Nike+ Human Race 10k Post-Mortem

Awwwww babies. What a day.

For whatever reason, sleep just wasn't in the cards last night. It was my last day in San Diego, and even tho I'm running a sleep deficit, I just couldn't catch a wink.

Ah, such is life.

Packed up, shipped out, waited at the airport, flew home to San Francisco, and got ready to run the Nike+ Human Race 10k with @LosBee on our home turf. I initially planned to get in the run in San Diego, but LosBee was up for it so we ran it together.

Exhausted, I was determined to knock it out, and do it faster than I'd 10k'ed before. A lot of folks on Twitter were running, and I was particularly inspired by @Bruno43's first 10k as well as @gdwscott's 18+ mile long run. I was set.

@LosBee had not run more than 2 or 3 mile stretches since finishing the San Francisco Half Marathon about a month ago, so we started off slow together. A little ways in she had to stop and walk a bit, so I picked up the pace after. Nike+ is indicating a much slower time than I think I ran—I'm pretty damn sure, as a matter of fact, that I was hovering above 11min/mile, and coming close to sub-10min/mile. But whatcha gonna do.

The weather was absolutely beautiful out. A nicer day in San Francisco than in San Diego, if you can believe that. Much less humid, and a wee bit cooler. Beautiful day for a run.

I sincerely tried to run negative splits, and tried to put myself in a race mindset. Instead of going as fast as I felt I could, I just tried to ramp it up a bit at each kilometer marker. I notice when I go as fast as I think I can, I still don't have the gas to maintain it over a longer run. It's short-lived. So, I tried to bring it up over time.

By and large it worked. My starting time was much slower than normal, as I was pacing with @LosBee, but once we broke off you can see how I got up to speed and then incrementally ratcheted things up. It was only in the last 1k that I felt pretty gassed, and the last 500 meters were very, very sad. I kept thinking how many times Usain Bolt could have run the 500 meters back and forth as I slowly plodded along.

The Results:

Strollers That Passed Me: 0
Place Overall: 24,419 out of thousands upon thousands
Men: unknown out of thousands upon thousands
Age Grade: unknown
Place: unknown
Finish: 1:09:43
Pace: 11:10

Friggen MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Take that, crappy 3 mile run!

I Think I'd Benefit from a Running Club

After a couple days off this week from the plan—as well as missing my last 2 long runs—I'm gearing up for tomorrow's long run/Nike+ Human Race.

Today's run went great. At first.
As you can plainly see on the right, I was cruising along under and around a 10 minute mile pace for a while there, which is pretty damn good for me.

But somewhere around 2 and a half miles I just quit. My proclivity for what Vanilla at Half-Fast calls "The Quitter" expresses itself once more. I just quit.

The Rundown

♠ The scenery was great; I ran along Mission Bay in San Diego just at sunset, which has a nice lighted, paved path along the water.
♠ I love San Diego, so the warmth and wetness of the evening air was pretty fantastic. It was a wee bit warm, which I don't do well with. But not that warm.
♠ The legs felt great.
♠ The lungs felt great.
♠ The heart felt great.
♠ I did have to run through quite a bit of dizziness early on (which I seem to get quite a bit when my sleep cycle is jacked up—which is very much is right now).
♠ I wasn't running to Hella Sound stuff; having recorded pretty intensely this week, I wanted to step away from what I was working on to get a little objectivity and a little perspective—something I generally do with creative projects. As a result, the iPod was on shuffle, which does have a potentially negative effect.

But shit, I should be able to knock out 3 miles with my eyes closed.

To this I say WTF.

I'm thinking I might benefit from joining a running club. Lord knows there's plenty of them in San Francisco. I have about a month before the San Jose Rock & Roll Half-Marathon, so if the group runs fit well with my training schedule, it's on like Donkey Kong. After the R&R, I'll adjust my plan to accommodate group runs regularly.

Long post, I know. Was it good for you?

Yeah, So I'm Down in San Diego

So I'm down in San Diego this week, helping out a friend and taking care of some bidness.

