Resistance, first track sprints in 2 mo

I got to the gym today, did mostly upper body but went to the track afterward.  Felt ok, not 100%.

Stretches, drills, bands

2 x 50m - high knees

50m - 7.10

100m - 14.17 (6.90, 7.27)

Not terrible considering my first sprints in 2 mo and in trainers with a 3 step rolling start.  Got to be careful and not do this much.  I originally said I was going to wait til Sept to run, but a lot of time on my hands and I miss it.  The knee is not pain free but isn't bad.  The lateral stability has improved but the week has been tough.  2 bike workouts and a stair session since Tues. 

Heat wave starts tomorrow, but it won't be unbearable here like in the cities.  Highs pushing 90º here on the mtn for the next several days.  100º down below for the cities. 

141.1 lbs after workout.  

bike sprint - PR

This was a hard effort.   Massive PR by 17 sec.   This one will be hard to top.

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:21

Avg speed - 14.3 mph

Max HR - 177

HR over 156 - 9:51 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

HR over 170 - 3:53

Avg HR - 166 

I hit the turnaround at 9:56 about 4 sec faster than last PR.

Have been eating more meat (chicken breast) lately.  Weight holding steady in the 142s.  Doing daily strength so seeing a little difference.  

For whatever reason, my MRCP / MRI read may take another week.  I've never known a report to take this long.  I really think this Vanderbilt medical center isn't what it used to be.  When it was a single centralized teaching hospital back in the day, it was top notch.  Now it has taken over numerous other smaller hospitals and facilities, it's losing quality for quantity.  I may look elsewhere in the future.  The Vanderbilt medical name was always very well respected.  Notsomuch now, judging by online reviews.  

The weather has been awesome so far, cool for this time of year but a heat wave hits on Sunday and continues without rain for about 4 days, temperatures in the lower 90ºs... which means near 100º in the cities.  

I expect I'll be swimming and water running everyday beginning Monday.  

Yesterday before my bike climb, I did an 80yd sprint on the track.  It felt ok. Kind of chompin to get back to some limited running.  Maybe do some drills and high knee runs in the heat next week 

Bike climb

Early morning bike climb on Roark's Cove Rd.  I had to take my mtn bike in so while I was out, I did the climb.   Today, didn't put out real hard, tried to keep HR low and no stand up sprints.  Still, not a bad time.  

Roark's Cove bike climb

Total time - 23:51

Avg speed - 5.8 mph

Max HR - 175

HR over 170 - 4:42

By contrast, my previous climb was just 1:21 faster but HR over 170 was 14:27, compared with only 4:42 this time.  

My mtn bike repair was only $19.  Happy with that.  

I think I'm going to rearrange my HR zones on my watch to make it more specific to my HR and  training.  

6: >179 

5: 170-179

4: 156-169 

3: 140-155

2: 120-139 

1: <119

 

stadium stairs

Incredible day yesterday.  Tiring.  Met with contractor rebuilding my carport and shed in Murfreesboro in the morning, MRI/MRCP scan, then followup, then a meeting with a cardiologist, then taught a 90 min lesson and it was still daylight, so I ran the stadium stairs 15x.   I hadn't eaten in 24 hrs and going on just 2 cups of coffee.  

Stadium stairs - MTSU

stretches, drills

15 x stadium stairs

It was hard and my knee felt it this morning.  Third day in a row with some hard exercise.  I'm just doing resistance today.  I even thought about fasting last night, that would have quickly taken the last of my body fat but I ate the usual low carb stew and wasa crackers for a dessert. 

Hanging about 141.5 lbs, happy with the progress.  

Doing this regime every morning:

- 20 to 25 hanging abs

- 20 pullups

- 35 pushups

- 20 to 25 ab wheels

Medical:

I haven't gotten the report on the MRCP scan.  The NP that looked at it with me said it seemed unchanged and non threatening, cysts mostly liquid, but would contact me if the report says otherwise.  Plan is surveillance.  Another scan in a yr.   

Cardiologist basically blew me off.  Said I don't need statins and that was basically it.  He said my lipid particle fractionation tests that were all in the higher risk area didn't correlate to anything clinical in the absence of symptoms.  He would not prescribe a CT angiogram.  We ended up chatting about 400m training as his son is a 51 sec HS 400m sprinter.  Oh well.  

I booked an MRI for my knee to assess the issues.  Unless there's a clear and fixable problem, perhaps like a floating piece of broken cartilage, I probably won't do anything.  However, good to get an image and report in case I want to pursue some sort of a revision in the future.  

