This week's workouts

On Thursday, we had our track workout at the Foothill College Track. The majority of the workout consisted of mile repeats: run four laps (one mile), walk a lap, run four laps, walk a lap, etc for four miles. "Repeats" is just another word for "intervals" without the run-until-you-throw-up association I developed in high school. The goal was to do miles 1 and 3 at the same pace and do miles 2 and 4 about 10-15 seconds faster. I did just that. My times for each mile were:

1. 7:30
2. 7:20
3. 7:30
4. 7:20

Unfortunately, my knee has been hurting me. I think my shoes are just old, so I got fitted at Road Runner Sports. They had me walk on a special mat that measured my arch height and level of pronation. Then I ran barefoot on a treadmill while they videotaped my feet from the rear. It was pretty neat, and they determined that I need a bit more stability in my shoe.

I bought a pair of Mizuno shoes. Nike uses air for cushioning, Asics uses gel, and Mizuno uses a wavy piece of plastic. The Mizuno's were much lighter and felt better all around. We'll see how the runs go this week.

On Saturday, we had our swim and bike workout. The swim was good, and the bike was fantastic.

For the swim, I brought a water bottle to the pool for the first time. The body still sweats while in the water, so it is important to stay hydrated. I felt much better for it. Our coaches have been encouraging us to drink more than just water, so I mixed Cytomax into my bottle. What a difference!

By the time I got on the bike, I was pumped up. On the map, you can see that I did a loop between Arastradero and Page Mill. In fact, I did that loop twice before heading back to the start. I rode fast and it felt so good! Here are the ride details.


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