Quad for the Bod

Saturday I worked out four times.

Four. Times. In. One. Day.

That should help me unfat a little. Maybe.

It all started with the Viking Half Marathon and 5K.

My son wanted to do it so we signed up. Then my knee went gimpy Monday and I didn't run or do squats all week, and doubted I would even make it to the starting line. 

Father and son before the start

I did, however, show up at the start but was unsure if I could run or if I could run if I could finish. Forrest has had his own knee issues with surgery two years ago. This was his first 5K in that much time. So we were two guys who hobbled.

Of course we raced. It's what sons and dads do. If you want to save money on auto insurance you call Gyco. But it you want to race, you run with your son. That's what you do.

Trailing Forrest early in the run.

I started just shuffling a bit and was surprised when I looked at my Garmin and saw I was running an 11:something per mile pace. Lately I can't seem to crack a 14:00 mile. Yeah, that slow. When I spotted Forrest ahead of me, I tucked in behind him and ran on his heels for a bit. Then I noticed the Garmin read a ten something per mile pace. I was huffing like my wife does when she sees I've been to Academy Sports and bought some more weights. But that's what you do, huff, if you run a good 5K. If you want to save money on car insurance, . . . .

We went through the first mile at 10:08. Then I pulled ahead a little. I remember not long after that Forrest said he had to walk some. I said OK and pressed it a little. At that point I was thinking, if I can just get to the halfway point ahead of him. 

At the half way point I was still ahead. When we made the dogleg onto Lelfore Avenue, I looked back and saw he was about 150 meters behind me. Early on Lelfore we passed the two-mile mark, and I was running scared. River Road is the final leg of the 5K, and when we got there I just kept pushing afraid he would catch me and pass me. River Road turns into Front Street when it crossed Fulton. I was looking at the finish line. But one of my symptoms of old age is that I can no longer move my head enough to look behind me. When I ran past Regions Bank, I looked at my reflection in their big glass front. I knew from that that he was at least thirty feet back when I didn't see his reflection behind mine. 

I crossed the finish line in 29:56. To say I was surprised is an understatement. I was shocked, but in a good way. I expected to run 36 or 37 minutes. With the rare miles I put in, I can only assume a few things about my performance.

  1. The weightlifting, particularly the squats, must have helped a lot. My legs are as strong as they have ever been, and as Mark Bell says, "Strength is never a weakness."

  2. I dropped a few pounds over the past three weeks and there is no speculation that that has helped. Lose weight, run distances faster. It's not socket rience.

  3. Saturday one week ago I ran up Woodall Mountain. That was a Vo2Max workout and no doubt helped me a lot.

It was a great day to run: cool, dry, sunny. After the race Forrest and I ate Larry's Fish and Hot Tamales from Honest Abe's. Then we left. First I checked my status and found out that I had won my age division. But we didn't stay for the awards ceremony because Forrest wanted to make a bicycle ride. He has a new bike and was eager to try it out.

Food Alley after the run

We drove up to Money and rode one of the side roads. It was windy, nevertheless, we had a nice ride. We only did 9.47 miles but on top of that hard-run 5K, I felt like my legs were pretty much done. 

On the way back to town, we hatched the idea to lift some weights at Plate City. I did benches, shrugs, lateral raises, pullups, lat pull downs, and the Swim Pull. Notice there is no leg work in there. Running and cycling took care of that.

So we did three workouts. Forrest had to go to work after a short session for him. I stayed and lifted more then I went inside, took some nutrition, and rested for workout number four.

Workout number four was-- drumroll -- a swim. Are you surprised? At the pool, I swam

1,300
200 for time 2:56 (1:28)
300 small paddles
6 X 100 @1:53 (the first two @ 1:52)
  1:30
  1:30
  1:29
  1:28
  1:28
  1:28
300 small paddles
4 X 25 dive start
  19
  19
  19
  20
6 X 50 @ 1:09 medium paddles
total: 3,100 yards = 2.833 meters.

Well, that sure topped off a busy week. If memory serves me correctly, this is the first time I ever did four workouts in one day. It was fun. I am tired. I am grateful. God gave me both the health and the energy to have that much fun in one day. I am blessed. Thank you, Jesus.