Tuesday consisted of ViPR training. This is by far my new favorite training tool. There are endless possibilities for exercises from beginners to professionals. In fact, I was out Sunday throwing baseball with my friend Ryan and we were airing it out. Like, I haven't thrown like that since college. Hundreds of feet between us and it felt great. I'm convinced that it is the ViPR training that has my arm feeling great one day after taxing my arm like that. Tuesday's are 20-30 minutes ViPR circuit after a warm up and light foam roll, then core for 10-15 minutes followed by a good 15-20 minute foam roll, 10-15 minute sauna and 5-10 minute hot tub. The goal is to feel 100% going into Wednesday when the real work begins.
Wednesday this week I added a interval still topping out at 3:23 for my best time. That was the 6th when I let it all hang out. The first I wasn't real concerned with time then, 326, 327; I then turn around and run it the other way 357, 339, 323 to finish it up. I felt pretty good after that one. It just took about an hour to finish; after and hour 15 I was back ready for work.
Thursday I was to the run and back in 30-40 minutes. I finished with one set of chest press 30lbs x 30 reps with feet up, then stretch and core, then to the showers. 6 sprints Thursday. I drove out to graffiti bridge, .75m warm up, sprints with full recovery between 12 and 16 seconds. What a beautiful day to be outside. Here's the track.
Friday was hills. I went over to water tower hill and did 8 repeats. My goal was to run the last all the way to the top. I did it but wasn't quite sure for the first 30 seconds if I would be going down the hill under my own power. 123, 118, 121, 122, 123, 121, 115, 109. I started in on the EFS water bottle after number 4 and I'm glad I had it. This was a tough day on the trail. I felt a real sense of accomplishment after finishing Friday. I finished "The Hunger Games" at night with my eyes half open. Pre race (2 hours prior) I had a salad with 2 chicken breasts and post workout after my pro. shake I had a full double chicken BBQ chicken pizza from the Life Cafe. Yum! Here's the hill.
Saturday was an easy day mostly active recovery like Tuesday minus the ViPR. Some core, mostly rolling, stretching, sauna, hot tub and recover. Saturday night I went to see the movie "The Hunger Games". It was good except for the guy to my left who, even after the Lorax had told us at the beginning to resist the urge to text during the movie (I'm pretty sure he was talking to the kids, not the 50+ year old man watching with his wife), the bright texting screen of a Blackberry takes me right out of the movie. I mean, this is the first movie I've looked forward to for 10+ years for myself (except maybe Star Wars in 3D; it was awesome). A good movie though.
Sunday was 16 miles and what a great way to kickoff my weekend. I was up before the house even thought about it and was home as they were waking. A perfect morning to run. I took off with a long sleeve and long pants, shed them at 1 mile, had both water bottles, one full of water and one full of EFS, and I was carrying my flag bandana. I really had good legs under me and am really starting to tell that the speed work and hills by themselves is going to be a key to fast times at Superior and will more than likely change my program and the way I prepare for races indefinitely. And the extra time that I have. We'll see how it carries over though... It took 2:25 averaging 9:05 per mile. I practiced my walking a bit, not much though, ran most hills. I was pretty gassed by the end and don't know if I can keep that pace for much longer than the 16 this day. It was good to go fast though.
I just finished probably my most productive yard work day ever as I got the raspberries separated and the strawberries hopefully now will be safe from the bunnies and mice this summer. I finished the day with a nice fire as I reminisced about the weekend and the fun week ahead with a yard sale Wednesday and Thursday and a busy week at work with ViPR small group demos.
That will be my business in the future. Small group training is the way to go and the ViPR is so versatile it can be modified very easily. Time to get some rest. It will be a challenge on Wednesday this week to get my repeats in. I might swap tomorrow with Wednesday. I'll have more time Tuesday. I Love my family and am thankful for my many blessings.
