Track Tuesday

Sunday: rest day. I was SO dead after 12k Saturday PLUS helping a friend move for 3 hr PLUS two major shopping excursions (bathroom tile because we're redoing our master bath, and Costco because I promised a friend I'd take him). Oops. I tried to rest a lot on Sunday but I had some social obligations so my rest was more limited than I'd have liked. I did get good sleep Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

Monday: My body was still tired so I did a 45 min (or so) casual walk with the dogs for exercise. It felt nice to move w/o pushing things at all.

Today: speed work. I was to do a 3K fartlek with the fast segments at 85% effort, 4' rest, 4x500 @85% effort. It's stupid hot outside right now; I woke up later than planned so I couldn't do the outdoor track before work. I slept very poorly because 1) I went to bed too late because I had a meeting re: our hosting for the SL Fellows program next year, 2) there was a massive and loud thunderstorm at 11pm, and 3) Sugar barked on overdrive at something (who knows what? probably a raccoon?) at 2 am. Grim face at left after my workout, at the gym - outdoors was hot behind me (it's only 90F right now or 32.2C, which is not THAT hot for July, but it is no picnic for RW).

I went to work and did a bunch of stuff, then managed to pull myself away for my workout at 11am. I felt dizzy, probably from lack of sleep, but also maybe still a side effect from not taking the escitalopram (my last dose was Sunday the 8th). I had tired, achy glutes before the workout, and I have no idea why - I felt recovered from moving the boxes and from my Saturday workout yesterday. So what the heck is this soreness???

Mentally it was SO hard to stay positive. My inner critic was on overdrive. I tried to shut it up by reminding it that it is not helping me get better. That worked for a bit and then it just kept kicking back in. When I do a workout and am SO MUCH SLOWER than I EVER have been historically, it's so hard to make that voice shut up. It is just painful to do speed work because of it! I swear if there was a good easy way to make it go away, I would. I wonder if the escitalopram helped it quiet down, and that's why it's worse now? Or maybe it's the lack of sleep. It was a most unpleasant workout because of that.

I did keep from doing an all-out effort. I had to keep reminding myself to hold a little back. So...yeah, I was VERY slow.

Converting from the 292.6m track, my fartlek was 19:10.3, with fasts and mediums (585.2m each, converted to 500m times) of 3:02.7, 3:18.2, 3:07.5, 3:18.7, 3:11.5 (!UGH!). My 500m were approximate - I had to make an educated guess based on my lap times where the 500m split was. Assuming I was close, my 500m times were 3:02.3, 3:04.1, 3:06.4, and 3:03.2 (that's similar to outdoors last week, so that's probably about right).

It's hard to shut off the voice that says I'm too slow to go to Spain. It's hard not to compare to where I used to be. It's hard to feel really sick (I'm SO fatigued and dizzy today). I should probably go home early from work and take a sick day but I have stuff to do, and let's face it, work is a higher priority than recreational hobbies like racewalking, because it has to be.

6x500 @85% effort --- feeling hopeful

I'm hopeful. Not because my workout was fast (it wasn't), but because 1) I felt decent during it, 2) I feel good (quite good) afterwards, and 3) I think I might be over the worst of the antidepressant taper. I feel more energetic than I have in a while. Maybe that's just placebo, or wishful thinking, but I feel good.

Calvin came with me to East High and we had the usual football player traffic at the end of the workout. Teenage boys are SO oblivious. Fortunately, when you yell at them "MOVE PLEASE!" they usually oblige (IF they hear you!).

Warm-up was sluggish but I felt more fluid and limber as I went. 1600m w/strides on the last lap.

The workout was good. I told Calvin I thought I'd do 3:05-3:10s but was surprised to do 3:02-3:07. VERY slow historically, but I don't care about that now (at least that's what I'm telling myself). It was warm, at 25C with 51% humidity, but a little breeze helped and I actually felt fine. Didn't feel overheated at all. Had some nice cold water between intervals :). Calvin did 2:15-2:39 (haha he went out too fast!) running. I tried to keep mine to 85% but I'm pretty sure the last 2-3 were a harder effort than that - my HR was up to 163-164 at the end. Still, I felt good, so I'm not worried. I could've pushed harder, so maybe it wasn't too fast?

