Tuesday Toning Class: 2/9/11

As part of my re-dedication efforts to cross training.  Hiroko and I hit the Tuesday Toning class again this week.  Bryan was back, and there was a full house.  Having a different instructor last week was a nice change of pace, but it is nice to know what to expect from a class.  The main difference between Bryan and Grant's classes are that Bryan's approach is more measured a steady, while Grants is my active and dynamic.  I like both approaches to the class because I feel like with Bryan I am sure to hit the different muscle groups and can really focus on my form.  Grant's class, however, is more likely to push me to move outside of my comfort zones and work harder.  Both classes offer great workouts, Bryan's through focus and Grant's through activity. 

I can tell that my conditioning level has improved since I have returned to classes.  I wasn't totally crushed by this workout like I was in early January when I returned to the class.  I know that if I want to improve my running I will needed to really improve my base level of fitness.  One of the best aspects of attending classes is that they force me to do exercises that I usually avoid when I work out on my own.  Recently, I have not wanted to do squats, but Bryan had us doing a lot of squats right at the beginning of class forcing me to do something that I will guarantee you that I would have avoided had I not taken class. 

Two-a-Day nOg Run, Lone Ranger Style: 2/7

I needed to get a run in today after work.  I had somethings to mull over, and I just wanted to be outside.  Plus, like I've said before, I want to rededicate myself to my fitness goals, so I decided to go to the nOg run.  However, Hiro and I really needed to go to the Asian market and wouldn't be able to make it to the market before they closed if I waited until after the run.  I decided instead to go to the latecomers start at 6:30 after going to the Market.  However, I don't think that there was a latecomers start or I just missed them, but either way I ended up running the nOg run alone. 

I didn't really mind it because it was a nice night, and it gave me the time to myself that I really felt like I needed.  I made on wrong turn because of the darkness, but it had no effect on my run.  I ended up doing 2.82 miles and felt really good about my run considering I had done a pretty good workout this morning. 

Mile 1: 8:58.58
Mile 2: 9:25.99
Last .82 7:06.50 at a 8:42 pace.

2.82 in 25:31.16 at a 9:03 pace.

Monday Morning Sport's Conditioning: 2/7/11

My next race is The St. Patty's Run Green 8K on March 5th, and I am hoping to have a good showing. Over the course of my last few races, I haven't seen or felt the level of improvement that I had wished. The main reason for this is my lack of crosstraining and focus upon running only. Part of which was out of necessity because of injuries, but mainly, I lost my interest in my workout classes, and let my injuries, the weather, and holiday's interfere with my conditioning efforts. I have increased my workout class attendance since the new year, but I wouldn't consider it to be adequate to achieve my goals. This morning, I forced myself to get up and drag my sorry self to the gym for the 5:45am class despite having stayed up late after watching the Super Bowl. I know that Monday's set the tone for my workout week and if I can get up for the morning class I am much more likely to continue getting up the remainder of the week.

Hamstring exercise that we did in class today.

This morning's class was exactly what I needed. Lisa was today's instructor, and her class had a nice mix of exercise. She does an excellent job of blending more traditional exercises like push ups and leg lifts and pairing them with sprints and exercise ball exercises. My only wish is that she Incorporated, some more weights into the class. However, I don't think that it would have worked in conjunction with the exercise ball today. Adding weights wouldn't have allowed us to focus our attention. Lisa does a good job of keeping our heart rates elevated and making sure that we try to push ourselves. I am enjoying her classes more and more each time that I take them.

Post Krispy Kreme Run: 2/6

We are having another beautiful Sunday, and I am once again not feeling all that great.  This time it isn't because of exhaustion from running and travel.  No, I am not feeling well due to the dozen doughnuts that I ate as part of Yesterday's Krispy Kreme Challenge.  Neither Hiroko or I got sick last night; However, we both fell victim to something close to diabetic comas.  I slept for 4 hours following the race, and Hiroko passed out for 9 hours . . . I kid you not . . . 9 hours of solid sugary sleep!  The aftermath of the Challenge continued into this morning as I felt bloated and feared straying to far from the friendly confines of my own apartment.  However, like last Sunday, I was afraid to ignore the gift of a beautiful day such as this, so I decided to go for a run on the Meredith College Track that is just two blocks from where we live. 

