Weekly Summary – 96 miles in 11 runs (+ 7 hours of cross training) – This will be my peak week before CIM. Ran every day (sometimes twice and mostly outside) and had 3 solid workouts (mostly inside) including a 39km run on Sunday. Less than 2 weeks until CIM – excited to see what we can put together on race day!

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’s been crucial to helping me recover from my injury and I wouldn’t have been on the start line this week without him!

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 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.

 

Lunes, 12 de Noviembre, 2018 – AM: On the walking desk only, about 1h40 minutes to catch up on work.

XT: Heel drops 3×10

15:00: Ran outside earlier (trying to skew these runs a bit as it’s starting to get dark so early). Ran short chuck loop. Felt much better than the last two days. And, noteworthy ran in Cliftons for the first time in like 2 months (the higher back was really aggravating my achilles so that’s a good sign). Ran 4’30s down to 4’00s. Finished at the track (11km) and did 4x strides and 500m in 1’33. Jogged about 2km more to get to an hour. Total run 14km+ in 59’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), Glutes (10x, 10 weights), band work, toes

Martes, 13 de Noviembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: (treadmill) 26km in 1’26’47 (3’20.3 avg) w/ 6K, 5K, 4K, 3K, 2K, 1K @ 3’15 -> 3’03, 1K rec @ 3’55 avg.

09:00: Started on elliptical w/ 10’ and then 20’ on treadmill about 4.5km. Very cold and rainy so doing workout inside today. Legs felt infintely better than on Sunday so much more confident going into this one. Did drills, strides, and then got started.

Goal was to do longer workout w/ some running at marathon effort and some quicker. Workout is one I like 6,5,4,3,2,1K w/ 1K moderate as rest between. I try to accellerate each rep from start to finish and also each rep should get faster than the previous one.

Overall, it went pretty well. I started out slowly around 3’20 and down to maybe 3’12 on the first rep and then started each rep a bit faster, so the 5K I started around 3’15 and brought the pace down to 3’10 or so for 16’02. The 4K was very tough and I was a bit too aggressive (12’40) and had to stop briefly during the recovery both to catch my breath and reset the machine since we’d gotten to an hour. The last 3 reps were quite hard and I also babied out during the 2K and took like a minute rec in the middle of that rep. So the workout wasn’t completely continuous but I have a hard time knowing how hard to push myself, how much fitness is there, etc. And still got all the work in which was the main point today.

Last rep was very good and ran 3’03 w/ the last 500m under 3’00 pace.

Very, very spent after this one. Cooled down short only 5’, 1km+.

Took maurten (160) about 750mL over the course of the run. Got quite hot as there’s a fan on the wall behind the machine but it’s not super direct or powerful.

Total run 33km.

XT: Heel drops (3x 10)

16:00: On elliptical mostly this afternoon. Legs were still pretty tired and busy day. Jogged last 10’ very easy. Total run 2km in 10’, total work 60’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), toes, beach ball, band work (3×10), pedestal (8’, 10x weights)

Miercoles, 14 de Noviembre, 2018 – 09:30a: Ran outside, brutal morning but tried very hard to be grateful to be running and out of the gym. Ran on the river, big chuck loop. Extremely windy and only in the mid 30s. Sun was out but holy shit it was pretty miserable on the way out. Couple times I felt like I was barely moving forward and just yelled at Boston for sucking so hard. Can’t wait to get through the next couple weeks as I’ll be away from BOS more than I’ll be here in Dec, Jan, and Feb. Legs felt okay but ran very easy. Also lost about a minute or two b/c I stopped to say hi to someone and forgot to stop my watch. Finished at the track for 4x strides and then loop around the hood. Total run 16km+ in 74’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), glutes (10x, 10x weight), bandwork (3×10)

15:30: On elliptical, easy, as achilles was a bit sore after this morning and yesterday. Legs feeling good. Total 60’ work.

XT: Heel drops (1×10 as acihlles was tender), toes

Jueves, 15 de Noviembre, 2018 – 09:00: On walking desk for an hour and then on elliptical for 40’ at good effort. Easy today w/ workout tomorrow and babying the achilles a bit. Total 1h40 work.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), glutes (10x, 10x weight), toes

12:00p: Jogged/T/Jogged/Jogged/Jogged to Dr’s, Sam Peck, and back. About 4km total.

XT: Good deep massage work w/ Sam Peck at SoarBody. Relieved a lot of tension in the calves and L hamstring which explains some of the tenderness in the achilles.

Viernes, 16 de Noviembre, 2018 – 12.5km (treadmill) fartlek 39’52 (3’11.4), w/ 8x [2’ @ 2’57-59, 1’ @ 3’50-4’00, 1’ @ 2’50-55, 1’ @ 3’50-4’00].

08:30: 15’ on elliptical, 15’ jogging (3.5km). Achilles felt very good this AM. Drills, strides and 200m in about 35.

