Second Verse...

This week has been a runners dream weather-wise!  If you had ever said to me that the lows would be in the upper 50s in Memphis in August, I would not have believed you for a second, but I can testify!  It has been absolutely gorgeous running weather this week, which has really helped me get back on track with my running. I have Ragnar TN coming up in October and my plan legs of the run are in the 5-6 mile range each. So my plan was to be at a comfortable 5 mile run by the first of September, and I feel like I am there.  My running partner (we have two teams this year) is going to be faster than me, so I need to start working on speed as well. If this weather stays like it is (and I am hoping this blog post doesn't jinx it) I plan to be in the 7-8 mile range by the end of September.

So now to address the title of this post. Second verse, same as the first...

I am back on an ab/core challenge again. I have done this several time before and never completed it, so I guess I should titled this more like 14th verse, but never mind that, cause this time I am serious! And heres how Ima gonna do it!

I challenged some other triathletes I know through social media to join me. I find I am more accountable when I have others working with me.  So I put it out there and there are actually a few people that said they were on board. I started 2 days ago (no six pack yet) and I really want to see this through. At 43 (fixing to be 44 in a few weeks) I am not sure if washboard abs are in my future, but I know a solid core will help me in many ways. Here is the plan I am using:

This is actually a combination of two plans I found on the net and morphed them together and came up with this. It is also on my IG account if you can't see it. I am really hoping having others work along side me will get me to day 30. Time will tell won't it!

Thanks for reading!

30 Days

90 Day Challenge- Join me???

Welcome 2015 and welcome all the "new" me's and better eating habits we will all have this year. As with every January, I have been hit with several challenges to start off 2015 the right way. I really looked into these challenges and I have finally focused on a couple (meaning 3) that I am going to participate in and I have one I want to share with you!!! But here are the two challenges I have accepted for the next 90 days, beginning Jan 5, 2015.

1.  The church I attend has issued a challenge to read one chapter of the Gospels everyday for 90 days. This doesn't sound all that difficult does it? Many years I have always tried to read the Bible through in a year and I have failed. I struggle with finding a quiet time, but I can always find time to train!  That seems messed up right?
2. Drink water with all my meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will all have a big O glass of agua to wash it down. (Okay, I count coffee as my water for breakfast). I always agree with people when they say I should drink more water, but somehow I am tricking myself into drinking by saying I am going to have it at meal time, and not totally giving everything else up.
3. 90 Day Plank Challenge or 90 Core Challenge- This is most likely more up your alley as readers. I am going to really work on my planking for the next 90 days to build up my core strength, because I know a strong core will benefit my swimming, my biking and my running, plus it will make me look good! I have thought about doing Day 1 picture and then day 90 pictures, but I make no promises.

Here is how my planking challenge is going to work:

• On Sunday, will do a max out on plank time. Each Sunday, every Sunday.
• Monday through Saturday I will plank 5 times, letting me have one day to rest.
• I will take my max plank time and divide it in half, and then do 3 sets of planks for that time.
• Example: Last night I planked for 2:30. So my weekday workouts, which I will do on MTWTHF will consist of three (3) 1:15 planks, as my max time increases, then my weekly time will also increase!

Sounds simple huh? Will it work? I have no idea. All I know was that when I was serious about my core, I was doing 5 minute planks. I want to go longer. I honestly think I can get to a 10 minute plank. It might take longer than 90 days, but you never know. If I do hit 10 minutes, I will video it and out it on my blog! Who is with me???

What Have I Been up To???

Well, it has been about two weeks since I last posted on my blog, so I thought I would go all random on you guys and let you know what I have been doing these past two weeks! So what has kept me so busy?

Work- Work has been extremely busy as it always is with warmer temps. More people are out and more people wanna steal things, and with the added districts in Nashville, my days have been full.

Planks- I have been a planking fool lately. It is such a great core workout and I am really seeing some good results/ I hit a 5:05 plank the other day, my longest planking time yet, but I am not finished, I am shooting for 7 or 8, maybe 10 minutes before I am through!

I know, pretty awesome right? Think I can go 10 minutes????

Skiing- Yes, the family and I traveled to Snowmass, Colorado for a few days of skiing. The wife and I skied while my older boys tried their hands at snowboarding and even my little guy went to ski school. We had an awesome trip and some great weather, except for the drive to Snowmass. It is now one of my favorite places to go skiing!

My wife, Me and we think it is our oldest son on top of Long Shot, 12,000 ft up

Doctors- My end of the year with my benefits came up in April, so I had to go get everything checked out while I had already met my deductible! So I hit the regular doctor, the eye doctor and a new chiropractor. I am doing well physically, but I am going to see a new chiro guy and I am going to have to get some readers (glasses) for reading. (getting old I guess) things just aren't as crisp close up as they used to be. No picture here.

