VO2 Testing and 2 Runs

VO2 Testing
Tuesday a guy came out to the club I go to and performed VO2 testing on a group of us. I started out on the treadmill and warmed up at a 3 mph walk and then put on a heart rate monitor and got hooked up to the breath tester (top picture). Started running and he would slowly increase the speed until I got to my 5K pace and then he added incline all the way to 6% where I felt like I couldn't breath anymore and waved to stop. As soon as I stopped and started to catch my breath I felt like a wimp and I could have gone a lot longer. Then onto my bike on a trainer and easy spinning trying to keep an 80-90 cadence while Cecilie did the running portion (middle picture). When she was done I got hooked up and had to spin at an even 90 while the resistance got slowly harder. Got to a point after awhile that it became hard and he coaxed me on saying "more, push it, go for it, etc." Finally the resistance got to a point where even standing I could only push at 40 or so and it was over. I was soaked afterwards (bottom picture). I had been putting off this post to get the results, but coach Denise told me the results will be next week. She said I was a monster on the bike part and nobody lasted as long as me. I had to go to work right after the test so I didn't get to watch the others.

Springwater Run
Saturday the 3rd I worked dayshift and had some daylight afterwards, so I went to Gresham city park and ran the Springwater trail in the same direction as last week. I had done hill running on the Wednesday before (last post), so I took it easy and went nice and slow. Did 3.2 miles in 30:37 for a 9:34 pace. Afterwards while stretching, my ankle on the foot with plantar problems moved- very, very strange feeling. Have you ever had a moment in injury recovery where all of a sudden you know it's going to get better? That was the moment for me. It stills hurts sometimes, but is rapidly getting better.

Base Run
After going to work on Tuesday after VO2 testing and not having my normal hour-long spin class, I decided to run during work for my exercise hour. This week both shifts are combined, so I ran with Mike who's on days and is a 5-6 minute pace runner. He said, "you set the pace". Towards the end of the first lap around I was getting winded and looked at the Garmin and it said a 7:54 pace, tried to keep it there for as long as I could, but couldn't talk, so I slowed it down a little. We did 2 laps for 3.2 miles and a 27:03 time for an 8:27 pace. The foot hurt a little, but more of an annoyance that wouldn't go away instead of a limp causing pain.