Weekly Summary – 108 miles in 12 runs. Great week with two excellent workouts: 35km at goal 50k pace and a super solid fartlek covering almost a half marathon at 5’02/mile pace. Feeling like I’ve got great base of strength AND speed right now. Excited to test it out this coming weekend (stay tuned!).

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!

Lunes, 28 de Septiembre, 2015 – 10am: Easy run on Matt’s loop and then around CC to finish at Costco. A bit tired and kept the pace very easy with a big day tomorrow. Total run 13M in 1h30.

XT: Back/Hips.

5pm: Easy shakeout around CC with a longer workout tomorrow. Felt okay – nice and warm in the 80s again! Loving the DC fall. Total run 5M, NT.

XT: Hips

Martes, 29 de Septiembre, 2015 – 7:30am: Last big workout of the block today. Goal was 30-35km at ~50k race pace. We had talked about not doing this as a progression run, but really a “rhythm run” – maybe starting a tiny bit slower and finishing a tiny bit faster, but mostly just running right around 3’20-25/km.

Weather was pretty good, a bit muggy and about to rain and around 70F, but little wind and cloudy so didn’t feel too hot. Ran on 5km loop on MV where I’ve done all my long runs. Warmed up 1km to trail and stashed my bottle with watered down powerade and gels and did drills, no strides. Took a gel 15 minutes before starting and then every 10k and took powerade every 5km.

Felt very relaxed at first going through 5km just over 17’00 but already running under 3’24 by that point. Got into a great rhythm on the second loop and just cruised. Tried to think of it one 5km loop at a time and not think about the whole thing. Passed 10k in 34’00 and then 15k in 50’48 (16’47 3rd 5k). Had a couple rough patches in the middle, but really once I got to 25km (1’24’26, passing HM in 1’11’19), I was quite sure I’d be able to maintain pace through the end.

Tried to think of last 15k like last 15k of marathon, so began to really focus around 7km to go (halfway through the penultimate loop). On the last 5km I picked it up a tiny bit but didn’t really force anything. Just tried to increase turnover a bit and focus on keeping my form steady. Didn’t really move hard in the last 1k or anything.

Finished in 1’57’47 for 35km (3’21.9/km, 5’25/M). This is 2’21’59 marathon pace or 2’48’15 50km pace.

Extremely pleased with this one. Felt pretty awful the last few days and was a bit worried about this one, so to feel so relaxed and get through it so well was extremely heartening. It’s amazing to compare this run with my early season long runs from August where I was really struggling to run even 5 or 10km at the end of long runs at this pace and now I’m able to run 35km continuously and feel way better. That’s the power of training!

Very confident that I can run at least this pace in Hartford next weekend for 42.2km and feeling much more optimistic about running 50km at this pace in 9 weeks.

Total run 22M+.

Splits
5 km 17’06.1 (17’06.1)
10 km 34’00.2 (16’54.1) (gel)
15 km 50’48.0 (16’47.8)
20 km 1’07’37.9 (16’49.9) – (71’19.8 HM) (gel)
25 km 1’24’26.6 (16’48.7)
30 km 1’41’14.4 (16’50.1) (gel)
35 km 1’57’47.3 (16’32.9)

5pm: Very easy and rainy shakeout around CC. Felt surprisingly decent both all day and on the run. WAY less beat than after the special block or even after some of the earlier long runs. Great. Total run 3M, NT.

XT: OFF.

Miercoles, 30 de Septiembre, 2015 – 9am: Easy recovery run after yesterday’s big workout. A bit drizzly – looks like big storm is coming next few days. Fun. Good time for a mini recovery block. Ran Potomac Park loop. Felt much better by the end. Total run 10M- in 74’.

XT: Back/hips.

XT2: Core.

Jueves, 1 de Octubre, 2015 – AM: OFF. Recovery block, so rested this morning with a single tomorrow afternoon. Good day for it is Hurricaine Joaquin is coming and it’s cold, windy, and rainy. Nice start to October!

4pm: Ran around CCS. Super miserable out – very windy and drizzle. Legs felt good though with 24+ hours of rest. Total run 10M in 62’.

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

Viernes, 2 de Octubre, 2015 – 9am: Miserable day – cold and windy again thanks to Joaquin. Ran mostly around CCS because I’m a baby. Last recovery day. Total run 5M in 32’.

XT: Back/hips.

4pm: Ran 2km easy and then stopped and did full drills and strides. Did 5x short hills with full recovery after. Felt very good on these. Legs feeling much fresher with a few lighter days. Ran easy to rd loop and then ran 3200m in 11’09 with 500m quick (from 3’20-2’55/km), 300m easy (from 1’15-1’10). Felt good and relaxed. Total run 5M+ in 34’.

XT: Hips.

Sabado, 3 de Octubre, 2015 – 9am: Sparknotes: 5km easy (21’) + 20km Fartlek (62’43 – avg of 3’08/km, 5’02/M) with 6x2000m @ 5’56.9 avg (4’47/M, 2’58.4/km) w/ 1k recovery @ 3’28 avg (5’35/mile) + 2x[500m @ 1’22.5/500m @ 1’44.7]. Very strong run!

