Saturday -->Peak Day & Pilates for the first time

07 October 2006

This morning I was out to the Peak Centre. They were closing by noon hence I only had time to do the run portion of the workout. Today was also the first day with a new workout, “Low Power Specific Strength” (LPSS) training. You know something with a name that long is going to be tough.

The idea behind this LPSS workout is to run for specific periods of time with the grade on the treadmill set really high while running at the top of my zone 1. The first set was done at 6% grade and 11.8 km/h for 5 minutes. The second set was done 6.5% grade and 12.0 km/h and finally the third was done at 7% and 12 km/h. Between each set I ran 5 minutes at or just below the bottom of my zone 1 speed for recovery.

I found that the 6% grade although tough was not quite hard enough. Apparently you should not feel that you can go much further at the end of each set. The third set was a lot tougher @ 7%. I still got through the third set hence I’ll probably start there or 7.5% for the next LPPS workout. Eventually I’m supposed to get to 8% grade.

Kristen was good enough to keep things open for me to complete my cool-down run before leaving. That made things a lot easier as I didn’t need to run again after getting home.
Since I didn’t get my ST&C workout in today I decided it was a good day to try a Pilates class for the first time. I had been told that it’s really good for the core muscles. The folks at Santosha yoga had also suggested that it would be a good compliment to my Ashtanga class. All-in-all, it was really nice. There were only a couple of moves that we’re awkward mostly because the muscles aren’t developed to hold those positions gracefully. Graceful I was not but I felt I got good value for getting a core workout and some further stretching.

Morning weight was up quite a bit after the massive artery clogging steak I had last night at some friends place. I haven’t had that much meat in ages. Dessert was the icing on the cake so to speak. It always takes me an extra day to fully process something like a steak. The weight should be back to normal after the weekend assuming I don’t each too much turkey tomorrow.
I talked briefly to Kristen today about going for a sub 40 minute 10k next summer. That would be sweet. This gives me something to focus on and plan towards. In my mind I think it’s doable. I guess that’s the important part in that you need to be able to believe you can attain a goal.

My run tomorrow will be around Cobourg as I’m on my way to my mom’s as I write this tonight. Cobourg is small enough that I’ll pretty much run a full circle around the town. As long as I avoid any dogs I should be okay.