I always struggle to reach weekly mileage in excess of 60 miles. Life gets in the way and sometimes I have to cut runs short because of little aches and pains. Taking it slow and ensuring that I stay healthy is my main priority at this point so I’m not too upset that this month wasn’t a great training block. After all, thinking long term is the surest path to improvement.
This training block of five weeks had its ups and downs but overall it was a good step in the right direction. I raced twice, had some great long runs, and started doing more biking to supplement my running.
I have not been doing hill sprints or visiting the gym as consistently as I’d like, probably because I spent a majority of the month sore and did not want to push my luck. My goals for the next month include being more consistent with core exercises, hill sprints, and strength routines in the gym.
Here we go…
5.3 – 5.9: 54 miles with a short 34 minute bike ride. I was in Savannah, GA for a wedding and I took it easy for a few days instead of being an idiot like last time. I increased my long run to 16 miles and felt great.
5.10 – 5:16: 65 miles with one 86 minute bike ride. I felt great this entire week. My two key workouts were perfect: a 16 mile long run and a 15 minute tempo.
5.17 – 5.23: 67 miles, no biking. I ran a solid tempo on my favorite loop in Rock Creek Park – two loops in 15:22. On Sunday I won a small 5k in 17:30 in the morning and ran another 5 miles in the afternoon for a daily total of 16 (my “long run”).
5.24 – 5:30: 69 miles, no biking (except the Tri). I ran a solid fartlek workout in Rock Creek, doing 4′, 3′, 3′, 2′, 1′, 2×30″ progressively faster. Saturday morning I raced a sprint triathlon and while I had the fastest run time of the day, my swim was ranked 190th; I was 58th overall. I increased my long run to 17 miles.
5.31 – 6.6: 26 miles, 6.5 hours on the bike. Doing two races in the past two weeks tweaked my left hamstring a bit so I decided to play it smart and take 4 days off. I cycled most days as that didn’t hurt and put in rides ranging from 18-35 miles. My hamstring is back to normal so no worries!
Looking back, I’m pleased with these weeks of training. While I had a low week because of my friend’s wedding and a very low week because of my hamstring, I gained a lot of fitness and renewed my interest in cycling.
I’m excited to continue putting in a few hours of cycling every week. If I reach my goals of running 80+ miles/week for the 6 weeks before my goal race in August, I will be ecstatic. I still hope to do some cycling in addition to that mileage.
How do you like this format for reporting my monthly training? Is it better (nerdier?) to go day by day? You can see more detail (and unfortunately, this format leaves many of the details out) but I want people to see the big picture and not get too bored. Let me know in the comments!
