Thursday Circuits - emphasis on Push Ups

I attended Chris' circuits class today and there was a heavy emphasis on push ups. Not only was there a push-up station, a push up / mountain climber station, and a bench press station, but we also did 10 push-ups after each song ended, for the entire 45 minute class.

And the 2nd group exercise was doing step-ups for 30-45 seconds, followed by 10 push-ups, then more step-ups. The push-ups in this group were wide base, narrow grip, right leg up, left leg up, and normal for a total of 50.

I bet in the entire class we did close to 250 push ups.

Then at the end, before abs, we did arm-walks.

To me, it was quite a work-out.

• Dynaband Row - This actually goes between the curls and the run-in-place / side-hops station I described on Tuesday. Seated on the floor, row using a dynaband wrapped around the bar on the side of the room.
• Wrist Curls - Seated on the bar, we hold our arms still and just curl with the wrists. I used a 45 lb bar for this.
• Step Up With Weight - Stepping up onto an exercise step, holding a 17.5 lb dumbell in each arm.
• Push Ups - As I said, this is it's own station.

Weight = 191 lbs.

Tuesday Circuits

I attended circuits class yesterday with Matt as the instructor. We had 18 participants, not counting Matt.

It was a tough class, I thought, we did alot of arms and shoulders in our group exercises. After one set I was lucky enough to return to the Dips station afterwards. Going back to a station that works the same muscles you just worked is always an extra challenge.

The next stations for me to describe as I continue around the room:

• Step-Ups - repeated stepping up on to a bar, about 16-18 inches high, that runs around the side of the room. Most people always step up with the same foot first, but I always alternate. Also, I make sure to not hold on to the top bar while I'm stepping up.
• Alternate Straight & Hammer Curls - I used 17.5 lb dumbells for this exercise. Hammer curls are similar to regular curls but the wrist is twisted so the weight is up and down (like you hold a hammer.
• Alternate Jog In Place & Side-To-Side Hops - Another cardio station.

I happened to be lined up right next to Matt as we did our stations and suggested that he add a song by Quiet Riot to the next mix tape, to commemorate the untimely death of lead singer Kevin Dubrow. This led to a discussion on a possible mix tape of all dead artists. Blind Melon, Nirvana, Inxs, and Alice In Chains were some of the other artists mentioned.

Weight = 192 lbs

Monday Treadmill 2.5

I ran easy today on the treadmill. I haven't done much running since the half marathon 3 weeks ago so I decided to ease back into it. I started at 6.6 mph (9:05 per mile) and worked my way up to 7.3 mph (8:13) at the fastest. Not very fast at all.

The entire 2.5 mile run took me a little less than 22 minutes.

Weight = 192 lbs

Tuesday Night 4.5 Miles

I ran tonight in Oberlin with the Tuesday night group. There were 7 of us tonight, a pretty big crowd for November. I rode with Ken and rode home with Randy. Greg made it also. The surprise was seeing twins Gabrielle and Danielle, home from college at Malone, and their friend Courtney.

We ran 4.5 miles on the bike path, the same path where we ran the Inland Trail race a couple weeks ago.

Thursday Circuits

I went to Circuits today. Chris was the instructor and we had 11 students for a total of 12. The next workout station, going around the room, is described below:

• Dips - with your arms on a bar about 18 inches off the ground, your back to the bar, and your legs extended out in front of you, dip your body down and then lift it back up (with your arms).

Unfortunately, due to where I started and where we finished class, I didn't get to do the next 2 stations after this, so the descriptions will just have to wait.

I can say that we did alot of legs today. There was a wall sit / lunges station, a squats / reverse lunges station, and a station for stepping up onto a box while holding weights. For our first group exercise, we did sprints. While 1 person sprinted, the other 11 of us ran in place with high knees. Then the 2nd group exercise was lunges, reverse lunges, & squats (with weights - I used 15 lb dumbells).

Then at the end of the class we did 10 push-ups, 10 squats, 9 push-ups, 9 squats, all the way down to 1.

My legs were a little sore before class, I can only imagine how they will feel tomorrow. I am planning on 3 more rest days (Friday - Saturday - Sunday) to help my achilles heal.

Weight = 193 lbs.

