A Solid Week of Training

I haven't had a week that looked like this for a while:

Yes, no swimming, but I've been doing alright in the pool lately. I was HOPING to fit in a swim on Wednesday, but I ran out of time.


MONDAY: 50 minutes of upper body.


TUESDAY: 3 x 1600 at the track, and 30 minutes of core. I posted about the intervals last Thursday. I was really satisfied with those. I ran them with 2 minutes rest, and I descended them in 5:38, 5:30, and 5:21 for an average of 5:29.6 / 1600.


WEDNESDAY: Nothing.


THURSDAY: Long run (11 miles) and 33 minutes of upper body. Thursday evening was BEAUTIFUL, and I was out in shorts and a t-shirt. I tried something different during that long run. I started a little faster and worked up to my fastest miles right in the middle of the run. Usually, I might do something like warm-up for 2 miles, build speed for a mile or 2, and run miles 5-9 a bit faster before cooling down. But on Thursday, I ran a warm-up mile in 7:06, and then I sped up right away. I wanted to see how I'd run the final half after running hard for the first half. So miles 2-5 were 6:39, 6:35, 6:16, and 5:54. Yep, sub-6 only 5 miles into a 11 mile run!! I eased off the speed a BIT for the end, but still kept the next 3 miles under 6:30 pace.

Oh, and I had some help building that speed on that run. Right around mile 2.5, I saw a speedy-looking, "smooth" runner about a half mile in front of me. I slowly gained on him, and I used him to pull me through mile 3 and 4. When I got close to him, I realized it was a her. It was Erin Block Ward, a speedy speedy runner. (I find myself near Erin in a lot of local races - I mentioned passing her as you can see in these photos in this post from the Victory 10K.) I passed her and said "Hi Erin!" She smiled and said "I NEVER get passed on River Road! Keep it up!" I gave her a fist pump and kept going. That was the 6:16 mile, and then she pushed me from behind to my 5:54 mile. GREAT RUN!


FRIDAY: 42 minutes of GREAT CORE WORK and then my FIRST OUTDOOR RIDE of 2013! Andrea at the Y (a trainer and the swim coach who taught me how to dive off the blocks) showed me a new core move. It's just like this, only my legs were on a bench:


(She talks a lot and actually starts doing it at the 0:40 mark.)

Then in the afternoon, I was planning on a bike ride after class! It was sunny and 45 degrees as I finished up class. I got home and got out the door on my bike ASAP, but it turned bad quickly. Soon, it was snowing. SNOWING! Here I am over half-way into my ride getting coated in snow:

Also notice NO GLOVES because it was 46 and dry when I started.

My ride was depressing. I was slow. I know it was my first outdoor ride of the year, but still, I was hoping for quite a bit better numbers. Here were my 5-mile splits:

I was trying to go hard for miles 5-10, but all I could muster was 16.4 mph?!? Damn it.

I got home wet and cold. It had dropped 10 degrees while I was out there:

When you're soaking wet and it's 36 degrees, things start to suck pretty quick.

I was in pain as my toes and fingers started to thaw. I was walking around the house and whimpering like an injured puppy. Life was pretty horrible for a while.


SATURDAY: Easy run and over an hour of SOLID upper body. I literally "ran errands" on my run. I took a RedBox rental back ("The Amazing Spider-Man" was less than amazing) and dropped off some bills at the post office. And guess what? It started raining on my run. But it was 50 degrees, so it was a great easy run in the rain! Not like the snowy mess from the day before.


SUNDAY: 17 mile tempo ride. I had a few moments early Sunday morning, and I decided to try to make up for that crappy bike ride 2 days before. It was the same temperature as my last ride, but it was dry and calm.

After 4 miles, I picked up the pace a bit and decided to go hard through mile 15.

19.1 mph overall average at mile 15 before "spinning" home.
And 20.8 mph for 5 miles from miles 10-15 - I'll take it!

I was a little snotty once I got into the house:

And then it was time to go pick up Henry. Why was I able to have such a solid weekend? Pharmie left for a training camp with her team on Wednesday morning, and Henry went to Grandma's house on Thursday afternoon! I picked Henry up on Sunday morning, and Pharmie got back into town late Sunday night. I got a LOT of work done at home (job applications, a 180 slide presentation for a gallery show, some grading, my taxes, etc, etc), and I was able to jump out the door for a workout whenever I needed. So after that early morning ride, I hopped in the car with a bowl of carrots to go pick up Henry.

I SNACKED on carrots?!? Who have I become?!?!

Henry had a great time at my in-laws!!

Papa put Henry to bed on Saturday night, and Grandma found them like this an hour later.


Painting a birdhouse for Mama!


Henry ZONKED OUT on the ride home.
(I was stopped at the stop sign in New Richland when I took this - don't worry!)

Without Henry running around, I had plenty of time to stretch pre- and post-run, along with foam rolling in the evenings. My legs felt good even after a slightly bigger week than normal. In fact, I told myself that I should ice my butt or my heel on the ride home to pick up Henry. But nothing was sore! I didn't need to ice anything! I guess this just helps show the importance of me stretching after my workouts.

Thanks Bryan and Monica for watching Henry! And thanks to my wife's EvoTri teammates for watch out for her! I might post some photos from her training camp later this week.