Training log - Week ending 8/21/11

This week was 45 miles of “real running” and 19 “miles” pool running plus 2500m of swimming -- training log is here.

Most of the week was dedicated to recovery from last week's heat issues. I really hated to miss a track workout on one of the nicest days we’ve had in forever, but the combination of an elevated resting heart rate Tuesday and poor quality sleep convinced me that I wasn’t recovered adequately from Sunday’s race. And given the fact that I still felt lousy for Wednesday’s run, I’m sure I made the right call. By Friday I was nearly recovered, but still not 100%, so I played the tempo slow. (I could handle distance just fine, but my aerobic capacity was lacking).

By Sunday I felt good again, but still kept the long run careful, due to some really tough conditions. The absolute last thing I want to do is to set myself back another week -- every time I get heat exhaustion, even a mild case, it takes me a minimum of 7 days to recover. And that’s a lot of good training that I cut short or miss.

But in a way, this slight setback has been a good thing – it’s been an opportunity for me to practice running relaxed and really trying to listen to what is the appropriate pace for my body on that day (which is generally slower than what I want to be running).

Dailies

Monday: 60 minutes of very easy running (ended up being 7 miles at 8:36 pace). Stretching and foam-rolling at night.

Tuesday: Skipped track in lieu of upper body weights and core, 1500m swimming breathing drills, and 20 minutes pool-running. Core and alignment class in the evening, plus foam rolling.

Wednesday: 10.5 miles outside (8:46 pace) on a hilly route, followed by drills and strides. Followed with 1000m of swimming breathing drills. Pilates class in the evening, plus foam rolling.

Thursday: In the morning, 55 minutes of easy pool-running for “5.5 miles” plus upper body strengthtraining. Injury prevention exercises, foam rolling, and stretching at night.

Friday: In the morning, 11.5 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track (average pace 6:57, splits were 7:01/6:57/6:55/6:43), followed by a longer cool-down jog, and then 20 minutes shakeout pool-running for “2 miles”. Pilates session plus foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: In the morning, 70 minutes of easy pool-running for “7 miles”. Upper body strengthtraining, injury prevention exercises, foam rolling, and stretching in the afternoon.

Sunday: In the morning, a 16 mile long run that I’ll describe as “sloggerific” – temps in the mid to upper 70s, and dewpoint in low 70s. The group started very slow, at about 9:20 pace for the first 3 miles. From then I just averaged 8:00 pace for the rest of the run (whole thing averaged 8:16).  Followed with 25 minutes of cool-down pool-running for “2.5 miles.” I’ll hit restorative yoga tonight, and also do some foam rolling.