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Warm Up
300 Free: 100 kick, 100 pull, 100 swimWorkout
6 x 50 kick board with fins  :15 rest
2 x 100 swim free style
6 x 50 pull with buoy and paddles
2 x 50 swim free style  :15 rest

Swim Down
200 Free style swim

Stretching
Warm up run - 5 mins

1) Routine 1: Sprint combos
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line
- From a squat position (feet apart) standing on an elastic band (thick blue one), rise into an overhead press with the bands (repeat reps quickly for 60 seconds - approx 35 reps)
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line
- Again, squat into an overhead press, stretching the blue elastic band overhead.
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line, repeat the sprint again.
- Bicep curls for 30 seconds (approx 25)
- Repeat bicep curls for 30 more seconds (20 more)
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line.
- Skater jumps in place (jump side to side, tuck right leg behind left knee and right hand touches the group outside the left foot, jump to right foot switching position)
- In push-up position, draw right knee to chest, then extend right leg behind and into the air, toward the ceiling, then switch legs. continue for 60 seconds
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line, repeat the sprint again.
- Again, push-up position, draw right knee to chest, then extend right leg behind and into the air, toward the ceiling, then switch legs. continue for 60 seconds.
- Sprint across the soccer field and back to the white line
- For a third time, push-up position, draw right knee to chest, then extend right leg behind and into the air, toward the ceiling, then switch legs. continue for 60 seconds.

2) Routine 2: Repeat two times total
- Across the width of the soccer field, perform a squat jump immediately followed by a burpee, repeat until you reach the other end of the field.
- Once we reached the other end of the field, hold a squat position with arms out to the side for 60 seconds
- Side to side shuffle suicide: shuffle in a low squat side to side (without crossing feet) to the first cone and back, then to the second, then the third, then to the other end of the field.
- Once at the other end of the field, hold a squat position with arms out to the side for 60 seconds

3) Repeat three times
- We broke into four teams, one in each corner of the soccer field. Teams in opposite corners did the first exercise, other teams did exercise #2
- Exercise #1: ski jumps across the width of the soccer field, side to side across the yellow line, when we reached the other end, we dropped into a push-up position and held for about 20 seconds
- Exercise #2: holding a push-up position, quickly raise the right arm out in front, then quickly raise the left arm out in front; repeat for 90 seconds

4) Abdominal work
- Crunch pulses: crunch up and hold for 2 seconds, then come down half way (NOT to a resting position; stomach is tight the whole time), repeat x 25
- Right side crunch pulses: legs bent at 90 degrees and on the ground; crunch and hold for 2 seconds, then come down half way; repeat x 25
- Left side crunch pulses: legs bent at 90 degrees and on the ground; crunch and hold for 2 seconds, then come down half way; repeat x 25
- Stretch in yoga up-dog
- Legs straight up in the air, lift legs and hips into the air; hold for 1 second then through the count of 3 to 1, lower the hips to the ground; repeat x 25
- Stretch in child’s pose, switch to up-dog, and repeat stretch

5) Stretch and cool down
- Stretch routine
- Run around the soccer field five times

Finished.

My friend Bill Yorke managed to get the day off from his night-shift job tonight and was leading the warm-up run as I arrived about two minutes past 7:00, thanks to holiday traffic on US Route One. I jumped right in and warmed up. Tonight’s class was about as challenging as last weeks, maybe slightly less because it felt like we had more rest between the routines.

- Warm up: Jog in single file in reverse-eight figures across half of the soccer field, criss-crossing the tail end of the line of runners.

- Routine 1: Break up into groups of four and sprint to the 1/4 field mark to begin.
1) While attempting to count off into groups of four, one of my fellow trainees barked out “5″ instead of 1, 2, 3 or 4. So, we all had to do push-ups. I was liking this already, but heard a call of moans and groans from others as we settled into the position on the fake grass field to pay for that mistake.
2) Another attempt to count off, into groups of four was successful, and we sprinted to the 1/4 mark on the field.
3) One Jumping Jack
4) One set of high-knees (one leg at a time)
5) One squat thrust
6) Repeat steps 3-5 at Nate’s count, but increase the count of each exercise with each set, until we reach 10 jumping jacks, 10 sets of high-knees and 10 squat thrusts. 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1 = 55

- Routine 2:
1) Sprint to 1/4 field: drop down to push up position; spin body clockwise, pivoting on hands, then reverse direction
2) Sprint to half field: drop down to push up position; spin body clockwise twice, pivoting on hands, then reverse direction twice
3) Sprint to 3/4 field: drop down to push up position; spin body clockwise three times, pivoting on hands, then reverse direction and spin three times
4) Sprint to the end of the field: drop down to push-up position; spin body clockwise four times, pivoting on hands, then reverse direction and spin four times
5) Jog back to other end of field

- Routine 3: Ahh, the leg shredder. We repeated this routine twice.
1) Sprint as fast as possible the width of the soccer field
2) Jog back to start
3) Squat jumps across the width of the soccer field, KEEP hands on ears (don’t cheat)
4) Jog back to start
5) Sprint the width of the soccer field
6) Jog back to start
7) Warrior lunges across the width of the field
Jog back to start
9) Sprint the width of the soccer field
10) Jog back to start
11) Side to side skater jumps the width of the soccer field (I’ve never done these before, but you essentially jump forward onto the left foot, and reach down outside the left of the left foot with your right hand, then jump to the forward to the right foot, reaching down outside the right side of the right foot with the left hand).
12) Jog back to start
13) One last sprint across the field
14) Jog back to start
15) Jog around the field 3 times
16) Repeat steps 1-15 once more.

