Weekly Summary – 149 Miles in 14 runs. A great week with solid recovery from the Hartford Marathon (recap here) and travel; then a great first speed workout over the weekend: 10x1200m at 2’53/km or 4’39/mile pace. Feeling recovered and ready to sink my teeth into this next big block of training. Less than 7 weeks to the World Championships and 17 weeks to the US Olympic Trials Marathon!

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews). And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2016 Programs, including the newly announced STRIVE-Peru: Spring Break program! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for 2016, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even a 10-day trip for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!

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Lunes, 12 de Octubre, 2015 – 8am: Photo shoot with Ian MacLellan in Concord/Lincoln. Lots of random running for like 10-60 seconds at a time and then sitting in the car. Beautiful morning though. Came back and ran solo and then very slow with Mr. C which was nice. Total run 10M.

2pm: Deep flushing treatment from Sam Peck (www.soarbody.com). A great PT/massage therapist for anyone in Geater Boston! Dude really knows his stuff. Lots of walking after

8pm: On treadmill late because super busy day. Total run 8M.

Martes, 13 de Octubre, 2015 – 7am: Busy morning and only had about an hour this morning. Ran easy from parents’ house on Harrington Loop. Felt good – much better than last two days, pretty normal. Total run 8M in 57’.

4:30pm: Thought I’d have more time this afternoon, but another super busy day. Ran very easy and short to warm up and then did XT because I felt like that was important. Total run 2M.

XT: Back/hips.

Miercoles, 14 de Octubre, 2015 – 10am: Got home late last night and slept late (finally!) after a whirlwind trip to Boston/Hartford. Ran easy this morning on Matt’s loop plus 8k on C&O. Felt pretty good but kept effort very light. Total run 25km (15.5M) in 1h49.

XT: Back/hips

5pm: Took a nap this afternoon which felt great but I was late leaving. Ran easy out/back on MVN and stopped at the airport hill. Did drills and then 5x short hills which felt pretty good. Jogged easy to 1km loop and then ran 3km progressing from 50k pace to 12k (?) pace in 3’21.5, 3‘09.9, 2’54.1 for 9’25.5 3km. Jogged 1km easy home. Total run 11k+, 7M+.

XT: Hips.

Jueves, 15 de Octubre, 2015 – 10am: Sparknotes: 5k warmup, drills, strides, 10km fartlek in 31’09 with 1 minute quick (2’55->2’50/km), 1 minute moderate (3’20-25/km).

Longer version: Warmed up 5km easy on bike path. Super nice morning. Changed into Clifton 2 and did drills and a couple strides. Ran on 1k road loop.

Legs felt okay but body was definitely still a bit tired. Need one or two more nights of good sleep, I think.

Ran pretty even (Split 15’34/15’35 for 5k halves) running around 2’55/km for the majority of the “on” minutes and around 3’20-25/km for the “off” minutes. Had to stop around 6km because my sock was sliding off and super uncomfortable, which was good because the last 4km felt more in control after that and being able to catch my breath. Last rep was a bit longer, about 500m, to get to 10k.

Cooled down short and then to the gym for legs.

Total run 10M.

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].

4pm: Ran from Georgetown Day School after talking to their team. Ran with Coach Belber first and then with a big group of kids very relaxed down a nice trail towards the river for about 25 minutes. Really beautiful day and nice to have some company. Finished solo and quicker back home from Georgetown and then tacked on. Really nice run. Total 12M in 90’.

Viernes, 16 de Octubre, 2015 – 10am: Slept late again and ran late. Nice morning. Ran Matt’s loop with a mile on C&O. Felt okay – a bit sluggish. Total run 12M in 1h29.

XT: Back/hips

4pm: Visiting St. Alban’s School/Cathedral this afternoon. Talked and then ran about 6km with their quickest boys (and one girl). And then ran home. Nice afternoon. Felt very hungry by the time I got home. Long day both in terms of work and mileage. Total run 12M in 1h27.

