Monday, February 22, 2016

Carmel Marathon Training: Week 6

This week started out promising and then went down the disappointment drain. I had a good speed sesh (8x400's) on Wednesday and was looking forward to running outside on the weekend because of the unseasonably warm temps. My run outside on Saturday was short but nice- I had woken up late and we had a beer festival to go to, so I cut my planned 10 miler to 4. Post beer fest we were walking to a bar after lunch and I tripped on the uneven sidewalk and smashed my knee pretty hard. I don't pick up my feet enough when I walk, so yeah this wasn't my first rodeo with klutziness. The result was not being able to run or cycle on Sunday due to the knee feeling bad and also not wanting to damage it further. I took a Dead Sea salt bath and called it a night.

I was not happy about missing my long run and longish ride and stewed about it far too long. During Monday's spin, I finally came to the conclusion that solely focusing on a week by week, Monday to Sunday time period for my training is absurd. Sure it's easy to make these training recap posts based on a week- but in reality my body doesn't care if the long run I missed Sunday gets pushed to Monday instead. My weekly training will look whack, but the workouts are still there and contributing to my fitness. I felt much better after coming to that conclusion although it seems obvious now.

Monday:REST

Tuesday: 10 mile cycle, 2 mile run brick day!

Wednesday: 8 mile run- 8x400's

Thursday: 15 mile cycle

Friday: 10 mile run on the treadmill

Saturday: 4 miles with fartlek last 2 miles

Sunday: REST- knee hurt

Total: 5:02:22 for 49 miles

Run: 3:12:32 for 24 miles
Cycle: 1:49:50 for 25 miles

Snapshots:

CB was very lovey this week- he missed his daddy a lot and was so happy to see him on Friday.
The sunrises and sunsets have been nice lately.
Saturday's run was so nice! I'm still kicking myself for not waking up earlier and getting the full 10 miles in.

Saturday was also the Uppers and Downers beer fest- all of the beers had coffee in them. It was really good once again and was so fun to spend time with friends.
Looking forward:

With 8 more weeks until Carmel, I've also been retooling my running speed work so that it is more in line with my goals for that race. I will also revisit my usual weekly workouts and either add a medium distance run to the day I have an hour spin (yay double!) or eliminate the spin until after Carmel. I'll also start going back to the pool again this week. Hopefully. Maybe. Probably.

-Xaarlin

11 comments:

  1. I am happy you snapped back to that perspective! Since you are tri training, it makes sense that you have your workouts planned day by day and week by week, but that doesn't mean things can't shift. There are quite a few times I've pushed a missed long run to early the next week! It all works out.

    And look at that - 8 weeks until Carmel? That's two whole months! Make them yours!!! :)

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    1. Thanks. I'm hoping to continue with this mentality more. I just get so upset if I have to switch days because then it makes more consecutive run days or more consecutive cycle days than I would have wanted. But in the end it's probably good for me.

      8 weeks feels like nothing and so much time! Most of my marathon plans have been 10 weeks, so I'm not that far off to have a great cycle leading up to Carmel. Just need to not be a damn klutz!

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  2. Training schedules aren't set in stone, and one missed/shortened/bad workout here or there doesn't take away from all of the hard work you ARE putting in!

    When I was actually training for big races, I switched to monthly training recap posts (because I didn't feel like doing weekly ones, honestly) and felt like that gave a better picture of what I was doing.

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    1. You're so right that the plans aren't set in stone. I get so flustered when I have to switch days or take a day off lately-and need to remember all of the other work that has gone into it.

      I think I like your monthly recap idea- I might have to switch to that soon because of the way this week made me feel.

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    2. Don't let your training log get you down! You're awesome and you've got this, bad couple of days or not.

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  3. I think that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned while training for any race. You've gotta be flexible because our bodies/schedules/life sure can get in the way some times. Great job, and great perspective.

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    1. Flexibility is so important! I just really try to minimize all unplanned rest days because they add up quickly. But a day here and there isn't so bad in the grand scheme of things.

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  4. The "Upper and Downer Beer Fest" turned into a major downer when you smashed your knee. Hope it is okay now. I have read that some athletes do training cycles of differing lengths other than 7 days. Yes, if you scroll through your training logs week by week it will look like the miles yo-yo up and down, but it doesn't really matter - (for selfish reasons, I want you to keep up with the weekly updates to keep reminding me that I need to keep on top of my workouts for Carmel)! Anyway, With a three week taper, I have less than five weeks of serious training left for Carmel. Time for me to ramp up the mileage (slightly)!

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    1. Ha ha ha it totally became a downer after that! I think it will be ok for my 800's tomorrow since this an it felt fine cycling.

      I've read about longer training weeks too- lately I had been taking one rest day every 2 weeks to build up a bit more, although I feel the cycling is like almost a rest day for me anyways. I'll likely keep up with the weekly recaps because I do like going back to read them :) 5 more solid weeks for you and like 6 for me (I like my tapers short!) we've totally got this!

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    2. Glad to hear you'll be ok for your 800s! My legs always feel better after using the stationary bike in the gym, so I can see how it feels like a rest day. I have never done a three week taper, but I want to experiment a little with my Carmel training. I have a hunch that I might be better served with a longer taper than I usually take. However, I will be racing the Shuffle which is less than 14 days from Carmel, and I plan on racing it full tilt! Gotta have a little fun, right? :)

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  5. So sorry to hear about the knee pain - I wish you the speediest of recoveries! I've been in that situation many times before where I stewed over missing a training run. It's a really tough wrench to overcome from a mental perspective. But you are SO right - the body doesn't operate on a week-by-week basis. What's important is what you are doing over the long term on a cumulative basis - and you've SO got that in the bag. I continue to be amazed at how well you adapt your training to the goal races at hand!

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