Lämmchen's Workout Thread

[Lamb]

I have to wait for the hvac to come give my air conditioner a tune up this morning, so no hiking for me. That's okay because it's super humid outside and I would have been miserable!

 

[tango]

I have to wait for the hvac to come give my air conditioner a tune up this morning, so no hiking for me. That's okay because it's super humid outside and I would have been miserable!

It's supposed to rain all day here, so chances are I'll end up getting some exercise in the hall at the church. Until the air quality issues I'd forgotten how dull that could be...

 

[tango]

Yesterday's suggested workout was a 30 minute recovery-level workout, but my legs felt strong and wanted to go fast. I planned sprint repeats but didn't have time before meeting a friend, so decided to do a fast run instead. It worked pretty well except I took a couple of the hills too hard and had to slow down, then found the heat wore me down faster than I expected. I suspect it was a combination of having insufficient fuel in my system and the heat that wore me down so fast, and of course going in hard at the beginning burned through my reserves faster than I had expected.

My fastest mile within the run was only a couple of seconds slower than my personal best, when my PB was specifically planned, so that was pleasing. At the same time it was slightly disappointing to know how close I came, because if I'd known that I'd have pushed a little harder for that section.

Today it suggested a recovery workout, which was just fine with me, so I went for a walk with my wife.

 

[tango]

Today's suggested workout was a 90 minute base run. I still haven't got the hang of the slower speeds so it turned into a 90 minute threshold level run. My race predictor shaved nearly two minutes off its estimation for how long it would take me to run a marathon, which is interesting and all that but I've never run that distance and I don't know if I ever will.

 

[Lamb]

I was finally able to get back to the park to do my hike! It felt good, the weather was cool and then I came home and cleaned and did laundry.

 

[tango]

In the last couple of months I've spent more time working on running more slowly.

Every single time my suggested workout was a base level run I tried to match the suggested speed, and every time I failed. It was unnatural to run as slowly as the suggested pace, especially on the long gentle declines. But when I shifted to using my heart rate as a target it became a whole lot easier. I didn't need to slow right down on the downhill sections, and just needed to watch the effort on the climbs. The first time I managed to do my entire loop without going too far over the target heart rate my average pace was more or less what I'd been trying to match all along.

Now when I match the target heart rate my pace is about 15 seconds per mile faster. I guess that's the benefit of doing it regularly.

 

[Lamb]

The weather hasn't always been kind to me for going on my hikes. I think I'm only doing about 7-10 miles a week.

 

[tango]

A gentle run today. Yesterday my suggested workout was at threshold level and I really wasn't feeling it, so I ran for an hour at very slightly over base level. My tracker registered it as a tempo level run but it must have been only just over the boundary between base and tempo. Today's suggestion was 45 minutes at base level and again I pushed slightly into tempo level. Today I felt strong but decided to aim for somewhere between base and tempo rather than pushing it harder. When it gets cooler I'm hoping to see some benefits of building a base during the hotter months, even if it is a bit of a downer to see my pulse fast even when my pace isn't.

 

[Lamb]

I should have walked before going to get groceries, but I wanted to get to the store before the schools opened because in the first few days of the start of school there is generally more traffic on the road. Parents like to drive their little ones sometimes. Anyway, it's indoor steps today.

 

[tango]

My tracker had a challenge to run a 5k this weekend, and another challenge to run a 15k this month. So I did a 10 mile run and got them both at the same time. It was warmer than I expected, so I was glad to have a water bottle with electrolytes in it. No speed records today, it was just about covering the distance.

 

[tango]

Gentle 45 minute run today, keeping my pulse around 140 or so. Didn't feel particularly strong, it was another session of just covering the ground.

 

[Lamb]

I had a medical test done on Friday and the anesthesia is still affecting me and I'm super tired. I think I slept 10 hours last night. I couldn't even get up early enough to do loops before it started to get hot outside. Indoor steps today.

 

[tango]

My suggested workout today is sprint repeats. It's already over 80 degrees. I'm not sure if I'll do the sprint repeats anyway or do something gentler and save the sprint repeats for later. I still have some work I want to get done on the house, in a room the air conditioning doesn't cover yet, so need to give some thought to how best to fit everything in.

 

[tango]

I did my sprint repeats. I did my own version rather than the suggested version because the suggested version ends up being easy enough it rather defeats the point. I do more and longer springs with shorter rest times, albeit with slightly slower sprint paces because I focus on running the hills. Driving it purely by time leads me into awkward situations where I end up trying to sprint down hills (not good) and occasionally having to split a sprint repeat if I have to cross the road at just the wrong time.

Sometimes the overall training effect of the suggested workouts is base level. When I do them they usually indicate the primary benefit is anaerobic which is pretty much the point of doing them.

 

[tango]

Today's workout was threshold intervals. The first one was easy because it ended up being mostly downhill, but did take in a couple of short but steep climbs. The second one contained a gentle but steady uphill for much of it, and the third one finished on an uphill section. Along the way I accidentally set a new personal record. Now I know I can sustain a faster pace than I thought, for longer than I thought, when it cools down a little more I'm going to see if I can set a new 5k record.

 

[tango]

Speed repeats today. As usual I ignored my watch's suggested intervals because they are too easy, and did 10k of my own sprint/speed repeats. They were sprint repeats at first but as the distance increased so the speed of the intervals went down somewhat. It turned out to be the hardest workout I've done for a couple of months.

 

[tango]

Yesterday's suggested workout was 45 minutes at a base pace. Today for some reason it was 51 minutes at a base pace. Base runs are pretty easy, I just need to remember to ease off going up the hills. Today I forgot myself, maintained pace up one of the steeper hills, and pushed my pulse way out of base range. So I needed to slow down a bit to bring it back in range.

 

[tango]

Sprint repeats today. I thought it was the hardest workout I've done in a while but it turned out the sprint repeats I did on Monday were rated as a very slightly higher load. My tracker gives each workout a load score - today scored 285 but Monday scored 290. It's supposed to rain for much of the weekend so it's good to get a hard workout in while I can.

 

[Lamb]

Today we're getting the tropical storm so I'm not going to get outside at all to do any walking/hiking. I've been really good at getting 3-4 miles since the weather turned cooler.

 

[tango]

We have light rain that's supposed to last a while. Probably not going to get much done outside today. But that's OK, I've got stuff to do on the house which will keep me amused for some time to come.