This week was 63 miles of running, 12 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
This week's mileage is a bit overstated. While I normally do my long run on Sunday and use Monday as a pool-running recovery day, a Monday race threw my schedule off. Next week should be closer to normal, with lower mileage.
And...it's looking like lower mileage is going to be my theme for the upcoming cycle. Which is a bit counter intuitive, given that that the common wisdom is that more miles is better for marathon training. But in the past, more miles hasn't worked so well for me - my marathon PR was run off of my lowest mileage cycle. So, we're going with 5 days a week of running this cycle, and land mileage that will max out at lower than my recent half marathon training cycles. I'll be supplementing some with pool-running, but not to an extreme.
It's different from what I've done in the past, but you can't succeed if you're not willing to take risks and step out of your comfort zone. And my comfort zone is cranking out lots of easy miles.
Cutting the mileage also makes sense since I'm on Advair now - an asthma medication with a significant side effect of reducing bone density. I've handled higher mileage in the past without injury, but things may be different now, and best to be careful.
As for the Advair, my doctor and I decided on Tuesday to reduce the dosage It's a bit of a balancing act - the Advair helps my lungs, but also aggravates my vocal cord issues. So the lungs work better, but my throat feels uncomfortably narrow, making breathing difficult in a different way. The other side effects weren't much fun either, though they would have been manageable if they were the only complaints.
So we dropped from 500/50 (the highest dose) to 250/50 (medium dose), and things seemed better by the end of the week.
Particularly notable was Friday's hill workout - I'm used to that workout hurting by the last few reps, with my upper body feeling heavy and my arms and shoulders burning when I hit the steepest section of the hill. It hadn't occurred to me that those sensations could be asthma related - I thought it was just part of the workout. But there was no burning heaviness this Friday - it was eerie. It was still a hard workout, and my legs were tired - 6 reps were enough for me. But there's a difference between tired legs and the way my upper body usually feels during that workout.
The next two weeks are going to be crowded on the personal front - demolition of our kitchen starts on Monday morning - the first stage of a (hopefully) 6 week renovation. At the same time, a big deal work project is approaching release next week. Ideally, these two things wouldn't overlap with each other (or with marathon training). But sometimes the schedule gods don't play nice.
Dailies
Monday: 3 mile warm-up, 4 mile-ish race in 27:19, and then 1 mile-ish cooldown. A bit later did 6 miles easy (8:32) (arguably too much, but wanted to chat with a friend). 1000 yards recovery swimming and foam rolling later.
Tuesday: Upper body weights and core, and then 6.5 miles very easy (9:30). Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 4.5 miles easy to yoga (9:07), yoga, and then 4.5 miles very easy (8:44). Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running plus upper body weights and core. Foam rolling at night
Friday: 10 miles, including 6 hill repeats (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill). Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards easy swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 9.5 miles easy (9:04), plus upper body weights and core. 3 "miles" pool-running and foam rolling in the afternoon.
Sunday: 14 miles progressive, split as first 2.5 at 9:07, next 6.5 at 8:06, final 5 at 7:09. Followed with yoga. 1000 yards of recovery swimming and foam rolling in afternoon.
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