Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 120' on the trainer. 

Zwift Race: 35:22 @ 280 watts @ 161 BPM

I had an FTP test scheduled, but was nervous about it, so I figured a race around 25-30' might be better and I could go out hard for 20', die, and get my 20' test. I warmed up about 24' with a clearing effort and got into the race. I went out decently hard and found myself off the front and increasing my lead, so I stuck with it. I had a 10-15 second gap at one put but the guys behind me were pushing pretty hard to catch me and I got caught around the 12' mark. I hung on as well as I could and kept up with the chase pack, but my confidence was shot (even though I didn't expect to hold them off the whole race, I still kind of hoped I would). My power dropped throughout and the overall effort wasn't fantastic, but it was okay. 

Cooled down an hour mostly in zone 2. Felt good for that. I wasn't super happy with the effort, but I also haven't done many full gas efforts over 10-12' in about two months, so probably something to that along with the weight loss. 

24' up @ 209 watts @ 123 BPM; 61' down @ 200 watts @ 120 BPM

PM: 60' on the trainer. 139W. HR 92. 

Active recovery. I was going to get up early and run or ride, but I went back to sleep. It's been miserably cold and rainy, so I doubt I'll get outside today. Megan is going to Toledo to help her parents move on Saturday, so I am going to shuffle workouts around a bit. Tomorrow's weather looks good for TND but I am sure with all the rain the roads are going to be an absolute mess. Oh well. 

AM: 8 miles, averaged 7:56. HR 141. 

Felt great on my morning run and sub-8:00 to 7:30 pace feels easier than it has in years. No doubt the quality aerobic workouts over the last 8 weeks have made these feel much easier. 

PM: 90' on the trainer. 227W. HR 136. 

5 x 8' Threshold

A good session today. I didn't have much time between my run, but it is easier to ride closer to a run than it is to run close to a run. Warmed into the workout and got strong throughout, which was the point. Even got my HR out of the 160s!

300 watts (149 BPM), 299 watts (151 BPM), 306 watts (152 BPM), 311 watts (155 BPM), 310 watts (159 BPM)

Lunch/PM: 4 hours 35' (~80 miles @ 17.4 MPH). 208W. HR 124.

Really solid ride. About 50 new miles. More pavement than I expected, but I was looking for roads back east. Power and HR were very solid. Back over 200 watts, which is good. Not too much wind, not too cold and not too warm. Fueled pretty consistently and made a big difference. I did two heavy Maurten gels and 2 Precision gels. I didn maybe 40 oz of 90g carb drink mix. So maybe only 50g or so per hour. Those gels are about $5 a piece though. 

AM: 60' on the trainer. 140W. HR 92.

Early recovery ride. Megan is in Toledo for an undetermined amount of time today, but I will try to get a short recovery run in later as I haven't run as much as I would have liked this week, but I had to skip my long run yesterday to get my long ride in given the weather window we had.

AMlLunch: 120' on the trainer. 236W. HR 137.

4 x 15' Under/Overs

A solid session today. I felt quite strong after getting to bed a decent hour and sleeping until just before 9:00. Did some work and decided to jump on the trainer. I was thinking about going outside but it was just about freezing and didn't feel like taking the extra time to get my bike ready. I was also thinking about doing a long run, as my running this week has been more minimal and inconsistent than previous weeks, but I did three bike sessions and a long ride, so I had plenty of training. 

This was a progression from the last several weeks. 3-4 weeks ago or so my legs felt like crap on these. Today I was ready to blast and on most of them felt I could have held full threshold for the entire 15'. The overall average power for the intervals confirms this. 

Goals were 270 watts for 2' and then 295 for 1' with 6' of recovery at zone 2 between intervals. I exceeded those targets, starting around 275 and finishing most around 280-285 and the threshold sections around 300-306 and finished with a few around 310-325.

Overall: 286 watts @ 150 BPM, 289 watts @ 153 BPM, 289 watts @ 154 BPM, 291 watts @ 154 

PM: 8.4 miles, averaged 8:46. HR 126.

Lunch/PM: 15.7 miles, averaged 7:41. HR 144.

