two weeks in training | 12.7 – 12.20

Amid the hubbub of 12 Days of Christmas and all of the holiday shenanigans enshrouding the week, I opted to delay my weeks of training until today. Despite all the goodies baked and et, I kept up with my routine and logged some solid mileage numbers. My calf tightness seems a thing of the past, which encourages me, and no new pangs have arrived.

I’ll have to think of some creative Christmas workouts for Thursday and Friday. We’re in for some actual real cold on Christmas Day so I might even be able to run in my thicker festive sweater!

Week 1: 12.7 – 12.13

Monday, 12/7: 8.13 miles, 10:27 pace + 20.02 miles, 19.2 mph cycling (1:02:38)

Keeping it slow to nurse my leg and ensure nothing worsens. This run felt pretty good after my body warmed up and I didn’t note any compensations in my stride, though on some steps my hamstring complained a bit. Drizzly and extremely humid morning, but the temperature was low so not overly unpleasant. In order to avoid prematurely laying my hands all over some chocolate bars, I hopped on the bike for a bit over an hour with 40 minutes at tempo effort: splits rang in at 15:42 (19.1 mph) and 15:10 (19.8 mph) with a 9:07 finale at 20.4 mph.

Tuesday, 12/8: 20.1 miles, 20.1 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 6.52 miles, 9:58 pace

Cold weather running is my favorite. Even by 10 am it was still in the 40s but not overly windy, so I could get away with my arm sleeves and gloves and no other excess layers during the run. I planned for 35-45 minutes but clearly my happy brain had other ideas!

I’ve never averaged 20+ mph for a ride and today I broke that ceiling! I performed a ladder of 3 x 3 minutes, 4 x 2 minutes, and 5 x 1 minutes.

Wednesday, 12/9: 9.18 miles, 9:15 pace + 45 minute strength

Tested out the leg since I didn’t feel any tweaking upon waking, and it held up for some speedwork very nicely! My calf tightened a bit by the end but that receded once I stopped. I warmed up for a bit over 2 miles with a few strides, then performed a ladder: 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minutes with 1-2-3-3-3-3-3-2-1 recoveries. My paces ranged from 7:16-7:30, which was essentially what I hoped for! Pretty cold morning and my fingers were numb by the end, though the rest of me embraced the chill happily.

Strength:

• 4 x 12 bench press
• 4 x 10 deadlift
• 4 x 10 double biceps curl
• 4 x 10 side lunge
• 4 x 12 row
• 4 x 6 OH press
• 20 pistol squats
• :30 side plank per side

Thursday, 12/10: 45.03 miles, 19.6 mph cycling (2:17:33) + 3.45 miles, 10:08 pace

I originally planned for 25-30 miles but that changed quickly once I got moving. Lower temps in the office gym meant springier legs and I had so much energy I whipped out a few sub-15:00 5-mile splits without really trying! I started out with 6 x :90 100+ RPM reps with 1 minute recoveries, and knocked out a 10 minute tempo during the final bit of the ride averaging 22.4 mph. The morning was glorious so I walked a bit after the workout to enjoy the cool temps.

Friday, 12/11: 20.62 miles, 20.6 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 50 minute strength

I really liked this workout! Just enough variety to keep my legs guessing and make the time fly. I started with 6 x (:30 tempo/:30 sprint/:30 recovery), then moved into 3 x 3 minutes threshold/2 minutes recovery, and ended with 2 x (3 minutes steady/2 minutes threshold/1 minute hard/3 minutes recovery) before a cooldown. Speeds ranged from 19.5 to 36.4 during the reps and I hit 163 rpm as my highest cadence!

Strength: I was sore immediately after this workout. Each squat set increased weight.

• 3 x 15 pushups/20 lateral leg lifts per side
• 4 x 12 front squat
• 4 x 5 front squat/5 back squat
• 3 x 8 goblet squat
• 3 x 6 goblet squat
• 3 x 4 goblet squat
• 4 x 20 calf raise
• 50 jackknifes
• 50 flutter kicks
• 25 side plank hip dips per side
• 50 reverse table
• 2:15 plank

Saturday, 12/12: 14.11 miles, 9:34 pace

This was rough. It probably doesn’t help that we’ve started Finger Food Fridays and usually that involves less training-friendly fare than normal, but mostly my legs were extremely sore from yesterday’s squatfecta. I managed to run 8 miles at steady state/marathon effort from 8:37-8:59 splits, but it took four miles for those paces to feel okay and Garmin gave me a 5.0 training effect after the fact. My legs continually stiffened the rest of the day, so I didn’t do much outside of everyday activities.

Sunday, 12/13: 21.31 miles, 21.3 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 1,850 yard swim (35:16)

A new milestone! This ride went so smoothly despite my still-crankly quads. 6 x 1 minute on/1 minute off/2 minutes on/3 minutes off, plus warmup and cooldown. Interval averages spanned 27-29 mph and felt pretty manageable!

I finally dragged myself to the pool after nearly a week away from the water. I felt rough, but managed 1:54/100 yard average despite the rustiness. I swam a ladder of 50/100/150/200/150/100 with equal interval lengths using the pull buoy. Finished with 2 x 100 swims and an extra 50 since I forgot what distance I’d covered up to that point.

Total running mileage: 41.4

Total cycling mileage: 127.1

Total swimming yardage: 1,850

---

Week 2: 12.14 – 12.20

Monday, 12/14: 60.03 miles, 20.3 mph cycling (2:57:23) + 3.52 miles, 9:56 pace

I definitely got into a groove on the morning ride! Was expected 30-35 miles but doubled that distance handily. I rode 15 miles at tempo (14:26, 14:04, 13:50) and threw in some higher gear efforts, around 70 RPM, towards the end). The room air was pretty dry and the temp read 71, which seems to help my energy and power during a ride quite a bit.

While I waited for some bread to rise, I performed a 35 minute run/walk outside. Earlier we had a spell of rain and I think that oxygenated the air or something, as this little trot felt seamless and went quickly.

Tuesday, 12/15: 8.87 miles, 10:09 pace + 25.05 miles, 20.2 mph cycling (1:14:25)

Easy run and mellow ride for the day. I was surprised to find some spring in my step considering yesterday’s long ride.

Wednesday, 12/16: 8.88 miles, 9:01 pace + 40 minute strength

Great workout! Funny how I ran a practically identical distance this day as Tuesday, with a 10 minute difference. Shows how varying pace is important to ensure proper training adaptations. 20 minute warmup, 16 x 400m @ 7:14-7:35 with 1 minute walk/jog recoveries, cooldown to 80 minutes. Followed up with a solid, heavier strength workout with my office weights.

Strength:

• 4 x 10 alternating lunge with pressup
• 4 x 6 weighted jump squat to thruster
• 4 x 8 bicep curl to front raise
• 4 x 10 suitcase squat
• 4 x 10 reverse fly
• 50 bicycle crunches
• 25 oblique crunches per side
• :90 plank

Thursday, 12/17: 21.92 miles, 21.9 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 2,000 yard swim (38:14)

Performed one of my favorite workouts on Pittor before work: 7 x 3 minutes increasing to max effort with 3 minute recoveries. I hit 39.8 mph during one sprint! So close to my goal of 40, I guess one could say I practically hit it. I swam much longer than I figured I would after work. I wasn’t feeling particularly great overall, but it was so nice to be outside I just kept on until I hit 2,000 yards and decided I was hungry enough to leave. I did a mix of different short intervals and ended with a 1:55/100 yard average.

Friday, 12/18: 21.24 miles, 21.2 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 6.41 miles, 10:08 pace

Oh, what a beautiful morning! The air was cold in the office gym so my legs and lungs felt great during my morning ride. I opted for 45 minutes at tempo effort, keeping my heart rate in the mid 150s and putting up 14:28, 14:04, and 12:38 splits. Finished my training day with an easy 65 minute run, about 45 degrees at the start and little wind so other than my hands I was nice and warm even in minimal clothing. I cozied up in the afternoon with a hot cocoa infused coffee and was mighty content the remainder of the day.

Saturday, 12/19: 13.73 miles, 9:28 pace + 40 minute strength

Most of this run was pleasantly brisk until the final four miles, when I caught the headwind – it blew around 13 mph sustained with gusts in the 20s, and the cold cut down my throat and left me coughing intermittently the rest of the day. Otherwise, I squeezed in a 35 minute tempo at a very consistent clip! I covered about 4.4 miles and the splits read 8:01, 8:00, 7:55, and 7:55.

Strength:

• 4 x 8 bench press
• 3 x 15 single leg elevated bridge
• 4 x 8 split squat
• 4 x 5 hang clean and press
• 50 Russian twists
• 50 straight leg jackknives
• 40 hover knee taps
• 40 alternating bird dogs
• 30 plank shoot throughs
• 30 lateral hops
• 1 minute side plank, per side
• 1:30 plank

Sunday, 12/20: 30.03 miles, 22.5 mph cycling (1:20:09)

Long workday so I forewent the impact of running in favor of a 60 minute tempo ride. My splits read 13:42, 12:21, 12:51, and 12:04. Went really well but definitely fatigued by the end and was ready to be done!

Total running mileage: 41.4

Total cycling mileage: 158.25

Total swimming yardage: 2,000