Training Log Entry 42

April 8 - 14, 2024

Monday April 8

Off

Tuesday April 9

Pleasantly surprised, I started the week without any significant discomfort from my recent injuries. My legs were extremely fatigued, as expected after Sunday’s hard long run, so I felt rather sluggish the entire time. However, I still managed to loosen up and started to feel quite good by the end.

In total, the run covered 10.1km and 170m of climbing.

Wednesday April 10

This Wednesday session involved a long hill workout of three intervals of the Lower Snake + Uppercut ascent, which consists of 120m of climbing over 800m. I felt quite good going into this workout, with minimal soreness in my legs and no significant discomfort from injuries.

As it was my first time running this trail, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The terrain was similar to Nicole’s, but a bit shorter and less steep, averaging around a 13% grade compared to Nicole’s 18%. Although challenging, I was able to push the pace, and I made it through the first two ascents without any problems. During the final ascent, however, fatigue set in, forcing me to pause midway before completing the last interval.

Overall, I’m pleased with how this workout went. Despite still recovering from Sunday’s hard long run, I completed the session mostly unscathed while feeling like I was moving fairly well uphill. Additionally, I was happy to see that I had very little discomfort in my achilles during this workout, although I took the descents slow to be careful.

Including both the warm-up and cool-down, the total volume amounted to 12.3km with 411m of elevation gain

Thursday April 11

Because of a busy work schedule, I needed to take the next two days off.

Friday April 12

Off

Saturday April 13

Following two days off, I was feeling really stiff. However, the biggest issue was the stomach discomfort I was experiencing. I’ve had some stomach issues over the previous few days, but on this run, it felt much worse and made the entire run a struggle to get through.

In the end, I did manage to complete the run, covering a distance of 6.8km.

Sunday April 14

While I had planned to go out somewhere for this week’s long run, given the current condition of my achilles and stomach, I decided to do the run around Burnaby Mountain. I still wanted to get a long session in, so I planned my route to include three big ascents, totaling over 800m of elevation gain.

Fortunately, when I started this workout, the stomach discomfort from the previous day had completely subsided. I felt pretty good early on and settled into a conservative pace, knowing this was going to be a long effort.

The first ascent went fairly smoothly. I hiked more than usual, given that this was the first of three ascents, but felt strong throughout. During the descent, my legs recovered quickly, however, because of my achilles, I took it slow and careful.

The second ascent, up Nicole’s trail, proved particularly challenging. By midway, my legs were fatigued, and I had to take my first break of the run. After resting briefly, I completed the remaining portion of Nicole’s, though I had to hike much more than usual. The final stretch of the second climb was at a more manageable grade, and I was able to complete it without any major issues.

A longer descent followed before the third and final ascent. This climb was shorter, and although I attempted to run as much of it as possible, my legs were reaching exhaustion, forcing me to hike a significant portion of it.

I finished up the final long descent and flat section to conclude this week’s long run. My watch messed up from the start of the third ascent till the end, but I estimate that the total volume was around 23km and 800m of elevation gain.

While this was a solid long session with no major issues, the cumulative soreness from my recent injuries made it difficult to find a comfortable rhythm. In particular, on the flat sections, I struggled to stretch out my stride and loosen up, which I believe impacted my recovery between the climbs.

With this, the mileage for the 4-day week totaled 52.1km and 1234m of elevation gain.