Monday
I missed my strength workout. Sat down for dinner with Beth and talked right on past 8:00. Beth looked at me and said, well, it's pretty much too late to go to the gym, now, isn't it? And I had to concur.
Tuesday
It was hot and sticky, so I headed to the gym to get a run in. Got on the treadmill and kept things easy - averaged about 5.5mph and just focused on keeping on running. It was pretty difficult, I think because the gym was almost and hot and sticky as it was outside. Found myself wheezing along. I thought about pushing up the speed on the last five minutes in minute increments, but couldn't do it; I think I dropped to 5mph for a couple minutes of the five, but dialed it back to 5.5mph for the final minute for something of a kick.
Watched the O's getting beat, watched a great sunset over storm clouds, watched the storm roll in and just drop buckets of rain. It was kinda interesting because - of course - the O's game on the other side of town was getting this weather before we were in the gym. So when it started to drizzle, I knew something was afoot, and when they pulled the tarps on the field and showed the gouts of rain, I knew I was staying at the gym for a little while.
So I got off the treadmill, and decided to do some of the strength training I had missed the night before and wait out the storm. The first thing I noticed was that they had changed all the machines around to create a wide walk way through the gym and to the pool area. So I had to hunt for my machines. I couldn't find the independent chest press, just the old chest press. Jumped on the abdominal and lower back machines, decided to skip leg extensions, and wrapped things up with the chest press. And I don't know what the deal was, whether I was tired, have gotten worse, or the new machine, but 120# was rough. I got two sets of 12 in, but dropped back to 100# for the final set. Just too much.
Rain finished, I left the gym, and dragged myself back home....
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| Lehigh Cement |
I threw some laundry in after work, made a really bad chard and bacon (I think adding salt made the chard weep, which kinda nullified the bacon; and I prolly should have used more bacon....) Then I jumped on my bike for a quick long ride before meeting up with Joe for Phillies-Red Sox. Went down beyond the gym, and down to Lehigh Cement. Never been down there, nice view of Fort McHenry. Watched a tug come in. Looked at my phone while taking pictures and saw that it was twenty after 7. Hopped back on my bike and high-tailed it over to the Fieldhouse. When I got off the bike I started dripping. The cool thing was, it was obviously a work-out. I topped out at 22mph somewhere and the mileage wasn't there, but it was easily doable, not the struggle from Tuesday.
Thursday
I had planned to postpone the Thursday workout because we would be going to the beach. Dragging stuff up from the basement - like the bike carrier and Beth's bike - ought to count for something, right?
Friday
My plan was to start off and do all sorts of stuff on Friday, but that did not happen. After a little time on the beach in the AM, we had a quick bite to eat at the BBC and then took off by mid-afternoon for Dogfish Head Brewery. A healthy sampling of beer later, and a purchase of a shirt and case of beer, we were off to the Milton Farmers' Market. Nothing there, we headed over to the Broadkill Boathouse for dinner. Got back to the BBC and more or less crashed. Saturday was going to be a busy day....
Saturday
The Usual Suspects got up early Saturday morning and set off to Rehoboth to run the Firecracker 5K Walk and Run. It was the same course as the Thanksgiving Race last fall where I kinda fell apart, but came in at 35 or something. Carlos and Beth got up close to the start and ran. I think they ended up finishing around 26 minutes, Carlos coming in ahead of Beth.
Eileen had convinced me to run the 5K Friday evening, promising to fetch beer all day Saturday. So Tony, Eileen and I ran together. I followed Week 5 of the Couch to 5K program - 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking - repeat for a total of 15 minutes running. We ran the first 5 minute warm-up into the first 5 minute run, but even then there wasn't enough time to do the whole 5k - I think it got us right to the water station at 2 miles. We walked the cool-down, and then I reset and we started all over with a 5 minute run. Tony ran ahead when we came to the 3 minute walk, but Eileen stuck with me. When it came to the next 5 minute run, we were within striking distance, so I really tried to leg it out and finish with a good strong kick. I felt like puking after the kick - so I gave it a good shot of what I had left - but a quick drink of water and it was easy to suppress that. But the kick felt GOOD!
Not sure of the pacing. I finished at just under 41 minutes, which was way down there at #319, off of Eileen's pace from the week before, and short of my PR. There wasn't really a heat problem - it felt fairly cool and wasn't too humid. The fact that we got to the Mile 2 marker just before the end of the 3rd five minute run - albeit having run 4 of the first 5 minutes of warmup - suggests that our top pace was pretty close to my top pace I had been running in training - maybe a touch under 5.5mph/11 minute miles. The 41 minute overall means I was running a little under 14 minute miles, slightly better than my average on the treadmill. That probably was running the warmup and the good kick. That I got that and literally went the extra mile - I'll say that was good. I either need to get my own Garmin, or start running with my phone. (Okay, so looking at the results, my pace was 13:09 - and I was dead last in my age group.)
Physically, my left calf felt great while stretching, but started to knot up almost immediately. Not hellishly, but it was there. Both calves were cramping after Mile 2. I need to stretch better after the run, but all in all - I didn't feel too bad and breathing was fine - maybe a little raspy. We packed into the car and took the ride back to Broadkill, and I already knew what part 2 was going to be.
We got out of the car at the BBC, I changed shorts (so I had a pocket for my phone) and put my sandals on (my feet felt like they were swelling a little in my running shoes), filled my water bottle, strapped on my helmet, and headed out for a bike ride. I reckoned it was three miles down to Route 1 from Broadkill, so after my 5k a little 6 miles of biking would be good and would help stretch the calves.
View 2011-07-02 09:17 Broadkill To Route 1 in a larger map
Well, I knew something was up when my phone started talking to me right after I crossed the bridge, suggesting it was a mile from the BBC. Made it down to Rt 1 several minutes later. I felt good about the ride, but it seemed a lot longer than I had initially thought. Was keeping hydrated, and was pushing myself pretty good. I had a little bay breeze at my back, and was consistently in 2.7, swapping up to 3.6 every once in awhile and getting some saddle relief with a standing climb at 3.7. I started developing what I called skating - working on real powerful strides at 3.7 whether standing or seated. Not too long, but something that made 2.7 feel like a god-send when it came, and when my quads got a little tired I would as often upshift to 3.7 as downshift to 2.6, skating to change the rhythm and stretch, and then would go back to 2.7. Somewhere in here I figured I topped out at the 19.9mph.
I hit Rt 1 and doubled back, expecting to head into that breeze. Luckily, it never materialized. I started wondering when my phone was going to tell me I had hit another mile marker, but I knew I was beyond the 3 miles I had thought. I dropped my water bottle and had to stop and go back and get it. But otherwise the return trip was pretty uneventful. I was skating a little more, thankful I wasn't getting smacked with a headwind. That materialized after the double turn heading up to the bridge, and that was rough. I think I dropped to 2.5 or maybe 2.4; man it would be nice to have a computerized bike that could tell you what you shifted to when. Got over the bridge and cranked it up hard and sprinted the mile back to BBC.
Checking the route out later, turns out it was a total of 8.8 miles. I felt good. The knot from the run had been worked out, no more cramping, and I had a good amount of energy left - I wasn't as wiped out as I had been the Sunday Beth was gone and I swam and biked and then passed out. That being said, I did grab a couple of Corona's, set up the beach chairs, watched the parade, and then hung out for the rest of the day.
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