Weekly Summary – 133 Miles in 13 runs. 5 “Up” days this week as we began the last high-volume chunk of training on Wednesday. Two fantastic workouts including a big staple: 6x5K at 15’49 (2h13 marathon pace). Less than 4 weeks to CIM!

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Lunes, 30 de Octubre, 2017 – AM: OFF – recovery block with PM run only. Great productive morning with catching up on a lot of work.

3:30pm: Ran after talking at Gonzaga HS. Stopped at GW Med to pick up rX and then home via reverse Matt’s loop. Legs felt good but I hate running through traffic. I’m not sure I got more than 2 continuous minutes until I got to the bike path. Lovely day, just a bit windy after crazy storm blew through last night and this morning. Good timing! Finished with 7x strides and then 400m in 73 very relaxed. Total run 14km+ in 61’.

Martes, 31 de Octubre, 2017 – 9am: Slept very well and ran easy solo down to fields. Legs felt good and running 4’00 by the first km on turf and down to 3’40s by the end for 5km in 20’. Ran over to 1K loop and changed into tracer flats and did drills, a couple strides, and then 4x500m w/ 500m easy jog. First one VERY relaxed in 1’32.7, then 1’29.4, 1’24.6, 1’18.7. 500m rest in about 2’10. Felt very good and last one felt very strong all the way through about 350m and then slowed a bit on the last stretch. A bit windy, so really nice and not very tired after. Finished with easy jog home. Total run 12km in 50’.

XT: Back/hips

3pm: Easy run to Georgetown Sports Massage to see Terrel. Lovely day despite a headwind the whole way. Planned to just run to the metro but it was super delayed so just took it very easy and ran in. Still running 4’20s which is great given how easy it felt. Good session w/ Terrel and then jogged to metro to go home. Total run 11km+ in 47’.

Miercoles, 1 de Noviembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 8x1600m @ 4’43.8 avg (2’57.4/km) w/ 400m jog @ 1’47.2 avg. + 5x200m @ 32-29.

9am: Workout wednesday! Goal was to get some faster running in today at HM to 10K pace. The workout was 8x1600m with 400m jog. I was hoping to start around 4’50 and work down to 4’35-40 by the end.

The day was perfect for faster running! Windless and about 48F to start. Warmed up longer as it was cool and I wanted to make sure I was good and warm. Ended up at the 1k loop and ran in long sleeve and half tights and hupanas for the workout. Drills, a few more strides than usual (maybe 5x) and 200m in about 34.

First rep felt very comfy and I just felt great leg-wise and breathing wise. I think the 3-days of recovery made a big difference as really out the door for the warmup, strides, and this first rep I just felt amazing. I ran 4’45 and thought I was just going to crush the whole workout and be running like 4’30 at the end. I ran the 400m rec pretty quick because I felt so good and then went into the next one and ran basically the same effort for 4’43.5.

Feeling very confident, I again really floated the recovery at about 4’00/km pace and then tried to pick it up a bit on #3. I started to feel pretty muscularly tired pretty early in this one which I thought was odd but still thought I was picking up the pace but ran slower (4’45). I kept the rec quick and then tried again to pick it up on #4 but was really red-lining the last minute or so to run 4’44.

At this point, I took a VERY slow 400m (over 5’00/km jog) to really let the HR come down. I think I’d just been way too aggressive with the rest in the first few reps since my legs were feeling a bit peppier, but I knew it was more important to try to run fast on the reps than during the recovery. The next rep (#5) felt pretty hard and was 4’45. At that point, I was taking the rec much slower ~1’50-55 for the rest of the workout, and the reps were still feeling really hard. Interesting that the workout started off feeling so comfy and effort just really spiked after the first few reps. HR was very high and correlated well with perceived effort as the last 3 reps were very challenging. These were actually a bit slower than the first couple reps (4’45/4’46/4’45) and felt much harder.

On the last one, I took the rest very easy again and really tried to push for the last rep. This went very well and I had more left than I thought. HR was very high for the whole interval but hit 1K in like 2’54 and hung on for 4’37. HR got up to like 188 on that rep!

