Lake Sammamish Half 2017 Training Week 5

This week is one of the weeks that I simply love living in the Seattle area. Even with a random February morning of snow, the overall weather this week was beautiful and wintery (which is good, because I don’t want winter to end yet). What I did not appreciate this week was my iPhone deleting all of the photos in my Camera+ as I was backing them up because the phone ran out of storage…even though it was only at 12 GB of storage for a 16 GB phone. So this post is lacking in photos, but overall it was a strong week of training. 

Monday: 35 minute Pilatesology workout

I did an advanced magic circle workout followed by some deep hip stretches. Other than Pilates, I took a rest day. I used to always try to fit in a run on a Monday, but lately I’ve been moving around my rest days to whatever day sounds good for that week. 

Tuesday: 8 x 1K cruise intervals (8 miles total)

It was perfectly chilly and clear outside for my first hard workout of the week. It was windy, but I don’t mind doing my hard workouts in the wind because it makes me feel more confident about the chance of a headwind on race day. I really enjoyed the workout that I had planned!

The workout:
1 mile warm up
8 x 1K at 10K race effort with 2 minute recovery jog
1/2 mile cool down

I set my watch for 0.60 mile intervals, which was close enough to 1K.  My goal pace for each interval was 7:00-7:10/mile and I ran each repeat in the range of 6:58-7:03/mile. I really like how cruise intervals are at a pace that’s hard but not gut-busting and I finished this workout feeling strong – definitely a workout I would repeat!

Wednesday: 7 mile easy run

Seattle experienced a bit of a cold snap, but the good type of cold snap that comes with brilliantly blue and sunny skies. It was cold enough to wear all of my winter gear, including full-length leggings and mittens, but so beautiful outside that layering was well worth the effort. This was a runner’s high type of run. 

I also mobilized my heel joint, thanks to endless Google searching of why my heel (near where I shifted a bone when I sprained my foot) felt tight and achy but not painful over the past few months. It felt like a muscle knot in a place that doesn’t have much muscle to knot. It never hurt on a run (or else I would have stopped running) but just felt tight during random times of day (it lacked the telltale symptoms of plantar fasciitis). While I’m not sure exactly what it is, based on the empirical evidence self-mobilization does the trick! 

Thursday: 3 mile easy run & 25 minutes strength training

I am really enjoying the 3 mile recovery run that Ryan and I do on Thursday mornings. My body and mind are responding really well to having a day of shorter mileage in there – truly recovery, both in terms of distance and pace. 

I am playing around with my strength training and recently combo exercises have been working best for me. Just doing bicep Each set takes longer, but I have to do fewer exercises overall and the combinations are more mentally engaging. I really enjoyed this workout and will have to share it in full in a post soon!

2 sets of:
12 single leg deadlifts to reverse lunge with overhead press
20 lateral band walks with squats
20 single leg bridges
20 med ball pull overs
10 planks with med ball pass to push ups

Friday: 12 mile fartlek long run

The workout:
4 miles easy
4 miles of repeating (90 seconds at tempo, 90 seconds easy)
4 miles easy

We woke up to slushy snow and slick ground, so I opted for the treadmill for this workout. I didn’t even bother trying to drive to a paved trail this time, and with a busy day of work ahead I didn’t want to wait for the snow to melt. I just wanted to get this workout done without leaving road conditions or the next day’s weather to chance.

I gradually increased the pace for the first 4 miles with the incline ranging from 0-2.5% to mimic gentle hills. For the fartlek portion, I started on the slower end of the range (7:24/mile) and increased the pace each mile down to 7:04/mile, while varying the incline during each interval. 

The mentally hardest part of this run was the cooldown. My shoulders and hips felt tight and I just wanted to get off of the treadmill. But, I got this workout done – 12 miles on the treadmill, which is my longest treadmill run in a long time. 

That night, we celebrated a successful month of January by visiting a nearby brewery. It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it’s February and my half marathon is already just a month away! 

Saturday: 6 mile run

I procrastinated getting out on this run- my muscles felt tight (which I blamed on a few beers the night before as much as the treadmill) and it was raining. But when we did finally get out to run, we had such a fun run! Ryan and I took Ollie and Charlie with us on one of our favorite hilly routes. Charlie and Ollie feed off of each other’s excitement during the run and attempt to race each other, as best as they can when leashed to us. Charlie ran his personal distance record – 6 miles without needing to stop! 

After our run, I whipped up a delicious batch of banana teff pancakes. I used only 3:1 ratio of whole wheat flour to teff and the teff tasted so good and still resulted in a fluffy pancake – yum! Coffee and whole grain pancakes are my favorite meal after a weekend run, especially a chilly and rainy run. 

Sunday: Rest Day

Our original plans included snowshoeing, but after our Ollie kept us up in the middle of the night, we opted for a lazy day at home. The last non-holiday weekend we had at home was sometime in December, so it was nice to have a day at home. We played a lot with Charlie and Ollie, especially since Charlie has discovered a newfound love for the game of fetch.

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What random aches or tight spots do you experience?
How much effect does the weather have on how good of a week of training you have?
How was your week in running?