week in training | 5.17 – 5.23

Two faster workouts, 54 miles total. One more week of mileage build before a down week. when J and I head to Colorado for vacation! I look forward to running at altitude a bit but also know I likely won’t be able to fit in 50+ miles for the duration, which is okay! I’ll do what I can with my available routes and resources.

I’m not entirely sure what my marathon goal pace will end up at. I think, judging by current and prior fitness, an 8:40-8:45 is realistic with maybe a bump as low as 8:35 if I’m having a particularly good day. The marathon isn’t my primary distance, and will never be my utmost love, but I hope to gauge my abilities reasonably and perform to the capacity with which my body is capable over 26.2. As training pushes forward, my goal pace should become more apparent.

Monday, 5.17: 11.54 miles, 10:50 pace + 40 min strength

Loose and easy medium long run. I overshot by 2 hour goal by five minutes, but I wasn’t at all failing towards the end and the breeze and lower humidity really kept my legs turning. I averaged 154 bpm. Interesting to see my average heartrate falling a touch for these longer runs.

Strength:

• 3 x 10 squat to alt. curtsy lunge
• 3 x 10 swings
• 3 x 10 overhead press
• 3 x 10 ea. single leg glute bridge
• 3 x 12 biceps curl
• 3 x 10 weighted donkey kicks
• 3 x 20 shoot throughs
• 3 x 15 ea. weighted oblique toe tap
• 3 x 20 leg drops
• 1 min plank

Tuesday, 5.18: 8.41 miles, 10:42 pace + 1,500 yard swim (30:05)

Woke up around 3 am to a mockingbird singing relentlessly near the window. It was loud enough to keep me in a fitful half-sleep until my alarm crowed, so I felt pretty sluggish through the morning. Run went okay, more humid than prior mornings but not unpleasant. My watch locked onto my cadence so started showing 18-190 heartrates for 10:xx paces. This new model hasn’t done that to me before so I was quite surprised, otherwise I likely would’ve averaged around 157-158 bpm which is typical for a run of these paces.

I didn’t have much time after a later shift but squeezed in a surprising endurance swim! I got into a nice rhythm and ended up challenging myself to keep going until I couldn’t sustain form any longer. I stopped at 1,500 yards, averaged 2:00/100 yards and a 43 SWOLF. Timed it perfectly for the after work rush of lap swimmers attempting to weasel into a lane!

Wednesday, 5.19: 15.28 miles, 10:09 pace + 1,500 yard swim (33:16)

Pleasantly surprised by the weather this morning and made some adjustments to my normal long run. Today’s throwdown: 70 min run/walk, 20 minutes at marathon goal pace, 65 minute run/walk to finish. Since I don’t have a lot of experience with the marathon I’m not fully sure what works as a goal pace, but I’m shooting for 8:40-8:45 in most of my efforts. I averaged 8:38 during the pace segment (splits 8:42, 8:35, and 8:37 for the last bit though I think that’s partially incorrect) and it felt so weird to be running in that capacity. My legs are used to 6:xx/7:xx paces so moderate aerobic efforts will take some getting used to. I took in a Honey Stinger gel with an hour to go and it really helped my energy remain fluid. Got a bit of core in after the run as well: 2 x 30 crunch w. hands between legs, 2 x 10 infinity loops, 2 x 20 plank toe taps, 2 x 16 plank to side plank, 2 x 10 pushup, :30 plank.

I had limited time to swim again since the lane I was using needed to be vacated at a certain point, but I completed my planned yardage right on point. 2:01/100 yards and a 43 SWOLF. The pool was COLD and such really soothed my achy long run legs.

Thursday, 5.20: 6.5 miles, 10:46 pace + 1,700 yard swim (36:56)

Lovely morning recovery miles and a speedy-ish afternoon splash. For the swim, I averaged 1:55/100 yards during a workout of 2 x (6 x 25 sprints) with 200 yards easy between. 41 SWOLF for the session.

Friday, 5.21: 26.85 miles, 23 mph cycling (1:10:00) + 1,600 yard swim (34:41)

Did a bit of everything on the bike to pass the time while listening to the recording of the Rays radio broadcast. I started with 6 x 1 minute drills at 105+ RPM, then moved into 4 x :15 standing and 3 x 5 at tempo power (around 150W). I averaged 134W for the whole ride. Felt pretty good, though riding only once a week certainly comes with its fitness losses.

After work swim was nice and a bit more structured than normal. 400y warmup, 4 x 50 strong, 250-200-150-100-50 ladder, 2 x 100 pull, 50 cooldown. 1:58/100 yard average and 42 SWOLF.

Saturday, 5.22: 8.72 miles, 9:45 pace + 45 min strength

My legs were pretty phlegmy from the bike ride Friday and the longer shifts throughout the week, but once I started my strides during the warmup I felt the muscles loosen up a bit. 3 mile warmup, 1 mile threshold (7:37), 3 x 100/400/100m as hard/steady/hard, 2.7 mile cooldown. I wasn’t really pleased with the 400m splits, as they averaged around 7:40 which was slower than my one mile split, and my watch decided to not detect my heartrate during the threshold mile. Either way, the sprints were more or less where they usually are and it was swell to turn my legs over a bit more.

Strength:

• 4 x 6 heavy deadlift
• 4 x 8 weighted pushup
• 4 x 6 weighted jump squat
• 3 x 8 ea. stepup
• 4 x 15 stability ball crunch
• 4 x 20 quickstep
• 4 x 10 stir the pot
• 3 x 10 ea. windmill
• 3 x elevated :30 plank/:30 right plank/:30 left plank

Sunday, 5.23: 4.05 miles, 11:07 pace

Lovely 45 minute recovery run, averaging 146 bpm, on a quiet bayside trail. I walked home for 25 minutes to complete the session.

Total running mileage: 54.5

Total cycling mileage: 26.8

Total swimming yardage: 6,300 yards