Satuday 6/30/07 - 10 mile run, Forerunner style!

Yea, I got my Garmin Forerunner 305 Watch. Its great for training, showing splits, monitory my heart rate and tracking my location via GPS. Here is a picture of it:


Just a quick entry today. Ran the 10 miles. Although the pace group is supposed to be 10:30s, they run 10:00s, sometimes even as low as 9:30s. I don't get it. It was during this run that I decided I need to focus on what I can do. I would like to be 10:15s, but 10:30s are ok too. My goal for LB Marathon is 4:30. Now actually if I go 4:40, I will be equally happy. 10:30s put me at 4:35:18. Here is a breakdown of paces:

9:30 - 4:09:05
9:45 - 4:15:38
10:00 - 4:22:11
10:15 - 4:28:5
10:30 - 4:35:18
10:45 - 4:41:5
11:00 - 4:48.24

So based on the above chart, I think a good goal would be 10:20s. But realistcally, a 10:45 pace something I will fall back on, depending on how my training is going.

For the run today, I did it around 10:05s I think. Below is my first official run with my new watch. See how it shows where I ran along with my pace and heart rate. There are many other screens it shows, but I picked this one to post. Based on my heart rate, I think the 170 average may be a little high. I am going to try and bring that down to the 160 range for my longer runs.
After my run, I met up with Kurt to do Shoulders/Arms/Abs. P90X is going well and the weight is coming down. I fear though that my diet will suffer for the next few days, so I can't get too frustrated. After July 4th, I will be back on track!

Fun and Uplifting Video

Here is a fun and uplifting video I got from my buddy Court:

Friday 6/29/07 - David Noyes' Killer Spin Class

This morning Kurt, Rich Saldana and myself joined our friend Nicole for our friend David's spin class at Frogs at LB State. He teaches a fantastic class and kicks our butt. I have done it once before and am now back for more. Every last Friday of each month, his spin class is 90 minutes long. Since the three of us were spinning for free though, we had the fear of being kicked off for members arriving late in all bikes were used. This morning came as close as we could all imagine. Nicely enough, David gave up his bike after 50 minutes and then continued to teach without one, just so neither one of us had to stop our spinning. He's so sweet!! :-)

After spin class I decided to weigh myself on the gym scale. 183. Yea! I know I need to stop weighing myself so frequently, but I can't help it. I am obsessed with losing my gut, reforming my body into something healthier and more visually attractive to myself.

My diet has been a great part of this as well. I still continue to treat myself when needed, but 80-85% of the time I am eating well.

Tonight I will swim. Going to pass on the timed 3000 that Kurt is doing, since I have decided once a month is good. I may do a long IM set. I was thinking. 100 IM. 200 free. 300 IM. 400 free. 500 IM. 500 free. 400 IM. 300 free. 200 IM. 100 free. That is 3000 meters. If I include a warm up of 600 meters and 400 of drills, that will put me at 4000 meters. We'll see.

Thursday 6/28/07 - Cabinets are alomst installed!! Yea!

Here are some pictures of where we stand on the kitchen remodelling. After the contractor finishes today, we have some touch-ups to do, then the countertops need to be made and installed, appliances installed, and some other items. I am thinking probably another month, or just over that.

As for working out, I did a quick 3 mile run before I met up with Kurt tonight. We started week #2 of P90X. Chest and Back for 55 minutes and 16 minutes of Ab Ripper. Things are going well for me. I started last week at 190 and I was 185 today. I know the first week always has a big drop so I'm not concerned I am losing too much. Now if I continue to lose 5 lbs per week, we have a problem!

