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Jon’s musing about running and things about running while running and after running and probably before running too

Been putting the laps in the pool while the outdoor pool is still open. Getting down to 1K in about 35-40 minutes w/ freestyle. Then i have been working in a 5k later in the early evening 26-30 mins per session. Definitely feel like i am getting back into the swing of things.

Leading up to today, a nice 10k+ trailrun in about 75 minutes and feeling great. A bit hot but not too humid and jumped in the pool to just relax with my kids. The trail was empty, saw only one snake and some butterflies, lots of squirrels, no music, only my thoughts. Stumbled only once and no falls and no mud to lose a shoe to the deep.

Outdoor pool closes tomorrow 😢 and i’ll have to find a way to get to my community indoor pool or the workplace pool and gym.

Good to be back without too much stress or injury. That was a rough couple of weeks, not getting the sleep or rest i was used to since last june.
 
Went to the gym this AM. to accompany my kid for leg extension workout. I can tell i need to work ot out too. My injured (but dominant )previously leg is clearly still way weaker than the other. I am gonna make some changes to reintroduce some light workouts into the week.
 
Glad you are feeling better. Sickness can prevent a lot that we don't realize. I am getting ready to do a 30 day reset and am going to hit exercise a bit hard (not really hard...but I am going to be very regimented with it). I might even include running this time around. I am finally in a position where I think my back, hips and knees can handle it. It won't be a lot of it. I am thinking of doing two to three days of zone two training by rucking and then once a week doing some light runs. It won't be far and I have no idea what I can do. But it's running.
 
It was not fun to feel like i lost fitness so quickly, but I’ve been back in the saddle last week. At least 5k up to 10k everyday in the hear. Everything feels back to normal once i found my pace again. Gave my knee time to rest, but working it out everyday with my kid at the gym made it feel better.

Had a long weekend driving to charlotte, NC for some youth soccer (my kid killed it) so today i just gave myself a kilometer in the pool in a bit less than 40mins and just a nice integration into the weeks schedule.
 
Have you heard of the Knees over Toe guy? I think his name is Ben Patrick. Anyway...he has this program that strengthens knees and the legs especially after injury. He has been on a ton of podcasts and I think even Joe Rogan. Anyway...A lot of people sing his praises. You can get his workout on Youtube or you can pay his fee for the personalized workout. But a friend of mine put together a pdf of his workout and shared it with me. She used to run 10ks all the time and did a lot of trail running. Did a marathon once or twice as well. But she messed up her knee pretty bad at one point. So, she did his program and swears that it was the best thing for her knees...especially the walking backwards up a hill. Anyway...thought you might want to take a look, so I will post it below.

Glad you are feeling better.
 

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Have you heard of the Knees over Toe guy? I think his name is Ben Patrick. Anyway...he has this program that strengthens knees and the legs especially after injury. He has been on a ton of podcasts and I think even Joe Rogan. Anyway...A lot of people sing his praises. You can get his workout on Youtube or you can pay his fee for the personalized workout. But a friend of mine put together a pdf of his workout and shared it with me. She used to run 10ks all the time and did a lot of trail running. Did a marathon once or twice as well. But she messed up her knee pretty bad at one point. So, she did his program and swears that it was the best thing for her knees...especially the walking backwards up a hill. Anyway...thought you might want to take a look, so I will post it below.

Glad you are feeling better.
I have watched a bunch of his YT videos. Amazing flexibility and strength. Thanks!
 
The weather has significantly changed and is much more amenable to outdoor exercise but it’s definitely cool, rainy and windy. Especially the tail end of this storm Ian. But best time to get outside for me! No one else is really outside on my trail paths.

The end of summer i was feeling pretty bad as i mentioned, just humid & hot and it really took a toll on my training sessions. I wasnt as prepared this summer as compared to previous 2 years
mentally for the drop in pace and higher HR/effort. It took a big mental and physical toll BUT these last 4 weeks, everything slowly started to get better as all conditions, external and internal, improved. Even swimming is getting better, not crazy better but slowly coming along.

These last couple days, i’m starting fresh taking a new baseline for the upcoming year. Keep Building the foundation as I kind of understand how to train, test and trial a bit better now so i’ll be attempting to do the testing and trials more often to make sure i am adapting everything appropriately up or down.

Definitely not sure i am giving everything i have to the tests/trials but really really close to it. I think giving all of it, i would be on the ground recovering and completely done. I’m not there yet.

So currently, without any real preparation over the last 6 months i was able to easily run a mile under 7:30mins in a vo2 max ramp test late last week and today did a trail HM in the cold rain in 2h30m with about ~1K elevation gain and definitely felt great. Last year i felt drained (DNF’d one too) after most of my attempts.

