Weekly Summary – 49 miles in 7 runs (plus a bunch of cross training and a ton of PT). I did run a 5K Turkey Trot in my hometown (which I won in 15’21) but otherwise had a fairly frustrating week dealing with a lot of soreness and borderline injury-type-pain in my ankles/achilles. Trying to be smart and not rushing into the big running volume right away while my goals are still months away. Still, you always want things to go perfectly!

Don’t forget, you can follow me day to day on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews) and my daily training log on Trackster.

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 Internships for College students, and even 10-day trips for adults and families.

Lastly, I’m very grateful to support from Outback Physcial Therapy here in Somerville, MA. Dr. Ithamar Jokowitz has been a great help in analyzing my gate and physiology and helping me put together a specific strength-training regimen to really dial things in. If you’re interested in improving your running mechanics, enhancing your recovery, learning about what injuries you might be at risk for, or even get your VO2 max tested, he’s definitely the guy to see in the area!

 

 

Lunes, 25 de Noviembre, 2019 – 11:30am: Slept until almost 10am after being up way too late with Dave two nights in a row. Jesus, I need to get my life together.

Did XT stuff first and then ran outside (finally) on grass. Did 30’ or so on grass and actually felt quite good. First big lap was 3’49 and then the rest were all 3’35-3’32. Stopped at the track and did drills and then 6x strides in 2’00 and 200m in 32.2 (tailwind). Best I’ve felt in a while on strides!

Jogged down to Harvard after to meet my mom for lunch/breakfast. Afterward, jogged through Harvard Sq to pick up my glasses and then stopped at Microcenter on the way home. Total run 14.5km+ in 63’30.

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes

16:00: Busy day with the late start but got myself out the door with short turnaround for Outback PT session. Legs still felt pretty good and ran quickly there (15’35), had a good session and then ran back, stopped at the track, and did drills and 4x strides in 1’20. Easy home. Total run 8.5km+ in 38’30.

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (6x weights)

 

Martes, 26 de Noviembre, 2019 – 10:00: Another late morning! Can’t get on a good schedule, but enjoying spending more time w/ Mar in the mornings. Ran down to fields. Ankles were quite sore and stopped after like 2’ for a bit and had a bit of a frustrated meltdown but then decided to just jog easy on grass. Ended up feeling better than expected. Big laps from 3’52 to 3’43 (3’50 is about 4’30/km, 3’37 is about 4’15/km). Jogged over to track after and did light drills and then some barefoot running including 6x diagonals. Overall, felt much better once I got moving but ankles/achilles were still pretty sore. Total run 11km+ in 50’. 

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (6x weights)

16:30: Decided to XT only this afternoon given how sore the ankles/achilles were this morning. Really want to get the body to be 100% by the time I start the next “up” block in early Dec. Took a walk as it was unseasonably warm (about 60F) and then on the elliptical, did 20’ moderate warmup and then 3 sets of 3’, 2’, 1’, at res 6 w/ rpm for “on” reps at ~105 (~115 for the last min of each rep), rec reps over 90 rpm. Legs are definitely a bit tired as usually I’d be able to do something like this at res 7 but still a very solid effort, mostly HR over 170 and up to 185 or so (over 180 the last 4-5 min). 4’ easy to get to 50’ total. 

XT: Give the ankles/achilles a bit of a break from the balance/stability work to see if that helps as well, so just did toes, upper bands.

 

Miercoles, 27 de Noviembre, 2019 – 09:20: Easy session on bike this AM to really give the achilles as much time off as possible while getting a moderate aerobic session. 30’ moderate and then 7x 30” quick, 60” mod. Felt good and easy overall Total work 40’.

XT: light XT again today, only upper bands and toes.

15:30: In Concord — ran easy on treadmill at the folks’ house. Felt much better today. From about 7’30 down to 6’30/M. Total run 7km in 30’. 

XT: Upper bands, toes.

 

Jueves, 28 de Noviembre, 2019 — Sparknotes: Concord MA Turkey Trot 5K – 1st, 15’17 (15’21 official* see below), CR

07:30: Up early and drove over to Keyes Rd to start of Thanksgiving the right way! Pretty disgusting outside, about 40F, moderate run, decently windy. Yuck. Got registered and then sat in the car feeling sorry for myself until 50’ before the gun. Ran the course 1 time and actually felt pretty decent. Legs felt springier than they have recently and ankles felt good. Did the course in about 21’ and then stopped and changed into carbon Xs and took off tights. Did drills and then made my way over to the start. Did only 2x strides off the line but then had to wait around for a bit as we started like 5 min late.

