WEEK 6

Greetings,

Another pretty good week for me. Here's a recap:

• Monday: Awesome run on the dreadmill. (see DAY 36: FEELING SLUGGISH...RUN 2.5 MILES! post)
• Tuesday: I killed myself on the StairMaster for 30 minutes. Instead of doing my usual level 5, I cranked the difficulty up to level 10 to challenge myself. I was huffing and puffing 15 minutes in, and if I was wearing a heart rate monitor it might have issued a warning to call 911. I was so winded, and my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of my chest. Next time, I'll work my way up to level 10, rather than make a leap from level 5 to 10.
• Wednesday: Brutal 30 minute run after work. (see DAY 38: EXHAUSTED... post)
• Thursday: Easy cross training day. 20 minutes on the recumbent bike and 30 minutes lifting weight. Taking it easy was a good idea.
• Friday: Excellent run at 5:30 AM at Kelly Drive. I thought it was going to be tough but I was rolling along after the first mile.
• Saturday: REST DAY
• Sunday: Awesome run at Valley Green at 7 AM. I almost got my mother to join me but she backed out at the last minute. Anyway, again the first mile was the toughest. Then things were smooth sailing from there, for the most part. A bit of labored breathing on an uphill incline, but that's to be expected.

Injury Report: I don't really have any injuries to report. They're more like minor annoyances that I want to keep an eye on.

• Knees: During the first 2-4 minutes of every run, my knees feel stiff and achy. But after I get warmed up, they feel fine during the run and after the run.
• Ankle: My left ankle started to bother me about 2 hours after my run on Friday morning. I didn't feel any discomfort while running or immediately after my run. The pain came from the inner side (same side as the big toe) of my ankle and grew worse as I put more weight on it. The weird part was that the pain came and went, it wasn't consistent. By the end of the day on Friday, it was fine again, and it has been a non-issue since then.

Tech Report: My Garmin is great! It performed marvelously on a heavy wooded trail with little to no exposure to clear skies (Valley Green).

There were several valuable lessons learned while training this week:

• Morning runs should only be missed for valid, no-nonsense reasons. Otherwise, I'll regret it later.
• Running alongside a busy street during rush hour is a BAD IDEA if you plan on breathing.
• The first mile is always the toughest. Once I get through it, the rest is cake.

With my first 5K coming up this Saturday, I plan to take it easy this week. So, my goal for WEEK 7 is to run 2 miles on Monday and Wednesday, 1 easy mile on Friday, race on Saturday, and rest on Sunday.

Almost Thirty