Training log - Week ending 9/29/2019

This week was 60 miles of running, 30 "miles" of pool-running and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This was my peak volume week, though a lot of it was in the pool.  I don't really get too focused on the actual numbers I hit; rather I like to focus on general themes of increasing volume while balancing stress and recovery.  Here, hitting that proper balance meant that I spent three days in the pool, rather than my normal two, thus my pool-running was a third of my total volume.

I went with two big workouts this week - the tempo on Wednesday as part of a 14 mile day, and the Saturday 21 miler.  

I've found that I really can't handle three hard days a week anymore.  When I'm not marathon training, my long runs aren't very long or hard, so the two track workouts on Tuesday and Friday become my hard days, with two and three days of recovery between them.  But now that my long run has become my biggest run of the week, I need to really pull back on the work I do during the rest of the week to balance stuff out.

And yes, I know this is where the pros shift to a 10 day training cycle.  But....that's surprisingly hard to coordinate with a non-running white collar job based on a 7 day calendar.  So two hard workouts in 7 days is a good compromise, I think.

Monday: Upper body weights/core, and 12 "miles" pool-running.

Tuesday: 7.5 miles (8:58), yoga, and then 5 miles (8:41),plus drills and 2 uphill strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 14 miles, including an 8K tempo on the track in 32:02 (6:28/6:24/6:29/6:25/6:16)  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Sports massage in afternoon

Thursday:  Upperbody weights, core, and 12 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 8 miles (9:01), yoga, and then 4.5 miles (8:26),plus drills and 2 uphill strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 21 miles progressive, split as the first 7 averaging 8:44; the next 7 averaging 7:36, and the last 7 averaging 6:51.   Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night. 

Sunday: yoga and 1 hour of pool-running.  Foam rolling at night. 

Training log - Week ending 9/22/2019

This week was 60 miles of running, 12 "miles" of pool-running and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Just a quick place holder for last week, which went really well.  Since I had to travel on Monday and Tuesday, and had no idea when or how much I'd be able to run, I just went with a single Wednesday workout to replace the normal Tuesday/Friday combo, and then a Saturday long run.  Both went very well and felt controlled.

My legs were definitely tired at the end of my Sunday long run - which I felt in my quads.   Hopefully with a few more solid long runs I'll get that strength back.

Monday: Off due to work travel and work.  Just some self-massage with the stick and a tennis ball at night.

Tuesday: 10 miles (8:25)* plus upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night. (* because my Garmin was going crazy, and I suspect this was actually slightly shorter and slower).

Wednesday: 14 miles, including 3x2 miles in 12:37 (6:19/6:18), 12:34 (6:24/6:10), and 12:23 (6:13/6:10).  Recoveries of 5:30 and 4:30 between the sets.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  DOY yoga and 12 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 8 miles (8:55), upper body weights/core, and then 4 miles (8:36),plus drills and 4 uphill strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a workout of 2x5 miles at marathon effort - yielded:

first 5 miles in 33:24 (6:45/6:38/6:44/6:38/6:39 - average pace 6:41); and

second 5 miles in 33:02 (6:34/6:43/6:29/6:39/6:37 - average pace 6:36).  One mile float in 7:35 between the two.   Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night. 

Sunday: 4 miles very easy (8:55), yoga, and then 3 miles very easy (8:40) plus drills. Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 9/15/2019

This week was 63 miles of running, 24 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Pretty stressful week.  I had to squeeze a follow-up vet visit for Quartz (the cat who got sick last week) and a dental appointment for another cat, Isabella, into the week.  And then, on Friday afternoon, our third cat Topaz decided to eat the cord from a set of headphones, and that was how I kicked off a second weekend in the veterinary emergency center.

(and yes, all three are fine now).

((and yes, we only have three cats))

Apart from that, I had a doctor's appointment and a PT visit to discuss a not-yet-an-injury in my right ankle.  I have historically had stability problems in that ankle, due to a mixture of damaged and loose ligaments (tightened periodically with prolotherapy) and also a tendency for the talocrural joint to get impinged.  

To explain what that second term means - your talocrural joint is (in oversimplified terms) the hinge in your ankle between your tibia (shin) and talus (bone in the center top of your foot).  When you point (plantarflex) or dorsiflex your foot, you're bending at that joint.  

