Training log - Week ending 12/31/17

This week was 42 miles of running, 16 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This week was lower mileage, since I'm resting up for a race on New Years Day.  The race is on Monday, so I was able to squeeze in a light cruise intervals workout on Thursday (generally, when I race on Saturday or Sunday, my last workout is on Tuesday or Wednesday).  Since I was tempoing by myself, I moved the workout to the roads - Hains Point, to be exact.  For non-DCites, Hains Point is a flat 3.5 mile asphalt road loop with almost no vehicular traffic.  It's a great, if nauseatingly boring, place to train.

I used this workout as my final test for the Vaporflies (I'm still unsure whether the proper pluralization is Vaporflys or Vaporflies).  My previous easy run with them was soul-sucking, but perhaps they were different at a faster pace.

Confirmed: they are a different shoe at speed (speed for my purposes is defined as marathon pace or faster).  When you generate more force, the shoe feels more stable, though still a bit soft and wobbly for my tastes.   More speed also means the foot spends less time on the ground, and that may help with the perceived stability.  I also wore thicker socks so the shoe fit tighter and taped my ankles for stability (I use the same tape job whenever I race the mile, have a very long track workout planned, or know I'll be running on the towpath).  This likely affected my perception of the shoes as well.

Whatever the reason, the shoes felt better on Thursday.  I did 2x2 miles with a short recovery, keeping the pace under control for the first and opening up for the second.   And the faster I ran, the better the shoe felt. 

As for whether the shoe performed better than another shoe would?  This wasn't a good test for that, from a raw data standpoint.  My heart rate was very low for the speeds I was running, but that's easily explained by the weather - 15 degrees Fahrenheit.  When I run hard in frigid temperatures, my heart rate often gets frozen (haha) at a low value that doesn't match my effort or pace.  I also finished the second two mile repeat with a mile at my 5K pace that didn't feel at all like 5K effort.  However, I had a substantial tailwind at my back for that mile, so who knows. And maybe the Garmin lied about the pace.

So, I'm not totally sold yet, but the shoes felt good.  Which means a lot to me, since I train primarily by feel.  I like them enough to try them in tomorrow's 5K, to see how they feel at a maximal effort.  

Despite the fact that I'm wearing them on Monday, I don't think this is a good 5K shoe for me.  Were this a PR attempt, I'd be going with the Adios or Takumi Sen.  My Takumi Sens and Adioses feel like sportscars, while the Vaporflies feel more like high-speed trains - fast once they get moving, but very slow to start, stop, or turn.  Even the wide turns on Hains Point required me to slow down, carefully navigate the turn, and then pick up speed again.

In a shorter road race with a fast start off the line and most likely a tight turn or two, this would be an awkward shoe.  To that point, I'd be especially nervous wearing the Vaporfly at a Turkey Trot or other race with a lot of inexperienced runners and children sprinting and weaving at the start.  You can't dodge, surge, or brake fast in these shoes.

The Vaporfly is best reserved for a longer race on a concrete or asphalt surface with relatively few turns.  It is NOT a jack of all trades shoe - even if it was cheap and easy to find, I would never want to wear it on the track, on an off-road surface (even packed dirt), or on a city sidewalk.  And it's so unstable and cushy at slower speeds that I would fear using it as a daily trainer, for the same reason I shy away from Hokas and other high cushioned shoes.

As for how much faster the Vaporfly may or may not be, compared to other shoes...there's really no way to be absolutely certain, since I can't do a controlled blind study.  I feel that the shoe is slightly faster than the Adios.  But I also feel that the gap between the Vaporfly and the Adios Boost is far less than the gap between the Adios Boost and my daily trainers, or any non-Boost shoe.

***

I've read a fair bit of discussion on whether wearing the Vaporfly is "cheating."  After giving this consideration, no - I don't think it is, by any definition.

For one thing, the shoes are allowed.  They've been around for several months, more than enough time for USATF to ban them.  Playing a sport with legal equipment, used in the manner for which it was designed - not cheating, in my book.

Yes, they are expensive - more so than other shoes, and perhaps some aren't able to purchase them.  But if that's our criteria, then we also need to start limiting all the other expensive things that some people can afford and others can't - nice hotels near the start line, inflatable recovery boots, gait analysis, compression tights, regular sports massages.  

