Well it was time to test out the 'bounce' sneakers at the lab today. I met up with Lisa at the university and had a million electrodes and glo balls stuck to me again. As she was doing this I was glancing around the lab casually to see if the young Jared was there....he was the fellow that put the oxygen mask on me last time and who couldn't understand what was obstructing it. (Yes, it was the royal dutch nose!) The mask left a bruise on my nose that lasted for a week, urgh.
Apparantly Jared was away for the holidays so I wouldn't have to wear a mask. Oh Joy, Oh Rapture, Unforseen!!!! heh heh.
I did a quick warmup on the treadmill and then it was 'do or die' time. The pace was set at 5.8 mile/hr (85% of threshold) and I was to run this for an hour wearing the shoes. I really wasn't sure if I could hold that pace at first, but in typical Susi fashion I was going to do my best.
I felt great right off the bat. The pace wasn't too bad afterall. The only thing that was a wee bit boring was I had nothing to watch or do....except 'RUN SUSI RUN!'. Good thing I'm a thinker....I knew I could fill an hour, haha.
My first thoughts were about wondering how long it was going to take my body to switch from being really great at short bursts of power, to long sustained power. I figure at least a few years. Good thing I have many IMs planned, haha. Then of course I wondered if I would ever lose any bodyfat during this process. This thought occurred to me because one of my shorts legs was riding up do to the electrodes and my damn thighs were rubbing together. Rats!
I kind of let my mind wander like this for a bit, then remembered one of my goals for the year - to be more focused on what my body was doing as I trained. I've read that if you don't focus on what you are doing you are more apt to slow down and lose technique. As the treadmill was keeping me at a steady pace, I figured I'd better focus on how I felt.
Lisa helped with this because every 6 or so minutes she'd ask me a bunch of questions. What was my level of perceived exertion. Rate how confident, strong, motivated, I felt. How was my energy. Did I have pain.
I'm happy to report that I maintained my confidence, motivation and strength the entire hour. The energy level dipped a wee bit, as was to be expected. I didn't have pain from the run....but the darned electrodes in my shoe were rubbing on my arches. I didn't want to stop to do anything about it because I wanted to have a good test for Lisa. So I just put up with it.
By the end of the hour I was ready to get off the merrygoround. One can only take so much of a treadmill! haha.
Lisa was happy with my test and so was I. Not just because I held pace, but because and felt strong and for the first time in MONTHS, I had no intestinal issues!!! You have NO idea how happy this made me feel. A happy side effect of this test was it has given me some confidence that I will start the IMCDA training in the new year strong and healthy.
Phew....was getting a little worried for a while there! haha.
Oh, I do have a few reminders of my brilliant run. I have 2" x 0.25" blisters on my arches and a wonderful chafe mark from the heart rate monitor. Of course I discovered the chafe as I stepped into the shower and the water hit me. YEOOOOOOOW!!!
Meh, it was worth it. LOL.
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