The little-bit-of-everything day

It certainly wasn't as ceremonious as Friday's events in Beijing, but today marked a big day for me -- I returned to riding my bike. It wasn't much -- just a little more than 4 miles -- but I'll take anything considering it's been just a month since I hurt my tail bone. I still am having some issues with sitting, but it's not anything too terribly bad. It seems to bother me more at night when I get in the bed, and it still bugs me to sit in a car for very long. It's more of a major discomfort than actual pain.

Anyway, today was one of those days in which I didn't really feel like running. After my walk/jog with my dog, I decided to dust off the bike seat since I didn't want to force a run. After my ride, I got out my dumbbells and did a few reps with my upper body. Lifting weights was putting odd pressure on my tail bone before, so I've stayed away from them.

Meanwhile, the weather is looking great this week. It's been an odd summer with these cool spells. It's also been very dry. While some parts of Richmond have gotten several storms in the past couple of weeks, my neighborhood keeps missing them. My backyard looks like late September with dried up leaves falling off the trees. It's really bad. I've mowed my yard just twice since early June. Even neighbors who waste water trying to have green lawns look like they're giving up hope.


Workouts since Aug. 7:
Aug. 7: Walk - 2.1
Aug. 8: Walk - 1; Run - 10.1
Aug. 9: Walk - 1.6; Run - 4.2
Aug. 10: Attended Watermelon Festival in Richmond
Week totals: Walk - 8.8; Run - 23.5
Aug. 11: Walk - 1.1; Run - 1.3; Bike - 4.1; Weights

Take It and Run Thursday: Cross Training

Today's "Take It and Run" theme over at the Runners Lounge is cross training. It's an interesting theme for me considering that I really only recently discovered the benefits of cross training. For four-plus years I've thought running was just the thing to do to get or stay in shape. For a brief time in '04 I lifted weights, but I thought it only made my arms look better. I didn't realize that it could help my running.

If you've followed my blog, you know that in the past month or so I've taken up bike riding and weight lifting after back-to-back injuries this past winter. Now that I'm pain-free again, I am feeling the best I have felt in a long time when running, and I have cross training to thank for that. By mixing in a little bit of weight lifting and a little bit of bike riding, it's taken my focus off running a little bit. My running is feeling more care free these days, and that's a good thing. Running feels more natural than it ever has before -- I always felt I was thinking about it too much.

I know I have a long way to go to get back to the shape I was in, but I can guarantee that cross training will be a big part of my training this summer for Virginia Beach's Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. I hope in three months I can revisit this subject and actually offer some advice on what to do. I'm already considering taking part in 2009's National Duathlon Festival, so getting in better biking shape will be key to me later this year.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I haven't mentioned swimming ... well, to put it simply, I don't swim. I'm not totally ruling it out -- I did do a marathon after once saying I never would -- but I highly doubt it'll happen anytime soon. In addition to needing lessons, I also would need to join a gym or join my neighborhood pool this summer, both impossible considering things going on in my professional life.

Good runs keep on coming

How hard is it for you to have two good runs in a row? How about three? What about four? It seems that the biggest problem with running is that good runs don't happen often enough. After nearly every run my wife asks me, "Did you have a good run?" It's usually hard to answer that question. If it's a normal day in which I don't care about pace, it's tough to have a bad run, but it's tough to say yes. If I have a tempo run, "good" can turn to awful if I'm a few seconds off the pace I seek. If I'm running more than 10 miles, "good" may be determined by the weather or if I had to take a bathroom break during the run.

But in the past week, with the focus of my runs being to get through them without any pain, I've had excellent runs. I haven't focused on pace, but my trusty Garmin tells me I'm in about a 9-minute mile pace. It's so great to be at that pace for a comfortable run. It makes me eager to do some sort of interval training very soon. With no planned races yet, I have nothing to worry about. Being able to run worry-free is an added bonus I don't think I've ever had.

So back to this consistency with good runs. Today I put in 4.2 miles (as well as a mile walking) and things continued to go well. My upper body was sore from lifting weights yesterday, so things actually felt weird at first. It had been a while since I lifted enough to be this sore, but it's a great feeling to have. It's almost like I can feel things changing even though my scale doesn't want to change.

Also with today's run, my May miles passed my April total. That's almost hard to believe, but it's great to put all that behind me now.

