Sparrows Experiment

The Epsom Salt has helped a lot. I also got a nice massage that hurt like heck but seemed to break up a lot of the muscle tissue because I'm less sore today. Taking the day off.

I'm not sure what this week will hold for me as far as how my body is going to cooperate but I'll do all I know how to be race ready by Saturday. I seem to be recovering from workouts at a slug slow rate lately. I need to get back to my recovery drinks. I still feel so uncharacteristically fatigued lately-like just dog tired no matter how much sleep I get

Here is my outloud plan for the week: My average weekly mileage is 16 (ouch, no wonder I got so sore) so I'm reducing that by 65% which is about 5.5-6 miles total this week. However, the intensity needs to be UP for half of those miles for taper to be effective.

Monday: spin 45 min/core
Tuesday: 3 miles: 1 mile warm, 1 mile alt. 1 min sprint/1min pace, 1 mile cool
Wednesday: easy swim (2k) or off-however I'm feeling
Thursday: 2 miles: .5 mile warm up: 1 mile alternate 1 min sprint/1 min pace, .5 mile cool
Friday: off, travel to race
Saturday: Half Marathon Race 8:30am goal: New goal: 1:40.
 
You rock, I can't wait until I'm at half marathon distance
 
I didn't do the formal spin class today, I figured if I'm running a race saturday, what am I doing spinning for? So I did my 3 miles today instead of tomorrow. I have my GI appt tomorrow during my normal workout so I will have to revise the plan anyway.

3miles: 1 mile@ 9 min pace, 1 mile HIIT (1 min@6:30 pace/1 min@ 9 min pace), 1 min cool@ 8:30 pace.

30 min easy hardly any resistance spin
stretch

Legs are nearly back in working order. They were still fatigued today but atleast I could hold some paces. I'm going to buy a vat of that Epsom Salt, I swear by it.
 
love the new signature!

I am so happy to read this post of yours today.

keep them horses in the stable. Feed them a little bit, water them, and tease them. get them riled up, but don't keep them up all night. It is gunna be hard for you. Do not deplete those babies again. This weekend when you throw the gate open, they are gunna show you some RUNning.

It is all about the run. We both know how spir5itual and awesome it can be. Be in control this week... You are headed for the greatest run of your life. I just know it! :bncry: it's touching... :cool:

FF
 
Hey Sparrow, you mentioned recovery drinks. What have you used that has worked? I usually have some whey and fruit when I get done running, but if there is something out there to speed up recovery I would like to look into it.

Good luck on your race Saturday!
 
I used Accelerade all last season which has an ideal carb to protein ratio of 4:1. It sped up my recovery times tremendously. However it did little for me DURING exercise, it actually made me feel sick, as does gu or power gel. After doing some research on Hammer Nutrition I'm going to start experimenting with that line. It is different than any other. I haven't actually compared Accelerade to Hammer but I've been impressed with the Hammer specs and their science makes a lot of sense to me. Accelerade for sure for PW
 
Dr appt for the GI issue and then later I'll swim:

500free
400IM
300 kick
200 pull
100 drill
5x100 decending 1-5 @ 1:45
6x50 back/breast @1:05
200 cool

simple dimple
 
What I did was:

.5 miles @ 8:30 pace
1 mile alternating 6:40 pace and 8:15 pace 1 min each
swim
500 free
400IM
300 kick
5x100 free decending time (1:25, 1:23, 1:20, 1:18, 1:15)
100 easy

Felt pretty good in both areas today. Shins hurt but what else is new.
 
Spin class. It was HARD not to push it as I normally do, really really hard. I *may* have overdone it a tad but I still have 2 good recovery days. I'm not worried.
 
I tried some Hammer Gel once. I really liked it because it hardly had any taste at all. Just a mild hint of raspberry jam.

Gettin' close now, huh, sparrow. :D
 
sparrow said:
Spin class. It was HARD not to push it as I normally do, really really hard. I *may* have overdone it a tad but I still have 2 good recovery days. I'm not worried.
Click to expand...


better to worry and not push it again, than feel confident and burn.

how about 30 solid minutes stretching your hammies, and hip floxors? that should produce some of that "pain" you are jonesing for, and break a decent sweat.

hang on darlin! the thrill of the edge is in knowing it is actually the edge. RIDE THIS ONE and see how it serves you. ;)

edging is good :D

FF'er
 
flyinfree said:
better to worry and not push it again, than feel confident and burn.

how about 30 solid minutes stretching your hammies, and hip floxors? that should produce some of that "pain" you are jonesing for, and break a decent sweat.

hang on darlin! the thrill of the edge is in knowing it is actually the edge. RIDE THIS ONE and see how it serves you. ;)

edging is good :D

FF'er
Click to expand...

