December 17-23: Awesome Pre-Recovery Training Week

Last week capped off a pretty solid three week block of training for the sub-4 hour goal at the Myrtle Beach Marathon. There had been a bunch of solidly-paced tempo runs and track workouts during the weeks, and consistently-growing long runs on the weekends. I finished last week off with a track workout including 8 800s averaging 3:41 and a 17 mile long run at a relatively consistent pace, both of which were encouraging steps towards that sub-4 hour marathon.

High on that progress, and an absolutely beautiful mid-day run around the sights of downtown DC on Tuesday, I spent a good deal of the week grumpy about the upcoming recovery week our coach had warned us about. Christmas? Pshhhhhhhhhh who cares? I have swimming to do! A race to train for! THERE IS NOT TIME TO RECOVER OR REST.

And then, I finally found myself exhausted Saturday afternoon, and even slept 8.5 hours on Saturday night.

I guess it’s time, isn’t it? Just don’t expect me to be un-grumpy about it.

Monday: Rest day.

Tuesday: 3200 yards of swimming in the morning, next to Hillary Biscay. In the afternoon, a 7.67 mile run with a 20 minute tempo effort around the Tidal Basin at 8:23 pace, followed by 5 hill repeats on Capitol Hill. Absolutely amazing day for a beautiful run, even with the wind picking up.

Wednesday: 3200 meters of swimming with Rachel in the morning, then a little over half an hour of strength training and stretching right after leaving the pool. Finished the day with a 5.86 mile track workout in the evening with 8x800 split as 3:52-3:44-3:41-3:39-3:39-3:35-3:39-3:39.

Thursday: A 1:20 bike trainer ride in the morning, with 3x3 minutes in hard gear and 5x5 minutes at high cadence.

Friday: 3800 yards with the DC Tri Masters in the morning, which was a fun last-minute get together open to the entire club. I dropped a few of 2:35 200s, and then headed to the gym for 45 minutes of leg-focused lifting. Perfectly rational to do 24 hours before a 17 mile run.

Saturday: A 17 mile run with Rachel in very windy conditions, averaging 9:39 pace with relatively consistent splits given the fact that there were 40-50 mph wind gusts. There were several points that I wanted to whimper, complain, yell, and/or curse, but decided that I shouldn’t be bringing down a first-time marathon trainee running next to me, so I (generally) contained myself and pushed through the conditions. Immediately followed the run with 3000 meters of lazy back-of-the-lane swimming at DCRP Masters practice.

Sunday: An hour and a half of steady spinning on the trainer in the morning, followed by 3500 yards of swimming in the afternoon. The grand finale of the week included a workout with some current athletes on the team I coach, as well as a bunch of alumni. This included:

• One lap of ballet leg (traveling 25 yards headfirst in this position)

• Some underwater lengths (my favorite)
• A bunch of spins

• Multiple attempts at a lift
• And a ton of eggbeater boosts (again, see video below)

Not a traditional workout, but still fun. And it’s all about the fun, especially heading into recovery week.

Which, for the record, I still hate. Even if it's necessary.