Friday, February 22, 2013

30 MINUTE TREADMILL WORKOUT

Hello my friends!

So, I have got some pretty awesome feedback about the 30min workout I gave you all to try a couple weeks back. Including one from a lady name Laura who came to me this morning at the gym saying how hard the workout was. I was ecstatic to know she tried it.

I have another one for you. Today- in Charlotte- its cold and rainy so a 30min Treadmill workout sounds really good. :)

5min Warm up

2x (4x .25mi) at your 5k pace. The 1st round- your recovery is as follows: 1st one- recovery is 1min, 2nd-.45secs, 3rd-30secs,4th-15secs.  Go immediately into the 2nd round. Recovery is the same. However, change your speed to .2 faster (keep it that pace for all 4)

Remaining time is your cool down time.

Note- jog very easy on your recovery. But when it gets to the 15secs only- just hop off and let the treadmill run- then jump back on to start #5.

Have fun! and let me know how it goes.

G

Sunday, February 17, 2013

RUNNING TRAINING CAMP

Below is my Journal for the last 2 days of which was a Training camp with 2 really good friends at Uwharrie National Forest.

Saturday - Feb 16th 2013 - Uwharrie National Forest

Today has already been awesome and it is only 10:20am. Ryan F. and CL have joined me on what we call a Training Camp and Spiritual healing camp all in one. We all arrived last night around 8pm and just talked. They got to know each other and of course got along b/c they are such great people. While I am use to waking up at 4.20am and going to bed at 9pm - I pumped to know I got to sleep in for once on a Saturday morning. I wanted to come here with not a worry in the world and not care about time. Even better was that all our phones did not work. No TV. Just books and us talking.
I woke up at 5am (mental alarm I guess) only to hear the rain falling extremely hard on the roof. I also knew the temps were around 25 degrees so I went back to bed not feeling so enthusiastic. Cold temps and rain = miserable running weather.
Again, I woke up at 6.45 and felt restless so I "casually" walked over to the coffee maker to brew some coffee and to my surprise they both woke up ;). They then heard what I heard. The rain coming down. Not cool! We have a Long run, and hill workout run, and then an easy run all on this day. 3 Runs in this miserable weather. What could we do. Go back to bed and waste this trip away. I think not. I am in the same room with a 2.36 marathoner and a 15.27 5k guy who just averaged 5.24 per mile in a 14k race. And I, well- I like to think I am elite in the tri world.
Anyway- we put on our winter running clothes and started our first run at 7.30am. To our surprise- 6min into the run,the rain turned into Snow! A light floating, beautiful snow. As we are running in this National Forrest I could not help but thank God aloud. I was telling them how I think God saw 3 guys who have been stressed with the real world- One getting married in 3 months, another a single teacher who has the troubles of owning a home and the other an Accountant who for the last 2 weeks at work had to put in OT and the single home living as well. Its safe to say we all needed this trip, and God knew that. He turned a miserable weather day into a day that is indefinable. The snow was sticking, the wind was non existent, the only expression on our faces were smiles and the only noise coming from our mouthes was laughter. We just wanted to keep running but knew our legs would be gone on our mid day run. So we put in a 1.15hr run.

Got back to the cabin and I volunteered to cook. We had eggs/bacon/apples/bannanas/blueberries/and my Mom's specialty fruit bars that are all gone already. We decided to make our next run at 11.30am. This would give us around 2 hours of doing whatever. Ryan- read, Chris- slept, I- blogged and read.

Second Run - 1.02 hrs - 10x35sec hill sprints, 5x35sec hill skips
This one felt colder than the first. Not sure how, maybe because we mentally were prepared for cold weather in the morning and not so much for the 2nd run. We did a 20min warmup and got to an awesome trail with no rocks or roots- just dirt with a great hill. This is where we did our hill repeats with, of course, the 2 guys making it look easy and me not so much. After that, we did our cool down and were going to call it quits when we were at 45min in, but Chris said he was feeling good and wanted to add on a little so Ryan and I pleasantly agreed. The first 45min was in rain/snow type conditions. Then the last 15min, the same 15min that we were going to skip, ended up being the most fun we had of the day when it came to running. The sleet turned into snow, but not just any snow. Snow that was moving extremely fast but sticking. Our eyes were seeing white of everything. It was unbelieveable to be quite honest. Here we are, 2.15 hrs into our running for the day and we were on cloud 9. We swore the weather was going to be horrible. We swore our runs would not be fun. We did not swear God was going to be with us the whole time and that is where we went wrong!

So, we finally showered- ate some lunch. Fruit/protein bars/snacks. And sadly sent Chris off. His fiance was gracious enough to lend him to us for 1 night and 2 runs.

Ryan and I then had 3 hours to relax. We really couldnt sleep so I read some more as did he.

Third Run- 16min - Easy recovery run
We did this run at 4.30pm. The first 3min felt like our legs were cemented in the ground. Then, surprisingly, we both admitted how amazing we felt.

After that we quickly mad ourselves a fire outside. It took us 15min to start, but we were so determined to create a fire. However, once started- we were starving and went inside to make dinner and watched the fire burn from inside. On tap was chicken, peppers,carrots, and sweet potatoes. For desert cookies and brownies.

8pm rolled around and we were spent. Lights were off at 9pm.

