Weekly Summary – 100 miles in 11 runs. Great week with two very good workouts and a nice 3-day recovery block (hence the lower overall mileage). Less than 6 weeks to the US Olympic Trials Marathon!

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews). And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2016 Programs, including the newly announced STRIVE-Peru: Spring Break program! 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!

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Lunes, 28 de Diciembre, 2015 – 10am: Left late with a long STRIVE call this morning. Ran easy around CCS for 6km and then stopped and changed into flats. Did drills and then 8x short hill sprints (full recovery). Felt quite good on these.

After, jogged to 1km loop and ran fartlek of 1’ on/1’ off. “On” pace was 2’48-3’00/km, “off” pace was 3’10-20/km. Total as 5km in 15’23.

Could have run longer but legs were starting to feel it a bit and want to make sure I’m ready to go for a big effort the day after tomorrow.

Cooled down short 1M to the gym for legs.

Total run 10M+.

Fartlek Splits
1 km 3’09.8 (3’09.8)
2 km 6’15.0 (3’05.2)
3 km 9’21.4 (3’06.4)
4 km 12’22.0 (3’00.6)
5 km 15’22.9 (3’00.9)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)].

4pm: Easy run to costco and back and then on treadmill because it was dark and cold and I’m a baby. Total run 6M+

Martes, 29 de Diciembre, 2015 – 9am: Easy run today with a big one tomorrow. Ran 1M barefoot and then 8M easy. Felt good, running 4’10/km or so by the end. Total run 9M in 65’.

XT: Back/hips

3:30pm: Beautiful day! 60F and blue skies. Is it really almost January? Ran to the fields, barefoot on turf, then 4x diagonals. Ethio cooldown, stretching, hips on the turf since it was so nice and then jogged home. Total run 3M+.

XT: Hips

Miercoles, 30 de Diciembre, 2015 – Sparknotes: SPECIAL BLOCK – 8am: 20km run in 65’12. First 10k moderate (34’18) then 5k at MP (15’53), 5k at HM pace (15’01). 2.5 hours rest between workouts, light refueling. 12pm: 22km continuous in 72’42. First 10km mod (34’36), next 12km at MP in 38’06 (3’10.5/km 2’13’58 marathon pace). Very tough.

 

5 km 17’25.0 (17’25.0)
10 km 34’18.0 (16’53.0) (34’18.0)
11 km 37’31.1 (3’13.1)
12 km 40’42.4 (3’11.3)
13 km 43’51.9 (3’09.5)
14 km 47’01.9 (3’10.0)
15 km 50’11.0 (3’09.1) (15’53.0)
16 km 53’10.0 (2’59.0)
17 km 56’07.8 (2’57.8)
18 km 59’06.6 (2’58.8)
19 km 1’02’10.2 (3’03.6)
20 km 1’05’12.2 (3’02.0) (15’01.2) (30’54.2 last 10k)

 

12pm:

5 km 17’28.2 (17’28.2)
10 km 34’36.2 (17’08.0) (34’36.2)
11 km 37’45.7 (3’09.5)
12 km 40’49.5 (3’03.8)
13 km 43’58.0 (3’08.5)
14 km 47’08.9 (3’10.9)
15 km 50’19.9 (3’11.0) (15’43.7)
16 km 53’29.5 (3’09.6)
17 km 56’42.0 (3’12.5)
18 km 59’53.7 (3’11.7)
19 km 1’03’05.7 (3’12.0)
20 km 1’06’17.3 (3’11.6) (15’57.4)
21 km 1’09’28.8 (3’11.5)
22 km 1’12’42.9 (3’14.1) (6’25.6) (38’06 last 12km, 3’10.5/km, 2’13’58 MP)

Jueves, 31 de Diciembre, 2015 – AM: OFF. XT only. Recovery block (3 days of light jogging – just one run). Travel to NYC for New Year’s Eve and Phish!

XT: Core.

4pm: Ran to Rob’s house and then ran with him out/back on West Side Highway bikepath. Legs felt surprisingly decent. Nice company and very relaxed pace. Ran back to hotel after. Phish at night which was like 5 hours of rocking out and was also pretty tiring. Total run 8M+ in 65’.

Viernes, 1 de Enero, 2016 – 10am: Happy New Year! Slept late after getting back from Phish around 1:30am. This will probably be my last non-routine day until the Trials. Ran very easy with Mariana from hotel up to Central Park (a lot of pedestrian dodging) and then around CP on random paths because we didn’t know where we were going. Walked back since Mar didn’t want to run that far, which was fine except it was very cold. Ran into James Randon on the way back which was super random since neither of us live in NYC! Cool! Legs felt good though. Great start to the year. Total run 6M+.

PM: OFF, travel back to DC.

Sabado, 2 de Enero, 2016 – 8am: Bed super early last night like 8pm and slept very well. Woke up and felt surprisingly good right out the door. Running 4’0x/km by km 2 and under 4’00 for most of the run. Finished with 1km just a bit more focused and ran 1’45/1’41 for 3’26. Jogged home. Total run 5M, 8km+ in 31’.

XT: Back/hips

3:30pm: Easy run around CC and fields and then to 1k loop. Did 5x200m with 200m jog in about 70sec in 35.8, 35.3, 32.8, 31.7, 30.7. All felt very good and no strain at all. Jogged home after. Total run 5M in 36’.

