Weekly Summary – 114 miles in 12 runs. Last week of real workouts and moderate mileage before the real taper starts. Legs are already feeling a bit fresher. Excited to really rest up and see what happens. Less than 2 weeks to Worlds and 12 weeks to the US Olympic Trials!

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews). And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2016 Programs, including the newly announced STRIVE-Peru: Spring Break program! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for 2016, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even a 10-day trip for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

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Lunes, 16 de Noviembre, 2015 – 9am: Last long, easy single of the block. Goal was 3 hours after having done 2h40, 2h45, and 2h55 in the last month or so. Just coffee, no breakfast. Dressed in lots of layers and sweats. Ran Matt’s loop with very long out/back on C&O canal. Felt pretty good through about 2 hours (28km or so). Slowed a bit after 2h30 but still made it home in one piece. Kept the effort quite easy the whole time. Only difficult was time on feet. Also lost a lot of water weight which was logged in my clothes, so kind of like wearing a weight vest for the last hour or two. Lost approximately 11 pounds of water. Finished off the last kilometer to run 41km. Total run 41k, 25.5 miles in 3h01.

5pm: Very easy shakeout down to the end of longbridge park and back. Quite tired this afternoon, but felt okay once I got out the door. Very pleasant night. Total run 2M+, NT.

XT: Core.

Martes, 17 de Noviembre, 2015 – 9am: Easy run out/back on MVN. Very nice day – sunny and crisp. Felt good. Stopped at Costco on the way home. Total run 8M++ in 60’.

XT: Back/hips.

6pm: Easy run on treadmill in sweats. Finished with 1M barefoot inside. Total run 4M+ in 30’.

XT: Core.

Miercoles, 18 de Noviembre, 2015 – 9am: Easy run out/back on MVS. Felt good, running quicker by the end. Stopped and did full drills and then 5x short hills. Felt VERY good on these. Not too strenuous, just wanted to open up the legs a bit. Jogged home after. Total run 8M+.

XT: Back/hips.

6pm: Very easy shakeout around CC loop. Beautiful night, not too cold. Felt much better by the end. Total run 3M, NT.

XT: Hips.

Jueves, 19 de Noviembre 2015 – Sparknotes: Last long run before the 50k. 38km (23.6 miles) in 2’06’58 (3’20.5/km, 5’22.6/M) with 15k mod (3’27/km, 5’33/M), 15k at 50K race pace (3’19/km, 5’20/M), 8k at MP (3’12/km, 5’09/M).

Meals/Caffeine
6pm: shakeout
7pm: post-run snack
10pm: Big dinner dinner
10am: Wake up, work in bed.
11am: .5 cup coffee (starbucks via instant), ~100kCal animal crackers
12pm: Shakeout, 2M
1pm: .5 cup coffee, nature valley bar, animal crackers
2:15pm: .5L caff nuun
3:30pm: Start Warmup
3:45pm: Gel #0
4pm: start run

This workout was the last real long run before the Doha 50K. The goal was to run a long progression run with the first 15km fairly moderate, then 15k at goal race pace, then 6-8K at goal marathon pace for 36-38K total.

I did this workout in the afternoon again, with the plan to start at 4pm to simulate the late start for Doha but still hopefully finish before it got too dark (this was poorly planned).

I did a short shakeout at 12pm (15 min) and then came back and at 1pm had a nature valley bar and my other half cup of coffee and a few servings of animal crackers. At 2:15pm, I had .5L of water with caff. nuun (about ⅓ cup of coffee). At 3:30pm, I started the warm up.

I jogged 2km in about 10’ and then stopped, went to the bathroom, changed into cliftons. I took a gel at 3:45 and then did drills and no strides. Started right at 4pm.

I was running on an out/back stretch of MVN, so I had two hairpin turns per 5k to turn around and could grab my fluids every 5k. The weather was cool, drizzling, and light winds from the N.

The first 15km felt really good – probably way too goo. I had mentioned to Jon that I’d been feeling good in my training runs and they’d been faster, and I think the combination of some fresher legs and extra caffeine made me feel really good right out the door. I was running around 3’30/km immediately and it felt like a jog.

