While I’m ultimately not going to Vancouver this month, I am still training for Indy, and taking it a bit slow the last couple of days after a lengthy Saturday workout.
I ran a couple of slow work break runs yesterday but otherwise did no other running. I got on the elliptical yesterday and worked a full hour, but that was all.
Tonight I will look to actually do an outside training run in Vegas for the first time in a bit. All my other running has been fairly short, obviously, and this time I’m looking for 4-7 miles. I’m thinking of parking at the gym and then running near the gym (again, I want to avoid the treadmill for now) so afterward I can quickly get inside and perhaps lift a bit, but definitely stretch.
This training cycle I have made a concerted effort to stretch in the gym before and after workouts (sometimes during workouts). I don’t do anything fancy. The only dynamic stretching I do before and after is leg swings. After workouts and after leg swings I find the stretch chair and do all the listed stretches except for the quad stretch, which I do while standing James Dunne style.
Making a point to do this after treadmill runs and elliptical workouts has probably helped me quite a bit in ways I can’t totally articulate right now. I’ve probably improved my anterior hip mobility, which was likely a contributing factor in my hamstring and groin problems earlier. Even now, that same hamstring tendon is a bit sore but nothing like it was during my prior recovery.
So I’d like to make a point to stretch before and after outdoor runs, and running near the gym facilitates that since I can just walk in and stretch when I’m done. Even when I run in the park, I can find a bench and approximate a lot of the static stretches there afterward, but it’s admittedly easier and more relaxing when I have the stretch chair.
Also, apparently, my gym just soft-opened a new location near where I work. I may go eat lunch near there and then hit the gym for 20 minutes.
If this works well, I may do this twice a week. I’d go more often but my gym sets a max limit on outside visits to one non-home gym, which I’d easily hit if I went every day. I do like my main gym and still visit almost every day, so I don’t want to switch home-gym locations.
When the scale shows I’ve gained weight but that my estimated body fat has gone down, that’s a good sign, especially days after a long workout. It usually means my muscles have reloaded their glycogen stores.
At this point I’m cruising around 176-179 pounds, and I’ve accepted that this number’s not likely to go down much before Indy. The required balance between suitably fueling training volume and everyday life with trying to shed excess fat means there’s only so much I can expect to do on that end right now.
Storms have reached town this morning so we’ll see if I get a work break run in this morning, though I think they’ll clear before the afternoon.