week in training | 6.7 – 6.13
Home to the sticky June air of Florida. Colorado was a cleanse of sorts, a diversion from the reality of southern summertime, and despite my cracking skin and the unavoidable climbs I was sad to return to Tampa. Multiple 80 degree mornings (at 5am, mind you) greeted me at the tail end of the week. Joy. All the same, I managed a really solid long run with marathon effort work and squeezed 56 miles out of my legs!
Monday, 6.7: 5.58 miles, 10:45 pace + 4.2 mile hike
We spent the day in Rocky Mountain National Park from about 8 am onwards – meaning a very early start to our adventure. Squeezed in some easy running miles with very minimal elevation change at 4:30 am. Already the sky lightened at that time and while spooky in parts with utter silence besides the rushing Clear Creek, the time moved quick and felt peaceable.
Our hike took us up to Gem Lake, a pretty little pond surrounded by rugged rock fixtures with a mini grassy beach one could picnic upon if they wished. The ascent wasn’t too harsh, just enough to feel worked but not discouraged. The reminder of our time at RMNP we mostly drove, all the way up to the Alpine Visitor Center and back down through Grand Lake, but did stop for a few short walks to certain waypoints. Sheep Lakes and Alluvial Fan marked my favorite diversions.
Tuesday, 6.8: 9.72 miles, 10:17 pace + 50 min strength + 3.11 miles, 10:17 pace
Funny that both runs in my double boasted the exact same average! The first contained 636 feet of elevation change (puke) and the second only 161 but a couple very steep hills at the start. I ran a mile of the latter with the Golden Mountain Runners before they diverted onto a trail. I’m pretty nervous about trail running still, so chose to take my own road route back to the b&b to eat dinner before meeting the group back at a brewery for a drink.
Strength:
- 3 x 6 SL deadlift
- 3 x 10 ea. stepup
- 3 x 10 row
- 3 x 12 overhead press
- 3 x 10 alt. front lunge
- 3 x 12 reverse fly
- 3 x 10 ea. side lunge
- 3 x 10 ea. woodchop
- 3 x 10 bench leg drop with lift
- 3 x 20 knee-in
- 3 x 10 stir the pot
Wednesday, 6.9: 8.09 miles, 9:54 pace + 1,200 meter swim (29:42)
Tough but fun interval session with very heavy, angry legs. Once I performed my usual strides the fast twitch muscles woke up and carried me through the hard stuff, but once the cooldown hit my legs were lead! 3 mile warmup (2.94, whatever), 2 x 600 – 2:52, 2:38, 6 x 150 – 38, 37, 39, 36, 35, 35, 5 x 50 – 14, 14, 13, 13, 14, 2.9 mile cooldown. Hit 5:23 for my best pace, which isn’t my fastest but still occurred during my short sprints so the giddyup on tired legs was still possible.
Swim was extremely humbling! Altitude swims are no easy feat. Didn’t help that the senile old guy in my lane wasn’t respecting the two-person division and I kept trying to avoid slamming into him. Got through a 250 warmup, 2 x 150, 6 x 75, 5 x 25, and a short 125 cooldown. My watch actually crapped out after the main set so I stopped for a few minutes before my final 125. Pretty random and annoying.
Thursday, 6.10: 8.5 miles, 10:35 pace + 1,700 yard swim (36:33)
So disorienting dropping from 6,000+ feet to sea level, and plodding through temperatures 15 degrees hotter and 900% more humid. My home route felt foreign at first and a night of 3 hours of sleep added an additional layer of oddity to the run, but my body drank in the extra oxygen and I averaged at a polished 153 bpm. The swim also felt far more normal and it was lovely and quiet at the pool. 500 warmup, 4 x 75 hard/25 easy, 5 x 25 hard/25 easy, 1 x 200, 150 cooldown. 41 SWOLF and 1:56/100 y average. Much better.
Friday, 6.11: 23.09 miles, 23.1 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 45 min strength
Good little morning spin, average 133W. I performed 4 sets of 5 minutes easy/3 minutes tempoish/2 minutes thresholdish. I don’t really put too much stock into power zones but I leastwise tried to amp up my effort and it felt really good. Finished out the day with a strength session that I felt just a few hours after finish. Never a good sign.
Strength:
- 3 x 10 alternating curtsy lunges
- 3 x 12 bench press
- 3 x 10 dips
- 3 x 10 swings
- 3 x 10 decline pushups
- 3 x 10 ea. static lunge
- 3 x 10 ea. windmill
- 3 x 10 stir the pot
- 3 x 10 leg lift
Saturday, 6.12: 15.68 miles, 10:12 pace
Total steamer out: 80 degrees by 5 am, and no breeze in sight. I adjusted my goal paces by about 20 seconds and managed to keep my effort in check, of which I was quite proud. 75 minutes of 9 minute run/1 minute walk to start, then the workout: 2 x (2k at marathon effort (9:05, 9:01), 1k at half marathon effort (8:38, 8:38), 800m at tempo effort (8:22, 8:16)) with 3 minute recoveries in between, then 40 minutes of run/walk to finish. Got in a quick core set of 2 x 50 flutter kicks, 2 x 15 ea. side plank rainbows, 2 x 16 hover bird dogs, and 2 x 10 ea. airplanes, once I managed to stand up off the rock I perched on to cool down.
Sunday, 6.13: 5.76 miles, 11:17 pace
Very relaxed recovery run, average 151 bpm. Played the “how slow can I go?” game. I kept my cadence at a 179 average which is quite normal – my footfalls and rhythm are really all I worry about during easy efforts. So long as I keep those consistent, my pace usually hangs around the same area. I believe there is a such thing as running too slow if your form breaks down and the movement feels over forced, but as long as your natural running stride is maintained, the pace really doesn’t matter!
Total running mileage: 56.4
Total cycling mileage: 23.1 miles
Total swimming yardage: 3,012
