Training log - Week ending 8/24/2014

This week was 65 miles of running and 8000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

Yup, as promised, a slight cut back this week.  And I needed it.  On Tuesday, during a post-workout cooldown, I tripped and faceplanted.  This was the second time I'd done that in 6 days.

(I'd also tripped the previous Wednesday during an easy run - this wasn't particularly notable because I didn't get dinged up, and I was running on a broken up brick sidewalk in the dark - tripping was not a surprise).

This time I landed a bit harder, literally taking it on the chin and giving myself a goatee.

My blog - I can post what I want. 
Including gross pictures of my chin. 
And yes, I was showing it off to everyone.

Nothing relating to running was injured, so not a big deal, except that (as a friend noted), if one is tripping repeatedly during easy runs, it points to some underlying fatigue.  Which was also a good argument for cutting back slightly, with slightly lowered mileage and a shorter tempo.  I _am_ marathon training, and fatigue is part of that.  But I don't want to get too fatigued too early.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga and upper body strengthwork in the morning, foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 11 miles, including a workout of 400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400 with half distance recoveries (1:30, 3:02, 4:35, 6:09, 4:29, 2:59, 1:25).  Followed with a faceplant, injury prevention work, and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 5.5 miles very easy (8:48 pace), followed by a yoga class.  Later another 7.5 miles easy (8:26) and 500 yards easy swimming.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 4 miles very easy (8:45).  Later did 2000 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  11 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 26:28 (6:40/6:37/6:38/6:32)  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards easy swimming.   Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:   10 miles easy (8:40); followed by some upper body and injury prevention work.  1000 yards easy swimming and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 16 miles as a progression run, split as first 3 at 8:45; next 8 at 8:07; last 5 at 6:56.  Average of 7:53 for 16 miles.  Followed with a yoga class and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/17/2014

This week was 71 miles of running and 6000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

Didn't really mean to get up into the 70s, it just kinda happened.  Oops.

Actually, looking at it, my mileage build-up hasn't been too crazy-- looking back, since May it's been:

53
57
>50
60
62
>44
62
65
66
>50
68
71

(">" points a cutback week).  So, a pattern of 2-3 weeks build, 1 week back off.    Even so, 70+ miles may still be a bit high for me this early in a training cycle (I'm still about 14 weeks out from the Philly marathon), especially given my injury history over the past year.  So I'm going to try to ease up a bit this coming week.

Actually, looking at it, oops was pretty much the theme of this week.  Friday's ooops was misunderstanding how far I was supposed to go for tempo, while Sunday's ooops was finishing the long run a bit too fast - I revisited an old bad habit I have of speeding up when I start getting uncomfortable, in an attempt to just get the run over with.

Oh well.  The good thing about training is that even if a workout isn't executed perfectly - i.e. you run the tempo too slow or the long run too fast - it still counts for something.  Just recognize the error, grin, recover, move forward. 

In other news, I got my ferritin tested this week.  It's up to 50 (a few weeks ago when I was crashing, it was at 30).  Historically I run best at 60-70, so I've still got a lot of iron pills to pop and OJ to drink, but I'm making progress, and it shows in how I feel.  Running a long run too fast was not a possibility a few weeks ago - it is now.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga in the morning, foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 11.5 miles, including a workout of 6x800 with half distance recoveries (3:05, 3:01, 2:57, 2:57, 2:56, 2:55).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 6 miles very easy (8:51 pace), followed by a yoga class.  Later another 8 miles easy (8:27) and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 5 miles very easy to yoga (8:46) then yoga followed by 3.5 miles easy (8:30) and then a bit of upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  12 miles, including an 8K+400 tempo on the track in 6:53/6:49/6:48/6:44/6:43/1:43  (A bit of miscommunication - I thought I was doing a 10K tempo (25 laps); but it turns out my coach didn't want me going more than 8K.  Ooops.   Followed with injury prevention work and 2000 yards easy swimming.   Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:   11 miles easy (8:15); followed by a yin yoga class and some upper body and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 14 miles as a progression run, split as first 4 at 8:31; next 5 at 7:39; last 5 at 6:53 (oops - ran a bit too fast the last three miles).  Average of 7:36 for ~14 miles.  Followed with injury prevention/leg strengthwork, and then a yoga class and 1000 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/10/14

This week was 68 miles of running and 6000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.


