Weekly Summary – 137 miles in 14 runs. Weird week with a nasty bug that screwed things up mid-week but managed to be healthy by Sunday and had a solid MP run. On the upswing now! Less than 11 weeks to go!

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Lunes, 11 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8:30am: Slept very well and long last night. Apparently needed that! Easy run down to 1K loop and 2 laps for 3k in about 13’. After, did drills and strides and then did 4x500m at around MP, HMP, 10k pace, and fast. This is a pretty standard 3rd recovery day mini session and always leaves me feeling primed for the following day’s workout with doing any real damage.

Went very well. Splits were: 1’33.5 (2’06), 1’29.4 (2’05), 1’26.2 (2’09), 1’17.8 (rec was 500m easy). This is excellent as running under 1’20 on this run is usually very hard for me and 1’17.x didn’t feel too bad. It was also very even like 31/46/62/77. Felt very strong out there.

Cooled down short around town with a couple laps on the HAR field and then home. Total run 9km+ in 37’.

XT: Back/hips. 2x with weight (5 bars, will up 1x per week)

3:30pm: Easy run around HAR (1 loop in 17’59 – very good for very easy effort). Stopped at the field after and did 6x strides, felt good there and did another 1km on the grass and then home. Total run 7km in 31’.

XT: Hips

Martes, 12 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: Botched workout. Planned 6x4K @ MP, ended up doing 2x4k and then several hours later 3x4k + 1K @ 3’12.3 avg.

7am: Awful session this morning. I’ll just C&P from my email to Jon as I don’t want to think about it anymore. Water off a duck’s back. On to the next one.

I was up early to beat the heat and starting to warm up at dawn around 7am, starting the real running around 7:30am. This was supposed to be the 6x4K which on paper I thought shouldn’t be too hard, especially after 18km steady last week. But for some reason this just felt bad from the get-go today. Even like 1km in, I was doubting if I’d be able to finish that rep let alone the workout. Very bad mental work today as I just really wasn’t able to stay in the moment, let go of feeling a bit tired early on, etc. Eventually, after two slightly slow reps (~12’45-50 I think) and starting a 3rd and running like 3’20+ to start, I decided to just bail.

Part of me just felt really tired and I was thinking about what you said about trying to run fast early in the morning, so I thought maybe I was just out of whack w/r/t body rhythms. So, I went home, went back to sleep and then felt a bit upon waking up and having another cup of coffee. I decided to try to resume the run and shoot for at least getting in the volume, even if split up between two sessions.

I actually did feel much better at the start of this workout and ran again through two reps around 12’50, but on #3 I just felt, again, really tired and was totally checked out mentally. Just couldn’t bring myself to get through those tougher bits. I just had a very bad attitude today, not sure why. I ended up getting through 3 reps and then again on the next rep I was out way slower despite the effort feeling quite hard, so I decided to stop there instead of continuing to force it on a day when things clearly just weren’t meant to be.

So, very frustrating overall. Very disappointed in myself for not being able to get through these rough patches and bummed/surprised that I felt so physically bad given that I felt very good yesterday on my last easy day and I usually feel very good after these recovery blocks.

Today makes running 21km at this pace (Sunday’s workout) seem basically impossible given that I could barely run 21km with a bunch of rest today. But I also did do 18km at that pace and I’m sure that fitness didn’t just disappear over night.

Interestingly, HR never got that high. Never above 182. And it wasn’t particularly warm or humid. Just a bad day…

Time Split HR
4 km 12’44.0 (12’44.0) 163
5 km 16’27.0 (3’43.0) 163
9 km 29’09.0 (12’42.0) 176
10 km 32’52.0 (3’43.0) 167

(Long break)

14 km 45’40.0 (12’48.0) 173
15 km 49’24.0 (3’44.0) 162
19 km 1’02’14.0 (12’50.0) 172
20 km 1’06’07.0 (3’53.0) 169
24 km 1’18’59.0 (12’52.0) 171
25 km 1’22’51.0 (3’52.0) 167
26 km 1’26’06.0 (3’15.0) 174

Miercoles, 13 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Slept very long and well last night. Really needed that I guess. Out the door in 45 minutes which is pretty good for me. Didn’t feel great again, a bit beat still. Really humid and drizzling and just felt a bit weak at the end. Definitely a bit hungry. Finished with 2x strides only just to open up a bit. Total run 18km in 1h25.

XT: Back/hips

3:15pm: Ran from ET. Felt pretty doot to start off but much better after 5-10 minutes which is often the case when I run right after climbing. Ended up feeling quite good by the middle. Did 2 HAR loops around 18’10-20 and then half lap over to Costo turf field for some strides (8x) as I figured it’d be less wet than the real grass fields. Strides felt pretty good. Beautiful day, 80s and sunny and humid. Soaked by 10 minutes in. Total run 15km in 67’.

XT: Climbing at Earthtreks. A fair number of routes today, probably 7-8. A bit tired to start but better by the end. Gotten up most of the 10b’s at this point.

Jueves, 14 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 12km EZ + 16x short hills + 3km @ MP (9’34).

8am: Light hills workout moved to this AM (originally scheduled for tomorrow) due to plans with the folks who are going to be in town tomorrow. Wanted to keep it relatively easy today as Tuesday’s workout didn’t go well and only one day between. Actually felt quite good warming up (ran on longbridge tuf for 5km in about 21’ and then with mariana for another 6km+ on MVS slower). Over to hill for drills, strides, then hills. Ran hills in tracers.