I'm baaaaack!

Well, after a relaxing vacation and then a 3-day weekend last weekend (including a 10K race that I was ill-prepared for but did anyway (1:03:35....ugh! But what did I expect?)), I feel ready to train again. I wasn't sure I would, but I really do want to do it. My hamstring is MUCH better - 95% of normal I'd guess - and I want to refocus. I'm thinking of doing the national 30K in NY on November 6, and that seems like a reasonable goal, as it's 15 weeks away and though I'm out of shape I've been walking enough that we can ramp up fairly quickly, assuming I continue to feel well.

Speaking of that, I have been a bit fatigued the past week (since returning from vacation) which seems pretty normal, but it seems to be a bit more than I'd expect. Plus I have a nagging toothache, and I got the tooth checked out by the dentist and it's FINE (he's checked twice, including x-rays). It occurred to me this morning that maybe I have some sinusitis going on (!) and that is causing the pain and fatigue. So I made a doctor's appointment for Monday to get it checked out. My dentist is awesome so I really believe there is nothing wrong with the tooth, and it's not unusual for me to have tooth pain with sinusitis, so maybe that's it. A strong decongestant and possibly antibiotics might do the trick?

Anyway, this morning I did a track workout, albeit a short one. East High is done being resurfaced and it is really nice now! Plus it was unlocked!!! YAY!

I did a 1600m warm-up with strides in 10:12, and then some dynamic drills. Guess what? The hamstring one did NOT hurt for the first time since December! WOOHOO! My 3x1km was pretty bad, but 1) I did a whole bunch of hammy PT at the gym yesterday and my legs were still sore, and 2) on Monday I did a 10K race plus a moderately hard hike, so yeah, my legs were feeling it. My times were (ugh!) 5:57.2, 6:03.1, 6:00.8. HR was in upper 160s-low 170s at the end of each of the last two, so I was working hard, but apparently I have no more fast twitch muscles, haha! That'll change.  Garmin data here.

5x878m at indoor track

Yesterday: Cross training; elliptical + PT.

Today: Went to the indoor track since the outdoor one is closed for resurfacing. I warmed up for 5 laps (~1500m) and felt horridly sluggish to start and was concerned; also felt a bit nauseated, but that subsided. By the 3rd lap I felt a bit better and was good to go.

I started in on the intervals, and felt OK. I focused a lot on technique, thinking about all that my coach and my PT have been telling me to fix. After the first two intervals went pretty well, I pushed a little harder for the last 3 and was rewarded with slightly increasing speed. This was MUCH better than last week when I slowed down a lot. My intervals were 5:07-5:03 which works out to 5:50-5:45/km. Not fast, but not so awful as it has been, and not too bad for my second speed workout this week. And guess what???? Best of all, NO PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Garmin data here.

Splits:

Split	Time	Avg HR	Max HR	878m	1k equivalent
1	01:40.8	133	151
2	01:43.5	150	151
3	01:42.9	153	156	05:07.2	05:49.9
4	02:00.1	115	156
5	01:39.4	139	154
6	01:44.1	155	157
7	01:42.1	157	160	05:05.6	05:48.1
8	02:00.2	128	160
9	01:40.8	140	155
10	01:42.3	157	160
11	01:42.1	160	162	05:05.2	05:47.6
12	02:00.4	126	162
13	01:39.9	144	157
14	01:42.5	159	161
15	01:41.2	163	165	05:03.6	05:45.8
16	02:00.4	131	165
17	01:40.4	143	161
18	01:43.1	160	162
19	01:40.3	163	166	05:03.8	05:46.0
20	02:46.4	124	166
Summary	36:12.7	143	166
					28:57.4	(5K equivalent)

4x1km

I woke up late with a start, after a series of bad dreams. Then I was quite apprehensive about going to the track. I made myself stop thinking about it and went anyway. The weather was great and only a bit windy, with nice temps in the mid-50s.

