100 yard PR! 1:41

RUN 4 miles to the pool in 36 some odd minutes
SWIM 2200 yards in 55 mins

Running before swimming is maybe a great way to warm up for a swim? Let's get to the swim.

It felt great! I was going to meet RM there, but he changed his schedule so I was on my own. I had the lane to myself for most of the swim. The workout is from ST.com:

WU 300ez; 4x50 drill; 4x50 as 25f/25e
MS 4x 3x100, each set of 3 a few seconds faster than previous
CD 3x100 as kick, pull, choice

I LIKE this workout! The first set of 100's was unexpectedly fast, clocked just under 2 minutes. My goal was right at or over 2 mins, thinking that I was only going to get so much faster by the time I got to the last set.

The 2nd and 3rd sets were easily sped up, as usual I probably put more effort in than I gained in speed, but I wasn't all-out by the time I got the 4th set. The timing was surprising me -- I was waiting 15 s to push off yet I was getting 2:03 type times for the 100's!

So for the 4th set I reset my timer so I wasn't looking at the 100+recovery time. I wanted a straight answer and not have to wonder if my mental math was making this look better than it really was.

Nope: the first 100 was 1:41!! The second was 1:43, the third was 1:42. I know I'd be a few seconds faster if I could manage a better turn. For the third I was aiming for a sub 1:40, hoping to see a 1:3? something, but it looks like that's my next goal!

Sunday "long" run

RUN 10.1 miles in 1:33, ave 9:12 m/m

Got a late start this morning, didn't run until after I'd done some cook up and ate too much rice. Thankfully rice doesn't upset my tummy.

I started off heading towards LaPark to return The Hobbit DVD at Walgreen's, and in passing through had to weave around the LP house tour crowds. So change of plans as I opted to not run around the Park, instead I headed north/east towards downtown to maybe see the Arch.

And as I'm doing that I see the No Parking signage for the Hot Choc 15K, so another change of plans as I'd rather not run through a walking post-run crowd. So north to Olive then west.

I don't run the urban areas much, and this run reminded me why. Curbs, garbage, stoplights, traffic. But it's not bad. It is what it is. I joked to myself that I could call some of the really bad sidewalks "urban trail".

Turned around just before the WU campus, then back on Pine through the SLU campus.

Gorgeous day, it was in the 50's!! So odd to have that in mid-December.

NUMERICS 7hrs and 14 mins
SWIM 2200 yards
BIKE 20 miles
RUN 35.1 miles
COMMUTE 24 miles

Another week-long summary

Tuesday RUN 4.1 miles in about 36 mins, late afternoon into FoPa
              BIKE 20 mins indoors to destress
              COMMUTE 6 miles
Wednesday RUN 7.1 miles in 1:02 to work
              RUN 3 miles home, about 28 mins
Thursday RUN 6.8 miles in 58 mins
             COMMUTE 6 miles
Friday  COMMUTE 6 miles

Busy week, so I'm playing ketch-up. But there's not much to say when you're not really "training".

My back was still sore in the early week but got better as time went by. To my surprise running and biking didn't bother it. By Friday it was pretty minimal.

Oh my aching back

SWIM -- skipped due to back pain
COMMUTE 6

So I skip the swim, but not the bike ride? Yeah. And it's not like I slept in or anything. I was awake but huddled with my heating pad. The ride didn't bother me, and maybe even helped a bit.

The spasms improved over the course of the day, but it's still sore. Not sure I'll run much over 3 miles tomorrow, I need to rest it. I see this type of tight pain as something that would cause me to compensate in form.

The goal this week is 35 miles, then next week is the "official" start of my 100 miler training plan. I'm not 100% sure I'm signing up for the race, due to personal reasons. But registration doesn't open until January 1st, and I've got nothing else to do anyway :)

Oh and I've neglected to mention that I'm now tracking my dog walks with an app. We've been doing 3-4 miles a day last week!

30 mile week summary

Wednesday RUN 3.1 miles, 6 mile bike COMMUTE
Thursday RUN 7 miles, COMMUTE 6 miles
Friday Nutthin'!
Saturday SWIM 2500y in 1 hour
Sunday RUN 12 miles in 2.5 hrs on Chubb

Ketchup post!

My goal for the week was 30 miles running, did it! Next week 35?

Everything is feeling good, I have good energy and aside from personal stress I'm doing OK.

Well the Chubb run did leave behind some pain - my back/hip on the right side is spasmy and sore.

TV and I considered the Chubb run to be our "opening run" for the season and joked about how we will look back on today and laugh about how much his calf and my hips hurt after "only 12 miles".

NUMERICS 6hrs 48 mins
SWIM 4700y in 2 hrs
BIKE none
RUN 30.1 miles in about 5 hrs
COMMUTE 12 miles

Tuesday Two-A-Day: Is it a thing now?

RUN COMMUTE IN: 5 miles in 45 mins
RUN COMMUTE OUT: 3 miles in 28 mins

Another cold day, but not too cold to run! The run in felt super awesome, again I'm feeling fast and fresh. I routed through TGP then up along the MoBot looking forward to running along the new path but it was the most iced-over segment of my run. So I ended up in the street. Oh well.

In previous years I've used Tuesday's as my commute and TAD training day. Looks like I'm on track for doing that again. For ultra training, I found that a TAD is a wonderful way to learn to run tired and re-acclimate to running after sitting or standing all day. It's only 3 miles, unfortunately the first mile is always a warm-up and the last mile is always uphill on my route...but that's all part of it.

December!

SWIM 2200y in 51 mins, 4x250 as 100mod/25sprint/100mod/25sprint

Today's swim felt good and fast. Whether or not I was really "fast"...I dunno. But it felt good :)

Freezing rain this morning, made for an icy drive to the pool and prevented me from bike commuting. Bad enough to tolerate cold, but ice? Eh...I'll drive.