Training log - week ending 7/6/2025

This week was 30 miles of running and 24 "miles" of pool-running.

Gently bumping up the mileage as a combined recovery from heatstroke/last minute training for the Hartford Nationals next week.  (Wow, that looks really bad when I write it out that way...)

There were a few things of note this week. The first is that I stopped taking one of my PD medications (if you care- it was a COMT inhibitor called Ongentys).  I've been on it for a bit over a year, but the last few months it seemed like it just wasn't working well for me.  If I took it at night (as is normally done) I couldn't fall asleep.  If I took it in the morning, my workouts were really rough and I'd jump every time there was a noise.  If I took it midday, I'd feel very anxious for about 90 minutes after taking it. 

Since stopping it, I've felt much better. My muscles are much less tense and my sleep quality has improved immensely, and my workout paces have also improved.  So win-win-win. 

[Side note: the Ongentys was prescribed to help with symptom control, not for any disease modifying reason. So, there's no downside to stopping it if I don't feel good on it.]

The second thing worth noting was a new way to trick my body into working better. One of my major battles is always with my quads, which want to tighten and lock up on me regularly. I stretch them and massage them and use vibrating massage balls on them to loosen them up, but they still tighten right back up. And when they tighten up, it shortens my stride and throws my balance off.

Last week, when I was just starting to run again after the heatstroke incident, I worked out in the gym.  This workout included some decently heavy hamstring curls, after which I hopped on a treadmill for a 5 minute jog to see how things felt.  And...my quads were behaving.  Not perfectly, but much better.  

Since then, I've been playing with different hamstring workouts before running, and they do seem to make a difference - especially if I work my hamstrings to flex my knees (e.g., hamstring curls) rather than extending at the hip (e.g., reverse planks). Get the hamstrings really firing and the quads start behaving.  Which makes sense in a way - the hamstrings and quads are agonist/antagonist pairs - if one contracts the other is supposed to relax. So...by firing up my hamstrings ahead of time, I'm sending the quads a message to calm down.  Neat!

The third and final thing is that my beloved treadmill, Fluffy (yes), is on the fritz. I started a workout on Saturday only to have a) the instant speed controls stop working (the speed buttons on the main dashboard still worked) and b) the treadmill spontaneously accelerate.  I could work around the first, but the second was dangerous. So, it's gym treadmills or outside for me until I get Fluffy fixed.

Dailies:

Monday: 6 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core in the morning; foam rolling in the evening.

Tuesday: 6 miles outside, mostly easy, but with 11x100m in 26-27 seconds. Foam rolling in the evening.

Wednesday: 8 miles on the treadmil, including a workout of 7x3:00 on/2:00 off (on was 7.9-8.0 mph; off was 6 mph) plus 4x30 seconds on/90 seconds off (on was 8.5 mph; off was 6 mph).  Followed with leg strength work; foam rolling in the evening.

Thursday:  9 "miles" pool-running in the morning and upperbody weights/core; foam rolling in afternoon.

Friday: 6 miles outside, including some 6x100m in 25-26 seconds.  Followed with upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 3 miles on the treadmill, including the start of a workout. Then 4.5 miles on the track, including 3200 in 15:02 (7:38/7:24), 800 in 3:41, and 4x200 in 56-67.  Followed by 2.5 miles easy (9:42) on gym treadmill and leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 9 "miles" pool-running and foam rolling.