solar squirrel

I have hesitated to write this post, but I guess I shouldn’t put it off any longer.  I have day dreamed about this post…the day when I was able to confidently state that I was back to running.  Well - the time is here.  I am still dealing with meniscus pain, but it’s so mild and it doesn’t interfere with any activity so I’ve decided that I should make it official.  I AM BACK!

Today I ran the SARC Buckeye Half Marathon and felt awesome!  Set a new PR for myself for the half marathon - I believe the time was around 1:37.  I’ll post an official report as soon as I know the exact results.

Over a year ago, in July of 2009, I was training to do a fall marathon in 3:30.  During what should have been an easy 6 mile paced run, I had to stop and walk due to pain.  Here’s the post in case you’re interested.  That started an 8 month long journey through the first real injury I’ve ever had.  My recovery officially started in June, after I saw Dr. Keyes - who BY THE WAY IS A MIRACLE WORKER - and he fixed me up!  Since June I’ve been pretty conservative with my running, having done most of my runs around a 9-min or slower pace with the Smiths.  I really think this was key to my recovery going so well.  Running with them forced me to go slower than what felt ‘normal’ to me aerobically.  I think that this was instrumental for me not re-injuring myself.

Here’s my come back song from Scooter to make the event ‘official’.  Please listen to just the first 30 seconds of this song if you’ve never heard it.  Scooter is so freakin’ awesome!!!!!!!

Tribute to our fans - Tour 2006

Larry with me and Brittany

A few months ago, my pal Brittany told me about this trainer she had hired to help get her into shape for her wedding.  She said he had these things called ‘Buddy Sessions’ where you and a friend work out together with him and he gives a pretty good rate.  She said  I could come and do a workout with her and see how I liked it.  Well - after the first session I knew it would be worth it so I signed up for 12 weeks.  After about 6 sessions I could already see a DRAMATIC difference in the way my core and upper-body looked - specifically my arms and shoulders were looking RIPPED!  Right around the time I started working out with Larry I was also able to start running again, so I had a double whammy kick start to my fitness comeback.  I’ve never lifted weights or worked out with a trainer seriously before and I can honestly say that I’m impressed with the results.  My metabolism is definitely higher (I’ve lost over 10 lbs) and I guarantee it has to do with the increased muscle mass that I’ve obtained from our sessions.  I decided that I really wanted to focus on building strength in my hips and legs for running, so I added another day with Larry during the week where we focus solely on strengthening those areas.  Again: more than impressed with the results!!  After a little over a month I can tell that my stamina during running is improved.  I have more strength during longer runs and I’m confident that if I keep this up I’ll be back to where I was before the IT band injury within a few more months!

So I thought I would put together a blog post that talks about all of the fun we have during our hour-long buddy sessions on Saturday’s.  Here’s a recap of this week - I had my sister, Katy, also tag along so she could get the full Larry experience (since I’ve been telling everyone about the crazy workouts he has me and Brittany do every week)

We started off with a trio of fun:  1) Running sprints while pulling weighted sled; 2) Squats using resistance band; 3) Alternating lunges on slide with medicine ball.

Sprints pulling weighted sled

Brittany doing lunges on slide with medicine ball raises

Katy doing squats with resistance band

The way the buddy sessions work is you take turns doing the different activities that Larry comes up with.  Brittany and me usually just look at each other in disbelief when he tells us what he wants us to do next.  It’s like - where does he come up with this stuff??!!?  We did 2 sets of the above and then moved onto our next trio:  1)  Mountain climbers / kick outs on slide; 2)  Burpee’s and pushup with weighted sled pull; 3)  Step ups on bench.

Larry telling Brittany to keep going - the double leg slide outs were INTENSE!!!!

Katy doing step-ups

Me doing Burpee + pushup and weighted sled pull

We ended with lunges and shoulder presses with the weighted sled; medicine ball throwing / catching (really worked the forearms!!!); and something that I can’t remember.  (Towards the end of the workout I start getting delirious…)

I love our workouts because we aren’t in a stuffy gym and we typically incorporate whatever is around us into the workout.  (The other week Larry had us doing push-ups with our feet on swings at a play ground and angled pull-ups on the jungle gym!!)  It is an awesome workout and a lot of fun because Brittany and me are laughing and cheering each other on the whole time.  Another cool thing is that the other person feels obligated to work hard and not stop due to the fact that we’re both doing something at the same time.  So if I’m doing angled pull-ups while Brittany is sprinting with the sled my arms are getting tired and I’m telling her to move as fast as possible!

