Pleasant Sunday; Boardwalking with my love, Biking in the neighborhood, Making nutritious home-made chicken soup and Giants win!
Arlene and I enjoyed a one hour visit to the Avon boardwalk early this afternoon on a strikingly beautiful October day. Blue skies, 75* and a soft Ocean Breeze.
Returned home to start the soup and set out on a 7 mile, high intensity bike ride around the Jackson neighborhood. 5:15 pace
Put together and devoured an early evening, Spanish style omelette of eggs, sausage, peppers and onions. Yum! We got that idea from Kristen after she returned from her exchange student visit to Spain a number of years ago
Then I put on my DVR of the New York Giants game. To my delight they pulled it out and brought this season to 3 & 3.
Sent my top 10 boys and girls cross country lists to Pat and made my chess moves.
After a day off, I felt very strong for a 70 minute workout at the fitness center. I began with 20 minutes working arms and core. I continued with 50 minutes in the pool, my longest pool sessions so far. I swam for 15 minutes. Then I ran for 30 minutes including 7 x (30- 20-10) pickup sets. I wanted to finish with 15 more minutes of swimming, but I was too exhausted and only able to do 5 additional minutes. Then 10 minutes in the whirlpool. I will sleep well tonight!
My AT is better each day. I could probably run on it right now, but it would require lots of attention each time to maintain. Since I am pretty happy with the work I have been doing (swimming, biking and lifting) during this base building period of my training, I choose not to begin running until my Achilles is completely healed.
And since my stats have been consistent, I am not worried.
Saturday – Good 30 minute swim. Sore AT. Now thinking that concentric exercises have further aggravated Achilles tendon. . So have stopped. I feel like I like the effect it is having on my calf muscles but I will have to continue after my achilles tendon has healed completely.
Tried to jog at practice today. Still sore. Continuing to work on eccentric calf races.
Friday
One mile at Holmdel park. Still sore. Thirty minutes in the pool, swimming.and running. 2 ×15 eccentric
It has been difficult these past few weeks to write an enthusiastic blog while I am unable to complete running workouts. No inspirational songs or quotes come to mind these days. I remind myself that I write this blog primarily a log of my training for myself. But, to my friends and loyal readers, who truly make these project a joy for me, promise to limit the whining and blog more upbeat stuff.
How about this one?
https://youtu.be/XsxVKN114M0
STATS –
I-Mad – 3
SLEEP – 8 hours
Weight – 153 pounds
a.m.HR- ?
Workout – 30 minutes in the pool & 1 MILE JOG & 2 × 15 eccentric
Today I concentrated once again on lower leg eccentric exercises. Out at the Jackson horse track I did my exercise series with a half mile jog / light run between each set. That is the longest I have run without Achilles pain in number of weeks. So I remain encouraged.
GO METS!
Stats- Good!
I-Mad – 0.5 ?
a.m.HR – 54 BPM
Weight – 151.5 pounds ☺
Sleep- 8 hours
Workout – 1.5 miles on cinders + eccentric exercises
September 28th, 29th and 30th. Wednesday,Thursday and Friday
The time sure does go fast! I can’t remember the last time didn’t post for 3 days. I guess writing just isn’t as much when I don’t have a workout to report. And I really do dislike whining about my Achilles tendon. The last three days, however, have been a net positive.?
Wednesday – Recovery
No workout today. My morning heart rate was up around 59/60. So I thought maybe I had been doing a little too much. My body needed a recovery day. While doing some reading about Achilles tendon injuries, I came upon an article I had previously read. As a result I have decided to embark on a regime of eccentric exercises for my injured Achilles. If any of my readers are having similar difficulties with nagging Achilles tendon problems, you can find the link to the article below. Started tentatively today.
http://www.runningtimes.com/jan08
Thursday – Strong effort
Today my tendon felt better, admittedly after a day of rest, but also after the first day eccentric exercising. I did get in an hour of pretty solid work in the fitness room; 20 minutes on the elliptical machine + 15 minutes on the bike + 20 minutes of weights and core work. Continued eccentric heel exercises today with a little more intensity.
Friday – Slipping away
Somehow I let this day get away without doing any workout. I did get almost 11 hours sleep last, and it was a pretty unpleasant day. But there were two very interesting developments in my left lower leg. One, I had virtually zero discomfort in my Achilles tendon. Two, my upper calf muscle was extremely sore. I’m sure both of those are the result of the eccentric exercises I have been performing for two days. Throughout today I did 3 sets of 3 x 15 eccentric heel exercises, culminating in the evening with a half mile run between the last sets. I had virtually no pain once again. I am a little confused because the article says that it takes 12 weeks for the complete rehabilitation of the Achilles tendon. So, I guess we will see?!?
The plan was to test my Achilles tendon on a slow jog on the track during cross-country practice this afternoon. I did that and finished 1 mile very slow with minimal pain in the Achilles tendon area. I could still feel it nagging, but nothing dramatic. I thought it was a positive outcome. The true test will be how my leg feels in the morning.
Tuesday-
I went to Ocean County Park with the cross country team today for a dual meet. The goal was to run another slow effort of maybe 2 miles this time. I even heated and stretched my tendon before I got to the park. Well, the tendon was much more sensitive today. So I cut the run short. Not positive! ??
But I quickly rallied and headed to the clubhouse immediately as I returned home. I did 85 minutes of solid work; 40 minutes on the bike, 20 minute swim in the pool and 25 minutes on core and upper-body work. After 15 minutes in the whirlpool, I headed home, pleasantly drained, to watch the Mets take on the Braves. It has become abundantly clear to me that I will have to concentrate on swimming, biking and working in the fitness lab for an extended of time until my Achilles tendon is completely healed. I’m perfectly content with that and will continue working my butt off to stay fit.
? ? ? ? ? ?
Fortunately, my stats have remained stable and solid throughout this non-running interval. ?
I spent 45 minutes total, 30 minutes running and 15 minutes swimming. My running included 5x the 30 -20- 10 second surge sequence. In the pool I do that as 55 leg pumps at 5K effort, than 35 at 1500m race pace effort, than 25 at maximum effort. That usually results in some serious quadricep burning and considerable aerobic stress. It usually takes me two or three minutes to recover from that sequence.
Than into a nice 15-minute whirlpool afterwards to make it a very pleasant morning.