Run Camp

I'm into the first week of a running camp with a friend of mine thats an elite marathoner and 3x Ironman Vet so I've been pretty busy and have fallen behind on my blog.

The mission of this camp was to get me in sub4 shape for the Hyannis marathon. A week before the camp I got my mileage back up to 45mpw after taking a 8 day cycle down ( 25 mpw ).

This is a 2 week long stint and will peak with my first ever 60mpw week. So to summarize my Week 1 results :

Sun-5 miles Z2-2.5

Mon-14 miles Z1.5-2

Tuesday- 4 mi WU + 5K interval w/ a 3/4 mile hill ( similar in gain to the hill going into the village of Lake Placid) @ mile 2 then slight downhill to mile 3. Basically its a run at M-pace then 30 secs hard, MP,then 30 secs medium,MP ,repeat to mile 3.
Time for the 5K section= 24:20 . My lungs seared from this ! It took almost 2 hrs for me to feel normal again. By far this was the hardest WO I've ever done. Not a recommended workout unless you have a few years of decent base. Mine barely qualified. T says that the point of the session was to improve my ability to maintain marathon pace,and quicken my recovery time after periods of running at LT. He feels that my 5K time for a normal flat course should now be sub 22, maybe even low 21's. Very cool as this proves that my 22:50 Turkey trot wasn't a fluke.

Wed-Easy 4 mile recovery jog + 1500 yd easy swim massage + stretch

Thurs- 21 miles - first 13 @ old lady jog last 8 mi at 8:55-9:45 pace which I held comfortably !!

Today- 1 hr spin on the trainer+ 4-5 mile recovery jog

Week total: 53 miles

As an aside...and this is by no way boasting....as I am very humbled by this whole running thing....I am thrilled how good I feel as I sit here and enter this . My legs feel loose and good after the above week. During yesterday's 21 miler I had to force myself to stop as I had enough in me to go a few more, but T says to save it for later.

This workout would have shelled me last season! After my longest run of 18.5 last year going into IMLP- I felt toasted ! My legs were dead, and this was only during my 175 mile bike weeks.

So , I think I'm finally responding to the training.

Gordo's philosophy of training at AeT , capped Hr of 155 bpm during base, lots and lots of volume for adaptation and only mild sprinklings of intensity has proven a good regimen for me.
Another thing is nutrition......what you eat 24 hrs before a big day of training is the key. For me it needs to be carb heavy w/ lots of sodium and at least 20% protein. Last season I was so focussed on being light for training and race day that I am sure I did not eat enough. Now I eat more than ever and my body comp is improving at a faster rate. I'm just about at 178 which was race day weight for me last year. So my power to weight ratio is pretty decent. At 172 lbs I feel I can maintain 9:10's -15's for 26.2.
At the moment its still a struggle to keep it under 9:50's after mile 15 of a long run. The good thing is I still have 4+ weeks and I'm actually ahead of schedule.

My bike's waiting.

Have a great day and be nicer than you were yesterday. Cheers !