Check out these RESULTS!!!!

Multiple muscle groups engaged!

I didn’t realize my shoulders are REALLY getting ripped - check it out:

Whoa! Getting a little freaky-looking!!!! HARD CORE!!!!

I have some really good before shots of me in a bathing suit from this past winter when we went to Castaway Bay.  I’ll have to see if they are postable.  (They are pretty bad).  For now I’m going to try to keep up the workouts and hopefully continue to see results.  I still hate my butt and love handles, but at least they are getting MUCH smaller.  I just want to get strong and have endurance…if that means keeping a little flab then so be it.

I’m still in the ramp-up stages of getting back in shape.  After my realization that I actually *can* do a half marathon with the IT band injury still healing I’ve decided that I should probably get into a more routine workout schedule.  In order to keep myself on track I’ve also been looking around trying to figure out what races I’m going to do this year.  Here’s a few that I’m considering:

Sunday April 25 - University of Akron Sprint Triathlon

Sunday May 16 - Cleveland Half Marathon (Yea, I know I vowed never to do it again after they ran out of water at the water stops the one year…but I’m going to do it with my friend B so it will be fun…plus then I won’t feel guilty going to the post-race party)

Sunday June 6 - Twinsburg Duathlon (Sprint)

Sunday June 20 - Maumee Bay Olympic Triathlon

Sunday August 8 - Greater Cleveland Olympic Triathlon

Sunday September 12 - Akron Marathon (Relay? I hope so!  Not sure if my fast lady friends will want to give it a go again this year - I can’t do it by myself!!)

Sunday September 25 - Revolution3 Half Iron Man (Yikes!!!  When I looked at the price of this one I almost passed out!!  At least it includes 2 Cedar Point tickets.  If I do this one, I’m going to DEFINITELY need the Red Bull and Vodka for afterwords!!)

What is everyone else doing?  Am I missing something fun that others are going to do?  I’ll put up a 2010 Race page soon - but wanted to get this post up.  (My internet at home has been horrible lately!  It goes out all the time!!!)

Last week (Sunday) I ran the Youngstown Half Marathon.  Good news:  my IT Band held up (I used my compression strap)  This is really great because this is a pretty hilly course and the best test for the IT band is to run down hills.  Bad news:  My time was basically horrible.  The past two years I’ve had a little over an 8-min pace:  2008 2009.  This year I was over a 9-min pace (1:58:49).  Considering this is the farthest distance I’ve ran since July I guess I should be happy I was even able to finish!  It’s just frustrating to have to start over again.  But running is something you typically have to work at in order to do well.  I gained weight, too, so it’s not just being out of shape, but also being heavier and having less muscle mass.

I’m working on getting rid of the flab though, and I’ve already seen a difference in the way my clothes are fitting.  (For a while there I couldn’t wear some of my dress pants for fear the seams would rip apart when I sat down - I am not exaggerating - I had visions of meeting with a client and having my fat explode out of my pants!!!!!)  In addition to running I’ve been getting to the gym more regularly during lunch hours and recently joined Lifetime Fitness.  Janet was raving about it and it’s literally right down the street from my office so I checked it out a few weeks ago during my lunch break.  I was so impressed I decided to sign up right then and there!  The place is HUGE and they have classes during lunch - including a really sweet cycling studio.  I also plan on using the outdoor pool in the summer to swim laps during lunch.  I CAN’T WAIT!  It’s great to look forward to going to the gym.  For a while I didn’t go to the gym (Bally’s) because it was just too dirty and disgusting - and forget about using the pool unless you want to get chlorine burns.  Sick.  I could only go during lunch because I knew it would be tolerable and less crowded.  Bye-bye Bally.

