Of Mice and Marathons

AM: Oakland Spin Class - 72’/HR 130?/Watts 222

Got a good sweat on. Went back to bed after.

Lunch: 6 miles, averaged 8:52. HR 134.

PM: 8 miles in in 63:30 on the treadmill. HR 150.

Night: AIS and PT. Pushups.

PM: 15.3 miles, averaged 7:12. HR 159.

11-Mile Progression in 75'

Today was a 15 mile progression run with the last two miles as a cool down. I drove out to Stony Creek as there are no suitable places to run with the snow. I got a little impatient and just never felt good. The usual wind and rollers beat me up. I was hoping to work in the low 6s or maybe knock of something in the upper 5s but I didn't make it through the 13 miles. I hit 11 miles and just called it and cooled down for the remaining scheduled miles.

After sweating heavily in two gym sessions yesterday and my GI having serious issues yesterday and I'm not suprised I was dehydrated and didn't run well.

7:44, 7:20, 7:02, 6:49, 6:44, 6:43, 6:30, 6:30, 6:27, 6:24, 6:31, 8:31, 8:26, 8:20, 7:51, 7:43 pace for the partial

Lunch: 8.7 miles, averaged 10:03. HR 128.

Upper 40s. What a mess: slush, snow, puddles, etc. The park was not runable due to ice, mud, etc.

PM: 6.4 miles, averaged 9:57. HR 125.

Wore a t-shirt. It was quiet given the Super Bowl, which I would like to have watched but I had dinner and food prep and class planning to do.

AM: Off.

Got up at my intended time, fed the cats, and went back to bed. Didn't sleep that well after, so I should have just went out.

PM: 10 miles, averaged 9:06. HR 130.

Rainy and windy but not too cold. Legs were dead.

Noon: 19 miles, averaged 7:59. HR 148.

20 x 2' On/Off

Warmed up trying to decide which spot I wanted to do the workout. I did not want to do fast stuff on concrete, so I went to the park, which was runnable but not ideal footing for faster stuff, so I popped back on into the neighborhood and did it on a 1-mile square I marked out when we first got here. 4 miles up with strides.

Workout went quite well, but not as fast as I would like to be but it is as fast as I am. I can run forever and I can run a long time between 6:40-6:15 pace, but I really can't sustain sub-6 for very long it seems. Marathon training and 100-mile weeks I surmise.

Cover 6.75 miles in the 40 minutes, so just under 6' pace or about 10-15 seconds faster than marathon goal pace. Cooled down 4.25 miles.

I slept 12 hours last night. I worried it was the onset of a depressive episode, but I think I was just beat and my body told me to rest.

AM: 8.3 miles, averaged 10:13. HR 123.

Didn't sleep well or much, but felt good for a recovery day. Ice pelting the window woke me up. I was going to head to the gym as the roads were rough in places, but the temp was coming up so I figured it was safer to drive later. With my Katoolas the footing was no problem. A thick layer of clustered sleet, so it wasn't smooth. Sidewalks on campus were very slippery. Students (and I) sliding everywhere. One student behind me fell.  

PM: 6.6 miles in 65' on the treadmill. HR 127.

Did captain's chair and weights after. Pec Flys 3 x 15 @ 60#; Chest Press 3 x 12 @ 70#; Pull Downs 3 x 15 @ 75#; Seated Rows 4 x 15? @ 55#

Night: AIS and push-ups 

AM: 8.3 miles, averaged 9:41. HR 125.

Pretty icy at the park. Should have stayed on the roads, but any sidewalks would have been even worse. A weird, wet fog rolled through. It made my perception almost hallucinatory to look into. Got a solid night of sleep. Felt decent but slow on the run.

PM: 7 miles on the treadmill.

8 x 10" Hill Blast w/ 3' Walkabout Recovery

5-mile progression from 6.0 to 9.5 up to 10.0. Hill Blasts. 2-mile cool down. Felt good to get the arms swinging and knees up. I skipped this one last week.

AM/Lunch: 8.3 miles, averaged 8:55. HR 129.

Very windy.

PM: 7 miles in 70' on the treadmill. HR 130.

Kind of grumpy. Accidentally hit the Stop button, which always drives me insane. Rest and after 25' or so, I played a game of changing the incline any time the song changed. Worked well. I started at 1.5% as I always do and increased .5% until I hit 7%. Good for working your knee drive/lift. Felt better after.

Noon: 20.6 miles, averaged 7:21. HR 153.

14-Mile Progression

The workout was supposed to be 14 miles at 40 seconds slower than marathon effort, which I assumed was just "moderate," or not quite into easy end of marathon effort but around or slightly faster than honest easy. It started about right and then I just clicked stuff off and pushed the last 4-5 miles and felt strong even in the sloppy areas of the park with mud. 3 mile warm up, then 14 miles starting at 7:26 and working down to 6:00 for the final mile, then 3.6 miles down.

