This week I had a whole new attitude towards training. This past weekend, I had several friends who competed in the iconic trail race Leadville Trail 100 mile run. Yes, I wrote it right...hundred, 100, number after 99? 100. Just writing that down, it makes me tired just thinking about it. To run a 100 miles not only takes physical strength but a whole lot of mental toughness to get you through those early morning hours of non-stop running. Your body hurts in places never before, you experience symptoms that only can be explained by these hard ass runners, after hours of non-stop running/moving, you question if you can finish, question if your body has been pushed enough. Then through it all, you cross the finish line and took out your major competition...your doubt.

These runners or should I say endurance runners, inspired me to take my training to a different level. This week is not going to be easy, I'm going to push my body until it gives me nothing. I don't know what I have in store but, if my hard ass 100 mile running friends can dedicate their heart, mind and body to running the ultimate endurance race. I could up the ante and push my body to see where it can take me.

Monday -
Meet up at the Rockwall Running Club (RRC) for 5@5 (that's 5 miles at 0500) for an easy run to start the week. To my surprise, one of my trainees Elizabeth (Owner of Poppy Locks, she makes the best cakes and low carb treats around) was there who just popped off a 22 miler on Sunday. Her plan had her running easy or taking a rest day. She was feeling good and opt'd for a simple shake out run. We ran together, talked training, talked about treats and food she makes and really had a great easy run. This was a great way to start my day. Ran in my Saucony Kinvara 3's.

Later that day, had a shoulder/bicep circuit workout. Jumped rope for 10 minutes, punched with dumbbells (5x1min, w/ 1min recovery) then Military seated dumbbell (DB) press, lateral raise, DB front raise, Arnold Press, Full DB lateral raise, incline rear DB  delt fly, DB bicep curl, incline DB curl and standing DB hammer curls. Each exercise 1x50reps w/ 1min recovery between sets.

Finished off with 4x25 crunches with knees up, 3x15 hanging knee ups.

Tuesday -
Had a rough night sleeping due to my body was ready to wake up at 1200! Had a hard time going back to sleep so I tossed and turned, felt sorry for my poor wife as I tried not to wake her. Well, after several attempts of suffocating myself to sleep throughout the early morning hours. Woke up for track and met with my RRC peeps. WOW, there were a lot of people out this morning! I think Coach Barrett counted 17 individuals. Ran in my Skechers GoSpeed and felt pretty good during 15 minute warm-up. I performed a few extra drills as I was not completely warmed up (the nice weather and lack of sleep probably had something to do with it). Ran 4x600m w/ 600m recovery and performed well. Avg 2:08 time.

I was feeling really good after my morning track session that I was pumped for an afternoon HIIT session. Warmed up on the Jump rope then It was time to hit it! 

Workout #1:
(4sets all for time, goal...improve every set)
10xpullups (Neutral Grip)
100xmountain climbers
.25mile on hand bike

Workout #2:
 (4sets all for time, goal...improve every set)
100 revolution jump rope
10xburpees
25xpushups

Workout #3:
(4sets all for time, goal...improve every set)
15xShoulder Press (Neutral Grip) 25lbs
100 revolution Jump Rope
15xleg lift
15xtoetouches

Doing the workouts for time and trying to improve each set was tough. I had a hard time catching my breath but kept pushing though to compete against me. Before I moved to workout #4, I took this wonderful pic of my efforts :)

Workout#4
 (4sets all for time, goal...improve every set)
Farmer Walk - 45lb plate 400feet
Frog Jumps 100feet
20x plyo lunge jumps
15xpushupsFinished it out with 4x25 ab wheel.That evening when I arrived home, I went out for an easy run. Legs were heavy but that's the point of these easy runs. To shake out from your previous hard workouts. Ran in my Pure Cadence and got a little over 5 miles in. After that, I headed over to my in-laws and unloaded and stacked 60 bales of hay. Sounds like a lot but we had 25 bales still left to unload...but we will leave that for another day.Wednesday -
Needles to say or assume, I slept pretty good! Today was an off day but I did hit some core work at lunch.

