Month: April 2024

Hey friends! Here is what training looked like for the week of 04/15/24 to 04/21/24.

Monday – Easy: 7 miles

Today is DEADLINE day! WOO to the HOO! I got out for a few easy miles before tying up loose ends on a couple last-minute projects.

Tuesday – Easy: 9 miles

I waited a little too late to get out the door today and it was a casual 79°F w/ a dew point of 65°F. For mid-April, that was just plain rude.

Wednesday AM – Elliptical: WU, 15 X 1:00, 15 X 0:30, CD + PM – Blitz45 (Legs + Shoulders)

My plan has one day of cross-training per week, so I headed to the gym Wednesday morning for some time on the elliptical. Actually, I did half of this on the elliptical and half on the arc trainer. I find those equally as enjoyable, but even better when you mix it up and combine the two!

Wednesday afternoon I did a Blitz45 workout. My goal right now is to do some sort of strength training at least twice per week.

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles

I ran a little before 8 a.m. after dropping little man off at school and it was 71°F w/ a dew point of 66°F! Another rude one!

Friday – Easy: 9 miles

It was the same song, slightly different verse on Friday morning. It was 71°F w/ a dew point of 69°F. Apparently the conditions are the most notable thing for me to talk about this week. Typically I would have some quality sessions with a little bit more juicy details, but I was mentally and physically exhausted from tax season and I wasn’t feeling anything but easy runs. The post-tax season feelings are a bit polarizing. On one hand you feel like you’re on top of the world and have a whole new lease on life and on the other hand you feel totally exhausted, depressed and unmotivated. It’s a very strange transitionary phase that thankfully only seems to last for about a week to 10 days.

Saturday – Easy: 11 miles

I started this run with 7 solo miles solo and finished with 5 stroller miles. Phew. This seemed like such a good idea at the time, but those stroller miles just about did me in. My little man is not so little anymore and pushing him on a sandy, hilly road is quite the challenge. He got out and “ran” the last half mile or so with me, which of course makes my heart oh so happy!

Sunday AM – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 10 X 200, 3 mi. CD + PM – Walk: 3.5 miles

While I technically did get one little quality session in, I was |thisclose| to skipping the quality work altogether and actually did modify this one mid-run. The workout was supposed to be 10 X 400 w/ 200 recoveries, but instead I did 10 X 200 w/ 400 recoveries. The workout was pre-programmed on my watch, so I switched the interval and the recovery portions to make it less challenging. I think this was the right call on the day, as I still just couldn’t quite muster up the motivation to run fast for much longer than 45 seconds at at time. Basically this was like adding some strides into a run. Strides are always a good little stimulus with the bonus being that they aren’t too physically taxing. I was well taxed out at this point! Ha.

Totals – 55 miles running, 3.5 miles walking, 105 minutes of elliptical + 45 minutes of Blitz45

Talk to you guys soon!

As a surprise to no one, I was not able to keep up with the weekly training log posts throughout tax season. I gave it a valiant effort, making it halfway before calling it quits. As soon as I start getting overwhelmed with work (and life in general), I start removing things left and right. Training logs were one of the first thing to get axed. Of course I was still putting in all of the work! I truly do not think I could make it through tax season without some form of movement in my life. We will save the discussion of whether or not that needs to be addressed in a therapeutic setting for another day.

At this point I can say that I officially survived tax season 2024 and it feels like I have a fresh start to the year! I have no idea what I am planning to do with that “fresh start”, but I am loving the idea of it regardless. I started with a good closet clean-out, which is surprisingly good for the soul. For the sake of completeness, I am going to do a very abbreviated training log catch up post below. I plan to get back to my regularly scheduled programming next week.

