Of Mice and Marathons

Lunch: 6 miles, averaged 9:24. HR 121.

Cool and rainy but it was a nice recovery run.

PM: 6.3 miles, averaged 9:32. HR 124.

Foggy and damp at the park. Saw 3 deer.

AM: off. Slept for a bit before meetings with students.

PM: 11.8 miles, averaged 7:42. HR 156. + 2.1 bonus cool down miles

20' Tempo, 5' Jog, 8 x 1' On/Off

Warmed uo 30' with just a few strides in slightly warmer and more humid weather than the last few days. Still under 70 degrees though. Felt pretty decent on the warmup. The tempo was 10-mile effort, but it was likely a few clicks below that given the HR, which seemed slightly wonky but probably pretty close at 180 BPM. Averaged 6:07. I was breathing pretty good at the end but recovered fairly quickly. 1' intervals were solidly in the 5:30 range.

Cooled down 20' and then changed into a new pair of shoes to test them for another 20'. I like them a lot so far (Saucony ISO Freedom). I finally found a pair that had the right price. It only took 2-3 years.

Lunch: 6.8 miles, averaged 9:34. HR 132.

PM: 6.4 miles, averaged 10:09. HR 123.

Very tired. Looking forward to a cool afternoon/evening ride tomorrow.

Late: AIS and pushups

AM: 7.6 miles, averaged 8:35. HR 139.

PM: 37.2 mile ride. HR 139.

Thursday night ride. Decent pace. 18.6 MPH. Would have liked to have pushed a bit more, but a great time as always. A decent chunk in the dark. This effort in July in the heat and with my weight and fitness then would have my heart rate in the upper 150s to low 160s. This is now a "easy" effort. Much stronger on the hills.

AM: 7.6 miles. Did some hill blasts.

30 up, drills and strides, 6 x 8” hill blasts, ~32’ down

PM: 6.8 miles, averaged 9:28. HR 122.

First few w/ Megan.

Late: AIS, PT work, and situps

Noon: 15.1 miles, averaged 7:45. HR 154.

7-mile Aerobic Builder (6:24 Avg), 5' Jog + 6 x 45" Strides

Warmed up 3 miles, just as the thunderstorms rolled through. Typically I get really skittish and play it safe but I wasn't in the mood to miss a workout. So I kept at it until things got a little hairy and started back home. The storm seemed to lessen in intensity, so I started the workout and decided if it got worse again, I would go home. It didn't. Good amount of rain, but I don't mind running in the rain as long as it is not really windy or very cold.

My legs felt like they weren't firing at all, probably from the blasts yesterday and the overall exercise volume these last few weeks. Still did okay.

6:32, 6:29, 6:20, 6:23, 6:24, 6:20, 6:20 (HR ~176)

I took auto splits but didn't have average pace on. Jogged for 5' and then did my 6 x 45" strides will jog/shuffle back to starting point. Those were a lot faster than they felt. Good to see my legs are moving when I am tired.

Cooled down 3 miles or so.

PM: 5 miles, averaged 10:26. HR 125.

Lunch: 6.1 miles, averaged 10:41. HR 116.

Watched the Chicago marathon. A guy I follow on Strava ran 2:19:03. Last year he ran 2:22 I think and before that his previous PR was 2:27 or 2:28.

PM: 6.4 miles, averaged 10:20. HR 119.

Lunch: 7.1 miles, averaged 9:14. HR 135.

Legs felt like junk.

PM: 7.75 miles, averaged 8:25. HR 147.

Very warm and humid for October. Went shirtless, which doesn’t beat my November 6. 2015 run in Philadelphia.

Late: AIS

AM: 11.2 miles, averaged 8:03. HR 159.

20' Tempo @ ~10-Mile Effort, 5' Jog, 8 x 2'On/Off

I dropped off my car to get a hitch mounted and found out two students were traveling for sports, so we rescheduled meetings and I was able to get my workout in in the morning, which I hadn't planned. It was warm. 70 degrees to start and 79 to finish with a dew point of 69 and the humidty starting in the 80% range and lowering to the 70% range. I did well in the conditions and felt very strong, even chasing down one of the park maintenance guys on his lawn mower.

Warmed up 2 miles and got into the workout. I turned my pace on to control the effort, making sure I was a bit slower than last week so I didn't blow up. Averaged 6:13, which was okay given the warm conditions and the pending 2' intervals. First lap was around 6:20, so the next two were around 6:10 or 6:11. HR 177. Took a 5' jog after hacking a bit and got into the 2' intervals, which were not super fast but strong and controlled. 5:52-5:46.

