P90X Day 1

I have a few Friends who have done P90X and I have talked with others about it.  There are countless testimonials of it online.  It is an at home workout and also it guides you with proper nutrition.  Both parts will need to be completed to be able to get the best results. 

The first part the work out I did today.  There are a total of 12 discs and you rotate the discs, there is a guide that will let you know what discs to use on what days.  It switches up during the 90 days, because it wants to confuse your muscles and build more muscle. 

Today I did disc 1, this disc is chest and back.  These exercises mainly consist of different types of push-ups, pull-ups and a couple of dumbbell exercises.  There is a total of 12 exercises and your are supposed to do them twice.  You follow the people on the disc as they do the same exercises. 

I knew it was going to be tough, and boy was I right.  I actually did the 12 exercises one, not twice.  This was because most of these exercises I have not done in a long time, and my muscles were exhausted.  I know, continuing with P90X, everyday I am going to get stronger and I will be able to do it twice.  The work out felt great, my muscles got a good work out and I can definitely feel the burn.  I am disappointed that I didn't do the first round twice, but I know in time I will.  I also know, that by documenting my reps in each exercise, I will see my reps improve. 

As well with the work out, another very important component of P90X is nutrition.  You need to eat the right foods and keep hydrated.  This part will be hard as well.  I like all different types of foods, even if they may not be the best for me.  I need to be disaplined, I know there will be times where I will eat some foods that I should not.  However, I will keep those as special treats and work out extra leading up to eating the food. 

You are supposed to eat frequently throughout the day and a lot of food with protien in it.  Day 1 was good, I ate healthy food through out the day and I never really was hungry and I was satisfied.

I am going to stick with P90X for the 90 days and I know by the end of it I will see results.  I expect to lose some weight as well as gain muscle. 

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It is almost the new year, and with the new year are always resolutions.  One of the most common is to exercise more, eat better, etc.  Mine is just like it, however since I currently exercise, mainly run, it isn't really a resolution, except I am going to try some newer things. 

I am going to start P90X on December 30th.  I am going to continue my running on my own, but hopefully start more muscle building and eating a little bit better.  I am not going to lie to myself and say I am only going to eat healthy.  However, I am going to do my best to eat healthier, drink less pop, juices, etc. 

I plan on sticking to the diet, but I will induldge from time to time.  I am excited to start, I figured it would be better to start after the Holiday's just because of all of the temptations.  I have the P90X cds already, some dumbells, push-up bars, and now just have to get a pull up bar.

I plan on posting almost daily, just about the work out as well as how the nutrition is going.  This will start on the 30th and continue till April. 

Below is a quick two mile run I did at the Mundelein Rec Center today. 

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1 mile run

I've woke up early Monday morning and I knew I wasn't feeling good.  It turned out to be the flu.  I finally started feeling better on Tuesday afternoon.  Once I felt better, I decided it would be good to go for a short run at the rec center.  This will allow me to get any other bad toxins out of my system.

So I went up to the Mundelein rec center and did a quick one mile run.  You can click the link at the bottom of the page to see.  I will run at the rec center during the winter because they have a nice track that goes around.  It roughly takes 13 laps for one mile. 

The rec center is different to run at then outside.  It is a track, but it all level and at a controlled temperature.  While you run outside there are more variables when you run.  I prefer to run outside, but during the winter I will run inside. 

I have also ordered P90X and expect to get it in the mail in the next couple of days.  So I will begin to do more postings for both running and the P90X.  I am excited to get started.  I have been taking it easy of late, so it is time to start doing some more exercising.



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Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2012...Before the race

I just finished my third Ragnar Relay!  The first two I did were Madison, WI to Chicago, IL.  The one I completed this past weekend was Chattanooga TN, to Nashville TN.  I loved both courses, but both our completely different races!

So what is a Ragnar Relay.  In summary it is a relay race that consist of either 6 or 12 people per team doing 36 legs (a leg is a individual run before you hand off to the next runner).  Generally each leg is of different length and variety of difficulty.  Some may be as little as 2 miles to as long as 11 or 12 miles.  Once you finish your leg you will hand it off to your teammate and they will run the next one.  You do this for the next 24-35 hours.  The whole time you are struggling for sleep, a good meal, feeling clean, and so much more.  It is truly something you may not grasp till you actually do it.  Most teams are split up into two different vans, with 6 people in each van.  Even though you are one team working towards one goal, you feel like you are two separate teams.  The team that you are in the van with, is the team that you will be with the majority of the time and the one you get to know real well. 

Our team had a total of 12 people.  A good majority of the people are part of Cross Fit Windy City.  I knew two people going into the race, but felt like I knew them all.  There is a lot of time in the vans, to talk about each other lives and learn about each other.

