Saturday with the cross country boys at Clayton Park
I approached Clayton Park’s hilly and root-covered trails with trepidation on a steamy Saturday morning. I had only managed to get about five and a half hours sleep Friday night. My legs were feeling heavy and I had tweaked a little muscle in my lower back. I think I overdid some core work which left me vulnerable. After procrastinating for about 20 minutes, I cautiously entered the trails. My back would feel a little twinge when I traversed the uneven parts of the trail, and I was forced to basically walk going down the steep sections. I tried to take advantage of the up-hills and get a little work. After about 20 minutes of this , I exited the trails and headed for the open, flat fields. About this time the boys were returning from their run, and I joined them for their post run 150 meter pickups. I was able to run comfortably and at full stride with some pick up as I did the 150’s. Doing this also got my heart rate up to where I was hoping to reach . It turns out I did 52 minutes in motion, which was much better than I expected. At home I had coffee, a fruit salad, chocolate milk and a ham and egg sandwich on a hard roll. Yummy! It was a good tired feeling all day.
Stats seemed a little off for the last couple of days. My weight was up to 156# for the first time in a few months. My heart rate seems lower than normal down around 150 beats per minute. I wasn’t getting a lot of rest at night. My body seems to be more achy than usual, and my motivation to run was uncharacteristically low. It seems that the extremely hot weather has dimmed my desire to get out and do some serious work.
Snuck in 30 minutes running and swimming in the pool between obligations today. Felt lucky to get it done. The legs are a little sore but genuinely I feel good.
Looking for some speed work today, I headed out to a grassy straightaway in the neighborhood. I ran 10 X 100 meter pickups with about 1 minute rest. It was pretty hot, but the air was breathable. The total run, out and back, was 40 minutes. Positive day with legs feeling strong.
At XC practice tonight at Ocean County Park the air was so heavy it took me almost an hour to begin to even jog. It was going to be an easy, recovery day anyhow, but it was even less than planned. I finished up moving for about 15 minutes doing 50 stride pickups and walking in between. The surprising thing was that my legs felt quite good after last night’s interval work. The problem was getting air into my lungs in that extremely humid condition.
Determined to perform a track workout today, I headed for the Horse Track at seven in the evening with the temperature still about 82 degrees.. Now, the 800-meter cinder track is exactly half in the shade around that time of night. So, I decided I would just run on the shaded part, which is 400 meters. I had three goals tonight. The first was to stay in motion for a full hour and the second was to include some 400 meter repeats in the middle of that effort. I hoped to complete 6 x 400’s in decreasing time from about 10 minute pace to below 9 minute pace. The third was to complete all of this with no negative effect on my recently injured calf muscle. I’m very happy to report that I completed the entire workout as planned with my times much faster than I anticipated and no leg issues. It was not an all out effort. However, it was definitely the most intense workout since I returned to running in July: and it felt great!
The heat did not bother me, although I was totally soaked and dripping by the time I finished the one hour.
Here are the 400m times with equal rest;
2:07, 2:03, 1:58, 1:49, 1:51, 1:45
That means I started at 8:28 pace and ended at 7:00 pace. Much faster than expected, feeling relaxed, fluid and efficient!
Back home to chocolate milk, rolling and Olympic track. USA’s Murphy bronze in 1:42.9!!!
So much Olympics! Why do I get stomach cramps watching 15 year old gymnasts once every 4 years..?
Anyhow, today I walked over to our clubhouse Fitness room in 109* to run on the treadmill. Now, this is never my favorite form of workout. But given the circumstances it was the best option for today. I did manage to force myself to complete 4 miles of pretty rough treadmill drudgery. Good for the head and good for the body I guess. Running some nice distance, on a cool day, on a shady road is sounding so much more wonderful. Can’t wait!
I am very pleased to record a positive day of good, hard work at the CentraState Fitness Center. My body feels strong and rested today. So I took the opportunity to beat up my core and upper-body pretty well. Then I went into the pool for 35 minutes. The saltwater pool is truly energizing. Today is the first time I actually noticed a difference in my body’s ability to control in the water. I am much more relaxed and under control as I swim. In particular I noticed how relaxed my core was during the backstroke. This I believe is a direct result of the two months of core work I’ve been doing, and I am thrilled by the results. Swimming has never been a strength. But today I actually felt as though I was propelling myself forward on all my strokes. Watching Olympic swimmers is exhilarating!
I am ready for a real running workout tomorrow. Very excited!
Stats –
I-Mad – Solid 0?
Sleep – Solid 8 hours ?
a.m.HR – 54BPM
Weight – 153.5# Better!
Workout – 70 minutes – core, upper body + pool swim & run ???
I tested my legs at the cross country practice last night with the Liberty boys team. They were running 1,000m repeats and I ran about 3 minutes each time they set off and got back in time to catch the finish. My leg survived this 4 times without any indication of cramping or any discomfort. So I guess we’re on the right track. I chose not to blog about it yesterday because it seemed uninteresting. But I’m entering into my personal log for the record.
Tried to run a little bit this morning, but it’s not going to happen yet. Walking is not a problem, but 3 or 4 minutes of easy jogging brings back a negative sensation in my right calf. Just have to wait a little longer. In the meantime I am trying to stay fit by biking and swimming and spending time in the fitness room. I am a little nervous because I am not totally convinced that this kind of conditioning really gets one in shape to run. Now, I really don’t have to run fast. I want to make a respectable showing in the Jason Walton Memorial 5K in Hillsborough on the 28th of August. But all my Hillsborough friends will forgive me if I have a poor showing, I’m certain. The main thing is I need to be able to complete a decent 1500 meters at the New Jersey Senior Games for which I registered this morning. That event is on September 10th at Woodbridge High School. Once I qualify for the Nationals, I will have 9 months to prepare for the finals which will be in Birmingham, Alabama sometime next July.
So today I returned to the fitness center for 30 minutes upper body and core work. In addition I swam and ran in the pool for 30 minutes. That amounts to a pretty draining workout and I believe it helps me to stay fit. But the question is,
“Does it help me to run faster?” I still don’t know.