Monday, April 6, 2015

Week 5?


Little kitty not only keeps me company when I am sick, she also likes to climb all over me while I try to stretch. Her name is not really little kitty, it's Mitten. She has too many toes which make her paws look like mittens.

Monday
Injury prevention day! Core strength with a small amount of body weight strength training for upper body and legs. I also spent a fair amount of time stretching. Foam rolling didn't seem necessary since I did not notice any tight spots in the previous week.

Tuesday-Friday
Terribly sick.

Saturday
This was the first day that I actually felt a bit better. Definitely not well enough to run though. I toyed with the idea of doing some core work or strength training, but in the end decided I wasn't actually feeling that great. I spent about 25 minutes stretching just for something to do.

Sunday
I wanted to run on Sunday but told myself no. I have had chest colds before and I know from experience that if I try to jump back into running too quickly I will end up relapsing. I battled a chest cold one year from mid September to early November (which is when my doctor finally said absolutely no running for a week). Not going to happen this time!

Training Adjustments:
  1. 4 x 4:00 at 5k effort (May 31) and 5 x 4:00 at 5k effort (April 7). Instead of jumping into intervals for my first run back, I moved the May 31 workout to this coming Thursday (April 9) instead of Tuesday. I shifted each 5k effort session after that back one week to accommodate this change. In week 9 of my training plan I canceled a session of 200m intervals at 3k effort. I did not want to miss any of the 5k effort sessions and since I don't have easy access to a track, this seemed like a good workout to cancel.
  2. 4 x 90s hill repeats (April 2). Instead of doing defined hill repeats I will run a hilly route on April 12 (see #5 for more info). I have another hill repeat workout scheduled for April 16; I did not want to have two hill repeats too close together.
  3. 12 mile long run (April 4). I will not be making up this workout.
  4. Technique drills (April 9). I will not be making up this workout.
  5. 12 mile long run (April 12). I don't want to over do it this week so I am going to cut my long run down to 8 hilly miles. In my mind I am averaging my long run and my hill repeats (see #2) into a medium distance hilly run. 
I am hoping that these are smart adjustments. I know that I can not make up the 35 miles of running that I missed in week 5, but I also wanted to maintain the progression of my 5k effort intervals. I feel like these runs are very important to improve my 5k PR. I also know that the hill repeats are important for building speed, so I wanted to maintain some aspect of running hills. I am hoping that I made the right decision in cutting the long runs and the technique drills. If anyone has any better suggestions, please let me know!

6 comments:

  1. Hope that you're feeling better! I also came down with something this week. Luckily it seems to all be congestion in my nasal area, so I think I'll be fine with some rest. I think you'll be fine with a few adjustments. Health is always more important than a PR!!

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    1. So true. There will always be more races and more training plans for chasing PRs, but I only get this one body.

      Take care of yourself and feel better soon!

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  2. I am proud of you for erring on the side of caution late last week and passing up those runs when you knew you weren't 100% yet. I feel like I am always hearing the same story from runners: the minute I felt a little better than deathly I immediately went running again because I just could not wait another second! We never lose as much fitness as we think, especially after only a week off. Training can wait, health cannot. Props to you!

    If it were me personally, I would probably cut mileage before I cut intensity. But both are hard on a recovering body so I think it's smart that you are making adjustments in both areas. To economize, I would probably keep in as many hill workouts as I can, since those can also serve as speed AND strength workouts.

    FEEL BETTER SOON!

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    1. Thanks, Hanna! I definitely had a few moments this weekend where I was wondering why I wasn't just pushing through and trying to run even though I still wasn't feeling the greatest. I had to keep reminding myself that a week off (technically only 6 days, since I did get in Monday's workout) is not going to undo the past 4 weeks of training (and the months of training leading up to that point).

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  3. Awwww Mitten <3

    Cecil climbs all over me whenever I get down on the floor to stretch too. Gotta love those kitties!

    I think your plan makes a lot of sense. I like that you're cutting the 12-miler down to 8 hilly miles. That seems like the perfect adjustment!

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    1. Good to know that Cecil likes to "help" with your workouts too. It's a good thing they are so cute!

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