My Week In Training
March 31 - April 6, 2025
The Aim
We are BACK with another week of experimentation and primary research. Athletic philosophy rocks because the workouts become the proof. The truth is in the training team.
This week was all aimed towards enjoying running and upping capacity in bodyweight lifts. Then sending it for a birthday long trail run on the weekend!
I focused on running frequency early in the week when my schedule allowed it and then took a few days to target strength and resistance before heading out for my longer training run in the past 6 months.
As I gear up to take down a creative and informal race challenge in the next few weeks, I’m feeling confident and capable in how my adaptive and intuitive training is increasing my fitness and strength. This week is a good measure of that progress.
Sidenote: I’m not big into the numbers as you can tell but did manage to add another number to my V02 Max score on my Garmin. It’s not an absolute measure, but seeing it tick from 57 up to 58 was a good bit of confirmation I’m getting better based on my own baselines.
The Execution
Monday: Easy run with
I changed up my running plan last week to hit this one Monday morning with my brother and teammate Mike D. We had a blast smashing some coffee and then running easy miles by the Lake in downtown Chicago.
We chatted life developments, racing strategies, summer training, 2026 adventures, and even a little business and personal development. Legs felt great, happy I made the decision to scale back my long run last Sunday to make this a winner!
Tuesday: Easy Trail Run
My schedule was going to be tight Wednesday-Friday so I wanted to get some good running volume in when I could. I hit my neighborhood 4 miles on winding single track. 3 days in a row of running isn’t impacting my legs as much, they are becoming more durable.
The training is working. 2 years ago I didn’t run back to back days. Now I’m taking down trail runs and bigger efforts with confidence and strength.
Wednesday: Progression Run
My day cleared up a bit schedule wise so I wanted to hit some beach sprints in the morning after a good writing session at a local coffee shop. Problem is, they close the beach when it’s a thunderstorm. I was looking forward to really testing myself against nature, but prudence prevailed and I left the beach and pivoted on the fly (Wrote about this for an article last week, read it HERE)
I hit a progression run on an asphalt track on the way to pick up my kids from school. 4th day running in a row and pushing pace on each mile was not easy, but again this style of frequency and intensity is building me up to go long in a specific race format.
Negative splits on the 4th day in a row is big time progress. We are BUILDING.
Thursday: 15lb Steel Mace Workout
4 days of running in a row could have kept going but now the schedule grinder took hold. I took what I could get on a busy day and hit some great single leg and stability work with my 15llb steel mace.
Reverse lunge step ups while rotating the mace has been my fave exercise the past few months and I simply work up to that main motion and go hard. 20 minute workouts like these help me build capacity while also giving me a bit of a break in terms of duration.
Friday: 1/4lb Jump Rope Workout
Jump Rope is the KING of 20 minute workouts. Especially weighted jump rope.
I jumped 16 rounds of 1 minute with 20 seconds rest in between each round. Burned almost 300 calories while toning my entire upper body and stretching and strengthening my legs, oh and it was also a sprint workout given how fast I can spin that rope.
Get jumping team, it’s the best!
Saturday: Bodyweight Calisthenics
Repeated the same workout from last Saturday; air squats, pushups, front and reverse lunges.
Body wasn’t nearly as sore, easier to move through all the exercises. Still burned a ton of calories.
Bonus; my son came out for the final set and sang me happy birthday as I finished up. Talk about winning life!
Sunday: Long trail run
16 miles, 2100ft climb, 9:15 min/mile pace, no water or fuel for the entire run. This was a BIG ONE. I drove 90 minutes to the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin on the Kettle Moraine and was treated with a run that reminded my of my old escarpment trail runs back in Ontario.
This was the best training run of the year, by far. It hurt. I was tested. My legs were beat up and had to figure out how to keep going. The weather was perfect, the sun resplendent through the pines. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a training run that difficult yet competent at the same time.
Big time marker on the road to a better backyard performance!
The Projection
This week is all about consolidating gains ahead of a big road trip next week. I want to continue to stress frequency and intensity with an eye on a ‘rest’ week when I’m travelling solo with my kids back to Canada for a week to visit family.
I likely won’t get good trail running in while away so would like to focus this week on stacking trail miles and some longer runs through the suburbs. I’ll maintain resistance and stability work, again aiming towards a long run on the weekend.
The overall process is working, just keep committed to the plan, have faith and do the work. That’s how we stay on target team!
The Takeaway
If you’ve been reading my weekly training logs you’ll have noticed a pattern by now (Check out the past weeks: Week 1 / Week 2).
I have a solid idea of how I want to the week and each day to unfold, but I’m not beholden to it rigidly. I’m adaptable to the demands of the day.
If the rains wash away my beach run, I’ll pivot and take a different route.
When I only have 30 minutes to exercise, I have a few consistent routines I can bang out that stack towards my overall goals.
My experience and attitude allow my to be creative, intuitive, flexible, and improvisational in my training. Training in this way becomes more like poetry of the body than rote mechanical execution of a training plan.
So my advice is to think of yourself as a poet, composing a beautiful expression, with your weekly training.
Think of how activities flow together, how your schedule opens up or closes certain days, and just like a master wordsmith find the right tenor and pitch to complement the rhythm. Be open to flowing and making it meaningful based on your own demands.
Why train any other way than one that lights our souls on fire while also taking us objectively closer to our physical goals and aspirations?
I could never!
Happy Training Team