Sunday, May 22, 2016

St. Michaels Running Festival Half Marathon 2016

This weekend I ran the half-marathon at the St. Michaels Running Festival.  Unfortunately the weather for the race was horrible.  It was mid-50s F, and rained the whole time.  The rain was light when the rain started, but it got heavier and heavier throughout the race.  Not fun!

Despite the conditions, I did manage to finish in a much better time than last year.  My chip time was 2:16:49.  I finished in 835th place out of 1547 runners.  I was 65th out of 151 women in my 40 - 44 yr age group.  I didn't walk at all, which was an accomplishment.  Last year I finished in 2:20:15.  I had been hoping to beat 2:15:00 this year, but it was not to be.  My legs were definitely feeling all kinds of problems, so I'm glad that I finished.

Here's a list of my training runs of this race, starting after the Marine Corps Marathon 10K at the end of last October:
  • Oct. 27, 2015: 30:00, 2.7 mi, treadmill at 5.4 mph
  • Oct. 28, 2015: 40:00, 3.6 mi, treadmill at 5.4 mph
  • Nov. 5, 2015: 42:00, 4.22 mi, treadmill, 10 x 2:15 at 6.7 mph, alternating with 10 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph, then 4 x 30s at 7.5 mph, alternating with 4 x 45s at 5.0 mph
  • Nov. 7, 2015: 1:00:00, 5.5 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 8, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 11, 2015: 1:00:00, 5.5 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 12, 2015: 50:00, 4.56 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 14, 2015: 1:20:00, 7.33 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 15, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 17, 2015: 1:10:00, 6.41 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 18, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 21, 2015: 1:27:00, 8.49 mi, treadmill, 6 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 6 x 5 mi at 5.0 mph
  • Nov. 22, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 25 2015: 1:10:00, 6.41 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Nov. 29, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 2, 2015: 50:00, 5.02 mi, treadmill, 12 x 2:15 at 6.7 mph, alternating with 12 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph, 4 x 30s at 7.5 mph, alternating with 4 x 45s at 5.0 mph
  • Dec. 5, 2015: 1:40:00, 9.16 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 6, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 9, 2015: 1:20:00, 7.34 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 10, 2015: 50:00, 4.58 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 12, 2015: 1:50:00, 10.0 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 13, 2015: 40:23, 3.6 mi, ave 5.35 mph
  • Dec. 15, 2015: 1:20:00, 7.34 mi, treadmill at 5.5 mph
  • Dec. 16, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Dec. 19, 2015: 1:56:00, 11.3 mi, treadmill, 8 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 8 x 5 min at 5.0 mph
  • Dec. 20, 2015: 30:00, 2.81 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Dec. 22, 2015: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Dec. 23, 2015: 50:00, 4.65 mi, treadmill, sprints and easy run
  • Dec. 25, 2015: 59:46, 5.53 mi, ave 5.55 mph
  • Dec. 26, 2015: 1:20:00, 7.45 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Dec. 27, 2015: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Dec. 30, 2015: 1:00:00, 6.0 mi, treadmill, 4 x 1 mi at 6.7 mph, alternating with 4 x 0.5 mi at 5.0 mph
  • Jan. 1, 2016: 53:47, 4.86 mi, ave 5.4 mph
  • Jan. 2, 2016: 1:20:00, 7.45, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 3, 2015: 1:00:36, 5.56 mi, ave 5.5 mph
  • Jan. 6, 2016: 1:20:00, 7.45 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 7, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 10, 2016: 1:50:00, 10.2 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 12, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 13, 2016: 1:30:00, 8.4 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 15, 2016: 51:19, 4.38 mi, ave. 5.1 mph
  • Jan. 17, 2016: 2:25:00, 14.16 mi, treadmill, 10 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 10 x 5 min at 5.0 mph
  • Jan. 18, 2016: 29:15, 2.7 mi, ave. 5.55 mph
  • Jan. 19, 2016: 50:00, 4.66 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 21, 2016: 1:30:00, 8.4 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 23, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.2 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 24, 2016: 50:00, 4.66 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Jan. 25, 2016: 1:00:00, 6.09 mi, treadmill, 16 x 2:15 at 6.8 mph, alternating with 16 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph
  • Jan. 26, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.7 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Jan. 28, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.7 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Jan. 31, 2016: 1:40:00, 9.5 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 4, 2016: 50:00, 4.75 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 5, 2016: 1:10:00, 6.64 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 6, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 7, 2016: 2:10:00, 12.23 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 9, 2016: 1:10:00, 6.64 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 10, 2016: 50:00, 4.7 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 11, 2016: 40:51, 3.7 mi, treadmill, intervals
  • Feb. 14, 2016: 2:03:00, 12.3 mi, treadmill, 2 x 2mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 2 x 5min at 5.0 mph, then 6 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 6 x 3 min at 5.0 mph
  • Feb. 15, 2016: 50:00, 4.7 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 17, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Feb. 20, 2016: 55:5, 5.08 mi, ave 5.45 mph
  • Feb. 21, 2016: 1:20:00, 7.45 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Feb. 22, 2016: approx. 50:00, approx. 4.65 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Feb. 23, 2016: 1:40:00, 9.2 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Feb. 24, 2016: 50:00, 4.61 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Feb. 27, 2016: 1:30:00, 9.0 mi, treadmill 6 x 1 mi at 6.7 mph, alternating with 6 x 0.5 mi at 5.0 mph
  • Mar. 1, 2016: 1:40:00, 9.2 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Mar. 4, 201: 1:00:00, 5.6 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Mar. 6, 2016: 2:30:00, 13.82 mi, treadmill at 5.6 mph
  • Mar. 8, 2016: 54:42, 5.03 mi, ave 5.5 mph
  • Mar. 9, 2016: 1:50:00, 10.35 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Mar. 13, 2016: 2:01:00, 11.98 mi, treadmill, 4 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 4 x 5 min at 5.0 mph, then 2 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 2 x 3 min at 5.0 mph
  • Mar. 15, 2016: 1:50:00, 10.36 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Mar. 17, 2016: 59:24, 5.4 mi, ave 5.5 mph
  • Mar. 18, 2016: 59:25, 5.68 mi, ave. 5.75 mph
  • Mar. 19, 2016: Beaufort Twilight Run 10-mi race, 1:39:45
  • Mar. 22, 2016: 58:34, 5.06 mi, ave 5.2 mph
  • Mar. 23, 2016: 1:15:00, 7.5 mi, 20 x 2:15 at 6.7 mph, alternating with 20 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph
  • Mar. 24, 2016: 51:05, 4.41 mi, ave. 5.2 mph
  • Mar. 26, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.3 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Mar. 27, 2016: 59:02, 5.45 mi, ave. 5.55 mph
  • Mar. 28, 2016: 40:00, 3.8 mi, treadmill speed intervals, average 5.7 mph
  • Mar. 30, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.3 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 3, 2016: 2:30:00, 14.12 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 5, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 7, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 9, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.9 mi, treadmill, 5 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 5 x 5 min at 5.0 mph
  • Apr. 10, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 13, 2016: 1:30:00, 8.47 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 14, 2016: 58:50, 5.04 mi, ave 5.15 mph
  • Apr. 17, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.49 mi, treadmill, 100 min at 5.7 mph, then 20 min at 6.3 mph
  • Apr. 20, 2016: 1:30:00, 8.47 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 21, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.65 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr 23, 2016: 2:00:00, 11.3 mi, treadmill at 5.7 mph
  • Apr. 26, 2016: 57:20, 5.17 mi, ave. 5.4 mph
  • May 1, 2016: 47:40, 4.24 mi, ave. 5.35 mph
  • May 3, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.34 mi, treadmill at 5.4 mph
  • May 4, 2016: 1:20:00, 7.13 mi, treadmill at 5.4 mph
  • May 7, 2016: 1:30:00, 8.01 mi, treadmill at 5.4 mph
  • May 10, 2016: 52:34, 4.65 mi, ave 5.3 mph
  • May 11, 2016: 50:00, 4.35 mi, treadmill at 5.3 mph
  • May 12, 2016: 51:35, 4.63 mi, ave. 5.4 mph
  • May 14, 2016: 1:00:00, 5.23 mi, treadmill at 5.3 mph
  • May 15, 2016: 30:56, 2.69 mi, ave. 5.2 mph
My total distance for these 105 training runs was 704.06 mi.   Including the half-marathon race, I averaged 24.7 mi/wk.

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Wintergreen Tennis Weekend!

This weekend, I went to Wintergreen Resort for a weekend tennis clinic with three other ladies from my team!  I've been to weekend tennis clinics at Wintergreen three times before, and I've always found them extremely helpful in improving my tennis game,  This trip was no exception.

Friday morning, I did some stretching and foam rolling.  I drove my teammate Fran down to Wintergreen, and we had a three-hour clinic in the afternoon with our other two teammates.  We worked on hitting deep volleys and choosing appropriate targets when we were volleying.

Saturday morning, we had three more hours of tennis, with more volley practice and also some drills on picking targets for overheads.  This was a lot of fun.  In the afternoon, we returned for an hour of (unsupervised) play. 

Unfortunately the weather was horrible - while we were in the clinic Saturday morning, this incredible fog moved in and stayed all day and overnight.  We could hardly see far enough ahead to drive anywhere on the windy mountain roads, even in the daytime.  We had hoped to be able to do some hiking outside, but it was far to damp and cold, and there was no visibility to see anything scenic!  So we spent the rest of the afternoon in our rental house watching TV and playing games.  We did go a short distance to one of the resort restaurants for dinner.

This morning, we had two more hours of tennis clinic before driving home.  We worked on different types of shots to use against opponents that are playing two at the net.  Very useful!

