Week 4 - Day 5

The 1st time trial is tomorrow. My workout today was tempo intervals, which are not sprints. They are more middle-distance training, which will set me up for speedwork later on in the program. I ran a 600, a 500, a 400, and a 300, each with a progressively faster effort. I ran on my indoor track and my times were as follows: 600 (115s), 500 (93s), 400 (68s), 300 (48s). Sometimes I get caught up with saving myself for my time trials, i.e. not wanting to feel any muscle fatigue the day before, but some of my best speed workouts have come after light/moderate work the day before, so I try to just run a day at a time. That said, I'm still trying to feel out exactly how fast tempo training should be. I felt like my 400 and 300 times were about right today, but this was also on my fast track. I'm looking forward to getting outside tomorrow.

Week 3 - Day 7 (sort of)

It's Monday and I'm back from Vegas. My flight back was non-stop but stopped in St. Louis. I'm already composing my letter to American Airlines in my head. But I digress. The Vegas tourney, while fun, was not your typical full-slate event. This was due to a couple factors: a) it was very windy, and b) we only had 3 rounds on Saturday. Being as I only played a round and a half on Sunday in some of the fiercest wind I have yet to experience, my legs, while sore, seemed up for a real workout. So, as part of my effort to make up some of the week 2 workouts I missed due to illness and the Inauguration, I decided to add Week 2's tougher track workout to my light schedule today. So, I went to the indoor track and did a light upper body lift and then ran 3x500m with a 300m walk recovery. The goal time for each rep was 85s and I got through them in around 88s. Quick qualifier: my indoor track does not have distances marked. To further complicate things, it's a convenient 18 laps to a mile, which comes out to a round 88 and 8/9 meters per lap. So, the fact that I have to pace/estimate starting points and the impressive ramping around the curves doesn't exactly lend my times much credibility. I can say I ran about 500m in 88s on what seems to me to be a pretty fast track, but I can say no more than that. For this reason, as much as possible of the timed track work will be done outside, including the 300m time trial slated for Sunday. I feel under prepared for it right now, but I want to stick to my schedule, so I'll just give it my best shot and go from there. Now if I can just find someone to run it with me, I'll be golden...

Back on the Horse

After completing my first week of workouts on January 12th, I stumbled sick through a couple lighter workouts and then got slammed by Inauguration. So, I essentially lost all of week 2. But, I'm back now and I hope to make up some of the lost workouts over the next week or so. Regardless, it felt really good to get back in the gym today. I ran 6x200m - each under 30s - with 100m walk rest in between. This was the second workout in week 3. I'm off tomorrow and then in Vegas for a tournament over the weekend.

As a quick aside, one thing I have yet to really figure out is how much/little to run or lift when I'm sick with "above the neck" symptoms. I've read that you should keep you heart rate reserve at 60% of capacity (don't quote me on that), but I always feel I get myself into trouble by trying to lift, in particular, when I'm even just a little sick. I guess that means I shouldn't do it at all, but I feel like there's a balance there... I'll post more extensively on this later on, but I currently find this frustrating.

Project overview coming. I promise.

Let the Project Begin

Today was my first workout for The 400 Project. I did a conditioning mile and lifted. It's been a couple weeks since I've been to the gym, so I just eased back in. I'll throw a post up soon about this project...why I'm doing it and what it is, but I thought I should mark the beginning of this effort.