Of Mice and Marathons

Day off.

Megan was out of town and I just sat on the couch and read. It was pretty great.

PM: 16 miles, averaged 9:01. HR 158.

New route test. Weather was ideal, but I struggled the whole time. I bonked really bad in the last few miles. It was quite painful. Like a marathon blowup bonk. I think I was just really dehydrated and the pollen was rough.

The route worked fairly well. I think I’ll throw it in here and there.

Night: AIS, PT, and light core

AM/Lunch: 8.4 miles, averaged 11:17. HR 130.

Very slow. 12:02 first mile. Weather very comfortable, sunny and almost cool, but the pollen is high. Probably why even that slow my HR wouldn’t stay under 130.

PM: 5.2 miles, averaged 10:40. HR 131.

Beautiful out.

Lunch/PM: 11 miles, averaged 9:07. HR 156.

Stridlek Workout: 3 (6 x 40") w/ Equal Jog Back and 5' Jog Between Sets

Change of workout the last minute from 15 x 2', which I wouldn't have made it through. Pollen was rough. Nice weather though. Quite seasonable. Taking a step back and building off this. Determined my aerobic base is pretty much gone, so the harder workouts will wait. That's just fine with me.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, no watch.

Great weather again.

Lunch/PM: 8.5 miles, averaged 11:01. HR 128.

Nice recovery plod.

PM: 4 miles on the treadmill. HR 128. 

Weights after: Chest press 3 x 15 @ 40#; Pull Downs 3 x 15 @ 50#, Pec Flys 3 x 20 @45#; Shoulder Press 3 x 15 @ 25#

Late: AIS, PT, and light core

Lunch/PM: 9 miles

7 x 8" Hill Blasts

Legs were dead, so I threw in a ~2 pickup before doing drills and strides to prime the legs a bit. Went after a Strava hill segment on the cool down. I was surprised for the third mile I was moving around 6:20 pace for 4% average grade. The segment was a bit too firm, but I realized my legs will move when I ask them to. Did some strides on the cool down as well. Looks like a great afternoon/evening for the Thursday ride.

Evening: 37.2-mile ride. HR 162.

Perfect night for a ride. Rode one of the splinter A groups. Basically 50k race effort for me. Warm, but comfortable. 80 to start o think. 19.1 MPH for the loop. 18.6 for the ride.

Lunch: 8.3 miles, averaged 9:29. HR 140.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:01. HR 129.

Noon: 16 miles, averaged 8:25. HR monitor off.

It was pretty warm (80 degrees). I did better than last week, but still bonked hard in the last mile. It's been a long time since I struggled with long runs, and let's face it, 16 miles really isn't a long run. All my base fitness from last fall and early winter is completely gone, which rots. Beautiful day even if I got my backside kicked and a little cooked by the sun. Short shakeout tomorrow and then a longer ride by myself in the afternoon.

Lunch: 4.5 miles, averaged 10:52. HR 125.

Weights after: Captain’s chair and core machine; pec flys 3 x 15 @ 50#; chest press 3 x 15 @ 40#; pull downs 3 x 15 @ 55#; rows 3 x 15 @ 40; shoulder press 3 x 15 @ 25#

PM: 50.8-mile ride. HR 134.

Good ride. Kept it easy mostly to recover from running yesterday. A mix of tar and gravel, with a brief bit of single track. I flew off track into the woods. It happens.

Lunch: 10 miles, averaged 8:34. HR 143. Did some strides.

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:05. HR 122.

Like fall outside this evening.

PM: 14 miles, averaged 8:37. HR 151.

Stridlek Workout: 3 (6 x 40”) w/ Equal Jog Back and 5’ Jog Between Sets

4 up/4.1 down

A little faster than last week I think. Much drier air. Pollen had me hacking a bit but not too bad. Drank too much last night, so I moved the workout to late afternoon.

Lunch: 8.4 miles, averaged 10:29. HR 131.

PM: 4.3 miles, averaged 10:24. HR 127.

Beautiful weather for running. Warm and dry and not too hot. Crappy weather for tomorrow, so likely the ride won't happen, but I'll just double up in the afternoon.

AM/Lunch: 9 miles w/ hill blasts

7 x 8" Hill Blasts

Did the same warmup pattern as last week. Legs were much better than last week. 4.5 mile warm up, including .26 @ 5:43 pace. Did drills and strides after. On the cool down I attacked a Strava segment again and got 3rd. That was 5:40ish for .33 but it's an average grade of 4%. The segment was slower as I think it starts back farther than I realized. Segments really don't matter but in the absence of racing it's not a bad carrot to reach for every once in a while.

