MONDAY- Today is the 3rd day in a row of rain. Pretty much no sun in three days and today is just an easy run, but i'm not feeling it at all. Contractor is in my apt again, so using it as an excuse to push myself out the door and run, in the rain, again. Was supposed to be 6 miles.. Legs are fatigued from 22 miles yesterday. I'm running below a 10mm at points, so figure, even as a recovery run, this is really not worth my time. As I was approachiing the Brooklyn Bridge decided to cut it short. Have lots of work to do today, the contractor should be gone soon, so will have a productive work day and save tomorrow for a good training day. Ran 4 miles 9:30 pace av HR 144bpm or about 73% max. later in the afternoon before my last client I had a quick short workout in the basement before my last client. Just did shoulders and abs. 30 min total. Wanted to do shoulders right after my AM run but due to contractor activities I had to wait till later. Flexibilty not great today so kept the workout light.
TUESDAY- I'm in the city with clients. New schedule starting this week since I added a client. Have a 1/2 hour break at 9am for breakfast and had a natural sweetened muffin, hard boiled egg and a banana. Then had a run aroun 11:00. My mid length run goal pace is 9:20, and today i'm doing 11 miles all flat and feeling like my pace will be a bit faster. Feeling energetic, but very conscious of my IT band tension. Wouldn't call it pain at this point. Will order new shoes later today. Ran flat up Hudson River Park for 12 miles total. It was a bit windy, but the first sunny day in 3 days and in the mid 50's. Ran into the wind on the way uptown at a 9:00 pace, ave HR 155 and 8:51 pace on the way back at HR 155. I'm feeling really confident with my increase in pace and lower HR over the last couple of week. I know I can run Paris under 8:00 average, it's now a question of traffic.
After my 12.5 mile run I wasn't feeling very energetic but got in a weight training session. Did legs and back, basically alternating between upper and lower body after each exercise. Couldn't do legs at the weight I wanted so did 4 sets at lower weight. Forgot to log this the day immediately, so don't recall specific exercises. Recall leg press (have not done that in a long time), leg extensions and the rest was back work. NOrmally would swim Tuesday night but have other plans, so no swimming this week.
THURSDAY- Wednesday was a complete day off so on Thursday as the weather had shifted I was really in the mood for a good run. The weather has changed dramatically and it's spring! I'm running from John Street up the Hudson River Parkway for my last interval/tempo run before my race. It's warm enough to wear shorts and a sleeeless top, probably high 50's and the sun is in full force and there's a nice breeze. Warmed up 1.5 miles then 4x100 (goal 27sec) with faster pace than planned by 2-3 seconds. Then 4x200 (goal 54 sec) again faster at 51 seconds each. Feeling my IT band at times, but not really effecting my run. Took a break for about half mile at easy jog and then set my mind on MP of under 8:00 for 8 miles but wanted to focus on HR goal of 173-175. Problem was my HR montior was wacky, said my max hr was 248 and average 188 for the whole run. So not sure what HR average was but held my pace pretty steady for the 8 miles and average pace was 7:52. Had no trouble with breathing, more focus was on form and muscle fatigue. Feeling like new sneakers and 3 weeks of tapering will take care of any uncertaimty.
At John street after my run I had an apple and a shower. Fairly tired from the run so not going to do an hour of weights as planned. Doing supersets of shoulder and back. Fairly heavy for back and lighter on shoulders. Did 4 exercises each- all were 8-12 reps for 3 sets. Shoulder feels good.
FRIDAY- Today is an easy day and was going to ride indoor trainer but it's much to nice out so switching my Sunday and Friday workouts and running 6 miles easy over the brooklyn bridge. It's 70 degrees out and sunny. Supposed to be excellent weather tomorrow then get cloudy and colder so taking advantage of this perfect running weather. Wish my new shoes were here. It band was hurting a bit on the run. Mostly right in the middle, not in the glute like before. Warmed up easy 1 mile then went over the bridge and back. Not sure what my average HR was because my HR monitor went nuts again, but guessing around 158bpm and pace Average was 9:05.
SATURDAY- my traqining plan calls for the last really long run to be 3 weeks from my tace, and that's today. Next week I taper. Doing 20 miles in prospect park and the plan was to do a progressive run but not comfortable with that in these old shoes with my IT band showing me that I should have replaced these shoes about a month ago. Warmed up real easy to prospect park, about 2 miles. My goal pace for this distance is 9:48, but I've been running all my long runs quite a bit faster than that. Today is 20 degrees above normal, so about 70 out and it feels fantastic, but i'm going to just look at my HR and keep it well below 80% max throughout. I found that with this plan it was easy to follow, but at the same time the slower I go, the harder it is to hold that pace. Meaning, if i set my goal at 9:25 for the whole run I would have felt better than going slower than what is typical for this distance. In anycase, I felt i needed to take this run easy, the real training is over, I know what i'm capable of, and should just enjoy the weather. It felt more heated than expected for the last 6 miles and noticed my HR increased even though my pace did not. Ended up running the main set of 16 miles at 9:27 pace and AV HR of 148. Most of my steady state long runs have been at at least an average of 153, so was nice to see that if i focused that I can run long and easy. Max HR even with 6 major hills was only 164bpm, about 83% of my max. Cant wait for new shoes. The soles of my feet hurt.
SUNDAY- Today is a recovery bike ride. Got on my indoor trainer with a dvd that a friend lent me. Never done this and thought it would be nice for a recovery ride. When I have "work" I like to have my ride planned out, but thought a tour of Italy would be fun. Well I was totally bored. Thankfully it was a recovery ride because I never got out of zone 2 and after 20 minutes I decided to cut my 1 hour ride short to 30 minutes. Yes I'm fatigued, and yes it a sunny day that really deserves a run, but im just not into this workout. I felt today it was OK to just let it go.
Best news of the week was my tempo run with intervals plus MP for 8 miles. Felt fantastic. Bad news for week is that I really need new shoes and my IT band is hurting a bit. Only at the beginning or a run or when I stop and then start again, but this isn't good! No knee pain though.
Total miles for week was 53 (somehow i was short 2-3 miles from early in the week when I felt lousy). I did weights 3 days for 1:30 min total, none of them particularly difficult. No swimming this week and only a 30 min recovery ride on my bike on Sunday. Next week starts my Taper and ned to really focus on Nutrition. I'm about 5 pounds heavier than I'd like for race day.