week in training | 8.2 – 8.8

This week started out pretty rough. I’d imagine Saturday’s inaugural 20 miler did me in, particularly because of how intensely hot it was. Thankfully, by midweek things seemed to straighten out and normalize and I finished a 63 mile endeavor on a strong note!

Did anyone watch the men’s marathon on Saturday? The finish was just so heartwarming, the Belgian runner urging the Dutch runner (or was it the other way around?) to surpass the Kenyan and secure silver and bronze for both of them. Kipchoge’s performance was obviously otherworldly, but this intensely human moment during the final quarter mile of a grueling race, and their huge tear-laden embrace afterwards, gave me a lot of emotions. I can only hope I have a fairytale finish like that in October (without the whole Olympic pressure thing).

Monday, 8.2: 11 miles, 11:03 pace + 45 min strength

This was actually one of the worst runs I’ve had in about six months. I’d imagine the high temperature – 82 at the start, 77 dew point – and fatigue from Saturday certainly contributed, but I had a very high heart rate throughout despite my slow pace and could not for the life of me find any sort of rhythm. My first several miles were in the 11:1x area AT LEAST and nothing felt good. No pain, thankfully, but a lot of hard breathing, discomfort, and mental dejection. Oh well – onto the next!

Strength:

• 4 x 6 ea. step up
• 3 x 12 triceps extension
• 4 x 10 ea. single leg bridge
• 4 x 6 ea. overhead press
• 4 x 5 ea. banded lunge matrix
• 4 x 8 lateral raise
• 4 x 4 single leg deadlift
• 4 x 10 plank band stepouts
• 4 x 20 jackknife

Tuesday, 8.3: 6.2 miles, 10:51 pace + 1,850 yard swim (38:22)

Better run today except for basically choking on the thick humid air. My breathe rhythm wasn’t ideal and I think I can largely blame the sticky, still morning for that. 158 bpm which is closer to normal compared to yesterday’s fiasco.

The pool was practically dead after work due to the stormy morning, so I got in a good long swim to take advantage of the quiet. 400 warmup, 6 x 200 – three of them at 3:55, two at 3:52, the final rep at 3:51, 250 cooldown. 42 SWOLF and 1:58 average.

Wednesday, 8.4: 10.03 miles, 9:58 pace + 50 min strength + 1,600 yard swim (35:00)

I watched the weather rather closely in the morning and it looked like storms were inevitable. It was quiet when I set out so I chose a route with a lot of good hiding spots in case I had to duck and cover. The lightning was quite brilliant, and to my utter joy I did get rained on, but the squalls seemed to split around the islands and the worst stuff stayed either north or south. I thus had a really good workout! 3 mile warmup, 16 x 200 fast/200 recover, 3 mile cooldown. I kept the effort between 5k and 10k so I could jog the recoveries instead of walk, and I think I did a pretty good job! My fastest split was 7:08 and my slowest 7:55, though I think that may have been a glitch in the GPS since it was very out of place and I don’t remember a set that I really lost my groove. Most of my cooldown was in a gentle drizzle and my body really drank it up. I needed this run after a few not so good ones!

Pulled through a swim structured much like my run! 500 warmup – 10:03, 16 x 50 fast – 52-54, 300 cooldown. 1:54/100 yard average and a 41 SWOLF.

Strength:

• 4 x 10 ea. side lunge
• 3 x 10 lower biceps curls
• 4 x 10 reverse squat
• 4 x 8 reverse fly
• 3 x 10 ea. weighted lateral leg raise
• 4 x 8 ea. single leg row
• 4 x 10 jump lunge
• 4 x 10 ea. standing clams
• 3 x 16 deadbugs
• 3 x 10 weighted oblique bends

Thursday, 8.5: 20.38 miles, 22.2 mph cycling (55:00) + 1,700 yard swim (34:31)

Decent little ride averaging my usual 127W, legs were pretty stiff and sore so spinning higher cadence wasn’t an easy feat, but jazz radio was soothing and I enjoyed not pounding on concrete.

The summer camps at the pool seem to be over as it was much quieter today once again. The early rain pattern might also be scaring people off. Either way, a very peaceful swim in a nicer water temp – the rain certainly cools the pool down! I swam 1,000 yards straight (19:55), then 4 x 100 – 1:49, 1:48, 1:46, 1:46, and a 300 cooldown. 1:57 average and a 42 SWOLF.

Friday, 8.6: 7.25 miles, 10:40 pace + 4.29 miles, 10:30 pace

Morning run involved some wonky pacing but overall felt pretty good, 157 heart rate average and the air was about the normal level of offensive rather than insanely hot. After work run, however, was insanely hot. The mercury read 89 with a real feel of 98, and by the end I was not enjoying myself. I think part of my problem was bad fueling beforehand: I’d eaten breakfast much earlier that morning and had a small but flawed snack (most of my apple was rotten!) so my stomach wasn’t comfortably occupied. Still, I managed, and split my run as usual into a 4 minute run/1 minute walk. I was very grateful to jump in the cold pool when I got home!

Saturday, 8.7: 19.09 miles, 11:00 pace

The plan I’m pseudo-following wanted another 20 miler this weekend, but I settled early in the week on aiming for 18 so to not accumulate too much fatigue especially with my earlier runs feeling pretty miserable. Turns out my legs had a little oomph in them, so I managed 19! A good compromise. My paces in the middle were really slow despite me feeling just fine, but I cranked down to a low-10 pace (hah, cranked, funny descriptor for some still unglamorous numbers) and actually ran into J as he was about to start his run, so we trotted together the last few minutes of my session. Later we hung out in the pool which was a great loosening exercise for my tired legs.

Sunday, 8.8: 5.22 miles, 11:30 pace

Slow Run Sunday felt great. So gross out with 95% humidity, but my snail like effort made the heat far more tolerable. I averaged 140 bpm to round out my week.

Total running mileage: 63.1

Total cycling mileage: 20.38

Total swimming yardage: 5,150