The workout started well but I guess I went too fast on the first one because I couldn't hold it. I was hoping I'd do better, but I think I'm still a bit tired from the weekend? Or I just suck right now. Either way, it wasn't good. I'll keep trying. See below.

My hamstring hurt about 1/10, mostly in the last two intervals, but not too bad. Foot was fine.

Garmin data here. 

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Avg HR	Max HR	Total for 1km
1	02:52.9	02:52.9	151	160
2	02:55.9	05:48.8	163	167	05:48.8
3	01:59.4	07:48.1	132	167
4	02:54.1	10:42	156	166
5	02:57.3	13:39	167	171	05:51.4
6	02:00.6	15:40	139	172
7	02:55.9	18:36	159	168
8	02:58.4	21:34	169	174	05:54.3
9	02:00.4	23:35	143	174
10	02:59.9	26:35:00	159	168
11	02:58.3	29:33:00	170	175	05:58.2
Summary	29:33:00	29:33:00	156	175

4x878m @85% effort (indoor track)

Yesterday: elliptical, PT exercises.

Today: warm-up, a few PT exercises (light), then 4x878m at the indoor track. I didn't go early this morning because I was up too late reading and needed to help the kids with some stuff and do laundry this morning before work. So I went at lunch time instead, which was fine.

I pushed a little harder then 85% and was still very slow :(, slower than a couple weeks ago when I did this workout :(. But...it's data, and I'm just getting started. Don't think. Just do it. Or something like that.

Intervals were 5:07.6 (5:50.3 for 1km), 5:08.7 (5:51.6), 5:11.1 (5:54.3), 5:12.3 (5:55.7). The good part about the workout was that my foot didn't hurt and my hamstring hurt only a little, at 1/10. Afterward the hammy bothered me a little but is better now. I'm happy about that! Gotta take the little victories where I can.

Garmin data here. 

4x1km @85% effort

I rested Sunday & Monday - long weekend trip, getting older, not bouncing back as well, I guess. Rest days were good :).

Today I opted for the indoor track because of the cold rain (about 6C with steady rainfall - ugh). I warmed up well (5 laps) then did 4x878m @ 85% effort (3 laps each). It went well! I did them in 5:04.7 (5:47.1 for 1km), 5:05.3 (5:47.8/km), 5:06.6 (5:49.3/km), and 5:09.5 (5:52.6/km), at a true 85% effort; comfortably hard. My hamstring did well, hurting 1/10 at most. 

This week we'll do 2 speed sessions :) and that was a good start. Not fast, but hey, starting somewhere.

Garmin data here. 

better today; 5x585m

Today I woke up feeling better. I definitely think the x-c skiing was the culprit behind the problems yesterday and Friday. What a relief!

I was going to meet Kelly at the Olympic Oval this morning, but last night I remembered that then I'd have to do more counterclockwise laps, and that the track at the U would be clockwise today, so I texted her to see if she could meet me there. It's a longer drive for her but she very nicely agreed after I bribed her with the promise of a homemade latte after the workout.

So we met at the U and did glute activation and some elbow (ouch! Kelly has a sharp elbow!) on the piriformis, then 5 laps warm-up, nice and slow for 3 and then gradually speeding up. I did some dynamic stretches and got going on the speed work. 

I was to do 5x2 laps (585m) at 85% effort, concentrating hard on posture. I did that, but I think my last 2 or 3 were probably a harder effort. Sorry, coach....of course, Kelly was there and it helped to have her watch my posture; she ran while I RW and so she could concentrate to check it. She looked very critically at my hips to make sure there was no anterior tilt, and she said it looked good. HA! Still holding it. I can tell, too. I was a bit sore but the discomfort was mostly a 1/10 on the pain scale, and the elbow afterward helped too. 

I wasn't fast but it wasn't terrible either. I'll take it for now. Times for 2 laps were 3:21.0, 3:22.9, 3:24.2, 3:24.0, 3:24.7 (tired on the last one!). Those are equivalent to 2:51.7-2:54.9 for 500m, so not too awful, all things considered. Still, this is 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. Would be nice to make even progress for once, but I guess I will take what I can get!!! I'm relieved to be feeling better and no more x-c skiing for now. Not until my butt is 100%.

