Week 2, Run 1

Sunday, August 23, 2009
Its been 2 full days since my last easy workout on the bike, and 3 days since my last 4 mile run. My left knee seems to be getting slightly better. Swelling has dissipated slightly, though I can tell a small amount still remains. I've bagged the idea of running 8 miles this weekend and 10 miles next weekend. I'm leaning towards taking Brenda's advice of running 3 miles a couple times a week, then gutting out the half-marathon. Regardless, I've taken enough time off, so its time to run again. Today's strategy is to do a bike ride first, then run my short run a bit later. I'm figuring that 2 workouts in one day should help a lot with my conditioning. I'm also speculating that the bike ride will get the blood flowing nicely through my leg muscles, and actually help my run.

Bike Ride
I rode the "Peregrine Triple" today. This ride is just 12 miles long, but rises 1200 feet across three passes: Flying W Ranch Road, Centennial Road into Peregrine, then up Woodmen Road and around back to Centennial. I averaged 16.8 MPH and a heart rate of 149 BPM for a strong overall effort.

Run
I ran the Santa Fe Trail starting at Uintah Street, heading north. This is the trail the half-marathon is run on. My plan was to run either 3 or 4 miles, depending on how I felt. The first half was very slightly up hill, then a turn-around and down-hill the second half. Both knees hurt just slightly the first half mile until I got warmed up, then I felt fine. I felt good enough at the turn-around point to go an extra half mile, so I completed 4 miles total. I used the run/walk/run strategy, with the Pose stride, landing on the fore-foot. My calves felt fine, but that may be because my knees are aching! Its funny how you usually only feel the body part that hurts the worst! As far as the earlier bike ride is concerned, I do think it helped warm me up, plus I had plenty of rest between sessions so I did not feel tired from the bike ride. My pace today was pretty respectable, despite walking 1 minute per mile: I went the 4 miles in 39 minutes, with a moderate effort.