Training log - Week ending 8/12/12

This week was 70 miles of “real running” and 16 “miles” pool running, plus 2000 yards of swimming breathing drills -- training log is here.  

Not too shabby.  I raced a mile this weekend, and so cut back slightly on mileage while also moving my traditional Friday morning tempo workout to Thursday night.  I had some trepidation about the Thursday night workout, as I’m not really a night runner, and in the past I’ve had problems with my stomach when running hard at night.  And, of course, it was 90 degrees with a DP of 72.  But once I got going, it was fine. 

I kept the run well below tempo effort for the most part because I was racing on Sunday, but I’m fairly certain that I can do a full workout in the evening now.  Good to know, since I’ll likely be doing so once or twice this fall (on weeks when I need to move the long run to Saturday, due to a Sunday commitment).

The mile itself went well (report).   My official time ended up being 5:30.7, which is a PR by a second.  I was actually hoping for faster, as I believe I’m capable of running in the 5:20s.  I ran a pretty fast 400m at the end of my Tuesday workout, and it would have nice to have hit that split for the last 400m of my Sunday race.  On the other hand, it’s not a bad thing at all to believe that you have yet to reach your potential and that future PRs await.  

And since one of my biggest strengths as a runner is my ability to sustain a high percentage of my speed over long distances (my speed doesn't drop much as the distances get longer), the fact that I can run this fast for a mile bodes good things.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, some weights work, 35 minutes of easy pool-running for “3.5 miles,” and 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills.  4 very easy miles (8:22 pace) at night, followed by foam rolling.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 14.5 miles, including a track pyramid workout of 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 – splits were 1:30, 2:55, 4:21, 5:51, 4:22, 2:49, 77.  Followed with injury prevention work and 20 minutes of easy pool-running.  Floor barre and foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   Two runs today – 8 miles very easy (8:43) and 7.5 miles easy (8:01).  Also did yoga and foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 3 miles very easy (8:33 pace) plus foam rolling and stretching.   8 miles at night, including a restrained 5K tempo workout in 20:03 (average pace of 6:28, split as 6:37, 6:28, 6:15, and 0:43 – didn’t up it to tempo effort until the last mile, out of caution).  Followed the tempo with 15 minutes of shakeout pool-running.

Friday:  In the morning, 60 minutes of easy pool-running.   7 miles very easy (8:19 pace) in the afternoon, with some drills and strides, followed by foam-rolling/stretching.

Saturday:   In the morning, 1000 yards of swimming breathing drills; 2.5 miles (8:39 pace) as a very easy shakeout in the afternoon, plus foam rolling and stretching.

Sunday:   3 miles easy jogging, plus drills and strides, then a mile race in 5:30, followed by 11 miles aerobic progression – the overall pace was 7:37, split as 3.5 at 8:30 pace, next 3 at 7:35, next 3 at 7:03, and then final mile at 6:21 (practicing friend’s kicking technique) before jogging to car.  Followed with 30 minutes shakeout pool-running.  Yoga and foam rolling at night.