Weekly Summary – 142 miles in 14 runs. End of a big 3-week block (20 days at 147MPW/237KPW avg) with two really good workouts: 25km steady at 2h13 marathon pace and a great tuneup on Sunday with some faster running. Less than a week to the Mohawk Hudson Half Marathon and less than 9 weeks to CIM!

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Lunes, 25 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8:30am: Ran a bit later and slept very long and well. Started out very slow with Mar to bridge 5’00+ and then the rest Matt’s loop solo. 8km in about 41’ and then quicker on the way back. Finished with 6x strides at black squirrel which were very good. Tacked on and ran home after. Very hot by the end! Total run 20km in 1h37.

XT: Back/hips

3pm: Easy run around HAR (18’55) and had to pit stop back home with some bad chafing. Changed into half tights and better after that. Some stomach issues too. Not sure if it was something I ate or if it was just very hot (upper 80s and sunny!). Finished with 6x strides on grass and then 1km easy to loop, 1km quick at 3’10. Total run 13km in 54’.

XT: Hips

Martes, 26 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8:30am: Easy run on Matt’s loop. Warm again in the upper 70s and humid. Ran in track pants and long sleeve. Quicker than yesterday but still a bit doot by the end. Probably mostly from heat. Finished with 6x strides at black squirrel and home. Total run 20km in 1h35.

XT: Climbing at EarthTreks. Quick trip so only 4 routes, 10a and then made it up my first 10c and did that 3x as it was a very fun route.

3pm: Easy run with 2 laps on HAR (18’50, 18’10). Very warm, upper 80s and sunny, and felt pretty hot. Nice to be outside though. Started slow but 4’10s by the end. Stopped and did 8x strides on grass and then jogged to 1km loop and did 2km in 6’22. Felt quite good! Total run 13km in 54’.

Miercoles, 27 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Easy run out/back on MVN. Felt good and ran from 4’50->4’0x on the way back. Stopped at black squirrel and did 4x strides which also felt good, 1km easy, 1km quicker ~3’11. I think today is the last day of this heat wave! Kind of sad but not too bad running wise. Total run 20km in 1h27.

XT: Back/hips

2pm: Ran back from Terrel’s at Georgetown Sports Massage. Really good work to loosen up right TFL and left achilles/calve. Easy jogging with tomorrow a big one. Total run 9km in 44’.

Jueves, 28 de Septiembre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 25km in 1’18’59 (3’09.6/km, 5’05/M) w/ 22km steady @ 3’10/km + 3km @ 3’03/km. 5x200m @ 33-29.

8:15am: Woke up at 6am (actually about 5:50am to RP meowing) and felt surprisingly good. Had black coffee and NV bar around 6:30am and 20 oz nuun over the course of the morning. Headed out around 8:15am. Weather was a bit warm (72F and a bit humid), light wind. Jogged to MV and stashed two bottles and did another km or so of jogging. Legs felt good.

Drills, strides, changed into shoes (clifton 3 for this one as I wanted to be conservative with the achilles). Took a gel about 10 minutes before starting.

Felt quite good at the start. Took first few km pretty easy and then got into a good rhythm. Did this on 5km out/back, so got nuun every 5km and took gels at 10km and 20km. Got really hot around 10km but took my shirt off and poured some water on my head and then I was good to go. Had some tough patches there but felt really good from about 12-13km to the end. Did a very good job of staying focused on this run, in the moment.

Felt like I had a lot left around 20km, so decided to treat this run similarly to my 10-days-out workout I’ve done before marathons (i.e. 36km w/ 30km @ 50K, 6km @ MP or faster) and scale it down (so, 22km @ MP, 3km @ HMP or faster). I was 63’32 at 20km (~67’00 at HM) and tried to make a real acceleration at 22km (69’50). I felt great and had way more left than I thought and ran the last 3km in 3’05/04/01 for 9’10.

This ended up being 1’18’59 for 25km (3’09.6/km avg) which is 2’13’20 marathon pace. This is really good, one of the strongest marathon pace runs I’ve ever had and doubly so given that it was a fairly warm day at the end of a big block.