And....I felt really good this week.  I'm still running out of gas slightly at the end of workouts, but it's nothing like it was a few weeks back.  Or even last week.

There's all sorts of possible explanations - my allergies aren't bugging me nearly as much as they were a few weeks back, for one thing.  Nor is my asthma.  Another possible cause is that I swapped brands of iron supplements after another check of my ferritin levels showed that they weren't rising as quickly as I wanted. (I'm now using "slow FE"; I was using a generic brand of ferrous bisglycinate).  Or maybe it's just that I'm getting fitter.  Or that I took a down week last week.  Or that I took two vacation days from work this week as much needed mental health days.  

In any event, things are definitely progressing the right direction.  Friday's 5 mile track tempo was over 30 seconds faster than two weeks ago, though the effort felt the same (and the weather was the same).  And on Sunday, I thought I was holding about 7:10-15 pace at the end of my long run, only to discover when I checked my watch that I was running ~7:00 pace.   And I'm feeling perky on a Monday morning, not dragging.

Whatever the source, I'll take it. 

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga in the morning plus some upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work, foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 11 miles, including a workout of 2x1200,800,400 with half distance recoveries (4:35, 2:58, 87, 4:29, 2:55, 81).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 5.5 miles very easy (8:48 pace), followed by a yoga class.  Later another 8 miles easy (8:27) and 1500 yards easy swimming.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 2 miles to yoga (8:51) then yoga followed by 6 miles easy (8:30) and then a bit of upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  11.5 miles, including an 8K tempo on the track in 33:05 (6:47/6:35/6:36/6:37/6:30).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards easy swimming.   Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:   10 miles easy (8:12); followed by some upper body and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 14 miles as a progression run (8:53 for first 3 miles, 8:12 for next 4, 7:44 for next 2.5, and last 4.5 at 6:59. Average of 7:52 for ~14 miles.  Followed with 1500 yards easy swimming, injury prevention/leg strengthwork, and then a yoga class.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/3/2014

This week was 50 miles of running and 3000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.  

Cutback week.  I also ran a race on Saturday, but the reduced mileage was less about the race and more about the fact that I was feeling a bit rundown (which makes sense - I've been at 65 miles per week the last two weeks, which is a number I haven't seen in about a year).  Since I haven't even formally started marathon training yet, I thought a down week was a good idea.

Plus, I had a lot of stuff going on.  Brian and I visit my parents and sister and my horse fairly regularly, but we always do it as a day trip (they're 2 hours away, if no traffic).  My parents had suggested several times that we stay over at some point, and this week made sense, scheduling-wise (once I get into marathon training, it will be hard, since I don't want to miss the Sunday long run).

So, we visited this weekend, and it was fun.  Amusing anecdote: Brian and I idly debated on the way over whether my parents might put us in separate rooms (I was fairly sure they wouldn't).

Nope.  We ended up not just in the same room, but in a double bed (we always share a queen - Brian is not a small man, and I sleep in a way that requires real estate).  And in a room with a steep pitch to the ceiling, so that I had to do a fair bit of contortioning to get out of bed.   No Lucy and Ricky set up here.  (points if you get the reference).

Yup - I think my parents approve of Brian.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga in the morning, foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  In the morning, 10 miles, including a workout of 3x1600, 2x800 (6:18/6:09/6:08/2:58/2:59).  Still fading a bit at the end of workouts, which coincides with my ferritin still being on the low side.  Followed by 1000 yards of easy swimming; foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 3 miles very easy (8:38 pace), followed by a yoga class.  Later another 7 miles very easy (8:31).  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, 8 miles, including a half mile pick-up in 3:09.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  1000 yards of swimming with a pull buoy.   Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:   7.5 miles, including a 5K race in 20:16 (report). Followed with long car ride to visit mom+dad (traffic).   Foam rolling in afternoon (not too embarrassed to admit that I took foam roller to mom+dad's).

