Training Log Archive: ebone

My legs, especially the hamstrings, are even more sore today than they were yesterday. On the plus side, my achilles (or whatever tissue was being stressed by my foot pronating) seems fine.

Event: Vancouver Sprint Training Camp 2009
 

Warm-up sprint course at UBC.

Warm-up running before UBC sprint race.

I was mapping for several hours yesterday and today, and my left achilles hurt in the evening. I don't know that it's any worse than it has been, but it's disappointing that it's not getting better at my reduced training level.

I just realized something:
Unless I count rogaines and adventure races (which involve a lot of walking or slow jogging), I spent more time running (and orienteering) in January than I have done in any month in the history of my Attackpoint log, so it's not surprising that I have some aches and pains to show for it.

After getting cold from mapping, I warmed up by going for a very easy map jog around the trails at Dash Point State Park.

I ran to Meadowbrook to do weights. My legs felt fairly zippy, although they still had a bit of stiffness and pain in a few places, particularly the ankle/achilles regions. The tendon above my right kneecap continues to hurt slightly, but it doesn't bother me when running normally (on even footing and without too much knee bend.)

I set the treadmill to 8:00/mile pace and maximum grade (15%) and ran 9 x 40-43 second stints on the treadmill, interspersed with strength work, mostly on weight machines. This kept my heart rate up the whole time.

After doing a few weeks of strength-building heavy weights, I'm shifting to medium weights and more reps. I did 15 reps of approx. 2/3 of my 3-8 rep. max lifts on many but not all of the usual machines. I was short on time, so I left off the shoulder press (with hand weights), low-pulley pull up, and upright row. The last five reps were often tough--on the leg exercises in particular, to my surprise.

During the workout, I had sweated profusely and had taken a few big drinks at the fountain. At the end of the workout, I suddenly started to feel woozy, and it was the familiar woozy feeling I get when I drink too much water and get hyponatremic or hypokalemic or maybe underconcentrated on some other electrolyte.

I decided I should not try to run home, lest I collapse (as at Big Muddy a few years back), and I called Terry, who graciously mixed some Vitalyte and drove to pick me up. In the meantime, I asked the guy at the front desk if he had anything salty to drink. He didn't and pointed me to the soft drinks in the vending machine. He disappeared to a different room as part of the closing time ritual, and he came back a while later with some Gatorade powder. I poured a scoop in my mouth and washed it down with a sip of water. That seemed to help, and I continued to feel better and better.

It seems odd that I would get hyponatremic/-kalemic so quickly (less than a 40 minute workout after a run in the cold to get there) by drinking such modest amounts of water. I suspect I had an electrolyte imbalance to begin with that predisposed me to the acute problem, so I think I should make a special effort to replenish my electrolytes this week.

My workout (as documented on my voice recorder, which I much prefer to taking the time to write the workout on my sheet):
Chest press: 13 x '9'
Incline crunches: 30 on top rung
Leg extensions: 15 x '10'
Lat pull-downs: 15 x '9'
Standing, stooping back raises: 65 with 40 lbs on shoulders
Hamstring curl: 15 x '3' each leg
Vertical chest: 15 x '8'
Incline leg raises: 15 with vertical thrust on top rung
Hip flexion: 15 x '4'
Hip extension: 15 x '3'
Hip adduction: 15 x '3'
Hip abduction: 15 x '3'
Leg press: 15 x 140 lbs, with at least 90 degree leg bend; a bit of right knee pain above patella
Calf press: 3 x 140 lbs, just to test my achilles; there was a bit of clicking on the left side