Training log - Week ending 1/13/2025

 This week was 33 miles of running and 4 "miles" of pool-running.

I tested negative for Covid this week, but a combination of slight residual fatigue, bad weather, and other commitments meant that my training was reduced in both volume and intensity, as well as completely inside.

Related to the above, I've decided to DNS the Houston Marathon for a second year in a row.  With a week to go, I don't feel like I have any reserves.  Part of this is from having Covid recently, but it's also because our new kitten, Karma, has now had three unexpected surgeries for the same issue in the past month, and staying on top of her needs has been physically and emotionally exhausting (though hopefully worth it).  I just don't feel rested and ready to go at all - and that's not a good thing for a marathon. Plus, I don't necessarily want to leave town when Karma's still recovering from surgery. And of course there's that risk of getting long Covid from pushing stuff too aggressively after a recent Covid infection.

So it's better to skip the marathon, get my batteries recharged, and focus on the spring.  The fall training cycle wasn't a waste at all - I started it coming off of an injury that had me miss two months of serious training, and by the end I was back to my normal training volume without re-aggravating anything.  I feel like I'm old enough now that simply accomplishing that is something to appreciate.

So, this week was reduced mileage, with "fun" workouts that were deliberately run at a lower than normal intensity.  Basically, staying active with some upbeat running without doing anything really stressful.  I also stayed on my treadmill the whole time, first because of ice and snow, and then because when it gets too cold my muscles get tight and I feel more likely to pull something.

As part of my treadmill "fun" I decided to test out my Lever Runner again.  And...I made a pretty cool discovery.  

Essentially, two major flaws that I'm always fighting are a tendency to bend at the waist and a tendency to overstride. - both of these are neurological in origin - it feels like I'm upright, but I'm not.  However, when I use the Lever Runner, it is really awkward to do either, to the point where I immediately self-correct into a better balanced form.  This applies independent of how much or little weight I have the Lever Runner set at.

So...I've started doing my easy treadmill runs with the Lever Runner set so that it barely removes any weight at all (using my bathroom scale, it's set at -5 pounds from my body weight).  Running with it this way isn't that much different from running without, but I still get the benefits of the instant form correction.  It will be interesting to see how this pays off when I return to running outside.

Dailies:

Monday:  Off except for some foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 5 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 5x4 minutes with 72 seconds jog.  The on part was at 7.6-7.7 mph, the jog was at 6 mph.  Followed with some leg strengthwork; foam rolling in the afternoon.

Wednesday: 6.5 miles very easy on the treadmill (8:50), using the Lever Runner at -10 pounds.  Pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7.5 miles on the treadmill, including a "Iwo Jima Hills" workout of 8 reps of 2:00 at 7.6 mph on a 3% incline, 90 second flat jog (6 mph), 30 second stride at 8.3-8.5 mph, and a 60 second jog (6 mph).  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 4 miles pool-running and yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 7 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:32) using the Lever Runner at -5 pounds.  Upper body strength/core and foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday: 7 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 4x5 minutes with 60 seconds jog.  The on part was at 7.7 mph and the jog was at 6 mph.   Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 1/5/2025

This week was 20 miles of running, 40 minutes of hiking, and 4 "miles" of pool-running.

This was going to be my first week of taper for the Houston Marathon, and thus pretty active.  And then I tested positive for Covid 19 on Wednesday morning and that messed up everything.

So much of this week ended up really light, as I prioritized recovery.  The last time I had Covid, I found that moderate running, including workouts done at an easier effort than normal, seemed to help clear stuff out, so I'm using that same strategy this time.  A big part of this is keeping an eye on my heart rate, making sure it stays below my marathon effort heart rate. 

I did a cautious hill workout on Saturday and felt better on Sunday for it.  So we'll see how things go.  I have Houston in 2 weeks, and I'd obviously like to be able to run it well.  I'll decide a few days before the race whether I'm recovered enough to go down and race it.

Dailies:

Monday:  4 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Yoga and foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 7 miles easy (9:13) and upper body strength/core; foam rolling in the afternoon.

Wednesday: Tested positive for Covid 19.  Just gentle yoga and foam rolling.

Thursday: 40 minutes of walking on trails/hiking plus a bit of leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 3 miles very easy (9:38) and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 6 miles on the treadmill, including a careful imitation Iwo Jima hill workout of 6 repetitions of 2:00 at 6.8-7.1 mph with 3% incline/90 seconds jog/30 seconds at 8-8.4 mph; 60 second jog.  Followed with a bit of leg strengthwork and foam rolling.

