Really good interval run.  I pushed pretty hard but not to failure and I’m pretty happy with the way it felt and the time that I ended up with.  

30/30 push-up and sit-up workout tonight.  Normally Monday is my “long” day but after a late conference call I decided discretion is the better part of valor.  I’m back on the horse.  Got some ground to make up.

Push-ups:

• Elevated: 31
• Wide: 24
• Regular: 14
• Diamond: 5/5(modified)
• Modified: 21

Sit-ups (all regular):

• 26
• 26
• 25
• 25
• 23

Longest run I’ve done in 22-months.  Felt really good.  I did something I’ve never done on a LSD training run: I pushed at the end.  The schedule said to and my body felt good so I did it.  Made me feel like a bad ass.

Numbers now, commentary – maybe – later.

All scheduled workouts completed (cycle trainer substituted for Wednesday easy run), except aborted long run on Sunday (4-miles completed instead of 8-miles).

Totals:

This was supposed to be my first real long run of the program.  Four, five, six, seven … those were no big deal.  Anything less than (or just barely longer than) a 10K is no mental hurdle, much less a physical one.

Eight miles though is starting to get up there.  Now you’re talking serious, longer-than-an-hour effort.  At least, that’s what I know now.  On Sunday morning, 4 November, I was still pretty cocky about it.  I sure wasn’t looking forward to the 8-miles and I knew I was going to feel it since it’s the longest run I’ve tried in over a year.  But I still didn’t give it the respect it clearly deserved.  

The tale of the tape:

Here’s the breakdown:

1) Insufficient rest on Saturday.  I spent the day driving (5-hours total) and walking around in the heat sight seeing.  I also didn’t get to bed until fairly late in the evening.

2) Poor timing.  I ran in the late morning.  It was hot and humid.  Tropical, haze-in-front-of-the-sun hot.  And while I was smart enough to bring a camelbak, it wasn’t enough of a palliative to counteract the heat and direct sunlight.

3) Poor route selection.  Instead of doing a true out-and-back route I split route and went out two-miles one way and then back to my start point and (planned) out two in the opposite direction and then back.  This gave my brain the option to quit.  Which it completely did.

Long intervals today; 2 x 1600m with 400m recovery intervals.  Workout felt good and I enjoyed it but it shows me that I’ve got a LONG way to go to get down to the pace I need to be running for my goal.  Trust the process.

Gear note: I used a Spibelt today for the first time.  It was a birthday present (thanks Mom!) and I tried it out with my iPhone and house key in it.  It worked well.  It was comfortable and secure.  I was more aware of it than I hoped but I think that asking it to carry an iPhone (which is ridiculously heavy for its size and the century it exists in; get a clue Apple) was a little much.  It would be perfect with an iPod nano and/or a couple gels which is what I intend for it in the future.

The numbers:

My third PU/SU workout this past week (which should have been on either Saturday) and my scheduled run – 10 miles on Sunday.

Believe it or not, despite my lack of public accountability I have executed (or wholeheartedly attempted to execute, more on that later) every workout on my schedule.  Until this weekend.  Part of it was laziness.  Part of it was a lack of motivation.  Part of it was poor mental attitude.  Part of it was self-pity due to work induced stress.  

But another part was conscious decision on my part to prioritize another scheduled activity that was part of another, higher priority in my life than even the 375 CPFT.  So, yes, I am disappointed that I missed these workouts.  I am disappointed that I succumbed to laziness and lack of motivation.  I am even more disappointed that I am losing out on the benefits of these skipped workouts, especially the 10-mile run which is a critical component of the run program I’m on and would have been a true physical challenge (no like the ones on Double Dare, you old bastards).

But I’m not beating myself up about it and I’m not going down the slippery slope of “oh well, I’m off schedule now, might as well …”.  Tonight I got right back on schedule with my planned PU/SU workout and I’m already planning for and looking forward to tomorrow’s 2 x 1600m.

Tonight’s workout:

(2 minutes push-ups, 2 minutes rest) x 1

(1 minute push-ups, 1 minute rest) x 2

(30 seconds push-ups, 30 seconds rest) x 2

Repeat for sit-ups.

No, I still did not record the numbers.  Starting with my workout on Wednesday I am going to video myself and then watch it back later to get incontrovertible rep counts that I can use to push myself to work harder.  You can’t control what you can’t (or don’t) count.

Here’s to not going down the slippery slope.

No, I’m not traveling back in time.  I debated just picking back up with my current workouts, but I decided to go ahead and back post the good, the bad and the ugly so that on the off chance that someone other than me comes to look at this there is a complete – if eclectic – record of what I did.

This series of posts won’t be scintillating in terms of content, in fact they’ll probably be really short and boring, but for the important bits (good workouts, missed workouts, alien invasions, etc.) I’ll try to muster some commentary.

I also did a PU/SU workout today, but I didn’t write it down and have no idea what I did. But I did it.  I know that much.

Pretty well satisfied with this effort.  First time doing three-quarter mile intervals.  I’ll let the data tell the story.

Short fast push-up/sit-up workout tonight.  And while I absolutely promise that I really did write down the numbers for my push-up and sit-up sets – because you can’t control what you don’t measure – I lost the data between last night and tonight.  So I gotta work on that.

Moving on …