2018 week 12 recap!

As you may or may not know, I consider myself to be in pre-Jack & Jill preparation right now, which I sometimes refer to as Mission Impossible ..(but I’m in the process of changing the name!) Not so much with hard training, but disciplining my brain with meditation and visualization, plus getting the hang of managing each day of a busy week. Time management is a key part of this prep, figuring out how to accommodate all the running, plus swimming, cycling, strength, proper diet, rest and recovery! Tetris.

Under the guidance of Lifelong Endurance, I will be adding weights to my strength training regimen to prepare for Jack & Jill. Since January, I’ve been consistent, doing some sort of strength session twice weekly. They’re home workouts, mostly core, but I do functional strength exercises for legs, hips, glutes, etc, from Coach, too. However, aside from using ankle weights at times or small dumbbells, I haven’t incorporated weight training. That’s where Kristen will be coming in!

This week I’m setting myself up for that, aiming for a manageable once/week in the weight room during marathon training, and keeping one or two other strength/stability sessions at home through the week as well. Kristen is going to show me what’s up, and I’ll let you know how it goes!

Monday, March 19th – easy day

8k aerobic before work

definitely some muscle soreness from Saturday’s race and yesterday’s long run plus deep-tissue massage! (Thank you, Diane!) I planned to swim after work, but changed my mind – went home to make dinner and go right to bed. Sleep was so needed.

Tuesday, March 20th – hard day

Intervals!

3k warm-up
4 x [1600, 3 min rest]
2 & a bit km cool-down

holy. shit. I reminded myself beforehand that the prescribed pace for these reps is not as fast as my overall pace in Saturday’s race. A good reference point. But the third and fourth nearly killed me! I had to re-start the 1600 on those last two, as you can tell from the graph, but completed each successfully. That’s just the way this running thing works. Each day feels different. F yeah.

Then I fit in an 800m swim and stretch in the steam sauna before work

After work, I was so crabby and tired. Husband was getting on the treadmill so I joined him in the basement and did a round of Dirty Dozen plus a variety of squats and single-leg deadlifts. Felt so much happier after that and we made my favourite dinner ever from Run Fast, Eat Slow – burst cherry tomato linguine. Seriously omg.

Wednesday, March 21st – recovery day

Hump day! 2000m in the pool.

I had no intention of doing anything else today, but was pissed off about something at work, so I threw on my shoes when I got home and went for 5k with my watch covered up.

ahh. All better.

Thursday, March 22nd – easy day..until it became hard day

The plan from Coach today was simply 10k aerobic. But today was the day I was able to do my first session with Kristen and she has a busy schedule! It quickly became hard (AF) day. Going forward, I’ll make sure not to be going hard in the gym on easy days, but I wanted to get going with her so I just went with it.

After a detailed consultation about current fitness, types and frequency of exercise, we talked diet, goals, injuries/problem areas, took measurements and did a weigh-in. Then she put me through a SOLID full body workout. Ten minutes of challenging cardio to start, and then legs, arms, back and core. I am so stoked about this. She’s planning lots of stuff for me that I know Lifelong Endurance and Coach Andrew will be so happy about, and will help with the Mission. Since Kristen trains out of the pool gym, I went for a sauna and stretch after we were done.

Later, 10k aerobic, which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be after that gym sesh, but a few times I noticed my upper body feeling pretty fatigued.

Lastly, I went to Learn to Run, because it’s fun and awesome. That added on another 3.5km of running/walking and I was done for the day. Cat onesie and chill.

Friday, March 23rd – hard day..again

progression run!

3k warm-up
~ 30min progression from 8:30 to 8:00/mile (i.e. ~5:20 – 5:00/km)
3k cool-down

I was scared I’d be soooo sore from yesterday and that this might suck. But then I said Fk that! I’m not that sore, it’s beautiful out, and this isn’t any sort of vicious workout. Let’s do this. IT WAS SO GOOD.

left it at that for the day!

Saturday, March 24th – recovery day

One of the lifeguards at the pool told me that now it’s time to start swimming 200m intervals to work on endurance. I decided today was the day to start doing that. After a 150m warm up, I got started. Turns out, like running, you really do need a legit warm up. The first 200m I thought I was going to drown. But each one got better and better, until after six of them I did a 250m, and seeing that I was now at 1600m in total, I decided to go for it and try 400m to finish it off. Success! Swimming stokage is at a new level woooo!

Sunday, March 25th – hard day

long run!

On the schedule today was 24km, with the last half an hour at 5:05-5:10/km. Jess and I ran the first 19km together at a conversational pace, and then we high-fived and said bye. I cannot believe how good these last 5.5k felt. Like, I felt like Mario when you get a star. Faster than prescribed, but everything felt so under control I just went with it. VERY HAPPY ABOUT THIS.

Followed up with some pancakes, stretching and foam rolling and I’m done for the week. That’s a 77k week for me and I am feeling like a million dollars. Two weeks til the Prince Rupert 1/2 Marathon, four til the Tenacious Ten, and six til BMO Vancouver 1/2!!!! The future is stacked with awesome races. Let me know if you’ll be at any of them.

Oh and lastly, some of the best suggestions so far for renaming Mission Impossible (LMFAO)