Run Bulldog Run » rest

Rest Day And Marathon Inspiration

Steve — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Treated myself to a rare rest day today (unless you can count 20 minutes of grass cutting as a workout of course). My goal for Frederick has been a conservative taper and I’m determined not to “test myself one last time” before Sunday’s race as I’ve been prone to do in the past — right Bill?

After last nights calf icing and stretching, my legs are feeling pretty good today. I’ve been thinking more and more about the race and enjoyed searching through my old marathon results looking for inspiration. My plan is to run negative splits (i.e. run the first half slower than the second) and hopefully come on strong in the closing miles.

Speaking of inspiration, I’ve also been watching old footage of one of my favorite runners – Welshman Steve Jones. Jones broke the marathon world record at Chicago back in 1984 (see video below) and followed up with a career best marathon time of 2:07:13 in winning the same race in 1985.

Another of my favorite Jones performances is from a 10,000m track race on the European Grand Prix circuit – again back in the early 80′s. See if you can predict the finish with 150m to go….

Rare Running Rest Day

Steve — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:13:38 +0000

Decided on a rare rest day today – well, a rest day from running anyway. Instead of a run, I rode indoors for 45 minutes and did Week 3 Day 1 of the Hundred Push Ups plan. The ride went well, and I’m happy that the saddle soreness is finally going away.

The push ups were also a success. The plan called for 14, 18, 14, 14 and at least 20. I managed the first 4 sets no problem at all and finished off with a straight 40 – twice the required amount.

In other news, “Sir Isaac” over at The Running Front (the official blog of Newton Running) published a very nice post about my recent Newton Racer review. Feel free to check out the post at the following link:

British Bulldog Bullish on Newtons.

By the way, you can also keep up to date with the latest Newton Running news by following Sir Isaac on Twitter – @sirisaac.

McMillan Custom Marathon Plan: Week 17 Day 3

Steve — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:16:21 +0000

Week 17, Day 3
Phase: Marathon
Workout: 65 to 75 minute Easy Run
Purpose: Build Endurance

Here’s an unusual diary entry: no run today!

The last day I didn’t run was way back on June 27th (3 days before I started the McMillan Custom Marathon Plan). During the last 17 weeks of training I’ve not felt the need for rest days and have simply ‘run easy’ as part of the recovery process. So far so good.

Today, however, still not feeling 100% and with just over 3 weeks to go to the Richmond Marathon, I decided to rest up. Hopefully I can shake whatever I have and resume normal training. I hate being under-the-weather….

Just A Run

Steve — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:59:31 +0000

Tonight there was no Garmin GPS and no Polar stopwatch; it was just an easy five mile run.

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!

Running Rest Day

Steve — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 02:22:00 +0000

Too much going on to get a run in today, but I did manage to complete Week 3 Workout 2 of the 100 Push Ups for Breakfast plan. I have to say, it’s getting really difficult to finish the workout. For example, today started with 22 push ups followed by 90 seconds rest – fairly easy. The next series called for 17 (same rest), another 17 (same rest), 15 (same rest) and at least 20. I just about managed the 20 but it was a real effort. I wonder what Friday will bring?

I also did 7×15 crunches (105 total) in various positions – straight leg crunches, left and right obliques and bent knee crunches.

Tomorrow evening looks just as busy but I might be able to fit in an easy 4 mile run. We’ll see….

Running Rest Day

Steve — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:10:00 +0000

Nice to take a recovery day today after 5 consecutive days of running. However, it wasn’t a total day of rest, as tonight I started Week 3 of my Push Ups Quest For Strength plan and also did 100+ various crunches.

Back to the plan tomorrow and hopefully my legs will thank me for resting them today.