the17thman

Rearview Mirror: My July Workouts

Here is July by the numbers:

In July I ran 15 times for 66.54 miles.

Compared to past months:

June I ran 12 time for 15.92 miles.
May I ran 1 time for 3.08 miles.
April I ran 16 time for 28.23 miles.
March I ran 18 time for 91.35 miles.
February I ran 18 time for 75.14 miles.
January I ran 24 time for 124.97 miles.

Maybe July wasn't the highest in miles this year but I'm back to running and the actual miles per run is actually up there so that is something.

As for the year I'm feel I'm back on track.  August and September are the hotest months but I will do my best to wake up early and run.  Hopefully I'll pick a 1/2 Marathon sometime between now and the end of the year to run.  But everything is on hold to I make some other life decisions. 

As for swimming...

I swam 49,900 SCY

Compared to past months:

June I swam 43,650 SCY and 4,000 LCM
May I swam 55,000 SCY
April I swam 46,050 SCY
February I swam 53,250 SCY
January I swam 46,750 SCY

285,125 SCY for 2010.

And as you can see from my MapMyRide.com cal I've been cycling.  Mostly just to the pool and to work.  Well to the 24 Hour Fitness near work. Then I workout, shower and walk the bike to work.  Then I cycle home most days.  I think once I took the subway home but that was a pain in the ass.  The train was crowded and I had to keep moving out of peoples way.  The Monday/Wednesday/Friday rides on the map are the swim rides.  It looks like I only cycled three times to work this past month. 

Well that was my July.  August here I come...

That Felt Good - Friday Morning Swim

Last night I got in some good sleep so at 5am it was time to wake up and get ready to swim.  I cycled to the pool which helped wake me up some.  I was running a bit late as I was trying to get the internet to work before I left.  It was sluggish then stopped all together but it was back up and running so I left for the pool.  Luckily or unluckily the chlorine levels were not up to snuff so we had to wait 12 minutes for everything to kick in. 

Warm Up

400 mixed

Warm Up Set:

3  Rounds -

75 kick / 50 drill / 75 swim

all continious / 1st & 2nd round freesyle and 3rd round stroke.  I did butterfly.  Felt pretty good. (600/1000)

400 Pull 75 Free / 25 Choice but the same stroke one did just before.  So I got some butterfly pulling in.  My fly felt good.  No pain and it seemed comfortable. (400/1400)

3x50's Free 1 Build / 1 Technique / 1 Fast.  I don't remember the interval.  This was to get our heart rate up for what was next.  (150/1550)

3x300's Descending on 4 Mins.  The 1st one I did a 3:29, the 2nd one a 3:27 and the third one was a 3:24.  I'm going by what I saw on the clock.  I heard the coach say 3:26 on the second one but since I was using my visual reading for the other two I'm saying 27 to be consistent.  I felt strong in this set.  It was nice to get some speed in the water for a change.  (900/2450)

100 easy (100/2550)

4x100's Stroke Descend on 1:35.  I did backstroke and struggled at first.  My times were 1:13, 1:14, 1:14 and 1:10.  So I didn't really descend.  The 2nd one felt faster then the 1st but oh well.  (400/2950)

50 easy (50/3000)

12x25's Fast 6 Free on 25 / 6 Stroke on 30.  I did butterfly (300/3300)

then just a 100 warm down (100/3400)

Not many people showed up at the 7:15.  Most of the team in on the way to the Gay Games in Germany.  After the swim it was time to cycle home.  Another good cardio day in.  I have an all day event tomorrow that starts in the morning so I doubt I'll be swimming, running, cycling or gym going.  So this looks like the end of working out for July.  Another month blew by so quickly.

Cycling, Running and Weight Training

Ahhh...this morning I woke up and felt like hitting the gym.  Figuring this is the last month I'll be able to afford my membership to 24 Hour Fitness I more as well use the few days left of my membership.  Although I find weight lifting boring I'm going to miss my trek to the gym.  My apartment building has a small little gym that I'll use.  I mean it's better then nothing.  So since I was going to the gym I decided to hit the Koreatown 24 Hour Fitness for the last time.  I got on my bicycle and headed down to the gym. 

The ride was an easy 4.94 miles.  Then it was time to get on the treadmill.  I only ran 2.1 miles.  I figured my legs had the bike ride home at the end of the work day so no need to kill myself. Then it was weight training time.  I mixed up my regular routine trying to make sure to avoid anything that would cause me pain.  Since I'm recovering from i njuries I played it safe.  Then just walked the bike to work a few blocks away. 

After work it was time to cycle home the 5.34 miles.  Not to shabby of the day.  Gym, cycling and running.  No swimming but I can't do everything.  Plus I'll swim tomorrow.

