It’s Thanksgiving Eve

I’ve had a tough time sitting down and making myself write this for some reason…probably because there hasn’t been anything too exciting to report.  Everything has been generally positive since my last post.  I’ve settled into a routine where I seem to be managing my injuries and making slow, steady progress with my workouts.

My new chest workout is going well; I’m getting stronger, the elbow hasn’t been bothered, and the shoulder has been OK.  I threw the 18# ball today without any pain, at least not yet.  I had a couple of pretty decent tosses, only about a foot short of my best ever.  I guess secretly I was hoping for a little better, but considering the last time I threw the heavy ball was over 2 months ago I guess I should be satisfied.  It usually takes a little practice to get re-coordinated, so maybe the next time I can tie the strength and the technique together.

My last few  interval running workouts have all been good as well.  I stretched my 400s up to 500s at the same speed and rest period.  I decided to get rid of my anaerobic endurance run…it was just  painful and took me to long to recover.  I replaced it with 12oo meter repeats (3).  I ran my first one at 10 mph, which was tough but didn’t kill me.  Tomorrow I am going to try to run a mile at that pace, which is a 6-minute mile.  I set that as my goal for November…if I can do it will be a new lifetime best.  Part of me is dreading the attempt, but I know I’ll feel great if I pull it off.

I’ve also started incorporating some cross training into my endurance workouts.  The additional running volume I’ve been doing this season seemed to be leaving me a little more beat up than I would like.  So on my easy days I’m doing some rowing or using the elliptical machines.  I can get my heart rate up where I need it without the impact associated with running, and my legs seem to be feeling better already.  I’ll just have to keep track and see if my running times continue to improve.

I have good days and bad with my hamstring injury, but it’s been that way for so long (over a year) that it hardly seems worth mentioning.  It doesn’t really prevent me from doing anything, it’s just a hassle dealing with the stiffness and soreness. 

On the nutrition front I’ve found a new protein source…almond butter.  I’ve never liked peanut butter, so I had my doubts, but decided to give it a chance.  To be honest my first taste (on a bagel with jam) put me off a little bit, but once I got used to the texture it wasn’t too bad.  I had it for the second time this morning and I didn’t mind it at all.

Doing the Work

Well it’s a week into November, and so far it’s been fairly productive.  Taking a few minutes to write down my short-term goals for the month was a good way to get refocused.

Of the four things I chose to work on, the one I figured would be the easiest, getting more protein and good fat in my diet, has proven to be the most challenging.  I’m having two eggs on mornings that I’m hungry instead of just one, and frying them in olive oil instead of cooking spray.  But other than that, an occasional Myoplex,  and snacking on a few more nuts in the evening, I haven’t made much progress.  I need to come up with a good late-morning snack.   I usually have breakfast around 6am, and often don’t get around to lunch until 2pm.   That needs to change.

Item #2,deadlifts, I did 3X this week.    First day I worked up to 145#, next time it was 195#, and today 245#.  So far the elbow has been able to take it, which was my biggest concern.  The lower back and hamstring tightened up considerably mid-week, but don’t know if that was from the DLs or the sprinting I did on the track.  I also decided to add Bulgarian split sqats to my leg routine.  Did those for the first time today and could really feel them in the hamstrings.

Had a so-so running week, making it through my interval workouts with marginal improvements.  The one where I stay anaerobic for as long as possible is a beast.  I take 3 minutes to warm up, then dial up the speed to get my pulse up to 150.  Then I gradually back off on the speed and maintain my heart rate in the 145-155 range for as long as I can.  I made it for a total of 20 minutes this week (including the warmup), which is a long time to be uncomfortable. 

Today I went for my weekly long run (long for a sprinter, that is).  It was a bright, beautiful day and close to 70 degrees, so I ran outside for the first time in a long, long time.  Last week I put in 40 minutes on the treadmill, and that was the first time in at least a year that I’ve run more than 30 minutes at once.  Today I extended that to 60 minutes,although I’m guessing my pace wasn’t quite as fast.   

I’ll have some mile intervals on my menu this coming week, so I should get an idea of how I’m doing on goal #3, running a mile in under six minutes.  Last time I did this workout I think I ran the fastest of my four 1-mile runs @ 9.5mph, so this time out I will probably try one at 9.7 or 9.8 and see how that goes.  To run the mile in 6 minutes you have to be going 10 mph, so I am getting close.

The final item on my list is to make a video about  “the seventh step”, a  jumping workout/goal that I’ve been working on.  Today I took a few pictures and shot a little bit of test video to see what the best way to film it is going to be.  Unfortunately I’ll be working in dark, cramped quarters, so it’s going to be difficult.  I have a wide-angle lens for my video camera, but I didn’t bring it with me today.  I will need to test it to see if it helps. 