Edited to add: Garmin data here. Notice HR at 170 on the last few. Darn it. A bit of fitness lost...oh well!

7x292.6m

Today my coach told me to do 5x400m @85% effort. Well....the track is under snow. And the Olympic Oval is a 25 min drive away. Soooooo....I went to the indoor track at the U instead. It's only 292.6m, so 2km is a bit less than 7 laps. I decided that 7 laps would do the trick.

I did a nice easy warm-up - super slow on the first 2 laps, concentrating. Plus I did lots of glute exercises and massage with the ball before starting on the workout.

I felt pretty good! My piriformis was bothering me a bit on the first warm-up lap, but then it was fine as I got my technique under control. Then again at the end it was a little annoying, but after the workout it felt just fine. I think I had pretty good technique throughout and was concentrating very hard.

And guess what? My speed was decent. I did mostly 1:40 laps, with one 1:42 and the last one 1:38 or so. 1:40 per lap is 5:42/km, which I think is great for 85% effort for now with injury recovery. I'm very pleased. HR was maxxing out at about 160.

Garmin data here. 

5x1km

Yesterday: was supposed to cross-train but spent all day on the plane to Houston for the USATF (USA track and field) meeting (yep, the Utah Association actually sent me here as a delegate!); when we arrived we were starving and ate, then had to rush to the 5-7pm opening session of the convention. After that Kathy (the Utah Association RW chair) and I had dinner with her nephew and didn't get back until 11:30pm...so yeah, no cross-training other than walking around downtown a lot.

Today: 5x1km. Went to a small park near our hotel and did ~1km loops around the park, as measured by my Garmin, which was wildly inaccurate on those loops. I honestly don't know exactly how far it was, since every time it measured differently :(. BUT the good news is that I got in a good hard workout and felt good and am recovering well. Garmin data here, and my estimated 1km times were 5:38.7, 5:18.3, 5:17.7, 5:34.4, and 5:41.8. Ummmm yeah...that was how my watch measured the 1km. Not accurate at all. The truth is probably somewhere in the average of those times. Maybe! My HR was maxxing out at 168 on the last few, so I know I got a good workout. I have no idea how fast I actually was, which was somewhat freeing. Sorry, coach, but when one travels it's unpredictable what kind of workout conditions you'll have. Tomorrow I'm going to have to do the treadmill because we have to go early, and for safety reasons we will stay indoors. I hate the treadmill...but it's only one day.

The good news is that after that hard workout my legs felt good, even though we SAT in the SAME ROOM from 11am-5pm with only one 30 min break. I didn't have any problems with that, and that would've killed me with pain 12-18 months ago, so at least progress is happening. Yay! The meeting has been pretty interesting and informative, for the most part, though like any meeting it's had its dull moments. Still, I'm learning a lot and thinking of things we can do to promote RW in Utah when we return.

3x2k; 10k

Monday: rest day

Tuesday: 3x2k. Went to the track with Kelly, who was doing 60 min easy, but she agreed to meet me there anyway. It was dark and cold (21F, -6.1C), as usual, but I got some fleece-lined long underwear (Champion, Target - very good!) and that helped. Winter is brutal, but warm clothes help. I have a balaclava for my head and wear lots of layers (feel like the Pillsbury Dough Boy when I go out sometimes! 3 layers on top, 2 on the bottom) but I still get cold, sort of. It's weird. Warm underneath and my core is warm, but my skin is cold, especially on my face and on my rear end. Seriously. It's a strange sensation, being warm and cold simultaneously, and not very pleasant, but...well...we do what we have to do.

I warmed up and felt pretty good, so I can't explain why the workout wasn't that good. In fact, it was pretty terrible. I worked really hard and felt like I was going backwards. Granted, it's the first time I've done 2K intervals in 3 years, but I did 1.5km intervals a couple wk ago just fine, so I guess it was just an anomalously bad workout. My 2Ks were 11:39, 11:52, and 11:56. Ouch.