Sunday:   First, car ride back from mom+dad's (to beat traffic).  Then 9 miles easy (8:27) followed by a yoga class and then another 5.5 miles easy (8:22).  1000 yards of swimming+foam rolling in the afternoon.

Race report: Crimesolvers 5K, August 2, 2014

This weekend, I ran the Crimesolvers 5K, finishing in a time of 20:16.  I'm actually pretty happy with the race, though I've still got a long way to go to get fit.

I have to admit that I wasn't that enthusiastic about running this - nothing against the race itself; it's just that I really don't like 5Ks.  And I don't like races in August.  (I also don't like green eggs and ham).

But....racing is a skill, and one that needs to be practiced.  And...I also needed to have a cut back week, so it made sense to combine a mileage cutback with running this race.  And my team was organizing this race, so pretty much everyone would be there.  So I signed up.  Like a job to be done.

I wasn't that much more enthusiastic on Saturday morning, when I woke up.  Part of this was that I was completely distracted with a) my plans to go visit my parents for an overnight stay right after the race and b) the ridiculously large assortment of vanities, sinks, faucets, toilets, etc that one has to choose between when building a new bathroom.  The race wasn't the center of my attention. 

It was also moderately cool, but fairly humid.  (inserts grumbling here before removing, since we all race in the same conditions).  And the course had some ups and downs and turns that promised to make life interesting.  But on the other hand, it was good for me to race in the conditions I like least - sort of a callousing effect, if that makes sense.  If you only race on flat courses in perfect weather when you're in great shape, you miss out on a lot.

Warmed up, said hi to all my friends/teammates (a _lot_ of them were there), and lined up.  And then we were off.  Per my norm, I started off cautiously before picking up some - the very first part of the course had a moderate uphill that could really haunt one later if you hit it too fast.

Then, I just ran, at what I'd describe as a very hard cruise.  I think part of my restraint came from the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with the course, so I was a bit hesitant.  I didn't know if or when the next hill was coming, and I knew that if I dug myself into severe oxygen debt, there'd be no saving myself if I hit a hill.  I think it was also that (unusual for me) I just wasn't focused on the race, and was thinking of it as a job to get done before rushing to the rest of my weekend. 

But, so it was.  And I ran on.

During the course of the race, I had been keeping an eye on the women ahead of me, idly debating whether they were masters women or not.    In the third mile, I began making up the distance between myself and one girl ahead of me.  A few seconds of internal debate, and then I decided to see if I could pass her.  Both because she might have been a masters (though I was pretty sure she wasn't), and because the whole purpose of being here was to practice racing.

(and yes, I know I shouldn't have even debated whether to go after her - but as I wrote, I wasn't really in a racing mood for whatever reason).

So, I started to close, with the idea that I'd see what kind of kick I had after the 3 mile mark.  Hit the 3 mile mark, and started pushing around the first turn towards the finish.  I knew we had one more turn, and then about 150 meters or so to the finish.

Except whoops!  Came around the last turn, and it was more like 50 meters.

And (this is the neat thing).  I panicked a bit, and in the adrenaline rush managed to actually sprint.  It felt weird and strangely awesome.  And I chased her down, passed her, and just about tied another female as we crossed the finish.

Not the sort of thing that I'm generally known for, but hey, it happened.  And in the post-race delerium, I just barely managed to restrain myself from crowing about my sprint.  ("didya see me?  I kicked!  Really!).

And all the sudden, I was enthusiastic about racing again.  And I couldn't wait to sign up for the next one, August be damned.  All because I found a kick.  Funny how that works.

It's too bad there aren't more races in August.  Words I never thought I'd say.

Other notes:

-Splits were 6:35/6:31/6:31/40
-Used my new Foradil inhaler, plus a two precautionary puffs of my albuterol - No asthma issues, so woo.
-No allergies either - that's the one positive thing about humidity.
-This really was a fun, well-run race (full disclosure: my running team manages this race, but I had no involvement in the organization, and would have said so regardless).  There was a barbeque stand or similar post race - though I didn't hit it myself, I thought that was an inspired choice for an August race.