bike commute

And NOTHING else...!

I'm still reeling from how bad I felt yesterday so I tried to ride super slow. On purpose. :)

It kinda worked but I'm learning that single speed bikes are NOT the best thing to be on when you want some active recovery. Unless you live in a very flat neighborhood. I don't.

Sleep	6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	water
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day
Workout Type	active recovery
Weather	50 in the AM, low 60s in the PM, still sunny, dry and calm
Course
Results
Time
Distance
Pace
Equipment	Raleigh Mojave 8.0
Clothing

Cougar 10 | bike commute

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Yesterday (or a combination of yesterday and the previous weekend) has destroyed my legs. I thought I could bounce back today with a moderate run but the answer to that question was an emphatic NO.

I was at Cougar with Todd Morse Tucker and Daniel Paquette and Dan didn't exactly go fast up the first hill but in his words, "I wanted to get it over with." I was off the back within 200 m.

Things didn't change much for the next eight miles. Twice I had to walk for a few seconds, once I had to ask these guys to simply wait up. Lucky for me they did. With about one mile to go Dan scoots by and says something like, "Okay Martin..." Todd was right on his heels and they disappeared down the trail until they were literally out of sight.

I was so shell shocked I had to walk again. After pulling myself together I decided to see if I could increase the pace knowing I was very close to the car. I managed to up the tempo for perhaps half a mile when I saw them again! They must have slowed down because I caught them and managed to hang on until the bridge. Oh man was that hard. My legs are wasted. To top it off I felt like I was bonking those last two miles. Totally. Empty. Yes, I had a big dinner last night. Whatever.

What's hilarious is we ran this loop in almost the exact same time as we always do, it just felt 10 times as hard. What's also (sort of) hilarious is it was kinda cold out on the trails today! There were sections that were noticeably cooler than the parking lot and this meant my circulation-impaired hands got really stiff and I lost coordination. Apparently so much so that I did not turn my GPS off properly at the end of the run. Damn. On the upside I am getter better at editing my GPS files to fix these problems. I guess it's time for gloves when you start running at 5:45.

Sleep	6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast	4:45 AM - Clif Bar, water
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	bottle w/1 scoop HEED and 1 tablet Nuun
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	run - 5:45 AM
Workout Type	endurance
Weather	run - 50, clear, dry, calm
Course
Results
Time
Distance
Pace
Equipment	run - hand held bottle, Brooks Cascadia 7 commute - Raleigh Mojave 8.0
Clothing	run - Brooks Infinity Short III, Patagonia Capilene 1 Silkweight Stretch T-Shirt, Patagonia lightweight Capilene long sleeve shirt

Technorati Tags: Cougar Mountain,Cougar 10

bike commute | Lake Union lunch run

I got my ass handed to me on the proverbial silver platter today.

At lunch I went running with Edgardo Balansay who I'm going to call 'the natural'. I originally met Edgardo cycling a few years ago and back then he could drop most people on any incline. According to him he just started running about two months ago and all I have to say is look out.

The guy is about 5' 7", 140 lb. and he wears these wafer thin, minimalist shoes with no socks that make a slap slap slap sound as he runs. His stride is the epitome of efficiency, he doesn't bounce around or swing his arms much or anything, he just scoots forward.

Did I mention that I'm 6' 2" and 180 lb.?

Today he peeled away any façade/pretense I had of being a 'runner'.
Edgardo and I left the IMA and right away I was in the red. No problem I thought, I'll relax and work myself into this run. Not. The pace just kept picking up and within 1/4 mile I was off the back! I pushed myself to regain contact and then looked at my watch to see what kind of pace we were doing.

6:15 minutes/mile

Slap slap slap...

Ouch. No wonder.

After a bit I was crying uncle and had to ask Edgardo to slow down or I was not going to be able to finish this run. :(

Slowing down meant something around 7:00 but by now even this was feeling too fast. I was hating life. Eventually we backed it down to around 7:30 but then we hit a hill (read: one block incline) and I had to freaking walk! Oh man... I had to walk one more time for about 10 seconds a bit later, it seemed I was having a terrible time trying to catch my breath. My legs were okay, I just couldn't breath so well.

As we got close to the IMA Edgardo suggested we sprint. I told him I thought I could lift the tempo some, and I did, but then I had to back it down again after just a couple of 100 m. From there I just limped home and hit the showers.

The entire time Edgardo was just chatting away and asking me all these questions like I'm some running authority or something. He asked me about training, build cycles, how to get fast, trail running, you name it. I was barely able to gasp some answers to his questions. To top it off, Edgardo asks me if I have ever heard of Partial Fasting...? Turns out this guy has been - consciously - missing breakfast AND lunch. Then he has a big dinner. So he spanked me with zero food in his system today. And the whole time all I could hear was slap slap slap.

What's interesting is that last fall I was able to cruise at the average speed we did today. I think starting so fast just killed me for the rest of the run... next time I need to start slower and hopefully speed up.
Guess who has not done any fast running/speed work.

Sleep	6
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	commute - water run - bottle w/1 scoop HEED and 1 tablet Nuun
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	run - 2:30 PM
Workout Type
Weather	run - low 60s, sunny, dry, light breeze
Course	run - damn flat with just two tiny hills
Results
Time
Distance	run - 8.2 miles
Pace	run - 7:28
Equipment	run - Brooks Launch, hand held bottle commute - Raleigh Mojave 8.0
Clothing	run - Brooks Infinity Short III

core

Oh man, I have been lax (as in 'lackadaisical', I hear that's how the kids say it these days) when it comes to working my core. Must. Not. Let. This. Slip.

It was kinda tough, but that's to be expected when you don't go regularly.

Sleep	7
Waking HR
Body Weight
Body Fat
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Workout Food	water
Injuries
Therapy
Time of Day	5:30 AM
Workout Type	rest
Weather
Course	ball leg lifts 3 x 40 back extensions 3 x 40 clam knee lifts 100 each leg side leg lifts 100 each leg leg scissors 100 push-ups 23 twisters 50 each side - 12 lb. hip abductors 3 x 30 - 100 lb.
Results
Time
Distance
Pace
Equipment
Clothing