Week 6 - Inching My Way Closer To Running

Hello Readers,

I really only have good news this week. Yesterday I spent most of the day traveling to Des Moines and watching the NCAA Division I Outdoor Championships, which turned out to be a good meet. I headed over with Bradley University runner Nathan Davis early in the morning and made a day out of it. In the distance races Chelanga and Centro didn’t disappoint, although I couldn’t help but pull for Illinois natives Dorian Ulrey and Chris Derrick in both races. I also got to meet one of my future ASC teammates, Brady McGuire, who travelled over from North Platte, NE to watch the meet.

Although I was unsure of what to think of my foot in the last entry, things are definitely looking up. The most recent x-ray looked good and showed bone growth. I’ve been walking in regular shoes a lot and I think today I will finally be able to say bye to the boot for good. It has now been 6 weeks since the injury occurred, which is supposed to be when I could resume running. I’m going to give it a few more days before I start easing back into running on soft surfaces, just due to the fact that I’ve only begun walking within the last week.

Cross Training Log 6/5-6/11:

Sunday - 61 minutes of aquajogging

Monday - AM: 15mi of cycling on a pretty hilly course in 1:06:23 (Avg. HR of 138bpm); PM: 30min of aquajogging

Tuesday - AM: 45 minutes of cycling on stationary bike pretty hard; PM: 45 minutes of aquajogging that wasn’t very intense

Wednesday - 60min of aquajogging including hard portions and some swimming with Chase and Gatlin Marlow. My first real cross training session with someone else, which definitely  made things easier and more enjoyable.
*Walking: 14min of walking on treadmill 

Thursday - AM: 45min of cycling on stationary bike; PM: 41min of aquajogging

Friday - AM: 14mi of cycling in 1:00:00 (stopped 6min in to help some old people catch their dog on my bike and earned $2, score!) , wind really slowed me down; PM: 30min of aquajogging with Nathan Davis before getting kicked out by a storm and lightning that were rolling through
*Walking: 13min gradually getting faster

Saturday - 60min of cycling on stationary bike covering 21.2 miles. First 15min weren’t too intense but I definitely started going hard midway through and had a few hard, sustained portions to make it a good workout
*Walking: 1 mile of walking on the treadmill slowly getting up to 3mph and 3.0 incline and then working back down in 21min

Weekly Total: 543 minutes of aerobic activity, 267 of that from aquajogging and 276 of that from cycling.

Not a horrible week, but like I’ve said cross training is just getting old. Being able to walk now and mix some of that in there has helped a lot. I’ll definitely be upping the supplemental walking this week and hoping to start running some mid week! It won’t be much running I’m sure, so I’ll still be cross training about the same amount in addition to keep my aerobic fitness where it is. I'll likely add the elliptical to my cross training routine, since I can now probably do that pain free.


Hopefully everyone had a good week and is enjoying their summer.

-John