#Janathon - Day 16 - Full Body Workout

[caption id="attachment_2319" align="alignleft" width="183"] After being stuck in the house for 5 days - I still look this suave. Honest.[/caption]

So, after an absence of several days - I have returned!  My Sinusitis turned upper respiratory infection (I think they are just guessing and throwing out fancy sounding generic illnesses) is improving, My temperature is only 99.9 now. But that is no excuse to miss Janathon is it?

So what sort of exercise did I do? A Fullbody workout!  I have been slacking for several days, so I figured I needed to jump right in.  Now I will admit that I did concentrate on my abs, my diaphram and my rib muscles.  I didn't stop there however!  My the scalenes, sternoclidomastoid, upper trapezius, levator costorum, paraspinals and subclavius for inhalation; and, the pectorals, serratus anterior, latissimus dorsi, and serratus posterior muscles also received a great workout and all with only one exercise!

#janathon Day 10 - Early Morning Run

[caption id="attachment_2306" align="alignright" width="300"] This is what I risk facing when I have to go into a meeting in Alexandria[/caption]

It seems, that despite being up early and doing a nice run yesterday, I never posted about it!

I had a meeting about an hour past my office yesterday, so I had no idea what time I would be returning home. (An hour and a half because I had to go through DC.)  This meant I was probably better off working out in the morning.

(Plus someone at the dinner the night before had been talking about how crazy someone there was for getting up and running 5 miles.  I told him I probably would the next day - so I had to follow through!)

So at 20 minutes to 5am, my alarm went off telling me to get up. (it's NOT 4:40 am, because I promised myself when I got out of the military that I would not get up at any time that sounded like "four" ever again.)  Off I went to my treadmill.  At about 3 miles, I was really bored and thought about getting off of it - but this was one of those cases where I had told someone I was going to do five miles, so I had to live up to it!

I did run in my Sauconys, as I figured 2 days of running in new shoes - I should probably return to the faithful "Standby" for my long run.  It actually (other than being mind-numbingly boring) felt really good!

I was right on my traffic planning however, it did take me one hour and forty minutes to get there. (for the record, only 40 minutes to get home as there was no traffic at that hour)

#janathon - Day 9

Day 9 of Janathon COMPLETE!!!! I had to head into work early today, and back late (although it was late due to a truely lovely dinner. I have to admit, I did not follow my diet for dinner.)  I have been getting hassled by Max for not giving my impressions of the Altra Zero Drop running shoes I got yesterday, so my Janathon run was going to need to be something a bit more trying than my 3 miles in 45 minutes from last night.

I was in a hurry, so I headed down to the treadmill.  Rather than my leisurely 10 minute mile that I have a tendency to do there (I admit it.. the treadmill makes me lazy..)  I figured 7mph should be about right, considering what I have been doing out side and it had the added bonus, that 3 miles would be the perfect distance to finish up the TV show (Dr. Who.) I was watching.

Sorry for the short posting, just an update on Janathon!

#janathon - Day 8 - Father & Son bonding.

So, this morning I woke up (always a great way to start the day!) and although my legs felt better they were still tired/sore.  I thought that was a darn good reason end my running streak and do some yoga in the evening instead.  In fact I said "Self, since the legs are still a bit sore/tired why don't we do some Yoga tonight instead?" Really.  Right out loud and everything.

As the day went by, the tired/soreness faded from my legs, but I was going to stick with my plan and do Yoga tonight.

But then my shoes arrived.  "What shoes?" You might ask....



My new Altra Zero Drop Running shoes!  They arrived at my office today!

#janathon - Day 7 - a SLOW REST day!

OK, So I admit it.  I overdid it this weekend.  Apparently following a fast (compared to my recent running) 6 mile run with a fast short run wears the legs out.

If it wasn't Janathon, I would take today completely off from running and give my legs a chance to heal  But it is Janathon, so instead, off to the treadmill.  While it is only 45 degrees out this morning, I think I have proven that I can't be trusted to run slowly on my own. But that's OK.. Why? Because the treadmill will take care of that for me.

I hopped on, did my warm up walk and went to 6 mph.   And WOW are my legs tired! It felt like I was trying to run faster than I did over the weekend!

oh wait.. I hit 8 not 6... That is certainly not right!  Back to 6 where it belongs, and a nice easy mile ensued, followed by a nice stretching session.

There is no way my legs could do yoga today.  They are FRIED! (and sore.)

#janathon - Day 6 - The "rest" run.

Another gorgeous day here in Crofton, MD.  The temperature was a gorgeous 50 degrees.   Since I have just moved here, I have no idea if this is normal winter weather or not - but I am certainly enjoying it!  Two days outside in a row!

Today is a "rest" day, so I figured a mile or so would be good.  My shortest look is around 1.5 miles, so I figured I would just go out and run it slowly.

Oops.

My first mile was done at an 8:29 pace, and the second .6 of a mile was done at 8:36.

#janathon - Day 5 - The long run!

