A clydesdale no more!

Ended up going to a father and son's camp with Becky's son on Friday night.  It was a torrential downpour so I got no sleep at all.  Saturday was a busy day so by the time I got a chance to run I was too tired.  Put in a good run today.  Ran from home to Bountiful Blvd. then to Eaglewood and finished the loop home.  Lots of hill work.  Kept the pace/effort nice and easy and enjoyed being out on a perfect day.

Had my weigh in at the gym yesterday.  I'm down 30 pounds and 4% body fat since January.  This will help give me that extra little push for the last 10 pounds.  Hoping the body fat drops another 10%.  When the guy saw my abonormally high body fat %, he had a puzzled look on his face.  He gave my side a little pinch and said, "Oh, that makes sense".  Yes, I am a skinny fat guy.

Day 1 at the crossfit gym.  It was HARD.  I've been going to the strength and toning class at work for the past few months.  That is nothing compared to this.  It is an hour long class going through different cycles.  Pushups, pullups, burpees, lifting tires, TRX, dumbbells, barbells, and a bunch of other things.  I struggled but made it through the workouts.  They require us to go 3 days per week so my plan for now is to go Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Will run decent mileage on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with recovery runs on the other days if I can fit them in. 

Good solid run on the Rec Center loop.  Arms, chest and quads are a bit sore from yesterday.  Not deabilitating sore but just enough to know I did something new.  I've been in such a bad place the last few months.  It feels good to be taking steps toward feeling better.

Day 2 at Firehouse Fitness.  I felt less out of place but still struggled through the exercises.  8 cycles of the usual variety spending 6 minutes in each cycle.  I was encouraged that some of the things that I struggled with on Monday were not as hard today (the dumbell jumping jacks and dumbell punches).  Had a real hard time with burpees and the crab crawl.  One of the cycles was a 6 minute run that I was excited for.  Finally, something that I knew how to do. Unfortunately, it was the second to last cycle and I was exhausted and could only maintain 7:30/mile pace.  If nothing else, I am getting used to the feeling of pusuhing myself outside of the comfort range.  After running for a long time, I have gotten used to the feeling and never really pushed myself out of the comfort range.

Woke up with a very sore right calf either from the sumo squats or mountain climbers.  With my reduced mileage, I am trying to be better about quality runs.  Opted for a 4 mile tempo run on the Legacy Trail (thanks for the idea Kam).  Warmed up for 2 miles from home to the trail and transitioned right into tempo pace.  Not really sure what that is right now so I targeted 7:00/mile.  Becky needed my Gramin for her long run this morning so I had to use my old school running watch.  Actually prefer to do it this way so I am not constantly looking at my pace.  It is better to pick the pace by feel than by what your watch says.  Unfortunately, my internal speedometer is not quite calibrated so the pace was all over the place (6:48, 6:55, 6:31, 6:48).  Mile 2 seemed to be the most difficult.  There is a very slight elevation gain on the trail (mile markers 3 to 2) but that wouldn't account for the slower, more difficult pace.  Maybe it was mental.  Over compensated during the 3rd mile and I also crossed paths with Becky so I probably felt the need to show off.  Felt good about the run.  Once I got into a groove, it was a good feeling to be moving at a decent clip.

Shorter session of crossfit that ended with a 15 minute run.  I extended it and ran the 5k loop.  Kept the pace around 7:30/mile and it felt really good. 

Very windy run.  Headed south on the LPT as I wanted to put in the work into the wind the first half of the run and half the wind at my back during the second half.  The wind was blowing much harder than I expected and it was tough.  Kept the pace around 8:15/mile and it took a lot of work.  Connected to the JRP and continued on to Rose Park golf course.  Turned around and couldn't believe how much easier it was.  Pace dropped to 7:40 and it felt very comfortable.  Overall, I felt great during the run.  I am slowly but surely making my way down the comeback trail.