Thursday -
Had another pretty good night of sleep. Woke up with some tight hip flexors but expected with the week of training I have had. Headed over to the RRC in the wee hours of the morning for a tempo run. Today we headed out for a 2x2 mile tempo with a 1 mile recovery in between. We took off on our run about 0450 and I immediately thought to myself that this was going to be tough because of my hip flexors. After our 2 mile warm up we took off on our 1st of 2 mile tempos. The group I ran with was my running buddy Tiffany and Big O! We avg a 6:45 for both miles. After our mile recovery, Tiff and I stayed together with our other running bud Vanessa and Big O right on our tails. This section of road we ran plays with my mind because it's up and down and usually a head wind. Today, the wind was light but it still sucked :-). The last time I ran this route with the group, we performed the same workout and I sputtered out on the 3rd mile. So  today, it was all about pushing the pain tolerance and not leaving Tiff solo like I did last time. My hip flexors were loosened up by this point but the quads were slightly heavy because of the ups and downs. The 3rd mile felt fairly long and I wasn't sure if I had it in me to continue but then our watches hit our mile split and it was like a load had been lifted off my shoulders. I focused in on the runner in front of us (our other running bud Billy) and charged ahead. Tiff was running strong right there with me as he headed towards the miles marker. As we made out last turn, I attempted to pick up my speed and catch Billy but of course he picked up the pace as well (smh). Once my watch hit it's mile marker, I couldn't take a deep enough breath to recover. I sat down on the curb and waited for the other runners to come in. Finished the last two mile 6:50, 6:43 respectively. Ran in my Saucony A5's.

Afternoon workout I hit heavy shoulders and focused on some hamstring exercises. 3x6reps of seated dumbell (DB) press, 1min jump rope, 3x6reps ofDB  Arnold Press/ 1min - Hamstring Curl on swiss ball (Superset), 1min jump rope, 3x6reps DB Lateral raise/1min - Hamstring single leg Curl (30secs each leg) (Superset), 1min jump rope, 3x6reps front raise (back against wall), 1min jump rope with some double unders, 3x6reps rear delt machine/30sec - Jump and tuck (SuperSet), 3x10reps Body Weight Leg Curl, 3x10reps Single Leg Straight leg deadlift, 1min - Jump Rope, 30sec Jump and Tuck.

Friday -
Met up with the RRC at 0500 and headed out for an easy run. Unfortunately, the easy run turned into a moderate effort run with some hills. My legs were pretty tired due to the tempo run yesterday, so I just focused on good form and keeping the effort as easy as allowable. Ran in my Mizuno Levitas (you can read my review here).

Afternoon workout, did some speed agility work with plyometric hurdles, agility ladder and of course my favorite...jump rope. I also incorporated some heavy chest just to shock the body a bit. 3x6reps dumbbell (DB) flat bench press, DB incline press, DB incline flys, dips to failure x 3 superset with 40m shuttle sprints.

Saturday -
Woke up pretty tired and well...really didn't want to run :-) Headed to the RRC for an out and back run. The goal today was to go 15 miles with the group but my legs were telling me something different. I figured that the legs would "wake up" like they did on Thursday's run once I got going, so I threw caution to the wind. Well, after 2 miles I knew 15 was not in the cards so I set my mind for 10 miles and kept moving forward. At the 5 mile turn-around I was done. D-O-N-E, done!!! My body felt good but my legs had nothing. It was a very warm and humid morning so this could have played a role in the way I was feeling , who knows. I turned around at made it back to the RRC at a "snail-ish"  pace. As my buddy Tiffany said, "You are so over that run"! I couldn't have agreed with her more.

That afternoon, I performed a little core work just to finish out my day. 100 bicycle crunches, 100 mountain climbers, 100 leg lifts, 100 toe touches and 100 ab wheel.

Sunday -
Slept for 11 hours! I obviously needed it so, I took another Sunday off and just hung out with the family.This was an awesome week of training! I felt great everyday for the exception of Saturday when my legs had nothing in the tank. I can't wait to see what week 3 brings me especially with school starting for the kids. *GULP*

Kyle

Train Hard = Race Easy, Train Smart = Race Fast ™

On my road to my upcoming race, I figured I would post how my weekly training is going and share it with you the reader. Some my not care and I am fine with that but, this is a way to for me to come back and see how I was feeling a particular week, how a particular workout was performed/handled and just a way to help prepare me for future training. So with that, I give you the road to the Philadelphia 8K and Half...week 1.

