The week in training . . . January 13, 2013

It has been cold this month.  I would estimate that of my last 5-6 runs, the weather has been below 30 degrees each time and below 20 degrees on at least a couple of occasions.    In fact, the school was on a 2 hour delayed start on Monday and Tuesday this week due to the extreme cold weather.  That definitely puts a damper on exercising outside.
Finally, on Wednesday the weather broke, and we've been treated to four consecutive days of 50 degrees or better.  Today in fact the weather is supposed to break into the 60's.  Great day for a run!
Sunday, January 13th, 2013: After my 21 mile run the day before, I was seriously debating whether or not to even try and get a run done.  I finally decided that I would at least try to get about 5 miles in.  As it turned out, I wound up doing 7 miles and felt surprisingly good from the day before.  I went back to doing a 5 to 1 run/ walk ratio, but it was a great recovery run overall.  It was also nice to get those miles "in the bank" so to speak with the week under way.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013:  Despite my best intentions to work out on either Monday or Tuesday, it just wasn't in the cards.  I did just a touch of core work on Monday a.m., but on Wednesday, I got out of bed  at 5:00 and made it to the YMCA for an early morning workout.  Like the week before, I split the workout into two sections.  The first 15 minutes I did some quick sets in the weight room including squats, calf raises, pull-ups, shoulder press, and sit-ups on the reclined bench.  After that, I moved over to the treadmill and did a slow mixture of running and walking for 30 minutes.  The entire treadmill workout was done on a grade between 4 and 9%, and although my pace was slow, it was a challenging workout.  In fact, the workout was really a good one.  I came back home feeling invigorated and strong from the leg work.
Thursday, January 17, 2013:  While the girls were at Tae Kwon Do, I took advantage of the afternoon time to do a quick trainer ride.  I pushed the cadence a little more today, and once again I felt remarkably good on the bike.  I'm excited to see how the training from this winter and spring pays off on the bike this summer, and I'm expecting some good gains.  I wound up riding for about 40 minutes.

The Collegiate Peaks

Saturday, January 19, 2013:  A little before noon, I set out from the house for a 13 mile run.  It was wonderful to go for a run with shorts and a long sleeve shirt instead of jacket, hat, mittens, etc.  I may have been a little overdressed in fact.  The first ten miles of this run were great, but the last three miles were a big challenge.  I got back to the house feeling much more sore than I'd expected.  I wonder if the mid-week strength workouts had something to do with that.  I'm scheduled to head out tomorrow for another 13 miles, but I'll do a couple of things differently.  First, I'll wear some compression shorts as this seems to help my muscles on the longer runs.  Second, I plan to take water this time and do a better job hydrating.  Lastly, I will return to doing a 5 to 1 ratio for the run.  I'm hoping that these things together will make for a more successful run.  At any rate, I'll definitely get a feel for running on tired and sore legs.
The summary for the week looks like this:

• Miles run: 22.29
• Miles biked: 10.7 (estimated)
• Weight training and other workouts (about 20 minutes)
• Beers sampled (in order of preference)
• Stranger Pale Ale (Left Hand)
• Compass IPA (Bristol Brewing)
• Train Wreck Ale (Home/ Bridgette Brewing)
• AP Porter (Home/ Bridgette Brewing)

Thanks for reading!