Weekly Summary – 131 Miles in 14 runs. First real week of training after the 50K World Champs. Two great workouts and feeling great as I begin the final push for the US Olympic Trials. Less than 8 weeks to go!
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Lunes, 14 de Diciembre, 2015 – 8am: Slept very well last night – super exhausted from the travel. Unsure of exactly what I was going to do but wanted to try some quicker running if I felt good. Ran 10km easy out/back on MVS in 42’ and then stopped and changed into flats and did drills and 5x short hills. After, jogged about 1km and then did fartlek of 3’ at ~MP down to HMP and 1 min moderate (~3’30/km). This felt pretty decent actually. Did 10km of work in 32’15 but definitely could have done more. Last km ran harder around 2’55, but otherwise quite consistent. Finished at gym for legs. Total run was 14M+.
XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)].
4pm: Easy shakeout down to fields and then barefoot on turf for 5-6km. Finished with 4 diagonals and ethio drills. Total run 6M+.
Martes, 15 de Diciembre, 2015 – 8am: Easy run on Matt’s loop. Started African style super slow and running much quicker by the end. Like this style! Super windy too which helped having tailwind on the way back. Stopped at field and did 3 diagonals, Ethio cool down, then jogged to Costco and back. Total run 13M in 1h34.
XT: Back/hips
4pm: Easy shakeout to fields and then 5km barefoot on turf. Felt good by the end. 4 diagonals barefoot at end which felt good. Finished jog to store. Ethio cool down. Total run 5M++ in 40’.
XT: Hips.
Miercoles, 16 de Diciembre, 2015 – Sparknotes: 20km Fartlek in 63’25 (3’10/km avg) with 2x [3k (9’36, 9’30), 2k (5’57, 5’56), 1k (2’49, 2’48)] + 2x 500m (1’19) with 1km moderate (3’28 avg) between each rep.
Longer: Workout Wednesday today! First more focused effort since getting back from traveling and after the 50K. Goal was to do a fartlek of about 20km with some running at MP and some running at faster than MP. The reps were 3k, 2k, 1k, 3k, 2k, 1k, + 2x500m. Everything had 1km moderate between.
Warmed up 5km easy and then did drills and a few strides. Felt pretty good. Ran workout on bikepath. Good weather – cool in the 50s, not windy.
First rep felt pretty comfortable at MP for 9’37. The next rep was much harder to run 5’57 for 2km – this change of pace felt quite significant. The last 1km wasn’t that bad as it was so short that it didn’t require as much focus. All the rest km were around 3’25-3’30.
The next set was similar. The MP 3k felt quite comfortable and was quicker without really trying. The 2km felt tough, and the last 1km felt a lot harder but still manageable. The last 2x500m were just fun and a good chance to open up the legs.
The total run was 20km in 63’25 (3’10.3/km avg). That’s quite quick for a fartlek. I did 20km of 2k/1k in September which was 62’45 or so but that was a much harder workout. This was a really great effort.
Finished with very short cooldown, 1km very slow, and finished at the gym for legs.
Full Splits
1 km 3’14.9 (3’14.9)
2 km 6’26.0 (3’11.1)
3 km 9’37.2 (3’11.2) (9’37.2)
4 km 13’04.7 (3’27.5)
5 km 16’04.6 (2’59.9)
6 km 19’02.2 (2’57.6) (5’57.5)
7 km 22’31.6 (3’29.4)
8 km 25’21.0 (2’49.4) (2’49.4)
9 km 28’49.8 (3’28.8)
10 km 31’59.8 (3’10.0)
11 km 35’08.3 (3’11.5)
12 km 38’14.5 (3’09.2) (9’30.7)
13 km 41’41.3 (3’29.8)
14 km 44’37.7 (2’59.4)
15 km 47’31.7 (2’57.0) (5’56.4)
16 km 50’58.6 (3’29.9)
17 km 53’49.2 (2’48.8) (2’48.8)
18 km 57’21.5 (3’30.5)
18.5 km 58’46.2 (1’19.9) (1’19.9)
19.5 km 1’02’06.1 (3’22.9)
20 km 1’03’25.8 (1’19.7) (1’19.7)
XT: Legs at the gym. No weights because I was quite muscularly sore from the circuit on Monday. 3 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)].
5pm: Ran later and solo out to the fields and then about 3km barefoot on the turf. African style – much quicker by the end and finished with 4 diagonals which felt quite good. Total run 4M+ in 30’.
Jueves, 17 de Diciembre, 2015 – 9am: Left late, rainy! Ran VERY hilly loops around Arlington Ridge. Great spot and very challenging grades. Will try to do this at least once a week to get on some hillier ground. Rain not too bad and not too cold despite being mid December. Finished with a loop over to the turf field by costco and 4x diagonals. Jogged home. Ethio cooldown. Total run 12M in 90’.
XT: Back/hips
3:30pm: Easy shakeout down to fields. Rain had stopped which was nice. Did 4km barefoot, 4x diagonals and then jogged home. Ethio cooldown. Total run 5M- in 38’.
