Training Log: 12/29 to 1/5 (Week 1)

I won't pretend that this was some great training week.  But.  The holidays are over, and thus the offseason is over, and I therefore think it's time to start at least talking about how training is going.  Even if the training in question isn't going particularly well.

My goal all during the offseason has been to run three time per week and finish my writing projects.  The good news is that writing went well.  Running, meanwhile, has been all over the place.  Sometimes it's great, and sometimes I'm stiff, and my ankle hurts.

I don't know what to say about that except that I've had more than one doctor tell me that sometimes a guy in his forties needs to take ibuprofen before workouts to control swelling.  That's true for me, no question, but I don't always remember, so...  Well, I've been all over the place.  When I take time to stretch properly and warm up slowly, I've been at least decent.  When I'm rushed or running on a treadmill or something, it's been more of a struggle.


Swim
I haven't been in the water regularly since mid-October.  My body remembers how to swim, but my left arm has a tendency to windmill when I've been out for awhile, and in any event, my muscular endurance is shot.  I know how to rebuild it, but it takes time.

I started Saturday with a series of 100s, at aerobic pace.

• 5 x 100 @ 1:30 warm-up
• 5 x 100 pull @ 1:30
• 9 x 100 @ 1:30 areobic pace (swim 1-6, pull 7-9)
• 100 easy

Swim Total: 2000 yards (20 points).

Bike

The only day I could've ridden this week was Tuesday.  But that was New Year's Eve, and frankly, I was scared of trying to ride in Manhattan on one of the shortest, drunkest days of the year.  So I didn't ride this week, even as part of my commute.  Meanwhile, we've had a ton of snow lately.  Yuck.

Run

Just as I could've ridden on Tuesday, I could've tried to run at lunch on Tuesday, too.  But I didn't do that either, and instead opted to run Wednesday morning.  Put in an easy 4-miler before some of Sally's relatives came over to celebrate a belated Christmas and the coming of the New Year.  

I should've then run on Thursday, too, but they forecast snow, and I believed them.  Snow finally came on Friday, essentially ruining the late part of the week.  Well, what are you gonna do?  I wound up running on a treadmill Saturday and Sunday, neither time working particularly hard, for a total of 3.3-miles and 5-miles, respectively.  Neither time felt like much, but at least I got out there, I guess.  Still, I found the experience both difficult and mind-numbing.  Ugh.

Run Total: 3 x easy aerobic runs (49.6 pts).

Training Total: 69.6 pts.

Eh.  That's not going to get it done.  I suppose it's a start, but I'll feel better once I can start working at least a little bit of commuting mileage in on my bike.