I’ve attached one of the still images.  You’ll see that there are three pieces of tape on the wall.  The lowest, at 36″, represents the height of a standard kitchen counter.  The middle piece is set at 45″, the height of the 6th step in the stairwell.  I’ve been successfully jumping (2 step approach) and landing here for quite a while.  My ultimate goal is to make it to step number 7, which is 52″ off the floor.  Pictures don’t do it justice…find a set of stairs and  count up to step number 7.    It looks impossible…and for me maybe it is.  But I’m going to work on it and give it my best shot.  If I can do it I will be a legend…at least in my own mind!

Stairway to Heaven?

And on the Eighth Day…

…recovery is still off over the horizon somewhere.  I did make it through my 5 minute warm-up on the bike today without incident.  My pulse rate stayed in the low 100s just like normal, so that seemed promising.  I wasn’t feeling confident enough to run intervals, so I decided to try an easy cardio run instead.

On these runs I adjust the speed on the treadmill from 6.5 to 8mph and try to maintain my heart rate between 135 and 145 for 30 minutes.  My best run lately has been 3.8 total miles.  Today I only lasted 1.5 miles.  The slowest pace I like to run is 6.5mph, so if I can’t keep my pulse down at that speed I switch to an 8% grade and walk.  Today that’s what I had to do for a little more than half of my 30 minute workout.   That’s noticably better than what I was able to do Friday, so at least I’m heading in the right direction. 

But today my hamstring injury was the worst it’s been in quite some time.  I can’t think of anything I’ve done in the last week to bring this on, so it’s a little disconcerting.   Maybe it’s just a late arrival from last Saturday’s meet.  I was expecting it to be sorer than it was after pushing it that hard.  But usually I feel that soreness and tightness the very next day, not over a week later.  Strange.

I also did a light upper body workout today.  I’m not quite sure where I’m going with this yet, a lot will depend on how the elbow and shoulder respond.  It’s very frustrating to be weakened and/or hampered by these ongoing problems.  I think that I could work around the shoulder, but the elbow is more of a problem.  Therapy?  Surgery?  Acupuncture?  It may be the time to start exploring the options.

What a Beating

I just can’t believe how thoroughly last Saturday’s track meet destroyed me.  It’s now Friday evening, a full week later, and I just tried doing some running.  Let’s just say it was less than impressive.

I spent the early part of the week hobbling around on calves that were almost too sore to walk on.  By Wednesday they were still tender, but I felt like I needed to do something, so I jogged a mile on the treadmill.  Yesterday I felt slightly better, and today I finally seemed to be over most of the muscle soreness.  I figured that meant I could resume my training program.

This evening the plan was a brief leg workout followed by an anaerobic run on the treadmill.  I hopped on a Lifecycle for my normal 5 minute warm-up, and very soon after that I discovered that all was still not right with this old body.  Normally on this ride my pulse tops out at around 105 bpm…today it rocketed into the mid 130s!

By design I kept my leg workout short & light, then headed back to the cardio area to do my running.  The plan was to warm up with a 400m @ 6.5 mph followed by another 400 @ 9 mph, and then to crank up to 11.5mph and go until the pulse reached the low 150s.  I would then gradually back off the speed and try to hold the pulse rate steady for as long as I could.

But things didn’t go according to plan.  I hadn’t even finished my second warm-up lap and my heart rate was already in the 150s!  It was a strange feeling…the legs seemed fine, I wasn’t breathing hard, but the pulse was going crazy.  I throttled back and ran an additional mile “in the zone”, but it was much slower than I ever would have imagined.   The last 400 was at 6.5 mph and the pulse was still in the mid 150s, at least 20 bpms higher than it normally would be.

I knew that an intense workout will take a lot out of you, but I never expected the effects to be this pronounced.   I knew I was going to miss a week of training leading into the meet, but I didn’t count on missing the following week too.    Now I can only hope that things get back to normal soon.  Tomorrow is another day off, then I’ll try again on Sunday and see what happens.

September Wrap

My last masters track meet for 2009 will be in Santa Barbara next Saturday, so this week was the final chance to tune-up before the competition.  Ran some sprint drills and some strides; the hamstring injury was a little tender but not too bad overall.  Wish I had practiced some starts, but didn’t want to push the leg too hard.  I am curious to see what kind of 100 meters time I can run, and how much I’ve slowed down in the last 33 years.   Hopefully I can get down the track in one piece.  Didn’t practice any jumping, I figure whatever happens there happens.  

