Primal Blueprint Fitness Sprint Workout Four

I ran my sprints today during my lunch break at about 1300 hours. Part of the spot where I planned to run had been recently reseeded with grass and was spread with straw. I altered my path a bit so I wouldn't slip and bust my butt. This resulted in an uphill sprint for the last 10-15 meters.

Here is the workout:

6 rounds of 30 seconds at 50% speed alternated with 60 seconds walking.
6 rounds of 15 seconds at 75-90% speed alternated with 90 seconds walking.

Total distance for my intervals was 1.05 miles. I covered roughly the same distance on each leg of the intervals. I warmed up with a 0.3 mile, approximately 7 minute, uphill walk to my running spot. I cooled down with a 0.3 mile, approximately 9 minute, downhill walk back to the office.

I felt good running so hard in the second round of intervals. It was exhilarating and exhausting all at once. My right knee hurts a bit but I iced both knees down after hitting the showers. I felt a little extra soreness in right ankle, too. Unlike my distance runs, both calves were equally pumped instead of primarily my left calf. I think I did really well considering it's been fourteen days since my last sprint workout. I'm loving the entire Primal Blueprint Fitness approach.

Couch to 5K Week 4 Day 3

After one week off to let my knee tendonitis subside I resumed my 5K training today. I drove up to my son's elementary school and ran on the track.

Stage	Distance	Time	Pace
WU	417 yards	5:00	21:05
1	435 yards	3:00	12:08
1R	125 yards	1:30	21:03
2	700 yards	5:00	12:33
2R	192 yards	2:30	22:50
3	423 yards	3:00	12:28
3R	127 yards	1:30	20:46
4	682 yards	5:00	12:53
CD	359 yards	5:00	24:29
Total	1.53 miles	21:30	14:03
inc WU/CD	1.97 miles	31:30	15:59

I came very close to maintaining the same pace across both 3 minute intervals and both 5 minute intervals. I was off by 20 seconds on each of the second set of intervals. This run was far better than my last run. My right knee hurt a little bit. My left calf still gets my of a pump, more of a burn than my right calf. I wonder if how badly I tore up my right ankle 28 years ago has anything to do with those two symptoms.

Primal Blueprint Fitness Resumes

I took a full seven days off. I flared up tendonitis in my knees even with icing my knees after each run. So, back to working out today.

Warm up is 2 giant sets of the following exercises, five reps per exercise.

1. Lying Hip Extensions
2. Knee Push Ups
3. Stability Ball Leg Curls

The real work out was two giant sets of the following five exercises.

1. Knee Push Ups 25, 20
2. Pull Ups 17, 17
3. Wall Squats 20, 20
4. Elevated Jack Knife 25, 22
5. Knee-Hand Plank & Side Planks 45-30R-30L, 50-35L-35R

I lost a little from my Push Ups and Pull Ups, which was to be expected since it's been eleven days since my last PBF LHT workout. I held back on the Wall Squats so as not to flare up the knee tendonitis again. I actual did better on the Elevated Jack Knifes. Planks were so-so.

My nine year old son, MJB, worked out with me. He did great! Maybe next time both boys will work out with me. It's been a couple of weeks since my thirteen year old, CIB, worked out with me.

C25K Week 4 Day 2

Yesterday was more or less a day off. I just took four short walks during the day. I totaled thirty one minutes walking or 1.34 miles.

Today I ran in the early afternoon. It was sunny, but cold and windy. I ran on a field that's about a quarter mile around. It has a gentle slope from north to south, the long length of the field. There was also a gentle slope up from east to west on the north end of the field. With all my hill running of late I'll probably be strong for what is hopefully a mostly flat run in April, the Running Nerds 5K.

I got slower and slower with each interval. Here are my times:

Stage	Distance	Time	Pace
WU	404 yards	5:00	21:46
1	428 yards	3:00	12:18
1R	119 yards	1:30	22:07
2	647 yards	5:00	13:35
2R	195 yards	2:30	22:26
3	365 yards	3:00	14:25
3R	122 yards	1:30	21:32
4	598 yards	5:00	14:42
CD	289 yards	5:00	30:26
Total	1.41 miles	21:30	15:14
inc WU/CD	1.80 miles	31:30	17:27

You can check out a map of the run, too. I did some extra walking, about six minutes worth, to get to an even two miles. One of the things that slowed me down over the course of the run was my aching old knees.  My left knee, actually where the muscles attach just below the knee on the inside front of the shin ached more and more as I ran and walked.

I've been taking about 3 grams of fish oil a day to help with the joint pain, among other things. Today I bought a joint supplement but it takes seven days plus for new supplement to kick in. I should have done some research before buying today. Found some better supplements. I'll buy those next month. I'm hoping to stop taking Naproxen twice daily for all my aches and pains. One good thing about wearing my Vibram FiveFingers all day most days as well as for running is that my ankles, hips and lower back are not giving me troubles and pains. Only my knees are bothering me. Losing weight, in addition to the proper supplements, will help. I've pretty much eliminated inflammatory foods from my diet.

Couch 2 5K Week 4 Day 1

I almost talked myself out of running today. Left work late. Felt a little tired. Once I started running I was really lumbering. I felt like I was finally hitting my stride deep in my final interval but then my scheduled run was over.

The workout began with a five minute walking warmup. Then I did 3:00 minutes running followed by 1:30 minutes walking for the first interval. Next interval was 5:00 minutes running followed by 2:30 minutes walking. Then repeated that whole set, except RunDouble skips the last recovery walk and goes straight into the cool down. I wonder why? The cool down was a 5 minute walk.