Anyway, I was very pleased to have handled the whole workout volume, especially after such a tumultuous effort perception going from feeling great to feeling like I was done after rep 4. I was really glad I adjusted the rest as that seemed to really save the workout. HR was still over 180 AVG for the last 5 reps, even with the slower reps.

Jogged over to crystal drive and then did 5x200m (in tracers) in: 31.3, ?? (missed split), 31.9, 29.5, 32.4.

Cooled down about 2km to the gym and then heavy leg circuit. Doot, doot by the end.

Total run 25km+.

8x1600m @ 4’43.8 avg (2’57.4/km) w/ 400m jog @ 1’47.2 avg.
1.6 km 4’45.6 (4’45.6) 172
2 km 6’21.6 (1’36.0) 171
3.6 km 11’05.1 (4’43.5) 179
4 km 12’41.3 (1’36.2) 174
5.6 km 17’25.9 (4’44.6) 181
6 km 19’01.1 (1’35.2) 174
7.6 km 23’44.7 (4’43.6) 181
8 km 25’53.0 (2’08.3) 168
9.6 km 30’38.3 (4’45.3) 180
10 km 32’28.4 (1’50.1) 173
11.6 km 37’14.7 (4’46.3) 182
12 km 39’05.8 (1’51.1) 173
13.6 km 43’50.3 (4’44.5) 183
14 km 45’43.8 (1’53.5) 173
15.6 km 50’20.9 (4’37.1) 184

5x200m (in tracers): 31.3, ?? (missed split), 31.9, 29.5, 32.4 (200m slow jog rec)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [step ups 6x (40, 50, 50lb), 6x overhead lunge (30,35,35 lb), 6x dynamic lunge (40, 50, 50 lb), 6x squat (80, 90, 100 lb)]

4pm: Easy shakeout. Started off with Mar as she was warming up for a workout and then over to turf. Pretty muscularly tired from the morning session and lift. Down to about 4’20s by the end. Not too bad. 3x strides on turf. Finished at CVS to buy some big bags of ice for tub. Total run 11km+ in 51’.

Jueves, 2 de Noviembre, 2017 – 9:30am: Ran later to start out with Mariana who was finishing some stuff. Beautiful day, already 60s and sunny and warming. Ran South toward Alexandria for 5km with Mar and then solo out past the big bridge. Felt quite decent after a slow first 5k and quite good on the way back. Finished at the turf with 1km in 4’07 and then 6x strides. Ran home easy. Total run 23km in 1h45.

XT: Back/hips

3:30pm: Easy run around HAR 2 laps (18’25, 18’02). Beautiful day! In the upper 70s! What? Welcome to November, I suppose. Legs felt surprisingly decent after a pretty deep nap and feeling a bit groggy heading out. Finished with 1K up the loop in 4’10 and then over to 1K loop for 6x strides. Left outside foot felt a bit tender which was mildly concerning (on strides) but didn’t seem too bothersome. Jogged home. Total run 12km+ in 53’.

XT: Hips

Viernes, 3 de Noviembre, 2017 – 9am: Easy run out/back on MVS. Kept pace purposefully very relaxed (38’ out, 36’ back). Nice day again – very warm in the 70s. Finished at the fields and 6x strides which felt very good and then home. Total run 18km in 1h23.

XT: Back/hips (1x)

3pm: Very easy shakeout with Mariana on HAR, 1 lap very slow (21’) which was fine with me day before a big session. Finished solo a bit quicker over to the field, 1km on the grass, 4x strides and then easy home. Very good. Nice and warm again! Total run 7km++ in 33’.

Sabado, 4 de Noviembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 6x 5K @ 15’49.4 avg (1K rec @ 3’52 avg) – 35km in 1’54’18 (3’15.9 avg).

