Training Log August 27- September 2

Monday: Balboa Park ~ 3 Miles. Training cut a bit short for the sake of the picnic.

Tuesday: Lake Miramar. Interval training with Coach Peggy. This is the best session of the week for me primarily because I get personalized instruction from one of our top coaches. This is a5 mile loop around the lake and we alternate normal walking with "sprint" walking every 1/4 mile. Today, with a lot of help from Coach Peggy, my sprints were 3.0 minute quarters or 12 minutes per mile! This shatters my previous personal speed record of 13.5 minute/miles. It took a while for me to warm up. I think I've discovered why I have been having such a hard time on Thursday night training. My shins are extremely tight after the course of a normal day, which maybe why I feel so uncoordinated and that I'm "plodding". Started out the same way, and mentioned it to Peggy so we stopped and did some stretching exercises and then resumed. I noticed a dramatic difference right away. Everything just flowed so much better when I was getting good extension in my legs. Definitely something I will keep doing.

Wednesday: Class night so workout limited to 25 minute walk at lunch.

Thursday: 20 minute walk at lunch and about 15 minutes of walking to and from the trolley stops associated with hitting the Padre game. I also ran up every set of stairs I could fine much to the amusement of Christine.

Friday: Rest day in preparation for tomorrow's 13 mile session. Friday afternoons are my only time to run errands lately so I hit the grocery store, the bank, the post office, did some laundry, paid some bills and submitted some donation paperwork to the L&L Society.

Saturday: Mileage was shortened to 12 miles due to brutal heat and humidity. The mileage actually measured out to only 11.5 miles according to the various GPS watches people were carrying. We started at 6:30 am and got on the road shortly after 7:00 am and it was already uncomfortably warm. I did the 11.5 miles in just 1 minute shy of 3 hours for a pace of 15.6 minute/miles. Not too shabby. We took some really long rest stops at the aids stations to hydrate which really affected my overall time. Along the way, I ate 3 salt packets, 3 Gu's and assorted aid station junk food (cheez-it's, pretzels) for energy. I managed to sweat completely through my baseball cap to the point where I actually was able to wring it out. Today was the first day where I really felt that I hit a "wall". The distance was very doable but the heat just sapped all the strength out of me. I was pretty beat when it was all said and done.

Also, after much trepidation, I decided to have a massage session with David the masseuse who attends all our training sessions. Those following along know that I've had a persistent knot problem in the meat of my left calf muscle. Well, David, found it, pinched it and got it to go away. It hurt like blazes for a good 30 seconds until it finally released. Best $10 spent ever. Well except that one time in Tuscon but I don't want to get into that right now.

Lastly, picked up some new kicks today. I'd really worked my existing pair of shoes quite hard so they weren't giving me the support I needed any more. I also had been getting blisters on the tips of my toes. I went to the San Diego Running Institute which is a great place to buy shoes. They were very scientific and measured my feet with calipers and pressure pads that show on a monitor how my feet carry my weight. Really cool. I picked up some
Asics Gel Nimbus VIII's. These are very similar to the shoe I had been wearing, providing neutral support, but they are a little sturdier. Apparently the shoe I have been wearing is meant for people that weigh around 150-160 lbs which could explain why the support didn't last as long. The news shoes are meant for those weighing 180-200 lbs so they are more appropriate for me. Can't wait to try them out.