Today: I was worried that today might be really tough after yesterday, but it actually went just fine. It was cold again today (21F, -6.1C like yesterday, with a slight cold breeze), and it took me a while to put on all those layers, but I was glad for them. Met Kelly at the JRP and she was only doing 45 min, so I had to do another 3km after she left (we did 7km in the first 45 min). It went pretty well, and though I could tell my legs were a little tired, they weren't terribly tired and I got through it in good time with a reasonable HR.

Total: 1:03:37 for 6:22/km with ave HR 147. 

3x1000 = 1x1170m, 2x878m (indoor track)

Yesterday: rest day! Ahhhh...but I was very busy with the usual: work, violin lessons, cooking dinner, getting shoes for Grace, continuing to unpack/organize new house, laundry, dishes. Still, it was nice to have a day off training.

Today: I was to do 3x1km at the track. I opted for the indoor track. It wasn't *that* cold outside this morning, but it was dark, and the indoor track is both light and warm. Not a tough choice :). 

I did a 5-lap warmup with strides on the last lap, and felt really good. After some dynamic stretching and bridges to activate my glutes, I got started on the workout. I decided that as 3000m is about 10 laps of the track that I'd do 4 laps, rest 2 min, 3 laps, rest 2 min, 3 laps; that way I'd still be doing about 3km of intervals. Close enough!

The workout went very well. My 1170m was 6:31.6 (adjusted 1km time 5:34.6), and my 878m were 4:50.9 and 4:48.8 (adjusted 1km times 5:31.4 and 5:29.0!). HA! Got under 5:30 :). OK, so it wasn't quite 1km, but I am sure I could've done it that fast. My speed is coming back. And my HR recovered into the upper 100s after each set - very nice. 

It's hard to stay motivated in the winter, so I'm glad things are going well with my training, and grateful for the indoor track. I have been feeling pretty guilty about not doing the last 5km of my workout on Sunday, and have been thinking a lot about how to make the long, cold days better...but there are not any easy answers. Dress warmly, maybe stop more often at the car for hot water, something? I know my water bottles froze solid on Saturday, and we had to stop at the one open restroom with running water (Winchester Park) to thaw them out and get more to drink. That's pretty demoralizing. Now I remember how hard winter training is and I am just going to have to figure out how to toughen up a bit and also how to make it easier on myself for the small things, like water. 

Garmin data from today's workout here. 

cross-training; 3x1463m, 3x585m

Yesterday: 30 min elliptical. Legs felt good.

Today: It was really windy again this morning, or at least that's what the weather forecast said. So Kelly and I decided to work out separately, me at the indoor track and Kelly on the treadmill at her work.

The weather at the indoor track was awesome as usual :). Bonus: when it's cold outside, during the 2' rest intervals I can go outside to cool off. Ahhhhh!

I warmed up for 5 laps with strides on the last lap. I felt really very good on the warm-up.

I was to do 3x1500m and 3x500m but on the indoor track the closest I could get was 3x1463m (5 laps) and 3x585m (2 laps). Close enough!

The whole workout went fantastically well. My 1463m were 8:20.4, 8:17.3, and 8:19.0 (converts to 1500m times of 8:33.0, 8:29.9, 8:31.6) and my 585m were 3:14.3, 3:13.4, and 3:11.5 (converts to 500m times of 2:46.0, 2:45.2, and 2:43.6 (!)). Total time was 34:35.9, which is more than 6K; for 6K it would've been 33:47.0. Fast! Happy me :).

My heart rate was pretty low on the recoveries - low 110s mostly, even in the 100s. It was low 160s on most of the intervals; I was trying hard and pushing hard but the HR was just lower today, which is fine.

I feel great now (dinner time) and legs had no stiffness or issues at all today.

Garmin data here. 

3x1k; 4x500

Today I met Kelly at the track for 3x1km, 4x500. (Kelly was just doing easy pace and there for moral support!). It was seasonably cold at 30F (-1.1C) with a slight breeze, which I could have done without! I didn't get that cold in tights, gloves, headband, long-sleeved shirt and jacket, so that was good.