The Vaporflies are admittedly hard to find.  When they come available, they sell out in hours - modern day Cabbage Patch shoes.  But if lack of easy availability defines unfair advantage, then many other shoes fit that category.  It was easier to get a pair of Vaporflies than a replacement pair of my beloved and elderly Takumi Sens (still looking for those...).  And there are mass market unisex sized shoes that effectively are unavailable to me, since I have somewhat small feet and the shoe isn't made in my size.

The shoes do promise, and to some extent deliver, "energy return."  But that's not a new promise or achievement.  That was the selling point of the Adidas Boost foam - and having run in Adidas Boost shoes for several years now, I truly believe that that claim.  As I noted above, I find the difference between the Adios Boost and a non-Boost shoe to be far greater than that between the Vaporfly and the Adios Boost.

Nor is the technology of the shoes as revolutionary as it sounds at first.  Mizuno has been using a "wave plate" in its shoes for years and my beloved Adios Boost 2s have an midfoot torsion system that extends into the forefoot, as do many other flats.  Specialized patented energy return foam?  Again, Adidas got there first.  And the rolling action plus the high stack height comes from Hoka.  Nike just took all of these, combined them, and did a good job of it.

***

In my opinion, the Vaporfly is both a great shoe and vastly over-hyped.  Adidas Boost was much more of a game changer, but received less attention, both positive and negative.  Why?  I can think of three reasons:

1. Adidas simply made the shoes, gave them to their sponsored athletes (the men's marathon world record was run in the Adios 2 Boost), and released them to the masses.  No big private marathon in Italy with guest appearances from Joan Samuelson and Kevin Hart.  No National Geographic Special.  No Wired Magazine.
2. Adidas made enough shoes to meet demand.  Nike has not.  Scarcity can trigger irrational behavior (see: Beanie Babies or Cabbage Patch Kids).  The fact that the shoes are so hard to find leads to much discussion on where the shoes can be found - free publicity.
3. Those who end up with the Vaporfly are not a representative subset of the running population as a whole.  Rather, they care enough about their marathon performance to expend considerable time, effort, and money to buy a shoe that might help their time.
    It's no surprise that those are the same people who are negative splitting marathons and setting significant PRs - if they're willing to work that hard for a shoe, they're likely doing all the other things that running success requires.
   
   In contrast, since the Adidas Boost material was available in a wide range of shoes easily available to the public, a wide range of runners run and race in the shoe.  Both the dedicated and the dilettantes, with (again) a wide range of performances to match. 

We'll see how tomorrow's 5K run goes.  My opinion of the shoe may change.  Again.

Dailies

Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running (the Jewish Community Center was open); foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including 4x1200 in 4:37, 4:36, 4:34, 4:28.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy (9:20) to yoga, yoga, and then 4 miles easy (8:52), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  10 miles, including 2x2 miles in 12:56 (6:28/6:28) and 12:23 (6:21/6:02).  Sports massage in afternoon.

Friday: Upper body weights and core plus 9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 7 miles very easy (8:55), followed by drills and strides, and then DIY yoga. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  4 miles very easy (8:50) followed by DIY yoga and foam rolling.

Training log - week ending 12/24/17

This week was 58 miles of running, 17 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

With about 3 weeks to go until the Houston half-marathon, I'm starting to feel fairly good.  I wish I had more like 4-5 weeks - when I had registered for Houston, I had hoped to run 85 minutes and change there, but I'm not quite in that shape yet.  But I'm not in bad shape, so I should hopefully be able to run something decent there.

***

In other news, I splurged a few weeks ago on a pair of Vaporfly 4% shoes - yes, those $250 shoes.  (but not really a $250 risk, as I'm sure I can unload them on Ebay, even gently used).

I took them for an easy run on Saturday, and was deflated to realize that I didn't like them very much.  They don't feel like magical rocket shoes; rather they remind me of the boots I used to wear in my clubbing days (before I got smart and realized I was destroying my

Club boot on left; Vaporfly 4% on right

ankles).  Heavy and clunky.  And it was challenging to stop or turn with them - these are not shoes for running on crowded city sidewalks.

