4.9.09

Warm today, and a perfect easy run. Yesterday I decided to do some calf raises as I used to do them all the time in jr-high and high school, but man I have been slacking. I remembering doing two sets of a hundred, plus jumping exercises (over boxes, onto tall boxes, quick jumps) and never felt a thing. I did two sets of 20 last night and my calves haven't been this sore since I can't remember when. I thought it would affect the run today, but it really didn't.

So there is a lot of work to be done in the strength area, and it's mostly my fault. I want to find a nice long stairwell or stadium steps to run, and there are a few schools around I just never make the trip. Hills are great, but with stairs you have to be much more accurate and that would help a lot with my coordination. So that is on the agenda now too.

I wore my HR monitor today and I guess it was good. I tried to keep it as low as I could without feeling like I was jogging, which was actually kind of hard to do - mostly because of the hills/terrain. I also skipped the HH today since I just did 2 yesterday and the calves were sore so didn't want to really mess with them anymore. In addition to the calves being sore, my left hip joint was a little achy too (probably from the downhills) but is pretty normal so no worries. It was a little warmer today so my HR was probably a tad higher than normal too.

Tonight I will do my core workout, consisting of a variety of different exercises. Accelerations were on the list for today, but because of the calves and hip I will just do them tomorrow. I'm thinking that I will start off at a good clip, then increase it to 90% for the last half of the accels (proabably do 100-200 meters).

Sunday if things look good I'm going to the track. Now I know the common "rule" of thumb is to rest the same amount of days as you race, but when I saw the two top runners in our area running 15 low in the 5k LAST weekend I realized the truth. If they can do it, so can I. Plus it's not like I feel beat up or anything. I've been taking it really easy on my runs and my legs feel more than fine, heck they feel better than Before the marathon. It would be different if I felt fatigued or if something just didn't feel right, but that just isn't that case. I'm not going to go on justifying my reasoning, it just seems like I would be a target for those who stick only to a single plan blindly, and follow rules without understanding them, and never push beyond their perceived limits - it's just not me.

5:58pm. home. sunny 70 degrees 34% H, WSSW 10mph.
1:13:01 (10.98), bf 1276
AHR161/MHR172