Training log - Week ending 1/25/2015

This week was 68 miles of running, 5 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

This week was fun, in that it illustrated just how much of a difference weather conditions can make.

For much of the week I was in chilly DC, which was just about perfect temperature for running.  But I flew down to Tampa on Wednesday for a two day conference, returning on Friday afternoon.  Which meant that I did Friday's scheduled workout of two miles at tempo/half-mile jog/one mile hard in Florida, on a bike trail abutting Old Tampa Bay.

It was tough getting out there,

but I dug deep.

Tampa in the morning was in the high 60s temperature-wise, with noticeable though not oppressive humidity.  Nothing horrible, but still a shock to my January-in-DC prepped system.  Of course, this was no reason not to run the workout, since I was doing it by effort anyway, rather than targeting a pace.  So I donned my big girl panties and started.

(I appreciate your thoughts and well wishes, BTW.  Few things are more emotionally draining then having to travel to Florida in January, and then having to run your workout along a beach while you're there.  *insert inspiring twitter-esque statement followed by #HTFU*)

I ended up running the two mile in about the same pace I had run the previous week, and with the same perceived effort.  That was a pleasant surprise, given the summer-like weather, and I started to feel really positive about my fitness. 

I continued on, jogging the half mile recovery, then turned around to start the hard mile and realized I had been benefitting from a roughly 20 MPH tailwind....  And that was how I ended up doing my "hard" mile at a pace 10 seconds slower than I had just held for my tempo two miler...

Returned to DC, and did my coach's "4-3-2-1" marathon pace workout on Sunday in absolutely perfect weather.  Let's do some geeky number crunching.

• Friday: temp of 67, dew point low 60s, strong headwind.  Ran the mile in 6:44 as the second part of what should have been a fairly easy workout, with a heart rate that maxed out at 182.  Perceived exertion: "this sucks."
• Sunday: temp of 40, dew point in the 20s, no wind.  Ran a mile in 6:35 (after having already put 15 miles in for the day), with a HR that maxed out at 170.  Perceived exertion: "this is kinda fun - I love this workout."

Lesson: paces never tell the whole story.

Dailies

Monday:   5 "miles" easy pool-running, some upperbody strengthwork and injury prevention work, and yoga; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  10.5 miles, including 7x800 (3:05, 3:02, 3:00, 2:59, 2:59, 2:57, 3:00, followed by some injury prevention work and 2000 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 3.5 miles very easy (9:08), followed by a yoga class and then 10 miles very easy (8:40), followed by 4 hill sprints. Foam rolling right after, then caught plane to Tampa.

Thursday:   6 miles very easy (9:08), followed by some drills, some upperbody strengthwork and injury prevention work, and foam rolling.

Friday:  11 miles, including a workout of 3200 tempo +1600 hard (~5 minutes jogging rest between each).  Splits were 13:09 (6:38/6:31) and 6:44.   Flew back to DC in afternoon, and foam-rolled when I got home.

Saturday:   10 miles easy (8:18), followed by drills and strides, and upper body strengthwork/injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  17 miles as a "4-3-2-1" workout - segments of 4, 3, 2, and 1 mile at marathon pace, each separated by one mile easy.  Splits were:

4 mile: 28:04 (7:06/7:00/6:58/7:00) ~7:01 pace

3 mile: 20:55 (7:03/6:57/6:55) ~ 6:58 pace

2 mile: 13:34 (6:49/6:45) ~ 6:47 pace

1 mile: 6:35

This was much faster then I was planning, but the perceived effort and heart rate were right where they should have been, and I was able to speak in complete sentences, so I went with it.  Followed with a yoga class and then 1000 yards quick shakeout swimming.  Foam rolling at night.