Monthly Archives: October 2007

Today’s 5 km went well…

Posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 by Administrator

…but still I am really feeling the time off I have had from running. I have no idea of the time I took to run it. I had no walk breaks except to pick up my stopwatch which I had dropped at around the 3 km mark. Dropping my timer reset it so I have no way to know if I ran it in 37 or 33 minutes or what, I just know that my pace was a little faster than 7:30. I am quite happy that at the end of October I am still running in shorts and t-shirt. Good weather today.

Posted in Training Notes, Training Runs | Leave a comment

My worst 11 km ever…

Posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 by Administrator

Or very close to it. In spite of the perfect weather and temperature, with no wind, I felt really awful. I had zero energy. It was like my whole body was already exhausted even before I ran. My left knee started acting up and threatened to swell up on me. I walked a lot. I felt pain all over. The insteps of both feet mysteriously began burning intensely as if someone had put hydrochloric acid cream in my socks. That was and still is a total mystery since I changed nothing in either my gear or my routine. I ended up finishing in 1:37:10, well below my planned 1:22:30. Thoughts of quitting running danced merrily through my head. Every time this sort of crap happens I wonder: Is this the end? I have allowed myself a few moments of self-pity. Anything more than that is a waste of my life. … Continue reading →

Posted in Training Notes, Training Runs | Leave a comment

Karate 9

Posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 by Administrator

One of the hurdles to beginning karate is that one is barefoot and one must turn quickly on the balls of your feet. On a wooden dojo floor, or any floor for that matter, this usually translates into a painful friction burn. So to practice, one has to daily rotate quickly on first one foot bearing all of your weight, then the other foot. Do this on the ball not the heel of the foot. You only have to do this two or three times at first to feel the friction burn. You will notice a lingering burning pain if you do it right and for enough repetitions. Any more than that and you risk blisters, or tearing the pad off of your foot. Soon you will have thick enough skin to be able to do this without worry. So today we had an extensive warm-up then we did katas … Continue reading →

Posted in Karate, Training Notes | Leave a comment

Yeah! Another successful 5 km!

Posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 by Administrator

I am trying to keep my pace at or below 7:30 per km. I did the 5 km in 0:37:04 for a pace of 7:25. I guess I did it! My calf feels fine. I truly believe the ART has fixed it better than it was before the injury but I am not planning to increase my pace for the foreseeable future. I won’t be doing any more long runs for a while. I plan to stay at an 11 km long run. I want to increase gradually to 3 – 11 km runs per week plus one 5 km. All at a 7:30 pace or less. I will be doing much more but only in the distant future. By distant I mean January before I ramp it up. And when I do ramp it up it will be to train for a half and no more than 10 % … Continue reading →

Posted in Training Notes, Training Runs | Leave a comment

Today’s 11 km was up and down…

Posted on Sunday, October 21, 2007 by Administrator

Today’s 11 km come back run had its ups and downs, but it still went better than I expected. I guess after the layoff I had, that this is now my long run. The rest of this week will be 5 km runs on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That’s ok. My next long run will be next Sunday and it will also be 11 km. I will be increasing my other weekly runs until I get back up to 11 km runs during the week except for one 5 km run. After that I will increase my weekly LSD by 10% per week. So next week on my Thursday run instead of running 5 km I will be running 6.5 km which is about 10% of my weekly total not counting my long run on Sundays. The aim is to keep increasing the run distance by about 10% per week … Continue reading →

Posted in Training Notes, Training Runs | Leave a comment

Karate 8

Posted on Saturday, October 20, 2007 by Administrator

Today’s lesson was intense. After the usual warm-ups we did a lot of push-ups. We also did a lot of isometric tension exercises where we place our hands or lower arms (flat on the floor) and then in a push up type position we hold ourselves up off the floor with our backs straight and on our toes. Then we switched to the same position but using only one arm while we held the position on our left and then on our right sides. We went through a lot of the basics that we learned (as white belts) except we did not do any kata. Then we paired off and practiced blocks and punches with an opponent of higher rank. When it became my turn to get my punch middle blocked, the first time it was ok. The second time it stung a little after about the fifth time it … Continue reading →

Posted in Karate, Training Notes | Leave a comment

Karate 7

Posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 by Administrator

I attended this, my 7th class but I did not participate much. I was mostly a bench warmer by choice. It was exceedingly difficult for me to stand idly by on the sidelines, but I made the right choice. THAT battle was fought entirely in the mind. I so wanted to participate more actively, but I knew that if I did, I would injure myself more seriously. So I decided to let my sore hamstrings continue their recovery. At least I learned another Kata and the roundhouse kick. I also got my Gi. How did I learn the Kata and the kick when I did not participate? Well, the footwork pattern I already know and I also know the kicks, blocks, and punches. It is just a matter of practicing them. I am washing my Gi right now and after that I will be sewing on my Shito-Ryu Itosu-Kai Alberta … Continue reading →

Posted in Karate, Training Notes | Leave a comment