Weekly Summary – 111 miles in 12 runs. A very disappointing race at the Houston Half Marathon. Bummed that things went so poorly but also confident that one poor race or workout doesn’t change my fitness. On to the next one.

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Lunes, 9 de Enero, 2017 – 8:30am: Easy run on MVS. Quite cold again this AM with temps in the low teens, though not windy, thankfully. Felt okay, a bit sluggish to start and then much better after the turnaround. Stopped and did 8x strides at black squirrel which felt quite good, especially given how sluggish I’d felt out the door. Total run 11M+ in 76’.

XT: Back/hips

3pm: Easy run on MVN out/back. Felt much better than in the morning. Stopped at Black Squirrel for strides and felt VERY good – like, muscularly very coordinated in a way that’s hard to describe but is a common sign that my legs are starting to get some “pop”. A very good sign for this weekend! Total run 7M- in 47’.

XT: p90x.

Martes, 10 de Enero, 2017 – 9am: Easy run out/back on MVS. Still chilly in the 20s, but not as windy. Felt much better today! Legs good out the door. First 4M in 28’ and quicker after that. Nice and sunny down by the water. Under 4’00/km the last few. Stopped at black squirrel and did 6x strides which felt really good. Excited to finally be feeling perkier on runs. Total run 14M in 1h33’.

XT: Back/hips (1x weight/1x unweighted)

3pm: Easy shakeout around CC. Stopped at turf field and did 4x strides which felt pretty good. Legs felt good again. Total run 5M++ in 36’.

XT: Hips.

Miercoles, 11 de Enero, 2017 – Sparknotes: 8km fartlek in 23’56 (2’59.5/km avg) with 1’ at 2’45-55/km, 1’ at 3’10-15/km.

7am: Last tuneup before Houston! Nice little light fartlek session with 1’ on, 1’ off. I like this session and I’ve done it before a bunch of races in the past. A solid session but doesn’t beat up the legs too badly.

Woke up around 5am, didn’t sleep super well. Had coffee and a nature valley bar. Perfect weather, around 40F and no wind. Ran on the 1km loop 8x. Warmed up easy 2M, drills 4x strides and 200m in about 32.x. Ran in tracers.

Plan was to do 8-10km of the fartlek. First 2km or so felt very easy and so I went pretty hard after that and was running like ~2’50/km for most of the “on” sections and in the 3’10s for the “off” sections. The “off” was still quite focused, but I was able to catch my breath which is fantastic for running that pace. I passed 5k in 15’02 and was surprised by how fast I was running. I figured I’d better stop at 8km instead of 10km because even if it didn’t feel too hard, a 30-flat 10km seemed like too much. I did see that I’d be very close to sub-24, though, so I ran “on” all the way from 22’ to the end, instead of slowing down at 23’ (essentially running an extra 300m or so). This felt very hard but good to get just a bit deeper in that last interval and then stop.

Total was 23’56 for 8km (2’59/km, 4’48/M avg). Last 5km was 14’53

Very out of breath after! HR in that last rep reached 187! But once I caught my breath I felt pretty much fine. Cool-down felt good and was running 4’0x pace just jogging around. Ran longer c/d with short workout.

A very good workout! Great to feel like I was conservative in terms of stopping the session early and keeping it in control and finishing feeling good. I don’t think the legs will feel too bad after this one. Very excited for Sunday!

Total run 14M.

Splits
1 km 3’00.5 (3’00.5) 168
2 km 6’04.8 (3’04.3) 177
3 km 9’03.2 (2’58.4) 183
4 km 12’05.2 (3’02.0) 181
5 km 15’02.5 (2’57.3) 182
6 km 18’08.6 (3’06.1) 182
7 km 21’03.7 (2’55.1) 183
8 km 23’56.4 (2’52.7) 184 (14’53.2)

XT: OFF

3:30pm: Easy run on treadmill in sweats. Houston looks to be hot and humid, so I’ll try to do a little last minute heat acclimation. Better late than never. Legs felt fine. 8’30->6’30/M. Total run 5M in 36′.

Jueves, 12 de Enero, 2016 – 8:30am: Woke up naturally bit earlier. Good! Easy run out/back on MVS. Very nice day – much warmer in the 50s already. Felt quite good out the door, legs feel nothing from yesterday. Running maybe 3’5x-4’0x on the way back with the wind. Stopped at black squirrel and did 6x stride which felt good, just a bit slippery on the muddy grass. Jogged around CC for MO stop at USPS and then home. Total run 13M in 85’.

XT: Back hips (1x weight, 1x unweighted)

4pm: Easy run around CC loop and then some 200s in a few different shoes to figure out exactly what I’m going to wear. Did 6x totall in 35-36 on the road. Will race in the size 9 tracers. Legs felt great. Beautiful afternoon with temps in the upper 60s! Total run 5M++ in 36′.

XT: OFF

Viernes, 13 de Enero, 2017 – 7:30am: Woke up naturally and felt very good this morning. Ran easy out/back on MVN. Still quite warm, in the 50s even at 7:30am. Stopped at Black Squirrel and did 4x strides on grass – felt great. Saw 5 (!) black squirrels at once. They must be waking up because they think it’s spring time! Jogged home. Total run 11M in 76′.

XT: Hips

4:30pm: Got to Houston with no issue. Ran easily from the hotel. Tried to run the last part of the course out/back, but ended up in this park area when the course went onto a kind of highway. Felt pretty bad but good to shakeout the legs. Ran 4x strides on a grassy field area and jogged back. Warm in the upper 70s and humid but ran in sweats for one last day of heat acclimation. Total run 5km+, 3M++.

Sabado, 14 de Enero, 2017 – 7am: Ran easy with roommate George Alex out/back on the race course. Felt MUCH better than yesterday. Nice easy run and good company. Very similar conditions to what is predicted for tomorrow. Ran in tights and a jacket and felt quite good. No strides. Total run 4M++ in 31’.

XT: OFF.

PM: OFF from running. Took a nice 30 minute walk around the park before dinner. Relaxing day. Got some work done, took a nap, technical meeting, etc.

Domingo, 15 de Enero, 2017 – Sparknotes: Houston Half Marathon. 67’45, 41st? Truly awful. Went out slow and then slowed down some more. Legs totally fried and just couldn’t push. HR was <170 most of the time. 97% humidity and 66F is not ideal but probably a combination of that and just some leftover fatigue in the legs. Very bad performance. Back to the grindstone. 

Longer writeup to come.