Jamoosh, training techniques, another joke

How come this guy I don't even know is building me a house of hurt?  I did my cross training today with some progress but a lot of exertion.

Exercise Sets Reps Weight Barbell Swing 2 12 25 lbs. Squat 2 9 130 lbs. Pullovers 2 12 40 lbs. Bench Press 2 8 75 lbs. Military Press 2 8 75 lbs. High-Stair Stepping 2 10 - Bent Over Rowing 2 10 40 lbs. Barbell Curls 2 10 40 lbs. Lunges 2 10 - Bent Legged Dead Lift 2 7 130 lbs.

Routine Goal Current 1. Crunches 30 25+5 2. Bicycle Kicks 25 ea 20+20+10 3. Supine Bridge 30 sec 35 sec 4. Leg Lift 30 sec 35 sec 5. Ankle Grabbers 25 ea 25 ea 6. Diamonds in the Sky 20 20 7. Hip Lift 30 sec 30 sec 8. Plank 45 sec 45 sec 9. Back Stretch 30 sec 30 sec 10. Push-ups 20 10+10 cheat 11. Shoulder Taps 20 ea 10+10 12. Superman 15 15 13. Side Bridge 30 sec ea 30 sec ea

Adam (@ the boring runner) asked a good question about tracking your training. Do you use an online site, software, or hardware like a watch. I started to use dailymile.com just because it had a widget, but I've found some cool stuff on other people's blogs that dailymile doesn't produce. But in the end you want to have access to the stuff that helps you run better and more enjoyably - and not necessarily be part of a social site.

I think what would help me is something like a combination of a place to input your running, and a place to help you diagnose the run to tell you where you need to improve.  (Plus an eating and hydration calendar.)

Here's a specific example: I want to run a 5k in about 4 weeks - my first.  I picked a target time that is cosily in the back of the pack for my age group.  Then I started training and I didn't know how fast to run my tempo, endurance, and EZ runs.  So really I sort of wasted 8 weeks from this point of view.  However I saw the Macmillan Running Calculator and it told me some stuff about what I should be running.  But I need to find some strategies like ... [making this up] try to run your first 3 splits 15 seconds faster, but maintain for the next 6 or something like that.  I just read on Mark U's site about "negative splits" in the Kenyan Way.  Something I will experiment with as well.

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Another joke from Fr. Ron:

A woman decides she will stop eating sweets for lent.  She is tempted however, because everyday she has to drive by this bakery, and the smell flowing into her car is unbearable.  But she is strong and decides to change the way she goes to work.  Unfortunately, she discovers her route is continuously changing because of detours and construction, and she ends up driving by the bakery.  She thinks to herself, "Maybe God wants me to eat sweets - maybe I need to discern what He wants."  She thinks a little more and says, "Ok, if when I pull up beside the bakery, there is an empty spot it means that God wants me to buy myself something."  And wouldn't you know it a spot appeared on her eighth time circling around the parking lot!

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I'm on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/andrew.opala) and have about 759 "friends".  I actually have about 60 friends and the rest are people like me who think Facebook is a game and the biggest number wins.  Anyway, I have been getting these very annoying marketing announcements and invitations for helping me "self-actualize".  The only problem with these invitations is that the life shown in the photos of the lady that is sending them too me are terrible.  It looks like she's always BBQing road kill on the side of her home at the trailer park.  And she's got captions like "here's my other husband also named Darryl".  Where does she think I am not self-actualizing?

Anyway Twitter isn't any better (http://twitter.com/AndrewOpala).  I have about 35,500 followers and I can't bare to read the timeline - loads of emails on how to get 100 followers a week from people that have about 600 followers.

On both of these sites I find that running and learning about running is impossible.  What do you think?

8k and a Joke

My old 8 week training schedule says I should be finishing my running on Wednesday and running a race this Saturday.  But of course there is no plan to do this.  What I have done is started to add distance into the 8 week program just as it has started to taper to rest for the race.  I'll extend it, adding between 10 and 15 percent to the total distance run per week until two weeks before the race.  Level off one week before, and taper down the week of the race.  This seems to be the form that all of Hal Higdon's training plans take (at least the ones I've seen).  My goals will be to increase my tempo pace portion of the running to 5k and to run it "balls out" from the start, keep my EZ at 5 k run between 30 and 40 minutes and my endurance I will stretch out as much as I can to keep the heart and body working on better energy management.  Then my endurance echo run will be an attempt to shave off just a little time of the previous endurance run.  (I'll put my results and plan in the excel spread sheet on my progress tab.)

So there you go.  I'm feeling really good with Jamoosh's thrilling thirteen and Amanda'a lunges.  In fact before the endurance and echo runs I do about 10 walking lunges per leg to warm-up.  As Tony the Tiger says, "They're GREAT!"  I'm tired but calm.  Have a good outlook on each day, and still run with lots of DELIGHT!

Now a joke from Fr. Ron:

One day in a train in Ireland, a man stumbles into one of the large cabins holding lots of people.  Gasping for air he says, "Is there a Catholic priest in this car, it's an emergency?"  The people all just look at each other in wonder.  The man then continues, "That's ok.  Is there an Church of Ireland Vicar or Deacon, or perhaps an Orthodox priest?"  Everyone looks around and no one speaks up.  The man getting really frustrated says, "Anyone, is there a Lutheran Minister here?"  Still no one says anything, and just as the man is going to stumble out of the cabin and make his way to the next car, a young man gets up and says, "I'm a Baptist Reverend, can I be of some assistance?"  The frustrated man says "No, I'm sorry you can't, Reverend.  We're looking for a cork screw ..."