Weekly Summary – 59 miles in 12 runs. That’s a wrap for the season. What did I have? I had 40% of a good marathon (through 16km at 2h13 pace). Many more thoughts to come, but happy to be healthy and looking ahead to 2019!

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, 26 de Noviembre, 2018 – 10:00 Ran later this morning to meet Mrs. V at S&S in somerville. Tried to avoid rain but it was just starting as I left. Not too bad, in the upper 40s and not too windy. Ran down Mass Ave to Harvard Sq and then back the old TUXC way to Davis and to the Tufts track, about 8km at 4’15 or so. Got there and did full drills and then 6x strides and 200m in 33.5, NB this was all in Cliftons which are finally feeling good again. Track was really wet too, so that 33.5 wasn’t so bad. Finished w/ about 1.5km to the store. Total run 9km in 38’.

XT: Heel drops (1x only)

15:25: Easy shakeout from home. First day of depletion but felt pretty good actually. Ran out/back toward Sci museum on the river as it was real windy in that direction so had the tailwind on the way back. Stopped at the track and did full drills and 4x strides. Felt really good on these. Form is finally coming around. Probably the last time I’ll feel good until Thursday morning. Total run 5km in 21’30.

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

Martes, 27 de Noviembre, 2018 – 09:30: Slept pretty poorly after day 1 of CHO depletion. Woke up and gave myself some time to wake up and have coffee and nuun (and let it warm up a bit outside) before leaving. Ran sci museum loop. Cool and windy and made the mistake of running out w/ the wind and back into it. Oops. Didn’t feel too terrible and was surprised to see pace around 4’40/km after about 8K (back to the track); I figured it’d be slower. Stopped and did drills and then 6x strides, which felt surprisingly decent. Again, didn’t look at my watch until done, so just went by feel which is good. Finished easy home. Total run 9km+ in 41’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10)

14:30: Ran earlier towards downtown to grab my international driver’s permit for Japan. Crossed Longfellow and then headed to the common. Stopped there after about 3.2km in 15’ and did 4x strides on the flat-ish section of straight pathway. Felt okay, more tired than the morning. Finished down towards South Station, timing/distance worked out well. Total run 5km+ in 22’30.

XT: Heel drops (2×10), toes

Miercoles, 28 de Noviembre, 2018 – 09:20a: Last tuneup day on day 3 of CHO depletion. Maybe I should stop trying to do this (it felt pretty awful and went poorly). Tried to trick my body w/ the sloshing of the sugary drink and spitting it out before I left for warmup. Actually felt pretty good on the w/u and did 2km loop to the track and then drills, strides, 200m in 36.

Took 1 gel after the warmup and sloshed some more maurten right before I started. Extremely windy on the track today and pretty cold. Really unpleasant to be outside.

Plan was the usual tuneup: 5km continuous w/ 1000m at MP or a bit faster, 500m moderate recovery, 500m fast to finish. First rep felt pretty decent (3’14), first rec 500m 1’51 (3’42/km pace), then the next rep was ugly as I went out in like 75 but ran 3’16, 1’54 for the next rep and then made it about halfway through the 3rd before checking my watch and realizing how slowly I was running (into the wind at that point) and just stopping. Decided to jog for a minute and then continue, so ran the second half of that rep for about 3’14 total again and then took another easy 500m (1’53) before trying to run a hard last 500m. Only ran 1’29 which is just under 72/400m pace. 16’50 for 5K (w/ the pause in the middle) – oof!

Overall, pretty awful running but I try not to put too much stake in this workout. Sometimes it’s gone really well, sometimes I totally bomb it. It seems to have more to do w/ how depleted I am than how fit I am. Also the wind today was absolutely ridiculous. Running into it felt like I was barely moving. I know I’m being whiney and a baby but jesus christ I’m ready to get out of here.

Jogged very short back home. Total run 8.5km.

XT: Heel drops (2×10), toes, band work

14:47: Last depleted run! The end is in sight! Ran easy out/back on the river, stopped at the track on the way back. Surprised this wasn’t slower all things considered. Stopped at the track and did drills and 4x strides in 1’28. Jogged home. Total run 5km+ in 22’30.

