Weekly Summary – 105 miles in 14 runs. Feeling fantastic with the mileage beginning to drop. Two great workouts including a last long run which served as a great test of both strength and speed. Feeling ready, antsy, excited with less than two weeks to go!

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, 25 de Enero, 2016 – 10am: Ran later after morning meeting. Ran outside – streets were still being cleared but Crystal drive was pretty decent and not many cars, so ran a 2M out/back on that. Finished with a trip to Costco and then jogged home. Did 1M with 8x strides barefoot inside after. Total run 12M in 80’.

XT: Back/hips (2x)

4pm: Ran to the post office (closed – oops) and back and then inside on treadmill in sweats. Ran at 1% incline for 5km with first km getting up to speed and then 4km at or under MP. Total was 16’05 or so for 5K. The total run was 7km, 4M++.

XT: Core

Martes, 26 de Enero, 2016 – 8:30am: Ran outside around CC. Streets are getting better, much less ice and almost all the main roads are clear. Ran around CC and then out towards 4 mile run and the movie theater which was pretty clear. Finished with 1M barefoot inside and 6x strides. Felt pretty good today. Total run 11M in 76’.

XT: Back/hips (1x)

3:30pm: Ran outside again. Quite warm now, over 50F! Lots of melting. Streets getting better. 1km loop is clear but giant snow-banks still make for very narrow streets and blind corners which make me nervous about traffic. Running quicker ~3’50/km by the last lap. Total run 5.5M in 36’.

XT: Hips.

Miercoles, 27 de Enero, 2016 – Sparknotes: 9km mod (31’30 – 3’30/km, 5’38/M), full drills, 9x short hill sprints with full jog recovery, 1km jog to gym, 8km fartlek in 24’25 on treadmill with 1’30 @ 2’50-3’00/km/1’30 at 3’10-20/km. Leg circuit after.

9:30am: Woke up and was hungry so had a bunch of pretzels and black coffee. Had one stick of “rungum” before I headed out to see how that would feel (they sent me a bunch of free samples).

Goal today was a lighter workout – similar to the last two weeks’ mid-week effort. Some moderate running, some short hills, some fartlek (ideally, a bit less than last week on all counts).

I wasn’t sure about what would be possible outside given all the snow. I’d run on my 1km loop yesterday and it was mostly clear, but the giant snowbanks made the streets extra narrow and corners dangerous, so I wasn’t crazy about running fast on it. Jon and I had decided the back-up plan would be to run the fartlek portion on the treadmill if I didn’t feel comfortable on the road.

I ran this whole workout in the HOKA tracer flats. It was a balmy 45F and sunny and a bit windy.

I ran over there and did 9km in total of moderate, from around 3’40-> 3’25/km for a total of 31’30 (3’30 avg). I then jogged over to the 22nd st. hill and stopped and did full drills and then 9x short hills with full jog recovery. These felt good, but I was starting to feel a bit depleted by the end. Jogged easy back to the gym and then did the fartlek on the treadmill at 1% incline.

The fartlek was 90sec on and 90 sec off, with the on portion starting around 3’00/km and working down to 2’48/km. The off portion started around 3’20/km and went down to 3’10/km. These felt good, and I surprisingly didn’t feel any of the weakness I’d felt on the hills. Also nice to get another hard effort indoors where it was 70F+. This didn’t seem to be a problem (just a lot of sweat).

It always seems to be easier to accelerate with treadmill workouts, and that was reflected here as every km was faster than the previous (by design). The last 3km were pretty steady at just under 3’00 with paces of 2’50/3’10.

Finished with 2km easy on the mill and then did 2 sets of leg circuit in the gym.

Total run 15M.

Splits
1 km 3’10.1 (3’10.1)
2 km 6’16.4 (3’06.3)
3 km 9’21.8 (3’05.4)
4 km 12’25.9 (3’04.1)
5 km 15’27.8 (3’01.9)
6 km 18’27.6 (2’59.8)
7 km 21’26.5 (2’59.3)
8 km 24’25.8 (2’58.9)

XT: Legs at the gym. 2 sets of [15x step ups, 20x overhead lunge, 24x dynamic lung, 12x squat (bar)]. (weighted, 2 sets only)

4pm: Nice nap this afternoon. Woke up and did a very easy and broken-up shakeout around town to run (literally) some errands. Total run 2M, NT.

