Sure!

That looks familiar, no urgency until they have passed you the problem. So much fun demoing stuff you either haven't had time to set up properly or know there hasn't been time for others to do.

I have been running tarmac and concrete so long I am actually quicker on that than off. Very different technique though and my start was cross country so I had to learn it. Well above my melting point even still there. Today was 16 degrees C for me and I know this is the reverse point so was 61 degrees F, much nicer.

Enjoy your hiking.
 
Saturday 9/21/13 Played on the slackline for ages, along with lots of pull-ups. A friend came out to the house and we set up a longline over the tank. I really struggled to mount the higher line and didn't make any progress until we took the A-frame out and tightened the line.

Sunday a wicked storm front blew by - woke to a high wind advisory (40 to 50 mph gusts) and it was just nasty to be outdoors. Braved it in the afternoon to move 15 wheelbarrows of dirt to fill up the holes created this summer by the boulder moving/road building project.

Being left handed, I am fairly ambidextrous because as a lefty, one has to be to survive in this right-handed world. Leg wise, I am solidly a lefty. While digging, I was really trying to switch legs and use my right leg on the spade at least a quarter of the time - sheesh, really hard to do. I read a book a while back that doing work with the non-dominant hand or foot is really good for the brain, forging new neural-pathways and [bonus] can boost will-power! Actually, my intent was not to have my left leg be a lot more tired than my right as I hoped to be doing a long hike on Monday should the wind let up.

Monday 134.2 and my 50th birthday - likely should have done a bit more "carb-loading" Sunday evening. We hiked the Weatherford-Kachina loop, a favorite local hike and all around good training for the upcoming double crossing of the Grand Canyon. 18.5 miles and about 5000 feet of climbing. Was really feeling the altitude above 11,000 feet so we were a little slow getting to the saddle on Aggassiz (12,200). We ran as much of the Weatherford as we could - whenever it was smooth enough, so about a third of it. The rest is baby-heads and tangled ankle twisting roots and we just powered through as fast as we could. The Kachina section went well, hard to climb that last 1000 feet and the rolling hills are cruel, taking away elevation everytime we gained some. Finished the loop in just over 6 hours.

Today I am feeling pretty good - no foot problems, shoulders a bit sore from the pack, and good energy level (although I slept in and did not do any sort of workout). 12 days to go...
 
Thanks, Tony. At the 10k race I did a few weeks ago, the female 60 and up winner's time beat all of the 50 year old and the 40 year old women - she looked great (in a strong/fit/healthy sense, pretty too) and she was fast. I want to be like her, although how I'm going to take 10 minutes off my 10k time over the next decade eludes me... I do not have many fast twitch muscles, I am much better at endurance...

Speaking of endurance, headed to the gym this morning to get in some leg building for the upcoming endurance event.
15 minutes on the EFX elliptical to warm up - high steps, fairly high resistance, fairly fast step rate (170's). Could feel some lingering tiredness from the hike on Monday. Then upstairs where I found a BOSU and my old favorite 10kg medicine ball (felt strangely heavy) and did 3 songs worth of lunges until my legs were shaking and screaming "no more".

Switched to squats, followed by 100 KB swings, and finished up with a nice set of pullups (10 kippers and 4 straight) since I should't totally neglect my upper body these next 2 weeks.
 
Happy birthday for Monday :)

As to how to take 10min off your 10k...well, you've got 10 years to figure that one out. I used to do some sprint training back in the day (not enough to suggest that I'm even remotely fast or don't resemble a turtle), and noticed that some long distance runners (although generally not full marathon runners) seemed to use similar running technique. I remember practicing my sprint technique dialled down, and while I had zilch endurance, found that it didn't feel natural to run any slower than about 14kph with that form (whereas my previous running technique felt natural from about 8-16kph), so perhaps how you run could be the key to cutting time? Or maybe you just need some of dat der 5x5 dedalifts ;)
 
Marathon runners still do intervals though usually longer splits than for sprints. I am quite interested in doing some HIIT in the near future but have a lot to be adapting too at the moment so will have to wait.
Intervals and variation of running distances and paces are a good system for many. Thinks like doing a mile flat out then very gradually increasing the distance while keeping pace, or running further than your event to be sure the stamina is there and just increasing pace very gradually. Terrain is a big deal and if there is a set event running something as close to this as possible is key.