This afternoon, once I got home, I did a run outside.  It was misting a bit, but it was pretty good weather for running.  I ran 4.24 mi in 47:40, which was an average speed of about 5.35 mph.  Unfortunately my Basis Peak heart rate monitor seemed to go crazy again.  The first 1/3 of the run seemed to have a reasonably plausible heart rate.  But in the last 2/3 or so of the run, the heart rate seemed to go up and down between 150 and 180 BPM, and there's no way I was working that hard.  This is very frustrating.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Tennis Practice

Last night after work, I had a practice with my tennis team.  It was a little chilly and gray, but we had some good tennis.  In the first round, my partner, Bhanu, and I won 6-3, which was a bit unexpected, given our opponents.  We definitely had a lot of good games.  In the second round, I played singles against one of our most consistent 3.5 singles players, and got creamed 0-6, 4-6.  She is very good about placing her shots exactly where she wants them.

This morning, I did the P90X3 workout The Challenge.  In total, I did 221 push-ups and 39 pull-ups (unassisted), which was good!  I can definitely do more push-ups next time.  I burned a whopping 75 calories!  Ha!

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run.  I did this outside on the Sligo Creek Trail.  In 57:20, I ran 5.17 mi, which was an average speed of 5.4 mph.  I won't run in that direction on the trail again, because there are too many street crossings with long waits at the traffic lights!

My Basis Peak gave much more consistent and reasonable heart rate readings during this run.  This was the first time I had run since I reinstalled the firmware for the Peak, as per the support person's instructions.  Hopefully this will fix the problems!  I still have to try it running on the treadmill.

After my run, I did some extra stretching for my back and foam rolling.  I'm trying to take care of my sore back and sore glute/hamstring!

This morning, I did the P90X3 workout The Warrior.  This is a mix of cardio and strength moves.  It's not my favorite, but it does go quickly.  I burned about 150 calories.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tennis Doubles

Yesterday morning, I did a P90X3 workout, Total Synergistics.  I burned about 95 calories.

Yesterday evening, I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  Unlike Sunday afternoon, I actually played pretty well!  In the first round, my partner, Abby, and I won 6-4; this was a very good round, since our opponents were quite good.  In the second round, my partner, Sally, and I won 6-5, in another close round.  In the last round, my partner, Valerie, and I tied 2-2 when we ran out of time.  It was a fun night!

This morning, I did another P90X3 workout, Triometrics.  This is a pretty good workout, with a combination of leg and balance work along with plyometrics.  I'm still really feeling the pull in my left upper hamstring/glute.  I was hoping it would heal up a little faster, but apparently it's not going to.  I burned about 160 calories.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Busy Sunday

This weekend has just been packed!  This morning we got groceries like usual, and then I did some yard work before lunch.  After lunch, I changed the cat litter and then went to a practice with my tennis team.

Unfortunately I played horribly today.  I'm just tired, I think, and doing everything a little bit off.  In the first round, my partner, Jody, and I lost 6-2 - blah.  In the second round, my partner, Cora, and I lost 7-5 and then evened it up at 2-2, if I remember right.  In the last round, my partner, Bhanu, and I won 5-2.  That was all her effort, since I was still playing badly.

After practice, I cleaned the floors and we had dinner.  We are trying to get everything done early so we can watch Game of Thrones and go to bed!  It's been a very busy weekend!

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Busy Saturday

Yesterday was my rest day.  I did some stretching and foam rolling before work.

This morning, I had planned a practice with my tennis team, but it was raining, so we had to cancel.  Instead, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 2-hour easy run.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 11.3 mi.  This run was just OK.  My left upper hamstring is still bothering me.

This afternoon, my husband and I went biking on Rock Creek Trail.  We biked 15.75 mi in 1:26:03.  That gave an average speed of 11 mph.  That was maybe a little slow, but there are definitely a lot of hills.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Two Runs

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 90-min easy run.  I did this on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 8.47 mi.  My hamstring and calf were bothering me, so this run did not go very well.  I took a lot of breaks on the rails.

This morning, I changed things up for my workout.  I've been getting burned out on The Master's Hammer and Chisel, so even though I'd planned to continue with it for this week and next week, I stopped today.  Today I did P90X3 Total Synergistics.  I burned about 100 calories.  I'm going to do a few weeks of mostly body-weight work before my goal race on May 21.  Hopefully this will help my legs get more rested, since I'm not stressing them with the heavy weights.

Today after work, I had wanted to go to cardio tennis at TCCP, but again it wasn't held because not enough people had signed up.  So I came home to do a run.  I wanted to run outside, but it looked like it might rain, so I ran on the treadmill.  It didn't rain, of course.  I ran for 1 hour at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 5.65 mi.  This run felt better than yesterday's.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Tennis Loss

Last night, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  Unfortunately, my partner, Nicole, and I lost 6-2, 3-6, 0-1.  After warming up in the first few games, we really dominated the first set.  Our opponents didn't make that many mistakes - they had trouble handling Nicole's blasting groundstrokes.  In the second set, they did better with Nicole's returns, and they started doing some better strategic lobs.  We were close in the match tie-breaker until I double-faulted about halfway through and we made a few more mistakes.  Ah, well.  It was a really fun match, because there were lots and lots of good points, and it was very competitive.  Unfortunately my team lost all of the courts in the match - we were playing one of the top teams.

This morning, I did The Master's Hammer and Chisel Hammer Plyometrics.  I increased my reps on some moves, which was good.  I am feeling some soreness in my upper left hamstring from sprinting after some drop shots in the tennis match last night, but it bothers me mostly when I'm sitting on my butt!  I burned about 115 calories.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Monday Night Doubles

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Endurance.  This went pretty well, and I burned about 135 calories.

Yesterday evening, I played my usual Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  My play was really up and down.  In the first round, my partner, Sally, and I won 6-2; we really just outplayed our opponents.  In the second round, my partner, Donna, and I lost 6-0 - in this case we were outplayed by our opponents.  In the third round, my partner, Lindsay and I lost 6-4 - this was a much more balanced match.  It was all fun, although the second round was frustrating.

This morning, I did another Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Agility.  This was OK.  I don't think it's very difficulty on the agility aspect, but it does have some cardio and plyo.  I burned about 155 calories.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Tennis Win!

Yesterday morning I had a practice with my tennis team.  This was our first spring season practice.  We had 10 players, which was a good number.  In the first round, my partner, Susie, and I won 6-2.  In the second round, my partner, Donna, and I lost 5-7 and were then ahead 3-1.  In the last round, my partner, Nicole, and I won 4-3.

In the evening, we had our first 3.5 match of the spring season.  We won four of the five courts!  My partner, Nicole, and I won 7-5, 6-4.  We had a really fun match, with a lot of good points and not so many errors.  Nicole is new to the team, so I'm glad she had a good first match.

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 2-hour easy run, with the last 20 minutes at race pace.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph for the first 100 minutes, and then ran at 6.3 mph for the last 20 minutes.  I started getting a bit light-headed in the last 15 minutes or so, so I had to take a lot of breaks.  The distance came to 11.49 mi.

Friday, April 15, 2016

Two Runs

Wednesday evening after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 90-min easy run.  I did this on the treadmill at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 8.47 mi.  This run didn't feel too bad.

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Iso Speed Hammer.  This is a short and sweet workout that I still think is pretty good.  I burned about 90 calories.

I wanted to do cardio tennis at TCCP after work, but yet again, they didn't have enough participants to hold the class.  I went home and did a run outside on Sligo Creek Trail instead.  I was really trying to keep my heart rate low so that it would be an easy run, but my heart rate seemed to be pretty crazy high in the second half.  I really don't think that could have been correct, but I ended up running pretty slowly.  My overall time was 58:50 and the distance was 5.04 mi, so the average speed was 5.15 mi.  Well, I suppose that was easy!

Today is my rest day.  In the morning, I did some stretching and foam rolling.  No other real activity for me today!

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Tennis Sweep!

Last night, I played a match with my 6.5 combo tennis team.  It was our last match of the season, and we swept the courts!  That's a nice way to end the season.  My partner, Joan, and I won 6-2, 6-3.  We were definitely playing better than our opponents, so I really didn't have any doubt about the outcome of the match.  I got to hit a lot of good overheads, which was fun.  Our opponents started playing better in the second set - better than the score would show - but we were able to win it decisively.

After the match, I got the news that my 3.5 tennis team, which had been playing at the same time in a different location, also got a win overall.  Another good end to the season!

This morning, I did the next workout on my schedule, which was The Master's Hammer and Chisel Iso Strength Chisel.  This is definitely a good workout, as it makes my legs burn like crazy.  I burned about 120 calories.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday morning, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran for 1 hour at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 5.65 mi.  My legs were feeling tired for this one.

This morning I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Endurance.  I increased my reps on some of the moves.  I burned about 120 calories.  Afterward, I did some stretching and foam rolling.

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Race Pace Run

Yesterday was my rest day.  My only activity was some stretching and foam rolling in the morning.  Otherwise, I definitely sat on my butt a lot because I had a bunch of meetings at work.

This morning, the weather was bad, so we couldn't have a tennis practice.  I could've gone to a boxing class, but I'm not sure if the boxing last week is what bothered my back so much, so I decided not to do that.  Instead, I did a Hammer and Chisel workout at home, Hammer Plyometrics, followed by a bunch of stretching and foam rolling.  The workout burned about 120 calories.

This afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a race-pace run.  I did 5 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mi pace), alternating with 5 x 5 min at 5.0 mph (12:00min/mi pace).  I did this on the treadmill, and the distance came to 11.9 mi in 2:00:00.  This was a hard run, which I knew it would be, so I did take breaks on the rails.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Tennis Loss

Last night I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  Unfortunately we lost all of the courts except one that our opponents accidentally defaulted because someone didn't show up.  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 6-4, 6-2.  One of our opponents was extremely consistent and hit very hard, and we just couldn't figure out how to beat her.  It was a frustrating match.  I'm getting tired of losing - I seem to be in a bit of a slump lately.

