tracknut

Hello! A couple of thoughts on you dilema: You are doing a lot of leg strengthening with the lifting. How about mobility. When I work with runners they all seem to have tight hips because that is not a focus on most runners. We tend to worry about hammies, quads and calves. I would try to work in some hip mobility exercises: Clam shells, Pigeon, leg swings and the like. A quick google search on hip mobility will give you a great starting place.As for the breathing, my guess is that you are probably carrying tight in your arm and shoulders. This will have a tendency to "cave in" your chest and make you pant. Try to visualize a string being pulled from the top of your head when you run and try to keep your hands low and relaxed. This should help you loosen up the shoulders and give you room to breathe. Remember to breathe. Nice full breaths down to the belly.It is ok to heel strike as long as your feet aren't a mile out in front of you. Try to keep your legs under your hips.If you are running your 10k on a treadmill you are in great shape! If you are running it outside, well, then you need to run outside! What if it rains on the day or your event? Gotta train for all scenarios. Plus running in the rain is awesome fun. Just get a ball cap to keep it out of your eyes and go play! Splash, make a mess. After about 10 minutes of running you will heat up and the rain will be refreshing. Good luck with the training. It may be worth it to find a qualified coach in your area to asses your form. Contact your local RRCA running club and I'm sure they will have some connections. Best of luck!

RAGNAR is done! Update for the week is pending but a crazy day ahead of me so not sure when.

Sorry to hear about the medical woes! I am glad that the Doc have some concrete ideas. I hate when they just through darts.

Ahhh...the Renaissance Festival, bringing boobs to the masses for a generation!

Awesome job! I think you need to double that weight total mid-challenge. You are absolutely going to crush that one. Cake and Champagne?!?! Yeah, that's worth a cheat!

This will make morning runs a breeze! I love that you are running with your faster sister! Easiest way to get better is to chase the fast ones!!

My oldest son was very nervous the first two times but by then end he was like a little monkey! My wife wants to give it a go next. Too bad my littlest guy can't do it yet. Maybe we will just let him boulder. Great idea! The dancing is problematic for me because I usually can only do it when slightly intoxicated.

So I came looking for some food.

Can't wait to read the week two wrap-up...

Awesome mile time. Jumping is a great thing to help you run fast. Keep it up!

I like how your "off" week totally crushes my "good" weeks. Keep working hard!

True but for Mt. Climbers I only count the right leg. It seems like I should be counting both but then it would just be too easy.

I love the "tele-type" look of your reviews! Keep working hard you are just beating this challenge to a pulp!

Week Two Updates: 1. Upper Body Strength - Do 400 Push ups and 100 pull ups/chin ups per week. Grade: A. 580 Pushups and 102 chins/pulls. Feeling really good about this part of the challenge. I do the push ups each morning and then save the pulls/chins until the evening. I find my arms loosen up throughout the day, especially my elbows. Second straight week of A level effort. 2. Alternating Cardio work - I like cardio and need to be consistent with getting it in each week. I need to cycle, walk, run and/or swim at least 240 minutes each week - Grade: C. Still missing this one I hit 146 minutes this week. I am finding it harder and harder to squeeze everything in 24 hours. I should be good this week because of RAGNAR but I need to find the time to get this done. I really need to get out on the bike for a long rides on the weekend. 3. High Intensity Training (HIT) - I need to increase my intensity of my workouts so I am going to do a minimum of 2 HIT workouts a week. Grade: A. Got in two this week! Swim session of 10 X 50 meter sprints and a Tabata. I am only one short for the challenge so I should be able to make that up this week. 4. Start to redefine my athletic self by find and trying 3 new athletic endeavors. Grade: A. I went indoor rock climbing this weekend and had an absolute blast! I really have some limitations due to the hip mobility but I really like it. I just received a Groupon to do a 3 hour introductory climbing class at the same center so I am definitely going to give that a whirl. Even better, my oldest absolutely loved it, overcame his fear of heights and climbed all the way to the top of the wall. Fantastic day!! On top of that my boss made me the captain of our office "Steps Team". This is an inter-department challenge to see which office can put in the most exercise (mostly walking) until November 30th. So I am wearing a pedometer and trying to make sure that I get some extra walking in. Now that I have done the rock climbing I am a little thin on ideas. I am thinking about trying the new trampoline place that just opened (http://www.skyzone.com/Columbia). Any other ideas would be welcome! So, all in all a very productive week for me! I feel pretty good other than the lack of cardio and what that does to my waste line, but I know I can pick that up a bit. Keep working hard everyone!

I hate when life interferes with my plans! Keep up the good work!