6 x 2k w/ 2-2.5' Recoveries 

I was looking to extend the mile repeats from 2 weeks ago. I didn't get in a midweek workout or a long run last week, but that was okay. I just haven't run fast in a while. I was hoping to get around 6:15 or so for these to be in line with the 6 x 1 mile workout from two weeks ago, knowing that that is a a good bit faster than half marathon pace but that I want to see if I can get pretty close to sub-80 minute shape in 8 weeks. Today told me I am closer to that goal than I could have imagined. Plenty of work to do, but it doesn't feel as unrealistic as it did 4 weeks or so ago.  

I warmed up just under 4 miles. The wind was picking up and it was starting to rain a little and it was supposed to snow, but we never really got it thankfully. I wore super shoes for the first time in a long time. The last time I raced in September I didn't even bother with them, but I do think they help a good bit. 

Goal was to hit 7:40-7:45 per 2k or 6:10-6:14 per mile. I averaged 7:40, or 6:10/6:11 per mile. Jogs were no more than 2:30 with most around 2:15-2:25. I didn't get too fussy with those. 

Cooled down about 3.2 miles or so. I didn't have much on the cool down and my vision was a touch foggy. Clearly not enough fuel. A little fatigued after the workout but I got in a nap before picking the boys up. I haven't felt knackered after a workout in a while. Usually I gather myself and I am fine after a mile or so of cooling down. My legs didn't have much more than 9' pace, which was fine. It brought my HR back down nicely. 

Pretty pleased with this one. I have made a lot of progress since February. I feel very fortunate to be able to do this. 

AM: 60' on the trainer. 142W. HR 93.

Recovery ride. Felt decent, but a bit tired. Fell asleep while the boys were watching TV. I went to pick my mom up at the airport as she is staying with me and the boys while Megan is at a conference in Baltimore. 

PM: 8 miles, averaged 9:13. HR 119. 

Felt decent to start, then pretty awful. Just low on energy and thought I had to go to the bathroom. Felt fine after the halfway mark and picked up the pace. I will be interested to see how fast I can run and still keep my averaged HR below 120. It used to take 10'+. Running feels very effortless and enjoyable. Quite pleased.4

AM: 120' on the trainer. 212W. HR 126.

3 x 5' Anaerobic Over Unders

30" hard, 4' vo2 max, 30" hard as you can go. These were supposed to be something like 590 watts/336 watts/590 watts, but I wasn't getting there. I did not expect the 4' efforts to be that high. I figured 100% of threshold or slightly over, not 112-115% or whatever it was. Good session even if I wasn't able to fully hit the numbers. Mostly zone 2 other than the recoveries and a short warm up and cool down.

Megan left for Baltimore this morning. I will try to get my run in after class and before picking the boys up from school, otherwise I will see if they will behave for my mom long enough to squeeze in an hour. 

PM: 8 miles, averaged 8:01. HR 136.

Felt fantastic. Had just enough time to run before getting boys after class. Ran about 8:20 for the first mile and sped up organically. My strides feels the best it has felt in years. 7:30 pace feels better than maybe it ever has. HR was right around 145 for those last miles, so basically my zone 2 has gone from 7:50-8:45 to something like 7:20-8:00. 

Got the boys off to school, but it was a little stressful. Not that it surprises me, but Megan and I rely on each other a lot to take care of the boys.

AM: 100' on the trainer. 211W. HR 120. 

20' @ Sweet Spot

Scheduled for 2 x 20' w/ short recovery, but the boys were up at 7:15 and down on the couch. I got them breakfast and finished my interval while they watched TV. I decided I wouldn't be able to focus on the second one with them up, so I just cooled down. Not sure why they were up so early, and they almost never just get up and come down stairs. 

PM: 4.8 miles, averaged 8:24. HR 129.

Planned on more, but I had a few students stay after to get their questions addressed. I was glad actually as they rarely stay for the extra time I have built in. It had snowed a bit the night before, which stuck/sucked, but the pathways were clear. 

