Training log - Week ending 3/4/18

This week was 76 miles of running, 10 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

My land mileage was artificially inflated this week since I only took one day in the pool during this 7 day period.  So a mileage bump on paper, but not in reality - I'm still averaging around 60 miles +20 in the pool each week.

This week, I felt like I had finally adjusted to the bump up in mileage.  I felt good and energetic, and had to work hard to try not to run too hard (I didn't always succeed - note the last 800 on Tuesday, and I also let Saturday's easy run get a little too fast - mea culpa).

We did have some freakish weather come through late in the week - high winds akin to what one would see with a blizzard or tropical storm (60-70 mph gusts), less the precipitation.  The area ended up shutting down, which I think was the right choice, based on the destruction I saw.  If nothing else, shutting down schools and the federal government meant less people getting into accidents and clogging roads, making it easier for emergency personnel and utility workers to do their thing.  

My coach cancelled our Friday morning workout as well, advising us to try to do it on Thursday night instead.  That wasn't an option, so I relocated to my old friend, under the Whitehurst freeway, on Friday morning.  (and yes, this means that I was one of the idiots on the road on Friday morning.)

Under the Whitehurst, facing west.  Image from Google.

This route has buildings and hills to the north (on your right in the image), and thus is very sheltered from wind in that direction.  It's somewhat sheltered from the west and east, and totally exposed from the south.  Since the windstorm was howling from the northwest, I thought this might work.  If nothing else, it was worth a try - the buildings/elevated highways/lack of trees made this the only safe option for running outside that day.  

[my backup options were a) to tempo in the pool, if it wasn't shut down or b) take a rest day.  I have no objections in general to running on a treadmill, but I haven't run on one myself in years, and jumping on one for a workout seemed like an unnecessary injury risk.]

I arrived (parking my car very mindfully in a sheltered location), and confirmed during my warm-up that this was safe and doable.  No blowing debris, and much of the wind was blocked.  An occasional gust would sneak between buildings and lift me off my feet, which was kinda fun.  But in general it was slightly less windy than some epic races I've done on Hains Point or at Virginia Beach.

So I tempoed there, ping-ponging between a boathouse on one end and the intersection with Wisconsin Avenue on the other.  

There's no way to be sure exactly how far I ran - GPS doesn't work there and mapping is also not helpful, since you take a different path each loop (dodging cars, pedestrians, etc).  I know that each back-and-forth loop is around .8 of a mile, so 5 loops equaled approximately 4 miles by my math.  My footpod (I used this opportunity to test it) claimed 4.07 miles in 26:11 - 6:26 pace - which seems about right.  

Not that the exact distance or pace matters anyway.  I got in about 4 miles at the right effort level and felt good and didn't get hit by a tree branch or a flying trash can, so I called it good.

By Sunday most of the wind was gone.  It was still windy, but seemed calm in comparison to Friday.  Despite the gusty conditions, my long run (21 progressive) was a near carbon copy of that from two weeks ago, especially in the splits for the second and third portions.  Two key differences - an extra bathroom break, and lots of good company.  Good people make everything better, including long runs.  I can't think of any group of people I'd rather spend three hours running with than my teammates, and that's awesome.


Dailies:

Monday: 5.5 very easy to yoga (9:21), yoga, and then 4.5 very easy home (8:54) plus drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 2x1200, 2x800 (6:12; 4:35, 4:30, 2:54, 2:49), followed by injury prevention work and 1500 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy to yoga (9:00), yoga, and then another 4 miles (8:59) plus drills and strides.  Massage in afternoon..

Thursday:  Upper body weights/core and 10 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 12 miles, including a Whitehurst tempo workout of ~4 miles in 26:12.  Followed by injury prevention/leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  10 miles easy (8:36), followed by drills, strides, upper body strengthwork and core, and DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  21 miles progressive, split as first 7 at 8:41, next 7 at 7:37, last 7 at 6:46.  Followed with light injury prevention work and then 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling in evening.