Biweekly Training Update - July 5, 2010

Greetings from Bethany Beach as I officially complete my "return to running" program.  As you may recall, when I got the clearance to resume running, I started with 4 weeks of running only 3 days a week for 3 miles.  Then I upped the mileage to 4 weeks of running 4 days a week for 4 miles.  Then 2 weeks of 4 days of 4 miles, then 2 weeks of 5 miles.  Well folks, yesterday I finished my two weeks of 4 days of 6 miles.*  From now on, I begin long runs, I begin regaining speed.  In short, I hope for a return to normalcy.**

So here is the training summary for the past two weeks.  First, the running:
First week, solid four days of running at sub-8 minutes for a total of  25.17 miles.  Second week, solid five days of running (that's the * from above) for a total of 31.11 miles.  Normally, I would have only done 4, but I did most of runs at around 9 minutes this second week (running with friends during the week).  The extra day was being able to run with Jordana.  We're here at Bethany for the long weekend, so I decided to join Jordana for the last 6 miles of her 16 mile long run on Saturday (she joined me for my 6 mile run on Sunday after my bike workout).  I will never pass up the opportunity to run with my wife, so 5 days of running.  But I think that if I'm running (relatively) slower than normal, I can get more miles.  That's what my wife's XMP coach swears by --- more miles at slower pace is the key to marathon performance.

On the swim front:
Only swam twice the first week, 1 mile on Tuesday morning before work and masters swim on Thursday.  It was our first day in the Bethesda outdoor pool.  It had been an upper 90s day and at 8:15pm it was still in the uppers 80s.  Luckily the pool water temperature was around 90!!  Here was our workout (which was doubly hard considering we were swimming in a bath): 400m warm up; 8 x 50m (alternate stroke/kick); 5 x 200m (1: 50m fly, 150 free; 2: 50m free, 50m back, 100m free; 3: 100m free, 50m breast, 50m free; 4: 200m free; 5: 200m IM); 8 x 150m (50 kick, 100m free); 6 x 50m (fly, free, back, free, breast, free) = 3300m.

The second week, I got three swims in 1 mile on Tuesday morning, 2 miles on Friday afternoon (early release before the long holiday weekend) and masters swim on Thursday evening.  This week, we had a low 80s day, so it was actually chilly in the pool.  Here was our workout: 400m warm up; 50m, 100m, 200m, 100m, 50m; 400m, 300m, 200m, 200m; 6 x 100m IM; 6 x 50m kick = 2900m.

On the biking front, I only rode on the trainer twice each week (Thursday morning) for 45 minutes each.  But, I did real brick workouts on both Sundays.  Now, several weeks ago I wrote about doing a brick, but that was not a real brick.  I was planning on doing one (drove to Grosvenor and biked along Beach Drive and was going to run 5 afterwards) but I ended up driving home to run with Jordana.  That 15 minute drive allowed me to rest.  Well, two Sundays ago I cycled 90 minutes from my door (Seven Locks to Tuckerman to Beach Drive) got home and took only enough time to change my cycling cleats for running shoes and was out the door for 6 miles.  OMG my legs felt like jello for at least 1 - 1 1/2 miles before I actually felt like I could really run again.  So that's what a brick feels like!!  Of course, the fact that it was 96 F with a heat index of 106 didn't help much (Jordana missed her XMP workout the day before so did a morning long run with FTM and I did my brick when she got home at 10).

Yesterday I did a much more enjoyable brick workout at Bethany Beach.  Out the door at 7am for 90 minutes along the Coastal Highway (from Bethany to Rehobeth and back) and then picked up Jordana for 6 miles.  My legs still felt like jello at the start, but I recovered much quicker than last time.  I also picked up a few pointers from Triathlete Magazine.  First, I did not hydrate enough the prior week.  I purchased two new 24oz water bottles for the bike and drank most of them.  Second, I did not fuel enough the prior week (only took one GU gel at 45 minutes).  This time I took a GU at the 45 minute turn-around and then a second GU about 5 minutes before I was done on the bike.  I'm sure this made a lot of difference.

Of course, my speed on both bricks was not very competitive.  Last week, I averaged 16.44 mph (of course it was in the mid-90s).  Yesterday, I was a bit faster at 17.59 mph average.  Funny, Runner's World had an article in this month's issue about runner's trying tri's.  They made the comment that the typical runner, when he or she gets on the bike, puts it into the highest gear and the crunches at a low cadence.  They pegged me last week!  So, yesterday I kept the bike in a lower gear (9th - small gear in front, small gear in back) and tried to keep my pedal cadence higher.  The result -- faster overall mph.  I ordered a second bike mount for my Cateye Strada Cadence bike computer (the first one is mounted on my mountain bike on the trainer).  Knowing my cadence count on the road will be a major asset in training.

Anyhow, sports fans, there you have it.  I am eagerly looking forward to next week and beyond as I try to kick it up a notch.  I'm glad we're in for a record heat wave (near 100 each day)...