Week 8 - Mostly Satisfying
This week has gone pretty well. I'm back enjoying lifting heavy things, or at least heavy for me things. After finishing last week with some missed PT sessions I learned that PT is like swimming. If you don't do it for a few days the first day back feels like you have lost 90% of the skill. I got to break 16 hours of training for the first time so far this cycle, which is pretty cool, but I did start to toy with the idea of taking a dramatic cut back in training. I was on the bike Wednesday morning soft pedaling for 30 minutes after a spin class and I started wondering at what point is it better to take a week off and do nothing rather than get hurt and be forced to take the time off anyway? I don't have any particular aches and pains that worry me, I'm just starting to contemplate the magnitude of a 43 week training plan and whether or not it would make sense to take a very low volume week every once in a while to make sure that I stay fresh over the long haul. The current plan has next week as a step back week with a reduction of volume and I have exactly 4 weeks to the Atlanta Half Marathon so I'll go with what is written for now but I'm also starting to really like the idea of making a dramatic reduction in volume the week before Atlanta.
I was very curious to find out what my weight and body composition was going to be this week. I broke the seal and started eating some of the worst free snacks available at work. A while back when they started this "benefit" I swore I wouldn't eat anything off the shelves except the protein bars and the nuts. Then a while back I started occasionally having a package of Pop-Tarts now and then. Earlier this week packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers bars started to get opened. The worst part? Whoever came up with the marketing phrase "Snickers Satisfies" must have been talking about the 3rd or 4th one. I've never felt satisfied with the first one which meant if I had one a number two was on the way. After about 3 days of indulgences I managed to get back on track but then screwed up my weigh in this week. Getting on the scale slipped my mind until after I'd eaten breakfast so I had to do scale pounds minus breakfast pounds math. The result? I lost ~1 pound this week. The fat/water/muscle was close enough that I'm just going to call the data "unchanged" and move on.
My Thursday morning fast 6 mile run was one of my best yet. I managed to average 6:13 pace for 6 miles with an average HR of 175. The run was on the treadmill so after a warm up, some stretching, a trip to the bathroom, a refill of my water bottle, staring off into space wondering why and pretty much any other stall tactic I could think of I started out at 9.5 mph (6:19 pace) for 2 miles. The next 2 miles were at 9.6 mph (6:15 pace) and then there were four 1/2 mile segments at 9.7mph (6:11), 9.8mph (6:07), 9.9mph (6:03) and finally 10mph (6:00). During that last half mile segment I was really starting to suffer. I visualized being back at the VO2Max test. I thought to myself that I had quit that test early and I wasn't going to quit early on this run. After all, I could actually exhale on this run even though the pace was thumpin'. I was deep in thought counting my steps as a distraction (hey, don't judge, it works!) when one of the other members of the Y came up behind me. I had no idea he was there. Apparently he was curious just how fast I was going and when he saw 10mph on the screen he reflexively said, "Holy sh!t" * Loud. I jumped. I kept going while chuckling a little bit on the inside. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, but at that particular point in time I didn't have much room for any emotions other than suffering. When everything was done and I had recovered I rushed to check the Garmin run data. I really, really, really hoped that I'd find an outlier on the vertical oscillation graph of the HRM Run data. I wanted to screenshot it and draw an arrow with "Tom was here" on it. No such luck. While I felt like I jumped up to the ceiling the watch and HR sensor disagreed.
* Disclaimer, I can't really remember what he said but whatever it was it was pretty damned funny at the time.
Somehow, since these posts come out on Sunday I never get around to talking about the Sunday long run. In recapping the week the thing I did today seems too recent to be relevant, but to the contrary it is probably one of the most relevant parts of this first phase of training. I was scheduled to run 18 miles but decided to stretch this one out to a 20 miler. It was good, at least as good as 20 miles (plus warm/cool) on a treadmill can be. I'm now starting to wonder just how many 20 mile runs are plausible for a marathon ramp up. I already had three 20 milers on the schedule, but now just put myself on a path for at least four. I think I'm just going to run the rest of long runs this cycle by feel and take the extra miles when they are there and leave them on the table when it seems to be too much.
Bike - 98 miles
Run - 37 miles
Body Pump - 2 times
Heavy Lifting - 2 times
Duration - 16:17 hours
Physical Therapy - 3 times
Body Composition (Oops, I fubar'd the weigh in)
Weight - 199 pounds
%Fat - unchanged
%Water - unchanged
%Muscle - unchanged
My Thursday morning fast 6 mile run was one of my best yet. I managed to average 6:13 pace for 6 miles with an average HR of 175. The run was on the treadmill so after a warm up, some stretching, a trip to the bathroom, a refill of my water bottle, staring off into space wondering why and pretty much any other stall tactic I could think of I started out at 9.5 mph (6:19 pace) for 2 miles. The next 2 miles were at 9.6 mph (6:15 pace) and then there were four 1/2 mile segments at 9.7mph (6:11), 9.8mph (6:07), 9.9mph (6:03) and finally 10mph (6:00). During that last half mile segment I was really starting to suffer. I visualized being back at the VO2Max test. I thought to myself that I had quit that test early and I wasn't going to quit early on this run. After all, I could actually exhale on this run even though the pace was thumpin'. I was deep in thought counting my steps as a distraction (hey, don't judge, it works!) when one of the other members of the Y came up behind me. I had no idea he was there. Apparently he was curious just how fast I was going and when he saw 10mph on the screen he reflexively said, "Holy sh!t" * Loud. I jumped. I kept going while chuckling a little bit on the inside. I thought the whole thing was pretty funny, but at that particular point in time I didn't have much room for any emotions other than suffering. When everything was done and I had recovered I rushed to check the Garmin run data. I really, really, really hoped that I'd find an outlier on the vertical oscillation graph of the HRM Run data. I wanted to screenshot it and draw an arrow with "Tom was here" on it. No such luck. While I felt like I jumped up to the ceiling the watch and HR sensor disagreed.
Somehow, since these posts come out on Sunday I never get around to talking about the Sunday long run. In recapping the week the thing I did today seems too recent to be relevant, but to the contrary it is probably one of the most relevant parts of this first phase of training. I was scheduled to run 18 miles but decided to stretch this one out to a 20 miler. It was good, at least as good as 20 miles (plus warm/cool) on a treadmill can be. I'm now starting to wonder just how many 20 mile runs are plausible for a marathon ramp up. I already had three 20 milers on the schedule, but now just put myself on a path for at least four. I think I'm just going to run the rest of long runs this cycle by feel and take the extra miles when they are there and leave them on the table when it seems to be too much.
Weekly Stats
Swim - 8000 yardsBike - 98 miles
Run - 37 miles
Body Pump - 2 times
Heavy Lifting - 2 times
Duration - 16:17 hours
Physical Therapy - 3 times
Body Composition (Oops, I fubar'd the weigh in)
Weight - 199 pounds
%Fat - unchanged
%Water - unchanged
%Muscle - unchanged
