No rest for the wicked!

Sunday rounded out another week of training. The last two weeks have seen a big jump in my total mileage but that’s mostly been due to bike miles and the fact that my running time has been limited, with my wife travelling for work I am limited to hitting the gym on the way home when she is away.

This week I probably bit off more than I could chew with a planned double of Friday, 90 minutes on the bike before dawn and Long Tempo run on the treadmill in the evening, which got bagged as I got bogged down in traffic on the way home and was then deferred to Saturday which nixed my rest day and has set me up for 12 day no rest stretch.

That being said even with the reduced running miles I am seeing some improvements across the boards, paces are easier to reach and maintain, distances are getting longer and when I compare run vs. run over time there is an improvement! So the week shook out like this, oh and excuse the (italicized) copy-n-paste from Daily Mile:

Monday – 3 x 1600m intervals, with a warm up and cool down. It was July 4th so we did sign up for a local Independence day 5k race, I planned to run with the family…planned!

Dropped family off and had planned to run with them, lost them at the start, waited for the whole race to go through through the start line, then ran through the race thinking they might have been faster than I thought, came back around to the start after a mile and waited 2-3 minutes just in case, then went back out on the course. Saw a guy on the side of the road who had had a heart attack getting CPR as the medics/police were getting there. Ran on and finished the 5k in 27 something which was more like 4miles with the extra loop, then started to reverse run the course and found my family after a mile and then ran back with them crossing the finish in 59 and change with our 3 and 6 year completing their first 5k!

No Garmin, no watch, no numbers!

Jeez what a way to start the day, followed by breakfast at Dennys (the Diner of champions of course!) now to the beach!

Happy 4th y'all!

Oh and the winner was on track for 14:30 until he got misdirected and ran another half mile! I need to move somewhere where there are significantly slower people, the top 3 in my age group were all sub 19:00!

Tuesday – woke up late (hate that!) Bike 20.6m 1:10 (ave 17.6mph) Clearly running late is incentive for me to get my ass into gear on my bike!

Wednesday - Short Tempo (5m@7:28) - 1 m w/u 5m @7:28 (Long Tempo pace) 1m c/d, set Garmin on a 7:15-7:30 bracket

1m 8:41 132bpm 85rpm w/u
1m 7:14 147bpm 89rpm
1m 7:15 155bpm 90rpm
1m 7:01 150bpm 90rpm (downhill)
1m 7:10 158bpm 91rpm
1m 6:53 163bpm 92rpm yeah about that!
1m 8:31 144bpm 86rpm c/d

So the moral here, re-check the plan before you head out, it should have been 6 miles not 5! But all things considered my average was a fraction slower and the w/u and c/d miles made up the distance, I didn't have the time for any more as I needed to be back home for 6am so I'll take it. Left quad a little niggly.

It's going to be pretty warm today, I walked out the house in nothing but shorts and shoes!

Thursday – back on the bike this time on the Trainer with IronMan 2 27.02m 1:44, wanted 2 hours but started a bit too late

Friday – started on the Trainer again, this time with Black Hawk Down (awesome movie, I have seen it 6 times) 23.03m 1:30, Friday Night Long tempo….yeah about that, was in bed by 9:30pm! Unheard of for me!

Saturday -  Long Tempo 11m @ HMP+30 (7:23) 11 mi 01:19 + 1 m c/d

I should have run this yesterday but I was really tired so I went to bed at 9:30pm and hit the roads early (5:30am) conditions were great, low cloud, cool almost damp. The miles clicked off although by the end of it I was feeling pretty tired, I set the Garmin to a 7:15-7:30 bracket:

1m 7:29 145bpm 87rpm
1m 7:22 149bpm 89rpm
1m 7:03 149bpm 90rpm
1m 7:12 158bpm 91rpm
1m 7:08 157bpm 91rpm
1m 7:16 156bpm 91rpm
1m 7:02 164bpm 92rpm
1m 6:56 165bpm 92rpm
1m 7:09 164bpm 90rpm
1m 7:04 166bpm 90rpm - 10 miles in 1:11:44 new PB by 4 seconds!
1m 6:53 160bpm 92rpm

So yeah I was too fast overall but I will take it, it's very reassuring to know that the speed work and three quality runs using the FIRST plan is working, that being said the scary bit that I need to still take another 16 seconds off per mile to hit race pace...and add another 2.1 miles to meet race distance and there is only 7 weeks till race day!

Sunday – Trail Run

Had to bail on the early start as one of the kids was sick during the night. So I finally went out later and for only 2/3 of the distance I had planned for.  It was already in the early 80s when I started and closed to 90 at the finish, just focused on my hydration and keeping moving, walked some of the hills as that was just more efficient than running them, but was pleased that ones that were runable I mostly ran.

The nice thing is that I was a minute faster and a mile and half further than when I ran this route two months ago, I'd call that progress.

Also thrown into the mix 3 x the P90X Ab Ripper sessions and some foam rolling.

Final deets for the week:

Total miles 109, Running 38 , Biking 71 Miles

Total time  11:20, Running 5:31, Biking 4:24 and the rest was core etc

And just like that we’re back to Monday again…and a whole new week to be wicked!