This morning I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  I haven't done this workout for awhile, and it showed in some of the moves.  Other moves were fine.  I'm feeling it in my glutes, however.  The workout burned about 150 calories.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run.  It's been awhile since my training schedule had such a short run on it!  I was going to do this run outside, but it was unseasonably chilly, so I stayed inside on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.7 mph for 1 hour, so the distance came to 5.65 mi.  My Basis Peak totally screwed up my heart rate during this run - most of the time it read way too low.  I stopped and checked my heart rate on my neck to be sure.  Frustrating!

This morning, I did a workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  I'm pretty much done with the original program, since I had adapted it to four days a week.  I'm going to do a few more weeks of it, but I set up a schedule to use mostly the shorter workouts.  Today I did Iso Speed Hammer, followed by 10-Minute Ab Hammer.  This burned about 125 calories. 

I wanted a shorter workout this morning, because I put together a list of stretches to do to try to help loosen up my lower back and hamstrings and glutes.  I did those, plus some foam rolling, which took an additional 35 minutes, approximately.  Hopefully doing all this a few times a week will help!

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Tennis Loss

Unfortunately last night my 6.5 combo team lost all the courts in our match.  The matches were all competitive, but we just couldn't get a win in any of them.  My partner, Justine, and I struggled to figure out how to beat our opponents.  We just seemed to hand them all of these great balls to put away, no matter how we tried to change things.  We lost 6-4, 6-2.  Next time, I guess!

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel.  This is a good workout that I really do like, even if I hate lunges.  I increased my weights on a move or two.  I burned about 100 calories.  Unfortunately my lower back is still really bothering me, but I think it's a bit better than yesterday.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Very Long Run

Yesterday I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a repeat of my longest run ever: 150 minutes.  This time it went much better, although it was still pretty darn long.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 14.12 mi.  I did not take as many breaks as the last time, and I didn't get light-headed, so that was a big plus.  Oddly, though, as soon as I stopped the run, my ears got plugged up like they needed to pop.  It took about an hour for that to work itself out.

Today, my lower back is much sorer than it has been for quite awhile - I don't know if it was the long run yesterday, or the boxing the day before.  Either way, it's very annoying.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Plyometrics.  With my sore back and sort legs from the run, I really wasn't feeling this; at least it's a short workout.  I burned about 100 calories.  Afterward, I did some stretching and foam rolling.

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Tennis Loss/Win

Yesterday morning it was raining, so my team tennis practice outside was canceled.  I decided to go to a boxing class instead, which was something I hadn't done for awhile.  When I canceled my membership, I bought a punch-card for 5 classes, but it turns out when I got there that my membership hadn't officially ended yet, so I didn't have to use it.  The class was good in getting my heart rate up, but I didn't work hard on a lot of the leg moves, since I knew I had a 2.5-hr run waiting for me today.  I definitely got a good soreness in my lats, triceps, and shoulders from the punching.  That's why I always thought boxing was good for me:  it helped develop upper-body power that certainly should be good for tennis!

Yesterday evening, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 7-6, 7-5.  It doesn't get a whole lot closer than that!  We were ahead in the first set 4-1 because we were playing pretty well and our opponents were making lots of errors.  They started to play better, and caught up to us and eventually won the first set.  The first set tie-breaker was 8-6!  In the second set, we started making more errors, but we still were neck-and-neck with them in the whole set until the very end.  It was frustrating to lose when we were so close!  Fortunately, our team won three of the other courts, so we won the match overall.

Friday, April 1, 2016

Tennis Loss

Last night I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  Unfortunately, my partner, Grace, and I lost 7-6, 6-4. It was a really run match!  We were very even, so there were a lot of good points, and it was really neck-and-neck the whole time.  It was too bad that we got edged out in the end.  All of the individual matches were close, but we only managed to win one of them.  Too bad!

Today is my rest day, so I did some foam rolling and stretching in the morning before work.

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Long Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 2-hour easy run.  I've been quite sore from The Master's Hammer and Chisel this week, so I knew my legs wouldn't be happy about this run.  It wasn't too bad, but I did take a lot of breaks on the rails.  At 5.7 mph on the treadmill, the distance totaled 11.3 mi.

This morning, I did the next workout from Hammer and Chisel, which was Max Hammer Strength.  This is a really good workout with a variety of moves.  I increased my reps by one on the pull-ups!  I burned about 125 calories.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Surprise Tennis

Yesterday evening I had a match with my 6.5 combo team.  The funny thing is that I wasn't expecting to play, because for scheduling reasons, the other team captain and I had agreed to play the third court of the match at a different time.  However, she notified me earlier in the day that her players were available last night at the regular time, so that's what we did.

My partner, Fran, and I ended up winning 7-6, 6-2.  We started off strongly, getting ahead 4-1.  Then our opponents started making fewer errors and getting some well-placed angled shots and lobs, so they got ahead 5-4.  We tied up at 6-6 and had to play a set tie-breaker, which Fran and I won 7-5.  Phew!  After the first set, we only had 28 minutes left in the match, so we expected to time out in the second set.  However, after we got ahead a couple games, our opponents seemed to sort of check out of the match, and we won it right as time ran out.

Fortunately our team won one of the other courts as well, so we won the match!  This was a big win for us, since our opponents are in second place.  We are not doing nearly that well.

This morning, I slept in a little later because of my late tennis match.  I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Endurance.  I think that this workout is very similar to Chisel Cardio, but with different exercises.  It definitely gets a good sweat going.  I burned about 135 calories.  I didn't do 10-Min Ab Chisel in order to save time.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

No Tennis!

Yesterday evening, my tennis at TCCP was canceled because too many people were out of town!  Because I was expecting to play, I ended up getting home later than usual and decided to do a quick run on the treadmill.  I tried a HIIT-type interval run from Oxygen magazine last month.  It was based on your "personal best" speed, which did make it challenging.  I just really don't like running hard!  The workout took a few minutes less than 30 minutes, and I lengthened it to 40 minutes with some easy running at 5.7 mph.  The distance came to 3.8 mi in 40 minutes, so even with the intervals, it really averaged out to about 5.7 mph.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  Yesterday's workout left me pretty sore!  Today was Chisel Cardio, which I just did last week.  I did pretty much the same reps on the moves, but it got a good sweat going.  I burned about 190 calories!

Monday, March 28, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday I did an easy run outside before lunch.  It was a little cool, but I'm really trying to get myself to do more outside runs, because I think it's good for my training.  I ran on the Rock Creek Trail for 59:02.  My distance came to 5.45 mi, so the average speed was 5.55 mph.  Interestingly, my splits were all positive - I started off at about 5.7 mph, but slowed down.  Part of this was because my heart rate seemed to be going crazy, according to my Basis Peak, and I was supposed to be doing an EASY run, so I kept slowing down.  I'm not sure it was at all accurate, which is frustrating.

This morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Hammer.  This is a tough workout, with all the progressive sets.  I skipped the 10-Min Hammer Abs for time - I needed to get to work.  I burned about 120 calories.

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Run + Bike

This morning I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 120-min easy run.  I was a bit worried about this run because my legs have been so tired lately, but I got over 8 hours of sleep last night, and that seems to have helped a lot.  The run was not bad.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph and so my distance came to 11.3 mi.  I was amused to note that at 1:39:45, my time from my 10-mi race last weekend, I had only gone 9.28 mi.  It is amazing how the difference in pace adds up!  I guess that's the point of making small improvements.

This afternoon, my husband and I went for a bike ride, which is something we haven't done for a long time.  I don't remember that we rode our own bikes at all in 2015 - I think we did a bit of biking in Hilton Head with those bikes.  We biked from home down the Rock Creek Trail for a bit, then over to the Georgetown Branch Trail and back home.  It took a little over an hour, and Runkeeper said that we went 10.83 mi.  My husband's GPS said 11.03 mi.  So about 11 miles.  It amused me that I ran and biked about the same distance today.  The biking did not feel as hard!

Friday, March 25, 2016

Another Slow Run

Yesterday after work, I was hoping to go to cardio tennis at TCCP, but not enough people signed up for it, so it was canceled.

Instead, I went home and did an outside run on the Sligo Creek Trail.  This was another very slow run, as my legs are still pretty tired.  I also really wanted to keep it "easy", so I kept a close watch on my heart rate.  I ran 4.41 mi in 51:05, which gave an average speed of 5.2 mph.  So slow! I really hope my legs start to feel better soon.

Today is my rest day, so this morning I did some stretching and foam rolling.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Speed Intervals

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was speed intervals.  I did this run on the treadmill.  It was 20 x 2:15 at 6.7 mph, alternating with 20 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph.  The time came to 75 min, and the distance was 7.5 mi.  This run was hard, but not as bad as I though it would be, given how bad my legs felt on Tuesday.  My left hamstring/glute was really starting to get sore by the end, but I got it done.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Cardio.  This definitely got a good sweat going.  I increased my reps on some of the moves, including the pull-ups!  I burned about 145 calories.

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Very Slow Run

Yesterday after work, I did an easy run outside.  It turned out to be a very slow run, because I could tell right away that my legs were still really tired from my race on Saturday.  I ran on some local roads to the Georgetown Branch Trail.  I ran for 58:34, but the distance was only 5.06 mi during that time.  My average speed was 5.2 mph!  Amazing how you can get so wiped out!

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Conditioning.  This is an interesting workout, although I can't do all the complicated moves quite as quickly as the folks do in the video.  I burned about 125 calories.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tennis Doubles

Last night, I was back to my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  It was nice to be playing, but I could definitely feel that I was worn out.  I just wasn't getting off the mark very fast.  In the first round, my partner, Jill, and I lost 6-4; it was a very good round, but neither of us was on our game.  In the second round, my partner, Anda, and I won 6-4.  In the last round, my partner, Lindsay, and I lost 4-3.  It was a fun night!

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Iso Strength Chisel.  I felt this workout almost immediately after I was finished - I'm going to be sore.  It was a good one!  I burned about 125 calories.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Great Race!

