Training in Montana

I can nearly walk without looking like I'm having leg problems, but not quite. My thighs are the worst as I booked it downhill during the steep parts. Sunday I could hardly sit down, Monday it got a little better, and today I was able to walk the 5 flights of stairs from my floor instead of taking the elevator.

Went to the Y today to get a workout in. Peddled on the recumbent (sp?) bike for 15 minutes while watching a combination of Top Shot (Gatling gun elimination - very cool!), SportsCenter, and Design on a Dime. I need a similar row of TVs at my house. That would be cool. Legs felt good and warmed up. Then did a couple laps around the indoor track, legs still feeling good, then did upper body. 3 sets of curls, triceps, and bench press. Did some abs work - 1:00 planks (been a long while); some laying down toe touches, and some bicycles. Not too many - need to work into doing my ab work as I did nothing over the last few months.

Excited to be post marathon, but ready for more. If I could run one in November I would, but there's none around here and no money to travel to one. My next race is a 5K on Thanksgiving morning. I'm shooting for a sub 21 minute race. That's probably a bit agressive as I don't venture into the 6's very often, but I'll give it a go. It's only 3.1 miles, right?

Legs are much better today, so I decided to return to Boot Camp (circuit training) as I told the instructor months ago that once my marathon training was over that I'd be back. I think I might do it once a week or so as I'm not in good enough shape to handle double workouts.

We started off with 3 laps around the indoor track (17 laps per mile) and I took it very slowly - I was dead last and normally I'm towards the front. My hammies are very tight but the quads feel pretty good. First circuit was 10 step ups, then sprint (slow jog) to the middle of the basketball floor, and 10 lo-jacks, then on to the other end for 20 jumps of the rope. Next circuit was in push up position with hands on towels, going down and sliding one arm straight out, then up and other arm out the opposite side. I did most of those on my knees. Next one worked the quads so I skipped that and did some curls instead. Next was tricep dips; then stairs. First set I went super slow on the stairs and nearly got lapped. On the second time around I realized that I could go up and down the stairs just fine but the run in between the stairs had my tight hamstrings angry so I went super slow shuffle. Next one was hand weights punching straight ahead 1-2-3-4 then a big jump. First round I did a teeny white man jump. Second time I realized I could bring my legs up for a butt kick and that didn't kill my quads. Next one was 10 chest raises, then 10 military press, and repeat for 1 minute. Last one was riding the seatless spinning bike. All circuits were 1 minute.

Glad that my legs are healing nicely. Might try and go for a very slight jog/walk tomorrow morning.

I just noticed that I'm fewer than 20 miles away from 1000 for the year! Wow - I'm feeling good about that. Next year I may just set a mileage goal as there seems to be a direct correlation between miles invested and PRs returned (smart miles of course).

Spent a little time on the Treadmill today to see what it was like to run again. I walked for a bit at 4.0 then ran at that speed, then bumped it up to a 5.0 for a while. Ended up being on for 20 minutes total. Could've gone further but was tired and calorie deprived. Devoured lunch afterwards and scouring the office for more.