@LosBee and I lived here for 6 (or was it 7?) years before moving to San Francisco in the summer of 2007. It's a beautiful place, and while it's great to be back, it's not without mixed feelings.

Funny how that works. I guess it's not always easy to change—to pack up everything you own and leave everything you've become familiar and comfortable with and start something wholly new.

Yeah. Anyway, here I am back in San Diego for the week, hoping to get some sun, stay on track in my half-marathon training program and record, record, record.

After spending an inordinate amount of time making like Georgie does in this pic, I hit the gym for some treadmill and some weights.

Got in a little less than a 3 mile run with hills (5.5 degrees) and did 3 sets of squats @ 135lbs, 5 reps each.

Tomorrow's a full day, and I'm looking to hit it hard.

Photos courtesy of Michael in San Diego and jsome1 on Flickr, accordingly.

Finally Back In It To Win It

The last few days I've been feeling more like joining <--- my boy George here than hitting the road and the gym. But today I finally was able to get back in it and get the blood flowing.

As mentioned previously, I had fallen off track quite a bit. Today I was committed to halting my progress down the slippery slope. I've written off Saturday's run & circuit training, Sunday's long run, and Tuesday's run and weights; I've decided to consolidate the squats, lunges and deadlift into Friday's workout, and do upper body stuff today. Missing so many runs, I settled on doing 4 miles today and tomorrow, 3 on Saturday and then 6 miles on Sunday. Maybe I'll do 7, to make up for the 7 miler I missed this past Sunday.

Run went well—got a little hot at the end, but it was good. Weights was a very modest 3 sets of bench, 5 reps @ 155lbs; 3 sets of 5 reps pulldowns @ heavy weight; 3 sets of still-half-assed dips. The dips are getting better, but they're still not on the money.

I think to push myself down the road I'm going to need a partner/spotter. I always used to lift with @LosBee, and it's nice to have someone watching you when you heft a large amount of weight. With her schedule now, it'll be rough to find a time when we can both hit the gym together.

We shall see.

Anybody running the Nike+ Human Race? Hit me up—I'll be running it down in San Diego.

I Pretty Much Suck

Yeah, I pretty much suck.

Due to things somewhat within my control, I've missed both my running and weightlifting workouts for every day starting on Saturday. Missed my circuit training, missed my Sunday long run and missed today's speedwork and lifting.

If I'd have been truly dedicated to getting it done, I would have made it happen. Unfortunately, I let work, visiting guests and catching up on sleep get in the way.

I'm debating now if it would be unwise to move everything over one day starting tomorrow and cutting out my Friday rest day. That way I'd only have missed 2 runs (last Saturday's and Sunday's long run).

On another note, while I've been shaping up nicely and trimming down a little due to sticking with the revised plan, I've managed to gain like 6 pounds or so in the last few weeks. Granted, I've had some Roman orgy-style dining experiences during that time, but I look more trim.

I'm going to assume it's added muscle weight and go from there. Hey, I could be right and not delusional, right?

Here's to being dedicated and on top of it for the rest of the week.

The Equation for Failure

With the in-laws visiting, I've had to jockey around for time to get my workouts in, and the only possible time today was mid-day. It was actually summer-like outside in San Francisco (as opposed to how things are around here frequently), which meant I'd be running in a little daytime heat.

3 measly miles were on the roster, as well as deadlifts & lunges.

3 miles. 3 measly miles. Mid-day sun or no, I figured I could handle that.

The Equation for Failure

     sleep deprivation
   + hangover
   + blazing sun
   + black cotton t-shirt 
   + eggs benedict breakfast
   -------------------------
   = failure

Entertaining our visiting guests frequently requires you to drink too much and stay up too late, which leads to the requisite recovery breakfast.

This, however, is not the recipe for workout success.

Team those elements up with a hot afternoon, and I crapped out at the 2 mile mark. It was just too damn hot. I'm sure better, more fit runners could have handled these elements together, but I kept thinking over and over again about how hot I was. This lead to thoughts of those rave kids cooking their brains dancing on ketamine.