So for the past two weeks I’ve been doing pretty well with my workouts.  The IT band started to act up when I did my tempo run, but after a few min of slowing down it went away.  I think it’s just going to be something I have to deal with for a while.

Work is going great and life in general is pretty good.  Sometimes I don’t want to think about how great everything is going because I’m scared it’s going to go away…but it’s all in how you perceive things I guess.  I could dwell on the negatives or look for the bad in things, but life is so much more enjoyable when I focus on what is going well.  So for now I’m going to keep thinking that everything is awesome, try not to judge others, and live life to it’s fullest!

Another week has gone by and things are starting off well for 2010.  I managed to run twice last week which is more than I’ve done in several months.  Both times were really slow on the treadmill - but I was running a very controlled gait and concentrating on not allowing my left leg to invert.  (The cause of my IT band problems stems from a crooked left leg).  I applied for individual health insurance and I’m considered ‘high-risk’ because of my IT band problems.  I wanted to just strangle the woman on the phone when she was telling me about why the rate that I received was more than $100 more than I was quoted.  Basically it’s because I am considered a high risk to them all because of my IT band.  Are you kidding me?!  I asked her - well if I”m the highest risk category, then what the heck is someone with cancer, AIDS, heart disease, etc?  She laughed and told me that they would just have denied someone like that.  Nice.  Gotta love health insurance.  Anthem can bite me.  The only way you can fight the system is to just try as best you can to stay healthy and take car of yourself.  Once you are sick there is nothing that you can do and the system won’t go out of their way to assist you in any way.

Here’s my weekly breakdown:

Mon:  Ran 3 miles on treadmill (9:17 pace for first 1/2 mile, then 8:27 pace for the rest).  Foam roller.

Tue:  I can’t remember what I did…I think I did the elliptical for 35 min and then did foam roller.
Wed: Netflix streaming workout videos w/ Katy and Gret.  Bootcamp then abs, thighs, glutes, and torture.  Aprox. 1:20 min total.

Thurs: Ran 3 miles on Treadmill.  9:07 pace for first 1/2 mile then 8:23 pace for the rest.  Foam roller.  Wore IT band brace thing - felt really good.  I think I’ll wear this more often whenever I increase the miles or speed.

Fri:  Slacked
Sat: Trainer ride (50 min).  Foam roller.
Sun:  Not sure if I’m going to get motivated to do anything…we’ll see.

This week I’m going to shoot for 3 days of running.  I’m going to up the mileage to 4 miles for one of the days and keep it at 3 miles the other 2.  That sounds SO LAME but I am determined to take it slow.  Also - these miles are probably going to be on the treadmill, so they sort of don’t even count…but I need a controlled environment.

In other news we bought a salt-water reef tank yesterday.  We took both Todd’s car and mine to the guy’s house who was selling it.  In my car we filled up buckets and garbage bins with the salt water that we siphoned from the tank.  In Todd’s we put the tank inside and the tank base on his roof.  The reason we brought the water is because we could then re-use it for the live rock and the fish (blue tang) that came with the tank.  It took most of the day yesterday.  Here are a few shots of the process:

Containers for the water in my trunk

It was really weird - we had a hose running from inside the guys house (inside of the tank) sucking the water into buckets / containers in my car.

Todd's car w/ the tank base on top

Tank inside Todd's car

Todd putting the live rock and the blue tang in temporary bucket

I’m really excited to get it up and running.  It’s about 150 gallons, so not quite as large as our freshwater tank.  We plan on making it a reef tank - so it’s going to take a lot of $$ to get it going.  (Live rock is EXPENSIVE!!!) I can’t wait to get some really cool shrimp and clown fish and neat corals.  We’re probably going to have to be selective when it comes to the animals that we get (i.e. purchasing tank-bread) since a lot of the fishing/harvesting practices are bad for the environment.  I’m hoping to learn how to breed / grow the coral.  The pieces are called ‘frags’.  It’s SUCH A NEAT HOBBY!!!  I’m also going to have to figure out how to offset the electricity that we’re going to be using since this will require more lighting and unfortunately there aren’t any really good energy efficient (LED) versions of the lights that we need.  If you’re interested in following the process with us I’ve put together tags and categories under ‘reef tank’.