I did this run on the Eastside High track as usual. Check out the map of my run.

Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things Workout Five

Warm up is 2 giant sets of the following exercises, five reps per exercise.

1. Lying Hip Extensions
2. Knee Push Ups
3. Stability Ball Leg Curls

The work part of workout

1. Knee Push Ups 30, 26
2. Pull Ups Assisted by Two Legs 25, 20
3. Wall Squats 30, 25
4. Elevated Jack Knife Press 23, 22
5. Knee-Hand Plank & Side Planks 75-45L-45R, 75 -30R-30L

I feel good about this workout. I did better in every exercise except the planks and side planks. I think that was mostly due to my arms and shoulders being fried from pushing so hard on the push ups, pull ups and jack knives. Total time was forty-three minutes, fifteen minutes better than my time for the last workout which I did with my thirteen year old son. However it was not as good as two workouts ago when I clocked in at 36 minutes. I do feel much stronger though.

Primal Blueprint Fitness Sprint Workout Three

I missed my Primal Blueprint Fitness sprint workout last week. Today at lunch time I walked up the  from my office to a small, mostly level field. It was about a half mile walk in 14 minutes ( office -> car -> office -> change -> up hill ).

Then I ran a couple series of intervals. The first series was six sets of running for 30 seconds at 50% speed alternated with 60 seconds of walking. This was followed up with six sets of running for 15 seconds at 75-90% speed alternated with 90 seconds walking. Then I walked back down the hill to my office 0.3 miles in 9 minutes.

This was a nice work out. I ran hard. I felt good afterwards, minimal knee pain. I still feel energized nearly three hours later. I hope it lasts throughout what seems like it's going to be a long, boring meeting.

C25K Week Three Day Three

I covered 1732 yards in 15 minutes. Just one yard shy of Saturday's run. I ran on the street again and put in a steeper couple of hills than Saturday. My total distance was 1.42 miles in 25 minutes. I walked an extra 0.2 miles in another 5 minutes to get to a flat 30 minutes.

I feel good now, especially since I'm icing my knees. My left calf was feeling my pumped, more lactic acid buildup than my right calf. However, my right knee was aching more than my left knee. I feel like I stride better, and run faster on grass. I gotta get used to running on the street in my Vibram FiveFingers because the Running Nerds 5K I signed up to run on my 46th birthday will definitely be on the street.

Tomorrow I'm going to run sprints, either during lunch at work or tomorrow evening. I walked about 7247 steps yesterday. Pretty good considering I didn't take a walk other than walking around in grocery stores, nor a run.

PBF LHT Workout Four

Today I did my workout with my thirteen year old son, Isaiah. He not only did the workout, but also did the self-assessment first. Consequently the workout took longer than last time. I clocked in at fifty-eight minutes.

Warmup two giant sets of

1. Lying Hip Extensions 5,5
2. Knee Pushups 5,5
3. Stability Ball Leg Curls 5,5

I did the same exercises as my last Primal Blueprint Fitness Lift Heavy Things workout.

1. Knee Pushups 25,25
2. Two Leg Assisted Pullups 18,15
3. Wall Squats 25,26
4. Elevated Jack Knife 20,21
5. Hand-Knee Plank/Hand-Knee Side Plank 80-40R-40L, 75-40L-40R

Even though I missed my scheduled workout this past Wednesday, I did a little better than my previous workout. I read the instructions a little more closely. It's okay to pause during a set and "shake it off" a bit before continuing. Just don't take like a 20 or 30 second pause. I'll try to keep things moving along faster on Wednesday.

Three C25K Runs and One Day of Walking

Got off my blogging schedule. I was also slightly thrown off my workout schedule. I went to ATL on Monday evening to accompany one of my aunts to her surgery on Tuesday. Spent Tuesday night and most of Wednesday in the hospital with her before taking her home late Wednesday afternoon.

Monday 20120130 Couch to 5K Week Two Day Three => I covered 1.07 miles in 19 minutes for a pace of 17:45 minutes/mile. This was a lot slower than than the first two runs of week two. I chalk it up to the gently rolling hills of the field where I ran. I felt really good afterwards. Including the warmup and cool-down I covered 1.43 miles in 29 minutes for a pace of 20:11 minutes/mile. 8126 steps for the day.

I missed my scheduled sprinting workout on Tuesday ( 3815 steps ) and my PBF LHT workout on Wednesday ( 6773 steps ) while at the hospital.

Thursday 20120202 Couch to 5K Week Three Day One => I returned to Greenville in time to take MJB to an appointment. I also took him to his basketball practice at 7PM. During the first half of practice, I again ran on the Eastside High track. I covered 1.02 miles in 15 minutes for a pace of 14:40 minutes/mile. This was a much better pace than Monday. Including warmup and cool-down I covered 1.41 miles in 25 minutes for a pace of 17:45 minutes/mile. Steps for the day 8991.

Friday 20120203 Walking => I took two short walks during my work day: 0.3 miles in 9 minutes and 0.6 miles in 16 minutes. I forgot to wear my pedometer so I can't say how many steps I got this day.

Today 20120204 Couch to 5K Week Three Day Two => Ran on the street in my neighborhood for a change, actually for the first time since my first run on 20120112. It was a gray, misty, cool morning. Ran some hills, too. I covered 1733 yards in 15 minutes for a pace of 15:12 minutes/mile. Including warmup and cool-down, I covered 1.42 miles in 25 minutes for a pace of 17:34 minutes/mile. I walked a little more after the workout was done for a total of 1.5 miles in 28:13.