Wear Sunglasses

I've gotten a few notes recently that some people are enjoying reading about the details of the training sessions I'm doing (and how I approach them etc). I'm glad! I know I'd be very interested in reading the details about what others are doing (and why, etc). So many athletes feel the need to keep their training all hush hush... I don't know. There aren't any secrets, you know? And what works for me might not be what works for others so I have no fear of anyone else duplicating my training... Due to experience and circumstances, strengths and weaknesses, available time, terrain, injuries, goals, timing of races, etc, what I do might not even approach being appropriate for someone else. Maybe some others could get some ideas but the benefit you get from a specific session has a lot to do with the state you're in when you start it (fresh? fatigued?) and also what you do coming out of it (recover? stack another session?) so changing a few things around here and there could potentially change a lot of things about the program as a whole. In the end though it's really all about consistency and putting in work. So. Anyway.

I swam with Mark yesterday. I knew it would be ugly but also knew I'd work harder if he was there so I sent him a text letting him know I'd be back and he showed up! :) 1000 w/u was slower than it felt (16:20). Seems that 2 weeks away from the water cost me ~5"/100 in pace for effort. I spent much of the warm up trying to decide what main set we should do and I settled on a set of Cut-Down 200's that Scott used to give me all the time back in 2013. It's a good set and works well in lots of different circumstances. I pulled the whole thing in an effort to stay in the same zip code as Mark.

4x200's @3:20
100 easy
3x200's @3:15
100 easy
2x200's @3:10
100 easy
1x200 fast!
100 easy

The 5"/100 rule showed up on the main set as well... I did a decent job I guess of holding pace with a slight descend but across the board it was just slower than it would have been a few weeks ago. I started at 3:00 flat and pretty much held 2:58-3:00 for the first 7. On the set of 2 I went 2:57/:58 but I swear it felt like the 2nd one was faster! #descendfail Last one Mark decided to challenge himself so he tied his feet together (I was using paddles) and we raced head to head. We hit the wall together at 2:54 (max effort!) which seems reasonable until I remember that I held that pace for a full 4100m straight last year. Anyway. It is what it is. My plan was to swim again today just to add some relaxed volume to my week but life got in the way (call from the nurses office at school picking up a sick kid) and I didn't make it to the pool before they closed. So I'll swim again tomorrow.

Winds were ripping a pretty constant 22-23mph yesterday which made for a challenging ride.

My heart didn't really want to beat which isn't super surprising- the Tuesday brick was hard and I wasn't recovered yet. So when I saw a lower than normal HR I figured I'd just use the day to cruise low aerobic effort for ~3 hours, which is what I did. I sort of like putting my long ride on a day when I am carrying fatigue b/c it keeps me from going too hard- in that fatigued state I'm comfortable just putting in some time/volume and not feeling frustrated wanting to go hard/faster. I had no desire to go harder/faster! Avg HR for the ride was 131 which is def on the low side for me. Avg Power wasn't much higher than that which was fine. I had a solid 90min or so on the way home to practice riding into a stiff headwind and try to not be pissy about it. I wasn't really pissy about the wind, but I was pissy about the little thing that flew in my eye and scratched my eyeball every time I blinked. I tried hard to get it out but couldn't- not even after I got home and flushed my eye with water... I *almost* went to urgent care last night but didn't want to drag my whole family there (driving myself when I couldn't see out of one eye didn't seem prudent). I figured I'd sleep on it and see how it felt this morning. Our bodies are amazing. My Rapid Eye Movement must be good when I sleep b/c whatever was in there worked its way out and the relief I felt when I opened my eyes this morning (and didn't feel a scratch) was legit. #phew Lesson of the day: Wear Sunglasses.

Anyway, I assume my HR was still a bit depressed today, though it seems my HR monitor battery died b/c neither of my gamins would pick it up. I would have liked to have seen it today but alas it wasn't meant to be. I managed 8 miles easy running (!) and felt quite good the whole time. I was thinking while I was running that I rather like being in a state of fatigue where my HR is slightly depressed (or at least not overly reactive). I feel so much more like a machine in this state vs when I'm training less and my HR is always a few beats too high.

I didn't take ibuprofen before I ran (didn't take it Tuesday either) and was thinking maybe I was in the clear, but the 8 miles irritated it some so I caved and took the anti-inflammatory afterward. So, not quite out of the woods with this hip thing yet but I'm close! I finished my run with 6x30" strides (full walking recoveries) and if I opt to do the little local triathlon this weekend, those strides will have been the sum total of my recent speedwork on the run.