rest day; 5x1km

Yesterday I took a rest day, as I really needed it after Saturday's tough 15K slog. The weather was amazing yesterday, so I walked with Grace to the public library (about a mile (1.6km) each way), but I really didn't do anything else. After church I read some books, relaxed, went to book club and sat outside for our discussion - lovely! It just feels so good to have it warm enough to enjoy sitting outside.

***

My muscles were feeling better this morning though still not 100%. I rolled out my hip on the medicine ball, and then I had a brilliant idea: I decided to take it to the track with me for my interval workout. Excellent.

The weather is still lovely today; it was 49F (10C) when I went to the track at about 6:30 am. The high today is supposed to be about 76F (24C). It was just a bit breezy, and I did choose to wear shorts and a short-sleeved shirt for the first time this year I think. I warmed up with my jacket on, but then took it off for the workout and I was just fine. I did 1600m in about 9:45 for my warm-up, with 2x100m strides on the last lap. Then I rolled out my hip, did some dynamic stretching, and got going on the main set.

The first two 1km repeats felt pretty good (5:27.2 and 5:27.9), and I didn't push much - comfortably hard. After the first one I did some stretching, and after the second one I was on the side of the track with my ball, so I rolled out my hip. It felt really good to keep it loose that way. The third 1km repeat was harder (5:29.1); my hip started to bother me a bit (pain 1/10? 2/10?) and my legs were getting tired. I got worried that my legs were going to die on me, but they didn't. The fourth 1km was my slowest at 5:33.5, and my legs were really feeling a bit shaky/wobbly/tired. I figured I was toast, but after stretching and rolling out my hip I felt better on the last 1km repeat and finished it in 5:29.2. I was breathing really hard on the last two, and my heart rate was quite high today, getting up to 173 on the last 1km, and hitting at least 170 on the last 3 repeats. It appears that I have lost a good deal of racewalking fitness, which is not surprising. Hopefully it will return relatively quickly.

Still, I'm happy with the workout today because I didn't totally die at the end or feel dreadful. At this stage of the game I'm dreading a lot of workouts because I never know when my legs are going to quit on me. In fact, tomorrow's 12km seems a bit daunting right now, just because I know how awful that could feel if my legs don't cooperate, and I basically have no control over it. But I know I need to get it done, regardless, because I have a race coming up! As long as my hip doesn't hurt too much (i.e. pain gets worse than 3/10) I will have to just hang in there and finish. That's the game right now - being mentally tough enough to keep going when I am slow and sore. On the bright side, I know what is coming when I get back in shape, and I will feel much better.

I worked a lot on technique today, and I think it was quite helpful. I think Jim is really right that my back muscles are weak, and so today I thought a lot about using them to stand up straight and keep my butt tucked under. I also thought about rolling through my toes and getting a good push with my calves and my glutes. Finally, I worked hard on being 100% sure that my right knee was legal. It is easier to be legal when I am standing up straighter and using my glutes and not hitching my right hip, so all of those technical things do work together, if that makes any sense.

Later today I plan to do my PT exercises and back/core stuff. Cannot neglect any of those!!!!!

Garmin data here.