Wednesday 6/27/07 - It hurts, but its so so good to swim hard

Great workout this morning. Here it was:

SCM
900 w/u - 100 kick / 100 pull / 100 swim (repeat until 900 meters)

Main Set:
Round 1 - 3 X 150s hard on 2:00 (1:54s)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00
Round 2 - 3 X 150s negative split on 2:30 (1:52/53s)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00
Round 3 - 3 X 150s descend each 50 in the 150 on 3:00 (1:52, 1:52, 1:45)
4 X 50s recovery on 1:00

Total - 2850 meters

Good workout given by Dr. Tom. The 2:00 base (1:20/100) for SCM is looking more and more like what I should be holding. Tom wants to see me do 20 X 100s on 1:20 eventually. Give me another month or two I think. Either way, I worked these hard. On Round 2, I negative split them, but with the extra rest I was able to go faster than R1. For R3, descending within each one along with more rest allowed me to go faster than all of them. On the final one, Tom wanted me around 1:47 I think. I went :37, :34, :33 I believe. Perfect. The pool was hot, but I think this time around it was because I WAS ON FIRE!!!! :-)

Tuesday 6/26/07 - 5:30am? I don't think so!

So I denied my body the opportunity to run 3 or 4 or 5 miles this morning at 5:30am. I woke up and along with just wanting another hour of sleep (it was 4:55am at this time), my foot was hurting. I decided that instead I would run after work.

What I forget to think about though, was that we had the contractor installing the kitchen cabinets and Drew had to go to his piano lesson, so I was only limited to 35+ mins of running. So I got in 3 miles. Wasn't too bad. Foot didn't hurt. But I iced it that night. I will continue to ice for 2 weeks.

Monday 6/27/07 - Keeping it strong

This morning I was back in the pool. I am doing my best to stay focused, with the goal for DC next year. Its 12 months away, so already applying so much hard work might be difficult. I don’t want to burn out, but at the same time, I don’t want to slack off. Its real motivating to produce some decent times in workout, or at least leave the workout knowing that I gave it my all and helped my progress to become a faster swimmer.

Here was the workout SCM:

600 warm up – every 3rd 25 – sculling

8 X 50s kick on 1:00

Main Set:
3 X 200s on 3:15 – descend – 3:00, 2:45, 2:28
3 X 150s on 2:30 – descend – 2:15, 2:00, 1:48
3 X 100s on 2:00 - descend - 1:30, 1:20, 1:07
3 X 50s on 1:00 - descend - :37, :33, :29

300 pull
Total - 2800 meters

My fast 200 was ok. I think I just didn't have that extra gear. The 150 was about the same, maybe a little better. My 100 was better, but only about a 1:00 for yards. Then my :29 was good.

Later on before I had to coach, I had to make sure I did my workout for P90X. Tonight was legs and back along with ab ripper. I was sort of rushed and only did about 85% of the workout, but it was better than nothing.

Sunday June 24th - Back in the water

So I didn't swim Thursday, didn't swim Friday and didn't swim Saturday. I like to try and not miss more than one day in a row with swimming, so on these occassions, I need to try and avoid. In the future, I think I will not give up my Friday swimmings, and just incorporate extra workouts.

Here was the workout from this morning SCY:

500 w/u = 500 yards

12 X 50s - descend 1-3,4-6, etc on :45 = 600 yards

4 rounds of 3 X 75s hard on 1:05 plus 25 sprint = 1000 yards

24 X 25s kick (S-M-F by 25) on :35 = 600 yards

12 X 50s on 1:00, #1 - 3 breaths total, #2 - 2 breaths, #3 - 1 breath, repeat for 12 50s = 600 yards

4 X 200s pull on 3:00, use last one as cool down = 800 yards

Total - 4100 yards

It was a good workout. The 50s descend I started getting back into the groove, but still used them as warmups. The 75s hard I was going betwen :48 and :50 and then sprinting the 25s. The kick set was murder on my legs, especially after that 13 mile run yesterday, but I still did them and didn't just do them 1/2 ass. The breathing set was fun and a challenge. 3 was easy, 2 had to get adjusted to and 1 breath was tough, but I did it. By the time I had gotten to round 3 though, I was in a rhythm so they became easier. On the very last one though, Kurt challenged me to ZERO breaths for the 50. I did it, but boy was it tough. I hope these exercises will help strenghten my lungs. The 200s pull were decent, but I could totally feel my arms from working out. I went around 2:10 on the first 2 and then on #3 I was on pace for under 2:10, but my pull buoy began to loosen up. By the time I was at the 150, it was literally at my ankles. I probably should have just stopped, but I didn't!

