Elite Jogging For Dummies

I swam about 1/2 mile at Steiner; concentrating mostly on drills. 

Arrived at Steiner at about 6, parked the car and did a 4.6 mile route around the U and Research Park.  This was my first run in my Ecco Biom shoes I picked up on Saturday. These are a minimalist trainer.  Despite their techy-looks, it feels like a racing flat with a stiff sole. The last is made of polyurethane that is supposed to last a long time. The shoes did support a more neutral position.  They lack any meaningful cushioning, which I am apparently willing to pay a premium not to have. I will continue to give them a try and report appropriately.

After the run, I swam 1000m in the pool at Steiner. My form was much better than on Sunday. 

This morning I ran my first workout with the black sheep since probably early May.  It was retro day, meaning everyone was sporting old school shirts from as far back as their wardrobes could take them, i.e., John Straley's 1982 Salt Lake Classic shirt and his brother Jeff's 1977 East Cross Country shirt. I was sporting an American Apparel reissue of a vintage design--a white tank with red piping. But it was made of cotton and that was plenty of retro for me. 

 I was pretty concerned about running hard on the track since it's been a while. We warmed up 1.20 miles and then did a timed mile, with each lap accelerating.  My watch died before this so I didn''t have a split. Josh ran 5:15 and I was close to 30 seconds behind him, so I would say 5:40-45 or so.  It felt ok.  Then we ran 8 x 400m with 200m jog recoveries.  These I ran in 75-77.  Again, these felt ok and I am glad that we didn't do more than eight because I just don't have the fitness for much more than that right now, not to mention concern about aggravating the knee.

 Part of my objective in doing this workout is a test of where the knee is at in terms of recovery.  Right now it feels ok, but we'll see how the day unfolds. I plan to swim tomorrow to give it a break.

 

I swam a mile at Steiner. The last 400m of this swim felt as good as any bit of swimming I have done. I also picked up a wetsuit yesterday so I can hopefully get into the open water a bit more.

I pulled myself out of bed at 5:05 and drove my body to Holladay to meet at Divas to run with the group that meets there each week.  It's basically a few dudes like me and 6-10 of the fastest women on the Wasatch Front.  They are relentless. It was a good run with several long surges. Overall pace was in the neighborhood of sub 7 minutes.  The knee, per usual, felt unstable in the first few miles and then loosened up and didn't bother me the rest of the run. I did quite a bit of massage on the hamstring when I got home. We'll see how it holds up the rest of the day.  Two speedier sessions in the same week is something I haven't done in a long time and I am wary about boosting mileage and intensity at the same time. Tomorrow I'll likely hit the pool again.

I swam a mile this morning in the pool at Steiner.  This was the most relaxed effort yet for this distance. I could have gone another 400m or so but was a little short on time.  I almost enjoyed it.

Met up with a group of 6 or so at Foothill at 6am. We ran an out and back to B street and 11th Avenue.  The weather was hectic but overall pretty nice. Not too windy and not too rainy--but definitely a little of both. It felt like late October.

 I wore the Biom's for the first time over 5 miles.  They felt fine, but the toebox is a little roomy and I didn't close the laces as tightly as I should have. I can't say that these shoes are going to solve my hamstring/knee problems on their own but I do appreciate that they make me pay more attention to what my feet and legs are actually doing while I run.