Better – Wednesday – July 21, 2021

How am I feeling today?

Tired, yesterday’s longer run/walk and lawn mowing for an hour and a half took its toll. The left Achilles is a bit sore and grumpy, and I seriously think that I will be taking a rest day versus a recovery run. I will know more after walking Bennie on his second walk. 

Also, the wildfire smoke is around us, causing the air quality to be a little lower than I like. Usually, if I can smell the campfire smell and know that the wildfire smoke plume is around us, it is not a good day for running outside. However, if it rains, that helps cleanse the air, and I like running in the rain. I know I will probably run, but I think more about what I am doing versus just doing it.

Planned Workout Description: 

Type: 

• Recovery Run – 40:00 minutes

Per Stryd: “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.”

Today’s Running Focus

Relax and enjoy

What I Did Today: 

40:00 Minute Easy run Town Office O/B and then added on 1 Philbrick Lap w/3 strides to finish up.

Did the workout go as planned?

I purposely relaxed and ran slowly out to the Town Office. I thought a couple of times about hammering the hill there, but I was attempting to be good after yesterday’s fun in the heat and Achilles getting a bit too grumpy. When I got up to the Wolf River Farm Store driveway, the owner was there wanting to talk for a minute.

He is retired A.F., and we usually swap a few lies here and there. We got to yakking, and before we knew it, almost 15 minutes had passed. I was starting to cool off (not that I warmed up all that much, going as slow as I was) and mentioned that I needed to get going again. We didn’t solve the problems of the world but commiserated mightily on many of them.

Coming back, I maintained a nice steady pace, and when I got up on Philbrick, the leg was feeling pretty good, so I decided to do an extra lap on Philbrick, and as I got close to the end, I decided that 3x strides were a great idea. I didn’t get stoopid with the effort level and kept things at a nice clip.

What did I learn today?

The Achilles cooperated nicely today, and so, I feel that since the pace and the distances were not that different, the shoes have a lot to do with how the Achilles reacts. While the Energy 2s have a higher drop, the 4mm difference between them and the Carbon x1 over a longer distance/time does make a difference in how my leg feels. Good to know.

Last night I did the mobilization routine and then this morning completed my eccentric calf drops and a few other lower leg-related exercises. Doing these does make a difference in how the Achilles feels after a more demanding workout and allows me to run better the next day than when I do not do them. So, it means that I have to keep doing them.

Injuries/Niggles:

My left Achilles grumbled a couple of times towards the end, but nothing like yesterday, which is a good thing, and it let me run three pretty good strides at the end of the run, so I am making progress.

Weather: Few clouds, 70°F, Feels like 75°F, Humidity 94%, Wind 3mph from N

Shoes: Reebok Floatride Forever Energy 2 – No issues, not a problem, and let me pick up to pretty quick paces during the strides. I keep underestimating these shoes, yet they do not disappoint me every time I put them through their paces. 

I think for tomorrow’s workout, I will wear the Reebok RunFast v1s and see how they do and if I can pick up the paces as quickly and comfortably in them too. I haven’t run much in them lately since I got the Carbon X1s, which is a shame because I like how they feel underfoot.

Other Stuff:

I got to weed whack out where we are clearing brush, so we can see some of the smaller branches and other stuff to pick up before the thunderstorm rolled through and had Bennie shaking like a leaf.