Training log - Week ending 8/9/2026

This week was 55 miles of running, 22 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming.

I pushed last weekend's marathon effort workout a bit harder than I should have, so I skipped a "real" workout in the first half of the week, instead doing some strides and 30 second hill repeats (for the latter, cycling between easy, moderate, and hard effort).

The purpose of the hill repeats is to build/retain power - due to both age and Parkinsons, I tend to lose power quickly and have to work to retain it. The obvious question is "why not do each repeat hard?"  

In response, I'll first note that I can't take credit for the "cycling-through-different-efforts" structure - it's something I saw in a friend's training and borrowed. I've kept it because I've found that cycling through the three efforts facilitates a truly all out effort on the hard efforts.  

Essentially, the (first) easy and (second) moderate repeats prime me (mentally and physically) for a really hard effort on the third rep.  And knowing that the next rep (the fourth) after the hard rep will be just a jog reduces the tendency to "save a little for the next one."  The result is that the third and sixth hill sprints are all out, which is what I want.  Two truly hard efforts with full recovery are better than six fairly hard reps when one is trying to develop/retain power.  

DC was at its swampiest over the weekend (dew points in the mid-70s), and so I abandoned any ambitions of marathon effort work.  Instead, I ran a careful tempo on Friday, followed by 18 miles at easy effort on Saturday.  Doing the two workouts on consecutive days meant that I already had some fatigue on my legs going onto Saturday's run, so that the 18 miles felt more like 20-22 miles at easy pace - a solid endurance stimulus.  

I'm not generally a fan of back to back hard days, but in marathon training I have found that following a tempo on day 1 with a long easy run on day 2 is a solid alternative when a progressive long run with quality (marathon effort work) is not a good choice due to weather. It's just important to make sure I recover well after.

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Monday: 7 miles very easy (10:07) with two strides in the morning, yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles very easy on trails (10:47) and upperbody weights/core in the morning. Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 9 miles including 6x30 second hill repeats (cycling twice through easy, moderate, hard) and 11x100m in spikes 26 down to 23, followed by 500 yards of swimming and then a PT appointment. Sports massage at night.

Thursday: 10 "miles" pool-running and upperbody weights/core in morning; foam rolling at night.

Friday: 11 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 30:38 (7:47/7:46/7:37/7:29) plus 2x200m in 50 and 49, and 6x30 second hill repeats (cycling twice through easy, moderate, hard). Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 18 miles easy (10:04) and 3 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 9 "miles pool-running and 500 yards swimming, plus PT exercises and foam rolling.