Training log - Week ending 1/7/18

This week was 53 miles of running and 16 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.  (No recovery swimming this week - the pool was closed a lot.  Also, it was just too darn cold.)

Another oddly structured week.  No Tuesday track workout, since I raced on Monday, and then Friday's tempo was moved to Thursday to accommodate some super chilled weather. 

Generally, I'm a big believer in training in all conditions, since you never know what you'll get on race day.  Additionally, since I train by effort, not pace, I don't perceive a workout run at X pace in perfect weather to be superior or more productive than one run at X pace+10 seconds in sub-par weather.

That being said, I don't believe in being stupid either.  Friday was forecast to be single digit air temperature with sustained winds of 20-30 MPG - a track workout in those conditions was asking for a pulled muscle.  Better to bump things up a day.

As it turned out, we then had snowfall on Thursday morning.  Since the track and all local running trails were covered in snow, I ended up tempoing under the Whitehurst freeway. 

Water Street - view from one endpoint

For those of you not in DC, there is an elevated highway in the Georgetown area of DC known as the Whitehurst Freeway with a street that runs underneath it - Water Street.  When it snows, runners will run back and forth on Water Street under the Whitehurst.  

The covered section of Water Street is fairly long - about 1200m end-to-end one way - so running here isn't awful.  

You can do intervals by running one direction, jogging in small circles at that end to recover, before running back. And you can tempo by ping-ponging back and forth- a teammate who was a former swimmer used to love Whitehurst workouts, since they reminded her of pool workouts.

The one downside (depending on your perspective) is that it's impossible to know exact distances run on Water Street.  Garmins are worthless there due to lack of signal, and you can't measure your exact distance on MapMyRun because you never take the same path or turn at quite the same place twice.  So you just do a time and effort based workout and guesstimate distance.  For those who focus on paces and splits, it's disconcerting.  Since I pace off of perceived effort, I don't mind too much.  And I prefer Water Street to the tedium of the track and its never ending circles.

The tempo went well, and between that and Monday's 5K, I'm feeling pretty confident for next weekend.  I don't have any numbers to point to in support of that confidence - my official time for the 5K was meaningless for umpteen weather and course reasons, and I have no numbers at all for Thursday's workout.  But both felt like good performances.  Plus I'm feeling bouncy and fresh and peaking, and that's a very good thing.


Dailies

Monday: 3.5 mile warm-up and then a 5K race in 19:37.  Later 5.5 easy (8:36); foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 8 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 6.5 miles very easy (9:03) to yoga, yoga, and then 3.5 miles easy (8:51), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  11 miles, including a 20 minute tempo under the Whitehurst freeway, followed by lower body strengthwork and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: Yoga followed by 8 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 8 miles very easy (8:48), followed by upper body strengthwork and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  12 miles moderate (7:51)  followed by light lower body strengthwork and injury prevention work, DIY yoga, and foam rolling.