Beautiful clear morning again: cardinal-light blue sky - changing to blinding gold...
6k run (10:55, 10:30, 9:55 laps)

Only one month till the San Diego half Marathon. And only three weeks to the dress-rehearsal Irvine half Marathon. After the succesful September half Marathon, and after 6 month regular 10-10+ miles long runs we are full of confidence.

Our running training schedule for the next month:
December
19 6k
20 10 miles
22 8k interval training
24 10k
27 10 miles
29 8 k interval
31 10 k
January
1 6k
2 6k
3 10 miles
5 hillwork
6-7-8 easy 6k-s
January 11 - South CA half Marathon, Irvine
one week rest - 2x3 easy run
January 18 - SAN DIEGO HALF MARATHON
On the no-run days swimming, gym, Pilates, anything....
My daughter arrives tomorrow, it means wonderful everyday mother-daughter bonding in the gym.

A little cloudy, but still nice morning. The clouds were similar to icebergs. Hm.. I should check out a "cloud almanach" from the university library. And we should take a camera with us. Both my sons have huge collections of cloud/sunrise/sunset pictures. Maybe we should start one too. We saw only one other walker/runner the Old Man from Ohio State. Where are the others?
6k run (11, 10:40, 9:50 2ks)

UBWO (gym):
biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 10 x 30 lbs
lat pull down 2 x 20 x 70 lbs (inward and outward grips)
row 20 x 60lbs
chest press 20 x 40lbs, 10 x 50 lbs
back 20 x 60 lbs, 10 x 70 lbs 10x8 0 lbs

OMG! Old Walker is running!!!! Old Walker is a 80+ year old English gentleman, our most faihtful companion every Saturday - Sunday on the highs school track. Always walks 10 laps. Today he started to jog!!!It was only 100 yard, but jog.
He is our new hero:-)) (Beside the 60+ Old Marathoner, who was with us today too.)
Madame Butterfly was flying around too. Literally. She follows some very special Asian training, walking/jogging, meanwhile flying with her arms.
This time her husband and son were there too. (Practicing some martial art on the lawn.)
Ok, so our 10 miles long run - after all these wonderful inspirations was great success. We felt young as Old Walker, fast as Old Marathoner, light as Madame Butterfly.
Nutrition: one cup Gatorade before run, 2x1/2 cup during run.
(2:25; 2:20; 2:20; 2:18 laps)

My grad student daughter with us for the holidays. This summer, partly inspired by our running program, partly by the new university athletic center, she started an intensive exercise program - lost the infamous "freshman 20" in three months. (Actually she gained this 20 lbs much more during her junior/senior years.) She is gorgeous. When I visit her or when she is with us we always exercise together. Wonderful mother-daughter bonding - sweating together - followed by cooking together.
This time we have huge shopping to do: both of us need to change our warderobe. (She dropped from size 12 to size 6, I from size 14 to size 8)

No running today. Resting our legs after our Saturday's long run and before our planned interval training on Monday.

UBWO (gym):

biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 10 x 30 lbs
lat pull down 3 x 20 x 70 lbs (inward, outward, middle grips)
row 20 x 60 lbs + 2 x 70 lbs (felt strong)
chest press 20 x 50 lbs, 20 x 60 lbs (felt really strong:-)
back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs

During my sweating my daughter (sweating also on the eliptical) were entertaining me: reading articles from trashy magazines.

Cold, but clear morning.

8 k speedwork.
2k warm up (8:40 min/mile)
4k speed (8:28 min/mile) !!!
2k cool down (9:20/mile)
nutrition: the usual glass of water before run

10k trail run along our creek. (15:30, 13:10; 12:40, 15:10)
nutrition: a glass of water before run

Gym:
biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 10 x 30 lbs
lat pull down 2 x 10 x 70 lbs (inward and outward grips)
row 20 x 70 lbs
chest press 10 x 50 lbs, 10 x 60 lbs
back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs, 10 x 80 lbs
leg extension 20 x 60 lbs
leg curl 20 x 40 lbs, 10x 50 lbs


Merry Christmas!

We have got wonderful running gears from our kids. My husband - a computer geek - loves these gadgets. So far we have used a nice Polar heart rate monitor: see here. It was excellent to check heart rate, time - basic infos.
Now we have got a "Timex Bodylink heart rate monitor & speed+ distance system": see here. So now we can track our speed, distance too!! Something else, we do not need to push the buttons, the gadget automatically records data at every km or mile. All data downloadable to our computer. So we are so scientific now:-)))
To relax our feet we have got a foot spa (jets, vibration, bubbles, massage) and a nice electric heating pad.

Ok, we are going for a test run this afternoon....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr it is raining. So we had to skip the running , but we had a test walk with the new gear. It is excellent! We had a 4 mile walk around a small island, then we checked a new 10k hilly course.