Progression Portion: 7:26, 7:26, 7:11, 7:13, 7:06, 7:03, 6:56, 6:46, 6:45, 6:29, 6:24, 6:20, 6:13, 6:00

Felt quite strong today even with lots of miles in the legs and a lot of climbing yesterday afternoon/evening. I felt like I was holding back most of the workout. The last mile was fairly tough, but not a killer. HR was 173 on that one so not really working too hard.

Megan and I are headed to Ypsilanti to meet some friends. I am going to have a ridiculous burger I would imagine.

Noon: 8.3 miles, averaged 10:13. HR 115.

PM: 6.5 miles, averaged 10:22. HR 118.

Started snowing a bit in the evening. I was just remarking how nice it was without any.

AM: Off. 

Decided to sleep in. Probably should have just got up because I was apparently having nightmares and thrashing around and poor Megan was sleeping on the floor.

PM: 11.3 miles, averaged 9:10. HR 130.

Roads were in decent shape. Another round of snow and ice tonight,

PM: 17 miles in 2:16 on the treadmill. HR 152.

10 x 4' On/3' Off

Workout was supposed to be 10 x 4' on @ 10-mile effort with 3' floats @ 8' per mile. I wasn't able to keep the recoveries at that pace. I can never really float anything other than marathon pace and that is usually a mile recovery at 8' pace in the middle of a 4-3-2-1 long run.

The roads were mess, so I had to wait until early afternoon to even be able to drive anywhere. Warmed up 4.6 slow with some strides. It was a touch warm in the gym. I was planning to start @ 9.5 and work down, but for some reason changed to 10 MPH out of the gate. It was too hard to sustain, especially trying to keep the recoveries decent. I did 2 at 10MPH and backed off to 9.5 for the next 4-5, and then started working back down. The next 1-2 @ 9.6 MPH and the last two (I think) were back at 10MPH + (I put a little mustard on the last half of the last interval). Cooled down 3 miles.

Solid effort. I am now able to hold roughly goal marathon pace for a lot longer on the treadmill. It's still much easier on the roads with cooler temperatures.

Drank a lot of fluids during the workout again. 40-50 oz I think.

AM: 6.4 miles in 65:30 on the treadmill. HR 117.

A little more snow, so I went to the gym. I did not want to be out on the roads with cars. Ended up not getting enough time for my typical 8ish miles, but I will likely just flip my runs today.

PM: 8.1 miles in 80' on the treadmill. HR 119.

AM: Off.

Slept in a bit and lay in bed for a while. 

PM: 12 miles, averaged 8:31. HR 134.

Slushy and wet but nice run.

Night: AIS, PT, push-ups 

PM: 22 miles, averaged 7:16. HR 155.

16-Mile Light Tempo/Moderate Tempo

The plan was slightly longer than last week and to stick with the prescribed effort. It was quite windy out of the west at 18MPH+ and icy in places, so everything went well overall. Warmed up 3 miles and hit my winter tempo loop, which is mostly concrete for some marathon leg prep. Wanted to stay aroun 7' pace or a touch faster and not press. I was getting tired toward the end but that was partially because it was getting late and I hadn't eaten anything.

Started around 7:08 and just ran most of the first half around 7 flat. Ran some in the 6:40s and 6:50s and those felt not exactly easy but like I could run that pace for a very long time. Longer than a marathon for sure. Even though the wind was zapping me I just kept the effort and didn't fight it. I am glad I wasn't doing a full-fledged tempo. The wind would have hurt a lot more. Averaged about 6:55 for the 16 miles. HR started to creep into marathon effort a bit, but I never felt like I was quite at marathon effort. Cooled down 3 miles.

Nice to get this one in early. We are headed to Toledo to see Megan's parents and watch a basketball game. I wanted to make sure I got this in in case running is light tomorrow.

AM: off.

Will likely be a day off, but might run when we get home.

PM: Off.

47 days on. Ate a tremendous amount of sweets. 

Lunch: 9.5 miles, averaged 9:56. HR 125.

Felt like crap. Impending depression I think. Ate like crap today. Went to the skatepark on my BMX bike I got last summer. Felt dumb and old. The last time I went this summer I had a blast. 

Meant to go out as typical/planned but was in bed a bit and got 3 inches of snow. Hoping for a big week (110-115) this week.  We are on break, but I am not feeling breaky yet. Just need to breathe.

PM: Off.

Lunch: 4.3 miles, averaged 10:02. HR 126.

Roads were in decent shape after the snow fall. Most sidewalks are buried. Didn't leave enough time before our tax appointment, which ended with some solid financial news (a sizable refund).

Took a long nap when I got home. Going back out now. Some serious vacation weight bloat going on. Who can add 7-8 lbs in 2-3 days?

PM: 10.2 miles, averaged 9:50. HR 126.

Slippery in places. Felt like crap, but better toward the end.

AM: Off.

PM: Off.

Slept late. Spent the early afternoon sleeping and reading in bed. Lots of nice sunshine, but I couldn't get out the door. Very low evergy and drive. Will try tomorrow. I can usually run when I feel lousy and it helps, but couldn't do it today.