My warm-up felt a little sluggish but my strides were good and I got in the groove eventually. I did some dynamic stretching and then glute activation drills and got going on the workout.

My first 1K was the slowest at 5:43.8, and I chalked that up to legs that were still a bit tired from yesterday. I had 2 min rest between every interval today; after my first rest I then did 5:41.3 for the next one and 5:41.0 for the 3rd 1km. I wasn't sure about the 500s, but they went pretty well - though on the last one my legs were definitely getting shaky and Jell-O-like, though it was still the fastest. In fact, these are the fastest 500s I've done in a while at 2:47.9, 2:46.1, 2:46.4, and 2:45.6. Yep, 2:45! OK, slow compared to what I could do before the past few years of fatigue, but good for now. The 1kms weren't that good today, but they weren't terrible either, so I'm happy.

My HR was about mid-160s at the end of the intervals, and went down to 100s or 110s in the rests - pretty good.

All in all, good progress is finally happening. Photo at the track after the workout as the sun was coming up; note pretty snow-capped mountains behind my head over the stadium seats :).

Garmin data here. 

whoops!

I was supposed to do 20km today. Kelly was supposed to do 10x5 min at 6:10/km with 2 min recovery jogs. I mistakenly thought I could do her workout as part of mine. Well, after yesterday's workout I wasn't up to that. Add in not getting enough sleep after going to the symphony last night, and well...yeah...it was interesting. Kelly's workout was much harder than I expected, and by the time we finished (at 11.42km on my Garmin) I was mentally done. The 5 min intervals had my HR up in the low to mid 160s by the end of the workout...yeah, not good. I did another 0.58km to get to 12km, but then I quit.

Whoops.

Well, at least there's not an important race until the 1 hr postal Dec 19th. So the fact that I screwed up my schedule isn't a big deal, I don't think. Though I probably need to get in some more km. Kelly has 110 min easy tomorrow, which I think I'll go do with her. I'm going to move my schedule to have Sundays my long day again, since that's how her schedule is, and that should work a bit better. Maybe, for now anyway. If my long day gets over 20km then that won't work so well. We'll see...it's just so much better to work out with someone else.

Whoops.

Garmin data here.

day off; 4x1km

Yesterday: had a friend over for dinner the previous night and then stayed up late installing a new thermostat (ecobee3, smart thermostat, at left - so awesome!) so I didn't even try to get up early to do my track workout. I was exhausted and needed the sleep. Plus my resting HR was up to 56...high for me...so I decided it was better to take it easy and take a day off.

Today: woke feeling good and went to do my 4x1km. Weather was good for the season at 3.9C (39F) and calm and partly cloudy. I saw a few snowflakes but I can't say that it was actually snowing much. It was too warm for it to stick anyway! After my warm-up of 1600m plus strides, I did the 4x1km. I felt good and strong on these, and was able to go a bit faster on each. I did them in 5:42.0, 5:40.2, 5:40.2, and 5:39.4. My HR was in the upper 160s at the end of each 1k, which seems appropriately hard, and my HR during the 2 min recovery period went down to the low 110s each time, which is also good and normal for me. So all seems well.

Hopefully I'll be good for my 20km tomorrow! It's supposed to get very cold tonight (27F) so I'll have to dress for the occasion. Oh yay...winter is coming :(.

Garmin data here. 

catching up!!! 3x800/200; 20 min w/strides; PA-USATF 20K racewalk (regional champs); 10K; 6K fartlek

I got very behind on my blog due to traveling to Chicago for work for 6 days and then to California for the 20K race just one day after I got back from Chicago. After that, it was only 5 days until our housewarming party, and to make matters more complicated, I pulled an abdominal muscle lifting a bag of dog food and was incapacitated for a day. Geez!

I know that my readers (all two of them ;)!) are completely fascinated with my workouts, so I wouldn't want them to miss any. Here's a recap (more for me and my coach...!):

Thursday 10/22 3x800/200 - could NOT catch my breath this morning; freshly back from Chicago, which is much closer to sea level. Maybe I'm a little de-acclimated to altitude? Seems fast, but...anyway, 800/200s were 4:38.4, 1:01.2, 4:38.8, 1:00.5, 4:37.3, 59.6. HA! Faster on each one, even though they were about 5 sec slower than last week's. Oh well.

