Morning Exercise

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Core.  It went OK.  I'm really trying to concentrate on keeping my torso straight in the plank-type moves.  My BodyMedia device said I burned 176 calories.  My new Basis Peak said I burned 106 calories.  A bit of a difference there...

A Little Exercise

Yesterday we drove back home from Pennsylvania.  I had originally planned to do a workout or a run in the morning, but I was still pretty tired from being sick, and since I didn't really eat anything on Sunday, I didn't think I'd have the energy.  When we got home, I had a lot to do around the house, so at least I was moving a bit.

This morning I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+.  I figured that I'd take it easy if I didn't feel OK, but it went well.  I burned about 265 calories.  I was supposed to start into my new workout plan for January and do P90X Legs & Back, but I really wasn't in the mood for that.

i got my Basis Peak fitness monitor today!  I've only been wearing it for a few hours, so I can't say much about it yet.  It is a bit chunky, but I am definitely ready to get rid of my BodyMedia armband.  I'll be wearing both of them for at least a few days to do some comparisons, and then hopefully it'll be all in for the Basis Peak!

Longer Run

Yesterday morning I did a 6-mi run at the Oil City YMCA.  I ran at 5.8 mph, so it took, about 1:02:00.  This run felt harder than it should, and I'm not sure why.  I have run a lot more this week than I usually do, but I haven't been playing tennis or any of my other activity, so I thought that would balance out.  I may be a bit dehydrated, because I definitely don't drink as much when I'm away from home as I do at home.  Who knows.

Yesterday evening, I got quite sick, possibly just from overeating at our family Christmas party, or maybe somehow I got something that didn't agree with me.  At any rate, I was up a lot over night and didn't really get good sleep until about 8 - 11am this morning.  I'm not doing any activity today and taking it easy on my poor stomach.

Short Run

Yesterday I was off because of Christmas.

This morning I did a short run at the fitness center in Grosse Pointe again.  My intention was to run for 40 minutes, at a speed increasing from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, to average 6.0 mph.  But the treadmill was acting funny and not counting time properly, so I just approximated this.  It totaled about 4.0 mi.

I ordered a Basis Peak fitness tracker.  I am excited to get it and get to something newer than my BodyMedia device.  Hopefully it will work well.

Tennis and Runs

On Sunday evening I played tennis doubles with some ladies from my team.  In the first round, my partner, Fran, and I won 7-5.  We had been down 4-1, so we were happy to come back for the win.  In the second round, my partner, Shelley, and I won 6-4.  In the last round, my partner, Libby, and I were ahead 5-0 when we ran out of time.  It was a good day of tennis!

I was off on Monday for travel to Grosse Pointe, MI, where my in-laws live.

Yesterday morning I did a run at a local fitness club.  I ran for 40 min and totaled 4.0 mi.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph in order to average 6.0 mph.  I did take quite a few breaks, as my hamstrings were kind of sore for some reason.  I also had to argue with the treadmill several times, as any inadvertent taps on the control screen wanted to send it to an 8.5-degree incline, which was most definitely not what I wanted.

This morning I ran 8.0 mi at 5.8 mph.  I'm not sure the exact time on the treadmill, since the dumb thing decided to stop about halfway through.  However, It should have been 82 or 83 minutes at that speed.  I did take breaks, but the run did not feel horribly hard.

Run with Intervals

Yesterday afternoon I did a 60-min run with some speed intervals.  This was the next run on my training schedule.  For the easy run parts, I ran at 5.8 mph.  Then, for six 1-min intervals, I ran at 7.5 mph.  The run ended up being 5.97 mi in 60 min, which wasn't bad.  I did take quite a few breaks.

This morning I did the earlier boxing class, like I did last week.  We didn't have to do grocery shopping today, so I was able to go to the earlier class.  It's nice to get it done right away, and it was a good class.

I need a new activity monitor, because Body Media is gradually going away, now that they've been bought by Jawbone.  I was thinking about getting an UP3 when they come out, but they don't have an activity display of any kind of them, which I don't like.  So I'm debating between a Basis Peak, which is available now, and waiting or a FitBit Surge, which is supposed to be available in early 2015.  The Basis Peak looks nicer, is available now, and has sensors more similar to the BodyMedia device that I have.  But the FitBit Surge will have GPS and all the good FitBit software.

Tennis Twice

Last night Bill and I went to TCCP to play in their members appreciate doubles mixer.  We did some drilling for an hour, and then we had an hour of some quick match play.  It wasn't very tough, but it was reasonably fun.  I won a trophy for winning the most games in the match play!  Can't complain about that.

This morning I played tennis with Janet and the 7.5 women's combo team that I will be playing with in the winter 2015 season.  It's a bit intimidating to come in as the new 3.5 on the team.  I played with Janet first, and we lost 6-3.  We really had a lot of unforced errors, while our opponents were hitting very well.  We lost the second set 6-2, if I remember right.  We did play better with me on the ad side.  Then we switched partners, and I played with Carol for a few games.  We managed to squeeze in a set, and unfortunately lost 6-1.

Morning Workout

Yesterday evening I didn't do any activity.  I actually went out with a tennis friend socially, which is amazing.  I do that so rarely!

This morning I did P90X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris.  I still find this workout to just be OK.  I did increase my reps on a few moves.  I can see why it and V-Sculpt did not make the cut as the primary strength workouts in P90X2.  I burned about 160 calories.

Catching Up

I have been busy with work and finals and grading, so I haven't had a chance to blog.

Monday morning I didn't do any exercise because I had to get up early for an 8am final exam.  Monday night I had my usual doubles tennis at TCCP.  In the first round, my partner, Anda, and I didn't play that badly, but we got crushed by our opponents, one of whom was playing really well.  We lost 6-1.  In the second round, I redeemed myself; my partner, Lindsay, and I won 6-2.  It was all fun.

Tuesday morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Xtrainer.  I was feeling a bit better in this workout this week, since I'm starting to get caught up on sleep.  I burned about 270 calories.  Tuesday evening I went to cardio tennis at TCCP, which was fun.  The new guy is learning how to keep me moving, and I was also playing pretty well.

Yesterday morning, I did P90X2 V-Sculpt.  I still don't get much burn out of this; I guess I should increase the weights on my moves, but individually, they feel like I'm using enough.  Also, for some of the balance/plank moves, the issue is not the weights, but the core.  I burned about 150 calories.

Yesterday evening I did an easy run on my training schedule.  I ran for 45 minutes at a speed increasing  from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, averaging 6.0 mph.  This totaled 4.5 miles.  The run started out feeling OK, but started to feel hard toward the end.

This morning I had P90X2 Plyocide on my schedule, but I really wasn't feeling it today.  Instead, I did my favorite: P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+.  It got a good sweat going.  I burned about 260 calories.

A Bit of Everything

Last night I had my last scheduled match with my combo team for this season.  Unfortunately Susie and I got beaten pretty badly: 6-4, 6-0.  In the second set, they really figured out how to take advantage of my partner's weaknesses, and I couldn't figure out what to do about it.  Fortunately our team won the other two courts, so we won the match overall. 

This morning I did an earlier boxing class than usual, but still with the same instructor, so it was pretty much the same class.  I felt pretty good and could push myself harder than I have been able to do lately, which was nice.

I had gone to the earlier boxing class because one of my teammates was organizing a practice in the early afternoon, since it was supposed to get relatively warm.  However, it turns out that we didn't get a doubles foursome, so I didn't do that.  Instead, after lunch I did a short run.  I did 3 miles in 30 min at an average 6.0 mph speed.  This run felt hard after yesterday's long run, so I took a lot of breaks.  My legs were just sore.

Long Run

Yesterday afternoon and evening I did not do any activity, as it was my rest day - my first full rest day in a long time.  I did eat a bunch at our department holiday party.  Happily, this morning that was not reflected in my weight.

Today before lunch I did the next long run on my training schedule.  It called for 9 miles.  I did the whole thing on the treadmill at 5.8 mph.  It wasn't as bad as I was expecting!  I only took drink breaks every 10 minutes for the first 40 minutes, and then I increased the frequency of the breaks.  The total run was 1:33:10.

This evening I had played a match with my combo team.  Unfortunately Susie and I lost 4-6, 0-6.  However, our team won the other two courts so we won the match overall!

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work I finally was able to do cardio tennis - enough people signed up!  A new guy, Devon, taught the class.  He did a pretty good job.  I was in much better shape than the other people there, so when I told him part way through that I wasn't getting much of a burn, he definitely stepped things up and kept me moving in particular.  He had some fun games for us to play.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility, with the focus on the foam rolling and stretching.  I burned about 95 calories.

Two Runs

On Tuesday I wanted to do cardio tennis at TCCP after work, but it was canceled.  Lately they haven't been having enough people to do the class.  So I went home and did a 30-min run on the treadmill.  I increased speed from 5.8 to 6.2 mph as usual, and so I ran 3.0 mi.  This run felt SO much easier than the run on Sunday night.

Yesterday morning I did P90X2 V-Sculpt.  This is a back and biceps workout.  The moves are OK, but I don't feel like I worked as hard as I should have.  I think it's because I really can't do very pull-ups yet, so I end up with a lot of down time.  I could try to do assisted ones on a chair, but my pull-up bar is so low, I feel like I'm getting way too much help with the chair.  At any rate, I burned about 165 calories.

Yesterday evening after dinner I did a 40-min run on the treadmill.  Again, I increased my speed, but my average was 6.0 mph.  I did the first 20 minutes with only one break on the rails.  My distance came to 4.0 mi.

This morning, I did P90X2 Plyocide.  Still a tough workout, but it was feeling slightly better than last week.  I did not do the neuro-integrated stretching in order to save a few minutes, since I foam rolled after the workout.  I burned about 200 calories.

Two Days

I've been too busy with work to blog much.

Sunday night, I did a 30-min run on the treadmill.  I increased from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph so that I averaged 6.0 mph.  I don't know what it was, but this run was way too hard for 30 minutes.  I took a lot of breaks.