XT: Hips.

Domingo, 3 de Enero, 2016 – Sparknotes: 27km in 1’27’24 (3’14.2/km, 5’13/M avg) with 6k, 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k at MP -> HMP (last 1k fast) with 1k moderate (3’34.5) between each. Reps were: 19’18 (3’13/km), 15’57 (3’11/km), 12’30 (3’08/km), 9’18 (3’07/km), 6’01 (3’01/km), and 2’53.

10am: Slept a bit later and then headed out for a long rep/fartlek workout this morning. Goal was to do 6k, 5k, 4k, 3k, 2k, 1k from marathon pace down to half marathon pace (or a bit faster at the very end) with 1km in between each rep. This would be 27km total with 21km of work at MP or faster. Jon had instructed me to try to really treat the beginning of these last few workouts like our goal race plane, which involves going out a bit slower than goal pace and working into that pace as the workout progresses. This went pretty much perfectly today.

I did a marathon-type warm-up (just 1M easy jogging and then some light drills and then into the workout). Did the whole workout on wheeled 1km loop, so each 1km is the same as the previous one. Weather was nice – dry and upper 40s.

I started out with an “off” rep and then the first rep purposefully very slow as I tried to work into MP. I was surprised to see just how slow (3’19), but didn’t panic and just accelerated after that lap until I was running 3’10-12 by the middle of that rep. The last km was just a bit more focused to run 3’09.0 (the fastest) to come through in 19’17 (3’13/km) for the 6km rep. The rest rep felt very easy and I again worked back into the MP instead of surging right back into it, so the first lap of the 5k was also a bit slower (3’15.5), but then was perfect after that. This rep felt much better than the 6k and was faster – again, more evidence that for whatever reason, I often don’t feel great in the first 15-30 minutes of running.

Finished 5k in 15’58 – right where I wanted to be – and then took another very easy lap at 3’34. Next rep I found myself running faster right from the start and ran 3’11-3’09 for the first 3k and then actively picked up the pace every 200m in that last 1km to run 3’00 for 12’30 for 4k (3’07.6/km avg).

Mentally, it was very nice having the intervals get shorter, as I found each rep seemingly easier and easier. The 3k again started and finished faster (starting at 3’09 and finishing at 2’58). Even this sub-3’00 pace didn’t feel crazy fast, as it had felt just a few days ago (albeit that was at the end of a 20km run). The 3k was 9’17.

The 2k I tried to start faster and then, again, ran the last km harder, trying to accelerate every 200m. Again, this was negative split, 3’02/2’59 for 6’01. The last 1km felt quite hard but I had a lot left in the last 500m and really surprised myself with the extra gears I seemed to have.

With this, the total workout was 27km in 1’27’24 (3’14.2/km, 5’13/M overall). The “on” reps were 21km in 65’57 (3’08.4/km, 5’03/M) and the average recovery km was 3’34.5.

Also – note – fueling: powerade every 5km or so and gel to start and at 13km.

This was a great workout and definitely the first time I’ve finished a workout feeling like it went super well since Christmas. A big step in the right direction and also a learning experience as I think I need to pay a bit more attention to recovery after these very big marathon workouts (and listen to my body and not be afraid to move/adjust workouts based on how I’m feeling). A couple more big ones coming up and then it’ll be time to taper before we know it!

Cooled down short to gym for legs. Total run 19M.

Full splits:
(Gel #0 at T-15 min)
1 km 3’31.2 (3’31.2)
2 km 6’50.2 (3’19.0)
3 km 10’04.8 (3’14.6)
4 km 13’15.3 (3’10.5)
5 km 16’27.4 (3’12.1)
6 km 19’39.9 (3’12.5)
7 km 22’48.9 (3’09.0) (19’17.7) – 3’13.0
8 km 26’19.0 (3’30.1)
9 km 29’34.5 (3’15.5)
10 km 32’45.6 (3’11.1)
11 km 35’58.3 (3’12.7)
12 km 39’07.8 (3’09.5)
13 km 42’16.7 (3’08.9) (15’57.7) – 3’11.5 (gel #1)
14 km 45’51.1 (3’34.4)
15 km 49’02.1 (3’11.0)
16 km 52’11.6 (3’09.5)
17 km 55’21.5 (3’09.9)
18 km 58’21.6 (3’00.1) (12’30.5) – 3’07.6
19 km 1’01’56.4 (3’34.8)
20 km 1’05’06.9 (3’10.5)
21 km 1’08’15.8 (3’08.9)
22 km 1’11’14.1 (2’58.3) (9’17.7) – 3’05.9
23 km 1’14’52.5 (3’38.4)
24 km 1’17’54.6 (3’02.1)
25 km 1’20’53.9 (2’59.3) (6’01.4) – 3’00.7
26 km 1’24’32.1 (3’38.2)
27 km 1’27’24.6 (2’52.5) (2’52.5) – 2’52.5

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)]. Very long workout and quite tired by the end.

6pm: Ran late because we went to Star Wars this afternoon! Easy shakeout around fields. Dark and cold and windy. Total run 4km, 2.5M, NT.