PM: 4.3 miles, averaged 10:25. HR 121.

Cool and rainy. Almost cold, but it was in the lower 60s. Unseasonably low though. No group ride with the rain. Might not get a ride in this week, but I'll just log running miles.

Night: AIS, PT, and light core.

Lunch: 8.7 miles, averaged 8:10. HR monitor off.

Had lunch and headed over to the gym for weights.

Various bench free weights to mix up the routine, then tri press 3 x 15 @45#; bicep curl 3 x 15 @ 40#; shoulder press 3 x 15 @ 25#; pull downs 3 x 15 @ 60#;

PM: 4.25 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:02. HR 123.

Got a new HR monitor at KLM.

Noon: 16.6 miles, averaged 8:19. HR 158.

Did about 6 miles to River Bends and ran up and down the bridge hill for some elevation gain. Felt good overall but tired the eleventh time up the hill. A bit under 3.5 miles total at an average grade of 4%. One of the only ways I can get hills without driving.

Drove to Ann Arbor to see friends and stay over. We had a good time.

PM: 7 miles, averaged 10:37. HR 121.

Cool out. Rained for most of the early part of the day.

Late: AIS, PT, and light core

PM: 14 miles, averaged 8:22. HR monitor off.

Stridlek Workout: 3 (6 x 40") w/ Equal Jog Back and 5' Jog Between Sets + 2' @ 5k Effort

4 up/3.2 down

Same workout as the last few weeks with the added 2'@ ~5k effort. Felt pretty solid overall. About as fast or a touch faster than last week. The 2' interval was 5:23 pace, which was more than 5k effort and certainly more than current 5k pace, but I just went out and hung on. Strides were 5:25-4:50, mostly being around 5:05-5:18.

New HRM was way off after 6 miles. I am going to do a hard restart on my Garmin just to make sure it isn't that.

Did the midweek workout today rather than tomorrow as we have a meeting with a financial advisor tomorrow in the morning and trying to get this in before 10 was not something I am willing to do given that I haven't been getting up before 11.

PM: 56.7-mile ride. HR 141-145ish

Megan and I had a meeting with a financial advisor provided free from the university so that we could get some stuff in order. I didn't get up to run early and knew I wouldn't. We had a good meeting and we went to an Indian buffet for lunch (one reason I moved my workout to yesterday). We drove around a bit before that to look at the area north of the university.

I decided that I was going to ride rather than run given the good weather and 0 for the week last week. The weather was warm, but not hot, and comfortable. I enjoyed the ride. My Wahoo computer died around 45 miles, but I just switched on Strava on my phone (thus the range on the HR as estimate).

Noon: 10 miles, averaged 8:46.

HR monitor dropped a few times again.

PM: 4.4 miles, averaged 10:10. HR 132.

Night: weights.

Bench: incline curls 3 x 15 @ 12#; incline bench press 3 x 15 @ 17.5#; flat bench press 3 x 15 @ 17.5#; flat flys 3 x 15 @ 12#; hammer curls 25 each @ 12#; 

Machines: Tricep press 3 x 15 @ 50#; shoulder press 3 x 15 @ 30#

AM/lunch: 9.4 miles.

7 x 8" Hill Blasts

I changed the warmup a bit this week and did a 5-6 mile progression. I ended up with 5.6 miles starting at 9:00 pace and the last kilometer was 6:23, which is probably the faster I have run 2+ miles (around 6:50 pace) in a few months. Did my drills and stides and got into the blasts. Cooled down 4 miles. It was cool and lightly rainy.

We are scheduled to do the Solstice Ride later tonight. I imagine it will be a bit wet and sloppy, but as long as it isn't pouring I would rather do that than laps at Stony Creek. Supposed to be around 61 miles if we end up doing the planned route.

Night: 45.4-mile ride. HR 132 (but suspect).

Rain stopped but roads were sloppy so we hit the tarred loop at Stony Creek. We made a pit stop at 8:30 for a couple beers and cookies, which was fun. It was a great time. Not the planned mileage but it’s fun to ride in a group on pavement as it’s rythmic and fast. Probably should have upped the PSI, but it worked okay.

Noontime: 8.3 miles, averaged 10:03. HR 133.

Happy Fifth Anniversary to Megan!

PM: 4 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:09. HR 123.

Beautiful out. We had a nice dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant in Birmingham. Excellent food.