Focus: What I love about Hammer gel the most is that you can turn any gel into a sports drink! I think thats genious. Definitely invented by a woman :) Its ingredients are just all around better than any I've seen in other stuff.

FF-I don't know if I'm actually "edging". ha. My legs feel tired and heavy but its a sort of numb heavy. No real pain anywhere in my body, I'm just fuzzy and numb..but heavy ;). Hard to explain. I was spinning going "wow, I seriously cannot feel my legs at all." I was sweating like CRAZY but my heart rate was 130-135 and my legs were fuzzy. haha. I could breathe through my nose the whole time and I really was working hard so I couldn't figure it out. It was weird. Its not an unfamiliar feeling. I tapered a lot when I swam competitively and I HATED tapering. It stresses me out and mentally messes with me. I remember horrible workouts taper week, being very off my times, feeling heavy and very tired due to increased carbs and water retention (due to increased carbs) etc..down to the last day before the meet. Then magically it would always come together just at the right time. I'm banking on that.

I generally don't taper well. This is considered a "long" taper for me. I never did more than 4 days taper even at my hardest yardage in the pool. I just couldn't feel my fitness after that long. I've heard that from other endurance athletes too (slow twitch fiber folks!), it really takes just a few days to feel prime again. We actually LIKE the feeling of pain somewhere in our bodies..it helps us feel what our muscles can do. The absence of it is like trying to find the bathroom in a dark unfamiliar room :D

okay now that I've written a novel...it seems ridiculous to make a big deal over this. Its just some half marathon. I guess when you can see goals that you never dreamed of striving for all the sudden right in front of your face, you want to make the most of the moment-cause it might not happen again! I want to be blown away by what happens Saturday. I also want it to be so far beyond myself that i can only give God the glory for it. Thats already happened-I'm already there. He's already blessed this part of my life far and above.
 
Last day running before the race. Felt great

1 mile warm up 9:30 pace w a few hundred meter goal pace strides
1 mile HIIT alternate 6:30 pace and 10 min pace
.5 mile cool 9:30 pace

Core with tri class
small "gravity" (moving your own body weight-its a pilates thing) session

the gravity thing was a bad idea. It actually tired me quite a bit. lol. I had half a milkshake after my workout. It just sounded SO good. That might have been a dumb idea too, but atleast I got some post workout carbs in there. lol

Tomorrow is a complete day off as I travel to my race, try out a new tri bike and see my buddies for dinner. Next posting will be race day results!
 
We don't even want to talk abotu what she deserves... :eek2:

Run SPARROW RUN! You are in race prep right now, prayers, God' Speed, strength and BREATH to you honey!

Smilers have better finish times.

Remember to have fun.

Todd
 
Tried the tri bike. it was very cool, but not for me. I think with bikes you just KNOW when you know that its "the one". This one, while very very awesome, fast and all that, was not the one. SO oh well, I'll find one eventually.

I wish I had great news to report but I don't. I'll just get that out there off the bat. Let me just preface what I'm going to say with the fact that for weeks and weeks I have been very careful to do all things possible to stay healthy. My whole family had the flu and everything and I was spared! So I spent the night at a friends house last night and her kid had a fever. Long story short. I woke up with the same fever :( that was ALL that was wrong with me. I'd felt "achy" in my joints last night but this morning that part was gone. So I went to the race anyway thinking no big deal, I'll sweat it off. Still in good spirits. I could tell in my warm up runs that it might be a challenging day. I got winded very fast and my legs felt like lead. Another long story short....I fought my way through 6.5 miles. I realized half way through the 6.5 that I wouldn't last this whole thing but wasn't going to go down without a fight. SO I decided to race the 10K part of it. I just put everything out there for the 6.5 distance knowing I'd stop afterwards. The clock read 46 something when I was done with that. I guess thats good...but I felt like death afterwards. I dry heaved a while with the whole chill thing and felt dizzy. Sat down a little while while someone took my chip off my foot and I went home. SUCKY BIG TIME. I shed a few silent tears for a few minutes, mourning my lost opportunity I trained so hard for...but then sucked it up and just throught "ok whats done is done, move on"
So I'm okay. I still feel like junk but at least I gave it a shot and didn't give up right from the start-or didn't show up. The understatement of the day is, "I'm just so disappointed."
 
I'd say that was a pretty time awesome run. Even with the flu, you beat my 10K time by 10 minutes.

Keep looking for Mr. Right Bike
 
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