Back at it...finally

A week after the Tour of Sufferlandria, I got back on the horse. I didn't intend to take a whole week off, but that's what happened. It was mostly mental, but there was also a physical aspect.

I took Monday and Tuesday off 100% as planned.

Wednesday I ran four miles. A nice and easy workout. I hadn't ran in two months or so, and I paid for it unexpectedly. I thought I might have a bit of soreness the next day. But for the next four days, I had trouble walking without a limp....after only a four mile run!

So that took out any aspect of workouts til yesterday, Monday. Yes, I know that a nice recovery ride or run would have solved the problem, but I had some sort of mental block going on.

Yesterday I wanted to do a little trainer ride in the morning. Alarm set for 5:10. Kid cries from 5:05 to 5:09, so that's a perfect setup to get out of bed and go at 5:10. I didn't. I reset the alarm for 5:40, then 6:10, then 6:40, then 7:00. Aaarggghh!!!

But I did run four miles at lunch. Actually a bit more because I had to do a short detour past my house to let the dog out. 37 minutes overall. And I'm not sore today at all!

As a side note, I think it is truly AWESOME that I can start a lunch run at work and always have the option of a detour past my house for whatever reason, to let the dog out, turn on the slowcooker, or get somthing I forgot, whatever. That is a part of the small town life that I won't ever give up.

Anyway....back on track here after a week off. Looking forward to a few days of consistency, then a few days of skiing, and then a month or mor

Long Weekend off, back at it....

Went to Yellowstone this past weekend for some hiking and fishing with family. Five mile hike in to the fishing, and then five miles back out. Good for two hours of cross-training each day, plus a whole day of fishing on the river. For some reason, my calves got really sore. I always sleep GREAT in the backcountry, and this night was certainly an awesome night of sleep.

Ran 6.1 miles in the heat today, with hills, in 49:31, beating my previous time under similar heat and rest conditions by 30 seconds. I thought I lost alot of fitness in June and the first two weeks of July, but that appears not to be the case. Woohhhooo! Tomorrow I find out if I lost any endurance on the bike.

Feeling Monday's run!

The affects of Monday's great run are hitting me. I woke up ok this morning, but soreness doesn't usually hit me til 24 hours later. This evening, the soreness came on strong; I'm more sore now than I have been in a long time, as in several years.

I hoped to run it out with an easy jog this afternoon with Paul in the cruiser. I was very conscious to take it easy. I ran 2.7 miles in 35 minutes with an avg heart rate of 120. That is a very easy run. In fact, it was also quite enjoyable to just mosey along! The only thing that wasn't perfect was the weather: cloudy and 38. I really didn't want to run, but I thought an easy run would be ok, and I wanted to meet my goal of getting all my scheduled workouts this week (I didn't lift this morning as scheduled, though!).Incidentally, those clouds have brought the first lightning and thunder of the year tonight (I love thunder and lightning! as long as no tornadoes come out of it).

Then I did my Spineraval 28 workout tonight. It sucked. I had no power and no endurance. My legs were completely wasted from the beginning. I pushed through the first three sets but didn't do the fourth. I rarely do the fourth set because I don't like the easy gear/very high cadence (120-ish).

And I got to check out my new bike setup. It felt alright but not as powerful as the previous setup. That's because I realized a very important aspect of the advice I got. They were talking about the horizontal stem, not the vertical stem. So, now I'm back to square one. I'll put the vertical back to where it was, and then I have to get a different horizontal stem. That's going to run me about $80 I figure for a standard stem. No fun. But I know what the solution is now. I think I'm going to go straight to a 70mm stem because I need my arms to come back at least two inches. I want my elbows in close to me. When I try different positions for my elbows, I like to have them quite close.