On Saturday, I did the 10-mi race that was part of the Beaufort Twilight Run, which is a running festival with 5K, 8K, and 10-mi races, along with the Beaufort Challenge, which is the 5K + 10 mi races.  I had signed up for the 10-mi race when I found out that I was going to be down in Hilton Head that weekend, because it seemed like a fun thing to do.  The race was also scheduled for 5:30pm, which is an unusual time, but that is the theme of their event.

My last 10-mi race was the Revenge of the Penguins 10-Miler, which I did in 1:47:01.  My goal for this race was to finish in less than 1:45:00.  I rested up at all for this race, running 11 miles in the two days before, over 30 miles in the week before, and playing a lot of tennis.  I thought it would be a good hard run for preparation for my goal race in May.

In the days leading up to the race, the forecast said that it was going to be rainy, which I had been dreading, but I decided I was going to run the race no matter what.  Fortunately it stayed dry!  Not only was that nice for the race, but it was good for the charity festival overall.

The 8K and 10-mi races started at the same time.  The 10-mi race essentially did two loops of the 8K course, with small changes at the ends to get the correct distances.

The race started promptly at 5:30pm.  I started out in the middle of the pack and tried not to go out too fast, since I figured a lot of the 8K runners would be going out faster.  Well, my phone's GPS screwed up almost immediately, jumping me ahead a half-mile.  Fortunately the first mile marker had a course clock, so I re-set the GPS to start there.  Unfortunately I could see that I had done the first mile in just over 10 minutes, which was faster than I had intended.  I tried to slow down a bit, but couldn't really seem to do it.

The course was pretty.  It zig-zagged throughout the neighborhood, and the first time I did the loop, there were lots of people out to cheer on the runners.  There also many kids giving high-fives, which was fun.  The cutest thing I've ever seen in a race was that some of the kids put out their stuffed animals on the sidewalks with hand-written signs like "You can do it!"  So much fun!

By the time I'd gotten around the loop once (and past the end of the 8K), I was still going a bit slower than a 10-min mile.  At this point, I decided that if I'd done that pace for so long, maybe I really could keep it up for the rest of the race.  Also, somewhere over 5 miles (4 miles after the GPS re-set), my phone GPS completely crapped out.  It ended up recording my whole race time, but with a distance of about 4.2 mi - ha, my slowest 4.2 mi ever!

Fortunately, the course had clocks or volunteers calling out the time at every mile marker, so I could see that I was still keeping quite a steady pace.  I started to think that I would be able to finish way under 1:45:00, and maybe even close to 1:40:00!  The course was getting very empty, because the 10-mi race was new to the festival, and obviously very few people chose to ran it.  It was like I was doing a long run by myself at home, except that there were course volunteers.

Once I got to the last mile or so, I just focused on keeping up the same pace.  Without my GPS, I didn't know exactly how far I had left, but I had done the loop before.  When I came to the homestretch, I could see from the clock that I could make it under 1:40:00.  I pushed as hard as I could, and got 1:39:45!

I had thought that I had started maybe 10 seconds after the starting gun, but the official results say that my gun and chip time were the same.  Oh, well!  I'm still very, very happy with how well I did!  It was hard, but not a total killer.  It was definitely a huge confidence-builder!  If I can do the same pace for my goal half-marathon, I'll finish in about 2:10:00.  With some actual rest ahead of time, hopefully I can push that down a bit!

The funny thing is that even though I had a very respectable time for this race, I placed really badly:  57 out of 77 runners.  Apparently only "good" runners did this race, as the last place finisher completed the race in just over 2 hours.  The winner did it in 51 minutes!  If I had gotten this time in the Revenge of the Penguins 10-Miler that I ran last September, I would've been 42 out of 140!  Oh, well.

I was very impressed with the running festival overall.  It was very well-organized.  The 10-mi (and 8K) race had a lot of turns in the local streets, but everything was well-marked and there were lots of volunteers keeping an eye out for the runners.  Having clocks at the mile markers was great!  There were a lot more runners in the other races (a couple hundred in each), and there were lots and lots of people attending the festival.  It was obviously a big deal for the local town, and everyone was out enjoying it. 

Yesterday, we drove home from Hilton Head, so I didn't do any exercise.  My legs didn't really appreciate sitting in the car all day.

This morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Iso Speed Hammer.  This is a short workout, which I appreciated, because it gave me time to do some extra stretching and foam rolling.  I burned about 65 calories in the workout.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Better Run

This morning, my legs felt so much better than yesterday!  I ran for exactly the same amount of time, 59:24, but my distance was 5.68 mi, which gave an average speed of of 5.75 mph!  Much better!  I might have let my heart rate get a little too high during this run, but I was glad I did so much better.

This afternoon, I played some tennis with my husband.  This probably wasn't the best idea, since he really runs me around an wears me out.  However, it is fun.  I'm going to try to take it really easy between now and the race, which isn't until 5:30pm tomorrow.

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Bad Run

Yesterday we drove down to Hilton Head, so I took the whole day off from any activity.  In fact, I think I got fewer than 2000 steps for the day, which happens maybe twice a year!  I was hoping the day off would help me rest a bit.  I got about 8.5 hours of sleep last night, too!

This morning, I did a run outside before breakfast.  It was in the 60s F, but humid.  (It's always humid here!)  I just wanted to do an easy run for an hour.  My legs felt horrible!  Everything was just sore, especially my glutes.  I guess sitting in the car for 9 hours yesterday was not good.  I ran 5.44 mi in 59:24, so my average speed was 5.5 mph.  It just wasn't fun!

I hope my legs start feeling better by Saturday, because I'm doing a 10-mi race!

This afternoon, my husband, and father-in-law, and I played 18 holes of golf on the plantation.  I actually had one of the best rounds I've had in years, but I think it was probably a bit of luck.  We avoided any rain, so it was a nice round.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Easy Long Run

This afternoon I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a long easy run of 110 min.  I did this on the treadmill at 5.7 mph.  I knew that this was going to feel hard, since I just had my race pace run two days ago, and it was.  I took a lot of breaks.  Oddly, I think the first half of the run felt harder than the second half.  I actually cut down on the breaks a bit toward the end.  I'm not sure why this is.  The distance came to 10.36 mi.

Tennis Loss

Last night I had a match with my 6.5 combo tennis team.  Unfortunately we lost all three courts.  My partner, Michele, and I lost 6-0, 6-2.  Both of our opponents were strong players, and my partner had trouble getting a lot of balls back, since they were hit low at her feet.  They also did a lot of short and long play, which was hard to deal with.

This morning, I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Pure Contact, followed by Ab Shredder.  I had forgotten what a good agility and plyo workout Pure Contact is, even though it's short.  The combination of these workouts really brings on the sweat!  I burned about 200 calories.

I've been losing since about when I started The Master's Hammer and Chisel at the end of January.   Thank goodness!  I feel like I've put on a bit of weight here and there and just haven't been able to get it to come off.  I just put together my recent weight measurements with my old BodyMedia stats, and I'm at the lowest weight now that I've been since about mid-May 2014!  I'm around 123 lbs.  It would be nice to get back under 120 lbs.  When I started using my BodyMedia device in November 2010, I was around 114 lbs!  I know that I've put on a lot of muscle since then, but it's still discouraging to see the weight rise.  I was keeping track of my wait circumference for awhile to try to judge the muscle vs. fat gain/loss, but I stopped doing that at about the beginning of the year, since nothing was changing.  I suppose I should try a new measurement now.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Very Busy Day!

Yesterday was very busy and completely wore me out.

Around lunch time, I did the next run on my training schedule.  This called for race pace intervals.  I ran 4 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mi), alternating with 4 x 5 min at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi), and then 2 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 2 x 3 min at 5.0 mph.  I did this on the treadmill.  It took 2:01:00, and the distance came to 12 mi.  I knew this would be a hard run, and it was, but at least I didn't get lightheaded, like in my long run last weekend.  I really hate running hard on the treadmill!

Then, around dinner time, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  I wasn't sure what to expect with the difficulty of this match, but it turned out to be very competitive, had a lot of moving around the court, and took just about the full two hours.  This was tough just 4 hours after my long run!  Fortunately, I don't think my tiredness really affected how I played - I thought I played really well.  It wasn't quite enough, though, as my partner, Grace, and I lost 7-6, 2-6, 0-1.  We had a lot of deuce games and were really pretty even, but they beat us with placement and good angled shots.  Sadly, the team lost three courts, so we lost the match overall.

This week, I'm taking a break from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, because I signed up for a 10-mi race on Saturday, and I want to have some time for my legs to recover a bit.  Hammer and Chisel has really been pounding the legs!  This morning, I did a warm up, and then Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial, followed by P90X2 X2 Ab Ripper.  This burned about 150 calories.  I also did some stretching and foam rolling.  I'm on spring break, so I can spend a little extra time on that, which is nice.

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Tennis Practice

This morning I did some yard work, so I didn't really do any exercise.

This afternoon, I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first set, my partner, Randy, and I won 6-1.  In the second set, my partner, Mary Ann, and I won 6-2.  We had some time left, so we played two 10-point tie-breakers.  In the first one, my partner, Randy, and I lost 5-10, which was a surprise given the first set.  In the second one, my partner, Mary Ann, and I lost 7-10.  Ah, well.  Apparently I need to learn how to do better in tie-breakers.

Friday, March 11, 2016

Evening Tennis Practice

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Max Hammer Strength.  This is a really good workout, and I like that I can use my 30-lb weights for a lot of the moves!  Honestly, I probably should get some 35-lb weights, but that's another investment.  I burned about 125 calories.

Yesterday evening, I had a practice with my tennis team outside.  We have been having unusually warm weather, and I am certainly not complaining about that!  My partner, Libby, and I lost 6-7, 2-3, when we had to stop.  It was a fun evening, and a bit easier than the long runs I've been doing lately.

