The weather is starting to get nice!  Well, nice is relative I guess.  Here in IL, we are starting to see temps in the high 30’s and low 40’s! After spending 4 months running in sub-zero to teen temps this is a wonderful thing.

Anyhow, with the rising temps and the EVO’s on my feet I’ve been out hitting the pavement and having a great time! I am really looking forward to the continuing increase in temps and improving weather!

This week is still a back and forth between AOS Providence and running.  I’m not exactly sure how long I’ll go out this weekend as my arches in my left foot are getting stronger and depending on how things feel, I may do a shorter run.  Time will tell.

Next week, I’ll be out of town for a few days, so I’ll continue with the Providence and running set until then.  After that, I’m going to start mixing things up!

A M A Z I N G

That is about all I can think to say about Terra Plana’s new shoe the EVO.

On Friday evening my pair arrived via UPS and I promptly took them out for an 8.5 mile run on Saturday morning.  It was like running in heaven.  The EVOs are simply amazing.

As a minimalist shoe, Terra Plana has hit all of the nails on the head.  This shoe provides amazing ground feel, great protection, a very spacious toe box to allow natural movement; a truly minimal running experience and they are just a joy to run in.  During a portion of my run I picked up the pace dramatically and simply could not over stride.  The shoe provides just enough protection to keep your feet from getting shredded, while providing enough ground feel to keep you from doing bad things!

I hate to say it, but my Five Fingers are going to be relegated to walking shoes. The EVOs are just that good!

Anyhow, today was an 8.5 mile run – and it was wonderful.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, but I’m strongly considering lacing up the EVOs and getting in a 5k if time permits.  These are just so fun to run in…

Thank you Terra Plana – I love the EVOs.

These last two weeks have been challenging to run in due to schedule issues and weather.  I was able to get a nice 8 miler in last weekend, but that has been about the extent of my running in for about a week and a half until this morning.  The weather was fairly ugly, and the melting snow made for a cold wet run, but I got in a nice 5k none the less!

Anyhow, these week has been two rounds of AOS Providence (16kg) and a 5k.  I plan to do Providence again tomorrow with the 24kg and I’ll go for a longer run on Saturday… Hopefully in my new EVO’s!  Sweet.

I’ve lost over 50 pounds at this point, I have a long way to go, but that six pack is going to be rock solid when I get there.

This was a long week for me!  I had hoped to post workout logs during the week; however, that didn’t happen!  We had a team of folks in from our Corporate office this week, so I had early morning meetings all week coupled with an extra two days of school during the week.  It made for a difficult balancing act, but I pulled it off successfully and got in some great workouts, while eating well all week.

Given the super tight schedule I had midweek, I was not able to do my normal 5K runs on Tuesday and Thursdays.  Instead of those runs, I threw in some rocking Tabata training with the Ropes Gone Wild.  It was a great workout, and something that I really enjoyed!  The workout only took about 15 minutes (which was about all I had), but it was extremely intense and I think highly beneficial.

I was able to get 3 rounds of AOS providence finished as well, that was great.  As with my normal sets, I did two rounds with the 16kg bell and one with the 24kg.  I didn’t have time for the snatch challenge each day, so I’m looking forward to that in the upcoming week.

As the week wound down and I had a little more time, I finished an 8 mile run which was awesome!  I did the entire thing in my Vibram Five Fingers and I’m very pleased with how my barefoot running is developing.  The 8 miler was a something that just a few months ago I couldn’t even imagine doing. This week I was looking forward to it!  The run was a nice relaxing time, my average pace was about 12:30 per mile.  My pace was a little slower than I’d like, but hey it’s a few minutes a mile faster than I was only two months ago!

Anyhow, I’m almost down 50 pounds, my training is going great and I’m feeling much healthier overall.  That’s it for this week. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to keep a more robust log online of my training; rest assured, I have it all logged on paper at home.

The balance of this week was rounded out with two solid rounds of Providence and a couple of quick runs.

I hammered out the AOS Providence with the 16kg bell on Wednesday morning and then the 24kg bell on Friday.  Both of the workouts were great.  I hammered out another series of 80 snatches on Wednesday morning and have seen some amazing improvement on the 24kg bell and my performance.

Thursday was a quick morning 5K.  The run felt really good; it was just cold!  This week has been a tough running week with the snow and arctic winds cutting through.  On Saturday, I had to bail out quickly on my run as I had class early in the morning.  I was only able to fit in 4 miles, but it worked out nicely.  About 1/2 way through, the wind picked up and it got wicked cold, so having a planned short run was just fine with me.

Unfortunately, I jacked my knee on Saturday night.  It’s getting a few rounds of Ice and I’ll pick up some Myo-Med tomorrow to help fix it up quickly so the plan this week will be a bit of “active” recovery.  I’m going to try to hit Providence again tomorrow morning and assuming it feel good, I’ll set in some Tabata drills with the Ropes Gone Wild on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – low impact drills!

This is sort of a hybrid workout log and post about how much I dislike treadmills and marshmallow shoes!

My workout today was a simple barefoot 5K on the treadmill downstairs.  Last night we received about 3 inches of snow here in Chicago and I didn’t want to put on my “marshmallow” shoes and head outside.  I’ve become an avid minimalist runner.  I do all of my outdoor runs in my Vibram Five Fingers and I’ll be picking up a pair of Terra Plana Vivo Barefoot EVO’s as soon as they are in production.  I’ve really grown to hate cushioned/padded shoes.

Right now I don’t have a good minimalist shoe option for the snow days.  The last last few times we’ve had fresh snow down, I simply put on my New Balance marshmallow shoes and hit the pavement.  Unfortunately, my most recent experience with that solution was horrible.  I could just feel my body working way harder to move, my form was a wreck and I even had a toe-nail get messed up on a simple little 5k run.  So I wasn’t going to do it this time!