Monday morning I did P90X2 Chest + Shoulders + Tris.  This is not my favorite workout.  I don't feel like it works the shoulders in enough directions, and the chest moves are pretty repetitive from previous workouts.  I burned about 150 calories.

Last night, I played my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played quite well.  In the first round, my partner, Andrea, and I won 6-5, despite playing a good pair.  In the second round, my partner, Lindsay, and I won, 6-3.  In the last round, my partner, Whitney, and I tied 2-2 - this was probably the hardest round.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 XTrainer.  I'm tired, so I didn't do great at it, but OK.  It's definitely a good workout.  I burned about 275 calories.

Painful Day

Yesterday, my abs were sore all day.  It wasn't like it was killing me, but it was really annoying and distracting.  I was also so tired all day.

I did the next run on my training schedule, which was 50 min with 4 - 6 60-s hard intervals.  I ran on the treadmill starting at 5.8 mph and increasing to 6.2 mph so that the average of my "easy" pace was 6.0 mph.  I did 5 60-s intervals at 7.5 mph.  This was a hard run, since I was just so tired.  My abs didn't really hurt more during the run, but I'm sure it affected me.  I took a lot of breaks.

Fortunately this morning my abs started to feel better.  I could still feel some soreness, but not nearly as bad.  I still don't know what the problem was!

This morning I went to my usual boxing class.  I was still tired, but it went OK.

Last Mixed Win

Last night, Bill and I played our last mixed combo match together for awhile.  Since I've moved up to 3.5, we'd have to play 8.0 mixed next season, which we don't think we're ready for.  At any rate, we won our match last night 6-1, 6-2.  Our opponents were two 3.5 players, and they were getting frustrated about not being able to win against us, especially against me.  I played quite well, and could rally with the other man just fine.  It was good to go out on a high note.  Our team won the other court played, and we got a default, so we swept the match!

My abs have been hurting since yesterday morning, which is really strange.  It feels like I've done a million crunches, but I haven't really done anything that should affect them.  I can do most things, and in fact, playing tennis feels better (probably because I'm distracted), but it's annoying and kind of worrying.  They are still hurting today.

This morning I went to a boxing class.  The class was taught by a pro who is not my favorite, but that wasn't the issue today.  I just really felt out of it and tired.  Maybe my sore abs are draining me?  I really dogged the class.  I came home and took a nap before lunch.

Big Doubles Win!

Wednesday evening I was supposed to have a team practice, but it was still too damp to play, so we canceled.  I had a lot of work to do, so I didn't find a replacement activity.  In fact, I stayed up extra late grading some projects, so I slept in a bit in the morning and did not do my P90X2 Recovery + Mobility as planned.

Last night I subbed into our last tri-level match of the season.  Mary Ann and I played a marathon match, but finally won!  Our opponents did not hit fast-paced shots, but mostly hit softer, looping shots, which we had no problem dealing with.  We were pretty evenly matched and everyone was playing very consistently, so the points went on forever.  We won the first set 7-5, over an hour into the match.  In the second set, our opponents somehow ended up winning 6-2 - I don't feel like they did anything in particular to beat us, but it just ended up that way.  We started the match tie-breaker with fewer than 10 minutes left in the match.  We were pretty even in the tie-breaker...we were at 6-6, with just a couple minutes left.  We managed to win the next two points before time ran out.  We won the tie-breaker 8-6, and so we won the match! 

Our 3.5s won also, so we won the match overall.  A good ending to the season.  Last season in tri-level, our team only had a record of 1-11.  This season we ended 6-9, and three of our wins were against the top team, which was great!

This morning I did P90X2 Plyocide.  I could tell I hadn't done this workout in awhile!  I skipped the neuro-integrated stretching at the end, because I was going to do some foam rolling and needed to save time.  I burned about 210 calories in the workout.

Easy Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a 45-min run on the treadmill.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph in order to average 6.0 mph and achieve a distance of 4.5 mi.  I ran the first 20 minutes with only one break, but I had more after that.

This morning I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance for the last time in my current workout schedule.  I did increase reps on a lot of moves, but I still feel like I'm getting tired too fast.  I burned about 180 calories in the workout.

Monday Night Doubles

Yesterday morning, I did P90X2 X2 Shoulders + Arms.  This is the last time I'll be doing this workout for awhile.  I did up the weight and/or reps for a few moves.  It's definitely a good workout.  I burned about 155 calories.

Last night I played my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I did pretty well.  In the first round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 2-6.  We tried to play at the net a lot, but our opponents had really good angles and lobs and kept getting by us.  In the second round, my partner, Michelyn, and I really played well and won 6-2.  We played very well together at the net, forcing our opponents back to the baseline.  In the third round, my partner, Andrea, and I tied at 2-2.  This was good for us, because we were playing quite strong players.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Speed & Agility.  I'm still not feeling like I can really do this workout as well as I should - I'm just tired with it.  I burned about 270 calories.

This morning I found out that my USTA rating increased to 3.5 for the 2015 season.  I've been on the verge of moving up for awhile, so it's gratifying for it to finally happen.  I'm going to have to figure out what to do with my 3.0 team.

Doubles Practice

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  I really have been dogging them lately and not getting my usual calorie burn.  Too many breaks.  Blah.

This evening I had an indoor practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Donna, and I lost 2-5, which was a bit surprising to me.  In the second round, my partner, Lisa, and I lost the first set 6-7, and then were ahead 4-1 in the second set.  In the last round, my partner, Sharynne, and I ended at 5-5 with our opponents.  I did not get the chance to come into the net as much as I would've liked tonight, which I think it why I wasn't playing as well.

Short Run

This morning I did a shorter run at the Oil City YMCA.  This was not a run on my training schedule, but I've been thinking that if I have a day without another activity planned, I should do a run to try to get better at it.  I did 4.04 mi in about 40:00, increasing in speed from 5.8 to 6.2 mph.  I took a lot of breaks in this one, since I'd just run 8 miles the day before.  I really need to learn to take fewer breaks.

Long Run

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and between traveling and the family dinner and the weather, I didn't do any activity.  I did get over 7 hours of sleep last night.

This morning I did the 8-mi run on my training schedule.  I went to the Oil City YMCA to use a treadmill there.  Again, I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph to average 6.0 mph for the 8 hours in 1:20:00.  I did take quite a few breaks, but it wasn't too bad.

Longer Short Run

Yesterday afternoon I did the 40-min run that was on my training schedule.  I did it on the treadmill, again increasing from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph to average 6.0 mph.  The total distance was 4.0 mi.  This run seemed easier than the run from the previous day, even though it was longer.  Who knows why.  I also watched one of the best Stargate SG-1 episodes ever, "A Matter of Time", which involves a black hole.

Short Run

Yesterday afternoon I had wanted to take the cardio tennis class at TCCP, but there were not enough people for it to be held.  Instead, I came home and did a 30-min run on the treadmill.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, so that I totaled 3 miles.  This felt harder than it really should have.  My knees were bothering me all day, but they were better after the run - go figure.

This morning I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance.  I just wasn't feeling it this morning, but I did improve some of my reps.  I burned about 170 calories.

Good Doubles

Last night I had my usual doubles tennis at TCCP.  I was worried that I might hurt my calf again, but it was fine.  My knees were kind of bothering me, which was weird.  At any rate, I played some excellent tennis!  I have been so tired lately, but last night on the court I was energized.  My partner, Anda, and I won the first round 6-2; this was unexpected because we were playing against two 3.5s.  In the second round, my partner, Julie, and I won 6-0, again against a good pairing.  Something happened in the last round, though, and my partner, Mariann, and I lost 0-4.  Ah, well.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Speed & Agility.  My leg was feeling OK, but I was just tired.  I definitely dogged it.  I burned about 280 calories.

Long Run

Yesterday afternoon, I did my first long run since the Marine Corps Marathon 10K, almost a month ago.  I did 7 miles on the treadmill.  I stuck to a 5.8 mph speed the whole time, since I was pretty tired.  That meant I finished in 1:12:25.  I did the first 20 minutes with only one break, but I did take more and more breaks as the run went on.  I ran without my calf wrap, in the hopes that my gait would return to normal.  I'm not sure if it did or not, but I didn't have any specific pain.  My left quad and the outside of my left thigh are still oddly sore.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Shoulders + Arms.  I increased my weights for some moves, so that I'm using 20-lb per hand only for the triceps moves.  I'm also using 25-lb per hand for some of the shoulder presses.   I am already sore, but I'm pleased that I am able to lift so much, even while doing the balancing.  I burned about 140 calories in the workout.

Mixed Combo Loss

Last night Bill and I played a mixed combo match.  We won the first set 6-2.  The opposing guy was really tall and moved well, but Bill had some excellent shots and service games, and I managed not to give away too many points.  Then we lost the second set 6-0.  The tall guy seemed to have arms that were a foot longer in this set and somehow he was just everywhere.  He kept managing to place the balls exactly where I couldn't get them.  In the match tie-breaker, we stayed pretty even with them for awhile, but ended up losing it 10-7.  Such a frustrating match. 

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  I took it a bit easy because I didn't want to stress my calf too much.  I was very happy that I didn't re-injure it in all the tennis yesterday, so I didn't want to push it.

Harder Run

Yesterday I did a 50-min run on the treadmill.  I don't usually run two days in a row, but I need to get back on my training schedule after having time off for my calf pull.  Well, this run was hard.  I took a lot of breaks on the side rails.  I did start at 5.8 mph and increase to 6.2 mph so that I averaged 6.0 mph and did 5 mi.  My left quad was really sore after the run.  I think I must have changed my gait somehow because of my calf and the wrap I had on it.  During my next run, I won't wear the wrap.

This morning I had an indoor practice with my tennis team.  I played pretty well, although I definitely wasn't as quick off the mark as usual - wanted to not pull the calf again.  In the first round, my partner, Viqui, and I lost 2-4.  In the second round, my partner, Sharynne, and I won 7-5, 4-1.  Then in the last round, my partner, Flora, and I won 6-2, 1-1.  Not bad.

Running Again

Yesterday morning I did Insanity the Asylum Speed & Agility.  I wanted to not stress my calf muscle too much, so I took it a bit easy.  It seemed to be OK.  I could feel it with some of the jumping.  I burned about 255 calories. 

