MCM 2021: Random Observations

“you don’t say…”

Mileage tracked on MapMyRun, February through July 2021: 188 miles.

Mileage tracked on Strava, August 29 through November 7, 2021: 244 miles.

My training was wildly inconsistent this year. Too cold/snowy to run in February, so I didn’t run regularly (sic) until March. Too many missed days, a couple of DNFs. 30+ days gap between May and June, then a couple of weeks in July. July 23 was my last recorded run on MMR.

First week in August, I got a newer/bigger/better smartphone. I had no way to port over the MMR app or it’s information, so I uploaded Strava instead. Strava looks nicer and filled the need. Unfortunately, like MapMyRun, I can’t figure out how to CONSISTENTLY get the voiceovers for my mile splits.

Running was much more consistent in the August thru November period; not surprising, since I suddenly remembered I was running for the Trifecta (10K plus first ever 50K/31.1 mi. run in addition to the Marine Corps Marathon).

No cross training this year. Excuses?

“I didn’t know the gym in my apartment complex opened up back in the spring.

“I couldn’t find the perfect set of adjustable weight dumbbells for my P90X workouts.

“I found Crossfit too late (September-ish) to really get into it.

“I thought i would just relax and not worry about doing Yoga X and Stretch X in the days before the 50K.”

Yeah, okay…have fun packing up the 50K swag box and sending it back to the MCM Organization.

Still waiting for my MCM swag box, tho’…

No more briefs on long-a$$ runs. The cuffs bit into my nether regions and I got al hell of a burn/rash. And no vaseline in the house either.

I weighed 239 before my first run in September. I weighed 227 after my aborted 50K. I would have maybe lost a few more pounds had I not attempted to “fill the gas tank” for the Trifecta.

My seven year-old Kodak Pixpro FZ243 mini-camera’s screen burned out, sometime between MCM and 50K. I think I got MCM pix, but I’m not sure. Had to use my smartphone for the first time taking pics for the 50K. Because of security, I had to stop and input the code before I could pull up the camera app.

Took 23 minutes for my Uber “medieval” this morning. Thirty-something dollar ride home.

Post run comfort “brunch:” McRib combo from McDonald’s.

Little victories, y’all.

Song of the Day: “Du Hast”/Rammstein. Just because.

Thanksgiving Week 2020: The Circle Closes

Thursday (Thanksgiving Day)

Breakfast: Eggs Benedict…sort of. My first poached egg came out perfect. #2 and #3 were both uncooked hot messes. #4 was a fried egg benedict.

My cooking multitasking did come out well, despite me stirring the Knorr hollandaise sauce for ten minutes without turning the front burner on. Still I did get the hollandaise sauce properly cooked; I even added some ground oregano and paprika to the mix. Ladles onto the first egg benedict, it did taste delicious. It even went well with the fried egg benedict. And my tactic of adding a slice of pancetta on top of the grilled prosciutto was a good choice, mixing the sweetness of pancetta with the salty Parma ham (as gordon Ramsay would call it).

Whole lot of extra hollandaise sauce leftover. Could have made eggs benedict for about eight servings with the one-packet batch that I made.

Desert prep: Tiramisu. Lesson learned here: electric mixer. I tried to hand-whisk the three egg whites, and I think I only got halfway. I also think I may not have really soaked the ladyfingers all the way through until the last four or five. From the first cracked egg to putting the finished product in the fridge took about an hour.

I had two helpings and it came out delicious. Only bad thing: all that leftover mascarpone filling. It’s chilling in the fridge now to prep for my Tuesday Marine Corps League potluck

Dinner: Bachelor’s Pad Seafood boil: Start to finish, the whole meal prep took about an hour and a half, and I sat down to dinner at the tail end of the Texans beating the Lions.

The one trick? The first thing that I had prepped was the pound of gulf jumbo shrimp, starting just after twelve thirty. However, by the time that I started putting things in the turkey fryer/boiler, the shrimp were a bright pink. IN theory I could have just chucked the crab in there, got some cocktail sauce for the shrimp and ate them as is. However, this was to be a seafood boil, so I made the command decision to shorten the cooking time from five minutes to two.

The shrimp made it…just barely. Went nice with drawn butter and white wine vinegar.

