Training log - Week ending 12/29/2024

This week was 68 miles of running and 3 "miles" of pool-running.

This was my last week of training for Houston before starting to taper down.  I did have to work most of my training around our new kitten, Karma, who popped an anal fistula two days after we adopted her last week.  (An anal fistula is essentially a second, uncontrolled exit for digestive waste from the kitten - very fun to manage at home).

Karma had surgery to repair the fistula on Monday, but then ate something she shouldn't have (a dangling nylon thread hidden in a carpeted cat cave).  The resulting digestive issues undid the surgery and resulted in an ER visit on Friday night (and a very late night for me).  I've learned that trying to do a long run at the end of a hard week on no sleep is a recipe for injury, either during the long run or a few days after.  So I pushed the long run back to Sunday.  

The long run itself went OK, if not great.  I'm hoping to run 3:25 or faster at Houston, but marathon effort for the last 7 miles yielded a pace about 15 seconds too slow for that goal.  However, I was really tired and stressed for that long run and felt very meh during it (plus the weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year), so I'm just going to ignore the long run as a measure of my fitness and be glad that I got it done at the correct effort level.

Dailies:

Monday:  8 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:28) in the morning.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: In the morning, 8 miles on the treadmill, with a workout of 5x4 minutes on (7:09 pace) with 72 second jog, plus leg strengthwork.  3 miles very easy outside (9:29) in the afternoon; foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: In the morning, 7 miles very easy (10:26) on trails.  Yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 10 miles on the track, including a 6400m tempo in 29:22 (7:25/7:25/7:17/7:13), followed by leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10.5 miles very easy (9:40) plus two strides and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 3 "miles" pool-running in the morning; yoga and foam rolling in the evening.

Sunday: 21 miles progressive, split as the first 7 miles averaging 9:35 pace, the next 7 miles averaging 8:51 pace, and the next 7 miles averaging 8:04 pace.  Plus a 1/2 mile cooldown jog.