Took a short nap after dropping the boys off at school and before class. Took another nap between classes. I have had a good time relaxing with my Mom. She doesn't get to see the boys as much as she would like.

AM: 90' on the trainer. 208W. HR 118.

PM: Off.

I was going to run, but was a little worried about leaving the boys with my Mom as they were in a bit of a mood. 

AM: 120' on the trainer. 231W. HR 136.

3 x 20' Sweet Spot (5')

Up early to get a session in before the boys got up. 275 watts (149 BPM) , 277 watts (154 BPM) , 281 watts (156 BPM). Good session. Increased power throughout. Boys were up around 7:30 or so, but I got them a drink and light breakfast and put them in front of the tv to finish up.

I planned to run, but worried the boys would be difficult and impossible for my Mom to handle, so I skipped it. They were a bit tough today and I didn't handle things well in the afternoon. Just exhausted from taking care of them since Wednesday. Trying my best, but I need to do better. I could really have used a run, but we did walk on the Polly Ann, something I have been wanting to do with my Mom since she started visit us in the new house in November 2020. It was important to me to get her out and moving around too.

Bummed to miss Barry Roubaix today, but next year for sure, 

PM/Evening: 2 hours 27' (43.8 Miles @ 17.9 MPH). 215W. HR 125. 

4 x 10' Sweet Spot (5')

I dropped my Mom off at the airport in the morning and took the boys to an Easter party. Megan got home around 3:30 and by then I was ready to have some time to myself as I had been with the boys since Wednesday. I decided to go outside as my AI suggested a quality session, which I then extended to get more time. I did these on a tempo loop I marked on Google Pedometer a few weeks ago. It ended up working quite well. The loop is round 5 miles or so, mostly gravel with a few turns and twists, so it's pretty ideal. 

My HR was super low and my power was quite high. I could have really pushed these, but wanted to stick with the plan. I have heard that outdoor power tends to be higher. I assume this is due to surface resistance. 

274 watts (HR BPM), 282 watts (HR 143 BPM), 280 watts (140 BPM), 280 watts (HR 140)

Pace was pretty dead even throughout. Recoveries were high zone 1/low zone 2.

PM: 9.1 miles, averaged 8:15. HR 145.

2 x 1 Mile w/ 90" Rest

It was pretty warm compared to the recent weather (65 degrees). I planned to do 4 x 1 mile @ 5k pace with 90" rest. I am not sure why I decided to do this workout as it is easily the hardest workout I do and I haven't done any 5k work in forever. I just wanted to get some mile repeats faster than my mile repeats and 2k repeats from the other day. I figured around 6:00 pace or under based on some predictions. The first mile was okay in 5:57. I got into the second one and paced it a bit slower, worried I wasn't going to get through it. That was a 6:04 and I knew I was just done. I could have worked through it probably, but it was going to get ugly and my legs were heavy from the last several stacked workouts. 

Failed workouts used to bother me, but I know this wasn't the right workout and I could have gone a bit slower, maybe starting at 6:05-6:08. I might retry next week depending on recovery. This was still my first sub-6 mile in a number of years. I think I might have run one in early 2020, but know I have run any since we moved to Lake Orion in late 2020.

Evening: 6.1 miles, averaged 9:19. HR 119.

Big change in temperature. Nice out but windy and cooling down fast. I had to find a bathroom pretty early in the run, tried to wait it out, but that was dumb as I knew ignoring it was going to make things a bit precarious. I should have turned toward home, but didn't but knew Orion Oaks had one. Got there with a huge relief. Felt much better, except for there being no toilet paper :-(

AM: 120' on the trainer. 211W. HR 129.

2 x 15' Threshold w/ Long Recovery

283, 292. Legs were predictably sluggish. On target for the second one, low on the first one. I think I needed a 2-3 minute clearing interval during the warmup. 

PM: 8 miles, averaged 9:15. HR 122. 

I don't recall what shoes I ran in. It was dark, snowy/sleety and cold, but the wind died down.

AM: ~60' on the trainer. 135W. HR 96.