I did run slightly faster on Saturday than my norm, but that's not due to energy return from the shoes.  Rather, the shoes felt so awkward at my normal easy pace that I had to pick things up slightly to stay comfortable.   Even then, I still felt unstable in them, and afterwards noted the ankle pain that always pops up when I wear shoes that are too heavy or run on soft surfaces.

After my run, I decided to weigh the shoes on our very sensitive kitchen scale.  I grabbed my other shoes as well, to do a comparison.

Here's how I would rank my shoes, from lightest to heaviest, based on how they feel when I run:

From left to right:
Takumi Sen; Adios 2; Free 4.0; Adios 3; Vaporfly

1) Takumi Sen Boost
(for 5K races and shorter)
2) Adios Boost 2
(for track work and races longer than 5K, including marathon)
2) Flyknit Free 4.0
(tied with Adios 2) (for easy runs)
4) Adios Boost 3
(for long runs)
5) Vaporfly 4%  

And here's how much they actually weigh:

1) Takumi Sen Boost - 5.15 oz (men's 5.5)
2) Flyknit Free 4.0 - 5.7 oz (women's 7)
3) Vaporfly 4% - 5.85 oz (unisex 6)
4) Adios Boost 3 - 6.6 oz (women's 7.5)
5) Adios Boost 2 - 7.3 oz (women's 7.5)

So, my favorite shoe - the one that feels lightest on my feet, is actually significantly heavier than all the other shoes  Very interesting.  Evidence that it's not just about the shoe, but how the shoe works with the runner.   

My hunch is that the Adios Boost 2 and the Takumi Sen are very stiff shoes that work well with my gait (mid foot strike, fast cadence, very little power), while softer shoes like the Adios Boost 3 and the Vaporfly 4% work better for runners who generate more force and pound the ground harder.  (The Flyknit Free 4.0, though soft, is also very thin, which is likely why the softness of it doesn't bother me too much.)

I'm going to give the Vaporfly one more chance with some faster running to see if it feels different at that speed.  If I still don't like it after that, it goes up on ebay.


Dailies

Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running; foam rolling at night..

Tuesday: 11 miles, including 6x800 in 3:00, 2:58, 2:55, 2:54, 2:55, 2:46.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:02) to yoga, yoga, and then 4 miles easy (8:57), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  Upper body weights and core plus 10 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 10 miles, including a 4 mile tempo in 25:32 (6:33/6:25/6:24/6:10).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles easy (8:30), followed by drills and strides, and then upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  15 miles total. The first 14 miles were progressive, split as first 4 miles averaging 9:00 pace, next 4 averaging 7:37; next 6 averaging 6:47; followed by a 1 mile cooldown.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 12/17/17

This week was 61 miles of running, 17 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This week was heavy on the quantity of the quality, if that makes sense.  Tuesday's workout was a full 4.5 miles of fast running, run at a slightly slower pace than normal (with recoveries all taking less time than the intervals).  

It doesn't make sense to do this much interval work every week, or even regularly.  But I do think it's good to mix things up from time to time, and a high volume of 5K paced intervals with limited recovery is good half-marathon prep for me.

My last two weeks have alternated longer/harder and shorter/easier workouts - a 8K tempo (longer) last week was followed by a 14 mile long run (shorter) and then this week's long session of intervals.  I followed the intervals with a 4 mile tempo (shorter) on Friday and then a 16 mile Sunday long run (as long as I'll go this cycle).  I like balancing things this way because it lets me fit in some harder workouts without necessarily burying myself.

Me and my trophy.

So a good week training-wise.  But also a bit of a bummer.

To explain more, back in May I won a trophy at the Broad Street 10 Miler.  Not just an acrylic trophy, but a huge glass one.  Really impressive - possibly the coolest thing I've ever won at a running race.

I managed to get it safely back to DC, where I stored it, carefully padded, in a box under our bed until I could identify a safe place to store it.  This weekend, I extricated it and placed it on the shelf I had cleared, securing it with museum putty.

I then closed the door to that room, keeping the cats away until the putty could set.  

The aftermath.

A few minutes later, I heard a crash.  And I opened the door to see the remnants of my trophy on the floor.  Apparently the museum putty had shifted as it had settled, and the trophy fell off of the shelf, shattering on our porcelain tile floor.  

