What am I thinking about this morning?

After yesterday’s easy, but humid 90% plus run, which I didn’t bother to do a post about, because it was one of those routine, “get it done” runs. Nothing special happened other than I finished looking like I had gone swimming.

This morning is one where we got great news yesterday after TheWife’s medical appointment, so I am very relieved and don’t have that issue weighing on my mind anymore. Phew is all I will say about that. 

Although, while on Bennie’s last walk, he did something to one of his back legs and needed to be carried back to the house. He looked at his pillow so miserably because he wanted to play when we got back, but he couldn’t put any weight on his back leg and was gimping around the house on three legs most of the evening, when he attempted to move around. 

We worried a lot about him last night, but he is a real trooper, and this morning was able to put weight on it, but still needed to be carried down the steps and back up. He is 13 and like this old fart, doesn’t want to admit he is getting older and remembers all the stuff he used to do. It looks as though he will be fine in a few days, but he did have us pretty worried.

Planned Stryd Challenge Description: 

Easy 6 x :30 strides with 1:00-minute recoveries

This is one of my favorite workouts, but with the high humidity predicted it will make it a much tougher one than what it is supposed to be. Especially, when I add on enough to get at least 5.0 miles in this morning.

Per Stryd: “Strides” are defined as short bursts of faster running to get your body used to running at a higher intensity. Your goal for strides should be to start a bit above your Stryd Auto-Calculated Critical Power and practice running at a fast speed without straining. After a brief warm up, you will run :30s repeats with an easy 1:00 recovery. After you have completed the number of repetitions, cool down with an easy segment of running.”

Today’s Running Focus

• Run comfortably

What I Did Today: 

• Course: Philbrick – Tiffany Bump – Philbrick
• Location: Sidney

Warm-up – 10:30

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
166-190	10:29	1.10	210	133	9:31	170	1.00

Primary Workout – :30 strides w/1:00-minute recoveries

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
254-264	3:00	0.43	297	154	7:00	191	1.30
119-166	6:00	0.62	198	157	9:43	165	0.97

Cool Down – 10:30 

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
154-178	10:30	1.13	206	145	9:17	168	1.05

Unplanned – 

Target Range	Duration	Distance	Power	Heart Rate	Pace	Cadence	Stride Length
None	18:43	1.92	210	151	9:44	168	0.98

Another one of those sweat fests where when you get done it looked more like a swim than a run. All I can say is that I finished the entire workout, got the 5.0-miles in that I wanted to get, and was able to sit down an relax once it was over.

By the time I got done with the strides, I was soaked and could tell that I was working a lot harder just to do keep going than I expected.

Did the workout go as planned?

I did the workout, but at my usual higher Power numbers than Stryd wants me to. In other words, I maintained the spirit of the workout just not at their recommended levels. Yes, I know that I am like an old warhorse that still believes it can do better and I have a feeling will be until I can’t run any longer or shorter.

Although, I am running more by feel and with the humidity kicking my butt like it is, my fast is relative. My effort levels were harder than usual, but it is more that the heat/humidity than anything else. I am finding that I dislike the extreme hot/humid weather less with each passing year – even though I keep plugging along in it, I do notice that I whine a bit more much about it than I used to.

Injuries/Niggles: At about 4.0 miles the left leg began to grumble but didn’t really have any effect on the run. Nothing else bothered.

Weather: Clear sky, 75°F, Feels like 76°F, Humidity 88%, Wind 6mph from N. Tough conditions to run in, but starting to get acclimated. Now, we must wait and see what mischief Hurricane Henri will bring next week. It could be a shitshow or muchadoo about nothing. We will see.

Shoes: Reebok Floatride RunFast v1 – Not quite as much pop as the Puma Deviate Nitro, but they are lighter and best of all do not blister or irritate the heel/Achilles of both legs. I put them on, forget about them and run well. I know that is what is going to happen and have confidence in how I will run. Fast and comfortably.

What did I learn today?

Yeah, it is still hot/humid, not as bad as down South, but I still ended up looking like I went for a swim.

The Reebok RunFasts are shoes that I have confidence in and do know that I will run well in them.

How much I was worried about the medical tests that TheWife was having and how relieved I/we were when we got the results. Worrying about what the results of the test might be, did affect me quite a bit, and impacted my ability to focus on anything else. I love and worry about TheWife, which is how it is supposed to be. 

Bennie is a part of the family and when he hurts, it does make us worry. He is doing a lot better today and is moving about without limping too much but is still meechy about jumping up on his usual spots today.