Yesterday evening I did a 45-min run on the treadmill.  I was supposed to run 7 miles, but I'm switching up the training schedule a bit to ease back into running with my calf.  I started at 5.8 mph and increased to 6.2 mph so that I averaged 6.0 mph and did 4.5 mi.  The calf felt OK throughout, which was good.

This morning I was supposed to do P90X2 Plyocide, but I didn't think all the jumping would be good for my calf.  Instead I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+.  It was a good decision, because I did feel my calf a bit on the few jumping moves.  Hopefully I'll be back to plyo next week.  I burned about 250 calories.

Calf Injury Again

Monday night at my doubles at TCCP I pulled my calf muscle again.  The same one I pulled on my birthday.  It had been feeling fine.  During one game, it was starting to feel tight and I thought I'd stretch it after the game, but that was too late.  It pulled, and I had to stop for the night.  Blah.

Tuesday morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility to rest the calf.  I burned about 70 calories.  Fortunately I had been planning to take Tuesday afternoon/evening off from activity, since a college friend was in town and we were going to dinner with her.  So more rest for the calf, and lots of ibuprofen.

This morning, I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance.  I did regular pull-ups and chin-ups for the pull-up moves, since they have crazy variations that I generally can't do at all.  I figure I should be able to do more than like 3 pull-ups in a row.  The chest and balance moves on this are not that hard for me any more.  I need to practice keeping my body straight in any plank positions and work on speeding up - I tend to go at a deliberate speed, so I don't end up getting as many reps as I could.  I burned about 185 calories.

This afternoon, I thought I'd try a run on the treadmill.  Well, the calf felt a bit off.  If I ran just right, it was OK, but I felt like any lapse from that form was going to tweak it.  So I switched to walking.  I walked for about 55 minutes at about 3.5 mph.  At least I burned some calories.  I'm going to try the run tomorrow.

New Workout Phase

Yesterday afternoon I did a run on the treadmill.  I ran for 40:00 min, which came out to 4.0 mi.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph, averaging 6.0 mph.  Again, I tried to take fewer breaks during the run.

This morning I started the next phase of my P90X2 and Asylum vol. 2 hybrid.  I did P90X2 Shoulders + Arms.  I can tell that I'm going to be really sore from this.  I tried to push the weights, especially for biceps and shoulders, and I think I succeeded in that.  I burned about 140 cal.

Afternoon Practice

Yesterday afternoon my tennis team had an outdoor practice.  It was warmer than it would've been in the morning, but not by much.  The cold made it kind of hard to get into, and the extra layers made movement more restricted than usual.  In the first round, my partner, Anda, and I lost 6-2.  We really should've played better.  In the second round, my partner, Jessica, and I lost the end of the first set 6-7, but then forged ahead in the second set, 4-0.  In the third round, my partner, Susie, and I lost 5-2. 

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  I dogged it a bit and didn't burn as many calories as usual.  I'm tired.

Evening Run

Yesterday afternoon after work I did a 50-min run on the treadmill.  I increased my speed from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph so that averaged 6 mph and finished in 50:00.  I've been working on taking fewer breaks, and so my first breaks were at 10-min and 20-min.

My tennis practice for this morning was moved back to the afternoon so that it will be warmer.  I thought about going to a boxing class, but I decided I have to much to do to waste the travel time.  I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+ at home instead.  I burned about 280 calories.

This morning my weight was down to 126.0 lb, the lowest it's been in quite some time.  I've been eating about 1600 cal per day (except Saturdays and my birthday) since Oct. 28, and it's taken me this long to lose maybe 1 lb.  Frustrating, but at least I'm seeing some progress.

Short Plyo Workout

Yesterday evening I didn't do any activity.  For once I had a complete rest day.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Pure Contact.  I followed it with 3x6 squat with single-arm presses, alternating with 3x6 reverse wood chops.  Lots of good plyo this morning!  I burned about 180 calories.  This is the last day of my first 3-week segment of my P90X2 and Asylum vol. 2 hybrid.

Tri-level Win!

Last night I played a match for my tri-level team.  Anda and I beat the top team again on the 3.0 court!  We started out really badly - we just were hitting so many unforced errors and didn't have much energy.  We lost the first set 6-1.  We kind of pulled ourselves together and got more psyched up, and started playing better.  We won the second set 6-3.  In the match tie-breaker, we were pretty close at first, but we were always ahead by a point.  We pulled ahead at the end and won it 10-7.  Fortunately our 3.5s also won, so we won the match overall.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 90 calories.  I'm taking the rest of the day off, because I have to substitute teach this evening and won't have time to do anything else.

Evening Practice

Yesterday evening we had a practice for my tennis team.  It was unusually warm for November, so it was pretty pleasant.  However, the possible cold weather kept most people away, so we only had four to play.  In the first set, my partner Whitney and I played pretty well, beating our opponents 6-4.  It was a long set, though, because we were a little chatty and unfocused.  In the second set, my partner Julie and I were ahead 5-2 when we had to stop because our lights were going to turn out.

This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I improved on a few exercises. I burned about 180 calories.

Good Monday Doubles

Last night I had my usual doubles tennis at TCCP.  I felt like I played really well.  In the first round, Andrea and I lost 4-6.  However, we were playing against two really strong players, and Andrea doesn't move as well on the court, so I thought that was a success.  In the second round, Jessica and I beat our opponents 6-2; this was surprising because again, we had strong opponents.  I've been coming in to the net a lot, and it's working very well.  In the last round, my partner Lindsay and I won 3-2. 

This morning, I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by Ab Shredder, followed by a 90-s plank on a stability ball.  This always gets me sweating a lot.  I burned about 190 calories.

My blood test results came back yesterday - I'm still anemic, although not as bad as before.  So I keep taking the iron supplements.  I'm still pretty fatigued - I hope I can get my iron back up soon!  I keep thinking that if I'm playing tennis so well right now, how much better will I play when I'm not so tired all the time?

Longer Run

Yesterday evening I did a 45-min run on the treadmill.  I was supposed to do an easy pace, so I started at 5.8 mph and increased to 6.2 mph so that I averaged 6.0 mph.  The distance was 4.5 mi.  I'm trying to get myself to run for longer without taking breaks on the rails, and I did do that for the most part.  My calf felt OK during the run, but it's bothering me a little bit today.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Total Body.  I added in 3x8 shoulder raises with 12 lb per arm.  I did increase my reps on a few of the moves.  I burned about 205 calories.

Combo Loss

Last night I played another match with our combo team.  Susie and I played #3 doubles.  We won the first set 6-2.  We were playing pretty well, and our opponents were playing really badly.  I thought we were going to zip right through the match.  Our opponents switched sides in the second set, and somehow that really changed things.  I'm not sure if it gave them a different view of the balls, or if it just woke them up, but they started playing much better.  In particular, they were more able to keep hitting to Susie.  We lost the second set 6-7.  In the match tie-breaker, we made it close but ended up losing.  Our team only won one of the other courts, so we lost overall.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  It was a good class, but nothing special.

Easy Run

Yesterday afternoon/evening I did not do any kind of activity.  I thought it would be a good idea to rest my calf after the slight pull on Thursday night.

This morning, I had a practice with my tennis team.  However, somehow we ended up with five to play instead of four.  I had done some of the warm-up and felt like my calf was probably OK to play in the match tonight, so I bowed out and let the other four play. 

I came home and did a short, easy run on Rock Creek Trail.  My calf was OK still.  It was pretty chilly, but nice and sunny.  RunKeeper was having some problems with the tracking again.  I had to restart it halfway through, so my run was recorded in two halves.  Then the time on the second half got reset, so it thought I ran the second half at 274 mph.  This is a bit frustrating to have it keep screwing up the data.  I ran about 2.94 mi in about 31:30, which was an average speed of 5.6 mph.

Combo Win!

Last night, I subbed in again for a match for our combo team.  My partner, Julie, and I won 6-2, 6-0.  Despite the league being 6.5 combo, we played two 3.0 women, and one of them was very inexperienced.  They really didn't have a chance.  Julie and I practiced coming in to the net, which was good.  I served the last game, and we were ahead 15-0.  During that point, I pulled my left calf muscle a bit.  This is something I've done in both legs, but many years ago.  It wasn't awful, but I really didn't want to play much more.  At 30-0, I served to get an error on the return, so it became 40-0.  I was serving to the weak player, so I figured if I didn't get an error on the return, I'd just hit until she did make an error.  And that was pretty much how it went...I hardly moved, but just hit several cross-court shots until she hit it out.  Then I limped to the bench and took a bunch of ibuprofen.  Julie got me some ice, and I iced my calf until the other matches finished.  Our team won one of the other courts, so we won the match overall.

This morning, my calf is feeling a bit better.  I'd wrapped it up last night before bed.  I'm still taking ibuprofen regularly.  I did P90X2 Balance + Power today, skipping any jumping or balancing on the left leg.  I burned about 170 calories.

Combo Sweep!

Last night our combo team won all of the courts!  Michelyn and I played on #1 doubles, and we played really well together.  We were always just behind our opponents in the first set until we caught up at 5-5, and then we won the set 7-5.  One of our opponents could not move very well, and as a result, I think, she had some really odd-looking strokes that took some getting used to.  In the second set, we did much better, winning 6-3.  It was a good night for the team.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Pure Contact.  After that, I did 3x6 plyo squats with one-arm presses alternating with reverse wood chops.  I burned about 170 cal.

Big Tri-level Win!

Last night our tri-level team won a match!  We haven't been very successful this season, so that's good news, but the even better thing is that we beat the team that has been undefeated so far and was undefeated all last tri-level season!

Terri and I played on the 3.0 court.  We played some very consistent players, but they did not have a lot of hard shots or great angles.  One of them tends to hit higher, floaty balls, and Terri and I both hit a lot of them out of the air and put them away.  We won the first set 6-1 that way.  Our opponents changed sides in the second set, which let one of them hit a much deep groundstroke; that worked for them in the second set, plus we made some errors, so we lost the set 2-6.  In the match tie-breaker, we started out behind, but caught up to 8-8, and then won it 10-8 to win the match!