I'm trying to see the positive side here.  A few years ago, I broke a beloved mug from the evening before the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and then had a major breakthrough race the next morning.  So this shattered trophy has to mean at least a few PRs this coming year, right?

(In the meantime, I've emailed Broad Street to see if there's anyway I can pay for a replacement.  If not, I guess I'll just load the shards into a shadow box and "display" it that way.)

Dailies

Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 13 miles, including 3x(1200, 800, 400) in 4:41, 3:06, 1:29, 4:36, 3:00, 1:32, 4:32, 2:59, 83.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:18) to yoga, yoga, and then 4 miles easy (8:51), followed by drills and strides.  Massage in afternoon.

Thursday:  Upper body weights and core plus 10 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 11 miles, including a 4 mile tempo in 25:51 (6:34/6:30/6:25/6:23).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (8:49), followed by drills and strides, and then upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  16 miles progressive, split as first 5 averaging 8:45 pace, next 5 averaging 7:36 pace; last 6 averaging 6:52 pace. Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 12/10/17

This week was 61 miles of running, 17 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Much better this week.  Last week's asthma flare calmed down after 3.5 days of prednisone (Friday-Sunday of last week at full dose, and then tapering down with a half dose on Monday).  Tuesday's track workout felt great, and Friday's was even better.  

Every time my asthma flares, I realize (again) just how much it affects my running.  Though this week's workouts were significantly faster than last week's, they also felt far easier and took much less out of me.  

My schedule had a 5K for this weekend, but I changed plans mid-week.  Because of a looming federal government shutdown, it appeared that the race might be cancelled. (It's a quirk of living in the DC area - many of our races are on National Parks Service property that is closed if the government shuts down).

I had scheduled the race because I had assumed that my team's tempo workout would be cancelled this week, due to the team holiday party the night before.  As it turned out, the tempo was not cancelled.  So it was an easy choice to skip the might-or-might-not-happen 5K (especially since I hadn't entered it yet).   At this point in my training cycle for the Houston Half, I needed a solid tempo far more than a short race. 

***

In other news, Bill Steinkraus passed away this week.  This probably means nothing to anyone reading this running blog - he was an equestrian legend, but relatively unknown outside of those circles.

As part of its tribute to Steinkraus, the Chronicle of the Horse republished an article entitled "Bill Steinkraus' Two Dozen Useful Aphorisms"  (two dozen because riding is complicated sometimes).  These obviously relate to riding, but it seems to me that many apply to running as well.  Namely:

• "If the horse can’t learn to accept what you’re doing, it isn’t any good." 
  Translation to running - if you're not enjoying your training and racing, you're not going to race well.
• "If you`ve given something a fair trial, and it still doesn’t work, try something else—even the opposite." 
  If you're not seeing the results you want from your training, after training that way consistently for several months, you need to make some changes.
• "What you can’t accomplish in an hour should usually be put off until tomorrow."
  If you're running yourself into a hole, you need to stop, rather than continue and compound the damage.
• "Never give up until the rail hits the ground."
  Don't give up on a race if you have a bad patch or are running slower than you had planned.  Keep fighting to run the best you can that day.
• "In practice, do things as perfectly as you can; in competition, do what you have to do."
  If your running gets ugly during a workout, it's likely best to pull the plug.  If that happens in the later miles of a goal race, keep going and don't back off.
• "The horse’s engine is in the rear. Thus, you must ride your horse from behind, and not focus on the forehand simply because you can see it."
  Run by using your legs, especially your glutes, rather than flailing with your arms and clenching your fists.   (human and equine biomechanics are more similar than one would think).
• "Get your tack and equipment just right, and then forget about it and concentrate on the horse."
  Give some thought to what you're going to wear to a race, in terms of clothes and shoes.  But once you're on the starting line, it's too late to change your mind, so don't waste energy worrying whether you're over or underdressed.
• "You can exaggerate every virtue into a defect."
  This one speaks for itself.
• "The harder you work, the luckier you get."
  This one as well.

Dailies

Monday: Yoga and 7.5 "miles" pool-running; foam rolling at night..

