Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 180' on the trainer. 237W. HR 145. 

2 x 40' Sweet Spot + 1 x 15' Sweet Spot

275W (HR 155), 275W (HR 158), 275 (HR 160)

Wanted to get in about three hours with some quality per the schedule, so I just used the terrain to do some long sweet spot stuff. It worked well, but the course was a bit too hilly in one spot. Once you get to 10-12% grade or in there, it doesn't work well because you run out of gears to keep the power in the right zone. Under that and it helps to hold consistent power. I was pretty pleased with this. HR seems to have settled back out over the last several days from the previous weeks when it was up a bit. 

Took the boys to an Oakland basketball game, which went well until it didn't as they were acting up. They did well at my brother-in-law's game last night and it was nice to get out.

I didn't eat much other than a double protein shake after the ride. Started to get quite tired when we got home and fell alseep on the couch for a short time. Went to get food and then felt very sick. Went to bed, but around 11:30 the GI system on boths ends was acting up. Just a bug I guess. Boys have been sick recently but at different times and that was a bit ago. 

Off.

Slept horribly, I think because my system was worried I was going to get sick, which didn't happen again other than the short, intense period a few hours after going to bed. I would fall asleep, wake up, try to get comfortable, and sort of fall asleep. Got up late, but still felt pretty awful but not sick. Just dehydrated and crappy. 

Lunch: 10.2 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:04. HR 146.

Progression through 65' starting very slow (5.0 MPH) as my legs were beat up, but I didn't feel like doing a straight recovery run as I had a day off yesterday, but figured it I didn't feel great I wouldn't press given how sick I felt yesterday. Thankfully woke up feeling normal and quite rested. Kept it mostly around 7.0-7.5 for the later minutes and then did 4 strides. Need to be more diligent about strides given that my total running volume is low. 

Took a nap after, which felt good. Up early the next three days for bike workouts. 

AM: 120' on the trainer. 217W. HR 135. 

4 x 15' Criss Cross Tempo/Sweet Spot

Solid workout. Not too taxing. My heart rate stayed under 160. Things are coming along, coming back around. 

PM: 6.8 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:35. HR 137. 

Serious heartburn and indigestion. Oof. Glad to get a run in though. 

AM: 120' on the trainer. 214W. HR 130. 

2 x 25' Tempo

Solid workout. 249W (143 BPM); 252W (HR 142). Not too taxing. HR was closer to higher zone 2, but fine.

AM: 90' on the trainer. 216W. HR 132.

5 x 5' Sweet Spot Over/Unders

Somewhat challenging workout, but very tired. The first 30 second were hard, settled into sweet spot for 4 minutes, then 20 seconds full gas, which just mostly took more mental effort and I wasn't sure how much I was suppose to stand up out of the saddle and "sprint." But 500+ watts and not east for me to do seated for 40 seconds. 

Boys were home for an inclement weather day. Oakland had a half day. I was hoping the boys would be in school but knew they wouldn't be. We managed. 

PM: 7.1 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:10. HR 139. 

Felt very good despite some indigestion, I think from coffee, which almost never happens. My zone 2 pace is recalibrating slowly. 

AM/Lunch: 11.1 miles on the treadmill, averaged 8:08. HR 155.

3 x 2 Mile + 1 Mile

A good workout today. A slight cold and a good night's sleep. I was going to do the workout in the afternoon like last week but Megan had a last-minute meeting, so I decided to get the workout in, which I wanted to do anyway. 

Plan was 3-4 x 10' and then a harder 5' like last week, but a little faster. I ended up going by distance just for a different focus and kind of went off feel. If it felt way too hard I would go by time (make it 12 minutes so it was still slightly harder than last week) or make some other modification. This worked out well and was in the effort I was looking for, which was strong aerobic (marathon to aerobic threshold). I probably could have done this as a straight tempo as my heart rate was about marathon effort, but figured a recovery would be fine. Took .3 at 6.0. Plenty of time to extend things and make them harder. 

8.0 for rep 1 (162 BPM), 8.1 for rep 2 (164 BPM), 8.2 for rep 3 (166 BPM) and 9.1 for the 1 mile (172 BPM) (6:37 for the mile)

I felt pretty good about this one. The mile felt hard but not out of control like it did last week when I did 5' @ the same pace, which also sent my HR into the mid-180s. Today it peaked at 180, so tough but doable.

