Sunday, March 6, 2011

picking up steam....

The offseason didnt go my way. So what. In this phase of my year I want to build some endurance and strength. I want to make this year the fastest one yet. I have the Charlottesville 10 miler and Olympic distance RAGE. PR's are on the way. I felt very strong this week. The best week I can recall in a long time. What is nice, is I am not concentrating on speed and I have not done any time trialing and I am faster. I dont know what is different but I feel different. Here is how the week went:

Monday-Training ride. High cadence, short duration. I stayed a gear or two down and just tried to get my legs going faster. I got a hot spot on the lateral aspect of the Right foot, and my feet were very uncomfortable. I need new shoes. I ran out of light too. I am ready for the time to change. Cardio was very good legs were pooped. 17 miles in 1:04. 15.4 mph average.
Tuesday-3 mile run. Finally training run. Not worried about calf, just running. Me and sully out and about. His loose leash running is getting to be pretty good. He is not as well behaved on different routes but he gets it together. He has a tendency to drag ass when he is curious. Sometimes he pushes me, sometimes I pull him. He is a good partner.
Wednesday-Core. I have incorporated the UNLV track team core program by Khadevis Robinson. He is a big proponent of training fast to run fast and believes that you must have the strength to do so. It is challenging.
Thursday-Training Run. 4 miles. Sully's longest run to date. He was pooped the last 1/2 mile. I felt awesome. I ran my regular 4 mile loop prior to the marathon and I couldnt keep the pace I kept today. I am able to get to the top of these hills, recover, and then pick it up down. After looking at the splits it turned out to me a progression run. With the last mile in 8:50. That even includes the 1/4 mile up to my house that is quite a finish. A kick builder of a hill on the way home.
Friday-Rest
Saturday-Long Run. 6 miles. 3.5 with sully and 2.5 without him. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I havent had that good of a run in a long time. Sully wasnt feeling it and he kept me slow. Once I dropped him off I was able to take off. I felt strong. Not terribly faster although that might not be fair. The courses are very different out here so I cannot compare times. I did find a rather flat road. I did have a second of calf fatigue that was eery familiar but recovered very quickly. I had slight leg soreness and It was amazing to have some quad soreness. Seems like a long time since I ran hard enough to get some muscle work.
Sunday-Long ride. The entire olympic bike course. My goal was to attack the downs and pace the ups. Not too fast, not too slow on the ups. I put my new shoes to work. Last years race time was 1:38:26. Today I did the same course in 1:38:52. I wasnt even pushing it. I am amazed by that. My legs are tired and sore but I didnt even mash. I am happy with that. 26 miles at 15.6 mph. Quote:

“A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn't be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.”
Thomas Keller

No schedule, no plan just get out there and go. Feels good.

2 comments:

Karl Stutelberg said...

I would like to hear more about this core program.

Heidi Austin, PT, DPT said...

no schedule does feel good sometimes... starting to interview this week for my first job... let me know if you have any suggestions!