Easy – Monday – July 5, 2021

How am I feeling today?

A bit tired, not sure if it is a combination of the lack of sunshine over the past few days or yesterday’s time trial wiped me out more than I realized. Either way, I feel a little blah and can tell that I ran a little faster than I have been. The sun is out and the temps are warming up, but it is not supposed to be super-hot day, which is a good thing. 

Planned Workout Description: 

Type: Recovery Run

Per Stryd: “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.”

Today’s Running Focus

• Relax and enjoy the run

Why am I doing this run?

To work the kinks out of the legs, let my mind wander where it will and get some more miles done. I am starting to enjoy the easy runs more and while they aren’t as slow as Stryd would have me run them, they are slower than I used to run, so that is a win. Perhaps someday, my fitness will catch up to what Stryd considers an easy run.

What I Actually Did Today: 

Town Office O/B 40:00 minutes

Did that workout go as planned?

It went pretty much as planned – easy running, except for coming up Stevens to the mailbox, I was breathing a little harder than usual. However, I had no strange and wonderful thoughts come into being while I was running. I didn’t solve any worldwide problems and didn’t figure out too many things. Well other than finding a tree in the woods to hide behind for a couple of minutes. Yeah, I know TMI, but it is a part of running and most runners do have that issue from time-to-time. 

The other thing I figured out was that I am not as crazy about the Speed TRLs as I thought. Especially on hard-packed dirt or tar and I am not a fan of this style of tongue and everytime I get a pair with this tongue style I piss and moan about them until I get rid of them. Then I forget again, until the next time I get it again and so the cycle continues

Injuries/Niggles: The left Achilles began to bother a little more after a couple of miles and when I looked back at my log, I said pretty much the same thing the last time I wore the TRLs down-back. So they may not be part of the solution, I think it is the combo of the firmness and lower drop.

Weather: Clear sky, 65°F, Feels like 63°F, Humidity 63%, Wind 6mph from N 

Shoes: Skechers Speed TRL – I don’t know if I am a fan of them or not. If I had to choose after my run this morning I would probably lean towards not. I don’t like the tongue and for running down-back they felt, well too firm. Maybe I am spoiled with my Energy 2s, Carbon X, Magic Speeds and all those other softer shoes, that I am leaning more towards nowadays. However, it isn’t like I can’t run in them, it is more that I feel the 4mm drop on these more than I do other 4mm drop shoes, I can’t explain why, but my Achilles tends to grumble more when I finish running in them. Not something I want to deal with right now. So, it might be back to the drawing board to look for some different trail running shoes.

Other Stuff

I did my upper body workout by moving brush and log chunks to the brush pile. Yes, I was tired when I got done and I am a bit sore from all the lifting.