Not since the 2007 Dana Point Turkey Trot 5 months ago, has Val entered and run a road race due an aggravating and persistent groin injury. Today was her “coming out party” and she barely lost a step.

Everything about this event was relaxed and went without a hitch. Val had been diligently training at things other than running in the months preceding, so that when her body said it was ok to race, she would be ready to go.

And ready she was. Val’s expectations were low and was really thrilled to be in this race and wanted to have fun. The Hermosa Beach 5K is a low-key local affair-the perfect first race back, with much of the event run on the beach strand and onto the pier.

Val ran pain free and happy and that was reflected in a time only a minute off her PR for the distance. Not bad at all considering she has only gone for a few short road runs and two of them were with slowpoke named MarkFu!

Val reported some after race pain so we hit it up with Advil and we will find out soon enough if this race was a good idea. But for this day, it was. She did great and we both enjoyed the beautiful, cool sunny morning in Hermosa Beach.

While enjoying a day off, Val asked me to put together a strength workout for her that would help her performance as a runner. So what better than the deadlift, a total body exercise?

Here she lifts a 2RM of 130 lbs on the 10th set of doubles. No doubt she could pull more with less sets and each subsequent lift was heavier. Oh, and I left out one important part of this training; she only got a minute rest between sets.

Beginning with this week, I am posting my workouts for the entire week on Sundays. This will free up time for better posts when I do post articles. In addition, I will occasionally put up topics other than fitness. Since I sufficiently mix up my training for good reason, I will also mix up my blog posts and hopefully keep it fresh and interesting. In any case, I’ll put up whatever I think I might like and get read by you.

I am am open to your opinions and suggestions and invite your comments. Thanks for reading MFB.

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 When you are traveling, time is short or you just don’t have the desire to go to the gym, all you need to have a great workout is a deck of playing cards. That’s it. If you want to add more stuff, that’s fine too.   

 

With fours suits you can have four different exercises done non-stop with a time under 20 minutes as a goal. After you shuffle the deck, you simply take the number on the upturned card and do that number of reps for the exercise you’ve assigned to the suit. Jacks equal 11, Queens 12, Kings 13, Aces 14 and with Jokers wild, you repeat the number of reps from the previous card but you can pick any of your exercises with that card.

 

I was going to do this today but filling in for me was guest exerciser Valerie Foo who was more than eager to do this little gem. Her exercises were: push-ups, sit-ups, squats and kettlebell swings and for her first time, she got it done in 22 minutes. She told me (but didn’t have to), the push-ups were the toughest. 

 

There are many ways to play this “game” and all of them will toast you! Whenever you travel, make sure you have a deck of playing cards with you and you won’t miss a beat at all in your training.

Val came to the "Northwest Corner" at the gym to get in some
crosstraining while she heals from a nasty groin pull. (Oh yeah, I KNOW
about those)! While she warmed up elsewhere, I got started with several
rounds of Burgener’s famous warm-up

I continued with 5×3 of High Hang Squat Cleans + Push Presses.

45/65/95/115/125/135.

As I finished, Val returned for her workout, a 20 minute a variation
of a Crossfit metcon blast consisting of 5 push-ups, 20 jumping
pull-ups and 15 squats. After five rounds, she dropped the push-ups and
rotated between the other two for a total of 15 rounds.

I jumped in and did the push-ups and squats with her and did 15 x10 push-ups and 15 x 15 squats.

Val is only now beginning to understand that groin injuries don’t go away in a few days like sore muscles. She is not used to being injured or sick, so this is a challenge for her. The injury is going be around for a while and she is now starting to look at doing other things to keep fit and strong in addition to healing the injury.

Back “in the day”, running was my favorite thing to do but that hasn’t been the case for many years. Nevertheless, as long as I am still going to run a little, I might as well do it better than I have in the past. When I ran, it was all about the shoes and clothes, the miles, splits, logbooks, the endorphines etc. No one I knew or read, talked about the technique of running. Yet, in any athletic endeavor, technique is crucial.

About a year ago, Val and I went to Fleet Feet to get some shoes and it was there where we first heard about the POSE Method. At the time, Val seemed to have mild interest but she was already being coached and I wasn’t interested in it for me at all since I was scarcely even running.

Some time later, we met Brian MacKenzie, a ultramarathoner and trainer who had just become a Crossfit affiliate, Crossfit Newport Beach. Our interest in POSE has been piqued again after we read articles and videos by Mackenzie and Michael Collins, an advanced POSE trainer in this month’s Crossfit Journal.Adding to this interest is Val’s groin injury which has put her on the shelf for a while.

While we look into POSE some more, I went out for a 5K run tonight and tried to incorporate some of the things they teach. I have no idea how it looked, but it seemed to be better on my body. My lower back didn’t hurt and I actually enjoyed the run, which I guess was no faster or slower than the last time, so my time was a hair under 30 minutes.