I wanted to run, but didn't feel confident in straying too far from home.  Plus, the track's surface would do my ankle good.  The ankle is doing much better, but gets a little tender after running.  I wasn't sure how much I would run and didn't really have a plan when I arrived at the track.  I decided to just run as hard as my body would let me for as long as I could go because I really needed to burn off some doughnuts!  I ran two mile in 17:07.08, which I felt was really good considering I did the KKC yesterday.  I did the first mile in 8:36.84 and the second in 8:30.84.  I thought about doing a third mile but was starting to feel the doughnut and decided to quit while I was ahead.

Krispy Kreme Challenge: (Race/Challenge): 2/5/11

Time to eat the doughnuts!

The Krispy Kreme Challenge is one of a kind event that is part of the local Raleigh cultural fabric, and you are almost obligated to take part in the challenge if you live in this area.  Hiroko and I had not taken part in the Challenge since moving to Raleigh from Kasukabe, Japan in 2006.  We set out to change that this year.  I will start by saying that I was NOT the one that wanted to participate in the Challenge.  Hiroko started saying that she wanted to take on the Challenge the moment she her about it.  Hiro loves to eat sweets, and the idea of eating a dozen hot sticky sweet scrumptious Krispy Kreme's as part of a mass social experience just really appealed to her.  I think that for her it was about being part of American culture and fitting in with the community as well as eating a dozen doughnuts!  I always found myself reminding her about the running components of the challenge.  Eating a dozen Krispy Kreme's is one thing, but running 2.37 miles, eating a dozen doughnuts, and running 2.37 again in under an hour, is a whole different animal!  But, she never waivered in her desire to take on the challenge.  Therefore, as 2010 progressed and running became a larger and larger part of my life and Hiroko supported me through each new aspect of my running life, I knew that I would need to repay my debt to her, which is why when it came time to sign up for the 2011 Kirspy Kreme Challenge, Hiroko and I became part of the 7,500 registered participants.  And we decided that if we were going to do the challenge that there would be only one way to do it -- as Challengers!!!  We would do the run, eat the doughnuts, and run back.  There would be no carrying the doughnuts back for us.   We were all in!



The Race Begins



I regretted my decision almost instantaneously upon registering.  I do not have a good track record when it comes to vomiting and had at one point in my life acquired the nickname Puke Skywalker for having lost my lunch atop Mt. Fuji among other notable and epic spews.  About a week ago Hiroko and I came across the ESPN report from the 2009 KKC, and after watching it, I became really nervous about the challenge. I would even go as far as to say that I became something akin to a bitch about it.  Hiroko and I even went to Krispy Kreme and ate three doughnuts each just to see how it would feel, and it didn't feel too good, so I became even worse about the race.  Also the weather was forecasting rain for the day of the Challenge. 



Elvis Loves Krispy Kreme

 And not just a light sprinkle, but a nice good steady rain on a 35 degree morning.  So after week of pissing and moaning about how I wasn't the one that got us into this I set my mind to the challenge . . . rain, cold and regurgitation be damned!  The night before the race I took Hiroko out and got her a waterproof running jacket, and ready myself for my first race in the rain.

It's cold

Runnin' for doughnuts!

This morning Hiroko and I awoke to find that the weather people sure got this one right.  When we left our house to go to the race it was in the midst of a nice downpour that was cold-cold.  We of course accidentally stepped in the runoff at the first street that we crossed just to make sure that we had soaking wet feet before the race even started!  I was not a happy camper until, we saw all of the people starting to gather at the NC State Belltower, then the spirit of the event began to take hold, and I started to look forward to the Challenge, despite the weather, and my certainty that I was about to be very ill.  The crowds was in good spirits and many of the people had come out in costumes: Spiderman, Batman, Elvis.  King Leonidas and Bikini Girl were by far the gutsiest costumes that I saw considering the 35 degree temp and rain. 



