Zach's Training Journal
2025 Week 25: 06.23.25 - 06.29.25
Weekly Totals: Running - 09 hours 23 minutes, 76.59 miles | Cycling: 2 hours 01 minutes, 44.75 miles | Total Training Volume: 11 hours 24 minutes
Weekly Recap: This week had a few main targets. First, reduce cycling distance, strength work, and total volume to serve as a deload week. I will be traveling to CO next week and plan to do higher total volume through running and hiking, so it just made sense to scale back a bit this week. I wanted to avoid deloading much on the running side of volume, because those inputs have been really motivating, feeling great, and also becoming more accessible compared to when I was in the thick of achilles rehab. Second, I wanted to test some faster paces in running. So far, minus a couple outings where I naturally progressed into zone 3 for a bit, I have not done anything above zone 2. I think my achilles is ready to test something faster. I ended up doing a fartlek style session mid week, and also did a moderate progression early in the week. Third, I wanted to make another jump in my long run duration and get beyond 2 hours of running.
Monday:
Run:
Duration: 01:11:15
Distance: 10.11 Miles
Average Pace: 7:03/mi
Average HR: 141 bpm
Elevation: 161 ft
Bike:
Duration: 01:00:15
Distance: 21.61 Miles
Average Pace: 21.5 mi/h
Avg Watts: 205
Elevation: 935 ft
Strength: Mobility, Stretching, & Massage
It was a good start to the week. My morning run was pretty even across the run, sitting in high zone 1 low zone 2. Afternoon cycle felt good physically, but I can't say I was super motivated to do it. I think my mind is ready for a small break from the bike. I use motivation as part of the assessment protocol for stimulus versus rest. I expect to be less motivated to do a training session 1-2 times per week, but when it starts to creep up above that frequency, it is usually time to absorb versus stress. A new experience for me is the structured combo of bike and run and how motivation compares. Running motivation remains high, basically every day for the exception of about once every couple of weeks. I assume this is due to the prior few months being heavier on the bike, and having all my quality work done on the bike.
Tuesday:
Run:
Duration: 01:08:27
Distance: 10.29 Miles
Average Pace: 6:39/mi
Average HR: 149 bpm
Elevation: 410 ft
Bike:
Duration: 01:00:47
Distance: 23.14 Miles
Average Pace: 22.8 mi/h
Avg Watts: 220
Elevation: 932 ft
Strength: Mobility, Stretching, & Massage
I went to Rogue this morning to run with the group. They were doing a progression down to 5-10 seconds per mile below goal marathon pace, so I went with the 2:39 group. The run felt great. Effort and pace felt better than average compared to the prior few weeks. My afternoon bike session felt better than average as well, with some faster surges in the second half just for fun.
Wednesday:
Run 1:
Duration: 00:52:27
Distance: 7.05 Miles
Average Pace: 7:26/mi
Average HR: 129 bpm
Elevation: 135 ft
Run 2:
Duration: 01:03:30
Distance: 8.15 Miles
Average Pace: 7:47/mi
Average HR: 142 bpm
Elevation: 427 ft
Strength: Lower Body (banded lower body session).
I did two shorter sessions today. I wanted to see how I felt with a two run structure and test how I felt in the heat of the day. The second session has a good bit of hills in the second half. Between this run and the hillier routes typically done at Rogue, it is fun to see how biking has helped with cadence on hills.
Thursday:
Run:
Duration: 01:02:50
Distance: 9.71 Miles
Average Pace: 6:28/mi
Average HR: 152 bpm
Elevation: 157 ft
Strength: Mobility, Stretching, & Massage
Today was a run workout. I set it up as a fartlek style where I wanted to test some shorter duration pushes and feel out what pace I could produce at different efforts between threshold and VO2max. The thing that stood out the most to me is it felt way easier to accelerate than prior to my achilles injury. I normally find speed work is something I tend to work into a bit, or at least that is the way my mind perceives it. It was almost the opposite, where I would find I was getting up to speed pretty quick. I also felt a bit faster at the perceived efforts than I anticipated. I was hitting 5:25-5:30 per mile at efforts I thought would be closer to 5:40-45 per mile, and was pushing down into the low 5 minute per mile pace at efforts I thought would be closer to 5:15 per mile. This workout did not have a lot of volume, as I didn’t want to reach too far and find out later in the day I overstressed my achilles, but even with that, it seemed like the biggest growth point I will be able to tap into with speed work is building my tolerance to volume at faster paces in general.
Friday:
Run:
Duration: 00:47:32
Distance: 6.13 Miles
Average Pace: 7:45/mi
Average HR: 128 bpm
Elevation: 112 ft
Strength: Mobility, Stretching, & Massage
Everything checked out great with my achilles after yesterday’s speed work session. I kept today’s run easy just to be sure, and to feel fresh for tomorrow’s long run.
Saturday:
Run:
Duration: 02:15:14
Distance: 18.08 Miles
Average Pace: 7:29/mi
Average HR: 145 bpm
Elevation: 1,322 ft
Strength: Lower Body (weighted hamstring curls, weighted hip thrusts, banded side steps, banded hip flexor raises, weighted leg press, weighted bent knee calf raises, body weight jumps).
I went to Rogue for this long run as they were doing a hilly route and a couple were targeting 18 miles, which seemed like a good target for me to increase towards. Going forward, for runs of this duration or further, I plan to start working on building out a more specific fueling and hydration plan compared to race day. Nicole and I leave for Colorado today, so I will get the chance to experience the often regrettable long run long drive stiffness.
Sunday:
Run:
Duration: 01:02:36
Distance: 7.04 Miles
Average Pace: 8:53/mi
Average HR: 122 bpm
Elevation: 338 ft
Strength: Mobility, Stretching, & Massage
Today’s run was nice and easy. My body felt pretty good after yesterday’s long run, but my energy was really low. Basically hated most of this run. I think I may have paid a bit for not hydrating better after yesterday’s long run that went straight into a 12 hour drive. May have also been a combo of that and getting up in altitude for the first time in a while. Either way, I should settle in here and get some fun Colorado running next week.
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