Thursday, March 5, 2009

3/5 Run and Workout

Of course when I looked out to check the weather before I went down to the locker room it was pouring. In the 40s, with 'real temperature' in the mid 30s so I kitted out in pants, jacket, gloves, etc... Walk out of the parking garage to no rain and sun. Are you kidding? Still chilly, so I just tucked my gloves away and got moving.

Tough run. Calves were really tired, and by the run it was most of my legs. God thing tomorrow is a rest day. :) Went counterclockwise around the lake, solo. 6.44 miles in 1:03:50 (9:55/mile) @ 147 bpm average. Dialed the Tech4O back to 39" and it seems to have helped. It reported 6.5 even when we stopped. Which works out to 99.1% accurate. Better. I'll be curious to see how it handles the hills on the loop near the house now.

Saw lots of running pairs out today. Almost all women, interestingly enough. Come to think of it I think 75% of the people I was out today were women. Interesting. I wonder what the average is normally. Have to pay more attention next week.

Went to the gym and did my workout after Kaitlyn went down, as usual. Upped everything to 3 sets at current weights. Added side planks, 3 sets of 5 weight assisted pullups, and tried to do some bodyweight dips. Did 2.5. :)

I've been intrigued by CrossFit since I heard about it, and I think I even posted some about it last year. I know I've linked to the SimpleFit, bodyweight CrossFit style stuff a few times. I'm not willing to commit to that level of hard-coreness at this point, but I find it really interesting.

Apparently there's a counterpart to the CrossFit strength family, Crossfit Endurance. And it appears to be based on some of the same principles as the regular Crossfit. The biggest thing that I found interesting is that there is absolutely NO long slow distance run. If I read the FAQ properly the longest run you would ever do is a 90 minute 'stamina' run. You can read the FAQ for all their gory details. This guy (V-Tach) has a much better response to counter their arguments than I can come up with. :)

I'm not sure I buy it. I know I they aren't selling anything and I can take it or leave it, so pardon the expression. I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm being stubborn and close minded on this one. :) I can see their plan working for up to 10K, and maybe even 1/2 marathon, but I'm having trouble with it at the marathon distance. It might be interesting to try one day though. (Even with other questions like: how ling is a CFE training cycle? How do you prepare for a race? Do you taper?)

The only thing that rubbed me completely the wrong way was the FAQ question about shoes. The very definite answer was "Racing Flats or as little a shoe as possible", and the logic was that a study shows that barefoot runners are more efficient. (When I spell checked this the spell checker changed it to effluent. snort.) Wow. Let's completely encourage people to destroy themselves because their biomechanics aren't being compensated for.

1 comment:

Run For Life said...

I had never heard of Crossfit Endurance before this post. I wouldn't try that for my marathon plan, either! Even if it builds proper endurance you still need to get used to spending all that time on your feet.