October 19th week in review

This week, I noticed my knees were starting to get, for lack of a better word - tired. Not really sore, certainly no pain, but just not functioning at their normal 85%. For example, I found myself turning sideways to go down stairs because they just didn't want to bend that deep. Now, having had knee issues in the past, this is something I really want to nip in the bud. I mentioned it to my coach and he said we should drop one of my running days, so I only run T/Th/Sat/Sun. He also took my Bolder Boulder heart rate file and nailed down my training zones more exactly. The good news is that zone 2 goes up to 158 bpm (which is very doable). And my zone 3 is 158-165. I was going much harder than that. So hopefully running only 4 days and with a lower intensity will solve the tired knee problem before it becomes a real problem.

So the week in review. Tuesday was master's class and then the evening group run. We still ran at Wonderland lake. We did 2 x (2 x 400, 4 x 1 minute hill). It was the shortest workout yet, but really intense. At the top of the hill, I had the opportunity to rest and take a picture of this herd of deer that have been there every week:



On Wednesday I tried to go to a spin class knowing I would be 15 minutes late due to Beat Your Brother Late Start Wednesday. The room was dark and crowded and I couldn't see that there were still a few open bikes, so I went and rode a spin bike on my own while watching Good Morning America. Longest. 30 minutes. Ever. Then I did my strength workout.

I had stroke class Thursday morning, then did a zone 1/zone 2/zone 3 run afterwards. And it WAS much easier now that my zone 3 isn't all out crazy.

Friday was an off day and then Saturday was a 30 minute lactic acid (zone 4) run. Pretty much a 5k at near race pace. It wasn't as miserable as I thought it would be, but it was hard to keep my heart rate at 174. It kept wanting to creep up into the upper 170's. The interesting part about this run was I was supposed to do a 10 minute cool down. I walked the first minute, then jogged the rest as easy as I could. And my heart rate really wanted to stay around 170, even though I was running a 11:30 pace. If I was running an 11:30 pace at the beginning, I would have a heart rate in the low 140's. So I guess I don't recover very quickly once I start running that hard.

We had a Grammie in the afternoon and Jeremy and I had planned on riding but the wind was really gusting so we went to Pearl Street for lunch instead. After a giant steak and potato burrito and a beer, we decide the wind had died down enough for the ride. Jeremy took me on what he thought was an easy around Boulder ride, but I certainly could think of easier routes. Any ride that goes up the hill to 6th and 4th streets is not that easy. We really just tooled around though, it was nice to get out.

I did my Sunday run during Sunday school. It was supposed to be an easy zone 2 50 minute run. I tried to keep my heart rate under 158 and had to slow down a few times. I was therefore surprised when I downloaded my heart rate file that I had actually spent 10 minutes above 158. Whoops. I sure didn't feel like I was running hard *that* long. At home, I did weights.

Weekly Totals:
swim - 4100 yards
bike - 17.4 miles
run - 18.7 miles

Total: 9:30