June 1st, Friday

I had a very successful first experience of the season in the outdoor pool yesterday morning. I ran in the deep end with no impact for 55 minutes. In the course of this run I added 10 times three-part pick up segments. Each set consists of 75 to 100 strides at 5K effort, 40 to 50 strides at 800m race pace effort and 25 to 30 stride at Max effort. It amounts to a pretty demanding aerobic workout and lots of stress on my quadriceps. Of course the benefit is that it is without impact. So it does not affect my sore left heel. Ten sets within a workout is the most I’ve ever done. I was the only person at the pool  and in the hot tub for 15 minutes after my workout. This morning my legs feel okay and my heel is improving. I think two more days in the pool and on the bike will prepare me to return to an impact run workout. But I plan to stay on soft surfaces like the track or the cinders for a while.

Stats –

I-Mhd = 5/6

I-Mad = 0

Sleep = 7 hours

Weight  =  #154

a.m.HR = 54bpm

May 31st, Thursday

Still acting out of an abundance of caution, I spent another hour in the pool with 30 minutes swimming and 30 minutes running. Not much else to add. It is a pretty tedious work out that I think definitely adds to my fitness. I did include a series of sets of bursts during the Run. I did try a few things to do in the swim in an effort to anticipate uncomfortable events during the swim. Things like recovering on my back for a few seconds to catch my breath and clean my goggles. Also attempting to look ahead for orientation believing that it’s not going to be easy during the swim segment as it is in the pool to know which direction I am going.  Still stressing a little over the swim mainly because I have never been totally winded in the middle of a lake in my life. Cannot be sure how my brain is going to react to that situation. I have been told there are rescue lifeguards in the water during the swim, but I don’t fully understand the situation.  I will have to do more investigation of this set up.

Stats are steady.

May 30th, Wednesday

NEW HOT TREK

Today I did a test to compare the difference, if any, of riding my recently purchased Crossroads, 21 speed bike and the Trek, 18 speed, much lighter and expensive one that my friend, Kevin, has offered to lend me for my triathlon. Over a course of 1.4 miles the Trek was 1:28 faster exerting the same effort. A few miles before and after resulted in a 6 mile day. So, despite the trepidations I have of the speed and high-tech components of the Trek, I have decided that since it will save more than 10 minutes on the bike section of the event, I will master it and use it.  Is this tri thing getting too serious??

Foot getting better. Run tomorrow I hope.

Stats stable.

May 29th, Tuesday

In the indoor pool tonight I swam using multiple strokes for 25 minutes. Then ran for 15 minutes. Then swam 10 straight laps for 15 minutes.  Solid work!

Steady stats.  Very sore heel, but getting better.  Became complacent when running without pain for a while.  Need to maintain work on feet to prevent the onset of soreness/pain, not wait for it to start.  Smarten up!

May 27th, Sunday

5 miles on FSML sidewalks

Put this one in the books!  Today I ran 5 miles in 51:54 I’m pretty certain that is the fastest I have ever run for 5 miles. I decided to do an indoor, in house warm up before my run today. It is something I’ve done before and always like the outcome. But for some reason I had stopped using it. So I left the house without a  sweatsuit on in only running shorts and a     t-shirt. Immediately I thought it was a bad idea. I was chilly at first but continued running hoping that I would warm up as time went on. That is exactly what happened. What was surprising was that I felt as good as I did along the way. The first smile as usual was the slowest in 11:23. However, each mile got faster as I went along and I didn’t feel fatigued. As I approached the 4 mile mark, I realized I was running in the low 40s for a total time. This was pretty shocking to me because 44 minutes was always one of my goals for a 4-mile run. Well tonight I  beat that even with a slow first mile. My next decision was that if I could run a less than 10 minute mile for the final or 5th mile I would also run the fastest 5 Mile I have ever run. I actually challenged myself to pick up the pace for the 5th mile to see if I could break 10 minutes. I did this with a lot greater ease than I had anticipated and wound up running 9:21 for final mile. I could not be more pleased or surprised by the outcome.

11:23.   10:31.   10:21.    10:19.    9:21.   =    51:54

Stats-

Weight = #153

Morning foot indexes remain in the 2/3 range.

Sleep memes study app 10 hours per night.

Morning heart rate remain steady.

40 minutes after sectional meet as the air cooled. Half mile jog + a bunch of pickups with short rest and half mile jog back. Good stats.

May 20, Monday

Rest

May 22,Tuesday

At clubhouse; 30 minutes in pool, 15 swim & 15 run

May 23,  Wednesday

11.5 on bike + 1.5 run

I set out today to try to bike my first 11.5 mile non-stop ride.  That is the distance I will be riding in the triathlon in August. It has been a long time since I rode that far nonstop.  I did accomplish that goal with frequent use of my lower gears in 69 minutes.   I have become more comfortable with the gears and learned how to maintain a rhythm in my pedaling by changing gears. Completing 11.5 miles has increased my confidence that I will be able to complete a full triathlon.  I decided also to test the transition to running after such a long ride and was pleasantly pleased to be able to get into a running rhythm rather quickly and complete 1.5 miles at a 10:22 pace. (15:34)  Running that extra mile and a half was a bonus I did not anticipate, That total of 13 miles is my longest work out yet.

Stats –

Weight = #152 after workout

Morning HR = 54bpm

Morning foot indexes have been a little high especially a strange sensation on the inside of my right heel not on the Achilles tendon. It usually hurts when I try to stretch my foot. It doesn’t hurt while I’m running. Also the heel pad on my left foot is acting up a bit again not hurting while running but after runs and in the a.m. 4/4 in morning.

Sleep = steady 8 to 9 hours each night

May 20,  Sunday

Early bike, late run

This Sunday morning was surprisingly mild. The temperatures would eventually rise to 83 or 4 degrees by mid-afternoon. I began the day with a six and a half mile bike ride around the Jackson roads wearing only a short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of running shorts. It felt like summer.  44:12

Arlene and I decided to head to Holmdel Park for a picnic and a  pleasant walk.  Upon returning home I still felt somewhat energized. Noticing the shaded roadway on Pittinger Pond Road as I drove home, I decided to try another shaded 4 mile run. It started out a little sketchy and I was not sure if I would be able to complete the full 4 miles. But as I went along things got better, and as it turned out I did complete the run.  Each mile improved by one minute along the way.  14,13,12,11 for a total of 50:44

I will know they toll  this double day took on my body tomorrow and probably even more so on Tuesday.  But it did bring back some of that ‘Monsta’ feeling!  I feel like I need a race.

Stars = Stable

500m in 20 mimutes + 10 minutes run in deep end

May 17, Thursday

200m intervals, breezing!

Once again my visit to the cinders turned out to be a positive workout. It was a totally cloud-covered 75° afternoon.   Arlene and I started out with a 15 minute walk. I continued to jog for another 20 minutes as warm up. I determined to run some 200 meter intervals. After carefully marking off a 200m stretch of the cinders, I began running 6 intervals with one and a minute average recovery. The goal was to stay under 50 seconds per effort.  I was running the 200m intervals back and forth between two marked spots on the track. For some reason that I cannot explain the times in one direction were much quicker than the times in the other direction.  (Except for #6)

:44,  :51,  :45,  :51,  :46,  :44!

I stopped,  still feeling great, out of an abundance of caution only.

Another stroll with Arlene and an extended cool down made the distance covered for the day 4.75 miles in 80 minutes.

Steady stats.