Training log - Week ending 8/27/2023

This week was 54 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 24 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Though it looks low in mileage, this was actually a heavy week - I averaged 13.5 miles on each day I did run, with some high volume quality in there (8x800 and then the 8K tempo followed by the long run the next morning).  

This was intentional, as this was my final week of strength building.  At this point, I think I have all the strength I need for the marathon and then some - my legs feel heavy but also like they could go forever (I did have to cut Saturday's long run a mile short, but that was because I started the run too late and it got too hot, not because the distance was an issue).  For me personally, once I get to this point I can keep that strength for a really long time.  Thus, there's no real reason to do more work on endurance.  

So even though I'm still about 7 weeks out from Chicago I'm going to pull back on the mileage a bit to get my legs a bit fresher for some faster running.  I know I can cover 26 miles without issue; it's just a question of how fast I can do it.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  12 miles, including a track workout of 8x800 in 3:35, 3:30, 3:31, 3:29, 3:26, 3:25, 3:26, 3:26 with 3 minute recovery after each.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:54) with some grass running and drills/strides, followed by upper body weights/core.  Then jogged 3 miles home (9:42).  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 12 miles, including an 8K tempo in 36:35 (7:18/7:19/7:18/7:23/7:17) followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 19 miles, mostly easy but with a fartlek of 10x2 minutes on/5 minutes jog in the second hour.  Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  1 hour pool-running and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/20/2023

This week was 65 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming, and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Just two workouts this week: Wednesday and Saturday.  Wednesday's workout looks a bit underwhelming, but that's because I was experimenting with a lower dose of the meds I take for the dystonia stuff, and I got it wrong, resulting in legs that were clumsy and heavy.  

I decided that it was worth doing the workout anyway at the proper effort level, so that's what I did.  And made some notes for next time.

Saturday's workout went much better.  I was able to find that sweet spot of marathon effort and lock into it, which was a big confidence boost.

I am still deciding between the Hoka Rocket X2 and the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 2 for my fall marathon shoe.  I've run a marathon pace workout in each, and I go back and forth between the two.  I think that right now I'm leaning towards the Pumas, both because they have much better grip on wet pavement and because they seem more forgiving when my legs get a bit tired.  But I've got a few more weeks to decide.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  9 miles easy (9:50), upper body weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy (9:44) plus strides  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 14 miles, including a track tempo workout of 4800, 3200, 1600 in 21:29 (7:15/7:09/7:05), 14:14 (7:10/7:04) and 7:05 (recoveries of 5:32 and 5:19 between).  Followed with injury prevention work.   Sports massage in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 11.5 miles very easy (9:36) including some grass running, and then upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17.5 miles, including 2x5 miles at marathon effort in 37:25 (7:40/7:27/7:28/7:25/7:25) and 37:21 (7:33/7:28/7:34/7:27/7:18) with 1 mile in 8:40 between.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  11 miles very easy on trails (11:20) plus hill sprints.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/13/2023

This week was 65 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

A pretty boring week.   We had some nice cool weather in the middle of the week before it heated up for the weekend.  I wish my paces were faster, but gotta train where one is.  At least I'm getting better at grass running and trail running.  

I am playing around a bit more with the medication I take for the dystonia in my lower legs.  It seems that I'm on slightly too high a dose, which is why I'm having a bit of trouble rolling through my feet and pushing off.  Of course, too low a dose has its own issues too, and since I'm a fairly small person, we have to be pretty precise with the dose to get it right.  So we're still fine-tuning things.

And yes, I am very familiar with Botox being used for dystonia.  However, it's not a good choice for me because a) the problem is not with one specific muscle, but with several; and b) selectively weakening lower leg muscles makes sense for people who just want to walk normally or to run a few miles a couple times a week.  But I want to continue to train seriously, and so weakening my lower leg muscles creates an unacceptable risk of compensation injury.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  11 miles, with a track workout of 1600, 2x1200, 2x800, 2x400 in 7:04, 5:09, 5:03, 319, 3:17, 96, 97.  4 minutes recovery after the 1600, 3 minutes recovery after the 1200s, and equal time recovery after the 800s and 400s.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 9.5 miles very easy (9:32), including some grass-running and drills/downhill strides; then upper body weights/core, followed by 2.5 miles very easy (9:28).   Sports massage in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a 6400m track tempo in 28:02 (7:08/7:01/6:55/6:58), plus 2x200m in 49 seconds each.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11 miles very easy trail running (10:51) plus drills/strides and then upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 20.5 miles progressive, split with the first 10 miles averaging 9:30 pace, the next 6.5 miles averaging 8:46 pace, and the next 4 miles averaging 8:13 pace. Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/6/2023

This week was 61 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming, and 21"miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

The week started off poorly, with a frustrating track workout where I was essentially stuck at my tempo pace for intervals.  In retrospect, it was simply because the track workout was too close to Sunday's 16 miler, which was followed by some heavy squatting.  So I'll file that workout under "it's the effort that counts."

I moved my marathon effort workout up to Friday to take advantage of better weather, and ended up being very happy with the results.  I had planned on doing the 4-3-2-1 workout (4, 3, 2, and 1 miles at marathon effort with 1 mile between), but I hit a good rhythm during the first 4, and decided on the fly to swap to 2x5 miles at marathon effort.  The marathon effort miles all felt good and controlled and like I could have continued on (which is the ideal when doing a marathon effort workout, IMHO) so I felt pretty good about it.

Since I did my long run on Sunday and my next hard workout isn't until Tuesday morning, I used Sunday morning to run a whole bunch of 100s, 200s, and even a few 400s, wearing different shoes and playing with different mental cues.  The winners ended up being the Takumi Sen 8 (other choices were the Adios 7, the Adidas Adizero Pro, and the New Balance RC Elite 1).  

As for mental cues - the best cues for me in running fast and smoothly seem to be engaging my transverse abdominus (deep abdominals) while allowing my stride to extend behind me (not in front of me) with some torso rotation.  And keeping my feet relaxed.  It also helps to visualize a harness tied around my hips pulling me forward - when I try to push forward I try too hard with my legs and get stiff and slow down.

Not sure if those mental cues will help anyone else, but they were working for me.  At least for today.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  10 miles, with a track workout of 2x800, 1600, 2x800, 2x400 in 3:30, 3:29, 7:00, 3:21, 3:21, 1:37, and 1:38; 2:4x-2:5x recovery after the 800s, 6:01 recovery after the 1600 and 88 seconds between the 400s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 11 miles very easy (9:38), including some grass-running and drills/downhill strides; upper body weights/core later.   Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 17 miles, including 2x5 miles at marathon effort with 1 mile easy/float (9:00 pace) between. Splits were 37:47 (7:33 pace) and 37:41 (7:32 pace).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9 miles very easy trail running (11:12) plus drills/strides and then upper body weights/core plus 3 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14 miles with a collection of 100s, 200s, and 400s done with full recovery.  Final 200s were the fastest, at 46 seconds. Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.