Technorati Tags: Pose Method, Crossfit Newport Beach,

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We got up early this morning, not to put a turkey in the oven but to get Val down to beautiful Dana Point for the annual Dana Point Turkey Trot 5 & 10K runs. On Valerie’s menu was the 10K event, which started at 7:00 AM which would get us home in time to watch the Green Bay Packers play beat the Detroit Lions for the first of three Turkey Day games.

(Go Pack)!

Val said it was a perfect day for a race with the temps in the mid-50’s and no wind. This race gets a great turnout every year and this year was no different with an estimated 10,000 runners and walkers for all the events.

Val’s official time, in her third 10K race was 46:22, which gave her an average pace of 7:28/mile. I asked Val which distance she like racing the best and she had no clear favorite, but did lean toward the 3.1 mile event over the 6.2. Whatever. She prepares and races well regardless of the distance and today was no exception.

It was a great day to race the 2007 Long Beach Marathon and everything fell into place nicely. (Well, at least for me…I didn’t run the race)! This year, we drove a different way to avoid the crowds and easily found a place to park close to the starting line. We didn’t have to stress getting to the starting line before the gun went off. Val, having more race experience is much better at managing race day anxiety than a year ago and I believe that only helped her performance as it did today with another half marathon personal best time of 1:40:34. (See the stats below).

The weather was ideal for a race with a starting temperature of 58 degrees and no wind. Humidity was high, but not a factor.I skated the course, looking for photo ops to catch Val in flight. As it turned out, I skated about the same distance as the half marathon, so I consider that my training workout for the day and I assure you it was much easier than Val’s effort. At the points along the race course where I caught up with her, Val looked strong and confident and totally immersed in the race. Val is one of those competitors who lives for race day and once the gun goes off, she goes off. She ran a strong, smart race. I’m am proud of her and inspired by her. Great race, Foo!

For more pictures, click here.

 

Long Beach International City Bank Marathon     -    Half Marathon

Bib:	8422
Name:	Valerie Kesler
Gender:	F
Age:	43
Hometown:	Newport Beach CA

Place Overall:	303	out of 5967
Women:	53	out of 3363
F 40-44:	12	out of 448

AgeGrade:

70.44%

Place: 110

FINISH:

1:40:34

pace: 7:41

10K:

45:20

pace: 7:18

Chip Time:	1:40:34
Gun Time:	1:40:48

 

 

One week out from the targeted and very popular Long Beach Marathon and Half Marathon, Val tested her conditioning and peaking by running a tight, local race, the Chapman University 5K. Not only was Val just seconds off her personal best in the distance with a time of 21:45, she placed 2nd in her age group, her highest placing yet. Here Val proudlly shows off her trophy.

She says she did not feel all that competitive and would have gotten a PR had I been there. Uh-huh. (I think she would have gotten the PR if she knew a certain competitior would be in the race but was not).

Val ran an excellent tune-up race and is definitely ready to knock down a half marathon PR in Long Beach next weekend.

Meanwhile, I slept in but when I got up I did a workout entirely with the rings, which I enjoyed.

 

Ring Push-ups: 20/20e/20e/20e/ (e means legs were elevated 24″) Ring Dips: 7/8/6 My right shoulder was beginning to lag on the 3rd set. Ring Pull-ups: 7/7/7/8/. Ring Body Pulls: 10/10/10/10e/

I began the day early to get Val ready to race the Surf City 5K run in Huntington Beach at 8:00 AM. As it is July 4th, I felt a good way to begin the day’s festivities was to listen to Red Skelton’s recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. It is always a good reminder to understand the meaning behind the words.

The day started out overcast and a bit humid and warm, but that did not slow down Valerie, who ran to yet another personal best time of 21:29 at 6:54 min/mile. She kept wondering where the finish line was and at the last turn, where I stood yelling and imploring her to a fast finish, she must have heard me and found another gear to get her across the finish line.After the race, where she finished 5th in her division, we watched the 4th of July parade on Main St. which was as as traditional Americana you will get anywhere in the country, yet with it’s own “Surf City” flavor. After all the years of living here, this is the first time I have been to the parade, and I am not even a “parade guy”! I hope to be here next year.

This parade had it all…in the parade and the crowd of spectators. From surfer bands and woodys to military trucks, tanks and soldiers to Shriners in little cars and scooters. Tattoos and bikinis, families, kids, dogs and thousands of beach cruisers. This is what a parade is all about!

Have a great 4th of July everyone. Get a good spot for the fireworks!

THE PR-Another cool and overcast Saturday morning so that means Val ran another race, her second 5K. This one was in downtown Anaheim and while it is a small, local event, it went well and Val lowered her 5K time by 27 seconds and finished it in a new PR of 21:39 which was 6:57 min/miles.

She rewarded herself for her fine showing and once again beating her nemesis, R. Baker, by buying her first pair of ultralight racing flats. She can’t wait to try ‘em out on the track Tuesday!

Now, for the PS (personally, SUCKED).

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