The majority of my time has been spent on the shot put.  I bought a neoprene sleeve for my elbow, and that seemed to help a little bit, as I was able to throw three days this past week.  Things are a little tender tonight, but now I have 5 days to rest before the competition.

I have become a little fixated on hitting the All-American mark for my age group in the shot (43′).  I missed it by just over two feet back in March at the US Indoor Championships during the pentathlon, so I thought that with a little more time and focus it might be within reach.   Unfortunately it has proven to be much harder that I expected.

I was on a pretty good course up through about mid-June.  That’s the first time I hit 40′ standing with the 12#.  But shortly after that I hurt my shoulder and backslid down into the mid 30s.  As of late I feel that my technique is greatly improved, but the strength just doesn’t seem to be sufficient to propel me to the next level.

As long as I stay light (8 or 10# shot) I have been able to make steady progress and set new personal bests on a regular basis.  I threw the ten pounder 45′ standing the other day, which is 6 or 7 feet better than my last tune-up before Nationals.  But as soon as I switch to the twelve pounder or heavier, it all seems to unravel.  I’ve hit 40′ on a couple of occasions with the twelve this past month, but nothing any better. 

My glides, which I’ve worked on a ton, feel fast and smooth yet rarely produce results as good as my best standing throws.   So I am going to have my work cut out for me in SB.   I need to throw the 6 kilo (13.2#) almost 3 feet further than my best practice throws with the twelve. 

In theory I should be  better than I was at Nationals…but I haven’t seen it in practice.   I’ve just got to hope that the adrenaline from competing brings something extra out of me.  I guess I’ll find out Saturday morning, but three feet is a lot to ask. Fortunately we get 6 attempts…maybe I can get lucky and hit a good one.

Continued with my running workouts, and all is well there.  I completed all three of my interval runs as prescribed and ahead of schedule, so that felt good.  Also have been increasing the speed of my aerobic runs and increasing my distances regularly.   I will probably do a little bit of running the next couple of days, then shut things down and rest up for the meet.

I also ordered a heart-rate monitor, and I plan to incorporate that into my training a little more.  The built-in monitors on the treadmills are OK, but they don’t work very well for me at anything over about 145bpm.  I also don’t like having to hold on and wait for it to get a reading while I’m running, although sometimes that little breather is much appreciated. 

My wife and son will be going to Santa Barbara with me, so I should be able to get a few more pictures this time.  Hopefully I will do something worth recording!

Heart Rate Training

Saturday’s cardio run was substandard.  That made two poor runs in a row, but rather than be stubborn, push myself too hard, and try to match previous runs, I used the heart rate monitor on the treadmill and stayed in my intended training zone.

That seemed to help, because I ran some good intervals on Sunday: three 1000 meter runs at a better pace and with less rest in-between than when I did this workout two weeks ago.  YEAH, that’s more like it!

I really like being able to track my pulse on the HealthQuest treadmills.  I think that it gives me a much more accurate analysis of how I’m progressing and how hard I’m pushing yourself.   But I did have one concern.

On my “easy” days when I’m not running intervals to build my anaerobic conditioning, my goal is to train at the upper limit of my aerobic capacity (80% of maximum heart rate).  According to the standard heart rate tables, this would be 136 beats per minute (BPM) for a person my age.

But I feel comfortable pushing into the low 140’s and have been using that as my cut-off point.  Given the two poor runs I had this week, it got me thinking that maybe I was pushing a little too hard on my easy days.  To know for sure, I would need to get a more accurate reading of my actual maximum heart rate (MHR).

The standard way to approximate MHR is to subtract your age from 220.  But there are a number of ways to get this information personalized.  One of the easiest and most widely accepted is the Karvonen Method, which factors your resting heart rate (RHR) into the formula.

So for the last couple of mornings before I got out of bed in the morning I took my pulse.  What I found is that I have a low RHR (47), and this means that my MHR is higher than average.  Using the Karvonen method my 80% of maximum actually calculates out to 145 BPM.

So it turns out that I had intuitively been almost spot on in my training program.  I am still aerobic in the low 140’s and that’s why I can stay there without much problem.  And as soon as I push into the upper 140’s life gets pretty miserable pretty quickly.  Going anaerobic is just not my thing!

Training for a 1K run in not something I particularly enjoy, nor am I naturally predisposed to being good at it.  So I am trying to train as efficiently and effectively as I possibly can.  That means using any and all resources available, and heart-rate training has definitely helped.

For more information on heart rate training and calculating your maximum heart rate, try this site: heart rate training