Thursday, July 7, 2011

~ 3 miles near Oakland Airport.


Got away from the hotel this morning for a run. Having a tough time getting runs due to our schedule during the vacation. Our hotel (Red Lion) is close to the Oakland Airport but isn't in a good area. I found a waterway nearby and followed it around a loop. My Garmin battery failed about a mile and half into it. The waterway ended up being a big loop which I estimated to be 3 miles. One loop today.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

objective
off

achieved
6.18 mi.@ 8:09

6:55 AM 78° 84% 0 mph

Wasn't scheduled to run today but since I'm back in Houston and there's uncertainty with this week's schedule, I decided I better "get it while I can." Legs felt a little sore ... from yesterday's treadmill intervals, I suppose.

pre run
weight=165.0
body fat=22.6%
water

post run
water, multivitamin & honeynut cheerios w/skim milk

Monday, July 4, 2011

objective
10x400m @ 90 sec. w/400m active recoveries

achieved
warm up .75 mi & jump rope
12x400m @ ? w/400m active recoveries
cool down 1 min. jog then 1 min. walk

~6:30 AM

There's an outdoor track and swimming pool on the ninth floor roof of my building (my place is on the 23rd floor). For speedwork today, I figured I'd try the track as it would be better than pounding on the concrete and asphault of the roads and Lakefront Trail. I went down to the track a little after 5 AM to find it doesn't open until 6 AM. This seems odd to me. The only reason I can figure is that if there was a group doing an early morning workout they may disturb the residents??? I don't know.

I went back down after 6 AM. After a couple loops on the track it was quickly apparent this wasn't going to work. According to my Garmin, the track was roughly 1/16 of mile with the turns being way too tight for any speedwork. I suppose it's essentially a walking track. (It sure has a nice surface.)

After about a half mile on the track, I pulled out my jump rope for a few turns while I tried to decide where to get my speedwork. I decided to hit a treadmill in the onsite gym.

There was a variety of machines and only one other person in the gym. I ended up on a Cybex treadmill, a type I've never tried before today. I messed around with the programming hope to find a modifiable interval routine. If it's there, I didn't find it. I ended up just manually adjusting the intervals as I went. I set the incline for 1% and set off. Starting with a quarter mile recovery at 5.0 mph. When the quarter was up, I cranked up the speed. I needed 10.0 mph but about flew off the back of the mill by the time I hit 8.0 mph! I left it at 8.0. It felt fast. After the quarter was up, I manually pulled it back down to 5.0 mph. And so it went. After a couple intervals, I ticked up a couple tenths from 8.0. I kept doing this until I was at 9.5 mph for the last couple intervals. It really makes quite a commotion when the belt is turning that fast. I felt slightly out of control too. Ahhh, livin' on the edge.

I decided to go 12 reps instead of 10 since I was going slower than I was supposed to. As you know, I'm always suspect of any treadmill's calibration as I have a theory that more than 80% of them are incorrectly calibrated.

I used the heart rate monitor a few times throughout. It looked like at the end of the rest intervals I was usually around 160 beats per minute and at the end of the work intervals, I was around 170 bpm.

This workout wasn't perfect but it was a reasonable facsimile of what was on my schedule. I feel like it was a decent quality workout.

pre run
-

post run
chocolate milk, multivitamin & homemade granola w/skim milk

Sunday, July 3, 2011

objective
4 mi.@ 7:53

achieved
4.68 mi.@ 8:01

5:54 AM

Headed down to the Lakefront Trail from the new place. Paige started with me as she wanted to know the way to the lake. Felt okay this morning.

I'm still surprised at how early it gets light here in Chicago. Of course, I realize this will cut the other direction in January.

pre run
chocolate milk

post run
-