Training log week of 10 August 2015

Last week was  an unplanned week off -well, sort of.  I didn't run all week but that's not to say that I was inactive. I just got back from a week long vacation with the family at a house on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire.  While I wasn't doing specific run training, I did get in some pretty long days of outdoor activities between hiking and and a ton of swimming.  It was a good change of pace and some wonderful scenery.  

Training Log: Week of 3 August 2015

Monday

Rest Day. Mobility work hips and lower legs. 

Tuesday 

Thunderstorms last night and this morning means little sleep and no running today.  

Wednesday

Fasted morning run.  Nice temps today and lower humidity.  Had a hard time getting my HR up and felt like I was working harder than I should have. 

Thursday 

Fasted morning run. Cool and clear weather again.  Nice run today.  Got a better night sleep than I did for Wednesday's run.  Kicked out 4 miles and negative split them all.  I felt like I could have kept going but had to get ready for work. 

Sunday

Nice hour long morning run, 6.5 miles.  Thirty minutes out and 30 back and I finished right where I started.  Good test to see how well I maintained pace.  

Sometimes I am just tired (a warning sign of fatigue)

Most of the time when I run I judge my effort by feel or Rate of Perceived Exertion RPE. While I am tracking my pace and HR, I don't usually look at the data when I'm running.  I just review it afterwards and compare to how I felt during the workout.  I am really trying to develop the sense of "feel" so I don't have to constantly rely on the realtime data. Plus, it helps when I actually want to use it (on long runs for example). I don't need to be constantly checking my watch to tell if I'm pushing too hard. 

Well, today was just one of those days where things didn't feel right. I was losing mental focus. I felt like I was breathing heavier than I should and needing to push harder than I should just to keep what felt like an average pace.  

As it turns out, my pace was right about where I thought it would be, in the low 9 mins/mile. But my average HR was only 133 BPM.  That's is lower than I thought it should be. I also usually see a spike in HR when I first start out (especially when I don't warm up first). I didn't see that either.

So what does this mean?  Why is my HR not reacting when my body feels like it's pushing harder?  

From what I have read and heard, not being to get your HR up is either a sign of increased fitness or increased fatigue.  In my case I'm going with fatigue.  Sleep seems to be a luxury for me these last couple of days. Also, I just changed jobs at work so that is adding more stress to my life. I think it's just adding up. I will keep an eye on this over the next couple of days and see how it goes. Also, I'll work on getting more sleep.  

Training log week of 27 July 2015

Monday

Rest day. 

Tuesday

Evening run.  I ran four miles total and pushed the pace on the second and fourth hard.  Got my max HR to 180BPM. 

Wednesday

Hot and humid run after work. Cut it off at three miles

Thursday

Did not run in the morning. I got blood work done first thing in the morning and I I didn't want it to skew my numbers.  I didn't get out in the evening due to some heavy thunderstorms. 

Friday

This would typically have been a rest day but instead I did four miles just to put me over 100 miles for the month. I got 102.7 in July. 

Saturday

Went out fasted today.  Didn't bring any fuel with me either.  Just water.  Got in 8.5 miles before cutting it off.  Felt pretty good the whole time, heart rate and pace stayed steady.  

Sunday

No run today.  That's just part of the family life. 

Total mileage: 19.6 miles. 

Training log week of 20 July 20, 2015

Monday

Rest day. 

Tuesday

Still very humid this morning and we had a late night at my daughters swim meet so I was dragging this morning. Did three miles and called it quits. 

Wednesday

Quick 4 mile fasted run before work. 

Thursday

Quick 4 mile fasted run before work.

Friday

Rest day. 

Saturday

Long run day.  Got out early and finished a 20 mile run in 3:40.  Focused on keeping my HR low and staying hydrated.  For fuel I used Hammer Nutrition HEED.  I tried to take in about 200 calories an hour.  This may have been a little too much for me though.  Towards the end I was getting a little gassy and completely uninterested in drinking any of it. 

