Training log - Week ending 10/5/2025

This week was 54 miles of running and 21 "miles" of pool-running.

This is my second week at 70+ "miles" (meaning land-running and pool-running combined).  I definitely have some fatigue, but it's not excessive - more like what I would expect to feel when I bump up mileage.  

The chart to the right shows my combined crosstraining/running volume over the past 36 months. (Fortunately, I don't cycle, because that would distort this chart). 

As one can see, I had a lot of 70+ mile weeks and some 80+ mile weeks up through the middle of 2024. Then my mileage dropped off as a result of injury/covid recovery/life stress.  Using mid-2024 as the dividing line, I was also running much better before that point than after.

I don't think this is coincidence. Hence my work to carefully but methodically build my mileage back up to that 70+ range. While also being mindful of the risk of overtraining and the increased risk of injury due to being over 50.

I count running miles and cross-training miles as equal here not because I think they truly are, but because it's a very useful fiction. Structuring my log this way makes it emotionally easy for me to swap in a cross-training day for a running day whenever it seems like it might be a good idea. The benefits of 12 miles of easy running over 12 miles of pool-running are incremental; the benefits of avoiding injury can be massive.

I've also started including my strides and hill sprints in my mileage, something I haven't done previously.  I don't think including them increases my mileage that much, but it does give me an incentive to do them, even if it means cutting the run short half a mile or so. Between age and Parkinsons, my body wants to shy away from moving quickly or powerfully.  Being sure to do strides and hill sprints, plus things like rapid toe taps, ladder drills, and power cleans in the gym helps to counter that.

In terms of specific workouts, my first full marathon pace workout on Saturday wasn't quite as fast I would have liked.  I locked into around 8:15 pace, which felt ridiculously easy and conversational, but my legs didn't want to move any faster. I want to break 3:30 in December (8:00 pace) so I'm a bit off of that, but I'm not too worried.  December is still a long way off, and I think accumulated fatigue from the uptick in mileage contributed.  Accumulated fatigue is of course part of marathon training, but you don't want to overdo it. So I made a mental note to prioritize quality recovery (good sleep, hydration, etc) for the next week.  If that doesn't seem sufficient, I'll ease off the mileage slightly.  Because while big mileage is important, it's also wasted if you're fried.

Dailies:

Monday: 9 "miles" of pool-running in the morning; streaming yoga in afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles very easy (10:02) with 6x100m strides plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 3x3200 in 15:27 (7:46/7:41), 15:11 (7:41/7:30), and 14:57 (7:31/7:26) with 4:5x jogs after each. Followed with 4x200m in 54-55 seconds each.  Later did leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles very easy (13:28) on trails in the morning plus PT exercises.  Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 11 miles very easy (9:56) with drills and 6x100m strides.  Followed with upperbody strength/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles with 4, 3, 2, 1 miles at marathon effort.  Splits were 33:08 (average 8:17 pace), 24:44 (average 8:15 pace), 16:25 (average 8:13 pace) and 8:12.  Recoveries were miles jogged in 9:16, 9:31, and 9:34).

Sunday: 12 "miles" of pool-running and PT exercises. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - week ending 9/28/2025

This week was 65 miles of running and 8 "miles" of pool-running.

This was a big improvement over last week.  I suspected that the creatine that I had started taking was making my asthma worse, so I stopped it this week.  And my breathing improved dramatically. Go figure.

Another change that I made stemmed out of a PT session.  Basically, my default tendency is to not use my calves when I run - I don't have any toe-off.

To some extent, this predates my Parkinsons diagnosis. I grew up doing equestrian sports almost exclusively, which means that I spent many hours each day with my ankles dorsiflexed and never did anything that required a calf raise. (In fact, I was even discouraged from jogging for fitness when I was a teenager, because it would make my calves too muscular and I'd have to get bigger riding boots.) So, it's just not natural for me to toe-off strongly.  Now add that tendency to a neurological condition where you tend to start to forget to use muscles, and... you get my non-toe-off.

So, I've been trying to learn how to toe off* when I run.  It is challenging, but it does seem to result in much faster running for the same effort when I get it right.  Which is sometimes but not always.

[*editorial note - I've decided that the proper spelling is toe-off when it's a noun and toe off when it's a verb.  Just like login is a noun and log in is a verb.  My blog, my grammar rules.]

Dailies:

Monday: 9 miles (9:50) with 8 strides. PT exercises in afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 7x3:00 on/2:00 jog plus 6x30 seconds on/2:00 jog. The longer intervals were at 8.4 mph; the shorter intervals were 9.0 mph.  All jogs at 6 mph.  PT session in afternoon.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 8 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4 miles very easy (11:59) on trails in the morning plus PT exercises. 2.5 miles very easy (9:49) + foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 11 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 30:52 (7:59/7:46/7:37/7:30) followed by two hill sprints.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11.5 miles mostly very easy (9:38) with 9x100m in 30 seconds down to 26 seconds)  Upperbody strength and core in the afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 17 miles progressive, split as the first 7 averaging 10:06 pace, the next 5 miles averaging 9:20, and the next 5 miles averaging 8:32. Foam rolling in evening.