Got in a bit of active recovery before signing up for Beach to Beacon for the first time since 2018. I am pretty excited. It has been years since I have been excited about a running race. I think the last decent 10k I ran was some time in 2018 or earlier. Whenever I ran Brooksie Way and won.

PM: 8 miles, averaged 8:02. HR 136.

AM: 8 miles, averaged 7:34. HR 149.

Honest easy (high zone 2). I was out in under 8 minutes and rolled pretty steady without pressing to hard throughout. Felt steady and smooth. HR creeped up a little toward the end, but I also think I was overdressed in a baselayer, light jacket, hat, and gloves. One of the women I usually see running was sleeveless, which seemed pretty light, but it was warming up. 

Looking forward to Thursday Night Dirt tonight. 

PM: 3 hours 1' (53.8 miles @ 17.7 MPH). 221W. HR 136.

Good night for it. Warmer, but cooling down. Wind not bad, but felt like it was in every direction. I got dropped from the leaders in A group but there were some superstars out there, so I just kept up the effort, working here and there with some others, but dropped them and mostly soloed. I think my pacing was good as my power went up throughout the ride. 

Loop Data: 29.9 miles in 1:30:12. 19.9 MPH. 260 watts (276 normalized). HR 150.

AM/Lunch: 15 miles, averaged 7:19. HR 149. 

9-Mile Tempo @ Marathon Effort

Solid one today especially as it was warmer (about 70 degrees), a big volume week, and last night's bike effort. I was doing to do 10 miles at effort, but I felt that I was already doing too much, so I figured if I did an extra mile and the pace was faster I was in line with progressively overloading. Last marathon effort session was 3/28.

Warmed up 3 miles and brought some heavy carb drink mix with me to sip on the warmup. Originally I was going to do something like 4-3-2 mile sets and jog between for a half mile and take in some drink mix, but decided to stick with my original plan and roll with it. I was hoping to be slightly faster than the last time I did an 8-mile tempo, which I didn't realize was 3 weeks ago (I thought it was two) at 6:37 pace. I ended up averaging 6:31, so I am back to my base aerobic fitness I had in my late 20s and early 30s, which I am pretty happy with. I can still build from here for fall and then maybe, maybe, a marathon next spring. If not, then I will try to set some lifetime PRs at other distances. 

6:40, 6:36, 6:33, 6:29, 6:25, 6:29, 6:32, 6:29, 6:27 (6:31 average @ 161 BPM)

3 up/3 down

It started to pour cold rain, so I didn't cool down to 16 or 17 as planned, but this was fine. I am thinking I want a few longer runs before my June 1 half (maybe up to 20 miles), but I will probably do that with longer sets and recovery jogs between to accumulate the miles.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 137W. HR 97. 

Recovery. Very hard bike workout tomorrow. 

AM/Lunch: 3 hours 46' (~67 miles @ 17.8 MPH). 221W. HR 134.

Gravel Simulation 1

This was a tough one. Aerobically, not terrible, but the muscular strength and durability required is really something, especially outside. A month or so ago I did 262 watts for 2 hours on the trainer. Today I did 264 for 2 hours, but with a harder, scheduled start. 

Sometime this past fall I listened to a FasCat podcast on gravel power and learned that bike workouts are generally not hard enough (when necessary, not always). I came to this conclusion on own, given my background in running and know that, for instance, in marathon training you need to do more than a few miles at marathon pace for prep (up to maybe 14-16 is ideal) for a half about 8-9 miles broken up is ideal. 

The gravel simulation mimics the start of a gravel race, which is probably closer to cross country running than anything else. You start with 5' a vo2 wattage, directly into threshold for 10' (so right around your one-hour power), and then move directly into a sweet spot interval for as long as you can go, I think perhaps up to three hours. I planned on at least 90' at sweet spot, up to 2 hours, but not more. I ended up doing 1:45.