Wasa cracker w/ fig preserves and pistachios - dessert with tea.  About 80 cal.  (about 50 cal without the nuts).   I ate way too much today, no progress today.  

Total bonehead thing.  Screwed up my mtn bike rear brakes trying to adjust them.  Probably a $60 mistake as I'll need to take it in tomorrow.  

Back home - bike sprint, weights

 Back home in Sewanee.  Tied my PR today on this course.  Riding in between waves of severe thunderstorms.  About 2 hrs ago I was falling into my PM nap and a tornado warning siren went off, woke me up.  As usual, 'a hoax.'   Another wave expected around sunset.  

I hit it pretty hard and got to the turnaround by 5:00 flat.  So I pushed it hard.  Was unwilling to take the final downhill corner at breakneck speed so missed a PR.  

2.5 mile mountain bike sprint - Laurel Branch Trl

Time - 9:38

Avg speed - 14.2 mph

Max HR - 176

HR over 160 - 9:01 

HR over 170 - 3:50

Avg HR - 164 (inc 1 min recovery at end)

Higher HR than my previous PR run.  

Doing the resistance work - upper body and core in the morning.  This evening at the gym, leg curls, extensions, calves, leg press, chest, arms.  

Hell day tomorrow - 5 appts.  3 medical (MRCP scan, consult, cardio), 1 builder, 1 lesson.  I'll leave tomorrow at 7:20 and not return til the evening.  

Dinner:  Diced chicken breast, zucchini, celery, onion, garlic, stewed tomatoes, fresh basil.  No oil, cooked in tomato juice.  Less than 400 cal in 2 bowls, very low carb and very low fat.          

                                       

bike, resistance

Past two days I've been biking after dinner.  This is something I never could do in a serious track workout, yet nothing is as hard as a serious track workout.   

Yesterday did two circuits after a day at the museums.  Today Sunday, did 4 circuits, 2 each way.  The original way is harder because the hill climb isn't preceded by a downhill.  Now, if I really wanted to suffer, I would come to a dead stop at the base of the second hill and not use downhill momentum to climb, but it a good workout nevertheless.

7.4 mile bike circuit - Sandy Springs

elevation gain - 870'

Max HR - 179

Avg HR - 147

About 42 min including some brief rest stops.  These hills are short but peak at between 12-14% grade.  The last one I did once peaks at 16.5%.  

Lot of ups and downs in this one.  It says I burned over 400 cals so that's good.

Also been doing core and pushups every day.  Hanging ab straps.  Roya bought a Roman chair so doing that with 25lbs for glute and hams. 

Definitely dropped some weight, now hanging about 141.5, daily range about 140 -143.  

Diet good:

Lemon water in the morning, then cappuccino with collagen in the late morning.  One piece of Royo bread with preserves+psyllium husk early afternoon.  Dinner today was flounder and salad.  Night snack -  tea with Wasa cracker w/ preserves+psyllium husk, and a piece of sugar free chocolate.  I'm thinking it's about 1200 cal max.  

I'm close to optimum weight and when I get there and just below, I'll up the calories and protein, then really get after the strength regime.  I'll be home Monday.  Tues is my scan, followup, first appt with cardiologist, and 2 other appts non health related... super busy day.  

Stairs, drills, resistance

Making progress on my fitness, down close to where I was before my trip to NY.   At present pace, should be close to race weight in a week.  

Days like today make me feel that it may still be possible to run track.  Sprinting is one thing, but training to elite level is another.  

At the Marist School in ATL.  It was warm, about 83º and in the sun, hotter.   Their stadium stairs are 25 steps.  (Compared with MTSU which are 40, and Vestal HS which are 20).  

Stretches, drills, bands

22 x stadium stairs

4 x 40m high knee running

backward running

Ab wheel

Really good hard one.  I did one at the end as double leg hops all the way up.  Really sweaty.  Roya came too and despite wearing her 2 week heart monitor, she ran 7.  

Been working on my upper body and core too.  Fitness definitely 'snowballs' with progression.  

Eating really well, just salad and sardines tonight.  Coffee with a Wasa cracker and watermelon during the day.  I've found that mixing a tsp of psyllium husk with fruit preserves and eating it with a Wasa cracker and tea - only about 100 cal, curbs late night tendency to eat.  My weakness is grazing on nuts and dried berries at night - calorie dense food that isn't particularly good for digestion and bowels.  This has substituted for that quite well.  

Going to bed at just under 143 lbs.  Was 143.2 at morning weigh in.