Add to that my lower legs feeling pretty darn sore. I'm not sure if it's a result of maybe pushing too hard recently, or the fact that I didn't wrap the pegs after the last run (which I like to do—the ol' Rest Ice Compression Elevation method). No bueno.

So, the short is I followed my great 5 miler on Wednesday with a crappy DNF today.

Weak.

Oh well. Weights went well. I did 3 sets of deadlift, 5 reps each @ 60, 70 and 80lbs. Keeping it light, still, until I'm confident in the consistency of my form. Then 3 sets of backward-forward lunges (5 reps each side), 50 crunches, 12 swiss ball crunches, and a bunch of stretches.

More familial gluttony to come, I'm sure.

Photo courtesy of liberalmind1012 and icanteachyouhowtodoit on Flickr.

Dark, Foggy Run and Some Hoisting

Due to errands and obligations (as well as a high-ish daytime temperature), I ran much later than I'd normally like. Slated for 5 miles and some upper-body work, I headed out into the foggy San Francisco evening.

I think we're north-er than I thought, because it's already getting dark out early. Not a big fan. By the time I hit my turnaround point it was pretty darn dark out.

I don't know if it's the genius plan I'm following, or the running music I'm road testing, or maybe a combo platter of the above, but I've somehow knocked a good minute off my mile times.

Seriously.

According to Nike+, my pace was hovering a little under 10 minute miles, which is pretty much unheard of for me in recent months. Pretty sweet. I'm pleased as punch.

Weights was:
Bench Press 3 sets of 5 reps @ 135, 155 and 185 pounds.
Pull-Downs 3 sets of 5 reps @ high weight
Still Dips 3 sets of 5 reps

Still working up to pull-ups, so it's pull-downs for now. Also, the still dips were still not as deep as they really should be, but I'm working up to it.

Photo courtesy of Usodesita on Flickr.

Hills, Squats and Whatnot

Today was freeweight squats and lunges and hills day.

Okay, hills suck. Julie Andrews—while vigorously singing their praises—forgot to mention that running up them repeatedly will make you feel like puking.

That's not the first time Julie has led me wrong, but I won't go into the details (that's between me and you, Ms. Andrews...).

I think I was a little too ambitious in my hill choice, picking a street in my neighborhood (San Francisco) that could probably be used for a downhill skiing competition. MapMyRun.com says it's about 200+ feet elevation change over the course of 150 yards distance. Is that a big hill? Or am I just a wuss? (Leave a comment—I'd be curious to know what types of hills everyone else runs).

Admittedly, I only managed 2 before I scaled back and ran the lesser incline part of the hill a couple times. Much shorter—only maybe 80 yards—but it was at least something.

I had to wait a bit to use the squat rack at the gym, so I kept warmed up by hitting the rowing machine. Squats this week was 3 sets of 5 reps @ 135, 155 and 185 pounds. I also did 3 sets of backward-forward lunges for 5 reps (each side). 50 crunches, some crunches on the swiss ball, then stretches. Lots of stretches.

Decent workout, definitely got the quads cookin'. I think a normal run would have been more satisfying, but maybe that's just because I sucked so badly at the hills.

(UPDATE: after some feedback from folks on Twitter and doing a little Googling, it appears the 22% grade I was running on is just a wee bit steeper than the 5-8% grade recommended for hill repeats. Pheeeewwww!)

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Rest, Insomnia and Catching Up

Today was a rest day from weights as well as running.Tomorrow is a hills day, about which I have some apprehension. On the one hand, I really don't want to jack up my achilles, which have (in the past) been sensitive to too much hill action. On the other, although I see some local nutjobs coming full-steam down the hills in our neighborhood, I don't even like walking down them because the added stress on the knees.

But oh well, I'll stop whining like a little girl now.

In the meantime, we posted an interview with someone that never whines like a little girl, Ivan Salaverry over at the Hella Sound blog. Ivan has always been one of my favorite MMA fighters, so to be able to chat with him was just a great experience.

