4 Workouts In Paradise!

1. 10km run with Pharmie. On our first full day in Cozumel last week, we got up and went for a run. Here we are all ready to go (YAY for running shirtless in Jan!):

This was my first run in my new Zeal sunglasses. And it was our first run together in a LONG time! I was going to push her to a speedy tempo run.

We headed out of our resort and down a frontage road along the main road. Here’s Pharmie working hard near the turn-around:

And she snapped a photo of me just after turning back towards home:

When we stopped, Pharmie said, “Oh Jeez, your back is SOO sweaty!” So she took a photo:

One workout down!

2. 18km long run (11.2 miles). Two days after my run with Pharmie, I wanted to go on my long run for the week. Luckily, our resort was right next to a kilometer marker on the highway, so I knew how far I was going.

My route on the SW corner of the island
(out and back on this route)

I hit the turn around in 38:20.

I turned back and started picking up the pace. I went harder and harder, and I was afraid I’d have to stop. With 5K left, I kept telling myself that I “just had a 5K left.” Then just 4K. Then just 3K. I was breaking down. I told myself I could walk with 2K left. But I was able to run through that. I thought I could make it, but with about 1.5K left, I had to stop and walk for a minute.

Including the walking time, I ran the second half in 34:21. So I still negative split the run by nearly 4 minutes. I never know how to take “having to walk:” is it a failed run? Or is it good because now I know where my “line” is? I REALLY didn’t want to walk, but I can’t complain about going 11.2 miles at 6:30 pace overall.

I got back, and I had road grime all over my neck. And JUST my neck. Weird.

3. 10km tempo run. Two days after my long run, I went out on the same route Pharmie and I ran a few days before. I think it ended up being a little shorter than a 10K. I ran out in 19:10.

I picked up the pace and made it back without having to stop and walk (even though it was getting really tough) in just under 18:00. My total time was 37:05 (5:59/mile pace).

4. Upper body workout. One day before leaving, I spent 1:20 in the gym at the resort. They didn’t have much for machines - pretty much just the basics. But I made it a killer workout. Overall, I did:

8 sets on the bench
8 sets for biceps
8 sets for triceps
6 sets for lats
7 sets for back
7 sets for shoulders

If you’ve been a long time reader, you know that sometimes I keep track of how much I lift and then multiply the numbers to see how much weight I lifted during the workout just for fun (so 50 pounds lifted for 10 reps equals 500 pounds). This upper body only workout totaled 37,024 pounds. Sweet. I maybe would have kept working, but Pharmie came to get me so we could go to supper.

And it's only 5 days to the Winter Carnival Half Marathon! I’m still shooting for a PR of sub-1:29! One last long run today before the race. (I’m not much for tapering.) I’ll let you know how it goes.

p.s. In the next week or 2, I’ll have a little “course preview” Ironman Cozumel. So if you’re racing IM COZ 09, let me know - I’ll be giving you my thoughts shortly.