Doughnuts Down in a Flash & Hiro's dream!





The girl that gave me my dozen

The start of the race found both Hiroko and I in great spirits and the first two miles were actually fairly easy.  The crowd did slow us down some and came across a couple of people carrying open umbrellas amid the runners, which was just ridiculously selfish, dangerous, and stupid.  But other than that everyone seemed to be having a blast and doing thier best to make this a fun and safe event for everyone.  Hiro and I did the first mile in 9:20.07 and the second in 9:21.14, which were not too bad considering the rain and the crowd.



Some People Go a Bit Far

Still soft and yummy!

1 and 2

Number 1

Then came the doughnuts.  They were not as cold as I thought that they would be and the first two went down easily.  I did them one at a time, and the rain seemed to help keep the moist.  After the first two, I began to smash mine together,  I think that Hiro took that approach from the start.  Doughnuts 3 and 4 were no problem, and I was still enjoying the taste.  People were talking, having a great time, and trying not to think about the next part of the run.  I kept my Garmin going, so I would have an idea of how long I still had if I wanted to get back in under an hour.  Really, the biggest issue I was having was that my hand were so cold that I could hardly use them.  I smashed 5,6, and 7 together and ate them like a hot dog, but the doughnuts were starting to put up a fight and the sugar taste was getting a bit too much.  As I finished 8, Hiro was starting her 6th and having doubts.  She really wanted water, so we moved around looking for water, but couldn't find any until someone gave us a cup that he had not drank from.  Number 9 was the most difficult for me.  10 wasn't much better, but 11 and 12 were fine.  I had swished out my mouth after 10 and the last two went down gleefully.  Hiro on the other hand was struggling and didn't know if she would be able to finish.  She was on 8 and not feeling great about it, so she told me to go on without her. 

4, 5, 6!

Still tasty

11 & 12

I start jogging around the Krispy Kreme to deposit my empty box and go through the gate for Challengers without any real issues.  I wasn't feeling that bad at all.  Honestly, I had been so sure that I would be sick as a dog, but I wasn't.  I felt a little heavy and a bit bloated but the run wasn't that bad.  In fact both the NHL 5k and the Autism 5k were much worse for me.  I had a little problem at the hill on the corner of St. Mary's and Hillsborough St. when I saw a guy lose what appeared to be a full dozen, but even the sight of someone else being sick wasn't that bad.  The worst part of the return was the smell from the IHOP.  The smell of bacon grease was not what I needed while running with a dozen glazed doughnuts in my belly.  But, even that was alright.  Mile 3's time is too difficult to figure with the eating time factored in.  I did it in 25:05.38 and at least 17 mins. of that was eating time.  Mile 4 took me 9:52.99 and I ran the last .74 at a 9.20 pace, which I am proud of considering.

Hiroko struggles

Last bite

Feeling good?

I made it to the finish in just under one hour but couldn't cross the sensor because of a bottleneck caused by people stopping at the finish line.  My official time was 1 hour, 32 seconds, but I consider the challenge completed. According to my Garmin I ran the Challenge in 1 hour and 36 seconds.  However, I had been standing and waiting to cross the finish for awhile before I turned it off.  My best guess is that I did it in around 59mins 40 seconds.

Some People Carry Their Doughnut Back . . . but that is just WEAK!





Belltower in sight

Hiroko was able to finish all 12 doughnuts and complete the race in 1 hour and 4 mins and 18 seconds.  Neither one of us got sick, and we were both kind of shocked by the fact that it wasn't all that bad.  I think that the cold and rain actually helped.  It kept you from getting too hot, the doughnuts stayed moist, and the smells were not overwhelming.  After the race, we both fell victim to a crashing sugar high and feel into comas that lasted around 4 hours.  I don't think that I will be doing this again anytime soon.