XT: Core
Viernes, 18 de Diciembre, 2015 – 8am: Easy run today with first MP workout tomorrow. Ran potomac park loop – very windy and chilly in the 40s. Felt pretty rough out the door but like this whole starting super slow thing and was running much quicker by the end. Almost the whole PP loop on fairly uneven grass which felt good – definitely improving my lower-leg strength and balance. Finished at the fields, 3 very easy diagonals and then home. Total run 12M in 1h27.
XT: Back/hips.
4pm: Very easy shakeout to fields and barefoot for 2k. Really cold and windy. Finished at the gym for hips. Total run 4M.
XT: Hips
Sabado, 19 de Diciembre, 2015 – Sparknotes: First marathon long run: 30k (18.6 miles) in 1’36’20 (3’12/km, 5’10/mile, 2’15’29 marathon pace).
8:30am: First big marathon workout this morning. A bit nervous for this one as this is a very different stimulus than I’ve been working on and I didn’t know how it was going to feel. I’ve had this first MP workout go really well (in the spring I ran 30k and felt very good and ran quick) and I’ve had it go very poorly (last fall, I was only able to make it like 16km on pace). But I ended up in good shape at the end of both of those seasons, so no real pressure.
The goal was to run somewhere between 20 and 30km at goal marathon pace (~3’10-12/km, or 5’06-09/mile). This is obviously a big range but I was really just trying to get a sense of where I am right now in terms of marathon fitness. I know I’ve got a huge aerobic base from all the 50K training and the huge block of mileage I’ve done in the first half of this build-up, but I wasn’t sure how that would pan out over a slightly faster pace.
I had no real breakfast – a big dinner last night and then just coffee and a few animal crackers to settle the stomach this morning. Headed out around 8:30am. It was quite cold and windy, in the 30s and 10-15mph winds. Ran 5km loop on the bike path with powerade each 5k and gels each 10k.
Started out feeling okay but never really felt that easy, despite starting out a bit slower than target pace. At the turn around at 2.5k, I had the wind to my back and that felt a lot better and I was running quicker without really trying. Passed 5k (16’05). Next lap was about the same but I was surprised to already feel some muscular soreness, especially in my calfs and glutes.
I should note here that I was running in the flats that I’m planning to wear in the marathon. I haven’t done much running at all in these shoes and they definitely have a different feel than the Clifton (which is what I’ve been doing all my other runs in). I think that it’ll prove to be a better shoe for the marathon but I think it’ll take a few workouts to let my body get used to it.
I passed 10k in 32’15 (16’10 second 5k) and then turned back into the wind again. Really worked this lap but was feeling pretty beat and wasn’t sure how much past 15k I was going to make it at this point. Again, felt much better turning around and was running a lot quicker coming back, through 15k in 48’10 (15’55 5k).
Didn’t think I had much more and took an actively much slower lap, especially the first 2.5km out into the wind again. This seemed to help and I actually felt pretty good by 18-19km and figured I could now make it at least to 21k. Passed 20k in 64’29 and then HM in 67’5x. At this point, the easier 5k seemed to have done the trick and after the turn around I found myself running back to 3’10-12 without too much problem. For the first time in the whole workout, I finally felt that I was getting into a groove and was able to zone out and the pace just came.
At 25km (1’20’25, 15’56 5k), I thought I had another couple km in me and figured I would just run until the pace started to drop. At 27k, I knew I could make it to the turn around and from there I just told myself it would be easy with the wind behind me. It was not easy, definitely a grind, but certainly helped to have a tailwind last few km.
Finished with 15’55 last 5k for 1’36’20 for 30km (3’12.7/km, 5’10/mile, 2’15’30 marathon pace).
Cooled down short and VERY slow shuffle back home. Total run 21M.
Overall, I was super pleased with this, especially how bad I felt at the 10-15k mark. Worth noting that muscularly I was VERY sore after this and I think that a lot of that can be attributed to the new and lighter shoes. My calfs in particular were really shot by the end. I think that the shoes feel “faster” but I also feel the impact of the ground a lot more than with the clifton, so it leaves me a little more beat up afterward. I’ll be very cautious with recovery over the next few days.
6pm: Ran late with Mar after going to Hunger Games in the afternoon. Very easy shuffle at first, quicker the last few minutes. Total run 2M+, NT.
Domingo, 20 de Diciembre, 2015 – 9am: Slept late. Easy run on Matt’s loop. Quite slow to start and quicker by the end. Felt decent. Cold in the 30s. Finished to fields, 5x strides, progressive, very controlled, and then home. Ethio cooldown. Total run 20km+, 12.5M in 1’34.
XT: Back/hips.
4pm: Easy shakeout on MVN out/back. No barefoot with calfs still a bit sore from yesterday. African start, felt pretty good by the end. Ethio cooldown. Total run 5M in 37’.
XT: Core.
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