Today’s Focus

Don’t get too frazzled.

It will be one of those days, errands in town, construction on the house, attempting to get a good run-in, doing all the non-running routine to help my running. Then ensuring that TheWife gets her run-in and outside stuff done, getting the final load of firewood into the truck for them to deliver to their friend who needs it. Mowing the back lawn, and of course Bennie’s walks, along with making sure he doesn’t get too wound up while the workers are putting on the siding (he doesn’t do well with the pounding). Yeah, a busy day indeed.

Planned Workout Description: 

Workout: 5 x 3:00 minutes run with 1:00 minute easy recoveries

Purpose: A test to see how the body reacts to a little more challenging effort. I plan to do the run portions around an 8:30 pace and the recoveries somewhere over 10:00 minute pace, nothing super difficult, but harder than I have gone in a while. Then if everything goes well, do the last one a bit harder and add in some strides. 

The rehab is going well, and all the Alfredson protocol exercises seem to be making a huge difference. Now to see how much progress I have made.

Warm-up: 

100-ups 

Run #1

• Course: Philbrick Laps
• Type: Tempo Run
• Distance: 3.29
• Duration: 30:23
• Power: 214
• Running Streak Day #: 4

What I Actually Did Today:

While I didn’t run that much faster on the 3:00 minute sections, I did pick up the pace a little, but not close to the 8:30 pace I had predicted. Today I had zero pop in the legs, probably because I have been doing a bit too much lately, along with stressing out over the siding of the house and loading firewood into the truck.

So, I didn’t have the stronger mental aspect that I wanted or the turnover in the legs that I needed to have a good workout. However, when I figured that out about the second 3:00 minute segment, I didn’t attempt to dig into the well, I just went with what the body and mind were willing to do, and it was enough. I also managed to complete 3 x 2 telephone pole strides, and while they were slower too, but still faster than the runs, so it was a win.

The best part was that I didn’t hurt the Achilles or feel horrible while running the faster paces. 

Variables that impacted the run: 

Injuries/Niggles: Achilles’ tendon did well again, and the discomfort level stayed in the 2 range. The right lower back bothered me a little while I was loading the firewood, so I will stretch that out more tonight.

Weather: Mostly sunny, 69°F, Feels like 67°F, Humidity 60%, Wind 7mph from NW with higher gusts in the 15-20 mph range.

Shoes: ASICS Magic Speed – I really didn’t think that much about them, other than how great they were doing and how little my feet were bothering me. They didn’t feel fast today, but that was definitely more me than the shoes. 😁

In other words, they did everything that I wanted.

Other Stuff

I didn’t get to the lawn, but I got the firewood where it needed to go and then cleaned up the back of the garage where I had it stored. You forget how much room 2 cord of wood takes up until it is gone. Made it through the day and can smile a bit since they are making progress on the siding work. Next week, it should be done, and the house will be a lot sturdier and insulated than before the siding work was started.

I even managed to avoid being overly frazzled, so it was a good day. 😃