Training log - Week ending 10/16/16

This week was 21 miles of running and 17 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Race recovery week.  I followed what's become my normal post-marathon week plan.  Start with very easy pool-running with the belt, then add in yoga.  When I'm able to hold all the yoga poses, especially the one-legged balance poses, without being especially shaky, then I'm ready to introduce easy running again.

The first run was a bit achy and sore, and that seems to be the case whether I wait three days post-marathon or ten (I've done both).  But my legs improved rapidly, and Sunday's 10 miles felt surprisingly good - I could have gone further, though it would have made no sense to do so.

So, recovery's in progress and I'm already thinking to the next race.  In this case, it's actually fairly soon.   I may be running the California International Marathon in early December.

Why would I do such a uncharacteristic thing?  Because I'm entered (entered way back in March), because I've always wanted to run this race, because I'm curious to see how my quads handle the net downhill course, and because I know quite a few people on the west coast who are running it this year.  

I have no delusions about this being a great idea that will advance and improve my running.  But it's not a horribly stupid idea, if executed carefully and correctly.  And it will be fun.  Which is why I do this, after all.

There is some risk, of course - there are good reasons - injury and overtraining - why people space their marathons well apart.  But to my mind the risk comes not from running two marathons in eight weeks, but from training too much between the two, and short-changing recovery from the first.   That's not my plan.  Though I will be racing CIM (not just jogging or pacing a friend), I'm not running this marathon in hopes of bettering my Chicago time, and am not going to crash-train with the intent of improving fitness between now and then.

I'm not saying it would be impossible for me to run faster than Chicago - CIM is a very fast course, and I should be off of my allergy meds by then - meaning more energy and hopefully less water stops.  But if the best prep for running a fast marathon was racing another marathon all out two months before, everyone would do it.  Additionally, Chicago was a great weather day on a very fast course and I felt really good during taper and I paced my race well. It's greedy to hope that the stars will align twice, and there's really no errors that I made during Chicago that I could fix for round 2.   So running faster might happen, but most likely won't, and isn't the goal here. 

My plan is to first recover fully from Chicago with several weeks of easy mileage - the same as always.  The same as if CIM wasn't in the forecast.  If I'm still feeling good mentally and physically then we'll do just enough training to preserve what fitness I may carry over.  Most likely one 18-20 miler, a tune-up race, and go.  And if any injuries pop up or if I feel fried or if the weather forecast looks abysmal 5 days out, I'll DNS.  No big deal - I already got to enjoy a great marathon this fall.  The hotel can be cancelled until noon the day before and my flights are on Southwest, so the tickets can be used for another trip without penalty.

We shall see.

Dailies 

Monday: 5 "miles" pool-running with the belt (just gently waving my legs in the water and chatting - no real effort here)

Tuesday: Yoga.

Wednesday: 4 "miles" pool-running and some very light injury prevention work in the gym.  Massage (much needed and appreciated) at night.

Thursday: 8 "miles" of pool-running plus yoga. Foam rolling at night

Friday: 5 miles (9:28) - basically warmed up with my teammates for 3 miles, watched the workout, and then cooled down for another 2 miles.  Also some light upper body weights and foam rolling.

Saturday: 6 miles easy (8:51) plus foam rolling..

Sunday: 10 miles very easy (8:41) plus a yoga class.  Foam rolling at night.