I love the sound of the rain in the forest trails. Super relaxing and no trips/no falls today, just a great run. Soaking wet, shoes heavy and water logged, but no matter.

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Was gonna take today off, but apparently an easy run can be considered rest and i felt great this AM (and even last night). Decided to go out slow and see how my body felt. If the HR or effort (RPE) went sideways, i was gonna call it a day.

Amazingly both were perfect and i went a slow 10K in about 70 mins, HR never above 150bpm that i saw, never felt tight/out of breath, and the legs felt smooth at this effort/pace. Avoided large hills, but definitely not flat. Did a full check (form, biomechanics, breathing, etc) every 15 minutes or so.

Was thinking maybe it was cadence lock where optical HR bpm and steps per min are stuck together because of some technical issues, but that usually means higher HR bpms to correlate to higher SPMs. Doesnt happen that often anymore from what i understand with newer tech and my SPMs are 15-20+ more than BPMs, with no great correlation, so I’ll call it a remarkable win.

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Fingers crossed, i have been really positively moving the last week - an easy 10k almost everyday which made a seven day total around 50miles of running with additional swimming and strength training until i started a new HM block plan on Monday. It’s crazy to believe that i am often thinking i can fit a 10k into my lunch hour, but not gonna do that now and just let the base building continue without too much stress. Last easy run my HR was averaging around 135bpm, thats insane for me.

I also weighed myself recently and still not winning any weight loss contests ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
I also weighed myself recently and still not winning any weight loss contests ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This has secretly been one of my most frustrating parts of getting back into shape. Even eating less and eating more healthy, I’ve just put off body fat weight in favor of muscle weight. I’ve only dropped about 6 pounds from where I was before I started. I was hoping to hit 15 pounds lost and maintain but no such luck. Granted I only do my workouts about twice a week at the moment.
 
Took a bit of time off from social media over the last couple of weeks, mainly due to being tired from schlepping my kids around for sports but i tried to keep on my running schedule with some “big” gaps though, mainly crazy weather, driving, and spectating. I tried to use it as a “taper” period to come back and do some time trials, but i found myself just wanting to run easy and i really noticed how much better my easy pace has gotten, so i’ll likely need to push the effort a bit.

BUT Yesterday i went out with my two kids for a 10k trailrun and I thought i was gonna handily out endure them for the most part. I kind of did, but we stopped along the way for some beautiful weather views of the sun reflecting off the water and some pictures, so I think they got to rest/recover a bit, but man they were fast towards the end and i could not out kick them.

I gotta also find time to revisit my SV samples review and get that going. Hopefully being clean shaven won’t sting too much in the cold crisp air!
 
been traveling around for kids soccer (Nashville, tenneseee and Tampa, Fl) the last 2 extended weekends, so I've been laying low on the running, some treadmill miles in the hotels but I did manage to get an open water swim in down in clearwater, fl. it took a toll on me after about 15 mins.. but I feel rested now and I'll be trying to get in a HM before NYE.
 
Went for a quick rust-buster 5k on wed with my kids. It was rough, the hills just wreaking havoc on my enthusiasm/energy/momentum. Felt energized after though. Guess it took some activity to get me back into the rhythm.

Yesterday did 5k tempo into some hill sprints and 5k easy cool down. Rainy and high 30sF. Definitely is nice to have proper wet/cold weather gear
 
and so it was "feels like" -4F yesterday evening, and I decided to try a treadmill at my gym.. it's really difficult for me to enjoy that in its setup, I don't know if it's the actual treadmill, or the environment, but I had to stop after 35mins... trying to also get in some lower body resistance training...
 
Happy Holidays Jon! I’m hoping to get back into running this coming year. Hard to get back into something that you never enjoyed in the first place. But I know I need to get some cardio in my life.
 
Spidey, i feel you. I never enjoyed running and somedays its especially hard to get out the door. If there is anything i can do to help you out let me know. Lots of virtual challenges and badges to earn on garmin/nike run club/strava from what i see.

So to wrap up probably my last long run of the year, bittersweet. Finished off the run with a slight strain in my my left calf that had me slow way down the last 2.5 miles, not that i saw going fast, but i was enjoying a leisurely pace without any issues. Just minutes over 3 hours, with all minds of crappy terrain from mud to ice, downed trees, too many hills, shoulda brought some water/electrolytes. I really was only expecting maybe a 10k but felt like i needed to go a bit farther. And so another year of running behind me if my calf doesn’t feel better over the next few days. Pretty good, but i dont think i hit any of my goals, lol. Probably need to get that list printed out and some better planning.

These hills were brutal for me. Gotta work on my fitness/endurance again.

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