<p>My toe is finally getting to the point where I can put on my running shoes without pain, just some discomfort. I’m hoping next week I’ll be able to start running again. In the meantime, I’ve tried to do some strength & core stuff. I am sadly lacking in motivation.</p>
<p>I got in my short run and am in the office with a big cup of bean soup. Ran 1 mile in 8:02. My respiratory system wasn’t too happy afterwards; I need more lung capacity and muscle efficiency for running. But that should come with regular running - I just need to up the pace a little. 6 MPH is a comfort zone for me and I tend not to push beyond that area.</p>
<p>I set small goals for motivation. On weights, it might be to do a certain number of reps at a certain weight or run a certain distance or certain speed or play tennis at a given level or beat someone that I haven’t beaten before. I try to do something every day, even if it’s only lifting a barbell ten times. Having a nice spot to workout at home helps.</p>
<p>Good mile, BCE! The soup sounds good, too. </p>
<p>Got out at 10:30am for a 4 1/2 mile run. My neighborhood is QUIET at 10:30 and it was a great time to run. Ahh- the benefits of being out of work! I am not sore at all from the race, which is surprising. My quads are tired from the race and the bike ride yesterday, but it wasn’t a bad run. </p>
<p>Blankmind- Glad your toe is improving. One step at a time.</p>
<p>The soup is New England Country Black Bean Caribbean. It has been on sale all summer for essentially $0.75 per package. Each package contains two servings. I normally mix one cup of the soup with one cup of pinto, kidney, navy, etc. beans and bring it to the office for lunch. My wife usually makes me one pound of beans ($0.99) on the weekend and I take a cup every day. She didn’t have them ready this morning though so I just took a whole package of soup.</p>
<p>I actually contacted the company to see where they make their soup and it is made in the US - the President of the company replied to me and we had a short email conversation about their soups. Must be a fairly small company.</p>
<p>One thing about big toes - I noticed that one of my big toes was sore after running for about two weeks and was trying to figure out why. Clipping the nail solved the problem - I guess it was too long and hitting the top of the shoe.</p>
<p>It’s a very nice day in New England - sunny, with a few clouds though rather humid. I’m going to pack 48 ounces of unchilled water for tennis today.</p>
<p>BC, great run! I’m sure as you increase speed and distance, you will figure out what breathing pattern works for you. You can try breathing through the mouth going two short breaths in followed by two short breaths out rather than trying to fill/empty your lungs in one large breath.</p>
<p>Blankmind, good to hear that your toe is getting better.</p>
<p>My registration for Boston has been officially accepted! Yay! Now I have to figure out what to do about travel. Yikes.</p>
<p>Fallen off the wagon a bit with workouts. Life is crazy right now working 7 days a week I just don’t have the same desire to spend more time in the gym working out…</p>
<p>Just got back from a workout though…</p>
<p>2x5 (eac) RFESS with 30 pound DBs
2x5 DB Hang Clean
4x6 Snatch</p>
<p>BB- can’t wait to hear about your prep for Boston. Enjoy Hawaii - I am so jealous as I look out at a gray and rainy day.
