Training Log Week 4: Garmin Half Marathon Training...

I'm a bit late getting my Week 4 wrap up done, but here it is! It wasn't spectacular, but it was good and I had some fun along the way. I was still working on coming back from my cold that hindered week 3, so I did skip a couple workouts, but overall I think it was a successful week. Finishing this week also got me through day #27 of the 100 Days Challenge. I really feel good about the variety of workouts I had again this week and everything I accomplished. I am definitely getting stronger as the weeks go by, and that really is the point of training. There are now 12 weeks to go until the Garmin Half Marathon and I think I'm on a good track to accomplish my goal there as I am feeling and seeing the results of my hard work training.

Day-by-day went as follows:

• Monday: 2,100 yard Endurance Drills swim; 3.1 mile treadmill run; 1 mile treadmill walk; 100 Push Ups program W2D1; Coaching Connection apt at YMCA
• Tuesday: 2,400 yard swim; 24.26 mile interval bike trainer ride
• Wednesday: 5 mile tempo run
• Thursday: 2,400 yard swim; 3.1 mile treadmill run
• Friday: Javorek's General Fitness Weight Training; Yoga class at the YMCA
• Saturday: Spin class at the YMCA; Core/flexibility class at the YMCA; 350 yard swim (cut short due to pool closing)
• Sunday: Volunteered at Psychodelic 5k Trail Run; 2.7 mile trail hike with my dogs & wife

That's a total of 16 activities covering 63.28 miles and 11:46:28, burning 6,293 calories.  I ran 11.2 miles in 1:47:33 (9:36 avg pace), cycled 44.26 miles in 2:27:45 (18.0 mph avg), swam 7,250 yards (4.12 miles) in 2:53:47 (2:24 /100 yards avg), walked 1 mile in 15:01 (15:01 avg pace), hiked 2.7 miles in 57:58 (21:28 avg pace) and did 2:25:28 worth of strength & core training and 58:56 yoga class.

Running:  I skipped my long run this weekend because I decided to spend time cleaning out the garage with my wife & mother-in-law instead. Not quite the same training effect, but it was time well spent. I had two easy runs of 3.1 miles @ 9:59 each, both still indoors on the treadmill. The running highlight of this week was a very nice tempo run on Wednesday. I did a 1 mile warm up @ 9:55, 3 tempo miles @ 8:35, then a 1 mile cool down @ 10:00. That was an overall avg of 9:07; a very nice run to continue working on my pace for race day and really this went very well.

Cycling:  Same as with my running this week, I skipped a couple bike rides. I really felt like a little extra rest this week to continue to recover from my cold was more important than squeezing in the workouts. I did my normal spin class on Saturday morning, the cycling highlight was my Tuesday evening ride. I decided that (same as running) if I never train for speed on the bike I'm never going to get any faster, so I set up an interval ride. I did a warm up, then alternating sessions of riding as fast as I could followed by a recovering period of twice the length of the previous interval. I read an article that suggested that would be a good interval workout. It was! It was extremely challenging, but I think it'll help me improve my cycling ability.

Swimming:  I did two nice long swims this week of 2,200 yards (with 100yd warm up & cool downs) each. I was planning a longer swim on Saturday, but I got cut well short. I did a 100 yd warm up, but then after making it only 250 yards the lifeguards pulled us all out of the water. Someone was drinking from a glass bottle on the pool deck and dropped it, shattering it everywhere. They had to close the pool so that they could clean up the glass and make sure that there was not any in the pool. I hated having my swim cut short, but certainly a wise precaution, so I understood.

Click for a larger image

Other Workouts:  I got in some good walking, hiking and strength training as well. The highlight here is a renewed focus on core training. My core is pretty week and I truly want to focus on fixing that problem. I've started going to a core/flexibility class after spin class on Saturdays. Also, the YMCA was offering a free 6 week Coaching Connection program. They hook you up with a trainer and they help you work on something you want to improve. Generally this plan is for new members who want an overview of the equipment and getting started with a plan, but I want to use those sessions to focus on core training. My trainer seems quite good at core exercises and I definitely felt it on Tuesday after my Monday night session!

Weight:  I want to start including info on how I'm doing toward my goal of weight loss. I started the month at 198.0 lbs and was doing well losing weight, but being sick for a week left me back at 198.4. Of course, when sick a lot of the weight I regained was due to water retention being sick. I finished this week back down to 193.2. Not bad progress so far. I'm getting back to where I want to be. I've done pretty well focusing on my eating and I will continue to focus on it.