Training log - Week ending 1/12/14

This week was 45 miles of running, 21.5 “miles” on the arc-trainer and 9,000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.  

Well, this was an interesting week.  I had every ambition of returning to workouts this week, but was foiled by circumstances.  Very cold temperatures on Tuesday caused me to skip my team’s hill workout - single digit temps plus hill repeats were not a good call for a runner recovering from a hamstring injury.  So I ran easy and then did an arc-trainer tempo.

And then my calf tightened up after Wednesday’s run – I was tempted to tempo on Friday, but sat that one out also to play it safe – so more easy miles followed by ANOTHER arc-trainer tempo.  

Fortunately, I was able to get into Capitol Rehab on Friday and get my calf worked on.  Apparently two muscles in the calf were stuck together – a bit of ART and I was good to go.

This weekend was ordinary, which made it awesome.  On Saturday, I did some easy miles outside in a heavy rain – I realized a few miles in that I was dodging puddles and pedestrians with umbrellas without a second thought.   No protecting the hamstring. No worries.  I had a big grin on my face for the rest of that rainy run.

Then on Sunday, my Boston training schedule had me down for 12-14 miles progressive.  Since the longest I’ve run post-injury is 10 miles, I thought I’d shoot for 12.  But at mile 6 I felt so good that I decided I’d continue running to Pierce Mill (the standard turnaround point) before heading back – I’d do 14 miles, but keep it easy.

I was still feeling good on the way back, so what the heck, I decided to try the last few miles at marathon pace effort.  I had a headwind and was really out of shape, so I knew that “marathon pace effort” would end up being pretty slow.  But gotta start somewhere.  Upped the pace and cruised on home, then checked my watch at the end, and…. my “marathon pace” segment ended up being 7:06 pace – surprisingly close to “normal”. 

There’s nothing special about doing 14 miles with the last 4 at 7:0x.  And that’s what made it so very cool.    It feels so damn good to be back in the routine.

Dailies

Monday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, an hour on the arc-trainer (count as “6 miles”),  and 1000 yard swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, injury rehab work, 7 miles easy on the treadmill (8:22), and an arc-trainer workout of 20 minutes at tempo effort, 2:30 rest, and then 10 minutes at tempo effort.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:   Injury rehab work, 10 miles easy outside (8:14 pace and 1000 yards of swimming.  Massage at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, “3 miles” on the arc-trainer at easy effort (30 minutes) and 2000 yards swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  In the morning, injury rehab work, 7.5 miles running easy outside (8:59), followed by an arc-trainer workout of 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes at tempo effort, with 2:30 recovery.

Saturday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, 5.5 miles easy outside (8:18 pace) and 3500 yards of swimming.  Foam-rolling  in the afternoon.

Sunday:   In the morning, injury rehab work, 14.5 miles outside (7:48 pace, split as first 3 miles at 8:17, next 7.5 at 7:57, last 4 at 7:06), and 1500 yards of swimming.  Restorative yoga and foam rolling at night.