Speed work tapering

Giving the legs a break I did another P90X Chest and Back DVD on Monday morning. I decide to wear one of my racing unitards for the P90X session. You know what? I actually liked working out in this outfit. I hate doing pushups when your shirts dragging the ground. In addition, some of these workout sessions involve a lot of jumping around and such – the unitard works great.


During lunch I did an easy swim. I started with a warm up and then cranked out 10 x 100 yards. It felt pretty good. My first few repeats were quicker than average but quickly leveled off.

No workout on Tuesday morning.

During this taper I am trying to cut my volume substantially while maintaining my intensity. The idea is to have my body recover from all of the training during the last 2 months while also not losing any of my fitness. Therefore I continued speed work this week. Due to the Mardi Gras Track on Tap on Tuesday night I had to fit my speed work in during lunch. This was not a problem because there were no classes on Monday or Tuesday – that’s right, there are no college classes for Mardi Gras.

I did the indoor track at the Payne Center. It is an eighth of a mile track and the turns are pretty tight. I warmed up with 1 minute per lap (8 minute miles) for 1 mile and then did 800’s. I clicked off 6 of these 800’s – all less than 3:00 minutes. It was a good workout and I never left my comfort zone. There is only one conclusion. The track is short. These were too easy. I am going to borrow the distance wheel from the pacers and measure this track. I am not being modest – the track is short…

The track on tap was a lot of fun but there were no actives going on for Mardi Gras. The town was dead. We started at the Keg and Barrel and then hit downtown. We all had our masks on and were decked out in beads but there was no one to throw them to. There was a beer wagon and a stage for a band but nothing was going on at 7PM. We were not going to stand around in the cold for a couple of hours waiting. We ended up running only about 3 miles. Oh well, we all still had a good time.

I did a P90X abs workout on Wednesday morning and plan on doing the bike trainer thing tonight.

Track on Tap - Peanut Butter Jelly Time Remix

I did the legs and back P90X DVD on Thursday morning and I am glad I got it done. Many people talk about not liking to exercise in the morning but I have to disagree. I make my exercise a priority and I generally schedule more than one session a day – but sometimes things just come up. Yesterday was one of those days – my schedule got way off – for good reason – but I missed the gym at lunch. I was glad that I had already done a good session.







But Thursday night was the Halloween Edition of Track on Tap and we had a great time. We had a good turnout and our first stop was the Keg and Barrel. I saw a lot of friends from the Beer Club (remember – I am a member of both the beer club and the running club – the only difference is that beer club don’t run).






We stopped and chatted for a while and then split for downtown. Lots of cars were honking and waving at us. We hit Brownstones and stopped for bit. This was a pretty warm and humid night here and Mississippi and really felt like I needed to peel some clothes off. We were all sweating pretty good. We attempted to go to the Bottling Company but they had some kind of MTV’s the Real World casting call promotion – and cover charge… So we headed back around the corner to the Wine Bar and sat outside. Since the last two trips were short we were starting to cool off a bit.











We headed back to the Keg and Barrel but Jodie and I were feeling a little ripe and headed home early. Total – 3 drinks – 3 – 4 miles. A good time for all.

This was a good test for running in costume for the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. I think I can do the banana as long as it is not raining. If so, I think I can get a guaranteed PR for running as a banana - although the mustache would not make it.

TRACK ON TAP - returns!

The legs were a little bit sore when I met up with the group ride on Thursday morning. It was still dark but we ventured into the black. The darkness requires a good warm up and that is probably for the good of the group. In the summer a warm up would consist of salutations and an easy half mile spin – then someone would drop the hammer. At least this way we get to chew the fat a little more and actually get the blood moving. Lance got to tell the stories of the Olympic race from last weekend. Robin got second in our age group!

Lately, even after the sun has risen we have not been putting in real hard efforts on the bike. There will be a few good pulls and then we back off a bit. My legs were sore – not tired but actually sore from the STADIUMS the prior day but they felt good to be moving. The soreness was not a limiter – it was just noticeable. I rolled into work with 28 miles under my wheels.

I was fine walking around campus and such but whenever I took the stairs the legs let me know it! They felt like they were getting better but I took a flight of stairs down and they screamed to attention. As the morning went on they started to hurt more. At lunch I went to the pool for a little, easy, quick swim. I met Chris there and we did a pathetic more-talk-than-swim 1200 yards. It was fun but the swim did not have much of a purpose. I was still glad I went. I had planned on taking it easy in preparation for the evening TRACK ON TAP. It has been months (May) since the running club has had one.

There was a group of about 10 of us that met at the trail head at 6:30. I brought along my blinkie light from my road bike. It would be dark soon. We debated for a bit about which direction to go – If we went to the west it would end up being about a 6 mile run so we headed east instead. The TRACK ON TAP is generally a monthly occurrence where we set off on foot to various pubs, bars, and taverns. The first stop was the Keg & Barrel. We made our way down Fourth Street along the future Longleaf Trace downtown extension. This was a TRACK ON TAP _ TRAIL EDITION. My legs were killing me – it was almost like a run shuffle but I was fine as long as I did not have to hit any stairs. Jim was there and we were wearing our matching ironman finisher hats – it was fun telling our race stories and listening to everyone else’s. These types of events are what make the running club so much fun!

We were all very careful tonight because it seems like someone always takes a fall - into a ditch or runs into a park bench or just does a face plant on a rough sidewalk. We eventually hit Nick’s Ice House (such a dive) and then the End Zone. I am happy to report that there were no scrapes, falls or incidents on this run. Everyone remained on two feet. Running from campus – all said and done I got about 3.5 miles and not quite twice as many beers.

This was such a fun day – I started in the dark on the bike and ended in the dark on the run (with a swim somewhere in the middle)!

Cinco de Mayo - Miles = 4 Cerveza = 0

I had a good short quick swim at lunch on Tuesday. An easy 500 yard warm up where I practiced bilateral breathing again. I altered the technique by breathing every stoke on the right then every other stroke followed by every stroke on the left. I have difficulty with feeling like I am running out of breath. I see people swim with while breathing every 5 or 7 strokes - I am amazed. Then 5 x 100 yards all under 1:30 followed by a 500 yard cool down. Those 100's were tough for me.

I met up with the running club just after work at the trace trail head. There was a light rain coming down. There were only 4 of us and we were contemplating the run. It was intended as speed work - none of us were really up for that. It seems that we waited until the rain was coming down the hardest before we started. We were soaked instantly. I really don't mind running in the rain - once I am wet there is no need to try and avoid the puddles. However, during the hardest part of the down pour the thunder and lightening started up. We sprinted to a underpass and hid out for a few minutes.

We met up with a few more people after our little three mile run and ran to a Mexican food restaurant for some refreshment. Jodie met us at the restaurant with some dry clothes and shoes for me - what a god sent! I got off of the diet just a little bit - nothing bad. Fortunately the it was so crowded and the service was so bad that the chips and salsa did not automagicly reappear. No cerveza for me.

Cinco de Mayo - Get your Taco Traps!

Taco Traps - I saw these in the store the other day - I can see where you could have a lot of fun!

Monday was a rest day - the plan had just given me a day off last Friday. I am not used to this time off - I don't like it but I did take the day off - mainly because of the poor mile repeats that I had on Sunday. I would have liked to have been much faster.

I ran for an hour on the treadmill this morning. It was a 60 minute run at 150 beats per minute. This would be low zone 2 for me. For my recovery runs and longer slower run I usually keep the heart rate in the 140's. I warmed up for 5 minutes at a very slow 10 minute / mile pace. I then set the treadmill for seven minute miles to get the heart rate up to 150 and then I backed off of the speed to try to stick the heart rate. I had to keep slowing the speed down to keep the heart rate at 150 - I ended up with 6.4 miles in 50 minutes (7:48 minute per mile). I was disappointed - this felt harder than it should have and slower than I wanted. Had a 5 minute cool down at 10 minute / mile pace. Over all it was 7.4 miles in 60 minutes at a low zone 2. I would like to kick it up a notch or two and try a fast tempo run. I'll check the training plan and see where that fits in.

Off to the pool at lunch with some lifting afterwards.

On the diet front - it has only been a few days but I am sticking to it. There is a track-on-tap (run to bars with the running club) for Cinco De Mayo - I'm sure that won't help!

Track on Tap - Halloween Edition

I skipped the workout at lunch on Friday since I was doing the Track on Tap (in costume) that evening. I knew that it would not be a 'real' workout but I have been trying to take care of my ankle.

Jodie and I arrived near downtown at about 5:30 PM. Others soon started to gather and there was a photographer from the news paper working the 'Halloween Beat'. We ran down a popular trick or treating street in full get up and caught many eyes. The marines ran ahead (the guys without their shirts) and parted the hordes of ghouls with their swords. Our first stop was the 'Live at Five' concert in the park. The beer wagon had 'Southern Pecan' on tap and I of course par took (I think I par took 3 times at that stop). I also got a little hungry and bought a steak sandwich from a cute nurse (see picture) - and it really was a damn good sandwich.

We trekked over to brownstones and sat out on the balcony for more liquid refreshment. The legs and lips started to loosen up at this point. A few pints later we made it across the street for some pizza.

Charles, the rainbow colored pirate, was lobbing up easy pitches and I, was of course, knocking them out of the park with little mercy - there was no 10 run limit tonight. Lots of laughs. Soon enough the steak sandwich selling nurse was making her rounds and I had, after all, sampled her wares earlier. She stayed and played for a little while and posed for some provocative photos.

We ran past the Sanger Theatre on the way to the vehicles. Audrey was in back and must have been people watching. She was following close behind a runner and did not notice that they moved to the left. Full force, she was clothes lined at the knee cap by a cast iron bench. Ouch! I heard the clang from about 20 feet away. We all stopped. She was able to make it back to the vehicles.

Stopped at Wal-Mart and got some beer and cookies. The cookies never made it out of the car.

Feeling good with a headache and dehydrated (it must have been the cookies - damn cookies) I decide to go for a long run on Saturday. I was feeling good - really. I hit the turn around point for my twelve miles and pushed on - I was going to turn this into a 15 miler. After the 6 mile turn around point I jumped on the dirt horse trails. The soft surface and uneven terrain is good for the knee and ankle joints. I hit my new turn around point and after 10 miles I jumped back on the asphalt of the Long Leaf Trace. As soon as I did that my Achilles tendon flamed on and shut me down. I had to walk. After a few minutes I ran a little more but I could tell that this was going to end up being a death march. It was easier to transform my run to a heel strike - still this was not going to be pretty. I suppressed my pride and gave Jodie a call and requested an evak. I still had several miles to walk to the next station.

Made good time on the 10 mile run (it was intentionally slow - but a solid run) and horrible time on the 3 mile limp - Total time was 2:13 for 13 miles (a slow 10:13 pace).

There will be lots of recovery this week with little to no running and a lot of ice on the ankle. From experience, this type injury can be very persistent.

Speed laces

Lacing up some shoes. I have been transferring these quick laces between new shoes for a couple of years - this is about the 6th pair to have these laces. I also use the yankz laces for racing. Who has time to tie shoes in a transition area.

I have been riding the rollers each morning for the past couple and I am actually getting used to it - although I am only riding for about 30 minutes. I continue to try to push a bigger gear - tough work but I think it will pay dividends come spring.

I have been staying off on the ankle. Still a little tender. I am doubling up on the bike, however, by riding the exercise bike at the gym. It has also let me read some bicycling and triathlon magazine (I know I am a little obsessive). Still doing the strength training - I know this is in complete contrast to my other goals but I can not waste muscle mass - I have too little to begin with.

I have been following the diet and it has been pretty easy. I have strayed a little this year with all of the racing an training a forgot about feeling hungry. Once you get used to it, it's not such a bad feeling. I would like to lose a little body fat for the coming half marathon. Lite makes right and I am looking for any speed I can gain.

I will, however, go off of the diet tomorrow night for Halloween. There is a special 'Track on Tap' Halloween edition (costume mandatory). T on T is a month get together of the pine belt pacers where you get together and run from pub to pub. It is really a lot of fun. This one will be downtown with a lot of neat bars that I have not frequented.