Feeling Fresh (I Don't Mean Naughty)

I despise the expression "TGIF" or "Thank God It's Friday".  I just really don't like it at all.  With that said, I am so happy the end of the work week is here and I only have about seven hours left of work before the weekend begins.  It has been a pretty good week for me, the soreness and tiredness that had plagued me all of last week has finally exited and I feel fresher than I have in a couple weeks.  Even though I have been doubling up workouts this week (AM swim and lunch run or evening bike), I feel good.  I think I underestimated the impact that shoveling all of that snow had on my body.

Wednesday I actually didn't do a double, instead I skipped the 5:30AM ride and put it off until the evening.  I opened my eyes at 5:00AM and made the decision to put off the ride and get an extra hour of sleep and extra 16 hours of rest that I really needed.  Turns out that was the best decision I made all week.  When it came time to ride at 9:00PM I felt so great, no soreness in my legs, my heartrate was where it should be and when I was pushing it I felt strong.  Granted I did ride hard, but it didn't feel like I was being limited by anything other than my fitness level.  That is a good thing.

Thursday I was back in the pool and was it ever cold.  I don't know what the heck happened to the heater but the temp isn't the standard 82 - 83F.  It is closer to 75F and does that ever make a difference.  Of course once you swim that first lap you can't tell the difference, but boy does that first push off the wall wake you up when the cold water is lapping against your forehead.  Whew!!!  I did 1,500M in about 31:30, not terribly fast but I feel like I am swimming more efficiently which is what I am striving to do.

My afternoon work out was one that I was kind of dreading but knew had to be done.  My friend Chris and I are doing the Unite Half Marathon at Rutgers in eight weeks and we are both following the same training plan.  That plan called for 2 x 2 miles at half marathon pace with an 1/2 mile recovery (1/2 mile warm-up and cool down).  Also we had to do 4 x 100 strides at the conclusion.  Chris is faster than me, it is just the way it is.  We are about the same height, but he probably only weights about 150 lbs (I am around 190 lbs).  I accepted the fact that I would be trailing him for both of the 2 mile stretches....and that is exactly what happened.  My first split was 14:47 (7:24/mile), his was 14:37 (7:19/mile).  My second split was faster at 14:32 (7:16/mile), as was his at 14:18 (7:09).  We were both happy with our times and ready for our strides. 

The one thing that I have on Chris is my short distance speed, I am a sprinter through and through.  My 40 yard time in college was 4.4 seconds....granted it was a long time ago, but I am still pretty fast over 100 yards.  So off we went doing our strides and I felt great, we ran at about 90% of all out top speed.  I probably could have pushed it a bit faster than I was, but decided to stick with Chris for these (I won't be so nice the next time out).  All in all a great session that actually made me regret not having done speed work in so long.  It sucked when I was doing it, but once done, I felt like I really accomplished something.

This morning was back in the pool....yes, I actually dragged my tired ass out of bed this morning to make it there early (I was in the water by 5:50AM).  I did a 500M warm-up (200 Free, 30 Pull Buoy) then did 5 x 200M, these friggin' killed me, just thoroughly beat me down.  I polished if off with a 250M cool down.  Yes mama, a 1,750M day (over 1,900 yards!!!), and I did it in 36:59.  Provided I can get out of bed so easily next week and get in the water at 5:45AM, I will start moving into the 2,000M zone.  I may have to set my alarm for 4:45AM to make that happen.

That is all for now, really time to get to work.  I am thinking about getting on the bike tonight for 30 minutes or so to loosen my legs up a bit.  My half marathon training plan calls for the following:

• Saturday - 4 miles + 4 x 100 Strides
• Sunday 8 - 9 miles

I will probably switch those around since I have a 5.3 mile race on Sunday.  I am going to have get up early to get those miles in on Saturday.  Ciao!