Pierini's July 2007 Training

Sunday, July 1, 2007
Complete rest day including a mid-afternoon nap before going to a church picnic. Ate a mega-slice of watermelon before going to bed and woke up 3 times to take a leak last night. No more mega-slices of watermelon before bedtime for me!

Monday, July 2, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 6:55 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for 5 minutes easy, completing 872 strides (146 less than the last time on June 7th and 316 less than my best effort of 1,189 strides).

Holds - #1 = handstand hold against the wall x 1:33PR (prior best was 1:26) and #2 = standard grip pullup hang hold x 2:02PR (prior best was 1:55).

Running - on the treadmill at 1% incline - 1 mile warmup at 7.5 mph, then 4 rounds of 200 meters at 10.0 mph with 200 meter recovery at 6.0 mph. Total of 2 miles completed in 15:41. My average HR was 147 bpm (79% of max) and my highest HR was 183 bpm?? (99% of max).

Stretching - on the floor to stretch my hams, quads, glutes, calves, etc. I have been neglecting my stretching and it is showing. Time to do something about it.

So today was a little something-is-better-than-nothing workout as I am tapering for my 5-mile run run this Wednesday. Everything was intended to be easy and short this morning. Pleased about the holds PRs. Today was my last running workout.

Have a great day!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[dustin]

Good luck on your run Wednesday Pierini!

[gymgirl]

nice work pierini! those are some fantastic hold times!

[minime]

great work pierini! I bet you will have a great run time on wednesday!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 6:45 a.m.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for a 5 minute easy warmup, completing 903 strides (31 more than yesterday and 286 less than my best effort of 1,189 strides).

Handstand pushup - against the wall for balance x 4 reps, good for a couple more reps but this is an easy day.

Dynamic visualized resistance - performed a single set of the 7 Tiger Moves using moderate visualized resistance for 10 reps each move.

Reverse back hyperextension - I believe that is what you call it. I used the GHD unit, grabbed the bars as I leaned forward on my stomach with feet touching the floor, then lifted both legs up until they were parallel with the floor, hold and return equals 1 rep. I completed 10 reps. These feel good.

Ab plank hold - a single hold for 2 minutes.

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

That was it! Resting for tomorrow. I may do some more stretching at home tonight and if I get restless, maybe go on a 1 mile easy walk. Race time tomorrow is 8:00 a.m. It is supposed to be hot tomorrow and that is fine with me as I run good in the heat. I'm going to run my guts out!

Thanks for stopping by Dustin, gymgirl and minime. Have a great July 4th Day celebration!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[trainerty]

Man you like some endurance workouts.
I saw a plyo handstand pushup for the first time yesterday. It was just picture diagrams. It was for gymnast type training.

Keep at it gub'nah

Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Up early for my annual July 4th 5-mile fun run. Race was at 8:00 a.m. so we arrived around 7:25 a.m. to acclimate and warmup. Accompanying me was a young priest from my church, the fittest priest I have ever met. He ran a 2-miler fun run with me last New Year's Eve.

We warmed up for about 10 minutes. Then the race started. I finished the 5 miles in, for me, a disappointing 37:39 which is a 7:32/mile pace. Last year I did this in 35:45 which was a 7:09/mile pace.

My mile splits and (cumulative times) were: #1 = 6:58 (6:58) - #2 = 7:13 (14:11) - #3 = 7:42 (21:53) - #4 = 7:59 (29:52) and #5 = 7:47 (37:39).

Everything felt good for about the first 2.5 miles then it got really hard for me. The morning temperature was hotter than last year - it is going to be hot today. I was trying to stay at about 165 bpm and I caught myself at 170 bpm so I knew I had to slow down. Problem was that slowing down didn't seem to lower my HR so it was one of those days when the body just wasn't cooperating. My average HR was 165 bpm (89% of max) and my highest HR was 177 bpm (96% of max). I spent 32:08 running in the 165-175 bpm HR zone so from a HR performance point of view, I did as well as I could. And I got a side-ache around mile #3 which stayed with me for the remainder of the run. The priest who ran with me was trying for a 40:00 time and he finished in 37:52 so he was very pleased with his effort.

I need to increase my running mileage and build back my base if I want to run well at 8k and longer distances. I think I'm OK for 5k or less. I'll take a couple of days off from running and come up with a game plan. The run I want to do well in is a 10k in November so I have plenty of time to turn things around.