Before I go into my run this morning, I’d like to talk for a moment about my wife.  She has recently gotten started running and does all of her runs barefoot on the treadmill.  Over the last few days, she has developed a pain in her right arch after only a few minutes of running.  We’ve been working on stretching her feet, strengthening her arches and calves while also helping that muscle to relax in order to combat the problem.  Unfortunately, none of that seems to be working and the pain is really causing some frustration for her.

Anyhow, back to my run – rather than head outdoors, I figured that I would just hit the treadmill.  I bought that thing for days like this and paid a small fortune for it, so I headed downstairs.  After only about 15 minutes – my feet and ankles started to hurt! 15 minutes?  Are you freaking kidding me?  The first 5 minutes were a warm-up walk so I had barely even crossed the 1 mile mark and my feet and ankles are starting to ache!  I really focused in on form, stride tempo and things got a little better, but it was still a difficult run that left me feeling achy in my feet, ankles and lower legs.  I ran 7 and a half miles just a week ago without any problem, this was just ridiculous.

After my run I came up and immediately shared my experience with my wife.  We talked about it for a while and I’ve come to the conclusion that treadmills are really not my deal.  I think a lot of the problem has to do with the belt coming at you vs. the natural propulsion of gravity when running outdoors. Hopefully the snows clears shortly and I’m not stuck in treadmill hell again.  I think I’d actually rather put on my marshmallow shoes then deal with that torture device again!

Thankfully, there is always Ropes Gone Wild for a great cardio workout instead!

No promises on daily posts; however, I would like to maintain a more robust digital log of my journey.  I have lots of paper logs filled out at home as I’ve been working out and progressing.  Anyhow, here’s to getting the online journal back in shape.

Today’s workout:

Art of Strength Providence DVD – 16kg KB used throughout

I completed all of the rounds with the 16 kg bell and finished 80 snatches during the 3 minute challenge after the workout.  The Providence DVD isn’t getting easy with the 16kg bell, but it isn’t nearly as difficult as it was when I started it a few weeks ago.  My plan is to continue with two 16kg workouts and one 24kg workout a week until I am able to complete 60 tactical lunges in the 16kg workout.

The tactical lunges just kill me.  I can hammer out the clean and press with no problem, fully getting through one round of 5-4-3-2-1’s and finishing another set of 5’s for a total of 40 C&P’s in just two minutes.  The tactical lunge is my barometer for now.  Once I get through the 60 barrier, I may ditch the 16kg bell for this workout completely and do it with the 24kg and possibly even the 32kg.

In a few weeks I will also be transitioning to the Strength in Motion, or the Newport workout from Art of Strength. If I don’t hit the 60 tactical lunge mark before then, I’ll re-evaluate after going through a cycle with SIM or Newport.

Today I got a chance to play with my latest toy, a 30 foot, 2 inch rope from the Art of Strength Ropes Gone Wild collection.  This thing was a blast!  I started out the morning by heading out for a 4.75 mile snowy run with my little guy.  He was all bundled up in the stroller, warm as can be, and we headed out to brave the wind and snow.  I wish there was a way I could travel in the comfort and style he has.  A full weather shield, bundled in fleece and just chilling while I push… Must be nice

Anyhow, we had a great run.  After a while, my toes started to get a little cold as the salted roads got a little more wet.  Given that I do all of my runs in Vibram Five Fingers now, there are times that my toes get wet and the freezing temps make it quite unpleasant to run!  The original plan was to run anywhere from 4-7 miles this morning, so we ended up on the short end of the range.

After coming home, I headed down to the basement to try out the Ropes Gone Wild.  These things are awesome.  I turned on the DVD that came with them and started the “masters class”.  What a killer workout!  It took about 20 minutes and I was loving it.  My whole upper body can feel the burn, and I came darn near to my Max HR during the 1 minute smoker at the end.

I’m definitely a fan of these things, and will be adding them into my cardio routine going forward.

I used two 24kg kettlebells two hole the rope in place and it seemed to work great!

I’m down 40 pounds as of this morning.  That is a huge accomplishment for me as I’ve busted through two of my “mental” weight barriers this month.  The combination of eating well, kettlebells and running has been a fantastic set of tools!

I’ll soon be adding Ropes Gone Wild to my toolbox for some seriously high intensity cardio.

Here is my quick workout log for the past week:

• Monday – AOS Providence, 16kg bell
• Tuesday – 5k Run
• Wednesday – AOS Providence, 16kg bell
• Thursday – 5k Run
• Friday – AOS Providence, 24kg bell
• Saturday – 7.8 Mile Run
• Sunday – Relax

This was a great week.  I’m looking forward to another one like it this coming week.  Over the next three Saturday’s I have conferences/classes in the morning that will tweak my schedule quite a bit so I’m not sure exactly how I’m going to manage my long run.  I may cut them a bit shorter an simply get up earlier to make it all work out.  I don’t really need to be building lots of miles yet, so that won’t cause a problem for my training schedule.

Rocking workout this morning!  This is my second time through the Art of Strength Providence DVD and it is a killer.

I hammered through all 14 rounds and then the 3 minute snatch test.  There was a moment during the clean and press round that I wanted to puke (I was pushing it – hard) but hey, it was rocking!  My Polar rs800cx said that I burned 624 calories during the workout, and my HR peaked at 169.

The snatch test was brutal, and I think my glutes are going to explode but hey there you go.  The full body compound nature of this workout is awesome.  Everything gets worked, every gets stronger.

Tomorrow is another 5K in the morning, just get out and hit the pavement.  I’m feeling great, my clothes are fitting great and I’m on the way.