Better Health Journal

I went for a 5K run this morning before starting my workday from home.

I last ran on Friday, for the first time in a long time. And, I decided to take Saturday as a recovery day. I wanted to run on Sunday but it poured rain, all day. And, yesterday, Monday, I had a “hell day” at work – a really bad one – and I had to manage my son’s Little League team in a game last night. No time to run, at all.

Actually, because of the bad day, and the game, I had to work again once we got home from the game. And, I was up until 1 AM dealing with that issue. I also did not sleep well – I woke up at 3 AM with terrible hiccups (which is extremely rare for me). Needless to say, I was not happy when the alarm went off at 6 AM to get up.

The run was OK. I took my harder route to push myself. And, I had to break it down to a walk at the 2.5 and 2.8 mile marks, for a tenth of a mile, each time. Overall, I covered the 3.1 miles in 26 minutes and 47 seconds.

Now, to push myself more, I signed up for a 5K race on June 2nd. It’s a huge crowd. (I’ve done this one before.) I’d like to run at least 5 more times between now and the race.

This is workout #33 for 2013.

I decided to go for a run today. Pushed myself to get it in before work. And, this was after a night where I got maybe two hours decent sleep. It’s been two weeks since I last ran.

Much to my amazement, I did a 5K and ran the 3.1 miles without stopping. My time was 26 minutes and 15 seconds. All things considered, this is huge for me. If I can run again on Sunday, I may just sign up for a 5K race that’s coming up in two weeks.

This is workout #32 for 2013.

This morning, for the first time in over three weeks, I went for a 5K run.

I hit the wall at the 1.75 mile mark. And, that was no shock considering it’s been a very, very, long time since I went running on a regular basis. From there, I did the alternating walk/jog thing for the rest of the route.

My total time, overall, walks included, for the 3.1 miles was 27 minutes and 25 seconds. That’s not good for me, at all. At my best, I can do this route between 25 and 25 1/2 minutes. Getting back to that pace is my next goal.

This is workout #31 for 2013.

I’ve done nothing, in terms of working out, over the last two weeks. It’s 14 days – but, it feels like 14 years. Basically, that stomach flu that I had 12 days ago knocked me for a loop. I haven’t felt right since then, at all.

Today, at 2 PM, I took my soon to be 9-year old son to the park for a baseball workout.

We played catch. Then, we did some long toss. Once we were loose, he played first base and threw grounders to me at shortstop – where I made the plays throwing the ball to him. After a while, we traded places and did it again – with me throwing grounders to him and taking his throws. Then, he put on the catcher’s gear and I pitched to him from 46 feet. I most have thrown close to 40 pitches. Lastly, we traded places and he pitched to me – except I didn’t wear any catcher’s gear.

I wanted to throw him some fly balls too. But, he was cooked after pitching. We were out there for an hour and fifteen minutes. And, that’s a lot of throwing for him.

It’s not much of a workout for me. No where near doing a 5K run. And, it’s not the same stress on my muscles as hitting the gym. But, all things considered, it was better than nothing. So, I am counting it.

This is workout #29 for 2013.

I ended up going for a 5K run in the dark today at 7:30 PM.  On the good side, I covered the whole 3.1 miles without stopping or breaking down to a walk.  On the bad side, my time was 26 minutes and 8 seconds.

I thought I was running faster than that pace.  I had my music player blasting and I thought it was motivating me.  Maybe not?  In any event, I would like to see an overall time a minute faster than that one.

I have a race in 9 days.  It will be interesting to see what my time is that day.

This is workout #27 for 2013.  And, my pace is working out 48% of the time.  My goal is to workout 60% of the time.  So, obviously, I am behind where I need to be after the first two months of the year.

I did get to the gym tonight. It was a close call – and I had to push myself – but, I was able to get there at 7 PM. While there, I did four sets each of the following:

• Bench Press
• Hammer Strength Rows
• Hammer Strength Shoulder Press
• Ab Coaster
• Hammer Strength Leg Extensions
• Icarian Leg Curls
• Icarian Tricep Extension
• Icarian Camber Curls

It was hard. And, I felt weak. But, that’s what you get when you hardly get to the gym.

This is workout #26 for 2013.

Now the trick is to try and find a way to get in a run tomorrow. I am not sure if it’s going to be raining in the morning. And, at night, my 8-year old son has indoor travel baseball practice from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM – and then I have to stay home with him until my wife and daughter get home from an after-school event. And, that may not be until 8 PM.

Running in the cold and dark is not my first choice.