Monday, September 14, 2015

Training log - week ending 9/13/15

This week was 81 miles of running, 18 "miles" of pool-running and 5000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

The week didn't start out great - as I noted last week, I thought I was either getting sick or fighting off allergies.  I felt lousy on Monday night and Tuesday morning, so I started off the Tuesday workout (1200s) very easy - about tempo pace.  I felt better as I went along, so I dropped the pace some with each rep, and ended up with 5x1200 paced very "progressively."  Each rep was about 7 seconds faster than the previous.  That's not how I normally pace my workouts - I'm usually a lot more even.  On the other hand, better that way than the reverse.

My symptoms continued on and off all week - sinus pain and fatigue.  I felt better mid-week, but then I felt horrible on Thursday night.  I debated whether to show on Friday morning for tempo, but decided to make an appearance.  While many people talk themselves out of workouts, I talk myself into them: "well....I'll just warm-up and see how I feel.....well, I'll just run the first mile and see how I feel..."

As it turns out, after a (characteristically) slow start, the tempo went very well.  I've decided that whatever bug I have is actually just allergies manifesting in a different way - no stuffy nose, just sinus pain and fatigue.  This view is supported by the fact that a max dose of Benadryl makes the sinus pain vanish (but also puts me to sleep).  This coming week I'm going to play with taking the Benadryl mid-day, in hopes that the sedative effect will wear off by morning, while the antihistamine effect remains.

(in answer to your questions - other OTC antihistamines don't seem to be helping here.  Benadryl or bust, baby.)

Sunday we got lucky and the heat broke - resulting in a very nice confidence boosting 16 mile long run.  7:00 pace actually felt like marathon pace, rather than something harder, and I was very tempted to extend my long run another mile or two for the ego boost and validation.  After all, my schedule said 16-18 on Sunday, and most of the others training for Philly Marathon were doing 20+ miles.  But, for whatever reason my coach had ordered me (twice) to limit my long run to 16, so I (reluctantly) complied.  Coaching only works if you listen to the coach.

(and...it does make a lot of sense.  I really don't need to work on my endurance - the ability to run for a long time.  That's my strength.  What I do need is more stamina - my ability to sustain fast running over a distance.  So it makes sense to restrict the long runs, so that I'm fresh enough to max out the distance covered during my weekday intervals and tempos, and get a higher volume of quality running).

This upcoming week is a cutback.  I'm running a half-marathon on Sunday, and so I'll start tapering after Tuesday's workout.


Dailies

Monday:   9 "miles" easy pool-running in the morning plus 600 yards easy swimming; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  12 miles, including 5x1200 with half distance recovery (4:59, 4:50, 4:43, 4:36, 4:29).  Then did some injury prevention work and 1400 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 9 miles very easy (9:23),  followed by a yoga class.  Later did 7.5 miles very easy (8:45) plus drills and two hill sprints.   2.5 "miles" easy pool-running and foam rolling in the evening.

Thursday:   8 miles very easy (9:11) followed by a yoga class and then some upper body strengthwork, before 2.5 miles very easy home (8:49) plus drills and two strides.  3 "miles" easy pool-running and foam rolling in the evening.

Friday:  14 miles, including an 8K tempo in 6:48/6:37/6:35/6:27/6:25, followed with injury prevention work and 1250 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  12 miles very easy (9:27) with drills and two strides inserted in the middle.  Later did 3.5 "miles" recovery pool-running, some upperbody weights, and foam rolling.

Sunday:  16 miles progressive, split as first 3.5 miles at 9:29 pace; next 4.5 at 7:59 pace, next 3 at 7:34 pace, last 5 at 6:59 pace.  Followed with some injury prevention work and a yoga class.  1750 yards of easy swimming and foam rolling in the afternoon.

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