Of Mice and Marathons

PM: 2 hours 40' on the fat bike. 182W. HR 134.

Bald Mountain South, Lake Orion High School, and Orion Oaks. Did one steady easy lap of Bald Mountain, one uptempo effort lap for a PR, and then another noodling lap that included the Lake Orion High School trails. I was able to get more or less the complete section of trails, or at least the full Jeep group segment. Took a top time on that even though I was moving very easy as that section requires a bit of focus to avoid trees, etc. Finished the rest of the Bald Mountain South lap and went to Orion Oaks, did a hot lap, and then a partial lap to exit. Took 6th overall on that. I think I had enough to take off at least the 13 seconds for 5th but I was trying to be careful of people as it was somewhat busy. 

A really good ride. Most of the ride was on trails and the rest was on dirt roads of the Polly Ann, so I only touched pavement for maybe a mile and a half at most.

AM: 8.75 miles, averaged 8:01. HR 146.

5 x 5' (2')

A solid workout. The tempo loop is about a kilometer, so I knew I had about a lap and then 200-250 meters of running, which made it easier to focus. Overall, I wanted more volume, but my warm up was only 20' and the cool down was 17'. I dislike workouts being fewer than 10 miles, but I was also running out of time. I figured based on the workouts the last two weeks I would start around 6:18-6:20 and cut down, trying to get as close to possible to 6' pace by the end. Executed it perfectly.

Cool, but very humid and lightly foggy, so I was still soaked even after only 70' of running. HR only peaked at 174, so I wasn't going completely to the well. 

6:20 @ 163 BPM, 6:13 @ 166 BPM, 6:11 @ 166 BPM, 6:08 @ 167 BPM, 6:05 @ 169 BPM

Averaged 6:11. 

I signed up for an 8-mile race this weekend. I don't think I will be moving this fast for most of it, but it is good to see I am back on track. I think I will start in the 6:30s and try to cut down, but I haven't raced since June. I would be pretty happy averaging under 6:30, hopefully going through 10k in about 40' or under to get a sense of 10k pace as well as critical velocity and lactate threshold, so I can get to work on those.

PM: 

Lunch: 6.3 miles on the treadmill, averaged 10:21. HR 123.

PM: 90' on the trainer. 231W. HR 131.

AM: 8.1 miles, averaged 8:07. HR 149.

PM: 7.4 miles, averaged 8:49. HR 139.

Weight seems to be back under or just at 180, which has taken me a long time to get back to. I think I was in the lower 180s after my long illness in 2019/2020. At one point in 2021 when I wasn't really exercising and had been heavily drinking for many months I was around 215-218. I have been slowly chipping away. Down about 10 lbs from last year at this time. Being in person a few days a week and quitting drinking helps for sure. 

PM: ~2 hours 43' - Thursday Night Dirt

Had to keep the pace pretty hot to get over to catch the group. A couple of heavy hitters were dropping people out of the gate, so I picked up some guys I have known for a few years and made it my job to collect people and keep the pace honest. A small but good group of people I trust, which makes my ability to really get after it much greater. It was a lot of fun. I did a ton of pulling, knowing what I can do by myself and just kept pressing. I think a few people were surprised by my strength. I just haven't been able to showcase it given that I have been late a few weeks and rode my fat bike one week.

Loop Data: 28.7 miles in 1:21:06. 21.2 MPH (yeet!). 260 Watts @ 163 BPM

AM: 8.1 miles, averaged 8:02. HR 149. Did some strides

I wasn't sure how my legs would feel, but I was out of the gate in 8:12 and kept it steady from there, running mile 6 in 7:37 without too much trouble. Did a honest set of strides. 

Coffee Classic 8 Miler in the morning. I planned to run again to load the mileage up to about 60 for the planned week, but didn't get out. 8 was plenty anyway.

AM: 16.5 miles total.

I had thought about this race last year but didn't pull the trigger on it. A strange, but actually useful distance as for someone of my current fitness it gives me a decent sense of my untapered 1-hour effort and maybe tapered in 3 weeks run about the same or a little faster for a half. I was hoping to run faster, but this probably makes sense I guess. I race decently, but just don't have that extra push in me either anymore or because I need to learn how to race again. 

The course is fairly flat and at Indian Springs Metro Park. I warmed up 3.5 miles, did about a half mile at moderate to marathon effort and a few strides. Race was fairly uneventful. Things settled out and around 1.5 miles the 5kers turned around, so I had a decent sense of how many were ahead of me, but some guy gave me my placing two different times, which was nice. Ran behind a guy who had just stopped to tie his shoe and eventually passed him around the halfway mark. Ran alone for a good bit until I saw another guy with about 2.5 miles to go. I worked to catch him, not thinking  I could but also not doing a good job of using race tactics to figure it out (a simple count from a stationary point would have done it). I caught him and passed him on the hill as we weaved a little bit around some 5k folks. I passed him just before the top of the hill, where I should have pressed a bit more to definitively drop him. Still I put about 13-15 seconds on him in the last 90 seconds to 2 minutes. 5th place was almost 3 minutes ahead. The winner ran around 43 minutes, which surprised me. 

3.5 up/5 down

Splits: 6:31, 6:35, 6:43, 6:41, 6:36, 6:32, 6:38, 6:42 

Average HR was 170, so maybe a touch low, but not much pop to start. Most of it was right around half marathon effort to maybe a touch firmer given that it was solidly in the 60s and very humid.