After 3 days of rest I got back on the road today. I planned to just take 2 days off, but after being on vacation for over a week Tuesday just didn’t happen.
So, my calves were SO sore up until yesterday. I’m not accustomed to all the hills & my muscles told me so. When I say sore I mean sore even to the touch. Anyway, wah wah, right.
Met up with the Turtles at 5am this morning for our typical long run day. It felt good to be back with the boys again. We stepped back in the plan to Week 18. That will land us on Race Day for the January 23rd, FRC Half Marathon in McKinney.
Today’s workout was a 2 mile warmup followed by threshold miles. 4 rounds of 1 mile at threshold pace & 2mins of walking to recover. Wrapping up with 2 miles easy to cool down. It’s written like this: 2E, 4(1T, 2min walk) 2E.
After the warmup the four of us took turns pacing the threshold for the group. The target was 8:30-8:45.
It was a solid training session. My legs we’re still a little tired I think. My right calf is a little sore again after cooling down.
Leonardo brought us gifts today! Little action figures of each of us. The Turtles that is...
THURSDAY
XT Day! For today’s workout I repeated the Week 18 workout since we stepped back in the plan to Week 18 to prepare for the FRC Half. I did add one additional exercise. 20 crunches. I've got to where i print out the workout. I tend to lose count of where I am.
5 rounds - 20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 mountain climbers, 20 jumping jacks, 20 crunches, 1/4 mile run.
Strangely it was 77 degrees in Texas on this December afternoon. It made for a warm workout.
SATURDAY
Looking for a change of scenery, Raphael suggested we go to Tribute Shoreline Trail. It a gravel trail that goes down by the lake.
It’s a 4 mile loop. The plan called for 12. So we were going to run the loop, run some miles in neighborhood on the opposite side of the trailhead, & then back around the 4 mile loop to finish by the lake in the daylight.
It was windy & chilly. Starting out an easy pace, we made a wrong time & ended up on the golf course cart path. We made our way around & back to the trail. About 2 miles in, the back of my knee/hamstring felt tight. Not really a pain, but as I described it, a string in my leg felt really tight. It made it hard to run. I thought that it would eventually loosen up, but it did not. After a few more miles I decided once we got back to the trailhead I would stop.
By the time we got back to the car we had hit 6 miles on the 4 mike loop thanks to the cart path detour. Raphael & Donatello kept going & ended up running 18 miles.
I took an epsom salt bath, used the impact massage gun, & did some stretches. I didn’t seem to get much relief. Eventually I decided to do some hip flexor stretches. That seemed to be the ticket. It finally started to loosen up. The best I can tell, I just didn’t warm up like I normally do before the run. So hopefully all is well now.
SUNDAY
The last run of the week was a memorable one! A couple of guys from the FRC, who we'll call Chef & 911, planned to run their virtual Dallas Marathon today. I volunteered to cheer them on around the course & jump in at Mile 20 to help them finish it out.
The weather was not optimal. It was 40 degrees and pouring rain for virtually the entire 26.2 miles. It was very impressive to see theses guys running a virtual race in these conditions. Most people would have postponed, but these 2 guys were committed. So a few of us buzzed around and met them at intersections & cheered them on.
They powered through the out & back course that started & began at Chef's house. As planned, I jumped in at Mile 20 to run them in. An infectious Orange Theory trainer joined for a few miles & kept everyone's spirits high.
With about 2.5 miles to go 2 more friends joined us for the final push. I was truly impressed with these guys. I ran with them for an hour or so & my hands were hurting. I can’t imagine after 26.2 miles. Wow! It was very inspiring to witness!
The icing on the cake was the finish. There was a top secret proposal plan. The Chef had the ring with him and as soon as he crossed the tape he got down on one knee & popped the question. It was an awesome moment to witness! She said yes!
Congrats to Mr. & Mrs. Chef!
A perfect end to another great week of running!
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