Preparing for a 5K Race

I was somewhat bored the other day and wrote a little blurb about my experience prepping for my 5K. So, if you need some tips, go check it out:

So you've just signed up for a 5K? If it's your first, you're probably nervous about the race and what you need to do to prepare. I recently completed my first 5K earlier this month, so I've done plenty of research.

Long enough to be challenging for a new runner, but short enough to not require long-term training, the 5K (equivalent to 3.1 miles) is one of the most popular road running races. Whether you're a new running hoping to reach a milestone in your fitness goals or a marathon runner looking for a fun short "training" run, a 5K is a great race for people of all ages and abilities...

Read more here...

Aw crap...no lifting for a bit

I had a relatively good week last week, except for the fact that I sprained my wrist! Phooey. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Pullups/pushups, Ab Ribber X
Monday: None
Tuesday: Shoulders/legs/arms
Wednesday: None
Thursday: Run - 2.82 miles in 26:46 (3 min of which were warm-up. 2 laps - 14:34, 12:12. 10:20 min/mi, 9:08 min/mi)
Friday: Chest/Back
Saturday: None

Prior to the sprain, everything seemed to be going along fine. I did all my weight exercises, though the chest/back workout was somewhat tough. Somehow, skipping the workout last week didn't help me at all. Lats were tired early. Chest was strong though. I even did a couple sets at 180 lb. But I think that might have pushed it, because incline dumbbell presses were hard. Last set, I failed at the fourth rep. That may have been the point I sprained my wrist, but it's hard to tell since I didn't feel the pain till around midnight.

I only ran once last week, but I did run outdoors, and I hit close to a 9 minute mile. I keep incorporating my warm up into my first lap and that really messes with my numbers, so I think next time I run my predetermined route, I'll warm up and then start counting my laps from the point I run. That way, I'll have more accurate numbers for the run, especially the first lap. I tried running on Saturday, but again I've been feeling sluggish. I slept in and just didn't have the drive to get up and go. I may be stressed and it's really affecting how my body recovers.

Anyway, with my sprained wrist (my right), I really need to reevaluate my workouts this week. I've sprained my left wrist a couple of years ago and that took a very long time to heal, partly because I was in denial about it. But having gone through that and my recent shoulder injury, I'd like to think I'm smarter about injuries now. Although my wrist only hurts when I rotate it, I'm going to lay off the weights for a week at a time. I'll reevaluate every Sunday and see where I am. What does this mean? It'll mean my main focus will be cardio until my wrist heals. I know, I know. Right away, I thought about the gains I've made in terms of my resistance training. I'm at a place where I'm lifting more than I've ever had. Shoot, I'm doing shoulder exercises with 37.5 lbs when just a couple of years ago, I thought over 25 lb would have been impossible. But I understand that to ensure my longterm health, I need to lay off. I'll probably return with less strength, but I can build it up again.

Since I'll be doing mostly cardio until my wrist heals, I've also decide to dig into my past workouts. I'm going to try to supplement my running with some martial arts-influenced workouts. P90X has a pretty good karate-influenced workout called Kenpo X. I'll aim to do that once a week. The workout is heavily dependent on how much you put in, so I can adjust the intensity as I see fit. My lower body is healthy too, so now would be a good time to hit the gym for some leg workouts. Machines, of course, since I don't want to hold any weights.

That's it for now. Let's hope my wrist heals soon!


Last weigh-in:
172.0 lb

I gave in...but it's okay?

It's pretty sad, but I had a blah week last week. What happened? I gave in. I gave in to weakness. I gave in to sloth. But I suppose it's for the better. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Pullups/pushups, Ab Ripper X
Monday: None

Tuesday: None

Wednesday: Shoulders/legs/arms
Thursday: Run - 4.0 miles in 37:09 (9:24, 9:24, 9:20, 9:01; 5K in 28:56)
Friday: None
Saturday: None

As you can see, I missed a lot of workouts. I only had one run, and I missed my chest/back workout. BUT, I had horrible sleep and it was cold. Okay, the latter was a bad excuse. But I didn't get enough sleep. I felt tired and didn't think it would've helped my body to push it through 5-6 days of workouts. Besides, I had turned it on for a week or so before my 5K, and I broke my expectations that race. My last "break" was end of August, so I made up my mind to take a semi-break. Kind of a let-my-muscles-relax-and-rebuild phase. But I have to get serious again.

