Training Week 29
My next race is the Stepping Up to Wellness 10K on May 23 (this is the week of the Kicking the Trails for Kic-Leukemia 8K Walk).
Day 197 | May 3, 2010: strength
Back to the gym! Yay! Not!
I am really good at making excuses for myself (I am really too nice to myself). Last week, I gave myself time off from strength so that none of my body would be sore before the half marathon. Nice. On Monday, I could have used the excuse “all of my body is sore,” but didn’t. Although my legs were seriously killing me on Saturday (enough that I worried I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep), and it hurt to walk down steps on Sunday, I was feeling pretty good on Monday. Ready to run, actually (just itching to run)! What do you do to prevent muscle soreness after a long run? Ice baths? Massages from strangers? Foam roller? Hot Tub? Rub peanut butter on your body? Ha ha.
Biangular Lat Row: 15 @ 45 lb, 2 x 15 @ 65 lb
Shin Developer: 3 x 20 @ 10 lb
Lateral Raise: 15 @ 25 lb, 15 @ 37.5 lb
Shoulder Press: 3 x 15 @ 20 lb
Lat Pulldown: 15 @ 45 lb, 2 x 15 @ 60 lb
Leg Extension: 15 @ 30 lb, 2 x 15 @ 45 lb
Seated Leg Press: 2 x 15 @ 70 lb, 15 @ 90 lb
Hip Abduction: 3 x 15 @ 115 lb
Hip Adduction: 3 x 15 @ 55 lb
Rope Pushdowns: 2 x 15 @ 30 lb
Day 198 | May 4, 2010: cross + yoga
Back to the recumbent bike during lunch. Luckily, I had the June issue of Runner’s World to keep me entertained.
Steven and I dusted off our yoga mats (well, not literally) when I got home from work and did the Beginners segment of the YogaWorks Beginners AM/PM DVD.
I missed you yoga mat!
Yeah. Let’s just say that I seemed to have lost all flexibility I had previously gained through yoga. I wonder why… hmm, could it be that I have not done yoga since MARCH 31st? Ah, the wonders of keeping a training log – it’s like you can go back and time and see how lazy you’ve been. Do you ever go back in your training log to review your progress? That is normally what I use it for – as a morale booster – but sometimes, I do have to look back and see why something doesn’t feel right… oh, because I’ve been a lazy smack and haven’t done it IN A MONTH.
Think I will actually recommit to yoga two days a week? Stay tuned…
Bike Time: 45:00 | Distance: 6.46 (Set on “Forest Ride”)
Day 199 | May 5, 2010: strength
Day 2 of strength training. Woo! Hoo! Booyah!
(A little of that enthusiasm was forced. Okay, all.)
Rope Pushdowns: 3 x 15 @ 30 lb
Shin Developer: 3 x 20 @ 10 lb
Hip Adduction: 3 x 15 @ 55 lb
Hip Abduction: 3 x 15 @ 115 lb
Seated Leg Press: 2 x 15 @ 70 lb, 15 @ 90 lb
Leg Curl: 15 @ 30 lb, 15 @ 40 lb, 15 @ 20 lb
Leg Extension: 15 @ 30 lb, 2 x 15 @ 45 lb
Arm Curl 3 x 15 @ 25 lb
Biangular Chest Press: 15 @ 30 lb, 2 x 15 @ 50 lb
Calf Raises with Arm Lift: 2 x 15 @ 20 lb
Some Calf Stretches
Day 200 | May 6, 2010: cross
I used the recumbent bike during my lunch break. It’s so boring compared to riding outside. This awful talk show was on that Joel McHale always makes fun of on The Soup, and that didn’t even entertain me (but it did make me question, “what is our world coming to?!”).
Bike Time: 30:00 | Distance: 4.55 (Set on Resistance Level 6)
Day 201 | May 7, 2010: rest
Day 202 | May 8, 2010: cross + yoga
I walked the Kicking the Trails for Kic-Leukemia 8K with Kate. Check out the recap here.
In the afternoon, Steven and I did the Beginners segment of the YogaWorks Beginners AM/PM DVD. All of that stretching felt so good, especially in my calves and hamstrings.
Day 203 | May 9, 2010: 10 m run
Sunday was the moment I had been waiting for all week – my return to running! When I woke up Sunday morning and saw sunny skies and a temperature of 50° I was excited – perfect running weather!
Beautiful blue skies…
Before the run
I love this part of the path – all of a sudden, there are all these tall skinny trees!
I decided to head to the Grant Wood Forest Preserve and do some hill runs since my next half marathon is hilly. I did the same loop three times in the first five miles and it completely wore me out. Lesson #1 – Respect the Hills! I started out way too fast for doing hill work. I even wore the Heart Rate monitor so I could watch how I was feeling, but every time I looked at it, it said my heart rate was really low (I was confused by that).
I know it doesn’t seem like much, but these hills are hard for me (70 feet from bottom to top).
Around 4.5 miles, I ate a homemade granola bar, and it sat in my stomach like a brick. Awesome.
After I had enough abuse on the hills, I headed south to the flatter portion of the path. I had to stop quite a few times, maybe once every mile*, to do this:
My right calf was sore from the start. I tried so hard to stretch it, but didn’t have much success.
*Okay, and just to take a break!
