The Week That Was: Dec 10th - Dec 17th

Summary

The week started with the Rehoboth Beach marathon on Saturday morning, the race that has been the focus for the last 8 weeks or so. The weather turned out to be almost perfect for marathon running with the exception of a strong wind in the back half. The race turned out great with a 2hrs 43mins finish for 5th place overall. The rest of the week was pretty uneventful in terms of workouts as it was really recovery. I did manage to get a nice solid 4hrs on the fixie on Friday taking advantage of a day off work.

Saturday Dec 10th: The race - Rehoboth Beach marathon. I felt good the whole race until about 23miles when the gravel trail begun to take its toll on me. Went through 13.1miles in the lead group in just over 1h 17mins and then the wind out in Cape Henlopen was brutal for the journey back. Pleased with this result, not quite a PR but gives me my Boston qualifying time for 2013! Run - 26.2miles TSS: 270

Sunday Dec 11th - Day off. Took the advantage to hobble to breakfast and eat some pancakes.

Monday Dec 12th: Recovery swim afterwork. Legs were still feeling like mush so just did some longer endurance sets. Swim TSS:20

Tuesday Dec 13th: Had a very unpretty run at lunch. I just wanted to get the legs moving again so went out for 30mins real, real easy. Just a smelling the roses kinda run. After work headed indoors to the Peaks Power Training Center and did half a threshold interval workout before cruising into the finish. Run/Bike: TSS:88

Wednesday Dec 14th: Another easy swim at lunch. No real structure to the workout. Swim TSS: 10 (real easy)

Thursday Dec 15th: Felt much better today and headed back to the Training Center for the same threshold workout as Tuesday. Legs are not less mushy and better on the bike at least. Working on a power FTP of 280 at the moment.....it's about time for an FTP test. Bike TSS:72

Friday Dec 16th: Day off work so took advantage to get 3hrs 45mins out on the fixies. Great weather and was purely an endurance day. Went out and did the Davidsonville route for the first time in a while. Legs were hurting towards the end but I love riding the fixie. Bike TSS:220

Total Time: 10hrs 41mins
Total Mileage: 142miles
Total TSS: 679

The Week That Was: Dec 3rd - Dec 9th

Summary
This was a nice, easy recovery week as I tapered for the Rehoboth Beach marathon on Dec 10th. It was a few short runs with some pick me ups and strides, a couple of easy bike rides and short swims. The week did start with a 5km at Southern High School, which bode well for for the marathon with a new PR of 16:38 and 1st place overall. Other than that it was a time to recover and get the Training Stress Balance (TSB) back to a positive number.

Sat Dec 3rd: This was a last minute decision to run the Southern High School 5km, directed by friend and SHS XC coach Doug Ellmore. The key was to run hard but not to do anything unnecessary to affect the marathon a week later. First mile was steady at 5:16 then a tempo to maintain the lead. The good thing was that without really going hard the last two miles it still led to a PR of 16:38.

Sun Dec 4th: Early morning ride with Ace.....I'm making him go slow on Sundays as I build my mileage back up on the bike. Ended being a 45mile ride through the Ag Farms in Beltsville at a nice endurance pace on the fixie.

Mon Dec 5th: Swim at lunch time working on endurance pyramid. Didn't push it hard just focused on technique and form. Worked out to be 3000yds.

Tues Dec 6th: Weather ended being bad so had to run on the treadmill. Cruised along with 45sec strides every 4-5mins at 6min/mile marathon pace. Legs felt good for the first run since the race on Sat. Rode the computrainer in the evening holding back from riding hard.

Weds Dec 7th: Another lunch swim. First medley for a while including some fly.....need to work on that :-) Still rain so ran on the treadmill with the same strides as Tuesday. Included 30mins of strength work.

Thurs Dec 8th: Complete day off.......TSB close to zero!

