Always a game of catch up

I'm starting to realize that I'm never actually going to be on top of what's going on, and for the most part that's okay. The problem with not blogging about my workouts daily though is that it sort of defeats the purpose of blogging. I'm not here just to spit my workouts back at the page, I do that when I log on my computer or on Garmin Connect. The point of the blog is reflection, and if I don't take time to reflect the day of a workout, it tends to generally just fade away by the time I get to writing about it...I think I really need to try to prioritize this on a daily basis. It doesn't take me more than 20 minutes to write one of these posts and I think it is really meaningful towards qualitatively assessing my training. Trying to do better. Here are the updates:

On Friday I took it easy after the pounding what was my first treadmill interval session of the year. Was planning on taking a 30 minute treadmill run in the morning, because it was the only time I was free, but ended up only doing 20 minutes and a small amount of lifting instead. The treadmill is do-able when broken into chunks but pretty tough as one slow slog so I took some of the mental load off and did something a bit more fun. Kept weight really low and reasonable for the lifting, trying to protect my back and my body more than I am trying to get strong.

Friday's Workout:

• Easy run:  treadmill, 20 mins broken as 5 @ 6 mph, 15 @ 6.5 mph, 2.25 mi, 21:14. (Garmin numbers: 2.1 mi, 20:53, 9:57 pace.)
• Flat bench: WU 12 @ 45 lbs, working 3 x 12/8/8 @ 75 lbs (legs up to protect my back)
• Pull downs: 4 x 12 alt. wide/narrow grip @ 6 plates
• Goblet squats: 2 x 12 @ 45 lbs + 5 squat jumps following each set. (Even this felt hard on my legs, funny how the run before hand really changes the game.)

On Saturday I took my weekend long run, which happened after a nap cut short by Henry waking me up because I told him to and me throwing a somewhat uncharacteristic tantrum and crying for a bit. I wasn't feeling too hot so I started really slow and just told myself to try and pick up the pace by :15 per mile every two miles and I ended up having a really great building run. I didn't think I had those kind of splits in me and I was really impressed by my own running. Unfortunately I also ended up developing a pounding headache after the run that lasted for hours and pretty much wrote off the rest of my day. Check it out though, I was really proud of this one:

Saturday's Workout:

• Long run: Forest Park and Wydown, 10.37 mi, 1:36:12, 9:11 pace.
• Pace splits: 9:40, 9:54, 9:41, 9:38, 9:13, 9:22, 8:58, 8:30, 8:39, 8:36, 8:38.
• Note: The weather was perfect, nice and cool and overcast, which probably played a lot into the quick pace of the run.

Sunday was another easy day. Sunday made my Monday sort of wonky because it was in reality a really unproductive day when it didn't need to be that way and it makes me feel really stupid for not having gotten more done because now I feel really overwhelmed. As far as the workout though, it was just to shake out the legs after a big day on Saturday. I took the opportunity to take some random roads in Forest Park and run through some grass and explore a bit, which was relaxing and fun. Apparently Toby saw me while he was biking and I totally didn't see him. Whoops!

Sunday's Workout: Easy run, 3.04 mi, 30:27, 10:02 pace.

Yesterday, I took another morning treadmill interval workout, this time it was a set that was sent to the tri team GroupMe last week and it was intended as a track workout, but I figured it worked well enough for this purpose. I kept the intervals at a similar speed as last workout but the recovery breaks were shorter, so I didn't know how it was going to play out. The set itself was also shorter, so that was another factor. The one thing I really like about treadmill intervals is that you're forced to keep up. You don't have to constantly be worried about making sure you're on the right pace, the treadmill does that for you, you just have to keep up. It takes that extra mental dimension out of it, and on one hand, I realize that it's important to train that mental dimension, but on the other hand, I know that this is one of the reason I avoid doing interval and speed work. If the treadmill removes some of the mental barriers and helps me get more speed into my training, I will take it and develop that mental resilience some other way or later down the line. 

In any case, it was by no means an easy run even though it was a shorter set than what I had done a few days ago. I got through it though and was very happy with how my body handled it overall. Also, my legs were a little rough in the morning but ended up feeling great the rest of the day. I don't really know what the deal with that is, but I'm not going to complain about it!

Monday's Workout:

• Treadmill interval run: 2% incline throughout, 6.02 mi, 54:08.
• WU: 2000 m
• Main Set: 3 x [1000, 600] @ 7.5 mph w/ 200 recovery @ 6 mph between each rep
• WD: 1600 m
• Garmin numbers: 5.57 mi, 53:53, 9:41 pace.

It's worth noting that I'm posting both treadmill and Garmin numbers. I figure both are pretty inaccurate, but whatever, they give me a sense for the range of what I'm doing.

As for the rest of the week, the plan was a long run today (10 miler, some tempo pick ups, not sure about whether I'll actually do those yet, we'll see how I feel this afternoon) and an easy run tomorrow (4-6 miles). I may actually scrap the run tomorrow though and go to morning swim practice instead, since I dropped out of some shadowing work this evening (need time to study) and will have the chance to hit the sack early and get up early for that. It's also IM day! Which would be fun. So we'll see what I decide in the end. Regardless, Henry gets here tomorrow evening, Thursday will be a day off, and we'll see what Friday and the weekend bring! Gotta go deal with the rest of my life now. Glad I finally got around to writing this post. (:

Much love,

Jess