week in training | 11.16 – 11.22 + a new 10k pr!

51:08 to 48:36. Because of my poor running health in every training cycle I’ve undergone, I didn’t believe sub-8 would ever become a realistic goal for any race distance except maybe the 5k. This season went so well from a physical and a mental standpoint. I am not sure if I could’ve trained more ambitiously, but I truly had a one-track mind in my desire to average below an 8 minute mile and for my total time to fall beneath the 50 minute threshold. I managed both on Wednesday and that was enough. I felt so strong and resilient and proud. What felt previously like a pipe dream became a completed feat.

I intend to continue with the 10k distance during my self-planned time trials, so long as in-person races aren’t realistic. My next goal is around a 45 minute 10k with the understanding that such might take a good long while. That is okay. Patience is imperative with running and sport (and life, but I have very limited stores in general) and so long as I am consistent with my other tri sports and strength training, I believe I can fire accurately at my target.

Monday, 11/16: 25.03 miles, 17.4 mph cycling (1:26:15) + 65 minute strength

Launched the week with a running rest day in favor of a moderate intensity bike ride and some upper body work. With my 10k looming Wednesday, I didn’t want to overstress with any lower body strength sessions, so I wedged only some pistol squats into my protocol – which was enough to make me a tiny bit sore! For the ride, I performed 6 x :90 at 100+ RPM and a low gear with 1 minute recoveries, and 10 minutes threshold (18.4 mph average)

Strength:

• 4 x 15 pushup/16 plank dumbbell drags
• 4 x 12 lateral raise/12 front raise
• 3 x 20 standing hip extension/20 alternate TRX pistol squats
• 4 x 12 boat hold triceps extensions to push press
• 4 x 12 push press
• 4 x 12 shoulder press
• 4 x 16 TRX single-leg row
• 4 x 15 hike

Tuesday, 11/17: 6.41 miles, 10:08 pace + 1,800 yard swim (35:01)

Shakeout run in the morning. Lets felt pretty heavy and 1 minute intervals do not a steady Kellie make, but once I picked up the pace I felt okay and the weather showed signs of mellowing from the past couple torturous weeks. The pool felt amazing afterwards. I stroked 7 x 200 yards, 4 x 100, and cooled down for 300 yards good for a 1:57/100 yard average.

Wednesday, 11/18: 10K time trial! 2.05 miles, 10:12 pace (warmup) + 6.22 miles, 7:49 pace

This solo race was perfect. Utterly perfect. 54 degrees at start, somewhat windy, and my body felt fresh and raring to go. My warmup was clunky but when I performed my strides my legs felt limber and excited so I was encouraged from the start. I began around 6:15, just a touch before sunrise, with an out and back route planned that ended up pitting me against the headwind for the final 5k. Wasn’t the worst with which I’ve contended during this cycle, but did make me flag a bit during mile 4.

I always take about a mile to settle into a rhythm, both speed-wise and breathing-wise, so mile 1 was slower and uneven as I sought my cadence but still within my goal range. 7:56 popped up as the first split. I settled in pretty well for the second mile, felt focused and controlled as I finished the remaining 2.1 miles before my turnaround. 7:53, 7:50. At mile 4 I pelted the headwind and though not terribly strong it threw me off my groove and I struggled to regain my internal pacer for a bit until maybe the last .25 miles of that stretch. 7:52. I turned a corner eventually and the wind was more of a cross-striker than head-on, more tolerable and not causing undo effort. I really tried to quicken my turnover and landed a 7:47 for mile 5. Go mode ensued after that. Mile 6 I saw J waving and trying to take a photo as I rounded a corner and that gave me a lot of encouragement, as did a beautiful sunrise before me. I sped up to a 7:45 and by then my legs were starting to feel like jello and, though I wasn’t slowing down, I certainly felt I was. J rode up beside me on his bike playing the Rocky theme, and for those last .22 miles I bowed down and let it loose. My legs actually began to tingle from the exertion and I let out more than one big gasp as I reduced my pace to a 6:55 and nearly fell over when my watch buzzed to indicate the work was done. 6:55!

In total, I felt strong and controlled, supported, happy. No stitches, either! This was a 2:32 PR from my previous 51:08/8:12 pace 10K a year ago.

Thursday, 11/19: 18.03 miles, 18 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 4.4 miles, 10:14 pace

Cycled in the early hours to test my legs out and surprisingly they were quite sturdy and not overly fatigued. I performed 3 x 5 minute, 3 x 3 minute, 3 x 1 minute, and 3 x :30 intervals, ranging from 18.8-26 mph averages and a max speed of 31.4. The run brought out some of the stiffness from yesterday’s time trial, but I certainly didn’t feel beat up like I have in races past. Probably because I’ve run many a 10k casually and the distance was no shock to my system. Beautiful albeit gusty morning for a run and my heart rate during the run/walk set averaged a mere 145 bpm!

Friday, 11/20: 25.02 miles, 18.2 mph cycling (1:23:00) + 40 minute strength

The previous evening J filled my rear tire and it really threw off the resistance on the trainer, so I had to take time before I started riding to readjust. The drag caused my legs to strain hard as if climbing even in my lowest normal gear – hopped off during my warmup to shuffle things around until it felt somewhat normal and my cadence was where it usually is for the efforts I offer. My speed, however, jumped up quite a bit. I warmed up for 5 miles and then performed 15 miles at a tempo/threshold effort. My heart rate sat where it usually does for this type of workout but my splits clocked in at 16:26 (18.3 mph), 15:56 (18.8 mph), and 15:46 (19 mph), much quicker than normal. 5 mile cooldown wrapped up my time on Pittor. Felt great!

Strength: 3 x 15 of each exercise except Russian twists & shoot throughs (20 reps for those)

• Dumbbell deadlift
• Dumbbell swing
• Upright Row
• Single-leg, single-arm row
• Russian twist
• Shoot-through
• Single-arm push press
• Boat triceps extension

I then performed a completion set: 3 x 15 oblique crunch, 3 x 15 kneeling rotations, and 3 x 10 explosive jump squats

Saturday, 11/21: 10.25 miles, 10:15 pace + 1,650 yard swim (30:48)

Easy long run since my legs wanted miles but I didn’t want to crest two hours for another week. I’m surprised how well my legs responded to post-race training. This run felt good and my heart rate stayed very low in a humid but pleasant early morning. Followed up with a swim during which I performed 14 x 75 hard yards averaging 1:18-1:20 for the sets, which ranged about 1:44-1:48/100 yards.

Sunday, 11/22: 20.02 miles, 18.3 mph cycling (1:05:30) + 3.61 miles, 9:42 pace brick run

Good early training before a very trying workday. I’m SO glad I talked myself into doing the full workout in the morning since when I got home I just wanted to collapse into a heap and not move. On Pittor I performed 6 x 5 minutes at threshold, 19.1-19.4 averages, with 3 minute recovery, and jumped off the bike for a low-key short run.

Total running mileage: 32.9

Total cycling mileage: 88.1

Total swimming yardage: 3,450