On a blogging note, I'm stoked to see Non-Runner Nancy's write-up on the 08-08-08 Virtual Olympics Race. Hopefully she'll have the goods up soon.

Until tomorrow.

08-08-08 Virtual Olympics Race: 8.34 Miles in 2 Parts

Notes of a Non-Runner had the excellent idea of organizing an 8 mile blog race in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I wanted to hop in and join the fun.

Also, as luck would have it, I was slated to run 7 miles today, so I figured "what the hell, why not slap another one on for an even 8?"

As I Tweeted earlier in the day, I set out to run my 8 miles in the early afternoon on a beautiful San Francisco day. It was sunny and warm, which is pretty unusual for us. I figured the breeze would keep me cool enough to finish.

Boy was I wrong.

@LosBee and I hit Kezar by about 2:30pm to find the track was closed—Kezar Stadium was hosting Irish Football today, which is a fascinating sport in its own right. There's a large outside loop around the track paved in asphalt which was still open to us, so we decided to go ahead with the run.

@LosBee is recovering from finishing her first half marathon, and wasn't looking to put on any real miles—she just wanted to get out and stretch her legs a bit.

I knew I was in trouble when I had to stop for water at mile 2. It was just too warm for me, and the sun was drying me out way too fast. We both stopped when I was into my my 3rd mile and decided it would be prudent to hang it up and cool off. We had a fantastic time watching Irish Football, however, regardless of our inability to figure out the rules.

Mastodon's singer/guitar player exorcising some personal demons on stage

I still wanted to join in the 08-08-08 Virtual Olympics fun, though, so after some late-lunch tacos and watching some Olympic coverage, I set back out to finish up the 7 miles I was scheduled for and the 8 total I wanted to achieve.

But I have to admit, I was a little ticked off with having failed earlier in the day, and I tackled the miles with aggression.

Normally my runs are multi-purpose: I run to run, but I also run to "road test" the songs we have in development at Hella Sound. It's a great part of the job, and I get to take things out and see what gets me pumped, what keeps me going, and what doesn't work. I take what I learn on the road back to the studio and incorporate it into the music.

Well, like I said, I was a little peeved about having to go back out and run again. And presently we don't have anything that's ready to be road tested at Hella Sound that was aggressive enough to match my foul mood. So I cued up Mastodon's album Leviathan and hit San Francisco's Marina.

I pounded the snot out of those 6 miles. My out-and-back route is very similar to this one on Map My Run. It had cooled off quite a bit (it was about 7pm when I started), and the breeze off the bay was nice.

One of the best things about running the Marina/Crissy Field route—aside from having the Golden Gate Bridge in your sights on the way out—is that you get to take part in one of San Francisco's best running traditions: high-fiving Hopper's Hands. You can read more about Hopper's Hands here, but sufficed to say it's one of my favorite little things to do when I'm out running here.

Since so many people run with their dogs, someone also created a matching pair of paws for four-legged runners to touch when they hit the turnaround point. Interestingly, it looks like it gets some wear, although I've never seen someone touch paws to it.

Too cool.

Here's to finishing the 08-08-08 Virtual Olympics race! I had to fudge the numbers a bit—since it was split across 2 runs—but I think my 8 miles clock in at 1:24:53. Sloooooowwwwww ;)

Mastodon photo courtesy of www.mastodonrocks.com.

Hopper's Hands photos courtesy of misocrazy on Flickr.

Too Much Information (In an Otherwise Boring Run)

@LosBee and I were going to run and do circuit training together, but plans sorta fell apart and I ended up going solo much later than planned. [Heh heh heh... sorry @LosBee... ;)]

Scheduled for a 3 mile run and circuit training, I decided to just do the run and skip the gym.

Meh.

The run went okay—little trot around the neighborhood and into the Presidio—but about a half a mile from the end the growing urge to, um, spring a leak—an urge which had been nagging me for most of the run—hit a fever pitch. Too bad San Francisco doesn't have alleys. And I'm far too courteous to just whip it out and do my business in the street (like some of crackheads that take residence in this fine city). So I felt it judicious and prudent to take things down to a walk and head straight home.

