Back at it for another two weeks of training. Still building up and slowly increasing the intensity as I recover from a calf tear back in May. The aim is to start to bring up the run mileage now as the calf is getting stronger by the day. Week 9 will include my first post-injury running race, in fact, my first running race in four months, I have no pace or time expectations for this one, just happy to be back on the start line. Then week 10 I will have my first double-digit run since the end of March, only 10 miles but I am really looking forward to that one.

Swim & bike will be less in week 9, a bit of an easy recovery week on those fronts, then back to it from week 10.

Week 9:

• Running:  26.8 Miles – 3hr 42mins
• Bike:  105.9 Miles – 4hrs 55min
• Swimming: 3,500 yrds – 1hr 3min

Monday:

• 60 Min Easy Ride on Zwift @ 185w
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Pretty easy, relaxed day after the 100 mile bike yesterday, the aim was to just keep the legs moving and get them ready for a more intensive week of running.

Tuesday:

• 4 Mile Easy Pace run @ 9:00min/mile
• 20 Min Legs, Hips & Glutes strength work
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Wednesday:

• Race Pace Swim:
  • 2,000m at race pace
  • 100m Recovery
  • Repeat Five Times:
    • 200m Fast
    • 20sec Rest
  • 100m Cool Down
• Base Interval Run Set:
  • 1 mile warm up @ 9:00min/mile
  • 10min stretching + 3x10sec strides
  • Repeat Two Times:
    • 5min @ 7:20min/mile
    • 2min recovery @ 9:00min/mile
  • 3min recovery @ 9:00min/mile
  • Repeat Five Times:
    • 1 min @ 6:45min/mile
    • 90sec recovery @ 9:00min/mile
  • 3 min recovery @ 9:00min/mile
  • 1 mile cool down @ 9:00min/mile
• 54 Min Zwift Academy Ride 1 – Threshold Development:
  • 3 Min @ 185w
  • 3 Min @ 215w
  • 3 Min @ 245w Low Cadence
  • 3 Min @ 275w
  • 5 Min Recovery @ 170w
  • Repeat 5 Times:
    • 20 Secs @ 275w @ 110 RPM
    • 50 Secs @ 275w @ 85 RPM
  • 3 Min Recovery @ 170w
  • 2 Min @ 275w
  • 1 Min @ 325w
  • 1 Min @ 275w
  • 2 Min @ 325w
  • 3 Min @ 280w
  • 1 Min @ 355w
  • 3 Min Recovery @ 170w
  • 10 Min @ 280w
  • 5:10 Cool Down @ 170w
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Thursday:

• Power Sweet Spot Turbo on Zwift:
  • 2 min @ 125W
  • 2 min @ 185W
  • 2 min @ 210W
  • 5 min @ 295W
  • 5 min @ 170W
  • 5 min @ 295W
  • 5 min @ 170W
  • 5 min @ 295W
  • 5 min @ 170W
  • 5 min @ 295W
  • 5 min @ 170W
  • 5 min @ 295W
  • 10 min @ 225 – 95W
• 4 Mile Easy Paced run @ 9:00min/mile pace
• 60 Min Zwift Academy Ride 2 – Race Practice:
  • 4 Min Warm Up @ 170w
  • 3 Min Warm Up @ 200w
  • 3 Min Warm Up @ 245w @ 75 RPM
  • 2 Min Warm Up @ 275w
  • 3 Min Recovery @ 170w
  • Repeat 2 Times:
    • 10 Sec Sprint @ 615w
    • 50 Sec Recovery @ 170w
  • 4 Min Recovery @ 155w
  • 30 Sec @ 460w
  • 3 Min @ 310w
  • 2 Min Recovery @ 125w
  • Repeat 4 Times:
    • 1 Min @ 280w
    • 1 Mon @ 340w
  • 5 Min Recovery @ 155w
  • 30 Sec @ 475w
  • 3 Min @ 315w
  • 2 Min Recovery @ 125w
  • 10 Min @ 295w
  • 5 Min @ 155w
• 20 Min Core strength work
• 20 Min Legs, Hips & Glutes strength work
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Friday:

Rest Day.

