Well, I had time to run, but not until this evening. Which of course meant that I was running in the heat - not too bad this time, 87 degrees but only 37% humidity. I walked down to Mary Moore Searight park, and hit the trails. Today my plan was to run 2K, then walk 1/2K, and repeat a couple of times.

The first 2K were nice - did a 4:40 and a 4:42 or about a 7:30 pace for the first 1.2 miles. My heart rate still climbs up there though, at 186 after that short amount of time. A 1/2K walk dropped it down to 120 or so, and then I did another 2K: 5:14 and 4:51 for an 8:30 and 7:50 pace respectively. I was trying to take it a little easier that time, trying not to go over 3/3 breathing - but that didn’t seem to want to happen. Ah, well. HR up at 184 after that, then dropping back to 120 after the 1/2K. It was getting dark, and I was definately getting wheezy, so I just did the final 1K to take me back to the start of the trail in 4:39 for another 7:30 pace.

My legs were feeling great the whole time. No issues with my MCL or my ITB whatsoever. My left knee - the “good” one - is a little sore, but that feels like I just need to do more quad stretching (and will as soon as I finish this write-up). Also, I have a muscle knot the size of a walnut on my right shoulder (from stress, mainly) that won’t go away. Other than that, no muscular concerns.

In case you were wondering, part of my recovery strategy is to pretend that I was running a 7:30 pace for shorter (6 mile) runs, but that I’ve lost a little coming back from injuries and I need to make it up. That way I’ll reindex faster than I was (a more realistic 8:30 pace for that amount of time). So far, it seems to be working. This will also help me with my 8:00 training group work starting 9/4… with the walk breaks every mile, that should be very doable for me, since by then I hope to be doing 4+ miles at 7:30 without a break.

And yes, I realize that that’s faster than my 5K pace. Sssh. Don’t let my legs find out. Realistically, my 5K pace on a better race (pre-MCL) should have been about 7:30, and I’ve lost 5 lbs or so since then (at :02 per mile per lb), so a 7:20 or thereabouts. I can do this, really… :-)

I know what I need to do - if I could find the time to get a couple of hours of biking in every day, that would really get my cardio endurance back into shape. Its hard enough just finding an hour to go run though, so I don’t know how likely it is that I can add significantly to that time at the moment. Still, I have to do something. What’s your favorite short-time high-gain cardio workout? Or is there one?

Popularity: 1%