Weekly Summary – 135 miles in 13 runs. A much bigger volume week as the focus shifts to prep for the Road to 50K record attempt. Feeling great to be back in my bread-and-butter type of training. Two great workouts this week, focusing on both 50K effort (at altitude) w/ longer reps of 5km and shorter reps at 50K pace (22x 1K @ 3’15 on Sunday). I’ll be racing at the Rock N Roll DC Marathon this Saturday and we’re less than 6 weeks to go to the big day!

If you don’t know about the Road to 50K, check out the announcement post from last week and follow along at Road to 50K site designated to covering the event. And of course, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my training log on Strava! Don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2018 Programs – we’ve still got a few spaces available for high schoolers, college interns, and adults! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for the summer of 2018, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

 

 

Lunes, 26 de Febrero, 2018 – 7am: Early run at home before travel day. Didn’t sleep much w/ packing, etc., last night so pretty tired. Didn’t look at my watch for the first 30 minutes, so surprised to see I was running like 4’30 pace – I figured it’d be slower. Felt decent, some GI issues as I ate a lot last night, but overall nice. Ran Harrington-Emerson-Powdermill loop and then stopped and did 4x strides on the road. Did a little pickup on the hillcrest segment and pretty sure I set the CR, but not sure if my watch had satellites which would be dumb (about 500m in 1’34). Total run 17km++ 74′.

Martes, 27 de Febrero, 2018 – 9am: Ran later after getting in late last night. Remarkably smooth travel day, though. Both flights were early and I went from wheels down in UIO to in my apartment (including getting a checked bag and going through passport control and customs) in 90 minutes.

Felt pretty awful running, though. Very slow to start and never really sped up. Just really tired. Not sure if leftover from the race or just travel and lack of sleep the last 2 nights. Laps were all around 17’00 which is very slow. Longer single though with about 95 minutes to the track, 6x strides, 200m in 34, and then home. Total run 23km in 1h46.

XT: Toe yoga

4pm: Felt even worse and ran even slower. Think I’m borderline sick/fatigued today. Ran 10km clockwork loop in probably a PR for slowness. Like 37’ to the track, 4x strides, home. Total run 10k in 48’.

Miercoles, 28 de Febrero, 2018 – 10am: In bed for almost 12 hours last night! Phew, guess I needed that. Ran easy 4 big laps around the park to the track (16’20-30). Felt 100x better than yesterday and running much quicker quite comfortably. Finished with 6x strides, 200m in 34. Jogged home. Total run 18km in 1h20.

XT: Toe yoga

5pm: Easy clockwork shakeout around the park. 10000x better today. First lap in 16’12 and then to the track in 33’. 4x strides on the track, jogged home w/ a quick stop for bread. Total run 10km in 44’.

XT: Toe yoga.

Jueves, 1 de Marzo, 2018 – Sparknotes: Full warmup, 5km @ 17’20, 1K @ 4’02, 1.5K @ 3’35/km

7am: Jogged down to the track, met up with the gang. Full warmup drills, etc. Planned to do 4-6x 5K @ 50K effort ~3’30. Solo on la carolina. Felt pretty doot from the moment I woke up. First couple laps felt good but legs just felt tired. Came to 5K in 17’2x and then 1K recover just over 4’00. After that, just felt super tired on the second rep. Ran the first lap 1 sec too slow and the second lap 5 sec too slow so just called it off.

Still not 100% sure how long the track is but I have my wheel now so we’ll get down to measure it at some point. Cooled down solo and then w/ the gang longer but slow. Total run 18km.

5pm: Felt MUCH better than the AM. Ran solo and much quicker and more energy out the door. Ran 1 lap in 15’19 and then to the track in like 33’xx. 4x strides and home. Very good. Total run 10km+ in 42’.

Viernes, 2 de Marzo, 2018 – Sparknotes: 4x5km @ 17’19 avg (17’30-17’11), 1km rec @ 4’03 avg.