Sunday
No alarm again was heavenly. I slept in until 6.30am today so that was nice. Ryan and I decided to just go out the door and get our last run done with rather than sit aorund and drink coffee and let the temps warm up.

4th Run - 1.25hrs - Easy Long run
Ryan and I were extrmely sore (More me than him). For the first half of this run I said the rosary to myself as I do this every Sunday run and he prayed as well to himself. The Sun was rising, the sky was the stereotypical color of Carolina Blue and we were just 2 little peons in this Enormous National Forest. Our last 20min we started moving at a good clip; I think because we were ecstatic that we made it through agrueling 24 hours of running.

8:30am we finished, brewed some coffee, made breakfast and relaxed once more.


It is amazing how Life stands still when you have no internet, no cell phones, and no TV. We all admitted that 2 nights is a good number. Anything more would be pushing it (sorry to admitt that, but I need my Twitter :).

Below is a pic of each of us with the cabin.

In the end- 4 hours of running (4 runs) in a 25 hour span (7.30am was the first run on Saturday and we finished the 4th run on Sunday at 8.30am).

Tri season is about to get under way for me and I CANT WAIT!!! For Ryan, he is hoping to break 2.40 hrs at the Boston Marathon. And Chris, a 2.32 marthon is in his cards within the next 3 years.Just a couple of guys who love the endurance life brought together and be apart of an unbelieveable weekend.

Just know- God is not good, God is Great. Never give up on him for He NEVER gives up on you.

Cheers Mates!

G

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

WHAT'S YOUR TREE?

I know I am not the only one that gets a little stressed here and there at the work place. However, I have done something for the last 2.5 years that has really helped me live a balance and stress-free (most of the time) life. Every time I leave work and head home to go do my next training block of the day, I touch this tree branch and by doing so- I release all my negative energy/stress/and work on that tree. It reminds me that all those feelings/emotions needs to stay at work and does not need to come home with me.

I read this 2.5 years ago in an article and have implemented it every work day since. I highly recommend you find your own "Stressed Tree" to release all those bad vibes on before you enter your car to go home from work. Your family, children, and in my case the dog and my mind will be very thankful.



Monday, February 11, 2013

30 MINTUTE TREADMILL WORKOUT

Top of the morning to you!

Its winter, its cold, and its rainy. You want to run outside but can't and you DONT want to run on the treadmill because it is soooo boring. So, you avoid your exercise. NOT TODAY!

Here is simple, but hard 30min workout on the treadmill that will or should go by fast for you. 


10min - Warm up - Incline at 0, Speed at your pace for your easy Long Run.

The next 14min - Increase the Incline by 1 and your speed by .1 every 2min. When you hit 20min, decrease speed by .1 and increase incline by 1 again. Do that at 22min as well. Start your cool down when the treadmill time is at 24min.

6min - Cool down - Incline at 0 and speed the same as your warm up.

Note: No stopping the treadmill.

I hope this makes sense to you, and I hope some of you try it.

Let me know how it goes if you do.

G


Friday, February 8, 2013

EMBRACING LIFE

Good Morning!

Another week of training in the bank. Another injury free and healthy week as well- therefore- I am one happy dude. Of course a "bend in the road" occurred and for this week and the next I am basically the CFO/Controller of a pretty darn big company due to one person abruptly leaving. Me, 24yrs old, has interviewed people for jobs and now am doing some major accounting work, and of course overtime hours.

But this is why I preach the single life so much. I can still train all the hours i need. Get all the sleep I need. Enjoy life to the fullest. Have no one else making me stress (thats a little much i know :) and for another blog post.....)

When adults told me in High School, wait til you get in college- it gets harder- then when they told me in College- wait until you get into the real world- it gets harder. Then- wait until you own a home- it gets harder. A real job- harder. This type of race- Harder. Well- after experiencing all of the above-I don't think there is nothing Hard about it. You have to have the right attitude to attack different tasks each day but it is definitely possible to enjoy and embrace the obstacles or debris thrown your way.

Living in my house for 6months and taking care of a yard and all the upkeep has been challenging but Man-O-Man it is one awesome challenge. So much fun.

So anyway- Adults encourage kids that Life is not all that bad please. Also, please ignore your Na-Sayers. Just because they can't find the right balance does not mean you can.

Train On! Stay Fit! Get Fit! Love Life!

Greg

Below is the yard that I TRY and keep up.... Learning the ropes each and every day I guess..

Friday, February 1, 2013

SUNRISES!!

Top of the morning to ya!

Straight to the point- When I am filled with joy I sing! Fortunately, I sing all the time which then means I am filled with Joy All the time. People at work, people I train with, family and friends unfortunately have to hear my horrible vocal skills often. I was singing in Hot Yoga class this week even. Talk about a time NOT to do that.

Anyway- I love to take in Sunrises. Especially on my daily dog walk over the farm right next to me.

I look at a Sunrise as something so Beautiful, while short in time, happens often in our lives. So if you miss one, you will get another chance to soak it in. If you get to soak it in, well- be thankful that at that very moment- that feeling of excitement, happiness, bliss, gratitude, whatever it is for you gets to come back to you as soon as 24 hours (the next sunrise). Random- I know- but man I sure do love Sunrises!!!

One pic below, is from my brother out on the water while on duty. Another is of my dog "soaking in the sunrise too" :) . The others are just from my phone.





















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