Wednesday Run

I ran today, my first run since the day after the half-marathon last week. I intended to run with Kevin D & Matt but they got started ahead of me. I then tried to trace their steps, and eventually caught up with them after they had turned around. (We ran the marginal / aviation route).

It was probably good that I didn't run with them from the start, because even after I met up with them, I only ran with them for about 1/2 mile and then began to fall back.

Physically I did feel ok, achilles is still painful but that is just going to take time and rest (I hope). Total distance for the day was 5.5 miles.

Weight = 189 lbs.

Tuesday Circuits

I went to Circuits class today. Usually on Tuesdays, Matt is the instructor, but today it was Chris. We only had 9 students, all guys.

I will continue from last week to describe the stations.

• Alternate Push-Ups / Mountain Climbers - I was able to do 2 sets of 10 of each exercise before we switched stations.
• Side Bends - Hold a weight (I used a 25 lb dumbell) in one arm and bend your trunk to the side, lowering that arm, then raise it back up. After several repetitions, switch arms.
• Alternate Squats / Reverse Lunges - We do this station with no weights. Do about 10 squates, then about 10 reverse lunges, then back to squats.
• Bent Over Lateral Raises - This is very difficlut for me. Kneeling down with 1 knee on the floor, bend your chest towards your other knee. With a dumbell in each arm, do a lateral raise, lifting your arms up and away from your body. I feel like I'm a bird, raising my wings. I used 12 lb dumbells in each arm.

We had some minor excitement in the fitness center after class. Jose hurt his knee pretty bad playing basketball. Some guys got his stuff from the locker room and he was waiting in the lobby for a ride to the hospital.

Weight = 191 lbs.

Thursday Circuits

After a rest day on Wednesday, I went to circuits class today. Chris was the instructor and we had about 9 students. As I've done in the past, I'll describe some of the stations:

• Crossover Crunches - crunches for your abs while twisting so that your right elbow goes towards your left knee, then alternating.
• Biceps Curls - standard biceps curls with dumbells. I used 20 lb weights in each arm.
• Bench Press - another pretty standard exercise. I used 30 lb dumbells on each side.
• Alternate Leg Lifts & V-Sits - I think everybody knows what leg lifts are. V-Sits are when you bring both your shoulders and hips off the ground at the same time, pulling your body into a sitting-V shape.

Those were my first 4 stations today. I'll describe some more next week.

Jeff and Carlos were joking about being sore and weak due to getting their flu shots yesterday. At least I think they were joking.

My right hamstring is just a little tender. My right achilles is still hurting. I'll probably run just a couple times a week for the rest of the year.

Tuesday Circuits

I went to the Tuesday Circuits class with Matt as the instructor. I'm done racing for the year so I'm going to do more classes and less running from now until next spring.

This week is the start of a new session so we had all new stations.

My right hamstring is still sore from the race so I took it easy on several stations such as step-ups. It will be good to get back into class and work out some different muscles, and give my legs a break a couple days each week.

At this point I'm still planning to run (very slowly) tonight with the Oberlin group.

Weight = 190 lbs.

Recovery Run

I went out and jogged a couple miles through the flats today. My legs were stiff and my quads were very sore, but I have found that after a long race, any easy jogging speeds the recovery along. Indeed I already feel much better.

Weight = 189 lbs.

2007 Inland Trail Race Results (5k, Half Marathon, Marathon)

Although the race was put on by NCN Racing, timing was done by Runner's High and the results are now available on the Runners High website.

2007 Inland Trail Half Marathon Race Report

I ran the Inland Trail Half Marathon this morning. The start was just about 10 minutes from my house. Not only that, the race was on the same trail that our Tuesday night running group runs on every week. Kevin D from work and my brother-in-law Ken were also running the half, while nephew Keith, brother Greg, and friend Randy were all running the full marathon.

We got bussed out to the start in Kipton, where the main activity was waiting in line for the port-a-pots. The race used chip timing but only for the finish times. There was no mat at the start so there was no recording of exactly when each person crossed the start line.

The weather at the start was chilly. I was wearing shorts, a long sleeve lightweight shirt, a short sleeve t-shirt, and a bandanna covering my head. I had decided to pin my number to my shorts in case I decided to ditch the extra t-shirt.

The half-marathon was actually started by phone. A girl was on the phone communicating with the finish line, and they were telling her when to tell us to start. She started counting down from 10 and several of us joined her until many of the runners were chanting together "5" "4" "3" ... and we were off.

