Training log - Week ending 7/26/2026

This week was 54 miles of running, 15 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming.

I bumped up my mileage again this week, to 69 miles (counting both running miles and pool-running "miles") - this is the third week in a steady build back from 57 to 65 to 69.  The jump from 65 to 69 seems minor, but that's deceptive, since my land mileage jumped from 44 last week to 54 this week.

Since I have a long history of high mileage, and was running similar mileage in early June, I'm not too worried about being this aggressive in ramping stuff back up.  At the same time, I'm not getting any younger, so I am monitoring myself for any signs that I need to back off a bit.  But so far, so good.

I mixed stuff up a bit this week.  My running coach is at a vacation/team training camp, so I'm covering the fort here, including timing track workouts for my teammates that didn't go to Maine. So my own workouts have shifted to Wednesdays and the weekends (aka any day except Tuesday or Friday).

One of my PTs suggested doing some strides in spikes regularly, to force me to use my calves some when I run. So, on Tuesday's run I did just that, swapping between spikes and flats for the 100s and then doing two slower 200s in spikes.  No calf soreness yet, but perhaps that will come.  I planned to do strides with spikes after Saturday's tempo as well, but a sign on the track saying that metal spikes were prohibited changed that plan.

The weather was really nice this weekend in advance of another round of heat this upcoming week, so I took advantage of it with back-to-back workouts - a tempo on Saturday and then a long run with surges in the second hour on Sunday.  While I normally like to take at least two easy days between hard efforts, I make an exception for this combination, as I've found that doing a long run at mostly easy pace but with some short surges on tired legs works well for developing marathon strength, but also seems to be low risk injury wise if I make sure to recover well after.

I was happy with both runs, as well as the treadmill workout on Tuesday.  My paces on the treadmill are getting incrementally faster for the same effort, and Saturday's tempo felt solid. 

Since I haven't run a tempo on the track in about 7 weeks, I ran this tempo completely blind to make sure I held the correct effort. I don't look at my watch much when I tempo, but I do sometimes look at the split for each 1600.  Blind means that I take the split but don't check it, so that I have no idea what paces I'm running until the tempo's done and I stop my watch.

Running blind, I ran the same time for 4 miles as I did 7 weeks ago, but in weather that was a bit warmer/stickier/slower, and followed it up with some 200s and 100s that were significantly faster than I could have run earlier this spring. So I'll call that a win.

Ever since I since I changed my Parkinsons meds in January, lowering the levodopa dose to the bottom of the "ideal" range (the actual change was switching from Rytary 195 to Rytary 145 when running), my running has been trending steadily upwards.  This of course is contrary to the prevailing wisdom that more levodopa is better when exercising, and that one will need more levodopa the longer one has Parkinsons.

I can't speak for others, of course, but in my case, I think that the high dose of levodopa makes me less stiff and more energetic/stronger but comes at the cost of more uncontrollable random muscle contractions, which limit my ability to train hard and run at top speed. The end result is a steady loss of fitness due to detraining.

Lowering the dose meant taking a step backwards and having to always run with a very tight back, tight quads, ankles that like to stay stuck in one position, and toes that like to curl. I still have involuntary muscle contractions on the lower dose, but they are more predictable and manageable, which makes it easier to train through them. And while I have less energy and power on the lower dose, I'm also able to push myself to the limit of what I do have, which means I can build fitness again. And that building of fitness also does amazing things in terms of halting the progression of my Parkinsons. So far at least.  Let's hope that continues.

[Side note for anybody wondering how I structured my meds when I was going through my para-athlete classification - I made a point of disclosing in both my national and international classifications this spring/summer that I had shifted to the lower dose of Rytary because I ran better on it.  I also was on the lower dose for both my classification examinations and all my competitions. During classification, you are supposed to present yourself honestly, and show them how you perform at your best, so that they can assess how your impairment affects you when you are at your best. Taking the higher dose so that I had less control of my body would have been inconsistent with that.]

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Monday: 6.5 miles very easy on trails in the morning, upperbody weights/core plus foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 5.5 miles including 12x100m strides in 27 down to 24 seconds, and 2x200m at 5K effort in spikes (54 and 52) followed by 500 yards swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 10 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 6x4:00/1:13 plus 6x0:30/2:00. Four minute intervals at 8.3 mph (7:14 pace); 30 second intervals at 9.0-9.2 mph (6:31-6:40 pace); jogs at 6.2 mph (9:41 pace). Followed with leg strengthwork. Sports massage at night.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running in the morning; PT session in the afternoon. Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 8 miles very easy (9:57), including 2x100 in 27 and 24. Followed by 500 yards swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9 miles, including a 6400m tempo on the track in 29:35 (7:37/7:31/7:19/7:08), plus 2x200m in 50 and 49, 2x100m in 23 and 23. Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 15 miles (9:25) with 10x1 minute up tempo/5 minutes jog starting in the second hour, followed by PT exercises and 3 "miles" of pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.