Man defeats Machine!!!

Awesome article on stretching. Obviously for any runner, stretching is ridiculously important, and everyone should spend 10-15 minutes daily working on trying to improve flexibility. Had a discussion with my friend Dave about plyometrics - I had incorporated plyometrics into my speedwork in the past, albeit very minor, but after our talk, decided it would be prudent to start back up again on a weekly basis. Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance for a sport. Plyometric movements, in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence, use the strength and elasticity of muscles and surrounding tissues to jump higher and run faster. My buddy is involved in the P90X workout regimen, which seems to be the rage these days, and is noticably getting into amazing shape, so obviously something is working :)

Last night, ended up playing golf with Dave at Ruth Park golf course which is located in University City, roughly 10 minutes away from work. We walked 9, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. I can't say much for the state of my golf game, which is complete crap right now. I'm hitting the ball very erratic, but my short game is as good as it has ever been. I lost four balls off the tee, yet somehow still shot 43, mainly from one-putting 6 greens. Dave hit the ball very well and was absolutely striping it 270 off the tee every hole, but had problems scoring so we ended up having a spirited battle which came down to the last hole (he won). Afterwards, headed over to this place to BBQ, and ended up having a few too many adult beverages so stayed in the area and dreams of a successful tempo run were vanished. Woke up early this morning to get in the workout, and was pretty groggy but my legs felt ok. Decided to do a progressive tempo on a treadmill, so started out at sub 7 minute pace after a quick warmup. Felt pretty weary on the first mile, but got into a pretty good groove shortly afterwards. Increased pace every mile about 11 seconds, and kept plugging away. Something funny happened though after my 4th mile - was trying to increase to 9.4 on the treadmill (6:13 pace), and got to that speed but noticed after a couple minutes that the speed was starting to decrease. Looked down to watch the treadmill LED display progressively slow down to 8.9. I kept pushing the plus button trying to increase the pace, but the machine wouldn't let me. So yes, I made the treadmill submit - man defeated machine!!! Was a lot later than I thought, so quickly finished out the workout as fast as the treadmill let me. Legs felt ok - tired, but finished with no problems. Left foot is sore though, possibly from walking hilly golf course? Total mileage: ~5 miles: splits: 6:57, 6:46, 6:35, 6:24, ~6:30?

This weekend, long run Sat. - Crystal and I are going to try to hit even splits for our run. Easy run on Sunday, and lots of golf in between! TGIF!!!!