Have a great July 4th everyone!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

[minime]

great job pierini! I know you are disappointed, but I think you did great

[JDR3]

Very nice! - Its damn hot out there!

Its all about timing-you run that a month ago, hot or cold, you run better
than last year.

See you Sat.

[gymgirl]

nice work pierini, your time is very impressive. do you know how you ranked over all? once your bruised ribs heal you will be back to your hard core traning and will kill your 10k in november.

happy 4th!

Thanks for stopping by minime, JDR and gymgirl, and your positive thinking. I think yesterday's performance was just a hiccup. I have been doing this long enough to not get terribly upset with myself, but rather use it as motivation to continue training harder and smarter.

Got to work early this morning as I am working on a report deadline so no gym today. It is going to be super hot again today, as in 105F degrees. After work I may visit a local public pool, one that I used to go to when I was a kid. I did that last year on the hottest of hot days. I go on the low diving board and do 30 rounds of swan dives, pretending I'm some type of hot-shot Olympic diver, hanging around with a bunch of goofy young kids and making sure none of them try to cut in front of me in the line. Ironic of me going to a public pool while the tenants at one of my rental properties are having a great time on days like this splishing and a splashing in "their" pool.

I'll post up later. Have a great day!

[CF-OC_gal]

Good job on your run Mr. P! I'm in no position to comment one way or another as it is impressive to me that you make this an annual event to show up at.

You got up, you ran you best under the conditions that day and you reset your goals.

Excellent!

Now go swim like a 16 year old !

Thursday, July 4, 2007
105F degrees today in my part of the world. So a trip in the evening to a nearby public pool for a planned 30 swan dives off the low dive. I arrived and discovered the pool was closed to the public because of swim lessons so I went to another nearby public pool. No diving board there so I swam 400 meters freestyle stroke (20 laps of 20 meters). Wow! I didn't realize that the freestyle stroke really works your lats and triceps. My swimming endurance isn't what is used to be. I prefer swan dives to beat the heat and running for my endurance training.

I'll make another guest appearance at the pool tomorrow if it is superhot, this time hoping for some dives. I'm also planning on hitting the gym early morning tomorrow for something I don't know what yet.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

p.s. thanks for stopping by Brat and your middle-age to middle-age post. I was going to reach for a bottle of Geritol until you posted. Now I feel better and don't need to.

[CF-OC_gal]

Originally Posted by pierini

p.s. thanks for stopping by Brat and your middle-age to middle-age post. I was going to reach for a bottle of Geritol until you posted. Now I feel better and don't need to.

: Better tuck that Geritol away beside the case of Depends!

I hear that Sears has a seniors discount card for those over 50. If that's true I'm there in 6 months! Yippee!!

10% off clothes to do Crossfit in after 50.

Friday, July 6, 2007
Arrived at the gym at 6:50 a.m.

Well the evening 400 meters of swimming really got me tired. I slept great last night and was very sluggish this morning at the gym. Having problems sleeping? Go swimming!

So I did the following lazy man's workout this morning. Something is better than nothing.

Elliptical trainer - resistance and incline both at level 10 for an easy 5 minute warmup, completing 870 strides (33 less than Tuesday and 319 less than my best effort of 1,189 strides).

A little bit of this and a little bit of that stuff
#1 = close grip pullups x 14 (I'm concentrating on this grip for a while - it really works different muscles)

#2 = diamond pushups x 20

#3 = ab plank hold x 2:00

#4 = wide grip chinups x 14

#5 = plyometric power over a 12 lb. medicine ball pushups x 15 (it's been a long time since I've done these - requires explosiveness and good hand-to-eye coordination)

#6 = reverse back extensions on the GHD unit x 20

#7 = clean & press - 95x8 (pushed press the last rep - planned on 95x21 for a power clean & push press but doesn't work with a weak mind and lazy body)

Then I quit while I was ahead. Lazy Friday! It's going to be hot again today so I think I will head to the public pool and get in my 30 swan dives that I wasn't able to do last night. Then go home and eat a killer mega-slice of watermelon then have a pee-party afterwards. Tomorrow is my Saturday morning dojo workout, then I'd like to go the track and do a timed 800 meter run as I need a PR. Then I'm going to a family reunion picnic. Enjoy your weekend!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum