track workout

I was relieved that my foot was feeling OK and I could do a track workout. I was hoping it would stay OK, and it did, with a little TLC.

Rain was threatening a little, but it stayed dry for my workout. The track was wet, however, and I felt I wasn't getting quite as much of a good toe push-off as I'd like. At least one thing is guaranteed in Sacramento this summer - it won't rain! It never rains there from June-September. It's just hot (but dry). But I digress...

I warmed up with a very easy 1600m in 10:40. I thought about accelerating a bit the last lap, but 1) I was lazy, and 2) I was a little worried about my foot. After I warmed up, I did my dynamic flexibility drills, and massaged my calf with the stick. Foot and calf both felt OK.

I took off my jacket (it was 42F or about 5C, and somewhat windy, so I wanted it for the warm-up; I had on tights and a long-sleeved shirt and gloves on for the remainder of the workout) and got to work on the 1Ks. I was supposed to do 5x1K at 90-95% effort. I thought maybe I'd shoot for 5:40/1K and see where that put me, effort-wise. Turns out that was too fast for today, but I'm OK with that. I gave it a great effort (really, 90-95% on all 5 intervals) and felt good about the workout.

Here are my times and HR (ave/max):
5:44 (153/163),
5:44 (158/165),
5:47 (158/168),
5:48 (158/168),
5:50 (159/168).

At least they were pretty consistent; the last one was tough - I tried to accelerate so I could have a faster time for the last one, but just didn't have it in me. That was a little disappointing as I do like to finish faster and can usually do so, but with the injury I am just happy to be out there at all, so I am very pleased with the workout.

After walking a few min to cool down and stretching the calf a bit, I drove to the gym for some weight training. This is what I did (supersets indicated with /):

Straight-leg hip circles with chest on ball (Jim told me about these last night - they are hard, and excellent!); 2 sets of about 8 on each leg
Hip abductor machine 80 lb/rowing machine 70 lb
Back extension machine 150 lb/push-ups on exercise ball
one-legged dead lifts 45 lb/Arnold press with 2-20lb dumbbells
eccentric calf exercise (foot PT, on both feet)/balance & bounce ball on dyna disk (foot PT, both feet)
abs: ball crunches; roll-in & roll-out in plank position w/elbows on ball, then circles each direction, then sideways for obliques; finally, put feet on ball and hands on floor, in plank position tucked knees in to chest then back out to straight legs again.
Stretching: lots of good stretching for hamstrings, glutes, quads, calves. Felt nice :).

A few hours later, my right foot (new injury) is a bit sore after but not bad. Left foot (the old injury) is totally fine.