Training Log Archive: iansmith

Longish tempoish workout. My objective was to run fast, but slower than threshold pace, for about an hour. I estimated my heart rate would be 160-170. I do VO2 max interval workouts, threshold runs, hill workouts, and easy long runs, but a conspicuous gap in my training is harder long runs - what Daniels' would call marathon pace. I don't know what the physiological benefit is, but it's psychologically helpful to push hard for 60+ minutes, much like a long O-race. I got some good advice recently from ebone about adding these sorts of workouts. Today's session was neither the longest nor the quickest, it was a good workout and right on target.

I'm skeptical of the exact distance, since the GPS was really wonky for the first 22 minutes. I ran along the river. I ran from the start of the esplanade at the eastern parking lot to the Eliot Bridge and back on the north side to the Harvard Bridge. Distance was 13.5 km in 57:36, or about 4:16/km. I ran in the dirt whenever possible to ease concerns about my legs, but they felt pretty good for the duration. I started to get a cramp in my abdomen in the last km of the faster running, and my left hip was tight at the end.

Testing out the legs. Apparently my doughty Road-Xs have 762 km on them. It seems odd, but my outlook on life is almost always better after a run. I'll probably have to discuss this with my therapist, ken.

My left shin did not feel good after my workout on Sunday, and I was very concerned about the possibility of a stress fracture. I also noticed pain in my ankles and right leg, so I decided to take two rest days. Wednesday was an unplanned rest day, as I felt weary with malaise. Basically, I didn't feel good, so I decided not to workout to wait and see how things felt after resting. I suspect running in the snow on Saturday followed by a hill workout may have been more arduous than it felt at the time, and my muscles and soft tissue were inflamed or otherwise sore. I took two naproxen and some prophylactic chocolate milk.

My legs didn't feel great today, but it doesn't seem to be a stress fracture, so I will ease back into things the rest of this week.