This week was 38 miles of “real running” and 70 “miles” pool running -- training log is here.
This was a recovery week after Cherry Blossom, hence no workout on Tuesday (but I did let myself roll a bit on Wednesday because I felt good). Allergies have still been hurting my aerobic capacity, but the answer is really just to work through it and keep running my workouts according to how I feel that day (as opposed to how I think I should feel) -- I know that the fitter I get, the more I'm able to cope with allergy-induced limitations. Hopefully in a few weeks this will pass and I'll be back to normal. I'm sick of feeling like I've been run over by a truck nearly every day.
I tried swimming a bit on Tuesday, and it exposed just how limited my lungs are right now. Which is good -- that means plenty of room for improvement.
Dailies
Monday: In the morning, "12 miles" – 2 hours easy pool-running. Sports massage at night.
Tuesday: In the morning, 4 very easy miles on the track (9:14 pace), combined with drills. Afterwards, I hit the pool for "8 miles" of pool-running (1:20 hours), and then 10 minutes of "swimming" ("me-style" stroke). In the evening, a weights session with a personal trainer, followed by "3 miles" of easy pool-running (30 minutes).
Wednesday: In the morning, 10 miles outside on a hilly route at aerobic pace (7:56 pace -- had no intention of running this fast, was just having fun on a crisp morning -- oops), followed by "6 miles” of easy pool-running (1 hour).
Thursday: In the morning, strength-training and then "13 miles" – 2:10 hours easy pool-running. Foam-rolling/stretching at night, plus a PT evaluation (no injury -- I just like to go in every few months to get a professional to identify any potential injuries in the making, and correct how I'm doing my current injury prevention exercises. Left with a whole bunch of good stuff this time).
Friday: In the morning, 10 miles total on the track, including a 5 mile (well, technically 8K) tempo at 6:53 pace. The splits were 6:54, 6:53, 6:52, 6:52, and 6:51, which I was damn happy with. I woke up feeling just about as lousy as I did for Cherry Blossom on Sunday, and debated skipping, but decided to show up and just run it on even effort, letting the pace be what it would be. So, a big success on that front, even if the pace was slow. Followed with "6 miles" of easy pool running (1 hour). Pilates class in the afternoon.
Saturday: In the morning, "12 miles" of easy pool-running (2 hours). Strength-training + foam-rolling/stretching in the afternoon.
Sunday: Long run of 14.5 miles. I did 12 miles with a group (up and back on the Capital Crescent), and then tacked on another 20 minutes of very easy jogging to catch my breath. We were rolling (by my standards) -- averaging 7:45 pace for the out and 6:59 for the back, with the last 4.5 miles being 6:51 pace and the last 1.5 of those being 6:36 pace (I credit the downhill). Solid workout that I need to be sure to recover from. Followed with "10 miles" of pool-running (1:40 minutes). Later a yoga class.
Nice week, Cris! Good job nailing that tempo run and I think it's awesome that you swam!
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at how you're keeping the pool running up. Is it about being careful or do you really like it as a workout now?
ReplyDeleteGreat tempo stuff this week!
Thanks guys. "Swim" is a bit of a loose term here. But I'm pretty desparate to increase my lung capacity. It seems like only a few years back that I was capable of swimming 25M underwater without breathing; I'd love to get back to that.
ReplyDeleteFlo: I can't really say I *like* it. But I like the absence of running aches and pains. And I'm just really desperate not to get injured again. I really feel that I have a lot further to go in running, if I can simply manage to stay uninjured.
It's pretty hard to be this patient. I really want to ramp up my mileage. However, after my long year of injury last year, I'm coming to see myself as a "new runner" in a sense -- just because I used to be able to handle 70-90 in the summer of 2009 doesn't mean I can handle it right now. When you take as much time off as I did, you lose that structural integrity. I'm trying to think of myself as a variant on "Couch-to-5K" right now, and using the pool running to support my volume as much as I can.
Someday, you'll get past your injury so you can run like you used to again. But, I gotta hand it to you, it looks like you've never skipped a day of your training, and continued to push yourself to the limit! Also, I wish that you don't get injured like that again, since it's totally vexing to have your movements restricted.
ReplyDelete