While waiting for Redskins-Cowboys, I chowed down on my boiled Thanksgiving feast and washed it down with a tall boy can of Miller Lite. I only made it through one plate.

Oh look…leftovers.

Sportball interlude:

Xavier 51, Bradley 50: Ya gotta make this free throws, Braves!

Washington Football Team 41, Dallas 16. It was 20-16 to start the fourth. I was full of dinner and finally finished my one tall boy by the time the rout ended.

Welcome back Alex Smith.

Hail to the Redskins.

Friday (Black Friday):

At 4: 45 p.m. I got ready to jump in the car and head to the Navy Lodge aboard NAS Patuxent River. It was there on the cold, dark morning after the Super Bowl that I started training for the Semper Fi Double, and I wanted to formally end the year there.

I saw the full moon.

One last full moon to run under.

COVID-19 restrictions had prohibited me from renting a room at the Navy Lodge, but never mind, I could still drive out to the base and do the run.

One last run. One last full moon.

Saturday (two hours later)

Got out of bed at 0550. Sunrise would be about 0630-ish. Out of bed, dressed for warmth. Oh, look I’m missing my gloves and knit cap. Going to be a recurring theme this winter…how many sets of gloves and caps can a man buy in a winter season?

At the Navy Lodge parking lot about 0610. Motorcyclist in the parking lot revving up his souped up motorcycle…nice one, idiot, you know there are people sleeping, right? If I were a Maryland state trooper, I would be making my ticket quota every month just on motorcyclists and pickup truck drivers.

The sky was overcast, covering the full moon. It wasn’t that cold, so the gloves and cap were not an issue. Didn’t do one last Japanese ham sandwich, or otherwise stretch. Just set up the MapMyRun, hit START WORKOUT, put the phone in my FlipBelt, on off I went.

Down Cuddihy, took a right on Buse, past the Moffat Building. Buse up and down to Cedar Point Road, ran it downhill all the way to the entrance road to the Drill Hall Gymnasium and down the road to the Marine Aviation Detachment HQ. Pulled even with, then past the HQ sign and turned around the way I came.

With my mind on other things besides the run, before I knew it, I was climbing up Buse Road towards the stoplight turning onto Cuddihy and the road back to the Navy Lodge. One last climb up Cuddihy, past the stop sign and past the Navy Lodge sign.

A couple of selfies in front of the Navy Lodge signage. Back in the car, and off to McDonald’s for breakfast (and for my third straight meal of the weekend).

The circle is closed. What I have written I have written.

Songs of the Day:

Triarii: The Final Legion

Q*Brick: Shot’em

Deep Purple: Highway Star

The Darkness: I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Leonard Cohen: The Future

Manfred Mann: Blinded by the Light

Dear Tony/P90X, Day 79: Bringing It to the End

Dear Tony,

Wassup? Yeah, I know, it’s been awhile. Not been writing you but I have been working out.

I am back at the office this week. 0500 workouts mean less time for breakfast because now I have to actually shower and get dressed for work…like I used to do back in March.

So, it’s back to late afternoon workouts until the end of this P90X Lean cycle. My goal is to try and work out no later than 30~45 minutes after I get home from work. Not bad today, not so good yesterday.

Saturday I did do my Kenpo X workout. I believe I brought it more than I ever have for keno because my beats-per-minute numbers looked higher than I have ever had them. Probably because I was breathing more and engaging the core (driving the hips with a square upper torso) more than I ever had.

BPMs: 69 @ 38:11/75 @ 28:16/61 @ 21:10/76 @ 14:51/72 @ 4:30.

I was kind of “blah” after my second Sunday Did Not Finish, so I chose to “rest” instead of “X Stretch.” The DNF must have had some kind of mental effect on my because I didn’t eat “brunch” until about three in the afternoon. Or maybe the “keto” diet impact is helloing my body that I don’t need to eat that badly…like that Panda character in Kung Fu Panda, who busts his ass sparring with the Sifu, and then Sifu offers Panda a meat bun, and then Panda says, “No thanks, Sifu…I’m good.”

Still should have done X Stretch as some kind of “gentle” penance.

