Wednesday Workouts & A Personal Record To Boot.....

Hey Guys,

     I am now a TRUE believer in the power of rest and recovery! Leading up to Florida Ironman 70.3 I was maybe running 10 - 15 miles a week tops as a result of an IT issue that stemmed from The Cowtown 26.2 marathon in February. I have been doing ART (Active Release Technique) with my Chiro 1-2  times per week for the past 10 weeks and really have not done much running. I did not run AT ALL for 2.5 weeks after Florida HIM and I was VERY affraid I would lose my running fitness that I worked so hard to establish for my past couple marathons. Well, I trusted what my coach was telling me, seeing as he is a top ranked Pro Triathlete, and focused on my Swimming, Biking,and few aqua runs to keep my range of motion. Last Saturday, I ran 10 miles at 9:04 pace with absolutely NO knee / IT band pain! This morning I went in and focused on running at a 70-80% RPE effort the whole run. I ended up running 10K (6.2 miles) in 48:07 averaging 7.7 MPH... That is a personal Record by almost 3 minutes! I am a believer in recovery and rest! I am now learning that more mileage and hours is not always better. Shorter more focused and intense workouts are proving to be just as if not more effective. To top it all off, I again have zero discomfort or pain in my knee / IT band and could not be happier. I have a little over 2 weeks before my next 70.3 Ironman in Buffalo Springs and I am shooting for 5:15:00 as my goal!!! WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO TODAY???

For a bit of XT I cut down an oak tree with a 24" diameter with an 18 saw.  It's a Husky so it's up to the task.  Me on the other hand - not so sure!  I gave it an honest 5 hours of back breaking work before I submitted for the day.  I'll be back at it tomorrow.  Today was definitely a negative calorie day!

Yesterday was three weeks out for me and I managed the entire 1 hour loop of hiking that I used to do five days a week pre-op.  It took me about 10 minutes longer than usual (okay, so 1 hour and 10 minute loop) but that was really due to the 90 degree plus heat more than anything else.  It wasn't even hard.  I think I'm going to start running again today (very slowly) and see how it feels.

I'm very proud of myself for getting back into my exercise routine so quickly!