My Journey Through Rehab

Well we finished 20-2 in the regular season and got bounced in the first round of the playoffs. It was the best 2 out of 3 and we won the first game easily and then got our butts kicked in the second game. The third game we were down by 3 in the bottom of the 7th (last inning) got the bases loaded w/no outs and couldn’t score a run. We deserved to lose but it still sucks to end the season like this. The only good thing is now I won’t be drinking so much after the games. Most of these guys are softball friends so I only see them during the season and we tend to party a little too much during the year. I’ll see if I can be in better shape next year. Let the off-season conditioning begin.

I have 2 weeks until my run in Manhattan and wanted to get in about 10.5 miles. For those who are familiar with Jones Beach it turned out to be from the start of the bike path until I reached the boardwalk was 5.25 miles. I stopped went to the bathroom and filled my water bottle than walked to the front of the boardwalk to look at the ocean. Bill is stirring up some serious waves and brought water all the way to the front. It was probably good for surfers but I didn’t see any of them out there either.

Man I hope it’s cooler in 2 weeks I was drenched when I finished. I’m sure I can add the extra 3.7 miles so I don’t know how far I’m going to go next week. Playing a little golf this afternoon, hope I shoot better than last time. And yes I will be getting a cart!

I haven’t done the Ab Ripper X video in a while due to my ab strain but it’s been feeling better and I’ve been doing different Ab exercises since. I popped the video in this morning and it kicked my butt in a good way. I’m going to start doing this again after my runs and I’ll see where I get with it. I checked out my abs after the workout and they looked pretty good. Hopefully they’ll keep getting better and I’ll get that elusive six pack.

Got in a 9.3 mile run this morning and am shooting for a 10 or 10.5 next week and then I should be good to go for Manhattan run. I’m thinking I should buy some protein powder as I think I’m burning muscle on these long runs and would like to maintain what I have and increase it instead of losing. I’ve never bought any so if anyone has suggestions on what kind to buy it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

My goal was to get an 8 mile run in today and I did and probably could have gone further. I have a little over a month to get to 14 for my run in NYC in Sept. I was a little tired for my exercise after my run so I only did 2 sets of pushups and bench dips. I should do legs later on but I’m not sure. I have a party later on and I’m going to a minor league in Brooklyn tomorrow so I probably should. I’ll see how I feel.

I committed to a 14.2 mile run on Sept 6th. I ran this last year and really enjoyed it. It starts at 220th street in the Bronx and goes the length of Manhattan on the West side and ends at the beginning of Battery Park. It’s not like running the NYC marathon but the course is great and the views are awesome. The problem is I haven’t run more than 8 miles since last years race and I have been stuck on about 6 or 7 miles for my long run on Sunday mornings. The guy I’m running with is slower than me so hopefully his pace will keep me going further, he’s also getting ready to run the NYC marathon in October so he should be ready for this. I hope to be up to 10 miles by the time the race comes because I should be able to add 4 miles to that race day. I’m also trying to get a cousin of mine to run a 5k in December. She’s a newbie and scared of the thought. I’ll keep bugging her till she says yes. The long run should have no impact on my lifting sessions so maybe I can shed a little fat in the process.

The weather here in NY was so nice this weekend I had to take advantage of it. Did a 5k and hills on Saturday than did legs and shoulders about noon and went biking for about 12 miles later in the day. Than today I ran 7 miles this morning, worked chest and tris about noon and went for another bike ride later in the afternoon. If the other team had showed up on Friday night it would have basically been non stop this weekend. Both days after the runs I also did my pullups, pushups and tricep dips. I hope the weather stays this nice.

Just got back from the park, ran my 5k than sprinted 9 hills and did 50 pullups, 75 pushups and 60 tricep dips. I’m glad to report that my abs felt just about normal, maybe about 95%. It felt really good to go full sprint up those hills. I’ll probably go a few extra weeks like this before I take out the weighted vest again. While I was walking to do my last set of pullups someone saw me doing pushups on a bar that the park had installed and he told me he never saw it before and he was going to go do a set. It’s always good to see other people putting in the work too.

My training after my runs is getting better and longer. I’ve been doing about 4 sets of pullups/chinups with different hand widths. I’ve also been doing 3 sets of pushups and situps and now I’ve started doing tricep dips by moving 2 picnic tables together. I’ve been leaving the park as big as when I finish working out with the weights.

My abs are just about right again and my training is really going well. I’ve added a 4th day of weights and I’m trying to switch it up between heavy and low and light and high reps. I’ve been doing bodypart training and I think I’m ready for full body workouts again just to change it up. As for my running I’ve started the running the hills again on Saturday’s and my long run on Sunday is 8 miles. I think I’m going to add another half mile but stop adding there. My mid week runs are about 4.6 each so my total for the week will be about 20 miles. The only thing I’m struggling with is my pace. I think it might be the warmer weather slowing me down but I’m not sure. I’ll have to try to figure out why it’s not as fast.