Everything You Didn't Want to Know About My Runs

Upper body workout.

Lower body workout plus 30 min on stationary bike.

 Had a minor medical procedure last Saturday which has put me out of commission for a while.  The workouts actually make me feel better so I'm back at it. 

60 minutes on stationary bike.

Lower body workout.  Gym was packed this morning.  January is always the worst month.  It will die down in a month or two.  Had two groups of people monopolizing the leg press machines so I had to do an alternate workout but later there was competition for the quad machines.  I had to do my single leg lifts on the double leg machine.  No big deal.  

30 minutes on exercise bike. 

Yesterday we woke up to a dead van battery and I felt like crap.  Sore throat.  Headache. Tired. So I skipped the workout.

Today I did upper body.  I'm getting stronger.  Particularly in my arms where I don't need it as much.  I don't know why my arms respond so much better than my chest and shoulders.

30 minutes on the stationary bike.

Hamstring pain was back after my lower body workout.  I had wanted to do leg presses which seem to help.  What really seems to get it is driving for 30 minutes with the seat warmer on.  I may need to drive with an ice pack, but I'll have to wait until it warms up. 

Marathon is less than 20 weeks away.  Time to start training or to decide I can't run it this year. Nothing I've done or not done has made much difference with the high hamstring tendinopathy.  It comes and goes.  It felt the very worst when I sat around and did nothing for a week while I had the flu.  It seems to go away the day after doing leg presses--which hurt like crazy on the first set.

I've been doing a lot of strength training and a lot of stationary biking.  I'm stronger, a little bit lighter, and a lot less fat.  I decided the hamstring pain is there no matter what I do so I might as well try running and see if I can manage it or if it gets a lot worse.  I did 30 minutes on the rowing machine.  I decided that isn't the best thing to do for the hamstring.  Sitting seems to be the very worst thing for it.

Then I did 3 miles on the treadmill.  I did them at a 10mm pace--which was still easy, but I tried to keep my turnover rate high.  My cycling cadence has been 90 so I think I was at that tempo, but I wasn't measuring it.  I do know I would slip out of it if I didn't focus on it.  It felt good to run, but it got difficult after a couple of miles.  I guess there really is no substitute for running.  I actually started to stitch a bit towards the end.

First run in my new flows.  So far, I love them.  They are so light.  I could feel how my feet were striking much more than in any other shoe I have ever worn.  It seemed to help.  I need to give them a few more runs to make sure it isn't just because I want to love them. 

The hamstring hurt a little bit, but the rowing contributed.  The ankle was fine--which was very nice.  I'm not too excited yet because it was only three miles, but hopefully the strength training will solve the ankle and shin problems.  I probably need super advanced physical therapy for the hamstring thing.

Upper body workout then 3 miles on the treadmill.

Left shoe was too tight and my foot was hurting.  I hope it isn't a problem with the shoe.  Next time I'll try not to tighten it too much and see if it is better.  I still love the right shoe.

Was a little warn out from the weights and I felt a little sick while running--mostly because I had water with me and drank too much after 5 minutes.  I stopped drinking water and felt better after a while.

Hamstring was not quite so bad this time.  I think the rowing was a major contributor to the pain last time. 

Lower body workout.  Didn't get to the gym until night time and only had time for the workout. Workout was very intense, though.

Upper body workout.  Did the shoulder-heavy workout.

Then ran for 35 minutes. Just tied my left shoe normally without tightening it and it was great.  I love these shoes.  Ran 10m/m for 10 minutes, then 9:13 for 5, then 8:57 for 5, then 10 for 10 more with a 5 minute walk.  Hamstring hurts a little, not as bad as last week, though.  Legs were a little sore from playing basketball/floor hockey last night.  There was some very minor ankle soreness.  Whoops.  No more basketball.

Oh, I almost forgot.  Before my hamstring-induced-hiatus, I was trying, and struggling, to work on a 180 bpm cadence.  I've been doing a lot of cycling at a 90 bpm cadence (which is the same thing when you count one full pedal revolution.)  Last week, when I was running on the treadmill I tried to run at the same rate and thought I was close because it seemed like the same turnover rate.  I also said I had no idea, though because I wasn't using a metronome.

Today I realized I was on a treadmill.  With a clock.  I could just count my steps for a minute. So I counted left foot strikes for a minute and was dead-on 90.  Amazing.  Like before, I had to concentrate to keep that rate up at 6 mph--especially later on.  However, at the higher speeds it didn't require much concentration at all.  I was excited about that.

Lower body workout (3 sets):

Single-leg leg press: 15-20 reps

Fast squats

Single-leg hamstring curls: 15-20 reps

Partial leg lifts: 15-20 reps

 Rubber-band side steps: 20 in each direction

40 step-overs

I used to just do 2 sets.  Today I did 3.  I was sweating heavily by the end of the third set.

Exercise ball crunches

Planks 

30 minutes on stationary bike.