Fri Dec 9th: Very short lunch run for 15mins, legs feeling preppy now :-)

Total Run Mileage - 15.98miles

Total Run Time - 1hrs 52mins

Total Time - 8hrs 43mins

The week that was: Nov 26th - Dec 2nd

Summary

Until the end of December it will really be about being consistent in all three sports to be base build for more specific training in January. This meant a solid swim week, reduced run mileage and a couple of rides. The swim really bit it this past season and it is all about routine for that. If I don't swim I get out of the routine and find it real hard to get it back. As most people find, time spent swimming often leads to diminishing returns....it takes a lot to gain a little. I just want to get the ease of swimming back again, it may not lead to faster times but will lead to reduced effort. All in all the week was nice and steady, as it should be this time of year.

Sat Nov 26th: Steady run after work, a little bit of tempo with warm-up and cool-down. Run - 6.24miles

Sun Nov 27th: Wow, what a day for riding! Great weather so headed to Sandy Point State Park through Annapolis and back. Finally getting my legs back on the bike and actually felt ok on this ride. Easy and steady miles. Bike - 60miles

Mon Nov 28th: Into the pool at lunch for some endurance yardage. Ascending pyramid. Felt better today in the water, much more comfortable. Swim - 3000yds (SC)

Tues Nov 29th: Morning run to Quiet Waters. Just a steady run as I never feel like hammering early morning. Run 8.8miles Evening ride in the computrainer studio for an hour at average 70% of threshold.

Weds Nov 30th: Another lunchtime swim, this is the routine I need to get into. Taking a break from the office is always a good thing. Worked on 100 and 200 speed. Swim - 3000yds (SC) Also did some gym dynamic strength work later in the day.

Thurs Dec 1st: Treadmill time. Ascending pace hills....nothing too taxing with the marathon in 9 days. The treadmill is great for workouts like these when you want to hit the grade and pace and don't have to go looking for the right hill. Run - 5.23miles

Fri Dec 2nd: Three swims in a week, probably the first time for about 6months! Drills and kicks today so worked the legs hard. Ran within an hour or so of swimming and took a nice steady hour. Sometimes you just need to kick back and run to enjoy it rather than focusing on time/effort/pace. Also ran some new roads which is always good. Run - 8.8miles

Total Run Mileage - 29.07miles

Total Run Time - 3hrs 20mins

Total Time - 11hrs 15mins

The week that was: Oct 22nd - 28th

This was bit of a topsy-turvy week of trying to get the workouts out between bad weather and work commitments . In the end it worked out well and I had a great run to finish off the week. Let me know if you have any questions.

Week Oct 22nd - 28th.

Saturday Oct 22nd - With the Duathlon next Sunday, I broke out the Guru and rode tempo home from the store. I love the Guru CR9.01.....by far the smoothest bike I have ever ridden. Oh, and had to gerry-rig the rear light to the seat! Bike 25miles

Sunday Oct 23rd - As Parvilla Cycle & Multisport were helping to sponsor the Donna Brashears 5km/10km, I headed out to the race to use it as my weekly speed workout. It was a small field on a different course, 2 x 5km laps on a gravel trail. Great workout but little competition. Garmin showed that the course was long but did 5:50 average for 6.5miles. Won the 5km and 10km (10km by 20mins). Run 7.46miles

Monday Oct 24th - Double run day. A steady 6.25miles at lunch as a stretch from racing omn Sunday. After work hit another 6.56miles at tempo pace. Run 12.81miles

Tuesday Oct 25th - Hit up the steady rollers on Rte after work. Legs begun to feel it halfway through so backed off the final 30mins and kept HR under 125. Run 8.65miles

Wednesday Oct 26th - Weather sucked today so went to the pool after work. Longest workout since Ironman with an ascending pyramid. Swim 2500yds

Thursday Oct 27th - 2nd day of not running! Swim at lunch for some IM work, jeez that works the muscles. Rain kept me inside on the rollers in the evening. Swim 2100 yds, Bike 19 miles

Friday Oct 28th - What a great day for running. A 2hr run in the afternoon around South County. Goal was a negative split between the 2hrs. Hit 8.8miles the first hour and 9.2miles for a 6:40min/mile average. Best run of the year probably. Nutrition was powergel every 30mins and Nuun every 10mins (24oz total). Run 18miles.

Weekly Run Miles: 46.92miles
Weekly Run Time: 5mins 14mins

Total Time: 8hrs 50mins