After workout I did some errands. Main errand was getting a yoga mat, stretch cord and push-up bars. I also ended up buying some running shorts and shirts, and spending over $200. Oh well. Things I needed.

I forgot to mention on Saturday I purchased a Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS watch with Heart Rate Monitor. I'm hoping to get it by Friday before my Saturday run.

Saturday June 23rd - 13 mile run day

Two weeks ago, I successfully ran 8 miles. Then I ran twice during the week, but missed our on the long run on last weekend. This past week I did get in 5 miles on Tuesday and 3 miles on Thursday. So with the 13 miles today, I felt that I was close to being prepared.

This morning we had a pretty large group. I would estimate about 13 or 14, possibly more. For me, that makes running more fun. Although I primarily like to run with my ipod and zone out, having friends around and going through the same journey make it just a tad easier (for me at least).

We began the group and split up into 2 groups. A 9:30 pace and a 10:15 pace. I fall into the 10:15 pace. Immediately when we took off though, I felt like I was struggling to keep up. I made sure I did, but I felt like my effor level was more than it should be. Kevin and I were the back and running along. He has been having some knee problems that won't seem to go away. It was even last year at the LA Marathon that he had to pull out due to it hurting. I believe I mentioned that in my marathon blog. Anyway, at mile 3, Kevin felt it was a good place for him to turn around so that he could finish at 6 miles. As he took off, this meant I had to pick up the pace a little bit more so that I was with everyone else. We then kept on going, approaching the bridge to go over to the Queen Mary. Boy did that hurt. On the way back I found out that we were averaging under 10 minute miles. HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO!?!?!?! OK this is why I felt that I was struggling a little bit to keep up. I was expecting 10:15 miles. OK no biggie, but at least now I know why I felt like I was applying more effort. I chose to keep with them, but not push it anymore. But then as we began to climb that bridge to head back on over, everyone began to take off from me. OK go ahead I thought. I need to focus on finishing these 13 miles.

After I got over the bridge, the group was about 10 seconds ahead of me. That was fine. They were within eye contact. I just kept on focusing and keeping my pace. About this time, I began to feel fatigued. Luckily Kurt had provided me a gu that I had taken just after I went over the bridge the first time. About 15 mins later, I finally felt it kicking in instead of that continual fatigue I was having. I kept on running, as my ipod played on. I was happy that my music was going strong with no boring music. With 3 miles to go, I was still going strong. I was going to be right around 2:12 I believed, which is about 10:15 pace. Last year I ran the 1/2 marathon in 2:11 and this year in 2:05. So to be around 2:12 is far better than I had planned. The last two miles were survival. Thank goodness for the weather though. It was overcast and never once was I feeling wiped out. But then it happened. I hit a song in my ipod that just didn't belong. This means though that I have 2 hours of non stop marathon music. Plus the two songs after the bad song (I don't want to say bad, more non-marathonic music), were great. I want to make sure come marathon day (October 14th), that I have minimum 5 hours of great music to keep me going.

I finished the 13 miles at 2:12:05. I'll take it. 13 miles down!

90 minutes later, I was back at Kurts for DAY 3 of P90X. Today we did Shoulder & Arms and another set of Ab Ripper. Here is what was said about Shoulder and Arms: This workout incorporates a potent combination of pressing, curling, and fly movements that will do wonders for the development of the deltoid muscles and the biceps and tricepts. We did chair dips, shoulder presses, curls, and others. Another great and hard workout. I can still feel my body aching in a good way. Followed up that 60 min workout with 16 mins of Abs.

