Seeing that I’m sitting in Vancouver, prepared to finish this race in the next 49 hours, I should probably finish off my training logs, huh?

#SeaKatyWheeze – Week 16 Recap

Day 106 – Sunday 7/23

Bike 13mi

Fun on two wheels! All the time in Minneapolis, I had bicycle envy of anyone out on the trails who were whizzing past me on their bikes. Not sure if it was a desire to ride my bike or simply not be on my feet anymore, but I wanted to roll.

This was the first day I was able to take my bike out all summer. I rode it a bunch leading up to my first half back in 2015, and maybe it helped me out with an aerobic base more than I thought. Long story short, it was nice to get out there and wake up the legs with something new.

Day 107 – Monday 7/24

Warmup 2mi + Tempo 4mi + Cool Down .5mi

In the seemingly never-ending slump, it had become apparent that 9:05 was just too spicy of a race pace for me. So, Joanna said that over the next week she’d be experimenting with different paces to see how my heart rate responded, to better assess what would be a realistic pace for me.

So, the prescribed pace was a 9:35/mi on an unseasonably cool and cloudy 62-degree day. Warmup was nothing special, but when it came for the tempo portion, I went out a little hot. On the second mile, it still felt good, so I decided to scrap the 9:35 goal (Sorry, Joanna) and keep going while the going was good. This happened:

Tempo Mile 1 – 9:09
Tempo Mile 2 – 9:01
Tempo Mile 3 – 8:48
Tempo Mile 4 – 8:49

I expected to fizzle per usual, but I didn’t. So I kept on motoring at a comfortable effort. Surprised to see the watch in the low 9’s and even high 8’s when I got a little uppity. I had to cut cool down a little short to make sure I got into the gym before they closed to pick up my food.

Apparently I’m only slow and terrible when it’s 93° and sunny out. Eliminate humidity, drop the temperature to 63° and cast a nice cloud cover in the sky? OH HAI THERE, FAST KATY. WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN ALL SUMMER?!

Day 108 – Tuesday 7/25

CrossFit

Strength
Bench Press (5×8 at 70%) – 75lbs

Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)
“Reverse Chelsea”
Every minute on the minute for 30 minutes
15 Air Squats
10 Push Ups
5 Pull Ups

CrossFit, you ask? Yeah, I still do that. Sometimes. Barely. I’ve done 3 WODs since June. This day was one of them. That WOD was stupid. I scaled it do ring rows & pushups from my knees, and eventually reduced the rep count to keep up after 10 minutes.

I was sore for DAYS afterward. I repeat, that WOD was f’ing stupid. Nobody needs to do that many air squats at one time. They just don’t.

Day 109 – Wednesday 7/26

Run 6mi HR <145

Legs felt pretty locked up after yesterday’s air squat nonsense. Trying to roll my quads with The Stick beforehand did nothing but HURT.

Probably not the best run to judge my HR paces off of. My legs contributed absolutely nothing to today’s cause.

Day 110 – Thursday 7/27

CrossFit

Run 1 mile
Row 2000m
300 Double Unders
Result: 7:43/mi, 25:47 Rx

Ehhh so I started a little hot on the run. My pace was down in the 6’s for the first 800m, then I fizzled. Thought I could hang with the fast girls. Couldn’t. Far cry from my 6:57 PR, but with how the summer has been going, I can’t hate on a staying within 60 seconds, I guess.

I sandbagged the row (something like an 8:30/2k) after going all out on the mile, and the dubs were just an annoying bit of cardio at the end that I tripped more than usual on. Eh, well. Joanna said to focus on the first mile and that she didn’t care if I did double dutch for the rest of the WOD. So, yeah. Wasn’t exactly pushing the envelope on the 2000/300.

Day 111 – Friday 7/28

Rest Day

Half day at work, followed by a trip up to Boston to see an alt-J concert. They did not disappoint.

Day 112 – Saturday 7/29

Run 14mi

It took until that morning to realize in the process of my training run, I’d be casually running a half marathon (and then some) that day. I normally like to do my long runs in the morning to mimic race day state of mind and physiology. But, I was in Boston the night before and had a lunch date with Krystle around 12:00, making a morning run a bit rough. It took me until about 4:30p to finally haul my rear end out the door.

The goal was to go nothing more than a reasonably conversational pace, and to keep moving. After a rough summer, I took NO walk breaks on this run and finished 14mi in the time it took me to finish Seawheeze in 2016 (2:37).

My route consisted of two 6-mile loops plus 2 more, and so I tested out hydration strategies to see which liquids my body responded to best. My findings:

Water – Miles 1-6, GOOD

Nuun electrolytes in water – Miles 6-12, also pretty good

Gatorade – Miles 12-14, clenching both sides of your abdomen with your hands and losing your ability to run, courtesy of some of the worst cramps in recent memory. (Notice the terrible jump in time at the end.)

If the algorithm is correct, I torched 1700 calories on that one. Nice salt mustache, self.

This Week’s Mileage: 27.5 miles // #SeaKatyWheeze Cumulative Total: 311 miles