Today I realized that there will not be 6 days straight with a weighted vest. First of all, I have an annoying left shoulder/triceps injury after yesterday. From what I feel, it’s probably best to give my upper body some rest. Secondly, tomorrow I have a quite serious padel tournament, and my teammate is the new “father-in-law” who is visiting from Spain. So I already decided that tomorrow morning’s routine will consist of a cold plunge and stretching – preparation for possibly intense physical activity later in the day.
Keeping in mind my injury, today was just running:
- 3.2km run with a 15kg vest
It took me almost 25 minutes, as my pace was 7:43 min/km. I am keeping my BPM under 140. Although the pace is slow, according to my journal, back in November 2023, when I started tracking my pulse and running <140 bpm, it wasn’t unusual to run at ~7:30 min/km pace. Now I manage to do it with 15kg on top.
Also, another experiment that I’ve been doing for a week now. It’s a fabulous old exercise that’s exploding in popularity right now – horse stance. I have problems with my rather weak legs, so I figured it can’t hurt. According to YouTube influencers and other sources, the exercise has a bunch of benefits. Please google if you want, there is plenty of info. OK, so I started with 1 minute in this stance, and yesterday I did 140 seconds. And it is actually pretty brutal. I barely stand up after it without helping myself with my hands. But to my surprise – it works. The effects can be felt a few days after. For me, it’s easier to squat in everyday situations and I think it’s helping with my balance. That’s enough for me to continue this exercise although it’s hard to force myself into doing it. Still, I get quite a euphoric feeling after I finish it, don’t think I get it from any other exercise.
JG/xLongRun