Workout was supposed to be light w/ bigger workout on Sunday – 30-40 minute fartlek w/ sets of 2’ on, 1’ off, 1’ on, 1’ off. Wanted to focus on faster running on the “on” reps, so kept all of those sub 3’00 pace and took the rec minutes a bit easier than the last fartlek (3’50-4’00 vs 3’30-3’40 last week). Felt really good on this. 2 min reps felt hard but manageable and 1 minute reps felt fast but 1’ is long enough to work through. Workout seemed to fly by which was nice. On the last set did 2’ rep as normal and then 1’ rec and then last 2’ as faster rep to get to 12.5km (so 1’52 @ 2’50 -> 2’42 or so). Very gassed after this but really good. Felt much better on the faster running than I have.

Cooled down 4km jogging (18’) and 12’ on elliptical.

Ran workout in CR and w/u,c/d in hupanas

Total run 21km, total work 1h40.

XT: Heel drops (3×10)

15:30: Inside w/ 50’ on elliptical and then 10’ jogging on treadmill from 8’00/M->7’00/M. Felt good and achilles didn’t feel bad after this morning which is a good sign. Total run 2km++ in 10’, total work 60’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), pedestal (8’, 10x weight), bandwork (3×10), beach ball, toes

Sabado, 17 de Noviembre, 2018 – 08:45am: Ran outside solo. Easy hour or so w/ loop on short Chuck and then little out/back before crossing over mem drive and heading toward BU. Stopped at BU track and did 4x strides and 200m relaxed in 36.x. Felt pretty good overall.

NB Ran in cliftons.

Total run 13km in 58’.

XT: Heel drop (2×10)

15:30: Easy jog around warmup loop and then stopped by HB to pick up some extra gels for tomorrow before coming back and finishing on the elliptical in the gym. Nice short session w/ big one tomorrow. Total run 4km++ in 19’, total work 30’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), toes

Domingo, 18 de Noviembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: (treadmill) – 39km in 2’10’52 w/ 10x [ 3K @ 9’38 avg, 1K rec @ 3’51 avg]

09:00: Last big workout and last treadmill workout (hopefully) of this crazy block. Goal was to do my “peak” long run which based on what I’ve been doing I decided would be 8-10x [3K @ marathon pace, 1K moderate]. Usually this workout is one of the last MP works I’d do (and I’d only do 6-8) and it wouldn’t be super hard so based on how the 654321 workout went last week, I thought I had a shot at being able to do this and get in a good longish effort.

Warmed up short, 2km+ in 10’ jogging and then did drills and 2x strides and then 200m ~37’.

Workout went pretty well. First hour or so went well and was able to compartmentalize each rep very well. Had some stupid technical issues w/ the machine as my shoes were pretty beat and started to lose traction as the belt got wet from sweat, but managed to make it work.

Started slow at 3’15 and tried to bring the pace down both in each rep and over the course of the workout. Once I got to about 9’36 that pace seemed pretty much appropriate and decided to try to hold that until that last 2-3x.

These last few reps were noticeabley very much harder. The penultimate rep I really had to dig in to finish and then on the last rep I babied out after about 3’30 and had to stop and catch my breath and then come back on after a minute or so and finish the last 6+ minutes but slower. Disappointed in that but very hard to stay focused on the treadmill when things are getting very dire.

Overall, a huge step in the right direction. Longest run I’ve done by like 40’ and by far the best workout of these last few weeks. Only 2 weeks ago, I did my first quicker running and only ran 8km and was gassed. And now I’ve got another 2 weeks until race day to let this work sink in and freshen up. I’m really relying on my lifetime/year’s base here and have no idea how that’ll turn out but I’m certainly more optimistic than I was a few weeks ago.

Pretty much worked after this one. Jogged 1km in 5+’ and then went home and laid on the floor w/ my legs up until I could stomach eating something.

Total run 42.5km.

Splits
3 km 9’44.0 (9’44.0)
4 km 13’32.0 (3’48.0)
7 km 23’11.0 (9’39.0)
8 km 27’01.0 (3’50.0)
11 km 36’37.0 (9’36.0)
12 km 40’26.0 (3’49.0)
15 km 50’03.0 (9’37.0)
16 km 53’53.0 (3’50.0)
19 km 1’03’28.0 (9’35.0)
20 km 1’07’19.0 (3’51.0)
23 km 1’16’55.0 (9’36.0)
24 km 1’20’45.0 (3’50.0)
27 km 1’30’20.0 (9’35.0)
28 km 1’34’12.0 (3’52.0)
31 km 1’43’48.0 (9’36.0)
32 km 1’47’41.0 (3’53.0)
35 km 1’57’15.0 (9’34.0)
36 km 2’01’07.0 (3’52.0)
39 km 2’10’52.0 (9’45.0)

1’36’17 for 30K of work

Gels (20mg caff each) and nuun @ T-15’, 10k, 20k, 30k
Maruten 320 mix @ 5k, 15k, 25k, 35k (500mL total)

XT: Heel drops (1×10)

16:00: Easy shakeout, first on elliptical for 15’ and then ran outside loop around campus and finished at Anna’s to get a recovery burrito. Jogged back. Surprisingly decent feeling but will probably be smacked tomorrow AM. Total run 3.5km in 19’, total work 34’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10)