Sunday

Rest Day

Total mileage 31.5

Training log: Week of 13 July 2015

Monday - Rest Day

I've been struggling with a bit of IT band soreness on my left leg.  I rolled it out with the foam roller before bed and that seemed to help.

Tuesday 

The IT band was feeling a little better when I went out for my run this morning. I had to cut it short though after only two miles due to lightning. Afterwards, I noticed it was getting little achy again, so I continued massaging it with a softball in the car on the way to work.  

Wednesday 

My leg felt good in the morning but strong thunderstorms rolled through just in time to keep me from running.  

Friday

Well this has been one of those unplanned recovery weeks.  Missed another session yesterday because my daughter was up all night with an upset stomach. But today I finally made it out the door. Four miles first thing in the morning.  Empty stomach, no fuel.  Just some water before I started.  No leg or IT pain today.  Hopefully that is a sign that the weekend workouts will be good.  

Saturday 

Well the trend continued.  Missed another workout.  Blah.  What a week!?

Sunday

Hot and humid morning run. No pre run fuel.  Just water along the way.  Stopped at just under six miles.  Tried out the new arm coolers.  Pretty nice.  I think that they may work a little better if the humidity was lower though or if there were a more consistent wind.  When it did blow, the cooling was noticeable.  

2014 Week 5 Training Log

This was a rough week.  Life got in the way of training this week.  Travel for work, a sick cat and an evening trip to the ER to get stitches for my daughter's foot.  I didn't get very much done but sometimes these kinds of weeks happen.  Glad this one is behind us.  

1/26/2014

Rest

1/27/2014

Bike trainer  

35 minutes

137 ave HR

83 RPM ave cadence

498 cals

1/28/2014

Run (treadmill)

Start Time: 0530

35 minutes 

3.8 miles

Ave HR 147

1/29/2014

Rest/travel day

Late night getting caught up on work and had to get up very early to catch my flight back home.  

1/30/2014

Nothing

1/31/2014

Nothing

2/1/2014

Nothing

2014 Week 4 Training Log

1/20/2014

Rest day. 

1/21/2014

Bike trainer  

35 minutes

137 ave HR

85 RPM ave cadence

506 cals

I did some riding on the MTB in the snow around the house.  It was a lot of fun riding through 8 inches of snow.  And really hard!   I had almost No traction on driveway.  On the hill in my backyard, I would end up spinning the wheel until I just fell over.  Sometimes we have to make the most of the situations Mother Nature gives us - and have fun with it.  

1/22/2014

Bike trainer  

40 minutes

130 ave HR

83 RPM ave cadence

539 cals

1/23/2014

Run (outside)

5 degrees

Light clouds

No wind

Start Time: 0400

29.5 minutes 

3.17miles

Ave HR  not recorded 

Yeah - it was cold outside today.  But I layered up and stayed plenty warm.   

1/24/2014

Rest

1/25/2014

Run (inside)

Start Time: 1030

60 minutes 

6.9 miles

155 ave HR

1377

Nice run on the treadmill today.  

1/26/2014

Rest.  

2014 Week 3 Training Log

1/12/2014

Run (outside)

42 degrees

Light clouds

wind 10 mph

Start Time: 1230

60 minutes 

6.7 miles

Ave HR 159

Went out a little fast but quickly settled into a nice pace that I was able to maintain for the entire run.  After the run I had a little cream cheese and a yogurt and berry smoothie.  Otherwise I didn't use any other fuel for the run and I felt good. For the remainder of the day I wore my 2XU compression socks to help with recovery and reduce soreness for Monday's workout.  

1/13/2014

Bike trainer  

32 minutes

121 ave HR

82 RPM ave cadence

398 cals

Seems the compression socks helped out yesterday.  My legs felt pretty good this morning.  But since I did a couple longer runs this weekend, I took it a little easy on the bike this morning for a little recovery.  I like the numbers though.  

1/14/2014

Rest day

1/15/2014

This is what happens when you forget to bring work shoes to the gym.

