Back To It

So sleepy and tired.  Almost skipped working out.  Fortunately, I didn't and the exercise energized me out of my doldrums.  I'm not sure why I'm so lethargic.  Could be just not getting enough sleep.  Might be a psychological reaction to stress.  I'm not ruling out diet though.  I noticed I was eating more grain-foods since this past weekend, along with perhaps a few more empty calorie fats than I should.  Perhaps the balance I had adopted over the previous 3-4 weeks had become what my body expected and when I took a "vacation" from that, my body feels the deficiency?  I don't know, but I better break out of this funk. 

My workout today consisted of the elliptical fit test for a warm up and then some time on the treadmill doing some speedwork.  I figured that I'd test the calf out and if there was any twinge at all, I'd revert to just doing some strength training, cardio-style.  I didn't feel anything wrong with the calf so I stuck with the interval work.

I had planned to do 2 sets of 1.5 mile best-effort runs with a recovery jog in between.  Instead, I was frustrated by the equipment.  The first treadmill just started to wind down on its own after I was into my first third of the first set.  I thought at first I had accidentally hit the panic shut down button, but once it had spooled down and alert display came up saying "Check Speed System."

So, having broken that one, I moved over to the neighboring machine and started over.  Once at 9.0 though, it felt like the belt was slipping.  It felt very unstable and dangerous, so I abandoned that one too.

Moved one more over and everything felt fine as I started off at a moderate speed of 8.6.  When I tried to boost to 9.0, instead of changing the speed, the heart rate display changed...indicating what, I don't know.  Plus, I didn't like the way that belt felt under my feet either.

They were all StarTrak machines, so having spent 15 minutes of warmup and early hi-threshold work already, I switched over to the Precor treadmills.  I had no problems with this one (I'd never had problems with the StarTrak units before), but by now I was already at a deficit and unsure if I could do two 1.5 mile sets at the goal pace of 6:30-6:40.  So instead, I switched to doing intervals of about .35 miles with .15 mile recoveries.  I did 6 of these at 9.0 with HR hitting the low 160s, walking the recoveries hoping to get HR to under 120 before starting the next one. 

With all the other false starts, warmups and cooldown, I probably covered 4 miles.  I needed keep close track.

Wednesday's should be a strength training day now that boot camp is over, but I ran out of time.  I think I might start up the 100 pushup and 200 sit ups programs.  Supposedly, a 25 pullups program is in the works, but how hard can the principle be?  Perhaps I'll craft my own program.  I should be able to fit that routine in 3 times a week, especially on days that I miss working with weights.