9am: Woke up at 6am after an awful night’s sleep. Very hot and stuffy in the room, about 76F when I went to bed and was just tossing and turning for a long time. Very bad. Got up and had strong black coffee and a NV bar and got some work done and then watched the NYCM 5K which was exciting and a good way to get amped up for a big session. Also had about 20 oz of caffeinated nuun before heading out.

Left just after 9am and warmed up easy to MVN, stashed bottles and backpack and did another 1km or so on the path. Felt pretty good, weather was good with temps around 55F and wind from the east, so mostly cross-wind. Warmed up 2K total in 9’ and then changed into hupanas and did drills, a couple strides, and 200m in 36. I took one gel about 10’ before starting

Goal today was a big classic marathon workout: 6x5K at goal marathon pace. This is a staple of all of my buildups and it’s generally been a solid predictor of my marathon time on a fair day (I’ve run within a few sec/km of the pace for the 5K reps on most occasions, with some being spookily right on). I’ve been having a great streak of workouts and was hoping to continue that with what is often one of the harder workouts of the block.

After doing the 28K continuous run a few weeks ago, I actually thought this workout looked a bit easier on paper (it is, after all, only 2km more of work with a bunch of rest thrown in). But, as Jon pointed out, the rest makes the workout quite a bit longer, with the last 5K rep taking place after 30K of total running. I remember this workout being pretty hard in the past, so I was prepared mentally to really suffer.

I ran each 5K on the same out/back loop on the bike path I’ve been using for most of my longer MP workouts this block, with a 1K out/back in the opposite direction for the recovery. This meant I was able to get nuun every 5K and leave it in the same spot.

First rep was very comfy and felt surprisingly easy. I really had to force myself to take it easy and be patient in this first rep (really the first two reps), as I knew it was a long way. In my mind, I’d broken the workout up into 3 sets of 2 and this seemed to make a lot of sense. The first two were just about getting it done, and I almost felt anxious or bored, like I was just biding time until the real work started.

The 3rd rep was markedly harder, though the pace was almost the same. I knew that these middle two would feel mentally tough as it was way too far from the finish to start thinking about being done but the accumulated fatigue would already be fairly high. This was correct and the HR reflected the increase in perceived effort (171 avg for the first two vs 175 for #3). #4 felt okay until I started having some really nasty stomach/GI distress. I was this close to having to pull over and relieve myself, but luckily was able to blow out some gas and felt way better almost immediately. Good to know!

I knew that the last two reps would be where the adults would be separated from the children. After my close-scare with my digestive system, I was actually feeling great and the 5th rep might have been the best one I ran. I was still telling myself to be patient and wait, so I decided to wait until 8km of work to go (ie. 2k into the rep) and actively accelerated there to run 3’10/3’06/3’07 for 15’47. This felt hard but really good and like I still had enough in the tank for the last one.

I’ve struggled on this last rep before but I also don’t remember feeling so good coming into the last rep so I really went for it, running 3’06/3’07 for the first 2K but then was absolutely gassed at the turn-around. It was kind of amazing how quickly I went from feeling focused and in control (though in a lot of pain) to struggling to hold form. The good news was I only lost a few seconds (3’11s for the next 2K) and then was able to push very hard in the last K to run 3’08.9. This was the fastest rep of the day at 15’44.

This brought me to 35km in 1’54’18 which is 3’15.9/km avg. The average rep was 15’49.4 (2’13’31 pace) and the avg km of recovery was 3’52.

This is by far the strongest I’ve ever run this workout and in the midst of maybe the strongest month of marathon training I’ve ever put together. I’ve had 5 big workouts on the calendar post Mohawk Hudson and so far the 3 that I’ve done have all gone unprecedentedly well.

Also really great to run this session after such a bad night’s sleep.

This workout was absolutely no joke, though, and was definitely the hardest session I’ve done this whole buildup. I was pretty wrecked afterward as I had to really dig deep in the last 5K to hang on. Much harder than last weekend’s 2h24 marathon on rocky dirt! The good news is that next weekend’s session may be as hard or harder, but then I think the rest of the workouts are all easier all the way to race day. These two are probably peak difficulty.

