Training log: week ending 9/24/2023

This week was 54 miles of running and 15 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

(and yet another late update, because life got away from me)

The first part of the week was half-marathon recovery (that's actually continuing, since it will take about 10 days to totally freshen up) and then I returned to hard running with a hill workout to re-emphasize good running form.  

My first real workout back was a weekend long run.  However, a tropical storm was supposed to hit us all day Saturday as well as Sunday morning, so I did my long run on the treadmill on Saturday rather than risk being caught in the middle of a storm several miles from my car.  As it turned out, the storm wasn't that impressive and I could have run outside without much issue other than getting a bit wet.  Oh well.

I'm now two weeks from Chicago, and I'm feeling hopeful, though a lot also hinges on the weather.  Another concern has been the looming government shutdown, since I am a federal employee.  If I was deemed "essential" I would be required to work and my scheduled vacation (including the day I'm scheduled to fly to Chicago) would be cancelled.  However, I've confirmed that I am not essential for purposes of shutdown, so it seems that won't be an issue.

(*essential for this purpose just means that your work is necessary to immediately preserve life or property - things like police, medical personnel, cybersecurity.)

Dailies:

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

Tuesday:  7 miles trail running (10:31), followed by upper body weights/core.  Sports massage in evening.
 

Wednesday: 10 miles very easy (9:28) including some grass running and drills+strides. Streaming yoga in afternoon.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 10 miles, including 6 Iwo Jima hills (alternated between route a: ~2:10 up, 90 second jog, 40 second downhill stride, and 60 second jog and route b: ~2:40 up, 70 second jog, 30 second flat/slightly downhill strides, and 60 second jog).  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10.5 miles very easy (9:16) including some grass running and drills+strides.  Followed with upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 16 miles progressive on treadmill, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:26 pace, the next 5 miles averaging 8:24 pace, and the next 6 miles averaging 7:27 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  6 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 9/17/2023

This week was 53 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 7 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Tapered for and raced a half-marathon.  I was pretty happy with my execution, but not so much the time.  But I got some helpful prep information from the half, so as a dress rehearsal for the marathon, it was good.

One thing I did observe (but did not note in my race report) - I continue to experiment with how much running to do in the last few days before a race.    Based on how my legs felt early on Sunday morning, I think I should have done a bit more running the day before.

Dailies:

Monday:  7 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  8 miles very easy (9:39) including some grass running and four strides, followed by upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 9 miles on the track, including 12x400m with 100m ~float (first 400s in 1:46 and 1:47, then the rest in 1:42-1:43; floats in 33-34 seconds).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles trail running (10:17) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 7 miles very easy (9:37) including some grass running, two hill sprints, and six strides.  Followed with upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 3 miles very easy (9:29).  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  3 mile warm-up, Half-Marathon in 1:34:and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: DC Half, September 17, 2023

 I ran the DC Half today, finishing in a time of 1:34:45.

This race was my tune-up for the Chicago Marathon in 3 weeks, and when I first checked out the forecast a week in advance, I was excited.  It looked like a big cooldown was coming and I was feeling good about my fitness.  Between those two things, I was hoping for a solid performance on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the forecast shifted slightly, with the best of the cool weather sifting away on Saturday night.  When I woke Sunday morning, it was warmer and stickier - in the 60s.  Nothing like the worst that summer can offer, but not what I had been hoping for.  Ah well.

***

I ate a quick breakfast and did my pre-run mobility routine, and then headed down to Georgetown to park on Water Street - about 2 miles from the start/finish.  Once there, I did my standard warm-up fartlek (3:00 at marathon down to half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K, and then 4x10 seconds strides).   Then I snuck into the corral and cracked open a Maurten gel as last minute fueling.

I like to start my half-marathons at near marathon pace before easing into tempo effort.  So I seeded myself behind the 1:40 pace group.  There were a few announcements - mostly trying to get us all to cheer - and then we were off.  

The 1:40 pace group was massive, which was fine for the first mile or so, but created some difficulty when I wanted to pick up the pace.  Fortunately, I was running on the right side of the road, and that section had intermittent sections where the asphalt would widen to accommodate parking spaces.  So I used those parking areas as opportunities to move up in the group - I'd accelerate each time the road widened, and then merge back into the group when the road narrowed.  This worked well, and after 2-3 parking lots I was free of the 1:40 group.

***

I was running by feel and ignoring my watch as usual, so my pacing plan was effort based.  I had planned to be in hard tempo rhythm by mile 3 - I'd hold that rhythm until mile 11 and then hammer the last two miles.  However, when I got to mile 3, I was already feeling warm and uncomfortable, so I held off, keeping the pace slightly restrained and my effort controlled.  

I re-evaluated at mile 5 and I didn't feel any better, so I decided to stay where I was, running carefully hard, until mile 9 or 10, when I'd start pushing.  When it's warm and humid, I like to pace my races this way - run the first 2/3 to 3/4 conservatively so that I don't overheat, and then hammer the remaining miles as best I can.  

