Weekly Summary – 69 miles (111km) in 10 runs. Finishing off the season w/ 3rd place at Vermont City Marathon. Hoped to keep up the win streak but Sergio Reyes and Eric Ashe ran very well and I was too aggressive. Time for some much needed R&R before some big things in the fall!

One more thing – for all my local Greater-Boston readers – if you’re an athlete looking for an exceptional sports-massage therapist who specializes in runners and injury prevention and recovery, go visit Sam Peck at SoarBody Theraputics in Davis Square (Somerville). He was crucial to helping me recover from my injury during the fall and I’m looking forward to working w/ him again to keep me healthy now that I’m back in town!

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Strava. 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 College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families.

 

Lunes, 20 de Mayo, 2019 – 08:00: Ran w/ Mar this morning after sleeping well and waking up naturally a bit after 06:00. Jogged to the river and to BU bridge together ~5’00/km and then solo 1 bridge loop. Felt fine. Weather is much warmer today, already in the upper 60s and going to be in the 80s later. Wore 3x long sleeve, tights, hat, gloves, jacket, face mask. Stopped at the track and did drills, 4x strides in 1’20. Jogged to TJ’s after. Total run 10km+ in 45’30.

XT: Heel drops, toes

14:00: Ran in the heat of the afternoon, about 82F and sunny. Beautiful day. Wore basically the same outfit as the AM, hat, gloves, jacket, 3x long sleeves, tights. Also this is day 1 of CHO depletion, so just had eggs and veggies for breakfast. Needless to say, felt pretty worked after just 20’ or so of easy running. Did drills and 4x strides in 1’22. HR was extremely high and felt like I was going to pass out between strides, jesus. Jogged back and came home and changed out of soaking wet clothes and cooled off. Definitely don’t need that many layers if it’s 80+. Total run 5km in 22’.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Martes, 21 de Mayo, 2019 – 07:00: Woke up naturally just after 05:00 – finally getting on the earlier schedule! Slept pretty poorly and was feeling very depleted this morning, much worse than last depletion block. I’m a bit leaner right now and probably went into it a bit depleted already from a good amount of volume on Sunday and not eating a huge amount.

Anyway, so had some salmon before leaving and then a bigger breakfast after (2 eggs, veggies, some more salmon).

Run was not too terrible given how awful I felt when I woke up. Ran short chuck (crossing at the pedestrian bridge) to the track. Around 4’30s for the most part. Got to the track which was full of people for the heartbreakers running group but managed to get in drills and 4x strides in 1’23. Again, these felt okay during the stride but right after I seriously felt like I was going to pass out, was seeing stars, etc. I think it’s a combination of the low fuel and high heat/body temp from over-dressing on these warmer days (already in the mid 60s). Jogged home after.

Total run 11km in 49’30.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

PM: No run, planned. Biked to whole foods as it was beautiful out and I’m becoming an urban biker now!

Miercoles, 22 de Mayo, 2019 – Sparknotes: 5km in 15’56 w/ 3x 1K @ 3’07, 02, 02, 500m rec @ 1’45-47, 500m quick @ 1’25. Great!

08:20: Woke up naturally later a bit before 06:00. Left to start workout a bit after 08:00.

Ran from gym out/back toward river, easy 2km. Did full drills and then 2x strides in carbon x which felt good. Ran in the pair that is slightly too long. Didn’t feel too bad when I was running in them.

Workout was same old, same old. 5km w/ 1k on, 500m off x3 and then 500m quicker to finish. Ran on treadmill as this is day 3 of depletion and easier to zone out and let the machine set the pace than struggle on my own, plus it was 70F in the gym which is good to continue last-minute heat acclimation.

Felt very relaxed on first rep in 3’07.x starting around 3’15 and finishing around 3’05. Rec 500m reps were all right around 3’30/km (1’45). Next rep started around 3’07 and worked down to 3’00 for 3’02.9. One more 1’45 and then 3’02.x again, though that one definitly felt harder as I was starting to feel the low-energy effects.

Took the next rec 500m a bit easier to start (~3’45 to start and 1’47 total) and then ran last rep starting at like 2’52 pace and tried to bring it down a lot, but just under 2’50 felt maxed out, so just held on for the last 300m or so.

Finished in 15’56 which is very solid for this workout. Very cool how easy that first 3’07 and even that first 3’02 felt, especially given how generally fatigued I felt.

Cooled down short, 2km, but still felt good, 8’30 for 2K.

Total run 9km+.