AM: Off. Slept late. Didn’t feel great. Better than yesterday.

PM: 14.4 miles, averaged 9:00. HR 142.

HR elevated. Had a good run overall. Feeling better, but mornings are always the real test.

PM: 10.2 miles, averaged 9:07. HR 135.

PM 2: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 9:59. HR 123.

Other than a sizable hangover I am feeling a bit better I think. Comes in waves. We had a nice meal last night with colleagues.

Broke in a "new" pair of Kinvara 6s. Until this point this was the only Kinvara from 2-7 that I hadn't run it. It's pretty similar to the Kinvara 5, which is not at all disappointing.

Late: AIS, PT, and pushups

PM: 23 miles, averaged 7:18. HR 164.

18-Mile Moderate Tempo

A little longer than last week. I did not feel as good though and I felt it on the cool down, unlike last week when 8' pace on the cool down felt like I was walking. I suspect the higher effort was due to dehydration from break.

Honestly the miles were neither "easy" nor precisely "moderate." They were basically marathon effort according to my HR monitor. However, any time I run at marathon effort for 8-10 miles it feels harder than this. Generally you cannot sustain such an effort for 18 miles. Either way, I survived and got the physical and mental stimulus (the idea of the workout is really to simulate the long grind of the marathon without running the race during a workout). This one is more or less a Kenyan staple, though they do 30k because they work in kilometers.

Averaged about 6:54 with splits starting at 7:13 and dropping into the low 6:40s.

3 up/2 down

Felt pretty worked over after. Legs were pretty smoked. All the fast portions were on 98% concrete.

Lunch: 8.2 miles, averaged 10:32. HR 127.

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 10:16. HR 125.

PM: 8.5 miles on the treadmill in 75:23. HR 139.

Picked up the effort the last 15'. Sweaty. Was going to run again, but didn't. Winds today were 20-30 MPH with gusts in the 40-60MPH range. I wasn't going to deal with that. Give me single digits or under and I'm just fine. Wind ticks me off.

9 weeks to the marathon. I have a lot of work still left to do to sharpen up and get marathon pace down. If I had to run one in two weeks, I imagine breaking 2:50 would prove difficult. I'd like to be 2:43-2:45, but I came to the conclusion that this might be a "rebuilding marathon," which was not a pleasant thought. Quite enjoying the training though.

Just saw on Strava that Jason Butler of Oklahoma (formerly on the blog) just broke the 45-49 National 50k Record on the roads. He ran 3:09:26, which is 6:03 pace. His marathon PR is around 2:31/2:32 or just under 5:50 pace.

AM: Off.

Got up and wasn't dealing with the weather. Two more hours of sleep was a easy choice.

Evening: 10.25 miles, averaged 8:57. HR 135. Did some strides.

Latest I have been out running in a while. Got home and relaxed a bit after a stressful afternoon. Took a nap and didn't want to get up, but got it done. Felt better on the latter half of the run.

AM: 4.3 miles, averaged 9:54. HR 123.

Moved workout to afternoon as we had department awards at lunch. Didn’t want to get up, but figured a short shuffle might be good.

PM: 18 miles, averaged 7:17. HR 157.

9 x 1 Mile @ Half Marathon Effort w/ 3' Honest Recovery

Took my car in for some service and it took longer than I thought. As such, I was going to move the workout to tomorrow, but we have snow coming in and it wouldn't work. Got out and got it done.

Wamred up 3.3 or so with some really weanie strides. Didn't feel great and thought I might just skip it, but worked into it. I figured I would start conservatively as it has been a LONG time since I have done mile repeats and certainly not this many (usually 6 x 1 mile with 2-2:30 recovery as slow as necessary). First mile felt clunky but I have felt clunky all day. Worked into it and felt pretty solid.

I ran most of it in the dark on a 1-mile loop. I actually turned the average pace/lap pace screen on for the first time since I have had the watch (15 months) just to keep on top of the pace and the recoveries. Worked out fine.

Going into the workout I felt a lack of confidence I have been feeling the last 10-14 days, but I felt decent about this workout. Good volume and some faster full miles that I haven't been doing. A good turning point back to the optimism of the first 6 weeks of the new year.

Recoveries were just about 8' pace or a bit below.

Splits: 6:15, 6:06, 6:04, 6:02, 6:02, 6:00, 5:58, 5:52, 5:51 (6:01 Average)

Cooled down to 18 miles.

AM: Off. Slept in.

PM: 8.5 miles, averaged 10:24. HR 122.

AM: 9.2 miles, averaged 10:14. HR 127.

Stayed up too late last night for a week night. Felt sluggish this morning, but it was nice and sunny. Some snow covered roads and walks, but some decent clear stretches.

PM: 7 miles in 61’ on the treadmill. HR 150.

Did some strides to prep for hill blasts but was running short on time. Felt a little rough.