Yes, we’re back! And apologies for the long absence. I haven’t posted my training log since the end of May for a few reasons. First, I spent most of June on vacation. I did keep a log/journal but it felt more personal (and I didn’t do a ton of running), so I mostly kept it to myself.

Second, in July, I just completely dropped the ball. I had a great summer of training down in Pisac, Peru w/ the Strive gang, but was extraordinarily busy between trying to train at a higher level than any previous summer while still juggling my staff obligations with Strive. I essentially didn’t log for over a month while down there (at least in terms of anything written — I did track mileage, workout splits, etc., but it was just the most basic of tracking).

I started logging regularly again once I got back to the US and settled down before heading to 50K World Championships. I think I’d planned to post these weeks, but I was honestly so devastated from getting sick at 50K Worlds that I just needed to move on and keep my eyes forward. I did continue to log regularly from then on, but it wasn’t until my win at the US 50 Mile that I really began to feel like I had my overall life’s feet under me and wanted to get back to this more personal and public form of sharing.

So, here we go again. I present my uncensored and (mostly) unedited thoughts, mostly on my training, with the occasional comment on my day, mood, complaints about New England weather, etc. We have just under 15 weeks until the Olympic Trials and much more after that.

Stay with us.

Weekly summary – 88 miles (140km) in 11 runs (6 days). A reasonably solid first week of real running since my win at the 50-Mile National Championships 3 weeks ago. Mostly just focusing on getting in consistent running, with a couple light workouts just to mix things up. Feeling out of shape but moving in the right direction already! Less than 15 weeks to the US Olympic Marathon Trials!

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Trackster.

Oh and hey if you’re reading this and don’t know about STRIVE, you should probably check ’em out. I lead groups through the mountains of Peru on a  journey of running, service learning, and adventure. If you’re interested, join us this summer, when we’ll once again have programs for High School and Internships for College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families.

Lunes 11 de Nov. 2019 – OFF. BAD DAY.

Martes, 12 de Noviembre, 2019 – 08:00: Ran w/ Mar, a bit quicker than I expected as she is apparently fitter than me and wanted to prove it! From 5’00->4’20ish. Stopped at track and did drills and 4x strides in 1’22. Total run 5.5km in 24’30.

10:43: Ran to Outback PT/back for appt w/ Ithamar. Filthy weather: 40s, windy, drizzle. Didn’t get too wet though. Legs felt good. Total run 7.5km+ in 33’.

XT: Good work w/ Ithamar at Outback PT, some graston on both lower legs. At home, did hips (5x weights), toes, heel drops, upper band work.

15:15: Ran on treadmill (2%) as it was raining and 40s and windy and no thanks. Cadence is much lower on treadmill, need to work on that. Ran from 5’00/km down to 4’10 or so. Felt fine. HR got surprisingly high, probably because I’m out of shape and it’s (relatively) warm in the gym. Total run 6.5km+ in 30’.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Miercoles, 13 de Noviembre, 2019 – Sparknotes: 15x 400m @ 70.1 avg (400m jog in 1’57)

05:15: Up very early for morning session with Ashe. Jogged over in the frigid dark (16F and 15+ mph winds) and had some trouble finding my way into Harvard track but finally did. Got in and did a bit of jogging solo and then Harvey and Scott Mindle showed up so jogged with them some more, about 32’ total of warmup, then some very rushed drills, 2x light strides and then workout. Ran in Carbon Rockets.

Workout was supposed to be 10-15x 400m w/ 400m jog. Starting over 70 seconds and getting a bit quicker. Looked very easy on paper but ended up being much tougher than I expected.

First 2 reps were slowest at 71/72 and then a couple 70s and a bunch of 69s. Basically felt pretty tough the entire time. Between running on the indoor track for the first time in a while and not having run that fast mechanically in a while and just being generally out of shape, I was surprised at how hard it was to break 69. There were several reps where I came through in 33.x and was sure I was going to run 66-67 but still came through in 69.x every time.

Last 3 I started to feel much more tired and was getting dropped by Ashe and only hitting 70.x.

Still, pleased to get through 15x. Need to just get through these first few workouts, even if they aren’t beautiful. The cool part about being out of shape is that you’ll get fitter quickly.

Finished with about a mile indoors with Eric and then ran home. Total run 24km++ in 1h32.