10 mins off 10k is going to be tough, that means taking a minute off each kilometre, so will be interesting. Be a great ridiculous target though and I am a big fan of those.
I am not really interested in racing anymore, I know I am slower than I was when running properly, but I am 1.5 x the bodyweight too with the power that brings so don't care. Crazy part is I still get regarded as quick by many especially when they consider my age, something your post points out makes no difference at all.
I like the app I have for running now, it makes it easy to compete with me and that is something I enjoy.
 
Chances are good I'll defer major efforts toward speed for oh... 8 years! Actually, I was rather enjoying doing some speed work last summer (2012) and saw some good gains, but the hamstring troubles this year have totally shut down any sprinting. Actually now that I'm back to hiking more than running, the hamstring seems a tad less grumpy. Maybe I can finally get the pesky beast to heal up!

Slowly getting my head around moving indoors. The fact that it has been stinkin' cold in the morning with howling winds has helped! We had a smidge of snow today -sheesh, not ready for that!!!

Thursday 9/26/13 did 30 minutes of sanity maintenance cardio on the EFX machine - did the "glut" program and it helped to ease the DOMS from all the lunges on Wednesday. Since I am determined not to lose the upper body strength gains made this summer, went upstairs and did 34 of the most excellent pushups, some hamstring exercises, and a nice bit of foam rolling.

Friday 9/27/13 135.6 (eating more - I have no business being below 135) Incline treadmill today - haven't done that in a while and it was good. 12% incline at 4.0 mph felt good - working hard, not just dying though. Wanted to keep some energy for some weights.
Alternated OHP with front squats
OHP 6x45, 5x55, 2x65,1x70x2 - had been flirting with the idea of trying 75, but could tell it wouldn't happen on the set of 65lbs. Oh well, I'll get it another day!
Squats 8x55, 8x65, 8x70, 5x80

Pullups 4,4,4
T2B 5,5,4
set of lunges (didn't do much as we will be doing a steep hike this weekend and I'll need my legs)
 
Monday 133.8 - had plans for a good run this morning, then T rolled over to cuddle me and we both went back to sleep - poof goes the run since I have some deadlines that meant I couldn't push getting to the office back that far. Normally, my day is very flexible, but not today and probably not this week. Oh well...

Saturday and Sunday were both filled with chores, so lots of activity, but limited formal exercise. We had planned a hike for Sunday figuring to do 18-20 miles, but changes in the weather meant a couple of projects we had been delaying needed attention NOW. Did make time for slackline to loosen up stiff backs and while at that, I worked in 2 sets of good pushups and did my longest set on the monkey bars - 55 rungs (2.5 laps).

Also did a round with the calipers both to assess my efforts of the summer (maintain weight, gain strength, continue to work on body recomposition - less fat, more lean mass) and to have a starting point for the coming year.

Using my trend (avg) weight of the past 10 days, it was 1 lb lower than in mid-May when T last did the calipers. Body fat % went from 16.9% to 16.03% and shows an increase of lean weight of .25 lbs - not much, but given my age, lack of weight gain, and a period of 4 months, about what one might expect. I'll take a gain no matter how small!
 
133.8 today - have to walk some papers over to campus in a little bit and will stop by the store to buy some bagels and cream cheese as it is time to add some extra carbs and extra calories to my diet for the weekend's adventures. Of course, that assumes the US Congress can get their act together and re-open the government and thus, the national parks. So totally idiotic!

Meanwhile, I am planning as if we will get to do the GCDC on Saturday and to that end, figured today was my last day to tear the leg muscles apart in hopes of rebuilding them better and stronger! Incline treadmill @ 14% and 4.1 mph for 25 minutes was a good walk - climbed 1300 feet over 1.6 miles. Then went upstairs for lunges, lunges, more lunges, and then some squats. I have that bone deep exhausted feeling that comes from a really outstanding and hard workout.
 