Now aren't you glad I told you all this?

On a side note, I'm digging the Olympics this year. I think a lot of people are charged up about it—maybe more so than recent years. China is definitely putting on a show (I'm kicking myself for having missed the opening ceremony, which apparently was amazing). But every shot showing the sky is absolutely disgusting. It looks like SF-style fog, but they're telling us it's actually smog. If so, that's just terrifying. Seriously.

Blech. Nasty.

Tomorrow's the long run—I think I'm slated for 7 miles. I think I'm going to sneak in an extra mile so I can join in the fun at nancy262.com's blog. It's a great idea and sounds like good fun.

Finally, rest in peace, Bernie Mac. It's sad that someone has died so young (50) of pneumonia in this day and age. I guess he had sarcoidosis, which basically destroys your lungs, so that must have been a a complication. Sad.

Photo courtesy of markhillary on flickr.

Easy Run, Good Lifts, Bad Weather

I got to the 3 mile run and the weights a little later in the day today, due to some deadlines and a dose of insomnia last night.

The weather—to a sun-loving guy like me—was 8 kinds of suck this evening. Great for running, but horrible for seasonal affective disorder. If you like cold, gloomy, Midwestern-style October days—full-on Halloween-style weather—then summertime in San Francisco is for you.

Blech.

The run went great. I apparently somehow shaved :45 off my average mile time. Don't ask me how, it just sorta happened. (Which reminds me: I've really got to make my Nike+ profile public so sharing my runs is easier... Note to self.)

Weights today was deadlift, which I still kept light: 3 sets of 5 @ 95, 115 and 135. I'm still minding my form and trying to do the lift perfectly. After that I did 3 sets (each side) of 5 backward/forward lunges. Core was (50) crunches on the bench thingy and (10) crunches on the swiss ball.

I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of stretches and yoga, so I spent almost as much time stretching as I did lifting. At some point I'll lay out my usual stretching routine.

All was really good, and tomorrow is a rest day. I tell ya, this is the first time I've ever run 3 days in a row, and it's been fantastic. I always thought it would be too traumatic on the pegs, but it's really been good.

Photo courtesy of Swami Stream on Flickr

Break Out the Gloves

Today was a 5 mile run and upper body weights day. It was a great day, even counting the failures.

My legs felt great—I felt great—for the first half of the run. I think incorporating weightlifting has been really, really good. Unfortunately, somewhere around the turnaround point in Crissy Field I started getting gassed. The headwind was pretty stiff on the way out, and while it keeps you nice and cool, it makes things a wee bit tougher. I was looking forward to enjoying a tailwind helper on the way back, but unfortunately it wasn't quite enough to help me finish the whole 5 miles. I ended up walking the last 600 meters or so.

Weaksauce.

Really, I was gassed and I was dragging, but I could have done it. I wasn't sore, I wasn't injured, and my body was able to finish. My mind just gave out. I chickened out. Wussed out. Weak.

This has been a problem for me for the last few months. I just gotta get my head in the game, and I believe the weightlifting is really helping. This stuff doesn't happen over night, and now's when I'm putting my time in to make it happen.

Weights went well, too. Well, sorta.

Bench press is an old buddy of mine, and I took today as an easing-back-in day. I took it light: 1 warm up set with just the bar, then 3 sets of 8 reps @ 95, 115 and 135. Easy peasy.

Pull-ups went as badly as predicted. I'm reasonably strong, it's just that I'm too damn heavy right now to rattle off a bunch. Or, for that matter, one. So after some attempts at the bar, I did 3 sets of cable lat pull-downs at a high-ish weight, and in the process tore the bejesus out of my delicate little hands.

As it turns out, guitar fretboards, laptop keys and Mac trackpads don't build the type of callouses you need to do pull-ups. Next Wednesday I'm breaking out the old weightlifting gloves. In the meantime, @LosBee will be pleased to learn that my wedding ring is now permanently embedded into my ring finger as a result of my workout today.

