Weekly Summary – 68 Miles in 13 runs. A great (very light!) week with a trip to Boston for my first indoor track race since college, finishing in 14’23. Now, back to the big mileage and big races!

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and, yes, now I’m even on Strava! And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2018 Programs – spaces are still available for high schoolers, college interns, and adults! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for the summer of 2018, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips 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!

Lunes, 19 de Febrero, 2018 – 8:30am: Slept very well last night. Easy run down to the park, 1 big lap (16’49) and then to the track 34’15. Stopped and did 6x strides and 200m in 32. Felt pretty good but kept it very easy today.

XT: Toe yoga

5pm: Very easy shakeout with Mariana. Down to the park and then around 1 lap to the track nice and slow ~5’0x/km. Stopped and did 4x strides. Strides very good. Easy home. Pretty hard rain by the end. Total run 6km in 30’.

Martes, 20 de Febrero, 2018 – Sparknotes: 5x800m @ 2’14-19 w/ 2’30 jog

7am: Jogged down to Quicentro to meet Julia since she was filming with us today! Nice last workout on the track. Lovely morning. Warmed up, drills, strides, the usual.

Most of the gang was doing a different workout (sets of 600s/200s), so I would be running the first 600 of my 800 with the faster bubs and then running the last 200 solo, taking a bit longer rest, and then starting again. The first one went well and we were like 1’42/2’16.

After that, I was super confused as to where they were starting and ended up like 100m behind the group running solo on that rep. The next two not great reps, honestly. I could tell that Isra was going out way too fast (like 31) and I knew that’d be bad for me, but then I was running solo and just being a baby.

Last one, I decided to just run right behind Isra and felt great and ran 1’40/2’14. Moral: tuck in!

Cooled down short and then headed home w/ Julia.

PM: Did a bunch of random running w/ Julia around metro. Didn’t garmin.

5pm: Very easy shakeout pre-travel w/ Brittany and Mar. Around the park to the track and then 4x strides. Strides felt very good. Pace slow overall as we were only running about 5’00/km. Total run 6km- in 29’.

XT: Toe yoga

Miercoles, 21 de Febrero, 2018 – AM: OFF – travel overnight from Quito to Boston. Fairly smooth trip but tiring with a short redeye (4hrs) from UIO to MIA.

2pm: Ran in Concord from Emerson field out to Great Meadows and a lap around the pond. Absolutely lovely day, in the 70s and sunny – wtf?? Isn’t this February?? Felt pretty doot at first but better as the run went on. Pretty decent by the end. Stopped at the track and changed into the new EVO spikes to try those out. Felt pretty great running a few strides (4x) and then 200m very relaxed in 32.5. Excited to test them out at BU tomorrow! Jogged around the field to round up. Total run 12km+ in 53’.

XT: Toe yoga

Jueves, 22 de Febrero, 2018 – Sparknotes: At BU Indoors 3x200m @ 32-34, 800 @ 2’13.6, 3×200 @ 29-30. 1’ jog rec.

10am: Drove out to BU to do a little tuneup on the indoor track! First time running here probably in almost exactly 5 years. Met up with Jon and then warmed up solo 5km. Felt very good today – got a great night sleep last night and legs and energy felt amazing. Running 3’30-40 pace by the end of the warmup. 5km++ in 22’.

Stopped and did drills and then strides in both HOKA spikes and an old pair from college just to see how they felt. HOKA Evos definitely felt the best as the last (i.e. shape of shoe) fit my foot way better.

Workout was just to get the legs moving and get used to running in spikes on the track. Did 3x200m at goal 5K pace, 800m at goal 5K pace, 3x200m quicker. Took ~1’ of rest for everything.

First 3 200s felt great and mostly just getting used to the effort and track. First rep was 34.0 and jogging. Over corrected on the second one and ran 31.8. 3rd one backed off and still ran 32.4.

800 felt great. Went out very slow (68.5) as I really wanted to keep it easy and didn’t hear the first lap split. Picked it up on the last half but not much and ran 65.1 (33/32.1) for 2’13. That felt SO much better than the 800s I ran at 9300 ft a few days ago 🙂 Pretty much totally recovered within 45 seconds from everything but waited a bit longer as Jon was trying to figure out how quick it was (since he’d split each lap).

Last 3x 200m was good. No strain, just more focus on turnover. 30.5, 29.2 and then the last one super relaxed at 33.5. Perfect!

Finished with a nice short cooldown and headed home.

Total run 10km.

Splits (from coach Jon!)
200 @ 34.0, 55” jog
200 @ 31.8, 57” jog
200 @ 32.4, 57” jog
800 @ 2:13.6. 34.1/34.4/33.0/32.1, 84” jog
200 @ 30.5, 46.5” jog
200 @ 29.2, 64” jog
200 @ 33.5

5:30pm: Ran in Concord Center easy around Nashawtuc. Very easy to start out, a bit snowy and a bit stiff. 4’50 down to 4’20s. Finished with 4x strides on keyes rd. Ran into John Drew there and said hello. Finished at CA to meet up with Jon. Total run 6km in 27’.

