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I have slowed down on the workouts just a little, but I think that is helping with the bicep injury, and the occasional shoulder pain. I did chest-tri’s-shoulders-core on Sunday, ran yesterday (2.25 miles.. quads pooped out.  I walked three miles Sunday night, so I may have over done things, but I’ll get it done on Thursday.) Took a day off yesterday, and did legs-biceps-back today.
  
Leg Press — Machine 2 x 5 610#
Lateral Lunge with Single Arm Row 10 x 160#  12 x 120#  12 x 120#
Single-legged Seated Leg Curl 5 x 300#  5 x 240#
Seated Calf Raise — Machine 3 x 12  150#
Lat Pulldowns 2 x 15 130#
Seated Cable Row 3 x 5 120#
Arm Curl — Machine 3 x 12 70#
Cable Rope Curls 3 3 x 12 60#

I am LOVING my workouts!!  Running 2.75 miles tomorrow night.

You just can’t beat seeing progress.  Last year at this time, I was having to walk halfway through my 2.5 mile run.  I would come home angry with myself for not being able to move forward.  

Yesterday I woke up and had a really good leg-back workout, with a light bicep workout.  I even did 3 additional sets of squats after the prescribed workout, because I didn’t feel like I had hit my legs hard enough.

Then last night, time for 2.5 mile run #2.  I got through it in 33 minutes, not setting any speed records, but I made it!  As soon as I started my cool-down walk, I could feel my legs tighten up.  This morning, I am writing this on the stationary bike at the gym, and my legs are killin’ me!!  I love it!

Who knows, maybe I am a runner.  Ha ha!

Sorry I haven’t been better about blogging.  I have been slammed with work lately, so I haven’t had any brain  left with which to blog.  

Things are going great! I ran 2.25 miles non-stop on Friday with my 18 year old son.  I had to tell him in advance not to talk to me during the run, because while he can run 8 miles chatting the whole way with his buddies, I am usually running out of breath on my second mile.  He was kind enough to go as slow as me, and eventually he god bored and ran ahead and went home.  So he ended up running just under 2 miles while I continued on to 2.25 miles in 26 minutes.  I used this to my advantage when I came in, pointing out that I was a "grown-up" so it was unfair of me to expect my child to run as far as I can.  It was worth it just for the look I got, a side ways look with a little bit of a grin, like for a minute there he thought I was serious.

Yesterday afternoon I stepped it up to 2.5 miles non-stop.  My iMapMyRun app on my iPhone closed up and stopped tracking at .5 miles, so I just kept running past the point at which I thought would be 2.5 miles.  I am pretty sure that I ran at least a tenth of a mile over. I just did not want to go home thinking that I might not have made it the whole distance.  I have to tell you that I am psyched!  This time last year, I was letting myself walk in the middle of my 2.5 mile run.  That is just not an option this time.

I think one of the reasons for things going better this time, is that I am paying attention to my running form. I am keeping my body straight, my eyes straight ahead, taking smaller strides, swinging arms forward to back -not across, and relaxing my upper body. Wow.  It make a difference when you do it right.  Doing 2.5 miles Wednesday and Friday and then it’s 3 miles next week.  After that, I will start measuring my runs in kilometers, and I will run 5k 3 days a week until November 7.  

I am also REALLY looking forward to my next cardiologist visit, which is October 13.  I know that this running has got to be helping my heart recover from decades of inefficiency previous to my valve replacement 2 and a half years ago.

Got up this morning and got to the gym.  What a great workout!  I feel really good!

Finally got back into the gym after a week off.  It felt so freakin good!  And the difference between me with my workout and me without my workout is like day and night. I will definitely be back in there tomorrow morning.  Love it!

This afternoon is big for me, because I need to run 2¼ miles.  When i was trying this last fall, this is the point at which I started pooping out and letting myself walk a little bit. It is really important to me that I do not let that happen today. Non-stop.  No wimping out. And then right on through to next week’s 2½ mile runs Monday, Wednesday, & Friday. I will update my Fit Status when I finish.

Okay, I have had a Brief lapse in my weight training because things have been very busy at work… But the running is still on track.  I thought this was the week that I started running non-stop three days a week, but it turns out that week 6 is the last week of intervals.  So I run one mile, walk a half mile and run another mile on Wednesday, and then run 2.25 Non-stop on Friday.    

It was in the upper 90’s with a code Orange Air Quality alert, and a lot of humidity for today’s intervals.  It was really tough.  I am thinking I might want to move my runs to mornings somehow.  The heat was brutal, and I sweat like crazy, so I was just soaked.

Once I get to the nonstop runs, I am going to use imapmyrun, a gps run tracker app to measure my runs.  That means I can listen to MY playlist and not the one that comes with the cool podcast that I downloaded.  Functionally, the podcast is awesome, but the music is just a little bit lame.

Anyone have any tips for good running form?  I have never been a runner, so I am hoping to get advice from you that know how to rock a good run.

I will be back on my weight training by the end of the week.  

No pepper spray in my face. 

I am really feeling like I am in a good routine now.  I haven’t missed any workouts.. sticking with the running plan, and not letting myself make excuses.  Yesterday I just could not wake up.. had trouble sleeping.. and so I ended up going to Snap in the afternoon, which worked.. and then this morning, I got going just a little late ’cause I was dragging, but tomorrow I can sleep late (til 6 AM), so no biggie.  

