Hospital Bed to 5K+ Week 2 Day 1

This post was for my 3 mile run completed on Mon 3/30.

In case you're reading this without going through my life history...

History
I had major surgery last summer followed by a healing process fraught with set backs, subsequent (minor) surgeries, infections, additional hospitalizations, and other miscellaneous complications (pneumonia, flu, etc.).

I was trying to develop a method program to get from a hospital bed back into my running routine.  Unfortunately, the road hasn't been smooth and I've jumped around a bit depending upon how I felt.  In another post, I'll write what I think is a *recommended* approach because I really don't recommend that anyone follow in my footsteps to recover :)

Running Base
Anyway, this post documents the first running day of the second week of training I've done after completing my 5K training.  Although I seem to be running without any obvious goal, what I'm really doing is just "developing my running base".

What I mean by this is that I can go out and run a distance just to get some miles in.  This base distance doesn't stress my endurance, leg muscles, aerobic conditioning, etc.  In my mind's eye this is really about allowing my joints and bones a chance to catch up to the conditioning of my muscles & heart, they tend to adapt more slowly.

Running Plan
so my long term plan:

1. Develop a running base at around 3-4 miles
2. Select and start a "Bridge" program to get me from 5K races to 10K training programs (this is necessary because your running abilities at the end of a 5K program are *insufficient* to start some 10K programs)
3. Select and start a 10K training program.
4. Once I complete my 10K training, I'll probably keep at that program but start adding specialized training like speed work, hill work, and running on unfinished trails.

I'll probably select an "Intermediate" training difficulty (at my peak I've been just entering the extreme lower end of the "Advanced" difficulty training programs).

Heart Rate
Without further blabbering, my heart rate chart (the spikes at the end was me running around the park with my dog - just for fun):

Dog Training
While doing all this other stuff, I should note that I'm training our 1/2 Border Collie / 1/2 Aussie Cattle Dog to run with me.  Last night I started training him to heel to me during the run.  Here are some pictures of that taken over 15 minutes or so:

Good Dog!  Pay attention to me!

Towards the end he kept proper place and didn't pull.  However, if I loosened my hold, he'd begin to wander off.   To keep him from "pointing" and completely ignoring me.  I started saying "heel" as someone approached.  If he responded to me, he got a treat.  This started working too.

Summary:

Measure	Value	Unit
Walk	1.0	mi
Run	3.1	mi
Run time	33.5	min
Avg HR	160	bpm
Max HR	170	bpm

 

Hospital Bed to 5K+ Week 1 Day 3

This entry was for the run I did on Thursday 3/26.

I was scheduled for an infusion on Friday 3/27 and knew I would not feel like running for several days after that.  I felt I needed to run on Thursday or I wouldn't get any running in for many days.

Unfortunately, my gut chose that day to generate lots of cramping pain.  Right up until I left to run, I thought I wasn't going to run due to cramping pain.  Luckily it subsided for a while and i took the opportunity to get out to the trail and get my miles in.

Without further adieu, here's my heart rate chart.

Summary:

Measure	Value	Unit
Walk	1.0	mi
Run	3.1	mi
Run time	35	min
Avg HR	164	bpm
Max HR	174	bpm

This was tough but not the toughest run I did over the last week.  I was glad to get to the end.  No soreness from it but I was a bit stiff the next day.