Run (outside)

30 degrees

Thick fog

wind 0 mph

Start Time: 0400

35 minutes 

4.2 miles

Ave HR 162

815 cals

Lifting 30 mins

Abs

Bench

Push-up

Lat pull

DB curl

DB bench

DB row

It was a very foggy morning run.  With he temperature just below freezing the conditions were perfect for little spots of black ice all around the neighborhood.  So, if I were smart, I would have turned around and went home after hitting the first patch.  No need for injury, right?  Yeah well who said I was smart?  I just kept on running.  I used the opportunity to learn something new.

Today was also my fist day in the gym in quite a while.  This year I am adding some strength training into my workout routines.  I didn't do anything major, mostly upper body today.  I intend to spend a couple weeks using just body weight or light weights.  I am doing this to allow my muscles to adapt to the new stress of weights.  I don't want to injure myself by going too hard too soon.  This definitely something I would have done when I was younger.  

1/16/2014

Bike trainer  

35 minutes

132 ave HR

84 RPM ave cadence

477 cals

Lifting

Lunges

Free Squats

Light bar squats

Leg extensions

Leg curls

Calf raises

Pull ups

1/17/2014

Rest day

I think the addition of the weights (plus a couple bad nights of sleep) required an additional rest day this week.  My body was telling me not to get out of bed this morning.  Sometimes you need to listen to what the body is telling you.

1/18/2014

Bike trainer  

50 minutes

141 ave HR

86 RPM ave cadence

747 cals

2014 Week 2 Training Log

I spent a lot of time on the trainer this week.  We had a crazy week of weather ranging from sub-zero mid week to nearly 60F yesterday.  Lots of rain and ice made the basement a much better option for working out - especially early in the morning. 

1/5/2014

Bike trainer  

40 minutes

138 ave HR

81 RPM ave cadence

584 cals

1/6/2104

Bike trainer  

36 minutes

130 ave HR

82 RPM ave cadence

484 cals

After the ride today when I was putting my bike away, I noticed that the rear break was rubbing on the tire.  Too bad I didn't notice that until I was done!  That might explain some of the sluggishness I felt this morning.  I had just been chalking it up to being my first early morning workout in three weeks.  A couple quick turns with the wrench and it's good to go.  Ugh!  We'll with wind chills expected to be well below zero, I'll probably be back on the trainer again tomorrow.  

1/7/2014

Bike trainer  

35 minutes

132 ave HR

87 RPM ave cadence

480 cals

Another really cold morning today. So another spin on the trainer.  I would say that the little break repair from yesterday was a definite help.  With just a quick look at the results, everything is basically consistent including calories burned (based on my HRM) and I had about a 6% increase in my cadence.  

1/8/2014

Rest day

1/9/2014

Run (outside)

20 degrees

Light clouds

No wind

Start Time: 0400

35 minutes 

3.8 miles

Nice easy run this morning.  Just over 9 minute pace.  I didn't look at any data during the run (no GPS or HRM). I wanted to run at a pace I feel that I can sustain for an extended time. Even though I only ran for 35 minutes, I still felt fresh at the end and I think I could have continued for quite a while.  For a better assessment, I need so do the same on a weekend when I have more time. 

1/10/2014

Bike trainer  

Start Time 0410

30 minutes

128 ave HR

83 RPM ave cadence

393 cals

Had a late start this morning so had to limit the time to just 30 minutes.  Another slow and steady day today.  

1/11/2014

Run (inside)

Start Time: 1130

60 minutes 

6.7 miles

161 ave HR

1435

Keep Calm and Train On

I don't believe in making up for missed workouts.

First of all, I try really hard not to miss a workout.  But it does happen.  Life happens.  And for as much as I would love to think I am in control of my life, I have to realize that I am not.  Sometimes I'm just tired, sometimes I'm sick, sometimes the kids are sick... sometimes I'm tired - did I say that already?  There is nothing I can do about it.  So every once in a while (or a week), workout (... or two) gets missed.  I don't try to cram those missed workouts into the rest of my week.  First of all, I don't have time for that.  I'm doing all I can right now to get in the workouts I do.  Doubling up on an day - ain't gonna happen.  