What a workout day, and done by 12:30pm.

Friday June 21st - Day Two P90X Plyometrics

Met with Kurt this morning at 5:30am for our Plyometrics. Plyometrics is a cardio workout (some call it "the Beast"). The program offers over 30 EXPLOSIVE jumping moves. At 5:30 in the morning, you have to ready for something like this. AND I WAS!! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! :-). We did tons of different types of squats, kickings, circle runs, lunges, and jumps galore. I definitely need some shoes with better cushions!!

Decided to take Friday off from working out. Its rare that I do this, but it was nice to do. I will post my weekly schedule on Monday for the week.

13 miles of running tomorrow. That's over 2 hours of running, but its with a group, so that should be fun!! Wish me luck.

Thursday June 21 P90X POWER!!

So Kurt has fallen into the infomercial world and has sucked me into it. He has purchased some DVDs from BEACHBODY and the program is called P90X. Their slogan is, "Get Absolutely RIPPED in just 90 DAYS with P90X. This is what they say:

P90X is a revolutionary system of 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts, designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. You'll also receive a comprehensive 3-phase nutrition plan, specially designed supplement options, a detailed fitness guide, a calendar to track your progress, online peer support, and much more. Your personal trainer, Tony Horton, will keep you engaged every step of the way, and you won't believe your results!

Here is the linkP90X Website,

Why is P90X so effective?
The secret behind the P90X system is an advanced training technique called "Muscle Confusion," which accelerates the results process by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus, and you never get bored! Whether you want to get lean, bulk up, or just plain get ripped, there's an endless variety of ways to mix and match the routines to keep you motivated the full 90 days and beyond!

OK so sounds interesting, huh? I'm not one to fall for these things, but since Kurt was the one who purchased it, what do I have to lose? Its just a bunch of weight exercising, watching my diet and other things. So its not some quick fix in my eyes. If anything, I am getting my body back into muscular shape. I hardly ever do weights, so this will be good. Also, I have always wanted to get into yoga and have yet to succeed.

My Thursday after work began with a 30 min run. It was probably right about 3 miles. With my new shoes, everything was in order and it was a fun run at 5:30pm. Drew ran it to (at a faster pace and he had just biked and was already warmed up and ready to go).

After the run, I headed over to Kurt's for our 6:30pm Day 1 of P90X workout. Day 1 consisted of Chest & Back and the was followed up with Ab Ripper. Chest & Back is a 53 minute workout. It's all about pushing and pulling during this resistance workout. It offered 12 "dynamic" exercises to strengthen, tighten, tone and build the major muscles of the upper torso. The majority of these exercises were either push-ups or pull-ups. (most of what I just wrote was quoted from the book). After Chest & Back, we followed up with Ab Ripper for 16 minutes. Its a quick routine that hits all the areas of the midsection to burn the fat and tone the muscle, ranging from sit-ups to pilates moves. I was able to do most everything, but there were times I needed a break. Boy did I sweat!! It was a great workout (both) and I rewoke muscles I haven't worked in awhile. It's too early for me to tell you all out there if this works, but so far its good.

As I do these routines more and more, I will get into more details which ones I do and what I think works and doesn't, but for now, I need to learn more about this program. Kurt and I also did "before" pictures, that I and still debating if I will post. They are not that flattering so I am not sure I want to show them to the world. I'm no Valerie Bertinelli who wants to show the world! But we'll see. Maybe I will post a picture each month.

Wednesday June 20th

Swam this morning. Only got in about 1600 meters. Crazy work week and with a few meetings today, I wanted to get into work early. I made sure to work the 1600 that I did though.

Tuesday June 19th - Running wid da puppies!

