Dufisthenics

So this weekend I reintroduced running into my endurance training for the first time since January 1st when I ran a 5K.  I have been having off and on issues with my knee when I have tried to run since the Tough Mudder last November.

Another problem is I have issues balancing doing lower body strength training with running, especially since I was doing the weight work on Wednesdays and my running normally went down on Saturdays.  Quite often my legs still felt like shit by the time Saturday came around.

As I mentioned last week, I have never been able to successfully balance the two disciplines together. If I was doing regular run training, lower body weight work was out the window.  If I am working my legs in the gym my running tails off to next to nothing.

Last week I changed things up and did legs on Tuesday.  By the time Saturday came I felt ready to run, or at least as ready as I get at 46 years old.  My girlfriend and I put in 3+ miles at the local track, a conservative start but also something I mistakenly have ignored in the past.

Many times I will hop back into running by doing the 7 mile Saturday morning running club route which is clearly too much mileage to do when you are just ramping back up.  However I typically just do it because that is the distance most others are covering.  Many times my stupidity has been rewarded with a sore knee that further retards my progress.

Starting off with three miles might not get any widespread acclaim but it is a smart way to reintroduce running to my rather fragile joints.  According to my GPS we covered the distance at a pretty decent speed, a little more than 8:30 pace which is not bad for me.

On Sunday Cindy and I put in a pretty long slackline training session.  After we both managed to get all the way across the line in both directions between two trees maybe 20-25 feet apart we attached the line to two further apart trees.  I would guess the line was somewhere around 40 feet. The additional distance instantly ratcheted up the difficulty meter several notches.  The best I could do was get a little more than half way across.  Cindy struggled even more than I did.

Walking the slackline taxes my hips.  I could really feel it in my A2G holds at the gym today.

Speaking of the gym.  I was unable to do my planned squats and deadlifts as the rack was being occupied by a kid doing 135 pound deadlifts in a manner that made it look like 315 pounds.  Instead I rerouted my energies into the leg press machine, something I hadn’t done in awhile.  I was feeling pretty strong until on the way up on my second rep with 585 pounds I felt a twinge in my left groin that shot into the family jewels.  I immediately stopped, any pain in that region is an instant tap out for me.  I do not need a hernia.

I felt ok the rest of my workout doing leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises.  Hopefully the pain was just a warning shot over the bow.

Today’s Workout

5 minutes cardio/stretching

20 pull ups

15 prisoner squats

Leg press 315 x 12, 405 x 10, 495 x 8, 585 x 2 (groin pain)

Leg extension 130 x 10

Leg curl 130 x 10

Standing calf raise 265 x 10

Total of 6 minutes A2G hold mixed in between sets