I would say the first week as a runner went fairly well. I’m guessing the years of racing bikes did a good job of building up my cardiovascular systems. I thought that I might be averaging a 10:30 mile to start but my weekly average was 9:29 min miles over the 15 miles I ran this week. I did start to develop some ITBS pain on my left knee after the 3rd run and some sore quads. I have since started icing, stretching, and some exercises to build up hip strength. I was able to easily able to maintain conversation at the pace I was running and was able to test it when I got a phone call from an old friend and did some catching up while on the treadmill.
I made it a point to really watch what I was eating and it really paid off. Although I was maintaining 500 to 1000 calories per day deficiency I had plenty of energy. I kept the carb percentage high ranging 50% to 65% and kept the fats low. After my Monday weigh in I was down 3 more pound from last week. I’m at 160.8, so close to breaking the 160 mark and 20+ pounds from my max about a year ago. I will say that the three pounds was a little more than I wanted to lose this week but I will try and add more calories this week.
This weeks schedule is much like last week except the long run is one more mile and I can pick up the pace on Wednesday if I’m feeling good. Although I want to try and keep my pace down I’m sure I will find myself pushing it. I think the cycling training also helps in regards to knowing how to go easy when you need to.
I really think that going easy is one of the hardest things to learn as an athlete. I’ve seen Cat 2 cyclist that still haven’t learn how. I know it took me a couple of years. I can still remember being out on an easy day and not wanting to be shown up by a weekend warrior on the bike path. A good trick to prevent yourself from doing stupid stuff is not to wear a kit, or not to go out on a racing bike. I would sometimes just go out on my fixie in jeans.
On another note I did order my first skydiving rig this weekend. I was planning on getting all used gear but I couldn’t pass up the deal I got from Wings on the container (the thing that holds the parachutes). Then after thinking about it I thought it might be a good idea to pay the extra $500 and get a brand new reserve parachute, since it is your last chance if something goes wrong. I did get a used main parachute since I will probably want a smaller one in a year or two but it is fully inspected by a FAA certified parachute rigger. This weekend I have the water training I need to get my B license. This is pretty good timing actual since the forecast looks bad for Saturday.
