Weekly Summary – 102 miles in 13 runs. Two nice little quicker sessions, a decent long run, and consistent mileage as I get back into it 2+ weeks after the 50K. Big things coming!

 

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Strava (GPS included!). Don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2018 Programs – we’ve still got a few spaces available for high schoolers, college interns, and adults! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for the summer of 2018, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

 

Lunes, 23 de Abril, 2018 – 10am: Slept later again and ran up in the metropolitano. Going to try to do this more in prep for VCM now as it’s so hilly and now that the rain seems to mostly have stopped. Beautiful run up there through the forests. So awesome that I can be up there in less than 10 minutes running and really feel like I’m way out of the city. Super hilly as always and still never quite take the same route twice but did a big loop of about 10km and then stopped on the way down through bellavista and did 6x strides and 200m+ on the road in 36. Jogged down after. Total 12km+ in 58’ (very good pace for this loop!)

XT: Toes

5pm: Ran clockwork shakeout down to the Carolina. Legs felt very good. Ran 1 big lap in 16’06 and then to the track 8km in 34’30. 4x strides which felt really good. Beautiful afternoon – seems that the afternoon rains may be tapering off. Just sunshine today. Jogged home. Total run 10km++ in 43’.

XT: Single leg squats (2x 6x each leg)

Martes, 24 de Abril, 2018 – Sparknotes: 10x 250m @ 42.3 avg (2’49/km), 150m rec @ 41.5, 4’36/km. 3.85km in 13’15 (3’26/km avg).

7am: First track workout with the dudes since the 50K this morning. Wanted to do something real light just to loosen up the legs a bit. Jogged down to the track and met up with the crew. Good to see everyone again. Beautiful morning, sun coming up and warming things up nicely.

Usual warmup with extensive drills and then 20’ jogging. Strides 3x and then into the workout with Miguel and Jose Luis. Ran the workout in the HOKA prototype shoe – the carbon X.

Felt quite good once we got rolling. Definitely felt a bit weird to be running quicker again for the first couple reps but got into a very good rhythm. Kept rest decently quick ~4’30-40/km for only about 40 seconds to cover 150m and all the reps were 42-43 for the first 8x, alternating leads. These felt good and not super terminal but definitely couldn’t have gone much quicker today, especially with the short rest.

Ran the last 2x a bit harder, 41 and 40 to finish up. Still had plenty in the tank, it turned out!

Jogged barefoot on the grass to cooldown very slow first solo (as the guys were doing 16x reps) and then with them. Beautiful morning. Nice time with the boys afterwards hanging in the pool and then drove downtown to register for the Heroes 10K!

Total run 14km++ in 64’.

XT: Toes

4:30pm: Easy clockwork shakeout around the park. Legs felt good, butt a bit sore. Really beautiful and sunny again – fingers crossed that this weather pattern is the new normal! Ran 1 big lap in 16’16 and then quicker to the track in 35’ for 8km. Stopped and did 4x strides which felt good and then home easy. Total run 10km in 43’.

XT: Single leg squats: 3x 5x each leg

Miercoles, 25 de Abril, 2018 – 10am: Slept late again and ran later up in the metro. Beautiful morning but was a bit sore, I think more from the single leg squats than anything else. Ran a similar loop to Monday (but never quite the same up there). Very hilly as always and averaged just under 5’00/km coming out of the park. Stopped on the way down and did strides on the same stretch of road and then 200m+ (uphill) in 36.x. This will probably be my new easy morning loop to get more work on the hills. Total run 12km in 58’.

XT: Toes

4pm: Ran a bit earlier before Alta Andina meeting. Cloudy with a couple thunder claps this afternoon but no rain during the rain, maybe a handful of drops. Still a bit sore but better than the morning. Ran 1 big lap in 16’22 and then to the track in 35’ for 8km. Stopped and did 4x strides and then home. Total run 10km++ in 44’.

Jueves, 26 de Abril, 2018 – Sparknotes: Fartlek 11km in 35’15 (3’12 avg – ??) w/ 7x 2’ on/1’ off, 6x 1’ on/1’ off, 3x 30” on/30” off.

