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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Yoga and a run

Did my weekly Wednesday yoga class this morning with Lauren. I felt pretty strong during this class except that just overall muscle soreness made it uncomfortable on some of the bending over poses. I was able to get Lauren to help me after class figure out what I was doing wrong on triangle pose. I was having a difficult time transferring my weight to my back foot, she fixed it. Tonight I felt the need for some good cardio. After trying to decide between a Spin class or going for a run I decided, hey I'm a runner, running is what I do. So off I went on a 4.4 mile run. Except I took a wrong turn and ended up doing 5.5 miles instead. It was good though. Ran some pole to pole surges along White Lane and worked at keeping my pace faster than my normal. Overall pace was 10:27. I was disappointed, I really felt faster than that. That's ok, the main thing is to put in the miles. But I would like to learn to run faster. If I could get under 10 min pace for 5 miles I would be happy with that. It's been a long time since I have been able to run 10K under an hour

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Not really a triathlon

Although I did sorta do all three disciplines. OK Chuck, explain. I started with a great Spin class with Condy. This is one class I do during the week that I least like to miss. Condy is high energy and leads a really challenging ride week after week. Today I only totalled 45 minutes, 15.3 miles. Usually if I am doing only Spin I will stay on the bike and try to get 1 hour or 20 miles whichever comes first.
Off the bike and to the pool. I did it a little differently than what I usually do. I usually just swim 500 or 750 meters and call it good. Today I wanted to try some aqua jogging. So what I did was do a 250 meter swim followed by 250 meters of aqua jogging. I did 4 rounds of each giving me 1000 meters of swimming and 1000 meters of pool running. This took me about 55 minutes. So total of about 1 hr 40 minutes, about what it takes me to do my weekly triathlon when I count in the transition times.
I feel like I got a great overall workout with these activities today. I really want to keep including the pool running a part of my regular swim days. Although aqua jogging is used primarily for keeping in condition while recovering from an injury I think it can be an important part of any training plan. I will do a little more research and maybe do a post just on pool running, or aqua jogging.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Labrador walk

Today I went for a walk, by myself ostensibly. I ended up being followed by Cujo, a beautiful black Lab. After finally getting him back to his owner I finished my walk to Starbucks, 2.2 miles in 35 minutes carrying a 15 lb pack. After doing some writing and Facebooking at Starbucks I walked back home in 33 minutes. Why did I walk and not run? Not sure. I enjoy walking, but I worry that I am not running enough. Enough for what? Not sure about that either. I know that if I ever want to do a marathon I am going to have to pick up the miles. But I am afraid that if I start putting in more miles, I may have to cut back on my Spinning, swimming etc. Certainly I can't dream of a 50K trail race or an Olympic triathlon unless I kick it into another gear. But I'm 66, what can I expect?

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Fast 5K?

I rested well yesterday, went to church this morning, took in a movie, did some easy shopping and, well, rested. So by this evening I decided I needed to go for a run. I knew better than to try a long one at this point, so I decided to do 5K and try for speed. It's been a long time since I have done a 5K race so it needed to be seen. Fortunately the temperature was down from the high 100's to a reasonable 89 when I took off at about 6:30. Things didn't start out so well as I wasn't 5 minutes out and my GPS died. Fortunately I had looked at my watch just before I left so I knew that I had left at 6:28 straight up, so at least I would know my time. I was running a course that I had run many times before so I knew the distance was accurate. The good thing was that I was feeling really strong. I ran a strong pace for the first 10 minutes or so, then slowed down a bit to save for a strong finish. I had to stop for traffic lights twice, once for 37 seconds and once for 20 seconds. As I turned on to Edgemont, about .5 mile to go I was able to pick up my pace and finished in 28:28, a 9:10 pace. I would like to be able to get that under 9:00. Maybe with the adrenaline of an actual race I would have been under 9:00 Bottom line, I feel good about the run and can't wait till the next one!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

One thing I have learned, although like yesterday I tend to forget at times, is the value of an athlete taking rest days. Accordingly, I am taking today as a rest day. We will see how I feel on Sunday, I may go for a hike if I feel rested enough.

Friday, August 24, 2012

8 mile run on day after triathlon

Probably shouldn't have done that. Today I was supposed to take a rest day, except for my yoga class in the morning. About 1:00 I decided I really wanted to go for a long run, 8 miles to be precise. The thermometer in my office said 89 deg which didn't sound too bad. So I strapped on my Camelback and my GPS and took off. I made the first three miles doing pretty well, but then started doing some walk breaks. It really felt hotter than 89 and I was thankful for the full Camelback of water. By the time I got to Planz Rd, about 4 miles in I could barely do more than walk. Essentially I was walking almost the last 4 miles of my 'run'. My lower abdomen is hurting, my inner thigh muscles are sore and my glutes are sore. I will definitely need to rest for a couple of days. It's hard to accept that my body just doesn't react like it did when i was 30. It takes me longer to recover from hard workouts. I have been reading Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run where he talks about how the vegan way of eating has given him more energy and enabled him to recover much faster than when he was eating animal protein. Sure Scott, that's just great for you, but you are not 66 yrs old!!

Yoga class

I am finally getting back into yoga class. It has been difficult because instructors at my gym keep changing and it is difficult to find an instructor who you like, who does the kind of practice that gives you what you need. I like a class that gives me time to enjoy the pose, get the benefit of the stretch. Some yoga classes move through poses so quickly it is more cardio based. I get plenty of cardio elsewhere. I want soft music and a gentle voice to lead me through a series of pose that leave me feeling stretched and relaxed. I also like the challenge to try something new once in a while. Hopefully I have found that with this instructor.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Foam roller - yes!!

Tonight I did about 20 mins using the foam roller on my thighs and calves. It really lessened the pain I was experiencing with my piriformis syndrome. I think I need to put this into my regular training plan, maybe I will be able to sit for longer periods of time without aching and burning in my piriformis and along my sciatic nerve.

Triathlon time again

For several weeks now I have been doing a triathlon every week on Thursday. I do them on my own at the gym - 1/2 mile in the swimming pool, 12 miles on the Spin bike and then a 5K run. I couldn't help but notice though that at the San Luis Obispo 'sprint' triathlon the bike portion was 16 miles, so I may change to that distance. At any rate I did my triathlon today and felt pretty good about it. When I do these I wear my Polar heart rate watch throughout the entire triathlon so that I get an overall time which includes my transitions. When I go out for the run I also put on my Garmin 305 GPS so that I have accurate numbers for the run. This requires me to remember my time when I get out of the pool and my time on the bike, maybe I had better start using a notebook, at 66 I sometimes have a little difficulty with my short term memory! OK, here is the hard part. My hips are sore, I have a hard time bending over and getting back up without pain. I get twinges in my lower abs, I have piriformis syndrome on my right side. Basically, I hurt like an old man. I don't want to hurt like an old man, but as my wife reminded me recently, I have to realize that I am not 30 any more. That's fine, I can live with it. I know that if I just get back into a regular routine of yoga and using my foam roller I can probably work it out. So, give up my weekly routine of running, Spinning, hiking etc? - not on your life!