Being a long race, my intention was to start easy and pace myself. I thought I was doing ok. Shortly before the 1 mile, 2 girls came up behind me. One of them said "Hey big guy, how fast are we going?" I was amused because, at 6'3, I'm pretty tall, but I'm wouldn't usually call myself big.

"I'm hoping for 1:45" I replied, which would have been about 8 minutes per mile. "Good," one of the girls said back, and they settled in beside me. We crossed the mile mark and one of them said "7:30." I was a little faster than my pace should have been, but the pace was easy and I didn't feel as if I could run much slower.

Shortly we were passed and one of the girls went with the guy who passed us, but the other girl ran beside me until almost 3 miles.

At that point I started looking ahead and passing people. I didn't count but I'm sure I passed at least 6-8 people in the next 5 miles, while nobody passed me. I was moving up through the race and feeling pretty good.

From mile 4 to mile 6.5 we were on the section of the trail that we usually run on Tuesdays. Around 6.5 we passed Keith's family (Tiffani & Kora) cheering for us, and also we started meeting marathon runners on their way out.

Around mile 7 I saw that the next person ahead of me was Kevin D from work, who I didn't really expect to beat. I stayed about the same distance behind him until somewhere between 8 and 9 miles when my legs started to get heavy.

A guy who I had passed around 5 miles caught me at that point and passed me. I then decided it didn't hurt any more to run fast than slow, so I picked up the pace and got even with him. We chatted a little and I found out he was from Cincinnati.

Then just before 10 miles we were caught by 2 other guys. They said their 10th mile was 8:02, so I know mine was slower than that. They joked that since we couldn't see anyone ahead of us, we must be leading the race and should finish together.

After running with them for a bit, once again I realized that I should try to give a harder effort, and I pulled ahead of them.

Then just before 12 miles, I was passed again, this time by an older woman who was moving right along. At this point I didn't have the energy left to respond at all. She went by me with ease. "Very nice" I called out to her in encouragement.

During the last mile, I was struggling to keep any pace, and hoping nobody would catch me. One of the 3 guys I had left around 10.5 did catch me, I tried to hang with him but my legs just didn't have anything left. Besides having run over 12 miles, we now went off the bike path and onto the road, and up a slight hill.

I fought my way to the Murray Ridge School parking lot and turned in. The finish was somewhat disheartening. Even though it was less than 200 yards away, it was behind the school and you couldn't see it until about the last 40 yards.

The guy from Cincinnati caught up with me on the driveway but I was able to stay ahead of him and crossed the line in 27th place with a time of 1:44:00. I had met my goal. Not only that, I was surprised to be handed a medal for 1st place in my age group!

There were 128 finishers in the half marathon. Interestingly, there were 65 men and 63 women.

After the race I got a sweatshirt and long pants on, and then went in to the food area, where I chatted with Kevin D and Ken, both of whom had also won their age divisions. Kevin D left, but Ken and I waited around to cheer on the marathon finishers.

Keith had some IT band trouble and dropped out around 19 miles. Randy ran well but missed his goal of qualifying for Boston by just over a minute. Greg made his goal of qualifying for Boston, but probably won't go by himself. Today was Greg's 33rd marathon finish!

This was my first time running this race, but I doubt it will be my last. It was a very nice "smaller" marathon & half marathon.

Thursday 5 Miles

There were 5 of us today, the largest group we've had in quite a while. Milica, Vicki, Kevin D, Peter, and myself all started together. We ran the marginal route. Kevin and Vicki turned off near the Cleveland Browns Stadium and ran about 3 miles.

The other 3 of us ran out marginal along the lake, and back past the muni parking lots. We added a lap around the building for a total of just over 5 miles. This was my first time seeing the new Lebron James banner.

I haven't found a link to the new banner but here is the old one. The new one has his arms extended, head back, and is a shot of his pregame ritual of chalking his hands and then sending the chalk into the air.

It was sunny but very breezy, when we ran through the alley behind the Rock Hall the wind almost stood us straight up!

My achilles felt much better today. I did have a little tightness in my lower right inside shin area.

And I checked my 2nd newest shoes, they are the ASICS GT 2110 so the new ones I bought are almost the same.

Weight = 187 lbs.