Saturday:

• 3 Mile Easy Pace run @ 9:00min/mile
• 30 Min Legs, Hips & Glutes strength work
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Sunday:

• Tatton Park 10k race
• 1 hour easy paced ride on zwift @ 185w
• 20 Min Core strength work
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

So a slightly easier week both in terms of intensity and hours. Just over 100 miles on the bike and only one swim this week, both down on the past 9 weeks but on the flip side, this has been my biggest week of running, again, it does feel like I say that every week now as I am building up again, but at 26 miles it has been quite a step up from the previous biggest of 21. Still some way off the 50 – 60 mile weeks I was doing before the Chicago & New York City marathons last year, to be expected at this stage of my recovery. It is also worth noting that I did not run one single week over 35 miles when I trained for Tokyo Marathon in March and I ran a 3:01.09 PB, so are all those miles necessary?

Week 10:

• Running:  29.4 Miles – 4hr 17mins
• Bike:  147 Miles – 7hrs 48min
• Swimming: 6,343 yrds – 1hrs 59min

Monday:

• 1 Hour Zwift Academy Group Ride (1/4)
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Tuesday:

• 61 Mile Round trip bike into work
• 4 Mile Easy run @ 9:00min/mile
• 2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Wednesday:

• Race Pace Swim:
  • 2000m
  • 100m Recovery
  • 1000m 5 x 200m hard w/20 secs rest
  • 100m CD
• 1 Hour Zwift Academy Group Ride (2/4)
• Tempo Run:
  • 1.5 mile warm up @ 9:00
  • 10min stretching + 2x10sec strides
  • 3 miles @ 7:45, 7:40, & 7:30min/mile pace
  • 3min recovery jog
  • 1 mile @ 7:20
  • 3min recovery jog
  • 1 mile cool down @ 9:00
• Technique Swim:
  • 100m Warm Up
  • 150m Full doggy up/ swim down
  • 200m Catch Up up/ swim down – easy
  • 100m Scull 1 Up / Swim Down
  • 100m Scull 2 Up / Swim Down
  • 300m Catch Up up/ swim down – fast
  • 100m Kick on front with board
  • 400m Hard Swim
  • 100m Scull 3
  • 1000m Swim with Pull Buoy
  • 100m CD
•  2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

Big day today, two swim sessions to make up for one I missed on Monday. A good tempo run as well, not the fastest I will ever run a tempo session but it was nice to run at some speed after so many easy runs whilst recovering. No pain or ill effects of that run so that fills me with confidence that I can start to get back to more proper training now.

The morning race pace swim also saw me swim a 1,500m PB. Good progress in the pool today.

Thursday:

• 4 Mile Easy Paced run @ 9:00min/mile pace
•  2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.

Just an easy paced run early on today before driving 4 hours to Peppa Pig World for some family time.

Friday:

Rest Day

Saturday:

Rest Day

Sunday:

• 10 Mile Long Steady Run @ 8:00min/mile pace.
• 2 Hour Long Ride on Zwift:
  • 10 min Warm Up @ 112w – 160w
  • 30 min @ 245w
  • 5 min @ 170w
  • 30 min @ 245w
  • 5 min @ 170w
  • Repeat 7 times:
    • 1 min Hard @ 355w
    • 2 min Easy @ 170w
  • 5 min @ 185w
  • 5 min @ 230w
  • 5 min @ 260w
  • 5 min @ 295w
  • 5 min @ 170w
•  2 x 1 min calf stretches (30 secs per leg) + 10 bodyweight calf raises.
• 10 min foam roll.

A good week all round with 15 hours of training banked on the road to New York. Once again, my biggest week of running since mid-April and really good to get back into that proper marathon training routine of speed work during the week and a long run at the weekend. Only 10 miles for now but that was the first double-digit run since mid-April too. The bike was a fairly easy week at 147 miles, 61 of those were on the commute to/from work on Tuesday.