Splits
0.4 km 1’11.0 (1’11.0)
0.8 km 3’07.0 (1’56.0)
1.2 km 4’19.1 (1’12.1)
1.6 km 6’18.7 (1’59.6)
2.0 km 7’29.1 (1’10.4)
2.4 km 9’31.3 (2’02.2)
2.8 km 10’40.8 (1’09.5)
3.2 km 12’39.9 (1’59.1)
3.6 km 13’49.8 (1’09.9)
4.0 km 15’52.0 (2’02.2)
4.4 km 17’02.1 (1’10.1)
4.8 km 19’02.3 (2’00.2)
5.2 km 20’11.6 (1’09.3)
5.6 km 22’04.8 (1’53.2)
6.0 km 23’14.1 (1’09.3)
6.4 km 25’07.7 (1’53.6)
6.8 km 26’17.3 (1’09.6)
7.2 km 28’14.1 (1’56.8)
7.6 km 0’29’23.9 (1’09.8)
8.0 km 0’31’21.7 (1’57.8)
8.4 km 0’32’31.2 (1’09.5)
8.8 km 0’34’26.3 (1’55.1)
9.2 km 0’35’35.8 (1’09.5)
9.6 km 0’37’28.9 (1’53.1)
10.0 km 0’38’39.4 (1’10.5)
10.4 km 0’40’33.3 (1’53.9)
10.8 km 0’41’43.9 (1’10.6)
11.2 km 0’43’36.1 (1’52.2) (
11.6 km 0’44’46.3 (1’10.2)

Avg rep: 1’10.1
Avg rest: 1’56.8
Overall avg: 03’51.6/km

XT: Heel drops, pedestal (5x weights), Jwal core (no weights), toes, ethio

XT: Worked on treadmill desk ~ 1 hour

15:30: On treadmill (2%) 6km from 5’20/km down to 4’10 or so. Had almost emergency-level need to stop and use the bathroom at about 5.1km and then again just after 6km (planned to do 30’ but close enough and tummy was clearly not well). Total run 6km++ in 28’.

XT: Legs circuit (static lunge on balance ball, split lunge, step up, squat)
Heel drops, toes, upper body bands (2×10): jesus pulls, shoulder pulls

Jueves, 14 de Noviembre, 2019 – 10:30: Didn’t run until late with 11am apt at Outback PT. Slept a bit later until about 07:45 and had a relaxing morning, walked Mar to school and back. Ankles pretty sore after 60 laps yesterday!

Jogged over to Outback and felt much better after again. Ran down to the MIT track after and did 4x strides which felt a bit stiff in 1’23. After, ran over to TJ’s to get bread and then back home. Felt better after strides. Total run 11.5km+ in 52’30

XT: Heel drops, hips (5x weights), toes, beach ball, 1 leg bands.

16:30: Pretty sore this afternoon but glad I got myself out the door. Much later than I’d like to be running since it’s already dusk at 16:30 but w/ the late morning, made sense today. Actually felt quite good to run on grass for the first time in a while — too much concrete here! Did 5 big laps and was running decent by the end. Finished over at the track and did 4x strides that felt better but were somehow slower (1’24). These are all quite slow so legs are definitely lacking pop still. Did 500m moderate after in 1’37 just out of curiosity. Jogged home. Total run 7km+ in 30’.

XT: Heel drops, toes, beach ball, 1 leg band, upper body band.

Viernes, 15 de Noviembre, 2019 – 09:00: Quite sore this morning still. Not sure if it’s just getting used to volume or all this new PT stuff or what but ankles and general energy have been tough. Ran down to fields and did the whole run on there pretty much (10 big laps) which felt much better. Running much smoother after a few laps (4’04 down to 3’37 last few around 3’40). Jogged to the track and did 4x strides VERY slow (1’28) but fairly relaxed, didn’t try to push as range of motion and soreness was real limiting factor. Jogged to target to finish and get groceries and walked home. Total run 12km+ in 52’.

XT: Heel drops, toes, beach ball, leg bands.

16:30: Ran later again as I had a good nap and woke up real groggy. Ran down to grass again and did 6 big laps (3’55 down to 3’35). Felt really good actually once I got going. Much better than the AM in terms of soreness esp in the ankles and general energy level. Finished at the track and did drills and then 4x strides in 1’23 which is still very slow but felt much better than this AM. No fireworks but definitely moving in the right direction. Total run 7km in 30’.

XT: Heel drops, ethio, beach ball, leg band, upper bands, pedestal (5x weights), jwal core (no weights), toes

Sabado, 16 de Noviembre, 2019 – 25x 200m @ 33.2 avg, 200m jog @ 55.0 avg (400m+ after #10/20) + 5km tempo @ 15’52.

06:15: Early run to try to get onto an indoor track for some quicker work. Jogged over to BU but it was locked on arrival, so jogged around a bit and waited maybe 15 min until 07:10 but then left and ran over to Harvard which was open and got in no problem. About 6.5km total warmup.

Changed into carbon rockets and did drills and 4x strides.

Planned workout was somewhere between 10 and 25 (big range, I know) x 200m w/ 200m jog, probably longer jog every 5-10 reps as needed. Hope was to run goal 5K pace (33.6 is 14’00) so was shooting for 32-33.x.