Sunday: Yoga and 4 miles very easy (9:58).  Foam rolling in evening.

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.

Training log - Week ending 12/22/2024

This week was 54 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 6 "miles" of pool-running.

I didn't really feel like I needed any recovery time after the 15K, but I kept Monday and Tuesday easy anyway.  One of my biggest priorities is avoiding injury, since it takes me so darn long to come back from one.  

Instead of the track this week, I returned to Iwo Jima for hills.  I need more power in my legs, and a session of hills always seems to help with that.  

Saturday was the key workout of the week - another 2x5 miles at marathon effort with 1 mile float.  This went much better than the last session - probably in part because I'm back on the medication that seems to work best for me.  While I wish the paces of the marathon effort segments were faster, the paces I hit this weekend would get me well under 3:30 at Houston, which is really my biggest goal (3:30 being the high-performance standard for my para-athlete division at the Boston Marathon).  

I registered for Houston hoping to go sub-3:20 there, but I'm probably not going to be in shape to pull that off in 4 weeks. However, the paces I hit on Saturday are consistent with sub-3:25, which I would be happy with (especially given where I was in September and October).  And...the marathon effort miles truly felt like marathon effort - I could have kept going and extended the workout another few miles.  That's a good feeling (and what I strive for during marathon effort workouts).

Saturday's workout was also notable for two things.  First: it was extremely windy - sustained winds of 15-20 mph with gusts higher (the wind was mostly a cross wind for the workout, but occasionally a head or tail wind).  So...in better weather the same effort might have yielded a pace that was a few seconds faster.  

Second: I intentionally tried to err on the side of overdressing, as opposed to last weekend's race.  And...I felt great and comfortable the whole run, never overheating.  Definitely helpful information for deciding what to wear in the future.

I think that my increased cold sensitivity is due to a few things - one is simply age, and another is Parkinsons (PD really messes with one's ability to regulate body temperature, and it's pretty normal for people with PD to handle cold poorly).  The third is simply that I'm slower than I used to be, which means that for each race I'm working at a lower intensity for a longer period of time.  That in turn means that I'm not generating as much body heat as I used to.

The net conclusion: in the winter, I need to ignore both my ego and what worked best for me a few years ago and wear more clothing when racing.

Dailies:

Monday:  3 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 8.5 miles very easy (9:31) plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: In the morning, 7.5 miles including 7 Iwo Jima hill repeats (~2:20 up a 3% incline, 90-100 second jog; ~200m downhill stride, and 60 jog to the bottom of the hill.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  3.5 miles very easy (9:35) on treadmill and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles very easy (10:38) on trails in the morning.  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: 17 miles, including a workout of 2x5 miles at marathon effort - splits of 38:30 (7:42 pace) for first 5 miles and 38:40 (7:44 pace) for the second 5 miles; 1 mile in 8:44 between.  Followed with leg strengthwork and foam rolling.

Sunday: 1000 yards of swimming and 3 "miles" of pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 12/15/2024

[one more late post - I'll blame racing on Sunday, followed by kitten adoption.  I don't like to write the weekly log until I've written the race report. And with my current schedule, if I don't get the blog done by Sunday night, it basically doesn't get done until next weekend.]

This week was 46 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming, and 2 "miles" of pool-running.

Just a placeholder for race week.

Dailies:

Monday:  In the morning, 7 miles very easy (9:33) on the treadmill.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles, including a track interval workout of 1600, 4x800, 400 in 7:38, 3:39, 3:36, 3:33, 3:30, 1:44.  3:31 recovery after the 1600 and 2:00-2:30 recovery after the 800s.  PT session in the afternoon and sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 500 yards swimming and 2 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles very easy (9:32) plus strides in the morning.  Streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 6 miles on the track, including 1600m up tempo in 7:01.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 4 miles very easy to pick up bib (9:38) in the morning; foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday: A bit over 3 miles warm-up, then 15K race in 1:10:11 (7:32 pace if this was 15K), followed by 1.5 mile cooldown to make 14 miles for the day.

Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 15, 2024

 I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K last weekend, finishing in an official time of 1:10:11.

[this race report is being written very late.  That's what happens when a newly adopted kitten takes up all of your free time.]

