Today’s Focus

Run Relaxed

Planned Workout Description: 

Workout:

• Day 11 – Stryd Intro Plan
• 20:00 warm-up
• 5:00 hard effort
• 9:00 cool down

Purpose:

“Today is an important point in training, as we are preparing for a hard effort to come later this week. This tiny dose of quality today will inform the Stryd system more about your current fitness, as well as prep your body for some harder running to come just a bit down the road.

Your goal for the 5:00 hard effort should be the same mentality as your other hard efforts so far. We would advise to not start out too quick, and to maintain your effort so that you have the best chance at sustaining the highest power average you can. Ideally, you should start out at an effort you feel like you can sustain for at least 7:00-8:00 in the first half of the 5:00 hard effort, to give yourself the best chance to finish strong.”

Day 11 – Stryd Intro Plan

The hot weather has broken, and we are back to more seasonable temps, which will make it better for the workout this morning.

“Use your “road run” time to focus on your form, your stride, and your breathing. The goal: understand your body and how it feels at the pace you are running. This will lead to the longer-term goal of developing a habit of intense focus.”

Excerpt From: Bryan Green. “Make the Leap – Think Better, Train Better, Run Faster.” Apple Books.

Morning Prehab

• 2 x 15 Straight Leg Eccentric Calf Drops each leg on the ladder
• 2 x 15 Bent Leg Eccentric Calf Drops each leg on the ladder
• 50 – Calf Raises both legs on the ladder
• 10 – single leg calf raises no support on the floor
• 20 x steps hip extensions on front steps
• 20 count hip extension on front steps
• 20 count single leg to butt hold each leg

Warm-up: 

• 100-ups 
• 20-Leg Swings (side and front)

Run #1

• Course: Tiffany Bump O/B and Philbrick Laps
• Type: Day 11 – Stryd Intro Plan
• Distance: 3.74
• Duration: 34:39
• Power: 221

What I Actually Did Today: 

Did that workout go as planned?

• 20:00 warm-up – (218) I ran comfortably during the warm-up segment, nothing strenuous. Well, running back up Stevens Hill wasn’t totally easy, but it felt pretty good because I wasn’t attempting to push the pace.
• 5:00 hard effort – (252) I arranged it to start in front of the house and ended coming back towards it. My pacing was terrible, but I pushed a little harder than I have in a while. I ended up with an 8:11 average pace for the 5:00 minutes, which isn’t all that great, but it is pretty close to where I am with my conditioning. I don’t have that additional couple of gears that allow me to cruise a little faster, but it is coming back slowly but surely. The other thing is that if I attempt to do a hard toe-off to generate more speed, the Achilles does start to complain, so I am very meechy about pushing too hard, even though I could probably do it. However, the risk is still too great of screwing up the progress I am making, so I will take what the body will give me without complaining too much. The metrics for this hard effort were pretty good but will get even better.
• 9:00 cool down (210) It didn’t feel like I was working very hard during the recovery portion, even though Stryd seemed to think so. It will be interesting to see how I feel later this summer, but for now, I need to focus more on relaxing and running efficiently.

This was probably the best run that I have had since the injury…I felt comfortable, and when I wasn’t pushing the pace a little, the Achilles didn’t bark at me too much for a change.

Variables that impacted the run:

Injuries/Niggles: The Achilles didn’t really bother today until towards the end. It was more a tightness that if I pushed too hard or attempted to run with my “normal” stride, I could feel it start to let me know it wasn’t happy. Otherwise, no issues.

Weather: Clear sky, 65°F, Feels like 56°F, Humidity 39%, Wind 11mph from NNE. The breeze didn’t help coming back towards the house, but it was a great day for a run.

Shoes: New Balance 1080 v10 (Blue) – There is something about this pair of 1080s that is simply right for how I run. When I look at the metrics, even the easy stuff has better numbers than when I run in something else. They are comfortable but not mushy and are doing everything I am asking of them. I am starting to look at them for many of my workouts, even on days when I know that I will be running a little faster. I wouldn’t choose them to race or do a speed workout, but they are proving themselves to be very nice shoes for me.

Other Stuff

I am getting sloppy with my warm-up routine (not doing it consistently) and not doing my after-run work. That needs to change. Especially since the house is done and the schedule is back to being mine again. Now that my right elbow is not complaining, I need to get back to beating on the tire, lifting weights, and doing the second set of eccentric calf loading exercises. Like they say, two steps forward and one step backward.

Although I did get a late start this morning when I had to figure out airline reservation stuff. Not my favorite thing, to say the least, and yes, the run was needed after I got through with that stuff. Maybe that is why I had a decent hard effort. I used the pent-up frustration of attempting to find a reasonable price on the days I wanted to go. It is done, and I have some fun plans for Mid July.