Week 4 Summary

Monday, Jan 31st -
Half Marathon workout at the gym (see below from last week)

Tuesday, Feb 1st -
Off

Wed, Feb 2nd -
45 minutes of cross-training (running/biking/stair-stepper (ha!)), weights. I did squats, squat jumps, pull-ups, bench, biceps to shoulder press, standing running arms with 10 - 12.5 lbs, abs, and calves. For the squats I was on the free rack and did 5 reps @ 225 lbs, 4 reps @ 235 lbs, and 3 reps @ 235 lbs. I was quite cautious due to some hammy tightness but was pleased that the sets at 235 lbs went smoothly. Squat jumps were two set of 10 @ 135 lbs. I think these jumps are slightly stretching/straining a ligament on my right knee. I may skip these altogether for a few weeks and see if that helps. I was doing sets of 5 reps across the board in prep for the Sunday time trial.

Thurs, Feb. 3rd -
Went out for some track action with George, Salmi, and Calvin. We did a tempo speed workout. Rest was to walk the same distance just ran:
50m - 100m - 150m - 200m (30 sec) - 300m (42 sec) - 350m (49 sec)

Everyone ran hard. It was great to have folks out there. Everyone was pretty close to 30 seconds for the 200m. I ran a 31. I was also in spikes. For the 300m, I finished in 43. The rest of the crew ran a solid time in the mid to high-40s. The 300m was not pleasant. I, for one, did not pace well, and slowed incredibly down the last 100m, mostly just due to fatigue and knowing that I had one more left. The 350m was certainly the toughest. It was also set up to be the hardest effort. George got a 53 or a 54, which was great. I managed a 50 in my spikes and Salmi/Calvin were both sub-60. Again, these are all solid times, especially for folks who are used to a different kind of running.

Fri, Feb. 3rd -
Off

Sat, Feb 4th -
10 hill repeats. Ran up, walked back down. Jogged there and back.

Sun, Feb 5th -
Time trial. Thanks to Cal and Tommy for helping me out. We met up at Washington Lee with a bunch of folks looking to play some football. Youth soccer camps stymied that effort, but the track was relatively clear, which was great. I ended up running a 38.7, according to Tommy, the stopwatch extraordinaire.

Mon, Feb 6th -
Went on a 30-minute run with Laura, then did a lift. We started with pull-ups (Laura is quite close to her goal of doing one on her own) and then did a machine circuit: bench, biceps, shoulders, triceps. I then continued with squats, squat jumps, standing running arms with 10-12.5 lbs each hand, rotator cuff, straight-legged hops, leg press, hip ab/adductors.

For the squats, I was on my own and did 4 reps @ 225 lbs, 5 reps @ 225, and then 3 reps @ 225. A dude spotted me on the 2nd set. I didn't feel as strong as I did last week. I did two sets of squat jumps @ 115. 7 reps or so. But my I started feeling something in my knee again so I skipped the 3rd set. For the leg press, I did sets of 5 at 235, 245, and 255 or something like that.

Today -
Off

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I've decided that my right knee needs to heal some ligaments...I feel slight tenderness when twisting on my knee, so I'm going to stop the squat jumps for the next few weeks. I might move to only the leg press if the squats start to irritate it.

As for this week, Wednesday will be conditioning mile and plyos. Thursday will be speed work (10x100m w/ 5 minutes rest). Anyone interested in either or both?

Location flexible. Peace.