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 1600, 800, 1600, 2x800 in 6:06, 2:55, 6:00, 2:52, 2:53.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:12) to yoga, yoga, and then 3 miles easy (8:45), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night

Thursday:  Upper body weights and core plus 9.5 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 13 miles, including an 8K tempo in 32:28 (6:44/6:31/6:29/6:25/6:19).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10.5 miles very easy (9:22), followed by drills and strides, and then upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  14.5 miles progressive, split as first 4 miles at 9:12 pace, next 5 at 7:46; last 5.5 at 6:54.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - week ending 12/3/17

This week was 62 miles of running, 17 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

The good news this week was that I was much more diligent about the little stuff like strengthwork and yoga.  

The bad news was that my asthma flared again.  I had first noted some issues during last Sunday's long run, when I had to use my rescue inhaler halfway through, felt awful throughout, and was coughing a lot after.  I hoped it was just leaf mold, but I upped my inhaled asthma meds to the max allowed in case I was having a flare.  

[I have a standing prescription for three inhalers - Advair 250/50 is my standard, and then I can layer Qvar and my rescue inhaler over it as needed - using as much as I need to keep stuff under control, but no more than is necessary]

Unfortunately, the inhaled meds didn't do much.   This week's track workouts were mile repeats on Tuesday, and then two mile repeats on Friday.  Both workouts are exactly what I struggle with the most when my breathing is bad - longer repeats at faster than lactate threshold.    Workouts on either side of that range - either faster short repeats or longer segments at marathon pace or slower -  are much easier to "fake" when my asthma is flaring.

Tuesday's workout was rough.  And though my breathing was slightly better on Friday, doubling the distance of the repeat just made things worse.  Both workouts were far from pleasant or confidence boosting.

Fortunately I was able to see my asthma doctor on Friday morning, where I did some breathing into a machine, which confirmed that my breathing sucked.  Really sucked.  So back on the prednisone for another few days to get things under control.

[obligatory anti-doping note: Advair, Qvar, and my rescue inhaler are all legal in or out of competition in the amounts that I take them; prednisone is legal out of competition, though banned in competition.  When on pred, I'm careful to stop it several days before racing.]

The good news was that by Sunday I was feeling better.  Much better.  (Thank you pred.)  My long run went very well, with no breathing issues and a minimum of coughing after.  So I'm going to come off of the prednisone and hope that's the end of this episode.

I'm wondering in retrospect whether I should have skipped last week's Turkey Trot.  Running hard when I have a chest cold guarantees an asthma flare.  However, since last week's cold was only in my neck and above, I thought I was OK.  Maybe not.  Or maybe I would have flared anyway.  

Dailies

Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running; foam rolling at night..

Tuesday: 11 miles, including 3x1600 in 6:15, 6:13, 6:07.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:02) to yoga, yoga, and then 4 miles very easy (9:10).  Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday:  Upper body weights and core plus 10 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 12 miles, including 2x3200 in 12:50 (6:25/6:25) and 12:46 (6:26/6:20).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (9:22), followed by upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  16.5 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles at 8:30 pace, next 5 at 7:39; next 6 at 6:57, and then a 1/2 mile cooldown back to car.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.

Training log - Week ending 11/26/2017

This week was 51 miles of running, 10 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

I was sick for the first part of this week. I wasn't so sick that I couldn't run (and running actually made me feel slightly better), but I skipped anything that would have exposed other people to me.  So no yoga and no gym.   

Of course, this was on top of all the other times I've skipped that stuff over the last few weeks due to marathon recovery or social commitments or travel or other time constraints.  And it's apparent in my running.  My gait doesn't feel anywhere near as powerful or fluid as it did just a few months ago. 

There's a magic formula, more or less, that works for me.  It consists of:

• Very slow easy days.
• Regular substitution of pool-running for easy days.
• Workouts that are mostly controlled, with the last rep or mile run fast if I'm feeling good.
• Drills and strides before or after nearly every run.
• Yoga 1-2 times a week
• Upper body and core strengthwork at least twice a week
• Leg strengthwork, aka injury prevention work (emphasizing lunges and step-ups with heavy weights) at least twice a week.

Those last 4 points seem unimportant, but they're not.  They're key to keeping my running gait smooth and powerful and symmetric.  When I slack on them, my running deteriorates.   I shuffle with no knee lift, I have no power, and I run slightly twisted.

