Six Miles at Race Pace

Thursday, July 14, 2016:

More or less.  We do have another marathon coming up in September, only about two months away now, so it's time to start stretching out the runs toward a 20-mile run a few weeks before the marathon.  Longer runs have been on hold recently because of the occasional angina-like symptom, but that doesn't appear unless I push fairly hard.

Indeed, it may have appeared today after I jogged across a street, but the symptom was faint and went away when I slowed a bit.  It didn't reappear during this run.  No other problems today - the knee was fine.

Stress test coming up Monday - we'll find out more about the angina-like symptom.

Splits: 28:06, 28:38, 14:30, 14:50, total 1:26:04, pace 14:21

Wednesday, July 13:

This is a new chapter in my training, the first serious resistance training in years.  No running at all, just resistance.  This regimen is still under development, but here is the list of exercises so far:

• Stairs, 16 steps per flight, 10 flights per set, two sets.
• Pushups, as many as I can do per set, two sets.  Today 22 in set 1, 15 in set 2.
• Lateral arm raises, 10 lb weights, 15 raises per set, two sets.
• Arm curls, 15 lb weights, 20 curls per set, two sets.
• Hand grips, 20 squeezes per set, two sets.
• Situps, 20 per set, two sets.
• Standing stretches, four types, 12 seconds each, two sets.

This took about 30 minutes.  I got plenty sweaty and it raised my heart rate and breathing rate quite a lot.  Hopefully as time goes by I will be able to increase the amount of each the various exercises, and thus the total time.

Tuesday, July 12:

Yet another four miles on the hospital loop.  Cancer treatment (infusion) this morning, so the run was necessarily in the afternoon.  The temperature was 82 with bright sun, so I took it pretty easy, all walking, never running except across a few intersections.

Before the run I resurrected an old pulse rate monitor and put it on.  The highest heart rate I saw was 121, going up the steepest hill on the route.  A typical rate was 106, going fairly fast on the flat. Time was about 1:03:00, for a pace of about 15:45.  Good enough for a hot day.

Monday, July 11:

Another four miles.  No issues.

Sunday, July 10:

Four miles on the “hospital loop” with my sweeties.  They can really move along, too, though it wasn’t enough to cause my angina symptoms.  We took a few brief detours, and it took about an hour and a half.  I call it the hospital loop because it actually does go right past the hospital and, for extra credit, goes past my doctor’s office as well.

Saturday, July 9:

Four miles with George, the St Croix Valley Runners (walkers in this case).  No problems.  Took a little over an hour, actual distance probably about 4.1 mi.