Week 8 (February 19 – February 25): The cranky hamstring week.
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 6.7 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 7.2 miles
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles
Friday AM – Elliptical: 60 minutes + PM – Easy: 4 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 5 X 4:00 @ threshold, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 10.2 miles

Week 9 (February 26 – March 3): The this turned into a knee thing week.
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 4 miles @ half marathon, 6 X 1:00, CD
Thursday – Easy: 6.1 miles
Friday – Arc Trainer: 60 minutes
Saturday – Elliptical: 60 minutes
Sunday – Elliptical (“Long Run”): 90 minutes

Week 10 (March 4 – March 10): The week of no running!
Monday – Arc Trainer: 65 minutes
Tuesday – Elliptical: 75 minutes
Wednesday – Arc Trainer: 65 minutes
Thursday – Elliptical: WU, 4 X [1, 2, 3 minutes hard w/ equidistant recovery], CD
Friday – Elliptical: 30 minutes
Saturday – Elliptical (“Long Run”): 100 minutes
Sunday – Walk: 5 miles

Week 11 (March 11 – March 17): The week of easing back into things.
Monday AM – Elliptical: 60 minutes + PM – Easy: 5 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Elliptical: WU, 4 X [3, 2, 1 minutes hard w/ 2 minute recovery], CD
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

Week 12 (March 18 – March 24): The week where nothing stands out.
Monday – Elliptical: WU, 30 X 30 seconds w/ 1 minute recovery, CD
Tuesday – Easy: 9 miles
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 12 X 1:00 on/off, 2 mi. CD
Thursday – Easy: 7 miles
Friday – Easy: 10 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 1600, 1200, 800, 400, 2 X 200, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

Week 13 (March 25 – March 31): The week of no daycare (some people call this “Spring Break”).
Monday – Elliptical: WU, 25 X 1:00 on/off, CD
Tuesday AM – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Blitz45: Chest + Triceps
Wednesday AM – Quality: WU, 2 X 10 miles @ threshold, CD + PM – Quality: WU, 5 X 3:00 @ threshold, CD
Thursday – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Blitz45: Cardio + Core
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 1200, 3 X 800, 3 X 400, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 10 miles

Week 14 (April 1 – April 7): The week where we are so close and yet still so far away.
Monday – Easy: 7 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday AM – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 4 X 1 mile @ critical velocity, 3 mi. CD + PM – Blitz45: Legs + Shoulders
Thursday – Easy: 8 miles
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Easy: 6 stroller miles
Sunday – Quality: 4 mi. WU, 5 X 300, 5 X 200, 5 X 100, 4 mi. CD

Week 15 (April 8 – April 14): The week where I started to see the light!
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 9 miles
Thursday – Quality: 2.5 mi. WU, 8 miles @ threshold, 2.5 mi. CD
Friday – Easy: 7 miles
Saturday – Easy: 8 miles
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

I wish I had done a better job of documenting the cranky hamstring turning into knee pain. If I am going to have anything that is cranky, it’s going to be my high hamstring, so when that first started bothering me, I didn’t think much of it. However, when it made it’s way down into the meat of the hamstring, that was more concerning and then all of a sudden I couldn’t run without my knee hurting. The odd thing is that I still can’t truly explain the pain. Sometimes it felt like it was the front outside of the knee and sometimes it felt more like it was the back of the knee. It was very odd! My sports chiropractor helped me navigate it and ultimately got things cleared up for me.

The whole process was a bit eye opening as it helped me to realize 1) I am not invincible (obviously! … and yet also sometimes the reminder is good) and 2) I need to focus more on strength training, building muscle mass and taking care of my bones if I want to keep running into my forties, fifties and beyond. Right now, longevity in the sport is very important to me. I stumbled across a functional training studio that offers 45 minute group-fitness classes that are primarily strength-based and I’ve added that into my weekly routine. My plan is to go to two classes per week.

The other crazy thing is that the week to 10 days of no running and only cross training seemed to skyrocket my fitness, at least according to my watch. I was able to push myself much harder aerobically than I do on easy runs, but was also still able to recover without any trouble. It was almost as if my watch had an aha moment and realized how much of a training load my body could actually tolerate. My projected marathon time went down by 20+ minutes and now most mornings the watch tells me that I am 100% recovered (as opposed to never getting above 25% or so before that). It definitely makes me think that there is something to be said for Parker Valby’s approach to training. The main problem would be the lack of fresh air. I really, really started to crave fresh air during those cross training days. A heart-pumping sweat session is great, but fresh air does the mind and soul a world of good! So for now, I think I will continue with the majority of my activities being outdoor runs, but it’s nice to know that there are other options out there when running isn’t in the cards!