Evening: 30 min hill work on treadmill.
AND a wonderful photo session. My husband took dozens of pics of us (my daughter and I) sweating in the gym:-)

We spent the day with buying new clothes with my daughter. (She lost 20 lbs this summer, but similar way as I has refused to change her warderobe so far.)
Parading in simple digit size dresses - how heavenly!! My husband took dozens of pictures of our new selves :-))))

UBWO:
biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 20 x 30 lbs
lat pull down 3 x 20 x 70 lbs
row 20 x 70 lbs
chest press 10 x 50 lbs, 10 x 60 lbs
back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs, 20 x 80 lbs

Freezing cold (in South CA everything under 50F is considered freezing), but very clear morning - we had to put on our sunglasses at 7 AM.
10 miles - 9:10-9:20 min/mile speed. We felt great.
Nutrition: half a cup Gatorade before, 1 cup during run.

After an hour loneliness Old Walker, Madame Butterfly, Black-White Stripes Guy joined to us. Where is Old Marthoner? Maybe tapering before a January marathon? We missed him.

2 weeks to the Irvine, and 3 weeks to the San Diego Half-Marathon.
We are fully confident we can do the double.

Today we went back to continue our shopping. This time buying lingeries to our new dresses. It seems every evening dress requires different panties, bras :-)))

Afternoon gym: one hour family weight training with the guidence of my Marine/triathloner/personal trainer son. Nobody else was in the gym, so we (DH, DD, DS, I) could use everything. My son showed us many new tricks, what can we do with these boring looking machines.

Regular UBWO:
biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 20 x 30 lbs
lat pull down 2 x 10 x 70 lbs 2 x 10 x 80 lbs (!!)
row 20 x 70 lbs 10 x 80 lbs (!!)
chest press 10 x 50 lbs, 20 x 60 lbs
back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs, 20 x 80 lbs

30 min hill work on treadmill.

What a run! Very cold (around 40F), but fortunately clear.
8 k speedwork.
2k warm up with 8:50 min/mile (it was so cold, we needed a fast warm up:-))
4k with 8:16 (!!!!) min/mile
2k cool down with 9:20 min/mile

But this is nothing. DH IS THE MAN!!! He broke the 8 min barrier, having a 2k with 7:58 min/mile!!!!! Usually we are running together, but doing speedwork separately.

Nutrition: the usual 1 glass water before run.

Exertion level: somewhere between 9-10.

(My favorite simpliest exertion level chart:
Level 1: I'm watching TV and eating bon bons
Level 2: I'm comfortable and could maintain this pace all day long
Level 3: I'm still comfortable, but am breathing a bit harder
Level 4: I'm sweating a little, but feel good and can carry on a conversation effortlessly
Level 5: I'm just above comfortable, am sweating more and can still talk easily
Level 6: I can still talk, but am slightly breathless
Level 7: I can still talk, but I don't really want to. I'm sweating like a pig
Level 8: I can grunt in response to your questions and can only keep this pace for a short time period.
Level 9: I am probably going to die.
Level 10: I am dead.)

I have got two more wonderful after Christmas presents: the Pumping Iron DVD and Schwarzenegger's New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. What a great motivation! I have always hated weight training. But to see the divine Arnold pumping hundreds pounds.... Maybe I should skip from running to bodybuilding???

Next time when I am going to the gym I will take my son's lap top, and watching Pumping Iron meanwhile sweating with my pathetic 20-30 lbs biceps curls. (Somehow meanwhile all my other muscles show some improvement, my biceps not....)

Gym:
with the help of my son and the Schwarzenegger book (yes, I know Arnold is retro, but with my 46 year I am retro too:-)) I have improved my weight training. Better posture, how to adjust correctly the machines, etc. Of course my routine still very amateurish, but oh well...

biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 20 x 30 lbs
reverse biceps 20 x 20 lbs
lat pull down 2 x 10 x 70 lbs + 2 x 5x 80 lbs lbs (inward and outward grips)
row 20 x 70 lbs + 10 x 80 lbs
chest press 10 x 50 lbs, 20 x 60 lbs 10 x 70 lbs (!!!)
back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs, 20 x 80 lbs
leg extension 10 x 50 lbs 20 x 60 lbs
leg curl 20 x 40 lbs, 10 x 50 lbs
machine flys 2 x 20 x 40 lbs

What a wonderful last day of the year! Cold but clear - blinding rising sun energizing us. Becuase of some work the bikers were derouted from the trail, so it was a "runners" day:-)))

10 k trail run along the creek 55:35 (27:45, 27:50) - means under 9 min/miles
nutrition: a glass of water before run

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kids left early morning, we are alone.... Too quiet....

3.63 mile morning run - 31:49 - 8.44 min/mile (!!!)
(10:25, 10:05. 10:10 - 1. 175)

Gym: UBWO chest, arms

biceps (preacher curl) 20 x 20 lbs, 20 x 30 lbs
reverse biceps 20 x 20 lbs
chest bench press: wide grip 20 x 40 lbs, narrow grip 10 x 50 lbs + 10 x 60 lbs, middle grip: 10 x 50 lbs+ 10 x 60 lbs + 10 x 70 lbs
machine flys 2 x 20 x 40 lbs
dumbbell: kickbacks, wrist curl, pullover
dips, push ups

back 20 x 60 lbs, 20 x 70 lbs, 20 x 80 lbs