MORE THAN JUST MORE-OR-LESS AMBULATORY

I just walked two miles....yup, my second 2-miler in my Achilles rehab/Appalachian Trail training. Tomorrow is its subsequent "rest" day, Thursday a one-mile "recovery" walk, then a rest day, then THREE miles on Saturday. WhoooEEEE!!!

Yesterday I biked to and from physical therapy, then reloaded my daypack for other errands by bike: return library books, pay a bill at an office, do some banking, pick up a few groceries. I returned from all that with 13.73 miles on my odometer, feeling exercised (maybe exorcised) and green -- economically and ecologically, saved money, saved fuel.

Physical therapy is tapering off, from twice a week to once every week or 10 days. I have a SLEW of home exercises and stretches to do. It will be good not to go so often, though... twice a week with an insurance co-pay each time is $50 a week, $200 a month. It could be worse; I could have no insurance at all.

WOW -- PUSHUP NEWS!!

So I've been doing this hundred-pushup challenge, and just finished my workout for Day 3 of Week 2.

The program called for sets of 15, 15, 12, 12, all separated by 2 minutes, followed by a final set of as many as possible, minimum-recommended 15.

I was able to push to 25.

That's the most I've done in a row EVER!! Even when I was doing pushups all the time! This program is WORKING!!

Plus I whipped easily through the 15, 15, 12, 12, not struggling with the last ones in each set as I have on all previous days.

I took two rest days instead of just one after my last session, and I think that made the difference. So I'm going to do that from now on. It'll lengthen my "weeks" to more than 7 days, but as long as I do the workouts in sequence, I don't think that matters.

Next challenge is to rest a couple days and then crank out as many as possible consecutively. The results of this trial determine the level of the next couple weeks' training.

I'm getting TUFF!!! Look out, world.... Ellie may be pushing 60 but she's pushing iron.

PUSHUP PROGRESS

I got through Week One feeling as though the prescribed reps and sets were just about all I could manage. But I was able to do them and even exceed the minimum on those last "max possible" sets. So, on to Week 2.

I was scared to try, since I felt I'd just squeaked by in Week One. I took an extra rest day. Then when I looked at the Week 2 Program today, I found that today had fewer reps than my biggest day last week. 12, 12, 9, 7, all separated by 60 seconds, then max possible, recommended at least 10, and I made 14. However, I rested 2 minutes before trying the max set. This is permitted. Recommended rest intervals are qualified with "longer if needed."

Tomorrow is a rest day, then Day 2 is 16, 13, 11, 11, then max, all separated by 90 seconds or "more if needed."

We visited our son last week, and he was sore from having done 100 pushups the day before. Not all at once; he'd just decided he was going to do 100 during the course of the day. I could probably do that: 10 at a time, an hour apart for 10 sets. But that's not the program; I hesitate to mess with the program.

Strong Woman on the way, here.

DON'T STOP TO SMELL THE APPLE BLOSSOMS

APPLE BLOSSOM 10K, WINCHESTER, VA

This is the escort vehicle.... cool, huh?

I had neither expected nor trained for a 10K, but when we arrived 3 days ago at Candy Hill Campground, my employer/young friend presented me with a registration form, all excited and happy: "I got you this, it's a great big 10K and it's Saturday!" So I said, "Great, I'd love to run it, if I can start cleaning the bathrooms a little late that day...."

It was huge. 1000+ runners. The winners were from Kenya and Ethiopia. I've never seen such a big 10K. Here's the starting field, from the back of the pack, but you can't appreciate how many runners there are since it's flat.

It was a 4-lane street, and when the race director asked people who expected 50+ minutes to move to the left lanes, there was this mass migration:

I ran my first mile in 11:05, which was good, since I wasn't trained and planned on taking it easy the first couple miles. Second mile split showed 18:XX on my watch, GACKKKK, I didn't think I'd speeded up THAT much, that's gonna kill me right there. Slow down, kiddo. You're not trained. And you're kicking sleeping pills and didn't sleep last night. And you have a cold. You've run marathons and done Ironman's but you haven't run a 10K in 5 years. Slow down.


5K time: 30:xx by the clock. Jee-minetty, I did a 7:xx second mile and a 12:xx third? This is nuts.


