April Stats

RUNNING - 100.45
RACES - Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, Lakeshore 6 Miler, Earth Day at Peters Canyon 10k, and Dogwood Classic 5k
CYCLING - 17.01
ALL ACTIVITIES - 118.69
VOLLEYBALL - 11-9 (YTD GAMES 56)
STRENGTH SESSIONS - 4

FOUR 23 - 30 (15.6) Dogwood Classic

Sunday 23

Travel from California.

Monday 24

Easy Run 

LMLS and drills. 3.4 miles with 6 x 200m strides at 5k pace. Shooting for a PR Saturday.

Bedtime flow - Forward fold, down dog, plank, push-ups, pigeon, and kneeling lunge.

Tuesday 25

Morning flow - Foot Rx. Forward fold, down dog, plank, push-ups, pigeon, bound angle, hollow hold, and kneeling lunge.

Gym session -
Warm up:

1. Push-ups 10/2
2. Australian pull-up 8
3. Pull-ups 1, 2

Strength:

1. Step-through deadlift #135 5, #185 3, #195 3
2. Bench #135 5, #145 3, #155 3
3. Press #85 5, #95 3, #100
4. Calf press #140 12/3

Core/mobility:

1. Foam roll
2. Hollow hold

I completed the 30 day no chips challenge and nothing great happened. I didn't lose weight. It was good to see if I good do it. An even better challenge will be no desserts or no alcohol. 

Spiked Punch Volleyball - We won 3 - 0 without having to work too hard. (Games YTD 43)

Bedtime flow - Forward fold, down dog, plank, pigeon, and bound angle.

Wednesday 26

My sleeping has been out of sorts since returning from California. Last night I was up several times starting a 1:00 a.m. 

Morning flow - Foot Rx.

Before bed flow - Forward fold, down dog, plank, pigeon, and bound angle.

Thursday 27

Morning flow - Foot Rx. Forward fold, vinyasa C, plank, pigeon, kneeling lunge, hip opening, and hollow hold.

Easy Run with Strides

LMLS. Drills. Easy pace was around 8:30 today. I have a sore right medial quad. I'm not sure why.

Safe Sets Volleyball - We finally won a game, but lost one badly and then blew a lead. (Games YTD 46)

Friday 28

Shake Out

Easy 2 mile shake out with 4 x 100m strides. 

Saturday 29

Dogwood Classic 5k

The Dogwood Classic 5k is becoming one of my all time favorites. The course is awesome and KTC does a great job.

I was able to set a PR for over 50 and my 5th fastest 5k ever. This was exciting, but I could have raced better. I finished 4th in my age group just 2 seconds behind the 2nd and 3rd place runners. I wish I could have or would have pushed more at the end.

My take away from today is, I need to develop more speed endurance. How do I do that?

Volleyball - 2 hours of 3s with Justin, Brooklin, Matt, Kayla, Rachel, and Ben.

Sunday 30

I slept good last night, woke up at 3:30 but went back to sleep. My body feels goods today, nothing sore. 

Post Race Shake Out

This run was mostly for my OCD, I had to run a mile to be over 100 for the month. 

Pandemonium volleyball - We lost 1-2, only had 4 players for game one and 5 for games 2 and 3. We still should have won game 3. (Games YTD 49)

FOUR 16 - 22 (23.7) Earth Day Peter's Canyon 10k Trail Race

Sunday 16

Recovery day. I felt very good considering all the playing yesterday.

Monday 17

Balter through Campus 

It is amazing what a rest day will do for your running. This was an amazing run through the University of Tennessee campus. We even threw in an 8:17 mile 4. 

Tuesday 18

Travel to California.

Wednesday 19

I didn't get enough sleep, but I was going to be denied day 1 in California. 

Running Around Brea

My first destination was A Snail's Pace Running Store. There I met Bob who told me about a couple trails that I plan to run tomorrow. Next I ran down Brea Highway almost to Fullerton. On the return trip I discovered downtown Brea. It's a nice little area. I ran back there for lunch at Elbow's Mac and Cheese.

Thursday 20

My plans to run both trails might not come to fruition, I don't have a car. Revised plan calls for taking a hotel shuttle to the Chino State Park. This would be about 8-9 miles.

Chino Hills State Park Telegraph Trail

8 mile out and back. Dusty with a chance of rattlesnakes and mountain lions. Oh my!

Friday 21

Earth Day Peter's Canyon 10k Trail Race

My first race in California and my first taste of higher temps this year. This course was rolling and provided little cover from the sun. I employed my walk the hill strategy and it seemed to pay off again, 3rd in my age group and 20th overall. 

Saturday 22

Life's a beach. Huntington Beach all day!

FOUR 9 - 15 (45.1) Lakeshore Trail Trek

Sunday 9

Lakeshore Trail Trek

LM and drills.

This was a different course from last year. It started and finished on Glendale and ran North using the Davis Ferry, Baker Hollow and Canal trails.

I ran the short race (6.4 miles) which turned around at Baker Hollow. I had planned to run the long race, but we had volleyball at 6:30 and I didn’t think my body would tolerate doing both.

The morning was cool (39 degrees) and just a gorgeous day for a race. I went out at an easy pace not knowing the course and what lay ahead. There was a pretty good climb at the golf course, which I walked. At the turn around I was the 9th overall male. I was able to catch and pass Timothy and another guy to finish just behind Justin. I was the 7th male, 4th masters, and 8th overall.