Yesterday I ground through Chest-Shoulders-Triceps/ABX. I upped the bands to a thicker band when I could, and tried to focus on the last three reps wherever I could. This is the last week actively working the muscles (Back and Biceps/ABX tomorrow), so just focused on getting the work in and doing the routines as close to “right/correct” as possible/ Goal was to work the body part with what I had and get the most out of it as possible.

In other words, my fifty year old ass was on his knees doing the pushup routines. Including the one-armed pushups. I am not the second coming of Jack Palance.

I am at “grin and bear it” mode on Ab Ripper X; just get the routines in as best as I can, close my eyes and breathe through each exercise. Some of the numbers are actually a little better.

Just got done with Cardio X as I do laundry and await my ‘first” dinner. Today I didn’t get a meal until 1100, then at a Snickers and chugged down a 24-oz. Mossy Oak tumbler full of Mio-infused water about a half-hour before the workout. I still got my workout and my sweat on, although the numbers might not show it compared to recent cardio X turns.

Today BPM: Yoga, 59 @ 27:20/Kenpo, 66 @ 18:05/Plyo: 69 @ 10:53/Core 54 @ 3:30.

So, that was my last four days since I last wrote you, Tony. Tomorrow morning is a nice, short run, and then tomorrow after work, it’s “the last gun show” with back and Bis/ABX.

See you next time, Tony!

Song of the Day: Today’s YouTube craze: medieval-styled covers of popular classic rock!

Gorgeous Kohlk/”Sail (original by AWOLNation)”

Modern Music of the Dark Ages/”I’m Blue (original by Eiffel 65)”

Samus Mordicus/”Paint it Black (original by the Rolling Stones)”

Graywyck/”Paranoid (original by Black Sabbath)”

Dear Tony/P90X, Day 74: Yoga X

Dear Tony,

Just got done with P90X and I’m waiting for my freshly-cooked green chicken soup to cool down so I can get something resembling dinner for the first time this week.

Last four days with P90X:

1. Workouts starting between 4:30 to 5:30 instead of 0500 start time
2. Eating meals has become an issue the last few days. Completely skipped breakfast on Tuesday and didn’t get anything until after Cardio X.
3. Very little “dinner” after workouts.
4. Sleeping like a baby though, with “bedtimes” being earlier than usual (9-9:30 p.m. vice 11-11:30 p.m.)

I really need to stress eating because that was part of the reason I DNF’ed last Sunday. So I need to set a goal of eating three full keto meals over the next two days. Scratch that: gets three full-sized meals (of any kind) over the next two days.

To recap the last two days:

Shoulders and Biceps/ABX: I treated this workout the same as Shou/Bi/Tri on Monday: pace yourself on the first set, then max it out on the second set. I got the best numbers I have ever got on this workout, and got the burning arms to match. Still kind of glad to see “The Gun Show” for the last time on the P90X Lean Cycle.

Ab Ripper X: At this point it’s about powering through it so I can finish. I still work the core and the gut as much as possible during the workout, but man…what a grind.

Yoga X: No heart rate monitor today, and no pushups for the basic warrior/advanced warrior poses (too much ‘Gun Show’ this week)…just focusing on engaging the core, breathing, and focusing on the moment. I am bowlegged enough that properly executing the crane and plough stances will be a challenge…but I’m not going to stop trying.

P90X will be a part of my “five o’clock world” through Sunday. The next three days will be runs in the morning (4 tomorrow, 5 on Saturday, and 13 on Sunday) with P90X starting no later than 5:30 p.m. Depending on how I feel on Sunday, I will push for X Stretch in the late afternoon/early evening.

Green chicken soup: chicken drumsticks, two 32oz. boxes of chicken stock, about a pound of broccoli and cauliflower, a 14 oz. can of okra, chicken seasonings, chicken flavors, salt and pepper, parsley leaves and bay leaves. Yum yum.

Se you next time, Tony!

Dear Tony/P90X, Day 64: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps

Dear Tony,

I looked at my numbers from this morning’s workout: not bad, but I think they could have been better. My legs were still sore from the run yesterday, so I mostly went on my knees and focused more on my chest on the push-up routines. The resistance band exercises went well, but I am still going to spring for some weights or dumbbells for P90X Classic.