The highlight of last week was my one run. My local cousin has been putting up consistently great numbers on her way to rebuilding her cardio, and the competitiveness made me aim for a four mile run. I completed the run, despite my cramp at mile two. Focused breathing ushered the cramp away, but still left whether or not my mental toughness could tough out the extra .9 miles I aimed for. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or the higher speed I was running at, but mile four was very tough. At times I felt like I needed to throw up. Haha. Very rare. It usually happens when I'm tired or I just ate. My stomach was empty, so I'm thinking it's because I was tired. Either way, I managed to push through, running mile four in 9:01. Pretty sweet.

I don't have any races in the near future, but I do have some goals I'd like to hit before year end. I want to run 5K under 27:00 (less than 9 minute miles). I want to bench 200 (even if it's on the machine). I want to hit 3 sets of 15 pullups (I'm at 13 now). Also, by spring, I'd like to be able to run 10K easily. This would mean future 5K races would be easy. It would also put me on track to join my LI cousin on the Men's Health Urbanathlon next fall. So, I've got some work to do.


Last weigh-in:
171.0 lb
I'm not concerned about my weight at this point. If I can hit all the above goals by year end, then I wouldn't care what weight I would be at. In fact, I'm contemplating going into a brief bulk stage to handle that bench press goal. But that would mean cutting back cardio, and cardio is making me feel good lately. Decisions, decision.

Set a PR with my 5K!

The Tufts Jumbo Stampede 5K was this past Saturday. I'll admit I was pretty nervous going into it, but it was fun. Here's last week's breakdown:

Sunday: Pullups/pushups, Ab Ripper X
Monday: Run - 5K in 29:08 at 2% incline (9:34, 9:30, 9:11)
Tuesday: Shoulders/arms (skipped legs)
Wednesday: Run - 5K in 29:29 at 2% incline (9:33, 9:31, 9:31)
Thursday: Chest/back

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Tufts Jumbo Stampede 5K - finished in ~28:05

I knew going into the week that I would skip my legs workout. The week before, my legs were a bit tired from the leg workout and the inclines I added to my indoor running. I didn't want to risk running the race with tired legs. So, no legs. I tried giving a bit more in terms of runs. I figured it was my last week to do anything, and I wasn't really too concerned with going too crazy before the race since it was only a 5K.

First run of the week after cooling down from my 5K run, I decided to do a half mile interval at 8.5 mph. I did it pretty well and cooled down again afterwards. I figure that little burst of speed after a run might tell my body that it's possible to sprint after 30 minutes of running. Second run was a bit difficult. My legs were tired after two miles and my heartrate went as high as the 170s even though I didn't increase speed or incline. Last 1.1 miles was really tough. I had to fight pretty hard mentally to keep going and finish. Looking back, I think it was due to lack of sleep. I was averaging 5.5 hours per night. I made the decision to make sure I was well rested before the race. I was going to run easy on Friday, but I decided to dedicate that day to rest.

Night before the race, I hit the sack early and got about seven hours of sleep. I rested all of Friday and kept myself pretty comfortable. Also, I had picked up my number bib on Friday, so I could "sleep in" on Saturday. I still woke up earlier than I would've for work. I got there with my cheering group and warmed up and got ready. The 15 minutes before the start was a bit of a torture with my adrenaline pumping, but I somewhat managed to calm myself a bit. During the warmup run, I was able to use the track to gauge my running speed; sort of a calibration run if you will. I overshot myself with the warmup run and wound up running at a 8:30 pace. I made a mental note to slow myself down during the race or I knew I wouldn't last.

