the 12th day of...

AM Run with Red, we did the square loop, 31:03, avg 140-145 1st 1-2K, then 150-160 downhill, 160-165 uphill and 155-165 for home, wore the Nike Yellows, lunar livestrong ones, not sure the style or name as feet were a little sore from massage yesterday and wanted to ensure no more pounding for this one this AM.
Red actually was being pulled by me this AM on last 1/4, was surprising but i knew that i was going faster than previous times...and i just checked and yes it was 32:31 last time 10 days ago...Red stopped once this time to poop, i think last time we stopped a few times for pees and coyotes and all...
anyhow, another beauty of a morning Run, will strength train at lunch, just some basics...more to come..

at lunch did:
A. bench press - 95,135,155,175,195 x 5
B. PC x 3 - 95,135,155,175,195,195,195
C. 155# PC and PJ - 3 x 3 @ 80%
D. KBS practice

day 11

these are the scores from i think 2 months ago and today; noticeable difference in lactate after set 6, seems the power endurance is not there yet for that speed, for 6 sets it was fine, averaging 10 sec faster and same lactate, although i am approximately 10# lighter today...will make a difference.

will get Mike to do body comp soon and report that in as well as metrics like grip strength, FEV and BP for lying to standing for late scores

this above tells me that i'm getting there for the 400m on our track is tough - uphill, little flat then finish downhill, harder and more muscular than flat 400's...i should bring the lactate meter and HR to the track some day soon as well.

the HR was tough to read for some reason today, it only showed the chrono and not the HR when i finished and i was so concentrated on the time that i forgot it; this also shows me that i need to warm up a little more before hand and pre load so that the lactate does not come up as high at the beginning...anyhow, good learning, good insight as usual, now a massage for 90 min - YAY!

day 9/10..

woke up to severe thunderstorm and hail yesterday AM at the cabin (it is now day 10 in the AM in my office at OPT HQ)...it was crazy, hence the AM run was kaiboshed so did at 10 AM:
A. Muscle Snatch x 5 x 5; rest short - 90# x 5
B. Power Clean x 1/FS x 5; rest 1-2 min - 90#,133#,155#,175#,199#
C. Power CLean x 1/Press x 5; 90#,95#,100#,105#,110#

- it was HOT at this time in the AM, nice day overall, after this we packed up to drive home, took the back road and was quicker again, by only 5 min due to some hold ups around Sylvan Lake, drive is always nicer that way, thinking I should check into another version as well by cremona, cochrane turnoff, as the highway is BORING...

day 10:
5 AM, awaken by alarm, then Hannah who was scared and needed a pee and then back to bed, stretched a little, felt good, then did the full burm with Red, wonderful day, unbelieveable sunrise!
it was 38 min total- 39, avg 150-165 bpm...nice pace, wore the frees, all good

then at 1 pm before dentist appt:
8-12 rounds of :
3 HSPU
8 lunges
3 strict chin ups
8 lunges
+
6/6 GHD sit up/ext
+
woodchopper x 8/side x 3

saw a sweet looking OWL for the first time this year over by the pond across from Butterfield Acres; kind of like this one..

Red did not notice her, not that she cared, i saw her careening over the pond and see lots of birds but was thinking due to the flight and wing size thought it was a hawk, but then it landed on a middle to low branch and was more white than a hawk, i ran closer to see the head turning like an owl; funny thing was, as i got closer, the owl was more interested (or more aggravated)...anyhow, she jumped up on a better perch in the tree to get a good look at me, the more i stared, the more interested it became and did not move the closer i got, cool shit.
i then turned and ran the opposite direction, owl over great blue heron i guess

another sidenote, the things i miss about running, is when you get those hot and cold patches of air; i really miss that and hit some again this AM, that was really nice!

day 8

solid run this mid AM - 40 min, varied starts and stops, avg 165-180 bpm, mainly uphill from Grandview in pic here to far left side of pic, forget the RR #...anyhow, 3-4 constant climb hills, then back down hill on the way back, 19:30 ish to get up, 40 min and change on the clock when i got back

again, with a higher pace and HR, my efficiency for stride and fatigue is lessened, when i slow and run at 60-70%, my calves and quads work up to tightness...when i pace it out and chest high, knees up and pulling leg up off ground, seems to be great; at one point, resp rate was high and maintained, looked down and was at 175 bpm...felt like i could do that for a long while...of course over time with some more run conditioning

ran at 10 AM, was 20-23 deg, sunny and perfect temp, on a gravel road, straight, no turns...just lovely

this starts week 2, will up the volume a bit and run a little harder on wed and sat - 3-5 K ish when back home; tracked approx 180 min of volume last week as mentioned, 40 min today starts the process...onward

and on the 7th day...

we didn't break bread but instead I ran without Red in the early AM at Pigeon Lake.
the scene was gorgeous, pic attached looking out over the lake at 5:30 AM.