Today is my rest day, so I did some stretching and foam rolling this morning.  I think that this week has been my hardest one so far with Hammer and Chisel, with four tough full-body workouts in a row.  I am still sore in many places, and so I'm hoping today (and this weekend) will be a good recovery. 

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Long Run

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel and 10-Min Chisel Abs.  This is a solid workout.  It certainly didn't help the soreness in my legs.  I burned about 130 calories.

Today after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 110-min easy run.  My legs were still quite sore, so I thought this was going to be really hard, but it wasn't too bad.  I did still take quite a few breaks, but it was OK.  I didn't feel the lightheadedness that I did on Sunday.  I increased my speed on the treadmill, so I ran at 5.7 mph, and the distance came to 10.35 mi.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Run Outside!

Last night I had my usual tennis doubles at TCCP.  I felt like I played quite well, so it was extra fun.  In the first round, my partner, Jill and I lost 6-4, but it was a very competitive round against two tough players, so we were very happy with that.  In the second round, my partner, Lindsay, and I lost 6-1, but the score doesn't reflect the good points we played.  In the third round, my partner, Mary Ann, and I won 6-2.  A good night!

This morning I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Power.  I was feeling pretty tired this morning, so I didn't really try to increase any of my weights.  I think I'm "getting" this workout a little better so that it's more effective.  I burned about 170 calories.

I think The Master's Hammer and Chisel workouts have been helping me with my tennis serve and increasing my strength.  Between that and my running, I've been losing weight, which is nice.  I'm down as low as I was at the beginning of 2015, which is good.  However, with all the different types of exercises in the workouts, it's like constant "muscle confusion", which means that my legs are almost always sore, especially my glutes and hamstrings.  This has made my running hard.  Hopefully my running will pick up when I finish this workout program.

Today the weather was unseasonably warm, so I hurried when I got home from work to have enough time to do a run outside before it got dark.  I ran on the Sligo Creek Trail, which I think must be a lot more uphill when going north than I usually appreciate.  I'm always much faster coming home toward the south.  I ran 5.03 mi in 54:42, which was an average speed of 5.52 mph.  This was pretty good, considering that my legs felt really sore.  It was so nice to be outside, though.

Monday, March 7, 2016

Very Long Run

Yesterday I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 2.5-hr easy run.  I knew that this was going to be a hard run just from the amount of time involved.  I tried to get a lot of sleep the night before, and I took my caffeine and BCAAs ahead of time.  It was still really hard!

I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill.  The first 2/3 approximately went about as expected - I took some breaks on the rails, but it was doable.  Then the last 30-min or so, I started getting lightheaded.  I was not panting or gasping for breath, and my heart rate wasn't very high, so that wasn't the problem.  I think that my blood pressure must have been pretty low, but that's speculation.  I do have a tendency toward low blood pressure, but it hasn't been an issue when running before.  At any rate, it definitely made me feel pretty weird, and I took a LOT of breaks during that part.  In the 2.5 hr, I ran 13.82 mi according to the treadmill.  Way too far and long!

My legs aren't really all that sore today, nor am I horribly tired, so obviously I didn't work that hard, considering the time and distance.  The weird lightheadedness just really bothered me.

This morning, I did the next workout on The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  I was also supposed to do 10-min Chisel Abs, but I forgot to set my alarm and got up 20 minutes late, so I skipped that.  I'm definitely getting better at this workout, but it's still annoying.  The last row-pistol squat move just takes forever to do that many reps - twice!  But all the darn pistol squats are definitely good for me, and I can tell my weak left leg is getting stronger.  I burned about 170 calories.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

Last Boxing for Awhile

Yesterday morning, I did a boxing class.  It wasn't my favorite instructor, but the good (and sometimes bad) thing about this instructor is that he always keeps you moving.  It makes for a good calorie burn.

This will be my last boxing class for awhile, because I canceled my monthly membership.  It was a hard decision, since I had been a member for almost three years (since Apr. 11, 2013), and I do enjoy boxing.  However, I've had less and less time for it, with my tennis teams and my increasing emphasis on running.  It just wasn't worth the money.  Fortunately, the club does offer a punch-card class deal and a day pass, so I can go on rainy days, or when I have the chance.

Yesterday evening, I had a match with my 3.5 team.  We won three of the five courts, so it was an overall win!  My partner, Jill, and I won 6-3, 6-2.  Jill had had a bad leg cramp in our combo match on Thursday, so she wasn't sure she was going to be able to play, but no one else was available.  As it turns out, our opponents were not very good, so we won without working too too hard.  That was kind of nice!

Friday, March 4, 2016

Combo Loss

Last night I had a tennis match with my 6.5 combo team.  Unfortunately we lost all of the courts.  Our opponents are undefeated, but it was an odd match.  We lost one of the courts pretty quickly.  My partner, Michele, and I lost 4-6, 2-6.  Our opponents were not playing at all like I expected, because they weren't moving much nor were they hitting with much pace.  It was a very slow-ball match, which really messed me up somehow.  On the third court, our players won the first set 7-5, but in the second set they were down 3-4 when one of our players got a bad leg cramp.  She had to retire.  And that was all the courts!

This morning, I just did some stretching and foam rolling.

After work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran for 1 hour at 5.6 mph, so the distance was 5.6 mi.  My legs were kind of sore, but the run was OK.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Two Workouts

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout on The Master's Hammer and Chisel schedule, which was Hammer Conditioning.  This was an interesting workout, because it had a bunch of compound movements, with several things happening at once.  This is supposed to work your body more naturally (because you do those sort of movements all the time) and more effectively, because using more muscles burns more calories.  It also helps with your core and stability.  Overall, it was an interesting and effective workout, except for a few moves that seemed overly complicated an contrived.  Afterward, I did 10-min Ab Hammer.  I burned about 170 calories, I think.  Now I can't remember for sure.

Yesterday evening I had a work event, so it was my rest evening.

This morning I did the next Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Cardio.  This is a reasonably good workout.  The step-up type moves on the bench are annoying, but I know they are good for me.  I burned about 160 calories.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday evening, I played tennis doubles at TCCP.  It's been awhile since I played in this league, and it felt good to play.  In the first round, my partner, Andrea, and I won 6-3.  In the second round, I won at singles 4-3.  In the last round, my partner, Andrea again, and I lost 1-3.  I feel like I played pretty well, despite being tired and sore, as predicted.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Agility.  I definitely half-asses this workout, because I hadn't gotten enough sleep and was still pretty sore.  I burned about 145 calories.

After work this evening, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.6 mph, so the distance came to 9.2 mi.  This was a hard run, because I was still quite tired.  My legs were also sore from Monday morning's workout.  I took a lot of breaks.  But I did stick with it.

Monday, February 29, 2016

Combo Win

Last night, my combo team had an overall win!  This is only our second win of the season.  However, my partner, Michele, and I did not win.  We lost 4-6, 6-3, 0-1.  In the first set, we made a lot of mistakes, hitting the ball out.  We calmed down a bit, and won the second set reasonably easily.  However, we went back to making a lot of mistakes in the match tie-breaker and threw it away pretty quickly.  That was frustrating, but at least the other two courts won!

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Hammer.  This is a heck of a workout.  I increased my weights on the squats.  I can feel this one all over already - I'm going to be sore from it.  I burned about 130 calories.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Mile Repeats

Yesterday morning, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was mile repeats.  I did 6 x 1 mi at 6.7 mph (8:58 min/mi), alternating with 6 x 0.5 mi at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi).  I did this run on the treadmill.  It took 90 minutes, and the distance came to 9.0 mi.  I knew this was going to be a hard run, and it was.  I took a lot of breaks on the rails.  Somehow I don't like to run as hard on a treadmill as I might when I'm outside or on a race.  Maybe because the pace is absolute? 

In the afternoon - actually, less than 2 hours after the run - I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Randy, and I won 4-3.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney, and I lost 5-7, 2-3.  In the last round, my partner, Libby, and I won 6-0, 3-0.  I didn't always do the best pairings to get competitive matches, but I have to work with the players present.

The run and practice right afterward really wore me out!  I sent to bed extra early, and slept over 9 hours!  This morning, I did my usual boxing class.  I was still feeling a bit worn out, but it was a good class. 

My back has been getting really stiff again, especially in the mornings.  I need to keep doing the stretches I was doing for awhile, I guess.  There's only so much time in the day sometimes!  I've been really valuing my sleep, but I guess I need to work the stretches back in where I can.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Tennis Loss

Last night I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  Unfortunately we lost 3 of the 5 courts, so we lost the match overall.  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 0-6, 4-6.  We played so badly in the first set - it seemed like we just couldn't hit anything and keep it in play.  Fortunately we pulled ourselves together in the second set.  I started playing a lot more at the net to cut off rallies and keep our opponents from having as much time to get into position for put-away shots.  We were neck-and-neck with them in the second set until 4-4, and then they managed to win the last two games.  We did feel better about being competitive, at least, in the second set.

Today is my rest day.  This morning before work, I did some stretching and foam rolling.  My lower back has been feeling a little worse lately - not the horrible "don't want to bend over" pain I had last fall, but worse.  I need to bring back the stretching I was doing for it, I guess.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Flood!

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill, and it wasn't as hard as I was expecting.  The distance came to 9.2 mi.  I don't usually do such long runs after work, because it means a late dinner, but this wasn't too bad.

This morning I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  Some of these moves are so hard!  Particularly the exercises where you do a 1-legged sit down and up on the bench, and the 1-legged row-pistol squats.  I am getting better on them, however,  I burned about 170 calories.

Today after work, I did a run on the treadmill.  I ran for 50 min at 5.6 mph, so the distance came to 4.61 mi.  This was OK. 

