Training log - Week ending 12/13/15

This week was 60 miles of running, 5000 yards of swimming, and  4 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my last week of ramping back up from the marathon before jumping into workouts.  I hit 60 miles, which is roughly where I'll hold my mileage for a while.  I've found that I get much more injury prone when I drop too far below 60 - my best guess is that I need a decent bit of mileage to stay strong enough to reduce injury.  At the same time, there's really no need to go much higher.  I'm not training for a marathon, and I've certainly got a strong base from the last marathon training cycle that should persist for some time.

As part of my reverse taper, I increased my drills and strides.  I also cut back my yoga some - I've now got my strong core and leg stability back, so my time is better spent on other things. 

One of those things was harder swimming, including 5x100 yards hard on Wednesday, and 10x100 yards hard on Sunday.  I did this to give myself a little mental prep for returning to speedwork next week - the focus needed to complete workouts in the water isn't that much different from what's needed on land.  And it was fun, in that weird runner way, to push my heart rate up.

The hard swimming also gave me a chance to play with my new swimming heart rate chest strap.  Historically, Garmin heart rate straps haven't worked in the water - the ANT+ signal doesn't transmit through water.  However, the latest version of the strap has a memory function, and so stores your heart rate history during the workout, before transferring the data later when one is out of the water.  You still can't check your heart rate in real time, but you get to see the data at some point.

What I've found so far is that my heart rate for easy swimming isn't much different than it is for running.  In fact, it's slightly higher, which probably is an indication that I'm much more efficient at running than at swimming. 

However, during hard workouts, my swimming heart rate is lower than my running heart rate.

Here's my heart rate for Sunday's swim. 
Started and ended with easy stuff and drills;
Intervals (100yd hard on 2:00 base) in middle.

  Hard intervals lasting between 90 seconds and two minutes, with short recoveries, would have my heart rate up into the low 180s on land.  In the water, I peaked at 161.  Part of this is probably due to the coolness and the pressure of the water.  But my sense is that this also reflects that I am much more skilled at running than at swimming - I'm just not a good enough swimmer, technique-wise, to be able to push myself truly hard.

Next week I get to start running workouts (which means no more hard swimming workouts).  I'm excited to be back.  No long runs for me for now - we're capping my long runs at 12 miles until further notice.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 4 "miles" easy pool-running and 800 yards easy swimming.

Tuesday:  8 miles easy (8:44) plus drills, plus some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 10 miles easy (9:01 pace), and then 950 yards of swimming, including 5x100 hard on 2:00 .  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   4 miles very easy to yoga (9:28 pace) followed by yoga and then another 6 miles very easy (9:26) plus some some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  5 miles very easy to yoga (9:22 pace), yoga, and then another 5 miles easy (8:42 pace) plus drills and two hill sprints. Later did 1050 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:   10 miles very easy (8:47), followed with drills and strides.  Then did upper body weights, core, and foam rolling.

Sunday:  12 miles aerobic  (8:08 pace) plus drills, followed with lower body injury prevention work and 2200 yards swimming (with 10x100 hard on 200).  Foam rolling later.