So, on Sunday I went to buy something from Big Lots when I noticed that the store had a lot of Dr. Teal’s Epsom Salt products on the shelf. I was interested to see if Dr/ Teal’s sold any therapeutic epsom salt bath gels, like the other bath gels and soaps they had for sale ($5 a bag or bottle, by the way).

The bath gels had epsom salt mixed with a variety of plant extracts for various treatments, but the Dr. Teal’s product line had only pure epsom salt for the typical easing of aches and pains therapy. Even though I had two one-pound bags sitting at home, I bought a bag of the Therapeutic Epsom Salt. Twenty-four hours and two workouts later (X Stretch and Chest-Shou-Tri/ABX) and the bag sits unopened still.

In retrospect, and epsom salt bath (formerly known as a sitz bath?) probably would have saved me from shutting down the workouts last week. A simple twenty-minute session would have eased a lot of the aches and pains that I felt when I cramped out of the warmups from last week’s session.

I will probably be taking a lot more epsom salt baths after the Sunday long runs, as my distances become greater (twelve miles this week, sixteen the week after). Perhaps if I do heal, with some chocolate milk aiding the process, I can maybe fit in a Sunday X Stretch.

Tomorrow is Cardio X, 0500 bright and early. Maybe I won’t need the bath after tomorrow…I’m not that in a rush to take one now.We’ll see.

See you next time, Tony!

 

Dear Tony/P90X Week & In Review

Dear Tony,

I have not forgotten you. I have been doing all of my workouts mostly in the afternoons after work. With the recovery time and dinner, I have been too tired to do my daily recaps. I am also going on sheer short term memory here.

I just got done with X Stretch. I know it is provided as an option (rest or X Stretch) on the P90X Lean schedule. I also know that you stress the importance of X Stretch before the start of the video.

Normally I am running on Sundays, on what would be day 7 of the weekly schedule, so I neither rest nor X Stretch. Today is the last day of my off week from running, so I decided to do the X Stretch workout.

I didn’t sweat like a pig, nor was I somewhat sore like I usually am after a typical P90X workout. I did get a very good hour long stretch today. I was even surprised that I am making some progress in doing the plough to shoulder stand movement. I may be able to perform that particular routine someday (fingers crossed!).

Yesterday (Saturday) I got out of bed at 0430 for Kenpo X at 0500ish. I had my best hear rates ever, so I was really working it. Mt beats per minute yesterday at the time on the clock: 69 @ 38:12, 68 @ 28:15, 63 @ 21:11, 77 @ 14:53, 52 (???) at 4:38. Rockin’ them hips on the punches and kicks, and on the blocks as well. Not sure what happened after the vertical punches (what I call the Spetsnaz punches after the training that makes Spetsnaz troop throw over a hundred punches a minute).

Friday was Legs and back/ABX. I am getting better and better on the pull-ups, and can’t wait to see how I would actually do them in real life. My arms were kind of burning after the Chest/Tri/Bis workout on Wednesday afternoon, and they’re still a little tingly.

I performed Yoga X on Thursday afternoon, even though I understand that core and strengthening yoga should be done in the morning so I can ride that burst of energy after the workout. Plough and crane continue to be challenges that I have to work on. However, I did not that I have probably done more yoga in the last seven weeks than I have in over five years.

I put on my Bradley Universirt t-shirt this morning…it’s a little tighter, with some more definition in my chest and some in my abs. Hmmm…

Transition week starts tomorrow afternoon with Core Synergistics…with a nice slightly-less-than three mile run first thing in the morning.

See you next time Tony!

Song of the Day:

Caution to near-to-long term readers of this blog: 1) The techbros at YouTube pulled a dirty rabbit out of their hats on Wednesday morning. The format has changed to where you need a video player like VLC to play your videos. The video quality is now mediocre to downright piss-poor, and the audio skips in the beginning of songs. Also, sometimes the singer in the video lags behind the song.

2) I am running out of ideal songs for the SOTD. Most likely they haven’t been picks for a typical “runner’s playlist.” For that matter, I have never run with any sort of music or listening device; 99% of my running is on public roads, and I need to be aware of traffic in all directions. MapMyRun eats up battery life on my phone as it is…I think.

3) Going on six years on this blog, I have probably repeated a song more than once, and I have never gone through this blog to keep track of my SOTDs. Maybe one day.

