Weekly Summary – 91 miles in 6 days. Another weird week with a travel day and general hit-or-miss running. Still haven’t felt consistently decent running quickly, though got into a slightly better routine w/ easy/moderate running. Looking forward to wrapping up this year and starting fresh in Quito.
Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Trackster.
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 Internships for College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families.
Lastly, I’m very grateful to support from Outback Physcial Therapy here in Somerville, MA. Dr. Ithamar Jokowitz has been a great help in analyzing my gate and physiology and helping me put together a specific strength-training regimen to really dial things in. If you’re interested in improving your running mechanics, enhancing your recovery, learning about what injuries you might be at risk for, or even get your VO2 max tested, he’s definitely the guy to see in the area!
Lunes, 23 de Diciembre, 2019 – 10am: Longer single this morning trying to frontload a bit (and back to back long runs). Mapped out a longer loop out to the Chuck to Fresh Pond to Menotomy to the back of No Hill to rev Long Lakes back through Tufts to highland ave to home. Felt pretty long and mostly just want to get used to doing longer singles. Pace was fine and legs felt okay. Ate two chewy bars (100 cal each) and a gel (every 40’). Finished w/ drills and 6x strides + 200m in ~36 (garmin) on bike path as there’s still snow/ice on the track. Total run 33km+ in 2h17 (4’14 avg).
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (8x weights)
16:30: Short turnaround w/ late morning run. Ran down to turf field which was somehow clear (thanks to black surface) though the lines were a bit icy. Almost ate shit once. Did entire run around the turf (~300m per lap). Felt great to get off pavement. Finished w/ drills and 4x strides (out on bike path). Total run 10km+ in 43’.
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes
Martes, 24 de Diciembre, 2019 – 06:00: Ran very early to try to get some quicker miles in before busy day. Felt terrible and basically bailed immediately. Energy was just not there. Came back and crawled back into bed and then ran very slow and easy (like 5’30/km) w/ Mar for about 30’. Frustrating to just have so much inconsistency this block but I guess that’s usually how December goes for me. Total run 11.5km in 50’.
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (8x weights)
15:00: Ran on treadmill at VC’s. Felt much better than expected. Ran at 3% as treadmill is super bouncy and still felt too easy for pace. Ran from like 7’30/M down to 5’15/M, last 5km 3’48, 41, 37, 31, 19. Total run 10km+ in 39’.
XT: Heel drops
Miercoles, 25 de Diciembre, 2019 – 09:30: Ran from Lolandy’s house w/ Mar to our apt and back to check on RP. Cold and a bit icy and pretty tired. Ran quicker on the way back as we didn’t have a ton of time. Total run 7.5km++ in 37’50.
XT: Heel drops, toes
11:30am: (Kind of still the same run) — ran from Emerson hospital corner back to the VC’s house as that was all I had time for. Planned to originally run all the way from Brookline to Concord but prioritized spending some extra time w/ fam. Running felt much better and running 4’0x feeling good. Finished w/ drills and strides (6x) on road which felt quite good. Total run 5.7km in 23’.
18:15: Ran w/ David at CCHS turf field. Wanted to get in some softer miles so drove over there and did the entire run around the fields. It’s 2x football fields connected but there was still snow on about 30% of it, plus a net in the middle, so we had to make some weird zig-zaggy loops. Very much night time and chilly but nice to have company for most of it and force me to run a bit slower. Finished a tad quicker solo the last km or so and then did drills and 4x strides. Total run 10km+ in 47’.
XT: Heel drops, toes
Jueves, 26 de Diciembre, 2019 – 10:45: Ran very easy w/ Dave around TH. Over 5’00/km for the most part. Finished solo w/ drills and 8x strides and then ~200m up/down hill. Total run 6.5km in 32’.
XT: Heel drops, toes.
XT2: Went to Brooklyn Boulders w/ B and David. Had a good time climbing but felt very out of climbing shape. Got worked hard and quickly. Tired!
17:30: Ran solo from home down to turf field and did the whole run there. Nice to get on the softer ground again. A bit tired to start but much better by the end, down to 4’0x last few km. Finished w/ drills and 4x strides on track in 1’20 — finally felt good and ran quicker!
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (8x weights)
Viernes, 27 de Diciembre, 2019 – 10:20: Slept late and well and ran easy on medium Chuck. Felt pretty good and ran from 4’30s-> 4’0x. Snow/ice mostly melted but soft surfaces are pretty sloppy still. Finished at track w/ drills and 6x strides in 2’05 and 200m in 33.8. Jogged home. Total run 15km+ in 63’30.
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (8x weights)
14:30: Finally ran early enough to beat the sunset (just about). Ran to my optometrist appointment and then to Lola’s car which I drove back to their house and then ran from there back to MIT and finished on the real grass for the last few km. Did drills and strides on the track (4x in 1’20) and then easy jog home. Still dark by the time I got home. Total run 10km+ in 43’.
XT: upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, Pedestal (8x weights) + Jwal Core
Sabado, 28 de Diciembre, 2019 – Sparknotes: AM: 8x 3′ fast, 1’30 mod; PM: 10x 3′ fast, 1′ mod (on treadmill).
08:00: Warmed up outside for last planned workout here in BOS before heading to Spain and then Quito! Felt pretty good on the warmup, just 2km or so and then drills/strides inside. Workout was supposed to be a longer treadmill fartlek alternating 1km quick, 400m moderate. Hoped to start around 3’20 and work down to 3’05-10. Ended up really eating shit. Ran at only 0.5% (usually I’ve been using 2% incline) and was struggling to run 3’15-20/km for 1K. Body is just really fucked up right now and I think the treadmill has been exacerbating some issues w/ my left achilles which is probably affecting perceived effort as well. Planned to do 30-40km total and only got through 8 reps which ended up being about 11km. Finished w/ short cooldown as left achilles was quite tender. Total run 17km in 62’.
XT: With more time since the workout was cut short, did whole leg circuit which now consists of:
3 sets of 10x [Static lunge on bosu ball, Step up/down, split squat, side lunge, air squat] (first set no weight then 10-20 lb)
Then: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes
12:00: Short turn-around. Thought about running outside on the track and doing 100/100 fartlek but made it about 500m before turning back as left achilles was quite tender. Ended up just using elliptical and doing 3’ hard, 1’ moderate for 40’, w/ last 7 min continuous. Overdressed since I’d planned to run outside and HR was very high and effort very solid. Last 7’ piece avg HR was 181 and in the 180s for the last 3x 3’ reps before that. Very good aerobic effort at least and good mental practice of pushing and also making the best of a shitty day. Total work 45’.
XT: OFF, busy day seeing the folks before heading to BOS for 5pm flight to MAD.
Domingo, 29 de Diciembre, 2019 – OFF. Pretty smacked when I got to MAD (despite fairly easy trip). Slept for a few hours and then was basically busy w/ family stuff for most of the day anyway. Left achilles still a bit sore so want to take at least today and maybe tomorrow off to be careful. Planned rec block during my time here in Spain anyway, so doesn’t really matter.
XT: Did some heel drops and stretching and slept a lot.
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