The Stroll (Recovery Running, part deux)

This morning was nice and brisk, maybe 45 degrees, crisp and clear. I met up with Amy and Frank for the second recovery effort of the week at 5:45 at RunTex, and we were the only souls around, that's for sure. We ran the 7 mile loop clockwise, and generally had a fun and chatty time of it. With a brief water stop at the Mopac bridge included in our time, we cruised the 7 miler at a swift 10:30/mile pace. Scintillating! When we finished, the sun had still not really risen, so it was early all around. We voted to skip the striders today, and headed straight back to RunTex instead. While we were out there, we saw various other Gazelles coming the other way 'round the loop, also doing a nice and easy 7 miler per Gilbert's instructions. He didn't want any of the folks who raced on Sunday to try speedwork today. Alex and Liliana were among those enjoying the respite from hard running labors.

Amy and Frank scurried off to work and/or the gym, but I stuck around a bit and did much of the stretching routine. I just felt like I needed it, even though it was fairly cool when you weren't running. I had put on a bunch of warmer clothes, of course. I had brief chats with Steve Sisson (commiserating about the 20 Miler), Joseph and Kelly, and it was fun to get back in touch with all those folks.

Stretching done, it was off to the gym. I'm feeling pretty good, considering the hard effort on Sunday, but I'll continue to be careful about hard running the rest of the week.

16 Tons, and whaddya get? [GymStuff]

Once I finished the run and stretch, it was time to get up to Gold's for the week's first strength workout. I got up there pretty early, and decided to listen for just a few more minutes to ESPN Radio in the truck. Well, let's just say that the combination of the sun streaming into the truck and warming things up, the many layers of clothes I had on, and the droning of the talk radio dropped me into a slumber for a while. Groggy, I forced myself to get out of the truck after maybe 30 minutes of quick napping, and headed into Gold's.

Ron, my massage guy, had advised me that I should consider only doing one set of the leg weight workout stuff this week, instead of the usual two sets. Okay with me. So, I did the biggest part of the core workout, leaving out only Roman chair stuff and planks. Then, the single set leg workout, which felt pretty good. After the legs, it was on to upper body, and that went well, too. I'm starting to get back to my pre-Christmas weights and reps there. I managed to get the whole thing done in about 45 minutes. Despite my pre-workout slumber, this turned out to be a good workout, and I'm glad I got in there to do it.

Tomorrow is some sort of speedwork with the Gazelles. I think I'll approach it a little less aggressively than normal, maybe backing off on pace just a little, and I may do a little less than the max number of reps for a change. I'll see how I feel in the morning.