Monday, February 14, 2011

Week 6 of HIM training

Writing this feels odd since I just posted week 5 three days ago. There have been a lot of changes this week, I'll talk about the number, then the changes.

S: 700.00 M, 15m
B: 14.00 Mi, 1h 04m
R: 20.25 Mi, 4h 41m 45s
Str: 30m

The number feels very lite compared to what I have been putting up for the last few weeks, it almost looks like a recovery week. Except, my workouts were almost all hard, I did a lot of time trialing to set paces for future workouts.
 
Swim: One swim work a 200m time trial. I did it in 4 flat. This made me mad because I have done a few long workouts at a shorter pace. I may have gone out too fast on the first 100m; it felt like it was closer to me goal of 1:30. The second half was a struggle. I didn't like my results but I did feel like I was working at my threshold.
 
Bike: I did an hour on the trainer as part of a brick it was cake. It felt weird with no long ride for the week. I have gotten accustomed to it and except for needing a new saddle, I like the long rides. I had a time trial planned for Sunday but decided to pass in order to rest.
 
Run: The week started out well. My first workout for the week was a 1 mile time trial. I got it done in 7:13 setting a new PR for me by 42 seconds. Now if I can just string those together for 13.1 miles I will be in great shape. The rest of my runs were not so pleasant as described in my last post.
 
Long run thoughts: limping home sucks!!
 
Now for the changes: Last night I had a long talk with my coach, about 56 minutes actually. We discussed the pros and cons of a marathon. He was very encouraging to complete it just as a bucket item but to take it slow. Since I have run races from 5k to 15 miles I want go hard on this one. I want a sub 4 hour time. If I can't do it than I would rather put in more training and push it off until later. Since I am going to need some rest for my knee it will put my marathon training mileage down and he suggested I treat it like a training run. I really don't want to pay to do a training run. There is always the fall. After discussion we have decided that i am not going to do the marathon, however I may find something else shorter around the same time as a benchmark and a motivator. I may see if I can find a trail race.
 
With this decision I also made the request that if I am not working on building marathon endurance that it would be nice to work my half marathon speed.
 
He is also thinking this may be an IT band injury and gave me some stretches using a rolling pin to do at home.
 
I already knew I needed to replace my shoes. I looked at Kinvaras this past weekend but the sales people shooed me away from them due to the support level of my current shoes (Omni 9). They said it would n't make sense. Coach Chris brought up an excellent point, I was fitted for my shoes many pounds ago and and could use a shoe now with less heel padding because of this. Also, since we are trying to develop me into a forefoot runner, I should get a shoe that will encourage this as opposed to be current shoe that in a way encourages my to heel strike.
 
This week is going to be light with only one run in order to rest from the injury. We did discuss as we go from here also ramping up the cycling training. We feel I have the power to be a good cyclist I just need to get the training in to use it.
 
Although I was hurt last week, I am happy with the new outlook.

3 comments:

KovasP said...

Can't wait to hear what shoes you got - love the processes everyone goes through to make a decision.

LB said...

i looked at the kinvaras too, they feel pretty good. i think they are a good "gateway" shoes, part minimalist, but still have a fair amount of cushioning. i decided against them though in lieu of brooks green silences because the kinvaras felt too much like a traditional highly cushioned shoes and i could not feel if i were heel striking or not. how is the knee feeling?

Kate Geisen said...

I hear you about not wanting to pay for a training run. One one hand, it's nice to have the support of a race. On the other, when money is an issue, it's perfectly possible to stock a couple water bottles and take your cell phone.

Good luck with the knee and with your shoe decision.