Lunch: 11-mile bike commute to campus. HR 154. 

Faster than I would have liked a commute effort but I was running late. I ended up meeting with a student in my cycling kit, which you can really only do as an academic. I showered after.

PM: 11-mile bike commute. HR 134.

Picked up food for Oliver and grabbed my key from the trailer place to get my car. Did various errands and started dinner. Glad I didn’t head out for a PM run as Megan had a long day and was ready to eat. Dinner was ready by the time she got home like the good house husband that I am :-)

Lunch: 6.6 miles, averaged 9:51

HR data junk first 2 miles. Probably around 128-133.

PM: 6.2 miles, averaged 10:28. HR 122.

AM: 8 miles, averaged 8:11.

Cool and windy. The wind was taking the motivation out of me. I picked it up the last 3-4' and ran the last mile in 6:32. Would have been a lot faster had I started the pickup sooner. Should be a cool ride later.

Evening: 36.7-mile ride. HR 142.

Cold and windy. Tried to dress warm and ended up being just about perfect. I crashed a few miles in. We were going about 20MPH and I hit a massive pothole. My front tire washed out and I went over the bars. I managed to land on my feet (I think) after flipping a few times. A guy behind me also went over. People helped untangle bikes and get everything running. A few scapes and sore areas but otherwise fine. I finished the ride with my bars a bit forward in the stem. Eventful night. Dark for a large portion of the ride.

AM: 7.7 miles. Did some hill blasts.

30’ Up, drills and strides, 7 x 8” blast w/ 3’ Walkabout Recovery, 35’ Down

PM: 6.6 miles, averaged 9:48. HR 122.

First few w/ Megan in the PM. Workout went well. It was chilly and damp today. My HR monitor crapped out, so I used my Wahoo (bike) one and that worked fine. $50 as opposed to $100 for the garmin ones too.

Lunch: 16 miles, averaged 7:37. HR 147.

8-Mile Aerobic Builder

Changed the workout just slightly from the schedule, but this was basically the same idea. Warmed up 4 miles in some very fallish weather. First day in hat and gloves.

Splits: 6:43, 6:43, 6:39, 6:35, 6:28, 6:25, 6:21, 6:07 (6:30 avg)

Could not get moving but I’ll take a legs problem rather than a lungs problem any day. Just zapped from the blasts. Let the pace drop as I went along and turned it into a sorta progression sorta cutdown. Had a nasty hacking fit from the cold air. HR was apparently in the low 160s for most of the workout miles and only hitting 168 for the last mile.

Cooled down 4 miles.

Day off. 49 days on. It was time.

We drove to Toledo yesterday for Megan’s brother’s engagement party. We had a great time.

Lunch: 7.3 miles, averaged 8:52. HR 139.

Windy. Bad heartburn.

A student sent me a platter of assorted pasteries. His wife is a pastery artist and she thought that they should do something for hisprofessors, who understood when he missed a few classes for knee surgey (incidentally to fix a knee issue from a detonated IED in one of his three tours in Iraq as a bomb specialist). He was telling a few younger students who asked and I don't think they were quite prepared for his answer.

PM: 4.2 miles, averaged 10:14. HR 126.

AM: 7.8 miles, averaged 8:25. HR 145.

10 x 45" Strides @ ~5k Effort (Race Sharpener)

About 32 degrees when I got up. Hat and gloves again. A bit too early for this, but it wasn't bad. Felt generally okayish. Ended up running fairly fast even though I felt slow (5:22-5:05 pace).

PM: 5.1 miles, averaged 9:11. HR 134.

Lunch: 6.1 miles, averaged 9:04. HR 132. 

Little windy, upper 40s. Feels like November. Seems like we skipped the amazing fall days and went straight to late fall. Or maybe my memory isn't great and I am just grumpy.

Ate a considerable amount of sweets from leftovers Megan' Uncle gaves us, but I haven't been drinking the last several days, so I guess that's one positive.

PM: Off. Took a 90' nap and wasn't feeling the weather or the dark.

Late: AIS, PT routine, and situps

AM: 5.4 miles, averaged 8:20. HR 141.

Chilly. Jumped a few deer. When I was almost home I heard a "pop" and some guy was discharging his cross bow in his front yard pretty close to the road. #welcometomichigan

PM: 5 miles, averaged 9:00. HR 137.

