12/12-12/18

This week was probably about the same as the last two weeks - not great but not bad. I did not run as much as I hoped because my hip started bothering me again so I was either on the elliptical or in the pool. I really do not enjoy the bike so I am trying to find other ways to stay fit and not go crazy. I hope to get over this hip thing soon so that I can get on with training. The longer this goes on the less likely I am to run fast this spring.

Monday: 8.1mi (54:41) + 30min on the bike

Tuesday: 7.1mi (42:49) + 1 hour in gym and 3x400m swimming (7:20, 7:11, 7:03)

Wednesday: 1 hour on bike

Thursday: 1 hour on bike + 1 hour in gym + 3x400m swimming (7:12, 7:21, 7:21) - I learned that it is not smart to swim right after lifting. I was so tired.

Friday: 8.5mi (56:09)

Saturday: 1 hour in gym + 1 hour on elliptical + 1 mi on treadmill @ 7:10 pace w/ 5% incline + 2x400m swim (7:04, 6:53)

Sunday: 65 minutes on bike

Totals:

running - 24.7 miles + 1 hour on elliptical

biking - 72 miles

swimming - 3200m

12/5-12/11

Good week but my mileage was a bit lower than I hoped because I did not recover from last Sunday's race until Wednesday or Thursday. I have never been so sore for so long after a race. I guess that comes from racing a hard 9.5 miles when not in shape. I am hoping to gradually ramp up my mileage to around 60 miles/week by the new year and keep the swim and bike about where it is. I am finalizing my plan for the next 3 months and will post it sometime next week. I should be able to start adding some quality (LT run) this week and keep ramping up my strength work.

Monday: My quads are extremely sore from the race yesterday so I am taking it easy. 20 minutes on the bike and some easy lifting.

Tuesday: 4mi (29:54) + 25min on bike + 1200m in the pool (3x400m in 7:10, 7:15, 7:18). The swim was hard because I doubled the distance per leg, but I was able to keep the same pace, or a little bit faster. Still really sore.

Wednesday: 6mi (42:30) + 1 hour on the bike. Soreness a bit better.

Thursday: 7mi (51:00) + 1200m fs + 100m bs in the pool (3x400m in 7:15, 7:15, 7:12) + lift. I really need to work on my swimming endurance because I hit halfway for each of these in 3:25ish feeling fine and proceeded to slow down to ~3:50 for the second half. This run was so slow. I guess that I am really tired from the race still. Did 6 x short hill repeats (~8 seconds each w/ full recovery).

Friday: 6.1mi (43:39) A bit better today but still slow.

Saturday: 6.6mi (46:49) + 1200m in the pool (3x400 in 7:10, 7:15, 6:55) + lift. I had this all done before 8AM and was starving when I got done. Swimming was alright - I really focused on kicking and fully extending on the last repeat and actually felt better at the end than the previous two. I spent an hour in the gym doing a lot of static and dynamic leg strengthening - a lot of bounding, jumping, squats and lunges. I was surprised that I felt alright on the run, which I did last.

Sunday:11mi (77:30) + 20 miles on the bike. I had this all done by 8:30 and it went pretty well. It was pretty cold this morning during the run (21F at start, 23F at the end) but once I got warmed up I was able to roll at a decent pace. Added 6 short hill repeats (~8 seconds each).

totals:

running - 40.7 miles

biking - 59 miles

swimming - 3700m

11/28-12/4

I am mixing things up a bit more this winter and trying to keep in shape but not beat myself up. A fairly low key week trying not to go too wild before the Mill Cities Relay on Sunday. I had a decent race and ran quite a bit faster than I expected. I figured I would only run 5:40-5:45 pace but ran 53:05 for 9.52 miles, which is 5:35 pace. Next week I will ramp things up.

Monday: 3mi (20:29) + 20mi on bike + lift

Tuesday: 3mi (20:36) + 20mi on bike + 1000m in the pool

Wednesday: 4mi (27:00) + 20mi on bike + 1000m in the pool

Timed this swim for information's sake because I am just getting used to

being in the water for the first couple weeks. Did 5x200m with ~20 seconds rest between each set to evaluate what I was doing. Times were 3:50, 3:48, 3:46, 3:42 3:32. I did not push any harder on each set, rather I focused on my stroke and kicking. It is amazing how much kicking helps!

Thursday: 20mi on bike + lift

Friday: 6.2mi (41:53)

Saturday: ~5mi (35:27) With Justin and Chris in Mine Falls

Sunday: 2.5mi warm-up, 9.5mi race (Mill Cities) in 53:05 (5:35/mi average pace) + 1.25mi cool-down. Total = 13.25mi. I ran faster than I expected considering that I have not really been running much lately and I have been working on my strength quite a bit lately. My splits were fairly consistent, except for the first one, but I was definitely slowing down at the end:

1. 5:24

2. 10:58 5:34

3. 16:31 5:33

4. 22:10 5:39

5. 27:44 5:34

6. 33:20 5:36

7. 38:59 5:39

8. 44:37 5:37

9. 50:15 5:38

9.52 53:05 2:50

totals:

running - 34.5 miles

biking - 80 miles

swimming - 2000m

Thanks to Steve Wolfe for the photo. There are more here.

11/21-11/27

Like I said last week, I spent more time on the bike this week but I did more than I thought. I also did a lot less running than I thought I would.

Monday: 3mi (21:52) + 20mi on bike

Tuesday: 20mi on bike

Wednesday: 20mi on bike

Thursday: 20mi on bike

Friday: 20mi on bike

Saturday: 20mi on bike

Sunday: 4mi (29:53) Slow as shit.

total: 120 miles on the bike and 7 miles running.