Friday 10/23 elliptical for 30 min

Saturday 10/24 20 min with strides, at 6:01/km (fast! with Stevie...!). Pulled my left hamstring just a touch on 2nd stride; rested and iced it and it was fine for the race. Whew. Felt good being at sea level, or something :).

Sunday 10/25 PA-USATF 20K racewalk. My apologies for the brief race report...but...well, this is what happens when you get a bit too busy. Something has to give, and I guess it's my blog. We drove to California on Friday (after I did the elliptical) and stayed with my brother in Davis. We being me, Stevie (16yo from Orem), and Stevie's dad, Jim. Jim drove (yay!) and just asked that I chat to keep him company. No problem! We then had all day Saturday to chill, visit the Jelly Belly factory - I brought Calvin too, and Stevie also wanted to go - and try not to do too much. That was easily enough accomplished. Played some Scrabble, helped my brother assemble a dresser, hung out with everyone. Then on Sunday we drove the 30 min to the race in Sacramento, registered, and did the 5K (Calvin) and the 20K (me, Stevie). I am obviously not in shape for a fast 20K, but was at least in shape to DO the distance, and I am soooooo sick of just racing 5Ks that I really wanted to do the 20K, so I did, even though my coach Jim recommended that I do the 5K. I almost always listen to his advice, but this time I just couldn't bring myself to do 5K.

Anyway, in a nutshell: first 10K felt great (31:04 5K, 1:02:15 10K) and then my legs started to tire but still made it to 15K the fastest I've done in a while, and faster than my 15K race in May by a minute (1:33:42 - thought it was:33, but it was :42!). Then the last 5K I really ran out of steam and got a cramp in my left calf which made me very nervous about maintaining form. I was able to hang on and finish in 2:06:03 though, and I'm happy with that especially given my lack of conditioning (hadn't walked 20K since June) and my HR was only an average of 151 for the race! So I think I'm on track for good things if I can stay healthy. Weather was good - 65 at end of race; 55ish at start, humid. A little warm but really very nice.

Monday 10/26 rest day

Tuesday 10/27 elliptical; bike to work

Wednesday 10/28 muscle strain from lifting bag of dog food :( - took off work; didn't work out

Thursday 10/29 muscle strain - better; back at work; didn't work out

Friday 10/30 30 min elliptical - felt fine :)!

Saturday 10/31 easy 10K; muscle strain hurt a bit at the start but was OK after 1k or so. Total time 1:03:10 for 6:19/km. Happy with that.

Sunday 11/1 rest day

Monday 11/2 6K fartlek. This went great! Some muscle strain pain at the start but then all was fine. The weather was nice and warm for November - 49F (10C) and calm and clear early in the morning, with a beautiful sunrise as we were finishing the workout. Kelly met me and did 60 min easy while I did the fartlek; I did the last 7 min with her, jogging slowly, after I finished my workout.

500m fast times were all 2:50-2:53 and medium effort 500m were all 3:05-3:10. Total time 35:41! I'm happy with that. My legs got pretty tired for the last couple km but I held it together fine and finished well.

Jim actually gave me a real program going all the way to our 1hr postal on Dec 19! I'm so excited to be feeling good enough to have an extended training program. Hopefully I'll be able to follow it.

Photos: sunrise this morning, and Kelly and I at the track.

cross-training; 3x800/200

Yesterday: rode bike to work and also did a brisk casual walk to and from coffee with a friend in SugarHouse.

Today: met Kelly at the track for 3x800/200 (she was just doing an easy 45 min). I warmed up a bit sluggishly in 10:26; had only 5 hr sleep so maybe that had something to do with it :)? Also, it was SO VERY VERY WINDY. Garmin website says 18kph but I am sure it was more than that, from the east. It was insanely windy. Normally I'd have taken it indoors, but this workout doesn't work on a 292m track with no markings, and Kelly would've had to pay $6 to get in, so I just did it outside anyway. At the end of the workout I took a picture of the flag - see? It was WINDY.

