Weekly Summary – 87 miles in 13 runs. The hay is in the barn! Last longer workout (10 days out) went fantastic w/ 30km at race pace + 6km faster. Now it’s time to just stay out of trouble. Here we go!

One more thing – for all my local Greater-Boston readers – if you’re an athlete looking for an exceptional sports-massage therapist who specializes in runners and injury prevention and recovery, go visit Sam Peck at SoarBody Theraputics in Davis Square (Somerville). He was crucial to helping me recover from my injury during the fall and I’m looking forward to working w/ him again to keep me healthy now that I’m back in town!

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Strava. Oh and hey if you’re reading this and don’t know about STRIVE, you should probably check ’em out. I lead groups through the mountains of Peru on a  journey of running, service learning, and adventure. If you’re interested, join us this summer, when we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families.

 

Lunes, 22 de Abril, 2019 – AM: OFF – recovery block day 2. Super productive day. Got a ton done (though spent the entire nice part of the day indoors before running in the pouring rain in the afternoon).

15:30: Ran outside in a lot of rain. In the 50s but not super windy, so got very wet but overall not too unpleasant. Legs felt very good – itching to get out the door. Ran very well from the start, 4’13 out the door and then under 4’00 for basically the rest of the run. Ran medium chuck loop since I didn’t want to tack on grass/barefoot at the end w/ the rain. Felt very smooth and relaxed. Stopped at the track at 13km in 51’ and did drills and then 6x strides in 1’59 (very good!) and then 200m in 32. Jogged 1km on the track and then home after. Total run 15km+ in 57’.

XT: Shoulder pulls, HF bands, side band walks, heel drops, toes, glutes (10x weights), bird dogs, internal/external bands.

Martes, 24 de Abril, 2019 – Sparknotes: 5km easy + 4x500m @ 1’34->1’27 (300m mod rec).

09:00: Ran down to the fields and did 5km on the grass. Felt quite good and kept it easy. Headed to the track after and did drills and then 4x strides in 1’18 and 200m super relaxed in 38 (all in cliftons) and then put on the CX for 200m (36) and then the newer pair of CX, which, without even running in them, I could feel were too big, so just went w/ the older pair.

In these, ran 4x500m w/ the a surge the last 100m, 200m, 300m @ ~16, 32, 50 for the last 3 reps. The first bit was around 75s/400m pace, so reps ended up 1’34, 1’31, 1’27, 1’26. Rec was 300m easy (70-73sec or ~3’50/km). Overall it was 2.9km in 9’33 (3’17/km avg). No problem – just good to get the legs moving.

Finished easy jog barefoot, 1.6km in 6’30, and then up mass ave to finish at the store. Total run 11km in 41’30.

XT: Shoulder pulls, toes, heel drops

16:00: Ran a bit later w/ short double. Down to the fields and 4km+ in grass. Still a bit wet from all the rain yesterday/this morning but not bad. Stopped for drills at 4.5km at ~4’20, really holding back on this one, and did drills and 4x strides in 1’19. Jogged home. Total run 5km+ in 21’.

XT: Shoulder pulls, toes, heel drops

Miercoles, 25 de Abril, 2019 – Sparknotes: 36km in 2’02’44 w/ 30km chill (3’28), last 6km @ 19’04 (3’10.6). Great!

08:00: Drove out to Lexington for one last longer run before race day (10 days out). Tried to simulate the start of the race so did no real warmup running other than jogging from the starbucks bathroom out to the bike path, maybe 200m, and then drills and 1 light stride. Took 100mg of caffeine and ate 2 oreos before starting.

Felt pretty bad at the start, which Jon promises me is a good thing and I now have several long runs following this pattern that have ended up going really well, so I guess maybe he’s right. First km felt like I was going fast but looked at my watch after 200m or so and it said like 3’5x. Looked again after another minute and the same! Weird! Not sure if it was just the lack of warmup/early start or maybe GPS got messed up to start. Ended up at 3’33 for that km and overall average was over 3’30 until like 4km. At that point I was pretty consistent at about 3’30 and knew if I got to the river around that pace, I’d be perfect, so just chilled. Had to stop only 2 times: in Arlington Center and then at Fresh Pond. Took 2 oreos at 11km.

Got to the river around 13km. Jon wasn’t there so just headed out onto the loop and met up w/ him around 14km. Got water and relaxed. Was actively trying to hold back but felt much better as soon as I got to the loop. Easily running 3’25s.