The great thing about the race was, it didn’t leave me feeling exhausted for the entire day. I was able to play volleyball.

Road Cycling 

This was an easy greenway ride with an out and back down Union Valley Road. I only had 40 minutes, but it was worth it.

Pandemonium Volleyball - We won 2 - 0 against another undefeated team. Both games were close, we even had a game point against at least once. (Games YTD 34)

Monday 10

I'm in very good condition considering all I did yesterday.

Balter Run with KTC Socialites

LM and drills. 3 miles on very tired legs.

Tuesday 11

Morning flow - hip opening

Gym session -
Warm up:

1. Push-ups 10/3
2. Pull-ups 1, 2, 3 (with 5 second holds at top, middle, and bottom)
3. Back extension BW 15
4. Hollow hold 30 seconds

Strength:

1. Precision Series Chest #180 5/3
2. Press #95 4/3
3. Step-through deadlift #135 5, #165 4, #195 3

Core/mobility:

1. Foam roll 
2. Squat stretch

Evening Easy Ride

Spiked Punch Volleyball - We went 1 - 2 and played some very bad volleyball. (Games YTD 37)

Wednesday 12

I'm a little sore on left side from either the volleyball dive last night or the bike fall yesterday afternoon.

Morning flow - hot tub

Track Session

LMLS. Drills. 800m 2 sets of 3. (3:36.8, 3:40.1, 3:34.4, 3:29.1, 3:29.8, 3:22.1)

Thursday 13

I'm on day 19 of no chips. The cravings are mostly gone. I had a significant test Tuesday of this week when Kristen and I went to one of our favorite restaurants, Don Gallo. The chips and salsa here are the best and typically we will consume 2-3 bowls of chips. I was able to abstain.

Morning flow - foam roll and hip opening

Safe Sets Volleyball - We went 0 - 3 and played some very bad volleyball. (Games YTD 40). This team has the potential to be much better. I think tonight was just first game issues.

Friday 14

Morning flow - foot Rx

I didn't sleep well last night so I left work at 12:00 and come home, hot tubbed and took a nap. I still tired.

North Boundary Short Loop

LMLS. The hills were brutal today. My legs and me were tired.

Saturday 15

Long Run with Roadkill

LMLS. It's getting humid.

Volleyball - 3.5 hours of 2s with Kiu, Kayla, John, and Justin. This has been a very full day. 

FOUR 2 - 8 (28.1) Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run

Sunday 2

Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run

Splits: 7:59.5, 7:48.7, 7:51.7, 7:43.6, 7:34.6, 7:36.9, 7:32.1, 7:33.4, 7:37.9, 7:20.1

PR: 1:16:46 down from 1:18:38

The Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run was a great race with excellent conditions. We had a late start and an abbreviated warm up, but it led to a wonderful race.

The night before we bought breakfast foods at CVS, oatmeal and yogurt. Neither of us thought we would have time to get breakfast at the hotel or anywhere else. I slept OK for hotel sleep. We were up at 6 and out of the hotel at just before 7. We did our warm-ups (LMLS for me) in the in the room, then ran to the start. We were red corral, I was proud of that.

Neither of us had a pre-race strategy per se, so we started at sub 8 pace. After 4-5 miles we decided to maintain and see what happened. Justin left me somewhere between miles 6 and 7. There was a long straight stretch around mile 8 and I got a little bored, but I held the pace. I wanted to run mile 10 near 7 minute pace but 7:20 was all I could muster. I was very proud of us both for running a negative split race and the overall effort we put out this day.

I would run this race again.

Monday 3

Travel home from D.C.

Tuesday 4

Morning flow - Hip opening and foot Rx

Gym session -
Warm up:

1. Push-ups 2/10
2. Plank
3. Med ball (left elbow pain)
4. Back extension BW 15
5. Glute/ham ab 15

Strength:

1. Step-through deadlift #135 5, #165 3, #195 3
2. Press #85 5, #105 4/2
3. Precision Series Chest #140 7, #160 6, #190 6

Core:

1. Clams 15
2. Hip 4-way

Spiked Punch Volleyball - This was our first match of the season. It was an easy effort in which we won 3-0. (Games YTA 32)

Wednesday 5

Morning flow - Hip opening

Four Mental Keys

1. Learn to love the monotonous and the mundane
2. Don’t overreact to the ups and downs of training
3. Practice running on joy
4. Remember that the universe doesn’t care

“We are stardust with delusions of grandeur. None of this stuff matters, except the memories we make. So decide now that they will be good memories no matter how the race actually goes.” Scott Trummer

Tired Legs Run

LMLS. Active stretch. 4 miles easy.

Thursday 6

Morning flow - Foam roll and Stick

Gym session -
Warm up:

1. Hip opening
2. Shoulder combo #10 12
3. Shoulder ER 12
4. Pull-ups 5
5. Back extension 12

Strength:

1. Hang clean #95 5, #115 4, #130 3
2. Squats #135 5, #185 3, 205 2
3. Calf press #180 12/3

Core / mobility:

1. Pull-ups 5
2. Australian pull-up 8
3. Multi-hip abduction #85 12/2

Friday 7

Haw Ridge Run

LMLS. 6 mile run, mostly last year's race loop except I got lost a couple times.

Saturday 8

Roadkill Run

LM. A little over 6 miles easy. 

FOUR 1 (25.2)

Saturday 1

National Mall Run