ÖTILLÖ Training July 10-16

Monday:

On Sunday evening, Brooke and I were very tired from the long race day and went to sleep before 7:30. That helped as we slept in past 6:30, but I was feeling pretty banged up on Monday morning. Around 8:30 we went to a lake with a dirt trail around it and both did a short run. My hamstrings were both pretty locked up at the start, but they gradually loosened up. It also rained heavily for most of the second half of the run. Total run 6.6K in 32:24.

Tuesday:

We transferred from Portland to Rye, New Hampshire on Monday so this morning I did a short run along the coast. Hamstrings were still locked up at the start, but loosened up more than yesterday. Another run in the rain. Total run 8.11K in 36:28.

Wednesday:

Day off. We had a morning flight from Boston (4.5 hours) plus the commute home from DIA. Brooke and I spent the afternoon getting caught up on things and even though I had a bit of time to train, I was very tired. Opted to get wait until Thursday to get rolling again.

Thursday:

Since I knew I would wake up early after coming from the east coast, I opted to go to the Boulder Reservoir for the open water swim session with BAM. Gordo was there as well and we both did 4 loops with a swimrun setup of wetsuit, paddles, buoy. The water temperature was 73 so if it gets much warmer I may need drop the wetsuit (although the swimrun suits are not as hot as full triathlon wetsuits). I only took short breaks between laps so it was a mostly continuous swim of 4200 meters in a little over an hour. Felt pretty good for the most part.

After swimming, I changed into running gear and ran a loop around the reservoir. My legs were definitely starting to feel better, but I did feel the altitude a bit at the end. When I travel, I usually don’t feel the altitude if I’m only gone 2-4 days, but when it’s a week or more, I will usually feel it a bit. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if I am feeling altitude or feeling fatigue from travel or from something I did while away (race, training camps, etc.). Total run was 10K in 43:45.

Afternoon strength session:

Hex Deads, working sets: 5,7,10 @ 225
Shoulder Press, working sets: 5,7,10 @ 85
RDLs, working sets: 5,7,10 @ 175
Chin Ups: 5,7,10
Reverse Lunges: 5,7,10 (each leg) @ 80
Slow Mo Pull Ups: 2 x 5
45 minutes in total.

Friday:

Morning run starting from the Eagle Trail side of the Boulder Reservoir. I started with a loop around the Rez, then switched to trail shoes and ran a ~14K out-and-back on the Lefthand Trail that included 10K or so of single track. I initially felt ok, but then I started to feel fairly tired in the final 30 minutes. Altitude was still playing a little bit of a factor that I could feel when the single track had some steep climbs. Total run was 22.7K in 1:41:08.

Afternoon session with Dr. North (PT). Been having some issues my Peroneal nerve on my right leg. She did some treatment on it and suggested that I continue with incorporating more varied terrain in my running the strengthen my lower legs more.

Saturday:

Today’s session included two runs with a pool swim in between. The first run was up and down the Boulder Creek Path to Eben G Fine park (from Scott Carpenter). Total run was 8.14K in 36:25

About 10-15 minutes later I start the following swim (SCY):
550 easy
Main Set:
Three rounds, all pulling:
3 x 200 steady on 2:40
4 x 100 as easy, fast, fast, easy on 1:30
3,550 yards in total
200’s were about 2:18 in round one, 2:14 in last round and somewhere in between in round two. 100’s were 1:03,02,02,01,02,01
Switched hand paddles today to something a little more flexible and that really helped. I felt like the paddles I used in Maine were just too rigid.
5-10 minutes after swimming, I ran the other direction from Scott Carpenter Park and went south on an out and back to Baseline road. Total second run 8.1K in 34:43.

Sunday:

Morning run out east. Did my standard warm up loop of about 20 minutes, then switched shoes. Decided to do a bit of running in the carbon shoes today just to see if it takes a little stress off my right lower leg. Seemed to help a bit; hopefully it was because it is actually getting better and not just the shoes. Warmer weather this morning with full sun, but didn’t feel too bad overall in that respect. Total run was 22.1K in 1:33:33. That gives me about 61K running in this three day span: covering the race distance, but without much technical terrain. I will try to change that up more and more as the weeks go by, particularly on Friday’s.