Week-7 (8/18-8/24)

-Monday (8/18): 4 miles Tempo. Had a good tempo run around LaVillita Lake. One mile of warmup followed by 2 miles of Tempo run in 16:00 and ending with a 1 mile cool down.

-Tuesday (8/19): We had our second ice skating class. Today it felt comfortable when I stepped on ice. We were taught to push on one leg and slide. Also, we were told how to do a skate towards back as well. I think we are getting the pushing part but not the back skating yet. Its time to practice it more.

-Wednesday (8/20): Track workout. Another great workout on the tracks at Ranchview High School. It was raining pretty hard in the evening and stopped just in time for our run. We did 4x800m intervals with 1 mile warm up and cool down.

-Thursaday (8/21): Bike ride. I had a nice bike ride on Campion Trail along with Cnu for about 13 miles. I was ale to average ~14 miles/hr. It is a great feeling after the bike ride, I feel my legs so really stretched and relaxed.

-Friday (8/22): 8 mile long run. As I was taking weekend off, I decided to run my long run on friday morning. I started off at 6:30 and had a great difficulty for the first 3 miles. My legs were not warming up and I was feeling terrible. I was walking every few minutes and took ~40mins for the first 3 miles. I started feeling a little better and ran the next few miles in 10-11 min pace, without much breaks. After 5 miles or so I felt great and was running close to 8min pace and finished strong.

Week-6 (8/11-8/17)

-Monday (8/11): I went to Texins Gym after more than a year as it was raining this evening. I did a 3 mile run with 1 mile @ 8:00 tempo pace. I was also able to do some strength exercises after a long time.

-Tuesday (8/12): We had our first Ice skating class at Dallas Galleria. We were first taught to fall and get up on ice and then to walk and glide on ice. It was a good first class and the instructor was impressed with all of us as we were able to walk quite well by the end of the class. Now, we just need to practice 3-4 times a week and get better.

-Wednesday (8/13): Track workout at Ranchview High School. Another good showing by Irving runners as 10 of us had a good track workout. We did intervals of 400m,600m,800m,600m,400m with 200m walk breaks in between laps.

-Saturday (8/16): 9 mile whiterock lake loop. Had a great run around the lake along with DRC. The weather was amazingly perfect, overcast in low 70s at the start with some wind. Sunil and myself ran all the 9 miles together and we did a consistent 9:30 pace (without including breaks) and had a strong finish. Sravanthi did 6+ miles for the first time and she was really tired. She walked the last few miles, but importantly was able to push herself beyond 6 miles. Also, there was a good showing of Asha runners for this run.

-Sunday (8/17): 10mile bike ride. I finally got my bike ready on saturday, with the help of Sravanthi. On sunday morning, while my parents went out for their morning walk, I went for a 10 miles bike ride after a long time. I have been waiting for this day for the last 2 months and here it came. Now I just need to keep this momentum and ride atleast 2 days a week. This week was good, 3 runs, 1 bike ride and 1 ice skating session.

Ice Skating as cross training?

Last night we had an opportunity to test out Ice skating at
Dallas Galleria, thanks to my fellow Asha runner. We were almost 10 people from Team Asha. We were on the ice for about an hour and it was tiring. Initially, I was apprehensive especially after hearing to my wife, who started to freak out a little, but started to walk a little in about 10-15mins. I did manage to walk the first 4 laps next to the railing and only fell once! I got a little confident and started to walk/skate in the middle and managed almost 3 laps without falling or even holding to the rail. All in all I was very happy with my experience, considering this is the first time I stepped on ice. A few of us got excited and registered for classes for next month. I guess, ice skating will be an official cross training workout for Team Asha :)