Rhett

I officially signed up for a half marathon on Thanksgiving morning with 2 of my brother in laws.  Guess I have about 3 weeks to get in half marathon shape.  I've got the milage, but I need to get some faster running in.

AM. 1 mile warm up on TM.  Core. Lower body.  20 minutes bike trainer.

PM. 3x1 mile at sub 7 pace with warm up, cool down and quarter mile recovery for a total of 5 miles on Trueform. 

AM. 30 minute swim. 
Lunch. 1.5 mile walk. 
PM. 4 miles on the trails finishing as it was getting too dark to run. 

AM.  Core.  Lower body.  Quick warm up then 5 x 15 second sprints and quick cool down...1 mile.

PM.  4 easy miles on Trueform.

AM.  5 miles out at comfortable pace then 5 miles back at half marathon pace which currently is a lot slower than I'd like it to be.

30 minute swim followed by a 6 mile trail recovery run. 

32 miles bike with the group pushing hard on the hills with a total of 2800 feet elevation followed by an 8 mile trail run with Ben and Hidie. 

Week in review.

I got in 40 miles running this week with some speed work which I'm trying to get back since I'll be doing a half marathon on Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately I got a light strain in my left calf on Thursday morning doing my tempo run.  It didn't stop my from running easy on Friday and and then on trails on Saturday.  I just need to be careful this upcomming week with faster running.  I also swam twice and cycled twice.  I feel like I'm quickly getting stronger at both and my overall cardiovascular ability feels stronger. I've enjoyed riding on Saturday mornings with the group.  I feel like I ride a lot harder with them than I do on my own.  I also got in 2 days of lower body work and core work last week. 

I'm going to try and do about the same this upcomming week but cut back a little on the faster running. 

AM. Core. Lower body. Bike trainer 30 minutes. 
PM. 5 easy on the TM. 

AM. 35 minute swim. 

Lumch. 1.5 mile walk

PM. 6.2 miles on some new trails I'm exploring in Kingman. Luckily I wore my light because I got a little turned around out there and had to run the last 1 1/2 miles in the dark. 

AM.  Core. Lower Body.  3 miles on TM at recovery effort.

PM.  3 more easy TM miles. 
 

I received some new Adizero Pro shoes in the mail today. They have a carbon fiber plate in them. I'm excited to test them out tomorrow with some fast running. 

I woke up excited to try out my new carbon fiber plate shoes.  I've never run in shoes with a carbon fiber plate before and wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  To my surprise, they didn't feel that much different than other shoes, maybe just a little more spring at toe off.  They had plenty of cushion and didn't feel stiff like I thought they would.  These seemed to be a little too snug around my midfoot, but probably something I can adjust with the lacing a bit and get used too.  

I did ten miles total.  The first 5 were at a comfortable but not slow pace then I ran back at a tempo effort and didn the last 5 in 33:46 which isn't way fast but it is better than I have run lately.

40 minute swim. Then had to go into works for a couple hours. 

Then 12 mile trail run. 

AM. 22 mile bike ride with the group. 
 

PM. Refereed 2 soccer games. I'll give myself 2 easy miles for that but it was farther. 

Weekly Review

Well I’d say it was a good week. I ran without any niggles this week and I consider that a success. I did run fast only once, but it was a pretty solid 5 miles at the end of a 10 mile run on Thursday. I ended up totaling 42 miles for the week and did 18 of those on trails which continues to be my favorite running even though it is slower. I swam twice and logged about 2.5 miles. I feel like my swimming is getting stronger and can tell my upper body is putting on muscle from the swimming. I really like how I feel after swimming even if I don’t always love it while I’m doing it. I cycled twice, once on the bike trainer and once with the group. Between Craig and Jason I’m getting pushed on the bike more than I ever have. If I keep riding with them I may actually get good at cycling. I also did core and lower body work twice this week.

I am now 11 days out from my Thanksgiving half marathon. I really haven’t done much race specific training for this race so I’m not sure how it is going to go or even what my goal time is. I think I will cut back a little on running miles this week and maybe focus a little more on speed. Most importantly I want to feel healthy at the end of the week.

AM: 1 mile warm up on TM.  Core.  Lower body.  40 minutes on bike trainer.

PM:  5 easy miles on the TM. 

AM. 40 minute swim. 
Lunch. 1 mile walk. 
PM. 1 mile warm up. 4 x 400m @ 1:25 with 400m recovery. 1 mile cool down. 

Recovery day. 
1 mile warm up. Core. Lower Body. 

