Week 11 Training Reflections (06/06–06/12)
I really started getting back into a groove this week! Sunday’s long run was one of the funnest that I’ve had in a long while. It was as humid as the inside of a camel’s hump, and just as warm, but I still had a blast. I also generated a new theory about my compression sleeves. I think that they trap the sweat on your body, which is kind of disgusting, but also really good for cooling. There were some points during this run where I started to see and feel literal goosebumps on my arms. I’m not sure if this is unscientific nonsense, but either way, they look dope as heck and are great for wiping the sweat off my forehead!
I also got attacked by a dog a little bit, but he was harmless.
Aside from that, I just love running in the Wissahickon so darn much. I love the nature, I love the graffiti, and I love the focus of finding the best spots to let my feet fall. I did lose a lot of steam after the first two hours, but it’s just so hard to care about pace during my trail runs. I think that’s a really positive mental shift. I’m attributing the loss of steam to dehydration; when I stopped to pee during the last half hour, it was a lot less clear than it usually is.
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My run on Thursday was even more fun than Sunday’s. I ran a 10 miler in roughly 73 minutes with an average heart rate in the low 150s. I haven’t had a fast road run in a while, so that was especially fun. My left foot started to get a little tweaky again in the last couple of miles, but it stopped hurting after a day or two.
I got into a decent lifting rhythm this week, and made some equally positive mental shifts. For a couple years now, I’ve been so trapped by this idea of picking a set rep count and percentage of my one-rep-max to use for every lift on a given day. This week, I let myself make intuitive adjustments between and within sets, which was great. I think this will be great as I continue relearning proper form on my big lifts. I also got back into the sauna, which was spectacular. It was really tough to hangout in there for fifteen minutes, and I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s been over a year, or if this gym keeps it hotter, but either way, it feels good to sweat that much again. Surely that’ll help me acclimate to the summer heat, too!
Most of my rows this week were solid, but none were super eventful, aside from Saturday’s 3 x 2K with Bill. There was a ripping tail wind and/oar current that helped us throw down some wicked fast times. We’re still definitely not as fast as we could be though. There are definitely a couple parts of our strokes where we’re both just kind of doing our own thing. Sometimes we successfully meet each other in the middle and find a true rhythm, but it’s not there as often as it needs to be. But we will definitely find it.
