Weekly Summary – 27 miles of running (in 6 runs) and 16 hours of cross training. A big step this week as I’ve started to move towards running more and kept up on the cross training. Can’t wait to get out of the gym. Really hoping this fitness will translate quickly into running well as I’m nothing if not fit right now. Less than 4 weeks to go.

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, 29 de Octubre, 2018 – 10:20: Woke up sick in the middle of the night so slept very late.

Goal was to do some jogging today. Did 20’ on elliptical to warm up and then on the treadmill 20’ of jogging. Started at about 10’00/M true jog and then quickly worked up to 8’00/M or so and brought the pace down every minute or so until just under 7’00 by the end. Felt good – definitely the best it’s felt in the last 6 weeks w/ no ibuprofen – could have run more. After did another sad hour on the elliptical for longer morning. Total 1h40 of work, 20’ run for maybe 2.75M.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), toes

16:30: On elliptical, moderate hour w/ increasing res. Pretty good effort overall. Tried to do 7’ surge at the end but wimped out after 2’ and took a min rest and then another 4’ after that. Legs are a bit fried right now. Total 60’ work.

XT: Heel drops (3x 10), glutes (10x w/ 8x ankle weights), Band work (3x 10), Pedestal (8’ w/ 8x ankle weights), toes

Martes, 30 de Octubre, 2018 – Sparknotes: 30x [75” on, 45” off] on elliptical.

09:10: Warmed up 30’ on elliptical. Did full pre-workout running drills which felt pretty good and then into the workout since I was short on time.

Did 1 hour of 45” on / 75” off (so, more or less 400m on/200m off by effort). Legs are pretty tired and this was a tough one mentally. Felt pretty bad as early as 20’ or so but compartmentalized well and broke it up into 10 minute sets and then at about 40’ was just taking it one rep at a time. Res 7 and RPM was 100+ for “on” reps and 80-85 (dropped to 75-85 second half) for “on”. Very solid effort. I’m getting fit if nothing else.

Very short cooldown, 5’ only to make my appt w/ Sam Peck on time.

Total work 1h35.

XT: Heel drops (1×10 only as I was tight for time after the workout)

XT2: Very deep massage w/ Sam Peck at SoarBody in Somerville. Very good work but very sore.

16:15: Easy volume w/ pretty tired legs and strength circuit after. Increased res from 2-5 and felt pretty decent mostly. Total 60’ work.

XT:
Pull-ups 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 6
Heel drops 5x 10
Split squat 30lb x 3 x 10
Dead lift 5lb 10lb 15lb

Miercoles, 31 de Octubre, 2018 – 09:15am: Almost over this cold. 30’ on elliptical and then jogged on treadmill for 30’. Started out around 8’00/M and spent majority around 7’00/M and brought it down last few minutes to about 6’10/M. Achilles felt good – also, NB, ran in normal hupanas (i.e. no heel cut-out) and still felt good which is a big step.

Finished w/ another 20’ on elliptical.

Total work 80’, Total run 7km+ in 30’.

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

16:15: On elliptical. Fairly easy session. Total 60’ work.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), beach ball, toes, glutes (10x, 8x weights)

Jueves, 1 de Noviembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: 25’ EZ + 20’, 16’, 13’, 10’, 7’, 3’30 on @ M effort -> much faster, 3’00 off

09:15: Workout day. Goal was to do a medium long workout, simulating one that I like to do in running (6K, 5K, 4K, 3K, 2K, 1K) w/ 1K mod in between each one, starting at MP and finishing at HMP or faster. Very good effort today. 25’ warmup including 10’ on treadmill which felt good, and then did everything by minutes (see sparknotes above) w/ 3’ rec b/w each one. Kept res at 6 for the start and did effort by speeding up or slowing down RPM (M effort = ~95 rpm at res 6). Accelerated through each rep and as the workout progressed which is always a good sign. Last few reps were quite hard @ res 7 and RPM over 100. Babied out a bit on the 2K but closed well in the last 1K rep. 85’ total for the workout.

Cooled down 25’ on elliptical.

Total work was 2h05, total run 2km++ in 10’.

XT: Heel drops (3×10), toes

16:30: Easy hour on elliptical. A bit tired to start but not bad. Total 60’ work.

XT: strength circuit
Pull ups 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 10
Heel drops 3×10
Bandwork 3×10
Deadlifts 3x 10 reps @ 5lb 10lb, 15lb
Split squat 3x 10 reps @ 30lb, 40lb 50lb
Pedestal 8’ w/ 8x ankle weights

Viernes, 2 de Noviembre, 2018 – 09:30: More running today! Did 20’ on elliptical to warm up and then 50’ running. Started out easy for 30’ from 5’00->4’10/km and then did 10x 30” fast, 1’ mod (@ 3’06/km (max speed) and 4’10/km). Finished w/ 500m @ 3’06/km. Felt very good overall. Short cooldown jog to get to 50’. Total run 12km in 50’, total work 70’.

