Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 12 miles, averaged 7:46. HR 154.

Easy to moderate with one hot mile to conclude in 6:09. Fastest mile by a good bit since March. The stayed up too late after working late. I drank too much and watched Halloween movies. 

Megan and I drove to Traverse City for Bell's Iceman 30-mile mountain bike race. Weather looks cold and with snow flurries. A few places up this way got plowable snow yesterday.

AM/Lunch: 31.1-mile ride. HR 162.

Bell's (the beer) Iceman Cometh. Rode my buddy Joe's fat bike. The course is point to point on season roads from Kalkaska, Michigan to Traverse City, Michigan. The course is two track with some single track. Wooded and seasonal roads. It was very muddy. Thick peanut buttery goodness. 4000 people and things were so clogged we had to get off and stand in line. Didn't enjoy that as I dislike stopping in running and riding. Gave it a hard effort and had fun despite some frustrations when the chain came off and was so packed with mud it wouldn't track on the front sprocket.

I love running but the race after parties and expos for cycling are really something. Good short trip with Megan.

Lunch: 8.3 miles, averaged 10:28. HR 122.

Arms and upper body sore. Legs heavy but overall decent.

PM: off.

Planned to run, but some serious delayed onset muscle soreness had me thinking otherwise. Last big week of mileage this week before 50k.

Lunch: 10.7 miles, averaged 9:22. HR 135.

Soreness really settled in from Saturday. Just jogged through the hills. Good run.

Night: 6.3 miles, averaged 10:05. HR 124. 

AM/Lunch: 12 miles, averaged 8:34. HR 136.

PM: 5.3 miles, averaged 7:52. HR 146.

Met up Jeff for dinner and had a nice conversation and dinner.

Lunch: 9.7 miles, averaged 8:21. HR 141.

Fairly hilly. Spitting snow/sleet and felt pretty chilly.

Night: 4 miles on the treadmill. HR 136.

Did 5' incline changes from 1.5%-5%.

AM/Lunch: 10.3 miles, averaged 7:33. HR 157.

Steady to moderate. Last mile progressively faster, finishing in 6:37.

We got our first snow, which was barely a dusting but visible even at 11AM. Two days earlier than last year.

PM: 4.1 miles on the treadmill. HR 141.

Did some hills here and there and some strides. Did some light weights after: Tri press 3 x 20 @ 50#; Bicep curls 3 x 20 @ 35#; Shoulder press 3 x 20 @ 30#

Looks like I surpassed 2018 totals. I am about 100 or so miles ahead of 2015 totals currently.

AM/Lunch: 20.4 miles, averaged 7:21. HR 161.

14 Miles of Work in the Middle 

Waited just a bit for the temp to get closer to freezing. Schedule was 20 w/ 14 steady. Warmed up 4 at a decent warmup clip for me. Averaged about 7:45 for first 4, then started at just under 7:30 and patiently worked my way down. Last 4 miles of work section: 6:58, 6:58, 6:55, 6:35. cooled down 2.4

14 miles @ 7:06 (HR 165)

 Some of the miles were a bit steadier than steady, but I felt solid despite my cold.

Tested a handheld water bottle and some Maurten gels. All worked quite well. Legs were pretty loaded from this week's mileage but with no midweek workout I felt pretty good. That's the last significant long run of the buildup. I did okay rebuilding from September to October to now. Not really sure what happened from June to August, but I'm on the right track to getting some serious training going again.

PM: 10.4 miles, averaged 10:13. HR 129.

Good meditative recovery plod. I was a bit was in a bad mood last night and today (as well as very hungover) so the run was welcomed.

Lunch/PM: 6.7 miles, averaged 10:08. HR 130.

Cold a bit worse, so I took it slow and ran short. Lots of scratchy coughing.

PM: 5 miles slow on the treadmill. HR 130.

Inclines from 3%-5%. Coughing and hacking.

Off.

