Weekly Summary – 78 miles in 11 runs. Great race (at sea level) at the Surquillo 7km in Lima – 1st (solo’d the whole thing and new CR of 20’36 (2’57/km, 14’45 5K pace).

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Strava (GPS included!). Don’t forget to follow my adventures STRIVE – where I’ll be leading groups of students on a journey of running, service learning, and adventure in Peru. If you’re interested, join us next year for the summer of 2019, when we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families. Take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

Lunes, 25 de Junio, 2018 – 8am: Very slow easy run w/ all the dudes. Fun to run w/ the boys but totally smacked from the big weekend – long run/long hike double. Ran over 5’00 pace for the most part and wouldn’t have wanted to go any quicker. Finished at the strides road and did 4x very relaxed. Felt better after that. Total run 10km+ in 50’.

5pm: Ran easy w/ Calvin out/back on river rd. Felt pretty bad. Some nasty stomach/chest discomfort. Felt like I was going to chunder for a while. Running like 4’40s but felt like 3’40s. Finished w/ 4x strides. Glad to be done w/ this one. Total run 10km in 47’.

Martes, 26 de Junio, 2018 – 7:45am: Felt much better this AM. Easy run w/ Calvin out/back past Taray. Longer this morning to frontload the week a bit. 7km out in 31’ and back in 30’ (uphill). Finished over at the strides road, 4x strides which felt quite good, and then back. Legs felt about 90% today, just some quad soreness on downhills. Total run 16km+ in 70’.

XT: Toes

4:45pm: Easy run solo out/back on river rd. Felt pretty good. Better every run since the big weekend. Running 4’10s-20. Stopped on the way back and did 4x strides. Total run 8km in 34’.

Miercoles, 27 de Junio, 2018 – Sparknotes: 7km track fartlek in 25’28 (3’38 avg) w/ 400m @ 72.1, 200m rec (56), 200m quicker (34.0), 200m rec (56) – all avg.

6:45am: Early start today w/ our first track day. Jogged over as a group and easy warmup around the track ~3km. Stopped and did drills as a group and then a few strides before getting started.

Workout for me and Calvin was sets of 1000m w/ 400m on, 200m off, 200m on, 200m off. I wanted to run the 400s at 75->70 and then 200s 35-> quicker. I planned to do anywhere between 5-10 total reps but didn’t want it to be too killer as I’m still a bit worked from the weekend.

Led pretty much the whole workout. Started off relaxed 74/34 w/ rest at 57/200m. Definitely would have run the rec quicker if I’d been solo but wanted to keep w/ Cal. Scott just ran the first 200m of the 400m and then standing rest until the next 200m.

Next two reps were fast (71, 35, 70, 32.6) w/ rec 57-59. Felt pretty decent but definitely foreign to be running sub 3’00 pace for the first time in a while. Each split km was between 3’43-3’32. Cal and Scott stuck in for about 4x and then I did 3 more to get to 7km in 25’25 (3’38 avg).

A bit gassed but could have done more. Glad to stop a bit early today. Cooled down easy around the track and then back to the market. Total run 14km in 58’.

0.4 km 1’14.1 (1’14.1) (1’12.1)
0.2 km 2’11.3 (0’57.2) (0’56.3)
0.2 km 2’45.4 (0’34.1) (0’34.0)
0.2 km 3’43.2 (0’57.8) (3’43.2)
0.4 km 4’54.9 (1’11.7)
0.2 km 5’52.0 (0’57.1)
0.2 km 6’27.0 (0’35.0)
0.2 km 7’22.6 (0’55.6) (3’39.4)
0.4 km 8’33.3 (1’10.7)
0.2 km 9’32.1 (0’58.8)
0.2 km 10’04.7 (0’32.6)
0.2 km 11’02.9 (0’58.2) (3’40.3)
0.4 km 12’14.5 (1’11.6)
0.2 km 13’13.9 (0’59.4)
0.2 km 13’48.1 (0’34.2)
0.2 km 14’42.6 (0’54.5) (3’39.7)
0.4 km 0’15’54.3 (1’11.7)
0.2 km 0’16’49.0 (0’54.7)
0.2 km 0’17’22.8 (0’33.8)
0.2 km 0’18’15.3 (0’52.5) (3’32.7)
0.4 km 0’19’27.4 (1’12.1)
0.2 km 0’20’22.1 (0’54.7)
0.2 km 0’20’56.5 (0’34.4)
0.2 km 0’21’51.5 (0’55.0) (3’36.2)
0.4 km 0’23’04.1 (1’12.6)
0.2 km 0’24’00.0 (0’55.9)
0.2 km 0’24’34.0 (0’34.0)
0.2 km 0’25’28.4 (0’54.4) (3’36.9)