This block also hasn’t been great, honestly, as I was sick at the beginning and just didn’t feel great for the first half or so. These last few runs and workouts have really turned that around and I’m definitely on a big positive trajectory and glad to have (hopefully) weathered the storm. I’m glad my target race isn’t next weekend as I’d like to have more consistent block of training, but I still have two full blocks after Hudson Mohawk, so just to be able to do this workout now sets me up well for a very strong 6 weeks of training after this race and that’s where the magic will happen.

Plus, running on a day that is (hopefully) under 70F and less humid should feel great in addition to not have 250km/week in my legs!

Anyway, to finish the log, jogged back to 23rd st and did 5x200m in 31, 30, 30, 29, 33 w/ jog back recovery. 1km cooldown and then to the gym for leg circuit. Doot, doot!

Total run 31km.

Time Split HR
1 km 3’15.4 (3’15.4) 144
5 km 16’01.4 (12’46.0) 166
10 km 31’48.4 (15’47.0) 168
15 km 47’41.4 (15’53.0) 174
20 km 1’03’32.4 (15’51.0) 176 (67’00.3 at HM)
22 km 1’09’50.4 (6’18.0) 177
23 km 1’12’55.1 (3’04.7) 180
24 km 1’15’59.0 (3’03.9) 180
25 km 1’18’59.6 (3’00.6) 182 (9’09.2 last 3km, 15’27.2 last 5K)

(3’09.6 overall avg)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [6x step up (30, 40lb), 6x overhead lunge (30, 35 lb), 6x dynamic lunge (30, 40 lb), 6x squat (50,60lb)]

3pm: Easy shakeout down to fields and then 6km on turf. Very slow to start down to 4’40s. Nice and sunny but not as hot as the last few days, only about 80F. Finished with 4x very easy strides and home. Total run 10km in 47’.

Viernes, 29 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8:15am: Very slow recovery run on Matt’s loop. Kept pace very easy after a hard workout yesterday and a rough night’s sleep. About 41’ at 8km and then a tad quicker down to maybe 4’40s on the way back. Stopped at black squirrel on the way back and did 6x strides which actually felt pretty good. Much cooler this morning, only in the upper 50s to start, which felt remarkably nice and cool. Total run 19km in 1h34.

XT: Back/hips

XT: Climbing at EarthTreks. Good session with about 5 routes, 1 10b and the rest 10c, a couple doubles. Made it about a third of the way up an 11a but it was at the end of the day and I was too doot.

3pm: Easy run from ET around CC. Lovely afternoon, in the 70s and sunny, much less hot and humid than the last week or so. Felt very sluggish first few minutes but much better after that. A bunch on the turf as legs were still pretty sore from yesterday. Running 4’10s by the end. Finished with 8x strides on turf (in shoes) which felt very good and then ran home. Total run 11km in 50’.

Sabado, 30 de Septiembre, 2017 – 8am: Woke up a bit earlier today and slept very, very well. Ran solo out/back on MVN. Felt quite good and running quicker 4’10s by the end. Stopped at black squirrel and did 8x strides which felt really good. Jogged to 1km loop and did 1km quick in 3’03 to see how that’d feel for tomorrow’s session. Felt a bit quick! We’ll see how it feels with a real warmup, etc. tomorrow. Finished easy home. Total run 21km in 90’.

XT: Back/hips

3pm: Easy shakeout around CC, 1 lap on HAR (18’50) and then back to crystal drive for strides (4x). Nice out – much cooler than a few days ago, only about 70F. Total run 10km in 43’.

Domingo, 1 de Octubre, 2017 – Sparknotes: 5km in 15’09 + 3×1600 @ 4’48.7, 4’40.0, 4’33.6 (400m jog ~1’55) + 5x200m @ 33-30.

8am: Last orange workout before the half next weekend. Goal was to get some continuous running at goal HM pace and then some quicker intervals after.