I did some dynamic stretches and then some bridges to activate my glutes and off I went. The workout went pretty well, I thought. Some speed is coming back, though I have a ways to go to get back to where I was 2.5 years ago (feels like a lifetime ago) before I got sick. Still, baby steps!

The 800/200s work like this: 800m, rest 30 sec, 200m, rest 2 min, repeat. Simple, but good for the fast-twitch muscles.

My times were as follows: 4:34.2, 59.0, 4:32.8, 59.2, 4:32.7, 59.8. Very consistent and decent speed. I was glad I only had three, though. My legs were kinda tired after that!

Garmin data here. 

3K fartlek + 4x500m; indoor track

I've been staying up too late, and it finally caught up with me. I slept until 6:45 am (9 hr of sleep!) and then didn't have time to hit the outdoor track before work. Oops! Plus work is really busy, working on a poster for the Society for Neuroscience meeting and also getting a demo of this very cool zebrafish behavior monitoring rig today. But I did make myself go to the indoor track after work and got in a very nice workout even though I was tired.

The workout was 3K fartlek + 4x500m, and because I was on the indoor 292.6m track I modified it to be 2 laps fast, 2 laps medium, 2 fast, 2 medium, 2 fast (2926m for 3K fartlek), and then 2 min rest followed by 585.2m (2 laps), 2 min rest, 2 laps, 2 min rest, 2 laps, 2 min rest, 1 lap. Total was 17 laps or 4974m. My total time for that was 28:36 (36:36-8 min rest), which works out to 28:45 for 5K, which I think is pretty good for that workout right now, so I'm pleased. Here are my splits, below, for what it's worth.

First column is lap #, then time, then cumulative time, then ave HR for the lap and finally max HR for the lap. Garmin data here. 

My legs were pretty tired afterward, but nothing a good night's sleep won't cure. Quads are still sore from the running on Tuesday morning :). Haha racewalking problems!!!

1	01:36.1	01:36.1	146	160
2	01:40.3	03:16.4	160	161
3	01:46.6	05:03.0	156	160
4	01:46.3	06:49.3	154	158
5	01:39.0	08:28.3	162	165
6	01:39.8	10:08	166	168
7	01:49.1	11:57	162	168
8	01:48.1	13:45	159	161
9	01:40.0	15:25	164	167
10	01:39.5	17:05	168	170
11	01:59.9	19:05	142	169
12	01:37.8	20:42	153	164
13	01:40.5	22:23	165	167
14	02:00.5	24:23:00	138	167
15	01:38.3	26:02:00	154	164
16	01:39.7	27:41:00	166	168
17	02:00.9	29:42:00	135	167
18	01:38.4	31:21:00	153	164
19	01:39.9	33:01:00	165	168
20	02:00.1	35:01:00	140	168
21	01:35.8	36:36:00	154	166
Summary	36:36:00	36:36:00	154	170

Just converted these times to 500m times and they are fast! Nice!!! The 3:01.8 and 3:05.5 are the medium effort intervals on the fartlek. All my fasts are under 2:50 but one, and the last one was 2:43.6! Yay!

02:47.7

03:01.8

02:49.8

03:05.5

02:50.4

02:49.3

02:49.1

02:49.3

02:43.6

cross-training; 3x1km

Yesterday: cross-training. Biked to work and did the elliptical.

Today: 3x1km. Nice weather - 59F (15C) calm and clear. I did a warm-up for 1600m with strides in 10:14. For lack of better words, I still have a pain in my left butt :(. It's not better, but not really worse either. It got better as I warmed up but was still bugging me a bit even on my 3rd 1km repeat. I'm getting more worried about it, but...not sure what to do. It only bothers me when I racewalk, at least.

The workout went fine. Not fast, but good enough. My 1km repeats were in 5:43.0, 5:44.9, 5:44.7, with HR maxing out at 171 on the last repeat. Recovery HR during the 2 min recoveries were about 115 each time, which is great.

Garmin data here. 

Tomorrow: 14K!