Monday, April 9, 2007

Week of 04/08/2007 - 04/14/2007 (Revised Rest Week Cycle 2)

At last, it has arrived--the week of the race/time trial.

There's an off chance I'll take off early from work on friday to go to the APU meet, but judging from the recent workload and lack of efficiency... its not looking good. Feeling really disoriented about how all of these HR controlled workouts translate to a race. A bit uneasy about lack of really hard workouts, I don't even remember what that heart exploding, legs burning, half drowning, I'm-definitely-not-going-to-make-it race feeling feels like anymore.

Sunday 04/08: First day completely off in almost a month. Mt. Wilson to Clear Creek with Peter--35 miles, many hours, adventures galore. Overcast and drizzly, insisted on going up the 2 anyways. Found out that I'm completely and utterly out of biking shape, that one shouldn't try to bend 5 year old glasses, and that its really really hard to descend when you can't see anything. One emergency optical assistance device surgery (involving packaging tape and a sharp edge), one declined offer for a nice warm ride back down, and some mild to moderate hypothermia later, safely arrived back home in one piece!

Monday 04/09: 3.1 miles, 10 laps around North fields at 145 bpm, felt light and speedy after the off day. (Aside: despite all of the objections to the term "off day" I still contend that "off" is subject to frame of reference. I'm referring to a day "off" from running, vs. a day "off" from exercise!) Core strengthening at the gym.

Tuesday 04/10: 6 miles, 7 laps around North fields at 145 bpm warm up, 2 x mile at 190 bpm with 1 lap jog rest (6:37, 6:35), drills, 8 laps cool down around South fields. Legs felt good, throat felt bad, slightly disappointed by lack of improvement despite some easy days prior. Still hard to regulate HR. Drill are moderately more coordinated, but just as exhausting. Wish I were coordinated... then maybe I could run the Steeple. 7.5 laps seems so much more manageable than 12.5....

Wednesday 04/11: 5 miles, 44:33, Huntington up Virgnia at 165 bpm. Sub-optimally warm, felt crappy after first few miles. Tired for no reason, can't seem to keep the HR under control. 4 x 100m striders, just couldn't get the turnover up, felt heavy and sluggish. Peeved, stressed about taxes. Core strengthening at the gym.

Thursday 04/12: 6.25 miles, 56:25, Huntington up Oak Knoll at 155 bpm, in the late PM. HRM being a punk... readings seemed low for last 4 miles, but seems like I managed to stick to the 9 minute miles on my own. Windy, dark, lots of debris on the streets, two fallen trees, cars all use their brights late at night, apparently. Stressed out and generally pissed at everything. No time for drills.

Friday 04/13: 2.5 miles, 7 laps around North Fields including 2 x 1 min surges, 4 x 100m striders. Friday the 13th!!!!! HR freakishly high for some reason... AHHHHH!!!! Felt kind of crappy, not sure if caused by Prednisone, on doctor's orders. Allergies really bad lately. Generally disgruntling. Core strengthening at the gym. Excited about SCIACS/time trial tomorrow!

Saturday 04/14: 7.5 miles, CALAMITY OF THE WORLD. 1.5 miles cool down with KB after duals, 6 laps around North fields warm up upon returning to Pas, HR insanely high again despite extremely low effort. Felt kind of queasy. Jog lap, striders, then 2 mile time trial with horrifying results. Felt kind of off from the start, couldn't get HR above 195, despite extreme amounts of effort, really strange, given than I struggle to keep HR UNDER 195 most of the time. Intended was 5K, but truncated after 2 miles, didn't care to run tempo pace for another mile longer feeling like complete basura. 20 minute lying in lane 8 blankly staring at the clouds go by, then 9 laps cool down around South fields. Extremely consterned.

Target Mileage: 30-35 Miles
Week Actual: 30.35 Miles
Last Week: 45.3 Miles

AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH............

5 comments:

kangway said...

it doesn't count as an off day if you do exercise

kangway said...

I think it's easier to die completely during cycling because if you're sitting on your bike you can pedal until you can only move 4 mph and then die.

If you're running till exhaustion, that's a different story. If you die during running well, technically at some point when you're slowing down you're not running anymore. Right?

Ryan said...

I agree with Ms. Abe and prefer to use the conversion: five biking miles equals zero running miles.

kangway said...

Yeah, it's not the same, but it counts towards something, and it's reasonable to use some sort of approximation when you're trying to gauge stress load. I mean, I keep track of mileage in general to sort of gauge what kind of stress I'm under. It's not like you can run 10 miles a week and bike 30 hours a week and expect that the biking has had no impact on your running. In that sense I almost wish I had a way to keep track of work/homework "mileage."

Megumi said...

HAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHA homework mileage! thats hilarious. gah, i wish we could all just live in the mountains in colorado and train all day without all of these nasty things that make you slower.

unfortunately we don't get a sleep deprivation, stress accumulation, overwork adjustment to our performances.... so i guess you just have to go out there do the best you can and hope that one day it all comes together in a race where you're both well trained and all the weird external crap doesn't interfere. unfortunately that has never happened for me.