A.R.T. and Details

If you want to be fast, you need to tend to the details. The past couple of years, I've not been diligent with the details like: making sure I stretch after every workout, having a training plan, sleep, nutrition, massage, and a myriad of other things. This year, I can't say that I want to be fast but I want to be faster; thus, I'm tending to the details. After more than a year of training with a tight glute and hammie (which lead to some knee pain), I'm finally doing something about it. I've been using the foam roller, stretching religiously, and had my first active release therapy (uh D, I know where your mind is going), or A.R.T. I finally took Charisa's advice and with Bree's encouragement, I went to my first session expecting to feel a lot of pain. It didn't hurt as much as I thought and it felt like a deep tissue massage but with less massage and more stretching. And I had all my clothes on. And it didn't last very long, about 30 minutes. After the session, it felt like someone had lubricated all my joints and I was firing on all cylinders. I'll be back for more. Other details include a training plan instead of an exercise plan, meaning most of my workouts have a purpose and a goal, which means the sessions often hurt more. I think watching all the fast amateurs at Oceanside got me all fired up. I found myself doing things like swimming 5000 yards with the main set being 10 x 400 pull. I did my fastest treadmill workout for the year on Wednesday. I've been avoiding hard workouts on the treadmill, avoiding any speed under 6:30 pace and any incline above 1. After reading Bree's blog about making peace, I made peace with the treadmill. I ran 7 miles progressively increasing the pace every 10 minutes and worked my way down to 6:00 pace for 15 minutes, and yes, the incline was above 1. I'm not overeating, I'm eating a more plant-based diet, and now it's time for me to log off and take care of the sleep detail. The picture is from the group ride this past Sunday. Rachel (in the blue PacWest uni) has a 3 month work stint in Dallas, and she wanted to take a picture to put on her computer to remind her of Cali. Apparently, Dallas sucks.