Warmed up for an hour at zone 2 and got to my tempo loop and got into it. I started the 5' effort around 320 or so and dropped knowing it was likely too hard. I then dropped to 10' but got scared I would blow up if I tried to hold 295-300, so that segment was off at 264 watts, but I knew I had a long session ahead. I was kind of thinking I would stop the workout because I thought I was already fading. As it turns out, my legs just needed more time to warm up. I did a number of laps trying to bring the power up, which I did. I started the first 3-5 minutes around 245-250 and just kept the pressure on the pedals and eventually got the lap power up to 264-265 range and mostly held it there, only fading slightly toward the end to 262 watts. 

I went into the cool down, but my legs were absolutely smashed. I tried sitting and standing and it was hard. I worried about a 45' ride home but just worked through everything, but my legs were in pain. They got somewhat better as I got closer to home but they are really banged up.

The total for the 2-hour segment was 264 watts @ 148 heart rate. My HR never really got much above 150 or so, and it only got to 159 max, but I think that was pressing hard up a hill on the warm-up. 

I took in almost 3 25 oz bottles of 90g bottles and 2 40g Maurten gels, so pretty close to 93g per hour on average. I think next time I will try to get it closer to 100g or higher. 

The boys had a good Easter. It is such a joy to see how excited they get to hunt for eggs. I made dinner, which ended up being on the later side of things, and the boys weren't keen on staying put, but they ate a bit of ham. 

Lunch: 7 miles, averaged 10:01. HR 119.

PM: 5 miles, averaged 9:32. HR 115.

Legs were properly knackered. They were heavy on the morning run, but actually felt good. It helps that you use a lot of different muscles cycling.

AM: Off. 

I was going to get up and run or get my bike workout in, but I kept shutting my early alarms off. Felt great to sleep. I need to cut the overall volume this week. 18+ hours last week for the last week of classes was a little crazy.

PM: 2 hours 21'. 41.5 miles @ 17.6 MPH. 213W. HR 131. 

3 x 10' Criss Cross (Diabolical)

4 minutes at FTP, 1' hard, 4 minutes at FTP, 1' all out. This was pretty hard and my legs weren't interested in pressing too hard, but I progressed throughout. I stopped lapping the subsets as the gravel was loose and chunky and I didn't want to eat it. I averaged around 300 watts for each. The higher portions weren't too high. I am continuing to see issues with higher power over 280-290 watts. I assume this is due to higher overall aerobic volume. Kind of like how running much faster than marathon pace is hard with high mileage but you can run marathon pace forever. 

Lunch/PM: 120' on the trainer. 223W. HR 132. 

4 x 8' Sweet Spot Bursts

Solid workout. Legs were pretty tired. Just had to give them a little more coaxing to wake up. Slept in this morning rather than trying to get the session in, but it meant not running at lunch or before getting the boys, which is fine. Trying to cut back the volume this week in general and it is finals weeks. The weather, of course, has been absolutely beautiful. 

Evening: 7 miles, averaged 8:40. HR 123.

I guess this was recovery? One mile at 8:17 and HR was at 127. Crazy. 

AM: 8 miles, averaged 7:54. HR 145. 

Getting warm, but it felt good to sweat. Going to be around 80 I think. Tonight's ride might be warm. It will be nice not to freeze on the way home though. I was going to skip it to get some work done, but it is my social time and the weather is perfect (maybe no wind this week). 

PM: 3 hours. 55 miles @ 18.3 MPH. 207W. HR 140. 

Thursday Night Dirt!

The weather was beautiful. 80, sunny, and light winds. Pace got hot quickly and a few of us got dropped. I think in future weeks I will try to stay toward the front more, but I always like to wait until things settle out/in, but it usually means getting dropped. I worked with a group for most of the ride, but took a lot of long pulls, pulling most of the part of the ride coming back south. I started to feel stronger during the second half and really wanted to push, but didn't want to bust the group up. We had a solid rhythm going through the Proving Grounds and beyond. 

Loop Data: 30.7 miles in 1:29:35. 20.5 MPH. 246 Watts (270 Normalized). HR 154.

AM: 8 miles, averaged 8:54. HR 128. 

PM: 4 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:58. HR 117. 