4) I like to add a little bit of insight to each song, and maybe some lyrics. Genius has been solid for providing lyrics, and hit or miss on insight.

5) Gary Numan/”Cars:” I discovered this song about 3~4 years before MTV  began its life as Music Television. All Genius has is lyrics. That, and it’s lunchtime and I’m starved.

Marathon Training During COVID-19: Monday Dual

P90X, Week 6/Day 36

Dear Tony,

Another session of Core Synergistics was put in the books at 0610 this morning. I’m slowly but surely getting better at the routines, if you can discern the chicken scratchings on my P90X worksheets.

Speaking of those…time to print up some more!

I am seriously performing more reps and doing them better (engage the core! BREATHE!), and making it all the way through the timed routines, even if I’m losing count or trying to catch up to count them.

I need to ditch the bands on the Squat X-press; I’m not sure I’m getting the full range of motion. Same for the bend and reach. Maybe time to spring for some dumbbells, since stores are starting to ship stuff again.

But, yeah…things are getting better. Starting another week of work before the Virtual Half next Sunday.

See you next time, Tony…0500 for sure (Cardio X)!

 

Interlude, two hours before the run

So after my second attempt, I finally got a decent reading on my at-home heart rate monitor.

Confirmed my appointment with my endocrinologist on May 27. Going to do it via video. Still have to make a trip to get my bloodwork on the Friday before.

The only “binging” I am doing is binge-PT…mostly when I have two-a-days when I have P90X in the morning and runs in the late afternoon. I also have two-a-days when I miss a P90X workout and I make it up the next day.

Not really binge-watching anything. The network news show and networks are all useless; it’s all about laying blame and not finding solutions. I’m not into endless replays of old MLB/NFL/whatever. Not really into “The Last Dance,” because I know how it ends: Jerry Krause running Phil Jackson out of town after he served as head coach for the six Bulls titles. I love Colin Cowherd and Jim Rome; I like most of ESPN’s sports talk shows (sorry, Get Up!)…but sorry: no live sports, no me gusta.

I haven’t even gotten around to attempting to load my Game_run SD file for my Atari Flashback 9.

But I’ve got an 11:30 mile pace over the last month…so I’ve got that going for me!

 

Superwillow 6

A day and a half late…and the fastest pace of the year.

Now, the run to St. Mary’s City and back will be more than double the length and have a few more elevation changes, and the last 1.5 of Sunday’s run will be much more difficult.

Trying to maintain today’s pace over 26 miles? Yeah, good luck with that.

That being said, I really can’t argue with knocking out an 11:05 pace today. Late afternoon, two meals and half a protein bar in my system (and not that much water), and I still run like I’ve been shot out of a cannon. Not to mention the pauses at the southern and northern intersections of the run, with six o’clock traffic about. Oh, and I hit a headwind on both halves of the run.

Oh, and top of that, technically I missed two of my three runs last week, after cranking out 21 miles in seven days the week prior.

Eventually I will have to shift to running exclusively in the morning, if/when the summer weather gets much warmer. But right now, I am not showing any ill effects of switching from a gym workout to P90X. In fact, I have done more work with P90X in the last six weeks than I have from February through the end of March.

Also, considering that I have run far, far away from my “keto” diet in the last two weeks (and gained three pounds in that time) I am surprised that I am in such good running form. I did finally get to use my Shirt subscription to order some groceries today, so I will be back to my keto diet for this week.

 

Song of the Day: “Yakety Sax” by “Spider” Rich and Boots Randolph. Take it away, Wiki.

Good night, Benny Hill…wherever you are.

HH2020: Zion Park 12

The night before was spent trying to get one more meal before bedtime, so I would not ‘run out of gas” on my 12 mile run the next day. What should have been a routine fifteen minute round trip to Wendy’s took forty minutes. Even worse, The KFC’s next door had as many drive through customers as Wendy’s. By the time I finally got my order, the line at KFC was clear. KFC was also still open; Wendy’s had closed after I left (I was their last customer).

I went to bed at 10:45, but I had not laid out my running outfit for the next day, Revielle would go at 0405 instead of 0415.

