Friday, February 18, 2011

windy 15K

Before my 15K I did some weight training with Lisa. I focused on arms mostly so as not to tire out my legs for the 15K. I did bench press (35 lb dumbbells - heavy, could only do 3x8 reps)/foot PT bouncing ball standing on dyna disk; one-legged dead lifts (PT for foot) w/35 lb/row (70 lb); one-legged calf raises/hammer curls (15 lb ea arm); tricep rope pull-downs (25 lb)/military press (20 lb ea arm). Then core: plank (only 90 sec today), ball curls, ball pendulums (obliques), hip-ups (lower abs), stretching.

***

I met some friends from my walking club at the Jordan River Trail. Today is my Friday off, and Michelle wanted to go to her preschool, and Calvin is at school, too, of course. AND my regular Friday morning piano students canceled. Wow, some time to myself! Anyway, I met my friends and we chatted for 10 min or so before starting out. I'm younger than them (and hence faster) and so I knew I'd just see them at the start and on the way back. We all commented on the wind before we left. It was warm this morning at 41F (5C) but very, very windy. South wind at 20 mph (32 kph) with gusts of 25 mph. It felt pretty cold - so I dressed as if it were 20F outside: long-sleeved shirt and fleece on top, and tights and fleece on the bottom. The wind was steady and unrelenting. I headed south (into the wind) to start. At first I couldn't figure out why my legs felt like sludge and my times were so slow for the HR and effort. Duh! About 5km in it occurred to me that maybe it was the wind...so I looked forward to the turn-around at 7.5k. Sure enough, once I turned around, my times improved.

I saw my friends on the return and stopped for a couple minutes to chat again. I told them it was easier once you turned around! It was a hard workout because of the wind. Seriously, it's like hills. You don't gain going downhill what you lose on the uphill, and with the wind you don't gain with the tailwind what you lose with the headwind. I ended up with a 1:38:18 for 6:33/km with ave HR of 155. That is more than 2 minutes slower than last Saturday with a higher heart rate, but I don't think it's a reflection of my conditioning at all, just the wind. I mean, I might have been slower than last week without the wind, but who knows? It felt much harder today, but again, how can you compare? Anyway, I'm pleased that I got out there and did a pretty good pace despite the conditions. I had a nice negative split - 49:26 on the way out and 48:52 on the way back. Thanks, tailwind!

One down side was that I had to stop a couple times on the way back for intestinal cramps. Darn. Those haven't plagued me in a while. I wonder what it is that I ate yesterday? I wish I could figure that out. Well, it just added to the challenge today. It wasn't really a fun workout, but I'm glad I did it.

Garmin connect data here.

1 comment:

Hunca Munca said...

Hey, nice job on the 15K! I'm glad to hear you think the wind does really have an effect on your time. I was slower than usual on my second half marathon and thought maybe it was the steady headwind during half the course, but wasn't sure if I was just using that as an excuse. My HR was higher too. Anyway, glad to hear it's not just me, and congrats on a good workout! Enjoy your holiday weekend.