I met with 5 other people in Chicago around 1:45 pm and we left on our journey to Chattanooga, Tn.   I met up with Kendra, Dole, Meagles, Peaches, and Matt to drive down.  We listen to great music, good conversation, and joke the way down.  It took about 10 hours to get there.  We stoped a few time a long the way.  We ate at Montana's Mikes, and a few gas stations.  We finally got the Fairfield in around 12:30 at night, checked in and went to bed.

At this time, I met half of my team.  I really only knew two people, however I met them all soon.  By the end of the race, it felt like we were life long friends.   

We woke up the next day, ate some breakfast and went to the start line.  Before, we left, Meagles and Tennessee presented with the shirts that had designed for us.  Look below, they are great.  You could not ask for a better shirt.

Our team name is Southern Discomfort, which does us justice.  We were in the south and the whole race we are pretty much in discomfort.

We went to the race line and took a team photo.  Which is below, it just does not include Peaches and Emily.  They had some work to get done beforehand, and met us just after this picture was taken.

 
From left to right is brock, dole, kenda, dave, brian, same, meagles, blake, me and Tenessee.  So, our start time was at 10:30 am Eastern.  Sam started us off, and got us off to a great start.  I will continue with our runs on the next post.  The Ragnar was great againa and I will get into more detail soon.



Ragnar Relay Tennessee 2012, Leg 1 by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details

Ragnar Relay Tennessee

I haven't posted for about two weeks.  That is because I really haven't done much running, since the corn maze run.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  I have been sore, my ankle was hurting for the first 5 days or so after the Marathon.  So, I was taking it easy, and letting it heal.  Also, my knee was giving me some pain.  So I figured, the best way to get better is to rest.  The second reason I haven't run much, is because I trained so much and ran for months and months, I just wanted a break.  It was nice, not worrying about when my next run is.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy running, but every once in a while, I just need a break. 

It is time to start running again.  On November 9th, I will be doing the Tennessee Ragnar, a relay race from Chattanooga to Nashville Tennessee!  I have done two ther Ragnars, both the Chicago ones.  From Madison, Wisconsin to Chicago, Illinois. 

So what is a Ragnar?  Ragnar is a relay race where you and either 11 other people 5 others.  So you have a 12 person team or 6 person team.  You have two vans and you run 200 miles to your destination.  We do the 12 person team.  It is a relay race, so the first person will run, and hand off to the second person, and so forth.  Everyone will run three different times, so a total of 36 legs.  The team is broken up into two vans.  The first van will run the first six legs and then the second van will run the next six and keep switching.  When the van that you are in is not running, this will give you time to get food, relax, and rest.  You keep on going to you reach your final destination. 

The whole experience is great, you bond with some people who you may or may not know.  You run a little and just have a great time.  With this ending in Nashville, we will have a night out on the town and have a great time. 

They do Ragnars all accoss the country, you can find more information at www.ragnarrelays.com and you can also go on you tube and watch peoples video and see what is all about!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ffPCoR0gQ&feature=player_embedded

Since I haven't run much since the Marathon, I did a quick 2.5 mile run to keep my legs fresh.  Over the next 11 days till Ragnar I will do some more to get ready!  Below is the link to my 2.5 mile run.

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World's Largest Corn Maze Run, Spring Grove 10/13/12

This morning I did a 5k run through corn stalks!  This took place at the Richardson Adventure Farm in Spring Grove, IL.   Above is a video of a previous one.  On the way to the race it was drizzling a little bit, however by the time I got to the farm the rain has stopped. 

There were a lot more people at this race than I expected.  It turned out that 507 raced, however there were many more there to watch.  I got my bib and was ready to run.  This race, a new person would start every three seconds, this allowed for more space, because when we ran there was a decent amount of room between the corn stalks, however not a large amount.  We had a timing device on our bib, since we all did not start at the same time.   

Everyone was separated into different groups, based on when we signed up our predicted average mile pace.  They started out with the faster to the slower.  When I started, I got off pretty good, however it took me a minute to get by a couple of girls, they were a little slower but took up space so it was hard to get by them.  Through the race, I would say I passed around 30 people and I was only passed once! 

The rain from earlier made it a lot more fun and harder to maneuver in the race.  The mud was sticking to my shoes and it was very easy to slip and fall.  Also, this race had over 100 turns through the corn.  You were constantly turning to go in a different direction.  It was really cool and different.  You just had to be careful making the turns because if you didn't you ccould easily fall on your face.  

With the mud and the turns, it felt more than a regular 5k.  I had a lot of fun with this run, and would defiantly do it again.  I ended up with a time of 26 minutes and 38 seconds.  I feel that I could have been a little faster, because a few times I was stuck behind some people, however I am sure I held a person or two up as well.  I ended up 32 place out of 507 people!  In my division (males 30-34 years old)  I got 4th.  One place out of the awards.

