Of Mice and Marathons

AM: 14.1 miles, averaged 8:41. HR 136. 

A bit over 2 hours. I split the run up into 3 x 20' @ MAF just to break the monotony and not pushed too hard but keep things comfortably easy and took a slightly slower jog between intervals. I think this was super helpful and productive without really doing anything taxing. 

3 x 20' @ MAF

8:23 @ 138, 8:24 @ 140, 8:19 @ 141.

This approach allows the patient approach to continue without getting bored or frustrated. Worked well. I highly recommend trying "aerobic intervals" during a base period. You can just go off feel if you don't want to do pace or heart rate. They are slower than marathon pace, so about steady easy or even slightly moderate to steady would be fine. 

AM: 8 miles, averaged 9:20. HR 120.

Cooler this morning, but warming up. Going to be 80 today and it looks like some mid to upper 80s by the weekend. I guess climate change has some benefits? You know, before all the crops dry out and everything basically floods. 

Pace-to-heart rate has definitely come down a good deal. I expect to see continued improvement. It is a regeneration week for cycling, so I will try to keep my running on the easier end of things, perhaps recovery or a decent portion of the runs. Feeling quite good. 

PM: 

AM: 8 miles, averaged 8:33. HR 130. 

Beautiful weather continues. Solid improvement of pace-to-heart rate. Lower-8' pace still solidly under 140 BPM. 

PM: Off.

I was going to do a quick rip at Bald Mountain South, but just ran out of time and daylight, which is starting to really decrease these days. 

AM: 11.2 miles, averaged 8:38. HR 130. 

Solid medium long run. Just under 100'. Beautiful weather again. I really don't want it to end. Cool and comfortable in the mornings and really warming up throughout the day. 

PM:  78' on the fat bike. HR 138. 

Three laps of Bald Mountain South.

AM: 8 miles, averaged 8:28. HR 131.

PM: 1 hour 4'. 201W. HR 138. 

Short, two-lapper of Bald Mountain South. It was getting pretty dark on the second lap and my headlight, though helpful, wasn't quite enough. You really need a helmet light for mountain biking to sight the corners, so I ordered one the next day.

PM: 2 hours 50'. 51.5 miles @ 18.2 MPH. 215W. HR 144. 

4 x 15' Over/Unders

After all easy running and (mostly) easy riding, I was ready for a good workout. It was in the lower 80s or so, which is wild for early October, but I wasn't complaining. Felt decent on the warmup, felt like dog pile on the first interval and was ready to pull the plug, but I just told myself to relax and concentrate and just do the best I could and get through the workout. It worked well. Numbers weren't fantastic, but I got some work in. Tempo loop was a little chunky, which made it a little bit more tricky in the corners, but nothing terrible. 

3 (2' threshold-VO2/3' high sweet spot) x 4. No idea how close I was on the individual laps as I didn't want to lose track (even though I did on the second one temporarily), so I just changed my power based on the minutes during the full interval. 

269 watts @ 160 BPM, 280 watts @ 161, 277 watts @ 163 BPM, 274 watts @ 162

PM: 2 hours 33'. 34.3 miles @ 13.4 MPH. 178W. HR 137.

Pontiac Lake with Jesse. We rode there and back, which was my preference. It's a tougher trail than what I am used to in terms of climbing and technicality. Not too technical, but it has some spots that will hurt you if you aren't careful and/or prepared. Portions were loose, but it is really quite flowing in places. Some tough switchback climbs, which we don't have a lot of here. Managed to get through a lap and a partial with only putting a foot down once. Just wasn't prepared for a steep uphill after a short downhill and stalled out. I slid out/crashed on the last corner before the exit. Nothing major but it stung a little. Got up and was mostly fine. Scraped my hip/butt quite hard, skinned my knee, and a little on my elbow but was able to ride home fine. It has been almost two years since I have gone down hard, so I have done well.