week in training | 9.21 – 9.27

I’m starting to think the 40-45 miles per week range is ideal for my current training regimen, maybe even lower than that as warranted. I hit nearly 43 this past week and didn’t feel overly fatigued for any given session. We experienced some pleasant weather for a couple days, which vanished by the end of the week, though the forecasts promise a return of pseudo-fall soon. My body is ready.

10k training in its second week and I slammed my prescribed workout. I’m still undecided whether a proper race is in my future, but either way I look forward to testing my fitness when the time comes.

Monday, 9/21: 45 minute strength + 6.68 miles, 10:29 pace

FINALLY some fall-esque weather! The wind growled throughout the night and by the time my run rolled around in the midmorning our sustained speeds were 23 mph, which is pretty crazy for Floridians not in the midst of a hurricane. Heartrate didn’t stay low, as the temps still hovered around 85-86 and the sun was full blast, but I still averaged 161 BPM and felt relaxed throughout so no complaints there.

Strength: 3 rounds of each exercise

• 15 OH squat
• 1:30 plank
• 15 band leg drops with weight OH
• 1:30 plank
• 15 single-arm dumbbell swings/20 dumbbell lateral jumps
• 1:30 plank
• 10 pushup with swivel knee tap
• 1:30 plank
• 20 hover bird dogs/15 weighted Supermans
• 20 band lateral walks
• 10 single leg deadlift

Tuesday, 9/22: 9.39 miles, 9:09 pace + 1,700 yards swimming (32:29) + 3.4 miles, 10:18 pace

Our temperatures dropped down several degrees overnight and the dew point only read 67 when I set out! My workout was 10 x 800 with 1:15 walk/jog recoveries and it raced by with each rep feeling as smooth as the one before. I maintained 7:50-7:58 paces and hammered the last two at 7:49 and 7:42. Followed this up with my first pool swim in in a week! 1:55/100 yard average: 300 yards (5:48), 2 x 200 (3:48, 3:45), 2 x 150 (2:47, 2:49), 4 x 100 (1:52, 1:52, 1:52, 1:51), 300 cooldown (6:02).

Evening run felt just as good as the morning. Bit hotter but the breeze and low humidity kept my heart rate very low, averaging 148 bpm which is the first time I’ve held sub-150 on an outdoor run this year!

Wednesday, 9/23: 50 miles, 16.6 mph cycling (3:00:55) + 55 min strength

Played around with an endurance-strength mashup during the ride with 3 x 5 miles at a gear harder than normal: splits were 17:52, 17:48, and 17:41 for those intervals. Floated for 5 miles in between. Overall strong ride minus the last 10 miles when I started to get mentally drained and wanted to be done – mostly because I wasn’t performing some sort of interval and just riding straight, which gave me far too much time to shimmy down the rabbit hole. I fueled with a Nature’s Bakery Blueberry Fig Bar and half a GU Caramel Coffee Stroopwafel, as well as water and a tab of Nuun Lemon Lime.

I ventured to our apartment gym to use the barbells since I craved a heavier lifting effort. I really enjoyed these sets, though my arms felt like marshmallows after.

Strength:

Pre-set: 3 x 20 activation exercises

• band lateral lifts
• goblet squats
• single-knee pushups
• behind-head banded pulls

Main set: 5 rounds

• Deadlift (8 reps)
• Shoulder press (6 reps)
• Cleans (6 reps)

Burnout: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 each exercise, no rest

• Kettlebell swings
• Overhead triceps extensions
• Row

Finisher: 3 x 10 jump squats/ab rollouts

Thursday, 9/24: 7.46 miles, 10:18 pace + 1,700 yard swim (34:39)

I planned to bike after work but got held up due to the mysterious absence of my keys – turns out they fell into a coworker’s bag! By the time J delivered my spare and I rolled home I wasn’t inspired at all, so I settled for my morning session as the deal of the day. Much cooler outside, 67 dew point, so my legs found slightly faster paces at a continually low heart rate (average 155bpm). I clocked a 9:57 as my final mile split and my heartrate had barely moved! I headed to the pool right after for a continual endurance swim and some serious positive splits. I averaged 2:02/100 yards which isn’t bad at all for a nonstop workout.

Friday, 9/25: 17.2 miles, 17.2 mph cycling (1:00:05) + 20.12 miles, 17 mph cycling (1:11:08)

Double ride day with short efforts in the morning and tempo in the afternoon. 17.2 is my fastest average yet on the trainer and I hit my quickest 5 mile split during my tempo ride at 17:12 (17.4 mph average). So happy.

Morning ride: 15 min warmup, 8 x 1 min hard/1 min easy (19-19.3 mph with #7 a hammer a 19.8), 4 minute recovery, 2 x (2 min 80% effort, 3 min 85% effort, 2 min 90% effort, 2 min 80% effort, 3 min recovery) with everything between 17.1-18 mph, and a tiny cooldown of 4 minutes since I ran out of time before work.

Afternoon ride: 5 miles building, 35 minute tempo (17:25 and 17:12 splits for the five miles), 5 miles steady.

Saturday, 9/26: 13.61 miles, 9:55 pace + ~1,825 yard open water swim (40:31)

Despite 79 degrees and a swath of humidity my legs really woke up during the run. I figured I’d play my speedwork plans by ear and see how the heat impacted my breathing and morale, but by mile five I was cruising comfortably along with negative splits so I went for it. 6 miles easy in the mid-low 10s, 4 miles tempo by feel @ 8:49, 8:47, 8:45, 8:38, cooldown to 135 minutes. Beyond sweaty and quite tired but functional and happy even so.

Our swim this week was characterized by flat, cool waters, and meeting a friend of J’s I’d heard about for awhile but hadn’t yet encountered. We stroked our normal out-and-back route and snacked on pumpkin blondies en route home.

Sunday, 9/27: 17.05 miles, 17 mph cycling (1:00:00) + 3.22 miles, 10:53 pace

Strong Power Hour before work and some nice recovery miles after. Got pretty hot once 11 am rolled around but I kept some Nuun on hand while I trotted about so I wasn’t in any real discomfort, plus the run was brief enough to stay much of the heat strain.

Bike workout: 15 minute warmup, 3 x 3 minute 60-75 RPM building to 9/10 effort (average speed 18.3, 18.3, 18.1, 18.3)/3 minute easy spin, 10 minute tempo effort (17.4 mph avg), 11 minute cooldown.

Total running mileage: 43.6

Total cycling mileage: 104.4

Total swimming yardage: 5,225