week in training | 8.30 – 9.5

My typical breakfast? The oats pictured in the cover photo! Although I often divert to protein smoothies for my post-long run meal – my stomach never really wants solid food when I’ve been running 3+ hours – and sometimes stray to waffles when I have more time after a workout, oats are my go to refuel. I mash half a banana into the oats, add water and cinnamon, microwave, then top with berries and peanut butter. Just a related aside to my training narrative.

67.5 miles this week, a slight tinge of cooler air in the atmosphere. Still very humid most days and unusually stormy during the early mornings, though I thankfully avoided the worst weather and found pockets of benign cloudcover in which I could sneak my sessions. Two more weeks in my big build before things start to taper down!

Monday, 8.30: 14.01 miles, 10:39 pace + 40 min strength

Really solid medium long run, I was surprised to feel as good as I did considering the hot air and my vast consumption of cheese the night prior. Heart rate averaged 154 and my effort felt smooth and controlled the whole way!

Strength:

• 4 x 8 row
• 4 x 10 heel elevated squats
• 4 x 8 reverse fly
• 4 x 10 ea. lateral lunge
• 4 x 10 ea. banded leg extension
• 4 x 12 stability ball hamstring curls
• 4 x 10 calf raise
• 50 bicycles
• 50 deadbugs

Tuesday, 8.31: 6.21 miles, 11:01 pace + 1,800 yard swim (39:52)

My legs wanted to go real slooooow this morning, so I let them. Miles felt easy and the 11 minute pace was welcome after a longer session the day before.

After work swim was mediocre, I’ve dealt with a big knot in my utter back for a few days and I think it impacted the efficiency of my stroke. Threw in 3 x 50 kick sets and averaged a 43 SWOLF.

Wednesday, 9.1: 13.51 miles, 9:15 pace + 43 min strength + 1,400 yard swim (30:09)

Hugely successful pace run! Rain blew through early in the morning and I really feared the lightning would either force me to cancel or, worse, head to the treadmill. Thankfully, the bad storms skirted the city or died out and I had a big enough gap to safely complete my miles. I woke up feeling pretty strong overall, so figured it was today or possibly never.

2.6 mile warmup with strides, then 75 minutes at race pace with a 12ish minute cutdown at the end. I didn’t eye my watch at all and really kept in tune with my form and breathing, even when I had to prance through fat puddles. A dolphin followed along for maybe a half mile before flipping his own way, which was a really great morale boost. Splits: 8:55, 8:53, 8:46, 8:43, 8:44, 8:36, 8:38, 8:17, and 8:18 average for the final five or so minutes. The last part started out much faster, but a big headwind forced me to slow up considerably. I poured water over myself every couple miles and drank every mile. The entire workout totaled 8.65 miles and an 8:40 average pace. During the cooldown I watched massive lightning bolts approach but thankfully they kept their distance and let me finish safely!

Swim felt much better than days prior. I performed a 400-300-200-100-75-50 ladder, then swam 3 x 25 controlled and a slow 200 cooldown. 2:00/100 yards and a 43 SWOLF.

Strength:

• 4 x 6 ea. reverse lunge
• 4 x 10 triceps extension SS 10 front raise
• 4 x 6 weighted jump squat
• 4 x 10 triceps pulse
• 4 x 10 wide stance calf raise
• 4 x 10 deadlift
• 4 x 10 ea. airplanes
• 50 scissor kicks
• 50 jackknives
• 50 bicycles
• 1 minute L side plank/1 minute R side plank

Thursday, 9.2: 21.66 miles, 21.7 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 1,500 yard swim (31:37)

Pretty nice bike ride, focused on 90+ RPM for 45 minutes along with a 5 minute warmup and 10 minute spindown. 123W average and overall felt good.

The water at the pool was COLD from all of the rain, and my form was fairly sloppy, but I got the job done with some informal intervals depending on what I felt like swimming at any given time. Averaged 2:00/100 yards and 43 SWOLF.

Friday, 9.3: 6.2 miles, 10:51 pace + 4.37 miles, 10:18 pace

Very sticky, still morning, but the miles went okay overall at a 155 bpm heartrate average. A couple minutes after I passed over a bridge I run on most days, I heard a car accident happen! I think a car lost control, or was maybe trying to avoid something/someone, and spun into the sidewalk on the opposite side of the road I usually run on. Very spooky, and lots of cop cars answered the incident. Couldn’t tell what might’ve happened to the driver or if they were okay.

Afternoon hot miles but kept pretty relaxed with run/walk intervals. The sun was very relentless and the breeze sporadic at best, but I managed a 159 bpm average!

Saturday, 9.4: 18.15 miles, 10:51 pace

A comparatively lovely morning for my long run! It was around 74 with a 73 dew point, so the humidity was still cranked full blast, but I was blessed with a brisk breeze on my route and the clouds shielded the sunrise so I didn’t overheat from the rays. 156 bpm average and felt really good the whole time. I fueled with a Honey Stinger and a Maurten, and half a pack of Nuun Instant – I spilled the other half on the ground during my water refill. Oops.

Sunday, 9.5: 5.09 miles, 11:47 pace

Slow Run Sunday, 139 bpm, the usual for the tail end of the weekend.

Total running miles: 67.5

Total cycling miles: 21.7

Total swimming yardage: 4,700