Training Log (Jan 27-Feb 2)

This week was a run test week. What better way to do that than an early season half marathon race? It’s a great way to gauge your run fitness and see how well you do with some heavy training load on your legs. I’ve always had The Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach, CA on my radar for the past few years and this year it just came at the right time with my health, training and fitness. The goal was to treat the week like any other week except to back off on the run intensity a bit and then take Saturday easy instead of the usual long ride.

Here were my workouts for the week leading up to the race:

Monday: 2 workouts

Gerry Rodrigues workout: 90 mins / 4k
4x1000
Buoy,band,snorkel: 4x250 (20") @70,75,80,85%
10x100 (5") 80-85%
Buoy,fins,snorkel: 2x500 (30")
10x100 (5") 90% LTR

Post workout notes: This is a workout I learned from Gerry Rodrigues (Tower 26) from a YouTube video he did a few years ago. I like to do this workout at least 4-5 times a year. The snorkel really allows you to focus on moving through the water more efficiently. It’s a great workout that combines technique and immediately transferring that technique while it’s still fresh in your head over to some hard 100’s. Brilliant stuff. With proper warm up and cool down this is a 5k set, I just didn’t have time for it.

SRM Bike Trainer: 1:27 / 21.5 miles / 14.7 mph

Flanny’s workout: All I am looking for is 75-90 minutes of easy Zone 1-2 riding. You’re coming off of a solid week.

Post workout notes: Recovery spin on the trainer watching “The Walking Dead!”[hr]

Tuesday: 1 workout

Steady Run: 41 mins / 5.17 miles / 8:03 pace

Flanny’s workout: Race week 40 min steady state run w/ 6 x 50 m strides at completion.

Post Workout notes: This was supposed to be a steady run but I ended up getting really dizzy/light headed about 1 mile into this workout so I didn’t push it. A really weird sensation almost as if I was bonking. Strange day/run.[hr] 

Wednesday: 2 workouts

BlueSeventy Masters Swim: 1:30 / 4k
500 wup, 4x100 on 1:40, 4x50 on 50
10x100 on 1:30b descending every 3 (1:25,1:23,1:20) then the last one all out
Masters Minute
10x50 on 50 descending every 3 (45,40,35) then last one all out
500 with fins
6x75 on 2:15
300 c/d

Post workout notes: I’m starting to feel a lot better in the water. I hit all of the pacing right on the money. I’m not quite back to where I was before my accident but my “feel” for the water is improving which is helping me get through these workouts without being so smashed for the rest of the day like it used to.

SRM Bike Trainer: 1:31 / 23.5 miles / 15.5mph

Flanny’s workout: 5 x 3 min Z5 VO2
20 minutes Zone 2 Warm Up
4 x 30 sec spin ups (get cadence over 100 rpm) on 30 sec recovery
1 min Easy
5 x 3 minutes Zone 5 on 2 minutes easy
Zone 2 to finish out the session.

Post workout notes: The biggest take away from getting an SRM Powermeter is that I’m finding I haven’t been riding hard enough indoors. In the past I always used the trainer for one-legged drills, recovery spins or avoiding the rare SoCal storm. Flanny has me on the trainer often because of the ability to ride hard/consistent without interruption during intervals. I’m the opposite of my fellow Wattie Inker Karin Langer (go read her blog on this subject – awesome) where she nails her workouts indoors and has issues outside. I think it’s just something that will take me some time to get used to and once we get my numbers squared away when it comes to power, I’ll have no question whether or not I’m riding hard enough![hr] 

Thursday: 1 workout

Run: Easy Run- 47 mins / 5.37 miles / 8:45 pace

Flanny’s Workout: At the end of the run I want 10 x 80-100m strides

Post workout notes: Hit the trails after work. Felt like garbage until I did some stretching, light plyos and the strides. I was telling Flanny that for some reason until I stretch, do some plyos and some strides – my legs always feel beat up and I just feel slow. This for some reason wakes up my legs and I’m always ready to roll afterwards.[hr]

Friday: 2 workouts

Swim: Masters – 1 hr / 3000 yds.
500 wup, 4x100 on 1:40, 4x50 on 50
Main set:
3x through on 1:30b
150,100,50
500 paddles/fins
25's Indian style (total 200) on the 15
c/d to 3k

Post Workout notes: I opted to go 3k today instead of 4k with the race being a few days away. Swimming felt labored today for some reason. Felt like I was fighting the water more than usual. Whatever, got the work done.

SRM Bike Trainer: Easy recovery spin – 1 hr / 14.9 miles / 14.9mph

Post workout notes: Just cruised and watched more Walking Dead! Legs feel much better today.[hr] 

Saturday: 1 workouts

Easy run: 20 mins

Flanny’s Workout: Easy shake out run

Post workout notes:  Just an easy run before rolling out to Huntington Beach to check in at the Expo. Legs felt good enough to race![hr]

Sunday: 1 workout

Surf City Half Marathon: 13.1 miles / 1:18:42 /6:01 pace / 7^th in AG, 24^th overall (out of 15,447 runners)

Here were my splits:



Post workout notes: Notice the wheels fell off right around the 8 mile mark where we turned straight into a headwind all the way back! You can see my full race report/thoughts in my next post.

Strength Training for the week: 1 hr. Pushups, and different variations of sit-ups (30 each, everyday).

 

Totals (3 swims, 3 bikes, 4 runs)
Swim: 11,000 yds /4:00
Bike: 60 miles / 4:00
Run: 26.2 miles / 3:07
Strength: 1 hr
Total hours: 12:06

Be sure to check in later this week for my next post about my 31 day fast from alcohol and coffee and the results I found!

Questions? Comments? I would love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.