Weekly Summary – 154 miles in 14 runs. Big week with three big workouts include a race/special block on Sunday. Moving in the right direction with less than 2 weeks to Mohawk Hudson Half and 9 weeks to CIM!

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Lunes, 18 de Septiembre, 2017 – 9:30am: Ran later after sleeping in (Daddy Yankee last night, so was up unusually late). Matt’s loop sloooooow. Legs were doot this morning after long day yesterday. Also over-dressed a bit for a bit of last-minute heat acclimation before Sunday’s race/special block which looks to be a bit warm. First 8km in 40+ minutes. A bit quicker on the way back but not blazing. Total run 18km in 1h26.

XT: Back/hips (added one weight bar for the week).

4pm: Ran later after strive call. Started out feeling pretty doot but ran to the turf and did 5km there and felt much better after. Got kicked off as pee-wee soccer was starting and ran to HAR for one loop (18’15) and then strides on crystal drive as the field was also full of children. Total run 14km+ in 64’.

XT: Hips

Martes, 19 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Easy run on Matt’s loop plus out/back on C&O. Felt infinitely better than yesterday. About 37’ at 8km and then down to 4’20s by the end. Finished with 5x strides at black squirrel. Total run 21km in 1h36.

XT: Back/hips

3pm: Ran solo around CC (turf was in use) and then over to HAR, 1 loop in 18’50. Nice and easy with workout tomorrow plus it was hot in the 80s and sunny – beautiful but not quite adjusted for this! Finished with 4x strides on grass. Total run 10km in 43’.

Miercoles, 20 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 19km fartlek in 62’18 (3’16 avg) w 9x 1K @ 3’00.0 (avg) + 2 x 500m @ 1’25.1 (1km rec @ 3’35 avg) + 5x200m @ 34-29.

8:30am: Up naturally a bit before 7am, black coffee and NV bar. Already a bit warm to start, around 70F and warming.

Workout today was fartlek with 1km on/1km off x 9 and then 2x 500m on/500m off to finish out. Goal was to run the 1Ks between HM pace and 10K pace, so I figured somewhere between 2’55-3’05 would be good and the recovery moderate ~ 3’30/km. I wanted to go mostly by effort though as it was warm and I’m in a very heavy period of training right now.

Warmed up 3km in 13’ and then drills, strides, 200m in 35.x. This as done on 1km loop switching directions at 10km.

Ended up going very well. I divided the workout mentally into 3 sets of 3, and then the last 2x500m just as an extra. The first set felt pretty comfortable as I took it by feel and only ran 3’03 to start and then 3’02, 2’59. The next set, I tried to focus a bit more and ran 3’00, 3’00, 2’56. That last one stung a bit and I wasn’t able to match it in the last 3 (3’00, 2’59, 2’59).

Still had some energy left on the 500s and the next gear felt very good. Ran 1’25 and 1’24 which felt pretty fast but good on tired legs.

Finished with 5x200m after maybe 5 minutes to catch my breath and change into tracers (did the workout in hupanas). Tracers felt great and had a nice little tailwind on the 200s, so these were a bit quicker on paper than they felt in real life: 30.4, 30.0, 30.8, 29.4, 34.5 (last one very easy, as always). Jogged short cooldown home as it was getting hot and I was pretty spent.

Total run 27km in 1h38.

Splits:
Avg on: 3’00.0
Avg off: 3’34.8
Total avg: 3’16.8

Time Split HR
1 km 3’02.9 (3’02.9) 162
2 km 6’36.8 (3’33.9) 161
3 km 9’38.6 (3’01.8) 173
4 km 13’12.6 (3’34.0) 167
5 km 16’11.5 (2’58.9) 176
6 km 19’46.5 (3’35.0) 169
7 km 22’46.9 (3’00.4) 176
8 km 26’20.2 (3’33.3) 169
9 km 29’20.3 (3’00.1) 177
10 km 32’58.1 (3’37.8) 167
11 km 35’54.4 (2’56.3) 177
12 km 39’28.2 (3’33.8) 170
13 km 42’28.7 (3’00.5) 178
14 km 46’02.4 (3’33.7) 174
15 km 49’02.3 (2’59.9) 180
16 km 52’39.3 (3’37.0) 174
17 km 55’38.2 (2’58.9) 181
17.5 km 57’37.5 (1’59.3) 173
18 km 59’03.1 (1’25.6) 176
18.5 km 1’00’53.8 (1’50.7) 175
19 km 1’02’18.4 (1’24.6) 181

1pm: Went right to GSM after a quick breakfast and got a very good recovery massage from Terrel. Ran home after which was a bit brutal as it was like 88F and mid-day sun and I’d only finished my workout like 2 hours ago. Doot doot by the end but nice to have all the running done before 2pm. Ice bath after. Total run 10km- in 47’.