While I was running, we had a pretty severe thunderstorm come through.  The surprise came when I turned off the treadmill and could hear "normally" again.  I could hear running water!  There shouldn't be any water running in our basement, so I knew something was wrong.  Rain from the thunderstorm had flooded the backyard and filled up the window well outside one of our basement window, and the water was cascading in through the window.  (Yes, the window was closed!)  So I had to figure out any way to at least contain the incoming water.  This had me in a bit of a panic for awhile.  Fortunately, the storm moved through very quickly, so things did not flood as much as they could have, or as much as they have in the past.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

No Tennis!

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Power and 10-Min Hammer Abs.  I think I "got" the moves a bit better in Hammer Power, although I didn't increase the weights much.  The shoulder press part of most of the moves is a limiting move for me in terms of weight.  I kind of wish I knew how much weight the woman in the video was using.  Overall I burned about 180 calories.

Yesterday after work, I was hoping to sub in for our Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP, but apparently they didn't need me!  I went home and did an easy run instead.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill for 50 min, so the distance came to 4.75 mi.  This run felt OK.

This morning, I did my next workout, which was Iso Speed Hammer.  This is a short workout, but I definitely feel it.  I didn't increase any weights this time.  I did take advantage of the short workout to do some foam rolling.  I burned about 90 calories.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Long Run

Today I went to my usual Sunday boxing class.  It hasn't been so usual lately, as I've been changing my schedule around a bit to accommodate my long runs.  Anyway, it was good to go. 

This afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was an 80-min easy run.  As I mentioned yesterday, I have decided to cut back to a speed of 5.6 mph on the treadmill for my easy runs.  I definitely think that was a good idea.  In 80 min at 5.6 mph, the distance came to 7.45 mi.  It felt better.  Hopefully I'll be able to work back up to 5.7 mph and eventually even faster.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Outside Run

Today was forecasted to be unseasonably warm, so I thought I'd do a run outside before lunch.  Well, it wasn't all that warm yet, but it wasn't bad.  I did my run on the Rock Creek Park Trail, since I haven't been there in quite awhile.  I ran 5.08 mi in 55:58, so the average speed was 5.45 mph.  A little slow, but I had a number of road crossings to stop and wait for, and I think Runkeeper tends to keep going a bit for those, which adds time but not distance. 

My heart rate was supposedly really high for a lot of this run, even though I certainly wasn't panting for breath.  I don't know if that was real, or something my Basis Peak was dreaming up.  Anyway, since my so-called easy runs have seemed to hard lately, I think I'm going to pull back to a treadmill speed of 5.6 mph for awhile for the "easy" runs and see how it goes.

This afternoon, I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Jill, and I lost 4-5, but we had been much farther behind, so it was good that we were catching up.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney and I scored 7-6, 2-2, which was essentially a tie.  In the last round, my partner, Joan, and I tied our opponents 5-5.  It was a fun and competitive practice!

Friday, February 19, 2016

Catching Up

Wednesday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 60-min easy run.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to about 5.65 mi.  This run did feel easier than some I've done lately.  I think my legs were a little less tired from the weight training.

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel plus 10-Min Ab Chisel.  I upped my weights on a number of the moves, and I think the workout went pretty well.  I burned about 165 calories.

Last night, I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  This match went much better than the one on Tuesday - we won four of the five courts!  My partner, Whitney, and I won 6-3, 6-2.  Our opponents gave us some trouble at first, because they lobbed us a lot, and we sort of went along with it by backing up and lobbing back.  We ended up making a lot of errors and feeding them put-away balls.  We changed things around so that I played more at the net and took a lot of the lobs out of the air, and that pretty much finished them off.  Whitney would hit deep baseline shots, which would get them off-balance, and then they'd give me a floater to put away.  Or, we'd take a lob out of the air, which would throw them off, and we'd get the point.  It was a fun match, and kind of nice to see that we are actually better players than some other players for once.  Sometimes after a colossal loss like we had on Tuesday, you start to think you're a horrible player - not really, it's just that those players were REALLY good.

Today is my rest day.  This morning, I did some foam rolling and stretching.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Tennis Loss

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Agility.  Most of this workout is not too hard - I feel like a lot of it is too slow to really be an agility workout, but what do I know?  I burned about 165 calories.

Last night, I had a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  Unfortunately we were playing one of the top teams in the league, which always has really good players.  We lost all five courts - we didn't even win a set!  My partner, Whitney, and I lost 1-6, 1-6.  I don't think the score quite reflects our level of play, because we did have a number of deuce games.  Our opponents were just very good: they could hit with power, they moved pretty well, and played well at the net.  That's hard to beat!  At least they were nice players, and we had fun.

This morning, I did the next workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  This was Iso Speed Hammer, which is a very short workout.  I had arranged that intentionally, since I knew I was going to be up late with my match last night - I got an extra 30 min of sleep!  Part of the reason this workout is so short is because Sagi moves between the moves very quickly - I don't even have time to write down what I did!  I upped my weights on a number of moves, since I had my notes from the last time.  I burned about 90 calories.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Snow Day

Today we had a snow and ice storm, so the university was closed.  I was home all day, which always leads to me not doing much incidental activity.

This morning, I did a workout from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  I did Hammer Power, followed by 10-min Hammer Abs.  Hammer Power is an interesting workout, because it gradually builds up the steps of some power lifting moves, albeit with dumbbells instead of barbells.  I don't think I used heavy enough weights for the 5-rep moves.  I burned about 145 calories for the whole thing.

I was supposed to have a tennis match this evening, but it was canceled because of the weather.  Instead, I did a 50-min easy run on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 4.7 mi.  This run finally felt a little better than some of the recent ones I've done, which was a bit surprising, since I ran over 12 miles yesterday!  I did get a lot of sleep this past weekend, which probably helped.

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Race Pace Intervals

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was race pace intervals.  First, I did 2 x 2 mi at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mi), alternating with 2 x 5 min at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi).  Then I did 6 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph, alternating with 6 x 3 min at 5.0 mph.  This took 2:03:00, and the distance came to 12.3 mi.  This was a hard run.  It was not hard for cardio so much as hard on my legs.  Blah.  Next week is a cut-back week and the longest run on the schedule is 80 minutes, so hopefully I will rest up a bit and start feeling better with the legs.

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Boxing + Tennis

Yesterday was my rest day, so I did some stretching and foam rolling before work, and that was it for my activity.  I did get in a reasonable number of steps at work.

This morning I went to a boxing class.  This is not my usual class, but it's a pretty decent one.  I did burn almost 400 calories during the hour, which is pretty high for that - the instructor does keep us moving pretty much the whole time.  I just don't care for his style quite as much as I do with the Sunday instructor.

This afternoon, I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Viqui, and I won 5-4 - it was a very good round.  In the second round, my partner, Whitney, and I won the first set 7-5, but lost the second set 1-3; one of our opponents is an extremely hard hitter, and when she's on, she's really, really good.  In the third round, my partner, Joan, and I lost 3-5; we had a lot of good points, but made some mistakes, and our opponents did not as much.  It was a good practice!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Why is running so hard?

Yesterday evening, I had originally intended to go to a boxing class.  However, it was really cold out, so by the time I got home, I didn't feel like rushing to get ready and then hurrying back out into the cold and traffic.  So I decided to stay home and do a run, and then do cardio tennis the next day.

I ran on the treadmill at 5.7 mph for 50 minutes, so the distance came to 4.7 mi.  This run just felt hard again.  I had been doing so well with my easy runs, but now my heart rate is up quite a bit for them and they just aren't easy.  Maybe my legs are sore and tired from The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  I'm wondering if I'm starting to get anemic again - I'm paranoid about that, so I'm going to up my iron supplements for awhile.  I also have a sneaking suspicion that my old treadmill was falling apart so much that I was actually running on a decline because the supports were failing - I think I would've felt that in my quads, though.  So I don't know what's going on, but it's depressing.

This morning, I did the next Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Cardio.  This is an OK workout - not my favorite, but it's not too bad.  I upped my reps on a few moves.  I also burned many more calories than when I did it the first time - about 190 calories compared to just over 100 or so previously.  I'm not sure why that was.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran for 70 minutes at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 6.64 mi.  This is an approximation, because the treadmill spontaneously re-set several times.  I don't think it's grounded properly, and static electricity from me kept causing it re-set.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Max Hammer Strength.  This is the only workout in the program that I've done three times already.  It's definitely a good one, although not necessarily fun.  I increased my weights on the lunges and squats.  I burned about 145 calories.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Combo Win!

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Iso Strength Chisel.  The iso moves are hard!  This one really makes my glutes sore.  I burned about 135 calories.

Last night I had a tennis match with my 6.5 combo team.  My partner, Joan, and I managed a pretty straightforward win: 7-5, 6-0.  After she and I had had two losses lately, it was good to get a win.  Unfortunately, we lost the other two courts in the match in match tie-breakers.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Balance.  The first one-leg sit-squat moves are so hard!  I did better than last time, though.  I burned about 150 calories.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Long Run

Last night, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  My partner, Whitney, and I won 6-4, 6-4.  It was a really fun match, because there were a lot of good points, but we were glad that we got a clear win.  No tie-breakers!

Our team won three more courts and lost one, so we won the match overall.  Two of the other individual matches timed out, so it was really quite close.

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 130-min easy run.  I've really felt like my runs so far on my new treadmill have felt pretty hard - honestly, like I was running uphill.  So I put a level on the treadmill, and sure enough, I was running uphill, even though the incline was at zero.  I re-ran the calibration sequence, and that seems to have fixed it.  The run definitely felt better - it was just long.  In 2:10:00, I ran 12.23 mi on the treadmill.

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Two Runs

Yesterday was supposed to be my rest day.  In the morning, I did some stretching and foam rolling.

However, my run on Thursday night was shorter than what I was supposed to do on my training schedule - partly because I was low on time, and partly because my legs really weren't feeling it.  So, after work on Friday, I did a 70-min run - on my new treadmill!

