Intervals

I'm still learning how to do my interval training, so here's my report for today. First, I've been reading and hearing a lot about not "cold stretching" before a run, so I'm going to try that for a while and I started tonight. Instead, I used The Stick® to roll out my muscles and started with my usual .5 mile warm-up. This will take some getting used to because I felt pretty stiff and sore all through the run, but half of it was probably in my head.

Anyway, I did my usual 5 quarter mile intervals, but tonight I decided to run them harder and walk during my quarter mile recoveries. My other focus was on getting my HR up to or over 168 (my threshold floor) as quickly and as long as possible during the intervals. After looking over the data from my Garmin, my HR was at 168+ for a total of 7:47 which isn't bad. I also looked at my recovery time, and it looks like it takes me about 1:30-2:00 to get my HR down into my recovery zone (133) if I walk following a hard interval. I should be able to use that information if I ever do a long run using the run/walk method, incorporating walks of about 1:30 into each mile or so.

After the run, I didn't stretch right away. Rather, I walked about .5 mile and shot some hoops in the driveway. After that, I did my usual set of push-ups and crunches, and then stretched about 45 minutes after completing my run. Now I'm sitting here with ice packs on my shins because they are very sore tonight. On a positive note, my knees still feel great and my right groin is nearly pain free, so I'm very hopeful that my injuries will be 100% resolved soon. Of course, I did feel some numbness in my right foot after about 2.5 miles tonight, so I'll have to keep an eye on that again.