5 Juneathon - coaching by Chrissie

Today feels a bit like rocking the car in the mud. I feel like I'm doing a lot, but may be not making any progress?  Grief is stalking me, but I keep moving.

I treated myself to Audiofuel's Tri Harder album with Chrissie Wellington. Rock on. 

This morning I did the whole 60 min power interval session on the trainer. It was tough. I didn't quit. The power meter says I created 1662 Watts of power, which roughly translates to 1600kcal consumed. Is that really possible? The intervals were 3 minutes long x 3 (with 3 min rest). two sets with a rest period of 8 minutes. I made big hills to make them hard - 3, 4, 5 or 6 % grade.  I used the pain ~ I mean discomfort ~ to train my brain to think clearly when uncomfortable. 

I lifted at lunch. I was already stiff and sore from the ride. My left quad gave me a sharp pain when I did some squats. I think it is from dehydration. I went into the cold-water bath (and the steam & sauna) after training to see if that will help.

R helped me bench press 40 kilos. (88lbs). by help, I mean encouragement. He didn't lift it for me. He stood next to me and told me I can do it. Although it would have been nice if he had done the ab work instead of me. Ow.

I also have swim practice tonight, which will be a perfect antidote to all sore parts.

Last, I have a 10k race on Sunday. I'm not planning on tapering from my tri training, so we'll see how it goes on the day. I have a 75 min run scheduled for Sunday. I think a race-paced 59 minutes will be good enough. Edited: I skipped swim practice to do parental things. So now I'm watching swim technique videos. geek.

Really good advice from Jeff Galloway

THE MOST IMPORTANT TRAINING PRINCIPLE

Most of us know that if we want to improve, we must stress ourselves in some of our training sessions. Exercise stresses the muscles, stimulating them to grow stronger and work more efficiently. Without enough rest after the stress, however, the muscles are driven to exhaustion or injury. Stress must be balanced by rest in sufficient quantity and quality for adequate growth.

Hard or long runs must always be followed by several easy days in which the pace or distance is reduced. In addition, you must build rest weeks into your program: every second or third week, you should automatically reduce total mileage. This gives your muscles the extra time to "catch up."

Improvement is based upon the quality of your speedwork and the length of your long run. By taking a day off and then running easily between these two "quality days" you will recover, rebuild stronger and reduce the chance of injury. Common mistakes that lead to injury are

* Trying to attain a high mileage level week after week
* Running daily runs too fast
* Not enough rest

Jeff writes here

recovery run #2

1. Distance Assigned: 10k  Ran 10k in 1:19 plus warm up and cool down walking totaling 1.5km. 20 degrees C and sunny. The return of warm weather running.

2. Pace Assigned: none.  Ran: I aimed for 7;30/km; I averaged 7:54 for the running portion.  Half of it was on the beach in wet sand. So I slowed down because it required greater effort.  

Garmin Report

3. Walk Breaks Assigned: none specified.  Ran:  typically 30/30. sometimes 30/1:00  Sometimes I ran for 100 meters and walked for 100 meters.  The last two km I ran at a steady 7:30 pace without walk breaks

4. Speed work: n/a

5. Aches & Pains: I got to meet a new muscle today - the muscle on the front outside of my right shin (lower leg). This is one that has in the past hurt after very long hikes or skiing.  Around 5km it was painful and visibly swollen, causing a spider web of nerve pain in the top of my foot. I stopped and massaged the muscle, rotated my ankle, walked a bit and then stretched my hamstrings and calves and dorsiflexed my foot, trying to "listen" to what was needed.  I walked it out and took short intervals, and it subsided.  I arrived at the sea by about 6km and waded in the water, which is VERY cold and that helped the swelling to dissipate.    My right hip flexor was "present" but not uncomfortable.  I pulled it again the other night while walking my dog - he lunged on the leash and I twisted while my right foot was planted. (Stupid dog). It's fine though.    I continue to be easily fatigued and very tired at night.

6. Questions: you asked me to think about goals.  where to go from here.  My "race calendar" for the rest of  this year is oriented around preparing for two triathlons.  I have an Olympic distance triathlon on 13 June (10 k running) and a Middle Distance Triathlon on 26 September (half marathon running). I will be in the United States in July visiting family.

Spring:  I had thought about running the same10k race I ran last year in the Hague again - it's mid-May, but I'm not yet in the mood for another race. I can register at the last minute if the urge strikes me. 

Looking at the fall, I had a lot of fun in Amsterdam, and thought it might be fun to do the half again there, or the whole marathon - but I think I'll still be recovering from the Middle Distance tri in September. Too soon. And then the season here shuts fairly quickly. I'll probably repeat the local fun runs on the beach over the winter.

Running goals: I like the half marathon distance since the training is not so time-consuming.  Getting ready for Rotterdam, I had a mental block getting started on runs longer than 30 km since I run so slowly,  The long runs chewed up the better part of a whole day, and sometimes I'd get bored in the middle and think about things I'd rather be doing at home with my kids.  I'd like to continue to improve my skills and strengthen my legs.  I'd like to to improve my speed, while maintaining my endurance levels.  I wonder whether that's like burning both ends of the candle!  my 16 year old son came out to run with me on my last training run before the marathon. We did an easy 8 k - he can run much faster than I can, but I can run longer. He stayed at my pace and took walk breaks with me.  Not surprisingly, the next day he was Ouching around the house. 

What are your thoughts? Thanks again. Your coaching has given me the gift of running, which brings me so much joy in my life.

7. Next Week's assignment: "anything I want"