Title says it all. I'll turn 50 in June and I'd like to get back under 6:00 before then. I've got a few limitations.
1. Since my early 30s, I've suffered from repeated calf strains. I've got big permanent lumps in both calves and when I do too much training, they spasm, often resulting in a strain that puts me out for anywhere from 1-3 weeks.
2. Once January rolls around, I'll be back to coaching again (probably), so my time will be kind of limited.
3. I had hernia surgery in late September (9/20).
4. As of this morning, I'm 5'11", 186 lbs. A lot of that is muscle, but there's a fair amount of fat too.
What I have going for me:
1. I'm pretty fit, in a general sense of strength / other activities. Fairly strong for a guy my age, although I've not lifted as heavy since the surgery (for obvious reasons).
2. I own both a road bike and mountain bike and enjoy riding them both.
3. I have a pretty decent weight room at home and a full weight room at school to work out at.
I started running again after the surgery by September 30. I'll throw in a few of my weeks.
10/5: 2 miles easy at 20:27
10/6: 2.5 miles easy at 25:44
10/7: off
10/8: 3.4 miles easy at 34:08
10/9: 15.2 miles on mountain bike - 1:09. Moderate effort
10/10: 3.06 @ 27:56
10/11 21.1 miles on road bike, rolling road, 1:14. Kind of took it out of my legs.
11 miles running, 36 on the bike. Not tired at the end of the week.
Bought a garmin and chest strap to get better data.
10/19: 4.0 miles at 38:56
10?20: 1.5 miles easy with dog, + drills and strides. 2.2 miles total.
10/21: AM Lift, 24 min of circuit style lifting. PM. Tried to get onto the leaderboard of one of the frequently ridden strava segments. Averaged 19.7 mph for 12 miles of rolling road. This ride gave me a 213 on the Strava "Relative Effort" score. My legs were cramping on the ride back home from the segment. 21.2 miles total.
10/22: Day off
10/23: AM 2 miles easy @ 18:01, PM Lift, Bench, squat, clean, and other core. Pretty low volume, just trying for a little GH release
10/24: 1.25 mile wu to local track. 1 mile TT @ 7:17, 1 mile CD back home. Even splits but died a little on last lap. Legs felt fine, but I was kind of pukey for about the last 600
10/25: AM 17.25 easy on road bike, PM Lift, pull ups, dead lift, core.
Running mileage 11.5, Cycling 38.5. Lifting session 3
This week (last week was a little too hard so the beginning of this week was pretty relaxed. Calf had tightened up on previous Saturday
Mon: AM Lift Chest, back, squat, clean. About 30 min total.
Tue: AM Tried to run, but calf still said no! 1.2 miles PM Easy 7.1 miles on mountain bike.
Wed: AM Run 2.5 miles at 24:30. Forced myself to go slow. PM 18.9 miles on the road bike, avg 16.5 mph, but much of that was in town. On the open road, I was mostly between 17.5 and 18.0. Felt pretty easy.
Thu: 4.1 miles in 41:00 minutes. 1.5 miles really slow with the dog, then dropped him off at home and went 2.5 @ a little quicker. Felt pretty good. No pain.
Fri: Circuit style lifting. 22 minutes. Breathing pretty hard by the end.
Sat: 5.18 miles at 49:32. Longest run since June. I was forcing myself to stay below 140 bpm on the HR monitor, but picked it up the last mile. Finished last 300 or so at around 7:00 pace. I feel really good right now. No pain in the legs.
Tomorrow. I'll probably ride 25 or so miles pretty easily on the road bike. and lift
Running mileage 12.2. Cycling mileage about 43. Lifting sessions 3. (This was a planned easy week and I feel pretty good after overcooking the previous week).
I'm really scared to go out and try to push any running workouts. Other than the 1 mile TT and a 3 mile progression style run last week, my hard efforts have been on the bike. I'll probably try another TT in early December to see where I'm at.
I think my best bet at getting faster is just to lose some weight. Just that alone would make things easier on my calves as well. I really like food, though :(