Only cooled down the 1K home in like 6’ and then just laid on the floor for a while and shivered with a combination of post-hard-long-run chills/too much caffeine/who knows discomfort. Finally got warmed up and got some bland calories in me which seemed to help.

On to the next one.

Total run 39km.

(T-10’ Gel #0)
5 km 15’52.2 (15’52.2) 171
6 km 19’43.0 (3’50.8) 157
11 km 35’34.4 (15’51.4) 171
12 km 39’25.2 (3’50.9) 164 (Gel #1)
17 km 55’17.2 (15’52.0) 175
18 km 59’08.2 (3’50.0) 162
23 km 1’14’58.5 (15’50.5) 175 (Gel #2)
24 km 1’18’51.3 (3’52.8) 166
29 km 1’34’37.8 (15’46.5) 176 (Gel #3)
30 km 1’38’34.7 (3’56.9) 165
35 km 1’54’18.7 (15’44.0) 178

1 km 3’12.7 (3’12.7) 167
2 km 6’23.2 (3’10.5) 169
3 km 9’34.2 (3’11.0) 172
4 km 12’41.7 (3’07.5) 172
5 km 15’52.2 (3’10.5) 173 (15’52.2)
6 km 19’43.0 (3’50.8) 157
7 km 22’54.5 (3’11.5) 167
8 km 26’05.5 (3’11.0) 172
9 km 29’15.5 (3’10.0) 172
10 km 32’24.4 (3’08.9) 172
11 km 35’34.4 (3’10.0) 173 (15’51.4)
12 km 39’25.2 (3’50.9) 164
13 km 42’36.2 (3’11.0) 171
14 km 45’45.7 (3’09.5) 175
15 km 48’56.2 (3’10.5) 175
16 km 52’06.2 (3’10.0) 176
17 km 55’17.2 (3’11.0) 177 (15’52.0)
18 km 59’08.0 (3’50.0) 162
19 km 1’02’18.7 (3’10.7) 171
20 km 1’05’29.5 (3’10.8) 175
21 km 1’08’40.0 (3’10.5) 175
22 km 1’11’51.0 (3’11.0) 176
23 km 1’14’58.5 (3’07.5) 178 (15’50.5)
24 km 1’18’51.3 (3’52.8) 166
25 km 1’22’02.3 (3’11.0) 173
26 km 1’25’13.1 (3’10.8) 175
27 km 1’28’23.6 (3’10.5) 175
28 km 1’31’30.3 (3’06.7) 177
29 km 1’34’37.8 (3’07.5) 179 (15’46.5)
30 km 1’38’34.7 (3’56.9) 165
31 km 1’41’41.2 (3’06.5) 177
32 km 1’44’48.2 (3’07.0) 181
33 km 1’47’59.3 (3’11.1) 178
34 km 1’51’09.8 (3’10.5) 178
35 km 1’54’18.7 (3’08.9) 182 (15’44.0)

3:30pm: Very tired this afternoon! Managed to have a successful call with a prospective strive student despite having very little brain processing power, but mostly just laid around with the cat. Easy jog out towards the turf which was all occupied so ran big loop around CC. Quite tired so no strides this afternoon, especially with no grass/turf options available. Feet are pretty sore. Total run 6km in 29’.

Domingo, 5 de Noviembre, 2017 – 9am: Easy run solo on MVS out/back. Drizzly and grey and cool, but slept well (and very long) and legs were less beat than I expected. Started out very slow 24’ at 5K and then a bit quicker but pretty sore still. Finished at crystal drive and did 6x strides which felt decent and then home. Total run 21km in 1h40.

XT: Back/hips

3:30pm: Nice power nap after watching the replay of the NYCM (where Shalane WON with a decisive move at 23 miles). Very exciting. Ran on HAR, 3 loops (19’25, 18’46, 18’09). Definitely running a bit quicker at the end as I was very amped and channeling the marathon a bit. Legs felt much better than the AM session. Total run 14km in 63’.

XT: Hips.