Friday Thoughts 90
Welcome to this week’s edition of Friday Thoughts! Happy August.
Fast Mile
Yesterday I made up the workout I missed last week on the Fast Mile Program. It was the 400m repeats with 1 minute rest. I was able to hit my targets and it was tough but not impossible. It was a nice confidence boost which I needed. I went to the track and it started raining hard, so I headed to the gym and did them on the treadmill—it was okay. I wanted practice taking laps on the track, but you can’t control the weather. I’m not shy of running in the rain either, but it was raining hard!
Recovery
I needed a confidence boost cause my dogs were barking this week—as I expected. To build from a post earlier this week, Silly Smart Watch, I expected to have a tough week of training on tired legs, despite spending the previous week “recovering,” according to my Garmin.
Contrast
As an athlete I take pride in not having a specialty, or a hole I fall into, and the next week will put this to the test. I wanted to spend the summer working on my mile, but I had this 50k looming over me that I do every August. It’s not just a 50k, either. It has 11k of vertical gain and is on rugged and unforgiving terrain.
So the question was: can I spend the summer running the fast mile program, while also getting prepared for a really long day out in the mountains?
Of course I’ll be relying on the aerobic base I spend the last decade building. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. I’m feeling really fit, but a little apprehensive since I never got a good long run in. Anyway, training experiments like this give me experience and I’m excited to see how it plays out.
CrossFit Games
Speaking of training experiments that break the “rules,” the CrossFit Games are this weekend. I love watching the CrossFit Games. These athletes are incredible—they’re really strong, really fast, they have great endurance and skill. At the end of the weekend they’ll crown the Fittest on Earth. The Games were the first thing to show me that the physiology textbooks aren’t immutable— you actually can get strong, and build endurance at the same time! For so long we thought these traits were incompatible—you had to choose one or the other. That simply isn’t the case, and inspired me to try things like gearing up for a mountainous 50k with a bunch of track workouts. I love the idea of specializing in no specialty. Tune in and check out some impressive fitness.
August challenge
The challenge of the month is a burner!
For time:
20/15 cal SkiErg
10 Dock Climbs
20/15 cal SkiErg
*Dock Climb: starting with feet on the ground, climb, jump, or roll up the loading dock and stand tall - that’s 1 rep.
We used our loading dock and the garage door in a challenge workout a couple summer ago and I’m excited to bring it back. This workout will be short and spicy!
Have a good one, see you next time.
—Justin Miner