September. Can you believe it?
Okay. So I’m calling this week 2 in my 25K training cycle. That 25K, in case I haven’t mentioned it, is less than 4 weeks away.
It’s a daytime event starting at 7:30AM. I expect it to take me close to 6 hours to finish. That means I’ll be out there until 1:00PM or later. With that in mind, I’ve been making sure to put heat training (and sun) into my runs in addition to the mileage. I’ve been pushing myself on the mileage. 15.5 miles is a big jump and I’d really, really, really like to stick with the distance I signed up for this time.
I’m happy to say my body is tolerating it fairly well—provided I give it appropriate after care, that is.
When I could afford it, I was getting 90 min of deep tissue (sport) massage every week. I’ve always attributed that practice to the success of any training plan I’m working on. It was the difference between my body recovering well enough for another hard workout and remaining too stiff, sore, and fatigued to finish one. Unfortunately, I can’t afford that service right now and I’m having to hold myself accountable for ensuring regular soft tissue work happens DIY style.
And… We all know how well I do with accountability, right? 😜
For now, I’m doing okay with it, as well as with my overall training plan. I say that, but my friend Susy called me out yesterday when I started to refer to my past week’s successes as “consistency” in my training. LOL Yeah. She tells it like it is. We both agreed that if I keep it up for a month then I can say I’ve got some consistency back into my training.
I was right on target with the planned mileage for the week. I’m following a hybridized intermediate marathon and 50K training plan I put together from the Hal Higdon plans. I’m using the Run w/Hal app now mostly as an overall tracker. It’s too rigid in what days mileage is counted toward training compliance.
Oh, I can record a workout on Tuesday Hal had scheduled for Monday, but the app counts Monday as a missed workout and completely ignores the “extra training” recorded on Tuesday. As a result, it adjusts the training plan to account for the “missed” workout and updates “trends” in my training compliance. It got to the point where the app had all my mileage lumped into a single long run once a week. No. Not at all helpful. (Made the decision to drop the subscription easy. The free version works great for data collection, though.)
I came close to missing my first workout of the week on Tuesday. I’d eaten and was settled in for the evening. I couldn’t get myself out the door for a 1 hour workout before dark. So, at 7:30 I started a 4-mile walking workout with Leslie Sansone on YouTube. I didn’t even have to put my shoes on to get a workout in! Since deciding I wanted to work my way toward a minimalist running shoe, I do my indoor walking (marching in place) barefoot.
These Walk at Home® workouts are great fillers to get in the shorter walks. That said, I know my exertion for 4 miles with Leslie doesn’t match heart-rate when I’m out on the road—or even on the treadmill.
I’ve mentioned before that I feel her mileages are over-estimated. I know it’s based on beats per minute which, I assume,are converted to steps per minute. However, no matter how I try to log it—duration, heart-rate, step count—I always come up short when trying to reconcile it with my experience of actually walking from place to place. No matter. I still find value in using them, particularly with all the lateral and upper body movements she incorporates.
For this workout, I kept going until my step-count went over 8,000. That was an additional 5 minutes or so beyond Leslie’s 4 mile marker. With time and distance calculations, Garmin said I clocked the miles at a 14:54/mi pace. I wish! LOL
For whatever reason (I think I got involved in something on the computer and never prioritized getting out the door), my long run didn’t happen on Thursday as planned. As it turned out, Friday was a much better day for it anyway.
Friday I had a morning appointment in Corsicana with a podiatrist. (I was taking advantage of having met my out-of-pocket costs before they restart for the new fiscal year—which was yesterday, Sept 1. Sneaky, I know. I also got some prescriptions filled last week. 😁) The nail-bed on the second toe of my right foot stays bruised, no matter what condition the nail is in—long, short…missing. Have to wait for the labs to determine if it’s fungal or trauma induced. My bet is on trauma, considering how many times I’ve lost that nail.
Friday I had a morning appointment in Corsicana with a podiatrist. (I was taking advantage of having met my 2024 out-of-pocket costs before they restart for 2025—which was yesterday, Sept 1. Sneaky, I know. I also got some prescriptions filled last week. 😁) The nail-bed on the second toe of my right foot stays bruised, no matter what condition the nail is in—long, short…missing. Have to wait for the labs to determine if it’s fungal or trauma induced. My bet is on trauma, considering how many times I’ve lost that nail.
On my way back home, I kept eye-balling the outside temperature being displayed in the upper right corner of my rearview mirror: 79°F. Complete cloud cover, but rain didn’t seem imminent. Hmmm. I still have an 8-mile run to do before I leave for Austin today, I thought.
Just like that, I was out on the county road at 11:00AM starting an 8-mile long run. It was pretty perfect. So much so, in fact, that this long run included quite a bit of actual running! I’m thinking I averaged close to a quarter mile of steady state jogging in every mile. I haven’t managed that in…well, I don’t remember the last time, particularly on a long run.
Considering how the previous 6.8 mile “long run” I’d completed the previous Thursday had left me very tight and stiff-legged by the end of it, I knew I needed to work a bit differently for this longer distance. My legs do better when I break up the walks with slow-jogging, even if my speed is the same as my best walking pace. So I’d jog until my heart rate was elevated to where I had to start breathing through my mouth. Early on, I could keep the jog going for 5 minutes at a time. (I’ve never been a good stead-state runner. A 3-min running interval is normally where I max out. Shows I’m improving with my pace and breath control.)
Garmin Connect is only showing that it was cloudy and not noting the wind speed and direction, but there was a breeze blowing on top of the cooler temperature. Made such a difference. I stuck to a single jog interval per mile, keeping it going for as long as it was comfortable. Of course, the further I went the shorter the intervals got, but that was okay. My only goal was to finish the distance without over-stressing my body.
I’d also put some thought into my route. I drove out to the starting point of my 2-mile out-and-back loop. I’d already proven I could finish 6 miles in 100°F full sun. I was confident I could finish a 6-mile out and back. That left me with just 2 miles to finish out the 8 miles. By starting the last 2 miles at my truck, I wouldn’t have to go farther than 1 mile away from it in case I had to cut it short. And it did get tough.
By then, it was 1:00PM and the cloud cover was patchy. The shade usually available on this 2-mile loop for evening walks wasn’t there because of where the sun was in the sky. I was as often as not in full-sun. The temperature still hadn’t risen much about 90°F, if even that. Still… Damn, but the sun and heat just sucks the energy out of a body. My first stop post run was at Sonic for a diet-cherry limeade, Rte. 44 sized.
I’m happy to report, I didn’t have nearly as much stiffness in my body as I’d had the previous week, despite the longer distance. I did have some lingering stiffness/soreness in my hips into the next day. Usually just bothered me when I first got up from sitting or lying. I’d walk it out pretty quickly.
Oh. Almost forgot. On my way back, I met a guy who had lost his donkeys. Bet that’s something not many people can claim! 😜
Remember these guys from a while back? They pushed open the gate while their owner was putting up groceries and escaped. He’d apparently been driving around for two days with a bunch of carrots trying to find them and entice them home.
Finishing out week 2, I met Susy at her house yesterday morning. We completed 95% of my planned 4 mile walk through her neighborhood. Cloudy and 77°F. Very nice.
Once I got home, I closed out the week with two rounds of sun salutations (sequence c) and some supine rotations–my version of after care.