11:30am: Ran much later after getting up early and driving to Otavalo with the AA boys. Ran from La Parada easy down to the dirt track which is about a mile through town. Track turned out to be beautiful. Perfect running surface: nice packed dirt that’s just hard enough not to be slick or soft but not lumpy either. Really, really great to run on. Ran 4km total for warmup and felt surprisingly good despite the early wakeup and long car ride. 4km+ in 17’.

Did drills and a few strides in the new HOKA Evo racer prototypes which I really like. Similar to the tracer but I like the angle that the foot lies in the shoe a bit better. Also the toe box is a bit wider which I really like.

Anyway, plan was to do a fartlek w/ a slight progression from last week which was 10km of 1’/1’ with a few 30”/30” at the end. So, I decided to do the meat of the work (the first 15-20 min) w/ 2’/1’ reps and then 1’/1’ and a few 30”/30” to finish out for a total of 10-12km. Obviously this would be faster this week as I was on the track instead of the hilly chaquiñan but everything was by effort so didn’t really matter.

The garmin was almost certainly reading long on the first few reps where it said I was running like 2’45-55/km for the 2’ reps at what felt more like 3’00-05 pace, but then seemed to settle down after that. Everything was pretty much by effort so wasn’t taking any real splits or anything, just running hard for 2’ and moderate for 1’ (probably around 3’45/km).

I ended up doing 20’ of the 2’/1’ pattern (7x) and then did 1’/1’ 6x to get to about 10km in 32’00 (probably not that fast b/c of the garmin on the first few reps) and then finished out running 30” reps to get in 1 more km to 11km (35’15, 3’12 avg, again probably too fast).

Aerobically pretty tough (this is still at 8300 ft) but definitely felt good to move the legs and get in some quicker continuous running on a flat track.

Cool down felt good and ran 2km back in 9’.

Total run 17km.

XT: Toes

5pm: Ran easy shakeout from La Parada up the hill behind the train tracks on some roads that were beautiful dirt and then later shitty cobbles. Found a nice dirt road that traversed the hillside above town which was spectacular with the sun setting and clouds over the mountains. Came down an extremely steep street and ended up basically back at the track after only about 2km, so continued to follow the train tracks out of town. Found some decent walking trails that paralleled the tracks but kind of ended and spit me out onto the rocky mess alongside the traintracks so turned back at that point, about 4.5km and headed back, did about 1.5km on the track and then stopped and did 4x strides. Legs felt good there, no issues from the morning. Jogged back after. Total run 10km+ in 44’37.

Viernes, 27 de Abril, 2018 – 10am: Slept late and ran late. Really needed a long sleep – super, super tired yesterday. Felt much better this AM and ran quicker than expected. In the Carolina, two big laps (16’10, 15’10), so legs definitely feeling good. Ran back to the track and then did 6x strides and 200m in 32.5. Lovely sunny morning. Trying to enjoy every day I’ve got here with less than 4 weeks to go! Total run 12km++ in 51’.

XT: Toes

4pm: Ran with Brittany nice and easy around the park. Quite slow but good to hold back for a run and have some company. Ran the usual 10K clockwork w/ Brittany until I got to the track and then solo, 4x strides, and home. Total run 10km+ in 46’.

XT: Toes, single leg squats (3x 6x each leg)

Sabado, 28 de Abril, 2018 – 10am: Really getting on a late schedule here. Need to get back in the swing of things. Ran up to metro and a big loop around the park. Foggy and drizzly, though, so it was a mudfest and really slipping and sliding a lot, almost to the extent that I wanted to pop out and just run on the roads a couple of times. Really poor footing in a few places, especially on some of the steeper downhills which I almost had to walk down. Stopped on the way out and did 6x strides and 200m+ on the pavement and then home a longer route to round up. Total run 12km in 59’.

XT: Toes

5pm: Easy clockwork shakeout around the park. Legs felt a bit heavy but kept it pretty easy. 1 big lap in 16’10 and then to the track about 36’ for 8km. 4x strides and home. Total run 10km++ in 45’.

XT: Toes.

Domingo, 29 de Abril, 2018 – Sparknotes: 25km single in 1’36’04 on hilly pavement route in Quito (9300ft). Bonked a bit after starting too late and going out aggressively, cut short from intended 30K.

12:15pm: Started running really late after spending the morning w/ Mariana going to the IQ office which was great but took a lot longer than planned.