My new treadmill was delivered yesterday afternoon.  It is a Spirit Fitness XT485.  I have to admit that I also wanted to run on it as soon as possible.  It thumps so much less when I run on it!  And it doesn't creak like it's about to collapse!  And it doesn't slip!

I ran for 1:10:00 at 5.7 mph, so the distance came to 6.64 mi.  This run still felt hard - my legs just aren't very happy lately.  Too much Hammer and Chisel, I think.

This afternoon, I was supposed to have a practice with my tennis team, but plans changed and I didn't get to do that.  So I did another run on the treadmill instead.  I ran for an hour at 5.7 mph.  Because the treadmill is kind of slow getting up to speed, the distance only came to 5.65 mi.  I suppose that's more accurate than the previous treadmill, because it certainly did that, too, but it's a bit annoying to record it that way.  This run felt a little bit better than yesterday's, but I still took a lot of breaks.

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Almost a Win in Tennis

Last night, I had a match with my 3.5 tennis team.  We were playing one of the top teams in the league, so I wasn't expecting an overall win.  Nevertheless, I am an optimist and always hope that somehow we might get one.  We came very close!

We won two of the five courts.  My partner, Whitney, and I were the last court to finish - we timed out.  We had lost the first set 6-2, so I thought we weren't going to have a chance, but we managed to win the second set 7-6.  The problem was that we took a long time to win the set tie-breaker (it went to 11-9), so we didn't really have enough time to play out the match tie-breaker.  We were pretty much neck-and-neck in the match tie-breaker.  We had our chance to win it 6-4, but instead we lost the last point, and it timed out 5-5.  That meant that the match tie-breaker didn't count, so our opponents won because they had won more games.

Little did we know as we were playing that if we won our match, our team would have won overall!  It was that close!  A disappointment, but also kind of thrilling to at least have come that close.  It was a fun match, too.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Hammer Plyometrics.  This is a short and sweet workout - only about 25 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down.  At the end, it appeared that I had burned about 160 calories, which would've been about 60 calories more than the last time.  I think I misremembered my starting calorie number.

Today after work, I had planned to do the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  However, I had to stay longer at work than I had planned, and I just didn't want to be running so late into the evening.  Instead, I only ran for 50 minutes.  This turned out to be a good idea, because my hamstrings felt quite sore.  I ran at 5.7 mph on the treadmill, so the distance came to 4.75 mi. 

I hope to do a longer run tomorrow, on my new treadmill!  It is being delivered in the afternoon.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Cardio Tennis

Yesterday after work, I finally got to do cardio tennis!  It was reasonably fun, but pretty easy.  We had a lot of newbies, and so the instructor had to explain a lot.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Total Body Chisel and 10-min Chisel Abs.  Total Body Chisel was a solid workout, with three sets of three supersets.  I need to go heavier on my weights for my legs.  10-min Chisel Abs was meh.  Most of the forearm plank moves on the bench were relatively easy.  Some of the other moves were harder.  This was a very short workout, with maybe seven moves in the whole thing.  I burned about 150 calories total.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Monday Night Doubles

Yesterday morning, I did the next workout on my schedule for The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  This was Max Hammer Strength (again - I did it Thursday) and 10-Min Ab Hammer.  I had gotten new 30-lb dumbbells over the weekend, so I used them in several of the moves, which was good.  I burned about 140 calories overall.

Yesterday evening I had my normal Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  I haven't been there for awhile, with traveling and then the snow storm.  It was fun!  In the first round, my partner, Renee, and I lost 6-2, but we had fun.  In the second round, my partner, Lindsay and I lost 6-5; however, we didn't expect to do nearly so well, since both of our opponents were very strong, so we were quite happy with this result.  In the last round, my partner, Julie, and I lost 4-3.  A good night!

This morning, I did the next The Master's Hammer and Chisel workout, which was Chisel Agility.  This workout was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  The workout couldn't decide if it wanted to be cardio or agility.  Some moves were really easy (the plank tap things), some were hard (the jumping diagonal lunges), and some were meh because they weren't fast enough (the skater's triangle thing). I didn't really like doing two rounds of the same thing.  Anyway, I burned about 170 calories.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

Long Run

Today I started off with my usual Sunday boxing class.  Between travel and the snowstorm, I haven't been to the class in awhile!  The instructor is still the best of the bunch.  It was a good class!

This afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 100-min easy run.  I ran on the treadmill for 1:40:00 at 5.7 mph, which gave a distance of 9.5 mi.  My legs were tired today, so I did take extra breaks.  Between yesterday's tennis and The Master's Hammer and Chisel program, my legs have been getting a lot of work lately.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Lots of Tennis

Yesterday was my rest day.  In the morning, I did some foam rolling and stretching.  I didn't do any other activity.

Today I had a practice with my tennis team.  In the first round, my partner, Whitney, and I lost 4-3 - this was pretty good, because one of our opponents was really good.  In the second round, my partner, Gloria, and I ended at 6-7, 2-1.  In the third round, my partner, Fran, and I won 4-3.  It was good to be playing again, since I haven't played since before my trip to Monterey.

This evening, I played in a 3.5 match with my team.  I played #2 singles, and unfortunately I lost 3-6, 4-6.  My opponent had some nice angled shots, but it wasn't a blow-out by any means.  Our team won the rest of the courts, which got us an overall win.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Extra Boxing

Yesterday evening, I went to a boxing class.  I wanted to do something different than all the running I've been doing lately.  I went to a class by the same instructor as I did last Friday, and the two cl plasses were pretty much identical.  That reminded me of why I don't usually go to that instructor's classes very often.  The combinations and exercises he does are pretty good, but it's boring to do exactly the same thing each time.  I did feel like I had more energy than usual.

This morning I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel program, and was Max Hammer Strength.  This was an interesting workout.  First, you did 60-sec of bodyweight moves to pre-fatigue a specific muscle, and then you did 8 reps of a similar move with as heavy weights as possible.  It was kind of nice using the heavy weights, although I really needed heavier weights for some moves.  I have individual dumbbells up to 25 lbs.  Above that, I have old-fashioned adjustable plate dumbbells, which are annoying to use, and their shape is often inconvenient for a move.  I think I may get some 30-lb dumbbells.  In this workout, I burned about 90 calories.

This afternoon after work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.7 mph for 1 hour, so the distance came to 5.7 mi.  This was a boring run for some reason.

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Easy Run

Yesterday after work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  My easy pace is up to 5.7 mph, so I ran at that speed for 1 hour, which gave a distance of 5.7 mi.  This wasn't hard in terms of cardio, but my legs are tired from Hammer and Chisel.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel program, which was Chisel Cardio.  This was different cardio than I'm used to, because it did involve weights.  The idea was to do the moves for a whole minute, which gets your heart rate up.  This was a decent workout.  I think all the step-up moves on the bench are good for me, which is why I find them hard.  I burned about 130 calories.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Speed Intervals

Yesterday afternoon, I did the next run on my training schedule, which had speed intervals.  I did 16 x 2:15 at 6.8 mph, alternating with 16 x 1:30 at 5.0 mph.  The time for this added up to 60 minutes.  I ran on my treadmill, which happily managed to make it through the workout - I keep expecting it to die at any time.  The first half of the workout went pretty well.  I ended up taking some extra breaks in the second half.  It felt kind of good to be doing something other than an easy run.  The distance came to 6.09 mi.

This morning, I did the next workout in The Master's Hammer and Chisel, which was Chisel Endurance.  This was a pretty good workout.  The moves where you step up on the bench were a challenge - I keep wanting to trip.  I burned about 120 calories.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Stuck at Home

We are still stuck at home because of the huge snow storm!  We got about 24 inches of snow, which is record-breaking for this area.  It's taking forever for the roads to be cleared.

Yesterday morning, my husband and I did more shoveling.  We had to clear lots of snow off of our cars, because the wind had made it drift quite deeply on top of them.  One of our shovels broke, so that was pretty much all the shoveling we could do together.  My husband finished the rest in the afternoon.  That was fine by me!  My left biceps and forearm were really sore from supporting the shovel blade with full load, and my upper back and shoulders were sore from throwing shovel-fuls of snow onto piles as tall as me!

Yesterday afternoon, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.6 mph for 50 min, so the distance came to 4.66 mi.  I was just feeling too tired and sore in general to run more.  I've definitely become more efficient at running.  According to my Basis Peak, these days I only burn about 5 - 6 cal/min during my easy runs, so my 50 minutes of running only burned 250 - 300 calories!  How depressing!

But part of the reason I've gotten so efficient is that I've run a lot in the past couple weeks.  Running is my go-anywhere exercise, so I did a lot of running when we were in Monterey.  And now that we're stuck in the house, that's what I'm doing, too.  In the week of Jan. 17 - 23, I ran the most distance I've ever done in a week: 41.1 miles!  My two long runs happened to be Sunday and then Saturday, 6 days apart instead of 7, and so it really added up.  It was also the longest duration in time that I've run in a week, 7:16:25, all according to RunKeeper.  Since November 2013, when I started using RunKeeper, I've run 1468 miles!

This morning, I did the next workout on my schedule for The Master's Hammer and Chisel.  This was Total Body Hammer and 10-Min Hammer Abs.  My time estimate for these was a bit high, so fortunately they didn't take 60 minutes like I thought they would.  Total Hammer was a good workout, with two progressive sets of three exercises.  My hands and forearms weren't very happy about holding the weights today.  I've really been discovering with this workout program how much weaker my left leg is than my right, so it's been good.  I burned about 145 calories with the two workouts.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Long Run

Yesterday at noon, I did a boxing class.  This is definitely not my usual class, since I'm usually at work.   However, the university was closed and the whole area was starting to shut down in preparation for the big snowstorm that was coming for the weekend.  I knew I'd be doing a lot of running on the treadmill while everything was closed down, so it seemed like a good idea to do some different activity while I could.

