Slowman wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
Hey, I am back to 99 for 99. Today was a duathlon workout....6km running + 20km XC skiing + 6 km running.
Last year this time I had just done my first continguous 30 min outdoor jog in 4 years, now I can say that I can run (albeit slowly) any day I want for around 50 minutes and its not a problem.
For this challenge I generally chose to do running as my first workout of the day to do it on the freshest legs. I did a lot of swimming, some XC skiing and some biking ... roughly 235 hrs of training over the 100 days. No long runs other than surviving the half marathon at the Dubai 70.3. One more run to go. I lost around 4-5 lbs during the back half of the challenge. I am around 5 lbs of triathlon race weight now. Was around 10 lbs over my tri race weight from 5 years ago at the start.
Treadmill at hotel tomorrow.
i'm proud of you, man. great, great comeback.
Well it has been a 465 day process. Last year when I spoke with you I had pretty well given up on running and doing triathlon and enjoying my life as a master swimmer (albeit a slow one) and learning how to do all 4 strokes well. I can say that today when I go to most pools anywhere, people will assume I am a swimmer, not a runner.
Last year was 100 days of pure rehab. It was actually torture doing so many runs that were more like 10x1-2 min shuffling and maxing out at 8 kph (which was an achievement) and then building to 15x2min on treadmill....then 6x5 then going outdoors for 1x30 min with no breaks.
This year was more like 100 days of physio exercise. There is still a big "tug" in my left leg almost like the start of a soccer player getting an uncontrollable cramp, but I can get is straightened out by the next stride. Over the challenge I have been able to apply more and more power with that leg and my XC skiing has gotten better too (same tug, but with a ski hanging off my leg) and my swimming breast stroke has gotten better. I am now able to do a bit of "speed" in each workout which in loose terms means revving it up to around 4:20 pace per km doing strides or up to 13.5 kph for 30 min bursts on the treadmill. Mainly most of my running has been 5:30 to 6:30 per km pace which is a good "steady" cardio pace. In Dubai 70.3 I ran my first half at 5:3x per km (after overcooking the bike knowing my run would suck) but second half I was back to bring it down to 5:0x and ran a true negative split. It felt like "racing" even though I was getting passed by 100's of young people who I outswam-outbiked.
In any case it was nice to be a customer of the challenge and use it for personal betterment. When I used to run the challenge, I used to get satisfaction of watching people get introduced to frequent running and how it can be so liberating. When I ran track in high school, it was three morning sessions and 5 afternoon sessions per week and a run on saturday on top of playing a few soccer games and two practices in the city league. I did not realize I was already running 10-12 times per week and it just seemed natural and like no big deal (maybe like those fish swimmers who I envy who were swimming 12x per week who always smoke us now).
I just started run commuting last week because I was 4 runs behind on the challenge and then I was kicking myself in the head for being so lazy and using my car for several days in the winter, when I could have easily been logging doubles with no impact on my daily schedule.
I am hoping by next year, I am running not for rehab or physio but for pure fitness (I guess at that point, I'll get overexcited and get injured LOL).
One treadmill run left.