Training log - Week ending 12/08/2024

[once again posted very late because the week got away from me]

This week was 64 miles of running, 2000 yards of swimming, and 2 "miles" of pool-running.

I mixed stuff up this week to try to work around weather - we had some really cold dry air roll in, which is hard on my asthma.  Thursday looked like the best morning from a breathing perspective, so I did my tempo workout that morning, pushing my interval workout back to Monday to accommodate it.  I did the Monday workout on the treadmill because of the cold dry air, which meant that I did my intervals at slightly faster than tempo pace with short recoveries, rather than at interval effort (this was because the treadmill is extra hard on my calves, and I was minimizing the risk of a pulled calf).

Thursday was a tempo outside on the track - the weather was iffy (windy and with a tiny bit of snow).  The tempo felt solid but was slightly slower than I had hoped - I attributed this to the weather.

I thought Saturday and Sunday were both going to be very cold mornings, so I did my long run on Saturday so I could do a track workout with the team on Tuesday (as it turned out, I guessed wrong, and Sunday's weather was much better).  The long run went well. I would have liked for the marathon effort section to be faster; however, I ran that section on the downhill Capital Crescent, and true to my norm I was slower on the downhill section than on the flat.  Overall, I felt better than I have previously on the downhill section, so that was a positive.

Dailies:

Monday:  In the morning, 9 miles on the treadmill, with a workout of 6x4 minutes on (7:17 pace) with 72 second jog, followed by 4x30 seconds hard (6:4o-7:00 pace) with 90 seconds jog.  Leg strengthwork in the afternoon; foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: Upperbody weights/core + 500 yards swimming in the morning; 6 miles very easy (9:39) in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 10 miles very easy (9:08). Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 10 miles on the track, with a 6400m tempo in 29:42 (7:31/7:27/7:24/7:19).  Leg strengthwork in afternoon and foam rolling in evening.

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Friday: 7 miles very easy (9:34) on the treadmill plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 21 miles progressive, split as the first 7 miles averaging 9:43 pace, the next 7 miles averaging 8:56 pace, and then the next 7 miles averaging 7:58 pace.  Followed with a ~half mile cooldown and injury prevention work plus foam rolling.

Sunday: 1500 yards swimming and 2 "miles" pool-running.

Training log - Week ending 12/1/2024

This week was 64 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming, and 1 "mile" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I stuck with the new medication - Crexont - for most of this week.  But after an extremely frustrating long run on Friday where I simply had no power in my legs, I swapped back to Rytary to see if I felt better.  And I did.  Despite the fact that Saturday ushered in our first sub-freezing temps of the season, the cold bothered me much less than it had just a day before. And it also became clear to me during pilates, swimming, running, and lifting just how much more power my muscles have on Rytary.

So that's that, I guess. I'll see if my doctor wants me to try another strength of the Crexont, but at this point I'm inclined to stick with the Rytary through Houston in January and then take a second try at something new.

In the meantime, we're getting a surge of very cold, dry air over the next week, so I'll be doing many of my runs on the treadmill to let my lungs breathe air that's slightly warmer and not as dry (note how I avoided typing "moist").  I split today's run into two so that I could do a few miles on the treadmill to get a feel for it.  And it felt like coming back to an old friend.  Now I just need to get some good running music cued up.

I also started carefully adding pool-running back in with a single 10 minute "mile" on Saturday.  My obturator sadly did feel slightly achy after even that, so I think I will need to tread carefully here.

Monday:  4 miles very easy (10:04) and 4 miles very easy (9:54) (runs before and after meeting a friend for coffee); foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 4800, 3200, 1600 in 22:27 (7:36/7:28/7:23), 14:44 (7:25/7:18), and 7:11, with recoveries of 5:08 and 5:11.  Followed with leg strength work.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 7 miles very easy (10:48) on trails. Massage in evening.

Thursday: 11 miles very easy (10:08) plus two strides, plus some upperbody strengthwork.  Foam rolling after Thanksgiving dinner.

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Friday: 17 miles, including an attempted marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles in 39:06 (7:49) and 39:45 (7:57) with 9:19 jog in between.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: Streaming pilates, 1500 yards of swimming, and 1 "mile" of pool-running. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 5 miles very easy (9:40) on treadmill in the morning; 5 miles with a few relaxed 200s and 100s (53-55 seconds and 26-27 seconds) at midday.  Upper body weights/core and foam rolling in afternoon.