Ya ya.. I wrote in ghetto. Or is it now called IM talk. Ugh. That is another thing. I hate these kids who IM or blog or comment on things with their own versions of how to spell words. Especially when they are only dropping one letter or even sometimes adding a letter just to spell their "slang". I am not referring to LOL or LMAO or BTW, as I can understand those, but you all have to know what I am talking about. Or better yet... let me give you a sample:

ya ya.. i rote n geto. or iz it now clld IM talk. Ugh. Tht iz anuther thing. I hate thez kidz who IM or blog or coment on things wid there own verzhun of how to spl wrds.

Okay enough of that. I ran this morning with Drew and the dogs. Right around 4 miles. Running at 5:30am isn't my normal cup of tea, but Drew likes it and its a way to spend some quiet time with each other and get the dogs some exercise.

I will also run on Thursday to prep me for the 13 mile run on Saturday. I am thinking around 5 or 6 miles on Thursday, but not sure what time or where.

Monday June 18th - Get into the Groove

This morning's workout was hard but good. In the beginning I just wasn't feeling it, but of course that is because its at 5:30am. Dr. Tom gives good workouts and this one I really enjoyed since the main set was a pull set. And I looooooooooooooove pulling.

Here it was:

Pool - SCM (Short Course Meters)

300 swim
200 kick
300 pull - warm-up

4 X 100s on 1:40 - descend

Main Set:
5 X 300s pull on 4:00

6 X 50s IM order by 25.

100 cool down
Total - 3,100 meters

The 100s descend were a good additional warm up. I went 1:28, 1:23, 1:17 and then 1:10. They were solid swims, nothing all out.

The main set was fun and painful. I went 3:37, 3:40, 3:41, 3:41 then 3:35. This is one of the workouts I discussed earlier that since sometimes we only have a few of us, I was able to step up the interval and do it on my own.

I need to feel more pain. Work harder. Swim farther. I need to see what I can really do. The swim season of 2007-2008 will be my test. The final..... Washington D.C., June 2008. IGLA. Do you dare to race me? Bring it!

Saturday June 16th - Old friends and salty water

This morning I drove down to Camp Pendleton to see two old friends from mine that I have now known for about 23 years now. Inga and Ericka Keithly. I wasn't sure if I was going to see Ericka, as she was on call at the hospital, so the visit was mainly to see Inga. Inga and I were Junior Homecoming Dates back in 1989 and also swam together on Blue Fins Swim Team (so did Ericka). I got to meet Inga and her boyfriend/fiance Jason along with all their friends doing the mud run. Oh boy what a place to go if you want to see perfectly chisled men. Ay yi yi. ANYWAY. Ericka eventually showed up too and I was able to spend some quality but way too brief amount of time with both Inga and Ericka. I can only hope that maybe during the holidays we can all get together and have dinner sometime. Here is a picture of the girls and me. As always, I don't take the best pictures, but the girls look fantastic:

After hanging with the girls, I headed back up to Long Beach. Since I had missed my normal Saturday long run and also the swim practice, I met up with our open water swim team and did about 0.8 miles in the ocean. I try and try to enjoy it, but its just not for me. I get dizzy having to look around and don't like the taste. I end up spitting out water for an hour after I get out. The fun part of it though was the casual swimming with friends on the team, which is the only reason for why I would do it again. That and since it wasn't wavey.

That evening, our good friends Chris and Jeff had their bachelor party to celebrate their soon to be domestic partnership. It was really fun. I will just post one picture that won't be too controversial (like the penis cake):

Friday June 15th - Timed 3000 Round 1

Tonight Kurt and I decided to start our rounds of timed 3000 meters. My foot has still been hurting me, so I wasn't too sure how the water would be on it. When I dove it, my stomach/abs were SOO sore. I had forgotten how hard we worked our abs yesterday. OH BOY! We did a 500 warm up and then got ready for our timed 3000.

