Friday

Made it to the gym at 5 for my weight workout. I'm up to 5 sets of 20 of the crossfit glute-ham situp, which I do in between sets of decline bench and bench. I go through everything pretty quickly and am finished with the entire workout in about 30 minutes. I'll probably just add reps to that situp, not sets. I'd like to get to 5 sets of 50.

I've been able to get out for a run at lunch this week pretty easily, so I'll do the same thing today and update the distance tonight.

One thing I've noticed is that drinking the carb/protein shakes after both the weight workout and the run workout has really made a huge difference in my energy level and my ability to keep doing 2 workouts a day most days. I usually mix CeraSport & protein powder. For runs, I mix it up ahead of time in a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle and just keep it in the car for when I finish. After weights, I mix it in a blender when I get home. After 15-20 mile or longer runs, I follow that up with some additional drinks, usually by buying a gatorade or similar and then mixing some protein powder into it. I'm not gaining any weight from it... just feeling better. More energy, stronger...

On last Saturday's run, I ran the last 7.5 miles with a tall 27-yr old, 210-lb ex-college quarterback, lean and in great shape, who was doing 8-minute miles until he was saddled with me as a running partner and had to slow down to 8:40. Talking to him, he was saying that he's stopped the lower body weight workouts except for lunges, which he said really helped him, but he was still doing the upper body. He ended up running 21 miles Saturday. He said that he follows up both his weight workout and running workouts with the protein mix, so it sort of confirmed what I had been thinking myself about it.

Thursday

I went back to the Bibb City Mill - Phenix City amphitheatre route today. Probably around 55 degrees and sunny when I started at 1pm... Nice run. I used my Garmin and came up with 5.6 miles for the route, starting at the Gazebo and running to the Dillingham Street Bridge and back.

Wednesday

Weight room this morning at 5am. Same as usual, except that I did 5 sets of 20 ham-glute situps instead of 4. And I did 14 reps of 160 on the bench at the end of my 8 decline bench / bench sets.

A little chilly here, in the 30's this morning.

Provided I don't accidentally defibrillate myself in my CPR/Defibrillator class this morning, I'll run at lunch again, the same 5.5 mile route, only this time i'll remember to wear the Garmin in order to get an accurate distance. Lunch runs are the same for me: change in the bathroom closest to the exit door, get to my car, haul ass to the run site, run, then get back in the car, haul ass back to work, shower & change, then get back to my desk. I shoot for an hour total.

**UPDATE**
I didn't defibrillate myself, the machine was smarter than me. The class was good and our instructor was very good. However, it did include a lunch so I blew off my run until this evening. So I ran 5.6 miles in the neighborhood. 54° here, not so cold, but a far cry from what seems like yesterday when it was hot & humid all the time.

Tuesday

Ran at lunch. I got to the north marina and it was taped off for some reason, so I drove to the Riverwalk entry point near the Bibb City Mill and ran south to the Phenix City Amphitheatre, then back. About 5 miles? maybe a little further. Next time, I'll take my Garmin so I can figure out the distance. A very enjoyable run and it may be my default lunch route from now on. Flat, and interesting, since this route passes the projects, the TSYS campus, and then crosses over into Phenix City. And workers were putting Christmas decorations up on the Phenix City side of the Riverwalk.


This was in my Daily Runner's Quote:

"The greatest treadmill running song, of course, is 'Black Dog' from Led Zeppelin IV." -Pete Pfitzinger

Monday

Gym at 5am... the usual.

I got an email back from the God Bless Fort Benning 5K event coordinator, and they will be doing 5-year age groups for the run. That's good news, since races usually have more participants if they split the age groups like that. I'd love it if this race became a well-attended annual event.

I'll update after my run today.