Weekly Summary – 105 miles in 11 runs (6 days basically). A great race at the Mad City 50K on Saturday where I ran the fastest time in the USA this year with 2’56’01, setting the course record and earning myself an auto-selection on the 2016 World Championship team! Time for some recovery and then a few more races before we call it a season.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews). And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2016 Programs! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for 2016, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even a 10-day trip for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience! Finally, I have a few spots open for athletes looking for custom training plans and online coaching. Check out my site and email me if you’re interested!

The week was highlighted by a victory at the Mad City 50K and an auto-selection to the 2016 World Championship team.

Lunes, 4 de Abril, 2016 – 9am: Easy run on MVS to sports authority to get some more gels and then around CC. Felt okay, hammy a bit irksome. Total run 12M in 90’.

XT: Back/hips.

5pm: Easy shakeout around CC. Hamstring much better. Total run 6M in 40’.

XT: Core.

Martes, 5 de Abril, 2016 – Sparknotes: 10km in 33’40 with first 5km ~50K pace (17’30) and 2nd 5k progressing to faster (16’10).

8:30am: Light workout today with a Saturday race. 3rd day of carb depletion, so felt a bit logy from the start, but ended up going well.

Goal was just to do 8-10km with the first 5km very controlled around 50k RP (ideally starting a bit slower and working into it as we’re planning to do in the race) and then accelerating after to whatever’s there (not anything crazy).

Warmed up very short to mimic race start (2km, drills, no strides) and then went into the run. Did this on the 1k wheel loop, so had split feedback every 200m at first to make sure I was about on pace but just paid attention every 1km or so after that.

Felt very good if a bit low energy and splits were perfect (just about every km faster than the previous). First 5km very comfortable in 17’30 from 3’33->3’26. After that, picked it up a few seconds per km for each lap. Last lap felt (3’05) a bit quick but never felt particularly terminal.

The total was 10km in 33’40 (17’30, 16’10).

Hamstring felt good – felt it sometimes but didn’t impede my stride or mess with my form, so I’m feeling quite confident going into Saturday.

Cooled down longer. Ethio cooldown.

Total run 13M

Splits
1 km 3’32.9 (3’32.9)
2 km 7’05.8 (3’32.9)
3 km 10’37.1 (3’31.3)
4 km 14’04.4 (3’27.3)
5 km 17’30.2 (3’25.8) (17’30.2)
6 km 20’53.0 (3’22.8)
7 km 24’11.6 (3’18.6)
8 km 27’25.1 (3’13.5)
9 km 30’35.3 (3’10.2)
10 km 33’40.2 (3’04.9) (16’10.0)

4pm: Easy shakeout around CC loop. Very depleted and tired. This is always the toughest 12 hours. Didn’t bother timing it. Total run 5M, NT.

Miercoles, 6 de Abril, 2016 – 8am: Woke up early and had some breakfast and felt much better basically immediately to be back on the CHO train. Ran easy around CC loop. Cold this morning in the 30s and windy! I guess good training for Madison which looks to be chilly. Legs felt fine and running around 4’00-10/km for the most part. Total run 10M in 65’.

XT: Back/hips, no weight.

5pm: Easy shakeout solo around CC loop. Felt good, running quicker around 4’00 with 1km quicker around 3’30. Jogged with Mariana over to the mall after very slow. Total run 6M, NT.

XT: Core

Jueves, 7 de Abril, 2016 – 8am: Gross morning, very rainy and in the 50s. Ran 2km easy and then did drills and 3km at ~50K RP in 10’30. Started out way too fast around 3’15-20 pace for first 500m or so and then was really forcing myself to like jog and still running 3’30-low. Felt very good. Jogged back after before travel day. Total run 5M, NT.

6pm (Central Time): Flew to Chicago and then drove up to Madison. Did an easy shakeout from the hotel. Nice little bike path right out the back door was nice since we’re in strip-mall-heaven. Felt very good. Ran out/back about 25’. Total run 4M.

Viernes, 8 de Abril, 2016 – 9am (central): Drove to the race course and ran most of one 10km loop. Chilly in the 30s and very windy this morning (20MPH). Course is very nice – beautiful loop around the lake and not as hilly as I’d expected. One moderate climb around 2.5-3M and then another one at maybe 1M that’s quite short. Very gently rolling otherwise and then very flat from about 4.5-6.2M. Overall, it’s probably no slower than Doha (ignoring weather). Doha is pancake flat, but the hairpin turns are probably just as energy sapping as the minor hills here.

Anyway, legs felt fantastic today. Running 6’30ish was a jog. A TINY increase in focus and I ran 1km in 3’29. I am now sure that forcing myself to hold back and run over 3’30 in the first lap will take serious effort. Very excited for this one!

Total run 6M in 33’.

PM: OFF – resting and relaxing in lovely Madison (mostly in the hotel). Ice bath and dinner around 6pm. Bed early.

Sabado, 9 de Abril, 2016 – Sparknotes: Mad City 50k. 1st place, 2’56’01 (PR) . Got the auto selection with sub-3h and victory, exactly what I wanted. Big move at 34km and accelerated a lot that lap. Didn’t push it at all on the last 10km as I knew I had the win unless I totally imploded. Hills felt much tougher than I expected; quads were beat by the end. Still, pleased. Very well executed.

Longer write-up to come.

10k laps
35’15
1’10’09 (34’54)
1’45’06 (34’57)
2’19’37 (34’31) (marathon ~2’27’30)
2’56’01 (36’24)

 

The home stretch after 49.5km of cold running!

The home stretch after 49.5km of cold running!

Domingo, 10 de Abril, 2016 – AM: Decent length walk around Chicago with the fam. Quads still very beat, especially walking down stairs

1pm: Ran on treadmill in gym for 10’ because it was like 35F and raining and I wanted to be able to bail. Ran less than 1M VERY slow. Legs quite sore so stopped and then did 25’ on stationary bike at very low resistance before we had to leave.