Diana Run 5k race in Plainsboro – 21:52 (7:02 avg pace):
Mile 1.0: 6:35
Mile 2.0: 7:12
Mile 3.0: 7:20
Mile 3.1: 0:44

I finished in 32nd place; not my best 5k time but I’m pretty sore from my first week of marathon training, a new circuit routine on Wednesday, and lots of kicks this morning right before the race. Congratulations to Jen Liney who took first place in the women’s category with a time of 19:49. The course was great – slight decline in the first mile, then back up the same path in the last mile. The course was laid out in a very simple way, which was nice.

I’ve actually run near this course before. When I run eight miles at lunch I do an out-and-back starting at Dow Jones in South Brunswick and turn around at the parking lot of the middle school in Plainsboro (which is four miles each way). The parking lot is where the 5k began. Now if I’m feeling adventurous and have an extra 20 minutes I can add three more miles of familiar territory to my eight mile run.

- Run 3.1 miles (1 mile barefoot)
Karate:
- 70 reverse punches each arm
- 70 front kicks each leg
- freestyle basics
- sparring: double jodan attack to jaw
- sparring: 5 attack sparring full length of floor

At lunch, I did a free 30 minute training session with a trainer at Dow Jones’ Fitness Center, Lisa Curtin. It was a tough workout; here’s what the circuit involved:

- 0.5 mi sprint on the treadmill (ran 0.15 at 10mph, 0.15-0.40 at 11mph, last 0.10 at 12mph)
- 10 plyometric pushups on two risers
- 15 star hops (reaching to the ceiling)
- 500 meters on the rower
- 1 length of frog hops (down the long hallway)
- 1 length of walking lunges with two 35lb dumbbells
- 1 mile on the bike (~135 rpm)
- 10 step-ups with each leg on the large metal stand.

Repeat one more time.

I didn’t fit the second circuit into the half-hour of the trainer-led session since I burned a few minutes at the start on a warm-up. I did finish the routine on my own though. It was awesome and challenging. I recommend trying it out.

As is the custom, we ran outside barefoot without shirts. The temperature on two of the mornings was perfect for our routine: 18 degrees, but felt like somewhere between four and ten degrees with the wind chill.

We had some good participation this year, as almost 100% attended training every morning, on-time. This marks my fifth year with perfect attendance; but I’m sure there are others out there from prior years that achieved better records than that.

As is customary (for some odd reason), the weather on the first day of training was mild (58 degrees or so). And true to history, on the second day the temperature dropped more than 30 degress to 27. My barefoot, shirtless run was just under two miles that morning. The remainder of the week was not as cold as Wednesday.

26

We practiced kihon, kata and kumite during each of the 5am classes. Training this week was very good.