Training Daze

Not much happening on the racing front since my latest debacle at Muddy Moose.  Although I do have a series of races scheduled in the coming weeks including the Bedford 12k, Pineland Farms  25k, Newton 10k & Hollis  5k.  So, lately it’s been all about the training. Some good, some bad and some bizarre...

Overall my training has been going pretty well this year and has included a fairly good mix of disciplines – just to keep things interesting.  Here is a snapshot of one of my typical training weeks from the past few months:

Monday:

AM: Run 8 miles – usually trails

PM: Swim 2500 meters – with tri-class at Y

Tuesday:

AM: Bike 18 miles – road bike

Wednesday:

AM: Run 6 miles– usually trails

PM: Run 8 miles – including 3 miles of speed.

Thursday:

AM: Run 8 miles – usually trails

PM: Swim 2000 meters – solo at Y

Friday:

AM: Bike 18 miles – road bike

Saturday:

AM: Run 16 miles – usually roads

Sunday:

AM: Bike 30 miles – road bike

So, this schedule seems to be fitting me pretty well at the moment.  The variety of disciplines helps to keep me from getting stuck in a “running rut” and allows for some good recovery between hard efforts.  Some days are better than others and a few days end up getting modified (or deleted) due to family commitments. But, for the most part, this is how I have been spending my time training since early March.

Unfortunately, I have no idea whether all this cross training will help, hurt or have no effect on my running results.  My last two races – Boston (extreme heat) & Muddy Moose (calf DNF) really gave me no indication of my current fitness level.  However, there have been a couple eye-opening workouts recently that do give me hope going forward.

The first was an 8 mile trail run on a day where it felt like my lungs were huge and my legs were light and quick. Without really trying I averaged 6:30’s over a twisty course with a good deal of mud and water to leap over (or go through) and set a 3 minute course PR in the process!  It happened completely out of the blue and just a day after I felt like total crap and actually wrote “dead legs” in my training log.  Go figure!

The second was a 16 mile road run I did this past weekend over one of my favorite hilly courses near my house.  It has 5 good sized hills and 3-4 medium sized ones.  And, without a Garmin, I’d guesstimate that it has anywhere between 1800 - 2000 feet of elevation gain and loss.  Here’s the map of it.  Anyway, I ran that "rolling" 16m course in just a little over 1 hr - 53 min (or about 7:05 per mile) setting a 10 minute course PR in the process!

Now, the question is will these promising results translate into a good run at Pineland?  Hell if I know.  But, I'll tell you one thing, I sure am excited to find out!