Pneumatised!

I just returned from the gym and had a nice shower. 🙂

Managed to survive just over 11 minutes at 7 mph (including short stops) on the treadmill. Pretty good so far. As mentioned earlier, my foot was hurting me so it was making the running a little difficult. Also, my hamstring felt like hyperextending on me so I had to stop and let my hamstring calm down. Overall, I feel pretty good. Energized. It’s good to get some air into my lungs. My total running distance today was about 1.1 miles.

After, I did some weight training. Because of my knee, I always have to do the leg press to strengthen up my quads and hamstrings. Also, because I have a shifty left kneecap, the leg press helps me to stablilize it by strengthening the appropriate side of the quads. Also did a bunch of other weight and conditioning exercises.

Here’s a list:

Hamstring flexor
Hip adductors
Hip abductors
Pull-ups (both military style and fists together parallel)
Dips (works the triceps)
Shoulder fly (works the medial deltoids and anterior deltoids)
Shoulder lifts overhead (works the anterior deltoids and the medial deltoids)
Tricep extensions
Bicep curls
Shoulder extensions (arms in front)
Leg lifts (lift to center, right, center, left)
Stomach curls (machine, better than doing sit-ups if you have back issues)
Push-ups (always try to do 100 in some variety)

Of course, I stretched out a bit before I leave for the day. Flexibility is very important in taekwondo as it helps make those fancy high kicks easier to do. 😉

So, that was my workout today. I didn’t do a full weight training workout. I’m thinking with the running, I might have to cycle in the other machines so I don’t have to do full weight training all the time. Might be too tiring at first.

Okay, I have got to run. I promised to help some people set up for tonight.

Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
Brigid’s Flame

Today I start training for a 10k run. Granted I probably won’t have to do it until next July but it’s never too soon to start training – not when it’s important to keep fit. Plus, I figure if I can get my running speed and endurance up to a certain point, maintaining that level should be relatively easy and running the 10k should be less overwhelming (but still challenging!)

I have to do two things:

1) Push my running speed up to at least 8mph (which means I would finish a 10k run in 46.5 minutes; 10km = 6.2 miles). Ideally, 10mph would be great. It would pushing elite athlete level and means I could finish the 10k in 37.2 minutes. For reference, the world records for the 10k are 26 minutes 20 seconds (men) and 29 minutes 31 seconds (women) (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-distance_track_event). The woman ran at just over 12.61 mph.
2) Of course, I have to increase my endurance. So far I’m only at 6.5 mph but can push 7 mph and I’ve only been doing 10 minute runs on the treadmill at the gym. Have to start running 20 minutes each time I run and gradually increase the pace.

Those are my objectives. On top of all that, I have to maintain my taekwondo training. The past year because of my knee, my kicking speed and endurance have decreased. I’m only now just getting that back up. (Kicking speed and endurance in taekwondo is mostly important to Olympic-style taekwondo, the sport aspect, and is what the general public associate with taekwondo. However, that does not mean we, or I in particular, neglect hand techniques and developing excellent form. If anything my hand techniques are probably better than my kicks right now when before it used to be the opposite.) Overall though, I’m thinking the running will help with that as well. Hence, I will be tracking my martial art classes as well.

So today, I’m going to try to push myself a bit. It’s going to hurt. I might just only start with 10 minutes but pushing the speed to 7 mph. Not quite sure if I can last 20 minutes. Not because of the cardio but because my foot is a bit sore today. This is due to the hour of taekwondo training where we are bouncing on our feet the majority of the time doing kicking drills – lots of stepwork, running, and hopping. Since I hadn’t been doing this type of training for awhile, my foot is only getting used to it again (as is my knee). There is alot of impact coming down on my feet (and knee) with each bounce. (For those who know anatomy, it’s my metatarsals and the metatarsophalangeal joints that hurt.) I’m thinking I’ll use some lavendar and peppermint oil on my foot to make it feel better. In the long term though, the bouncing, running, and hopping is good for my feet (and knee) because it will help calcify and stregthen the joints. The biggest issue is making sure that my form is correct and that my feet land properly.

Okay, I should be back later with a little update.

(Oh, I did one hour of gumdo then one hour of crazy taekwondo kicking class yesterday. Wednesday, I went in to help teach the patterns class, then did one hour taekwondo kicking, then one hour weight training at the gym.)

Cassandrah
Webowner
Brigid’s Flame