I started off the 3000 feeling strong and holding right around 1:25s (LCM) per 100. Immediately, I calculated that this pace would place me right at 42:30. At the 800 mark, I flipped exactly at 11:20, so I was holding strong. By the 1000 though, my foot was really beginning to cause me pain, so I quickly transitioned into pulling. For the next 1000 though I picked up the pace (due to pulling). I think I averaged closer to 1:23s. So at the 2000 mark I was at 28:00 exactly. 20 seconds faster than pace. First 1000 - 14:10, Second 1000 - 13:50. By the 2000 I felt that I needed to let go of pulling and see if I could survive the final 1000 without pulling. Mentally knowing that I only had 1000 left, I took off. Around 2600 or so, I lapped Kurt for the second time, giving me an extra boost and somehow I found some extra ooomph. I finished the time in 41:58.90, meaning my final 1000 was 13:38. That put my final 1000 at a 1:23 high pace, and to finish the race with a complete average of 1:23.9.

I think this was a good first timed 3000. I may try and do this once a month, with the ultimate goal to be under 41 minutes. That is averaging 1:22/100 which I don't think is too bad. Now that I see that 100 pace, maybe 1:21 or even 1:20 is a better goal? What do you think?

Kitchen Demolishing

Here are some pictures now of our kitchen with no more cabinets or appliances after the demo yesterday:

Thursday June 14th - Sweaty Mess at Gold's Gym

Today's workout at Gold's was a whole lot of sweatin! I met up with Kurt at 5:30pm to do our 60 minutes of spinning. We followed it up with 15/20 mins of Dara's ab workout. Boy did that hurt. Then we followed that up with 2 miles of running.



For the run, I was worried about my foot, as it was still sore. I will start icing it tonight and try to do it a few times a day. As for the two mile run though, it didn't hurt at all. I am really hoping that it gets better by Sunday, as that is when I will run around 8 miles. I love it how 2 years ago, 8 miles was crazy, now its just like .... "hey... let's go run 8 miles".

New Shoes

NewBalance 857. Let's hope these do the trick with my feet

Wednesday June 13th - Back to the Basics / Training

IGLA 2007, Paris has come and gone. I swam really well and enjoyed my week hiatus in Italy. Now its time for my next journey in my athletic life for 2007-2008. There are a few journies within the yearly journey.

1) - Long Beach Marathon - Sunday, October 14th.

I have already done two 1/2 marathons (HB in 2006 and 2007) and 1 marathon (LA 2006), so running isn't as new a sport to me anymore. Each time I run a race, I get better and better, as my body learns this new sport. Running is a very humbling act for me, since up until 3 years ago, the farthest I had ran was probably 2 or 3 miles. I am by no means as fast runner, or even moderately fast. But thanks to my athletic background, I am also not one of the slow ones either. The sport of running embraces me more and more as I do it. I am lucky to live close to the beach that a lot of my runs are along or around the harbor or ocean. With my ipod and my thoughts, I ride off of my endorphins and enjoy life. The first 2 miles are always rocky for me, but then after that I feel as though I can run forever. Shoreline Village in downtown Long Beach is so fun to run around with the water as the background.

My first 1/2 marathon I ran in February 2006, I ran right around 2:11:11. The first half of the race I averaged 10:30/mile, and the second half was around 9:30/mile. That put my race at 10:00/mile. You can read about it here: HB 1/2 Marathon 2006,

I followed up this race with the LA Marathon the next month. I ran with Drew, JC and Kevin all together, which made the experience a lot of fun. We did the race strategy of 6 mins of running / 1 min of walking the entire time. Its not my preference, but for this marathon, I wanted it to be fun and be with friends. I finished around 5:09:00, accomplishing my goal of finishing, but short of my goal of being under 5 hours. I was certain I had blogged my experience, but I can't find a record of it. I will search further later on.