PM: 3 hours 30' on the trainer. 229W. HR 139. 

3 x 30' Sweet Spot

273W (152 BPM), 274 (153 BPM), 274 (157 BPM)

Ride called for a total of 20-60' of sweet spot, but I have been doing around 80-90' of total quality work on these, so I kind of just broke it up by 30' off/30' on so that the work was high quality, but recovery was long enough to recover but not doddle. Broke things up nicely. I was going to go 4 hours, but the boys came down and were acting up a bit and I really didn't have the focus for the last 30 minutes. My training stress score was already over target and I got in over 3 hours, so I was satisfied. 

AM/Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 202W. HR 120. 

Basic zone 2 for an hour. The schedule called for 3 hours, but given my training load and timing, I wasn't going to get that in, which was fine. The AI program suggested to take it easier if I felt like it. Total volume is solid this week. 

Lunch: 11.2 miles on the treadmill, averaged 8:02. HR 155. 

6 x 1 Mile

Boy howdy. It's been a minute since I have done mile repeats. Maybe early 2019 when I did 7 x 1 mile in March in my unsuccessful buildup to the Glass City Marathon. I kind of planned on a wave tempo, alternating half miles at 8.0/8.5 for approximately 4-5 miles, but I have been wanting to do mile repeats for a while. They aren't fancy but it can be a productive workout. I was pleased with how this went, especially since I nailed the effort, which is tough to do without many workouts recently and the treadmill can be tough if you haven't been running on them much lately (the tendency is almost never to go too slow). I estimated based on my last two Friday workouts that low 7' pace would be a good place to start and that 6:30-6:40 would be hard but doable for perhaps the last repeat if I didn't overcook early. Started at 8.5 and progressed .1 each mile with .3 easy jogs. Pretty manageable, but getting tough the last part of the last repeat. 

7:04, 6:59, 6:54, 6:49, 6:44, 6:39

HR 165-->170 with about 1 BPM increase each mile. 

AM: 120' on the trainer. 216W. HR 129. 

4 x 12' Criss Cross Tempo/Threshold 

Solid session. Tried to get up a bit earlier so I would be on the trainer before 6:00, but it didn't happen. 

PM: 4 miles, averaged 11:13. HR 119. 

Probably could have done a full hour, but I wanted to get dinner rolling and get to bed. Morning comes early.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 227W. HR 134. 

3 x 20' Tempo Bursts

Another solid session. It looks as though school will be canceled for the boys again tomorrow (second Thursday in a row). Oakland already canceled. 

PM: 90'+ on the trainer. 222W. HR 135.

6 x 4' Sweet Spot Over/Unders 

Solid workout. Hard 30" into 3' @ sweet spot and then 30" all out. Legs felt more awake as I waited until the afternoon after taking the boys in the morning. I figured a little more sleep was better than getting up early. I was going to extend the workout to 2 hours, but figured I didn't have quite enough time.

AM/Lunch: 13 miles on the treadmill, averaged 7:59. HR 153.

2 x 4 Mile + 1 Mile Hard

I was originally planning a slight increase from last week's 2-mile repeats, but I just kind of went with it based on effort and HR. I could have done this as a straight 6-8 miles without much problem, but I am waiting to get the paces down a bit and kind of going by feel and adjusting accordingly. The first set barely had an cardiac drift after the first mile so I almost just kept it there and rolled. First set I just kept at 8 MPH, which felt mostly moderate to low marathon effort. HR 160 for that one. For the second one I started at 8.1 and increased each mile, going 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4. HR 162, so still not too hard. I did .3 recovery between sets and .7 between the second set and the mile just so I started on an even mile. I did 9.3+ for the mile. My legs felt like they weren't quite turning over and firing for some reason. It didn't feel that fast, just like my legs weren't cooperating. Increased the pace slightly toward the end, so the mile was around 6:28/6:29. HR 170.

PM: 4 hours on the trainer. 222W. HR 132. 

3 x 20' Sweet Spot

Did the intervals late in the ride, starting at the 2.5-hour mark. Did 10' zone 2 between intervals to break up the time. Worked well. It is not often that I hit 4 hours on the trainer. This might only be the third time. Wanted to get my scheduled ride in and my training stress score up so that maybe tomorrow's workout will be a bit lighter than 4 hours. I am not sure I have the time or the concentration for that. 

Triggered a red day, which is good. Will likely just do a true active recovery if the program calls for it.

