Greg on the Run

Still working out. Boot Camp ended last week. After doing 3 morning sessions and 2 evening sessions, I was a bit worn out at the end of the week.

One of the disadvantages of coaching is finding time for your own workout/runs. I’m with the Charleston Runs athletes on Wednesdays and Saturdays and then have been at evening Boot Camp workouts just to encourage others so I feel like I’m missing out sometimes. It’s ok – I just need to figure out my part, especially since I am trying to rebuild running strength.

Ran Saturday evening at my mom’s house. That was probably the first time I went out and ran just to run. And it felt pretty good. After t he first mile, I wasn’t struggling which was something I hadn’t felt for quite awhile.

There’s a small group, less than 20 that works out together in between Boot Camps. Really good session this morning led by my friend, Kem.

I went to Boot Camp on Monday night as well as Monday morning. Not a mistake but it made Tuesday’s Boot Camp a little difficult. We did a lot of running (Indian Runs) and spent time doing sprints and animal crawls. I did great with Indian Run until the end – I seem to only be able to sprint 6-8 times before my left knee starts really starts giving me fits and puts a hitch in my giddy-up. I just jogged up and down the court. And I’m horrible with the animal movements – most of them take a lot of upper body strength which I don’t seem to have or maybe it’s because I have too much upper body to move.

I met the Charleston Runs athletes on the track this morning. It wasn’t a particularly difficult workout but it was the first or second time for some of them so I had to help them along and check on their progress- I didn’t get a chance to run but that’s ok.

I did Boot Camp this evening and it almost seemed easy by comparison to some of the recent sessions. We did the bench press the Body Bar exercise- as many as you can in 2 minutes wide grip and 2 minutes close grip. I did 300 wide grip and 211 close grip. Much slower on the second set. Again – that will hurt. Fortunately, I have to meet someone after work tomorrow and can’t work out in the evening!

My arms will fall off by the end of the day. I’m sure of it. After warming up in Boot Camp this morning, we all grabbed a Body Bar and headed to the roof. Those Marines are some inventive! Run a lap or two and then do some Body Bar exercises. At one point we laid on our backs and did as many wide grip bench presses as possible in 2 minutes. I did 251. Then we did them close grip. I did 250.

At the end of the session, we were doing some exercises over the head and in front of the chest. The last set, I simply could no longer lift the bar from my chest to over my head. My arms feel just a bit like rubber.

My legs are dead. My glutes hurt and there’s this muscle soreness somewhere deep in my legs that I never knew existed until about 10 minutes ago.

Monday evening I did the evening Boot Camp after being on the arc trainer for 30 minutes. Mile timed run and then partners took turns running one lap while the other partner did an exercise. Hot and worn out.

 Tuesday’s workout was mostly a “Fight Gone Bad” type workout along with a running/exercise drill. Run one lap as fast as you can while your partner does a Body Bar exercise. When you get back, you do the exercise and your partner runs.

Wednesday morning I ran 3 miles. I dropped my phone, which records the run, and the battery popped out, thus losing the data on the run. Before it dropped, I was faster than my pace and felt pretty good.

Wednesday evening I did Boot Camp again. We started out with a run on the stairs. Sheesh that was hot. Then we jumped onto the tennis courts and did a “Fight Gone Bad” type of workout. After that we did an Indian Run. I was in the middle group and struggled to stay with the group. Heat, the group was fast, I was tired? I don’t know.

So, this morning I get up and head off to Boot Camp. We ran almost the entire time. Sprint 1 lap, Jog 1 lap, recover. Sprint 2, jog 1. Sprint 3, jog 1. Sprint 2, jog 1. Sprint 1, jog 1. Then we’ll throw in some side straddle hops at the end.

Would someone call my mom and have her come pick me up?

As I walked off of the tennis courts after Boot Camp, my friend, Noah, looked at me and said, “That was fun.” Let me be clear. This morning was not fun.

Warm ups are now a little more vigorous and different than what they used to be. We get the heart rate up right away, before we start stretching. Once we warmed up, we moved to the roof and began running.

I don’t how long or how far I ran but as I could I would jump in behind someone else and pace off of them for a bit, fall back out and recover and do it again. That’s how I could faster the first time around and as I get stronger, I’ll get faster again. Once we were done running, we split into two groups.

Our group continued running – Jog, the curve, leg exercise on the straight, jog the curve, sprint the straights. Exercises were lunges, sumo squats, and bear crawl. Bear crawling the length of the straights is pretty difficult for me.

Once we were done, we lined up on the center of the tennis courts. Again, one group sprinted to the wall and back while another group did an exercise. We ended with a push up pyramid – 2 pushes, sprint to the wall and back, 4 pushes – to the wall and back, up to 10 and then back to 2. I didn’t finish so when class was done, I went back and finished mine. Ouch.