Sunday, August 26, 2012

Gettting better..

Monday was a rest day as per usual, and Tuesday rather than running I did my 10-10-10min workout (bike-ellip-row) followed by lower body exercises. This workout is really satisfying and takes about one hour.

I have been self-massaging to work out my calf trigger (ouch!) and also using the spa every night and it has helped a lot. 

Wed I took it easy and did 3.3 easy miles. I felt really good but kept the speed down. I was wearing a new pair of Brookes Launches ...it turns out my old pair (from 5/13)  although not worn down much on the forefoot, has about 400 miles on them. The foam is pretty shot. I am also wearing a new pair of CEP calf sleeves, more on those in another post.

2012-08-22 Wed
  Split     Time Miles  Pace     HR  Cad Elev+Elev-   YPB
1600.11.0010:00108.086.03.13.51.631
2629.01.0010:28114.085.016.311.41.482
3576.91.009:36119.086.04.29.71.537
4155.50.2610:01118.085.00.00.01.487
Sum00:32:413.310:01114.085.623.624.61.545

I had zero lingering problems after Wednesday's run..not during after or the morning after so I went out the next day for a slightly longer run.

2012-08-23 Thu
  Split      Time Miles Pace     HR  Cad  Elev+ Elev-  YPB
1524.11.008:44114.087.02.13.11.768
2566.11.009:26122.088.00.012.91.522
3539.11.008:59129.088.00.00.01.519
4559.01.009:18126.087.011.82.21.509
5447.40.819:15126.087.04.10.01.513
Sum00:43:554.89:08123.487.418.018.21.568

Sigh, I did this run way too fast..but I had two excuses 1) I felt no problems at all 2) I was wearing another new "mystery" shoe that is much lighter than the Brooks but has excellent forefoot cushioning. 


Saturday I decided to do my longer run of the weekend as Sunday morning would be short on time. I didn't know if I'd go as far as 16-17 but thought I might if everything cooperated.


2012-08-25 Sat
Split       Time Miles  Pace     HR  CadElev+Elev-   YPB
1584.91.009:44112.087.00.07.31.608
2592.31.009:52121.087.02.02.11.474
3574.61.009:34123.087.04.10.01.498
4564.41.009:24124.088.013.90.01.522
5572.71.009:32123.086.024.00.01.522
6563.71.009:23126.087.04.324.21.478
7560.91.009:20122.086.00.028.91.528
8574.21.009:34125.086.00.08.71.467
9559.61.009:19127.086.03.22.21.488
10566.91.009:26128.085.04.52.21.458
11592.41.009:52117.085.03.10.01.527
12597.61.009:57125.087.00.00.01.414
13579.11.009:39129.088.05.33.31.417
14574.51.009:34135.087.011.80.01.372
154.30.0110:17136.086.00.00.01.256
Sum02:14:2214.09:35124.086.676.378.91.484

When I started this run it was 61F and overcast. By mile 5 or so the sun was out and it gradually warmed up.  I did a good job hydrating and even had to stop at the Shoreline bathrooms at mile 10 to take a leak. By then it was too hot for doing 16 and decided to cut straight for home which would be 14 or so. 

The right calf was making itself known a bit  after mile 10 ..I thought I might have to drop the pace (mile 11 slower) but eventually I found that if I reverted to my super efficient shuffle stride I didn't notice it anymore, so I did that for the rest of the run. When I got home I iced the calf by putting some ice in a ziploc inside my sleeve and that helped a lot at preventing any lingering effects.


I was happy to run that well in such sunny and warm conditions (for me! I know some of you have to deal with much nastier stuff!).  I'm a bit worried that Berlin is going to be hot..it's only about a month away and they just had some of the hottest days ever in Europe...Yikes!



Later that day we drove up to Lick Observatory @ 4200'  and had a picnic lunch on a small deck looking out over the open spaces of Mt Hamilton open space preserves. This is the view I had sitting with my legs crossed and sipping a nice rose wine and eating a picnic dinner 8) There is no sign of human habitation and barely any roads in this shot. (We were there for their "Music of the Spheres" concert series). 

The next day we visited our friends at their house in Pacific Grove (on Monterey Peninsula)  ..it turned out to be a beautiful day! We did about 8 miles of walking which was perfect for me! The photo above is Asilomar State Beach.

So  it seems my calf is getting better reasonably quickly ..still not 100% but a few more days and I think it will be fine for non-speedwork paces at any distance. Ragnar planning is heating up..we are figuring out the details now with the help of our fearless leader! My current plan is to take the legs at 9:30 average or so...maybe slower if I feel like it. It's my first relay and I don't want to kill myself for Berlin.


Date Miles Pace BPM WHR% Cad Elev+ Elev- YPB
2012-08-22 Wed 3.3 10:01 114.0 55.70 85.6 23.6 24.6 1.545
2012-08-23 Thu 4.8 9:08 123.4 63.42 87.4 18.0 18.2 1.568
2012-08-25 Sat 14.0 9:35 124.0 63.97 86.6 76.3 78.9 1.484
Summary 22.1 9:33 122.3 62.57 86.6 117.9 121.7 1.511


Not a bad week, considering. I will take it!

6 comments:

  1. I recently bought a pair of CEP compression sleeves. I have only been wearing them for recovery. I haven't taken them out on any runs yet. I am looking forward to your post about them. I am also in suspense about your mystery shoes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The mystery shoes have my curiosity too!

    Glad to hear you were able to work through the calf issues. Hope that it keeps getting better.

    Good plan not to do yourself in with a relay. I haven't done one before, but sounds ragnar sounds fun.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you could run so much and feel the calf is getting better. Having a non-running workout like that and enjoying it is a bonus. I battle to enjoy anything that is not running.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful pictures! Are you going to try a tri? So much fun! Good for fewer injuries too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. That view is absolutely amazing...especially holding a glass of wine ;)

    glad to hear your calf is working with you...I am curious of your thoughts on the compression sleeves...and I want to hear about your shoes too!!

    Ive' never run a relay before, (except for track of course) bu I just completed a tri-relay...and that was so much fun!! Especially since we won ;) But...I only swam the leg, she did hte harder parts ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an amazing view on the hike - love the pic of the feet with the mountains in the background :). Europe heat sounds a lot like Colorado heat this summer - bleh. Hopefully it will cool down for ya!

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to leave a comment!