Getting Back on Track

This is the story of my week! I completely killed my legs. I met Coach Michael at the track on Saturday and we did a 2 mile warm up then got down to business with 4 miles worth of speed drills. It felt really good to be at the track working on speed again.

We meet at 630am and do 30 minutes worth of warm up work that often looks like this:
2 mile warm up
10 striders
striders - 100 meter repeats at fresh pace (run down one side of the track turn around and come back)
Then the real work begins. This week we did:
160m, 6 times = 3 laps
1 slow lap around the track
8 striders
300m, 3 times = almost 3 laps (the recovery is across the field instead of around the curve)
1 slow lap around the track
10 striders
Total distance: 4.5 miles in 49:58. Doesn't sound fast, but that's overall time and includes walking, stretching, recovery. All the actual run segments I maintain a 7:15-7:30 pace (according to my Garmin).

Sunday I swam. Monday morning I went to bootcamp and this is where the real fun began. Apparently Troy decided to do heavy leg work at the start of the week. Ah, Goblet Tabata.

Do 4 minutes of one exercise (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) then do 4 flying 90's. One to two minutes rest, move on to next exercise. Basically we did 2 miles worth of speed drills. Flying 90's - jog 30 yards, sprint 30 yards, jog 30 yards and repeat that 4 times.
Troy took a photo during the lunges - that's my knee way down at the very end. The other picture is of the split squats (not me in that one, but I was doing the same thing, just different tire).

It was an excellent workout! I love speed drills. My legs were definitely done when it was over; however I wasn't done for the day.
Monday night's I meet a group of cyclist's at Truly Spokin' for their weekly beginner group ride. I'm actually the only beginner; the rest of the group are guys recovering from their long rides over the weekend. Still, they are very helpful and give me lots of great pointers. We do a 7-mile loop around the airport. Normally we do 3 loops and average around 14 mph. This week we had an average pace of 13.8 with a max pace of 19.4. There were a few new ladies this week so it was a really nice group.
My first triathlon is coming up in July, so I need to start throwing brick workouts into my schedule. No better time then after my Monday night rides. I was tired from all the heavy leg work I've been doing, but decided to do a short run anyway. I went with just 2 miles and it was tough going.

Top photo: bike
Bottom photo: run splits

I was surprised with the first mile. It was tough going, but not terrible. I imagine if I hadn't done a heavy leg workout in bootcamp I could've gotten more in. We'll see what I can crank out next week!

Tuesday morning it was REALLY hard to get up and go to bootcamp, but I did it. I wanted to cry though when I saw the board. 

I was put in group #2, so I started with 2 then did 3 and began 4 before I had to leave. #2 ab work wasn't so bad and even #3 upper body was a good workout. It was #4 that I was hurting on. 15 Tuck jumps. Good times. Then prisoner squats. Ouch, oh yea, my quads hurt. I started in on the 25 pendulum lunges and barely finished those before it was time to go. I'm not sure my quads could've handled the step ups. I felt every step on the way home.
Wednesday I headed to my weekly World of Beer run. I wanted to do more then the 5k, but I wasn't quite sure I was up to the 10k since my quads were still quite achy. I ended up with 4.51 (plus about .25 that I did before my watch located signal) in 46:31.

It wasn't too hot, but it was certainly humid. There wasn't a dry spot on my when I was done!

My first two miles were consistent, but then in mile three I started to hurt and had to take some walk breaks. Mile four went a little better as I told myself I was almost done and just to slow down and run it out. I could literally feel every step pounding in my quads. I did not want to cause an injury so I just played it safe and walk/jogged. I also knew this would be waiting for me when I got home...

Today is Thursday and I'm enjoying a rest day. I was supposed to do bootcamp this morning, but Chris had duty which was really a blessing in disguise. I'm feeling better after my epsom soak last night, but a day off is certainly helping my quads heal.