5k: Week Four

This week was a lot less physically stressful than last week but it felt almost twice as long.

Mon 2.25mi run- Wayne's Oma passed away Sunday night so we drove up to Virginia to say our goodbyes
and give support to Opa and the rest of the family. There was no wireless internet to figure out where exactly I should run so I just ran out and back for 20 min. Again my hamstrings feel pretty tight but I found myself wondering if the higher elevation may have contributed to my perceiving the effort as more difficult.

Tue 20min cross train+strength- I used the stationary bike in the gym again. I like that it gives me steady resistance for the full duration of exercise. When I ride my bicycle outside I feel like I cheat because I can coast and the resistance decreases when going downhill even when I change gears. I did the same general weights I've been doing but started adding in some of the squats and lunges from the Iron Strength workout I'd like to transition to.

Wed 1.5mi run- A mile and a half seems like an effortless little recovery run now. I'm still focusing on form and can't quite figure out how to get my quads to engage like I feel they should. My gluts are nice and sore from yesterday but I find myself getting concerned and frustrated because my running form isn't what I feel it should be. I'm worried i'll get injured because of muscular imbalances.

Fri 2.25mi run-an easy run around the Whitewater Center channel. Hamstrings where tight, gluts and especially quads not engaging. I did have rather bad nutrition today. Chocolate chip cookies for breakfast and a rather sweet carb loaded trail mix for lunch- more than likely a blood sugar crash causing weak muscles and lazy emotions. I did start to realize that my weak core and hips are likely the cause of my leg muscle imbalance.

Sat 45min run- A nice run all in the woods at the USNWC. We started the run around 5:30pm so it was quite dark and hard to see by the time we finished. I pushed the pace a little in hope of engaging the right muscles in my legs. It partly worked but I see now that I definitely need to jump on doing more glut, hip, and core exercises on Tuesdays and long run day. I also did 15(set of 5x3) heel dips as a preventative maintenance for my achilles tendons- a remedy I found in the "Tendons" section of this Running Times article.

I was watching the way my shadow moved while running one day this week, and was struck with a memory of Michelle Jenneke getting a lot of press during the Olympics for her warm up dance and realized weak hips may be a weakness factor I should start working on first. So...I found a simple transitional workout!

Hopefully this will get me closer to being comfortable with doing the more dynamic Iron Strength workout I'm striving for.