PM: 4.8 miles, averaged 8:21. HR 139. Did some strides.

6 x 20” at a decent clip. Jog back.

Mostly watched Fear Fest on AMC. Have felt pretty blah. I think it’s just about the race, which my body seems to think is a full rather than a fitness building season ender. I’m not sure what the rest of the year looks like but I’m planning to switch over to cyclocross, which really just means I’ll probably be running mostly and doing 1-2 skill sessions with a commute day and one real ride a week as I have been doing.

Lunch: 3.6 miles, averaged 8:20. HR 141.

Felt okay. Legs started to turn over after 20’ or so. Picked it up slightly the last 5’ and did one short stride around race effort. Going to be cold and early for the race tomorrow.

Late: AIS and light PT

AM: Detroit International Half. 14.6 miles total.

It was a cold morning. Around 34 degrees but it felt colder. Race was at 7:00AM, so I had to get up at 5. Megan and I drove down and found a place to park, which was quite easy. Did an easy 16' warmup with two strides. Probably should have done 20' or 25' as I used to, but I've been trying to warm up without doing too much for a half. I have done as much as 3 miles and that might be too much.

Goal was sub-1:20, which I knew wasn't out of the question but difficult. Figured I would start around 1:21-1:22 the first mile or two and work down. I figured 1:20-1:21 low was probably an accurate assessment of fitness, but I am also not doing the same sort of workouts I usually do.

It was extremely congested at the start and the C coral was full of just-barely-sub-8' pacing and starting line selfies (the starting line area was packed with non-racing people as well). I decided to butt my way forward as far as I could go without looking suspiscious. It makes you look like a jerk, but it is annoying and dangerous to have moving at too disparate of speeds. It was still too congested, but I forgot what it is like to be at a relatively big race (just under 10k just for the half).

First few miles were pretty slow. First 5k around 19:20-19:30, which was not making me happy. Most of the first miles were dark enough I couldn't see my watch that well and I wasn't taking splits anyway. My legs felt like they wouldn't turn over. Breathing felt like harder marathon effort. Honest hill around mile 3 going over the bridge and you get it back on the other side. I started to pick up things after that and got rolling okay.

Miles 4ish to 8ish were in Windsor, Canada. It was a nice area. Very metric. Looked a little different than my hometown of Windsor Maine.

The tunnel coming back was weird, hot, and creepy. Nice downhill and then a slight uphill for your efforts in the fart steamy air. Around miles 8 or 9 I tried to push because I knew I was probably in the 1:20 range. Passed a few people and worked on passing a few more in the final 5k, which I did. Around mile 11 my quad started to give out, which is rather strange as my quads are never an issue. Started to lose my legs at the 13-mile-mark, but made a decent attempt to kick. It's a long finishing stretch. Not Boylston street long, but long.

Did not cool down as my quad was painful (I think it is just a cramp). I did walk a bunch in the cold with my lips turning blue and teeth chattering because I have no sense of direction and couldn't find Megan.

Splits from Strava (even though they are likely not completely accurate):

6:06: 6:13, 6:19, 6:04, 5:47, 6:03, 5:58, 5:52, 6:06, 6:06, 5:59, 6:04, 5:58, 5:33 pace for partial

Satisfied with my time, which is 3 seconds slower per mile than a 10k 4 weeks ago. Lots of work to do, but I had a good time and raced fairly well.

PM: 16.1-mile ride. HR 126.

A good portion was on single track. It was cold and very beautiful and I had fun.

Lunch: 4.4 miles, averaged 10:14. HR 125.

Sore. Like, pretty much marathon sore. I think the downhills did it. I just don't run that hard downhill these days. Or any downhill really.

PM: 4.1 miles, averaged 9:49. HR 122.

On further reflection, there was also some concrete mixed in, especially on the downhills. That and a lack of a cool down would do it. Ouch.

AM: 5.6 miles, averaged 9:52. HR 129.

Still very sore.

PM: 4 miles, averaged 9:55. HR 127.

Lunch: 7.5 miles, averaged 8:38. HR 141.

PM: 4.25 miles, averaged 9:26. HR 128.