XT: Core, 12’.

Sabado, 17 de Octubre, 2015 – 9am: Easy longer single on Matt’s loop + C&O. Nice morning – getting cooler. Going to have to start really layering up to prep for Doha. Still a bit tired but starting to get back into the swing of things. Total run 17M in 2h00.

XT: Back/hips.

5:30pm: Easy run around CCS. Felt good, ready to work out tomorrow. Total run 6M in 40’.

XT: Hips.

Domingo, 18 de Octubre, 2015 – 10am: Sparknotes: 10x1200m @ 3’28.1 avg (3’25-3’29) with 90sec jog. Avg pace 2’53.4/km, 4’39/mile. Felt great.

Longer First real interval workout in a long time today and the first in a buildup towards the US National Road Championships in 4 weeks (a 12km race). Actually felt quite nervous going into this one, as the pace was a bit faster than I’d done in a while and I didn’t know how I’d react. I also did that 26 miler last week…

Anyway, I did a much more substantial warm-up than usual – 5km easy and then stopped, did full drills and a bunch of strides and 200m in about 32sec. It was cool (in the 40s) and a bit windy. I ran on my road loop which is wheeled and marked every 100m. Also worth noting that I ran in the HOKA Rocket Racer (the new flat). These really feel fast and probably contributed to going out too quick.

On the first rep, I went out way too fast (about about 31-32 for the first 200m and 65-66 for the first 400m), which was dumb, but I think I just expected it to feel really fast. The goal was to run more like 69-70 sec/400m (3’27-30 per 1200m), so I did settle into that after that first fast 400m.

After that, I was just super cautious and checked my splits like every 100m for the next few intervals to make sure I was really locked into that pace. I was super even, running 17.x per 100m, 35.x per 200m. After this first fast one, the next few felt much better and much more relaxed. The rest felt fine, and for the first few, I definitely felt like I could have gone after 60sec. In general, I was covering about 350m each time (about 4’30/km – easy jog).

At halfway, I started to feel quite tired on rep #5, but after that I was able to hang tough with just a few reps left. I think these very long workouts have made me much better mentally about just getting through workouts and surviving these rough patches that always show up.

After #6, I felt tired, but knew I’d finish fine. I kept it steady and then start to accelerate on the last two reps. I ran the last one quite hard – kind of a reverse of the first rep, with the last 400m in about 65. Felt really great and wouldn’t have expected that 5 reps earlier.

Overall, this was a great workout – much better than I would have expected both in terms of how I was able to run and how it felt. This is a great starting place to begin this series of workouts and I think with some more focused work in the next month, I’ll be able to run very well over 12km.

Cooled down 2km easy and finished at the gym for leg circuit.

Total run 15M.

Distance Rep Time Rep Pace
1200 m (3’25.3) 3’25.3 (2’51.1)
350 m (1’34.4) 4’59.7
1200 m (3’29.1) 8’28.8 (2’54.3)
350 m (1’32.9) 10’01.7
1200 m (3’29.3) 13’31.0 (2’54.4)
350 m (1’31.6) 15’02.6
1200 m (3’29.6) 18’32.2 (2’54.7)
350 m (1’33.5) 20’05.7
1200 m (3’28.7) 23’34.4 (2’53.9)
350 m (1’34.3) 25’08.7
1200 m (3’29.2) 28’37.9 (2’54.3)
350 m (1’35.3) 30’13.2
1200 m (3’28.6) 33’41.8 (2’53.8)
350 m (1’35.8) 35’17.6
1200 m (3’28.1) 38’45.7 (2’53.4)
350 m (1’36.7) 40’22.4
1200 m (3’27.6) 43’50.0 (2’53.0)
350 m (1’37.3) 45’27.3
1200 m (3’25.7) 48’53.0 (2’51.4)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].

4:30pm: Easy run around CCS. Finished with 10’ barefoot on treadmill because it’s 40 degrees outside. Total run 8M in 60’.