Finish Line

Krispy Kreme Challenge: Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Hiroko and I will run in the is event. I am not looking forward to this at all. Many people have asked me if I ever wanted to do The Krispy Kreme Challenge and I've always said "hell No!" However, when Hiro said that she wanted to take part in this event, I knew that I had to do it. Hiroko has supported me in all of my fitness and running efforts, so I couldn't say no. Wish me luck! I am sure that I am going to be sick!

Thursday Two a Day 2/3

I went to Dan's Morning class at 5:30am, which I had hoped would be more like it had been when I first Joined the Y.  I lot of push ups, abs, squats, sprints, and things of that nature.  But it wasn't, his classes have turned into more of a motion oriented cardiovascular workout, which is alright, but just not what I need at the moment.  Currently, I am all legs and lungs.  I have been running so much that, my legs and lungs are about the only thing that is in really good shape.   I need more traditional workouts to strengthen my core, upper body, and back. 

So, even though the class provided a good sweat and did so of the things that I needed it to do.  It did not wipe me out.  Therefore, I went to the Fleet Feet run after work and did four miles.  I got there a little on the late side because I had to stop by a different store to pick up my race packet for the Krispy Kreme Challenge and there was about a 20 min. wait.  By the time I got to Fleet Feet the group that I usually run with had already left.  I joined a different group and we did the four mile loop at about a 10 min mile pace, which was fine with me considering the morning workout and what is in store for me on Saturday. 

Mile 1: 9:47.62
Mile 2: 9:37.47
Mile 3: 9:48.81
Mile 4: 10:51.41

Tuesday Toning: 2/1

After Sunday's run, I just couldn't do anything on Monday.  I decided to take the Tuesday Toning Class at 5pm.  Hiro went with me, but we weren't sure how it was going to be because the regular instructor wasn't going to be in class and neither of us knew anything about the person listed as the replacement.  However, it turned out that Grant would be teaching the class, so we knew that it would be a good class.  Some people at the Y just love Grant's classes to death.  I am not one of those people, but I do like them a lot.  His classes are much more aerobics oriented than what I prefer, and I never attend his classes without Hiroko.  This class was a toning class and other than a small warm up there was not my by way of traditional aerobics.  Grant's style of toning is a different than Bryan's because Bryan will do a lot of different exercises to hit an area, but Grant while grant does few exercises, but changes his pacing and repetition pattern.  I enjoy both methods, but I must say that right now Grant's approach was what I needed because I have gotten too use to the way Bryan teaches.  I know that I felt this class more because my body wasn't prepared for what was coming.  Plus there aren't that many exercise that they share.  Overall, I am really happy that I went to this class.

Tribute to the Gods of Running Run: 1/30

I needed a day off from running.  I needed a day to just sit on the couch and read a book.  I needed a long nap.  However, after spending most of the morning updating this very blog and browsing Netflix, I made the mistake of looking outside and realizing that it was close to 60 degrees.  Kids were playing outside, birds were chirping, and I knew that passing up a day like this would be tantamount to slapping the Running Gods right in the face!  So, I laced em' up and headed out to offer tribute because I feared that otherwise the Gods would send a plague upon me: Blister, Boils, Sprains, and Strains, along with all the other nastiness that we runners fear.  I wasn't really sure where I wanted to run, every time I thought of somewhere to go I came up with a good reason not to go there, so I just decided to pick a direction and let the traffic patterns guide me.  If I could cross a street I did, if not I turned the corner.  Quickly enough I ended up running on Hillsborough Street towards the NCSU Campus.  I hit the one mile mark as I was running in front of NCSU and was doing alright considering . . . I did the first mile in 9:58.58 and felt good about it. 