The big 4.0

Excluding races, it's been almost two months since I ran 4 miles or more. I ran 6 miles on March 8 and participated in the 8k on March 15 the day before the half marathon. Ever since then -- except for the 10k in early April -- I haven't ran much. When I have, it's only been a mile or two at a time. When last week came along, I got in three miles, which was a good confidence builder.

This week I've gotten in runs of 2.1 miles, 1 mile and 2.4 miles. Today, though, I hit 4 miles. I've been overly worried about running coming off back-to-back injuries, but hitting 4 miles tells me that it's OK to run again. I'm not going to all of a sudden bump my mileage back up, but after two weeks of decent short runs, I'm ready to lay out a game plan to slowly build it up. Slow and steady wins the race ... or at least will make me a better runner by the end of August.

On a cross-training note, I must admit that it's very nice to be back into a routing of lifting weights. Even though it's only been a few weeks, I can already see small results in my arms. It's like 2004 all over again. This is about the time of year I started and by July I was feeling great and could really see the results. This year, though, there's no excuse of a wedding and honeymoon to interrupt things.

Back to Basics

After being sick last week and having a totally worthless week, this week has been all about getting back on my feet and having small accomplishments. I finally got back to running after more than a week off following the 10k. It hasn't been much, but the key thing right now is making sure my foot is OK. I've ridden my bike once and hope to get a few miles in tomorrow if it's not raining. I've also gotten two solid weight-lifting days in, with a third coming tomorrow if it is raining. On top of all that, I've gotten some good walks in totaling about 10 miles so far for the week.

Coming off an injury and then being sick, my plan this week was to take it slow and see what happens. I was one run away from going to a doctor about my foot, but after more than 2 miles this morning, plus a mile walk and some yard mowing, all feels fine. I expect that I will very slowly build my mileage up over the next few weeks before I even think about another race. There are so many races in Richmond, so there's nothing to rush into right now.

My upper body is a bit sore from weight lifting, but nothing unexpected or too bad to prevent me from actually liking it. On the second day this week, I felt very focused when working out -- it was a feeling I hadn't had in quite a long time. Continuing the consistency into weeks two and three is what is key now. After that, it'll be a habit.

So now that I feel like my health is back, I finally feel appreciative that it's spring. It's a good time to kind of start over and get refocused on life and training.

It's not a clothes hanger

David, this is the weight machine. Weight machine, this is David. For the past year-plus I've been one of "those" people. I bought a home gym in early 2007 -- I just HAD to have one. "I'll use it. I need it for cross training," is what I always said.

Well, using it once every couple of weeks doesn't really count. At least I've never hung any clothes on it. But I'm determined more than ever to finally make this home gym part of me. I want to become one with this thing ... or least use it two to three times a week.

This week is the beginning of breaking into a routine. I made a spreadsheet with each of the exercises and squares to include the number of reps I do, as well as which weight I use. Day one yesterday was a reintroduction to this beast. I did at least two sets with each exercise to get a feel for what was comfortable so I'm not going into it blindly next time. By "next time" I mean Wednesday, not two weeks from now.

Lifting weights has always been my weakness, but once it becomes routine I know I'll like it. In 2004 when I first lost weight, I lifted about once a week, but about mid-way through that year I got into it twice a week. Then toward the end of the year I just kind of stopped and have never gotten into anything regular -- generally lifting about once or twice a month.

Speaking of losing weight, I also am getting back into the regular routine of having a "weigh in" day on Fridays. I'll detail this more later, but am posting now to hold me accountable.

Lastly, I haven't ran since the 10k. (Well, OK, I did do 0.2 miles yesterday with my dog and felt fine.) Last week was awful with everything since I was sick, but I'm feeling 200 percent better this week. I'm really feeling motivated to just rethink everything when it comes to fitness over the next couple of months. Running will still be my big thing, but lifting weights and biking are already nice change of paces for a short time. My eye will be on the big prize soon enough, but for now I'm content doing other things.

The first mile of '08

To say this week has been frustrating is an understatement. I know I did the right thing by not running. I told myself after last Friday's run that I'd take a whole week off. So this morning I ended my one-week ban of running and got a mile in with my dog. I'd say it was successful because my foot didn't really bother me, but I wanted to go farther. I know, though, that if I want to avoid being hurt I have to take it slowly. I will very likely attempt 2 or 3 miles tomorrow and then analyze things from there.

Of note this week is the fact that I lifted weights on Thursday. I hadn't lifted in a while, but I plan to get back into a regular routine at least a couple of times a week.