- Routine 4: This was a fun team exercise and requires two teams of people: red and blue shirts.
1) Red shirts line up at center field
2) Blue shirts lines up on the white line at one end of the field
3) Nate blows the whistle and blue shirts runs toward red shirts, attempting to tag them, BUT the red shirts don’t run yet. Nate blows the whistle a second time and red shirts can then run to try to reach the “base” at other side of field to avoid getting tagged. If tagged, the player must drop down and remain in a plank position until one of their own teammates frees them by tagging them.
4) At random intervals, Nate would blow the whistle again, and the hunters would become the hunted, switching direction.

- Routine 5:
1) Hold a plank while half the group sprints up and jogs back the width of the field (about 60 to 90 seconds)
2) Sprint up and jog back the width of the field after the plank.
3) Return to plank position (90 seconds) (but this time raise one leg in the air and raise the opposite arm in the air) while half the group does the side shuffle (sort of a dance, crossing the legs in front then behind)
4) Run the cross legged routine up and back across the field
5) Sprint up and back across the field
6) The two teams cross paths for a final series of squat jumps across the width of the soccer field, keeping hands on ears the whole way. I definitely felt this - being 20 pounds lighter woudl have made this easier.

Finished. Great training!

Trail running with a group of fellow runners from the Hamilton Township area has introduced me to many new people. One of those is Nate Ribiero, who is a physical fitness trainer/instructor, and has worked at local area gyms. He invited me, along with many other people, to attend a special “training camp” he is hosting. The agenda is simple: meet for an hour each week over five weeks to train as a group, and train HARD. His mantra: “Bring your inner monster”. The class meets 7pm on Tuesday evenings at the Robbinsville Indoor Soccer Field (with an exception that the first week’s meet was at 4:30pm due to a scheduling conflict).

One of Nate’s rules that must be kept: Everyone must either jog or run from place to place during training. No walking is permitted.

The first week was indeed challenging, but I found the inner strength to complete it in style. Here is the routine we followed:

- Warm Up: Jogging in circles on the soccer field, followed by a few minutes of thorough stretching.

- Routine 1: We repeated this routine ten times
1. Sprint at top speed across the width of the soccer field.
2. Jog back to start
3. High-knees across the width of the soccer field (not to be confused with skipping across the field).
4. Jog back to start
* Nate didn’t like the intensity of some people’s sprints, so we repeated a few here and there. (I’m growing to like Nate more and more.)

- Routine 2:
1. Sprint to 1/4 field
2. Hot feet in place for about 30 to 60 seconds (I’ve never done this before, and noticed it becomes more and more difficult to keep your legs in a wide stance while doing this)
3. Drop and roll to left into a push-up position
4. Mountain climbers for about 60 seconds
5. Crab crawl to half-field, making sure to keep the back parallel to the ground.
6. Push ups until entire group arrives at the line (approximately 15 push-ups)
7. Hot feet in place again for another 30 to 60 seconds
8. Drop and roll to the right into push-up position
9. Mountain climbers for about 60 seconds
10. Sprint to 3/4 field
11. Drop down into push up position and hold, waiting for the entire group to get on the line.
12. 25 push ups
13. Jog back to the start

- Routine 3: (we repeated this routine three times)
1) Side to side ski jumps to 1/4 field, using the while line to zig-zag across (don’t land on the line)
2) A low side-to-side shuffle across 1/4 field (with your back to the starting line)
3) Warrior lunges to 1/2 field (a very low lunge, holding your hands above your head the whole time)
4) Another low side-to-side shuffle in back to the line where ski jumps were done.
5) Sprint back to the center line, turn abruptly at the first cone, and repeat making sharper and sharper turns around the cones, shortening the sprint distance each time (zig zag)
6) jog back to start

Finished.

At lunch today, I repeated the circuit I first tried last Wednesday. I ran through it three times, each time completing it in under 15 minutes.

- 0.5 mi sprint on the treadmill (at a 6:58 pace)
- 10 plyometric push-ups on a step with two risers
- 15 star hops (aka squat jumps)
- 500 meters on the rowing machine
- 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.

In the evening, I went to the gym 40 minutes before the pool closed and did part of my swim workout. Unfortunately the workout wasn’t very good because I felt rushed and had just eaten dinner an hour before the swim:
- Warm-up freestyle for 6 minutes
- 3 x 100 kicks: freestyle with fins and board
- 1 x 100 freestyle, rest 10 seconds
- 1 x 100 freestyle, rest 20 seconds
- 1 x 100 freestyle, rest 30 seconds
- 100 more meters freestyle

On February 28, 2009 a group of us from Gold’s Gym in Lawrenceville who train in karate together plunged into the Atlantic Ocean.