Viernes, 23 de Febrero, 2018 – 9:15am: Easy run from home on Harrington loop. Felt good and running 4’20 out the door very relaxed down to 3’50s on the way back. Finished with 4x strides on the road. Felt good. Total run 10km++ in 42’.

4:30pm: Film shoot with Ian McLellan in Lincoln. Lots of random jogging from place to place and little short stints of running at quicker paces. Left the garmin on by accident while we were driving so not sure the total distance/time but probably about 5km total.

Sabado, 24 de Febrero, 2018 – 9:30am: Easy shakeout from the VC house out to the end of Harrington and back. Not too cold, upper 40s and sunny. Legs felt great and really holding back actively today. Finished with 4x strides on road, right big toe was a bit weird/tender. Otherwise great. Total run 8km in 34’.

XT: Toe yoga

5pm: Easy shakeout from VC’s house. Felt good, kept the pace fairly easy again on purpose. Legs felt good and finished with 4x strides. Total run 5km+ in 21′.

Domingo, 25 de Febrero, 2018 – Sparknotes: BU Last Chance Indoor 5000m: 14’23, 6th.

9:30am: Slept later as planned with the race in the early evening today. Very light shakeout on the treadmill as it was like 35F and raining outside and… nope! 4km at 1% inc. from 8mph up to about 10.3mph for the last minute or so. Total run 4km in 12’53.

XT: Toe yoga, ice bath.

5:35pm: Warmed up 50′ before the scheduled gun which ended up being just about perfect. Did 20′ of jogging indoors, mostly around the outside of the track and a bit in the hallway as they were doing relays. Legs felt good and had a lot of caffeine so pretty much ready to go. Changed into spikes and did drills and a few good long strides on the track.

Got to the line in plenty of time and had #5 so good position from the main starting line. Got off well and tucked into what quickly strung out with Don Cabral, his rabbit, and the two Kenyan guys up front and then basically everyone else in a chase pack. I had Jon calling out splits which was great and heard 33.7 for the first lap which felt pretty quick. Still, I tried to just relax and focus on the guy in front of me.

The next few laps were all in the 34s and I saw we came to 1km just about 2’50. I’d hoped to be a bit faster than this and it felt like the pace was already slowing, so I decided to take the lead and speed up. I led for the next km or so, also splitting 2’50.x to come through in 5’41 for 2km (passing 1600m in 4’32).

At this point, I let someone else lead for a bit and this km we slowed down quite a bit as I heard the first “35” from Jon. I wasn’t pleased but also felt pretty tired from pushing for that 2nd km. I was really hoping I’d have more help, but ended up a 8’36 (2’54.7 3rd km) which was quite a bit slower than I’d hoped to be.

After that, someone said something like – this is where the real race begins – and Johnny (heartbreakers) made a move to the front of our group. I went with him and tucked right behind, but we still weren’t running fast enough. Definitely felt harder, but the pace was fairly consistent (2’55 to 4km in 11’31).

I had less than I’d hoped for in the last km and felt a bit like I was fighting the track, working too hard, not relaxing, etc. Really hoped I’d be able to close it down but just didn’t have it. I got passed by 2 guys from our group and tried to motor them down in the last 400m but could find that gear. Only closed in 67.4 (35.4/32.0). Last km was 2’52 to finish in 14’23.1 FAT.

Overall, this was slower than I wanted to run but also not exactly the race I was hoping for tactically. Despite slowing down in the last mile, I actually think I would have been better off going out faster. I think I panicked a bit too much after the first 1km was a few second slow and then worked too hard after that. I think if I’d just let the race happen and not tried to force it as much, relaxed, etc., I would have run a lot faster.

But, I’m pleased. This was my first indoor track race in 5 years and I ran 30 seconds faster than I’d ever run indoors in college (and that was when I was training for 5k/10k full time). I really didn’t know what to expect, so I can’t be disappointed with a good effort. I do kind of wish I had another shot next weekend as I feel like I (re-)learned an awful lot in this race, but such is life. Maybe next year!

Now, I’ve got some recovery and then time to crank up the mileage as we shift the focus to the longer stuff. Can’t wait to get back into it!

Cooled down very short so I could watch the men’s 4x800m where HOKA NJNY set a world record (and beat Team Centro-Sauce/Nike).

More work tomorrow.

Splits (from coach Jon)

200 33.4 33.4

400 34.0 1:07.4

600 33.8 1:41.2

800 34.5 2:15.7 (pack is slowing)

1000 34.4 2:50.1 2:50.1

1200 33.9 3:24.0 (surge to get it back on track)

1400 34.3 3:58.3

1600 34.0 4:32.3

1800 34.6 5:06.8

2000 34.3 5:41.1 2:51.0

2200 35.3 6:16.4

2400 34.3 6:50.7

2600 35.1 7:25.8

2800 34.9 8:00.7

3000 35.1 8:35.8 2:54.7

3200 34.4 9:10.2

3400 34.8 9:45.0

3600 34.8 10.19.8

3800 35.8 10:55.6 (I thought this might be the beginning of the end, but you rallied)

4000 35.2 11:30.8 2:55.0

4200 34.4 12:05.2

4400 35.4 12:40.6

4600 35.0 13:15.5

4800 35.4 13:50.9

5000 32.0 14:22.9 2:52.1

Actual FAT time: 14:23.16