Jon and I were literally chatting that whole time from about 14km to 30km. It was actually very pleasant. Went by quickly and without any real thought or effort other than keeping track of where I was for the sake of fueling, etc. Took 1 caff gel (20mg) at 20km and another at 28km. Could have easily gotten the oreos down but wanted the caff and didn’t feel like I needed another whole 100mg from a pill.

I started accelerating in the 30th km as we came down off the arsenal bridge. I naturally used that downhill to pick it up a bit for the 2nd half of that km and was surprised to see that was 3’15. I then had 6km to go and ran the first km quick in 3’07 (tailwind on very good pavement) and then ran the next 4km very consistent in 3’11-14. This required focus and an increased effort but didn’t feel all out or terminal. It felt like somewhere in the 2nd half of a marathon.

I picked it up for the last 1km and was under 3’00 pace at 500m but then lost a bunch of time going up and over the bridge on arsenal to finish. Last km was 3’07 so 19’04 for the 6km (3’10.6 avg) to finish in 2’02’44 (3’24.6 avg).

Overall, this was a fantastic last session. The first 30km (which were well under pace, btw) felt very relaxed once I got through the first 5-10km of feeling a bit sluggish. I felt like I was itching to get going and the last 6km were very strong, especially given how little running I’ve done at that pace over the last 2 months.

I don’t think this will leave me too beat-up. The finish felt tough but manageable and I was able to easily jog back to Jon’s car after w/ no issue. Honestly, getting up at 04:30 was probably the hardest part about this session.

Now, time to recover, chill, and stay out of trouble for 10 days.

Splits:
5 km 17’21.0 (17’21.0)
10 km 34’38.0 (17’17.0)
15 km 51’57.0 (17’19.0)
20 km 1’09’05.0 (17’08.0)
25 km 1’26’21.0 (17’16.0)
30 km 1’43’24.0 (17’03.0)
31 km 1’46’31.0 (3’07.0)
32 km 1’49’42.0 (3’11.0)
33 km 1’52’56.0 (3’14.0)
34 km 1’56’09.0 (3’13.0)
35 km 1’59’21.0 (3’12.0)
36 km 2’02’28.0 (3’07.0) – 19’04 last 6K, 3’10.6 avg

Fueling:
T-15 min: 100mg caffeine, 2 oreos
35’: 2 oreos
48’: First water (met up w/ Jon)
70’ (20K+): 1 caff gel (100kcal, 20mg caff)
(28km+): 1 caff gel (100kcal, 20mg caff)

XT: Heel drops, toes.

15:00: Easy shakeout around the turf barefoot. Warm and sunny, around 60F. Overdressed a lot as it looks to be warm next week. Felt surprisingly good. Barefoot felt good. Stopped at 3.5km and did drills and 4x strides in 1’22. Jogged up to h-mart after to grab sushi for dinner. Walked home. Lovely day. Total run 5km+ in 20’30.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Jueves, 25 de Abril, 2019 – 09:15: Slept very well last night. Still felt decent this morning and ran very easy on Sci Museum Loop. Cooler in the 40s and really over-dressed w/ warm forecast. A bit less than 8km to the track and then did drills and 6x strides in 2’02 and then 200m in 32.3. Very good for day after a long workout! Finished w/ 1.5km barefoot on turf and walked home. Total run 10km+ in 42’30.

XT: Shoulder pulls, HF bands, side band walks, heel drops, toes, glutes (10x weights), bird dogs, internal/external bands.

14:15: Ran earlier so I could finish in time for appointment at SoarBody w/ Sam Peck. Jogged to the track and did about 3km barefoot on turf. Overdressed a lot but felt good, very relaxed. Did drills and then 4x strides in 80.0 and then jogged to the T. All good! Total run 5km in 21’.

XT: Shoulder pulls, heel drops, toes.

XT2: Good very deep session w/ Sam Peck at SoarBody. Left hamstring and calves a bit tight. Good deep work overall. Pretty sore after this in the evening (in a good way).

Viernes, 26 de Abril, 2019 – 09:00: Filthy outside (40s, wind, rain — love you BOS) and trying to stay heat acclimated so did the morning run on the treadmill in layers (tights, 2x long sleeve, jacket, hat gloves, and no fan). Actually felt pretty good though HR got very high. Started out around 4’30/km and quickly worked down to 4’00 and then progressed to about 3’30 last km. 2K splits were: 8’28, 8’04, 7’17, 7’02 for 30’53. Did drills but no strides. Very sweaty but much better than the run I did the morning of the BOS Marathon which was slower, shorter, and in fewer layers, so that’s a good sign in terms of heat. Total run 8km+ in 31’.

