So it has been a few days since I last posted – I did put up my various runs on twitter but I should get them up here on the blog as well!
Saturday May 23rd – 4.45 miles in 40:22 outside – very warm and sunny – so different from the week before! Definitely felt the heat though even though I ran fairly early.
Sunday May 24th – 4.45 miles in 39:07 outside – still quite warm but I did better with the heat today. I had intended a 20 miler today but had to let it go because I couldn’t get the coughs to stop long enough. 4 weeks from 24th is the Manitoba Marathon – I am not ready. I haven’t done anything longer than a half in a couple months between being brought down pretty hard back in April and then this cold over the last week. I am going to have to push for consistency over the next few weeks to get as good a base going as I can!
Tuesday May 26th – 5 miles in 37:27 on the treadmill – pushed fairly hard tonight even though I was feeling pretty burnt out. I put in some decent pushes of sustained speed – I hit 9 mph a few times with a maximum of 3 minutes at one point.
Beyond the running we also have the backyard swimming pool open and I have been taking advantage of that. Something like 8-10 hours in the pool overall over the weekend splashing around which should help the legs a bit.
I also have started ramping in swimming pool resistance exercises for upper body strength and to help a bit with cardiovascular strength as well. You can do pool resistance exercises faster than you can with free weights or machines with much less impact to the joints – this lets you get in a bit of a cardio workout on top of strengthening benefits.
I tend to do 3 sets of exercises back to back which helps with endurance as well.
While doing these exercises I am holding resistance increasing handheld “dumbbells”.
One of the nice things about swimming pool resistance exercises is that you can target opposite muscle sets as part of the same exercise. For example I do an exercise that mimics bicep curls in one direction and then triceps extensions in the other. Ends up being more efficient working the major muscle groups – there will be a limitation on how strong you can get with these methods (much like body weight resistance exercises) but I am not out to build bulk or mass at this point.
So I end up doing sets of 3 different exercise combinations for 25 repetitions each with no breaks, and I do them quickly enough that I end breathing pretty heavy by the end of the last set of exercises.
I work the chest and upper back in one set, the biceps and triceps in another (as mentioned above) and then the third set targets the shoulders and lats.
Combining this with my chin ups, dips and push ups every day should help build / maintain some solid upper body strength.
I will be taking advantage of the pool even more as I go along to add in deep water running to reduce some of the strain on my legs. I have signed up for the 12 hour Lemming Loop again for the beginning of October and beyond doing lots of multi-hour long runs I should be able to add in the deep water running to multi-task while hanging with the family in the pool.
Anyway – bit of a rambling post for the night. But long story short – coming off this cold and starting to feel healthy and I am going to start pushing hard to get back to where I want to be!
Stay tuned…
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