HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Lots has happened in my life since I last logged. Moved to Virginia, added yet another child to my life, been a member of three different CrossFit gyms, even tied for third in a competition, oh! And returned to my “fat” lifestyle. Instead of getting into the why or how I went from seemingly two extremes (placing in competition and returning to lazy), let me focus on how I’m going to dig myself out of this mess…yet again.
Karen and I have recently joined a newly formed gym, CrossFit Hydraulic, and this place will be my home base for my journey back to fitness. It has a lot of similarities to my favorite box of all time (CrossFit 610) in their programming and most importantly, the community. In two months there I have already started to feel a difference in my athletic abilities, and the people keep making me WANT to go back. Wanting to go back says tons about the atmosphere here, though I can’t say that I was unhappy at my previous box (CrossFit North Reston). Coaching there was top notch and the programming was always fun, but life sometimes requires movement and in this case everything worked out.
Though CrossFit is my favorite form of staying active, I realize that CrossFit needs to help me in some other aspects of fitness. One easily accessible form of fitness is running distance races. It is one of the most popular forms of fitness with roughly 18 million runners signing up for races every year! (http://www.runningusa.org/statistics) With that kind of popularity it is easy to talk to others about their times, distances, struggles, and their results.
It must be noted here that I HATE running long distances. I have always found it tedious, boring, and painful but these are things that I can overcome. Previously, the longest run I have ever done was a 10 mile road race in Philadelphia (Broad Street Run) and to be honest I walked a good portion of it and finished with a disappointing time of about 2 hours. I must redeem myself!
Redemption has given Karen and I the idea to make 2016 “The Year of Cardio!”. What does this mean exactly? Well, we hope to complete a running race at all the major distances in a single year. That means a 5k, 8k, 10k, 10 mile, Half Marathon, and Full Marathon. We also have signed up for a 180 mile 2 day bike ride (100 miles day 1, 80 miles day 2) and I would also like to complete an Olympic distance triathlon. To say we have high expectations of ourselves is an understatement!
Today, I started the year of cardio on a great note! I completed a 5k in a time of 25:24 (8:11 pace) which is a personal record for myself. I have already signed up for an 8K in February in hopes of knocking out the lighter distance races before the spring so that I can be ready to train for the full marathon in November which we think will be the Philadelphia Marathon. My goals for the races are rather simple and are typically “just complete” but I would also like to get that redemption in the 10-mile race and finish in about 1 hour 30 minutes and to finish a half in under 2 hours. As for the Marathon….I just hope to not bleed and chafe and cross the finish line as a fully operational human.
Team Bootstrappers taking home the victory in the 5k team division!
Please feel free to point out any tips or races you’ll be completing and maybe they’ll fit into my schedule!
It’s great to be back!
Workout: 5k run. 25:24 (8:11 pace) http://www.amazingracetiming.com/results/2016/rotary-resolution-run/487-results-5k.html
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