Jueves, 28 de Enero, 2016 – 9am: Easy run around CC. Ran random loops all over. First on 4-mile run which had a bunch of black ice, but was clear. After ran up to hill loop, but that was pretty narrow from snowbanks and no sidewalks. Finally looped around to 1k loop and just did a few laps there and then headed home. Felt quite good, just frustrating to have to keep stopping to deal with traffic and ice. Running quicker ~3’50 by the end. Finished with 1M barefoot with 6x strides. Total run 9M+.

XT: Back/hips (1x)

4pm: Ran around CC and then 1M quicker on treadmill in sweats ~5’00 at 1%. Legs felt great from the first step today. Starting to freshen up just in time! Total run 3M+ in 18’.

XT: Core.

Viernes, 29 de Enero, 2016 – 10am: Up a bit later but slept very well and a bit later in the morning. Ran around CCS in lots of layers. Felt pretty good, holding back with a last long run tomorrow. Finished with 1M and 6x strides barefoot. Total run 7M in 46’.

XT: Back/hips (1x) (no weight)

4pm: Easy shakeout around CCS and then 1M barefoot. Holding back and then ran quicker a few minutes at the end just to loosen up. Feeling good! Total run 3M+, NT.

XT: Hips

Sabado, 30 de Enero, 2016 – Sparknotes: 35km in 1’53’29 (3’14.6/km avg) with 10km moderate (34’28) + 25km fartlek in 1’19’01 (3’09.6/km avg) with 1km at 2’50-3’00 (2’56.7 avg), 1km recovery at 3’18-28 (3’23.7 avg). Fantastic!

Timing
6pm: Dinner, walked for about 30 minutes
8pm: snack, reading in bed
10pm? bed

7:45am: Wake up natural
8am: Black coffee, some animal crackers
~10:50am; Rungum (1x) very light drills
11am: start workout

Last long-run today of the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials build-up (well, actually the penultimate long-run, if you consider the one final 26.2 miler on Feb. 13). This one is tried and true and I’ve done it 2-2.5 weeks out from all of my marathons (Boston, VCM, CIM, Grandma’s): 35km total with 10km moderate and then 25km of fartlek with 1km at 105-110% of MP (roughly HM to 10k pace) and 1km at ~90% of MP.

Luckily, it’s been much warmer the last few days and the snow and ice from the blizzard last weekend have receded. MV is still iced over, but there was a long stretch of 4-mile run that was clear. This has mile-markers and I had my garmin and they seemed to be more or less in agreement. Weather was not bad – around 32F at the start but sunny, so felt warmer, and not too much wind. Also NB: I ran this workout in flats because I wanted to see how they’d feel for a longer effort. Still not sure about shoes for race day. I guess we’ll see.

I did no warm up other than some light mobility drills, but felt amped enough that I was running way too fast out the door (3’21 first km) and had to force myself to slow down and take the first 10km easy. I was running very controlled and easy and still running 3’25-3’30. I don’t think I’ve ever had this pace feel so easy as it has recently, which is exciting. Anyway, passed 5km in 17’18 and did an out/back on 4mile run to ditch a bottle so I could get it every 5K.

Before 10k, I stopped briefly to disrobe a bit (I’d started with pants and a jacket, which I took off as I was getting super sweaty already) and then continued with another minute or so moderate before starting the first rep.

It definitely felt like a big gear charge to go from 3’25 to 3’00, but not as bad as I expected and after that first rep, I felt better for the next 3. The recovery pace was basically the same as what I’d been running before ~3’20-3’25.

I thought of those first 3x1km as a “warm-up” for the workout and then the last 10x as the real “meat.” So, just relaxed through the first few, running 2’59-3’00 and then picking it up a bit once starting the last 10. I felt quite good and though each one felt focused, I was never in doubt about whether I’d be able to finish this one. I was even quite sure I’d be able to accelerate well in the last few reps.