The boxing was OK.  It was not my favorite instructor.  Also, I had tweaked my left knee while golfing last weekend (of all the things I do, THAT's the one that messed up my knee), and it was really bothering me during the jump rope warm up.  Then we did some sprinting, and my knee was not happy about that.  My hamstrings also didn't want to do much sprinting - they weren't sore, they just weren't doing a heck of a lot.  I really need to do some work on the fast-twitch muscles.  I've definitely gotten a lot more efficient at the long and slow work of running.

Yesterday evening and overnight, we got about 16 inches of snow.  This morning my husband and I shoveled a bunch of it, even though the storm wasn't done.  I could feel that my back wasn't happy about the shoveling, so I tried to squat with each shovel and used my legs.  That's a lot of squatting!  My husband had also shoveled some last night.

Then, after lunch, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 2-hr easy run  I ran on the treadmill at 5.6 mph, so the distance came to 11.2 mi.  I took a lot of breaks on the rails, as my legs were tired from the shoveling.   While I was running, my husband shoveled more - we had gotten another 5 - 6 inches.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Easy Long Run

Yesterday after work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 90-min easy run.  I ran on the treadmill at 5.6 mph, so the distance came to 8.4 mi.  This really did feel like a pretty easy run - I was just mostly bored, despite the shows I watched.

This morning I did the next The Master's Hammer & Chisel workout, which was Iso Speed Hammer.  This was an interesting workout, because each move was done at tempo pace and then at a fast pace.  I feel like the workout missed the mark a bit, though, because the tempo reps seemed to be rather fast, too.  Overall, the workout was very short - just under 25 min with the warm-up and cool-down.  I burned about 85 calories.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

The Match That Didn't Happen

Yesterday morning I did the second workout in The Master's Hammer & Chisel program, which was Hammer Plyometrics.  This had a lot of interesting plyo moves - some tried-and-true, and some newer.  The whole workout, with warm-up and cool-down, was 25 minutes, so short and sweet.  I burned about 100 calories.

After the first two workouts in The Master's Hammer & Chisel, I was definitely sore, especially my legs.  Hopefully that's a good sign that the new program is doing something!  Or maybe just that I had too much time off from traditional workouts over Christmas.

Yesterday after work I was supposed to have a tennis match with my 3.5 team.  However, during the evening rush hour, it started snowing lightly.  The problems started because it was so cold that the snow froze into ice on the roads almost immediately.  There were lots of accidents and traffic was at a standstill.  There was no way any of us were going to get to the match, so the other captain and I called it off.  Fortunately MCTA was OK with that, and it will be rescheduled.

This morning, I did the next H & C workout, Iso Strength Chisel.  This was a very different workout, with alternating reps and holds.  It was definitely hard.  Again, it focused a lot on the legs.  In 35 minutes, I burned about 145 calories.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A Run in CA and a Run in MD

Yesterday morning, I did another outside run in Monterey.  This was a short one, since we had to start our drive to the airport, and I was tired from my really big run the day before.  I ran for 29:15, and the distance was 2.7 mi.  This gives an average speed of 5.53 mph, which I'm quite suspicious of.  With the hills and my tired legs, I felt like I was moving so slowly.  I suspect that the GPS skipped a bit, although I don't see anything obvious in the tracking map.

We flew home yesterday.  This morning, I started the Beachbody The Master's Hammer & Chisel program.  I am adapting the schedule, since I have other things I'm doing as well, so the 60-day program is going to take more like 75 days.  This morning was Chisel Balance, which turned out to be more challenging than I expected.  Two of the balance moves were really tough.  The first move, which was a 1-legged squat to sit on the bench was very hard, especially on my left leg.  The last move, a 1-legged row and pistol squat, was also hard.  Well, I guess that means there's room for improvement!  I burned about 160 calories in 40 min, which was a surprise.

Today after work, I did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran at 5.6 mph for 50 min, giving a distance of 4.66 mi.  This did feel like an easy run, which I was happy about.  My legs were still a little twingy from my very long run on Sunday.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

My Longest Run Ever!

Yesterday, I went golfing with a lot of my husband's family in Monterey.  I really have started to dislike golf, but they needed me to fill out the second foursome.  The course was pretty and interesting, and fortunately it didn't rain and wasn't too too cold.  I planned ahead with a lot of layers and was OK.  No rain was key.

Today, I went to the gym Fitness Evolution in Monterey to get a day pass to use the treadmill.  The next run on my training schedule was for race-pace intervals.  I had to do 10 x 1 mi at 6.3 mph (9:30 min/mi), alternating with 10 x 5 min at 5.0 mph (12:00 min/mi).  Following those paces and times, the distance comes to 14.16 mi, which is the farthest I've ever run at once!  One time previously, I ran 14 mi.  The time for this added up to 2:25:00.

This was a hard run for a number of reasons.  First, doing the race-pace intervals is hard.  The first few were OK, especially since I was watching a movie, but they definitely get hard.  However, the run was made much harder than it really had to be because of the stupidity of the treadmill I was using.  It would automatically pause (i.e., stop) if no one was running on it for 30 seconds.  I suppose that is a good safety feature, but it's annoying for taking breaks on the side rails.  Then, it also defaults to only allowing 20-min runs, which is annoying when I was going to be running almost 2.5 hours.  Later on, I figured out that I could increase this time to 60 min, but then the pausing would sometimes reset that.  Overall, that was very frustrating.

To make it even worse, I was having trouble watching the movie on my Kindle.  I was naturally sweating a ton and spraying sweat all over, including on my Kindle.  The sweat droplets sometimes acted like touches on the Kindle.  Mostly it liked to jump my movie to different parts of the movie, and then I had to fiddle with it to get back to where I was.  Often, that caused me to stop running for more than 30 sec, so the stupid treadmill paused, and I had to reset that.

In total, the run was a hard and frustrating experience.  Because of the treadmill and Kindle issues, I know that I ran a lot less than I was supposed to, although I tried to lose the most time during the 5-min rest portions.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Run in Monterey

Yesterday, my husband and I traveled to Monterey, CA, for a surprise birthday party for my father-in-law.  We and a bunch of family are staying in a huge mansion that is technically in Carmel.  This morning, I did I run on the road the house is on, which leads to a county park with some nice trails.  I ran 4.38 mi in 51:19, which was an average speed of 5.12 mph.  This run was very hilly!  But it was pretty and cool.  Quite a different run from the usual for me.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Long Run

Yesterday before work, I did P90X2 X2 Shoulders + Arms.  I increased my reps on a few moves.  I burned about 120 calories.

After work, I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 90-min easy run.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill.  I had serious technical problems, though.  My streaming video stopped 5 minutes into the show, which was annoying.  But then my treadmill randomly emergency stopped a couple times.  It's really starting to have problems.  Assuming I ran for exactly 90 minutes, the distance should have totaled 8.4 mi.  I did a run pretty close to this.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Two Days

Yesterday morning, I did P90X2 Chest + Back + Balance.  I increased my reps on a number of moves, mostly pull-ups, which was nice.  I burned about 140 calories.

Yesterday evening, I had my usual Monday night tennis doubles at TCCP.  In the first round, my partner, Jessica, and I won 6-4.  In the second round, my partner, Donna, and I lost 6-1.  In the last round, my partner, Whitney, and I tied, 2-2.  I played reasonably well.

This morning, I did P90X2 X2 Core.  Over the weekend, I inflated my stability ball better, and it's much firmer now.  It really made a difference and made a number of the moves easier to do.  I burned about 130 calories.

Today after work, I had wanted to go to cardio tennis at TCCP, but it was canceled because not enough people signed up.  So I came home and did an easy run on the treadmill.  I ran for 60 minutes at 5.6 mph, so the distance was 5.6 mi.  This run felt reasonably easy.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Long Run

Today I did the next run on my training schedule, which was a 110-min easy run.  I ran at 5.6 mph on the treadmill for the appropriate time, which came to a distance of 10.2 mi.  This was not as easy as I was hoping, as my legs are a little sore from plyometrics on Friday and boxing yesterday.

Saturday, January 9, 2016

Busy Day

This morning, I went to a boxing class. I don't usually go on Saturday mornings because I have other activities, but it worked out today.  Unfortunately, an instructor that I really don't like was subbing.  Blah.  I did burn a lot of calories, but I just don't like how he does things.

After the boxing class, I went to a fitness equipment store to try out treadmills.  My 15-year-old NordicTrack Apex 4100 is about to bite the dust.  It's on its fourth belt, and it's having other problems.  My husband and I agreed that we'd get me a new treadmill after Christmas.

After some research on the Runner's World's fora, I decided to look at Precor, Spirit, and True treadmills.  This store had Precors and Spirits to try out.  I ran on a Spirit 485, Precor 211, and Precor 223.  The Spirit was the cheapest, and happily enough, I liked it the best.  It's certainly a lot quieter than my current treadmill, but that's really not saying much.  I liked the set up of the console and the arms, and it felt fine to run on.   I ran and walked a little over a mile on it.  It also goes up to a 15% incline, which I can't imagine using, but it's notable.

The Precor 211 doesn't have arms, and that turned out to really bother  me.  The console is also very minimal, without much space to set a phone or tablet, and not much in term of quick-buttons.  I didn't bother to run on it much.  The Precor 223 had arms and a better console, but I thought it felt clunkier to run on.  Also, the tablet-holder on the console stuck up high enough that I think it would block my TV view at home.  Given that it was almost $1000 more than the Spirit, it didn't seem worth choosing it.

So, hopefully I will get the Spirit 485 in a couple weeks.  The salesman gave me the sale price for New Year's, so it is not as expensive as I thought it would be, although the delivery/assembly and take-away of my old one add to the cost.

This afternoon, I had an indoor tennis practice with my team.  In the first round, my partner, Shelley, and I got creamed, 6-1, 3-0.  We weren't playing that badly, but our opponents were playing really well.  In the second round, my partner, Jill, and I did well, with a score of 7-6, 1-1.  In the last round, my partner, Whitney, and I won 6-2, 1-1.  We played well together.