Why not hit the legs one more time?

STRENGTH: P90X Legs & Back, Abs

Tuesday speedwork, Wednesday Q bike, Thursday a long run, Friday rest leg specific strength training, all to be followed by a long bike Saturday and a long trail run Sunday.

Why not?

Another 10 on Thursday

RUN 10 miles in 1:36, more data this time with mile splits
SWIM!!!!! dammit, no swim.

Average 9.43 146
1       10.23 130
2        9.36 142
3        9.28 144
4        9.45 140
5        9.45 145
6      10.23 147
7       11.13 137
8        8.35 159
9       8.54 157
10      9.13 163

I started off at 5:15am and got 3.14 done before the group run. Surprisingly, I managed a similar pace for the first 3 miles of the group run, I thought for sure I'd speed up. I fasted this one, and it was a struggle to keep a high pace going. Or so I thought...

We had two new runners who split off with JM (he joined too!) at the zoo ( mile 6 we slowed for them, mile 7 waited a bit) then I took off with the goal of catching IT who was just head. you can see the times increase for miles 8-10, that's when I ran with him.

My goal for this run was to run tired, run fasted, and keep a low HR. I kept the low HR promise for the first hour, although I think I should be lower. Yes, looking back I can be. Sunday's 8 miler with RM at a 11:17 pace had an ave of 126bpm. So I guess I didn't really accomplish that goal. But I sure as heck was tired!

Bike-Strength-Bike

BIKE: 17.5 miles indoors in 1 hour, 30/30 hard intervals workout
STRENGTH: Abs, Back & Biceps, 1hr
BIKE: long commute with goal of ride extension: 1 hr and ~11.4 miles

Today satisfied a few goals for me. The first is getting more bike time in, even if it's easy riding around town (which I don't particularly like as a workout) and/or part of my commute. The second is time management. By stacking with sessions this way I can skip the P90X warm-up and cool-down, and I don't have to leave the house and come back again for the doggie.

I got up early at 430 but didn't start riding until after 6. The plan was to start closer to 5-530am. So in terms of time management, I kinda failed. What was I doing, anyway?

Bike 1hr 6:12 to 7:12
Abs 7:15 to 7:30
Strength 7:30-8:15
Eat, shower, eat more, walk the dog...
9:35 leave for work
10:20 arrive at work.

I must be the only person who can wake up at 430am and take almost 6 hrs to get to work. The really depressing thing about this is that only 2.75hrs (maybe 3) were actually spent training. I lost 1.5hrs doing who knows what and another 1.5hrs getting ready to leave for work. Can't speed that up a little bit?

Anyway, in good news, today was probably my BEST Abs Ripper workout yet. Still not hitting every crunch, but on the In/Out, Froggie, Mason Twists, and VUp/Pulse Ups I'm finally keeping up! Yay!

Step-Downs at the track

RUN about 55-60 mins and 6.5 miles
STRENGTH 45 mins of plyoX

Workout was 2x1200, 2x800, 2x400 then I added a 200 just to get a rounded 5K speedwork total.

1200's in 5:21 (7:10m/m; 151bpm) and 5:18 (7:06/162)
800's in 3:30 (7:02/159) and 3:38 (7:18/162)
400's in 1:42 (6:50/156) and 1:40(6:42/153)

I ran this workout alone, RM and BE were at the track but doing their own thing. I was very happy to see that I was mostly steady between the intervals, and picking up the pace as the workout progressed.

As usual, while running to the track I started coming up with reasons I would be slow today. I've just learned to not listen anymore. I'm not as fast as I want to be, but I'm happy with how today went. When I finish an interval and can't do anything more than lean over and breath--YES! Now my next goal will be to puke after an interval :)

According to the pace chart that accompanied the Step Down workout, I'm running at a 23-something 5K pace and a 3:30-3:40 something marathon pace?! How does that work out? What do I need to do to make progress on that type of marathon time? And if I add together my times above for a 5K, it comes out to about 21 minutes. That's my 5K PR time, so I know I can go faster than what I did today. (ETA: the footnote of the Step-Down pace chart says "Being able to run these times does not predict the corresponding race performance. Rather, it indicates that your aerobic plumbing will not limit you...you must also train to have enough endurance and lactic acid clearing capability to meet that goal."

I'm also improving at the plyos workout, and wondering if there is a 2nd version I can buy to keep the variety up. I figure if I did this every week in the training season, I'd be doing it about 40 times. Is Tony H that funny? He cracks me up, but it's more laughing at what's he saying, not with it.

More MCT's

BIKE 3-some hours, and 40 miles
STRENGTH: 1 hr of Chest Shoulders and Triceps, then Abs

Yay for 3 day weekends! And ones with great weather! It rained later in the afternoon but not a drop on the ride.

I was with a new group today, and in the first 20 miles it was me and BG pushing a faster pace and intervals. I'm getting better but still weak on the intervals. This really highlights where I need to start focusing for improvement.