Did 3 sets of 5x with HR for recovery (down to about 120) and then last one all the way to the hydrant in 38.1 (a tick faster than last week). Jogged easy over to 1km loop and then did 3km at MP, no real progression today as I wanted this one to be easier. Ran 3’14, 3’10, 3’10 for 9’34. A bit tired at the end but felt good overall.

Cooled down longer around CC and then home. No gym today again to give the legs a bit of a break. Total run 27km in 2h01.

3pm: Easy run around HAR loop, 2 laps (18’50, 18’10) and then to the field, 5x strides. Felt good. Beautiful day. Hot and sunny around 80F. On the grass to round up. Didn’t feel too tired from this AM – very good. Total run 11km+ in 49’.

XT: (after PM run) Jumps/plyos: 15x box jumps, 15x squat jumps, 30x 1 leg side hop (each), 15x lunge jumps.

Viernes, 15 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Slept later than expected and had a busy day planned with the folks in town so headed out asap. Ran around CC with about 7km on the turf as the legs were feeling a bit beat. Felt quite good by the end, though, and running 4’00s-10s. Finished with 6x strides on turf. Total run 18km in 1h26.

2pm: Bad day! Felt really sick about an hour or two after first run. Like dizzy/out of it/wrecked. No fun. Went to the NMAAH with the VC but felt awful upon arrival and basically passed out on a bench for an hour. Felt a bit better after that so jogged over to Terrel’s at Georgetown Sports Massage for the first time since getting back from Peru and had a nice session there. Feeling better after this so ran home but then felt pretty bad again and basically laid around all afternoon and passed out at like 7pm. Total run 10km in 45’.

XT: Massage at GSM.

Sabado, 16 de Septiembre, 2017 – 9am: Slept for like 12 hours last night and felt much better this AM. Easy run around CC including HAR and finished with strides on crystal drive (4x) which felt very good. Running much quicker today with no problem ~4’00-10s. Total run 18km in 1h16.

XT: Back/hips (2x)

4pm: Ran later after hanging around with VC mid day at their hotel (walked there and back) and still managed to get in a nap. Very good! Ran easy on HAR 2x (18’15/17’59) feeling very comfy and then to field for strides (4x) and home. Nice day, in the 80s and sunny. Feeling much better. Total run 11km in 45’.

XT: Hips

Domingo, 17 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Slept long and well and woke up naturally around 6:30am. Had black coffee and a nature valley bar and then about 20oz caffeinated Nuun as I was getting ready to go.

Workout today was continuous MP run with a goal of 20-22km. Last one was 18km at 3’11/km but I was nervous about this one after bombing my MP session on Tuesday and then getting sick at the end of the week. It was also a bit warmer today since I was starting a bit late, around 73F and humid to start.

Warmed up easy to MV and then stashed bag and bottles. 2km total in 9’ and then drills and strides and 200m about 38. Legs felt pretty good.

Started off very conservative and felt super comfy for first mile or so. After that felt a bit warm already and effort didn’t feel fantastic. Passed 5km in 16’13 and got Nuun and felt better from there to 10km (same loop) in almost exactly the same pace 16’12.

10k to 15k was much harder from a perception of effort level and there were some rough moments where I was doubting myself. But unlike Tuesday I was able to stay in the moment and let these passing bad spells go and just soldier on. I was actually a few seconds faster (16’07) to come to 15k in 48’30.

For some reason I felt much better in the last 6-7km. Maybe it was the gel I took at 10k kicking in or maybe it was just mentally being able to feel the finish but for whatever reason I really started to crank and focus well at this point. I remember getting to 18km and thinking I could probably accelerate a bit and I did, running 18-21km at 3’11 pace.

At that point I was feeling very good and figured I had one more km in me so I ran one last km out a bit harder in 3’05 to come to 22km in 1’10’53. This is 3’13/km avg pace.

I jogged about 1km back to crystal drive and then did 5x200m there with 1’30-45 jog rec. These felt surprisingly good and we’re all faster than last time. Love switching into the tracer at the end of workouts. These were: 31.1, 31.4, 30.8, 29.9, 34.0.

Cooled down on cc loop finishing at gym for lift.

Total run 29km in 1h43.

Splits:
Time Split HR
1 km 3’14.1 (3’14.1) 161
5 km 16’12.5 (12’58.4) 166 (16’12.5)
10 km 32’24.3 (16’11.8) 170 (16’11.8)
15 km 48’31.7 (16’07.4) 174 (16’07.4)
18 km 58’13.8 (9’42.1) 174
21 km 1’07’47.7 (9’33.9) 175 (16’04.7) – 68’05 @ HM
22 km 1’10’52.9 (3’05.2) 178

5x200m: 31.1, 31.4, 30.8, 29.9, 34.0

XT: legs at gym. 3 sets of [step-ups (30lb, 6, 10, 6 (40lb)), overhead lunge (30lb 6, 10, 5 (35lb)), dynamic lunge (30lb, 6, 10, 6 (40lb), squat (40lb, 6, 10, 6 (50 lb).

3pm. Easy shakeout with 2 laps on HAR both around 18’20. Then to the field for 4x very light strides and another 1km on the grass and home. Beautiful day in the mid 80s and sunny. Quicker run than I expected after this morning. Total run 11km in 50’.