Training- have really done very much, and I am starting to figure out why. Usually I plan on doing an Olympic in May, but I just really have not been to excited about it, so that has hampered my training. The weekend of the Olympic, they also have a sprint race that my bride is doing, it will be her first triathlon, so I am really more excited to support her while she races than for me to actually race. If you have read this blog before, then you know I never want to just complete a race, I want to compete, but I feel like this Olympic would just be me completing it. I have nothing motivating me to run, so I am now leaning to not racing it at all. I still have my eyes set on a HIM in Sept (Goosepond Triathlon), then a half marathon in December (St Jude) and then I am going to prepare to kick Brad's butt at Redman 140.6 in 2015.

I am also working with a running group at our church. There are about 50 new runners that I am leading through a devotion/running program to get them across the finish line of their first 5K. I love this, I mean I really get motivated from seeing them work for 12 weeks and then cross that finish line.

We are ALL getting along...Swim Bike Run Plank

Me and running are back together. Running, biking and me are all getting along pretty well. Swimming is not really like running and/or biking very much, but it is puytting up with us.

Strength training and me are tight. Real tight, like starting to see some payoff type of tight.

Me and planks are besties! I just set a new PR on my plank! 3:12 My goal is a 5 minutes plank and I WILL reach that goal. I am also goignt o say that planks are getting along with biking and running and swimming loves planks, because I can really feel a stronger core in the water!

Me and my blog have not really been talking so much lately as you can probably tell due to the lack of posting, but I am starting to feel the triathlon buzz once again. I think daylight savings time has jump started me a little. So things are good here in Daily Trainings land. Other highlights include:

The running group that I lead at church has started again and we have 41 new runners signed up to make their journey to a 5K! They inspire me!

Two of my friends just completed their first marathon! Congrats to Jay and Matt

All my Final Four picks are still alive (as of March 24)

And the family is about to head out to Colorado to go skiing! Can't wait!

So things are good, and I hope all is well with you. Thanks for reading.

P.S. My trainer, Leigh, has begun her journey to her first Ironman and she has started a blog. Please go to her blog at MILE BY Mile and drop her an encouraging line!

Planks, Suicides and Monster Ropes

Tuesdays and Thursdays were normally just my swimming days, but for the past two weeks, I start the day off meeting with a trainer and we work...with weights and stuff. Now it has been ages since I have been in a weight room lifting weights and yelling at myself in the mirrors, and I am glad to say that this is not even close to the type of stuff we have been doing.

As it states in the title, you can see that we are focusing on the core alot. I remember last year at the beginning of 2013, I was on a crunch kick, where I was doing thousands of crunches each month. I will not say that I did not get a benefit from those crunches, but I was not getting the maximum core workout like I should have been getting. So it is great to be working with someone that knows what hey are doing, and what I should be doing. So basically here is a list of some of the things we have done:

 Planks- I am finding out that there are many versions of planks that can be done. I did my max plank test at 2:01 this morning, and our goal is to get to 3:00. I do bows and toes for my planks (elbows and toes) casue my wrists hurt doing them the regular way. We have also integrated the stability ball into these planks, which then led to scorpion planks.

 Bridges and stuff- with a leg extension on the stability ball. These are tough. The hardest thing for me is to not roll right off the ball. Mtn Climbers, V twists, toe downs and butt kickers all get my heart rate going hard.

We add in some cardio in the form of running stairs or "suicides", which remind of high school basketball practice where you run and touch a line, then run to the baseline, then you run to a further line, then back to baseline and repeat. In high school, we called them triple nickels cause we had to do 5 in :55. Tough workout!

 TRX exercises: Since my wrists hurt when doing push ups and such, she has me doing TRX exercises for chest, biceps, back and triceps. This takes alot of pressure of my wrists and still gives me a good workout using my body weight. I can make it hard by increasing the angle of my body and it still works the core a lot, because it is about balance and holding that core tight.

 I have enjoyed doing all these exercises, but the one thing I think I like the most are the Monster ropes. You have seen them I am sure, some guy with big thick ropes and it appears he is shaking the crap out of them??? The first time I did them I got winded, but I thought to myself, I could do these all day, didn;t seem to hard, until later that night and the next morning. I felt the effect of those ropes from my gut to my neck!

We did the shaky ropes, the slam them down hard ropes, the side to side, the figure 8, the shaky squat ropes, the kneel down and get up while shaking the ropes and then we did jumping jacks with the ropes. (Yes, these are all the technical terms and we I say "we" I mean me) Man, what a workout!!! The best part is that I have been very strict on my diet, the added strength training to my S/R/B training has dropped me 4 lbs already!