It felt good to be back on the road today with fresh legs. I covered the 4-mile loop at Metedeconk Lakes in 47:30 with a 9:23 second mile. The body felt genuinely good for the entire run. I focused on running relaxed, belly breathing, keeping my stride short and accelerating uphill. All that with 8 lbs of layers on the body. A positive effort!
Today was another chance to get out to the cinder track for a workout. Once again I spent an hour in motion. That included 800m warm-up with stretching and drills, and 800m cooldown. In between the heart of the workout was 3 miles with 12 x 30 second pick-ups, one every 400 meters. Each pick-up consists of between 75 and 100 strides. The three miles took 35 minutes and was pretty demanding on my body.
We then drove to Philadelphia to transfer our house plants for loving care while we visit Florida. We had a lovely dinner with Kristen and slept over at her very comfortable city house.
In the morning we drove to Atlantic City. The day was bitter cold and raw. So we spent the day inside. My body was pretty tired from the workout yesterday. It may have been the most strenuous workout I have done in a few months. So Tuesday consisted of two separate afternoon naps plus a visit to The Knife and Fork restaurant for Happy Hour appetizers. Then home to bed early; a truly restful day.
I-Mad = 0
Weight = #153
Sleep = 12 hours ! ?
Kind of let this day get away. Had a long, post-operation eye exam after we drove home from Atlantic City. Then pretty much punked out because of the rotten, raw weather.
TOMORROW! !!!
Lots of drills and running for 40 minutes in the pool today. Then 20 minute hot whirlpool. Happy to get in work with no impact on legs.
It was pretty shocking how the temperature was dropping every minute this afternoon as I begin my run. I misjudged the weather conditions. So, underdressed, this was my first actual cold winter workout. But the cinder track was perfect today . It was soft and absorbent like a modern day rubberized track . It took almost 30 minutes with jogging, one leg drills and stretching to feel warm. The final half-hour was really solid work, and I left the track feeling that I had gained something.
4.38 miles on the cinders with various pickups, 1 hour total with stops for one foot drills and stretching.
Miles. 1- 14:00. 2- 11:48 3- 10:42. 4-11:38. +4:27
I ran a 200m pick-up at 8:00 pace each lap in miles 2-3 & 4.
Icing and rolling after.
I-Mad = 0
a.m.HR = 55BPM
Weight = #155
Sleep 7 hours
Workout = above
On this unseasonably warm afternoon I decided to test he cinder track. The melted show posed a threat of mushy cinders, but I figured it might be better than slushy roads. The track had some soft spots and wet spots. So I devised a brilliant plan to mark off a 200m segment of dry track to run some 8:00 pace repeats. That would be 60 seconds per 200m. It was a shot, and I wasn’t sure if it was even possible. I found two permanent fixtures that were 200m apart and began fully dressed. Layers were discarded as the workout progressed. To my surprise I was able to complete 8 x 200m all under 60 seconds rather comfortably. The temptation to extend to 10x was present, but I stopped at 8x out of caution. The whole event (location, weather conditions and workout) was quite exhilarating ! I can’t imagine a more positive January workout at this stage of my training. For logging purposes the interval times are listed, noting 60 second recovery between each 200m. ( 53, 59, 54, 58, 53, 53, 46, 56 ) Total time with warm-up and drills and cool down was 56 minutes and 3 miles. Ending HR was 144 BPM. No leg or foot aches.
Stats are stable.
Stats-
I-Mad = 1
a.m. HR = 56BPM
Sleep =9 hours
Weight = #155
Workout = 25 minute water run with six 30-20-10 surge⚓
Took the day off on Saturday to recover from Friday’s cinder pickups and watch the snow.
Today I spent 30 minutes in the gym. 10 on bike, 20 on tredmill. Last mile @ 10:00. Then 10 minutes in the whirlpool before watching the Giants get their ass kicked by Aaron Rodgers. I think he will win the Superbowl this year.
On this chilly, January afternoon I headed to the cinder track with the goal of running four safe miles. Well padded, I started slowly, stopped for some warm up leg drills, a few lunges and stretches. I inserted 70 to 100 stride pickups on each straightaway of the half-mile track, 11 in all over the 4 miles. My legs feel better on each lap and I was experiencing no aerobic difficulty. I stopped only out of an abundance of caution even though I felt that I could have gone much further. So far the cold weather has not presented any difficulty. I am happy to be feeling comfortable running pickups again because I think that is one of the keys to achieving maximum fitness. I am glad I got this workout in before tomorrow’s predicted snowfall. Now iceing, rolling and drinking chocolate milk.
I-Mad =1
Sleep = 7 hours
Weight = #154
a.m.HR = 54BPM
Workout = 4 miles, 11 pickups, 60 minutes ?
I set out expecting to walk about 20 minutes to recover today, even left my watch home. But, since my legs felt so fresh, I started to jog a little. I ended up running for a half hour at a pretty solid pace, improving as I went along. Pleased to be able to do a little more than expected on this cold day. (2.5 miles)
I-Mad = 0
a.m.HR = 55BPM
Weight = #154
Sleep = 10 hours
Workout = Steady, relaxed 30 minutes recovery
January 1,2, 3
The last 3 days were New Year’s Day on which we had the annual O’Rourke family Christmas party, and two very bitter cold rainy days. I managed to get in one session at the clubhouse. I decided to try the 20 minute bike workout suggested by Dr. Mirkin because time was short. This consists of five-minute warmup and 5 minute cooldown with 10 minutes in the middle of 20 second full effort bursts every minute. It does get the heart rate up and fatigue the legs for a considerable time afterwards. I followed up with a very refreshing 15 minutes in the hot whirlpool. That was on the 2nd. 1/3 was off.
Poor statting these days……