I played with the lacing on my Aduos Pros before running this morning and now really like how they fit my foot. I need to make one small adjustment still to keep them a bit tighter on my heal but I'm close. 
 

I did a 10 miler this morning. The first 5 I did at a comfortably fast pace then the last 5 at a tempo effort. It was going great until in the 7th mile my right calf (which is not the I ethat has been giving me trouble lately) started feeling a better t tight. I slowed down my pace at that point for the rest of the run but still kept a fasting pace. I ended up finishing the 10 miles in 1:12:25 which is by far my fastest 10 miles in at least a year. Cardiovascularly I felt great through the finish and would have been significantly faster had I not been cautious with my calf. Hopefully this is a good sign for my half next week. With a little taper I just may have a good race. 🤞

AM. 4 recovery miles on the trails. 
Afternoon. 30 minute swim. Pushed harder than usual because I only had 30 minutes. I learned that I can swim faster than I have been and I won't die. 😀

32 mile group ride with a lot of climbing. It was a beautiful morning for a bike ride. 

Weekly Review 

The plan for the week was to keep everything about the same but decrease running miles while increasing speed. I feel like I accomplished this and in the process I feel like I am 100% healthy going into my race week. 
 

I totaled 26 miles running and really felt strong cardiovascularly on my fast 10 miler Thursday. I cycled twice, once with the group and once on my bike trainer. My cycling muscles are getting stronger. I really felt good on the climbs Saturday. I swam twice. I swam twice and was significantly faster per 100m Friday than I have been. I also got in two core workouts and 2 lower body workouts this week. I guess 2 is the magic number on everything but running. 
 

I'll be cutting back more at the beginning of this next week since race day is Thursday. I'll do a short run with some speed work tomorrow and possibly Tuesday before we head out.  Wednesday will probably a short shake out ru with a few strides.  Then 13.1 on Turkey Day before eating too much. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to get out on the trails up in the mountains Friday and Saturday. I won't be doing any cross training this week. 
 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

One more adjustment to the shoe laces of my Adios Pros. Now they don't slip on my heal and feel as good as they will get. For my foot I still think the toe box is a bit small but I feel fast when I wear them. 
 

1 mile warm up. 4 x 400m in 1:25 with 400m Walk recovery. 1 mile cool down. 

I decided not to get up early and run before we took off so today was a rest day. 

3 easy miles with 4 x 1 minute fast mixed in. 

It was a cold morning for a race, especially for this Arizona guy. John and I arrived a few minutes before the start. It was 32 degrees and windy.  We walked over to the start area where I found Dan and the race mercifully started before I began to shiver too much. 
 

I didn't really have a pace plan but to run what felt comfortable and Dan said he was going to start off with me so we took off together at a comfortable pace. For the first couple miles we got snow flurries but nothing stuck.  We ran and talked for about 8.5 miles before we both had to start focusing on running.  He pulled a little ahead of me for about half a mile then he stopped at an aid station that I just grabbed a cup and kept going. It took him a mile or more to catch back up to me. We then ran together until about mile 12 when he took off on an uphill and I had to let him go if I wanted to finish. Over the last quarter mile or so I closed the gap with a last final push but he had gapped me too much to catch him and he beat me comfortably by 15 seconds. He finished 44 and I finished 45. He also took 2nd in our age group so I got 3rd.  I am 49 he is 45 so I think I should get a 20 second handicap 🤔. Sounds fair right? 5 seconds per year.  My finishing time was 1:33:23 which is faster than I thought I would be considering it was a last minute race without any half marathon specific training. 

John was running his first race ever and did great finishing in 2:10. He had a good experience and is ready to do some more. 
 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
 

3 mile walk with my wife.  I am trying to be good and take a few days recovery since I was wasn't fully training to run that far that fast. Hopefully I'll be back running next week but maybe I'll just do a week of cross training. 

Weekly Report 

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  I only worked Monday and I kept my running short with a little speed worked in early in the week. It felt good to have that race day feeling Thursday morning.  Then I didn't do much the rest of the week to make sure i fully recovered. I hadn't posted anything about it because I didn't want to ha e any race excuses, but for the last couple weeks I have been dealing with a lower ab strain on my right side. It doesn't seem to bother me too much once I get running but after running fast it sure hurts for a while, so I need to get that back to 100% before I get back to any faster running. I therefore will plan on making this upcoming week a recovery week and do a lot of cross training and some short easy running. 

AM. Core. Lower body. 20 minutes bike trainer. 
PM. 4 very easy miles.