Eventually brought the pace down to about 2’56 in the middle of those 10 and that effort felt good. With 3 to go, I started to pick it up a bit, mostly by just trying to close each interval a bit faster in the last 60-90 seconds. This felt great and I ran the last 3x in 2’53, 2’54, 2’50, with the last one maybe 1’22 for the last 500m.

Overall, the total run was 35km in 1’53’29 (3’14.6/km avg). The first 10km moderate was 34’28 and the 25km fartlek was 1’19’01 (3’09.6/km avg). The paces were 2’50-3’00 (2’56.7 avg) for the on and 3’18-28 (3’23.7 avg) for the recovery. The last 5k was 15’20, the last 10k 31’23, and the last HM was 66’28.

I am super, super pleased with this one and this is an absolutely fantastic way to end this build-up. I have felt 100% amazing on the last 3 long runs, and my mid-week workouts have been going great as well. All of these workouts represent “new territory” fitness, as I could not have done these in any previous build-up. Not only is this exciting, but I feel the momentum is extremely positive as I head into my taper. In the Spring, two of my last three long runs didn’t feel that good (this one included) and even if I still ran well, it was definitely worse for my confidence and mental state heading into the taper.

Now, I’m coming off a string of really great workouts into new territory fitness – I feel like I’m ready for a big one on Feb 13.

Cooled down very short home about 1km slow. Ethio cooldown, stretching, ice bath. Total run 36km+, 22M+.

Splits
1 km 3’21.9 (3’21.9)
2 km 6’52.5 (3’30.6)
3 km 10’23.4 (3’30.9)
4 km 13’50.3 (3’26.9)
5 km 17’18.6 (3’28.3) (17’18.6)
6 km 20’46.1 (3’27.5)
7 km 24’13.5 (3’27.4)
8 km 27’42.6 (3’29.1)
9 km 31’03.5 (3’20.9)
10 km 34’28.3 (3’24.8) (17’09.7) (Gel #1)
11 km 37’28.7 (3’00.4)
12 km 40’56.2 (3’27.5)
13 km 43’55.5 (2’59.3)
14 km 47’19.7 (3’24.2)
15 km 50’18.5 (2’58.8) (15’50.2)
16 km 53’43.7 (3’25.2)
17 km 56’42.1 (2’58.4)
18 km 1’00’04.8 (3’22.7)
19 km 1’03’03.2 (2’58.4)
20 km 1’06’27.9 (3’24.7) (16’09.4) (Gel #2)
21 km 1’09’24.9 (2’57.0)
22 km 1’12’47.8 (3’22.9)
23 km 1’15’45.7 (2’57.9)
24 km 1’19’08.9 (3’23.2)
25 km 1’22’05.5 (2’56.6) (15’37.6)
26 km 1’25’28.3 (3’22.8)
27 km 1’28’24.5 (2’56.2)
28 km 1’31’48.3 (3’23.8)
29 km 1’34’44.4 (2’56.1)
30 km 1’38’09.0 (3’24.6) (16’03.5)
31 km 1’41’02.5 (2’53.5)
32 km 1’44’27.3 (3’24.8)
33 km 1’47’21.4 (2’54.1)
34 km 1’50’39.3 (3’17.9)
35 km 1’53’29.4 (2’50.1) (15’20.4) (last 10k 31’23, last HM 66’28)

5pm: VERY easy/slow shakeout with Mar around CC to run some errands. Total run 2M-.

Domingo, 31 de Enero, 2016 – 10am: Up later and slept late. Trying to gradually skew my sleep schedule a bit to get closer to pacific time. Ran in sweats, loops around CCS. Very nice day, already sunny and close to 50F. Bye bye snow! Felt surprisingly good, running quick by the end. 2M barefoot with 6x strides at the end. Total run 7M in 45’.

XT: Back/hips (1x)

6pm: Busy day getting a free treadmill from craigslist to make our own at-home walking desk! Ran around CCS in sweats again. Felt okay, was quite tired from busy day. Total run 3M in 20’.

XT: Core