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Speedy interval run - feeling strong



This morning we had a great workout at the Caine Halter YMCA. I felt strong, healthy and super fast as I was running with Karel....well more like running with Karel's strong and fast body in my view on the treadmill in front of me.
It's total motivation to watch my hubby train!

Our workout included around 25-30 minutes of dynamic warm-ups, followed by strength training followed by plyometrics and then our interval treadmill run workout. We can easily spend 20-40 minutes before a workout to warm-up and do proper strength training for neuromuscular firing. 

MS:
3 x 5 min desc 1-3 to strong w/ 4 min EZ in between (jog/rest)
3 x 3.5 min desc 1-3 (starting from last strong effort from previous set) w/ 3 min EZ in between (jog/rest)
4 x 2 min best effort (starting from best effort of previous set and holding same effort) w/ 2 min rest in between (straddle treadmill)

Total for me:
10.1 miles, 77 minutes


After our workout, we headed to our favorite French Bakery  to get a loaf of fresh bread (we only buy/eat local fresh bread). I stayed in the car as Karel headed inside and I should have guessed that Karel would buy more than just a loaf of bread.
Sometimes Karel gets a serious case of croissantitis. It is so serious that if he does not get a croissant after his workout, he tells me he will suffer all day. :)
It's not breaking news but Karel loves his carbs!

I'm incredibly grateful to see where my body is at right now in the season. I am approaching two years of being 100% injury free. Karel has not been seriously injured since he started training for triathlons back in 2012. However, Karel did develop a little navicular tendonitis and bone spur on the top of his foot after training a few months in Newton run shoes so he will not wear those ever again. Now he wears Brooks. 

Many times, we don't know why injuries happen and they just come out of the blue. But for most athletes, there is a red flag somewhere in life/training to identify and that weakness can be focused on so that the same mistake does not happen twice. Typical red flags: The athlete may be increasing intensity too quickly, trying to develop too quickly (or skipping necessary steps), putting too much volume on the body than the body can handle (the body is not strong enough to adapt to training stress), not eating enough to support training, not getting good sleep, poor form/biomechanics, the daily diet does not properly nourish the body, the sport nutrition regime does not support the periodized training load/intensity and volume.

With almost 6 consecutive years of experiencing very painful hip/glute/lower back muscular-related issues which kept me from running for 1-3 months at a time (every single year!), I contribute my recent and current good health and strong body (over the past 2 years) to a few very important factors. Although I have been able to accomplish a lot in the past 9 years of endurance racing, there are a few things that I'd like to highlight, which I will discuss in my next blog post.