Monday, August 8, 2011

Summer of Mark Week VII

Monday: Up at 5:00 to make it to KSC for 6:00 am swim practice. 600 yds. warm-up followed by a boatload of drills and kicking. (1 hr.) 11:00 headed out on The Vulture for a moderate 30 miles. It was really humid out again so I made sure to be extra mindful of hydration and fueling. Went with 20 oz. of water and a Hammer Gel flask with some watered down Berry gel. My computer was still off from Saturday so I don't have any data other than what my legs were telling me. Everything my body was saying was good so I will chalk it up as a solid thirty plus mile ride. (1 hr. 30 min.) Ran out to Yale Forest and back this afternoon to wrap up the day. Fueled again with Hammer Gel in a flask and felt great running +- 6:30 pace the whole way. (1 hr.) (3 hr. 30 min.)

Tuesday: Slept way to late this morning and threw off my whole day. Went to noon swim and did a small workout by myself. 200 -warm-up of drills followed by 5 x 200 at race pace with 30 seconds rest. Swam 800 more yds. afterwards to get 2k for the day. (45 min.) Headed right out the door and ran out and back seven alone. Felt super tired following the swim but managed to just zone out and have an ok run. Mary and I are looking at a house this afternoon and then are hitting the town for out three year anniversary so I am going with a short day to conserve energy. (50 min) (1 hr. 35 min.)

Wednesday: Went out for a shakeout five miler alone around 1:30. Quads were a little tight early on but things felt better as the run went on. 5:00 met up with the gang at the track for a workout. I had communicated with Justin earlier in the day and he was planning a pyramid workout with a marathon pace effort at the end. Since I had not done a pyramid is forever and I have a couple of tough 10ks coming up I decided to join him. Three mile warm-up, striders followed by. 400, 800, 1200, Mile, 1200, 800, 400, followed by a marathon pace effort which for Justin is 5:18 right now. 400 recovery after every interval which was quick early but we slowed down as we moved forward. 69, 2:22, 3:38, 5:03, 3:42, 2:22, 63, 3:48 mp 1200, blew up, rested, last quarter with Fyffe in 77. Overall a solid effort as I was hitting all the splits that Justin wanted and I towed the first half of the workout. Early on in the workout I knew I was not at my best and knew that it was going to be a grind. I was having a very difficult time relaxing my upper body and facial muscles. I was hot and it was a little humid which may have been a contributing factor. The second 1200 was a bit off pace at 3:42 but I hung pretty tough and was able to get things back in line for the last two repeats. I know it was a solid workout but I was a little discouraged having an off day while Justin was clearly on his A game. It is tough watching someone run away from you over the last half of a workout. He really looked great. We jogged an 800 and then went into the MP effort. We started a little slow (81) and I knew that I was good for a mile tops. I let Justin know and told him to tuck in and that I would pull him through the mile on pace. 1100 in I popped like a tour rider on an alpine pass and pulled up at 1200 in 3:48. I was toast and in full knees on the track what's wrong with me mode. Throwing reason out the window I decided to pull Justin through the last quarter so I could get a mile like I said I would. Stubborn idiot way of training. Finished things off with a 77 and was toast. I cooled-down with Josh, Justin, and Tim for a mile and called it a day but the damage was already done. On a separate not Josh looks incredible heading into the 50k next week. I have not seen him this fit since he was in school so watch out world! Armadillos was good but my stomach was already giving me fits. Had a terrible night at home with serious stomach issues and a serious lack of sleep. Fifteen on the day. (1 hr. 45 min.)

Thursday: Coming off the terrible night sleep I decided that it would be in my best interest today to keep things on the light side. Went to noon swim and did a 1000 yd. warm-up 2 x 200 quickie, 200 pull, 100 kb. Followed with 10 x 25 fast with flippers on streamline recovery. 1700 yds. total. (30 min.) Since we have a busy afternoon on tap I headed right out the door on a slow nine miler all alone out to Yale Forest and back. I stopped the watch shortly after 2.5 miles because I was running so slow and did not want any pressure to pick it up! Run and ride tomorrow then Bridge of Flowers Saturday. (1 hr.) (1 hr. 30 min.)

Friday: Nine mile run felt great. Travel to Shelburne Falls for Bridge of Flowers speech. (1 hr.)

Saturday: Bridge of Flowers 10k. Slept really awkwardly on my left hip and woke up around 2:30 with a really uncomfortable pain in my piraformis. Up most of the night shifting around and not feeling well. When I "woke up" the hip/glute was really stiff and it felt like the muscle was off and not functioning. Not a great race course for a beat-up feeling hip and back so I decided to take it easy given the severity of the downhills in the second half of the race. Pretty loaded field and I managed 1oth place on a tempo effort. Mary said that I was the only person that did not look terrible which is nice. Hip/butt/back never loosened up which was a bit troubling. Long cool-down with Justin F. and then a day full of driving which only added to my stiffness. (1 hr. 50 min.)

Sunday: Off hip/back not great chiropractor tomorrow. Not a great time for this!

Total: 11 hours 10 minutes

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