Good Day – Saturday – July 3, 2021

How am I feeling today?

I was tired after yesterday’s longer run and playing at lumberjack. Nothing serious, and since the weather is still pretty cool, today’s recovery run should be pretty good.

Planned Workout Description: 

Type: 

• 40:00 minute – Recovery Run

Today’s Running Focus

·     Go Easy

Why am I doing this run?

To clear the crap out of the body and get the miles in without stressing about pace.

Or, in Stryd’s language, “Easy runs are an important part of balancing training intensity and recovery. Your target for this run is 65-75% 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.”

What I Did Today: 

I ran down to the Town Office, and the conditions were just about perfect again. Down-back got enough rain yesterday for the grit on the road reabsorb, and I didn’t get choked on the dust when a couple of trucks went by, so that was even better. I let my body dictate the effort levels, and I ran easy for most of the run.

Did that workout go as planned?

I ran easy and felt as though I was running faster than the pace ended up being. The thing about this run that was different, I think, was that I felt as though I was a lot closer to my normal stride than I have been in a while. While I could still feel the Achilles a little, just enough to keep me from fully extending at toe-off, it still felt better than it has for a long time. Coming back up both Blake and Stevens Hills, I felt stronger than usual, even though the times didn’t show it when I went back to look. 

When I got back on the tar, I decided to do a couple of strides just because I was feeling good, and I wanted to wake the legs up a little in anticipation of tomorrow’s time trial. I ended up only doing one, but that one was faster than I have been running lately, and the way the leg felt, I decided to shut it down when I finished that one.

Injuries/Niggles: The Achilles issue is still there, but allowing me to run more freely than it has in a while. So that is good news.

Weather: Overcast clouds, 56°F, Feels like 51°F, Humidity 88%, Wind 11mph from NNE. Just about perfect, maybe a little less humidity, but I didn’t notice it very much, and the breeze wasn’t a factor down-back with the trees blocking it.

Shoes: Reebok Floatride Forever Energy 2: I don’t like running in the same shoes two days in a row, but I didn’t feel like using the trail shoes or digging out something from under the dresser. So I grabbed the Energy 2s again. No problems, no issues, and I could pick up the pace whenever I wanted to. I ran probably the fastest that I have done in quite a while. I felt as though there was another gear there, but I have forgotten how to shift into it.

Other Stuff –

Yard work at SD2s and otherwise a pretty quiet day.