Without really trying to accelerate, I found myself running in the 3’20s the next two laps, and really by about 12-13km was running more like 50K pace, but it just felt super easy. I came through that first 15K in 51’42 (3’27/km avg), which is a good bit faster than the 3’35-40 I was planning.

Still I was already running ~3’20/km at 15k and felt great so I figured I would just make sure to hold that pace and not accelerate until 30K as planned. At the start of that lap, though, I realized that it was already quite dark and the section I was running on was not lit at all. I decided to run back to the gym and do the remainder of the workout on the treadmill.

This worked out well timing-wise, as I got there right around 20k (68’18) and took only a minute or so to get inside and running again. I ran on 1% incline and set the machine right at 3’20/km. The effort felt quite similar to what I’d been running out side, so I think the incline is a fairly good approximation of wind resistance.

I increased the pace a tiny bit at 25k to begin a more gradual transition into marathon pace. This felt pretty good until about 28K when it started to feel much tougher. I stopped moving up the pace and passed 30K in 1’41’17 (16’20 5K) and took a 3rd gel.

After that, I moved the pace up to about 3’12/km to start and this felt quite hard. I should also note that I was out of fluids at this point. I had not brought enough and I think being in the gym where it was 70F was an issue with this. I was not feeling good at all after 30K was was really struggling to hold it together. I felt significant cramping in my shoulders.

At 35k (1’57’26, 16’09 5K), I decided to pause for 1 minute to get water. I drank and splashed cold water on my head and this seemed to help a great deal. I’m not sure whether it was just the hydration/cooling or if stopping even for less than a minute made a difference, but I felt MUCH better in the last 3K. I ran the 36th km in about 3’15 and then just brought the pace down until I was running under 3’00/m for the last 500m or so. I was amazed at how good I felt give how terrible I had felt just a few minutes earlier. The last 3k was 9’31.

Overall, the total run was 38K in 2’06’57 (3’20.4/km, 5’22/mile).

I think given all the craziness of having to change venues mid-workout and the problems with fluid and heat, this was a very strong workout. I really felt what Jon has said before about the marathon and fueling/hydration which is that it doesn’t matter how fit you are if you botch your fueling. It’s like you can’t access that fitness, no matter how hard you try.

So, big take-aways are I need to plan to drink more if it’s going to be ~70F. I only had two little bottles with me (250mL each) and was really holding back to try to only drink a third to a quarter of those per 5K. It’s also worth noting that I weighed myself post workout and I was 8 pounds lighter. That’s net down after drinking at least a liter during and immediately after the workout. So, yes. Hydration/fueling definitely still need some tweaking.

But the good news is that I think the fitness is definitely there. I feel very fit and I feel like my legs and body are responding to the taper well. I just need to make sure I keep myself in check and don’t do anything crazy on race day and keep the fuel tank full.

Unit Time Lap Lap Pace
5 km 17’40.0 (17’40.0) 3’32.0
10 km 34’54.6 (17’14.6) 3’26.9 (gel #1)
15 km 51’42.2 (16’47.6) 3’21.5
20 km 1’08’18.4 (16’36.2) 3’19.2 (gel #2)
25 km 1’24’57.1 (16’38.7) 3’19.7
30 km 1’41’17.3 (16’20.2) 3’16.0 (gel #3)
35 km 1’57’26.5 (16’09.2) 3’13.8
38 km 2’06’57.6 (9’31.1) 3’10.4

*note: on treadmill after 20K with short pause to transition from outside (dark).

Viernes, 20 de Noviembre, 2015 – 10am: Super rough night’s sleep with the late workout yesterday. That combination of caffeine and adrenaline late in the day is just brutal. Didn’t really fall asleep until about 4am when I found myself really hungry and had a granola bar. Also unseasonably warm last night so that didn’t help.

Ran very, very slow out/back on MVN and then to Costco. Nice day, windy. Total run 8M in 64’.

XT: Back/hips.

PM: OFF – trying to keep the mileage low and two 27 mile days this week. Did some walking around to run some errands and because I was feeling antsy.

