Jello Legs Are Fun

I'm starting to get in the swing of things with going to the gym. I think it's been 3 weeks now since I got a membership to the gym, and I've gone to the gym at least 3x a week. It's allowed me to keep my weeks with having at least one run in to 11 weeks now. Not too bad considering I had knee surgery 5 years ago and was told I should consider taking up biking and not running to help preserve my knee.

WARM-UP
My warm-up routine at the gym is now becoming just that - a routine. I'm not really having to think about what I need to do because my body already knows what to expect. The dynamic stretches on the way to the treadmill helped loosen things up a bit. I got my mile warm-up in and it felt like it went by fast. I think it's great I'm getting to a point where a warm-up mile is effortless and seems to go by fast. Looking at my previous warm-up times, I'm still hitting consistent times too. I know on a treadmill that is a bit easier than running outside, but it does help condition the body to know what it needs to do.

MAIN WORKOUT

I planned on running 3 miles again today. I remind myself this is off season and I don't need to do anything other than keep running and keeping myself conditioned for the spring when races start and I'm outside running again. For the run, I focused on negative splits. No set time to hit. If my body felt like it was working too hard or it didn't feel right, I would have pulled back some. I wanted to try working on getting my body and mind ready for running negative splits during a race. The only way to do that is to practice it. I don't have the exact mile splits (joys of treadmill running). I do know each mile was a bit faster than the previous one.

COOL DOWN

After the effort I gave for the main workout, I welcomed the cool down mile. It felt good to slow things down a bit and get my breathing under control again. Again, like the warm-up mile, the cool down seemed to go by quick and effortless.

It was good to see my cool down mile time was again consistent with other warm-up and cool down times.

STRETCHING

As little of a thing as stretching can be, it's becoming something I look forward to. I can tell I'm getting more range of motion and more flexible. I still stick to a few basic stretches for each muscle group and hold it for a 30 count. I know I could do more, but so far this has been working for me.

WEIGHTS

Since Monday was arms and upper body day, today was leg day. Yay! I've come up with a short leg workout routine where once I'm done, my legs feel like Jello. Just like all weights I lift, I don't focus on the amount of the weight, but the control and being able to get the full extension of the exercise. I also make sure not to do too many leg exercises. I'm only looking to help strengthen things, especially around my knee.

LAST MILE POWER SONG

Today's LMPS was Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. It's an oldie that many people wouldn't think to have in their playlist. The guitar riffs alone in that song are enough to get me moving. It's really fast paced and it got me moving a bit faster on that last negative split I did.