Day 5 - Speed Day

Thank God for the ice bath and 3 days of rest!  I was excited to return to the track this evening.  I got there around 7PM and it was a beautiful evening.  No wind, perfect temperature, and no rain.  I did my stretches and warmed up with the 800Ms.  I was pretty much pain free and loose and feeling good. 

Once I finished the warm up, I had a challenge in mind.  See, last week I never did complete a full out 100M.  It bugged me all weekend and because of the difficulty I was having in the 200M, I really wanted to know if I could do a complete 100M at a full sprint.  I had these thoughts bugging me in the back of my mind “what the fuck am I doing” and “I must look like a complete asshole” and other self doubts and I needed to blow them out of my mind by successfully doing a 100M.  

I stretched really really well at the 100M starting line and concentrated on my hamstrings.  I've been prone to pulled hammies all my life and I'd rather blow out my knee (seriously!) than pull a hammy.  After doing 5 sets of stretches, I went to the starting line.  Wow!  Talk about memories, I know there was no one there, but in my mind I felt competitors from the past around me.  It was surreal.  I even felt an old twinge of intimidation and nervousness that crept in my mind once in awhile back in the old days. 

I went to the starting line and pushed everything to the back of my mind.  I imagined the starter saying, “Runners take your mark”.  I moved to the line and although I didn’t have starting blocks, I imagined setting up in them.  “Set” and I rolled into form.  I was thinking, this is it… don’t false start Bobby and… “BOOM!”  I launched into the race driving low and hard and coming up on my toes in good form.  I flew down the track, 80 yards, 60 yards, half way and still going in good form and driving.  At the 40 yard mark I made a mental decision to let it all go and just SPRINT.  It felt remarkable.  No pulls, no tweaks, just freedom of body.  I knew I was going to make it. In fact, I barely noticed that I’d passed the finish line.  I wanted to run like that forever!  I slowed in the curve and I felt a little giddy thinking “Shit, I can do it and I don’t give a rat’s ass what anyone else thinks.  I’m going to keep at this until I can do it faster and faster”.

It was an ugly 100M and it was probably pretty slow, but there is this simple fact.  It has been 25 years since I last ran a 100M on a track.  I just did it again!  I hope it’s the first of many.

Day 4

Day 4 is a day that will live in infamy (in my mind anyway).  I could barely get out of bed last Thursday morning.  Every move I made was answered with pure physical torture.  The worst was my quads.  The pain of easing myself to sitting position and then trying to stand back up was excruciating!  There was no way I was going to work out.  Hell I barely made it to work! 

To top matters off, I learned that sore muscles are “injured” muscles and the body’s response to injury, in addition to pain and burning is…swelling!  That’s right, swelling.  My legs were like puffed sausages and I paid for it weight wise.  I checked in at SlimGenics and boom, I was back up at 200lbs!  Pissed, pissed, pissed!  Instead of hitting my goal as planned, I was back up.  I intellectually understood the reason why, but emotionally I was still disappointed.

I got home from work and fortunately my friend Hilary had read my previous post and recommended the ice bath and explained that it works wonders for her and her Rugby team mates.  Good enough for them (and they are damn tough) then it’s good enough for me.  She said that she fills a bath tub with ice water and in she goes for 10 minutes.  Her recommendation was to talk to someone about sex because it makes the time fly.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't have anyone around for that!

I bought a big bag of ice and filled the tub with ice water.  By then I was so desperate, I didn’t even hesitate and in I went.  The initial shock was damn near a killer.  I could barely catch my breath and my heart beat so hard and fast I thought for sure this was it.  I was going to pass out and die.  How embarrassing to die naked in the tub and to make matters worse, in ICE WATER.  Gives new meaning to shrinkage if you know what I mean.

So the first couple minutes were really tough, but I was playing with my FB account on my phone and the time passed quickly and my legs began to numb up.  Once the 10 minute timer went off, I was much better.  The ice bath worked!!!  I could stand up and move relatively pain free.

I was satisfied that it worked and I thanked Hilary on FB, but I was still exhausted and in a pissy mood so I did two shots of Buffalo Trace whiskey and three Advil and went to bed.  I don’t think I’ve been to bed before 9PM in many years.  I slept like a zombie and awoke in time to meet clients at 10AM on the other side of the cities.  I was pretty much all cured and thankful that I was on three days of rest.  I checked in at SlimGenics on Friday and I was back down to 197.25...f course the swelling was down.

Day 3 Aftermath

Whoa Nelly!  Sore sore sore today.  My brother sent me a message that said I'm experiencing Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).  Well, I know the symptoms first hand, but have never known the technical name.  I feel smart now.  Ha ha. 

Thanks to the internet and ability to find almost anything, I searched for a remedy for DOMS and came up with the following:

http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Treatment%20and%20Prevention%20of%20Delayed%20Onset%20Muscle%20Soreness.pdf

According to the article,

"Multiple treatments have been advocated for icing as a treatment.
Other variations of treatment including

acupuncture, herbal remedies, and HBOT appear

to have limited effect. Although some treatments

such as antioxidant therapy appear promising, further

work is warranted. In fact, much room exists for the

implementation of more well-controlled, randomized

studies to assess the effects of many of the aforementioned

treatments."

So... ice, Advil, EFAs, and rest.  Rest comes Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I guess I'll go off and ice myself from the waist down.

Day 3 - Results

Getting better is getting through the pain.