PM: 16.2 miles, averaged 8:43. HR off.

Waited until later to do my long run as I just didn't have much energy or desire to do much. I ended up getting it in and did over 1000ft of climbing, which doesn't sound like much but this area is so flat that I ran up and down my third mile hill 16 times and it was just over 1000 feet. You really have to repeat hills because there isn't enough gain on a loop.

Lunch: 9.2 miles, averaged 10:28. HR 124.

Weather has been incredible. Warmer and muggy tomorrow I think. Boo.

PM: 5.2 miles, averaged 10:16. HR 130.

Beautiful out.

Night: AIS, PT, and pushups

Lunch: 10 miles, averaged 8:52. HR 156. Did some strides.

A bit humid and higher dew point. Struggled a little but tried not to push too hard. Lost 6.2 lbs of water weight on this run.

PM: 4 miles, averaged 10:47. HR 125.

Was low on calories I think. Felt kind of shaky and dizzy. Slammed down a huge piece of lasagna and a salad when I got home. 

Hit the 2000-mile mark. Previous best was in 2015 on July 6. Pretty good overal given sickness and random, guilt free days off to do longer rides.

Lunch/PM: 14 miles, averaged 8:49. HR 162. 

Stridlek Workout: 3 (6 x 40”) w/ Equal Jog Back and 5’ Jog Between Sets + 3’ @ 5k Effort 

4 up/3.2 down

Warm but not bad (80 degrees, dry, breezy). Wasn’t much faster than previous weeks but I didn’t want to blow up. 3’ interval was only 5:45, while last week for 2’ I was 5:26 I think. Solid workout. I think next week is 4’ and then maybe 5’ but not sure.

Night: AIS and PT

AM/Lunch: 8.6 miles, averaged 10:48. HR 129.

PM: 4.4 miles, averaged 10:36. HR 129.

Evening: weights.

Incline curls 12# 3 x 15;Incline bench press 17.5# 3 x 15; Flat bench press 17.5# 3 x 15; Flat flys 12#; Hammer curls 12# x 25 ea; Barbell curls 3 x 15 30#

Shoulder press 3 x 15 @ 30#; Pull downs; 3 x 15 @ 60#; Chest press 3 x 15 @ 40#

Night: 2.75 miles of walking total. We went to the fireworks. Quite a display. I generally don’t like fireworks because of the noise but this was really great. Some incredibly loud explosions. 

AM/Lunch 9.8 miles.

8 x 8" Hill Blasts

Did just under 50' progression using heart rate and going roughly 120-130-140-150-160-170. Did my drills and strides. I had to shut off my watch because the battery was dying, but I took off my shirt and used 8 stones to help keep track of my reps (I know how far to walk for the 3' recovery since I have been doing these in the same spot for so long).

On my recoveries I watched a deer munching vegetation. It was amazing. They are vegetarians of course, so they have to eat a lot. They are very friendly here. Cooled down 4 miles.

PM: 37.2 mile ride. HRM off.

Thursday night ride. I was deciding between A and B and so I waited a little while to see how I felt. I decided to go for it. The main A group surged and I couldn't hang, but I managed to ride strong with another guy. Basically we rode solo, but it was my fastest time on the route (19MPH averaged and 19.7 for the 50k segment). Did well for a warm day.

I also find it significant to note that this is the first day we have had the air conditioning on in the apartment, which is quite remarkable for this part of the woods.

AM/Lunch: 8.7 miles, averaged 9:11. HR 137.

Expected to suffer but the weather wasn’t bad. Plenty sweaty but it’s the end of June.

PM: 5 miles on the treadmill.

Bit of a progression. Sweat a ton. Felt great though.Started out around 5.4 MPH and finished at 10.3 MPH. Captain’s chair after and core machine.

Night: AIS and PT

Lunch/PM: 16.2 miles, averaged 9:13. HR 152.

4-Mile Tempo @ Marathon Effort

Conditions were a little rough. I was only able to run 7:40 pace without pushing my HR too high. It was still too high at just a tick under 170 BPM. I figured it would be best to put the HR screen on given that it was in the mid-80s or so and a little muggy. It was pretty tough overall.

6 up/10k down.

Lunch: 4.7 miles, averaged 11:07. HR 120.

PM: 64.7–mile ride. HR 141.

Good ride. Hit a few new gravel roads, but mostly the familiar ones. Took 3 gels but ran out of fluids a bit before the three hour mark. Just under 4 hours.