I kept going, but I was losing steam, fast. Lesson #2 – Respect the Sun! I was out there at the wrong time of day (noon) and even though the high was maybe 55°, the beating sun was killing me. Time to start getting up earlier.
I drank most of my water before mile 6 but knew there was a pump I could fill up at.
Nope! This pump was turned off. I ran to the car to fill up with water, feeling rejected. Lesson #3 – Respect your Hydration! I think 2 bottles last me 5 miles, so I need to plan to loop by the car.
I struggled in the last few miles. I don’t get it. I ate a good breakfast. I drank a lot of water, I ate a good snack… what was it? Long runs used to be easy for me! Wah! I wonder if starting out with running up the same hill over and over had something to do with it…
I ran this alone, and missed running with Steven. I had two podcasts and music, but I guess I got used to running with him. Well, we get to spend the WHOLE afternoon together… maybe gardening, or riding bikes (well, him running, me riding). Yay (A bit of sarcasm – I felt really out of it when I got home – no energy, wasn’t hungry, etc. I want to sit on my butt the rest of the day!).
After the run
Lesson #4 – Respect your Nipples. Wasn’t sure to put this… but my nipples were so sore after my run. They felt hard and cold. Any advice?
Distance: 10.0 | Time: 1:44:10 | 1: 10:23 | 2: 10:07 | 3: 10:08 | 4: 10:10 | 5: 10:49 | 6: 10:24 | 7: 10:20 | 8: 10:32 | 9: 10:42 | 10: 10:30
Week Summary: 10.00 miles
I felt like this was a pretty successful week for getting a variety of workouts in! Admittedly, I am excited to get back to my running training schedule, but I do think I should stick with yoga.
I felt kind of blah after my long run this week, but I can remember successful long runs from the past so I know it is just an off day! (And I know I need to work on getting my speed back up – we slowed down big time for our last half training, and it’s not like I can pick it back up in one day!).
Oh, and no shin pain this week! (Slight heel pain – meh)
Themocracy
First, I love the Soup and Joel McHale! 🙂
Your ten mile run trail looks really nice. You have such scenic areas where you live.
I have to tell you, I’m kind of worried about this nipple thing. I just assumed that sports bras took care of that.
I think I should try a padded one. The thing is, I sweat, my nips get cold and hard, then they hurt 🙁
Sorry about the sore nips. I’ve heard you can use that glide stuff people use on their thighs and such… it may help?
Totally going to try it! I will try anything at this point.
(They don’t hurt like this in the winter!)
Gross I’ll do some pretty nasty stuff on my blog, but kissing the yoga mat? You, my friend, are hard core.
I know. I didn’t even want to lay my face on it during yoga… what was I doing kissing it?
Just shrug off the poor long run. I think it’s easy to get focused on having a bad one of these, because they don’t happen as often, naturally based on our training programs. I never let a bad daily run get me too down– not running as far or as fast as I might have scheduled. But if I had a bad long run, it usually eats at me all day. You noted several factors that would be a heavy influence. Try fixing those and I bet you’ll be back 🙂
I’ve also learned Lesson #2…running in the heat @ the peak of day suckssss lol. I’m pretty sure I chug gallons of water afterwards
To prevent muscle soreness, I usually put bags of ice on my legs. I can’t do the icebath…way too hardcore!
Oh gosh, I don’t even want to know how much water I drank yesterday! And I think I was still a little dehydrated this morning 😉
I am not sure if I will ever be hardcore enough for the ice bath. Maybe in my dreams!
Was the awful talk show perchance that Wendy Williams one? I swear it is somehow always on and no, I never want to watch it :-P. Maybe just going from the race to no miles (not a bad thing) to 10 hilly miles at once was why the run was so hard?
Ha! That was it! How did you know?
Yeah – I think maybe I took TOO much time off. I think I will stick to those hills, but do them slower 🙂
Hm, I just bought Recovery Socks, and after I wore them post-Half, I didn’t have any calf soreness. Quad soreness though, there was definitely some of that. I heard ice baths work well, but I can never bring myself to do them.
That’s too bad your forest-y run wasn’t very good. It looks beautiful, but I know how much it sucks to be hot and sun-beaten in the middle of a trail. Miserable, ugh!
I’ve noticed lately that my calves are tight so I’ve been stretching them and using a foam roller. Do you have one? God send! I can’t do ice baths either, that is just way too cold for me.
I don’t know about the nipple issue. Maybe a hot shower afterwards? Or are they sensitive to touch as well?
Oh! I am happy you asked! I got a giftcard at work and ordered one. Ha. I just checked the tracking. It is finally in my town but could still take 1-2 days. Longest delivery EVER!!!
They are sensitive to the touch too. The hot shower helped yesterday
I think I bought that exact same green shirt at Kohl’s. I figured it would make me stand out in races 🙂
I finally made it back to the gym for strength training yesterday. Now my upper body is a little bit sore.
I saw padded sports bras at Target yesterday. You should definitely check them out.
Your trail is so pretty! Love the photos.
As for the cruddy run, I blame the sun. I read somewhere that the heat can destroy your pace by 1:00 – 1:30 minute/mile. I think it’s worse when the air temperature isn’t that hot because you can easily over-exert yourself.
I was thinking the same thing about the shirt!
Maybe we can go to this trail this summer if you want to be tortured, I mean, have fun 🙂
I am totally going to blame the sun. I know I have a 9:30 mile in me. Ha ha ha. 🙁