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

PM: Impromptu trip to Concord since it was Friday and Mar was feeling adventurous. Nice hike around Nashawtuc woods. Beautiful and special afternoon w/ the trees at peak foliage – or just past it – and the woods nice and quiet. About 3h00 on feet.

Sabado, 3 de Noviembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: (On elliptical) 1h38 at M effort.

09:00: 30’ warmup w/ 15’ on elliptical and then 15’ running on treadmill. Felt good despite some quicker running yesterday which is a great sign.

Workout today was simulated marathon tempo on elliptical. Goal was to do about 30K worth of effort so 1h35-40. Very tough mentally to stay engaged on this one as it was pretty monotonous and you have to really focus to keep effort high. Worked out that the effort was just about double the distance on the elliptical meter (i.e. 6’30/km felt like about 3’15/km). At least to start – once I started picking it up, I was going well under 6’00/km which obviously didn’t scale to sub 3’00/km pace but was fun and made it more interesting nonethless. Nice progressive effort, starting at around res 6, 95 RPM and increasing the RPM throughout until I was over 105 at the end and then did the last chunk at res 7 at like 105 which was very good effort.

HR was lower than I expected. I think I’m getting too good at elliptical and too used to over-dressing.

Finished w/ 20’ cooldown. Total work 2h30.

XT: Heel drops (3x), toes

16:20: Easy hour after big session this morning and hopefully running more tomorrow. Started on mill at 9% incl, 4mph. Machine says that the “watts” are the same as a good effort on elliptical but my HR is much lower doing this. Still good to get some slightly more specific motion. Hopped on elliptical after 30’ and did the remainder there. Total 60’ work.

XT: Band work (3×10), Heel drops (3×10), Pedestal (8’ w/ 8x weights)

Domingo, 4 de Noviembre, 2018 – Sparknotes: (on treadmill, 2% inc) 8km in 27’30 w/ cutdown 5sec/5km from 3’45->3’10, last 5K 16’34. + 1km in 3’04, 500m in 1’30 w/ 90s rest.

07:15am: Up early w/ changing the clocks and wanting to finish before NYCM. Went over to 91 Sidney gym to work out on their super nice treadmills. Started on elliptical for 15’ and then 15’ jog on treadmill (everything on mill at 2% incline unless otherwise noted from hereon) from about 5’00->4’15/km, so about 3.4km maybe. Stopped and let David in who showed up and did drills and then hopped back on, no “strides” or anything and went into workout.

Goal was to do up to 10km of cut down run, starting at 3’45 and bringing pace down 5 sec/km each km. So, max would be finishing at 3’00 pace. Felt really good to be running fast and definitely not completely normal since I’ve done so little running recently but first 3km or so pretty relaxed. 3’24 km started to feel harder and once I got below that, the last 3k were pretty tough. I figured I wasn’t going to be able to keep accelerating after 8km, but made it to 8K (27’30) and then took a minute or so of standing/walking and hopped back on. Ran 3’05 and then got off and let the HR come down (was in the 180s) and then tried to run last K at 3’00 but stopped at 500m as I was completely gassed and didn’t want to get greedy today.

Overall, a great session given where I’ve been recently. Really pleased to be running quick again and have the achilles cooperate. NB – ran in hupanas.

Cooled down 15’ and then boogied back home to watch the marathon. Great morning – great to run next to Dave for the cooldown, even if we were in the gym on the mills.

Total run 16km+.

Time Split
1 km 3’43.3 (3’43.3)
2 km 7’22.7 (3’39.4)
3 km 10’55.8 (3’33.1)
4 km 14’25.1 (3’29.3)
5 km 17’49.3 (3’24.2) (17’49.3)
6 km 21’07.0 (3’17.7)
7 km 24’19.9 (3’12.9)
8 km 27’30.4 (3’10.5)
(rest)
1K @ 3’05, 500m @ 1’30

XT: Heel drops (2x 10), toes

16:30: Easy hour on elliptical. Dark so early now and it’s only going to get worse for the next 8 weeks or so. Watching Fargo season 1 and that shit is getting unhinged. Finished w/ good 7’ surge. Legs are going to be pretty fried tomorrow after this weekend. Total 60’ work.

XT: Heel drops (4×10), bandwork (3×10), glutes (10x reps, 8x weights)