This was a great experience and I had a lot of fun.  I look forward to the next one!

You can find the results at the link below.

http://itsracetime.com/Results.aspx?ID=359

Chicago Marathon!

I did it, I finished the Bank of America Chicago Marathon!  Race day finally came and I was able to run a marathon for the first time.  It was a great experience and it was better than I thought it was going to be. 

The night before the race, my mom got me some mostacholi.  It was delicious and just what I needed!  I went to bed early because I knew I had to get up early to get to the race.  I woke up on Sunday morning at 3:30, I took a quick shower and my mom drove me to the train station.  The train left the Libertyville train station and we arrived in downtown Chicago around 6:10am.  The train had a good amount of people on it, with most going to the race.  Once we got to downtown, we all walked to Grant Park to check our gear and do final preperation.

Once there, they only let participants into a certain part of the park.  When there, I checked my bag, and was ready to go.  I did some streching and walked around.  It was getting close, so I got in my assigned corral (H) as time was approching.  From where we were, it was probably around a quarter of a mile from the start. 

Then we are off, we started walking towards the starting line, you could feel the excitement from all the people around.  When we crossed the starting line, we were all in a big group.  I didn't have a lot of room to move around, I just ran with the crowd.  It was a nice pace, not really too fast, but it allowed us to get our legs warm.  The first thing that I noticed, was all of the spectators.  Throughout the whole race, they were everywhere and they were fantastic.  All of the spectators/fans were cheering and giving everyone words of encouragement.  It was unbelievable, I was not expecting it like that. 

While I was running, I was clapping peoples hands, a little interaction, and just enjoying myself.  There were people dressed up, with signs, cheering, and so much more.  The fans made this marathon for me.  I was feeling good.  After a few miles you are able to move a little more and seperate and go at your own pace.  I was actually moving pretty good. 

At about every one and a half miles there were aid stations.  They would have gatorade/water and sometimes banannas and some other snacks.  This was crutial, it helped me stay hydrated, and moving.  I was going at a good pace and actually feeling good.  Again, the fans where at every corner and every stretch of the race.  I kept running and running and running.  I got to the half way point 13.1 and had a good time of 1 hour and 54 minutes.  This was a little faster then I expected and was pleased.  At this time, I started to feel the running catching up to me.  I was still filling good, however I felt more tired and some pain than before.  I kept pushing and pushing.

At around mile 18, I hit the "wall"  that you hear from runners.  The bottom of my feet were hurting as well as my ankle a little bit.  I kept moving, but I saw my stride getting smaller and the pace slower.  Eventually around mile 19, I decided to walk for the first time.  I was hoping not to walk during the race, however I knew I had to.  So I would switch from running to walking.  Back and fourth.  I would run some and then walk, I usually had a goal on how much to run, and did a little bit more than walk for a little bit.  I did this till the last mile and a half, that part I ran the rest of the way home.

The last mile and half, I was excited.  The whole time I was thinking, I am so close to the finish and am going to reach my goal!  You could tell that most of the people running were all thinking the same thing.  So we were getting close and we made the final turn.  When I saw the finish line I had the biggest grin on my face and was so happy.  I could feel tears in my eyes because I work so hard to get to this point.  I crossed the finish line at 4 hours, 52 minutes 52 seconds. 

This was not my goal time, but I am happy that I have finished.  This was a great learning experience for me, I will do another marathon.  I plan on doing the Chicago again next year!  I know better what I have to do to prepare.  I will do a lot more longer runs next year and push myself more on certain runs.   I am really happy with the experience and am thrilled that I did it.  I just know I can do a lot better and that will help me continue my quest.  My goal is to eventually run it under 4 hours, whether it is my next one or another one after that. 

My two sisters and my 3 nieces came to the marathon.  Unforntaley they did not see my finish, but they were there for support!  I meet them after at the charity village and we went to the car and went home.  It was truly an expierence that I will always remember and grateful that I did it.  I can't wait to do the next one.

I will continue to do other 10ks and other distance runs in the future.  I will be doing the Tenesse Ragnar in November.  This is a relay race and I will be running a total of around 17 miles. 

Going into the marathon I didn't know how I would feel after.  If this would be a one time marathon or if I will continue to do them.  I will at least do one more, however I have a feeling I may be hooked.  I am still sore, mainly my quads and my ankle.  However, I am not as sore as I thought I would be.  I am looking forward to my next run outside, which I think I can do in a few days.  I would just like to end this by saying thank you to everyone who made this race possible, all the fans and spectators that came out and cheered us all on, and my sisters and nieces for coming out and supporting me.  We wouldn't be able to do this without all of their support.   

Chicago Marathon by marclindblom at Garmin Connect - Details