Because I wasn’t that ready to run, and because i did Yoga X only twelve hours earlier, I decided not to rush to be on the road by 0500 today. I got up, got my protein shake, lubed up with Skin-So-Soft and Chafe Defender, stretched out, downed a bottle of water with Ucan, and got on the road at 0540.

I would have been on the road a little sooner if not for 1) a last second trip to the throne room, and 2) a last second decision to grab a leftover GU and my 8-oz. bottle of Mio water with pickle juice.

Zion Park is actually two six mile runs combined into one. The first leg went out to Zion United Methodist Church, about two miles south of NAS Patuxent River Gate 2. There is a swale jabout a quarter mile from Gate Two, but I was feeling good this morning and my pace going in both directions of the swale was pretty good. I had negative splits from the start at Abberly Crest all the way through the first four miles; by the time I had passed over the hill going back to the Crest, I ran mile 6 at 11:18 and was running an 11:39 overall pace.

The second half went from my usual Green Meadow Lane start/finish point out to Park Hill Road and back. This half had the steepest of uphills/downhills on the run, starting with the downhill from Willow Road to MD-5 North, then going uphill on MD-5/Point Lookout Road towards Park Hall Road. My 11:30 pace did drop on this half of the course, but it wasn’t a dramatic drop-off, averaging a 12:45 pace on the last two miles.

I hit the twelve mile mark about a quarter mile from Green Meadow Lane, and I decided that I had done enough hills for the day. Rather than my traditional “closing kick” past the three fireplugs back to Abberly Crest, I decided to run through the “Finish gate” formed by the GML street sign and the adjoining stop sign. The final time was 2:24:24 over 12.25 miles, at an 11:45 pace.

I probably lost about five minutes trying to scrounge up my spare GU packet and the mim-bottle of water for my run. Today I went twelve miles, and I never touched either the GU or the water. There’s something to be said for UCAN Hydrate, and proper hydration and eating the day before long runs. Unfortunately, I went on a junk food binge since Thursday, and I ended up at 225 this week, two pounds heavier than last week.

Another good week in the books. Apparently two days a week of P90x in the morning and runs in the afternoon are not killing me. I’m running about 11:30 pace on short runs and 12:00 on long runs. My keto diet discipline was really bad this week, but today is a trip to the supermarket to restock.

But first…it’s nap time.

Song of the day: George Baker Selection:”Little Green Bag:” The them music from the opening credits/”dudes walking” scene from Reservoir Dogs. This song did better in Europe than the US when it was released in 1969. Where does Quentin Tarantino find all this music? I guess he’s as big a music lover as he is a movie lover.

Historic Half 2020: Rain Delay

I almost didn’t run today.

Woke up at 0400 to the sounds of thunder, accompanying the rain. Said, “No thanks,” and went back to bed until 0700.

Got up at 0700, and although the skies were a little darker for just past sunrise, there was no rain. I was supposed to start prepping for a 0800run, but I looked at the weather on Weatherbug and on my smartphone and decided that I wasn’t going to risk getting caught in any deluge. Not a fan of running in the rain, and not a fan of catching cold, especially with COVID-19 being so prevalent right now.

Got on the scale…226. Yipes, up two pounds. Oh, well, on with the traditional Sunday breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

1100. The skies clear up a bit. I check the weather again, and it looks like the alleged deluge is going to hold off until the early evening, about 6:00 p.m.-ish. Now, I’m not a fan of long runs on Sunday afternoons. Possibly too much food in my system, overdressing for the expected temperatures, and other things that could turn a good run into a DNF or an outright abort.

That being said, about noon, I made preps for a 1:30 p.m. run. I filled up my Mossy Oak tall mug with water and Mio and chased it with two Chobani berry yogurts. At just after 1:00 I started a good stretch, and at 1:25 I was dressed and out the door. No protein shake today, but I did get a 16-oz. bottle with Ucan, shaken not stirred.

First mile pace: 11:15. Very good under the circumstances, but I could forget getting negative splits for today. My goal was to maintain an under-12 minute pace. I did have a nagging problem with a need to take a No.1. There were not that many state troopers among the Sunday afternoon traffic, but I held onto it for the remainder of my run.

