Week in the Rearview Mirror: April 15 - April 21, 2012

I believe I've finally overcome the left calf issues that developed after my first marathon on February 26th. Of course, it would be unfair to say that I gave it plenty of time to heal by staying off it for a couple of weeks, so it undoubtedly makes sense that it took 7 weeks to completely heal.

Once again this week, I wore my heart monitor for most of my workouts, and I believe I'm getting a feel for what "my numbers" really are at this point. Nearly every run this week just seemed to flow and be easy from a perceived exertion perspective, and it sure it nice. I kept most of the runs this week fairly steady from a pace perspective, with only one of them having a "surge" for the last 1/4 mile. Mainly just a week of nice, comfortable running.

I also completed the cycling goal I set for myself earlier this month, by passing the 2000 mile mark on my bike within the first 11 months I've owned it. It has been a GREAT bike thus far, although it really isn't anything special. I've had good luck with it, and will hopefully NOT bring that luck to end by saying that I'm yet to have a breakdown of any kind, including a flat, with no wrecks (at least not the moving kind...I did comically fall over twice last summer by coming to a full stop before I un-clipped at least one foot...not recommended if you want to keep your ego intact :-)).

Here is what last week looked like...

Day	Activity	Distance (in miles)	Avg. Heart Rate	Max Heart Rate
Sunday	Running	6.07	148	165
Monday	Walking	4.54	---	---
Tuesday	Running	6.07	154	196
Wednesday	Running	6.54	150	199
Thursday	Cycling	23.24	121	164
Friday	Running	6.15	157	210
Saturday	Running	6.41	157	203
	Cycling	20.03	137	173

These are my time and distance totals for the week:

Activity	Time Total	Distance Total (in miles)
Running	4:32:59	31.24
Walking	1:01:38	4.54
Cycling	2:44:20	43.27
--------------	--------------	--------------
Overall Total	8:18:57	79.05

In cross-training, I worked in two days of both pullups and pushups. This week increased the pullups a bit, and increased quite a bit on the pushups. Both pushups sessions were the same, with 20 sets of 10 and a 45 second rest interval. I increased the rest interval to 5 minutes for the pullups, and did 5 sets of 10 one time, and 5 sets of 10 plus one set of 6 the other. Once again, no Yoga this week...just not on "the list". I also did a few less crunches this week as well, with only three days doing 25 per day.

After examining the feedback from my heart monitor, I think my actual maximum heart rate is a lot closer to 200 than what I thought it might be earlier, so that will be my calculated maximum until I know differently. While it hasn't sustained at that level for longer than 30 seconds or so, it was more than just a spike on a chart. This puts my average heart rate for all the runs this week right in the middle of in Zone 3, with the cycling all being in Zone 2.

Happy Running Everyone !!!

Week in the Rearview Mirror: April 8 - April 14, 2012

This was really a good week, with the calf continuing to improve slowly (almost completely healed), and nothing but a bit of an ache in the knee area when I went a bit too hard....nothing a day of rest didn't resolve. For most of the runs this week, I wore my heart monitor, so I have some new numbers to play with. I also tried to pick up the pace at the end of most of my runs (from the last mile, to the last 1/4 mile). It was nice just trying different things, and having a pleasant week overall. I don't really have a race lined up as a goal, although I would like to get to 2000 miles on my bike by the end of the month (only 62 miles to go). That would all be in 11 months.

Here is what last week looked like...

Day	Activity	Distance (in miles)	Avg. Heart Rate	Max Heart Rate
Sunday	Cycling	25.12	125	153
Monday	Running	6.01	153	172
	Walking	0.60	119	129
Tuesday	Walking	3.40	---	---
	Walking	1.00	---	---
	Walking	1.72	---	---
Wednesday	Running	13.13	145	156
	Walking	1.00	---	---
Thursday	Cycling	15.51	117	138
	Walking	1.51	---	---
	Walking	1.77	---	---
Friday	Cycling	30.17	123	147
Saturday	Running	6.06	149	174
	Walking	1.02	148	165

These are my time and distance totals for the week:

Activity	Time Total	Distance Total (in miles)
Running	3:48:56	25.20
Walking	3:06:47	12.02
Cycling	4:35:44	70.80
--------------	--------------	--------------
Overall Total	11:31:27	108.02

In cross-training, I worked in two days of pullups and one of pushups, with one Kettlebell workout. This week increased the pullups a bit, but dipped a bit on the pushups...I'll need to remedy that in the weeks ahead. I did 150 total pushups and averaged 37 pullups per session.

A FAIL on the Yoga this week...just didn't have it in my priority list. Weird that I did that, since I almost always enjoy the classes.