The race course took us into Rock Creek park and back.  The Rock Creek Parkway is a winding road, and I found myself lulled into following the course of the road instead of running the tangents.  Eventually I woke up and focused on running the tangents, but I likely lost a few seconds there.

The Rock Creek Parkway is also significantly cambered in some places, and I found myself intentionally running wide in a few sections just to get flatter asphalt.  I don't think I lost time there, though, because any time lost from running long was balanced by the time I gained and the energy I conserved from being more comfortable.

***

Mile 9 took forever to show up, but also came up very quickly (racing is like that, sometimes), and it was time to start hammering (I refuse to say "Hammer Time" in this blog).  So I mentally turned the careful switch off and opened up my stride.  From there, it was just a matter of keeping my mind focused solely on a longer, relaxed stride and the people ahead of me that were coming back to me, and not on how increasingly uncomfortable I was.  

I really started to hurt in the last mile, but (as always) I had mapped out the course and figured out landmarks for the last mile.  The Jefferson Memorial was about 1200m from the finish line, and the little humpback bridge was a bit less than 800m from the finish.  I used each of those as cues to open my stride a bit more, and then I started dumping out whatever I had left when I saw the 13 mile marker approaching.  

Finally I was over the mat and I was done.  And I was relieved, because I felt like total crap.

As I closed, I noted the 1:35 pacer near me, so I was fairly sure I had not run the time I wanted.  A glance at my watch confirmed it - 1:34:45.  Oh well.

***

Several of the mile markers were off (one very short followed by two long) and I also missed a split, so I'll post the Strava splits instead.  Those were:

Mile 1: 7:39
Mile 2: 7:19
Mile 3: 7:16
Mile 4: 7:14
Mile 5: 7:16
Mile 6: 7:14
Mile 7: 7:17
Mile 8: 7:20
Mile 9: 7:10
Mile 10: 6:59
Mile 11: 6:57
Mile 12: 6:52
Mile 13: 6:51
last .22 - 6:34 pace

(no, the course wasn't a tenth of a mile long - that's just Garmin error).

I'm not thrilled with this race from a time perspective, but as a tune-up for Chicago, I got what I needed.  And I feel pretty good about how I executed the race.  So we'll file this one away and move on.

Other notes:

• The weather at the start was 64 degrees with a dew point of 56; when I finished it was 69 degrees with a dew point of 59.  (The humidity felt higher to me, but that's what was reported.)  So not awful, but not ideal.  The sun was out for the first few miles and then thankfully some clouds rolled in. 
• I wore my arm-coolers/sunsleeves and as always they seemed to help.  I'm well aware that I look bizarre wearing what looks like arm-warmers in hot races, but they really do seem to help me and this sport is not judged by appearance.
• I parked in Georgetown at about 6:05 for a race with a 7 am start.  This was slightly tight in time - next time it would be ideal to park about 10 minutes earlier.
• I wore the Adidas Adios Pro 3 for this race because I'm considering (and almost certainly) wearing it for Chicago.  I've noted in training that it seems much more comfortable at marathon effort than half-marathon effort, and I felt that today as well.  Which of course doesn't disqualify it as my marathon shoe choice.  I did play around with an alternate lacing for the shoe, and it felt too loose on my feet today.  I nearly rolled my ankle twice during the race and also have a blister on the inside of my right foot, and I suspect both are because the shoe was a bit loose.  So I'm returning to the previous lacing job, which felt not perfect but a bit more secure on my foot.
• I took a Maurten gel right before the race and another one during, at mile 6.  I had some difficulty taking the gel, so this is a reminder to myself to pre-tear my gels before races.  For water, I carried a water bottle from start to finish. 
• I ended up 4th master female, and 4th in the 40-49 age group.  When you are 49, 5 year age groups seem fairer than 10 year age groups.
• My mold/ragweed allergies have been hitting me really hard the past few days and that may (or may not) have affected my race.  This pretty much happens every September - my monthly Xolair shot mostly controls those allergies, but of course I'm due for my next shot.  This is why I don't like to spend a lot of money to travel for a September race - unless it rains, ragweed and mold are issues for any September race.  If I'm going to have a meh race, I'd prefer not to have paid for a hotel.

Training log - Week ending September 10, 2023

This week was 69 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Last week of training.  The biggest thing of note is that I started iron supplements after noting late last week that my iron was low.  

[for those of you who geek out about this stuff - my ferritin was actually normal/high at 125.  But because I have ulcerative colitis, ferritin can often be artificially inflated, and isn't reliable.  Instead the number I look at is the transferrin saturation.  Mine was 17% which is significantly low.]

The iron supplements are clearly working because I perked up within a few days (the same thing happened last time I was low) and had a pretty good workout on Tuesday (as well as Friday and Sunday).