133.4 which I totally don't get, but whatever - I'm still eating more than usual, more than I want, and working to boost the glycogen stores to their max level. Sadly, so far the stupid congress isn't budging and I fear our annual GCDC will be derailed by nasty politics. Poo!

My butt was fairly screaming this morning from the lunges - am really dreading second day soreness tomorrow, I may be a cripple! Hit the treadmill to work on my long neglected power walking skills. Was pretty happy to work my way up to 5.0 mph starting from 4.7. So in 25 minutes managed 2 miles, 2% incline. Enjoyed getting some blood moving to sore muscles, enjoyed the sanity maintenance benefits (demons of autumn are lurking), and enjoyed going hitting the 5 mph target.

Was way past out of time, but unwilling to not do something for my upper body, I went for low reps with high intensity - no pauses or rests, just jump down from the bar, flex wrists and shake out the arms, then jump back on: pullups - mix of kippers and straight 15, t2b - just 10 worked in between pullups, pushups - just 12, then back on the bar.
 
Weight is always a dodgy thing to be analysing daily. Water will cover so much of the change. See how things trend out over the next few weeks.
 
Spent the night in Phoenix, conference today. Got in a nice outdoor run this morning. Chatted with a WWII Navy veteran who was walking the opposite direction so we passed several times as I ran by. In the end he said the loop was 1.5 miles, so I guess that give me 3 miles for the day. No watch so no idea of the time, but guessing these were about 9 minute miles. My butt and legs are still screaming about the lunges. Lets see, if I scanned back to early summer in Ryan's thread, I think I would find my snarky comment along the lines of "what's not to love about throbbing pain, quivering quads, hamstrings, and gluts..." As my dad always told me, paybacks are hell.

CrazyOldMan said:
Weight is always a dodgy thing to be analysing daily. Water will cover so much of the change. See how things trend out over the next few weeks.
Click to expand...

I get up, use the toilet, then jump on the scale every morning and write it down, so daily variations are usually easy to explain based on what I ate, drank and did the previous day or five. I pay a lot more attention to the trend over a week or 10 days than to any single day as I know how meaningless a day is. The trend has been to be a couple of pounds low for almost a week despite trying to load up a little with extra carbs. I'm eating my usual daily faire along with a large bagel & cream cheese and a big cup of chocolate milk which should be about an extra 500-600 calories.

Given that the US government shutdown continues, my plans for the weekend and the reason for the extra calories are on hold. Can't do my Grand Canyon double when the park is closed because they won't let us in the gate. We could push it off to next weekend if the park re-opens, but after the 15th, we can't do our normal version so any double would be shorter than the planned 50 miles, best we could do is 47. I am quite disappointed but will stop whining about in a few days...maybe.
 
134.2 Had hoped I might do an outdoor workout this morning w/ T as I was going in late, but it was waaay below freezing so playing on the bars just wasn't going to be any fun. At the gym, mixed up various inclines for 2 miles on the treadmill, ranging from 15% to 3%, most done at 12%. Climbed 750 feet over those 2 miles in 25 minutes. Was having some asthma symptoms (wheat and Phoenix air are a bad combination for me) and had no inhaler handy, so didn't push as hard as I might have.

Woke up kind of pissed off about ruined weekend plans, but honestly, my gripes are minor compared to millions of people who are hugely impacted by the shutdown. Anyway, took my "mad" upstairs to the weight room and knocked out good rounds of pushups, pullups and T2B in a short amount of time. Thinking might be a new "record" for pullups done in a session at 20. 3 sets of 10 pushups, 20 T2B, and 100 KB swings - moved up to the 20 lb KB.

T suggested we might transfer our endurance weekend to a 100 miler that easily supports a drop to 100 km near the end of the month. Hm... maybe that is the way to go. Not much elevation gain on that course, so not best suited for me as I am so strong on steep hills, but I've been on the course and I like it well enough. Will have to mull on this.
 
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