Where I'm at, where I'm going

So tomorrow will be day 45 of P90X. I'm almost half-way through, with about 6 weeks to go. That means it's about time to start planning beyond P90X.

My biggest goal for this fall/winter racing season is to run a sub-2hr half marathon. I'll have three shots at it. I'm planning to run a half in October (Boo Run in Cleburne or Allstate in Dallas), another in November (Azle Lake Run), and another in December (White Rock Dallas half marathon).

A 2-hr half marathon is about a 9:09 pace. So that's the target.

This morning I headed out for a 4 mile run. I took it easy the first mile, then picked up my pace for the remainder of the run. The result was an average pace of about 9:53, which required a moderate effort. So clearly I have my work cut out for me. I need to triple that distance and take about :45 off of my pace and I have about 4 months to do it.

Realistic? Well here's my optimistic thinking: The cooler fall temps are usually good for taking about :20 to :30 off of my pace. It was about 80 degrees this morning. A good fall racing day will be closer to 50 or 60 degrees. It makes a big difference. I'm also on a low-carb diet as part of the P90X program. So my current diet and workout regiment make running a bit more challenging. So once I've completed P90X and I start increasing my carbs a bit, hopefully that will be good for another :10 to :15 off of my pace as well.

So I think the 2hr half is a good challenging goal to reach for. It seems doable, but it's going to take some effort.

My second tier goal is to set a new half marathon PR. That means beating 2:10, which is about a 10min pace. Barring injury, I'll be pretty disappointed if I don't accomplish this one.

So that's where I'm headed, now to get busy finding a good half marathon training schedule to jump on once P90X is completed.

P90X - Three Hardest Workouts

This weekend I'll wrap up week 4 of the P90X program. I'm following the "classic" program, plus running three times per week. I do P90X in the evenings, and run early morning on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. My runs are just easy 3.5 to 4.5 mile runs.

So while I'm only about 1/3 of the way through the P90X program so far, here's the top 3 most challenging workouts for me so far:

3. Legs & Back - I'm a runner, but I've never been a fan of leg workouts. This workout seems like it's basically a leg workout with some back work just to give your legs a break. The wall squats are a killer.

2. Ab Ripper X - 15 minutes of pain. If you can actually hang with this, you probably don't need P90X.

1. Yoga X -  The toughest workout of them all. The first 40 minutes of this are a nightmare, and could be a complete workout called squat and plank (or downward dog) because it seems like that's what's actually happening here. When Tony says it's the best downward dog of your life at the end of the first 40 min, he's not kidding. I'm always so happy to get to the balance poses. But then the ab 7 come at the end, just to give you a nice uppercut at the end of this thing for the final knockout. I sleep well on yoga nights.

So those are the top 3 most challenging P90X workouts for me so far. Although I should say that none of the workouts are easy, but these three stand out as being particularly challenging for me.

P90X Phase I Complete

I'm still hanging in there with the P90X program. Over the weekend I completed week 3, which is the end of phase I. This week is a recovery week, then phase II starts next week.

The workouts are all pretty challenging still, but I'm getting better at it. I think the toughest workouts for me are the yoga and the legs/back. Also, the ab-ripper workout is pretty tough. Yoga and legs both involve alot of crouching, which kills my thighs. Yoga also has some pretty crazy poses that I'm not quite flexible enough for, but I can say that I'm improving.

I'm also still running 3x per week. The runs are slow and challenging for the most part. I usually do P90X in the late evening, then get up and run early, so my legs and core are usually still tired from the workout the night before. I think of it like simulating the late part of a long run, like the last few miles of a half marathon. So while it's hard, I think it's good training since my current goal is to PR my half this fall.

That's it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying the last of the spring weather before the heat starts really kicking in!