Great weather again today. Went to get in a few miles before dinner after Megan went out but the lightning was flashing, so I figured the treadmill would be a wiser option. Looking in the mirror on the treadmill I am a lot leaner than the last time I was on the treadmill. Running is a lot easier too. Megan joked that I am probably light enough to use the old treadmill without it shutting down. 

PM: 4 hours 11'. 70.9 miles @ 16.9 MPH. 219W. HR 134. 

20'-20'-25'-20' Race Efforts

It was pretty cold and moody outside, a sharp change in the weather, so I was going to jump on the trainer, and I went back and forth, but decided I wanted to get out. I also thought the roads might be a little sloppy. I was scheduled to do some unstructured intervals at close to race intensity. I decided if I felt like crap I would just do zone 2 for about 4 hours.

Well, I felt like crap. Legs were heavy and I just felt very slow. I wasn't sure if it was a pressure issue, or if I had too much weight from my oversized bottles, or the gravel was just slow or what. But even going down the Polly Ann, which I ride several times a week was very slow and I was into the wind. I almost turned around. But I decided that I have felt generally very good on the bike and feeling a bit off was bound to happen. 

I started the first interval 1 hour in and that felt pretty decent. Hard, but I felt without predefined recovery I would do a handful more. I had a segment I wanted to try that was about 20'. I missed by a lot and was even 30" off from my time I went through it during a race, but I knew I was lighter and my power higher. That's gravel though. A lot like ski conditions. Sometimes it is so fast you cannot imagine and other times it is so slow you just can't slog through it.

It ended up being a good ride and I enjoyed it. The intervals were hard, but my HR never got very high. Peaked at 163. Part of this is fitness but I think a lot of it is fueling as well. I took a few Beta Fuel gels, which were 40g of carbs and my typical 90g bottles of Flow Formula. 

20' @ 284 watts (290 normalized) @ 153 BPM, 21:43 @ 276 watts (280 normalized) @ 152 BPM, 25' @ 276 watts (280 normalized) @ 150 BPM, 20' @ 266 watts (271 normalized) @ 147 BPM 

I would like to see somewhat higher power numbers and a higher HR. I did 264 watts for 2 hours last weekend. It seems 285-295 would be doable for 20' with longer recoveries between. Volume has been very high this week again and I thought I had cut it, but it looks like a PR for the year. 

Off.

Decided I was due for a day off. 63 days on. Legs have been heavy. Body and mind tired. That time in the semester. 

Lunch: 10 miles, averaged 7:44. HR 148.

5k Tempo Steady State to Threshold

Pretty tired, but I wanted to get a workout in, but I couldn't devote too much time to it. I had planned on a 10k wave tempo, but that was a bit overly ambitious. The first k I couldn't get the pace down, so I just rolled with the effort thinking I would do 10k steady state, but I quickly realized my legs just weren't working very well and my quad was a bit achy. I decided to just press as far as I felt was in line with a solid tempo effort. 

I managed a solid progression through 5k and decided my legs were just going to go further in a whole if I tried to push 2-3k more. 4:03, 3:59, 3:55, 3:55, 3:50. 6:21 pace average @ 167 BPM. 

I think most of my bike workouts will be zone 2 for the middle part of the week. Body is definitely feeling the volume and end of semester. It took a while.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 201W. HR 122. 

Started a workout, but knew I shouldn't and failed pretty early. I have been tired for several days and running yesterday should have told me to take a break, but I thought I could fight through it. Dumb. I should have known from Saturday as well, because during that long ride/hard efforts I was feeling pretty wiped out. End of semester decompression I imagine.

Submitted my grades at about 1:30 AM. Feels good to have that portion of the semester mostly behind me. It was a pretty good semester. Still have some comments to write up and my LTU work, but things are looking up. 

Lunch/PM: 3 hours 5'. 207W. HR 127. 

Decided not to do my planned workout, but given the overall time and I am not sure stress-wise this was easier, but it was relaxed and endurance. 

PM: 6.2 miles, averaged 8:28. HR 128. 

Legs were confused to start. I guess it has been a while since I have run after riding. Even with a few hour between it took a while to wake up, but I wasn't in a hurry anyway. Nice to see low 8' pace feeling so easy.