A Not-Recovery Week

The more of these races you do, the faster your muscles seem to recover.  This is very beneficial in that it allows one to get back into training more quickly, but also dangerous, because other parts of your body (joints, endocrine system, immune system) may not be recovered.

That being said, I had a solid week of running, albeit a little heavy towards the weekend.  Since Winona, I have had only spotty training, both because of recovery needs, school/lab related traveling, and a minor calf injury.  Somehow, I think Gnawbone was the perfect race in order to help jump start the training cycle, pound the weakness out of my body, and motivate me to hit the trails with fervor and excitement. 

During the early part of the week I felt my legs start to tire anytime I ran for longer than 75 minutes.  By the end of the week, I was up to a full 3 hours of running with no noticeable fatigue (except that it was friggin hot out!).

Since Gnawbone:

Sunday:  15 mile bike ride.  Kept it in the small chain-ring and enjoyed the sunshine.

Monday:  4 miles total.  3 miles of roads and 1 mile of barefoot in the grass.

Tuesday:  12.5 miles.  6 miles at lunchtime.  6.5 miles at dinner time.

Wednesday:  16 miles.  Graduate student reviews had me eager to escape for my 6 miles at lunchtime although I missed a lunch with the other grad students that would have been fun.  10 miles before dinner.

Thursday:  18 miles.  8 miles in the AM before going to the lab.  10 miles at night in my new modified Speedcross3s (post to come soon).

Friday:  19 miles.  6 miles in the AM before going to the lab.  Decided the legs were ready to get serious and built a bed in the back of my car, drove to Pickney and car camped at the Potowatomi trail head.  13 miles PM.

Saturday:  31.5 miles.  Woke up at the trailhead and had not plans but running all day long.  ran 21.5 alone (again in my modified SC3s), then met up with Jenny for another 10(ish) on trail.  Total of about 5:30 of running.  The run with Jenny was hot and exposed and we had to seek water at the Leslie Science Center.

Sunday:  21 miles.  15 miles in the AM on the Poto, but felt a weird niggle in one of my calves so I decided to stay off the trails for the rest of the day.  Ran 6 miles in the PM at a high effort level and the calf felt fine.

Total week (Monday-Sunday):  122 miles.

Been a while since I posted mileage, so here it is:

March:  Total (384 miles)  Good month of running in march with a lot of vertical on the treadmill and hitting the stairclimber to help get prepared for the smoky mtns.  I think my long runs felt very unfocused/inconsistant in March with all my races being a long ways out.  Long run of 36 miles on the Poto where I solo'd the 18 mile loop 2x was a battle.

1	12
2	19
3	20
4	16.5
5	6
6	23
7	14
8	9
9	6
10	13
11	36
12	15
13	20.5
14	0
15	17
16	6
17	21
18	20
19	6
20	16.5
21	16
22	21
23	0
24	34
25	16.5
26	13.5
27	17
28	10
29	10
30	0
31	2.6

April (Total 363 miles)  A month of quality over quantity with some epic runs in the smoky mountains and two races.

1	20
2	9
3	24
4	13
5	15
6	0
7	20
8	10
9	6
10	8
11	12
12	0
13	0
14	50
15	7
16	0
17	15
18	13.5
19	12
20	15
21	14
22	0
23	18
24	12
25	14
26	12
27	13
28	0
29	31
30	0