Then I pretty much didn't run after that. In November, Drew talked me into signing up for the HB 1/2 Marathon again. I began to train for that half-ass in December, running probably on average once a week, doing no more than 3 or 4 miles. Ya I know, not great training. Drew eventually withdrew from the race since he injured himself, thus leaving me by myself. Well not so much by myself, as I had other friends run it. I ran great and went 2:05, thus dropping my time from last year with hardly any training. You can read about my race here: HB 1/2 Marathon 2007,


So here I am again. Not sure why I signed up to do the marathon, but I did. So here we go. I purchased new running shoes yesterday to get me through this round. They feel a lot better than my other shoes did, so I am excited. My plan is to run 3 times a week, doing roughly 3 or 4 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and then my long runs with a group on Saturdays. The group is already up to 11 miles on Saturday, which I am not. As I stated in an earlier blog, I ran 8 miles on Saturday, which was probably too much. I will probably repeat the 8 miles again this Saturday or Sunday and then join back up with the group in a week.

2) IGLA 2008 - Washington D.C.

This is my other journey. The one I love more. Its swimming. I have set my goal times for next year and am now focusing on training even harder this year and working on the little things.

Taken from my kick-ass runner pal Elaine, I will state what I am happy of from this year and things I need to work on for next year:

Things I am happy about :
- Stepping up and doing the 200 fly at IGLA
- Working more consistently hard leading up to IGLA
- Focusing on my butterfly more
- All my performances at IGLA, especially the 800 free in the final heat

This I need to work on:
- More butterfly training - higher hips, more drills, entering the 200 fly in more meets
- Flip turns, focusing on streamlining off the wall and not breathing first thing. This is the PRIMARY focus. Try to avoid popping right up.
- Endurance races, I need to enter more of them in little meets. I also need to use Friday nights to create my own workouts for me.
- Take advantage when I can get my own lane to do faster intervals that others cannot. This morning was a perfect chance.

Wednesday June 13th - AM Swimming

This morning's workout was good. I had a lane to myself, so I could go at my own speed.

Pool - SCM -

10 X 25s warm up
Main Set :
50 (slow/medium)
100 (slow/medium/fast/slow)
150 (slow/medium/fast/slow/medium/fast)
100 (slow/medium/fast/slow)
50 (medium/fast)
Do this set 3 times through
8 X 100s pull on 1:20.
100 cool down
Total - 2,900 meters

The main set was good. Slow interval but I used this time to make sure I worked on all my turns. I will probably say that about 90% of my turns were on. I just need to keep it up. The pull set was great. I averaged 1:11s, just getting into a rhythm.

Tuesday June 12th - GOLD'S GYM WELCOMES BACK BRIAN

Tonight I returned to the gym. I have decided to not just rely on running and swimming and spinning to shape my body. I think weights are a key ingredient. I forgot tonight, but for future gym attendences, I will also work on key core exercises for my swimming.

Tuesday nights will be my gym workouts with my buddy, Mike. He is currently taking a break from swimming and dedicating himself to become a 4 day / week gym bunny! Tonight was back and biceps. Boy its been awhile. We ended up doing weights for just over an hour. I went a little lighter on weights since I am just gradually getting back into it and want to be able to lift my arms tomorrow.

After weights, our plan was to run for 30 mins (or 3 miles). My foot was still hurting me just slightly, so I didn't want to over do it. I decided to run 2 miles instead and walk another 1/3 of a mile. Although I could have ran at a faster pace, I chose 5.8 which is 10:20 mins/mile.

Also, at lunch today, I bought my new running shoes that will take me to my first ever marathon under 5 hours. Well actually I am hoping it takes me to something more like 4:40. They are NewBalance 857. Let's hope these do the trick with my feet. Here is a picture of them:

Monday June 11th - So so tired

Morning workouts. So so tired. In reality though, I think I am still trying to recover from jet lag. Let's hope so.

Here was the workout at 5:30am:

SCM -

6 X 100s warm up
Main Set:
4 X 50s drill - 10 secs rest
4 X 100s (25 stroke / 75 free) - 2:00
300 swim
Do this set 2 times.

