Training log - Week ending 9/5/2021

This week was 53 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 24 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Week 2 of marathon training for Indy Monumental.  Since I had done a 16 mile long run on Sunday of last week, I skipped the Tuesday workout to get an extra day of recovery (I find that helpful anytime I go longer than 14 miles).  

Of course, Wednesday then ended up quite exciting weather-wise - the remnants of Hurricane Ida rolled through around 3 am resulting in a strobe-and-boom show that woke up the entire DC area.  Followed by a tornado watch.  I decided to sleep in and do a tempo workout on my treadmill.  The paces on my treadmill don't map to outside paces (most likely because of incline and how warm the room gets) but I got a total of 30 minutes in at the right heart rate and effort range, so it was a productive workout.

Saturday I did the 4-3-2-1 miles at marathon effort workout on Hains Point in weather that was considerably improved from what we've had.  I was honestly hoping the paces would be faster for this workout, since my iron levels are normal now and the weather was so much better.  But 7:15-ish was what I locked into, and it felt like marathon effort and my heart rate was right in the mid-160s, so that was what I ran.    Running any harder would have just missed the point of the workout (the point of the workout is to work a certain physiological system, not to see how fast you can run intervals of 4, 3, 2, and 1 miles).

[That brings me to my pet peeve about marathon pace training in general.  There seems to be an assumption that if you can hold a certain pace during a "marathon pace workout" then that is your marathon pace.  Not at all true.    It is very doable, and even easy, to hold a pace that is somewhere in between your half-marathon and marathon pace for segments of 4, 3, 2, and 1 miles, or even for longer segments of 5 or 6 miles.  Especially if you jog the recovery mile very slowly and add in water/stretch breaks.  But running the workout that way gives you an inaccurate sense of what your marathon pace is, doesn't work the right system, and also means that the workout takes more out of you.  Lose-lose-lose.  End rant.]

Monday: 8 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 7.5 miles very easy (9:42) to gym, followed by drills, 4 strides, and upper body weights/core.  Then 4.5 miles very easy (9:09).  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 12 miles on the treadmill, including a tempo workout of 2x10 minutes, 2x5 minutes at tempo effort with 2 minutes jog after the 10 minute intervals and 1 minute jog between the 5 minute intervals.  Treadmill pace for the tempo was 7:04.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 10 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 8.5 miles very easy (9:20) to gym, then upper body weights/core.  Then 3.5 miles very easy home (9:08), followed by drills, two hill strides, and two flat strides.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon pace workout of 4, 3, 2, 1, miles at marathon effort with 1 mile float in between. Split as:

4 miles in 29:03 (7:16/7:17/7:15/7:15); 1 mile float in 7:45 (plus minute stop to retie shoes);

3 miles in 21:42 (7:12/7:15/7:15); 1 mile float in 8:00;

2 miles in 14:23 (7:08/7:15); 1 mile float in 8:09;

1 mile in 7:04.

Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in the afternoon. 

Sunday: 6 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling in afternoon.