Later I realized, the clocks did not, of course, match my watch/chip times. Watch times:


Mile 1: 9:23

Mile 2: 9:07

5K: 29:08



But I was looking at the clocks, not at my watch, so I was confused and didn't realize what a nice pace I was running, being tired and untrained and all.

Either there was no 4-mile marker or I missed it. At mile 5, I was at 50:26 (watch time.)


Somewhere between miles 3 and 4, I stopped to take this picture, since I wasn't trying for a time or an AG place.



It cost me a few seconds, but so what?


"So what?" turned out to be, it cost me a sub-1-hour 10K. My watch time at the finish was 1:00:12. And it's not even that exciting a picture. I should have left my camera in my pocket. Or in the car.


AG 4/6 (awards only 3 deep though), average pace 9:58. Not bad at all. But I'm not taking a camera during a race anymore. That sub-1-hour would have been very gratifying.


OTOH, it would have raised the dreaded question: What could I do if I trained????

PRACTICE HIKE

We needed a few groceries. The store is a couple miles away, maybe 3.

I ran over, and walked back, with the groceries in my daypack.

I've been on a 2-week hiatus from running and biking, to rest and build myself up. I did break down and run 3 miles the morning of the wedding but other than that I've been layin' low.

Why fire up the diesel-guzzling truck to go to the store 2 or 3 miles away for groceries that will easily fit in my backpack? And when I need to learn to shop for things that will go in a backpack, when I do food re-supply trips on the AT?

Instead of a shopping cart, I carried one of those hand-baskets, to keep tabs on how much weight I was accumulating.

Here's what easily went into the pack, with room (and weight) to spare:

Half a gallon of milk
A dozen eggs
4-lb. bag of sugar
1-lb. bag of dry beans
Stick of deodorant
Wedge of Brie cheese
Box of 20 garbage bags
12-pack of Pop-Tarts
2 PayDay bars (buy one, get one free)
Loaf of French bread (in side pocket to keep from getting smashed)

It was easy, I saved fuel and money, burned up some calories, and started something new for myself:

If it's 3 miles or less, I'm going on foot.

Later, I'll up that to 4 miles.

Why drive when I can run and/or walk?

SUPER EXERCISE WEBSITE!

Wow!! This site, ExRx, has EVERYTHING!! The anatomy and physiology of muscles and muscular exercise. Strength-training, flexibility-trianing, aerobic and endurance training. Details on how to use every conceivable piece of gym equipment. Beginners' information. Training plans for running and triathlon (although it only goes up to Olympic distance.) Injury prevention and treatment. Gym etiquette. Recommended books. Exercise psychology. Nutrition. Weight management. I mean, this site has EVERYTHING!! I found it when I did a google search for "hip rotators." Wow.... I found remedial exercise for that and everything else that could ever happen. This site is amazing! You gotta go see it!!!

My training today: 23.6 miles on the bike. I'm getting back into shape -- I feel like an athlete again. I didn't, before VCM, or especially during it.

Yesterday I ran 3 miles, first run since VCM. My hip still hurt (which is why I did the search which turned up this astonishing website.) It was good to run again. Tomorrow I'm going out for new running shoes :-)

GORGEOUS DAY...

...in the upper 60's F, sunny, windy but incredibly warm for January. And it's not a "January thaw"..... it just hasn't gotten cold, at all, except for a cold snap right around Thanksgiving.

It's freaky. Cherry trees are blossoming 90 miles away in Washington, D.C. -- not due until April.

I have seen maple buds around here in northern Virginia. If the apple trees start blossoming here.....


...and then freeze, as predicted will happen in the next few days.... it will be a disaster for this area's apple harvest.

We're just on a gig here, working at this campground for the winter, but I have made a couple friends, joined a running club, and I must be feeling some ties to the place, if I'm worried about the area's apple business. At our RV park here, two of the biggest weekends of the year are the Apple Blossom Festival and the Apple Harvest Festival. I guess the festivals will go on regardless of the apple status, but it just shows how important apple-growing is in this region.

So, in the beautiful weather ..... Did I go running, or biking?
No.... I went to the massage therapist.



That sore butt muscle I complained of right before Christmas was nearly healed up, I was running again, but yesterday setting out on an hour's run I tripped, causing me to take a flying leap and land hard on the foot on the gimpy side, jamming my hip into itself..... egad, I saw stars. Hopped around a little on the other foot deciding whether I'd need to call some wheels to get home. Ended up limping it.... I was only half a mile out.