1pm: Ran earlier w/ Calvin to shoot some photos w/ Belami (except his camera died – oops!). Still nice to run earlier when it’s sunny and have all the running done before 2pm. Ran 4’30s down to 4’15 w/ 4x strides at the end. Total run 9km++ in 40’.

XT: Pedestal core, jumps barefoot (15x box jumps, 10x squat jumps, 20x lunge jumps)

Jueves, 28 de Junio, 2018 – 8am: Easy run w/ Calvin. Slept really well and late and woke up before the alarm at like 06:30. Really holding back on this one to run in the 4’30s w/ Calvin and take the day super light. Out/back 12km and then over to the strides road. Finished w/ 4x strides on the dirt and then easy back to the market for morning juice. Total run 14km in 63’.

PM: OFF – take a few easy days before this race to hopefully try to run fast.

XT: Toes

Viernes, 29 de Junio, 2018 – Sparknotes: 10km easy (43’) + 5x short hills

7:15am: Ran w/ Calvin easy out/back past Taray. Felt good and holding back again. Only weird thing was had sudden knee pain in first 10 seconds or so of run. Something probably not alligned or something. Didn’t take a weird step or anything and was fine after. Weird.

Finished w/ the girls and Scott the last km or so for 10km around 43’. Stopped and did drills and then a couple light accelerations and then short hills. Felt good and only did 5x to freshen up a bit for Sunday. Chasing Calvin each one which is nice.

Jogged back very easy w/ girls. Total run 12km++ in 54’.

XT: Toes

PM: Off again.

Sabado, 30 de Junio, 2018 – 7:15am: Easy shakeout w/ Calvin. Ran towards San Sal since we’re going short and we’d hit the dirt earlier. Freezing in the mountain shadow but nice run. Holding back significantly. Legs felt real good and poppy today. Finished w/ 4x strides on the dirt (in the sun finally!) and then around town to grab juice, hit the ATM, etc. Total run 7km in 31’.

3:30pm: Easy travel to Lima and nice stay at Global Family Backpacker’s Hostel. Walked to the grocery store over by Parque Kennedy on arrival and back and then relaxed a bit before running w/ the group on the Malecon.

Felt quite good, a bit tired at the start from travel but really good to shake it out. Around 4’30-> 4’10 but very relaxed. Finished w/ 4x strides in 119 racing flats which felt VERY good! Excited to get after it tomorrow. Jogged back w/ the gang after, hung around, had some fun sing-along time w/ the communal guitar, and dinner and “Tour de pharmacy” which was way dirtier than I expected but super hilarious. Early bed around 9pm.

Total run 6km- in 26’.

XT: Toes

Domingo, 1 de Julio, 2018 – Sparknotes: Surquillo 7K. 1st, 20’36 (2’57/km), CR. Solo and felt great.

7:45am: Woke up early around 5:45am for 8:30am start. Slept okay despite some late-night noise from some bubs coming into the hostel at like 1am.

Had coffee and maybe one small piece of bread. Wasn’t very hungry. Left the hostel in an uber around 7am and drove over to the start in Surquillo. Normally grey Lima morning w/ some light drizzle and clouds. A bit chilly as we didn’t have gear check so just standing around in singlet/shorts and only in the 50s.