My fly felt great. The 100s were fun. I averaged around 1:20 on round 1, and 1:15/1:17s round 2. I decided to work the last 300 of the workout with the goal of being under a 5:00 400 free SCM pace. I was successful as I came in a 3:41.

Sunday June 10th - OUCH MY FOOT.. OUCH MY LEGS

OK so now that run is killing me. I am more concerned about my foot. I have old running shoes from last year that I need to replace. They say one should replace their shoes every year or every 9 months. I am way past due and my foot paid the price. I think its just badly bruised and should be fine in a few days.

My legs are also killing me, but I expected that. Long runs + No previous runs = SORE SORE LEGS. I should be fine by Wednesday.

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Drew and I are remodeling our kitchen through Lowe's. Today we spent 5 hours boxing up our kitchen (my legs got a workout). This coming Thursday Lowe's will come out and demo the kitchen and then go from there. Here is a picture of our kitchen pre-demo. As you can see, we have blue cabinets. One is either a fan of them or not at all. :

Saturday June 9th - Long Run and Short Swim

Today I begin my marathon run training. The Saturday run group is doing 11 miles, but since I just got back from Europe and haven't run since February, 11 would just be insane. I have chosen to run anywhere between 6 and 8 miles. Still probably too much, but oh well.

I ended up doing 8 miles. JC and I turned around at mile 4 and headed back. It felt solid and I think the group was keeping 10:15 or 10:20 mile pacing. That felt good to me. After mile 2 I was in the zone, chatting away, loving the run. But when mile 4 came about, I knew it was time to turn around. I could keep on going, but no need to rush it. I probably should have turned around at 3.

JC and I finished the run going up a bunch of stairs. Good and Bad. Good for working out. Bad for Brian out of shape.

I then went off to swim practice. I'm going to have to stop going on Saturdays since the mileage will get larger and large and practice begins at 9:30.

Here was the workout:
500 w/u
12 X 25s drill
3 X 400s - #1 - free, #2 - IM, #3 - free
100 cool down
Total 2,100 yards

The workout was actually longer, but I stopped where I did since I had just done the run earlier and didn't want to go on overload. My first 400 was around 4:50 which was ok for just getting back into the water. The 400 IM was 5:10, which wasn't too bad. The last 400 was 4:39. These times were ok for my condition, as I didn't go crazy fast and just sort of enjoyed the workout.

Max, The Doggie Olympic Champion

Here's Max...


The first one is his first Gold Medal of The Doggie Olympics. You can see all the hard work and how tired he is in his eyes, as a tear begins to well up.




Then here Max is again after his Phelpsian 8 Medal Haul in The Doggie Olympics. This photo was taken after his 8th medal. You can tell this is during the National Anthem as the flag is raised above his head and he watches it.

Venice and Florence - The Week After IGLA in Paris

So after IGLA finished up in Paris, Drew and I took off on an overnight train to Italy. Our plan was to spend 2 days in Venice and 3 days in Florence. Such an incredible experience. Venice was beautiful and peaceful. Venice was so relaxing and visually stimulating. The gondolas, St. Marks Square, the water everwhere, Peggy Guggenheim museum, etc. We even met some great guys, Court and Counse, who were coming from IGLA too. They rode the overnight train with us to Venice and we met while dining in the dining room car. We chatted up with a few bottles of wine and decided to meet up the following night for dinner and drinks. Here's a picture of us all on the train:

After Venice, we headed to Florence, which was historically beautiful. We took a two day tour around the city, showing us masterpieces such as Botticelli's - The Birth of Venus and my favorite - Primavera. We also got to see and learn about Michaelangelo's David, which I must say, once you see it in person, you realize why it is considered the single best piece of art, EVER. Other favorites were visiting the Duomo, going to the Medici castle and learning and seeing the Ponte Vecchio. Here is a picture of Drew and I at the Medici castle, overlooking beautiful landscape in Florence: