week in training | 4.26 – 5.2

Cutback week in my running. I wanted 40 miles, ideally, but 38.5 is certainly close enough. The weather is rapidly heating up, which means my paces are slowing even more and my focus has to swap over to ensuring I don’t burnout or strain my body too much with elaborate, prolonged faster sessions. Hydration and fueling are of utmost priority at this stage and moving forward. I started experimenting with sprinkling a tiny bit of salt into my water bottle, not even enough to taste, and I swear it’s made a difference. I used to use the Nuun tables but they ALWAYS explode all over the place, so I keep those for post-workout recovery.

Two speedier workouts characterized this lower mileage week, and both went surprisingly well! I kept the intervals at manageable lengths and ran entirely on feel rather than dictated paces. Surprised and delighted to see what I saw, including many sub-8s for longer efforts. Hey, it’s progress for me.

Monday, 4.26: 8.39 miles, 9:32 pace + 45 min strength

Moved yesterday’s planned speed session to today since the weather was much more agreeable – 64 instead of 76. I’ll take it! Still muggy though, so I wouldn’t call faster running easy by any means, but I managed a great intuitive speed session nonetheless. 3 mile warmup with strides – I crept into the 6:50s during the drills! – followed by: 2 x 1k @ 7:40 and 7:28 average paces, 3 x 400 at 7:11, 7:06, and 7:05 average, 4 x 100 at 6:37, 6:30, 6:45, and 6:42. Definitely tired by the 100 reps but still proud of my effort. I haven’t done intervals longer than 1 minute recently so it’s nice to gauge where I’m at with longer-duration repetitions.

Strength:

• 3 x 12 lateral lunge
• 3 x 10 single arm swing
• 3 x 10 lying triceps extension
• 3 x 10 static lunge
• 3 x 16 bodyweight squat twist
• 3 x 10 band standing hydrant to leg extension
• 3 x 20 v-up
• 3 x 10 stability ball leg lift
• 3 x 10 shoulder taps with frog jump

Tuesday, 4.27: 27.8 miles, 22.2 mph cycling (1:15:00) + 2,300 yard swim (50:51)

Aerobic ride that felt blah by the final 20 minutes. My legs felt like bricks and didn’t want to spin and my heart rate started out pretty high before finally settling down during the second half of the session. The swim was also less than great, with sore arms from lifting and work-related fatigue. I performed some broken 500s and averaged 2:02/100 yards and a 43 SWOLF.

Wednesday, 4.28: 15.19 miles, 10:12 pace + 2,000 yard swim (44:17)

This long run felt quite a bit better than last week’s, probably in part due to the nicer morning weather which greeted me, but the final 3 miles were rough and I definitely fell off the energy train. I did stick to my plan of consuming the whole of my 10 oz water bottle each hour, though, so progress on the hydration front! I got some core work in after, a simple 3 x 1 minute plank, 2 x :45 ea. side plank, and 3 x 20 plank knee taps

Swim was casual at 2:00/100 yard average and a pretty solid 42 SWOLF. I use Wednesdays as recovery swim days and put even less stock in my swim than I already do.

Thursday, 4.29: 5.72 miles, 11:21 pace + 25 min strength + 2,050 yard swim (44:46)

Tried the low heart rate method and just reaffirmed that it really isn’t for me. Despite being in the 11s consistently the entire run, my heart rate spiked multiple times to the 160s and averaged 153, which I’ve done running 10:30-10:40 pace miles prior. I felt really dejected and sad after this run. Have I really improved at all over the course of a few years I’ve been training?

Nothing huge to report from the swim, just an easy afternoon session in a busy pool averaging 2:01/100 yards and a 43 SWOLF.

Strength:

• 3 x 16 band squat with leg lift
• 3 x 10 dumbbell swing
• 3 x 20 band clamshells
• 3 x 10 OH press
• 3 x 20 deadbugs
• 3 x 5 SL squat
• 3 x 12 triceps ext
• 1 min plank

Friday, 4.30: 28.41 miles, 22.7 mph cycling (1:15:00) + 2,200 yard swim (49:49)

Bike ride didn’t feel wonderful. Averaged 130W with 5 x :10 standing harder efforts, not quite sprints but I hit 342W for a relatively smooth period. Just didn’t catch a good rhythm!

Swim after work was pretty nice, 42 SWOLF and 1:59/100 yard average. I swam broken 400s ranging from 50-200 yard intervals.

Saturday, 5.1: 9.19 miles, 9:48 pace + 45 min strength

Solid run! I surprised myself quite a bit with this effort, didn’t look at my watch during the intervals and just tried to get into a good rhythm. 3 mile warmup with strides, 1.5 miles threshold (7:50, 7:54 for the 1/2 mile and was definitely heating by then), 3 minute recovery walk/jog, then 4 x 200 fast (:50, :50, :52, :49) with 200m walk/jog, 3 mile cooldown to reach 90 minutes. I really didn’t expect to see sub-8s with the 71 dew point! I wouldn’t have sustained it for long but since the set was so short, I figured a bit higher effort was okay.

Strength:

• 4 x 10 deadlift
• 3 x 10 OH squat
• 3 x 10 bodyweight jump squat with leg extension
• 3 x 10 reverse squat
• 3 x 10 curtsy lunge SS lateral hop
• 3 x 16 decline knee to elbow
• 3 x 20 stability ball deadbug
• 3 x 10 ea windmill
• 3 x 10 ea side plank rainbow
• 1 min plank
• 1 min R plank/1 min L plank

Sunday, 5.3: 20.26 miles, 21.2 mph cycling (57:12)

Packed day ahead of me so I squeezed in a very easy ride in the morning as a recovery session. I think Sundays might become my weekly lowkey training or rest day. I’m not great with full-on, 0 activity rest days, I like some caliber of movement to get the blood flowing and destress after a workday, but I could definitely use a gentle ride or swim. This one was pretty decent, very warm in the bedroom despite the fan and the AC. I averaged 120W.

Total running mileage: 38.5

Total cycling mileage: 76.5

Total swimming yardage: 8,550