Yesterday I ran a bit over 9K near my gym. The weather had improved after Monday’s high winds and heavy pollution in Vegas.
Along with wanting to finish near the gym and be able to stretch etc, the roads and trails allow for mostly clear running over a few miles, giving me what I could find from some other locales but with the added benefit of my gym being right there when I’m done. I went inside and strength trained 20 minutes before stretching and heading home.
This was a fairly strong steady run and I didn’t have much trouble maintaining pace for close to an hour. It obviously helps that Vegas has cooled significantly down, and that along with sunset shadows it was only 63°F during the run. We have reached fall and it looks like the cooler weather is here to stay, meaning I can now comfortably run outside once again. The timing couldn’t be much better as I’m now in peak training.
On Monday I had done some work break running, and after work the wind and dust forced me inside to use the treadmill for a bit. The settings gave me some uncanny problems during 3.5 fitful miles of (what should have been) easy intervals. Once my right hamstring started to struggle a bit, I quickly shut it down before any pain could rear its head and switched to the elliptical for about 20 minutes.
Even now I feel just a bit tired and a bit sore. It probably helped that I decided not to run on work breaks yesterday, opting instead to just walk and focus any running on the one evening workout. I even spent one work break grabbing something to eat, which I need now that I’m burning 3000+ calories per day. Yesterday needed about 3400 after Monday needed 3800, that a product of having run on work breaks.
Today is more of the same: An extended run after work, and possibly some extra work in the gym after that. I may take today’s run to a park and neighborhood, though, which would eliminate the gym component, though I’ll still want to stretch afterward. Either way, I won’t run during work breaks, and will just walk and eat instead.
Not running on the treadmill definitely felt a lot better on my legs. I now firmly believe the treadmill running was a key source of my injury problems this summer, and that running outside allows the downward force into my legs to propel forward instead of just going back through the legs as they do on the mill. So I’ll keep things outside as much as I can going forward.
If during this workweek my legs get too sore or tired I’ll just move back to the elliptical for aerobic training and give them a chance to bounce back. It’ll be key to be able to run long Saturday or Sunday, so Friday will likely be an easy day, even though I intend to train that day no matter what. If I have to take Saturday off, that’s fine, but then I run long Sunday morning.
Either way, mentally and energy-wise I’m feeling pretty good, which is a good sign in the middle of what needs to be a very tough training week. Indy is in 24 days. Right now, as trained to-date, finishing is possible. But if the next 10 days goes well, my estimates should improve dramatically.