Working out so far

Hey there everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I got some decent runs in, and it has been nice for it with the recent weather around central Maryland that has seemed to fluctuate between autumn-like and spring weather. I've usually tried to get some runs in when its cooler, and when it has been hotter I think I am doing a little better with the heat. Right now I am focusing on getting some distance runs in, and I hope to do more speed work a little later on (and I may try to strategize it to have more of those workouts occur during earlier times of the day when it is not quite as hot).

I tell you, since I started running earlier this month, I have been averaging around 7:30ish-per-mile, and that feels challenging enough, almost as if I am pushing to run under 6:20-per-mile. So yea, a pace that once not so long ago seemed relatively easier for me is now becoming more of an exertion (and that involves me running it around a flat track). I know I have had trouble adjusting to the heat this spring, and earlier this school year I had problems with lower blood-sugar levels, and I suppose they helped "conspire" to really slow me down to where I find it challenging to run 5-kilometer distances (approximately 3.1 miles) around 23 minutes. It's a bit disheartening to think that a year ago I was doing 5K races in under 6-minutes-per-mile pace (not that far under it, usually turning in 5K times well between 18 and 19 minutes), and my training pace was typically under 7 minutes-per-mile for my distance runs. I need to trust the Good Lord that He knows what He is doing with this and that He has His good reasons and plans for it!
One thing worth mentioning that I don't usually mention here is that I have been trying to lift weights about 3-4 times a week, doing relatively smaller workouts each day. There is a weight training class that I help out in at the Homewood Center where I work, and there are several different exercises that I do there to try and boost muscular endurance to help with my running (and my running helps the muscular endurance in turn, or so it seems). I have had a goal for most of the year to do about 3 sets of 15 repetitions on a majority of the different exercises that I do (meaning I try and work out at a lower weight than the maximum that I could lift, so that I could try and do more repetitions with that particular exercise and increase the weight at a hopefully steady pace). Towards the middle of the school year around the start of winter, I had a goal of trying to do 3 sets of 15 repetitions on the lat pull-down and also that same amount on the seated row machine, both exercises at 105 pounds of weight. I remember for the longest time I had started out at 45 pounds on both of those machines, and it was hard for me to get going on it, because at the beginning of the school year was when I was having difficulties with the lower blood-sugar levels when I would work out. As a result, I would feel kinda woozy/dizzy from just picking up the weights, bending down to stretch, and other such relatively simpler physical activities. Once I started getting better about munching on a little bit of food around the times I would work out, I felt like I was able to start moving up closer to the winter break. The winter break, followed by the "second winter break" when we got all that snow throughout Maryland and the surrounding states in early-to-mid February, and of course spring break, were all a bit of a setback in that I did not do those exercises at home, so it took me a little longer to work up to where I am now on those exercise machines. Last Wednesday (May 19, 2010) or last Thursday (May 20, 2010) God helped me get that difficult goal on the rowing machine when I did 15 repetitions of 105 pounds on it for 3 sets. I was happy and ready to focus on the lat pull-down. Then, today (Monday, May 24, 2010) I sat down at the lat pull-down, planning to only do 2 sets of 15 repetitions of 105 pounds. I thought that would have been a challenge since I was hungry and I did not sleep as much last night. Yet, God blessed me with energy on the first set, and I felt confident I could handle two more and try and finish out this goal today instead of waiting until later in the week to attempt it. The third set felt pretty hard within the last five repetitions as I could feel a kind of burning around my stomach and arms. I knew I was almost done and that God would help me through... And He did! As of today, I finished out my goal on the lat pull-down of doing 105 pounds 15 times, and doing 3 sets of those 15 repetitions :)

So that has been going pretty positively. I am thinking I may want to work on my pull-ups goals. The most pull-ups I have ever done was a little over five years ago in the spring of 2005, when I did 27 in the Maggs Gymnasium at Salisbury University in Wicomico County, Maryland. I would like to try and top that; it would be great I think to be able to get into the lower-to-mid 30's on the amount of pull-ups I can do, God-willing. I am not trying to brag, though I would like to be more open about goals on this blog. I think it maybe a doable goal for me to get to 29, quite possible even 31 pull-ups by the end of this year. That would be neat. Two years ago, I was lifting weights fairly often, and I was doing more with the bench press. I had started to bench a little more than my own body weight (which at the time was around 145 pounds, and last week at the doctor's office I weighed in closer to 151, which is great because I feel that I can stand to gain a few pounds :) I would like to eventually get to workouts where I can bench press a little more than my body weight more regularly. God-willing this can happen for me. I want to stay healthy of course, and if I have health/injury problems, it will be hard for me to stay consistent with this kind of training.
Of course, I have running goals. There are a couple of running goals related to a couple of running courses on the Maryland and Delaware Eastern Shores, and I will get into all of that at a later post hopefully. Thank you all for stopping by and reading this! I enjoy sharing this kind of material on this Maryland-Wide Running Quest blog :)


Races I Have Done This Year as of Tuesday, May 24, 2010

1). Friday, January 1, 2010 – 3rd Annual Southern Maryland Community Network Resolution Run 5K – Prince Frederick (Calvert County), MD – 9th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) – 20:38 (clock time), 20:34 (watch time)

2). Sunday, January 10, 2010 – Mighty Medford Freeway 5K – Medford/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 8th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) – 20:25

3). Sunday, March 7, 2010 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” Winter Series #6: Oakland Mills Middle School 6-Mile Race – 17th overall – 43:55 (ran at an even pace, and ran negative splits too )

4). Saturday, March 13, 2010 – 3rd Annual Pi-Mile (3.14-mile) Run – Patuxent High School, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 7th overall (20-29 male age group division winner) – 23:29.0

5). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (9:00 A.M.) – Inaugural Francie’s Family 5K – Middletown Park, Middletown (Frederick County), MD – 10th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) – 2!:07.25

6). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (11:00 A.M.) – 2nd Annual Matt Boles 5K Fun Run – East Middle School, Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 23:54

7). Saturday, March 20, 2010 (1:00 P.M.) – 28th Annual “Forest of Needwood”/”Jennifer Schafer Odom Memorial” 5 Mile Road Race – Knoxville/Petersville/Brunswick (Frederick County), MD – 35th overall (20-29 male age-group division winner) - 44:57 (clock time), 44:55 (watch time)

8). Saturday, April 3, 2010 – 2nd Annual Race for Joe 5K – Borough of Franklin Park/McCandless Township (Allegheny County), Pennsylvania – 13th overall (2nd in male 20-29 age-group division) – 21:01 (clock time), 20:57/20:58 (watch time)

9). Saturday, April 10, 2010 – 1st Annual Hills of Milltown 5K Challenge (it was closer to 3.45 miles according to someone’s GPS) – Historic Ellicott City (Howard County), MD – 10th overall (3rd in male 19-19 age-group division) – 24:21

10). Saturday, May 15, 2010 – 1st Annual Queen Anne’s Police K-9 Chase 5K (it was around 2.9 miles) – Terrapin Nature Center area, Stevensville/Kent Island – Queen Anne’s County, MD – 10th overall (4th in male 21-30 age-group division) - 21:58.9 (as of completing this race, I can say I have done a race on all general areas of the Cross-Island Trail on Kent Island )



Please check out the events I did in 2009:

http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2009/12/reflection-on-2009.html



Please check out the events I did in 2008:

http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html



Please check out the events I did in 2007:

http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html