Woke up around 6:15am and had black coffee, NV bar, some animal crackers. Left to warm up around 7:45am. Cool out – only in the 50s, which felt remarkably chilly. Stark difference from almost every workout in this block. Jogged to 1km loop and 3 laps (4km in total), running 4’00 by the end and felt very good. Changed into Hupanas for workout. Drills, maybe 5x strides and 200m in about 35.

Continuous rep felt great. 5K felt like no problem and 3’03 pace actually felt very comfortable. Not sure if this is due to cooler weather or just on an upswing right now, but first 3k in 9’09 felt super smooth. Pushed a bit in km 4 and ran 2’59.1 but still very comfy. Eased back to very comfy pace last km and still ran 3’01 for 15’09. No acceleration/kicking at all, just relaxed through the line.

Took about 3 minutes jogging and then did 3x1600m with 400m jog (back to the start of the loop), so each 1600m was the same and the last 600m was always a bit faster since there’s an uphill in the last 400m of the loop that I was missing. I did try to accelerate each rep in the second half, but probably got a free second or two because of the net downhill.

First rep was very relaxed at the same pace through 1k (3’03) and then picked it up for 1’46 for the last 600 to run 4’48.7. No problem. 400m jog in 1’52 felt long and very much ready to go. Wanted to get out more aggressive in the next one and ran through 2’56/1’44 for 4’40. A bit more focused, but still not too hard. 400m jog in 1’55. Last rep wanted to really get after it and try to run like 2’50 pace. Didn’t quite have that as I was 2’53 at the km and 1’41 for 4’33.6. This is still really quick for me, especially at the end of a workout on the road. I thought 4’50/4’40/4’30 would be A+ splits for this part, but that 4’30 was probably just too aggressive given how little running I’ve done under 2’55 pace. I felt very strong but it just felt very fast.

Changed into tracers and jogged back to 23rd st. and finished with 5x200m as I’ve been doing in every workout. These felt great. Had a slight headwind, so right in line with the last few times of done these. They were: 31.4, 31.2, 31.7, 30.3, 33.5. (I always try for 4th fastest, 5th very relaxed).

Jogged 1km very easy and then to gym for stretching/jumps. Still cool by the end, maybe not even 60F in the shade!

Overall, super strong workout and really good end to the block with these last 2 sessions. Really pleased given how rough the block started out to be finishing on such an upward trajectory. This workout in combination with the 25K a few days ago gives me great confidence that I have a really good balance of speed and strength right now. Really excited to see what happens in the half and then focus back on the marathon work for the following 6 weeks or so.

Total run 20km.

5km steady: 15’09.1
1 km 3’03.6 (3’03.6) 169
2 km 6’05.9 (3’02.3) 171
3 km 9’09.3 (3’03.4) 174
4 km 12’08.4 (2’59.1) 176
5 km 15’09.1 (3’00.7) 176

3x1600m (400m jog): 4’48.7, 4’40.0, 4’33.6
Time Split HR
1 km 3’02.9 (3’02.9) 167
1.6 km 4’48.7 (1’45.8) 174 (4’48.7)
2 km 6’41.5 (1’52.8) 159
3 km 9’37.6 (2’56.1) 172
3.6 km 11’21.5 (1’43.9) 179 (4’40.0)
4 km 13’16.6 (1’55.1) 163
5 km 16’09.2 (2’52.6) 175
5.6 km 17’50.2 (1’41.0) 182 (4’33.6)

5x200m (200m jog): 31.4, 31.2, 31.7, 30.3, 33.5

XT: Jumps/plyos: 15x box jumps, 30x single leg side hop, 15x squat jumps, 15x lunge jumps

3pm: Easy run around CC. Started with Mar but quickly solo as legs were feeling surprisingly decent. Ran two laps on HAR in 18’19/17’57. Very good sign to be running this quick after a good effort this morning. Definitely was not too taxing on the body which is just what I want 7 days out from the race. Finished with 4x strides on grass and then home. Total run 10km+ in 44’.