9am: Kind of a clusterf*** of a workout today. I’d hoped to do this tomorrow but ran just 1 5km rep and was doot doot after 5’ on rep number 2. I think I just totally underestimated how hard this session would be and was not ready mentally or physically after racing last weekend, traveling back, and then having a very busy and stressful week of work.

So, I decided to try to do something today and was doing it on the treadmill at the recommendation of coach Franklin (I guess due to the fact that it’s easier on the legs this week and I’d be doing it solo). I did use the wheel to confirm that the machines were at least relatively accurate and (at least one) did seem to be.

Ran 2km warmup, 1km of strides. Took a gel before starting and another one after rep 2.

Felt okay, but had some technical issues. First, the machine blew a circuit because it was run through a normal power strip into the floor. Classic.

Then, some terrible burning smell started coming from the machine and then the motor just stopped. I may have killed it.

So hopped on another machine to finish things out. Got pretty tough in the last 2-3km but felt okay until the last like 400m where I seriously almost pooped myself. Lot of problems today!

Anyway, got the work done. Interesting to note that the HR here and effort seem to be correlated differently than at sea level. I figured that the pace would be slower at the same HR, but what I’m finding is that the effort (i.e. marathon to 50K effort) is run with a much lower HR despite a similar perception of effort. The avg HR was only in the low 160s on these on reps and even at the end when I was pushing a bit, it only got to like 172 or something. At sea level, I’d average around 170 at 50K pace, and a bit higher at MP and often get up to 180+ at the end of a hard sessions. Interesting.

The overall time was 1’21’24 for 23km which is quick but not continuous because I had at least 3 times where I had to stop the machine.

Very short cooldown 1km+ since I had a noon call.

5 m 17’30.0 (17’30.0) 156
6 m 21’35.0 (4’05.0) 148
11 m 38’51.0 (17’16.0) 162
12 m 42’47.0 (3’56.0) 153
17 m 1’00’07.0 (17’20.0) 163
18 m 1’04’13.0 (4’06.0) 147
23 m 1’21’24.0 (17’11.0) 163

5pm: Easy shakeout with Brittany down to the park and clockwork 10k, 1 lap in 16’26 and then to the track, 4x strides. Running quicker than I expected, but very relaxed. Lovely day as always. Total run 10km+ in 46’.

Sabado, 3 de Marzo, 2018 – 10am: Slept quite late and ran later. Very long week and really tired, slept long and well. Ran solo up to bicentenario today, just for a change of scenery on the longer AM runs. Lovely day and not too much traffic. Park up there is nice with some good long stretches and mostly grass on the shoulder. Only about 5km to the entrance, but it’d be pretty unpleasant w/ a lot of traffic. Stopped at inaquito quickly to grab garlic and then over to the track, 6x strides, 200m in 31. Felt quite good overall. Guess I needed that good night’s sleep! Total run 18km in 1h19.

XT: toe yoga.

5pm: Easy clockwork double. 1 lap in 16’26 and then to the track, 4x strides, home. Lovely as always. Felt pretty good. Took it easy with bigger session tomorrow. Total run 10km+ in 44’.

XT: toe yoga

Domingo, 4 de Marzo, 2018 – Sparknotes: 30km fartlek in 1’44’20 w/ 4 x [4x 1K @ 3’14.0 + 1K @ 3’07.4 (400m rec @ 1’36)] 400m @ 1’56 b/w sets + 2km continuous @ 6’23 (ON TREADMILL, 9,300 ft)

10am: Started late today w/ a later night than I’d planned last night.

Goal was to do 20x1K @ sea level 50K pace here in Quito. I’d originally hoped to do this on the track, but due to the team’s schedule and the track being closed, I had limited options and was going to be solo. I opted for the treadmill as Friday’s workout felt good on there and I was worried about relying on GPS for a workout that was all about rhythm.

Warmed up 2km easy in 9’, drills, strides. 200m in 37.

