Aug 11

FIT:
Yesterday - spinned.  And that was about all I could manage.  I pushed pretty hard for 42:45, and despite having 1/2 a protein powder drink afterwards, I was done.  I tried to run, but the hard treadmill just wasn't friendly towards my feet, so I stopped after a minute.  I debated for a while whether I should go ahead and grocery shop for guests I'm having over on Friday, or if I should maybe go for an outside run.  I ended up shopping, since I was already out, and then it was dark. 

The previous day, I had felt mentally sick/tired/sluggish at work.  I think it was an accumulated amount of working tons and not sleeping regularly.  My eating had been a bit out of whack the previous week, with me not wanting fruits or veggies as much as I normally do.   I knew I needed sleep and maybe some vitamin C to make sure I didn't put myself at risk with a compromised immune system. 

Felt somewhat better after 9.5 hrs of sleep that previous night (to make up for 5.5 the night before), but even that was not enough.  So spin was all I did the next day.  No run.

42:45 of biking, 32.7 mi (sounds hiiiigh).  

Today... felt better, though I still could use more sleep.  Had 6.5 hrs last night, still not enough. 

I needed a run, since the last one was on Sunday.  I had the option of doing an outdoors run on the grass, but Steve Magness of Runblogger.com made good points in Running Times magazine about tuning the tension in your body to be sharp on race day (http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=21918).  In all the running books I've read, I don't recall seeing this topic/theory fleshed out as much as it is here.  I have heard about faster runners being more economical by being less flexible, but this goes into so much more.  So I did a treadmill run, which provides more tension building than soft grass runs.  I also added about 5 striders in the last 0.5 mi of the 3.5 mi run.  We'll see how it goes!  Oh yeah, the race on Saturday is an XC race.  I think tension (to a certain extent) would help nevertheless. 

3.5 in 27:38, 7:54/mi.  Hope the magic comes on race day!  Estimated temps as of now... 74 degrees w/ 30% chance of rain.  Warm.  But the 3 sessions of plyos that I've done in the past month should help bring some magic.  So should the extra training volume I've been getting with all the spinning. 

Splits> 8:29, 7:51, 7:39, 3:37 for 0.5.