Our 3.5s lost their court, but our 4.0s won, so we won the match overall!  On the 4.0 court, they split sets and started the match tie-breaker with about 10 minutes left in the match.  However, there was a miscommunication with the facilities guy that was supposed to hit the buzzer to call the end of the match, and he didn't do it until late.  If the buzzer had gone off on time, our 4.0s would've lost the tie-breaker.  But because of the delay, they finished the tie-breaker and won it!  A very satisfying match win!

This morning I had to be on campus by 7:30am, so I didn't do a workout.  I'll do today's workout on Friday.  I need some sleep - I got to bed extra late after last night's match, and didn't sleep very well.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual Monday night doubles tennis at TCCP.  I played OK.  In the first round, my partner, Michelyn, and I lost 6-3.  We had been down 4-0, so at least we made a small comeback.  We really needed to get more aggressive at the net.  In the second round, I played singles against Whitney, who is an excellent singles player.  I got down 5-0, but then came back to 5-4 before losing 6-4.  I was very happy with that.  In the last round, we only played 5 games.  My partner, Anda, and I lost 4-1.  We really should've done better, but had some unforced errors.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial followed by Ab Shredder.  This is a good combination, because the tutorial really gets you sweating with all the fast moves, and then the ab workout prolongs it.  I added on a 90-s plank on the stability ball when I was done.  I burned about 200 calories.

Windy Run

Yesterday afternoon I did an easy pace run outside on the Sligo Creek Trail.  It was chilly, in the mid 40s F, and really windy.  I thought I'd run better with it colder, and I wore a long-sleeved shirt, but it did not turn out that way.  I ran about 3.89 mi in 41:29, which worked out to be about 5.6 mph.  My legs were also still a bit sore from P90X2 on Friday, so maybe that contributed.  I'm trying not to worry if my easy runs are too slow, but it does bother me.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Total Body, with additional arm raises, like I did last Friday.  I improved a bit on some of the moves.  Hopefully I won't get as sore from it this time.  I burned about 205 calories.

Mixed Combo Loss

Last night Bill and I played on #1 doubles for our mixed combo team.  We played a 3.5/4.0 pair; we knew they both from TCCP.  It was a really fun match, but unfortunately we lost.  We lost the first 6-4.  In the second set, we got up 5-1, but then let our opponents come back and even it out.  We eventually won the second set 7-6.  Then we lost the match tie-breaker pretty decisively.  Too bad!  Our team did not win any of the courts.

Overnight was the change from daylight saving time to standard time, so we got an extra hour of sleep.  I slept for about 9 hours, which was awesome!

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  A lot of push-ups and crunches today. I'm still sore from P90X2 on Friday, but I did OK.

Tri-level win!

Last night Terri and I won our court in our tri-level match: 6-7, 6-4, in a timed match.  The first set seemed to go on forever.  We were down 1-4, and then we got ahead 5-4.  We had so many long deuce games.  Unfortunately we lost the set tie-breaker pretty badly.  In the second set, we were pretty even until our opponents got ahead 4-2.  We managed to come back and win the set 6-4.  At that point, we only had about 8 points left to play the match tie-breaker.  The match tie-breaker timed out when we were ahead 5-4, so it didn't count.  Terri and I won because we'd won more games in the match.  So close!  We played pretty well.  Both of us are fast and cover the court really well.  Terri did a great job getting overheads and so we didn't get into long lob rallies.  It was a really good win!

Fortunately, our team won one of the other courts as well, so we won the match overall!  This is only our second match win for tri-level, so it was good for the team.

This morning I canceled tennis practice because it looked like it was going to rain.  I went to a boxing class instead.  I was moderately sore from my P90X2 workout yesterday, but even so, the class felt harder than it should have.  I have been really tired lately, so I'm sure that's part of it.  I'm not sure whether the tiredness is just from the fact that I've been so busy lately, or if I'm still not over my anemia.  I need to get another blood test for it, but I haven't had the chance.

Outside Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a run outside after work.  This is going to be my last after-work outside run of the season, because we switch back to standard time this weekend and it will be too dark.  I ran from my house to the Georgetown Branch Trail and back.  I ran about 3.48 mi in 35:30, which averages to about 5.9 mph.  It was chilly, which felt good during the run, but froze me afterward.  I was trying not to push too hard, although that was hard on the return leg, which has a lot of uphill.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Total Body.  I added in 3 sets of 8 reps of front shoulder raises with 12 lb per hand.  I really would like my shoulders to look less knobby.  I burned about 200 cal.

Easy Run

Yesterday afternoon I did my first run since the Marine Corps Marathon 10K race on Sunday.  I did 3 mi on the treadmill at 5.8 mph, taking 31:03.  I didn't do as many rest breaks on the rails, which was good, and something I'm going to try to continue.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Vol. 2 Pure Contact.  Afterward, I added on a couple of plyo moves from NROLW that I liked.  First, I did the squat with one-arm overhead press, with 25 lb.  This move makes me feel like I am strong!  Second, I did the reverse wood chop with a 20-lb weight.  For both moves, I did 6 reps on each side and 3 sets, with 1 minute rest in between.  Overall, this all burned about 170 calories.

P90X2 Hybrid

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I didn't do any specific fitness activity.  I did do some yard work quickly before it got dark.

This morning I started on my P90X2 hybrid.  I guess I really started on it yesterday, but yesterday's workout wasn't from P90X2 - hence the "hybrid".  This morning I did P90X2 Balance + Power.  I haven't done much stability work for awhile, so some of this was hard.  I'm trying to concentrate on keeping my butt down in the planks.  I burned about 180 calories.

Monday Night Doubles

Yesterday morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I was definitely not as sore as after my half-marathon, but the break was good.  I burned about 85 calories.

Yesterday evening I had my usual Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played pretty well.  My partner, Lindsay, and I won the first round 6-2.  One of our opponents liked to lob a lot, but we tried to take them out of the air and stop any lobbing rally.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney, and I lost 6-5.  It was a very good match, with lots of good points.  We had been down in games 3-1, then went up 5-3 before we got tied 5-5 and did a tie-breaker.  In the tie-breaker, we were down 6-2, but came back to 6-5 before we lost.  It was fun!

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Vol. 2 Agility Tutorial along with Ab Shredder.  I also did a 90-s plank on a stability ball.  I worked up a good sweat with all of that.  I haven't done Ab Shredder in awhile, and it seemed hard.  I burned about 185 cal.

Marine Corps Marathon 10K!

Yesterday afternoon I didn't do any activity because I was resting up for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K today.

The Marine Corps Marathon 10K started at 7:55am today.  By the time I got through security at about 7:30am, the line for the port-a-potties was really long.  I had no choice, though - I had to go.  So I did not get to start off in the start corrals.  I crossed the start line shortly after 8:05am as they were starting to warn about closing the start.  Whew!  It had taken all the runners in the corrals about 7 minutes to pass the start line, anyway.

I tried to start off at an easy pace, and it did feel pretty good.  It was definitely cool to run around the National Mall and be cheered on by all the spectators.  The route had some gradual ups and downs, mostly on the freeway ramps, but it wasn't too bad.  I was running at a little under a 10:00-min pace for the first three miles and wanted to ramp it up for the last half.  Unfortunately I couldn't push it as much as I hoped.  The last mile was really tough.  I took a 1-minute walking break at about 5.5 mi.  The last tenth of a mile to the finish line was a nasty uphill switchback that was no fun. 

I finished in 59:27.  Given my horrible half-marathon performance last month, I had the goal of finishing in under an hour, which I did.  Also since I'd done so badly in that last race, I was more prepared to not do so well in this one, so it wasn't as much of a disappointment.

I was the 2111th finisher out of 7635 (top 27.6%), which I was surprised by.  Apparently it was a slow field.   There were 4816 women, and I finished 910th among women (top 18.9%).  In the 40-44 women's age group, I was 90th out of 571 (top 15.8%).

I did enjoy the race.  The spectators were great - I just wish they were allowed along more of the route, because they couldn't be on the highways.  Since I started from the very back of the pack, I enjoyed passing just about everyone I encountered.

I am hoping to train more wisely and get my anemia resolved for my next race, which probably won't be until next May.  I'm looking at a half-marathon then.  Maybe I'll try to do another 10K sometime before then.

Combo Loss

Last night, I had a combo match.  Unfortunately, Martine and I lost 6-2, 6-3.  We made a lot of unforced errors.  I had trouble generating pace off their slow shots.  Fortunately, our team won the other two courts, so we won the match overall.

This morning I had a practice with my team.  It was a beautiful fall day.  My partner, Sharynne, and I won the first round 6-1.  Then my partner, Martine, and I lost the second round 7-5, 3-2.  In the last round, my partner, Susie, and I won 4-2, if I remember correctly. 

This afternoon my mom and I went to the DC Armory to pick up my bib for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K.  There was a huge line!  I measured it, and we walked 0.3 mi outside in line.  It took us about 40 minutes.  I had been hoping to walk around a bit in the expo, since I've never really been to one, but it was so horribly crowded that I didn't want to stick around.

Mixed Combo Win

Last night my husband and I finally played together for our mixed combo team.  We were on #1 doubles.  We won 6-2, 6-2.  Our opponents did not have very good doubles strategy.  The opposing woman just couldn't handle the spin and pace on Bill's shots.  The opposing guy was a reasonably good player, but didn't position himself well for doubles.  It was good to get the win.  Sadly, our team has only won 3 courts in 4 matches so far.

This morning, I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 90 calories.

Unexpected Rest Night

Yesterday my tennis practice was canceled because of rain, so I took advantage of the time to get some work done and didn't find a different activity.

This morning I did Cathe Friedrich's HIIT Double Wave Pyramid.  This is a short workout - only 30 minutes, and the cool-down stretch is probably at least 5 minutes of that.  But that's the point of my taper/rest week.  The jumping HIIT segments did give me a lot of work.  I'm realizing that taking the time for NROLW has cost me some plyo cardio ability.  Blah.  The workout burned about 160 calories.

