Training log - Week ending 7/24/11

This week was 47.5 miles of “real running” and 10 “miles” pool running plus 3000m of swimming and 60 minutes on the arc-trainer-- training log is here.

A bit of a chaotic week. I traveled to the Tampa, Florida area for work, which threw off my normal running schedule and also meant that I intentionally cut back on my training load to compensate for the effect that air travel always has on me (I always end up with some tweaked muscle from lugging baggage through the airport, and also get pretty dehydrated).

I do note that Tampa was substantially cooler than Washington DC, which amused me.

Then Friday was essentially a rest day due to my planned track mile race on Saturday morning. Of course, the track meet was cancelled due to our horrible weather, and so I ended up doing back to back runs on Saturday and Sunday – with a conversational medium run on Saturday, and a progression long run on Sunday. Both runs were pretty strong, despite the bad weather conditions. I'm not running fast, but I'm actually running VERY fast for me in these weather conditions, meaning that I’m feeling pretty darn good about my fitness. I just need to remain disciplined about a) not getting greedy and doing too much and b) making sure to take adequate rest and recovery.

The one hiccup has been my darn asthma inhaler. They supposedly have 200 puffs in each, and I take 2 puffs twice a week (before track workouts and hills – the long steady build-up of long runs usually means that I don’t have a problem, unless the pollen’s bad). So, an inhaler should last 50 weeks, right? So why do I only get about 8 weeks use out of each one before they die on me (as my current one did before Tuesday’s hill workout, which was a most unpleasant surprise).

Well, did some Googling, and apparently you’re supposed to rinse the things once a week to prevent the inhaler from getting clogged. Oops. Well, that would explain it, then.

Dailies

Monday: 2000m of swimming breathing drills, followed by 20 minutes of easy pool-running for “2 miles,” and then some injury prevention work . Stretching and foam-rolling at night.

Tuesday: In the morning, 10.5 miles including 6 hill repeats – nonstop circuit of up a hill for about 2 minutes, a 90 second easy jog, a stride, and then some more easy jogging to the bottom (whole circuit takes ~5 minutes). Averaged 7:21 pace for the full 6 repeat circuit (just over 4 miles); we did take a quick break after rep 3 to hydrate (I also had to tie my shoe).

This was a tough one in bad conditions (temp 77, dewpoint 70, but thankfully overcast), made slightly more problematic by the fact that my inhaler decided to die that morning, meaning a) no pre-workout puffs, b) tough workout, and c) lovely post-workout cough (“track hack”). I toughed it out, though, hitting my max HR in the process (201 – haven’t seen that # in a while).
Followed with some injury prevention exercises and then a shakeout 20 minutes easy pool-running, for “2 miles”. Travel to Tampa, FL at night.

Wednesday: 60 minutes at easy effort on arc-trainer (set at a resistance that felt equal to pool-running), followed by upper body strength-training and foam rolling.

Thursday: In the morning, an easy run outside. We’ll call this one 10 miles at 8:35 pace since that’s what it felt like (I do know it was 10 miles, just don’t know the pace). My Garmin battery was very low (I think it got turned on accidentally in my backpack), so I ended up mapping out a route quickly and running watchless for the most part. I used my precious 6 minutes of battery life to take one split towards the end – that ended up showing 8:07 pace, but I don’t think that was my pace throughout (I usually start my easy runs in the low 9s and end in the low 8s). Ran 3 miles, then did strides and drills, before finishing the rest of the run. Followed up with injury prevention exercises.

In the afternoon, dragged luggage through airports back to DC. Pilates class plus foam-rolling at night.

Friday: In the morning, 1000m of swimming breathing drills, all with pull buoy, followed by stretching, injury prevention exercises, and foam-rolling.

Saturday: In the morning, 12 miles outside averaging 8:16 pace. Conditions were bad (80 degrees, DP of 70), but I took several breaks and stuck to a shaded trail, and was fine (inadvertently dropping down to 7:15 pace for the last two downhill miles). Followed with a shakeout 25 minutes of pool-running (“2.5 miles”). In the afternoon, light upper body strength training plus foam-rolling, injury prevention exercises, and stretching.

Sunday: In the morning, a long run outside in pretty bad conditions (dewpoint of 75, starting temp was 80, ending was 85). I ran 14.5 miles out and back, complete with 3 water breaks (and two Margarita shot bloks). The average pace for the run was 8:05, with the uphill out averaging 8:37 pace, and the downhill back averaging 7:31 pace (I dialed down the pace on the way back, finishing the last mile at 6:58 pace, followed by a final kick of .2 miles at 6:05 pace).

I followed this up with some injury prevention exercises, and then 35 minutes easy pool-running for “3.5 miles” (meant to do 25 minutes, but ended up in a conversation). I’m going to skip yoga tonight since I overdid the pool-running, and just foam-roll instead.