Full log entry: Fartlek day! Last hard workout before Hartford (just a tuneup and travel this coming week with a Saturday race day). Goal was to continue the build-up of long-rep fartleks that I’ve been doing for the past 6 weeks or so. Last one was on reps of 1600m and recovery reps of 1000m, so this one was to be 5 or 6x (2km on/1km off) (and then 2x 500m on/500m off at the end to finishing things off a bit faster, as we’ve been doing). This would be a total of 17-20km of total work.

No breakfast, just black coffee and some water.

With Hurricane Joaquin coming, I had originally planned to do this on the treadmill, but was pleased this morning to find pretty good conditions outside – only moderate wind and drizzle and temps in the 50s. As with previous fartleks, I did drills first and then kept the entire run continuous, with 5km warmup and then straight into the first interval. Other than the warmup, I did the whole run on my 1km wheel measured road loop.

The first rep always feels a bit rough – going into sub 3’00/km pace from well over 4’00/km is a bit of a shock mechanically and aerobically. But I found that by the second half of that rep I was already feeling better and negative split 3’01/2’58 to run 5’59. The recovery km felt very good (3’28) and I felt fine going into the second interval and running a bit quicker (5’57). I made it through halfway still feeling confident (5’56 3rd rep), and then on #4 I had a bit of a rough spot. Not sure why but all of a sudden just felt like I was redlining for a minute or so. I took that recovery km much slower, especially the first 200-400m, and told myself if it felt really awful, then this would be my last rep. Lo and behold, I actually felt much better and ran my fastest rep of the day thus far (5’55) and felt fine, knowing I could finish. The last 2k was great and the fastest of the day (without kicking, just focusing a little more) to run 5’52.

I honestly wasn’t even thinking about the 500s until I finished the 6x2k. In my mind, these were just like fun little strides I get to do at the end of the workout, not the real workout. The first one felt very good and I felt smooth running 1’21. I probaly ran my recovery 500m a bit too fast as the last one I really started to rig after really getting after in the first 200m (~30-31) to run 1’23. Finished with 500m jog to round it up to 20km of work.

This felt MUCH better than the 1600m/1000m fartlek from 2 weeks ago. The pace was very similar for the “on” reps, and the recovery reps were a bit quicker this time. Plus, the intervals were 25% longer and the overall workout was 20km as opposed to 17km. I also just remember feeling really gassed after like 2 reps in that earlier workout, but today I was able to run the last two the fastest (and then still had energy to run 1’21/1’23 for the last 2x500m). Definitely felt like the strongest fartlek I’ve done this block, even though the “on” sections are a bit slower than the 2’55s I was running 4 or 5 weeks ago on much shorter segments (e.g. 500/500 or 1k/1k).

It’s also worth noting that the total work (20km in 62’43) is quite fast (5’02/M, 3’08/km avg). That’s a 66-low half marathon if I’d kept running for another 1.1km. There was a time not too long ago where a 62’13 20km was the breakout race that put me on the map. Quite something to be just 30sec off that in a fartlek in training. Very excited to keep building up this fitness.

Cooled down 1km very easy and finished at the gym for legs.

Total run 16M+.

Total on: 13km in 38’24.4
Avg on: 2’57.3/km (4’45/M)
Total off: 7km in 24’19.4
Avg off: 3’28.5/km (5’35/M)

Total Fartlek: 20km in 1’02’43.8 – this is a 66’10 HM if I’d run for another 3 and a half minutes!
Total Avg: 3’08.2/km

Full splits: (See far right column for interval splits)
Unit Time Lap Interval
5 km 21’34.0 (21’34.0)
6 km 24’35.3 (3’01.3)
7 km 27’33.7 (2’58.4) – (5’59.7)
8 km 31’02.0 (3’28.3) – (3’28.3)
9 km 34’01.5 (2’59.5)
10 km 36’59.8 (2’58.3) – (5’57.8)
11 km 40’24.9 (3’25.1) – (3’25.1)
12 km 43’23.2 (2’58.3)
13 km 46’21.7 (2’58.5) – (5’56.8)
14 km 49’46.7 (3’25.0) – (3’25.0)
15 km 52’45.5 (2’58.8)
16 km 55’43.8 (2’58.3) – (5’57.1)
17 km 59’15.0 (3’31.2) – (3’31.2)
18 km 1’02’12.6 (2’57.6)
19 km 1’05’10.5 (2’57.9) – (5’55.5)
20 km 1’08’43.1 (3’32.6) – (3’32.6)
21 km 1’11’39.7 (2’56.6)
22 km 1’14’35.7 (2’56.0) – (5’52.6)
23 km 1’18’03.6 (3’27.9) – (3’27.9)
23.5 km 1’19’25.0 (1’21.4) – (1’21.4)
24 km 1’21’06.3 (1’41.3) – (1’41.3)
24.5 km 1’22’54.3 (1’23.5) – (1’23.5)
25 km 1’25’49.7 (1’48.0) – (1’48.0)

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

5:30pm: Still not beautiful outside. Quite windy and in the 50s, light drizzle. Easy shakeout around CC loop. Felt okay, a bit sore from the morning. Total run 4M+, NT.

Domingo, 4 de Octubre, 2015 – 9am: Felt surprisingly decent this morning after a great workout yesterday. Ran Matt’s loop. Windy and a bit chilly but not too bad. Running moderate by the end. Total run 11M in 76’.

XT: Back/hips

5pm: Easy shakeout around CC. Finished at Costco and walked home. Total run 4M+ in 28’.

XT: Core, 12’.