Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Week 4 - "Cross Training"

“When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger”


Coming into the last 4 weeks of marathon training, one must continually look at the Big Picture in ones workouts. There is one goal and only one goal on the horizon. This is the time you put yourself in check, trust the training and don’t focus on the small things. What is beyond the tip of your finger is where the prize is and if you narrowing in on what is immediately front of you, you will lose sight.


I have 3 key workouts this week. Track on Wednesday, 8 mile Tempo on Friday and the last 20 miler on Sunday. These are the workouts I need to hit the mark on the paces. Sunday’s ING was a test for pacing for Boston and I passed, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. These workouts will push me to feel what race pace will feel like on that Monday morning in Hopkinton.

I need to continue my weight workouts to insure strength is maintained and last will be the swim for added fitness. Dialing back in the pool will start to occur this week with shorting the time spent in the water in order to conserve the energy for the run. There are many trains of thoughts on cross training and tapering leading into a race, but I go by one philosophy, mine. I listen to my body, understand where my energy levels are and concentrate at the task at hand. This week the task assigned to me is hitting my interval times and maintaining pace on my runs.

This morning was Master’s Swim. I went into the workout with the attitude that this is a C- workout for me. I will get a workout in as part of the cross training, but if the workout started to be taxing, then I was getting out.

Coach Mike’s Workout:

300M EZ
3 X 100M I.M.
9 X 300M
First 200M was at a 1:35 -100 meter split
The last 100M was at a 1:55 split to bring you in at around 5:10
4 X 25M All out race against the rest in your lane
8 X 25 Power Kicks Underwater
200M Cool Down
150M Kick


The workout may not be exact. I only focused on what was going to be done and the sets that I knew for sure I was not going to do. I started the warm ups and completed the 9 X 300M’s with Evan, Brian, Jeff, Seth with ease. When I saw the 4 X 25 sprints, I knew it was time to get out. No need to focus on the finger on this set. I also peeled off from the power kicks since this was a full recovery day for the legs and did not need to add any strain to them.

I am going to start to document the conditions of the pool. Tuesday, cloudy, particles floating in the water, the bottom had unknown garbage floating. On a grade scale: D.

Lunchtime will be spent on concentrating on upper body and core. Hitting a little more weight over the next two weeks to increase the metabolism to burn off a few pounds to get to a good fighting weight. Last thing you want to be feeling at mile 19 is a belly flopping around.

When you surround yourself with talented athletes, the testosterone tends to bubble up a lot with challenges and testing your abilities. If at this point falling into that cauldron would only make me the imbecile.


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