A continuation of my journeys in running, and more specifically what do I do now that my marathon has ended.
I need to get back to actually writing down my thoughts on my training as it happens rather than just recapping in retrospect. Most of these are however from my Dailymile recap, which works also.
Monday March 26
OFF DAY Knees were hurting a bit when I woke up in the AM.
Tuesday March 27
PM: Great night with GVH tonight. Ran with Joanna and ran hard. After my “cooldown” I was at 9.9 miles and for some unknown reason jumped in to join Benjamin D. & Lynn G. run thier final Yasso. Don’t know how or why, but I was able to keep up. It was also great to see Mike W. jump into the deep end he was FLYING! RTR 8/10 I think I might have a bone bruise on my left big toe that is directly related to what is going on in my hip and calf. The workout:
2mi WU@E (9:15) 9:01
2 x 2mi@T (7:19) 7:06/7:05
2x 400m@R (6:19) 6:33/6:35 —>UPHILL BABY!
3mi CD@E 9:21
800m @ 3:15?
The run: GVH Speeedwork
1:30:18/10.37
RTR:8/10
Wednesday March 28
PM: Easy runs aren’t supposed to be failures, but this was. Started at Valentown to Baker down Thayer to 31. Was feeling ok, but my knees were hurting and it only increased on the downhill. By the time I made the turn the pain was bad, the wind was annoying and I was getting cold. I called it in at 5.5 and had my wife pick me up. 1/10
The run: easy run
52:29/5.5
RTR:1/10
Thursday March 29
PM: Met up with Becca J. Joanna & Lynn G. for a night of Marathon Paced fun. Mr. Mike joined us at the mile mark, and we settled in for our run. I felt good up till mile 9 when my knee (not knees this time) started to bug me. Its amazing bc everything else felt fine except for my legs. I decided to walk a .25 and ended up turning the final 3.85 into a run/walk combo to get the miles in. Goal was 14. RTR 5/10
Embarrassed to even post my splits, but you must take the good with the bad. Debating using next week as a cut down week instead of going up to 65, I’ve felt like this every 3rd week of increase.
2mi@E (9:15) 8:54
4mi@MP (7:45) 7:55
2mi@E 9:07
4mi@MP 10:27 — first mile at MP 3 miles at run .85/walk.15
.83mi@E 11:23 — more run walk…I was cooked
The run: GVH MP run
1:58:57/12.83
RTR:5/10
Friday March 30
PM: Got myself out of bed and on the road just after 5. Turned on the podcast, covered the garmin and went by recovery feel. Took 2 miles to feel ok, but after 4 I was glad to be done. When I looked at the Garmin at the end, my heart sank, but knew that is where my body needed to be this morning. RTR 5/10
The run: Recovery Run
38:59/4.01
RTR:5/10
Saturday March 1
AM: 20.61…After this week I needed a change of pace. Literally. I came to the realization that I may be running out of my league, and I need to start doing things a bit differently if I want to do things uninjured and successfully. This started today. Today I would implement a 4:1 run/walk strategy to try to accomplish two things: save my knees from the pain I’ve had lately, get used to doing something I’ll b doing a lot of in Ultras. I got a good night sleep and a later start than usual for a Saturday. At mile 4 I was supposed to do a 6 mile MP but after 1 mile I felt a twinge in the knees, and went back to my 4:1. I also at this time decided I would push this from a 16 mile to 20 mile. I did it, and I didn’t stop the clock either. My time actually includes my “aid station” break at the turnaround of about 5-10 minutes. Despite the tiredness in my legs, I found that I was starting to take the run portions a tad faster as I got further into the miles. Also discovered a way to vacuum seal the air out of my hydro pack so I didn’t have the sloshing and it lasted till the last sip when I got home. Did the whole thing on Gatorade and a bar of Nature Valley PB. RTR 7/10 despite going away from my intended plan. It might be time for me to start trimming back on a little of the speed work I’ve been doing to help my legs recover a little bit as well. Also, a new PR for miles in a month…222 with 34hrs of running
The run : PArt 1 long run
47:49/5.01
RTR:7/10
The run : Part 2 long run
2:25/15.55
RTR:7/10
Sunday April 1
AM: Todays run in memory of Caballo. I wasn’t able to get out on the trails, but listened to part of his story while I ran. Played a bit with the 4:1 ratio from ysterday to see how fast I had to do the run to get down to my VDOT easy pace. Feeling pretty good after the run and 60 miles is in the bag! RTR 7/10 RTW 6/10
The run : Easy run
1:04/7
RTR:7/10
Recap / RTW: 6/10
This was a weird week for me. On one hand I failed at several of the workouts, but on the other, I achieved my distance goal, was out on my feet longer than I had ever been. For running 60 for the first time ever I feel really good the day after. I have a little knee pain going on that could be stemming from several issues. I haven’t been on top of my AIS as mush and this is due partly to time and me being so tired. It is also the third week of mileage ramping. I’ve been coming up with a little different plan that I think might help me better since I am hitting distances I never hit before. Revlving around a 4 week cycle of build and recover.:
Week 1: Last distance before cutback (50)
Week 2: Add 5 or 10% (55)
Week 3: Add 5 or 10% (60) –> this past week
Week 4: Cutback and recover 20% – 12 – (48) –>upcoming week
Repeat cycle. However my next cycle will have me hit my peak and then cutback:
Week 1: Last distance before cutback (60)
Week 2: Add 5 or 10% (65)
Week 3: Back 5 or 10% (55)
Week 4: Add 5 or 10% (60)
So I still have to figure out the 2nd cycle but I seem to perform better when I only hit peaks 2 weeks in a row then cut back and resume. I only have 8 weeks until Sehgahunda and I’m balancing getting the miles & time on my feet in vs every workout. I’ve toyed with the 4:1 walk ratio that really seemed to take the pressure of my knees, and Sunday I was able to kick up the speed ever so slightly. So I will be doing limited “speed work” this week and focus on getting the time.
This month was quite amazing for me, I ran 222 miles for the month putting me at 555 for the year, ahead of my 2012 goal. I also have seen significant gains in my overall fitness score via Training Peaks. Still learning how to read all this, but ATL: Fatigue, TSB; Freshness and CTL: Fitness. As you can see from the graph, I went from a CTL score of 46.6 on 1/03 of this year to a high of 77.1 on Sunday. This would actually be reading higher had I not had some wonky readings a couple weeks back on my HR monitor. click for larger image.
Upcoming:
8 weeks till the big day. 4 weeks till Flower City 1/2 and I’m not even registered yet. 2 weeks till Dirt Cheap, also not registered yet. This week the Medved Endurance Project kicks off, so looking forward to that.
Total miles Run 9hr 28min / 60.28mi
Trail: 10 (parts of the LR on Sat were on Gravel or dirt path but easy)
Road: 50
Treadmill:0! (YAY!)
Race:0 mi
TSS Score: 700.3
Weight: 160 ate like a pig on Sunday.
Elevation Gain: not enough to shake a stick at.
