two weeks of training, two weeks to go
Aug. 14th, 2018 02:45 pmTwo weeks to go to the Thirsty Thirteen half marathon! I'm...less excited than I might be, because I seem to have pulled a muscle (?) in my groin; it started hurting while in Telluride (where I was doing biking only, no running!) and it hasn't stopped yet. At first I was nervous that I'd somehow re-injured my stress fracture, because it hurts in about the same place, but the pattern is different: it hurts most at night and in the morning, and when I start walking (or running), or stand up from a sitting position, but it eases up after some activity, and doesn't bother me much on runs after a mile or so. My body guy thinks it's a case of inner thigh muscles working when they shouldn't, and I'm doing exercises and have my second appointment tomorrow, but I'm really not pleased with the way things are feeling.
Anyway, the last two weeks. First week was mostly in Telluride and therefore mostly biking:
Monday: 27 mtb with ~2300' climb/descent
Tuesday: 14 mtb and 3.8 hiking (total ~4000')
Wednesday: 14 mtb with ~1200'
Thursday: 11 mtb with ~400'
Friday: 8 miles running with 2x2 tempo (7:57 average tempo pace)
Saturday: 3.8 easy
Sunday: 13 easy and quite a bit slower than I'd like (10:15 pace)
For a total of just under 25 miles of running, plus 66 miles of riding. The second week was back to running, and although I had planned on doing some riding too, it didn't work out that way:
Monday: rest (trying to ease the groin issue)
Tuesday: 6.3 easy
Wednesday: 8.3 with 5 tempo. I have been feeling as though my HMP goal is a bit aggressive, so I deliberately didn't push too hard out of worry that I wouldn't be able to complete the whole distance, but 8:17 was way slower than I wanted! I didn't feel I could go any faster at the end, either, so...I dunno. Maybe I'm delusional about my half goal. :-(
Thursday: 6.3 easy
Friday: 4.9 trail. A bit faster than my previous trail run, yay!
Saturday: 14.4 with 1-minute surges at the beginning of miles 6-14. It went really well, and I felt really good; overall pace was 9:18 which surprised me. I don't record the surge pace specifically, but generally it was in the 7:30-7:45 region, even in the last miles.
Sunday: Had been planning to mtb, but got a migraine and basically vegetated all day.
Total 40 miles nearly on the dot!
Now I'm planning to cut back my running volume and work in a bit more faster running in small doses, as my taper/sharpening period. As I commented four weeks ago, looking at past race failures has suggested I need to be more serious about my taper, even though I never used to do more than front-load race week (back when I was doing half marathons as marathon tune-up races). Hopefully this will give my adductors and glutes a chance to settle down, and give me a better race on the 25th.
Anyway, the last two weeks. First week was mostly in Telluride and therefore mostly biking:
Monday: 27 mtb with ~2300' climb/descent
Tuesday: 14 mtb and 3.8 hiking (total ~4000')
Wednesday: 14 mtb with ~1200'
Thursday: 11 mtb with ~400'
Friday: 8 miles running with 2x2 tempo (7:57 average tempo pace)
Saturday: 3.8 easy
Sunday: 13 easy and quite a bit slower than I'd like (10:15 pace)
For a total of just under 25 miles of running, plus 66 miles of riding. The second week was back to running, and although I had planned on doing some riding too, it didn't work out that way:
Monday: rest (trying to ease the groin issue)
Tuesday: 6.3 easy
Wednesday: 8.3 with 5 tempo. I have been feeling as though my HMP goal is a bit aggressive, so I deliberately didn't push too hard out of worry that I wouldn't be able to complete the whole distance, but 8:17 was way slower than I wanted! I didn't feel I could go any faster at the end, either, so...I dunno. Maybe I'm delusional about my half goal. :-(
Thursday: 6.3 easy
Friday: 4.9 trail. A bit faster than my previous trail run, yay!
Saturday: 14.4 with 1-minute surges at the beginning of miles 6-14. It went really well, and I felt really good; overall pace was 9:18 which surprised me. I don't record the surge pace specifically, but generally it was in the 7:30-7:45 region, even in the last miles.
Sunday: Had been planning to mtb, but got a migraine and basically vegetated all day.
Total 40 miles nearly on the dot!
Now I'm planning to cut back my running volume and work in a bit more faster running in small doses, as my taper/sharpening period. As I commented four weeks ago, looking at past race failures has suggested I need to be more serious about my taper, even though I never used to do more than front-load race week (back when I was doing half marathons as marathon tune-up races). Hopefully this will give my adductors and glutes a chance to settle down, and give me a better race on the 25th.