Pretty much the same thing happened with still dips. I did 3 sets of maybe 4-5 weak little dips, but I didn't go down far enough for it to be a true workout. This will change over time as well.

So, some failures, but all of a very encouraging sort. I now know where I need to work and have a mark to grow from.

As a side note, The Art of Manliness was nice enough to cite Hella Sound today in discussing music for working out. While I didn't necessarily agree with Cameron's selection of music, I think it's a great topic. The comments got pretty brutal, though, and things got a little rough in there. Hats off to Cameron, tho, for putting together the post. His home blog is frequently one of the most insightful and thought-out personal blogs I know of.

We also posted a nice little interview with Steve Speirs on Hella Sound today, the man who brought us the One Hundred Push Ups Challenge that everyone and their brother is doing. He's a super cool guy and it was fun talking to him.

Image courtesy of Georgio on Flickr

Fartlek and Squat:The Tuesday Duo

Following this running plan and this weightlifting plan, today was about 4 miles on the road followed by squats, lunges and toe raises.

The running plan called for a mile warm-up, then 2 miles of fartlek runs followed by 1 mile "warmdown". I thought about the made-up word "warmdown" throughout my whole run. Funny how some words strike you funny and get stuck in your head, like a glob of peanut butter when there's no milk in sight.

I've done sprints and interval training in the past but never really integrated fartleks, and it was pretty fun. I did them informally (as advised), just picking a start point and end point for each interval and picking up my pace in between.

It was nice.

I have to admit: I do occasionally get irritated with all the tourists on their rented bikes stopping in the running/walking lane. There's 2 whole lanes dedicated for bikers, and if you're going to stop, why don't you just go over on the grass?

But alas, they're tourists and they're just soaking in the sights. I can't get too ruffled about it, you know?

Weight lifting went well. Honestly, I think I picked it back up just in time. On the very first day, during deadlifts, my right knee popped as I squatted down to lift the bar. Even before I did my first rep. I took that as a sign that I was dangerously close to having something go funky with my knee, since I've only been running (abusing it) and haven't been cross-training (protecting it).

Squats, along with bench, were my bread-and-butter lifts in high school. As a youngin' I was diagnosed with Osgood-Schaltter disease, which basically is knee funkiness due to growth spurts. To rehab my doctor had me do 100 bodyweight squats every day. Once I got to high school, my quads and legs were pretty well developed—almost Flintstonian—so doing heavy freeweight squats came easily to me.
(A funny aside: I ripped the backside seam of 2—count 'em, 2—gym shorts in the weight room doing squats. It made for quick dashes back to the locker room.)
(Another funny aside: my quads and glutes were developed to the point that I needed tailored pants for homecoming and prom, since my waist was much smaller compared to my leg muscles. Ah the good old days... *sigh*)

Today I didn't go heavy; it was mostly about remembering correct form and doing the motions right. Just 3 sets going from 0 to 45 to 95 pounds.

The backward-forward lunges recommended by JeeForce really seem to do the trick, and I did 3 sets of 5 on each leg.

Toe raises on the leg press machine, some abs on the ball and then a lot of stretches. Then home for a protein shake.

Good stuff.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's upper body workout, although the pull-ups are going to be pretty...humiliating. In time, in time.

Photo courtesy of Luca & Vita on Flickr

SF Marathon 5k Post-Mortem

Our friends MapleJen and Arby arrived from San Diego on Saturday, we carbed up for dinner (probably unnecessary for all but @LosBee), and hit the hay early.

Sunday morning I shuttled @LosBee to the start of the 1st Half, then came back, gathered up everyone else and got to the 5k starting point. We met up with Rick, an SF buddy, and got ready to roll.

I was as cold as a monkey out there. Overcast and cold. I prefer running in the cold, but man there were some shivering people at the start line—especially when wind gusts blew in.

