Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 11.8 miles, averaged 8:04. HR 146.

1:35 w/ 35' @ Half Marathon Effort

I figured based on how I felt during the midweek this week that this would be faster than the 30' @ HME I did last weekend. It was. 

Warmed up 30' w/ 1/2 mile @ marathin effort and two strides. I got the half mile at marathon effort during a warmup from Jake Krong a number of years ago. It works well prime the body and you don't shock yourself going from very easy warmup pace to your strides. Worked great. Been a long time since I have used it but it's great. 

Felt quite relaxed for most of it and my form feels solid. I tried to cut down a little bit without being overly agressive as the effort should be somewhat consistent. Started out around 6:45ish maybe for roughly the first mile and by halfway I think I was 6:42 and worked it down from there, with most of the progression the last 5-8' working down from 6:39 to 6:36. Wanted to get down to 6:35, but I needed maybe another minute. 

My HR through the first 10-15' or so was only around 160-161, which is sustainable for a long time for me, so maybe not quite HME to start, but I eventually found it. 

6:36 average for 35' (5.3 miles) @ 165 BPM

HR took very little time to recover. Please with how things are going. Feel like I am finally to a starting point of being able to be able to move in the right direction. I will work on increasing my milage to 50-60 and then over the next few weeks once we get the treadmill (whenever that is) to 70 or so and cut back on the cycling hours a touch. I still want to do at least 6 hours of that, so maybe just fewer rides.

AM: 6.7 miles, averaged 9:42. HR 127.

PM: 6.7 miles, averaged 9:47. HR 128.

Cold and crisp on the Polly Ann this morning. Felt good. A little hillier run this afternoon. Nice to be running 9:15-10:15 pace for recovery and keeping it under 130 BPM. 

We leave for Florida in a week. Looking forward to seeing my family. It was a very memorable trip last year. It will be a little weird without Dad, but I hope to get some easy running in for a much needed recovery run. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 226W. HR 130. 

Skipped my Zwift race at lunch to nap while the boys napped. I was pretty tired and a workout would have woken me up probably, but I decided to rest and do the trainer later rather than running in the cold and dark.

Got a call that the treadmill will be delivered Friday, which is great. That should give me a few days to test it and make sure it works before going to Florida. This probably means my overall mileage won't go up until we get back, but that's okay. 

AM: 9.6 miles, averaged 7:55. HR 152.

10 x 3' w/ 35" Recoveries

20' warmup with ~1/2 mile @ marathon effort and two strides. These microrecovery workouts are always tough. You slow down for 7-10 seconds, get 10-15 seconds of actual recovery and then need to start gearing back up in the last 10ish seconds. I figured around 6:20 to start and then work down. Averaged 6:14.

6:20, 6:18, 6:14, 6:11, 6:13, 6:15, 6:13, 6:12, 6:14, 6:10

I was hoping to get to around 6:00 flat for the last two, but I just kept the effort. This ws a pretty solid workout. It wasn't brutal, but it was challenging particularly at the end and I knew better than to go out too fast as the recoveries only offer the slightest moments of recovery. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 196W. HR 123.

AM: 6.9 miles, averaged 9:29. HR 124.

PM: 60' on the trainer. 219W. HR 127.

Quite chilly and very windy this morning. Did not feel like going back out in it again.

AM: 95' on the trainer. 220W. HR 133. 

60' on 5' Sweet Spot/5' Float @ Tempo

I was going to run, but worried that the treadmill might come early and I didn't want to miss it. I ended up doing an impromptu workout and I quite liked it. I didn't do any measure intervals, just used on of the courses that is around 15' for the pace I was going. Ended up around 269 watts and 150 BPM, which was really solid.

Treadmill delivered and assembled and of course it is tripping the GFCI, so that is about my luck. I called an electrician to get it sorted. Different issue than the other treadmill, but at least these is a common, identifiable one. 

PM: 125' on the trainer. 250W. HR 141. 

Did one of the portal climbs on Zwift three times. Apparently it is a gammified looking version of a real-world climb called col du Platzerwasel, featured on the Tour De France some years. Quite a lot of climbing but my bike maxes out at 20% and some of the grades might have been above that. Still, it was enough to get me out of the saddle and up my average power quite a bit.

Went to the Oakland men's basketball game. They salughtered the other team by about 50 points, including one guy who had about 8 or 9 threes. Lots of dunks.