Training log - Week ending 1/08/2023

This week was 54 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was the second week of my taper for Houston.  I'm going with less of a taper this time than I normally do, since it seems that my gait gets worse when I cut back too much.  Fresh legs aren't all that helpful if they aren't working correctly.  So my taper for Houston is going to look much more like a 10K taper than a marathon taper.

Things continued to improve, which I'm very happy with.  On Friday, I chose to sleep in and skip the team tempo so that I could tempo after the sun rose (around 7 am).  Unsurprisingly, I ran a much faster tempo when I could see.  Same effort, just a lot faster running.

To that point I went back to neuro PT this week after several months away (this is because I switched jobs and needed to build up sick leave).  We did some more tests, including a test where I marched in place with my eyes closed for 60 seconds.  Except I didn't make it 60 seconds because I wobble-marched all the way out of the rehab room and into a table, banging my knee nicely.  Oops?

The conclusion from this and other tests was that my proprioception is awful and I am not getting much feedback from my feet as to where my body is in space.  Which matches the general sensation I have of never being quite sure where the ground is with each stride.  So now I have new neuro PT exercises to do.  The nice thing about neuro PT is that they're not really focused on strength, and so I don't need to taper them before the marathon.

I also have sadly figured out that taking caffeine seems to make my neuro issues worse - looking back at my training log there's a definite trend of my legs getting more rigid and awkward after I take a caffeinated gel.  So I think I'll try to run Houston with just non-caffeinated gels (I usually alternate caffeinated gels with non-caffeinated) and see how that goes.

Monday: Upper body weights/core and 9 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11.5 miles, including 2000, 5x800, 2x200 in 9:00, 3:24, 3:21, 3:18, 3:15, 3:12, 48, and 48, with recoveries of 5:20 after the 2000 and 2:4x-3:0x between the 800s.  Full recovery for the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 9.5 miles very easy (9:19) plus drills/strides.

Thursday: 9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 9 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 27:44 (7:05/6:59/6:54/6:46).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 9.5 miles very easy (9:20) plus drills/strides.  Streaming yoga and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 14 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 9:18 pace, next 5 miles averaging 8:09 pace, and next 4 miles averaging 7:34 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown.  Followed with injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.