week in training | 11.30 – 12.6

This week ended on a fairly concerning running note. I may have tweaked my hamstring during a recent strength session and the impacts ricocheted into my upper calf. I particularly noticed during Saturday’s long run, during which I couldn’t muster much strength in my stride and found the miles mostly joyless. I hit it with the Hypervolt and rolled on a baseball – my go-to for pinpoint pain that HURTS but always aids in untying my muscle knots – so we will see moving forward how the discomfort adjusts. At least I still have Pittor!

Monday, 11/30: 25.02 miles, 18.4 mph cycling (1:21:27) + 1,800 yard swim (34:53) + 4.1 miles, 9:45 pace

Triathlon Monday. I’m out of work until next week due to a positive COVID test from someone on a shift with me (thankfully, I’m financially okay since my company is compensating us for hours we were scheduled already) so I used a lot of time figuring out how to pass these days without losing my mind. I ventured to my secondary pool for a rough but relaxing 500-400-300-200-100 ladder swim after breakfast and once the rain cleared from the area and did some serious online shopping damage later. With all this time I’m thinking some recipe testing is in order, specifically for Christmas cookies!

Tuesday, 12/1: 20.02 miles, 19.7 mph cycling (1:00:52) + 6.39 miles, 10:10 pace brick run

The glory! The temperature started at 55 during my run and dropped to 46 by finish. Very crisp and lovely and not too windy, except my hands were strangely sensitive despite my wearing gloves over them. The bike workout warmed me pretty nicely, with 3 sets of :20/:40/:60/:40/:20 sprints that felt great but definitely proved tiresome.

Wednesday, 12/2: 9.49 miles, 8:57 pace + 45 minute strength + 3.05 miles, 9:50 pace

My hamstring has been bothering me of late, presumably from tweaking something during deadlifts, so I cancelled my planned 300m repeats in favor of a progression run, figuring I’d see how it goes and run as quick as my legs would let me. Turns out that was pretty fast! My splits: 10:26, 9:55, 9:22, 8:46, 8:14, 8:07, 7:59, 7:48. The mercury read around 39 for my run and it took an intense amount of willpower to get me out the door, but I’m so glad I went for it!

Strength:

• 4 x 5 front squat/5 push press/5 back squat/5 push press
• 4 x 10 front squat
• 4 x 12 good morning
• 4 x 8 goblet squat
• 4 x 12 hip thrust
• 3 x 10 side plank hip dip

Thursday, 12/3: 40.04 miles, 19.1 mph cycling (2:05:44) + 15 minute core work + 1,700 yard swim (30:32)

Our office sat at 68 degrees when I hopped on Pittor and wow, what a difference a cold room makes in sustained power! I rode a medley of intervals ranging from 1-5 minutes and landed a 13:45 5-mile split (21.8mph!) I was shocked when that number popped up on my screen. I followed with some core work since I’ve been abandoning it during my lifting sessions.

The day warmed up nicely by midmorning, so I went against my laziness and drove to the pool for a set of 10 x 100s. This was the next bump up of intervals for me from my planned workouts, and though I wanted to quit after each one of them I surprised myself by hitting my goals! Each spanned from 1:43-1:45. I then followed up with 4 x 50 yards at 49-51 seconds. Good enough for 1:47/100 yard average.

Friday, 12/4: 30.04 miles, 18.7 mph cycling (1:36:39) + 40 minute strength + 4.44 miles, 10:08 pace

Bit warmer today but certainly not unpleasant. I embarked on a literal grocery run after breakfast, multitasking by getting my miles in, stopping at the store once I finished, and walking back. Nice little way to commute! Morning ride was a mishmash of climbing and :30 submaximal sprints to get to 30 miles.

Strength:

• 3 x 15 chest fly
• 4 x 8/side single leg dumbbell pass
• 4 x 12 boat triceps extension to pressup
• 3 x 10 leg extension to knee up
• 3 x 15 front raise
• 10/6/6 narrow to wide biceps curl
• 3 x 20 straight leg alternating jackknife
• 3 x 15 bent knee jackknife

Saturday, 12/5: 13.39 miles, 10:06 pace + 15 miles, 18.4 mph cycling (49:00)

Although I managed the miles, my calf was struggling the whole time. I knew that my stride was compromised from the beginning and I had pretty much no power coming from my left leg. I feel the location of the knot and I think it’s where my calf faltered earlier this year. Midmorning ride was more to distract me from prematurely photographing some cookies I made, which FINALLY worked after three tries and are coming to the blog very soon!

Sunday, 12/6: 20.01 miles, 19.7 mph cycling (1:00:58)

Lower key training day but a great session. It took my legs a LONG time to warm up but once the spinning got easier I hit some good splits. I performed a ladder of 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 minutes of work, scaling effort based on the duration, with a maximum 3 minute recovery. My speed averages ranged from 20.8-28.9 mph.

I devoted this morning to a ton of extra relaxion. My legs are fatigued and I could definitely tell on the bike that the muscles are more tender than usual. So I filled my tub, drop a lavender bath bomb and some epsom salts in the water, slathered on a face mask and listened to Christmas music with candles flickering. Such a wonderful change of scenery that assured a really nice mood through the rest of the morning.

Total running mileage: 40.8

Total cycling mileage: 150.2

Total swimming yardage: 3,500