Mile 2 and mile 5 had the biggest climbs, but I managed to get a slower pace at Mile 7, which is not nearly as steep of an uphill, more of a gentle upward slope. But probably because I was nearing the end of the run. I probably got fatigued as I rounded Shangri-La drive up to the stoplight and back, because that was the slowest split of the run.

I was somewhat overdressed for the day; I had on my DCRunners long-sleeve tech shirt over a base layer, and I wore one of my $100 Brooks tights over long socks. I also wore a knit cap instead of my white ball cap. All of my gear was anticipating a cold, possibly rainy run.

Fortunately for me, the afternoon deluge never happened. I was dressed early for the run (temps about 61 degrees), but I never really got overheated or dehydrated. No growling empty stomach after mile 8, like last week. My lower left thigh felt a little sore as I climbed the slope towards mile 6, but it never developed into any sort of problem.

Got back on the scale…223. Los a pound this week 😉

So, after three weeks of P90X and three straight days of running, I’ve lost about 10 pounds and I’m running at an 11:30 pace. I was going to make chili today, but I’m now waiting for my Uber Eats delivery from McDonald’s. That post-run chocolate milk tastes good, though!

Song of the Day: David Bowie/”Blue Jean:” Oh, come on, Genius:

“A 1984 hit (UK – #6, US – #8) that according to David Bowie –

‘Blue Jean’ is a piece of sexist rock ‘n roll. [laughs] It’s about picking up birds. It’s not very cerebral, that piece

“One of only two singles from the album Tonight, which was quite a disappointment after his previous enormously succesful 1983 Let’s Dance album.”

 

HH2020: Fuel Tank

I didn’t eat well enough Saturday and it came back to bite me in the ass on Sunday.

This morning, I ran out to the SAIC Building in California, MD, an 11 mile round-trip run. The elevation changes weren’t that steep, but they were pretty long…a half-mile or so in some stretches.

I was close to 12 minutes spilts up to Mile 7. Around mile 8 was where I ran into trouble, or more accurately, where I ran out of gas/ Just past mile 8, coming up on Expedition/Exploration Drives, I felt a gaping hole on my stomach. I was getting hungry, and I had no way to get some fuel into my system. I wasn’t really thirsty (thanks again Ucan!), but I was so hungry and I just didn’t have enough get up and go. I knew my time was going to suffer for it, so I power walked up to Mile 9. Ironically, I found my second wind going up the last uphill on south MD-235 before my turn-off back onto Great Mills Road.

Quick memory: I started working at the SAIC building in October 2016. I didn’t start visiting the gym until February 2018. The gym was nice; ellipticals and treadmills in the back, and plenty of weight machines in the front, just enough to do my circuit cycle workouts. I could whip out a late afternoon workout neat the end of the workday, and maybe catch a UEFA Champions League match on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I moved out of SAIC two years ago this month. Oh, well…nice while it lasted.

Despite being late every day except yesterday, I made all my P90X workouts and did incrementally better than last week. I learned to center my body better; squaring my shoulders with the hips, holding in my stomach (not necessarily “sucking it in”) and aligning my hips with the rest of my legs. I also did much better keeping tabs on my worksheets, as far as counting my reps and making notes about what I was doing.

My run times went down from 11:38 on Wednesday to 12:34 today. I’m going to put today down to very poor nutrition the day before. I had a protein shake and breakfast after Kenpo X, then proceeded to NOT eat anything until 7:00 last night. I finished most, but not all, of a microwave lasagna, and didn’t touch the steamed vegetables. I got up at 0330 to chow down a couple of Chobani yogurts, then downed another protein shake at 0415, but it really wasn’t enough.

P90X isn’t helping me-yet-but it’s not hurting me that much. After I get through this breakdown period (end of this month) I believe my run times will be better.

Oh…and I lost three pounds! Progress! Still need to each much better though. Especially on Saturdays!

Song of the Day: Corey Hart/”Sunglasses at Night:” Because that’s what 97.7 the Bay is playing right now. If it inspires your running, fine with me. From Genius:

“One of the best-known hits from Canadian singer Corey Hart, “Sunglasses at Night” describes a man being cheated on who wears his “sunglasses” as to stay willfully ignorant of his lover’s unfaithfulness. The song appears on the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Soundtrack (Wave 103) and on the Netflix show Stranger Things.”