What am I Thinking About this Morning?

I was supposed to go have my annual physical exam at 8:00 AM. Instead, I get a call at 7:15 asking if I minded rescheduling to Wednesday because the doc had called in sick. I don’t mind all that much and am flexible, but it makes you wonder if the doc is sick, do I really want to go in to see her for a routine physical exam?

It could be something as simple as she needed to take a mental health day. After-all the medical community has certainly been under a tremendous strain over the past 18 months. If they call to reschedule again on Wednesday, I will probably reschedule to the end of October, to let this current Delta Variant of COVID-19 surge calm down – a lot.

Well, that rescheduling upset the apple cart, and that probably was a good thing. I get to do more of a typical Monday morning, which is fine by me. 

However, the Achilles is a bit grumpy this morning, after yesterday’s longer run, in lower drop shoes, so I will put the Hokas away for a couple of weeks, just to let it have a little more support. Going to a higher drop shoe does seem to help, even though I run better in low drop shoes. At this point it is more important to protect the Achilles more. 

I am ready to repeat the Stryd 5K plan and am looking forward the modifications that I have made to it, which will make it a little more challenging. Primarily, the Tuesday speedier sessions are what I focused on changing. I am choosing to do longer reps, but not anything stoopid, otherwise the amount of time on my feet seems to be about right for where I am in the Achilles recovery process. Let’s see if I can get my CP up a few notches over the next 12 weeks and have the Achilles back to a better place.

Planned Workout Description: 

• Easy – 20:00-minute. If the leg agrees, I might do a bit more, but not too much.

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

• Listen to the body.

What I Did Today: 

Primary Workout – 20:00 Minutes Easy

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
175-186	19:59	2.02	198	127	9:52	165	.95

Unplanned 

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
None	20:53	2.25	211	139	9:17	170	1.0

I ran easy during the planned section and then because my leg was feeling pretty good, I decided to pick it up a little, but still well within myself. I know that I have a 10:00-minute time trial planned for tomorrow and didn’t want to over-fatigue myself. 

Did the workout go as planned?

No, I doubled the amount of time on my feet from the Stryd plan, but I felt strong and wanted to get a few more minutes in today’s workout.

Injuries/Niggles: The leg felt better than it did yesterday and the difference of a higher drop running shoe was noticeable. 

Weather: Clear sky, 69°F, Feels like 70°F, Humidity 88%, Wind 0mph from N

Shoes: Reebok Energy 2 – No issues, comfortable, if I wasn’t such a running shoe geek, they would be my goto running shoe. As it is I have a feeling that I will find a place for them in my rotation for the foreseeable future.

What did I learn today?

That the higher drop shoes made a difference in how the leg felt.

I am learning to relax a little more during the runs and not worry about running fast as much as I used to. I am working more on running efficiently, not so much changing my running form, but improving how I run with less wasted movement.