Finally back

Ok, so I'm finally back. A wedding, a move, a honeymoon, and being sent by my job to a 3rd world country for 3 weeks really cut into my workouts, not to mention my time on the internet. It even cut into my time talking to my wife. Anyway, I'm tired of being away from home, and away from any real facilities to work out. Thank goodness that is over, at least for now.

Getting back into running, and living in a new place, I had no running courses measured out. I figured it was time to re-evaluate my running plan anyway, so I did some reading. I unpacked a few boxes and found my heart rate monitor, which I hadn't been able to use earlier, since it was in storage. I did a lot of reading, this heart rate stuff is complicated. Anyway, I did a lot of math and thinking, and eventually concluded that my maxHR is about 195, my restingHR averages about 55, which theoretically leaves me with a reserveHR of about 140. At 85% (supposedly the lactate threashold) that translates to approximately 175 bpm.

Anyway, enough background, here is the workout.

What I Did:
I set the target zone on my watch for 170-180 bpm and ran for about 15min, then turned around and ran back. I gave a strong kick at the end and ignored the target zone for about 150 meters, then I walked as a cooldown until my HR went out of the bottom of the zone, turned off the stopwatch, and walked back to the house.

The Numbers:
Time - 33:45
avgHR - 177
maxHR - 198
Distance approx 3 miles (according to google maps)

How I Felt:
It sucked, I felt like I was running incredibly slow, but at the end of the run (even after the kick) I felt like I finished refreshed, not exhausted, that should motivate me to do this some more in the future.

Glad to be back!

Kurt

Weekends, the Enemy of Fitness

So, I ended up slacking off and missing a workout over the weekend. I always find that frustrating. But, the important thing is what you choose to do after missing workouts, and that has to be to get right back on schedule, so I picked up this week as if everything had gone according to plan. Push-ups are getting hard, switched to sets of 10 this week, as prescribed by army-fitness.com and they are much harder for me now. I was glad for the prescribed 10 minute break in the middle. The run was good, but I have a noticable lack of distance knowledge for anything over 2 miles. I just haven't measured anything around here out, so it's hard to know how far I've gone over 1 mile.

What I Did:

3x 10 push-ups, 45 second rest
10 minute break
2x 10 push-ups, 45 second rest

Interval run, 8x 1:30 min run, 2 min walk, 28 minutes total, unknown distance over 2 miles.

How I Felt:

Almost threw-up during the run, have no idea how far I went, but I feel like it was a good pace. Push-ups were tough, especially the 3rd set. Generally worked well, though.

Ride that Horse!

Kurt

2? Seriously? 2?

Felt good today, but I'm a little demoralized on the push-ups. The run felt fantastic, though, which is good because I haven't felt that good during a run in a long time. Looking forward to seeing a good friend today. Not looking forward to following up on unreceived RSVPs for the wedding with people from my side.

What I Did:

3x Max push-ups: 21/5/2; 45 second rest

Interval Run, 8x 1 min. run, 2 min. walk. 2 miles + about 1:30 at walking pace.

How I Felt:

Amazing during the run, not as sick as I was worried I would be. Not encouraged by the 2 reps. to failure on the 3rd set though. Not encouraging for next week when reps. go up.

Pushing Harder!

Kurt

Rest day?

I had a rest day scheduled for today, which was supposed to include some moderate activity, so I took the dog for a little over a half-hour walk this morning. It is still pretty cold here, below freezing this morning. However, after doing this my fiance and I went furniture and Christmas shopping. After walking at least two more miles and hauling furniture around I do not feel as rested as I would have liked.

I definitely felt the after-effects of the run this morning, my quads, and really my legs in general, were pretty weak last night and this morning, and were slightly sore as well. It was really the right amount of sore... enough to be gone by tomorrow, but enough to let me know that I stopped at just the right point the days before.

What I Did:
35 minute walk
Christmas and Furniture shopping

Total time: All stinkin' day... but seriously pretty much 40 minutes with warm up and cool down.

How I Felt:
Sore, tired, grumpy, and with a scratchy throat. Also cold. If I'm going to have a miserable day, it at least ought to be a rest day, right?

Bring on Tomorrow!

Kurt

Second One Down!

I did my second workout today. I doubled up the first two days, since they're usually easier, and also since I decided in the wisdom of my grand plan to start on a Tuesday. I never said I was bright. Still proud of getting the workout in today, because there were a lot of excuses not to: had to take the fiance to the dentist, yard work, the fact that it is unseasonably cold here in the Carolinas (38 degrees according to whoever my cellphone gets these numbers from).

What I did:
5x 5 push-ups; 45 second rest

Interval run, 1 minute run, 2 minute walk, 8 sets, 24 minutes, went about 1:15 minutes walking pace total beyond 2 miles.

Total time: about 40 minutes.

How I felt:

Not sore, but I definitely felt the weakness in my legs from yesterday. I also felt pretty tired and perhaps a little sick. Now for the yard work before I get cleaned up.

Driving on!

Kurt

First Workout

For these first few weeks, or until I can pass the APFT, I'm doing my workout's from army-fitness.com. Specifically, I'm going to be using their Push-up workout. Followed by a run workout posted by "Coach Jenny" at Runner's World. No, I am not the soldier who wrote in with the question, but the training plan seemed applicable to me. I downloaded an interval timer to my cell phone to time the intervals during the run. It worked pretty well, only one minor problem.

Both of these workouts are four day per week workouts. I'm shooting for the M-W-F-S plan, but really I'll do it any way where I can get all four in during the week.

Enough with all the exposition, how was the workout?

What I did:
3x 5 push-ups; 45 second break

10 minute rest

2x 5 push-ups; 45 second break

I then did 8 sets of a 1 minute run followed by a 2 minute walk. For some reason, my interval timer did not time the last walk, I'll have to work around that when I set it next time. Total distance, a little under 2 miles in 24 minutes

Total time: about 50 minutes

How I felt:
I feel good about this workout. There were a few times during the run sets when I don't think I was pushing as hard as I should have, and there was about twice when I was very thankful when the rest interval sounded.

One Down!

Kurt

Why the Blog?

This is my first post, so I'll have to answer the all important first question...why does it exist? I was in impeccable shape only a few years ago. I am a member of the Army National Guard, and at that time I was scoring 270 (out of a possible 300) on the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT). I was running 2 miles in less than 12 minutes, and cranking out sit-ups like you wouldn't believe. Even my push-up numbers were fairly impressive. For my real-life job, I was a gym manager. I ate, drank, slept, and breathed fitness. However, a few years ago I was deployed to Afghanistan, and had to work so hard that there was, quite literally, no time for exercise.

When I returned a year and a half ago, I had lost everything, and couldn't even pass the APFT. Since returning I have tried over and over to start some sort of consistent exercise plan, and have repeatedly failed. Since returning I have only managed one barely passing PT test. I need to get back in shape, and I need to share the process with the world.

Know my struggle!

Kurt