After 24 miles I turned around to ride with G, she was hoping to do her first 40 today and I was so excited to see it happen. She was fantastic, always positive and laughing (she has 2 beagles too!), lots to talk about, and even when she started hurting kept pushing it. I ook back and wonder if I was so pleasant on my first long rides? And whether I did them alone? When I was unsure of myself I go off alone to ride so others wouldn't see my weaknesses. I think it takes a strength to join a new group to try something new.

She did it! and BS did his first 56! What an awesome ride!

I came home and did my Monday P90X. Even though I did CS&T Friday, I did it again today to get back on schedule. There was definitely improvement even in just the few days, many more pushups :)

Oh and I have a schedule worked out to blend the UM and HIM plans.
Monday: swim and p90x
Tuesday: speed run and plyoX
Wednesday: p90x and Q bike extended for time (2hrs)
Thursday: extended group run (90-120 mins) and swim
Friday: swim
Saturday/Sunday: long trail run one day, and long bike/brick the other.

So I'm moving the 2nd long weekend run to Thursday, and doing a long bike instead on the weekend day. I'm also extending the Weds ride to increase my biking. I still need another bike in there somewhere, or I really need to push the weekend ride hard to get the miles, time, and improvements I need to make.

Next I need to set some benchmark goals. My HIM is only 2 months away!!!

Easy run with RM and D

RUN 8.3 in 90 mins, easy pace

My legs were still burning from Friday and Saturday, so this was a good idea all around. RM and I could talk all day, sometimes we get a little negative on others but that's easy to change :) Besides, you need to rant sometimes. And he loves to talk training, and we all know that I do too.

I'm not used to running with a doggie, and D is a great partner. A little wandery, but she keeps pace and doesn't dart off much (one exception for a goose today). I wonder if Sugar could be that good?

My legs hurt after this, and so did the bottoms of my feet. It took awhile to figure it out--I was spending more time with my feet on the ground at this pace. Another evening early to bed.

NUMERICS total of 11:05 hours with one day off
Swim zero
Bike 28.6 miles in 1:40
Run 33.65 miles in 6:15
Strength 3:10 of P90X

My ratios are WAY OFF! Spend some time working out a better schedule!

Three climbs up the Chubb

RUN: 15 miles in 3.5hrs on the Chubb

My goal was 20 miles. It wasn't until I hit 12 miles that I realized how ambitious that goal was. I also had a goal of doing a Triple Chubb, as a stepping stone to doing a Quad Chubb.

Absolutely gorgeous day and start to the Mem Day weekend! The plan called for a 20+8 weekend but I knew I'd be biking some of it. I still haven't figured out the best way to merge the HIM and UM plans.

The first hour didn't go so smooth. I veered off onto the wrong trail early on and found myself at the bottom of a very steep rocky hill. I took it just for kicks, but in getting back onto the right route I realized I was going the wrong way--heading back to the shelter! Oh well. I re-calculated and planned to run out 9 then turn around. It didn't hit me until later that 9 miles was most of the trail. Bad math. So in the 1st hour, I did only 4 miles.

Hit the shelter lot and headed back up to the picnic table, this time taking the correct trail. I was able to feel the improvements the plyometrics are making for me--I was pushing the leaps and lateral jumps much more than I was before and feeling good with it. This was the good thing from P90X today, the bad was that my back muscles were sore under the Camelbak!

I was getting some anxiety about my bad math, and picked a goal of doing a "hard" mile, then an "easy" mile, all relative to each other. Up and over the bluff, down to the river where flooding blocked the DC course just a month ago. The water was gone by now, but the damage is still there. Trees and branches blocked the river trail only a quarter mile in. I was able to cross or go around a few but eventually I was blocked off. Humph. Well, didn't I want to do a Triple anyway? Back to the bluff.

Once at the bluff, I veered off to run along the gravel road that I discovered in volunteering for the DC. Out a mile, found a golf ball and kept it for some reason, back a mile. I was back at the RR tracks and needed many many more miles before I hit 10 miles. Nuts. Back to the water. Back to the tracks, only around 8 miles now. Dammit. Up the bluff. I passed for the 2nd time a group of guys, this time I walked a bit up the hill with them, learned they are going to the Grand Canyon for hiking next weekend! Doesn't that sound fun?!

Anyway, back towards the truck after re-doing the Chinkapin. The Garmin beeped for 12 and I knew that if I stopped I'd lose more time. So I skipped the truck and headed up Flint Quarry, planning to turn around after 1.5 miles so I could hit 15 today. Found the guys again at the top, more talking, then back down.

So while I'm disappointed that I only got 15 miles, I'm still happy. My legs were sore from the previous day's P90X, I only ran a total of 15 miles last weekend, and it's the Chubb for cryin out loud! Technic alus Maximus! It took me 2.5 hours to run 15 miles on the TTT course, and just under 3.5 on the Chubb. Wow.