Base Build Week 4 (and 5): Oops

Week 4 Week 5

Training Time: 8 hours Training Time: 8.5 hours

Run: 26 miles / 3,100 ft Run: 31 miles / 4,100 ft

Ride: 0 Ride: 41 miles / 0 ft

Lift: 3 sessions / 3 hours Lift: 2 sessions / 2 hours

You know training is picking up when you combine two weeks into one blog post. But in all seriousness, the past couple of weeks have been very busy for me and last Sunday, I recorded a podcast with my friend Mario, and just had no more energy for sharing, so here we are. Work has also been full on which has really driven home that the body does not differentiate between training stress and life stress. Thankfully, week 4 of the program was actually a pre-planned down week, and while I didn’t relax quite as much as I would have liked, it was the perfect opportunity to give my body the chance to adapt to the past several weeks of increasing load and intensity. I intentionally folded in these recovery weeks during this base building phase because I know that my brain and body would be ready for it every 3 weeks or so. I am building volume and starting to layer in intensity, and in these early stages it is so important to make sure the foundation is strong. I have learned over the years that you can’t rush base building, and if I want to build a resilient body, it needs time to adapt. For me, that meant keeping the running mileage the same as the week prior instead of adding 10%, removing any speed work for that week and taking the week off cycling. I still lifted 3 days because right now that build me up far more than breaks me down. I even folded in a bonus rest day and let me tell you, week 5 was an amazing week of training after that time to absorb all the hard work of the previous 3 weeks.

Week 5 had me getting over the hump of the 30 miles of running per week milestone on the back of some pretty awesome runs. Tuesday I did 4 x 1 min intervals just hovering at 6 min pace followed by a 1.2 mile uphill tempo. My legs were pumping, my lungs were burning, and I felt so strong! I also did a 12 mile long run on Sunday with over 2,000 feet of climbing. I was nervous about covering that distance and wasn’t sure how my body would hold up. Generally speaking, it went really well and I was so tired afterwards. While I didn’t feel any huge red flags while running, I still struggled to consistently feel smooth and my adductor was a little flared up afterwards. I’ve been seeing improvement in the gym and in running, but my right hip is still not working perfectly and the missed lifting session over the weekend didn’t help. My weekend training schedule got thrown off because of poor air quality on Saturday morning. Me of three years ago would have just waited until it cleared out, went for my run and been done with it. But being a parent means I could only squeeze in 6 miles once the air cleared before family obligations and so I didn’t get my lift in and had to defer my long run until Sunday. I made it work but I am looking forward to getting that third session on this week because my body feel so much better afterwards. I am really psyched about the process right now and falling hard in love with training again.

I am obsessed with these chocolate peanut butter oatmeal bars from Halfbaked Harvest. Simple ingredients plus being oatmeal based means they’re a good refueling option and the chocolate-peanut butter combo means they’re also indulgent. I’m finding them to be the perfect treat now that training is increasing, and along with it my appetite.