Wuhan China, rest week

Last week I had business in Wuhan, China.  I flew out on Friday the 8th of April- that day I ran up Brown Mountain Road and down the Ken Burton Trail to get a few miles in before my midnight flight out. It was a nice run although my left knee was bothering me a bit on the downhill return.  The knee has been acting up lately and I think its probably due to compensation for the sore hip muscles on the right.

It was good timing for a rest week and not simply because I was signed up for Leona Divide the following weekend.  

When I got to Wuhan on Sunday morning I was pretty stiff so I spent the afternoon and early evening walking all over the area around my hotel, probably 4 hours of walking which I logged as 10 miles.

I was up early on Monday and then off to work;  after work  I walked over to a park near the hotel and did a hard hip circuit:

• Stair step ups, 3x20
• Dynamic lunges, 6x17
• kickouts at 45 degree angles, sets of 20
• hip hikes, 3 x 20
• 1-leg glue bridges 3 x15
• Clamshells 3x20
• situps, 140
• pushups, 45

The dynamic lunges are deceptively easy but actually are the most effective exercise of the glutes, quads and hamstrings.  This exercise, involving taking 10 or 15 strides with each step ending in a deep lunge, entails very little perceived effort but 3 out and backs of 10 or 15 steps always leave me quite sore for a couple of days.  The reason I think is that the exercise eccentrically loads  the quads, glutes, and hamstrings, and the effort is not perceived because its reflexive:  The muscles fire to keep you from hitting the ground.  No effort required!


Tuesday I took an easy run from my hotel to Nanhu Lake.  It was cool in morning and the lake was lovely:

I posted some of these pictures to Facebook.  Interesting how polarized the comments were. Some saw a beautiful morning at the lake (like I had);  others saw pollution and provided unsolicited advice that running in such bad air is dangerous.  We find what we look for I guess.

Wednesday I walked 4 miles in the morning as a recovery workout.

Thursday I walked couple miles.

Friday I flew home-  door to door, it was a 20 hour trip.

Saturday I was entered into the Leona Diovide 50.  I bagged it.  I was exhausted from the trip and furthermore, it was my son's birthday. Why the heck had I even signed up for this race?  I simply wasn't thinking, or rather, was thinking only of myself.  Instead I  slept in to 9:30am- eleven hours of sleep-  then woke and took the family go-cart racing and then berry picking out in Simi Valley.  I slept hard again last night, from 10 pm to 10am, and bagged my original plan to run to the Ken Burton to do trail work.  My sons need my time more than I needed to run or to do additional trail work.

We spent the mid day climbing the front elm tree with climbing ropes and prussic knots.  Now we are taking a rest break and will have some lunch.