So what the heck am I supposed to do when I miss?

Nothing - Bag it..  I like to try a positive spin and tell myself that I'm getting a bonus day of rest.  I may shed a little tear or two if I were really looking to that early morning tempo run.  After that, move on to the next day. 

Hitting The Bricks

So, what are brick workouts?
Brick workouts are the combination of two or more separate workouts back to back creating one extended workout.  For the triathlete, this usually means a swim then a bike, or a bike then a run, or even perhaps all three.  It is generally recommended that brick workouts are completed in the order of the race but that is not necessary.  

Here are some of the Bricks Ive been running to train for my sprint.  I have mainly been focusing on the bike to run transition because I find this to be the hardest for my body to adapt.  I usually try to run at least one brick a week because they tend to take longer than my normal workout schedule and that's when I have time to fit them in. 

Timed Brick
I keep the time somewhat shorter but I try to go as fast as possible for both portions.  My focus is mostly on the transition between from bike to run so I really focus on getting my legs tired during the ride first and then getting them to adapt to running as quickly as possible
Bike 30 mins
Run 30 mins

Full distance Brick Bike/Run
Full triathlon distances for both the bike and the run
Bike 13 miles
Run 3.15 miles

Full Sprint Brick
Simulated full sprint triathlon distances (I built several of these into my training schedule)
Swim 0.35 miles
Bike 13 Miles
Run 3.15 Miles

Have you been running any bricks lately?  How do you like to mix them up?

Plateau Breaker Running Workout

I've officially started my first official running workout.  Up until now I have just been..... well, just running.  When I started, I could barely run a mile and it was taking me 12-15 minutes.  Over time I have improved both my pace and distance,  But now I'm starting to reach a plateau.  At a three mile distance, I can't seem to break the 9 minute/mile barrier without feeling completely wiped out afterwards.  Mentally, I feel that I should be able to run faster.  I just can't convince my legs to do it.  The pace I would really like to get to is around 8min/mile or better. 

So, while I was complaining to my friend, a former collegiate track runner, he says "If you never change the way you are running, you will never run any differently"  Wow!  that almost seems obvious.... But what the heck does that really mean?  Basically, what is likely keeping you back is muscle memory and mental cadence.  Your legs and body get used to running in a certain way all the time and your mind gets used to seeing things move by at about the same speed.  To get faster you need to break the old routine and teach your legs how to run faster.     

To get started you will need to know your normal running pace.  This shouldn't be hard to figure out if you have been jogging for a while.  Hopefully you have been tracking your progress.  I listed some helpful tools in this Resources post.  Just remember, a normal pace should be a pace that when you are finished, you can still carry on a conversation.

So here is the workout I'm starting to get beyond my 9 minute barrier.  Its a 4 day cycle workout. 

Basic:  Run 3-4 miles at normal pace. 
Tempo:  Warm up, Run one "Quick" mile, run one mile at normal pace, run one "Quick" mile, cool down
Workout: Warm up, Run 3-4 cycles of two minutes fast, two minutes 80% normal, cool down
Easy: Run: 3-5 miles at about 80%-90% normal pace. 

Of course "Quick" and "Fast" are very generic terms.  That's OK.  The main point of the exercise is to break up the routine of running the same way every day.  It's about getting your body and mind used to moving at a faster pace.  Its also about building up your strength and endurance. 

But if you are set on having a more specific target here is a quick reference:

Quick = about 10%-15% faster than normal
Fast = 40%-50% faster than normal

Here is an example using my current numbers:
Normal: 9:00 min/mile
Quick: 7:30 - 8:00 min/mile
Fast: 5:00-5:30 min/mile

So, I'm going to try this out for the next two weeks and see how it goes. 

Do you have an suggestions for getting beyond the plateau?