I've been pretty hungry the past couple days, especially in the middle of the night and in the morning.  Does that mean I've been losing any weight?  Of course not.  I'm still hovering around 128 lb.  Grrr.

Short Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a short run, which was my last run before the MCM 10K race on Sunday.  i ran 3.0 mi in 30:00 on the treadmill.  I increased my pace throughout again, so I averaged 6.0 mph.  I ran this without a drink, since it was short.  I had hoped to not take any breaks because of that, but that didn't happen.  Blah.  Lately I've been feeling more tired again, so I'm wondering if I really am getting over my anemia.

This morning I did Cathe Friedrich's 4 Day Split Kickbox workout.  This is a fun one.  I burned about 200 calories.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  It was fun.  My partner and I lost the first round 6-1, even though I felt like we were playing pretty well.  Our opponents just played better.  In the second round, my partner and I won in a tie-breaker, 6-5.  We had been behind, so it was good to get the win.  In the last round, we only got to play two games, and we ended up 1-1.

This morning I did Insanity Core Cardio & Balance.  I dogged it a bit.  I burned about 180 calories.

Taper Week

Last night I did my last long run before the Marine Corps Marathon 10K next Sunday.  I did 5 miles on the treadmill in 50:00.  Again, I increased my speed each 1/5 of time so that I ran at an average of 6.0 mph.  This was a tough run - my legs were tired, so I took a lot of breaks.  Apparently it's not such a good idea to run after playing 6 hours of tennis the day before, 4 of those hours in back-to-back matches!

This morning I started my taper week for my morning workouts.  I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+.  I burned about 255 calories.  There was a very pretty waning crescent Moon outside my kitchen window when I sadly got up well before sunrise.

Two Wins!

Last night I had a combo match at 7pm and a tri-level match at 9pm.  My partner and I won both!

I played the combo match with Jessica, and I knew we were playing against a weak team.  However, our two opponents were just so inexperienced that the match was no contest at all.  We won 6-1, 6-0.  One of our other courts also won very quickly, so we shuffled things around and played them for a set or so, which was much more fun.  Our team won both of the other courts, so we had a clean sweep win.

I played the tri-level match with Anda.  Like our match last week, we were playing against the toughest team.  This time, though, the other captain brought out her big player, probably because we did win last week.  That player, Marva, was one that we've only beaten once.  However, Anda and I played really well, and we got the win last night, too!  We were pretty even in the first set and then managed to win 6-4.  In the second set, we got down 2-4, but came back to win 6-4.  Yay!  Unfortunately our team lost the other two courts, so we lost the overall match.

This morning I did my usual Sunday boxing class.  It was fine - nothing unusual.  I'm glad I am feeling more energetic again.  I do think the iron supplement is helping.

Mixed Combo Fail

Last night I had a mixed combo match.  Again, I was playing with someone that is not my husband, but at least he is a 4.0.  After the warm up, it seemed like both our opponents were very erratic players, and we should be able to get them to make a lot of errors, although the guy hit really hard.  The other guy served the first game, and his serve was so strong, I really couldn't do anything with it.  But the pivotal thing happened on the last point:  my partner broke the strings on his racquet.  He had another racquet with him, but it was an old racquet of his wife's and not really good for him.  Why he brought that as a back-up, I don't know.  Anyway, he had a lot of trouble adjusting to the racquet, and we lost the first set 6-1.  In the second set, my partner had an excellent serve game, so we were hopeful.  But then we ended up losing the second set 6-1 as well.  We both had too many errors, and I just couldn't handle the other guy's serve, which is very rare for me.  It was an extremely frustrating match.

This morning I had a practice with my tennis team.  We played without keeping score in order to be able to focus on learning and reinforcing some of the stuff from Wintergreen.  It was a beautiful morning.

Evening Practice

Yesterday morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 110 calories.

Yesterday evening the rain finally stopped, just in time for a practice with my tennis team.  Those of us who went to Wintergreen tried to show the others some of the key ideas.  We didn't keep score in our playing in order to focus on the actual practicing.  It was a good session.

This morning I did the first workout from Stage 3 of NROLW for the last time.  Most exercises I kept the same, but I increased to 60 lb for the bent-over rows, to 33 lb per hand for the incline presses, and did my second swiss-ball plank for 90 s.  I didn't do the bodyweight moves at the end in order to save some time.  I burned about 170 calories.  This is where I'm ending NROLW.  Next week I'm doing a bit of an easier week because my Marine Corps Marathon 10K is next Sunday.

Two Runs

Yesterday afternoon I had planned to do cardio tennis at TCCP, but it was canceled because there weren't enough people signed up.  So I came home and did a 4.5-mi run instead.  Again, I split the runs into fifths in time and each fifth increased by 0.1 mph from 5.8 mph to 6.2 mph.  I finished in 45:00.

This morning I did the second workout of Stage 3 of NROLW.  I didn't increase weights, but this workout doesn't really have much in the way of weights to increase.   I did get 4 pull-ups in each set.  This workout really makes me feel like I'm sitting around doing a lot of nothing.  I shortened the rest intervals a bit so that I finished in about 65 min.  I didn't do the HIIT because I didn't have time.

I have decided that I'm not going to continue on with NROLW past this week.  I just don't think it's what I need right now.  I like the idea of lifting heavy, and I think I've gained some strength.  However, it's been 3 months, and I certainly haven't seen any decrease in my body fat, despite what NROLW claims.  Of course, I've been doing other stuff with it, which the book definitely does not recommend.  I also feel like the workouts have really been dragging on for longer than I want to spend on them.  For me, the straw that broke the camel's back was looking ahead at Stage 4, which is pretty much a repeat of Stage 2, but with more sets so it'll take longer.

I think I'm going to arrange my own schedule with a mix mostly of P90X2 and Asylum vols. 1 and 2. 

This afternoon I came home to do a shorter run.  I ran 3 mi in 30:00, following my increasing speed strategy.  Then I did 5 x 1 min at 7.5mph, alternating with 5 x 2 min standing on the rails for rest, in order to do some HIIT.  This was interesting, and I think it was good.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  I played really well!  I felt like I was moving well on the court and applying what we learned at Wintergreen, especially about getting overheads and getting balls at the net.  My partner, Donna, and I lost the first round 4-6, but that doesn't reflect how well we played, and we played against what I would say was a stronger pair.  The second round, my partner, Patricia, and I won 6-5.  Again, it was a really tight match and we all played really well. 

This morning I didn't feel like doing Asylum vol. 2 XTrainer as I had planned, so I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+ instead.  I burned about 255 calories.

No Match

Last night, my husband and I were supposed to play in a 7.5 mixed combo match.  However, our team arrived at the facility, and there was already another match playing that had started an hour earlier.  MCTA had double-booked our facility.  The guy running the courts offered to stay until we could play our match when the previous players had finished, but that probably would've meant playing until midnight.  Not really what we wanted to do!  Our captain is getting the match re-scheduled.  Now I've had two nights in a row of expecting to play a match and then not doing it.  Kind of a let-down.  At least I got to bed on time instead of late.

This morning I did the first workout of Stage 3 of NROLW.  I kept the weights and such the same as in the previous workout, except that my second Swiss-ball plank, which I held for 80 sec.  Those are really tough!  I burned about 215 calories in the workout.

Win by Default

Last night my combo team had a match.  I was scheduled to play on the third court with Susie, but the other team defaulted that court because of illness.  So we won one court before we even started!  Fortunately we also won one of the other courts, so we won the match.  This was really a gift, because this team is usually the strongest team, and we always lose to them.  Instead we got a win!  During the match, I played singles with Donna on the defaulted court.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  This is where I can tell I've got more energy than I used to, because I'm not dogging the exercises so much.  It was good to get back to boxing after a week away.

Long Run

I was going to do a long run yesterday afternoon, but I got so busy at work that I just couldn't get home in time to do it.  I still have so much to catch up on from taking the long weekend last weekend.

My team's morning practice got rained out today, so I did my long run this morning.  I did 7 miles in 1:10:00 on the treadmill.  Again, I broken it up in fifths by time, so I ran at 5.8, 5.9, 6.0, 6.1, and 6.2 mph.  This was feeling pretty good until at about 2 miles, when I accidentally dropped my water bottle.  In my attempt to catch it, I tripped and slid on the running treadmill. Ouch!  Fortunately, I did not receive any major injuries.  Mostly scrapes and burns from the moving belt.  I did take more breaks after this because I wasn't sure whether I was really uninjured or not.

Tri-level Win!

Last night I had a tri-level match with my team.  My partner, Anda, and I won, 7-5, 5-7, 1-0.  This was the hardest team in the league, as always, so we were really psyched to win our court.  We were anxious to try what we learned at Wintergreen, but we just made a lot of errors at first and got down 4-1 pretty quickly.  We pulled ourselves together, especially Anda, who played really well, and won the first set.  The second set was pretty even until our opponents got the win.  We started off strong in the match tie-breaker, getting up 9-3.  But then we got nervous and couldn't get the last point.  We finally won it, 10-8.  So exciting!  Sadly, our team lost the other two courts, so we lost the match overall.

This morning I did the second workout in Stage 3 of NROLW.  I didn't change my weights for any of the exercises except the crunches on the Swiss ball. I held a 20-lb weight for these.  I'm just not sure the weight is making that much of a difference.  I rushed the exercises a bit, since they don't require a lot of weight, just to get done faster.  I skipped the HIIT again, for time.  I don't care for this workout very much, because it seems like it takes forever, but the exercises aren't doing much.  I burned about 130 calories. 

Mixed Loss

Last night I played a mixed combo match.  Unfortunately I was not scheduled to play with my husband, which is what I prefer.  I played with another guy who is a 3.5, so we made a 6.5 pair in a 7.5 league - not good.  We ended up losing 6-1, 6-1.  I don't think it had to be that bad, especially since we had a number of deuce games, but I felt like my partner wrote off the match before we even got started.  It's hard not to be insulted by that, but I think he just didn't care overall.  He's a singles player mostly, and so his doubles strategy was definitely lacking.  The opposing man also had excellent shot placement for doubles.

