Training log - Week ending 2/12/17

This week was 58 miles of running,  15 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This was a good week - my fitness is coming along nicely, with Friday's tempo in particular being a nice surprise - I ran it completely off of perceived effort (stay relaxed...not too hard...not too easy...), and was shocked when my final time ended up being about 30 seconds faster than the previous tempo two weeks ago.  Of course, part of that could be that we finally had tempo on a relatively non-windy day.

I believe this is also a masters
record for the 5K, male or female.

I also think part of it was that I pulled my act together and got a solid warm-up in before Friday's tempo.  I always have good intentions, but I find it hard to get going on workout mornings, and so my warm-up gets cut a bit short.  On Friday, I did a thorough hip-stretching before leaving the house (I've been half-assing this), and then left early enough to fit in a three mile warm-up, plus drills, plus a full four strides.  (I've been cutting short the drills and strides).   I can't help but think that had a lot to do with the good workout.

My Garmin was impressed by my tempo also.  So impressed, in fact, that it declared me the first woman ever to break 13 minutes in the 5K.

More amusingly was the fact (echoing last week's theme) that my Garmin also updated my predicted race performances.  Based on my execution of a 5K in 12:52, my Garmin now believes that I'm capable of racing a 5K in....18:48.

In other, non-running news, I want to give a shout-out to the ASPCA.  They do a lot of good things - one of those is maintaining a 24/7/365 animal poison control hotline (888-426-4435).

As background to this story, I use disposable handwarmers when I run in the winter.  They're good for 12 hours, and if I seal them in a plastic airtight bag, I can use them for several runs.  

Our kittens have always found these handwarmers fascinating, and so I securely store them in a plastic baggie, in my zipped backpack, in a closed closet.  Unfortunately, on Saturday night I forgot to put my backpack in the closet.  And so, while we watched TV downstairs, the kittens managed to open my backpack upstairs, chew through the plastic baggie, and mangle the handwarmers, spreading iron/charcoal dust through multiple rooms in the process.

It was a mess.  But what was most concerning was the possibility that the kittens (who will eat just about anything) had ingested some of the handwarmer components.  Hence a call to the hotline, where I described the cats (age, weight, health history) and the handwarmers to a staffer who then relayed the information to the vet on call.  After a few minutes they confirmed - the contents were non-toxic.  Add some canned pumpkin to each cat's meal for the next few days, but don't worry otherwise, so yay.

It was great to get that peace of mind, and I'm really grateful to the ASPCA for providing that service. There's normally a $65 dollar fee for using the service (understandable, since it can't be cheap for them to provide).  However, I also learned that the service was included as part of the benefits for microchipping our kittens, so no fee for us.  So double win.  And a great argument for micro-chipping.  As well as supporting the ASPCA.


Dailies 

Monday: In the morning, yoga and 5 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: In the morning, 11 miles including a workout of 4x1200 in 4:40, 4:32, 4:29, 4:26.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam roller at night.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 8 miles (9:01) to yoga, yoga, and then another 4 miles (8:31), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: In the morning, 8.5 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: In the morning, 12 miles including a 4 mile tempo in 25:54 (6:38/6:33/6:25/6:18).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Saturday:  In the morning, 10 miles very easy (8:42) with drills and strides, followed by wpper body weights, core, and foam rolling.

Sunday: In the morning, 14 miles progressive, split as first 4 at 9:08, next 5 at 7:44, last 5 at 7:08.  Followed with injury prevention work, 1.5 "miles" pool-running and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in the evening.