SUNDAY AT 5PM
Exercise Name Sets Reps Weight
Assisted Pull-Up 4 10 138 all
Assisted Dips 4 10 138 all
Lateral Raise — Machine 4 10 50 - 70 - 70 - 70
Smith Machine Dec Chest Pr 3 5 160 all
Pectoral Fly 4 10 110 - 110 - 90 - 90
Cable Supine Triceps Ext 4 10 100 - 100 - 100 - 90
Torso Rotation - Machine 4 10 90 all

MONDAY AT 5:30 AM
Exercise Name   Sets   Reps   Weight
Leg Press — Machine 6 3 560 all
Single-Leg Leg Extension 6 3 220 all
Seated Leg Curl 6 3 280 - 280 - 220 - 220 - 220 - 220
Seated Calf Raise — Machine 4 10 100 all
Single-Arm Rotation Row 6 3 120 all
Reverse-Grip Lat Pulldowns 6 3 110 - 150 - 170 - 190 - 190 - 210
Arm Curl — Machine 4 10 70 all
Cable EZ-Bar Biceps Curl 6 3 65 - 80 - 100 - 100 - 100 - 120

I probably shouldn’t have done biceps at all, but I was getting so in to explosive positive moves and slow negative motion that I just didn’t want to stop.

I’ll update this tonight after I run.. you know, whether people smiled and waved or not. (ha ha) I think today for anyone that doesn’t wave, I will just follow along behind them talking to them and asking what’s wrong… HA!

TH

I woke up at 4:15 AM this morning (Saturday!) and by about 4:45, it was clear that I was not going to get back to sleep, so I got up, showered, and headed to the Gym.  Snap Fitness is a 24-hour gym, and it has motion sensors that turn on the lights when someone is there… it was dark.  It it was kind of cool being there first.  That early on a Saturday, sometimes you just don’t want to see anyone yet.  A few people straggled in later.  I am making it a point to speak to everyone that I can, even if it’s just to tell everyone to have a good day when I leave.  It doesn’t seem natural for me, but it gets easier.

I went just a touch heavier that I have lately, and I was feeling the secondary strain on my right bicep.  Went really, really light on shoulders, because I am building them back up after having some over-training pain.

Asst. Pull-Up         4 x 10 x 137# (that’s my weight with the assist weight subtracted)
Asst. Dips             4 x 10 x 137# (same)
Cable Lateral Raise 4 x 10 x 20# (10 L + 10 R)
Cable Internal Rot. 4 x 10 x 40# (20 L & 20 R)
Cable External Rot. 4 x 10 x 40# (same)
Pectoral Fly Mach  10×110#, 10×130#, 10×120#, 10×120#
Pl Loaded Chest Pr 5×160# 5×160#, 5×180#
Cable Overhead Tris 4 x 10 x 60#
Ab Machine           4 x 10 x 90#

My workout tomorrow morning will be the same muscle groups, and the Monday back to legs, back, biceps.

It was nice getting it done early because I had my big breakfast, drank coffee, and watched a movie with my beagle on the sofa before the rest of the family even poked their heads out of their bedrooms.  Now for my next workout: Mowing the lawn.

Had a good morning workout at 5:15 AM.  I know I shouldn’t have done bicep curls, but I went kind of light, and it didn’t hurt too badly.  I think it is getting better.  

    * 45 Degree Leg Press Machine    3 x 5 x 560#
    * Lateral Lunge with Single Arm Row    4 x 10 x 130#
    * Single-legged Seated Leg Curl    5×90#, 5×140#, 5×110#
    * Seated Calf Raise Machine    4 x 10 x 100#
    * Low Pulley Rows     5×100#, 5×120#, 5×140#, 10×100#
    * Narrow-Grip Lat Pulldowns     10×110#, 5×130#, 5×150#
    * Arm Curl -Cable EZ Bar     5×85#, 10×65#, 10×45#, 10×65#

I run tonight, so hopefully I will be able to push past any soreness from this morning.

Have an outstanding weekend.

This could be my little quirk, kind of a George Constanza over analyzation, but noting kills the mood of a good run for me more than people who won’t wave back and say hi.  I want to turn around chase them down and ask them what could be so damn bad that they can’t pull the corners of their mouth up and say, "Hi!"  I run down that cart path thanking God for the ability to do that, and for the beauty around me.  I swear, I feel like I am getting away with something living here.  How can anyone not see that?  I guess the more we get, the more we are unhappy with what we don’t have.

BUT yesterday was one of those great days when there were lots of people out there, 99% gave me back a big smile and a wave.  That makes all of the difference in the world!  I even got a few, "lookin’ goods" and "how are you doings?" On my way back, one guy whom I had passed earlier said, "that was quick!"  It rocked.  It was a zippity-frickin’-doo-dah day for a run.  Even the 95% humidity that keeps the sweat from evaporating and makes me look like I am running home from the pool did not get me down.

I also found a really cool podcast series.  I say really cool because it is a really cool idea for a podcast.  The music and the guy on there are not outstanding, but it is built around the couch to 10k training program.  The guy comes on and says, "okay it’s time to run…" or "good job!  Now you have 90 seconds to walk and recover before your next run."  I like it because I am not looking at my stopwatch or gps to tell me how far I have gone.  I just keep running until he says i have gone far enough.  There is some kind of psychological advantage to that I think.

Rest day today, and then tomorrow is a brutal day for my legs.  5:00 AM legs, biceps (light), back, and 7:00 PM run.  I actually can’t wait.  I hope I can barely walk on Saturday when I go in for chest-tris-shoulders-abs!