The end of the July 4th week featured a couple of workouts and runs. Thursday, the 5th, I got out for a super easy HR run of about 6 miles, at 9:30/mile pace, and hit the gym for a leg/core workout. I cut some of the core stuff a little short (only single sets of the Roman Chair exercises), but did the full leg workout. A rather quiet workout day, but at least I got the work in. That night, I had a guitar ensemble gig in Bastrop, which was a good chance to play all of our repertoire in front of an audience before we did our wedding gig on Saturday. I made a couple of nervous flubs, but it wasn't terrible. All in all, I'm glad we got the chance to play, and we're certainly ready for the wedding now.
Friday, I hit the gym again for a cycle/upper body workout. I did 30 minutes on the cycle, using the model of indoor cycle that they use for the spinning classes (it has more of flywheel setup, which feels more bike-like to me), and then had a good stretching session. Due to time constraints, I went right to the upper body exercises after that, and it went well enough. I continued my negative contraction emphasis and slowed down the exercises, which made them much tougher. Also, on bench, I did the second set at 95 pounds instead of 85, and although I was only able to do 6 reps at 95 lbs., it was pretty cool to finally see the 25 lb. weights on the bar instead of two 10 lb-ers. Aesthetically, it was more pleasing.
Saturday, I made my final long run with the Gazelles for many weeks to come. Due to vacations and other weekend commitments, I'll be missing the next 4 weekend runs. Anyway, Saturday was muggy but not quite as warm, and it ended up raining on us in the last 3 miles. A fairly pleasant weather day, actually. The course was moderately hilly, with a tough middle section featuring a new hill on River Street. I had a good time, running with Renee, Lisa C., Sue and Amy for the most part, along with some other folks. In keeping with my new long run pacing strategy, it was more fun than usual, and we stayed right at 9:15/mile pace for most of the actual running. Renee, Lisa, Sue and I added some extra distance at the end of the run to bulk the run up from 10 miles to just under 13, and it was just fine. The conversation was enjoyable, and we got the work done. We had to stretch a little from the last water stop to the finish, some 6 miles, but with the rain saving us a little, it didn't cause problems. I just did one GU today, at 5 miles, but again, on a somewhat shorter run, that wasn't an issue, either. I scored 12.8 miles, more or less, at something like a 9:18/mile running pace. With water stops, it moved to 9:45/mile. All good, and my HR numbers were solidly in the long run training realm. I'll tag this as a very successful "short" long run.
I led the stretching for the last time until August, after some form drills and bouncing and hopping with Gilbert. A fun day at the running office, for sure.
For the week, I was right at 30 miles (I skipped the second recovery run on Tuesday), and I feel very rested and ready for the week ahead.
Oh, yeah, the wedding gig went very well. It's super easy to play those type events, because no one really cares about the music...they just want to see the bride and groom do their thing and then hit the reception for the wine and champagne. :-) It stormed on us coming back from Georgetown, but that was the only negative for the event. Off to Alabama now!
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