Today's workout

No time during lunch, decided to fire up the treadmill at home:

1/2 mile run
10 Burpees
Repeat for a total of 6 times

3 miles, 60 burpees. Particle in the earphones. Not a bad way to spend half an hour.

100 day, 100 Burpee challenge ends today

But I did do three Burpees today -- January 3rd, 2010.

100 more Burpees

100 more Burpees today and oh man, two days in a row of this and I've just about had it.

Burpees

I've written about them before. Beloved exercise of tough people everywhere. The mighty Burpee. Yes, with an uppercase B. Approach this one with respect my friend. Because it will slap you down hard if you don't.

People everywhere talk about the 100 day Burpee challenge. 1 burpee on Jan 1, 2 on the 2nd, 3 on the third. Are you asleep yet? No offense to those who attempt the challenge. Never having done it, it could be a lot tougher than I think. Recall my history with New Year's goals.

But here is a real challenge. 100 burpees per day for 100 days. Or as long as you can do it. I just did 100... not my best time at it, but I finished them all during No Quarter from The Song Remains the Same.

Run hard out there.

Goals Shmoals

So 2009 did not go as planned, from a fitness goal standpoint. Sub 14 hour Hellgate. 100 push-ups. 20 pull-ups. Oh well. So I didn't make it.

But...

I can do a heckuva lot more push-ups that I could 365 days ago. My sprint endurance has improved. Today I shoveled snow and didn't even get winded.

What's in store for 2010? Not sure yet. But you can be sure the bar is not getting any lower.

2009 Hellgate: End of a Fun Run

Well, it's official. I'm not running the 2009 Hellgate 100k. My heart and mind were just not into it this year enough to get me there. I told Horton this past week that I was out. I think he knew it anyway. I'm a bit sad, but it's just a race, right?

I celebrated today with a great run on the trails of Mill Mountain. The 12 miles felt almost effortless as we made our way up, down, around, up, and down again. The beauty and spirit of the run today made me question my decision. Six Hellgates in a row. My streak has ended. It was a fun run.

Below is an image of today's 12 miler. Every bit of it, I believe, within the Roanoke City limits.



Good luck Hellgate runners. No full moon this year.

Run hard out there...

Today's Intense Workout

Today's workout:

38 degrees, pouring rain.

Jog to the park, about 1 mile.

I had my timer set to beep every minute, for 20 minutes. On the start of every minute:

10 push-ups
100 Yard Sprint
Rest till next minute.

Jog back downtown.

It's a keeper.

Run hard out there...