It's time to get back on the horse (metaphorically), to return to doing the little things, not just the miles.

Dailies

Monday: 7 miles easy (8:58) and foam rolling.

Tuesday: 7 miles, mostly easy, but with two half-mile pick-ups in 3:10 and 3:05 with a half-mile recovery in between.

Wednesday: 3 miles very easy (8:44) and foam rolling.

Thursday:  3 mile warm-up, 5 mile race in 32:20, and then 2 mile cool-down.  Foam-rolling at night.

Friday: 10 "miles" of pool-running, followed by foam-rolling and yoga.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (9:17), followed by upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  14 miles progressive, split as first 4 miles at 8:50 pace, next 5 at 7:47; last 5 at 6:53.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.

Race Report: Alexandria Turkey Trot, November 23, 2017

I ran the Alexandria Turkey Trot today, finishing in a gun time of 32:24 for 5 miles.

I went back and forth about whether to race today.  I've been sick the past few days - nothing awful, just moderate fatigue and an achy throat and sinuses.  However, my runs this week had felt OK (I did take Sunday off, which was the worst of it).  By Wednesday night I was confident that I was no longer contagious.  I was still sleeping a ton, but my fatigue was much improved.   Additionally, since my chest wasn't congested, I wasn't worried about running myself into an asthma flare, which has happened in the past.

 So I gave it a shot.  Some of my best races have been when I had a headache or sore throat.  And it was Thanksgiving, so I had to run a Turkey Trot (I'm pretty sure it's a law somewhere).  Plus, I think you gain both experience and fitness every time you race - if I wasn't going to get others sick or set myself back, there was no reason not to give it a shot.

So I packed up my car for the day and headed down to Alexandria.  My Thanksgiving schedule traditionally involves driving directly to my parents' home on the eastern shore of Maryland post-race, so I loaded up with a change of clothes and a packed cooler containing all the food I was bringing plus some ice packs.  Thankfully (you see what I did there) it was a cold morning, so I had no worries about stuff getting too warm in the 6 hours between when I left home for the race and when I got to my parents' place.

I arrived at the race around 7:30 am (it started at 9), which was the perfect time to find parking.  I've learned that Turkey Trots, though massive, are packed with people who don't show up until 30 minutes before the race.  So no matter how big the race is, if you just show up at a reasonable time, you should find a decent parking spot.

Picked up my bib, swapped into my shoes (I went with the Takumi Sens this time) and then started warming up.  I didn't feel great on the warm-up, but that's normal for me, so it didn't bother me.  The weather was wonderful - just the perfect temperature for running fast.

I lined up and we started.  It's been a while since I've run a Turkey Trot - it might have even been a whole year.  Thus I had forgotten about the unique brand of idiocy that infects these races, with those who run once a year sprinting out to the front in the first 400m.  I almost got pushed down twice, until I raised my elbows and started running a bit more defensively.  Sheesh.

The Alexandria Turkey Trot is a variant of an out and back - basically you run a bit to the north, go around a curve and head south for a long time, do a loop at the south end, and then run back north a bit past the start area before curving around to the finish.  There was a bit of a headwind and an elevation climb in the first part of the race before we'd turn.  My game plan was to stay conservative until we turned south, and then start building.

Plans don't always go the way we want them to.  In one of those "of course" moments, my right shoe came untied just as I came around the corner.  I unleashed a volley of profanity (mostly with my inside voice), and stepped off course to remove my gloves and retie my shoe.

The unfortunate thing about this happening so early (besides the fact it happened at all) was that the course was still packed with runners.  I had stepped off on the inside part of a turn, which meant a steady stream of runners that I now had to merge into from a standstill.  More lost time as I waited for a gap - only a few seconds, but it seemed like longer.

Finally, I was able to rejoin the race.  I reminded myself not to panic, but instead to stay patient and build.  Sprinting wasn't going to accomplish anything except a blow-up.

Plus there was the unfortunate detail that my legs were feeling dead anyway, with no spark to them.  Unfortunate, but not all that surprising.  Oh well.  I resolved to put that out of my mind (along with the shoe issue) and just try to chase down as many people as I could during the remainder of the race.