I intentionally shortened my Sunday long run from 20 miles to 18 - this was primarily because it was hot and I really didn't need another 20+.  I've run great marathons off of just one 20+ mile long run.  Essentially once I get my endurance set, I get a lot more from work at marathon pace or a bit faster than I do from simple time and miles on my feet.  And (especially given the iron issues) it seemed like I gained more than I lost from cutting 2-3 easy miles off of the beginning of the run.

Dailies:

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

Tuesday:  10 miles, including a track workout of 5x1000, 400, 2x200 in 4:23, 4:15, 4:08, 4:07, 4:07, 95, 46, and 46.  Recoveries of 2:4x-3:0x after the 1000s, 90 seconds recovery between the 400 and 200s.   Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 11 miles very easy (9:28) with some grass running and uphill/downhill strides, followed by streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles trail running (10:19) and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a 6400m track tempo in 28:02 (7:14/6:58/6:56/6:54).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 12.5 miles very easy (9:10) plus drills and uphill/downhill strides, followed by streaming pilates.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 18 miles progressive, split as the first 6 miles averaging 9:48 pace, then next 5 miles averaging 8:23 pace, and the next 7 miles averaging 7:39 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown jog. Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 9/3/2023

This week was 63 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 12 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Once again I moved my marathon pace workout up to Friday from the weekend.  We had great weather on Friday morning, and it was nice to get the workout done and then be able to chill out the entire weekend.  I was decently happy with Friday - I would have liked to have run it faster, but instead my legs just locked into 7:30-7:35 pace and stayed there, with a rock bottom HR.  7:35 pace gets me a 3:18 marathon, which I'd be pretty happy with at this point, so I'm not complaining.

I'm continuing to work on my neuro issues, including a fair amount of trail and grass running.  I can tell the trail running is really helping my stability and making running everywhere else a lot easier.  At the same time, because I go so slowly, I don't get my heart rate up very high at all, and my stride stays very short and confined.  

So I've decided to revise my "default" training schedule (for lack of a better term) going forward to swap one of my pool-running days for a trail run.   Previously I've been subbing in a trail run for an easy run on asphalt.

This still gives me two days of very low level aerobic work, with low (trail) or no (pool) impact.  But it means that I still keep a decent volume of running with a normal length stride each week, rather than losing some of that to trail running.

I'm also focusing more on vestibular rehab work, since that still seems to be related to some of my troubles.  I continue to be subtly uncertain of where my body is in space relative to the ground, which forces me to be more tentative when I push off each stride, which in turn slows me down.   This issue is of course much worse when I try to run faster (because everything happens more quickly) or when my visibility is restricted (since I rely on my vision to keep myself oriented in space).

One exercise I added in this week was simply standing, two feet together, on a balance pad with my eyes closed for two minutes.  (Try it - it's harder than you think).  One thing I've noted is that I seem to run much better after doing this - it's like I get a bit of confidence in my own balance.  So I've added that to my long list of pre-run exercises.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 miles very easy on trails (11:04) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  10 miles, including a track workout of 2x(1600, 800) + 2x400 in 7:07, 3:25, 6:53, 3:21, 1:39, and 1:38; recoveries of 5:43 and 6:01 after the 1600s, 3:0x after the 800s, and 74 seconds between the 400s.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 10 miles very easy (9:25) with some grass running and drills/strides, followed by upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 17 miles with 2x5 miles at marathon effort in 37:47 (7:43/7:29/7:35/7:32/7:30) and 37:44 (7:34/7:28/7:33/7:39/7:30) with one mile float in 8:27 between the two.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 8 miles very easy on trails (10:27) and streaming pilates.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 miles mostly easy (average 8:58, with a slight progression down to about 7:50 pace at the end), followed by upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night.

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.

Training log - Week ending 7/30/2023

This week was 57 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming, and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

More mileage and trying to build some fitness.  The one thing that really stands out to me is that I have plenty of strength, but not much stamina or speed.  I really need to prioritize the work at tempo and marathon pace in the next few weeks.

Other than that, this was a lot of getting the work done.  My running gait feels the best it has in a while (which is still a bit far from where I want it to be) so that's good. 

Monday:  90 minutes pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  2.5 miles (10:03), time team workout, and then 6 miles (10:16 - included some trail running) plus upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

 

Wednesday: 10.5 miles, with a track workout of 2x3200, 2x200 in 14:16 (7:08/7:08), 14:14 (7:10/7:04), 49 and 48.  5:15 and 5:30 recoveries after the 3200s and full recovery for the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Sports massage in evening.

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

Friday: 10 miles, including 6 alternate Iwo Jima hills (about 2:30 up a 2.5% incline, 60 second jog, 30 second stride, and then 60 seconds jog).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11.5 miles very easy (10:10) including some trail running and also drills/strides and then streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 16 miles, with the first 7 miles averaging 9:30 pace, the next 5 miles averaging 8:19 pace, and the next 4 miles averaging 7:43 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown. Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.