Christmas Week

Christmas week and on top of that, the 27th was our 20th Wedding Anniversary. So this week wasn't probably going to be the best training week on record. Last Saturday (12/22) was a 20 miler. The weather was great. A fast group met at the Y, everyone had some different distances to run, but it was great to have company for the first 13. I realized on mile 15 that this was the first 20 miler I had run without "Coaching" in about 3 years. It was kind of interesting. Goal was to average between 7:45 and 8:00 minute miles. Overall average was 7:48 with only one mile over 8:00. Course had some decent hills (Started with Kane Road). Pleased with the effort and the ice bath felt great.

The plan was to do the speed work (3x1600 with 1 minute rest intervals) on Monday in F'burg and do Tempo on either Wednesday or Thursday in either DC or Richmond. No rush to get started on Monday so I slept a bit later and set out to find a track. I drove around for an hour trying 2 high schools, 2 middle schools and a community college without any success. The high school tracks were locked up tight. This is very sad. Public facilities are not accessible to the public due to the fear of vandalism and damage. A very poor commentary on our society (same holds true in the Richmond area). So I found a country road and decided to do some tempo work and then do the track work on Thursday back in Richmond. This country road was pretty hilly but the weather was nice and I had a good run. Hit my tempo goals and felt pretty good even on the hills.

Did a bit of indoor rowing on Wednesday afternoon after a three hour drive from Alexandria to Richmond. Rain and holiday traffic make a lousy combination. I felt a bit tight that evening but nothing too interesting. Got up early on Thursday to hit Godwin for track work. Felt good getting out of bed (my 44th year has made this more interesting), warm-up was good. Did a couple of striders to get the legs ready and started the first 1600M repeat. At about 900 meters my right hamstring felt like it was burning. Not a cramp, more like a generalized pain. I pulled up after about 950 meters and walked a bit. The pain was still there but greatly reduced. I stretched it and jogged a bit without pain so I figured I would do a 400M repeat and see if it held up. It held up for about 20 meters. I couldn't push off without a bunch of pain. I went back to the car dejected and starting to wonder if I would ever get through a track workout without issue. I applied ice as soon as I got home and wore a compression sleeve all day Thursday and Friday. Lots of ice and tiger balm allowed me to run on Saturday.

Saturday called for 18 miles at 7:45 to 8 minutes per mile. At 6:15 it was raining pretty good. I waited until 6:30 and started. After about a mile it started raining. Not too hard and thankfully it wasn't too cold. Met up with some of the usual group at the Y at 7. It was a small group and raining pretty good. The rain was off and on. It was at it's hardest when I was running up the hills of FoxHall (of course). 18 was right at 7:59 per mile in less than great conditions and in very heavy (wet) shoes. Even with all the hills, hamstring never signalled a problem. So I am happy with that, an hour of indoor cycling on Sunday morning.

The week was not what I had hoped. My expectations were low and I failed to meet them for the second week in a row. I'm starting to wonder if the speed work pacing is a bit aggressive for my current ability/fitness. The long runs are no problem. The tempo runs are hard but not killer. The track work is almost out of the question. I am trying to stay on the FIRST program as close as possible but I haven't run very well in the winter in years past. Cold weather negatively impacts my breathing. The time goals are based on a recent 5K effort, so they should be achievable, however it's not going well. I am going to try to meet the time goals for the trackwork this week, however, if it results in another hamstring or achilles issue, I will be reworking the time goals to reduce the chance of injury.

Watched "Marathon Challenge" by NOVA this morning, very inspirational to watch these 12 folks finish a marathon based on where they started...