Quick post to say that the new year is already off to a good start as far as training.  The IT band continues to be troublesome, but I’ve been doing cycling on the trainer, elliptical and spinning class at Bally’s and instant streaming Netflix workout DVD’s.  The week ended nicely with a ~2 hour indoor training ride with CTC at Twinsburg Rec. center yesterday am.  GREAT time indeed!

Mon: attempted to run on treadmill - got in .4 miles then knee pain.  Continued to get in 3 miles - pain never went above a 5 on a pain scale from 0-10.  Then did stretching and foam roller.

Tue: Trainer ride; foam roller

Wed: 30 min elliptical; foam roller in afternoon.  In pm went to Katy’s for our weekly Netflix streaming DVD workout sessions.  Did 10 min abs; 10 min thighs; 10 min glutes; 10 min stretch.  Then did hip exercises for IT band.

Thurs: Trainer ride; foam roller

Fri: Rest

Sat: Trainer ride

Sun:  Gonna do 45 min Netflix DVD later today.  (Awesome for total body).

I think I”m going to join the FF and BA triathlon group this year.  I was already checking out potential races, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself…we’ll keep things moving along w/ the knee and hopefully get it healed once and for all.  Stay tuned!

I’m officially finished with my MBA.  As a result, the past two weeks I’ve been slowly ramping up my fitness - working out 4 days each week.  This week I’ll begin running again - probably starting with a single mile on the treadmill to get me started.  I’ve been swimming, doing spin class, hip exercises, Netflix fitness DVDs, and elliptical running the past 2 weeks.  These next few weeks I’ll slowly begin ramping up to build a (hopefully) solid aerobic running base again.

I’ve found that I can go to Bally’s during my lunch break.  It’s really great because it’s pretty empty at lunch and I can get in a decent aerobic workout and some foam roller time.  The locker room is pretty much empty and though I haven’t done it yet, I’m fairly certain the weight room is for the most part deserted as well.  I’ve decided in order to prevent injury I’m going to need to incorporate weight training.

I’ve also been using some streaming Netflix DVDs to assist in building back up.  They are really too easy, but there are some parts that use weights that get me straining.  I’ve been doing this 45 min one and then afterwords adding in my hip exercises to round out a nice workout.  I have to be VERY careful about my IT band.  Amazingly, even with physical therapy I am still dealing with pain.  It’s been almost 6 months now, but I’m confident that I’ll beat it with a dedicated workout plan (and the fact that I can actually spend more time training now that school is out).

FYI loyal solarsquirrel followers - the website will be undergoing some updates very soon.  Please bear with me in the mean time.

I also miss all of my running friends and I want to let all of you know that SOLAR SQUIRREL WILL BE BACK SO LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!  (I might even have to break out the Scooter song…)

I officially have 3 weeks of school left.  It will have been 3 years that I’ve been working full time and going to school part time at Case to get my MBA.  I cannot believe how much has changed and how much I have LEARNED in 3 years.  I am truly impressed with my experience at Weatherhead.  I can honestly go into a job interview and confidently state that I have worked with REAL businesses and helped them achieve new growth potential.  I have taken on the role of consultant, marketer, designer, and accountant.  I have learned about so many different cultures and business models and have seen what successful and unsuccessful businesses look like and how they operate.   The networking opportunities that my MBA have afforded me are possibly the most valuable.  I learned about my current employer when they came into my class last semester and gave a course on carbon footprinting.

So…this is the end of my difficult journey of a part time graduate student.  I am amazed that I somehow found time to train for triathlons, a 50k, and several marathons during my time as a student.  My limited time caused me to only do the BARE MINIMUM training required and I think that may have been reflected in my recent injury.  I am confident that 2010 will be my best year ever fitness-wise.  Although I have a new job that requires dedication, I am going to ensure that a portion of my extra time is completely dedicated to achieving a fitness level that I haven’t had since Marine Corps bootcamp.  Anyone else out there up to the challenge?  If you know me you should know that once I set my mind on something I make it happen.  These next 3 weeks will be a chance for me to ease back into what I intend to be a year-long training program.  Next year at this time I will be in the best shape I’ve been in my entire life.  Who’s with me?