Training log - Week ending 11/5/17

This week was 57 miles of running, 15 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Back in training again.  My coach's rule is no track workouts for 3 weeks after a marathon.  I fudged that slightly by returning to the track on Friday, a mere 20 days after my marathon.  I don't think the extra day makes that much difference, and since I'm racing the Richmond 8K next weekend, I wanted to have more than one track workout under my belt before that race.

Earlier in the week, I carefully introduced some upbeat running (fast is an overstatement) with some short hill repeats.  This wasn't a workout, but a set of uphill strides.  
I ran a loop in Georgetown (30th -> M -> 29th -> Water), picking up the pace on the uphill 30th Street segment, and then jogging around and back down to the bottom of 30th.  The result was that I ran moderately hard uphill for about 60-70 seconds and then jogged easy for around 2 and a half minutes.  

Since the effort was moderate, the duration short, and the recovery long, these weren't terribly taxing.  And the combination of the uphill and the short duration/moderate effort meant that these were also a very safe way to re-introduce a bit of faster running.  The uphill forced me to keep good form and reduced the impact (running is slightly lower-impact when uphill and higher-impact when downhill).  The short duration with long recovery also made this run very easy mentally - it was a comfortable way to reintroduce faster running.

So that was fun.  Though not hard.  On the other hand, my first track workout back on Friday, a set of 3200, 1600, was a bit tougher.  I find tempos and long intervals harder than intervals as a first workout back.  I'm guessing this is largely because tempos require more focus and concentration.

But I got through it, and it wasn't all that bad.  Surprisingly good in fact.  I felt very rusty and stuck in a low gear for the 3200, but then surprised myself with a fast 1600.  And both runs over the weekend went well too.  I also felt rusty during the marathon pace part of Sunday's run, but that's really no shock, given that I'm just coming back.

So it was nice to see that I lost far less fitness than I had expected (or usually do, post-marathon).  I'm not quite sure why that is, but I'll just appreciate it for what it is.

Next week I'll race the RIchmond 8K.  I have no idea what I'll run there, which is a liberating way to race.   I'd like to think I have a chance of setting an 8K PR, since my 8K PR is weak (31:51 officially, though I ran a faster 8K tempo a few months ago), and the Richmond 8K is a very fast race.  OTOH, I'm not in peak fitness right now.  So we shall see.  Either way, it will be fun to get out there again and race, and then to cheer on my friends in the half and full marathons that day.


Dailies

Monday: Foam rolling, yoga, and 7 "miles" of pool-running.

Tuesday: 10 miles, mostly easy, but with 8x60 second hill repeats with 2:30 recovery.  Also injury prevention work and 800 yards recovery swimming.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy to yoga (9:11), yoga, and then 6 miles easy home (8:47), plus drills and 4 strides.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:  Upper body weights/core and 8 "miles" of pool-running; foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 10 miles, including 3 mile warm-up (9:13), then a track workout of 3200, 1600 in 12:44 (6:25/6:19) and 5:55.  4.5 mile cool-down (9:49), plus injury prevention work and 1500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (8:43), drills and four strides, and then upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  14 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles at 8:50, next 5 at 7:37, last 4 at 6:58.  Followed with injury prevention work and 700 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in the evening.