This morning I decided to sleep in a bit and catch up on my rest, so I didn't do a workout or even foam rolling.  I have another late match tonight.

Short Run

Last night I had planned a practice with my tennis team, but it rained.  Instead I did a 40-min run on the treadmill.  It was at an easy pace, so I split it up into 8-min segments and ran at 5.8, 5.9, 6.0, 6.1, and 6.2 mph, which averaged to 6.0 mph and a total of 4 mi.  This is the second time I've done a run like this, and I really like it.  It kind of fools me into thinking I'm not going that fast, since I started easy.

This morning I did the first workout in Stage 3 of NROLW again.  I used the same weights as I did in the last set the first time I did the workouts, except I increased the barbell bent-over rows to 58 lb.  The workout took me 75 min again...long!  I burned about 220 calories.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  The weekend finally caught up to me yesterday, and I was feeling really tired.  Even so, I played pretty well.  I tied my opponent in singles in the first round, 4-4.  In the second round, my partner Jessica and I barely won, 6-5.  In the last round, my partner Mariann and I finished in a tie with our opponents, 2-2.  I wasn't able to hit as many overheads as I wanted to, especially in the second round, because the kind of balls I was getting didn't work for it.  I still tried to do all the court movement.

I was tired enough last night that I decided to do my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility this morning.  I usually do it on Thursdays, but I swapped workouts.  I really needed the foam rolling after all the tennis I've been playing lately, too.  I burned about 90 calories.

Tennis Camp!

Twelve of us from my tennis teams went to Wintergreen Resort this past weekend for tennis camp.  We rented a big house in the resort.  We arrived Friday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon.  It was great!  We had a tennis clinic on Friday 6 - 9pm.  We had three instructors for the twelve of us, so we really got a lot of personalized instruction.  They emphasized court positioning a lot (for doubles).  We also played some games.

On Saturday, some of us played some tennis outside around noon to try to practice some of what we'd learned.  It was a beautiful day, albeit a little brisk.  Then we had another clinic 5 - 8pm.  We learned another layer of court positioning.  The idea of following the ball not only left to right but also forward and back was great.  It was something I used to do more, but then it seemed like I wasn't "supposed" to.  However, when put together with the other strategies we were learning, it worked really well.

Sunday we had our last clinic from 11am - 1pm.  This focused on shot selection:  which shots to hit at the net person, and which to hit back to the baseline.  Also, between the three clinics, I learned something that may fix my forehand, if I can stick to it:  stop running toward the ball when it bounces.  That keeps me far enough away from the ball to be able to hit it well.

We all really liked the clinics and definitely want to go back in the spring.  I hope that everyone is able to put into play some of the strategies we learned.  We also had a really good time because it was such a friendly and easy-going group.

Once we got home yesterday, I had a tri-level match.  I got to put into play a lot of what I'd learned, and overall it worked pretty well.  I did have some overheads into the net (because I didn't turn sideways) and some other errors, but mostly I felt like I played really well.  Unfortunately Justine and I lost, 2-6, 6-2, 0-1.  We really turned things around in the second set - I switched to playing the deuce side - and we did pretty well in the match tie-breaker, but had a few too many unforced errors in the end.  Fortunately, our team won the other two courts, so we won the match overall.

This morning I did the second workout in Stage 3 of NROLW.  Again, I did 3 sets of each move, with 6 reps per set.

• Barbell Romanian deadlift and row: This was not extremely difficult in terms of the weight.  I had a hard time remembering to do both moves in a row, the deadlift and then the row.  I used 53 lb.
• Partial single-leg squat: This was done with bodyweight, and it was mostly a balance move.  My left leg was much better than my right leg.
• Pull-ups:  I did 3.5 in the first two sets and 4 in the last set.
• Prone cobra:  I did manage to do this for the required 90 sec in each set.
• YTWL: I knew this one was going to be hard, so I used 5 lb per hand.  Hopefully it's going to be good for my shoulders, because they need it.
• Swiss-ball crunch with weight: I used a 10-lb weight plate, but with only 6 reps, this wasn't difficult.  I'm not sure if I'm not doing it right, or just need more reps.
• Prone jackknife: I did these in Stage 1.  It wasn't difficult to do them for 6 reps.
• Hanna side flexion 2:  This one was difficult, because it was a kind of side crunch.  I didn't feel like I was getting myself off the ground, but I'm not sure if I was supposed to.

I was also supposed to do a HIIT sequence after these moves, like in the second workout of Stage 2.   However, the moves listed above took about 70 minutes even though I didn't really follow the 105-s rest requirement between each move, so I didn't have time for the HIIT.  I'm not sure I really need that, given how active I am, anyway.  This workout overall was not very interesting and didn't seem very intense.  Most of the moves were bodyweight or very low weights.  Well, I have to hope the designers of NROLW know what they are doing.

New Routines

Yesterday afternoon I did a run on the treadmill.  However, I am switching my approach to the runs to that promoted by "Coach Jenny".  She advocates running by effort level, not pace.  That means that sometimes you'll end up running a little slower, and sometimes a little faster.  I'm going to be following her plan for prepping for my next half-marathon, but I thought I could start using it now, before the Marine Corps Marathon 10K.  So I ran for the prescribed 50 minutes at an easy pace - I could talk the whole time.  I did 10 minutes at 5.8 mph, 10 minutes at 5.9 mph, 10 minutes at 6.0 mph, 10 minutes at 6.1 mph, and 10 minutes at 6.2 mph.  This came to 5.0 mi in 50:00 min.  Also, this will help my body get used to going faster toward the end - I hope.  The run was in fact much easier than I have felt them to be usually.  My hamstrings did not hurt much.

This morning I did the first workout of Stage 3 of NROLW.    Each exercise was 3 sets of 6 reps, with 105 sec of rest in between.  105 seconds is really long, so I usually ended up doing about 90 sec.

• One-armed dumbbell snatch:  this is like the push-press move from the last stage, but it's only one arm at a time.  I felt like I "got" this move, and it was actually kind of fun.  I used 20 lb (you only use one dumbbell) for the first set, but moved up to 25 lb for the next two sets.
• Dumbbell single-leg Romanian deadlift:  I used 12 lb per hand for this move, since the book specified "light weight".  I think the idea is more balance rather than strength.
• Barbell bent-over row:  I did use my barbell for this one.  I used 53 lb.  I may be able to increase this weight next time.
• Dumbbell single-arm overhead squat:  This is a weird move.  I used 12 lb for the arm overhead and 25 lb for the lowered arm.  I didn't feel this much in the squat.  I felt it a bit in the shoulder.  Where I really felt it was in my lower back.  When I squatted, I had a hard time keeping my back flat.
• Dumbbell incline bench press:  I used by stability ball for this one.  I used 28 lb for the first set and increased to 30 lb per hand for the next two sets.
• Plank on stability ball:  This is a repeat move from the previous stage.  However, I'm trying to increase to 90 sec per plank.  I did that for the first round, but only did 60 sec for the next two.
• Reverse wood chop:  I used a 12 lb dumbbell for the first set, but that was way too light.  For the next two sets, I used 20 lb, which was better.
• The workout ends with a sequence of body-weight moves:  24 squats, 12 lunges per leg, 12 lunge jumps per leg, and 24 squat jumps.  You're supposed to time it and rest for 2x that time and repeat.  Well, it took me 4 minutes to do the sequence.  No way was I waiting 8 minutes doing nothing.  I waited 4 minutes.  I really was easier the second time through with the big rest break.

I enjoyed this workout more than the Stage 2 workouts.  It's pretty long, though, because the rest breaks are so big.  It took me about 75 minutes to complete.  I burned about 225 calories.

First Combo Match of the Season

Last night was the first match for my 6.5 combo team this season.  Our team won two of the three courts, so we won the match.  Unfortunately Andrea and I lost our match.  It was very frustrating, because we felt like we were better players than our opponents and were playing well.  However, we couldn't close out any of our games.  We would be up two or three points, and then lose the game.  We lost 6-7, 3-6.  Grrr.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 115 calories.

End of Stage 2 of NROLW

Last night I did cardio tennis at TCCP.  I've tried to attend it the past couple of weeks, but there hadn't been enough people for them to hold the class.  We finally had it last night.  It was reasonably fun, but not too tough.  The pro tends to start a bit late and finish a bit early.  I did get to hit a lot of balls.

This morning I am at 127.6 lb for the second day in a row.  I really can't complain, because at least I'm under 128 lb, but it's frustrating to be stuck here.  I have been feeling like the waistbands of my pants are getting tight, which is bad.  However, I don't want to change too much of anything until I get my anemia sorted out, because that might be exacerbating a lot of things.

Today I did the second workout in Stage 2 of NROLW.  I didn't change anything from what I had done previously for this workout.  I burned about 205 calories.  This is the last workout for Stage 2, and I can't say that I'm disappointed.  I didn't enjoy this stage very much.  I never really got the push-press move in the first workout.  A lot of the moves in the second workout were abs and mobility, and they weren't all that interesting or difficult.  I'm not sure I really needed to do the HIIT, given my other activities.  I also didn't like that both workouts stayed at 2 sets of 10 reps, so I never felt like I was able to increase my weights.  Hopefully I'm going to like Stage 3 better.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual tennis at TCCP.  I played OK.  In the first round, my partner and I lost 6-3.  We did play a tough pair, and I thought we didn't do too badly.  In the second round, I played singles and won 6-3.  In the third round, we only played 4 games, and my partner and I lost 3-1.  It was all fun.

My tri-level tennis team lost its first match last night - I did not play in it.  Unfortunately we lost all three courts of doubles.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum Vol. 2 XTrainer.  I haven't done this one in awhile, and it left me totally dripping.  I dogged it a bit, but still got a good calorie burn - about 265 calories.  I like the agility moves in this one.

More NROLW

Yesterday afternoon I did not do any specific workout or exercise.

This morning I did the first workout of Stage 2 of NROLW.  This is my last time through this workout.  I have the second workout in this stage on Wednesday, and then I will be on to Stage 3.  I did not change any of the weights in my workout today.  The A/C is off in the house right now, so it was a bit warm and definitely humid this morning.  I burned about 145 calories.

