Every Run is a Great Run!

 Bike/Stairs/Elliptical - 80 minutes.

Ave/Max HR: 145/162

Bike 10 minutes, Stairs 15 minutes, Elliptical 65 minutes.

Ave/Max HR: 142/166

Finally have some time to update things for the last few days. So I've been to the PT twice now, last Thursday and yesterday. I have a childhood buddy Von Hill who is a great PT and is who I prefer to work with when possible. He was on vacation last week so I got a newbie guy. He seemed to glaze over a bit as I talked about Athletic Pubalgia and seemed to not be sure what I was talking about or what to do. Fortunately Von was there yesterday and after chatting for a while it was obvious he knew exactly what I'm dealing with and we started working out a plan. He says after a couple more visits where he'll show me some exercises and see how I respond, I should be good to just do the rest at home on my own time and schedule. I'm cautiously optimistic. The ab/groin aches and pains seem to diminish a bit each day, but maybe that's just the Prednisone kicking in. Still no plans to run for at least 3 more weeks.

So today to try to amuse myself and keep the crosstraining interesting I decided to participate in my own little Elliptical 5K race. After long warmup including 10 minutes bike, 10 min stair-stepper and 20 minutes elliptical, I dialed up some of my favorite 5K MP3 tunes and started the "race". I tried to ignore the HR monitor and just try to go by feel and try to do what seemed like a 5K or 10K type effort. I definitely got really tired by the end but I still don't feel like the last mile was anywhere near the agony of what most true 5K races feel like. I was going all-out at the end but it was like I just couldn't quite get to that level of pain that I associate with 5Ks. Maybe I'll try again in a week or 2.  It would at least be nice to feel a little nauseous toward the end, didn't feel that way at all today. Oh the things we do for fun.

The HR monitor readings are kind of interesting. I've been thinking my max HR was around 195 but after today I'll have to rethink that since I measured as high as 198 during the last minute. Guess my max HR is around 200 which sure seems awfully high. It will be interesting to see what happens to my HR when I'm able to do a true running 5K.

According to the Elliptical data I finished the 3.1 miles in around 18:40 which interestingly enough is about the same as my running 5K PR (18:37). However I've learned that elliptical pace and running pace don't quite jive for me, I think it was probably closer to a 19:30-20:00 5K effort.

Ave/Max HR during 5K hard miles: 186/198

Overall Ave HR: 151.

Same as Monday.

Similar to Mon/Wed. Ave/Max HR: 136/152.

Simulated long run.

Warmup: 20 minutes bike, 30 minutes stairstepper, 20 minute elliptical.

Ave/Max HR: 137/150.

60 minute marathon pace effort workout on elliptical. Tried to ignore HR monitor and go by feel. Ave/Max HR: 168/189.

Cooldown: 15 minutes easy on elliptical.

Also did core workout with the PT.

Vacationing at Wolf Creek near Eden. Able to get about 45 minutes bike/elliptical at the condo gym.

Feeling some weird pain on side of left hip I think as a result of some of the new core exercises the PT showed me. I'll wait a few days before working that area again. Also planning a recovery/rest week next week. Not sure how much or even if I'll do any crosstraining. Want to see if backing off on the crosstraining will speedup/enhance the injury recovery efforts.

Core workout. No aerobic/cross-training at all today. Plan on taking it very easy this week to see if that helps speed up the healing process.

10 minutes bike, 20 minutes stairs, 25 minutes elliptical. Nice and easy.

Ave/Max HR: 137/152

Warmup: 10 minutes bike, 10 min stairs, 10 min elliptical.

Then did elliptical 10K tempo workout. 6.2 miles in 38:48 (around 6:15 pace) according to elliptical, but more likely 6:40-6:50 equivalent pace running workout.

10 minutes cooldown on elliptical.

10K Ave/Max HR: 175/198.

Overall Ave HR: 160.

Pretty much the same as Tuesday.

Various mix of bike, stairclimber, elliptical. Did some at the PT's office in the morning and the rest at work just before lunch time. Pushed the last 15 minutes or so.

Ave/Max HR: 148/187

10 minutes bike, 30 minutes stairclimber, 50 minutes elliptical. HR seemed about 5-10 beats higher than normal for the effort I was putting in. Maybe because I did my workout earlier than usual and I was competing with my digestive system still working on my big breakfast?

Ave/Max HR: 153/166.

Similar to yesterday. Ave/Max HR: 145/162.

Warmup: 10 minutes on exercise bike, 20 on stairclimber, 20 on elliptical.

Then did a repeat of 5K elliptical "race" workout like I did a couple of weeks ago. Was hoping to beat my time from before (18:40) and was successful, cutting off 5 seconds.

5K time: 18:35 (Ave pace - 5:59, but probably equivalent to 6:20-6:30 running pace effort).

Ave/Max HR: 153/199

Similar to Mon/Tues. Also went to the PT this morning and did core stuff. I've been doing the core work pretty diligently usually 3 times a week.

Warmup: 20 minutes bike, 40 minutes stairclimber, 10 minutes elliptical.

Then tried to do a simulated marathon pace workout on elliptical for just over an hour, roughly equivalent to 9 miles running? Tried to keep HR in the 170-190 range which I think is probably close to where I'm at during a marathon.

Ave/Max HR during tempo: 179/191.

Cooldown: 20 minutes on stairclimber. Ended up 155 minutes of workout, probably just shy of 20 miles running so we'll call it 19.5.

Hope I can endure one more week of total crosstraining, then in December I hope to attempt some easy run miles on 3-4 days of the week, starting with 1-2 miles.

Crosstraining stuff. Similar to last Monday.

Ave/Max HR: 145/163

Similar to yesterday.

Warmup: 10 minutes bike, 10 minutes stairclimber, 10 minutes elliptical.

Then do try to add some excitement to the boring cross-train regiment I did another 10K elliptical "race".  Decided to try and push a little harder than 2 weeks ago when I did the same thing. HR was around 190 for the majority and I blew away my previous 10K time of around 38:40 or something.

10K stats: Time 37:40 (6:04 pace). Ave/Max HR: 186/198.

Probably closer to a 6:30-ish running pace effort. Still couldn't seem to get to the level of effort/pain of a real running 10K, maybe more like 1/2 marathon.

Woke up early out of habit so I went to the gym to do what has become the standard cross-train workout. Similar to Mon/Tue workouts. Cut it a bit short so Kim and I could attend the annual SF Running Club Thanksgiving party.

Managed to sleep in a bit today. Went to my PT appt at 8am and also did some cardio work on the exercise bike and stairclimber. Von (my PT) said he thinks I should be good to go trying some light/easy running on Monday. He wanted me to try some treadmill today but I resisted the temptation. I want to wait until after another weekend and Sunday rest day.

Starting to move to more aggressive core exercises that work the ab area more directly now. I'm feeling stronger each week but still feel occasional twinges from time to time.

Crosstrain long workout in the afternoon. Legs felt tired today and for whatever reason my HR was lower than the effort I felt like I was putting in. I was eager to get this workout done so I pushed for most of the miles, something similar to Marathon pace perhaps? Getting really sick of crosstraining, looking forward to trying a 2-mile slow run on Monday.

Ave/Max HR: 154/180