This is what I want and it works for me.  So what I guess I am say is that . . . I will see you in Miami!

Thursday June 3rd: Two-a-Day -- Nat'l Run Day & Roping

In the morning on Thursday, I went to Plycore.  It was a Nat'l Run Day!  I stuggled a bit with this one.  My left quad was really tight and would really burn while I was running up hill or up the stairs.  However, I was able to make the best of it.

The Workout:

2 long laps outside: .36 miles
20 Dips
20 push ups
50 crunches
20 curls 8lb dumbells
20 back extentions
6 flights of stairs up and down
5 pull ups

I did this three times in just over an hour.


In the afternoon, I returned and Jump Roped:

15 90second intervals with 15 seconds in between.

All in all, it was a good workout day.

Plycore: Monday Is Run Day and That's My Fun Day.

Plycore class was an awesome way to start my work week. Sometimes a workout will just fit your mood and this workout did just that. I had been feeling like I had lost my way a bit because the previous week had been so hectic, and I hadn't had a great workout experience since the following Monday because of the distractions in our classes in the middle of the week and my owm busy schedule over the weekend. In addition to the poor quality of my workouts, we were also having a cold spell with a lot of rain, so I was starting to see my mood slide a bit, and I needed to do something to right the old mental ship asap. That was why Dan's return as the Monday morning instructor was so welcome to me.

As much as I like and respect the other Monday morning instructors, Dan's Monday Plycore are my favorite classes at the Y. Granted Bryan's 12 day's of Christmas are quickly gaining ground, but Plycore and Dan's 900 just push me to test myself in a way that doesn't come to me naturally. It is kind of hard to explain, but when I am taking these classes I feel like there are three versions of myself out there: past, present, and future. I can run away from the past me that is out of shape and watching his life slip past him daily and I chase the futre me that is strong, in shape, and has a positive outlook. Also, these classes useully don't require direction from the instructor, so I can turn on my I-pod and really focus on what I am doing. Lastly, even though these workouts are challenging, they rarely require me to attempt an exercise that I feel might injure me more than anything I would do in the course of one of my solo workouts.

This class was by far a National Run Day, but the runs were a good combination of distances and broken up by enough exercises that I was gassed after one set. The only thing that I would have like to change about this class was that we didn't have any abs.

The Workout:

4 laps around the track (warm up)

3 sprint across the gym & back peddle back
10 push ups
15 dips
10 step ups each leg
10 Squats
4 Flights of stairs
5 Chin ups
2 laps around the track
Repeat as many time as possible in 40 mins.

I did 4 sets and started a 5th.

Sprints and side shuffles
Leap Frogs and Burpees
Repeat for 10 mins

I did 3 sets.

Nat'l Run Day III, Out Running Myself: Thursday Plycore

Yes, this class qualifies as another National Run Day. But, more importantly, this class marks a very significant change for me. When I started taking these morning classes, the first class that I took was a Thursday Plycore class. It was mid-September and still warm, so Dan was having us run our laps outside around the building. I remember by the second warm up lap I was so winded that I was walking part of the way. At the time, I felt kind of in shock about my poor conditioning because I had been working out for a while and could see an improvement from where I had been at the beginning of the summer. But, on that morning in September, as I tried to force my feet to move it struck me just how far I had to go if I really wanted to get healthy.

Since that day, I have attended nearly every week day morning class while continuing to work out on the weekends. I have noticed a huge improvement in body as the weather has gotten bad and we move our workouts inside. It has been easy to put that first class out of my mind, but yesterday the weather was nice in the morning, and Dan had us run outside for the first time in about four months. As we started our first lap around the building, I wasn't thinking about that first morning at all. I had settled into my normal position towards the back of the group, but I was keeping up. However, I started to think about that first morning as I ran up the little hillside that begins each lap. I could feel my pace beginning to pick up as I approached the spot where I had to start walking on that first morning. Something in me was not content to just keep walking. I had to open up my gate and leave that person behind. I felt good as I picked up speed and soon I noticed that I was passing my classmates one by one. By the time we entered the building again I was leading the class. But, I didn't care because frankly, in my mind there were only two people running out there: me and the guy that showed up to that class six months ago. Honestly, the rest of this workout was pretty unimportant. I couldn't maintain my pass and my classmates passed me, but I never stopped. I ran around that building six more times and never stopped.

The Workout:

2 laps around the building
20 Clean and Jerks 8 lbs dumbbells (10 each arm)
20 push ups
5 Squat Jumps
4 flights of stairs (up and down)
5 chin ups
sprints/butt kicks/ high knees up the hill

X4

Mon. Sports Conditioning: Nat'l Run Day II

Bryan was Monday's instructor and the class was once again a run fest. I am not going to try to describe the various exercises that we did because there were just too many and some were timed while others were counted, so it would really be too much effort. Basically, the class began with a really good warm up, which I enjoyed because Bryan is by far the best instructor at the Y for the quality of his warm ups. The other instructors either don't take enough time or just don't combine stretching and warm up exercises. After the warm up, we did about 40 mins. of runs, some sprints, some drills, and laps and stair. There were other exercisers like pushups and dips interspersed between these runs, but the ratio was at least 3:1. Following the running segment of class, we did some kickboxing drills for about 10 mins. and a cool down.

Overall, I like Bryan's class because it forces me to do things that are more geared for smaller more agile people, and when you are 6 foot something and closer to three bills than two, agile is not a word that is often used to describe you neither are nimble or quick. In fact ,the words you hear are lumbering or bulky But, this class really forces me to use my motor skills and make a lot of controlled movements, which is just something that is not a part of my other classes. Also, Bryan's class is offers a good balance of drills, running, and exercise. However, it does not change very much from one week to the next, so I am glad that it is not offered more than once or twice a week, so that I can use it as a change of pace.

Mon. Sports Conditioning: Nat'l Run Day

Today's Sports Conditioning instructor was Bryan, and the thing that you have to know about Byan is that his classes are very run intensive. Also, Bryan in a kickboxing instructor, so he does a lot of alternative training things like crawling. I can't frickin' stand crawling am not a fan of crawling. I am pretty comfortable with the present course of human evolution:

Crawling is just not my thing. Now, I really enjoyed the non-crawling portions of Bryan's class and glad to see that he had PHLEGMATIC sweat producing workout in mind today as well.

Today's Workout was not the type that was easy to track, so here is are the basics:

5 laps in the gym
Warm up:
Jumping jacks
Punches
8 point push ups (kind of like a burpee, but you speard you legswhile your in the plank postion, then move them back together, then do the push up.)

Main Workout:

Walking lunges
Jog (forward and backward)
High knees
Line Jumps (the class lines up and the last person at the goes down the line high-fiving the whole class in a wave like fashion)

Hops across the B-ball court
Crawls: Spiderman & Bear
Side shuffles, backward runs, running and shuffling, ect.
2 laps around the gym
5 Bldg. laps (down the stairs, though the bldg., back up two flights of stairs, around the track, repeat)
Rope ladder drills ( high knees, Ali shuffle, ect.)
Incline push ups & dips
Punching the heavy bag
Leg Raises
2 laps around the gym
Walking planks
Jumping lunges
Jump squats
Incline push ups

Class time: 60 mins.
This class was really more difficult than it should have been. It made me realize that I need to take a day off, so tomorrow will be an off-day.