Training log - Week ending 5/28/2023

This week was 59 miles of running, 500 meters of swimming, and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I was sick for the first part of this week, which wasn't a surprise, given that the preceding weekend was dedicated to minimal sleep while attending two parties, a race expo, and a race.  It was just a simple head cold and gone in 36 hours.  However, I always get an asthma flare-up after a head cold, and this time was no exception.  The only way to tamp down my asthma once it flares is with a short round of prednisone, so I took some on Thursday and Friday (I have a standing prescription from my doctor just for this reason).

I felt pretty strong on Friday's short tempo workout, which wasn't a surprise - prednisone will do that, which is why it's banned in competition (it's legal outside of competition, so I didn't break any rules by taking it).  That's also one reason why I kept the tempo short - when I'm on prednisone, it's really easy to overdo things, since it doesn't feel like I'm overdoing stuff.  Of course, my dystonia also flared, which could be from the prednisone.  Or maybe it was unrelated.

I try to take as little prednisone as possible, since it's awful for my bones and all sorts of other things, so I stopped it on Saturday - my asthma wasn't 100% improved, but I've learned that if I kick start things with the pred, that's often enough to end the flare.  

Of course, this meant that Sunday's long run was also my first day off of prednisone.   Stopping a short course of prednisone is like quitting caffeine, but slightly worse in terms of sluggishness/achiness**.  Despite this, I had an adequate progression run, so I called it good.

[**I'm pretty sure this is why WADA/USADA only bans prednisone in competition - there are plenty of good reasons to take it on a short term basis outside of competition, and nobody with any sense at all would try to train on prednisone and then stop it before racing.  It's not at all like HGH or EPO, where you can train on it, then stop taking it and retain the benefits from training on it.]

Dailies:

Monday:  Upper body weights/core and 5 miles easy on treadmill (9:54).   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 7 miles easy (9:22) plus drills and two hill strides and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 10 miles easy (9:38) plus drills and strides.   Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10.5 miles, including a short track workout of 3200, 1600 in 13:44 (6:53/6:51) and 6:43 with 4:50 recovery between.   Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles easy (9:33) plus drills and strides, and then streaming yoga.

Sunday: 16.5 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles averaging 9:06 pace, next 5 miles averaging 8:06 pace, and next 5 miles averaging 7:42 pace, followed by a half-mile cooldown jog.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 meters recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.