AM/Lunch: 60' on the trainer. 141W. HR 98.

Active recovery. Felt good after yesterday, but this week has been a THICC with quality on both the running and cycling front. 

Headed to Chas's house this afternoon/evening and on to Florida to see my mom, siblings, nieces, and nephews. Going to get some very light running in come hell or high blood pressure. It is a regeneration week, which was nicely time. Time to absorb the work from the last few weeks. I will be ready to get back to my Zwift universe, Kickr Bike and True Treadmill soon enough, but I am hoping for a day completely off tomorrow and hopefully 4 or so miles with Megan Tuesday, Wednesday,and Thursday. Need to watch my weight as it is slowly coming back down to pre-holiday levels. 

Off.

Travel to Florida. We got in at a decent time. The boys struggled a bit the last portion of the flight with their ears. It took us a while to get off the plane. It was pretty warm, which was nice. We went to the place my mom was staying and my aunt, aunt and uncle, cousin, sister, nieces and nephew were there. I went swimming with the boys and they really enjoyed it (as they tend to). It got a little chilly though as the air isn't super humid and the temperature drops a bit at night. We stayed at another house that has three bedrooms. Originally my brother and his kids were going to stay there, but ended up staying with my mom. 

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:17. HR 124. 

We spent a good portion of the day at where my mom was staying. The boys needed a nap, so my sister took one with them. She is able to magically calm them down somehow. Megan and I went out for a run. I kind of mapped a loop, figuring it would work and I knew Megan wouldn't want to do much more than 4 miles or so. It ended up being around 3.5 or so, perfectly flat of course as it is Florida. The route had sidewalks the whole way, which made for safe running. 

Off. 

I taught my two classes for Oakland, which worked out okay. We went to Bonita Beach in the afternoon. It felt very hot when we got there. It clouded up a bit and got pretty cool quickly. We went back to the place my mom was staying and had pizza. 

I wanted to run, and probably could have in the morning, but didn't. Just hoping to get a little more running, even if short tomorrow. It is a regeneration week, but I don't want it to be too light either. 

AM/Lunch: 9 miles, averaged 8:09. HR 152. Did some strides.

Megan took the boys to meet my mom at the manatee park. I taught my classes and snuck in a run between classes. I was planning to run, but I wasn't sure for how long or about a route. I was feeling kind of anxious, but I think I was just worried about getting done with classes so I could spend some quality time with family on our last day in Florida.

The route had no shoulder or sidewalk, so I ended up in the grass. I then went back toward the place we were staying and made a loop through the neighborhood that cut through on a path to the sidewalk on Del Prado and back into the neighborhood. It actually worked well and I felt good. It was only slightly humid and warm, but it was cloudy, which actually helped because I got a little warm as the sun was coming out. Did some strides and felt very fortunate to get some miles in by myself between classes in a new area. I do not get to run in new areas on vacation that much these days, so it felt like a blessing. 

PM: 4 miles with Megan, averaged 10:22. HR 128.

We did the same route as the other day. The sun was out, but the air decently dry. It felt really good to get a second run in and another run with Megan. I cannot recall the last time we ran together twice on a break. We had a good evening with my family. The boys are pretty spent. We have to get up very early to get to the airport. I am not looking forward to going back to the snow and cold in Michigan. 

PM: 120' on the trainer. 202W. HR 116. 

Quite tired as I only got about 4 hours of sleep. Slept a little on the plane, but the boys were struggling a bit. Slept better in the car on the way back from the airport, which helped. Energy felt okay on the trainer, but my legs felt unsmooth. Kept it quite light zone 2 and my HR was quite low. My resting HR at night has dropped quite a bit, probably because I got a decent amount of sleep in Florida.

PM: 13 miles on the treadmill, averaged 7:58. HR 155.

8-Mile Aerobic Builder + 1 Mile Hard

I planned to do 2 x 4 miles slightly harder than last week, but told myself if I felt decent I would just continue straight through. Mostly just trying to get a decent amount of quality aerobic miles and if I need a little recovery it just adds to the volume. Started at 8.0 and worked down to 8.7, increasing .1 each mile. Took a long jog and did 1 mile hard. Averaged 7:11, HR 165

7:30, 7:24, 7:19, 7:14, 7:09, 7:03, 6:58, 6:54 + 6:19

I solid during the workout. The last 2-3 miles had me thinking about maybe just holding pace, but I pushed through. HR was getting into half marathon range by the end of it, which is not atypical for this kind of workout. I took a full mile job before the faster mile. I was starting to work into the half mile and by three quarters I was wondering if I could hold it, but Megan and the boys came down and were playing so it was slightly hard to concentrate. Gutted it out, but it felt quite hard. HR was not bad, but I was breathing. This was a good bit faster than last week and the aerobic miles were more continuous and faster. The last three miles were what I did the first three mile repeats at the previous Monday.

