The week didn't start out great - as I noted last week, I thought I was either getting sick or fighting off allergies. I felt lousy on Monday night and Tuesday morning, so I started off the Tuesday workout (1200s) very easy - about tempo pace. I felt better as I went along, so I dropped the pace some with each rep, and ended up with 5x1200 paced very "progressively." Each rep was about 7 seconds faster than the previous. That's not how I normally pace my workouts - I'm usually a lot more even. On the other hand, better that way than the reverse.
My symptoms continued on and off all week - sinus pain and fatigue. I felt better mid-week, but then I felt horrible on Thursday night. I debated whether to show on Friday morning for tempo, but decided to make an appearance. While many people talk themselves out of workouts, I talk myself into them: "well....I'll just warm-up and see how I feel.....well, I'll just run the first mile and see how I feel..."
As it turns out, after a (characteristically) slow start, the tempo went very well. I've decided that whatever bug I have is actually just allergies manifesting in a different way - no stuffy nose, just sinus pain and fatigue. This view is supported by the fact that a max dose of Benadryl makes the sinus pain vanish (but also puts me to sleep). This coming week I'm going to play with taking the Benadryl mid-day, in hopes that the sedative effect will wear off by morning, while the antihistamine effect remains.
(in answer to your questions - other OTC antihistamines don't seem to be helping here. Benadryl or bust, baby.)
Sunday we got lucky and the heat broke - resulting in a very nice confidence boosting 16 mile long run. 7:00 pace actually felt like marathon pace, rather than something harder, and I was very tempted to extend my long run another mile or two for the ego boost and validation. After all, my schedule said 16-18 on Sunday, and most of the others training for Philly Marathon were doing 20+ miles. But, for whatever reason my coach had ordered me (twice) to limit my long run to 16, so I (reluctantly) complied. Coaching only works if you listen to the coach.
(and...it does make a lot of sense. I really don't need to work on my endurance - the ability to run for a long time. That's my strength. What I do need is more stamina - my ability to sustain fast running over a distance. So it makes sense to restrict the long runs, so that I'm fresh enough to max out the distance covered during my weekday intervals and tempos, and get a higher volume of quality running).
This upcoming week is a cutback. I'm running a half-marathon on Sunday, and so I'll start tapering after Tuesday's workout.
Dailies
Monday: 9 "miles" easy pool-running in the morning plus 600 yards easy swimming; foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: 12 miles, including 5x1200 with half distance recovery (4:59, 4:50, 4:43, 4:36, 4:29). Then did some injury prevention work and 1400 yards easy swimming. Foam rolling in evening.
Wednesday: 9 miles very easy (9:23), followed by a yoga class. Later did 7.5 miles very easy (8:45) plus drills and two hill sprints. 2.5 "miles" easy pool-running and foam rolling in the evening.
Thursday: 8 miles very easy (9:11) followed by a yoga class and then some upper body strengthwork, before 2.5 miles very easy home (8:49) plus drills and two strides. 3 "miles" easy pool-running and foam rolling in the evening.
Friday: 14 miles, including an 8K tempo in 6:48/6:37/6:35/6:27/6:25, followed with injury prevention work and 1250 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 12 miles very easy (9:27) with drills and two strides inserted in the middle. Later did 3.5 "miles" recovery pool-running, some upperbody weights, and foam rolling.
Sunday: 16
miles progressive, split as first 3.5 miles at 9:29 pace; next 4.5 at 7:59 pace, next 3 at 7:34 pace, last 5 at 6:59 pace. Followed with
some
injury prevention work and a yoga class. 1750 yards of easy swimming and foam rolling in the afternoon.
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