Training Log: March 16-22

Sunday
11:00 AM - 17.1 miles. New Bedford 1/2 Marathon (72nd, 1:15:03). Pre-race plan was 6-6:15 pace for the first 3 miles, then gradually cut it down to projected marathon pace or thereabouts over the last 10. Executed pretty well - 18:01 for the first 3 miles, 57:02 for the last 10.1. Had the pleasure of Bergie, Uncle Fire and Christy Mae's company for those first 3 miles but fought the wind by myself for the last 4-5. The tib didn't bother me during the race but it tightened up quite a bit, along with my soleus, later in the day. Complete race report can be found in the entry below this one.

Monday
3:10 PM - ART and an adjustment with Dr. V. Lots of work on the tib and soleus, both of which were tighter than a bull's ass during fly season.
5:00 PM - Spinning, 45:00. Apparently the bike becomes less mentally taxing after the first 30 minutes. That, or it gets even more mind-numbing.

Tuesday
8:40 AM - Spinning, 30:00. Steady as she goes on the spin bike.
7:30 PM - 8.5 miles, 1:01:00. I've been running around Westboro for almost a year and a half now and I've yet to come up with a clean loop over 4 miles. Tib didn't give me any trouble, soleus still pretty tight though.

Wednesday
7:45 PM - 8.5 miles, 1:01:00. Another random road run around Westboro after work. Tib felt good again, soleus a little less tight than yesterday. Progress is good. In a showing of weakness, however, I decided to sleep in rather than ride the bike this morning. Can't afford to have too many more lapses like this, but I think I needed the extra rest.

Thursday
10:05 AM - 9.1 miles, 1:00:20. 16:00 easy. 15 x [1:00 on/1:00 off], 15:20 easy. "On" stuff started at low-to-mid 5-minute pace and gradually got a little faster, "off" stuff much slower than that. Tib was well behaved, calf still a bit tight but man did it feel good to finally spin the wheels again.
8:30 PM - Spinning, 30:00. More wheel spinning, but of the stationary variety this time.

Friday
3:00 PM - 10 miles, 1:10:20. Met up with Pete Gleason and Shad Miller this afternoon. 27:25 warmup, 3-mile tempo in 15:55 (5:21, 5:19, 5:15), 27:00 cooldown. Short but solid effort on the wind-strewn roads of Grafton. Good company, too.
5:20 PM - Spinning, 40:00. Stopped by the Y on my way home to squeeze in a quick spin.

Saturday
7:50 AM - 4.1 miles 32:00. Short-n-slow before work. Soleus/calf still a bit tight but the rest of my gimpy left leg is holding up quite well. I planned on a second workout after work but the Y closed early and I stayed late at the store so I bagged it. Given how tired I felt after a busy day this probably wasn't such a bad thing.

Totals - Running: 57.3 miles, 6 runs. Spinning: 2:25, 4 sessions. Good week, everything is seemingly heading in the right direction. The injury is improving, my fitness is resurfacing and hopefully this trend will continue. As for training, I fell a bit short of my volume goals for the week but I nailed the quality days so I can live with that. New Bedford was a good way to kick things off and the back-to-back fartlek and tempo on Thursday and Friday was a nice capper. The plan from here is to really get after it for the next two-and-a-half weeks and then the hay will be in the barn as they say. I haven't put a whole lot in there of late but I think I've stocked up well enough the last few years that I should still be in pretty good shape four weeks from now.

Quote of the Week

"It’s good to be excited again."
- Ryan Warrenburg on recovering from a recent hip injury.