August 25-31

I fell behind on the updates again. The week of August 11-17, I was in Ithaca, New York (and then Brockville and Ottawa) doing barely any running, but learning a lot about science. I ran for a total of 52 minutes that week. The following week was better, but I had to take Monday off from being tired and took my scheduled Friday off. Total mileage would have been about 72km for August 18-24.

Monday (16km)
68 minutes with Nathan, Chris and Adrian. My legs felt reasonably fresh, and I ran the hills on the Brescia trails pretty strongly. I had done a weight and core workout in the morning. It felt hot, though, and I did a lot of sweating.

Tuesday (14km)
60 minutes on my own. I was caught talking to people in my office at 4:20 and did not get out to meet the guys at 4:30. This was a rough one. My legs felt tired, and I was dragging my feet the whole way. I am generously calling this 14k. Saw John Ferguson's group through Gibbons.

Wednesday (workout - 18km total)
Did weights/core in the morning, which might have been a mistake with a workout looming, but at this point in the season, I feel comfortable testing my ability to recover from weights. I will try to go every second day this week (again Friday, and then Sunday afternoon), and continue next week, but will give myself an extra two days off before the half marathon on Sunday the 13th.
The workout in the evening did not go well. I was not tired per se, but my legs felt as if they had no zip to them. I lagged well off the back for the first half of the 15 minute tempo before pulling in Nathan for the final three minutes. Did 6x strides for form well, then struggled through the 3 minute hard/1 minute easy at the end. I am going to stick with the plan of working out every second day for at least one more week, but I will cut back to 3 times a week by mid-September, then twice a week in October. Right now, the fitness is the thing.

Thursday (14km)
62 minutes with Chris. We started late and ran through Gibbons Park. My legs felt really tired for this one, but made it through just fine.

Friday (cross training)
I did 50 minutes on the elliptical rather than go outside today. My legs felt quite tired, so I felt it was a good move to do a lower-impact workout. Still did weights and core work afterwards. When I talk about doing weights, I do very little for my lower body: 1 set of 12 at max on lower back press (which I feel has been the most beneficial of all my weight exercises); 1 set at 80% on groin, and 1 set on outer quads. The rest is upper body. In the past, I have done some additional weight exercises that I have found to really hurt my workouts, but I cut them from the routine.

Saturday (7km)
Just 30 minutes in the morning from my place to Chris's to pick up my car. I then picked up Nathan and drove us out to Steve's workout. I had been asked to take pictures of clubmembers for the newsletter. I got a few good photos. On my run, I got some pinwheels, which means that my blood sugar was low. I bought a cereal bar from a corner store just before picking up Nathan.

Sunday (9km total + cross training)
This was a terrible run. Aimed for 10km at 3:35s, but I finished only 6km, and most of it was slower than goal pace. When I arrived, Nathan was warming up and Chris Nagle was talking to Steve. Nathan got back, ready to go, and I realized that I was the one holding us up. I did an abbreviated warmup (5 minutes) and tried to get into it, but it was not going to work. I experienced some pinwheels in my vision again, and I could feel low on energy for a bit, but even worse, my legs seized up. My right shin and left calf both got tight. It was a struggle just to finish 6km. Hopped in the car to watch the others finish, then did a 2k cooldown. My calf was really cramped. I chalk this one up to the insufficient warmup. There is no reason why I could not have gotten through 8k easily. 10k should have been fine, but I know that I would have had to tough out the last 2k.
In the PM, did some extra fitness work. I went to the gym and started to warmup for a weight and core session, but got drawn in by the baseball and darts on television. I stayed on for a full hour, and set a personal best for distance covered in that time - 4.44 units (whatever that is). Did weights and core afterwards.

Total - 78km running plus the equivalent of about 30km on the elliptical. Workouts are not going well, but I feel that my fitness is pretty good.