Jueves, 21 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Easy run around CC and on turf. A bit sluggish to start and a random side cramp – maybe dehydrated? – but felt much better and running quicker by the end ~4’20s. Finished with 6x strides on turf and ran home. Total run 20km in 1h30.

XT: Back/hips

3:30pm: Beautiful and hot, mid 80s and sunny! Easy run out/back MVN. Stopped on the way back and picked up contacts on the way back. Total run 15km in 64’.

Viernes, 22 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 10km + 10x short hills + 2x 500m @ 1’28.5, 2x1K @ 3’00, 2’56, 2x 500m @ 1’23.3/1’27.4 (1’ jog rec for all).

Very good session this morning! Plan was to do a very yellow workout, i.e. not super challenging as big workout two days ago and another day after tomorrow.

Ran easy on the turf for longer warm up and then over to hill (grabbed tracers), drills, a couple light strides and then 10x short hills. These felt great and recovery by HR was good, most between 2-2’30 for HR

Ran last one all the way to the hydrant and ran very fast (35.8) which is fastest I’ve ever run that by almost 2 seconds. Very good sign!

After, jogged over to 1km loop and did light tuneup there instead of usual prog. An old classic of 2×500/2x1K/2x500m with most of it at race pace and some of it a bit quicker. Tried to run about 3’00/km pace in general and felt pretty good doing this (1’28/1’29) and then 1Ks were right on (3’00 and then 2’56 with the first 800m in 2’24 and the last 200m surge in 31.x). The penultimate 500m I ran a surge as well, running ~54.x/29.x for 1’23 and then the last one quite relaxed for 1’27.4. Rest was 1’ for everythnig.

Finished with easy jog to the gym for short legs session.

Total run 25km.

Splits:

500m (1’28.2) 163
500m (1’28.9) 168
1km (2’59.6) 173
1km (2’55.8 – 2’24.x/31.x) 175
500m (1’23.3 – 54.x/29.x) 166
500m (1’27.4) 170

XT: Legs at the gym. 1 set of [6x step up (40lb), 6x overhead lunge (35 lb), 6x dynamic lunge (40 lb), 6x squat (50lb)]

3pm: Easy shakeout around CC with about 5km on turf to finish in 21’. Legs still felt very good. Great signs. Finished with 4x strides and jumps on the turf and then ran home. Warm, around 83F and sunny and wore track pants and long sleeve, so think I’ve finally gotten a bit of heat acclimation. Total run 13km in 55’.

XT: Jumps/plyos: 12x box jumps, 12x single leg side hop, 12x squat jump, 12x lunge jump

Sabado, 23 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Easy run, first with Mariana very slow ~5’10/km out/back on MVN and then quicker solo around CC. Turf fields were occupied so ran over to costco fields which were also busy so just ran the grass around the edge of the complex. Finished with 6x strides on crystal drive. All good. Very sweaty by the end as I was in track pants/jacket since it was cooler (~68F) to start but warmed up a lot during the run. Total run 21km in 1h36.

XT: Back/hips (1x)

2pm: Ran earlier to try to go to bed early tonight. Warm! Mid 80s and sunny. Ran to long bridge and then a bunch barefoot on the back turf. So hot that it burned my feet in a few places. A ton of bubs out there because there’s a ragnar event going through apparently with an exchange right there. Finished with 4x strides. Legs felt pretty decent. Ready to roll tomorrow. Total run 10km in 46’.

Domingo, 25 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: SPECIAL BLOCK: 9am: Clarendon 10K, 2nd, tactical/hot 31’05 after 14’48 opening 5K. 12:30pm: 22km on T.M. (1.5%) in 1’12’36 w/ 10km mod (34’09) + 12km @ MP (38’27, 3’12.3 avg).

8:10am: Odd morning as we woke up very early around 4am to watch the second half of Berlin Marathon and then dozed a bit from like 5:30-6am. Got up at 6, had some coffee and NV bar and then headed out around 7:15.

Plan for today was a big special block workout with the morning being a race at the Clarendon 10K and the PM being a marathon specific session (10k moderate + 10-12K at MP). It was going to be a very hot day (upper 80s by mid day), so Jon and I decided to run the second workout on the treadmill as this block is more about running fast than heat acclimation.

Got to the race, got numbers, sat around until 8:10am and then headed off to warm up. Started out with Mar but felt very good so went a bit longer and quicker. Already quite warm in the mid 70s and humid. Got some cold water from the pacers store which was clutch.