A bunch of my former triathlon team mates did Kona. I never had any desire to do an Iron Man (but then I said the same about marathons,too), but I have seen pretty ordinary people complete Iron Man races. It is all about the training, which is doable, but very time consuming. I also have seen marriages dissolve in the process.</p>
<p>Blankmind, hope that toe feels 100% asap.</p>
<p>Day off for me. I was really run down last night. Fine today, but I think three 5K walk/jogs and three NROL4A workouts in six days was my limit. I’m going to try to take it a little easy this week – maybe two NROL4A workouts instead of my usual three and a couple off-days.</p>
<p>From my observations, runners usually spend the weekend in Boston as tourists (wearing their cool running jackets). I used to watch the runners for a while as my mother’s house is a one minute walk to Beacon St and Washington St. I guess the tricky thing is transportation and housing as it’s expensive in Boston but you still have to get to Hopkinton and then from Boston back to where you are staying. Are you going to have a spouse or friend to drive you around?</p>
<p>Two hours of tennis - 80 degrees and very, very humid. I went through 1.5 liters and my shirt and shorts were pretty well soaked. Score was 6-1, 6-4, 3-0 (retired). Opponent had an issue with his shoulder and he has a match tomorrow so he wanted to be careful. He hadn’t played in a week and was eager to get a lot of tennis in so he played a tough match yesterday, today (with me) and he has one tomorrow.</p>
<p>Wife just made me a big bowl of steaming vegetables to die for - two cups of cabbage, 3/4 cup broccoli and some tomatoes. There was some broth in there too - the flavor was amazing. Such wonderful flavor from such a simple dish.</p>
<p>My coach at the time had me do DOWNHILL intervals to prepare for Boston. That was tough living in Dallas! BB must buy the cool Boston running jacket!</p>
<p>I did go for a walk, but not the one I wanted to go on. A friend called me up and we went for a very leisurely one mile stroll followed by tea and honey cake. I’m quite sure I consumed more calories than I expended!</p>
<p>Perhaps next time, just a taste of the honey cake & stick with the tea and/or water after the leisurely stroll UNLESS you want to do a more strenuous walk to burn off calories. ;)</p>
<p>Well what I really wanted was a longer walk. Sometimes I deliberately leave the house before she’s likely to call. I really like her, but she’s a skinny yoga type person, I need to move more. I’ll probably get in a longer walk tomorrow.</p>
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<p>LOL. I know what you mean. Don’t ya just hate those skinny yoga type persons? :)</p>
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<p>That’s a point that Mike Boyle is always going on about. It’s not so much that doing yoga or pilates makes you skinny and flexible, it’s that skinny, flexible people tend to do yoga because that’s what they are cut out to do. They are literally “yoga type people”. I’m an ol’ fat guy type person, just trying to play against type!</p>
<p>^^Exactly. Same as broad shouldered ladies with strong upper bodies tend to be a good butterfly swimmers, because they are cut out like butterfly swimmers. :)</p>
<p>Idad, I’m excited that you are doing a 5K. I like these small town fundraiser types of events. You will do fine, just don’t forget to rest a bit before the race. Tapering is not just for Olympians. :)</p>
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<p>I just want the t-shirt! It’s so crazy to think that I’m going to jog/walk a 5k race. Until this summer, the last time I ran (other than playing tennis) was the fall of 1970. That was a long, long time ago. The same year that I saw the Who play Tommy, Led Zeppelin play Communication Breakdown, Duane Allman play Stormy Monday, and Jimi Hendrix play the Star Spangled Banner on the 4th of July.</p>
<p>I’m just going to stick to my programmed Garmin workout: jog 400 meters, walk 400 meters. That sequence falls well for this course and that’s about where I am in terms of being a good push, but manageable. I increased my jogging a bunch last week, both the length of jogging intervals and doing three 5Ks in seven days. That was a bit much, so I will definitely take it easy this week.</p>
<p>You get the shirt tag too. Some people in the office have a bunch of those on their walls.</p>
<p>I used to get pretty discouraged in yoga (before I discovered hot yoga which is impossible for everyone…) because I am NOT flexible and my balance isn’t that great, either. One of the teachers in Dallas referred to “bendy” people and said there were drawbacks to being really “bendy” and some of them didn’t have the strength they really should have. He said it was something that came naturally (to be bendy) and that no one should feel bad if they weren’t “bendy”.</p>
<p>I got my wife to do a little Pilates last night - she didn’t have any problems with the balance stuff. I’m going to load a bunch of YouTube videos on the iPad for her to try out and I can do them with her now that I’ve cleaned up the basement. She does a lot of walking and light weights but not a lot of core stuff. Having this stuff on the iPad makes it convenient to do a quick 10, 20 or 30 minute routine.</p>
<p>I’m not flexible either. I can come to within 10 inches of touching my toes even though I stretch regularly. I think that things would be worse if I didn’t stretch.</p>
<p>MOWC–true, just as some people are better in some sports than others because they naturally have more “quick twitch” muscles. Some people have more strength, some more speed, some more flexibility. If you have it all, you can be a sports superstar! :)</p>
<p>OTOH, it is true that never stretching makes you become REALLY stiff so you should try to keep at it, even if you’re not natually bendy. I quickly lose the ability to touch my toes if I don’t stretch regularly. ouch.</p>