Today, I'm feeling something that becomes all too rare during the long, Wisconsin off-season (otherwise known as winter). No, I'm not talking about sun-burn.
I'm talking about the widely familiar burn our muscles feel after a solid workout. Many of my winter workouts are base building. And though base workouts are vital for a successful race season, there is something about the "feel good" pain associated with a challenging workout.
My current muscle aches are related to workouts from Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday's swim was scheduled to be a longish workout of 2500 yards. My earplugs weren't cooperating, and I was getting water into my left ear. That happens to be the one with the ruptured ear-drum, so letting water in is a bad idea. Lucky for me, I'm a right side breather, so I was still able to complete 1000 yards.
Since 1500 yards represents a bit more than 30 minutes of my time, I decided to make an extra appearance in the weight room for some core body exercises. I ran through a more rigorous series than I've done for some time. My abs and glutes are paying the price, even two days later.
Yesterday, I hit the track for my MWSLR (mid-week sorta long run). I put in two sets of 10 x 20 second strides, with 40 seconds between strides. For those unfamiliar with the term, strides are speedwork designed to increase turnover. For the 20 second stride, I target 33 left foot strikes, for a cadence of 100. As we get closer to the race season, I'll work on increasing the cadence toward 120.
I'll never race at that cadence, but doing the strides helps increase turnover during normal running. And it tends to push me toward LT, adding the benefits that provides.
Needless to say, 20 minutes of quality speedwork the day after a solid core body workout has my body feeling the burn. And this is a good thing. It means the long and boring runs of the winter "off season" are over.
And that means the race season is approaching rapidly. And that, my friends, is what all the work for the past several months is all about.
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