This race was my tune-up for Houston, and a chance to check my fitness.  I prefer a half-marathon 3 weeks out from a marathon, but Houston always falls 3 weeks after Christmas/New Years, and half-marathons are hard to come by at that time of year.  Hence using this 15K 5 weeks out instead.

It's been a tough uphill climb trying to rebuild my fitness after missing 8 weeks of training this summer.  The older you get, the harder it is to come back (and to stay uninjured while coming back) and so being over 50 weighs against me.  The whole Parkinsons' thing doesn't help either.  And then there was the two weeks of reduced training while Isabella was sick.  

I had been doubting my fitness all the way up to the week before the race, when it seemed like things were possibly starting to turn around.  Hopefully the race would give me a better read on things.

***

The forecast was for temps right about freezing, with overcast skies and light wind. I debated what to wear before opting for a longsleeve and tights.  I've realized in the past year that I don't run well when I'm cold anymore - I become way too stiff.  However, given that 32 degrees used to be singlet, arm-warmers, and shorts weather for me, I've been reluctant to wear too much when racing.  A longsleeve and tights seemed like the most I could reasonably wear while racing, so I went with that.

***

I arrived at my supah-secret parking space at 7:15 am (the race started at 8:30).  I put on my racing shoes (Hoka Rocket X2) waited a few minutes and then left my car to head over to the start line.  I was wearing a throwaway sweatshirt over my racing outfit - I'd tie that around my waist if I was too hot while warming up, but plan on keeping it until right before the gun.

As it turned out, I never felt warm during my warm-up, even with the sweatshirt on.  I wished I had brought something else - a light jacket or even just a buff for my neck, but unfortunately I hadn't.  So I had to go with what I had.

***

I attempted to warm up for a bit over 3 miles, including my fartlek of 3 minutes at tempoish effort, 4x30 seconds faster, and 4x10 second strides.  After that was done, I kept jogging until it was time to jump into the corral - hoping that would keep me warm. 

This was a relatively small race (about 1000 runners) so I was able to get in the corral about 4 minutes before the start.  I placed myself conservatively, knowing that I would start slow.  With 1 minute to go, I reluctantly tossed the sweatshirt.

***

I hadn't thought about it until right before the race, but this 15K was the first time I've been in a mass race start since May.  I've raced since then, but it's all been either track stuff or races where I was in a separate para-athlete start.  I was pleasantly surprised by how well I handled the chaos of the first few minutes of an open start - all that PT is paying off.

I was definitely still stiff, though.  I worked my way through the first mile, and then the second, waiting to warm up and loosen up.  But I never did.  It was frustrating - I wasn't breathing very hard - I was just too cold and stiff to move faster.

That was pretty much the whole race.  I crossed the line feeling like I had done a moderately paced workout, not a race.  And I wasn't even sweating.

I checked my watch and noted my time - over 70 minutes and also my very low heart rate (in the 160s - I'd want to be in the 170s over this distance).  I caught up with some friends, retrieved a polarfleece I had checked at the start, and then jogged a 15 minute "cooldown" that felt way too energetic.

Splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 7:51

Mile 2: 7:35

Mile 3:7:26

Mile 4: 7:13

Mile 5: 7:20

Mile 6: 7:21

Mile 7: 7:20

Mile 8: 7:27

Mile 9: 7:17 

last .44 miles at 7:26 pace

[I used my Strava splits for this as the mile markers were not terribly accurate on this course.  The 15K is supposed to be a certified course, but the route was altered for construction.  So I'm not entirely sure whether this was an exact 15K, or longer, or shorter.  Not that it matters that much, since I was nowhere near a PR.]

So...I feel like I didn't get a good fitness check out of this race.  I guess the one good bit of news is that holding 7:26-7:30 pace for 9+ miles didn't feel very hard - that's better than having run that pace and feeling like it was a maximum effort.  But..my A goal for Houston was to break 3:20 (7:37 pace), and it seems pretty clear that I'm not that fit.  I guess I'll need another few months (and another training cycle) to get there.

Other notes:

• It ended up being 33 degrees with a light wind for the race.  So pretty good weather - I just wasn't dressed correctly.
• I wore the Hoka Rocket X2 for this race - I think this is definitely my marathon shoe, assuming it doesn't rain at Houston.
• I ended up second in the 50-54 age group, 22nd woman overall.
• As I noted above, we have a new kitten, named Karma.  I picked her up a few hours after finishing this race.  In fact, I was time crunched enough that I didn't have time to shower and change before picking her up, which means that the photo of me taking her home has me all bedraggled, with my face still shiny with vaseline.  Oh well - everyone was looking at the kitten anyway :)

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.

