I finished up this week with a 45 minute run with 20 to 30 seconds of strides every 5 minutes. Strides are essentially accelerations where I am supposed to focus on fast feet and high cadence, landing mid foot, maintaining a slight forward lean without breaking at the hips and using my arms to keep the cadence up with my feet.
Whenever I have a workout like this I like to run downtown by the river since the pathway is reasonably flat. I also had a swim on the schedule too, so that would work out perfectly. Well, except for the fact that I woke up feeling like I had swallowed a pack of razor blades.
Lovely.
Oh, and it was –12C (10.4F).
I went from thinking I’d just swim, to waiting a bit to let it warm up to see what happened, to deciding that I really wanted to run. Finally I got going and made my way downtown where it was still –12C and it was snowing. I ran west along the river and as people ran towards me they had the strangest looks on their faces. They were squinting. They looked uncomfortable. And here I was heating up and unzipping my top for a little extra ventilation. When I made it half way and turned around I now understood. The wind was blowing and it was chilly. My throat wasn’t sore by this point in time but it sure was making my chest feel pretty uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way I decided that I wasn’t quite up for the swim anymore and that a run was good enough for me. So there we go, 45 minute run done along the snow covered pathway downtown.
After Beth analysed my food log the first task she gave me this week was to focus on refuelling within 30 minutes of a workout. It has taken some planning in advance, but it seems to be working out well. They key is to include some carbs and some protein in my post-workout snack. I brought some cottage cheese with pineapple downtown with me that I scarfed down with some tea when I was done. That sure was a winning combination, especially the tea after the cold run!
What do you guys have as a snack after a workout?