Wednesday Morning Sleep Swimming

Grrr...last night I fell asleep in bed watching tv sometime after 9pm and then woke up around 1am by the noise of drunken people in the alley behind my apartment building.  I tossed and turned and maybe got an hour of sleep in after that.  When 5am rolled around I got out of bed and got ready to go swimming.  I don't know why but when my insomnia strikes I'm so hungry when I wake up so I had a quick light snack before swim.

Warm Up:

It was 10 minutes but with my stopping and going I did a 400 mixed.

Warm Up Set:

3 Rounds -

100 Kick 2 mins

75 IM drill on 1:20 I think

50 Free swim on some interval

25 kick  (750/1150)

More Warming Up:

300 Pull breath control then rest 20 seconds and then

6x50's on 55 Switch Ups fly/back, back/breast, breast/free (600/1750)

Main Set:

Three Rounds

200 Free on 2:40 just swimming to make interval

2x100's FAST Free on 1:25

100 Stroke on 1:40 just swimming to make interval

2x50's FAST Stroke on 55

No rest in between rounds.  I did backstroke for my stroke since when I was swimming fly earlier my elbow was hurting.  Figured no need to kill myself.  The 200's free I took nice and easy and was coming in around the 2:30 mark.  The 100's I did like 1:11's for the first round, 2:09's for the second and back to 1:11's for the third.  The third round in general was my slowest as I just didn't have speed left.  The tank was empty!  (1800/3550)

There was one last 300 warm down pull breath control but I decided to get out.  Between my shoulder and elbow pain I felt that was the safest bet.  But 3,550 yards is a good workout.  Plus I did cycle to and from the pool for the 4+ miles round trip.  So cardio got done today!  The month is almost over so I got at least one more swim in or maybe two.  As for August I hope to swim but financially I will admit I got to cut back and September looks like no more swimming for a bit.  Hopefully that'll change but it's up in the air.  That also goes for my gym going.  So more running it looks like.  Running and cycling for the time being.  It will be all good.

Monday Morning Blah Workout

Back in the pool for a bit this morning for a mixed workout.  Recovering from two injuries I haven't swam since last Monday or lifted weights.  I did run twice but that is it.  I was hoping that I'd get in the water and it would be like I was all better and back to swimming.  I felt sorta blah when I got up and hit snooze several times but managed to get myself out of bed.  Got to the pool and felt pretty good if a bit sluggish in the speed.  But then one of my injuries started to act up so I got out after an hour.  Here is what I did swim:

400 Warmup

4x100's 50Drill/50Swim 1 of each stroke (400/800)

3x200's 1st Free on 2:40 / 2nd IM on 3:00 / 3rd Choice (I did Backstroke) (600/1400)

Three Rounds - 6x75's

1st one last 25 fast

2nd one last 50 fast

3rd & 4th all fast

5th one first 50 fast

6th one first 25 fast

1st Round Free on 1:00 / 2 Round IM (minus the free) on 1:15 / 3rd Choice on 1:15 (I did backstroke) (1350/2750)

Then a 50 easy (50/2800)

Then we had a 600 free building by 100.  I did a 100 and felt some pain so got out.  I started to feel pain in the butterfly part of the IM but managed to ignore it.  But swimming a 600 in pain didn't sound like fun to me so I gave up.  (100/2900)

This week I'm going to take another day off before weight lifting and hope that my injuries start to recover.  Will run instead of lifting on my non-swim days till I feel better on my swim days.  At least this is one way to get my runs in. 

10 Mile Run

I got up and went on a little run.  Actually I was up pretty much all night tossing and turning watching tv in bed.  Once I was up and running I felt like crap.  Really didn't enjoy this run but at least I got a workout in. I ran along Sunset to Whittier then looped around to Wilshire to Santa Monica Blvd my almost regular loop.  The first two and the last two miles hurt while the middle 6 were okay.  Like I said at least I got a run in.
That was 10.02 miles via Nike+ or 9.5 miles via Google Gmap Pedometer.  Either way it felt good to get a run out of the way this morning.

Run Lindsay Run!

This morning I woke up by my alarm but hit snooze and so I started my morning a bit later then I'd like.  Once up and ready I ran 1.81 miles to the gym.  Since I was running late I cut my routine and was in and out of the gym.  Also my elbow is still a bit sore so I figure I need to lay off it a bit.  Then it was time for my run. 

I ran west on Santa Monica towards the running path and ran to Beverly Drive.  Then ran Beverly north to Sunset.  As I was running along Sunset I could see helicopters in the distance.  That and a few cops flying down Susnet.  I could only imagine what was going on but figured Lindsay must be turning herself in this morning.  So I continued to run along Sunset towards Lindsay.

