Week two of training was much harder due to the poor air quality and having to be very flexible with the time of day doing my workouts. Most days luckily in my town the winds would shift late in the afternoon, sending the smoke and particles out and I was able to get my workouts in during a healthy range of AQI.
Week two started with an 8 mile run and the perfect chance to try out my new Nathan handheld water bottle. The size turns out to be just enough water for my longer "short" runs and with the new flatter design and grippy side on the bottle, it was much easier to hold than the old styles. Success. Except the water got hot real quick. Temps here were in the high 80's low 90's. Well, me and my problem solving mind went into quick fix mode and decided to freeze some water in it before my next run. It took a few tries to figure out how much water was needed to stay frozen long enough to be enjoyable on my runs, but I did it. Oh and if you are wondering for me, I fill the bottle 2/3 full, then freeze, once frozen I top it off with water and head out on my run.
Week 2 Training Plan: (17th-23rd August 2020)
Monday: REST day, 30 minutes FRC mobility.
Tuesday: Run 8 miles, Strength 1 hour, Mobility 15 min.
Wednesday: Bike trainer 45 minutes. Core strength 30 minutes.
Thursday: Run 8 miles, Strength 1 hour.
Friday: Run 2 miles, Core strength 30 minutes, Mobility 15 minutes.
Saturday: Bike 2.5-3 miles
Sunday: Trail run 12 miles.
My Nathan handheld water bottle, the Speedshot Plus 355mL.
Another issue that came up with the handheld is that it creates an off balance feel when swinging your arms. This is not a good idea to create imbalances in your run, especially since these imbalances can cause injuries. Again I had to think through the options. Did I want to buy another bottle and hold one in each hand? That will give me perfect balance, as long as I remember to drink evenly from both bottles. Nah, I didn't feel like plopping out another $35 for one of those especially since one was perfect for me for now. My other option was to swap hands throughout the run, and that's exactly what I did. Every mile I would take a big sip, then switch hands. Not a bad compromise for me, and easy to do since I set my Garmin 920XT watch to beep on every mile. Woot! Problem solved.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's workouts went well. I was able to do them all and hit my numbers as far as times or power. Then for some unknown reason I was not able to sleep Thursday night, racking up only 2 hours which made Friday very difficult. Even after being able to take a short power nap in the middle of the day I still did not feel that I had the energy to do my 2 mile run, so I skipped it for the day and just accepted it as a needed rest day. Saturday is usually ride day but the air quality was poor and I actually had a hair appointment that morning. Turns out the air quality didn't change so at 3:30pm I finally got on the indoor trainer and did my alternative bike workout for the day. Trust me I would have rather be outside but with an AQI at 160 I wasn't going to chance it. After I finished my bike workout I check the AQI again and it was at 65 so I went and did my 2 mile run from Friday. Normally I would just skip the missed workout all together, but with it being so short and my bike ride being shorter it was okay to slip in.
Planning Sunday's long run was going to be a bit of touch and go, the air quality was on the border of unhealthy at AQI 145. But I knew if I didn't get out in the morning though I would not be able to do it later. So off to the park, Rancho San Antonio park, one of the few parks here with good climbing, and wide trails. When I got to the parking lot I did another AQI check and it was at 99. Okay off we go, into the park up the hills and hopefully not into the smoke. The trail was clear, no smell of smoke in the air, though I could see it on the other side of the park, thick orange-brown smoke. At the 4.5 mile mark I still had another 1.5 miles to go up before I could turn around and head back down. Also at this point I knew I was getting closer to the smoke and very unhealthy air. But, onwards I went. At the point where I started rounding the hill to head toward the other side of the park (mile 5.3), I hit the wall of smoke. Quite literally. I went from being able to see with my glass and not smelling smoke, to having to take my glasses off to see, smelling a campfire, and my nose started burning. At that point I turned around immediately and headed down the hill. My only problem was, I going to be 1.4 miles short on my run. No problem as the lower part of the climb was clean and clear and I was just going to have to do a short hill repeat before truly heading down the hill and back to my car.
Sunday morning view at Rancho looking across the park to the side where the smoke was taking up residence.
Final tally for week 2 of training, 30.7 miles running with 1,614 feet of climbing (4 hours and 18 minutes), and 4 hours and 16 minutes of cycling. During the week I also did 4 weight lifting sessions hitting all the major muscle groups with moderate amount of weight for 4 sets of about 10 reps each. Every one of my workouts, whether it was running, cycling or strength training was following immediately (that is VERY important) with 30g of protein. The reason I emphasize the immediately is that for women our physiology needs assistance in muscle repair and building post exercise, as it has been shown by leading women's Physiologist Dr. Stacy Sims, author of ROAR: How to Match Your Food and Fitness to Your Unique Female Physiology for Optimum Performance, Great Health, and a Strong, Lean Body for Life. You can read an excerpt from an interview where she talks about the nutritional needs of women post exercise and mentions the 30 minute timing for 25-30 grams of protein intake (https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts105/).
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