Milo and the Calf

Training Totals 5/3/09

Recap – Two months into getting back into training seriously, injury raises its ugly head and I get a minor case of plantar faciitis and suddenly, my plans are in the toilet. I am a creature of habit and having to deviate this week from my planned runs drove me insane. But, after taking Friday and Saturday off, for the first time in a week, my heel didn’t hurt when I woke up in the morning.

This week was about two things: (a) learning that its alright to let yourself heal and (b) running my second 5k of the season. Hit a new PR with that coming in at 24:48, 28 second faster than my last time. It feels good to be under twenty-five minutes, but I think I could have gone harder. Finishing such a short race is definitely not an issue for me any longer, and now I have to figure out the strategy of it. I thought yesterday that I would hold back some and then poor it on at the end, but what ended up happening was I left the race with some energy still in the tank. I think with a less crowded start and better pacing strategy, I could have cut at lease thirty seconds off that time. Next race will be better.

Looking forward, I am really excited about the next six weeks of training. This is my base building period before I start training for the fall marathon. I hope in the next couple of weeks to get my mileage up to thirty miles per week, keep it there, and then lose between five and ten pounds. After the hell of exams, I expect some downtime before the bar prep gets totally out of hand, and I plan on using that time to do more cross training and weight training in addition to getting in the miles. This should be a fun and low stress period in my training and I am really looking forward to it.

Anyway, the numbers this week are low, but that’s alright. There are going to be weeks like this and I have to be ok with that. This is a long training cycle and a down week is worth it if it keeps me injury free.

Training numbers for the week ending 5.3.09

This week’s training numbers are brought to you by a new PR in the Race for Hope 24:48 on 5.3.09

Monday
Run 4 –  35:00

Pullups – 24

Push ups – 60

Dips – 24

Tuesday

Run 4 miles – 36 minutes

Wednesday

Run 4.5 – 44 minutes

Pullups – 24

Push ups – 60

Dips – 24

Thursday

Run 4 miles – 38 minutes

Friday

Off
Saturday

Off

Sunday

Race 5k setting a new PR in 24:48

Average Weight: 190

Weekly Totals:

Running Miles: 19.6 miles in 2:57:48 hours

Bike Miles: 0

Swim Miles: 0

Total Time: 2:57:48 hours

Total Miles: 19.6

Pull Ups: 48

Push Ups: 120

Dips: 48

Review of Last Weeks Goals:

1. Ice heel every night – DONE

2. Maintain Distance – FAILED

3. Do Body Weight Work Three Days – FAILED

4. Set new PR at the 5k distance – DONE

Next Weeks Goal

1. Cross train at least twice

2. Get mileage back up to 27

3. Do body weight work three days

4. Develop and write realistic cross training plan for the next six weeks.

* A note on the times. I am using my standard wristwatch for this, hence, no seconds. I’ll probably treat myself to a running watch eventually.

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6

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  1. Joseph

    Good work on the 5k. Congrats! at the end of the race you should have nothing left in the tank. Nothing. I feel like this is a hard lesson to learn because in all actuality, if you are pushing to that point, it is going to hurt. And we (people) generally are hurt adverse. But you know what they say, “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

    Reply
  2. seanv2

    Thanks Joe.

    You’re right about leaving everything on the course, the problem is, in practice, this is harder than it sounds. If you go out too hard to early then you’re losing time at the end, but if you wait too long to go all out, you leave with gas in the tank, which sucks. How do you handle this in your races? I’m thinking about finally breaking down and getting a cheap watch and setting mile time goals.

    Reply
  3. smt

    Congrats on your race and PR! And yeah, I agree that not only should you have nothing left in the tank with a 5k, but I’d recommend actually using and even pacing strategy for all distances up to a 10k. (Which makes the 10k my least favorite distance, as you are pushing the whole way through. With a 1/2 marathon you can kind of sit back for the first half).

    As for how to establish pacing, yes definitely get a cheap watch, and then practice running specific paces on a track. Back in the day, I could have run a lap of the track at any of my distance paces for you within 2 or 3 seconds.

    It also helps to simply get a lot of races under your belt, so that if you look at a pace converter chart, you start to know that if they say a 7 mm 5k pace converts to a 7:55 half marathon pace, you know that generally you go are slower on the longer legs than predicted. Or vice versa…

    Glad to hear that your PF is better!

    Reply
    1. seanv2

      My PF is better at least in part from your good advice. Thanks.

      As for pacing, the next purchase is definitely going to have to be a watch, I am getting sick and tired of guesstimating my run times and I know not having a watch hurt me on the 5k. I am not yet at the point where I can sense the speed I’m running, and I know I could have pushed it harder in that last 5k.

      Maybe I should hire you to be my personal coach?

      Reply
  4. smt

    I am at the point in the semester when becoming a professional amateur/amateur professional coach is starting to seem like a viable alternative to being a professional academic…good thing you are in DC or else I might consider it.

    Reply
    1. seanv2

      You should come down here for a visit and we’ll do track workouts!

      Reply