So today I went for my second visit to the massage therapist. Wow.... big difference right away. I'm not going to run for a few days but boy is it ever loosened up. Wow. My husband would like me to go to a PT because our insurance covers it, but gee, if this girl is doing me so much good per treatment.... shucks, I'll keep on paying her. She said today I'm a lot looser than I was 3 days ago, despite being re-injured in the meantime.

In the mail during the past week, as my injury waxes and wanes, have been coming books.



Daniels' Running Formula.... whew, heavy going. Great method but I'm not sure I'm up to the math. Hey, Sheila.... tell me I can figure this out, OK?
:-)




Joe Henderson's "Marathon Training: A 100-Day Program to Your Best Race" hmmm, easy going. Basically a training log with helpful hints and a skeleton program that you fill in yourself. Less than I wanted. (Not sure when to start the 100 days, either, with a bum bum.)

Ooh, ooh, my husband just brought in the mail.... OOOH!
Jeff Galloway's "Running Until You're 100!!"


Now, THAT may be just what I need.... maybe I can't run today, or tomorrow, but at 55 I'd sure like to think I'll be running another 45 years.....

IT'S HARD TO RUN....

..... when you can't move your leg backwards or forwards.

Nevertheless, I just got in an hour's worth, probably a little sort of 6 miles, with teeny little short steps that weren't all that uncomfortable or even any slower than my usual.

But I'm behind in my distance plans now, and I can't do the speedwork in the FIRST program as I had hoped for an April marathon. In fact, I might not make an April marathon at all.

Thanks to Vickie and Sheila for tips and links to fixing my butt :-) And runr53 for suggesting massage therapy -- I called one and left a message, but she must be away for the holidays. I'll try her again. I think the piriformis muscle is the one complaining. I think it would complain less if I spent less time sitting on it, too, in front of the computer.....

Workout Stats

Pursuing my goal of running a Boston-qualifying marathon next fall (2007), I put in this workout today. Oh, yeah, I've forgotten to post: I'm eyeing an April 15 marathon in Indiana as a time-trial, then rest a couple weeks, and start the program over again aiming for a late-Sept. hopeful-qualifier, with maybe a November one as a backup in case something screws up the Sept. one.

Qualifying time at my advanced old age of 55 is 4:15, which is 9:45/mile.

I'm using this program and these paces. Nancy steered me to it. What would I ever do without her? The "official" 16-week build-up won't start till next week; you're supposed to be able to run 10 miles. I'm sure I can; after all, I just did a frickin' Ironman. But I took time off and then time easy and I'm building up again, so I won't hit 10 miles till next week.

My HR goals, I got from some other running article.... I'll have to look it up. I did a 10K time-trial a couple weeks ago; my time was 57:30, which is 9:16/mile, and the max HR I was able to provoke was 183. I tried to inch it upward but it stuck there. I could only maintain that for about 0.2 mile. The HR formula I'm using is based on Max Rate - Resting Rate (mine is usually 60) X % effort.

So here's what I did today, in case anyone is interested:

Type of workout:
Pace/intensive endurance, approaching aerobic threshold; week's long run
Purpose:
Increase endurance at quicker pace (I've been doing long runs at 11-13min miles training for Ironman's the last 2 years.)

Goals:
A. 9 miles at 10K pace + 60-75 sec./min (= 10:15 – 10:30)
Met? Distance - Y; pace -N

B. Keep steady pace
Met? N

C. Keep steady perceived effort
Met? Y

D. HR 75-85% (152 – 164)
Met? Y

Notes:
OK, explaining the “No’s”:
A. Overall pace quicker than expected
9 miles at 1:31:28 = 10:13/mile
B. Not steady at all, but terrain varied.
Mile 1 – 10:28 (warm-up mile)
Mile 2 – 9:56 (mostly downhill)
Mile 3 – 10:02 (rolling, predominantly downhill)
Mile 4 – 11:10 (long slow upgrade)
Mile 5 – 11:01 (turnaround in middle; upgrade till then)
Mile 6 – 9:19 (downgrade)
Mile 7 – 9:51 (rolling w/ uphill trend)
Mile 8 – 10:29 (mostly uphill)
Mile 9 – 9:38 (rolling, mostly downhill)

C. Actually HR reached 170 (90%) on a hill; otherwise within range. Perceived effort was quite steady.