`

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.

`

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.

Training log - Week ending 11/24/2024

This week was 59 miles of running and 1500 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Definitely some ups and downs this week.  Starting on Sunday of last week, I switched one of my Parkinson's meds from Rytary to Crexont.  They're both the same active ingredient, just on different release schedules, with Crexont reportedly lasting much longer per dose.  

But of course, finding the right dose of any Parkinsons medication is always trial and error, and every time I switch medications I have to restart the iterative process to figure out what strength and timing works best for me.

I was given two possible strengths of Crexont and told to try both and see which worked better.  I started with the higher dose (210) and for the most part liked it.  However, I did feel like I had possibly lost some power in my muscles.  Tuesday's workout went fairly well, but then I really struggled on Friday - I simply could not move my legs.  Admittedly, Friday was also one of the first bitterly cold days of the season, and I find I handle cold poorly as I get older.

So..I decided to try the lower dose of Crexont (140) on Saturday morning. And it was pretty clear within about 2 miles that the higher dose was better.  My ankles were locked up at the start of the run, and never totally loosened.  Saturday's run was really about getting the miles in and some time on my feet, so not being able to run fast wasn't that big a deal.  But it's definitely clear that I need to be on the higher dose.  And perhaps we need to go even higher.

Independent of the medication experimentation, I did bump my miles up this week, which was exactly what I needed.  

Speaking of mileage - I am concerned that eliminating pool-running from my regimen has lowered my total volume too much - even if I get back to 65-70 miles a week, that's without the 2+ hours of pool-running that used to supplement that mileage each week. I want to carefully re-introduce pool-running to see if I can start doing some miles there without re-aggravating my hip. I think the trick is going to be to start adding it in 10 minutes at a time.

Monday: 7 miles very easy (9:36) in the morning; yoga in the afternoon; foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 7x800, 2x200 in 3:44, 3:42, 3:37, 3:33, 3:31, 3:32, 3:30, 52, and 52 with recoveries of 1:5x-2:2x between the 800s and full recovery for the 200s.  Followed with leg strength work.  

Wednesday: 7 miles very easy (9:52) very easy to the gym; upper body strength/core, then 3 miles very easy home (9:30) + two hill sprints. Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 4.5 miles very easy on trails in the morning (11:33).  Yoga and foam rolling in evening.

`

Friday: 9.5 miles, including a track tempo of 6400m in 30:53 (7:54/7:41/7:39/7:39).  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 18 miles, mostly at easy pace, but with a gentle fartlek (10x2:00 at marathon effort, 5:00 easy) in the second hour. Followed with injury prevention work. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: Streaming pilates and 1500 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 11/17/2024

 This week was 35 miles of running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

I was really trashed after the Boston Half - more than I normally am after a half-marathon.  I suspect this was due in equal parts to the course and to my lack of fitness going into the race.

I spent both Monday and Tuesday in the pool to give my legs a break before starting running again on Wednesday.  This weekend's long run would have been 17 miles with 2x5 miles at marathon effort, but I cut two miles off to make it 15 miles with 2x4.  Even so, I could still feel the fatigue in my legs, though very high winds didn't help my paces either. However, the effort felt right and my heart rate was right where it should have been when running at marathon effort. 

I personally believe that, when targeting a marathon, training at marathon effort is far more important than training at goal marathon pace.  This is because you are trying to develop a certain physiological capacity, and training at an effort that is too hard doesn't accomplish that.  You end up strengthening a different system that can't carry you all the way through the marathon.  And it's also important to get a good sense of marathon effort, so that you can adjust automatically to changes in conditions on race day.

As of Sunday, my legs are feeling far better than last week. Hopefully I'll be able to bump up the volume this week.

Monday: 1000 yards of swimming and foam rolling.

Tuesday: 750 yards of swimming in the morning; massage in the evening.

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy (10:06) in the morning; PT in the afternoon, foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 7 miles very easy (9:50) + two strides in the morning.  Streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

`

Friday: 8 miles very easy (10:50) on trails plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 15 miles, including a workout of 2x4 miles at marathon effort (splits were 31:42 and 31:44 - each averaged 7:56 pace), plus a mile between in 9:10. Followed with injury prevention work.

Sunday: 1250 yards of swimming and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.