I stuck with the 25 strict crunches per day as a part of the 100X challenge, with one day having 100. I really do need to ensure that this continues to be a part of each week, at least at some level. If I can ever get the layer of "covering" (a.k.a. 5 or so pounds of stubborn fat) off my mid-section, it would be nice if there was some defined muscle in there. Of course, it will have to just magically disappear if I stay with my current eating habits, which includes multiple trips to Yogurtland with toppings like crushed Heath Bar, shaved coconut, and Ghirardelli syrup.

So far this month, I haven't done a single minute of planks, and I can honestly say I don't miss it a bit. I need to do them, since my lower back always felt it the day after, but I'm SO not a fan.

Although I've had a few "anomaly" readings on my heart rate, I believe my maximum is still right at (or close to) 174. I have yet to sustain it at that level though, I've only seen it slowly rise to that level during the sprint at the end of a run, which makes me think it might be a tad higher. I just don't believe that my max is 220 minus my age (which would be 167 for me)....I think its a bit higher, so I'll use 174 for now...but I'm probably just splitting hairs if I'm within 7 beats.

I'm still not sure what my running pace would be in Zone 3 though (or below), since that would only be 132-139. Probably nothing more than a brisk walk. I seem to average a high Zone 1 to mid Zone 2 for my cycling workouts, and Zone 4's for my runs. I may not stick with tracking the heart rate for a long time, but it is interesting for now, and I may find that tracking it from time to time will be interesting.

Happy Running Everyone !!!

Week in the Rearview Mirror: April 1 - April 7, 2012

All things considered, I recovered very quickly from the race (given that it was just 12 miles...makes a big difference), and other than just some tightness in my left calf that continues, things went very well.

Here is what last week looked like...

Day	Activity	Distance (in miles)
Sunday	Running	12.13
Monday	Rest Day	-----
Tuesday	Cycling	22.73
	Walking	1.70
Wednesday	Walking	1.04
	Running	4.03
	Walking	0.63
	Walking	3.88
Thursday	Running	9.09
Friday	Cycling	22.10
	Cycling	9.01
Saturday	Walking	1.01
	Running	6.10

These are my time and distance totals for the week:

Activity	Time Total	Distance Total (in miles)
Running	4:59:23	31.35
Walking	2:00:45	8.26
Cycling	3:28:55	53.84
--------------	--------------	--------------
Overall Total	10:29:03	93.45

In cross-training, I worked in two days each of pullups and pushups, with one Kettlebell workout. This week had just slightly more work in it than the week before, since I averaged 152 total pushups and 30 pullups per session. I also moved up to 25 pounds and 5 repetitions for the Turkish Get-ups (doing the right then the left until I've done 5 for each side with no rest between).

With my wife doing another long run on Saturday morning, and scheduling conflicts arising, I didn't attend Yoga class this week. I did a "bit" better on the stretching and Yoga at home, but need to get back to it being a daily thing. I also added 25 strict crunches per day to the mix as a part of the 100X challenge, so that is thrown in there as well.

On my run on Saturday I was able to really step it up in the last 1/2 mile of my run to start getting used to periodically running a bit faster. It was tough since I'm somewhat used to sprinting right at the end of a race, but completely unused to picking up the speed for more that a tenth of a mile or so. It was a 6.1 mile run, with the first five miles looking like this:

Mile	Pace
1	9:27
2	9:21
3	9:23
4	9:17
5	9:15

At about 5.6 miles I started to up the pace, and got to a 7:49 pace by 5.7, dropped back to a 8:12 pace by 5.8, then peaking at a 6:13 pace right at 6.0. The last mile's overall average was 8:29, with the final tenth at a 7:19 pace.

 I was actually trying to see if I could max out my heart rate to see where the real limit was, but since my heart rate was still climbing during this entire time (from 156 @ 5.5 miles to 174 @ the end), I don't believe that is the true maximum. Also, I felt like I could have probably gone further at that pace (a little), or perhaps have gone a bit faster to finish it off. I just have no real desire to hurt myself doing this, so I want to ease into it.

Years ago, I pulled a hamstring trying to outrun my Golden Retriever in the park one afternoon when she was about four months old. She never even looked like she was trying...just had this silly grin on her face the entire time she was "fast-trotting" and looking over at me.  When I both felt and heard the snap and went down like an Indy car wreck, she thought I wanted to play and started licking me in the face and rolling around on me. It probably "looked" like fun, but it took weeks to be able to walk straight again. I won't be going "top speed" anytime soon. :-)

However, this week I'd like to see if I can't spend a bit more time in the sub-8:30 pace to see what that feels like....perhaps a mile or more, but we'll just play it by ear.

Happy Running Everyone !!!