Ended up being pretty decent. Every rep was 32-33.x and all the rec reps were consistent around 55sec. Definitely required focus to keep the pace, but after a few I got into a great rhythm. Changed directions every 5 reps which was great for the legs and mind as it broke things up naturally. Took a 400m jog every 10th rep which was also nice and had no trouble getting back into it.

I think the last 5x were probably the quickest, though barely any quicker. Interesting that I was able to get into a really solid rhythm of 33.x but couldn’t break 32.0 if my life depended on it. I’ve gotten slow!

Overall average was 33.2, which, while nothing spectacular, is definitely a step up from Wednesday’s workout. Nice to be in this phase where the bar is real low!

Cooled down home. Total run 20km+ in 1h26.

Splits:

200 m (0’32.8) 0’32.8
200 m (0’59.0) 1’31.8
200 m (0’33.9) 2’05.7
200 m (0’59.1) 3’04.8
200 m (0’33.1) 3’37.9
200 m (1’01.3) 4’39.2
200 m (0’33.4) 5’12.6
200 m (0’57.5) 6’10.1
200 m (0’33.6) 6’43.7
200 m (1’05.9) 7’49.6
200 m (0’33.2) 8’22.8
200 m (0’56.4) 9’19.2
200 m (0’33.5) 9’52.7
200 m (0’56.5) 10’49.2
200 m (0’33.4) 11’22.6
200 m (0’54.6) 12’17.2
200 m (0’32.9) 12’50.1
200 m (0’54.1) 13’44.2
200 m (0’32.5) 0’14’16.7
400 m (2’11.2) 0’16’27.9
200 m (0’33.6) 0’17’01.5
200 m (0’55.9) 0’17’57.4
200 m (0’33.2) 0’18’30.6
200 m (0’54.5) 0’19’25.1
200 m (0’33.2) 0’19’58.3
200 m (0’58.8) 0’20’57.1
200 m (0’33.3) 0’21’30.4
200 m (0’56.4) 0’22’26.8
200 m (0’33.4) 0’23’00.2
200 m (1’05.5) 0’24’05.7
200 m (0’33.6) 0’24’39.3
200 m (0’58.0) 0’25’37.3
200 m (0’33.4) 0’26’10.7
200 m (0’55.7) 0’27’06.4
200 m (0’33.8) 0’27’40.2
200 m (0’54.4) 0’28’34.6
200 m (0’33.6) 0’29’08.2
200 m (0’56.4) 0’30’04.6
200 m (0’32.9) 0’30’37.5
400 m (2’08.7) 0’32’46.2
200 m (0’33.2) 0’33’19.4
200 m (0’57.7) 0’34’17.1
200 m (0’33.1) 0’34’50.2
200 m (0’54.5) 0’35’44.7
200 m (0’33.0) 0’36’17.7
200 m (1’04.6) 0’37’22.3
200 m (0’32.5) 0’37’54.8
200 m (0’53.2) 0’38’48.0
200 m (0’32.5) 0’39’20.5

XT: Beach ball, heel drops, toes

11am: Only about 2 hours rest, but wanted to get this one done as I was meeting my folks for lunch. Ran easy 4km on fields and then to the gym. Did drills and then 2x strides on treadmill. Ran at 2% and goal was to avg under 3’15 for 4-5km. Started out at 3’15 pace and gently brought pace down. Felt very solid until pace got down to about 3’05 in the last km. Just pushed a bit too early and had to back off in the last 400m. Still had a solid negative split overall to run 15’54. Very pleased with this, especially how hard it was to run even 1km at 3’06 at the end of the Kenyan run last week. Doing this after 25x200m is actually pretty solid for right now.

Cooled down 2km easy inside and then home. Total run 11km++ in 43’.

1.0 m 3’15.3 (3’15.3)
2.0 m 6’27.7 (3’12.4)
3.0 m 9’38.1 (3’10.4)
4.0 m 12’46.7 (3’08.6)
4.5 m 14’19.5 (1’32.8)
5.0 m 15’54.3 (1’34.8)

XT: Beach ball, toes, heel drops.

Domingo, 17 de Noviembre, 2019 – 09:00: Drove out to Battle Rd with James Randon and then did an easy semi-long run with him and a bunch of BAA/Saucony dudes. Another run that, on paper, should have been very easy but in practice felt tougher given that I’m out of shape and pretty wiped from too much of a social life. Lovely to be out on battle road for the first time in a while James and I got dropped by the bigger group after about 8km when they dipped under 3’45/km for a few km but nicer to run a bit more relaxed. Both ankles a bit sore, so kept it short at 90’. Total run 22km+ in 1h30.

XT: Beach ball, toes, heel drops, 1 leg bands

XT (later): Pedestal (5x weights), jwal core (no weight), upper body band, toes, beach ball

PM: OFF. Long nap and then biked to Brookline Village and back (about 20’ each way).