Things tend to not always stay where they should in my right ankle, and when things shift just a little, that joint loses a bit of its range of motion - I can't dorsiflex my foot as deeply as I should.  Then my body compensates by collapsing my right foot, usually to the inside but sometimes to the outside.  And...things start getting sore as a result.

I started noting the early warning signs a few weeks ago - my right leg was feeling a bit less stable and slightly ouchy at times.  Not an injury, but the very early warning signs of a future one.  So I went to see the pros.  

The orthopedist who does my prolotherapy confirmed that my ligaments were actually still pretty tight - no need to tighten them up at this time.  Which was great in that it saved me a lot of money, but not so great in that I still had to fix the impending problem.

My next stop was my PT, who confirmed that my talocrural joint was getting stiff again, and needed to be mobilized, so he gave me a refresher course in the exercise for that.  He also noted that my left calf was significantly stronger than my right - almost certainly due to compensation.  So...we also added single calf raises into the mix.

And...things started getting better.  Not without hiccups, of course.  I got worried on Saturday when my ankle got sore during my run.  Not awful, but more than I would like.  I suspect the causes were a) being too enthusiastic about my corrective exercises the day before and b) wearing a new pair of shoes that had too narrow a toebox, which augmented my ankle instability. 

[things I try to avoid because they destabilize my ankle include narrow toeboxes, highly cushioned shoes, and surfaces that give or shift when I push off of them]

Sunday, I woke up, and the ankle actually felt normal.  But I still went into the long run with trepidation.  Rather than stick with the original plan of 16 progressive, I decided to shoot for 10-12 easy, and see how that felt.  When I got about 7 miles in, everything still felt good, so I dropped it down to marathon effort for the final 5 miles.  After those 5 miles, the ankle still felt fine, so I just added another 4 miles easy out and back to get back to the originally planned 16.    Not exactly the same as the planned workout, but I got the mileage in, got some work at marathon effort in, and finished with a healthy ankle, so I called it a good day.

Dailies 

Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 4x1200 in 4:30, 4:26, 4:23, 4:20 (recoveries of 2:3x-2:4x after each)  Followed with leg strengthwork and 1200 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy to yoga (8:58), plus drills and strides, and then yoga.  Followed with another 4.5 miles very easy (8:43).  Massage in afternoon.

Thursday:  11 "miles" pool-running and upper body strengthwork/core in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 10.5 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 25:12 (6:25/6:18/6:17/6:12) Followed with leg strengthwork and 1250 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  7.5 miles very easy (8:37), upper body weights/core, and then another 4 miles very easy (8:22) plus drills and two uphill strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 16 miles, mostly easy, but with 5 miles at marathon effort (6:58).  Followed with injury prevention work, 6 "miles" of pool-running, and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 9/8/2019

This week was 50 miles of running, 15 "miles" of pool-running and 2000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Pull back week, as I took a break from marathon training and rested up for the Fifth Avenue Mile, which went very well.

I feel like I'm in really good shape right now, and on track or even ahead of track for my goals in November.  Of course, this is where things get tricky.  Being fit now means that I need to be very mindful over the next few weeks to not get greedy and to train with restraint, so that I can maintain or gently build this fitness all the way to Indy, instead of overshooting and peaking too soon.

In other notes, Quartz is doing very well.  Yapping at us, bouncing around, enjoying her meals.  I think she's already forgotten the whole episode and can't figure out why she's partially shaved.

Dailies 

Monday: Yoga and 7.5 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 12 miles, including a track workout of 2x800, 1600, 2x800 in 3:01, 2:56, 5:57, 2:51, 2:47.  (recoveries of 2:2x after the 800s and 4:55 after the 1600).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy to yoga (9:02), then yoga.  Then 5 miles very easy back home (8:22).  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  Upper body strengthwork/core and 7.5 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 9 miles, including a "pick-me-up" mini workout of 4x400, 2x200, 4x100 with 100m float between most (200m float between the 200s and the 100s).  Split 87, 90, 89, 88, 44, 43, 22, 21, 22, 21.  Followed with 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  7 miles easy to aerobic (8:27) and DIY yoga.  (should have run slower, but was worried over a sick cat, and couldn't focus well on riding the brakes).

Sunday: In the morning, 4 mile warm-up, Fifth Avenue Mile in 5:25, 1 mile cooldown.  In the afternoon, 6 miles very easy (8:45).  Foam rolling in afternoon.