XT: Core

Sabado, 21 de Noviembre, 2015 – 10am: Slept super well and long last night. Really needed that. Ran easy down to longbridge park with the wheel to measure out a loop that’ll be lit up. Marked every 100m with chalk. Total run 3M++, NT.

4pm: Sparknotes: 2×500, 2×1000, 3×500 @ 2’50-55/km with 60sec jog.

Very light workout on new wheeled loop. Warmed up 4M easy and legs felt surprisingly good. Ran in flats on longbridge loop. A bit windy, high canine impedance factor.

Felt pretty good. First two 500s very in control but a bit quick. First 1k easy and second one easy through 700m and then picked it up the last 300m. Last few 500s tried to sink into pace of about 35/200 and then last one I ran the last 200m harder, splitting like 52/32. Didn’t quite have the turnover to really kick it in, but still felt good accelerating.

Jogged one loop and then back to gym for legs. Very dark by the end so glad to be under the lights.

Total run 8M+.

Splits (60sec jog between all)
2x500m: 1’25.8, 1’26.5
2x1000m: 2’58.7, 2’52.3
3x500m: 1’27.0, 1’27.8, 1’24.2

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)]. No weight other than bar for squats.

Domingo, 22 de Noviembre, 2015 – Sparknotes: 25km (15.5M) run in 1’21’12 (3’14.8/km, 5’14/M) with pace from moderate down to goal marathon pace by about 7-8km. Fairly steady from 8-25km with pace 3’08-13/km (5’02-08/M). Last 10M in 51’0x and last 13.1M in 67’30ish. Felt great.

8am: Coffee, some pretzels
10am: Very easy shakeout ~2km barefoot.
10:30am: Nature valley bar, caff. nuun
11:30am: Start warm up
12pm: Start run

Last medium workout today before Doha. Goal was to basically do a mini-version of the 38km run from Thursday – start out moderate and then progress through 50K pace to marathon pace and then run continuous at marathon pace for some amount of time at the end, depending on how things felt.

I’d originally planned to do this run tomorrow, but felt quite good after yesterday’s very light intervals and decided to give myself one extra day of recovery before the turkey trot and Doha.

Did a very light shakeout around 10am and then started the warm up at 11:30am. Jogged 1M in about 7min and then did light drills, no strides and right into it. A bit windy out and cool, ~45F.

Started out feeling pretty relaxed again and found myself running ~3’30/km from the get go. Very quickly accelerated to the point I was running around 3’20/km within 1-2k. Held that for a bit but got antsy in the second 5K and started to run more like 3’12s. Kept this up through 10k (33’31, 16’16 second 5k) and then had a weird rough patch around 12-13K where I started cramping in my right shoulder just felt terrible for a km or two. Somehow got through that and then felt better on the other side, passed 15K in 49’30 (15’58 3rd 5k).

I was still unsure whether I’d make it at this point, but I seemed to get through and was able to relax for the remainder. I felt quite good around 18km to the end but had to push a bit in the last 2-3km. I came through the HM in about 68’30, so I figured if I maintained pace through the last section, I’d have run the last HM in about 67’30, which would be great. I felt very good all the way through the last 1km and ran the fastest km of the day from 24-25 in 3’04.

The total run was 25km in 1’21’12 (3’14.8/km, 5’14/M). Last 5km was 15’51 and last 10k 31’42. Last 10M in 51’0x and last 13.1M in 67’30ish.

Overall, this was a really great workout and a great last medium week of training before the real taper. Not only do I feel super ready for whatever type of race comes at the 50K, but I feel like I’m in a great place to begin specific marathon training afterward. I can already run 20km at 2h15 pace in what I’d call a “medium” workout. I feel like I’ve got a great base of strength to work with. Very excited to see where this all leads.

Total run was 18M.

Unit Time Lap Lap Pace
5 km 17’15.8 (17’15.8) 3’27.2
10 km 33’31.9 (16’16.1) 3’15.2 (Gel)
15 km 49’30.3 (15’58.4) 3’11.7
20 km 1’05’21.5 (15’51.2) 3’10.2
25 km 1’21’12.3 (15’50.8) 3’10.2

PM: Off, ice bath, rest and a nice walk to stretch the legs.