Workouts are Working (but Workouts are Work)

I climbed the CUE stairs from the third floor to the fifth today without really noticing it -- I was thinking about something else, and only realized when i reached the top that I had done the climb without significant discomfort -- a little deeper respiration, but no huffing and puffing and no discomfort in my legs.

Airport Rd. (now called Terre View) in 32:08 - an apparent PB, according to my admittedly sketchy records (though I'm sure I would have recorded a time that was lower!).  My time on 3/26 was a whole second slower.  While the time was good, and the distress symptoms were not so bad (only spit once), it was really hard emotionally to keep my cadence up as i tired.  I managed 26 (156/min) or so on the way out, but dropped to 24 (144min) on the way back.  I was just too tired.  It's hard to tell just how significant the difference is, but it has seemed to me in the past that a higher cadence brings times down more than any other modification.

Also Ordinary

Another Airport Rd walk. I realized today that these should properly be called "Terre View" walks, because they renamed that stretch of road after they hooked it up to the north and west part of TV.  16:38 out, 17:02 back, total 33:40.  Pushing a little, but not really hard. It makes me wonder about that 38 minute time recently. Was there some mistake?

Ordinary

Just a "purposeful" walk on a beautiful day -- cadence about 22 (132/min) out to Airport Rd and back.  Times were elongated also by taking a detour through the USDA alley behind the greenhouses to avoid a blockade near the new Clean Tech building.  Feeling a little tired at the end, but aerobic performance was good.

Baby Needs New Shoes

... seven come eleven.

Airport Rd with times 10:10, 5:38, 6:32, 10:33 for a total of 32:53, my fourth-best time.  I was trying pretty hard on the outbound leg, and had a time as good as the best, but my legs were tired coming back, and I couldn't keep the cadence up.

I'm feeling pretty dissatisfied with my street loafers for this walking.  Even though I lost my expensive minimalist running shoes (I think they were $70 on sale, which is not expensive in everyone's book), I have to overcome my emotional resistance and do what is best for my joints and muscles.

Oly with Paces

Olympia Rd walk today -- I didn't want to push it because I had a short night last night, but pushed it anyway, trying to keep the cadence up.  I didn't have to fall off my cadence on the long uphill, but it was tough.  Times 4:41, 5:00, 5:48, 8:31 for a total of 23:59.  While not PB, it's second, by only 6 seconds, to the current best on 4/30/15.

I counted paces: 310, 650, 1050, 1742.  That corresponds to average step rates (per 10 seconds) of 22, 23, 23,  and 27 (!?).  More cadence measurements are clearly needed :-)

Airport Rd. in a Walk

For once, I kept my promise to myself not to wear myself out on a walk -- too many late nights this week.  I walked at a "purposeful" pace and tried to maintain better biomechanics, especially maintaining a stable pelvis by hugging the upper-outer thighs in and firming the core (pulling the pit of the belly in and up).  Times reflected the lack of "hurrying": 17:32 out and 18:30 back for a total of 36:02.  It's amazing to me that the major effort of really hurrying saves less than 10% on time.

Oly Walk at (Partial) High Cadence

I promised myself today not to exhaust myself trying to set records and then being blasted for work the rest of the afternoon.  However, I did want to test the hypothesis that high cadence (above 25/10 seconds or 150/minute) is the most important factor to improve times.  And I wanted not to be lazy, but do the Olympia Av route with its big uphill.

I set the high cadence when I turned from the CUE driveway onto Stadium way.  I clocked myself at 27/10 (162!).  I turned the corner at Nevada, and apparently failed to click the lap timer.  On the uphill, I used very short steps but tried to keep up the cadence;  however, by half-way up I was struggling aerobically and knew my no-being-blasted goal was in danger.  So I dropped the cadence to 20 (120) and lengthened my stride somewhat.  I still had a PB improvement of 6 seconds at Global Animal Health.

Once on the flat by GAH I upped the cadence to 24 (144), still trying not to overdo.  My time to Observation Dr. was comparable to other good times.  I tried to keep it at 24 or 25 all the way back, which worked surprisingly well (though not perfectly).  I discovered that I could control some tiredness symptoms like wobbling by engaging core muscles,  My time on the back run was 8:26, one second off PB.

Overall the time was 23:55, a PB improvement of 16 seconds, or 1%.  Obviously, aerobic capacity is still limiting.  I wonder what time I could accomplish if I could keep the cadence up above 25 all the way around.

It seems that I rely on the racing-against-myself aspect to keep myself engaged in the work.  It tends to result in too much tiredness at work, but I'll put up with it for the time being because it puts the "work" in my walking workout.