Shortly after passing the Library another runner started to gain on me and after about a block and a half she passed by me and I decided to let her decide my next turn.  Decided to do the opposite of what ever she did at the next intersection.  If she went straight I would turn and if she turned I would go straight.  However, she turned at the bell tower just before we got to the traffic circle, so I decided to just stay on the side walk and run into the campus along Pullen Road.  By this time, I was kind of getting into my run and enjoying the day, but it was a bit breezy, and I wished that I had warn a long sleeve shirt.  Once I crossed the bridge of the railroad tracks, I turned onto Dunn, then Jeteer, and again on Cates and found myself at approaching an intersection with a different runner.  He was a student and running at a much faster pace than I but he was going to get caught at the same light as I.  At the light we would have the choice of either staying on Cates and running up a slight rise followed by mostly flat areas of campus, from which I could get home and make this about a three mile run, or turn onto Morrill Drive, which would go up a larger hill before I turned for home and make the run about a four mile run.  I decided that I would follow the student.  He of course went up Morrill Drive . . . DAMN KIDS!  I did the second mile in  9:32.53

The third mile just kind of sucked.  I ran up Morrill turned left through the parking lots of the Buildings facing Western Blvd., took a right on Dan Allen and right on Sullivan which I took out to Gorman St.  By this time, I was starting to feel bad and not looking forward to running up the little hills around the Sullivan-Gorman intersection and the bridge going back over the railroad tracks.  Iwas able to push myself to keep going because I knew if I stopped and began walking that I wouldn't be able to get myself running again.  The third mile took 9:59.47, but it felt like 3 days. 

The last .88 was a suck-fest and as I ran toward the Hillsborough St. intersection on Gorman, I was praying for a long red light.  I would have no choice but to stop at the light if I wanted to go home.  As I approached the light it was Green I feared that it would turn red before I got to the intersection.  And not give me the time that I needed to rest.  I figured that If I stopped for the light and only the light then I would be able to force myself to run the rest of the way home because the stop would have been forced by fate.  But if I stopped by choice, my spirit would be broken and I wouldn't get going again, which would have been that bad considering how close I was to home.  But, this was becoming a point of pride with me and I wanted to finish this run.  Luckily the light didn't turn until just before I got to the corner and I got to enjoy on glorious cycle of the light including a green turn arrow before I started running again.  I did the last .88 in 8:49.39 which is 10:00 min. mile pace.  When I got home I was beat and dripping sweat.  Hiroko had just arrived home from work described my aptly as Gross, which was not only how I looked but also how I felt.  But, I had done my duty and paid tribute to the Gods of running by taking advantage of the bountiful day they had provided me.

NHL All Star 5k Race Report: 1/29/2011



Rockin' the Whalers at the NHL All Star 5k

 The NHL All Star Game was held in Raleigh this weekend, and as many of you may know . . . I am a huge hockey fan.  When it come to football, I love the Raiders, but I don't really watch Football just to watch football.  However, when it comes to Hockey, I'll watch just about any two teams play.  I just love the sport!  Therefore when the All Star 5k was announced, I knew that I had to be there.  I didn't really care about going to the All Star game itself because I am not a fan of All Star games in any sport.  Mainly because they aren't really playing a real game, but that is a whole different subject.  When it came to the race the only reason I was reluctant to sign up was that I knew that I would be flying back into town from Hawaii at the beginning of the week, jet lagged,  and exhausted on race day.  After going back and forth about signing up for awhile, I finally decided to sign up about a week before I left for Hawaii.  My logic was that I would more than likely run about 3 miles on that Saturday as a regular workout so I may as well join the race and show my hockey spirit -- sounds logical enough, right!?!

I knew that Hiroko would have to work on the day of the race, so I would be attending this race solo, and decided not to bring my camera for fear of dropping and breaking it.  On the morning of the race I felt like crap.  I felt really rundown and just had very little energy, but I pulled myself together and started getting ready for the race.  Even though I live in Raleigh, I am not a Hurricane fan -- I am a Caps fan.  However, I do kind of root for the Canes when they are not playing the Caps and I am at the game, but I do not wear ANY Canes gear to the games.  Instead I wear an old Hartford Whalers tee-shirt (The Hurricanes were the Whalers before moving to Raleigh.  For my non-hockey fan reader, so the shirt is actually appropriate), which I decided to wear over my running clothes. 

