Day #150 of consecutive 5K run (a late post)

I love running paths and running someplace new.

A unique view, doing my post run stretches on my back.

A beautiful duck, who is quite comfy around people. It had zero fear of me, even running by him.

My first run at Gaston Edwards Park

Shameless selfie

My app that keeps track of all my runs

 

Has it really been 3 months since I’ve blogged?  You’ve got to be freaking kidding me!  You know what has distracted me is posting quite a bit?  The answer is posting on Facebook/Instagram and not porting my activities over to this blog.  To be totally honest, I don’t have time to post to all three everyday.

I have to make some decisions about what is the best way to communicate with the largest audience.  Facebook seems to be the easiest to use via my cell phone.  Posting to this blog seems to require me sitting down at my laptop.  Whereas, I can post to Facebook while I’m pretty much anywhere with a few minutes to spare.  Look me up on Facebook for the latest on my activities.  I will be revamping this blog soon, so more to come.

What have I been up to?  I guess the best way to start is the latest adventure and work my way backwards.  As you can tell from the title, I’m still pursuing my quest for a complete year of running at least a 5K a day.  I’ve just completed day #150 https://www.strava.com/activities/442060722/embed/c43d5137463c147c8fd07f5f398f5a148c6e2918  As a matter of fact, you can add me as a friend on Strava to see all of my 5K runs and times.

So what have I learned so far in regards to running everyday for 150 days straight?

1. Forces you to spend some time on you everyday
2. anything you work on everyday will improve
3. after reaching a certain point, momentum begins to assist you
4. You can still perform with injuries, I’ve suffered a sprained ankle, shoulder, muscle spasms that cut off my breathing, hip flexors, knee soreness and of course ye ole hammy.
5. I choose very carefully the things I do as to not injure myself or put myself at risk of not completing my 5K
6. My mind is now asking the question, “where else can employ this consistency in my life”
7. Never put yourself last, or your goals will be last too
8. you can’t outrun a poor diet.  No matter how many miles I run, it can not compensate for my poor food choices.  I shudder to think of how much better I’d look with a cleaner diet.  God please give me more strength.  LOL
9. My goals have to be high to motivate me to achieve them
10. Sometimes you just need a little music to get you through
11. Equipment is critical
12. Stretching and warming up are keys to avoiding injuries
13. My body can heal and still continue to keep going
14. Whenever you need a little motivation, just run somewhere new.  The freshness of the new sights and sounds will keep you engaged and entertained

That is the good news, my running continues to get stronger and stronger.  The bad news is my swimming and biking have been taking a back seat to keep this streak alive.  On days where I have only enough time to swim, bike or run, I have to choose running.

In addition, I’ve started coaching my son’s basketball team.  Coaching has taken up any remaining time I might have left.  I’ve been studying plays, drills and how to get the best out of 4th and 5th grade kids.  It’s not as easy as I would have thought.  It is a rewarding experience as the kids keep asking me to coach the next league when it starts.  Basketball has changed quite a bit since I played back in the 80’s.  LOL

 

 

 

 

Breaking in the new tires with a 40 miler and a 3 mile run brick

https://www.strava.com/activities/281855860/embed/b6f05e4333b2e7c99c9f5af54669aa4044491589

https://www.strava.com/activities/281855850/embed/810cfe9dde9055065de13568cd30493c80a92b69

Cute little family of crane birds.

Post ride and run glow

This is the first time I’ve been on my bike since the crash.  Having to spend $300 on new tires, just really seems wrong when I can get a new road bike for just a little more money.  Oh well, such is life in this sport of triahthlon.  I decided to go for a much longer ride to give the tires a good testing out.  The tires did well enough, but for some reason they are not holding air.

I felt a little exhusted on the run as I did not properly fuel myself.  Correction, I did not fuel myself at all.  Nor did I hydrate properly during my ride/run brick.  I’d say the perfect scenario for heat exhaustion or cramping. Like I said, I felt really underpowered on the bike ride, and even when I had the chance to stop and hydrate I didn’t.  For some strange reason, I just didn’t feel like stopping.

I really didn’t plan or running off the bike, but a last moment of inspiration told me to go for a three mile run after my 40 mile bike ride.  Going for a run, turned out to be a bad idea as there was little shade from the now blazing sun and I still hadn’t hydrated myself.   My poor training decisions finally caught up with me and I started cramping and getting light headed.  I survived the run, but I was really tired and weak.  Next time, I will make sure I have my nutrition and hydration in order before I go train, or I may have to skip the days training.

South Beach Triathlon is around the corner, and I’m excited to hang out with Frank for his first triathlon.

 

A very nice family easter swim

https://www.strava.com/activities/280056538/embed/f26c0c15543b1f19c1950e6f7eaa2b4e667babda

It is always nice when you can spend time with your family and train at the same time.  Every Easter Lucky’s lake gives you such an opportunity to invite family and loved ones out to the lake to experience the sunrising over the lake, take in a great easter breakfast and go for a lake swim.  All for free!  The best kept secret in Orlando.

A soak in the hot tube after my lake crossing

My daughter Amaya

My son Amante

Easter Sunrise Service Incredible View!

 

My friend and fellow triathlete Renate G.

 

A very sore body calls for a day of rest

My body is so sore from the dual swim and sports conditioning yesterday that I just decided to rest.  I also picked up my Zoey (tri bike) from the shop.  $300 for new tires and a crash checkup.  Ouch!

