Recovered already
The week felt pretty tough and I was tired on Thursday from the week’s workouts. Taking Friday off worked wonders. It was good psychologically because it made me feel like I had a couple extra hours in the day and definitely good physically as my legs were able to recover. Working out 9 hours this week has been tough – like I’ve said my muscles and joints were exhausted, but also just the time committment is tough, I feel like this week I worked, worked out, slept (just barely enough), ate and spent a little time with the wife and dog. And there are going to be some weeks where I’m doing more than twice that amount (thankfully not many of those weeks). I take some comfort from the fact that the difference between 9 hours and say 13 hours isn’t all that much in terms of actual time. This week, I did 11 workouts, which meant two workouts five days, one workout on one day and one day off. If I add just 20 minutes to each workout, that brings me to almost 13 hours. Adding 20 minutes to a workout is tough on the muscles, but not so bad on the time commitment because it’s still the same time setting up or walking to the gym or stretching after, etc. Even when I start doing 15 or 17 hours, hopefully those extra hours will be long workouts either one day during the week or on the weekends. It’s going to be tough, but at least that gives me some hope!
This morning Elizabeth and I did a five mile NYRR run in the Park. My plan was to take the run easy. Right. I started off at a nice, but not too fast, clip and did the first mile in about 7:15. Then, instead of maintaining that pace or slowing down, I got into the race and took off. I ended up doing the five miles in 33:04 (averaging about 6:30 miles). That was just about my fastest 5 miles ever. My run the weekend before the marathon was right about there, but I think that run was a few seconds slower. It felt great, and I didn’t even push it as hard as I could. The conditions were just about perfect and I felt great. After that, in order to get my scheduled 40 minutes, I did a slow, easy seven minutes on some trails in the Park. It worked out well, because I finished, put on warm clothes and just about then, Elizabeth and Emily were done. After the run, we went over to Assaf and Robyn’s for brunch with them and Myles.
We spent the afternoon screwing around, including a trip to JackRabbit for Elizabeth to buy new running shoes and a trip to the dog park for Charlie. Then, I rode 90 minutes on the trainer while watching college football. The first 20-30 minutes on the trainer were tough – boring and my legs weren’t moving that easily. But, I guess I warmed up and got into a groove and then I was 80 minutes in. I almost quit at that point, just because I was bored, but did finish the 90 minutes.
Run – December 2
Time: 40 minutes
Distance: ~6 miles
Average heart rate: 159
Course: Central Park loop, minus north hill
Conditions: low 40’s, sunny, some wind
Bike – December 2
Time: 1:30
Average heart rate” 117
Indoor ride