Of Mice and Marathons

AM/Lunch: 120' on the trainer. 224W. HR 134. 

3 x 10' Sweet Spot w/ 30" Hard

This was supposed to be a gravel simulation ride, but I am having trouble seeing how that is. It simulates surges in races, but not particularly gravel specific, so I think I will design my own based on what I have learned about gravel training. Still a good stimulus.

AM/Lunch: 13.4 miles, averaged 8:09. HR 145. 

10 x 1K w/ 90" Recoveries 

It has been a long time since I have done K repeats. I just decided I wanted to do something a bit faster than the half marathon tempo from last week. I figured I would start at 4:00 and work down. I felt solid through most of them and worried about holding pace. I slowed a bit toward the end, but not bad overall. Averaged about 3:55 or 6:17 pace. I looked back at some kilometer workouts and 10 days out from Philly 2015 I did 10k alternating ks HMP/GMP and ran 37:34 or 6:03 pace for 10k. The half marathon ks were 3:37 or about 5:45 pace I think and the marathon pace about what I did the repeats at today. Crazy to think I was just okay with that workout. I haven't run too many 10ks that fast since that time and it was the hard way and a workout. 

3:55, 3:55, 3:52, 3:52, 3:50, 3:55, 3:56, 3:57, 3:56, 3:57

Legs were starting to get a little sore. Maybe got nervous about blowing up. I don't know. A good session anyway. Perhaps next week I will do 12 x 1k, but work on starting at 4:00 or 4:02 and work down patiently. 

PM: 60' on the trainer. 196W. HR 119.

AM: 120' on the trainer. 204. HR 119.

PM: 7.6 miles, averaged 9:37. HR 124.

Felt very good on the run. Dark and wet, but got into a good rhythm. I fell asleep twice briefly while the boys were watching TV earlier in the day. We went to the library and had a really good day. 

AM: 120' on the trainer. 206W. HR 121. 

Just mostly zone 2 for the first part of this week. Theshold tomorrow and some longer weekend rides with some quality and maybe my first gravel simulation (though on the trainer as the roads won't be ready for a bit yet).

PM: 5 miles, averaged 8:42. HR 135.

Up early again. Got in a short run before going to pick up the boys. About 55 or so, some wind, but nice out. Moody weather. 

AM: 7.2 miles on the treadmill, averaged 9:02. HR 136.

I planned to get up early and get my trainer session in, but decided to sleep, which felt good. I ended up decided to run, but didn't want to run outside as it snowed a bit and was cold and worried it would be slick. It was also unpleasantly windy, so I hopped on the treadmill. Started slow and worked down into steady easy. Felt very good.

PM: 

AM/Lunch: 16 miles, averaged 7:29. HR 150.

8-Mile Tempo @ Marathon Effort + 1 Mile Hard

I didn't end up getting in my bike workout yesterday, so I figured my legs would be ready to go. They were. Solid warmup around low 8' pace and I was off and running. It helped that I slept about 9 hours or so. Last week I ran 6:55 pace and this week I was hoping to cut around 5-7 seconds per mile off that. I exceeded that by a decent margin. Averaged 6:44 pace @ 161 BPM, so I was mostly high moderate to low marathon effort for the first bit, which was just right. I gave myself permission too go into steady state to half marathon effort if I wanted to cut down, but just was content to pick it up a decent amount but not get carried away. This was 11 seconds per mile faster than last week at a slightly lower average HR, which was awesome. I jogged to the entryway of the tempo loop (about 4 minutes or so) and did a harder mile in 6:14. It didn't feel too hard and I could have done 1-2 more, but decided to call it and cool down for a few miles. 

This is perhaps the first real indication post-2020 that I could get back into something like I was 7-10 years ago potentially or at least make some gains from where I have been plateauing the last few years. 

6:55, 6:46, 6:50, 6:42, 6:43, 6:37, 6:37, 6:33 + 6:14

I decided to skip the half marathon this Sunday and take the next 12 weeks to build up to Bay Shore half at the end of May and see how close I can get to getting back to around 1:20-1:22. The way things are going I can get there, but it will take some work. Very pleased with my running the last few weeks. I am getting in the right kind of workouts and the aerobic base from cycling is providing a solid foundation.

PM: 120' on the trainer. 238W. HR 137.

4 x 15' Sweet Spot with 5' @ Zone 2 Recovery

278 watts (148 BPM), 279 watts (152 BPM), 276 watts (151 BPM), 276 watts (152 BPM)