Sunday, April 26, 2009

4/26/2009

This week was a big test because I did the first track workout of the year with the Gate City Striders group. Based on how my hip rehab was going I did not think that I would make it, despite my optimism just 3 weeks ago. However, I did the workout and was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. I got in a total of 81+ equivalent miles made up of 10 miles on the elliptical trainer, 93.1 miles on the bike and 38 miles of running. Not bad, not good. Hopefully I can step it up next week if the hip continues to cooperate.

I was told that my blog locks up some computers so I did a little investigative work. I always use Firefox and it loads fine for me on any computer that I use. I am very leery of IE but tried it out on my main home PC, my laptop and my work PC. No dice. IE consumes 100% of the CPU and just starts hoarding RAM. I also tested Chrome, Google's browser, and it appears to work fine too. I will have to take a look at what IE does not like. There is some Java code (the Daniels' calculator) and some Google widgets (I think that they are flash based), but nothing real radical. Hopefully I can figure it out. Beware the Evil Empire!

Monday: 10 mi (75ish) I did 60 minutes on the elliptical trainer at a decent pace and then ran for 2 miles on the treadmill at the gym. My hip did not bother me and it felt good to workout.

Tuesday:
  • AM - 20.5 mi (1hr) On the stationary bike at work during lunch. This was not too bad and I just wanted to give my legs a rest.
  • PM - 4 mi (30:25) I ran an easy run on the treadmill at home while watching the Biggest Loser. I needed some motivation.
Wednesday:
  • AM - 4 mi (?) I did not wear my watch on this run. I just wanted to see how my hip was feeling to gauge whether I would attempt the workout tonight or not. Felt good.
  • PM - ~8 mi: 2.1 mi warm up, 6x800m @ 5k pace w/ 400m active rest and about 1.5 mi cool down. I had no idea what my body was going to let me do and if my hip would last for the entire workout so I started out pretty relaxed and gradually cranked things down as the workout progressed. The battery in my watch died during the workout so I do not have exact splits, but from memory they were about 2:36, 2:35, 2:32, 2:31, 2:27, 2:24. The first 4 were pretty relaxed and the last two felt good. I actually got out in 70 seconds for the first 400m of the last repeat and had to pull things back a bit. The rest intervals were just crazy long (probably 2.5-3 minutes) so it was easy to negative split the workout. I was pretty much fully recovered at the start of each interval. Overall this workout was a good confidence boost and lets me know that all the time spent on the elliptical trainers and the bike were not for naught.
Thursday:
  • AM - 10 mi (75:00) I rode the stationary bike for an hour and got in 20.3 miles and then ran 2 miles on the treadmill at about 7:30 pace. Nice easy workout.
  • PM - 4 mi (30:58) This was a really slow run on the treadmill after the kids went to bed. It is soooo much harder to run after eating dinner. At least I got in the miles.
Friday: 14 mi (1:54) This was a long workout but it was one of the better workouts that I have had in a long time. I started out by riding 30.3 miles in 1:27:28 (averaged 20.7 mph) down the Nashua River Rail trail and back Rt 111. There were so many people on the bike path that it was pretty dangerous riding there. Lots of kids swerving all over the place and cutting in front of me just as I come up to them. This was a good ride because I actually felt good on the bike for the first time. I was able to power up the hills and the head wind did not bother me too much. When I got back to the house I threw on my running shoes and did what I thought was going to be an easy 4 miles. I averaged 6:40 pace though (26:40 for 4 miles) and it felt good. Get some rest and take it easy tomorrow.

Saturday: 22 miles on the bike in 1:06:28 (20mph average). I wanted to take it easy today to rest from yesterday and I did not want to run so that I could try to do a long run tomorrow. I rode the same route that I did my long runs on last summer and fall by heading out from my house to the Hollis Applefest Half Marathon route and back home. The route was much easier on the bike, although the hills still sucked big time.

Sunday: 12 mi (85:33) I did an easy 15 minutes on the elliptical trainer before heading over to Mine Falls Park and running 10 miles with Brian and Kevin. I never thought about my hip the entire run, which is excellent, and felt pretty good the whole run. This was a good cap to the whole week.

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