 

did 6-8 min easy to warm up, did a pretty thorough d-rom before hand; then did moderate hill repeats to make up for no hills this week and today was supposed to be "hilly" under aerobic conditions...so did the "triangle loop" up here and on the back hill I ran up 1/5, ran down, ranup 2/5, ran down..etc...hill pace was like 90-95% Max VO2...ad down was easy recovery, then did 8-10 min on back hand towards home.

at lunch I worked out with Hannah and Leighanne and Chloe slept; did some KB play (alt'ing SA squat snatch, alt'ing clean and press) then some OHS practice - 95#, then a little circuit of pistols x 8, knees to elbows x 8, and HSPU x 3-4 - did 5-8 rounds at 80%.

runs up here at the lake have always been good to great.

my fave memories are:

1. 18:15 5K after a tough wod in the AM on a Friday afternoon - no wind, just shoes and shorts

2. HOT repeats prior to Games 2010, did 800's x 5-6 i think, it was SHIT HOT!

3. 400 m repeats on AM of triple header one AM a few years back, just felt like I kept getting faster per round, one of those AM's you never forget

4. provincial park runs, beautiful, not the best runs, i remember my calves lighting up, but it was spectacular in there, X-country ski trail and all, sweet!

update:

- feel like its coming, pretty good; when lower legs are managed and warmed up and cooled down thoroughly all things are good, did approx 180 min of work last week, goal is 210-220 min of work this week for runs only...maybe when i can get to 360 min of work (approx 72K) we'll get after the higher speed work "within" the aerobic work, i.e. run, few repeats of some speed work, run again to finish, feels like that is the next step now..

onward!

day 6

this was only a small glimpse into the AM sky today..was thinking on my way back with the full moon still in sight and red sky from AM sun upcoming how beautiful it is...i actually stopped a few times to take a look and just "notice". i am so grateful.

took 3mg melatonin last night, i take that on and off and Doc recommended i take it consistently for a while; results came back from recent tests yesterday and all things are great, androgens are solid, gut is in check and doing really good but estradiol is a little high for our liking so will supplement with some Fem Pro for a while and hammer that easily and PM melatonin was low just off so 3mg 2-3 hours before bed each night for a while will help that...

woke in a little fog, as usual with the melatonin, will get used to it easily I'm sure...and did some more specific stretching prior to an easy jog with Red; we went over to the burm and stayed on the path, wore the Nike frees and felt light and good at jog pace on ankles and lower legs...all good, goal over time i think is to get into a lighter less stable shoe with a minimalist feel to it; will have to do a bunch of volume to get there though...onward

going to Cabin today for weekend, will do a PM session today and report in, looking forward to runs up there at provincial park and the triangle loop we have there...

day 5

Its 6:04 AM, Chloe is sitting on the floor playing with the Strawberry Shortcake; no watching Curious George on the IPad.
Red and I just finished a 25 min run on the "burm", a path that was made for the residents over here in Bearspaw due to the pit that was going up beyond it, works for us, we have used it a lot!
These guys have a convention here this week at OPT HQ...

they are on the door waiting for us as we go outside, actually prevents us from going out there and just hanging without pumping ourselves with Deet and eventually cancer...

Anyhow, on the run this AM I was thinking about the pace - 160-175 bpm avg HR, the breathing was a little higher for this and the lower legs and calves feel good relative to the massage yesterday and the running this week.
5 days in, learnings so far:
- do spirotiger 3x/week- 4x/week from now on
- spend more time in day doing mobility work for calves, ankles, feel, ITband
- add more volume per week
- search out various routes and hills/paths...might need to go elsewhere for it...maybe track at noon or somewhere else at noon...
- warm up a little more at front end and include drills of warming up in the 1st part of the run, start slow, then build for end,,,as the time for the AM warm up out of bed if limited before Chloe gets up at 6AM

Ciao