XT: Heel drops, toes

14:00: Last depleted run! Ran to the fields and did 3 big laps and then over to the track (about 3km) and then did drills and 4x strides which felt surprisingly good and were surprisingly quick (1’20). Jogging definitely felt worse. Warm, almost 70F in the sun, and ran in layers, so that definitely has an effect as well. Ran easy afterward to T and then to Soarbody to finish up. Total run 5km++ in 23’.

XT: Good last massage w/ Sam Peck at SoarBody before VCM. Good general work w/ nothing too deep except some very intense work around the neck/shoulders. Great session and huge thanks to him again for all his help this season.

Jueves, 23 de Mayo, 2019 – 07:00: Happy carbohydrate day! Been on a good sleep schedule going to bed around 20:00 and waking up around 05:00. Ate a granola bar in the middle of the night, maybe around 01:00 as I couldn’t sleep but then woke up at 05:08 (after RP had breakfast) and had a NV bar and some animal crackers and fruit and felt a lot better. Left to run around 07:00.

Felt about 50-75% on this run. Much better and more energetic but still not 100% as CHO needs time to absorb. Ran 1 bridge Chuck loop. Not a bad morning. Pace was mostly 4’10s. Stopped at the track and did drills and then 4x strides in 1’19 which felt good. Jogged home after. Total run 9.5km in 40’.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

15:00: Ran later after frustrating afternoon. A bit fired up emotionally and ran fast on the 1K+ sydney labs loop. Was running 4’0x out the door and ran 3km quick on the loop like 3’35, 25, 17, and then forced myself to back off and ran very easy 3’50s for the rest of the run. No strides b/c I was running too fast anyway. Good. Total run 5km++ in 18’30.

XT: Heel drops, toes.

Viernes, 24 de Mayo, 2019 – 06:30am: Keeping on the early-rising train. Up naturally a bit before 05:00 and had coffee and NV bar right before leaving. Ran down to fields very easy and was running 4’10s for 3.5km and then to the track. Stopped and changed into race shoes and did drills and then 2x strides very quick and then did 1km continuous on the track. The usual: run 400m at race pace, and then each 200m gear changing. Ran pretty much perfect, 74.8. 35.7, 65.9 (something like 34.x/31.x). Very good. That 74 felt like nothing. Ready to ROLL.

Cooled down 1km short on turf and then home. Total run 6km+ in 23’45.

XT: Heel drops (5x), toes.

16:00: Easy trip up to Burlington. Took the T to South Station and arrived there a bit before 11am. A bit of a hike from the red line over to the bus terminal so probably about 11:10-15 by the time I got there and already a decent amount of people in line. Got an aisle seat on the bus which was nice as I could stretch out my legs and get up easily every 30-60 minutes. Bus ended up either right on time or a few minutes early and had time to settle into the hotel for a few minutes before meeting up w/ Teage to go run.

Ran from the hotel on a loop through South Burlington. A bit strip-mall-y but nice to have company and someone to get me out the door. Honestly quicker than I thought/planned (4’15 avg) but legs felt good once I got moving.

Finished w/ drills and 2x strides on pavement. Grabbed subway and jogged back. Total run 6km in 25’20.

XT: Toes, ice bath

Sabado, 25 de Mayo, 2019 – 07:00: Up naturally around 05:30, let myself doze a bit later. Met up w/ Eric Ashe and his wife, Lindsay, and drove down to the finish area and ran out/back on the bike path. Very nice and relaxing run, started out over 5’00/km and naturally accelerated a bit but very easy overall. 3km out and back and then stopped and did drills and strides: 3x and then about 200m in ~38-40 seconds super relaxed. Beautiful morning, cool and bright and very little wind. Won’t be quite this nice for the race tomorrow but should still be fairly good weather.

Also, NB, looks like they have changed the course slightly so that it’s the same as it was in 2014. So, the finish is slightly farther out onto the grass and the long straight-away on the road right after the halfway point has changed and is now on the bike path and then cuts right up onto the big hill at Battery Park.

Overall a lovely morning. Total run 6km+ in 29’.

XT: Toes, ice bath.

PM: OFF, planned. Relaxing afternoon. Took a nice nap, soaked in the pool a bit, walked over to the expo around 3pm and hung out in the HOKA booth for a bit and then met up w/ Jon, went to the athlete meeting, came back to the hotel, had dinner, and early to bed. Read to roll!

Domingo, 26 de Mayo, 2019 – Sparknotes: Vermont City Marathon – 3rd place, 2’23’40. Went out hard in 32’19 and cratered after 25km. Womp, womp. Gotta risk it for the biscuit. Glad I held onto 3rd.

Full writeup to come.