Restraint

I'm settling into a bit of a routine, though it will likely evolve a bit over the next few weeks to the extent I'm able to perform some activities during the week, and what has to wait until the weekend. I'm really enjoying the weight training (focusing not on mass or muscle endurance, but somewhere in between) and am finally back to some of the fun - cycling, running, swimming. The weight training will certainly evolved into more of a muscle endurance mode, mostly by maintaining the weight and just increasing the reps as I'm able to support it. If you are curious, the weight routines are on my training log, linked on the right sidebar.

Now to the aerobic base activity. Hmmm... I want to maintain minimal bike and swim for now, and focus on running. The problem I'm having is holding the reigns tight and not pushing myself. I did a nice 2+ hour ride on Monday (vacation day) and tried hard - REALLY HARD - to hold back, but some times I just had to push it. I rode the long way to Cleveland Park, which was nice, but in the park some dude decided he was too good to return a friendly "hello," yet wanted to suck my wheel. So I hammered it to drop (or at least punish) him a bit. That didn't help! But, it was largely a base-level ride and left me happy.

Today at lunch I went for a run on my 4.28 mile loop. My goal was to stay in the 150-155 HR zone, but I kept creeping up as I pushed it in a couple of spots. I ran-by-Garmin, but for my HR and not pace or time. I wound up spending the vast majority of the time in zones 3 & 4, and had a surprisingly decent pace for a restrained run: 7:44/miles (a hair over 33 minutes). Just about where I wanted to be. On average, at least. I did notice that I was controlling my HR through my breathing more than I suspected, and further believe that I have not been purposely breathing deeply enough over the last year to support much better pace. Must work on that.

But, apart from the HR pacing, I concentrated on posture and form: shoulders back, chin slightly up, hands relaxed with forearms parallel to the ground and at waist level, minimal upper body motion (bouncing, rotating, and swinging), and near flat foot strike with controlled stride length. A major revelation to me over the past season was to shorten my stride. Once I developed that, I never had shin splints. At all! And this has always plagued me, probably because I believed long legs should stride out more. Ben (from Carolina Tri) informed me during the Cleveland St YMCA Clemson Tri Clinic that I was, indeed, over striding, and this isn't necessarily better. Thanks (again) Ben!

Tomorrow I may swim, if I don't ride to work. Or I could go after work, when Mendy goes to the receiving of friends for her uncle's mom. (BTW, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers) Friday is Thai food with Chris and our tri buddy Eric. Speaking of Chris, check out his troubling race report from IM FL. Sad state of sportsmanship today. Makes you wonder what some people consider right and wrong. But hats off to Chris for taking a stand. Hats also off to Robin for a great job and leaving nothing back on her A race, the Mountain Masochist 54 Mile Trail Run. May not have turned out as planned, but it's a hell of a lot better than I could dream of doing! Way to go, guys!