5K OK… 10K in 5 days.

I ran a 5K yesterday around the lakes of ND and everything seemed to glide along all Kosher like. The knee presented no problems. The problem, however, is that the 5K was pretty hard toward the end. It being only the second time I ran in the last 2 months. The question is, how will 10K work with virtually no training? That’s tough to say. I’ve been keeping it at around 9 min/mile, which would be my ideal rate, since moving much slower is little but glorified walking and moving any faster is certain failure.

I guess the point is, barring something unanticipated, I’ll run the 10K and hope for the best. The last two weeks of doing nothing but popping pills to keep the swelling down may have helped the recovery process, but it’s seriously hindered the training process.  I’m also saddened that Katie won’t be running with me, since she has to go to an orientation or some garbage for Ecuador.  Which means I’ll be running solo.  If anyone wants to just come up and jump in the race with me, that’d be cool with me. (dad? if you even read this?)

In other news, I’ve lost all the weight I gained and am back to a feather-light 180 pounds. (hooray)

Hooray for running!

Finally, the knee behaved itself. I did 30 minutes of elliptical to warm it up and decided to test it out on the treadmill. Not one for half measures, I decided to push a 9 minute mile right off the bat and see how it help up over the 9 minutes. The first four were easy but at minute 6 I was dying. Not my knee, mind you, which was fine, it was me… running and elliptical are not the same beasts! By 7 I could tell my legs were getting spongy and that stabbing pain in my chest started to swell up. 8 minutes in I was dropping sweat, just trying to focus on anything other than the remaining 60 seconds. By the end, I was exhausted, but my knee held itself well. I did a cool down lap around the track and could feel the knee begin to swell, so I showered and took some NSAIDs. Hopefully tomorrow I won’t regret it. One thing is obvious, I’m not going to run the Sunburst at a 9 minute/mile pace, which is only 9 days away and… maybe… I’ll still be able to run it.

mmm bad week

I’ve done something bad to my calf muscles and had to abandon my work out only 13 minutes into a 35 minute eliptical thingiee yesterday.  It’s quite a bummer because now I not only have a weak knee but also seriously sore calf muscles.  To top it off, digestive problems (which are always around the corner for me) is going to make swimming unlikely today.  I’ve decided that I’m going to have to take today off, which will be the first day I skip a work out, but it’s sad nonetheless, since I didn’t get a full workout yesterday either.

Running is really painful.  I don’t know why people do it.  I don’t want to lead anyone on to the notion that I like to run, because I don’t.  There’s a buzz or a high at the end, but getting it is really awful… like whoring for crack.  My body is also rejecting it as evidence by my legs and knees, though with the PT (which includes regular leg presses), my legs are getting huge.  I could seriously kick someone in the lower part of their leg very hard if I wanted to.  Beyond that, I’m not sure what the function of huge legs with bad knees could be.

In other news, I’ve decided what chapter 3 of this blog is going to be.  Since the race (and training for the race) is over at the beginning of June, I need something that starts in June so… MARTIAL ARTS!  Woot.  I’ll be starting a martial arts course in June that combines Taekwondo with Brazilian Jujitsu.  I have no idea what that’s going to be like…

Chapter 2: Sunburst 10K

The conclusion and victory of the biggest loser competition has given me motivation to continue in my rather strange quest to become a boxer. Thus begins a second chapter in a blog which, rather hopefully, will end in me boxing. In my estimation, a boxer (above all things) must have stamina. Thus, it would do me no good to enter into a ring with a body that needs to go 10 rounds but can only stand up to 1. Thus, before I even seek training in a ring, I figure I must first build myself into something that has the ability to hammer out 10 kilometers worth of pavement without stopping and in steady form. Enter the Sunburst Races.

The Race is May 31^st, which gives me a little under two months to prepare. The course looks fun. As far as I can tell, it’s a challenge to run 4 miles for me, I have never trained outside and I’ve never run in a “race” in my life. I wasn’t involved in a single high school or college sport - so, this will be my first competitive race ever.

If anyone knows how to train for these things, now would be a good time to tell me what to do over the next few months. :)