How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 42 degrees, clouds, rain, wind. Good run today, ran 4 miles to the Zendo, meditated for 2.5 hours, then ran 3.5 miles to Cardinal Fitness Center. 4 of the miles I ran at threshold pace, so it was a fairly hard run.

I read something yesterday in Joe Henderson's book, "Better Runs". Here is an excerpt :

"Tom Miller had run about 100 marathons when his son, with little running training, beat him in an uphill race, When Tom asked how this could have happened, the boy credited the mountain biking he did as off-season training for skiing. 'I started doing uphill repeats on a bike, standing up to get more power,' said Miller. 'My running times immediately improved. A few of the runners I worked with tried this too, and they also got faster.' Miller designed a research project to verify these informal results. He traded road and trail riding for stationary bicycling because the training loads were easier to control while standing still. This type of leg work also was more like the running motion than weight training could be, and it was safer than interval runs would be. Nineteen runners completed Miller's program, which opened and closed with 10K time trials. The subjects made no change in their routines besides joining Tom for six weekly sessions of standup intervals on the exercise bike. They sat and pedaled at low flywheel tension to warm up, recover between 'runs', and cool down. They cranked up the tension until the wheel would barely turn and then stood for the intervals. They 'ran' 30 seconds twice, then two times each for 45 seconds, 60, 45, and 30. 'All 19 of these runners ran faster in the second 10K than in the first', said Miller. 'The average improvement was 10 percent, or about 4 minutes at that distance. 14 of them set PR's, even though this was winter and most of them were not in top racing shape.' The professors who oversaw this project were impressed. They told Miller that the statistical validity of the results was above question and that they'd seen no other study which produced such dramatic improvements in just six weeks. Tom coaches a training group in Salt Lake City. Two follow-up tests with this group, using 5K times as a gauge, matched the earlier outcome. 'There were PR's all over the place', he said. One man improved from the 19's into the 17's in just six weeks.' Why do standing bike intervals work this well? Miller's theory : 'They simulate fast running but with higher resistance than most runners can tolerate on the track or road. This training works the muscles as well as uphill sprinting would, but it doesn't tear you apart'.

After reading the above I thought it would be helpful to give it a try, since I am now moving into the hill repeat phase of my training. Because I don't own a stationary bike I decided to join Cardinal Fitness, so today after my run I stopped in, saw they had a good quality stationary bike, payed my money, and did my first bike workout. I 'ran' for 27 minutes, the bike had a heart rate monitor, I was able to get up to 163. It is the first time I have checked heart rate in any type of exercise. According to the heart rate training zone calculator, 162-168 falls in the ATzone which is 85-90% max heart rate. The majority of my interval runs today fell at about 155, which is between easy and AT. As I get more practice with the biking, I should be able to put forth a greater effort, which will increase my heart rate into VO2 Max territory, which for me would be 168-180.

After the biking I did 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#93

z.m. - #7

Weather - 25 degrees, windy, clouds. Strong winds today as I ran an easy 6.5 around the golf course. I wasn't sore from yesterdays hard bout, but about halfway through the run my achilles tendon became sensitive. I immediately slowed to a walk, stretched a bit, then resumed running. It seemed to be ok, but the last thing I want to have happen is to get injured just as winter training is coming to an end. I probably over-trained yesterday, combining a hard threshold run with the new bike workout. I was planning on doing hill repeats tomorrow, but I think it would be best to do an easy 5 miles and allow the achilles a chance to recover, so will reschedule the hills until Wednesday or Thursday if all goes well.  After the run I stopped at Cardinal and did 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

#94

z.m. - #8 

Weather - 21 degrees, sunny, windy. An easy 6 miles around Busey Woods and the golf course. I started out slowly, making sure my achilles tendon was warm before putting additional stress upon it. It felt loose throughout the run, so I am happy that yesterdays irritation is getting better instead of worse. After the run I stopped at Cardinal and did 5 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home.

#95

z.m. - #9

Weather - 14 degrees, sunny. Today I felt well enough to give a hard effort for hill repeats. The weather did not make things easy, as it was cold with about an inch of fresh snow on the ground. I ran 1.5 miles to the arboretum as a warm up, stretched a bit, then did 15 x 100 meter hill repeats. As I ran the repeats I closely monitored the state of my right achilles tendon, since it had flared a bit a few days ago, but it felt fine throughout. The past couple of days were spent recovering from Sundays blitzkrieg of 2 threshold runs and a tough stationary bike workout. Today my body felt recovered, and I was thus able to put in a solid effort on the hills - I ran up the hill at 5k pace, pushed strongly as I crested the top, then glided down the hill. Until today I would always be spent near the top, and would have to slow down to a walk-like pace to recover on the downhill, but today my lungs never gave out, and my hips/quads had a driving force to propel me up and over for each rep. I had planned to do 12 reps, but when I reached that amount I realized I still had a lot left in the tank, and so extended it to 15. A workout like todays helps my confidence, as I can feel my overall strength and running ability improving.

Although spring officially starts the 3rd week of March, I am counting the final day of February as the end of winter training, which means only 9 more days until I achieve my first goal of the year - "to achieve a solid season of winter training" - As this is my 96th consecutive day of running in all kinds of nasty weather, I am almost there.

#96

z.m. - #10

Weather - 20 degrees, clouds, snow. Ran 7.25 miles in a snowfall, afterward 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

#97

z.m. - #11 

Weather - 22 degrees, clouds, snowing heavily. Ran 10.5 miles in a heavy snow storm. When I got to the golf course it was total white out, I could not differentiate the rise and fall of the ground before me, so I took the pace slow and enjoyed the rare mood of the landscape. About half way around the golf course I stopped before a scene, filled with wonder - a snowcovered pine, a bit of dark green providing some contrast, hooked the left part of the composition, the middle pure void-white, from the right 3 small wooden fence segments curving towards the center - a study of calm simple beauty. 

#98

z.m. - #12 

Weather - 22 degrees, clouds. Ran 6.25 easy miles in 4-5 inches of fresh snow. I was feeling surprisingly strong considering I ran 10 miles in heavy snow yesterday. Along the way I ran .75 miles doing knee-ups. I started doing the knee ups maybe 10-14 days ago, at first I hardly had the strength to lift my knees to my stomach, now it is becoming easier, I feel the power in my hips growing, and the overall driving strength is improved. A few months of constant knee-up practice should help me become a better runner. I now realize that my overall leg strength is low, and this exercise along with hill/bike work should make a difference in my running times. I especially notice an improvement when running uphill, I can attack it with vigor, the legs pushing me up and over without a loss of speed or oxygen.

#99

z.m. - #13