Less sore today. Took some pain reliever last night. Bike is in the shop getting some more aggressive tires for the Bloomer Cyclocross race this weekend. Still trying to decide about the ride for tomorrow night. Mostly the call was based on my running legs as I don't want to further put them in a recovery rut. They should be okay as long as I don't go hard. I will likely do it for some social time even though many guys likely won't be out there with the race. I am not taking the race that seriously, but I plan to compete the best I can. Just not interested in any sort of taper or anything. This will give me a way to approach my next cross race, which will be the first part of November if all goes well.

Lunch: 8.3 miles, averaged 7:52. HR 153.

Did some running near campus to get in a little elevation gain and change of scenary. Not sure why I didn't continue this practice when I started it when school began. 

Hamstring kertwanged me a few times (lower hamstring area). I felt it ping when I picked up the pace a bit yesterday but thought nothing of it. It stopped but given that its a runner's (second) Achilles Heel, it's somewhat worrisome even though not constant.

PM: 4.3-mile ride. Equipment failure.

Picked my bike up after having new tires and some other stuff done and the electronic shifting wouldn’t work, so I was stuck in gear spinning out. Stopped and called the shop and brought it back in. Was really looking forward to the Thursday ride too. Hopefully I’ll be able to race Saturday. If not, I’ll really not be happy.

AM: 4.2 miles, averaged 9:40. HR 126.

PM: 6.2-mile ride to pre-ride the course. HR 141.

Got up early and got a short run in before helpging set up for the Bloom Cyclocross race. Waited to hear about my bike. Took a nap in the afternoon and got the call that it was good to go, so I skipped my run to pre-ride the course.

AM: Bloomer Cyclocross Race - ~12.5 miles total

This was my first bike race. I have been told that runners make strong cyclocross riders and at first I thought the discipline was goofy, but have grow quite curious and I think I am pretty hooked. It's very difficult and breathing wise feels like a very hard 5k-4-mile race.

I warmed up with one lap of the course and some around the parking lot and we lined up. I was freezing as it was cold and slightly rainy and I don't have proper cold weather biking gear (way too much money on bike stuff this year). I was second to last going through the grass sections on the first lap, but then quickly started to pick people off.

I wiped out several times on muddy, grassy turns as my bike skills are not very good yet. The discipline involves a bit of getting of the bike and running, so I think I was strong in these areas, but I lost a lot of time falling and not being able to shift very well late in the race as my right hand was numb. I try to push quite hard the second and third laps. My breathing was highly elevated and I was sucking air at the finish. It's basically supposed to be akin to cross country running. It was really hard, but I had a ton of fun. I am signing up for at least one more race this season, and I will likely approach next fall a little more seriously depending on my running goals and schedule.

PM: 7.5 miles, averaged 8:43. HR 139.

I was planning to run, so I snuck this in after watching some other races and going back to tear down. I saw many elite guys who are incredible athletes. Many of them would be really strong runners.

PM: 12.2 miles, averaged 8:02. HR 146.

Did a sporadic pickup for 2 miles and did 6:55, 6:20 without too much effort. Somewhat flat from the bike race yesterday but not too bad. 

Looking forward to working back into things after a down/recovery week.

Lunch: 7.7 miles, averaged 8:25. HR 141.

Got a delivery of two pairs of Kinvara 5s. Yep, Kinvara 5s. My absolute favorite shoe. I got between 700-900 miles on my first 5 pairs and ran two marathon PRs in them. Definitely the best all around shoe I've run in. 

Hamstring still a bit sore and tight but it hasn't been doing the twingy thing it was doing last week.

PM: 7.9 miles, averaged 8:13. HR 146.

Nice evening. Foliage is peaking. Got in an honest easy paced run for once in the evening. Feeling recovered from Detroit. Took a while.

AM: 11.2 miles, averaged 8:01. HR 152.

20 x 1' On/Off @ 5k Effort

30'/20' down. It was fairly cold (39 degrees), but it warmed up a bit. 39 is fine with me anyway. Felt pretty good throughout the workout. Maybe a working a little bit harder than normal, but maybe this is the right effort for the workout as I was starting to really get blasted the last 10-15" of the last rep. About 5:43 average pace. Need to get the pace down on these. A cobweb clearer from the half marathon 9 days ago.

PM: 6 miles, averaged 10:02. HR 125.

Anxious and ticked off for now good reason, so I ran a little longer than my typical 4-mile shakeout after a morning workout.

Lunch: 6.7 miles, averaged 9:45. HR 127.

PM: 6.8 miles, averaged 9:34. HR 128.

Ran around a few of the neighborhoods and enjoyed Halloween vicariously. Foliage seems to be right at peak.