Workout felt long but broke it up nicely into 4 sets of 5x1K. Jon had instructed me to run the Ks at goal race pace, right around 3’15/km and then to surge each 5th rep a bit quicker. This went well as it really helped break up the workout into manageable pieces. Each set felt a bit harder than the previous, but it never felt super terminal or like I wasn’t going to be able to finish it. The hard Ks were about 3’07-10 while the others were all super consistent 3’13-14.

I did 400m recovery between each rep, as I wanted to keep the run continuous, more like a fartlek. These were about 1’37 or just over 4’00/km pace. I took a much slower 400m after each of the faster Ks, around 2’00 (5’00/km).

All 20 of these took me to 28km total, so I then finished with 2km of continuous running to practice really pushing at the end. I ran the first km the same 3’15 and the second pushed hard and closed well for 3’07.x.

Overall it was 30km in 1’44’20 w/ no stops (unlike Friday’s run) which is an avg of 3’28.7/km. This is very good running up here and a very good step in the right direction of this longer stuff.

Cooled down short 2km+ in 10’.

Also NB: took gels at T-10’, ~9.5km, ~18km (because I screwed up my counting)

Splits
Time Split HR
1.0 km 3’14.9 (3’14.9) 149
1.4 km 4’50.7 (1’35.8) 141
2.4 km 8’05.0 (3’14.3) 154
2.8 km 9’42.5 (1’37.5) 148
3.8 km 12’56.0 (3’13.5) 154
4.2 km 14’32.9 (1’36.9) 149
5.2 km 17’47.7 (3’14.8) 157
5.6 km 19’23.0 (1’35.3) 152
6.6 km 22’30.0 (3’07.0) 162
7.0 km 24’16.3 (1’46.3) 151
8.0 km 27’30.1 (3’13.8) 159
8.4 km 29’07.1 (1’37.0) 153
9.4 km 32’20.7 (3’13.6) 160
9.8 km 34’00.7 (1’40.0) 154
10.8 km 37’14.2 (3’13.5) 161
11.2 km 38’52.2 (1’38.0) 154
12.2 km 42’07.0 (3’14.8) 160
12.6 km 43’43.2 (1’36.2) 156
13.6 km 46’49.9 (3’06.7) 164
14.0 km 48’48.6 (1’58.7) 150
15.0 km 52’03.3 (3’14.7) 160
15.4 km 53’41.3 (1’38.0) 155
16.4 km 56’54.9 (3’13.6) 163
16.8 km 58’31.9 (1’37.0) 156
17.8 km 1’01’44.9 (3’13.0) 162
18.2 km 1’03’23.4 (1’38.5) 157
19.2 km 1’06’35.9 (3’12.5) 162
19.6 km 1’08’13.9 (1’38.0) 157
20.6 km 1’11’23.4 (3’09.5) 165
21.0 km 1’13’21.1 (1’57.7) 151
22.0 km 1’16’34.9 (3’13.8) 160
22.4 km 1’18’14.4 (1’39.5) 156
23.4 km 1’21’27.8 (3’13.4) 161
23.8 km 1’23’05.9 (1’38.1) 156
24.8 km 1’26’20.5 (3’14.6) 161
25.2 km 1’27’57.4 (1’36.9) 157
26.2 km 1’31’11.8 (3’14.4) 164
26.6 km 1’32’49.8 (1’38.0) 160
27.6 km 1’35’56.0 (3’06.2) 168
28.0 km 1’37’57.4 (2’01.4) 155
29.0 km 1’41’14.0 (3’16.6) 164
30.0 km 1’44’20.6 (3’06.6) 170

5pm: Easy semi-clockwork shakeout, quite slow after being a bit tired from this AM. Ran a slightly altered route as I kicked someone’s mutt that was trying to bite me and I didn’t want to see them again. Quite slow 17’15 first lap and about 38’ at 8K. Finished easy around benalcazar to grab bread and swing by greg’s before walking home. Total run 10km in 46’.

XT: Toe yoga.