Another problem that I was having to deal with was about a 40 degree swing in temperatures.  Hawaii had been around 70 degrees at 7am when I ran in the Harold Chapson 8k on Sunday, but on Saturday the temp was about 34 degrees at the start of The NHL All Star 5k.  I was having a lot of problems getting adjusted and just couldn't get warmed up.  I really didn't want to expend a lot of energy trying to get warm and then be beat at the start of the race, so I just tried to keep moving before the start of the race.  Also, I hadn't run the course before, nor gone over it before the race.  I had looked over the course map but wasn't really sure about the inclines and declines.  The race was being held at the RBC Center, so I had some idea, but I thought that the course was more flat than it turned out. 

Course Map

Overall the organization of the race was well done.  The course was well marked, there were plenty of volunteers and tons of refreshments.  The race had timing devices at both the start and finish for a true chip time.  On the downside, there wasn't any tabling at the event and the start wasn't broken up between recreational runners and competitive, nor did they attempt to have people separate themselves by pace.  I noticed that this was the case and decided with over 2,000 participants, I should get close to the front if I didn't want to be weaving around people walking for the entire first mile.  I trusted myself to get out of the way of faster runners more than I trusted others to get out of my way, so I lined up with runners that I knew were at a much higher level than mine.  The downside of this was that it contributed to me running the first mile faster than I wanted or needed to run it. 

First mile mark!

The first mile was basically a lap around the RBC center and had the most significant decline of the race.  As I said I started the race with runners that were much faster than I, so I immediately moved over to the side and tried to stay out of the way, which wasn't hard until about the 3/4 mile mark when I caught up to the kids, who had sprinted from the start and were gassed just before the first mile.  I had to weave through them and actually did end up bumping someone that abruptly stopped running right in front of me.  However, I really didn't have nearly as many issues as in the past with a mass start. I think that the cold kept a lot of the non-runners inside the RBC center, until just before the start, and the road we were running on was pretty wide and didn't cause a lot of bunching that I have encountered at other races.  I did the first mile in  8:03.48, and felt like crap by the end of it.  My lungs and legs felt fine, with no effect from the cold at all, but my diaphragm was different matter.  It was having trouble expanding.  I felt as if I were running with someone pushing on my gut right above my stomach.

Things got worse during mile 2, and I really wasn't sure that I would be able to run the whole course.  Mile 2 was almost entirely uphill.  The inclines were not steep but just constant. we passed the starting line then ran through the parking lot road past Carter Finley Stadium and out onto Trinity Rd.  Trinity was a long straight run up a gradual incline.  It was boring, ugly, and just sucked.  My diaphragm was still giving me problems, and I started to feel a little tightness in my right quad as I turned onto Trinity, but it passed  quickly and was gone by the water station at the end of mile 2.  I got some water, but once again didn't drink it and just washed out my mouth.  I finished mile two in 9:26.24

Mile three was a mixed bag.  I finally started to feel something close to alright at the beginning of the third mile when we turned onto Blue Ridge Road.  My daiphragm felt better but the good feeling as a whole was short lived.  I felt good for all of Blue Ridge and most of West Chase Rd., but as I turned back into the parking lot I was really struggling and the last half of the third mile was horrid.  I was running alright but fighting not to stop or puke.  I know that this sounds contradictory, but I just kept my legs moving as fast as I could because I just wanted this race to end.  I did mile three in 8:18.72

Feelin's so rough that I can't turn off my watch correctly

The last 10th of a mile was harsh, I tried to pick up the pace, but just didn't have much of a kick.  I am not sure just how fast I ran it because I was so messed up when I crossed the finish line that I didn't stop my watch until well after my chip had been removed.  After the race I just stumble of to the side and lay down flat on my back for a good 5mins.  I stuck around to stretch and see the official results, which were posted almost as quickly as people finished, actually impressive how quickly they were up, and what was also impressive was that I was still ghostly pale and had dark zombie eyes when I got to my car.  Really, I looked ill!   Not like a person who had just spent a week sunning in Hawaii.  My official time for the race was 26:19, which is a time that is fine with me considering how bad I felt coming into this race!