Hot/Humid – Monday – June 21, 2021

How am I feeling today?

I am feeling pretty decent, my mood is upbeat, and looking forward to the workout this morning.

Today’s Running Focus

Enjoy

Planned Workout Description: 

Workout: 

• Stryd 5K Plan – Week 2, Day 1
• 40:00 Minute easy run

Purpose:

To enjoy the run and being down-back to relax a little while running. I will turn off the high-power alerts on my watch, though, and run comfortably versus Stryd’s idea of easy.

Workout Description

Easy runs are an important part of balancing training intensity and recovery. Your target for this run is 75-80% of your Stryd Auto-Calculated Critical Power. You are encouraged to start out at the lower end of your prescribed range and progress to near the top of your prescribed range by the end of the run. While going above your prescribed range might feel easy in the moment, it is important to remember the purpose of an easy run is to promote recovery without adding additional fatigue.

Where does this run/workout fit into my top 5 running priorities?

Just working on staying healthy and not running too hard, too often. 

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
• 30 – Calf Raises both legs on the ladder
• 10 – single leg calf raises no support on the floor
• 50 – two-legged hops
• 20 x steps hip extensions on the steps
• 20 count hip extension holds on the steps

Warm-up: 

• 100-ups 

Run #1

• Course: Town Office O/B 40:00 Minutes
• Type: Easy Run
• Primary Surface: Dirt/Tar
• Distance: 4.06
• Duration: 40:28
• Pace: 9:55
• Power: 207

What I Actually Did Today: 

When temps are in the ‘70s and humidity is over 70%, I don’t attempt to do too much. I just go easy, focus on doing the work, keeping my eyes about 20 yards in front of me, and don’t worry about much of anything other than moving forward. If I run a little faster downhill, that is cool. If I work harder going uphill, that is expected, and if I am around 10:00 minute per mile pace, that is historically just about right for this weather.

So based on those things, did the workout go as planned? About as close as it could have gone. I don’t like running in this kind of weather all that much, but I also know that running in the summer months will bring more of these conditions going forward. Hot and Humid are my more challenging training conditions, and I am not a fan of this weather.

Although if I had scheduled a hard or go fast workout for today, I am pretty sure that I would have substituted it for an easy run. I don’t run fast in these conditions unless there is a specific reason to do so nowadays.

I forgot to turn off the High-Power alerts in my Stryd app, and yes, they are still damned annoying.

Variables that impacted the run:

Injuries/Niggles: 

The last mile, the left Achilles grumbled a little, not much, but enough that I didn’t want to do anything extra when I got to the end of the 40:00. 

Weather: Clear sky, 75°F, Feels like 78°F, Humidity 73%, Wind 5mph from the S 

Shoes: ASICS Magic Speed – This is what the Magic Speeds seem to be best for me, easy running. I can run fast in them, but they don’t have any extra pop that I notice. However, they are very comfortable and do well when I am running at slower paces.

Other Stuff – It was just too hot to do much else. So I read a bit more of the book Essentialism, played Neverwinter Nights for a bit, and otherwise took the rest of the day off.