It's time to put in a race to assess my training pace goals. On December 19th there's a 15k race in central park. I have not done a straight forward road race in ages and am looking forward to that. In the meantime, I'm recovered from traveling, adjusting to the colder weather and got a much needed new pair of shoes this week which is good because it's my highest volume week to date at 60 miles planned. Monday- it's a cold overcast morning but there is no wind. Finished with clients, had an Isalean shake and headed out for my 1st moderate distance run for the week. This week the distance goes up from 11 to 12 miles. Yesterday was a real easy day and I'm feeling great this morning. Going over the bridge and up the west side, so mostly flat. Started out a bit fast because I had to go to the bathroom and had to make it another 3 miles before one was available. Felt my pace at 8:30 was real comfortable but my goal was to run 9:20 so I slowed it down after the bathroom stop, but never got much below 9mm except on the bridge hills. Had a gel at 6 mile mark where I turned around. Still feeling fresh, all the way home. Ended up running the main set of 10.5 miles at 8:54 with an average HR of 159. Felt throughout the run that as long as my average HR stayed below 160 I would go with that pace. On Wednesday I have another 12 miler and will take that to the park and maybe a little easier. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is no running, just swimming.
Tuesday- weight training starting with legs. squat, DL and leg extensions. Shoulder light. Added 10 pounds to squats and doing 12 reps with great ROM. Can increase weight again next week. I took the train to the Roosevelt island pool for the first time in the evening. Wanted to try training with my Tritons triathlon group. Unfortunately the pool was closed due to mechanical problems. Yes, a waste of 2 hours, but at least I now know how long it takes to get there.
Wednesday- Started out as a real lousy day. Rained really hard but cleared up in the afternoon in time for my run. Headed out to prospect park for my 2nd 12 mile run for the week This time i want to focus on a slower planned pace of 9:20 and work a little harder on the hills. Did one loop counter-clockwise and then turned around. Had a gel at that point. Legs feel heavy, probably from the leg weights I did yesterday. The second loop was a little faster than the first, but not much. Warmed up for 1 mile and cooled down for 1 mile. Main set was 10 miles at 9:12 and av HR was 161. So my HR was higher, but pace lower than the run I did on Monday. Think my body is adapting to the flat runs and I may want to spend more time on hilly terrain even though my Paris race is flat. At least even out the moderate and long training days with both flat and hilly courses.
Thursday- Weight training started with a warm up back and leg combo, then legs x2 exercises, back x4, shoulder x2. Rep range varied depending on exercise. Lighter on cables, heavier with free weights.
A bit windy, but not too bad for my run downtown. It's getting colder. Ran from John street, across Chambers and up the west side. So about 1/3 of the run is hilly and the rest flat. Feel good, have not eaten a meal today. Had some cleanse for life this morning and snaked on one isadelights and tea but feel fine. Not even hungry. Didn't pick up a satellite right away so think the run was a little over 6 miles. I did not include a warm up or cool down in the data, but I ran an AV HR 160 at 9:04. Lots of stopping for traffic today.
Friday- Got in a morning run today and knew it was going to be horribly cold. It's about 27 degrees out but wind is at 27 MPH so wind chill is 14 degrees. I pulled out warmer clothes for the first time and see that I've lost one of my winter gloves, so the liners I've been wearing will have to do. Wanted to get a warm pair that stays dry with snow and rain anyway. I'm also running in new shoes today and they feel fantastic! Same model as before just fresh and nice cush. Ran over the bridge, which was extremely windy, but i forgot that i had come up with a good brooklyn route about a month ago. The temps don't feel to bad, but the wind was quite hard to run against on the bridge so my HR was a bit high and my pace a bit slow. Including warm up and cool down I ran 9mm with an AV hr of 154. Must say I'm really happy to have new shoes. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and my long run is going to feel great as long as i get enough sleep.
Saturday- Fortunately it's not nearly as windy or cold as I expected today for my long run. But about 2 miles in I realize I'm a bit overdressed. I slept terribly last night, had cramps, and woke up feeling trashed. Took the first 2 miles real easy and felt a bit better by time I hit Hudson River park around the 3 mile mark. Ran a fairly consistent pace throughout the entire run averaging 9:17 (goal was 9:36) and Av hr was just a tiny bit high at 158. Stopped for the bathroom, had a gel at 7 mile, turned around way up in riverside park (have not been there except on my bike in forever), adjusted the lace set up in my new shoes at the turn around, had another gel and a water stop at 13 miles. Felt good the last three miles, which is always the test. Stayed consistent with my pace and HR even at the end of the ru
Sunday- Raining pretty hard. Going fairly flat today for the short 6 mile run through bklyn hts, dumbo and cadman park. Legs feel great today. Got really good sleep last night. HR stayed below 169 even on some of the hills. Average HR 152 and pace 8:52 which is fairly fast for such a low HR. Guess my higher HR from the long run yesterday had a bit to do with not being rested.
Got on my trainer about 20 minutes after my run. Was soaking wet and even with window cracked I was still a bit hot on the bike. I warmed up 8 minutes then started the internal set a follows. 8min at 60-65rpm (hr goal was 153-162), 2min reco at 90rpm, continue this pattern 6min interval, 4min interval, 2 min interval. Was not able to get my HR to the goal. Averages for the intervals were closer to 150bpm. I didn't want to really push it, have a pretty hard workout planned tomorrow. But I feel that 4 weeks off the bike has hurt my leg strength. These intervals should not have burned as much as they did.