XT: Heel drops (2×10).

Jueves, 29 de Noviembre, 2018 – 10:00am: Oh happy carb-ful day! Rough night as expected last night. Up a lot between around 22:00 and 02:00. Got up around 05:30 and had a NV bar and some animal crackers and then slept for another 2 hours or so. Got up and felt better and ate a bit more and then ran to Davis for appt w/ Sam Peck at SoarBody. Really windy and running almost entirely into the wind on this one. Energy felt okay but slow b/c of the wind (4’30 to the track at Tufts, about 6.5km). Stopped and did full drills, 4x strides, and 200m in 32. Amazing the difference a day can make! Jogged over to SoarBody via S&S to grab some breakfast. Total run 9km++ in 39’30.

XT: Heel drops (2×10), toes

14:30: Ran from Dr. Amy’s over across Teele Sq to Tufts and then to Gantcher (2km in 8’50 or so) and then went inside and ran on the indoor track for the first time in quite a while. Wanted to do a tiny bit of quicker running in flats just for confidence sake and felt awful yesterday and so windy today that wanted to see how I’d feel w/ less variables. Did 2km on the track at about 4’00/km pace feeling very good and then drills, 2x strides, 200m very relaxed which I thought would be 37 and was 35. Then ran 1K quick. Goal was to run 400m @ ~MP (75-76) and then accelerate each 200m after that. I figured given how little top end speed I’ve had recently that if I ran something like 76/37/36/35, that would be pretty good.

Ended up going really well. Ran something like 38, 75, 1’49, 2’22, 2’54, so 38, 37, 34, 33, 33.

This felt really good and smooth too, not forced or awkward. Really good sign to finally feel smooth and running faster. Finished w/ one easy lap. Not sure of the total because the watch got whacky inside. But 5km++ in 19’30.

XT: Heel drops (2×10)

Viernes, 30 de Noviembre, 2018 – 06:00am: Last run in Boston for the next 2 weeks and got to run w/ Mar for maybe the first time since leaving Peru. Really beautiful morning, crisp and clear and no wind for once. Dark as we left but dawn breaking over the course of the run. Really special and lovely send-off. Ran very slow 5’50 down to 5’10 for about 5km out/back to the track. Stopped and did full drills and then 4x strides in 1’20 which felt good and relaxed. Jogged back. Total run 6km in 31’.

XT: Heel drops (2×10)

17:30 (EST): Very smooth sailing to San Francisco. Had some time to kill waiting for Mr C to get their rental car so ran around the airport arrivals area (back and forth on about 250m of sidewalk). Felt good to move and get a jog in before the long drive to Sacramento. Total run 16’30 for 3.5 (??) km.

XT: Toes

Sabado, 1 de Diciembre, 2018 – 09:15 (EST): Staying on EST here. Got in after a very long and trafficky car ride from SFO to SacTown yesterday. Crashed at like 7pm PST/10pm EST. Woke up naturally between 3-4am (PST) and dozed on/off for a while. Waited out the rain for a while and then headed out to run shortly after 06:00 PST. Still very much night time but been awake for a while so no problem. Felt good to run in the dark. Legs felt really good and energy good. Started out slow but ran much quicker after looping around to the finish and back out the last few km of the course. Ran about 500m at 3’36 pace and then actively stopped myself and forced myself to slow down. Stopped after 5km+ at the park and did drills and 2x strides which felt very good and then a very relaxed 200+ m (sidewalk to sidewalk along the park). Felt very good. Jogged back to the hotel after. Total run 6km++ in 26’.

XT: Heel drops (1×10)

PM: OFF. Chill day. Ice bath, big breakfast w/ VC at their hotel, chilling here, nap, dropped bottles off, elite meeting, dinner around 18:30 EST, more chilling. Early to bed.

Domingo, 2 de Diciembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: California International Marathon – DNF. Ran through 15km w/ the lead pack ~47’20 (3’09/km, 2h13-low pace) and quads/IT/hipflexors (especially left side) completely locked up. Walked twice and ran/jogged to 22km.

Full recap coming soon!