Training log - Week ending 4/01/12

This week was 40.5 miles of “real running” and 19.5 “miles” pool running, plus 1750 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here.

Tapered and then raced Cherry Blossom, and had a great race.  In running, the downs are always followed by highs, and the highs can be pretty sweet.

Cherry Blossom was an awesome race in many ways, and I'm not writing that just because I had a good race.  A TON of effort goes into this one.  And one really fun thing about this race is the little extras, like Runpix.  Which I shall proceed to display:

Red comments are mine.

And....my favorite:

First 5 miles in 32:53, second 5 miles in 32:38.
I'd call that just about perfect pacing for a pancake flat 10 miler.

So now I'm just anxiously awaiting the team results.  Yesterday was a really good running day for my team, and I'm pretty eager to see how the team results played out.

I'm feeling pretty good and just about recovered already.  I ran a hard race yesterday, but there's a huge difference between the damage that a hot and hilly 13 miles does, as opposed to a flat 10 miles in great weather.  So back to smart, patient, consistent training, with more good races to come.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, 60 minutes of easy poolrunning for “6 miles” and then 750 yards of swimming breathing drills, followed by upper body and core strengthwork plus injury prevention exercises.  Foam-rolling and stretching at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 11.5 on the track, including 8x800; splits were 3:00, 2:55, 2:54, 2:51, 2:53, 2:51, 2:54, 2:46 (so more uneven than my norm).  This was a tough one, as my lungs were tightening pretty badly (pollen was horrible), but I just focused on working through my breathing issues. Started to tie up badly on the last one, but focused on relaxing rather than straining, and surprised myself with the split.   Followed with injury prevention work and 20 minutes of shakeout pool-running.    Floor barre and foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   10.5 miles very easy (8:18 pace) followed by some light upper body and core strengthwork.  Yoga plus foam-rolling/stretching at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 60 minutes of easy pool-running (“6 miles”).  Pilates plus foam-rolling and stretching at night.

Friday:  In the morning, 7 miles outside, mostly at easy pace, but with a “pick-up” of about a mile at 10K pace (ended up running 6:21, which was slightly fast, but I was on a slightly downhill slope, and effort felt right).  Foam rolling and stretching at night.

Saturday:   In the morning, 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills and 20 minutes of very easy pool-running.   Beth said that my swimming form was "not bad at all,", which was pretty cool.   Light injury prevention exercises, as well as foam-rolling and stretching, at night.

Sunday:   2 mile warm-up and then 10 mile race in 65:31 (6:33 pace), followed by 35 minutes of easy pool-running.  Yoga and foam-rolling at night.