I started off relatively fast (for me); I wanted to get out of the clump of people early on and get some room to move, as well as avoid getting a flat tire by someone stepping on my heel, and thus making my foot come out of my shoe. I hate the flat tire.

The Results:

Strollers That Passed Me: 3*
Place Overall: 550 out of 1088
Men: 258 out of 405
Age Grade: 37.85% Place: 548
Finish: 34:06
Pace: 10:59

* One of the strollers was a double stroller—meaning it had twins in it. So while 3 strollers passed me, it was really 4 children.

I actually tried running at what I figured was my race pace, which is faster than the usual 11:00+ I run at, but I gassed out at around the 2 mile mark. This I hope to improve on in time.

We gathered up the troops after the run and tried to make it to the 1st Half finish to cheer on @LosBee, but she was done by the time we got rolling. She toughed out the Half, and I'm incredibly, ridiculously proud of her.

@LosBee didn't get all that much more training in than I did, but this race in particular was something she (for various reasons) *had to* do; I didn't feel the same motivation, and didn't have nearly the same focus or mental toughness she had. On the way over to meet up with her at the finish, I enjoyed the feeling of awe and respect over what she's achieved, as well as the feeling that she accomplished something that I wouldn't have been able to do. Truly.

Today's a rest day, so in addition to working in the studio on Hella Sound music and working on the site, I'll probably just do some basic movements and stretches (per the training plan).

Have a great week, y'all. Enjoy yourselves.

Pre-SF Marathon Expo & Workout

Tomorrow's the San Francisco Marathon. My wife (@LosBee) and I were going to run the half for the American Liver Foundation's Run for Research, but like I partially explained in an earlier post, I had to bow out of the half.

Some friends came up from San Diego and we're going to run the 5k together. @LosBee is still running the half—the longest race distance either of us have run.

Picking up our bibs and goody bag was fun—the expo had some interesting booths and folks. I met Erin from Running Divas and checked out her apparel booth. Nike had a conference-quality booth set up with apparel, and giant iMacs that allowed you to sign up for their Nike+ Human Race 10k, which I signed up for earlier in the day online. (It's a Nike+-able event, meaning if you have the Nike+ you can compete no matter where you are. You don't have to be in a race city to do it.)

It was exciting, and I almost threw caution (and good sense) to the wind and went ahead with the half marathon anyway, but I think I'd probably come out of it too beat up and end up messing up training for the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon. Live to fight another day and all that.

So, I'm extremely excited for @LosBee, and I'm sure she's gonna knock it out of the park.

I was slated for a 3 mile run today, followed by circuit training. My run was cursed the lack of a good route—too many traffic lights, too man hills—so I cut it short and hit circuit training. I need to find a good route near the gym so this doesn't happen again.

I'll share my Nike+ profile soon, which'll be a better log for the run workouts.

Have a great Sunday, bitches.

The Plan: Revised

After getting further feedback from my man Paul Stofko, I've reworked the training plan—just a titch—incorporating JeeForce and Paul's improvements.

MON:
rest
TUE:
running: speed work/hills
weights: squats, lunges, toe raises — 3 sets @5-8 reps each
WED:
running: moderate run
weights: bench, pull-ups or rows, still dips — 3 sets @5-8 reps each
THU:
running: moderate run
weights: deadlift, lunges — 3 sets @5-8 reps each
FRI:
Rest
SAT:
running: moderate run
weights: circuit training — 30 minutes
SUN:
long run

Stoked to be lifting weights again. Deadlifts today felt really good, and I'm really looking forward to Wednesdays. Nothing makes you feel like a caveman—in a good way—quite like bench press.

Still going to follow Cool Running's Beginner Half Marathon plan for running. Lord knows we got enough hills around San Francisco for Tuesdays' workouts, and I can fartlek like you wouldn't believe.

Tomorrow's a rest day, and per JeeForce I'm going to do some basic movements I learned a while back in Muay Thai training—leg swings, shadow-boxing and stretches that we used for warm-ups. Maybe do a little basic yoga, too.

Looking forward to it.