Insanity Day 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Woke up feeling sore after yesterday's fit test. But went for a 4 mile run on the beach anyways. The run wasn't so good- it was really, really windy, and it was high tide, so there was hardly any sand to run on, and what little sand there was was pretty soft and difficult to run on. But I plowed on...even if it wasn't a fast 4 miles, that's still 400 calories burned.

4 miles, 33:28, 8:23 pace

Insanity day 2: plyometric cardio circuit, 40 minutes
This was rough! The warm up was about 10 minutes, and it was a hard warm up! Then we did about 8 minutes of stretching, which felt awesome. Then it was 20 minutes of intense intervals. By the end I was sweating buckets, but I finished, without having to take very many breaks. With all the high intensity jumping moves in the DVD, I can see why people get great results using this program. Hopefully I'll have a lot to show for my effort in 60 days!

First day of Insanity: Fit test

3 miles run: 22:03, 7:21 pace

Day 1 Insanity: Fit Test
switch kicks 100
power jacks 55
power knees 87
power jumps 29
globe jumps 7
suicide jumps 18
push-up jacks 24
low plank oblique 66

Boy, was I tired after the fit test! It was only 30 minutes, but I was very tired. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Holiday runs

December 24: 3 mile run, 21:28 (7:10 pace)
December 25: off
December 26: 9 miles, 1:10:01 (7:46 pace)

4 mile beach run

4 miles in exactly 30 minutes for a 7:30 min/mile pace.

New year, new training plan

I've run the Chicago Marathon 3 times, each with the intention of getting under 3:40 and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Each time I've fell short:
2007 3:46
2008 4:20 (heat really got to me)
2010 3:49

I read about the Less is More marathon training plan in Runner's World and am interested to see if this plan will produce better results. I've followed Hal Higdon's training plans for my last 3 marathons and have found them very good, but I've always struggled with injuries. Hopefully this new plan, which features only 3 days of running per week, and cross training 3x/week will allow me to stay fit while keeping injury free. The 16 week marathon training plan officially starts January 10. For now during winter break I'm just enjoying running 6x/week on the beach. The past few days I've run:
Sunday 8 miles 62 minutes
Monday 4 miles
Tuesday 5 miles
Wednesday 3 miles 21:29

I'm either using the 3:30 or the 3:40 marathon training plan. Rumor has it that the BAA is going to make the qualifying standards harder for the 2012 Boston Marathon, so that might mean I have to kick it up a notch in order to qualify. 3:30 is a 8 min/mile pace for 26.2 miles...that seems so fast! It is a nice goal to work towards, though. Looking over the 3:30 plan, I know I can easily do the tempo runs, and I think I can do the speedwork without much difficulty. Hitting those target paces for the long runs though, will be tough.

I purchased the P90x DVDs this fall but never had a chance to try them...got caught up with classes and never found the time to do them on top of my regular running schedule. But I'm hoping to start the P90x series as soon as I get home on January 3. I think it will be a nice complement to my running routine. Stay tuned!