Cold has flared up a bit and we got a few inches of snow. I ended up coming home early and canceling office hours and taking cold medicine to knock me out. Slept off and on throughout the afternoon and evening. Will likely take at least tomorrow if not Wednesday off to make sure the cold doesn't ruin my race like the headcold did last winter.

Off.

Hoping to kill this cold.

Off.

Came home directly after teaching. Slept about 4 hours or so and think an additional nap, but I'm pretty out of it.

Off. 

Cancelled meetings. Slept through the morning. Had lunch and slept through the afternoon. Not much better and the last few days depression is mixing in. It's likely that I will be forced to DNS yet again. I'm tired of training for races I don't make it to. 

Off.

Not much better. Going to the doctor. Skipped out on helping set up for Bloomer Cyclocross. They modifed the course given the almost 8 inches of snow we had on Monday. Try to remain in good spirits, but it looks like the dead of winter out there and I feel awful.

Went to the doctor. I was fortunate to get in on short notice. Definitely a nasty bug. I am going to have a chest x-ray tomorrow to rule out pneumonia (doctor said one side sounded a little crackley). Either way, the protocol is the same. Going to be a bit of recovery time, which I am not thrilled about, but I did it to myself. Should not have pushed when I was sick and I did it anyway and made it much worse and messed up getting to the start line again.

Off.

Went to Beaumont Hospital for a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. Started on antibiotics. Felt somewhat better. Energy levels and spirits a bit better.

Off.

Megan and I went to see friends in Ann Arbor. I canceled classes for Monday. Feeling roughly the same. Not much better. Cough is less persistent, but still present.

Off.

Slept all day. Not a ton better, but somewhat better (I think). Thought I might hear about chest x-ray results, but maybe tomorrow. I was really behind on my grading and am now buried. Trying to peck away at it.

Off.

Slept less today. Called the doctor, but got no return call. Felt maybe just marginally better today.

Off.

Felt better as the day went on. Did not sleep much or well last night. Going to still go through the second round of antibiotics. Hoping to do some light and short jogging by the start of next week. Definitely need at least 3 more days. Need to be pretty conservative for a while I am afraid.

Off.

Finally heard back from the doctor. Chest x-ray negative for pneumonia.

Off.

Still not 100%. Lingering cough. Going on 2 weeks for that.

Off.

Obviously did not run the 50k, which means I will not have raced in the 2019 year, a first since 2011. Making some changes to 2020. No more perpetual buildups. I am marking down races and doing the best I can do with the time I have between now and the first race and then between races. Not in the shape I want to be before the race? Well, too bad. Race the dang thing and move on.

2019 has not been a great year for running. Had several decent and good bike races though.

The winning times for the 50k were around 7:15 pace, which I might have been able to do in a flat race, but there looked to be some elevation gain. Not a lot, but more than I can generally find here.

PM: 3 miles w/ Megan, averaged 10:39. HR 137.

Still have my cough, but I decided I've had it with resting as my physical health is starting to cut into my mental health. I figured about 30-35' would be okay and stick with that until I feel better. Didn't feel spectacular but it was nice to get out.

PM: 3.25 miles, averaged 10:44. HR 137.

Felt a little rough, but the weather was nice. I stayed home as I had to take Megan to the doctor (everything is fine).

For some reason after a spell of illness and not running for a bit I feel like I am starting over. I don't ever remember having this much trouble running. Trying to stay positive, but it's hard.

PM: 23.5-mile ride. HR 150.

Weather was fairly warm and I figured I would try a ride just doing loops around the neighborhoods. Worked out fine. Coughed and hacked here and there.

Lunch: 3 miles on the treadmill. HR 131.

+ 15' StairMaster. HR 130.

Lunch: 4.1 miles, averaged 10:50. HR 135.

Off.

Cough flared up. I think from being around cigarette smoke. I woke up in the middle of the night coughing and it felt like I was drowning.

PM: 3.1 miles, averaged 11:11. HR 142.

Feeling pretty low. HR elevated. Looking for goals to get excited about, but it's proving difficult. Going to try to get out every day this upcoming week and see if it helps.