The training plan calls for me to do 30 minutes at an easy RPE 2 pace. I did some stretching and when I walked out the door my legs just felt like crap. In particular my knees. This is the first time since my 50K trail race that I have ran on concrete and not a treadmill. I learned, rather quickly, that I am not completely recovered yet. As a matter of fact, I am far from recovered!
Over the 30 minute run my distance covered was only 2.8 miles. That is a pace of around 10:40/mile on completely flat sidewalks. That is a slower pace than when I first began running. The problem isn't that I was running slow. It was that was as fast as I could go without pain. I was hopefully as my body warmed up my legs/knees would loosen up but that was not the case. My options now are to take a few days off from running or just keep running slow and let myself bounce back that way. According to my training plan I am supposed to get an hour run in tomorrow. As I sit here right now I am unsure on what I am going to do?
In order to help with recover I have upped my daily protein intake substantially since last week. When I was doing P90X my daily diet breakdown was 40% Protein/40% Carbs/20% Fat. I maintained these ratios for most of the year. Then I started doing the marathon training and was burning tons of calories (and energy) so I changed the ratio to 60% Carbs/20% Protein/20% Fat. Since last week I have been consuming 2 scoops of Whey Protein (48G) and Recoverite after each workout. Recoverite also has 3G of glutamine, which helps with joint soreness.
After work this afternoon I went to the gym and got in the 30 minute swim. I practiced the first four drills from "The Essential Triathlon Swimming DVD". I did about 500 meters worth of drills and then tried to work them into my stroke for the rest of the swim. I did 4x75 at a warm up RPE2 and then did 2x400 at RPE3. My cool down was a very easy 2x50. My totals were about 1900 meters today. The drills focused on balance and swimming on your side and I felt like they really helped! My workout after doing the drills felt much more smoother than usual. So far I am digging this DVD.
Tomorrow's only workout is the 1 hour run at an RPE 2 or 3 pace. I am going to try and use some heat on my knees tonight. I have been using ice and the results have been crappy as described in today's run! See if the heat will help? As I was typing this I decided if I can't run then I will ride the trainer instead and swap out the Sunday long ride with a run. And as I think about it more, when healthy, the run is my strongest sport anyways so it isn't like it will hurt my conditioning to ride instead!
Thanks for Reading,
Jeff
Thanks for your comment on my thoughts on cheating. You are spot on with your analysis of baseball and as a lifetime fan, McGuire and Bonds specifically almost turned me off from the MLB. I did find some solace in college baseball, but catching a game is a little tougher.
ReplyDeleteMike, you know what kills me about college FB? The way a coach can just jump from college to college. Look at what the Cincy coach (kelly) did going to ND? He sits in these kids living rooms and tells the parents he is going to shape them in to men they can be proud of and then just picks up and leaves for a better offer!
ReplyDeleteThey all do it to - Tressel, Meyer, Price, Sabaen ... just no loyalty.
...and then there are guys like Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno.
ReplyDeleteI'm 48, and Bobby Bowden was coaching at FSU while I was in high school AND Joe Pa has been at Penn State longer than I've been alive!
You'll never...EVER...see that again...unless, of course, if Boomer hangs with his youth teams till he's 90! ;)
JoePa is one of a kind! Even with the Big Ten being surpassed by other conferences in terms of competitiveness he still fields a solid team year in and year out.
ReplyDeleteJeff, take care of that leg pain...
ReplyDelete"XTB" Xavi from Hong Kong!
Steve... to be honest, after nearly 20 seasons of coaching football I am getting burned out. The problem is that I have a young son and everytime I tell him that daddy wants to take a breaking from coaching he gets upset.
ReplyDeleteJeff... I can only imagine how hard that 50k is one one's body. I don't think resting the legs is out of the question. Maybe you can do more swimming and cycling for a while. I don't know... I learned my lesson from pushing myself too much during the marathon training. Truthfully, the marathon training beat me up and I actually don't feel as fit as I did when I did my first triathlon (coming off a P90X). For me, the fact that I did not have a history of running, taking on the training and pushing a bit too hard has really taken its toll on my old body. Of course, you are still young and running seems to be your forte so there is no doubt that you will recover in due time and my guess is that you will be burning up the pavement once again.
Boomer - My 34 yr old body has some tough miles on it for sure. I upped my running miles more aggressive than what is recommended and was doing good with it until I stumbled during the ultra run. Now what I don't know is did I get hurt because of the slip or did I get hurt because my body was on the verge of breaking down?
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, I am going to take a few more days off from running and just pound the bike instead!
As my sports medicine doctor told me, man wasn't designed to run 26.2 miles (31 in your case) so I am sure your pain is just an indicator that you have done the extraordinary.
ReplyDelete