XT: Shoulder pulls, heel drops, toes

15:45: Ran later after walking the loop at Sydney labs w/ the wheel/chalk to measure out the loop I’m going to try to use tomorrow. It is 1067m. Marked each 100m and took photos of each spot so I should be able to re-mark it without wheeling if so. Very flat but pretty heavily trafficked at this hour. Hopefully Saturday morning will be quiet, though. Ran 4 laps on here. GPS read short each time but looking at GPS it’s struggling w/ the first corner by the taller buildings. Read between 1.03-1.05km. Legs felt good though. Weather was ugly, 44F, rain, wind. Lovely late-April day! Did drills and 4x strides on bike path and then home. Total run 5.5km++ in 22’30.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Sabado, 27 de Abril, 2019 – 08:30am: Last medium workout before the race – 1 week out! Goal was to do 10-15km continuous, starting at race pace and moving up to MP or faster. Weather was absolutely filthy. Warmed up solo and then around the road loop I’d wheel’d the day before. Wind was awful and it was cool, in the 40s.

Felt good on the warmup and then changed into CX and did drills and strides and then 200m in 36.

Everything started out going well. First 5km were extremely relaxed in ~17’17. Felt honestly pretty boring and could not make myself run slow enough. Each lap was slower than the one before but the slowest was still 3’29/km. Accelerated a bit in the second half of the 5th lap and then tried to get into the MP section. Ran 3’13, 3’19, 3’22 for the first 3km and was really just eating it w the wind. Took a minute or so pause after 8 laps to see if that would help and ran 3 more km in 3’11, 13, 18, and then just decided to go inside and do the rest on the mill as the wind was too obnoxious.

Felt decent running inside and ran from 3’12-> 3’04 for the last 3km in 9’24.

Total run (w/ 2 short pauses) was 14.7km in 48’46 (3’18.6 overall avg).

Definitely wish the quicker running had felt better, but (A) I won’t need to do any running at that pace next weekend and (B) I’ll blame it on the filthy conditions.

Cooled down very short back home.

Total run 19km in 71’.

1.067 km 0’03’39.0 (3’39.0) (3’25.2)
2.134 km 0’07’20.6 (3’41.6) (3’27.7)
3.201 km 0’11’02.6 (3’42.0) (3’28.1)
4.268 km 0’14’45.8 (3’43.2) (3’29.2)
5.335 km 0’18’26.3 (3’40.5) (3’26.7) (17’16.8)
6.402 km 0’21’52.9 (3’26.6) (3’13.6)
7.469 km 0’25’25.4 (3’32.5) (3’19.2)
8.536 km 0’29’01.3 (3’35.9) (3’22.3)
9.603 km 0’32’25.1 (3’23.8) (3’11.0)
10.670 km 0’35’51.5 (3’26.4) (3’13.4) (16’19.6)
11.737 km 0’39’22.9 (3’31.4) (3’18.1)
14.737 km 0’48’46.9 (9’24.0) (3’08.0)

XT: Shoulder pulls, toes, heel drops, pedestal (8’, 10x weights).

18:15: Ran later after lazy afternoon w/ Mar. Ran on treadmill in tights/longsleeves, wool hat. No warmup or drills but basically started out right at 3’30 pace feeling smooth. Did 3km in ~10’25 and then 1km surge from 3’05->2’52 or so (2’56.7) and then relaxed back into 3’30 for the last K. No problem. Felt great. Total run 5km+ in 16’50

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Domingo, 28 de Abril, 2019 – 09:15: Ran w/ Mar down to the river and then met up w/ Chris Batoo and ran w/ him on Sci Museum loop very easy ~5’00/km. Cool again so really overdressed but felt fine. Nice to run very slow for the first time in a while. Got back to the track and did about 6’ barefoot ~4’00 pace and then drills, 6x strides in 1’56 (!!), and then 200m in 31.5. Legs are feeling great! Total run 10km in 47’.

XT: Shoulder pulls, HF bands, side band walks, heel drops, toes, glutes (10x weights), bird dogs, internal/external bands (only 7x reps on all).

16:15: Ran on treadmill in sweats. Probably last one of these. Day 1 of depletion and energy level felt okay but had really bad gas cramps. Kept pace easy 4’40 down to 4’00, most around 4’10. Total run 5km in 21’.

XT: Heel drops, toes.