Training log - Week ending 4/3/16

This week was 44 miles of running, 6 "miles" of pool-running and 2000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

This week was most notable for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which I will hereinafter refer to as the Cherry Blast.    That's already been discussed in the separate race report, so I don't need to dedicate pixels here.

Other than the race, the week was pretty low key.  Since I'm out of shape and have been low mileage for the past several weeks, my taper looked slightly different than normal.  Tuesday-Thursday were normal mileage (though what is currently "normal" for me is equivalent to what "taper" used to be), and then I did a sharp cut-off on Friday and Saturday.

My allergies were also notable this week.  I didn't feel great on Tuesday - not horrible, but not stellar. Part of that could be that I'm just getting back into shape, but part of it also had to be the pollen count, which was very high.  Though I don't generally run very well on antihistamines, I decided to try some Claritin during my pre-race "mile pick-up" on Friday.  That run went very well, and I gave credit to the Claritin.  However, the meh feeling returned for Sunday's run.  Looking at the chart below, I think the relatively low pollen count on Friday was why I felt so much more energetic on that day, as compared to Tuesday or Sunday.

I am annoyed, though.  Historically my spring allergies have involved congestion, watery eyes, and sneezing, but I can actually run fairly well through them. It's the fall allergies that clog my fuel injector.  But this spring it's the reverse.  Maybe I'll get lucky and fall allergies won't be as bad?

In the meantime, I'll stay on the Claritin - it does seem to help a bit, in that I felt slightly better on Sunday, as compared to Tuesday.  Depending on my recovery from Cherry Blast, I may (which means probably) race Monument Avenue 10K this coming Saturday.  I'm a bit wistful, as I had registered for both Monument Avenue and Cherry Blossom as PR attempts, rather than racing-myself-into-shape runs.  But so it goes.  And at least the 7 day forecast predicts lower pollen this coming weekend (as well as less wind).

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga and 6 "miles" of pool-running; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  10.5 miles, including a workout of 2x1600, 2x800 (6:17, 6:13, 3:02, 3:00, followed by  1000 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy (9:05 pace) followed by drills, two hill sprints, and a yoga class.   Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday:   8 miles easy (8:50) followed by drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  4.5 miles, including a "mile pick-up" in 6:14.    Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  Off - nothing but foam rolling.

Sunday:  14 miles, including a ~3 mile warm-up, a 10 mile race in 68:32, and a mile-ish cooldown.  1000 yards of recovery swimming and foam rolling in the evening.