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Well, today is my 30th birthday. Can you believe it? I mean, I guess if I'm telling you that it is, you probably do believe it. Maybe it just seems unbelievable to me.

Anyway, yesterday's run went really well once my calves got worked out a little bit. Stretching beforehand was pretty painful, but once I started running they really loosened up and felt fine. Today they are only mildly sore.

I calculated the distance that I ran yesterday and came up with 4.4 miles! I'm feeling good about it, I hope that I find that all of this pays off tomorrow when we tackle our 8-miler out by the lake.

Did I mention that I'm 30? Man. Somehow I thought I'd be more... manly by the time I was thirty. I still feel like a kid -- I still look kind of like a kid. But I'm not. Wow.

Take care everybody and I will talk to you again soon.
posted by Kenner Estes at 11:08 AM

FWIW, my calves are killing me today. That elliptical machine really worked me yesterday.
posted by Kenner Estes at 5:45 PM

Hello and welcome to another brilliant installment of "Training Log: The Musical". We have temporarily suspended the musical numbers, so today's adventure will be entirely text-based.

So I have to start getting up earlier on cross-training days. I thought that I had given myself enough time, but by the time I walked to the gym, put my stuff in a locker, got on a cross-training machine, and finished 30 minutes, it was really too late for me to do my strength-training. To be on time for work I had to get back home and shower right away. So, I'm going to try to get up 30-45 minutes earlier (6, 6:15ish) to make sure that I have enough time in the future.

Back to the important stuff: food. It's amazing how important appropriate nourishment is during training. Even insofar as what you actually feel like eating. I've been finding myself gravitating a lot more toward meat lately, I imagine as my body requires more protein. And, I know that even as recently as yesterday I said that I'm not a big cottage cheese fan, but I am finding out that maybe I like it more than I thought I did. The trainer that I met with at the gym last week suggested that I give it a try, and another thing that she suggested as a snack to keep around my desk is graham crackers. I bought some of these Honey Maid Honey Sticks, which is basically thick, bite-sized graham crackers. I decided to try dipping them in cottage cheese, and it turned out to be a pretty good idea. Tasty.

Anyway, I'm feeling stronger, fitter, these days, though I've lost only about 6 or 7 pounds. We'll see how it continues.

Hey, last thing, THANKS to all of you who have so far donated. I will make a tally when I send in my first batch of donations (soon) and post here how things are going. Until next time.... -K
posted by Kenner Estes at 4:45 PM

My joints were a little bit stiff this morning, but not nearly as bad as I would have imagined that they would be. It didn't take long for them to work out and then my run went fine. I still have my watch doing intervals but I run all of it now. The only reason I keep the intervals going is in case I need to walk, that way I don't have to figure out how long I should walk, I just go back into the normal intervals. Anyway, today was 40 minutes, and I ran from 1445 N North Park up to Clark & Diversey and back down, which is about 2 miles one way. I actually got back to the apartment a couple of minutes early so I walked past and then back. This is only significant because it means that I must have been running an average of under 10 min. per mile. That seems impossible just because I felt like I must look like a snail going along, I go that slow. Anyway, it's improvement, so that's cool.

I'm doing a lot better about hydrating during the day. I wouldn't claim to be up to 8 glasses of water a day yet, but I'm a lot closer to that now that I ever have been. Have you tried this stuff "Propel"? It's that Gatorade brand, vitamin-fortified "water". Not bad, it's a fairly easy substitute for soda (which I love but need to cut back on) so it's been making it easier for me to get good fluids in me throughout the day. Leanne and I both really like the Berry kind, but I've also had the Lemon and Orange kinds, and they're pretty good, too. I also just tried those Breakstone cottage cheese containers with the fruit on the side for the first time this morning. That stuff is GOOD. And I'm not a huge cottage cheese fan.

Okay, enough about food. I meant to mention before that that knee band actually does seem to help prevent some of my knee pain. I think I'm going to get one for my other (right) knee, as well. This info for all of you who were biting your nails wondering how things went with the knee band.

Tomorrow, cross- and strength-training. I'm off to bed. -K
posted by Kenner Estes at 10:52 PM

Hey there, happy Sunday.

Well, I am pleased to report that my last couple of days of training have been good. I had my fitness test at my new gym, and my results were pretty good. My problem area is body composition -- my body fat percentage is 22%! I imagine that during the course of this training I will see that number go down. I've been eating better, too, so we'll just wait and see. It should really be between 14%-17% to be considered "athletic." Otherwise, my muscular fitness was rated "above average", and both my aerobic fitness and flexibility were rated "well above average"

THEN... my big news is about yesterday's TNT group run. Yesterday was a 7-miler and I had decided (as I mentioned previously) to attempt to run instead of doing intervals. During the week I have been working to phase out the intervals, but the farthest that I have run during this period without any walking breaks was almost 3 miles (the day I had to run to Leanne's office). Well, I did it. All 7 miles. As best as I can figure, I ran the 7 miles in about 74 minutes, which is just over a 10.5-minute mile. Not winning any races, or anything, but my goal was to just keep going, and I did.

So, I'm feeling pretty good about that, hoping that it wasn't a fluke. I'm trying to learn more about what I should be eating, not only in my regular diet but also both pre- and post-run so that I have the energy and don't suffer when it's over. Yesterday my stomach was a little bit upset for the rest of the day, which is something that I always hated about running cross country when I was in high school. I think that it mostly has to do with eating, though, so when I find what works for me I'm hoping that those symptoms will subside.

Anyway, I'm kind of sore today. My knees are stiff and my right ankle a little tender. It's not like injury pain, though, just "I need recovery time" pain. Today's a rest day so all should be okay.

I'm in Ohio today but will be back in Chicago tonight, and then tomorrow's a run day!

Take care all. -K
posted by Kenner Estes at 9:36 AM