If I had been a few minutes earlier I may have ran into her SUV and the press while they crawled in traffic on Sunset.  But alas they started to drive ahead of me so no Lohan this morning.  I continued to run and finished my run with 7.09 miles.
With the run to the gym and the run home I ran a total of 8.9 miles today.  Not bad.  I was a bit late in running but still was able to get in a good run.  Wahoo!

Yawn. Sleep Swimming

I don't know why but I just woke up tired this morning.  I did get a full night sleep albiet if it was just only 5 hours.  I didn't drink or anything but woke up groggy and tired as if I had a few too many.  Once I got my act together it was time to cycle to the pool.  

Got in the pool and warmed up a 450 or so.  then we started a quick warm up set 4x100's (50 drill / 50 swim) on of each stroke.  So about an 850 warm up.

Then we went into a rather boring main set.

Three Rounds of 4x200's / 1x100 / 4x50's - 

4x200's Freestyle on 2:40.  Rotating a 50 fast from the back of the 200 to the front.  Yawn.  It felt like this short part of the set went on for hours.

100 Freestyle fast on 1:20

4x50's Free on 50.  Each 50 was a bit different.  Rotating some fast swim in each 50.  I find these rotating a 25 fast in 50's and in general pretty boring.  Just the first round of this set just dragged on.  By the time we were done with the 50's I was just no in the mood to swim anymore.

15 seconds rest

4x200's on 2:50.  Now rotating a 50 fast stroke from back to the front while the rest was freestyle.  Did backstroke as my stroke.  Yawn.  Skipped a 50 for a pee break since I couldn't wait anymore.

100 Backstroke on 1:30.  Felt pretty good for this brief bit of the workout.

4x50's Backstroke on 55.  Still feeling pretty good.

15 seconds rest

4x200's on 2:50 still stroke like the previous round but this time I did butterfly.  I swam the butterfly parts but took a pee break and took off the free parts of my last 2x200's.  Since the coach wasn't paying attention to us and I didn't care I just did it.  Most of our lanes either had gotten out or had moved on to relay starts for those going to Gay Games.

100 Fly.  and then the two of us left just warmed down.  I did a 50.

I really was tired which wasn't a good thing.  I just couldn't shake it off this morning and get into gear.  I should have ignored the 50fast/150 technique and just swam the 200's pace.  It was a mind over matter battle this morning and my mind decided to stay at home in bed.  At least I got into some good cardio if not a fast swim.

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Run

Yesterday I decided to watch the movie "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" for the 100th time which inspired me to do a run past the house that was used in exterior shots for the film.  I actually had planned to wake up bright and early, run to the gym then after weights running a longer run.  I did wake up but took my time heading out so I skipped the gym and just did the run.  I wanted to get the run over before it got hot outside.

I started the run going west on Sunset to La Cienega.  I was going to run to Doheny but changed my mind.  So I continued south on La Cienega stopping at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Beverly for a quick pee break then back running south on La Cienega.  Then at Wilshire I turned and headed east.  Took another pee and water break at the McDonalds at Crescent Heights then continued east.  Since it's Sunday morning Wilshire was pretty much empty but me and the homeless.  I headed to McCadden which I turned and started to run north. Ran past 172 N. McCadden which was the house used for exterior shots in the movie.  I didn't take a picture of it but above is a picture I found of the house online.  I then continued running to Beverly turning the one block to Highland.  Then I ran north on Highland.  I started to feel some pain in my ankle when I was around Santa Monica so I decided to cut the run short.  I ran up to Fountain and turned and ran home going west.

Total run was 9.32 miles according to Nike+ or 8.95 miles on gmap-pedometer.  Got home before it got too hot.  It was hard getting motivated to run today but I'm glad I did.  Sunday mornings are the best runs in the city since everyone is sleeping. 

Friday Morning Swim

After my morning run yesterday I came home and changed then cycled the 5 miles to the gym and did weight training.  Then it was time to shower and head to work.  I was too lazy to ride home so I took the subway home and cycled to home from the redline.  With all that working out I finally got a full night sleep.  No tossing and turning and no waking up every hour on the hour.  In face I overslept.  I ended up waking up at 6:15 so I had to swim the later morning workout.  I had to debate if I wanted to swim or not but eventually decided that I needed to swim.  So it was time to cycle to the pool.

Warm Up

400

Warm Up Set:

2 Rounds

100 Kick

2x50's Drill

100 Kick

2x50's Swim (800/1200)

Hmm..I think we did 6x50's or something like that.  (300/1500)

Main Set:

4x100's Fast Descend on 1:50 (did them backstroke)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x75's Fast Descend on 1:30 (i think) (did them butterfly)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x50's Fast Descend (did them butterfly)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x25's Fast Descend on 30 did them butterfly (1600/3100)

and that was it.  It seemed like we did swim more than that but that is all I remember.  It was actually raining during the last part of the main set.  Very odd for SoCal weather.