It was pouring rain so I didn't get to do any ground stretches today.  I just did the hammies, calves, and the best I could pulling my feet up to my glutes one at a time to stretch the quads.  Not exactly the best stretch so I was a little worried.

The first 400M of the warm up laps was incredibly painful!  Brutal really.  I almost quit and went home.  But, I stuck it out and by the time I got onto the second lap, I was starting to loosen up. 

Once I finished warming up, I had the idea that I should really try to get a better stretch.  So, I repeated all my stretches, except the ground work, twice.  I felt pretty good.

I walked to the 400M starting line and took off.  A lesson learned from Day 1... I didn't sprint full out until the last 200M.  Then that sprint only lasted for about 100M so by the time I crossed the 100M starting line I was barely in any recognizable form and I had to slow down to a fast jog.  Did I feel guilty?  Hell no!  It was pouring rain, what the hell was I doing out there anyway.

Well, I was already soaked to the bone so I stretched some more and headed for the 200M starting line.  Again, I walked slow to catch my breath.  This time, I really wanted to finish the whole thing so I tried hard to do that.  Unfortunately, I'm having more difficulty today than I did the last time and I could only keep at it for about 100M.  I didn't stop and walk this time though, instead I did slow to a jog... but I made it to the end.  The second 200M was a mirror image of the first.

By the time I got to the 100M runs, my shoes were so soaked that I was making squish, squish, squish sounds, but my goal was to get through the 100M runs today so I headed for the starting line.  A couple more stretches and then I lined up and imagined the starting gun going off and there I go!  Yeeeee Haaaaa!  Ya baby, I'm running on the wind... for 60M anyway and then it's like someone took a sledge hammer to my left instep.  Damn damn damn.  Cramp!  I slowed to a jog and concentrated on letting it work itself out.  I crossed the line with a bit of a limp and immediately headed for the bleachers where I could do some toe stretches. 

Once I had the cramp worked out and my insteps well stretched, I managed to eek out all three remaining 100Ms.  Each time however, I could only hold proper form for about 50 yards. 

When I finished, I didn't have the energy for the cool down laps and decided that I'd stretch again in the spa when I got home. 

So there you have it, Day 3 in the books and I think I should get extra credit for making it happen in the rain!!!

Day 3 - Pouring Rain!

Post workout - drowned rat!

 At first I avoided the puddles - then it was... screw it!  I ran through them!

Ought oh!  Did he go in there naked?  Nah, I went inside and put on the ol' swimmers before getting in to loosen up.

Day 2 Aftermath

Mommy... I wanna stay in bed!  Wahhh.

I'm very sore today.  If I can manage to keep moving I'm okay, but if I stop and sit for a few minutes, it's hell standing back up.  I just have to keep hiding the pain on my face while I take a few steps to loosen up.

Anyway, once I was able to drag myself out of bed this morning, I hit the hot tub for about 30 minutes where I tried to stretch my legs.  My hammies aren't too bad, but my quads are killing me.  And, because of the all the sit ups, my stomach muscles are sore too.  I guess the story about the 2nd day after effects are true.  Pain, pain, pain!  However,  everything still seems to work ok and I'm resolute in my conviction to regain light speed on the track.  That is until I try to do tonight's speed workout.

Day 2

I forgot to bring my workout clothes, so right after work I had to hit Target for some new duds.  I needed to anyway;  yesterday at the track, since I'd just managed to loose 40 pounds, I probably looked like a clipper ship under full sail!  Short, shorts and flab billowing in the wind!  So, today I got clothes that actually fit. That should fix the shirt and shorts billowing problem, but I still have that flab that needs to come off.

I pulled the email that Jon created for me and once I was fully decked out in my new workout duds (and cool new shoes) I started right in.  First I had to stretch.  Oh boy, the soreness from yesterday had really started to set in.  It was very difficult for me to touch those ol' toes!

I managed to get through all of my stretches and then it was off to the workout.  Here is what Jon prescribed for me:

5 minute warm up run

Do the following in a circuit 3x:

12 walking lunges (6 on each leg)
10 squat jumps
10 long jumps

5 minute cool down run and then stretch for 20 minutes.

Here are the results.

I managed to set the iPhone timer for 5 minutes and then I took off down the road.  After running for what I thought was a couple minutes, I looked at the iPhone... damn!  I didn't get the timer started right. So, I told myself that I'd just keep going for 5 more minutes.  Although pretty sore, I made it and started to loosen up.

To my surprise, the walking lunges are tough!  I mean the first couple are okay, but the next 10 were very hard and my legs felt rubbery.  I'll be damned if I wasn't going to finish them and I did!

Then it was onto the squat jumps.  I remember these from when we did them in high school.  I remember them being pretty easy then... not now!  I did all ten, but I felt every ounce of extra weight shiver through my body with each jump.  By the time I got to 10, I don't think I could have done another.  I felt like a ripe green olive drowned at the bottom of a martini.  

The final exercise in this circuit was the long jumps.  The first couple were easy and fun, but by the 10th I don't think I could clear an earth worm.

I did it!  I made it through the first whole circuit!  I remember my brother telling me that I could rest like 30 seconds before I started the next circuit so I barely caught my breath and it was off again.  This time I made it through the lunges and squat jumps, but could only eek out 3 long jumps and by then I felt that I was going to injure myself for sure if I tried the 3rd circuit.  So I decided I'd do the cool down run and then stretch well.

Considering this was Day 2 and I'm still alive to write about it, I think it was very successful.  Tomorrow its back to the track.