Pierini's December 2006 Workouts

Friday, December 1, 2006
Complete rest.

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Saturday morning dojo workout.

Afterwards, to the high school all-weather track for a track workout.

Warm-up of 1,600 meters in 9:12. Ending HR was 156 bpm.

Then 3 rounds of best effort 800 meters. I believe this is a Cross Fit workout. My recovery was 400 meters of walking, around 4 minutes.

First round was 2:54.46 and ending HR was 169 bpm.

Second round was 3:04.97 and ending HR was 167 bpm.

Third round was 3:07.89 and ending HR was 166 bpm.

This was a darn tough workout and I really faded after the first round, actually wanted to quit after the first round but hung in there, glad I did.

Some light stretching afterwards.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

[JDR3]

Very nice. Way to win the mental battle.

[gymgirl]

those are great times pierini! sheesh i can hardly run 800's under 4min. you are impressive as always. :

happy december!

[no-frills]

Running outside in this cold weather should have your lungs in great shape too!
great job on all the cardio.

[minime]

hey pierini - happy december!

great times on the 800s - i cant even do a 400 in a minute and a half, so I suspect it would take me 4 mins to do an 800! i should try this one, though the thought fills me with dread.

Sunday, December 3, 2006
Complete rest day. Today I was a spectator at the California International Marathon standing on a corner street a half block from my home as the runners approached the 25 mile mark of the 26.2 mile marathon. There were about 5,000 runners. It was absolutely amazing watching the two leaders who were running even when they past me. They both seemed so composed and in control of their running, neither willing to pass the other at that point. I told myself that it was going to be one amazing sprint at the end which I did not see but the difference between first and second place was a mere one second. These guys were amazing and their times for this 26.2 marathon were both a 5:09/mile pace. Unbelievable. I couldn't even run 800 meters at this pace.

I sure had fun cheering and encouraging all the runners, most of whom were quite fatigued when they passed me.

Monday, December 4, 2006
Arrived at the gym at 3:00 p.m.

Bodyweight superset - completed 5 rounds of the following for time:

standard grip pullups x 10, then v-ups x 10, then bar dips x 10, and finally GHD back hyperextensions x 10 with a goal of completing all sets unbroken so taking an appropriate amount of rest to accomplish this.

My time was 20:43 but I did have a broken 5th set of pullups of 5-3-2. All other sets were unbroken. This was an improvement of about 4 minutes as I did this same workout last week again with a broken 5th set for pullups of 6-2-2. Last week's time was about 25 minutes as I didn't use my stopwatch like I did today.

Running - a pace interval workout on the treadmill at 1% incline. After a 1,600 meter warm-up, my repeat pace was 8.8 mph (6:49/mile pace) and my recovery pace was 6.0 mph (10:00/mile).

1,600 meters at 7.5 mph to warm-up, then

1,200 meters with 300 meters recovery x 2, then 800 meters with 200 meters recovery x 2, then 400 meters with 100 meters recovery x 2, and finally 200 meters with 50 meters recovery x 2 for a total of 5 miles in 37:25 (7:29/mile pace).

My average HR was 154 bpm (83% of max) and my highest HR was 164 bpm (89% of max).

Stretching - on the floor to stretch my hams, quads, glutes, calves, etc.

Tomorrow I'm going to a continuing education seminar downtown so I'll get some walking in going to and from it from home. If I come home for lunch like I did the last time I'll get a total of 4 miles of walking in. I won't be going to the gym so we'll see what else I manage to squeeze in.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

[.V.]

Great workout my friend. As always, although our workouts and goals are often very different - you are an inspiration.

Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Active rest day. Attended another continuing education seminar so I walked to the seminar from home, back home for lunch, back to the seminar after lunch, and back home at the end of the day. About 1 mile each round which I walked all at a brisk pace so a total of about 1 hour of brisk walking covering about 4 miles.

I'll do this again on Friday but today I'm headed to the gym.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

Thanks everyone for stopping by. Even though my training discipline is quite good, all your good words help me during my moments of mental weakness.

[gymgirl]

Originally Posted by pierini

Sunday, December 3, 2006
Complete rest day. Today I was a spectator at the California International Marathon standing on a corner street a half block from my home as the runners approached the 25 mile mark of the 26.2 mile marathon. There were about 5,000 runners. It was absolutely amazing watching the two leaders who were running even when they past me. They both seemed so composed and in control of their running, neither willing to pass the other at that point. I told myself that it was going to be one amazing sprint at the end which I did not see but the difference between first and second place was a mere one second. These guys were amazing and their times for this 26.2 marathon were both a 5:09/mile pace. Unbelievable. I couldn't even run 800 meters at this pace.

I sure had fun cheering and encouraging all the runners, most of whom were quite fatigued when they passed me.

what a great read. thanks for posting that pierini. sounds like you had a great time and i'm sure those running apprciated your cheering.

5:09 min mile pace...

pierni you do 7.5mph as a warm-up and that for me is running at 9 on the exerction scale. hopefully someday i can run like you (quite doubtful, but a girl can dream can't she?!)

Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Arrived at the gym at 3:15 p.m.

Ab plank repeats - 60 second holds followed by 15 second recovery - today I completed 7 rounds (1 more than last week) for 7:00 of holds and 1:45 of recovery for a total workout of 8:45. Next week I'll try 8 rounds then the following week I'll test so see if I can break my 4:00 PR.

Power clean & push press - 120 lbs. - 8-6-6-5 (missed lockout on 6th rep). Total of 25 reps. I'll keep this weight for 1 more week. Took more recovery between sets compared to last week which didn't seem to help much.

Deadlifts - skipped planned 5 set deadlift workout as my lower back was tightening up on me and I decided to play it safe and skip. Still tight as I write my post.

Sissy squats - on the sissy squat unit just like last week. 5 sets of 10-7-10-10-10. Initial plan was to only give myself a 30 second recovery which I quickly discovered wasn't enough when I struggled to bang out 7 reps on the 2nd set. I'm really leaning back when doing these and putting in a strong pelvic thrust which really isolates the quads when coming up. I'm liking these and will continue doing them.

GHD back extension holds - did these last week also, concentrating on isolating and working my hamstrings. I did 5 sets of 30 count holds.

My lower back is tight and that is bugging me. Tomorrow is a run day and I have big plans so this tight back better be gone by the time I wake up tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

p.s. gymgirl, there's no doubt in my mind that you're capable of running much faster than you do. I'm sure you are being safe. You've got the anaerobic capacity and a strong mind. But everything doesn't have to be pedal to the metal to be good. Thanks for stopping by.

[minime]

hey pierini - nice workout! i hope your back feels better in time for your run today.that is amazing about those marathon runners - i could not hold a 5 min mile pace for 400meters and am always fascinated by the fact that the marathon runners can keep it up for 26 miles. I've never seen it in action - but i hope to someday.

Thursday, December 7, 2006

Arrived at the gym at 3:20 p.m.

Running - treadmill at 1% incline for a non-stop 60 minute run. Started at 7.5 mph for mile #1, then increased speed to 7.7 mph for mile #2, and then 0.1 mph increase for each subsequent mile until I reached a top speed of 8.3 mph at mile #7.

I completed 7.92 miles in 60 minutes (7:35/mile pace). My average HR was 154 bpm (83% of max) and my highest HR was 171 bpm (92% of max). I haven't run continuously for 60 minutes since late June so today was a hard run and the last 5 minutes was very hard.

Stretching - absolutely soaked in sweat, and a serious contender to win the gold medal in the wet t-shirt contest, I sat down and did some serious stretching of my hams, quads, glutes, calves, etc.

My lower back, which was stiff before the run, felt better after the run. Because it was stiff, I chose to do this run on the treadmill rather than hitting the streets with the Thursday evening running crowd at the Fleet Feet Store.

Tomorrow I'm going to another continuing education seminar downtown so I will walk there and back home, plus walk during lunchtime for several errands I need to get done. I should get 4-5 miles of walking in but will probably not do anything else in the training department.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

[minime]

good job on the 60minute run pierini. Thats good going to average a 7:35 mile pace!

[gymgirl]

Originally Posted by pierini

I completed 7.92 miles in 60 minutes (7:35/mile pace)

holy moly! that is fantastic work pierini. seriously, you are amazing.

you should try making a sweat angel next time...i bet with you being that drenched it would have been an A+ sweat angel.

Friday, December 8, 2006
Active rest. Another continuing education seminar downtown. Walked to it from home and back home at the end of the day. During lunchtime, I had several errands to run in the area so I walked also. I walked a little over 4 miles.

Saturday, December 9, 2006
Saturday morning dojo workout.

Afterwards to the high school all-weather track. A little drizzle, I wouldn't call it a shower but it wasn't sunny and dry. Felt good.

Warm-up of 1,600 meters with a karate buddy at a slow pace. Didn't get a time but I'm guessing about 10:20.

Then, 400 meter speed repeats x 4 and 200 meter speed repeats x 4 at 90-95% effort with a 200 meter walking recovery between sets.

400 speed meter repeats
#1 = 1.22.61 - #2 = 1.23.09 - #3 = 1.24.62 - #4 = 1:25.26

200 meter speed repeats
#1 = 37.56 - #2 = 39.08 - #3 = 37.19 - #4 = 36.02

Tried to elongate my stride on 200 meters #2 and it slowed me down contrary to what I was expecting. For #3 and #4 I focused on a faster take-off and maintaining it around the first turn, then focused on having faster turnover. That seemed to be a better combination.

I skipped stretching but I may do some stretching later in front of the wood stove in my living room. I've made a business decision that I'm going to buy myself a high-quality pullup/dip/vertical knee raise unit for my basement to supplement my gym efforts so I'm going window/price shopping this afternoon. A good one should cost around $300.

Sunday is a day of rest. Next Sunday, weather permitting, I'm doing a 5k fun run. Enjoy your weekend!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.