Tempo Run

Yesterday afternoon I did a tempo run on the treadmill.  It was 6.0 mi at 6.5 mph, which I finished in 55:25.  This was a tough one.  I took a lot of breaks on the side rails.  I really need to stop doing that.  I didn't necessarily feel like I was breathing too hard or out of breath.  It's that my hamstrings were hurting and wanted to stop.  I watched another episode of the second season of Stargate SG-1, which was fun.

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  The normal instructor was back, which made me happy.  This class felt pretty good.  I think maybe I'm finally getting out of the over-fatigued state I've been in.  I don't know if it's because I've been trying to get a little more sleep, or if the iron supplements are finally getting my hemoglobin back up.  Probably a bit of both.

Morning Practice

Yesterday afternoon and evening, I did not do any specific activities.  That turned out to be good, because I had to go out to the department observatory to help the TA for my class.

This morning, I had a practice with my tennis team.  We had 14 players there, and the weather was beautiful!  I played pretty well.  In the first round, my partner Susie and I won 3-1.  In the second round, I played singles.  I won the first set 7-6, and we stopped in the second set 1-1.  In the third round, my partner Justine and I won 6-0, 1-0.  I think I played pretty well, but I also think I was playing doubles against some players having a bad day.

Long Run

Yesterday afternoon I did the long run on my plan.  It was raining, so I did it on the treadmill. I did 6.0 mi in one hour at 6.0 mph.  It still felt kind of hard.  My hamstrings were feeling sore; I wasn't out of breath from working hard in the cardio sense.  I watched an episode of Star Trek TOS.

This morning I did the second workout of stage 2 of NROLW.  I didn't change anything from when I did it on Monday.  The deadlifts and Bulgarian split-squats were pretty hard, but the other exercises were not that tough.  The HIIT was still annoying, but I suppose that's the point.  I burned about 220 calories.

Extra Run

Last night I was supposed to have practice with my tennis team, but it rained.  So I came home from work and did a 3-mi run on the treadmill.  It took 30:00 min at 6.0 mph.  My stomach felt a little yucky during this, because I did it about 90 minutes after dinner.  I really need to wait longer to run, which is why I usually do my runs before dinner.  On the up side, I watched the first episode of season 2 of Stargate SG-1, which was a lot of fun.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  I burned about 115 calories.

Speed Intervals

Yesterday afternoon I was planning to go to cardio tennis at TCCP, but I was the only one signed up, so it wasn't held.  Instead I went home and did some speed intervals on the treadmill.  I did 5 minutes of warm-up at 3.5 mph.  Then I did 10 x 2 min at 7.3 mph, alternating with 10 x 3 min at 3.5 mph.  Finally, I did 5 minutes of cool-down at 3.5 mph.  I really like these intervals with the longer rest periods better.  I hope they are effective.  The workout took 1:00:00 and I ran 4.77 mi.

This morning I did the first workout in Stage 2 of NROLW.  I did not increase the weights on any of the moves.  I'm not sure they are feeling much easier yet - it's so hard to judge progress.  I burned about 145 calories in this workout, which was a lot fewer than last time for some reason.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night was my usual doubles tennis at TCCP.  I played pretty well.  My partner Thedra and I won the first round 6-1.  In the second round, my partner Mariann and I lost, but it was 6-7, so it was extremely close.  I didn't have much luck with my slice serve, but in general I played well.

This morning I did Asylum Speed & Agility, which is a workout I haven't done for awhile.  I dogged it a bit and ended up being a sweaty mess.  I burned about 280 calories.

More NROLW

Yesterday afternoon/evening I didn't do any specific activity.  I really am trying to get recovered.  I even when to get about 30 minutes early!

This morning when I got up before sunrise, there was a beautiful, thin waxing crescent Moon that I could see out my kitchen window.  Almost makes it worth getting up early.

What wasn't nice was that my weight jumped up a pound overnight for no good reason.  I really need to ditch this vacation weight.  In the past year or so, I have lost weight by eating about 1900 cal/day, but in a zig zag pattern.  So I'm going to start doing that this week.  I ate 2100 cal yesterday.  Today, I'm going to do 1700 cal.  We'll see.

This morning I did the second workout in Stage 2 of NROLW.  This workout was 2 sets of 10 reps.

• Wide-grip deadlift from box: I realized after this workout the last time that I had only lifted 58 lb, not 68 lb.  Today I did 68 lb, and it was much, much harder.
• Bulgarian split squat: I used my weight bench to elevate my leg on this one.  I used a 20-lb dumbbell for each hand.
• Pull-ups: I did unassisted pull-ups and got 3 for each set.
• Reverse lunge from box with forward reach: I used 12 lb per hand, which seemed reasonable.
• Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch:  I stayed at 5 lb per hand.
• Swiss-ball crunch: 20 reps per set.
• Reverse crunch: 20 reps per set.
• Hanna side flexion 1: same.
• Prone cobra: I did a 60 sec hold in each set.
• HIIT: I did each of these moves for 60 sec.  Honestly, they were hard, and I had to take short breaks.  First high knees, then tuck jumps, then sideways hops, then split lunge jumps, then burpees.  These went much better than last week.

Overall I burned about 205 calories in the workout.

Back to Running

Yesterday afternoon I did my first run since my half-marathon.  My legs were not too happy about it.  I ran on the Rock Creek Park trail (the scene of the crime, so to speak).  I did 3.02 mi in 31:19, which is an average speed of about 5.8 mph.  I had negative splits, so it did seem like my body was warming up to the running.

I read something on Coach Jenny's blog on Runner's World about running problems.  One thing she mentioned was how some runners end up trying to run all of their long runs at their race pace.  She pointed out that this is not good, because long runs are supposed to be boosting endurance and should always be run at a pace that feels pretty easy.  Well, this hit home for me, because I feel like all of my outdoor long runs feel so hard.  I think I'm just pushing too much.  I made an effort to do yesterday's run at an easier pace.

This morning I did my usual boxing class, after missing last week's because of my race.  There was a substitute instructor though, and not one of my favorites.  I really felt like he was phoning it in today.  He didn't bother to demonstrate any of them moves.  Oh, well. I did get a pretty good calorie burn.

Saturday Practice

Yesterday afternoon Bill and I took a walk around the neighborhood.  It was wonderful weather.  I would've liked to walk longer, but I knew Bill would not go for it.  Such is life.

This morning I had practice with my tennis team.  I played badly the whole day.  I was just tending to hit things a little long.  Very frustrating.  Whitney and I lost the first round 1-5.  Donna and I lost the second round 5-7, 1-2.  Susie and I lost the third round 2-4.

Even More NROLW

Yesterday afternoon I had signed up for cardio tennis at TCCP, but I was the only one, so it was not held.  I ended up staying at work for awhile and not doing any kind of activity for the rest of the day.

This morning, I repeated the first workout from stage 2 of NROLW.  I actually think it felt a bit harder today - maybe because my muscles were more recovered so I could get into it more?  It did go more smoothly because I had more idea of what set-up and break-down of equipment was needed.  I burned about 175 cal.

More NROLW

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a walk from my house down toward Rock Creek Trail and back.  It was very pleasant weather for walking; I have to take advantage before it gets cold and dark too early.  I walked about 3.8 miles.

This morning, I did the second workout for the second stage of NROLW.  There are a lot of exercises in this workout, plus some HIIT at the end, so it took me about 65 minutes to do.  Again, each move was 2 sets of 10 reps with 75 sec of rest in between.  I shortened the rest between the ab moves to 60 sec because I was getting impatient and they weren't that hard.  The HIIT sequences were 60 sec of work and 120 sec of rest.

• Wide-grip deadlift from box: I used the book's diagram guideline and used my step with one additional tier.  I lifted 68 lb.  This didn't feel too tough.
• Bulgarian split squat: I used my weight bench to elevate my leg on this one.  I held a 25 lb dumbbell, which was too light.  This was 10 reps per leg per set.
• Pull-ups: I did unassisted pull-ups and got 3 for each set.
• Reverse lunge from box with forward reach: this is kind of an odd move.  The cueing in the book said to use light weights, so I used 5 lb per hand for the first set.  However, that was way to light.  I switched to 12 lb per hand for the second set, which may have been just a bit too heavy.
• Dumbbell prone Cuban snatch:  no comment from the book about the weight on this one, but I could tell I would need light weights, as this focuses on the rotator cuff.  I used 5 lb per hand and used my stability ball to support me at an angle.
• Swiss-ball crunch: I upped these reps to 20 per set.  I put the stability ball under my back and farther toward my butt, which made it harder.  Still not a problem to get 20.
• Reverse crunch: I upped these reps to 20 per set.  They did get hard right at the end.
• Hanna side flexion 1: an odd move that is clearly for mobility and not for strength.  These were not difficult.
• Prone cobra: I did a 60 sec hold in each set.  I can't get my arms twisted around as much as they show in the book, but I don't think that's really the point.
• HIIT: I did each of these moves for 60 sec.  Honestly, they were hard, and I had to take short breaks.  First high knees, then tuck jumps, then sideways hops, then split lunge jumps, then burpees.

Overall, this workout did not feel extremely hard.  A lot of the moves are using lighter weights because they are aimed more at stabilizer muscles or mobility.  I burned about 205 calories.

Team Practice

Last night I had a practice with my tennis team.  I played OK.  In the first round, Fran and I lost 1-5.  My slice serve was not working very well - I have a hard time getting the ball toss right when I'm outside, and the night lights make it even worse.  Fran also has been sick lately, so I think she was a little off along with me.  The second round went better:  my partner Lisa and I scored 6-7, 1-1.  Our opponents were both really good net players, so we concentrated on lobs and passing shots, which worked pretty well.