I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn't get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn't carry on that way
Oh, I did some damage, I know it's true
Didn't know I was so lonely , till I found you
You can go the distance
We'll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
The Eagles, The Long Run

So today was on the schedule as my long run.  Of course, I don't really have a schedule, as I have found that I stress it when I miss something, then get hurt trying to play catch-up.  I suppose it was more of a "plan."  A plan based on the fact that its Saturday, so I can run while it is still day light out, which means I can GO OUTSIDE!!!!!  We ran our assorted errands (See the previous post for details,) got back to the house - and I gave my phone a chance to charge (after all, if it doesn't get logged in Runtastic, and posted on Facebook - a run doesn't really count!) and got ready to head out the door.

And my neighbor stops by.  I love my neighbors.

#janathon day 4 - Serenity

se·ren·i·ty

[suh-ren-i-tee] noun  (From dicitonary.com)

1. the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness.

Synonyms   - composure, calm, peacefulness, peace.

Day 4 of Janathon!  As you might recall (or be polite enough to pretend to), I ran a 5k in my Vibram Five Fingers on the first.  Now fore thought apparently is one of my strengths, in the same way that using the kinect is (total sarcasm there, just in case it wasn't dripping out of your screen.). This is definitely shown through my choice of foot wear that day.   You see, I hadn't worn them on a run over two miles in 6 or 8 months.

[caption id="attachment_2092" align="aligncenter" width="490"] My Five finger Collection![/caption]

#Janathon Day 3 - "Rest Day"

That's right, day 3 and I'm already talking about resting.  Kinda.

Since its Janathon, and I am running everyday this month, that must mean that even rest days have some minimal token effort right?

RIGHT!

Today's run was ONE mile on the treadmill, at the speedy pace of SIX miles an Hour!

I was gong to do my wife's Jillian Michaels Kickboxing video she had downloaded on Amazon Instant Video, but it seems that in addition to being to dumb to work the kinect, my intelligence levels aren't up to watching Jillian Michaels on the Xbox.  It was only playing in Spanish and I could not figure out how to get it to English.  I assure you that when my wife does it on the PS3, it is in English.

After 15 minutes I gave up.

#janathon - Day 2 treadmill run

I certainly wasn't going to mess up Janathon on day 2!  I had planned on heading outside when I got home, but it was cold and I didn't want to go back outside.  I changed and headed down stairs to the old dread mill!  I went without my usual Netflix and watched my son play Skyrim instead.  I went with my Saucony Kinvara 2 over the Vibrams (and will for the next few days) due to residual soreness from doing the resolution run yesterday in the VFFs.  (Don't tell my wife, but I MAY have ordered a new pair of shoes today.)



I did feel like picking up the pace from my usual slow plod, so I started off at 7 mph.  There is nothing like a road-race to remind me that I'm not quite as slow as my treadmill makes me feel.  Part way through the first mile I decided that a 20 minute run would be about perfect.  Good enough to get the blood going and burn some calories, but hopefully not to much for my sore calves.




That about sums the run up!  I debated extending it to three miles, but exercised this new running-self-control that I am working on using to keep from getting injured.  Yay Me!

New Years day and #janathon!

Had a late night last night.... And a house full of people.



Talk about a perfect way to start the new year!  I only partook of a couple glasses of wine, so all I was this morning was tired and I am definitely OK with this.  My poor wife has been fighting a massive headache the last few days and it certainly doesn't approve of the late night.  The joy of half a hangover but without the enjoyable alcohol feeling from the night before.

She got ripped off if you ask me.  All the pain, but none of the gain...

After waking up this morning - I thought that a 5k (since I had signed up for a virtual one) was a great way to start off Janathon!  I found a Resolution Run up in Baltimore, and headed up there.

Nice race!  I won't go into it to much, as I did a "Race Recap" report.  But I enjoyed it, and came across the finish line around 26:20 - with negative splits the whole way.   My calves have noticed the exertion (wore the VFFs) but they aren't complaining to bad.

I've also returned to watching my calories, and am waaaaaay ahead for the day!

I think this is a great start to the New Year, and a fantastic beginning to Janathon!

Janathon... To do or not to do.. THAT Is the question.

[caption id="attachment_2016" align="alignright" width="200"] To Janathon, or not Janathon. THAT is the question.[/caption]

So I was going through the wordpress blogs under the "Running" category - and found Lengthorn's Blog about Janathon. It seems back in 2007 a a blogger came up with "Junathon,"  which expanded into Janathon in 2011.

So what is Janathon? Simple, you run every day and blog within 24 hours about it.  Now, I think anyone who has blogged in the running community for over a week has seen countless different "run every day in a month/week/year" blogging groups and thought they were idiots about joining one.  This one is not a  competition with prizes (Although it seems Junathon was when it began,) but simply a group of people agreeing to do it - and supporting  one another.

I have thought about these, but I only ever seem to find out about them after they are already started, and while the "rules" of this one say you can start even part way through - I think the whole time period would be much cooler than jumping in at the end.

Janathon is nice also, in that it doesn't require running every day - but just some form of exercise.   In addition, you also get to display the cool badge to the right (but without the question marks. I added those since I haven't decided whether or not to run it.) to display on your blog.

I'm on the fence, but thinking that I will do this.. I have plenty of time to decide after all - the beginning is only 2 days away..