The goal of the Seaside Polar Bear Plunge is to raise money and awareness for the Special Olympics of New Jersey. Our team was comprised of 22 members and together we raised $5,787 to benefit the Special Olympics of New Jersey (SONJ). We’ve done this event about six years running and each year is more fun than the previous. Overall, the event raised more than 1.1 million dollars for SONJ. Donations continue to be accepted; please help support the individuals who compete each year: sconzo.com/plunge

At 1pm, 22 of us and about 4,000 other brave souls ran into the water. Some ran in and sprinted right back out. Others lingered for a bit longer. Personally, I lingered, trying to keep people from leaving the water  I ran into the ocean four times, each time trying to bring more people back into the water. The first time in, I waded around for a bit, capturing video of the other plungers from the ocean.

I used my Canon SD850 IS with its underwater waterproof case (WP-DC15) to capture the video and photos from the ocean.

Each year, our group secures five or six rooms at the Aztec Hotel, which is situated right in front of the plunge spot. They party the whole weekend and they really know how to throw a party. They have food catered, lots to drink and parade as a group out to the plunging area about 30 minutes prior to plunge time. Here’s our group photo from last year:

I didn’t stay long to enjoy the three-day party though, since I’ve got lots of work to do. I arrived a few hours before the 1pm plunge time, so I went for a run along the boardwalk and on the beach. I only put in about three miles. While on the beach, I imitated the scene from Rocky where he runs on the beach with Apollo; of course they ran on the beach on a warm day. My socks and shoes got soaked from the cold water as I was right where the water ran up the beach. I returned to the hotel and left my shoes and socks behind so I could return to the beach for a barefoot run. I headed back along the boardwalk and made my way to the ocean. This time I decided to be crazy and run in the water. The water was cold, but it felt great.

I ran back to the hotel again, and was able to convince Marci to come for another run with me on the beach, barefoot. If you know Marci, then you would be surprised to hear that she agreed to do this. This time, during my run I hit a pothole in the water and took an early plunge — and this was right in front of some spectators. It was pretty funny.

Fun was had by all and we’re anxiously looking forward to next year.

Monday evening I went for a short warm-up run before karate class began. It was snowing and cold, which seemed to keep everyone away except me, so I ran by myself, barefoot in the snow. The trucks were out dropping rock salt. During the last quarter mile of the run, I stepped on a big piece of rock salt, which ended up bruising the bottom of my foot.

Karate training was great — it was just Sensei and me. Spent most of the class working on form: in basics, combinations and kata. When I used to get to train with Sensei one on one, I naively used to expect some “special” secrets to be endowed. True, he shares information, but it’s not some well-kept secret guarded since the dawn of the origins of shotokan. In fact, I find the secrets he shares always have to do with basic principles and good form. I came away from class, once again appreciating the things new students are taught, but with my perspective and experience, understanding them even better. In fact, they are secrets from the origins of shotokan.

I ran my first scheduled long run of the 2009 training season. It was a ten mile run past Mercer Airport over Jacob’s Creek bridge, into Hopewell Township, and back home.

 
(Airport entrance on Bear Tavern Road)

(Jacobs Creek Bridge near Hopewell)

(Welcome to Hopewell Township)

There are a few nice hills along Bear Tavern Road, which took a bite out of my pace after mile five.

1. 8:20
2. 8:20
3. 8:17
4. 8:10
5. 8:12
6. 8:49
7. 8:30
8. 8:34
9. 8:46
10. 8:20

Average pace: 8:26. I must begin speedwork training.

I’ve been doing this race every year on New Year’s day since 2003. It’s a great way to start the year off. The results are posted at compuscore:

http://www.compuscore.com/cs2009/janfeb/hamhang1.htm

At noon, about 400 runners gather at the Kuser Road entrance to Veteran’s Park in Hamilton, NJ to kick off the year with a five mile race. This year it was nice and cold — about 20 degrees at noon so not many people were in shorts or short-sleeve shirts. I didn’t train for this race, but I did improve my time since last year: 35:08, about 30 seconds faster.

I started the race with Bill and the running gang this year. The next event for the group is the 7.2 mile chilly cheeks in PA.

I had a good long run yesterday. A good friend Bill joined me for the 20 mile training run. This was his first 20 mile run and he did awesome. I used gmap-pedometer to map out the course from the Lawrenceville Gold’s gym parking lot, along Village road to Old Trenton Road, then three miles into Mercer Country Park, and back to the starting point.

The weather was perfect! We started the run about 4:30am so there were not many cars on the road and the temperature was still very cool.

Nice Run Bill! Thanks for coming out hours before the sun and putting in the miles with me.

Here are the details and splits. We kicked at the end and pulled off some negative splits. Mile 12 was higher because we stopped for a water and orange slice break.

Elevation Gain (ft): +4,087 / -4,067
Pace: 8:58 mins/mile
Total Time: 3hr 01min 35sec

And here is the route on motion-based, uploaded from my Garmin 405:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6657086