Monday, After work, I got in short warmup run with Joseph, then paced him on my bike as he did a workout of sorts on this chilly and windy afternoon. Using my Garmin watch as a guide he did 4 X 200 m, 3 X 400m, 1 X 800m, 2 X 400m, and 4 X 200m with 200s at around 34-35, 400s 1:12-1:15, and the 800 at 2:33 with 200m jogs after each except for a 400m jog after the 800. He seemed a little tired today. For whatever reason, he has not been sleeping great. Of course, he had a great 14 miler on Saturday and the good 5 X 1 mile tempo the previous Thursday, so that could have been part of it. We probably should have waited till Tuesday for this. But, given the windy conditions, it was not a bad day really. After we got home, I did some upper body pushup/pullup/ab type stuff. Some of my normal stuff.
Tuesday, Easy afternoon run for Joseph, about 4.5 miles. I also ran, got in 3.2 with first mile at 7:38, 2nd at 6:53, and 3rd at 6:02. Even with sore calf still annoying me, I can at least get a short run in.
Wednesday, Joseph and Lucas did a tempo workout today. First, I jogged 2 miles with them on a windy afternoon on the super gravelly North Farm. Then, we headed over to the Research Park loop for some two-mile tempo repeats. Wanted them to shoot for 5:35 pace. Was not sure about today, and contemplated waiting until Thursday for this. Joseph said he felt ok, but tight everywhere and sluggish/weak. Still, he thought he would be fine. The first 2 miles were pretty easy and they were 5:37 and 5:34 for 11:11 total. The second 2 mile section started good with first mile at 5:36, but then Joseph said his calfs and hamstrings were locking up, so he basically just jogged after that. Lucas continued the workout and finished that 2 mile section at 11:06. After a couple minute break, Lucas did his 3rd mile 2 mile run at 11:01. He looked good for the entire workout, not really struggling until the last half mile of the last one, and not bad then. After that, I jogged 2 miles with Lucas for a cooldown. Joseph felt fine later. Hopefully this will not be an issue. He ran in his Brooks Pure Flows today, which have a 4 mm heel to toe drop, but I don’t really think this semi low profile shoe has much to do with why his calfs were sore, as he has been doing most of his runs the last two years in this model of shoe. Sometimes he does his faster, shorter runs in a zero drop shoe. He seems to be going through another growth spurt, and as in the past when he put on height quickly, he seems to lean over more when running during this transition. Also, he seems to be more tired. I guess that makes sense. Leaning is bad, because it really strains the calfs. Anyway, until that feels much better, he will probably run in something with at least an 8 mm heel to toe drop and also keep the runs at an easier pace for a few days.
Thursday, Joseph and I met with the Starkville/Columbus Dispatch Sports Editor Adam Minichino today at 3:30 PM before our run. He was doing a story for the Dispatch about Joseph’s scholarship to SCAD. After that, Lucas and Brent showed up, and we headed out from the MSU tennis courts for a run. Lucas decided to go run on the farm roads today, while the rest of us headed toward town. I stayed with Brent and Joseph for a mile, which was 7:40ish, then they picked it up a little. I caught them at a light at about 2 miles, which I did at 7:20. Then, they got back to whatever pace they were doing, probably about 6:50. I followed them for a bit, then headed back. I finished up at almost 5 miles at an average pace of 7:33 per mile. Those two did a 6 mile loop. Lucas showed up a little later. Not sure how far he went, I think he said that he got in a hour of easy running. He was still hurting from yesterday. Not so much from the running, or not only the running, as he also did a swimming workout following our tempo run workout. Apparently, about halfway through his swim his calf cramped up badly and, well, ouch! I imagine everyone knows how it feels to have a massive Charlie-horse while in water.
Friday, Pretty much did nothing exercise related today. Planned on working out when I got off work, but worked late. By the time I got home and changed my headlight bulb in the truck, washed clothes, and stuff it was time to eat. Then the dishwasher started leaking, had to fix that. Now its 10 pm. Oh well.
Saturday, Pretty day, spent the morning and early afternoon messing around in the garden. Joseph got in a short upper body workout before lunch, but I did not have time. At 4 pm went to the refuge for a run/bike deal. He did 10 miles at 6:15 averag pace taking it easy because his calf was pretty sore on Wednesday. He seemed ok today, 1st mile was an easy 6:20, then he pretty much stayed between 6:10 and 6:15 the rest of the way with one brief water stop at the 5 mile turnaround. When we got done with that, I ran for about 20 minutes, and he jogged along with me. So, he got in some good easy miles today and my legs felt fine today as well!
Sunday, More garden work. About finished up putting up a perimeter fence and gate around my little garden area. Nothing crazy, just trying to keep the rabbits out! Punk rabbits like my green stuff. I don’t really mind, but geez guys, leave me some. Checked out the local Starkville Dispatch newspaper today. They had nice story by Adam Minichino about Joseph’s scholarship deal to SCAD. Some of the article can be viewed online at http://www.cdispatch.com/sports/article.asp?aid=32074
Some of the Starkville Striders
Joe MacGown's Running Blog 