Drills, a few strides, 200m from the start line in about 35 which felt very good and got to the line a few minutes early.

Got off the line well and felt very good and relaxed. Saw that I was gapping the field within about 200m but just felt very calm, so relaxed into the pace. I could see there was one guy working his way up to me and I think he was with me within a few minutes. Nice big downhill in the 2nd km, so I kept the effort the same but ran 2’58/2’53 for first 2km. Passed the 1M marker in about 4’43. 3rd km is pretty flat so when I saw another 2’53 I figured I was having a great race.

Some rolling in km 4 and 5, so wasn’t surprised to see those slow down a bit (3’03/02 for 14’50 at 5K). We were also out on the highway at this point, so it was very exposed and in the sun (whereas the first few km were mostly in the shade of some buildings). Definitely started to feel hot by this point and there weren’t so many water stations (plus the water was luke warm at best, which didn’t help much).

The way back was slower from 5-8km (3’12, 3’11, 3’06) but effort was pretty even. Surprised I had slowed down that much, but I figured I’d just been a bit stupidly aggressive to start. We had a bit of a headwind around 7-8km and this guy behind me had been tucked in the whole freaking race, so I eventually just ran out super wide to the side and motioned for him to lead or at least run side-by-side. So, we slowed down A LOT between like 8km and 9.5km or so (3’30 9th km!) but were clearly both biding our time. I was thinking about trying to win the race and was a bit toasted from the quick start, so I figured I could use a nice recovery km and then try to kick from about 500m out.

I did this and put in a nice surge at 500m to go, but he matched it evenly and we ran together until maybe 300m to go (before the 3M marker for the 5K) and he had at least one more gear than I did and beat me easily by about 5 seconds. I didn’t really try to dig that deep as it was clear he was going to get me and I knew I still had work to do later in the day.

Overall time was remarkably slow (31’04), especially as I was thinking I might run sub 30 after the first half. Still pleased though as when I ran this race 2 years ago, I only ran 7 seconds faster in the 5K than I did for the first 5K of this race. Would have been fun to race on fresher legs as that second half slow-down might not have been so dramatic and I might have been able to challenge for the win, but that’s what you get for racing on 150 MPW!

Cooled down out onto the course to cheer on Mariana who just missed the 40 minute barrier (40’09) but snagged a podium spot for 3rd female. Very good for a hot day.

Cooled down about 3km total to get back to gear check and the metro to head home.

Total run 19km

AM Splits
1 km 2’58.3 (2’58.3) 166
2 km 5’51.5 (2’53.2) 174
3 km 8’44.6 (2’53.1) 177
4 km 11’48.1 (3’03.5) 178
5 km 14’50.5 (3’02.4) 177
6 km 18’02.6 (3’12.1) 177
7 km 21’14.1 (3’11.5) 178
8 km 24’20.6 (3’06.5) 178
9 km 27’50.8 (3’30.2) 178
10 km 31’03.9 (3’13.1) 181

12:30pm: Between sessions had only nuun (no sugar), 1 NV bar, and about 200 cal of pretzels.

Ran in the gym on treadmill for this one as it was like 90F outside already. Goal was 10km steady around 90% of MP and then 12km steady right around goal MP (3’10-12/km).

2km warmup, a few strides and then into it. Started around 3’30/km and increased the pace every few minutes as I warmed up a bit. Felt pretty decent but was still overheating a bit in the gym (temp on the thermostat was 70F but probably warmer right around me from body heat).

Accelerated up to 3’15 to start and then brought it down to as low as 3’10, but that felt a bit too rich so pulled back after about 4km to 3’12-14. Very tough but managed it well, especially the last 6km and even managed to close decently running 3’12/3’10 or so for the last 2K.

Total was 1’12’36 for 22km (3’18 avg) and the last 12k was 38’27 (3’12.3 avg).

Cooled down 1km very easy. Also worth noting felt super dehydrated. Definitely didn’t drink enough after the AM session and drank 2 whole 20oz bottles of nuun during this run. Need to be way more conscious of that during hot days. Took a gel a 9km but otherwise only nuun.

PM Splits
5 km 17’12.0 (17’12.0) 157
10 km 34’09.0 (16’57.0) 166 (Gel at 9km)
12 km 40’35.0 (6’26.0) 175
14 km 46’57.0 (6’22.0) 175
16 km 53’21.0 (6’24.0) 178 (16’00.0)
18 km 59’47.0 (6’26.0) 179
20 km 1’06’14.0 (6’27.0) 179 (16’05.0)
22 km 1’12’36.0 (6’22.0) 182 (Last 12K: 38’27.0, 3’12.3 avg)