I started with five minutes of brisk walking and covered a paltry third of a mile. My foot felt fine, so I gingerly sped up to a slow run and ran the next mile in about 8 minutes. Again, no real pain but I decided to walk the next five minutes before sloshing through the waterlogged soccer fields for another mile — this one a bit quicker than the first. The walk back to the car took about five minutes and rounded off the 30 minute “workout” nicely. Three miles covered. Foot feeling okay (probably 3 and a bit on a scale of 1 to 10). Nice to be out there!

Wednesday will be more indoor biking and maybe an easy mile of walking if the foot is feeling good. Thursday I get to run again, and maybe cover a little more ground than the latest three miles.

In other news, I’m still following the hundred push-ups program and have started to mix in some squats, dips and core exercises. Anything to burn a few extra calories….

As a precaution against risking further damage, I’ve decided to discontinue the StrEndurance workouts but continue with the Hundred Push Ups program, core strength workout and possibly a squats routine. From a shoe perspective, the Supernova Glides only have about 300 miles on them, so despite being a pretty soft shoe, it’s doubtful they’re ready to be recycled at the moment. Luckily there are several other training shoes I wear on a rotation basis, so I’ll be sure to mix it up a bit over the coming week.

The swim was the third trip to the pool in six days. No major improvements to report, but I did manage 2 x 50m, 2 x 100m and a straight 250m to finish. My goal is to just keep building the distance until I reach around 1000m in total and then work towards swimming a straight 1000m which is the distance of the swim at Breezy Point Triathlon at the end of May.

One of these days I’ll need to try on my Xterra wetsuit to make sure it still fits. My main concern is the wet suit will be too big as I’m sure I’ve dropped several pounds since the last triathlon I took part in at the end of 2004. I guess I could always rent one for the weekend…

For the record, I ran 4 miles in 30:37 – full details here.

I just plan on taking it easy the rest of this week, then there’s a local 5k I’m signed up for on Saturday and on Sunday I’m the runner on a team at the Virginia Duathlon. Last year in crazy weather conditions we placed first in the Men’s Relay category and hopefully we’ll be up there again battling to retain our title. I have 2 x 5k legs to run and Chris, the bike guy, has a nice 23 mile loop to ride. Should be a fun weekend…

The push ups on the other hand went very well. Last Wednesday I only managed 38 push ups in the exhaustion test at the end of Week 4 – a little disappointing to say the least. This afternoon I performed the same test to determine which column I’d land in for Week 6 of the Hundred Push Ups program. Somehow I managed a staggering 70 push ups and could have carried on for at least 10 more I’m sure. Looks like the magic hundred is within reach again. Great news!

I’ve been digesting my McMillan marathon training plan and one of the key concepts is the following:

Stress a muscle or energy system and it will adapt to a higher functional level. But the key factor that many athletes miss is that the adaptation does not occur during the stressful workouts. It occurs during the rest/recovery periods.

Most people who know me will tell you, I don’t run easy very often, but it’s clear from this program that to be successful at the Richmond Marathon in November I’ll need to make the most of my rest/recovery periods.

Lesson learned, time to put it into action. Tonight was the first easy run of the summer, and it felt great!

After last night’s extended Kara Goucher NIKE+ workout, I just wanted an easy run tonight. Initially I was planning a four or five miler, but I felt good and ended up running eight.

After an opening 7:39 mile I averaged seven miles between 7:08 and 7:19 with a rogue mile of 6:50 thrown in for good measure. I think the wind must have been behind me for this mile…

Nothing wildly exciting to report about this run. It was just a steady eight miler to help burn a few extra calories and add to my base mileage. Bread and butter miles I guess you could call them.

The only negative about tonight was the lack of response from my shoes. They felt flat, stiff and lifeless and I have to admit it’s almost time to dispose of them. I suppose nothing lasts forever…..

Back home, I did some more work on my core and thought about Day 3 of the Hundred Push Ups Plan which I’ll be doing tomorrow. I’m ready for the challenge and looking forward to Week 2 already!

Still enjoying the marathon recovery period (actually I could quite easily get hooked on this running for fun business), and today managed to sneak out during lunch for a steady six miles in the sun. Luckily I was well hydrated and also surprised that my legs still feel good – I’ve been waiting for some post-marathon soreness to creep in, but so far nothing. I guess I’ve come out of this one pretty good?

So, another short post I’m afraid. Splits if you’re interested (or even if you’re not): 7:50, 7:39, 7:26, 7:17, 7:18, 7:05

Oh yes, seeing as though I stated it was the “hottest run of the year so far”, I better mention that the temperature was a wonderful 80°F – lovely!

The weather is just too nice at the moment to not go for a run. My legs are feeling fine after Frederick, but it was great to just head out the door for a care free 30 minute run. I’m still on a high after my 3rd place in Sunday’s marathon and I’m sure the feeling will last for quite some time.

Anyway, I don’t have any races planned until the Elizabeth River Run 10k on May 24th, so for now I’m just going to enjoy the recovery phase and take advantage of the great weather we’re having in Virginia Beach.

After yesterday’s sluggish run, it was nice to “get back out there” and run a solid eight miles at a fairly comfortable pace. I say comfortable, but my legs to be honest, were anything but comfortable. I seem to have developed nagging little reminders that I’m not quite in the shape I thought I was, with my right hip and left knee giving me the most concern.

My hip ached for the first two or three miles, but gradually faded away to nothing by the end of the run. My left knee seemed weak and every now and then would almost give out underneath me – not much pain, but it felt like I’d stepped into a hole and stumbled.

I opened up with an easy 7:21 mile before rattling off six consecutive sub-7:00 miles. When I said the run was comfortable earlier on in this post, I was actually referring to my breathing more than anything else. Despite running on legs that didn’t feel like my own, I wasn’t fatigued or struggling to maintain pace. In terms of effort, I felt great and will definitely take this as a positive factor as I head into the final weekend before marathon #2 of 2008.

On a slightly different note, how about this for a great account of a personal Boston Marathon adventure? Marathon Dude Bill ran a tremendous race and the way he recounts his tale is simply first class. Enjoy……