Pack Runs!

It’s been a tough month for workouts, pushing hard into new territory.  This past week saw the longest 25 lbs.+ pack run that I’ve done to date, with 7 miles on the trail last night.  I’ll get to that in a few minutes though.

After our first 2 mile pack run, Corey and I have pushed hard for distance increase over the past three weeks.  We’ve done probably about 10 pack runs altogether and a few non-pack runs as well.  I figure we’ve logged about 45 miles with packs.  We’ve also done a couple more hikes, but with the tail end of summer in full swing it’s still hard to commit to entire days on the weekends.  We’ll visit those a bit more earnestly in the coming months.

On days that we’re not running, we’re in the gym with our standard weight training, with a day off here and there for breaks…usually about one a week.  Labor Day weekend was great though because the family went down to the Chesapeake Bay for a visit with friends and I did *nothing* all weekend.  I felt spoiled the first two days, but found myself desperately missing my daily workouts by the third day.  New lifestyle I guess.

I’m still running in the KSO Treks, and still loving them.  They are so comfortable, and my lower leg and foot strength has caught up to what’s required to use them.  I used to think my feet were ugly before from the Bataan training…I didn’t know what ugly was.  I have big gnarly veins sticking out all across the tops of my feet now.  It’s worth it though.  I’m convinced that the Treks have solved the lower leg pain I dealt with over the past year or so.  What I’m not sure about is if that’s a result of the forced improvement in lower leg strength, or the lessened shock impact due to using more foot muscle to strike on the ball of the foot when running as opposed to heel striking.  Ultimately it doesn’t really matter though; I’m pain free and very much enjoying it.

Another positive thing is that Corey and I are working through scheduling for some personal training with my daughters’ Sensei of the past 5 years.  He’s one of those guys who has forgotten more about fitness than I’ve ever known (despite 8 years in the Corps), and has agreed to help us with some personal training including training plans to make sure we reach our long term goals.  We’ve been chatting back and forth about the probability that we may be focusing too much in areas that we don’t necessarily need and perhaps not focusing enough on some areas that we do.  This should help either fix that, or put our minds at ease about the concern.

Now onto the 7 miler last night.  I’m pretty stoked about this run.  We’ve aggressively increased distance over the past three weeks as I’ve already mentioned.  I believe that we have “caught up” to a peak point, where we’re not going to be able to increase distance further at the same fast pace.  We had done six miles before, and that went well, but left us a little bit wanting for more.  Seven was a bit of the same, except that while cardio wise we probably could have handled more, body conditioning wise we’re probably right at the limit at what we can do without injury.  We’re both nursing specific areas (Corey his right knee and left calf, me my right foot and where the quads attach to the hips) that feel very stressed and at their limit.  This is a great stage for me, because progression from here is going to require specific steps in strengthening our weak points…giving us solid short term goals with measurable success.  I like this stage =)

General body shape wise, I’m still trimming down quite a bit.  Weigh in this morning was at 152 lbs, probably due to the heightened running schedules, and I can easily see increased muscle build in upper body, core and legs over the past three weeks.  That will probably settle down some as we move further into this new workout routine as body makeup finishes adjusting to what is needed of it.  I am pretty close to minimum fat levels, not much left of that to lose.   That’s a mixed blessing though.  I already have a propensity for cold injuries, and as we move into winter training I’m probably going to pay for the lower body fat and hence lower ability to maintain heat.  We’ll see.  Corey I believe has impressed himself over the past month, and has said multiple times that he’s very happy with the physical results so far.

So overall, a very positive several weeks.  Thanks again, Ingrid, for adjusting schedules to make room for the often ridiculous time commitments required for all of this!