After a day of rest yesterday, I managed to get in one hour of work in the clubhouse. I did a lot of heating and pre-workout legs drills before I got to the clubhouse. I could still feel soreness in my right calf as I started on the treadmill. I began walking first and then jogging. Never got to any quick speed and stopped occasionally to stretch along the way. (20 minutes) I went from there to the bicycle for 20 minutes and then to the elliptical machine for 20 minutes. On those two machines my calf muscle is not a factor. My heart rate was up to almost 130bpm during some parts of the hour. It felt like a positive day.
Got in 70 minutes of good work on a bitter cold winter’s day. There was 30 minutes in the exercise room, 10 on elliptical machine and 20 upper body and leg drills. Them 40 minutes in the pool, 20 swim and 20 run. Add a relaxing hot whirlpool with emphasis on the calf muscle. Tried a little running around the halls with no calf muscle issues noted. I still don’t plan on rushing to do any serious running for a few more days . The really cold days are also a deterrent to getting out on the roads. We will be leaving for Florida one week from today. Can’t wait! 10 weeks this year……..
“You can’t stop the exterior aging….. it’s because of health and fitness, and what I eat, and exercise especially, that inside I feel really young.”
Priscilla Welch
Today marks my return to work after almost a week of inactivity as a result of a sore calf muscle. The muscle has improved quickly, more quickly than I had expected, and I felt confident to try some work today. I’m not confident enough to actually run, but I did head to the clubhouse to work in the exercise room on the machines. The workout tonight was 20 minutes riding the bike + 20 minutes on the treadmill + about 30 minutes of upper body work. I did some exploratory slow jogging to test the impact on my calf muscle. The result was positive. I have been heating and rolling the muscle for about a week. I am becoming more confident that I dodged a bullet.
Stats have remained steady during this period of inactivity.
Thursday – 80 minutes of constant work at clubhouse – 40 Drills and Weights -40 Swim and Run
Friday – Aborted run after severe pain in right calf muscle. Could not even walk! It occurred running very slowly, and I can only explain that maybe I did too much one-legged drills last night and calf exercises. Very painful (generalized) all night and into the morning. Though sleeping.
Saturday – Walking gingerly today but calf is still quite painful. Soreness has been reduced to a very point tender spot deep in the calf muscle . Still trying to evaluate how serious this is and how much time I might lose in training. I will have to continue to ride and swim and lift while this is occurring.
“It is distance, not speed, that holds the answers. The reward comes with crossing and confronting the boundaries of fatigue.”
John Bingham, The Courage to
The heading says it. I ran 4 miles in 48:10. I started with a 7 or 8 minute walk. Then I began to run hoping to continue for about half an hour of course I was approaching this as a recovery run after yesterday’s workout. But as time went on I felt better and decided to keep going for 4 miles. In the middle I ran 4 x 100 stride pickups at around 8 minute pace I would say. Each mile was a little quicker with the final mile about 10:30. My body felt pretty drained at the end and I continue to feel fatigued tonight. I weighed myself at the end of the workout with all of my gear on and then after I took everything off. It turned out that I was carrying six and a half pounds of stuff with me on that run. A good evening for college football from the couch.
“In my opinion nothing beats a treadmill workout when you don’t want to run outside. A good movie, some water, and a little ventilation are all you need.”
Florence Griffith Joyner
My lovely niece, Jackie O’Rourke, gave me a book as a present at the O’Rourke Christmas party on Saturday. It is called “The Gigantic Book of Running Quotations.” It contains over 3,000 quotations about training and running and racing and other things associated with the sport of distance running. So I should never run out of quotations to make my blog more meaningful and interesting. The above quote is the first I have selected to accompany my post on a very successful treadmill run.
Monday, New Year’s Eve
After a discouraging run on Sunday afternoon at the cinder track that was plagued by a constan, sharp pain in my right foot, I had a very positive, pain-free workout on the treadmill at the club this afternoon. The treadmill has never been my favorite workout mode. But I have recently hooked my ear plugs up to the muted TV set and I seem to enjoy it much more. Here is the breakdown of today’s 70 minute effort .
– Walk for 10 minutes – Jog for 20 minutes slowly – Start workout of 10 times 3:00 accelerations at 10:00 per mile pace with 1:00 recovery. – Total of 70 minutes in motion, longest tredmill workout ever
This seemed like one of the best aerobic workouts I have had in quite some time. I am very pleased
Stats –
Sleep = 11 hours Weight = #153 Morning heart weight = 54 beats per minute Not such great diet at holiday party = 6 Morning foot discomfort at 3 to 5 level
December 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th. How the days slip away!
Sunday – Recovery
Monday – Easy 40 minutes , 10 walk, 30 run slowly
Tuesday – Christmas, off
Wednesday – 30 minutes on the track with 16 x 100m every 1 minute
Thursday – new Clubhouse circuit of 360m x 9 every 3 minutes between 1:35 and 1:50
This was a decent 5-day segment considering the holiday and the crappy weather. +A great Christmas visit from Rob and Chris +Annual check-up that was a very positive today
First bike ride in quite a while turned out to be six miles unexpectedly. It took 42 minutes but it was a good start.
Friday- One hour at the clubhouse .
Weighs a and pool work.
Saturday- 4.6 miles on the cinders in 58:40.
This was another cold and breezy afternoon, But the cinders ware soft from all the rain. So the run was relaxed and, fortunately, free of leg or foot issues. It takes almost 30 minutes for me to get totally warm and loose to the extent that I feel like I’m running open and smooth. The final two and a half miles of this run were very enjoyable. I I was tempted to do more but stopped once again out of an abundance of caution. I am satisfied with the progress of my training at this point.
Friday afternoon found me on the cinder track testing my foot. I ran about two gentle miles with no pains in my right foot. It seems that my mysterious injury has quickly disappeared. I will still proceed with caution.
December 15, Saturday
It was a dark, dreary, misty, December Saturday afternoon. I waited all day for the mist to abate. In the meantime I heated my feet and my legs and did a full set of leg drills indoors. I felt pretty confident about my foot because of yesterday’s successful test run. As usual the first 10 minutes was a bit of a grind until everything started to loosen up. I was pleased that I was able to complete a full five miles without experiencing any leg or foot issues. It is good to get back to that level once again. None of it was very fast, but the total of one hour was a solid effort.
