This week was 49 miles of running, 24 "miles" of pool-running, and 2000 yards of swimming. Training log is here.
I'm now 4 weeks post-marathon, which means I'm starting to ramp back into training. Nothing crazy - there's no rush, and pushing things too hard now will just backfire come late spring.
At the same time (as I noted last week, my personal opinion is that it's important that I do something faster a few times a week - as a "moderately aged" runner ("older" just doesn't feel quite right) I know that it can be very easy to slip into a comfortable cycle of endless weeks of slow easy running, and very hard to come back from that. Good running mechanics, range of motion, and power are easy to lose, and challenging to restore. For that reason, going 4-5 weeks without workouts is NOT a good idea for me.
So it's a balance right now - do workouts, but don't hammer or do anything excessive. To that point, this week I eased into stuff with 3xmile on Christmas morning with 2:00 recovery - I planned to run these at about 10 mile effort but found myself upping the effort a bit for each repeat. I had planned to do 4xmile, but shut myself down after the 3rd, since I felt I had pushed harder than I wanted, and was starting to strain.
On Friday, I showed up for my first team workout, Iwo Jima hill repeats. We usually do 6-8 repeats, but my coach held me to 4, based on concerns about the concrete surface. I reluctantly complied. In retrospect, the fact that I was annoyed about only being allowed to do 4 hill repeats on a cold rainy morning in the dark was a very good thing - an indication that I'm recovered from CIM and ready to move forward.
My plan was to skip my long run this weekend. I really don't need to do long runs right now - I've done plenty in the past 6 months, and there are no long races on my schedule for the next 2 months. Plus, I was holding open the option of racing on Monday - New Year's Eve.
However, I ended up doubling to a spontaneous 14.5 miles on Saturday - I had run to yoga with the plan of taking public transportation home (bus to metro), but realized after the class that due to weekend track work, it was going to be much easier/quicker for me to get home if I jogged 4 miles to a bus stop and avoided metro altogether. Thus a double of 10.5 and 4 miles.
Not ideal, but I don't think 14 miles split over two easy runs is the worst thing in the world. And I'd already pretty much decided to skip the Monday race due to the rainy forecast - I'd be doing the race just for fun, and running in cold rain isn't very fun.
Next week will be something tempo-ish, and then another hill workout. As for racing? I want to get back out there, so I'll probably hit a park run sometime in mid-January. I'm still mapping out my race plan for this spring/summer, but it will likely consist of shorter stuff, and then targeting Cherry Blossom, Broad Street, and a half-marathon (which half is still TBD) as spring goal races. Plus hopping in some fast 5Ks with hopes of getting my PR closer to 18:30, if not below that. (My half and full times equate to a low 18s 5K, and my PR of 18:51 was run on a warm day, so this should be a realistic goal if I train for and target that distance).
At the same time (as I noted last week, my personal opinion is that it's important that I do something faster a few times a week - as a "moderately aged" runner ("older" just doesn't feel quite right) I know that it can be very easy to slip into a comfortable cycle of endless weeks of slow easy running, and very hard to come back from that. Good running mechanics, range of motion, and power are easy to lose, and challenging to restore. For that reason, going 4-5 weeks without workouts is NOT a good idea for me.
So it's a balance right now - do workouts, but don't hammer or do anything excessive. To that point, this week I eased into stuff with 3xmile on Christmas morning with 2:00 recovery - I planned to run these at about 10 mile effort but found myself upping the effort a bit for each repeat. I had planned to do 4xmile, but shut myself down after the 3rd, since I felt I had pushed harder than I wanted, and was starting to strain.
On Friday, I showed up for my first team workout, Iwo Jima hill repeats. We usually do 6-8 repeats, but my coach held me to 4, based on concerns about the concrete surface. I reluctantly complied. In retrospect, the fact that I was annoyed about only being allowed to do 4 hill repeats on a cold rainy morning in the dark was a very good thing - an indication that I'm recovered from CIM and ready to move forward.
My plan was to skip my long run this weekend. I really don't need to do long runs right now - I've done plenty in the past 6 months, and there are no long races on my schedule for the next 2 months. Plus, I was holding open the option of racing on Monday - New Year's Eve.
However, I ended up doubling to a spontaneous 14.5 miles on Saturday - I had run to yoga with the plan of taking public transportation home (bus to metro), but realized after the class that due to weekend track work, it was going to be much easier/quicker for me to get home if I jogged 4 miles to a bus stop and avoided metro altogether. Thus a double of 10.5 and 4 miles.
Not ideal, but I don't think 14 miles split over two easy runs is the worst thing in the world. And I'd already pretty much decided to skip the Monday race due to the rainy forecast - I'd be doing the race just for fun, and running in cold rain isn't very fun.
Next week will be something tempo-ish, and then another hill workout. As for racing? I want to get back out there, so I'll probably hit a park run sometime in mid-January. I'm still mapping out my race plan for this spring/summer, but it will likely consist of shorter stuff, and then targeting Cherry Blossom, Broad Street, and a half-marathon (which half is still TBD) as spring goal races. Plus hopping in some fast 5Ks with hopes of getting my PR closer to 18:30, if not below that. (My half and full times equate to a low 18s 5K, and my PR of 18:51 was run on a warm day, so this should be a realistic goal if I train for and target that distance).
Dailies:
Monday: Yoga and 9 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: 11 miles, including three mile repeats in 6:30, 6:23, 6:14, with 2:00 jogged recovery between each. Followed with leg strengthwork and 1000 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 7 miles very easy (9:34), yoga, and then another 5 miles very easy (8:55), followed by drills and strides. Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: Upper body weights/core and 9 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 11.5 miles, including four Iwo Jima hill repeats (2:00 uphill, 1:30 jog, 30 second downhill stride, 1:00 jog) and four short uphill reps (70 seconds uphill, 2:30 jog).
Saturday: 10.5 miles very easy (8:52), drills+strides, yoga, and then another 4 very easy (8:50). Foam rolling at night.
Sunday: Upper body weights/core and 6 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.
Nice work! I'm excited to see how your spring races unfold. I know you will be able to smash that 5K PR.
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