December 2011 Workouts, goals

It's been a good year.  Back in January I wanted to run 600 miles by 12/31/11.  I hit that goal about 2 months early so I added another 100 miles to that goal.  I've kept my body weight down, and I've gotten stronger thanks to a decent amount of strength training over the year.

December is here, and I know I need to end the year strong.  That means a great month of running, lifting and a great diet.  I want to enter 2012 with a lot of positive energy and tons of momentum!

My goal for December is to run 2 miles everyday throughout the month.  Treadmill miles wills be fine so long as I run them on a 1.0% incline.  I also want to strength train 4 times per week (Saturday & Sunday plus two days during the week).

Over the past 3 months my diet has become a lot less strict.  In December I intend to return to a more healthy and rigorous routine.  More fiber, more green veggies and plenty of lean chicken, fish and some lean beef.  The diet in December is going to be high fiber, high protein and low carb.

No breaks or easy days in December!

Post-thanksgiving rest

With lots of kids running around the house all thanksgiving-weekend long it is hardly surprising that I finally caught a bug.  It sidelined me from Saturday through today.  The last time I worked out was a 2-a-day on thanksgiving day.  I've had 6 days off and frankly it feels okay.

I have 47 miles to run in order to hit the 700 mile mark.  With 31 days in December that averages out to about 1.6 miles per day.  I will achieve this goal too.

Thanks to the rest I'm feeling better and I'm fired up to begin working out hard again!  I hope to wrap up 2011 with a very strong set of workout in December.  I'm not sure what the workouts are going to look like, so I know planning the next 31 days of workouts, diet and goals is a top priority.

Thanksgiving workouts

The turkey is good feasting fare.  It's the sides that kill...

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.  In the afternoon it's thanksgiving lunch at my brother's house, and then in the evening it's thanksgiving dinner at my wife's sister's place.  This year's thanksgiving is going to be a lot less guilt-ridden than thanksgiving meals of the past.  That's because this year I plan to load up on the turkey, nibble on the sides and treat myself to a nice serving of pumpkin pie.

The turkey is good feasting fare.  It's the sides that kill!

Oh, and I plan to do two workouts as well.  If the weather is nice then I'm going to make one of the workouts a nice run outside.  Another workout with involve weight training.  The timing of the workouts will depend on the weather.  If it's at least 30 degrees out by mid-morning then the run will be in the morning.  If it's too cold for my mood in the morning then workout one will be the weights.

2011 Races done! Next stage of training?

My next half marathon will be in June 2012.  I'll start training for the next big race around mid-March 2012.

That means I have between now and mid-March to change up my training a bit (away from the longer distance runs).  I want to use this time to work on strength training, building more muscle and losing some more fat.  I want to continue running 3 times a week, but I plan to scale back the mileage to about 9 miles per week (rather than the 11 to 20 miles I've been doing over the year).

A big challenge for me is figuring out what my body can handle in terms of strength training.  In my mind I still think I can do the hard and long trainings from my high school and college days, but when I go all out in that way, I often end up so sore that I can't workout again for at least 3 or 4 days.  That's not productive.  I need to be able to push myself hard enough that I can lift weights 2 or maybe 3 times per week per muscle group.

I'm debating whether a 3 workouts per week regimen with core exercises that provide a full body workout is the way to go.  These lifts would be: squats, dead lifts, overhead barbell shoulder press, bench press and bent over rows.   An alternative is to split up the body into two groups and then do 2 days for each (yielding 4 days of strength training).  One possible split is: chest, shoulders and back on one day and legs and arms (mostly an ego muscle group) on the second day.

I'm inclined to go with the latter regimen (and muscle grouping) because it will allow me to keep each workout to about 1 hour.

Team RWB runs the Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate 5/15K in Chicago

I ran my last race of 2011 on Saturday, November 5, 2011 in downtown Chicago.  It was a 15K (9.3 miler) in the Ghirardelli's Hot Chocolate 5/15K Sweetest Race.  I organized a team to run in this event on behalf of Team Red White and Blue (the same charity we ran for at the 9/11/11 Chicago Half Marathon).

Team RWB runners waiting for the thirty thousand or so
5K runners to start before the 15K runners begin!

A bunch of folks from the half marathon in September ran with me again for this race.  My wife joined us in the 5K portion while sporting the Team RWB colors as well.  A few other friends participated in their individual capacities (we'll get them to run with Team RWB soon!), and a runner introduced herself to me during the 15K race as a person from our Team RWB Facebook page!  How cool is that?!

The morning started out very cold but by race time it was absolutely perfect running weather!  I felt great during the race.  Even though I spent some time slowing down to take pictures and some video, I was nonetheless able to post a very decent 1 hour 40 minute time (which translates to a 10:45 minute/mile).  This race and the time I posted is just what I need to get me focused on training for next year's half marathons.  If I can run 9.3 miles at a sub 11 min/mile, then I can, with the right training, run a half marathon at an 11 min/mile pace in June 2012.

A few of our Team RWB runners at the start of the 15K

Despite all the hype about the free hot chocolate, chocolate fondue and chocolate candies at the post-race party, I am happy to report that I did not partake of any of it.  Frankly, I just didn't have a taste for hot chocolate after a 9.3 mile run!  A few of us who live in the 'burbs went out for brunch instead.  In lieu of chocolate fondue I had a big steak omelette with some wheat toast!

It was a great race to wrap up the year.  I've already been tempted to sign up for a thanksgiving half marathon (the same one that kicked off my long races last year), but I'm going to hold off.  I'm going to focus on running a few races but with better planning and training in 2012.