**The start itself was pretty fucked up as there wasn’t any signal. The race director said a few words and then got in the lead vehicle and just started driving. We all stood there on the line for a few seconds and then someone shouted to go, go, go and so we took off. Hence, the 4 second discrepancy between the watch and gun time. Can’t wait for the letsrun trolls to catch wind of this!

Got out well and tried not to really settle. I knew it would feel fast given how little fast running I’ve done recently, so wanted to really force myself to push. Had a few kids with me for the first 400m or so and then it was just me and one other runner (BEN DONCOVJR who would finish 2nd). He stayed with me maybe through the first km or so. I expected it to be like 2’55 and it was 3’06 — yikes!

Solo effort from there. Nice little hill in the second mile. Cool to run on some of the roads we ran on so often back in HS. Finished with a fairly flat mile on Lowell Rd. Managed to pick it up the last km around 3’00 to come in at 15’17 (watch time) 15’21 (official time). My watch read 4.90km, though I think the 3rd km might have gotten screwed up looking at the map.

Pretty pleased overall given how poor I’ve felt. Jogged over to Emerson track to just do a few more strides. Did 4x and actually felt quite good and so thought about doing a few 200s. Did 2x in 32.x and then the 3rd I could feel I was really muscularly fatigued and ran 34.x, so called it there. Jogged a bit on the very wet grass and then back. Talked with some Tufts kids and then said a quick hello to Jon as he was passing through.

Overall, great start to the day!

Total run 15km.

PM: OFF. very busy day going back to my parents’ house, down to my Uncle’s, then directly to Lolandy’s and then to their neighbors’ for late night dessert. Full day, full family!

 

Viernes, 29 de Noviembre, 2019 – 11am: Slept late and then had a lovely but lazy morning w/ Mariana. Ran w/ her very slow on reverse longfellow. Felt nice to run slow and day wasn’t too bad, a bit windy. Stopped at the track around 6km and did 6x strides in 1’59 which felt very good. Jogged back. Total run 7km in 35’.

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes

3pm: Ran from home to Lexington Center via Harvard Square and then Alewife to the bike path. Felt okay at first but felt quite bad for most of the bike path stretch. Albeit it is net uphill and into a cold wind the whole way but should have felt that bad. Also HR was very high (according to wrist HR) around 160. This run should have again been very easy and felt bad. Really frustrated with things right now and mostly just confused as to why my body feels like garbage. Did a few light drills but no strides as I was honestly exhausted and very cold. Total run 16km+ in 70’30.

PM: Went to see Phish in Providence w/ Mr. C. First show since 12/31/15. A lot of a fun and a lot of time of feet. Ankles/achilles were both quite sore after.

 

Sabado, 30 de Noviembre, 2019 – 11am: Slept in Concord and got a ride back into Cambridge. Planned to run back (about 35km) but ankles and achilles were really sore and energy was not good, so planning to just do rec. Block and not run at least today until the achilles feel 100%. Really just frustrated and confused. It’s been an odd month and I feel like I really wanted to be starting this block off feeling fresh and hungry and instead I’m already feeling beat up and exhausted. Not at all where I wanted to be a month ago…

Ended up starting out on elliptical but I could feel it was working my achilles just a tiny bit so played it safe and got on stationary bike. Did 45’ total w/ 10’ of 30” hard, 1’ moderate at the end. Felt fine. Total work 45’. 

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, pedestal (6x weights), jwal core (no weights).

 

Domingo, 1 de Diciembre, 2019 – AM: OFF.

15:30: On elliptical this afternoon in layers (3x long sleeves, jacket, hat, gloves, tights). Did an hour moderate. HR was much higher than expected at res 5 (151 avg for the first 47’ up to 170). Did 6x 30” on at 110-115 rpm res 6-7, 1’ off. Finished 5’ easy. Total work 60’.

XT: Heel drops, upper bands, beach ball, monster walk, 1 leg bands, toes, hips (6x weights)