The race organizers came in and asked everyone to get ready. I settled into the middle of the pack and waited for the start. When we did start, several people passed me immediately, but not too much. So I knew I picked a good place in the pack to start. I settled into what I thought was a 9:30 pace and picked a competitor to run behind. When I heard him wheezing two minutes into the race, I picked a trio of young runners and settled behind them instead. I stuck with them for a while, even when a quartet of scantily-clad nubile females ran by (haha). After passing several people, we hit the first hill. It was a gradual climb that lasted for a very long block. I focused on pumping my arms and leaned into the hill. We then had a short break of a small level block before hitting the next short but steep hill. The trio I was tailing had to stop after this hill, so I blew by them and picked a different target. After passing a few other people, I settled on two girls wearing elephant hats. I stuck with them till the end until I passed them around the last quarter mile. Turns out I was being tailed as well, and this girl passed me at this point. We hit the track for our finish and I sprinted the last 90 or so meters to the finish. I forgot to stop my chrono right away (the sprinting does that) and forgot to look at the official time, but I calculated my time as ~28:05. A personal record.

I was pretty pleased with my results. I knew I didn't win the race, but I was happy with my performance. I got a t-shirt, too. Haha. My main goal that day was to finish without walking and to finish under 30 minutes, and I hit both and set a new best for my 5K, so I'm psyched. I'm going to keep adding distance and speed to my runs. I hope to eventually run a 10K along with hitting my other fitness goals.


Last weigh-in:
170.0 lb

Adding inclines to my indoor runs

I haven't been able to run outdoors lately. I'm too tired in the morning, and I live in a crappy neighborhood, so I don't want to run at night. So I've been running indoors. If you run at all, you would know running on a treadmill is much easier than running outdoors. So I thought I would start adding inclines. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: None
Monday: Pullups/pushups, Ab Ripper X
Tuesday: Run - 5K in 29:34; total 4.25 miles in 40:33 at 1% incline (avg 9:30 min/mile)
Wednesday: Shoulders/legs/arms
Thursday: None
Friday: Chest/Back
Saturday: Run - 5K in 32:02 at 2% incline (9:29, 9:32, 11:50)

So, first run of the week, I did 1% incline. This would make running similar to outdoor running on flat ground. It wasn't a bad run. I even made it a slightly longer run at 4.25 miles. I was quite satisfied with myself. Second run was a different story entirely. I decided to run the full 5K at 2% incline. First mile started off okay, but ended a bit rough. Second mile was a killer. My lower legs were burning from the extra exertion of the incline. I held on as long as I could, but wound up walking for a half mile. Then I finished the remainder of the 5K at 1.5% incline. It was a very disappointing run (Note: I did complete a run at 2% last night, but that's next week's update).

There were a lot of reasons for my failed run. I might have let too much time pass between runs. I might have tired my legs out with my leg workout. I might have increased the incline too much and should've done 1.5% instead. Either way, I didn't run it. I learned a few things from that run. One, I'm skipping my leg workout this week to keep my legs fresh for my 5K. Two, I am weak on hills, so I need to focus on that a bit with either hill training or incline running indoors. Three, I need to run more consistently and not let too much time pass between runs. I only hurt my own progress doing that. I have to work harder at it this week. It's my last week to prepare for the race.

Weights-wise, I'm doing fine. Back seems to be evening out with the chest. The rows at 170lb seem to be getting easier. I'm going to work to three sets of 8 and/or play around with 180lb before moving on to the next plate at 190lb. My chest can already handle 180lb, so it shouldn't be too long before I hit my goal of 200lb. At this point, I wish Planet Fitness has heavy free weights. Best they have are 60 lb dumbbells and Smith machines. Either way, the good thing about doing these heavy workouts is that my pullups are improving. I'm at three sets of 13, so I should hit 15 soon.

Well, that's it. It's all about the 5K this week.


Last weigh-in:
170.0 lb