Week 17 with the coach

AKA holy crap I haven't had a down week in a long freaking time!

Work was stressful last week and my body started to turn on me again Thursday just in time for my tempo run. Rather than another dismal tempo like two weeks ago I bailed when I realized it was a lost cause. Took Friday off, went in for a "massage" AKA torture, took it easy Saturday and once again had a great long run Sunday.

Talked with coach after the long run and this week will be a bit of a back off week. Cut out some of the junk miles and bag the tempo. I am racing the Buckeye Half Sunday and would like to do well so I am considering this a recovery week/half taper. Not exactly what I would like only 6 weeks out from Columbus, but my body is begging for a break so I will listen. Better to be under trained than over trained at this point since Columbus is more of a gauge to see how I am doing with this training. Next year and the following year are when the hard work will really start to pay off.

Rundown: 68 miles for the week

M- 7 miles easy 8:33 pace
(68 push ups)
T- 8.5 miles Track
W- 7.5 miles easy 8:35 pace
(75 push ups)
Th- AM- Attempted tempo 6 miles, 7:49 pace
PM- Easy medium long run 11 miles 8:24 pace
(83 push ups)
F-Rest and Massage
Sat-8 miles easy 8:35 pace
Sun- 20.5 miles 7:31 pace

Key Workouts:

Tuesday Track:

My legs felt thrashed going into this and I was surprised I was able to run the desired pace ( under 3:45 for 4*1000) The last mile was a sucker punch though and I was toast by the end.

3:40.67 (2:29.91)
3:38.84 (2:36.73)
3:39.39 (2:30.77)
3:38.09 (2:57.91 + bathroom)

1600- 6:17.37

Thursday Tempo: I was supposed to run 8 miles in 7:10, 3*6:50, 7:10, 3*6:40. Felt absolutely thrashed and after upping the effort and still not hitting 6:50 I bagged it and ran back to the office to either save the effort for later or bag it in favor of recovery.

7:15.91
7:00.67
6:56.66


Sunday Long Run:

Another 20 miler with 5 miles at marathon effort. Given that I was feeling thrashed coach just said 20 at 7:45-8 pace and only pace work if I was feeling up to it. I ran most of the miles a little quicker than two weeks ago and was a little slower on the pace work but still very happy with the result.

Last 5 before a mile cool down:
6:57
7:04
6:58
7:09
7:09

Massage AKA Torture:

Truth time I have been a little beat up. Anytime I up the miles I tend to get mild PF in my right foot and some nagging soreness/pain in my left calf. It never gets "worse" so I generally don't worry about it and don't talk about it. But in light of feeling just mentally and physically exhausted I decided I should finally get a massage and perhaps have her work on those two problem areas. Well I guess they were more of a problem than I thought because most of the hour session was spent just on my feet and calves and we never did get to the relaxing stretching lengthening my muscles part of the massage. What really surprised me was that my left foot and right calf weren't that much better than the right foot and left calf once she started in on the pinpoint work it was obvious I had some scar tissue in both. Apparently they are just as thrashed, but just not showing the same signs. To say the work was painful would be an understatement, but I am glad I did it. I am thinking about going back one more time to have her work on my feet and calves again two weeks out form the marathon and one week out to get a more relaxing stretch out the muscles type massage.