Saturday, May 03, 2014

7, 6: Two Running Races

Monday April 14.  3000 yards swimming.  All freestyle, in 100, 200, 400, 800, 800, 400, 200, 100 sets.  Part one of two long endurance swims this week, as I haven't been swimming in over two weeks.

Wednesday April 16.  9.1 mile run.  Over lunch I ran out to the Emeryville marina and then out on the Bay Bridge paths, but not quite to the bridge itself.  Two miles were at tempo pace, the rest were decently fast, as a final effort to get ready for the second of the two races (Big Sur) in the next two weeks.

Thursday April 17.  3000 yards swimming and 9 miles trainer ride.  All freestyle again, with a mile+ set in the middle.  Mile time was about 33:45; I needed to gauge speed for some potential summer swims.  200, 400, 1800, 400, 200.  The trainer ride was an easy effort to loosen up a bit.

Saturday April 19.  31.7 mile run.  Diablo trails 50k.  More to say elsewhere.  This was an easy to moderate effort, sine I wanted to just finish a hard (7000+ elevation in my mind) 50k this spring.  I wanted to run it faster, but it was bad timing with not quite enough rest.  And I was planning for the next weekend to be a speed focus.

Sunday April 20.  2.5 mile run.  Slow pace, hiking uphills, around the Huckleberry loop, just loosening up.

Monday April 21.  1200 yard swim.  Easy pace, still loosening up.  Lots of quick yoga bits and stretching this week.

Tuesday April 22.  5.6 mile run.  I went out for a moderate/easy paced Huckleberry/Sibley run, making the loop around Round Top.  This was about mobilizing tight spots.

Wednesday April 23.  2500 yard swim.  Brisk pace.

Thursday April 24.  4.1 mile run.  Easy out and back on the West Ridge trail in Redwood.  Picked up the pace for brief bits every half mile.

Friday April 25.  1200 yard swim.  Easy pace, just moving.

Sunday April 27.  26.2 mile run.  Big Sur Marathon!  New marathon PR of 4:29.  More elsewhere.

I'm less verbose this time around.  With the focus on the races, every workout has had a pretty specific focus, so there's been less exploring or meditative thinking.  And prepping for travel and so on has been giving me less time to write.  I liked the double challenge of the two marathon+ races on back to back weekends, especially going for a fast pace on the second weekend.  Apparently a number of people did this with Diablo and Big Sur.  I wore the Diablo 50k shirt at Big Sur, and a volunteer mentioned she had seen a number of the 50k shirts.

The focus on the runs also let cycling slide for a couple weeks.  Next up is an easy recovery week, and a ramp up into a final cycling-focused push.

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