AM/Lunch: 90' on the trainer. 209W. HR 119. 

The training program called for less than 2 hours with some unstructured sweet spot, but I would have hit my target training stress score within an hour or just over. Planned to go close to 2 hours, but I slept in and didn't leave myself enough time. This was fine for a recovery week.

Lunch: 10 miles, averaged 8:17.

4-Mile Tempo @ ~Half Marathon Effort

Ventured outside, but only after checking the tempo loop, which was primarily clear of ice and slush with one narrow spot where a contractor truck and trailer was parked on the side of the road. It was pretty snow-covered getting to the middle school, but fine after that, just a lot of water from the rapid melting. 

I planned to do 6 x 1 mile and see where I was with respect to what I did on the treadmill about two weeks ago. I figured I would start in the 6:50 range and really try to work down, hoping to be around 6:20 or under at the end. I knew I would be faster outside. I revised the workout as I got going because I wanted to get something a bit more continuous. I figured I might see how the first mile went and then decide to recovery jog or keep going, so I settled on that. The first mile felt pretty easy, but my legs weren't turning over with much power or snap, but I figured I just needed more warm up. I progressed nicely throughout, but just couldn't find the strength to really turn the legs over. Likely, a lack of glycogen. Decently pleased with the workout. 

6:46, 6:35, 6:31, 6:27 (6:35 Avg @ 170 BPM)

I was decently relaxed most of the time. Starting to work around mile 2.5 or so and really wanted to ratchet things down on the last mile but my right quad was a little tight and just wasn't working right. I felt pretty good about this. I will try to work on bringing my average down as I work the top end of my aerobic pace with the longer, 8-mile tempo. I think on Friday I should be able to do around 6:50 pace for the same effort I did last Friday on the treadmill. Maybe start just under 7' and work down the last two miles.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 227W. HR 133.

3 x 10' Criss Cross (Threshold/Vo2)

First workout in some time that I have struggled to hit the target wattage. 4' @ threshold into 1 minute around 385 back to threshold and then 1 minute at 443. That wasn't happening. I just tried to do the 1' sections harder than the 4 minute and did around 320-340, which was plenty. HR was fine, but legs didn't want to produce a lot of power, which makes sense given the workout yesterday. I just kind of worked through and got my time in.

Lunch: 120' on the trainer. 224W. HR 134.

4 x 8' Sweet Spot Bursts

I decided to sleep an extra 2.5 hours rather than getting up at 5AM because I didn't have my Oakland class, which just seemed like the right idea. Good session, needed a decent bit of concentration but it wasn't too hard. Felt like I got a decent bit of work in without going to the well.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 226W. HR 135.

3 x 12' Threshold

First higher power output interval session in a little bit. Felt solid. 298 watts (155 BPM), 302 watts (159 BPM), 302 watts (160 BPM). Got on the trainer a bit later in the morning as the boys were in school and I didn't have my Oakland classes. Tried to fuel a little bit before, but not much.

AM/Lunch: 14 miles, averaged 7:54. HR 150.

8-Mile Tempo @ Marathon Effort + 1 Mile Harder

I was hoping to run about 6:50 or 6:52 pace for marathon effort, so that I knew I could break 90' in the half. I didn't quite get there, but I was close. Effort was honest marathon effort and I didn't push too much toward the end as I typically might with the aerobic builder version of this, which generally has me going into steady state to half marathon effort for 1-3 miles. 6:55 average @ 163 BPM. Jogged a little bit and did a mile in 6:23. I was going to do another mile repeat, but my legs were a little sore/fatigued. That is what happens on low mileage with quality workouts, I guess. 

7:09, 6:59, 6:58, 6:54, 6:54, 6:48, 6:53, 6:47. 

Actually not too far off from the mile repeats on the treadmill I did on February 10, so a good sign to get these continuous (also that the treadmill is not always easier).