Blog Roll - Andrew Lemoncello

Recovery was the theme of this week's training. I felt ok on Monday but my calves were still pretty tight from the race so instead of the initial thought of getting up early at 5.30 and running around Central Park, I got some much needed sleep and got up at 7am and left for the airport soon after. It was bucketing with rain outside so I'm glad I didn't head out for a jog as I would have had to carry all my wet gear in my hand luggage. I passed out as soon as I got on the plane, which felt so good as I normally can't sleep on planes.

I arrived in Phoenix with the plan of going for a run at Julie's parents house but again it was pouring with rain, getting close to rush hour and snowing on the mountain so I decided to drive straight up before it got any worse and the road got closed. I was lucky as the road had just reopened a couple of hours earlier so I managed to make good time. I waited for Julie to get back from work and we headed to he gym to do a run together on the treadmills. To make sure I recovered enough, I set the belt to 7.30 miles and plodded along for 30 minutes.

Tuesday was a couple of easy runs (90 mins and 60 mins) and these were again, run very slowly. All the runs this week were going to be slow in between the workouts so it was a case of get the Ipod on, select some chill out music, and put one foot in front of the other. My calves had loosened up quite a bit by the evening so it was reassuring that I wouldn't have to worry about them again until I got my massage a few days later. That evening we were trying to organise the training as Brett and I had the same workout and Greg was leaving town on Wednesday. I wanted to do the session on Thursday to get some extra recovery but couldn't get an answer from Brett. Greg texted me later saying that he had gone to Phoenix and I would be on my own on Thursday so why don't I just do the workout on Wednesday and he could be there with me. This was going to be a tough turn around and change the purpose of the workout. I would be running 8*1 mile and normally I would run these pretty fast on the track but this time is was going to turn into more of a strength workout as I would be doing it on Lake Mary Rd on tired legs against the wind and on my own.

I woke up with my legs feeling pretty good and ready for the grind that I was about to go through. The first few reps were fine but the third one was where it became tough. We started heading straight into the wind and my legs tightened up. With a new mindset, it wasn't matter of whether I would finish or not, it was whether my legs would hold together. I wasn't running fast, I was just trying to get the work in. Greg warned me that the wind would get stronger as we rounded the corner and I stupidly said "Bring it!". BAM, it was like running into a brick wall! Once I finished my legs were really suffering and I found it tough to stand up straight and jog properly. Straight to the ice bath for me!

READ ON...