This morning I did the first stage 2 workout in New Rules of Lifting for Women.  My legs were still pretty sore, but I didn't want to push it off more - it's already been about 2.5 weeks since I did the last NROLW.  All exercises were done with 2 sets of 10 reps, with 75 sec of rest in between sets.  I often had more time, because there was more equipment to change around, and I was unfamiliar with the moves.  Here are the exercises:

• Squat with push-press:  you put a barbell across the front of your shoulders, squat and then push up the bar as you come out of the squat.  I really don't think I was getting the dynamism of the move down and separated the squat and the press too much.  I used a barbell with 53 lb.
• Step-ups: this was a move from stage 1.  While holding a dumbbell in each hand, use one leg/foot to step up on the exercise bench.  I used 28 lb per hand, which was plenty, even though I'd been using 30 lb per hand at the end of stage 1.
• One-point dumbbell row:  while holding a dumbbell in each hand, lean over on one foot, extending the other foot out behind.  Then do the rows.  Half of the reps are done on each leg.  I know from watching myself in the mirror that I don't get my back very flat on these.  I used 20 lb per hand.
• Single-leg lunge with leg up:  one foot is behind you, raised on a step.  While holding a dumbbell in each hand, lower into a lunge.  10 reps are done on each leg.  I used 28 lb per hand.  This was hard, because it really hit my sore quads.
• Push-ups:  none of the push-up variations in the book are hard enough for just 10 reps, so I did them with one leg elevated.  I did half of the reps on one leg and half on the other.  I concentrated on really lowering my chest close to the ground, which is something I often shortcut.
• Plank on swiss ball:  A 60-s plank hold on the big stability ball.  Challenging, but not killer.  I tried to keep my butt down.
• Prone wood chop: While laying on the floor with knees bent and feet flat on the floor, pull a dumbbell from the left side of you (arms extended) to the right side.  Do 10 in each direction.  This is a substitute move for doing this on a cable machine, and I don't feel like it works very well.  I used a 12-lb dumbbell.

This workout took awhile, about 50 minutes, because it was unfamiliar.  I burned about 170 calories.

Monday Doubles

Last night I played my Monday night doubles at TCCP.  This was challenging, because my legs were still pretty sore, and I was tired.  However, I did well.  My partner and I won the first round 6-2.  A different partner and I lost the second round 6-2.  A third partner and I tied the last round 2-2.  Like I was last week, I tried to really get the slice on my serve, which was working pretty well.  I started to wander a bit with my toss toward the end of the night, so I need to concentrate on that.

This morning I originally had scheduled for myself to begin the second stage workouts of New Rules of Lifting for Women.  However, my legs are still really sore, so I put that off.  I did P90X+ Kenpo Cardio+ instead, although I didn't put out full effort into it.  I burned about 255 calories.

Recovery

I didn't do anything after my half-marathon yesterday except limp around the house.  I did take a nap - I was really tired.

This morning I did my shortened version of P90X2 Recovery + Mobility.  It was definitely good to foam roll my legs thoroughly.  I burned about 105 calories.

Half-Marathon Disappointment

Unfortunately I had a very disappointing race for my half-marathon today, the Parks Half Marathon. My official time was 2:12:07.  In May, I ran the Frederick Half-Marathon in 2:07:16, so I had been hoping to improve substantially on that.

The weather was great.  It was probably about 60 F when we started, and it was a nice clear day.  I started with the 2:00:00 pace group, which was probably my biggest mistake.  The first 3 miles or so are flat to downhill, and it wasn't a problem for me to keep up, although it definitely did not feel as easy as my previous half.  But then we got to a hill between 3 and 3.5 miles, and the pace runner just zipped right up it without slowing down, and I just could not keep up.  When I got to the top, the pacer was still in sight, so I tried to catch up on the downhill.  I couldn't quite do it, and by then my legs were really tired already and my breathing was awful.  I realized that there was just no way I was keeping up with that group, especially since there is a killer hill at about 11 miles.

So I slowed down to catch my breath and figured I'd go slow until the 2:05:00 pacer caught up with me and run with him or her.  Well, that didn't happen for a few miles.  When it did, I tried to step it back up and run with her.  That just wasn't happening.  I was still so wasted.  So I kept going slower and hoped that I could keep ahead of the 2:10:00 pacer and at least do about as well as I did in my first half.

The second half of the race was just so, so hard.  It seemed so long.  I had to take some walking breaks.  Between miles 10 and 11, the race goes right by the trail spur leading up to my house, which was a brief temptation.  I stuck with it as best I could.  Right at about 12.5 miles, the 2:10:00 pacer caught up to me.  However, I realized that even if I stuck with her, I probably wouldn't get under 2:10:00.  That's because there were wave starts and within waves, a lot of depth, so she probably started a good 2 minutes after me - if I finished with her, I'd have 2:12:00, probably.  Anyway, that was pretty demoralizing, so there was no extra burst of adrenaline, and I didn't really try to stay with her.

The very end of the course has an abrupt left turn - up a ramp! - and then just a few hundred feet to the finish line.  I walked the ramp, even, not realizing how close the finish was.  I did manage to run it out as fast as a could for like the last 100 feet.  I was so tired and out of breath, I pretty much fell into the chairs so the volunteer could remove my timing chip off my shoe.

So it was really disappointing overall.  I felt extra bad because Bill had actually come to the finish line to greet me, and I did not manage to finish well.

Then, we got in the very long food line.  Everyone had been talking about how great the food was after this race, but I was not impressed.  No muffins or granola bars.  I did get a couple cookies and a couple brownies.  At that time of day (morning) and after a race, I have no desire for the pizza and sandwiches and hot food they had.  After about 10 minutes, I got really, really chilled.  Fortunately I had planned ahead and asked Bill to bring my sweatsuit, so I put that on and it helped.

This race was did not seem to be as well-organized as the Frederick half-marathon.  There were lots of water stations that were well-run.  The bib pick-up was poor, the results took awhile to be posted, and there was no expo.  There was no finishers' medal, although they gave finishers a commemorative glass; not sure that I prefer that.  The course itself was a little frustrating because the trail is not very wide, but that's not something they can do anything about.

What do I think went wrong?  First, I think I was too ambitious with my starting pace group.  If the course was perfectly flat MAYBE I could've kept up with them for quite awhile, but I knew the course wasn't flat.  If I'd started with the 2:05:00 group, maybe I could've finished with them, or at least only fallen back enough to beat my previous time.  Second, I have run the trail the race was on before, but I often avoid it because of the hills - duh, bad idea.  I think I need to run more hills in my training runs.  Third, I have to wonder how my (slight) anemia has affected me.  I've said before in this blog about how I've felt like a lot of my training runs have been hard - how much did the anemia contribute to that?  I've been taking the iron supplements for 10 days now, which is probably not enough time for them to really help me.  (My doctor wants to re-test my iron levels after 6 weeks of them.)  I can't really control that except for taking the supplements.

Now for a summary of my runs since my last half-marathon on May 5:

• May 7: 3.0 mi, 30:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• May 13: 3.53 mi, 41:30, speed intervals (7.2 mph), treadmill
• May 21: 6.0 mi, 60:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• May 23: 6.0 mi, 57:41, tempo run at 6.2 mph, treadmill
• May 25: 7.13 mi, 1:10:45, approx. 6.0 mph
• May 28: 6.04 mi, 58:48, temp run at approx. 6.16 mph
• May 30: 10.02 mi, 1:46:21, approx. 5.7 mph
• June 3: 3.53 mi, 41:30, speed intervals (7.2 mph), treadmill
• June 13: 12.0 mi, 2:00:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• June 15: 3.53 mi, 42:00, speed intervals (7.2 mph), treadmill
• June 18: 7.0 mi, 1:10:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• June 21: 6.0 mi, 57:09 tempo run at 6.3 mph, treadmill
• June 24: 9.0 mi, 1:30:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• June 25: 3.53 mi, 42:00, speed intervals (7.2 mph), treadmill
• June 30: 11.0  mi, 1:50:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• July 3: 6.0 mi, 57:09, tempo run at 6.3 mph, treadmill
• July 6: 13.0 mi, 2:10:00, 6.0 mph
• July 8: approx. 4.0 mi, 55:00, speed intervals (7.3 mph), treadmill
• July 10: 6.0 mi, 1:00:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• July 14: 6.0 mi, 56:16, tempo run at 6.4 mph, treadmill
• July 19: 8.02 mi, 1:28:12, approx. 5.5 mph
• July 22: 3.6 mi, 41:30, speed intervals (7.3 mph), treadmill
• July 24: 10.08 mi, 1:38:15, approx. 6.15 mph
• July 27: 6.0 mi, 56:16, tempo run at 6.4 mph, treadmill
• July 31: 12.0 mi, 2:00:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Aug. 3: 7.5 mi, 1:15:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Aug. 5: 3.5 mi, 35:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Aug. 6: 3.0 mi, 30:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Aug. 9: 6.01 mi, 59:47, approx. 6.0 mph
• Aug. 11: 3.56 mi, 41:30, speed intervals (7.3 mph), treadmill
• Aug. 16: 8.89 mi, 1:31:11, approx. 5.85 mph
• Aug. 20: 6.0 mi, 56:16, tempo run at 6.4 mph, treadmill
• Aug. 21: 4.73 mi, 60:00, speed intervals (7.3 mph), treadmill
• Aug. 24: 11.05 mi, 1:56:51, approx. 5.7 mph
• Aug. 28: 4.36 mi, 52:00, speed intervals (7.3 mph), treadmill
• Aug. 30: 6.0 mi, 1:00:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Sep. 1: 3.0 mi, 27:45, tempo run at 6.5 mph, treadmill
• Sep. 6: 4.0 mi, 40:00, 6.0mph, treadmill
• Sep. 9: 3.0 mi, 30:00, 6.0 mph, treadmill
• Sep. 14: 13.1 mi, 2:12:07, approx. 5.95 mph - Parks Half Marathon

I ran 246.61 miles in my training runs since my previous half-marathon.  Prior to my previous half-marathon I had run 288.3 miles for training.  Not as much different as I had expected, since I had more time before my previous half.

My next race is the Marine Corps Marathon 10K, which is on Oct. 26, the same date as the marathon.  I don't know how I'm going to do with that.  I think the course is flatter, and obviously the race is shorter, so hopefully it will go well.  There's not much recovery and training time between now and then.  I don't know how people that race all the time manage that.