Goal 3 of Ultraman “Test” Training Complete

The plan for this week was to run 60 miles, just to get in a lot of run mileage.  I didn’t think it would be THAT hard considering I’d run 55 in late October for my birthday week. The plan further called for doing 10 miles a day for 6 days straight, and then a rest day (today).

I was surprised that on Monday my quads felt sore right away.  I hadn’t run much the prior week or biked. Maybe it was from all the kicking I did during my 15,000 yard swim?  I don’t know, but whatever, I knew that the soreness was OK (oops now that I think of it it may have been from lifting!), and that I was good to go. I also didn’t have any aspirations as to pace for this, although I didn’t want to run slower than 10mpm.

Monday I swam first and then ran, and gosh I was fucking tired after that!  Imagine that—I’d swum 15,000 just 2 days before and I was still a little crunchy? LOL I kill myself. Turns out doing a hard 1-hour swim directly followed by a 10-mile run 2 days after a 15,000 swim feels a bit tough.

Tuesday no swimming, but I got to the Y at a decent time to run. We’ve been having nice weather in Chicago for winter, but the reason I decided to do this week on the treadmill is that a) it will help me hold my pace DOWN (I always run faster outdoors) and b) as long as I’m running indoors, even though I have a treadmill in my house, I’d feel more motivated with others around me. But I digress. When I arrived, a friend of mine, Jamey, was on a treadmill, so it was nice to pass my first hour chatting with him. And I mean CHATTING! We were into some deep shit, and I am sure others around us were like what the fuck is wrong with them. Again, my legs felt sore, but nothing that stopped me from getting in my 10. Later in the day I did some strength training for about :41.

Wednesday I swam right before I ran again, as I knew that the swimming (as long as it was some reasonable amount less than 5,000 yards LOL) would not impact the running plus it helps me recover from running (I think), and once again my legs were still a bit sore, but not too bad, plus I had an awesome swim! I forgot to mention that Monday’s swim was great, too—ya think from all that swimming I’d been doing the prior weeks?

On Thursday morning I was all ready to go to the Y, got in my car, turn the ignition and nothing. I figured it was a dead battery, and it almost started, but then I just smiled and thought I’d deal with it later, so I went back into my house, put on some walking shoes and walked my ass to the Y.  It was a gorgeous morning, albeit pitch black, and I laughed that I should run outside, but I wanted to get the run done NOW and I don’t particularly like running in the dark.

Friday I’d scheduled the day off from work, knowing I’d be pretty worked over by this time and could use a lack of stress from work.  Still, I awoke by 3AM, which has been happening a lot the last 3 weeks, forced myself to stay in bed until 4AM, got up, and got ready to hit it again. I swam only 2300, but swam hard, and it felt good, and then I ran again, ending on the track where I was really kicking it! I wore my new magic shoes, which explains it. They are the best shoes EVER. While I can’t find the rainbow ones anymore, I have another pair of “regular” colored ones and I think I’ll buy some more, they are the most awesome shoes I’ve ever run in.  I got a massage at 2PM and really needed it, even though I stretched after the swim and the run just because I had the day off, and stretching as soon as I finish a workout is the way to go when I have the time.

I think I went to sleep by 6:30 on Friday I was so tired out. But I woke up by 3AM on Saturday just rarin’ to go, knowing this was my last run for the week. I swam another 2200 just to get my swim yardage over 10,000 for the week, even though I’d planned only like 6,000. But since I’ve become a much stronger swimmer, it is no big deal, and I want to keep up at least 10,000 per week. My legs felt pretty good, no doubt from both stretching and massage in the same day, but mentally I was a little toasty.  Good thing a great runner I know, Larry, showed up and got on the treadmill next to me. We had a fun conversation, and at one point he told me that if a Kenyan trained me they wouldn’t make me lose weight!  I have been feeling like I’m in pretty good weight/muscle mass right now, although I know there are people who would call me skinny.

I was so happy to do that last run, but then when I figured how much I’d done for the week it came to 63.8 miles, and I was thinking that today maybe I should “even it out” so I got to 65. But, today was supposed to be a rest day, and so it is, and I need to be off my feet. Although I have been baking since 8AM and still have something else to cook today, did 3 loads of laundry, miscellaneous cleaning, other personal stuff and I’m pretty tired.

I forgot to mention last night I took my brother out for sushi for his birthday. I was so hungry I think I ate enough for 2 people easily, even though just 2 ½ hours before I had to get a 6” Subway sandwich even though I ate a huge salad for lunch. Yes, my metabolism is totally jacked up, but I have to be watchful now since I am going to take a good rest week now and then I won’t be going nutso on the volume for awhile.

I’m pretty happy with what I’ve accomplished, training-wise, in the last 10 weeks, and think it has helped me build additional mental and physical toughness. I know several people doing 100-day challenges and run every day challenges, but I am not on that train because I know when I need to take rest days and give myself some time to do other things. Hard to believe it’s 2012, but that means I am now officially training for an Ironman, and I’m pretty darn sure I’m going to pony up for Ultraman Hawaii, assuming they let me in!  It’s all very exciting, and I am so grateful that I am able to do all of this at this stage of my life.

I hope everyone has had a wondrous, magical, fulfilling weekend!