Training log - Week ending 1/16/2022

This week was 60 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I spent a fair amount of time on the treadmill this week due to very cold and dry air outside. Generally, when the dew point is lower than 10F, my asthma gets aggravated - I've learned that if I force hard running in that situation it takes me a few days to recover.

I got my quads/glutes/it band dry needled on Tuesday - wow did they need it. My quads spasmed a LOT during the needling. And felt looser the next day.

I also had a bit of a revelation, prompted by a friend's observation during my Friday track workout that I had no hip extension. Lack of hip extension can be due to lack of hip flexibility (not my issue) but can also be due to core instability. 

So I decided to try Jay DiCharry's "Chair of Death" exercise (look it up - not that scary), and noted that I was arching my back whenever I fired my glutes. It's not a core weakness thing - I've got a very strong core. It's just a muscle habit thing.

So I aligned my core properly and then applied KT tape to my front torso before all my runs this weekend - the idea is that the KT tape pulls any time I start arching my back, and reminds me to keep stuff pulled in.

And both my weekend runs were considerably improved - my leg felt much more powerful and responsive. My hunch is that when my back arches, things get pinched, and that causes my issues.

Hopefully I'll be able to do a track workout on Tuesday, and test out how the taped core works there.

Dailies:

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11 miles on treadmill, including a workout of eight repeats of 2 minutes strong at a 3.0 incline, 90 second jog, 30 second stride, and 60 second jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Dry needling in evening.

Wednesday:  8 miles very easy on treadmill (9:51), streaming yoga and then 4 miles very easy outside (9:48), plus drills and strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  ART session in afternoon.

Friday: 11 miles on the track, including 4800m at tempo effort (21:07, split as 7:09/7:01/6:57), about 5 minutes recovery, and then 2x400, 4x200 with equal distance recovery in 95, 96, 48, 47, 47, 47.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 9 miles easy on treadmill (9:39), followed by streaming yoga and 3 miles very easy outside (9:25) plus drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 miles on the treadmill, including a tempo workout of four cruise intervals of 7:30 duration, with 90 second jog after each.  Paces for the cruise intervals were 7:04 for the first two, and 7:01 for the second two.  After full recovery, did 4x40 seconds at between 9.1 and 9.8 mph, with 80 second jog.  Later did another two miles very easy with the Lever Runner set at 36 pounds of lift (9:05).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.