Got our numbers and then hung around in the gas station convenience store to stay warm and then left around 7:45 to warm up. Warmed up about 5km w/ Scott and Calvin nice and easy and then came back and changed into the 119 flats.

Headed back out and did drills on the street and a few strides and then 200m+ at about race effort (garmin read 2’55/km).

Got to the line as they were about to send of the discapcidades first at 8:30 and then had 5 min to do another stride and get on the line.

I knew there was one fast venezuelan bub who had come to a few other Lima races (a 29’00 10K guy) and I was hoping he and Calvin and I would run together around 3’00/km for the first 5K or so at least. I got off the line well to get out of trouble from the few thousand people sprinting off the line and quickly found myself way out in front.

Slowed down and looked back and saw Cal in 2nd w/ some random Peruvian and Venezuela behind them. I thought maybe I’d just gotten off the line hot and they’d catch up but even as I slowed down in the first km and tried to get Cal to come up, he seemed to be content where he was, so I decided to just settle in. I hoped that one of them would catch up but the only one who did was this rando Peruvian who was wearing the race t-shirt and decided to run in front of me for 800m or so before getting spit out the back.

I had my garmin set to buzz every 1km and saw 1K in 2’59 which I knew was slow as Lima garmin is almost always off due to the Garua (fog) and tall buildings everywhere. I figured I was around 2’54 as it was downhill and felt very comfy.

At about 1.5K we did a u-turn and came back up the same gradual slope all the way to 3km. I was able to see the others behind me and it didn’t look like they were gaining on me. I basically didn’t pay attention to splits beyond that as they didn’t seem very consistent and the garmin didn’t seem to be working too well. The effort felt great though and I was maintaining well.

We had a nice downhill just before 5km and I really felt like I was picking up steam and excited to pass the one marker for 5K in 14’47. At that point, I knew I really had to start pushing as there were less than 6 minutes to go and I almost always finish these rust-buster races feeling like I didn’t push hard enough.

The last 2K are net uphill and I felt really good accelerating. I did look back a couple times and was pretty sure I wasn’t going to get caught so I was just focusing on pushing myself against the clock. I knew I was running very well and so just kept trying to push all the way until I could see the finish arch and then really tried to kick it into higher gear. This was the only thing I felt like I really didn’t have – no top end gear. Not sure if the legs were just a bit friend from last weekend still, but just had no more than 2’55ish pace.

Finished in 20’36 (2’57/km avg) which means I ran the last 2K in 5’49 (2’55/km) on a net uphill. Very good running especially this early in the season. Last year I ran 21’12 (3’02/km), so this is a great sign to be running so much quicker so early in the season, especially w/ no serious workouts to speak of.

Ran back out onto the course to cheer on the squad who all ran great. Calvin was 3rd in 21’31 behind Venezuela ran just over 21’00. Sierra was 2nd female, Mariana was 4th. Scott ran great at around 3’30/km and will was a bit behind him ~3’40/km. Katie was I think about 8th female. Really good running from everyone. So great to come down from 9,700 ft and run!

Gathered everyone into the stadium finish area where there was a nice big turf field to cool down on. Did 5km barefoot finishing just in time for the awards ceremony which was remarkably efficient.

The gang headed back in an uber while Cal and I ran the 4km or so back to the hostel. A great morning and ready for a big brunch!

Total run 21km.

PM: OFF – great buffet at segundo muelle and then a very long walk along the beach, up the steps to barranco and then all the way back to Miraflores along the Malecon. Lovely day and it even cleared in the afternoon and we got some serious sun. Saw a little bub driving a kid’s sized audi and honking his horn at us. Made it back to the hostel in time to chill a bit before heading to the airport. Some drama as a student had a pretty serious allergic reaction (delayed) which probably came from the buffet and had to give her an epipen at the airport. Ended up fine but a fairly stressful situation. Made it back to Chaska by 9pm or so.