Catch up

I feel as if that's what I am always playing. Anyway...I have been working out. AND, I have actually managed to keep my training log on mapmyride/run updated. I just haven't managed to post the maps here. So...to catch up:

After my 7 mile run on June 7th, I had a week filled with 3 4.5 mile runs and a 38 mile ride. That brings me to this past week. It was a busy one:

- 2 mile run on Tuesday
- bike commute (33 miles total - 24 one way and 9 back) on Wednesday
- 6 mile run on Thurs
- 2 mile run on Friday (I was flying for my current fitness level: 13:54)
- I did a short, 25 minute easy spin on my bike on Saturday
- And then...today...I ran in the 29th Annual Branford Road Race. Here's the route and my time:

I was pretty happy with my time: 39:42. That's about a 7:40 average over 5 miles. I can deal with that. This October, though, when I take on the Festival City 10k in Stratford, Ontario, I will not be happy with anything above a 7 min/mile average. I have a long way to go until then, though. Right now I'm just hoping for some sun, so I can spend more time in the saddle.

Seven-Mile Sunday

Today's Sunday and Sunday=long run. Today's prescription, as you might have guessed from the title of the post: 7 mile run. I decided to incorporate some hills into my run (I really just wanted to get up to West Rock Ridge without driving). If you were to click through to see the elevation, you'd notice that I was running uphill for the first couple of miles (with about a half mile of that at 5/6% grade).



After my run, I showered, hung out and ate lunch, and then headed down to the New Haven Green. I was late getting down there and I was really just trying to size it up for future use. (good thing too, as I only talked to two people and only one of them took a card). I learned a couple of things, though: 1) I need to hang something that says ALS off my table, 2) I need to hit the festival circle...that is, I need to watch the list of greens with festivals and spin there, as there just wasn't any traffic, and 3) I've got to keep this kid away from the cowbell, as I think was scaring away potential donors:

Catching up

So, yeah...I've fallen a bit behind. I have been working out, though...just not as much as I was supposed to. The day after my last post - Monday, May 25 - I injured my foot playing with Milo in the backyard. I thought I was going to have to see a doctor for it and even worried about long term training issues. It feels better now...not completely, but better. I took lots of anti-inflammatories and skipped one workout/postponed another. Okay...onto what I've actually done in the last week:

On Friday, I did a speed workout on the treadmill at school. I ran for 50 mins total. If I remember correctly, I did 1.5 miles of a warm-up run at 9 1/2 min mile pace, then alternated repeatedly between 800 meters (1/2 mile) at 6 min/mile pace and 400 meters (1/4 mile) at 9 min/mile pace, and then finished with about 1.5 miles slow down.

Saturday morning found me climbing on my bike. My speed was slower than I would have liked, but my legs were tired and I spent the last 2/3 of the ride trying to increase my horrible average from the first 1/3 (which had me climbing about 850 feet in 12 miles). The ride felt great, though, and I'm itching to make the jump (from running and riding to primarily riding). As soon as I get my bike worked on! Saturday's route:

On Sunday, I was back in West Rock Ridge State Park, running the mountain bike trails. Same route as last week...a couple of minutes faster despite my tired legs:

Monday I rested and today I had a lame, 2 miler scheduled:

So...tomorrow is a rest/xt day. I think I might try to get a ride in before heading to the dentist. While I'm at the dentist, Jill will be taking my bike up to REI to get some work done on it. I'm hoping to have it back by Friday...and then I can resume bike commuting, which should really start to build the miles in saddle. 'till next time.

Ride safely!

Back at it

I went out of town (to Pittsburgh) last weekend. Since I was driving home on Sunday, I didn't get to do last week's long run (5miles). I did, however, play Vikingball before leaving the 'burgh. Awesome.

Anyway...so I got a bit of a, non-traditional, workout on Sunday and was back to running today(it would have been a 5k had I not gotten lost):

3-mile Tuesday

Today I started the fourth week of a 10k running regime. My general workout plan for the trek is to continue to focus on this running regime for the next few weeks (provided that my foot/ankle/achilles holds up), continue to add bike rides on a couple of my rest/x-training days every week, watch some initial pounds drop off, and then switch more fully to cycling in June . My reasoning might not be completely sound, but I really think that the whole body workout that running gives is more effective (especially when I take into consideration the time I need to put into both) and although I really need to get some miles in on the bike, past riding/running experience tells me that I am able to ramp up the riding miles fairly quickly if I'm in good cardio/muscular shape. So...that's how I've rationalized sticking to the running program for a bit longer (I'm also quite happy that I've been running for over 3 weeks and my foot still feels pretty good...first time that's happened in over 2 1/2 years).

Anyway...today's run:

Thanks for checking in on me. Cheers!