Well, this past week (Aug 12-18) I started my training for the Philadelphia Half in November. I took the previous week off from running to spend some quality time with my family because I know I will miss a few/several things due to training. That off week was enjoyable as I slept in, focused on some HIIT training to keep the muscles active and just chilled (something I rarely do). Now it was time to prepare for what I hope to be an excellent half marathon for me and prepare for Boston 2014.

This week went by fairly slow and I just wasn't feeling it. Not a great feeling to start off your training week. I felt lethargic, tight and just not comfortable at all this week. It didn't help that we had a storm come through  (It's TX and it's Aug, so this is a rare occurrence) mid-week  which brought on a massive headache which sidelined me for two days. Luckily, by the end of the week I was feeling better and had two solid runs.

Below is my training recap:

Monday -
Easy 5 mile run with the Rockwall Running Club (RRC). Ran in my Saucony Kinvara 3's and felt alright. It felt like a shake out run. Finished in 45mins.

Later on that day, I hit the abs and core. Jump rope, straight leg bicycle crunches, plyo pushups, weighted crunch (25lb plate), ab wheel, crunch with knees-up, side plank dips, hanging knees ups and finished off with back extensions

Tuesday -
Track workout with RRC. Wore my Saucony A5's (great racing flat) and performed 16x100m with 100m recovery. My legs were heavy and tight. The off week must have had an affect on me. Couldn't hit the times I was hoping for (17sec) so I kept it at the only pace I was able to hit consistently (19secs).

Later on that day, I had a leg workout that I apparently wasn't physically prepared for. Assisted pistol squats, single leg press, double leg press, farmer walks, jump rope, single leg wall squats. Then I finished off with core where I had to "tap out" because my core was shot from yesterday's work out but we did hallow rocks, hallow holds, toe touches and planks.

Wednesday -
I woke up with a massive headache at 0400 and could not get out of bed. At 0530, I forced myself up to get ready for work and figured the headache would pass. I packed a gym back in hopes I would at least get a workout in. I drank some coffee, which helped subside the headache and I went on with my day. I could tell, early on that an evening run was not in the cards especially when I went to the gym at lunch and took to hops on the jump rope and my head immediately began to pound. So I went back to my desk, finished out the day and went home.

Thursday -
Woke up feeling a lot better but could tell my body was not all there. Headed out for a 60min progression run. I ran in the Skechers GoSpeed (I'll be writing a review later on theses kicks) otherwise known as the GoMeb Speed. It was a cool humid morning and although my times were erratic, it was a solid run.

Later that day, I set out for an upper body workout which only lasted 5 maybe 10 minutes. I was not into it at all, so I checked out. This is probably effects from the headache yesterday.

Friday -
Slept though my 0400 alarm which was a blessing. When I woke up to get ready for work, I felt fantastic. Headed to the gym and had the best workout of the week. Focused on core, shoulders and legs.

That evening headed out for a run in my neighborhood for an easy 60 minute run. I ran in my Mizuno EVO Levitas (you can read my review here) and felt great.

Saturday -
Luckily, with the storm that came in Wednesday, I was able to get in a run at 0800. That's a ridiculous time because here in Texas, 0800 it is usually 90 degrees but today it was 70 with a nice breeze. I ran a 2x2 mile tempo in my GoSpeed and had a hard but fantastic run. Got in about 8 miles and felt pretty good on my cool down.

Sunday -
This is not typical, but I took it off.  :)

Other than that, there is my week. I hope to share with you more of my training to the Philadelphia 8k and Half because no matter who you are elite, age grouper, recreational runner, fitness enthusiasts, jogger or walker. We all go through hi's and low's...we are human. Reading what others go through can help inspire or simply, let you know that "everyone" hits a bump in the road. It's just up for you to decide if you want to learn from those lows and pick yourself back up to better yourself everyday.

Kyle

Train Hard = Race Easy, Train Smart = Race Fast ™