 

A swimtastic day

First one in the pool this season at the Roper YMCA

1.5 mile lake swim. Don’t drop ya phone taking a selfie.

 

 

//connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/734564696

//connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/734564678

 

So I decided to start my day out with an open water swim.  I had a wonderful swim, a perfect morning for a sunrise swim.  At the last minute I decided to do two crossings because the water felt so good.  The water was as clear as glass.  It was very nice seeing the sunrising to my left as I swam with each stroke.

After my swim workout, I decided to go to my local Roper YMCA and do the sports conditioning class.  The class is only a half an hour, but it is a real ball buster.  Consisting of mostly women, it is the hardest class I have taken in a while.  This high intensity class is bulit around jump squats, burpees, lunges, wind sprints and pushups.  I was dizzy and very light headed I was working so hard trying to keep my senses about me.

After recovering from this high intensity workout, I noticed that the pool was re-opening for the first time since the winter.  Although I had already swum today, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to be the first to jump in the pool this year.  I made a pact with myself that if I was the first memeber in the pool, I would do a short swim session.  When I asked Trinidad (the lifeguard) if anyone had been in the pool today he said “no, I would be the first!”  I ran back into the locker room, through on my wet swim trunks from this morning and swam again.  I worked mainly on swim drills, but I ended up swimming about 600 yards of freestyle too.  All in all a good workout day.  This is no way was a day for fooling around.  LOL

 

 

4 mile quick pace run

//connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/733230392

A perfect day for a run.  A little cool, yet sunny weather and not a cloud in the sky.  I felt a little tired from working all night, but once I started running I quickly got in a groove.  I’ve noticed since switching to zero drop shoes my form feels better and my joints ache less.  I am not increasing my distance for awhile as my longest distance this year will probably be a half marathon.  I also took the time to stretch out really well.

20 days left until the South Beach Triathlon

 

A great swim morning

Always a beautiful morning at the Lake

After last weeks horrible swim, I was feeling a little ancy as to how I would do today.  Well it was a slow night at work, so I was well rested and my swim started off great and continued that way for the entire crossing.  I guess you can say I was warming up on the first 500 meters, where I had to stop to calm my breathing.  But on the way back across the lake, I swam non stop and had a really feel of the water.  I did not have my Garmin, but I felt like my times were greatly improved over last weeks swim.  I got to see my good friend Willie and Judy who are prepping for their upcoming triathlon races.

 

6.2 mile Hilly run in the rain

So I’ve been tied up lately with my kids in the Orlando Magic day basketball camp.  I have not been able to train since last Saturday’s lake swim.  I did manage to get a yoga session at the YMCA in, which was really good.  I did think about “sneaking” out early in the am and doing a lake swim or bike ride, but I just decided to keep my attention and support on the kiddos during spring break.  I didn’t want to risk something going wrong on one of my training session and then me not being able to get them to their camp.

In addition, I decided to attend the camp as well to pick up some pointers that I can use when I’m taking them through drills over the summer.

After dropping off the kids to their mom’s house, I was able to focus on my training.  Since my bike is in the shop getting new tires and a crash checkup, I decided to run.  By the time I got myself together, there was a light drizzle outside and the sun was hiding in the clouds.  What a perfect scenario to run in!  This was also my first run since getting off the lemon cleanse detox program too.  I felt like I had a lot of energy, even though my time was not reflective of such an analysis.  All in all a great exercise day.  Followed by a good stretch routine and Daddy is all new again.

 

33 mile bike ride, followed by 2 mile Satan’s run on day 20 no food

https://www.strava.com/activities/268673699/embed/2c5011b9c71cbd41fb3afc9e4c1c851d9201fe60

Today was a test of my mental strength.  As you may know, I crashed my primary tri bike.  So I decided to “borrow” my friends road bike.  The only problem was that the pedals were a different type than my shoes.  No problem, I’ll just borrow his shoes too.  Well I looked everywhere for them, but he must have left them in his car.  To make a long story short, it took me almost an hour to get the pedals off his bike (as one of the pedals seem to be welded into the crank) and my bike pedals onto his bike so I could use my shoes.  Due to the long delay in pedal change, I decided to cut my bike ride down so I could get some sleep.

My bike ride was a little challenging as I was probably sleepy from wokring third shift and just a little hungry.  Let me tell you there is quite a difference between a road bike and a tri-bike.  My triceps were on fire as I could not rest my arms on the aero pads like I can on my tribike.

As a last minute spur of the moment action, I decided to follow my bike ride with a brick run.  I initially decided to run a mile, but that quickly got pushed to two miles.  My quads were screaming midway through on the way back, but I just slowed down and did my best to relax.

Not a bad workout day on 20 days no food.

 

Another open water swim. Day 19 of lemon detox cleanse

I had an awesome swim at Lucky’s lake this morning.  I think I may have gotten too used to the pull bouy as when I take it out to do my next lap out to the first water bouy, I seem to really struggle to find my balance.  Only did the one full crossing as I don’t want to tax my body too much with while I’m not eating any solid foods.

I’m on day 19 of the lemon cleanse, but think I’ll stop at 20 days because I’m training really hard and don’t want to put my body under too much demand.  Overall, I’ve felt amazing on this lemon detox program and would recommend it to anyone wanting to reset their bodies, gain some mental clairity, lose some body fat, and gain some energy back.

Only 35 more days until the South Beach Triathlon!