And so that's what I did.  My breathing was actually good the entire race - great even.  And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that what had felt like a downhill run heading south also felt like a downhill run heading back north. I'm not sure how that was possible, but I really didn't mind.

The bad news was that my legs were maxed out.  There was no power and I couldn't turn them over.  Even when I'm dying, when I see the finish line I can still usually find something.  But I had nothing this time.

My final time was 32:24 gun time (this race didn't do chip time).  I unfortunately accidentally paused my Garmin during the shoe tying episode and didn't notice it was paused for some time, so my watch reads 30:15 (not right).  The "elapsed time" on my Strava reads 32:20, so I'll go with that.  Not like it matters anyway.

My splits were:
Miles 1-2: 1.67 miles in 11:02 (I think this was actually 2 miles in 13:08)
Miles 3-4: 2 miles in 12:57
Mile 5: 6:16

I had originally hoped to run significantly faster than 32 minutes here, and I think I'm actually in shape to do so.  But between headcold recovery and the shoe issue, it just wasn't meant to be today.  Oh well.  Sometimes things don't go your way, and at least this wasn't a goal race.

Other notes:

• The weather was perfect today - low 30s and clear, with mild wind.  The wind was notable in a few stretches, but not awful, especially compared to the past few weeks.
• This is a really fast course and a great race.  I've done several different Turkey Trots in the DC area over the past few years, but I think this one is my favorite.
• My one suggestion for improvement - the mile markers were very hard to see here.  This could be improved very easily by purchasing some brightly colored balloons, inflating them, and tying them to each mile marker.
• I wore the Takumi Sens for this race, rather than my Adios 2s.  In retrospect, I think I would have been better off with the Adios 2s.  The two shoes are very similar, except that the Takumi Sen has a much lower heeldrop and more of the boost in the forefoot (in the Adios, more of the boost is in the heel).  My footstrike differs depending on how fast I am going, and it seems like the Takumi Sen only feels good when I'm up on my forefoot, which means I'm running close to 6:00 pace or faster.  At slower paces - even 6:30-ish, the Takumi Sen feels awkward.  I'm not running 5 miles in 30 minutes right now (no matter what my Garmin says), so I need to stick with the Adios for this distance.
• The weather was great - temp 34, DP 23.  I wore shorts, a tank top, and arm-warmers, which ended up being the perfect choice for these temps.

Training log - Week ending 11/19/17

This week was 41 miles of running, 10 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

For all sorts of non-running related reasons, this was a tough week.  Just a very rough week at work, complicated by a quick trip to central Kansas that I really couldn't do (for work reasons) but also really had to do (because it was my Grandfather's 100th birthday).  So I made it happen.

Happy 100th, Grandpa!

Running wasn't my biggest priority this week, but I managed to make that happen as well.  Mostly.  This week was a little light on the "little stuff" - the yoga, injury prevention work, and recovery swimming.  But that's OK - sometimes something has to give.


While in Wichita, I managed to squeeze in a run in Sedgwick County Park.  I've run there before, and really enjoyed it.  The park features multiple loops of bike trails that are between 1 and 5 miles in circumference, making it easy to string together a decent run.  It's also visually interesting - covered bridges, wind mills, lakes, etc.  Much like Central Park in NYC, I'm sure I'd get sick of it if I had to run in it every day.  But as a "every once in a while" thing, it's great.

In terms of workouts, I adhered to my goal of keeping everything controlled.  Well, mostly - that 2:48 to conclude Tuesday's workout was an exception (though I'm usually allowed to hammer the last rep in a workout if I feel good and don't have a race coming up, so not a huge foul).  

I stole this photo
from the official park website

It was interesting to me how running 800s in ~3:00 felt harder than 2:55.  I've noted this before and I think it's because the slightly slower reps place more stress on the aerobic system (as opposed to anaerobic).  Since I'm a distance runner, that's a good thing.

Friday's tempo was done in the Park, on a very windy morning.  Yes, I know the splits are all over the place.  I assure you the effort was consistent, though - the splits were dramatically affected by the direction I was running.  

This one too.

I mixed things up a bit with a 5 mile warm-up (mostly because I didn't want to start running hard until after sunrise so I could see where I was going), and then 2x2 miles at goal half-marathon pace (so slightly slower than our normal tempo intervals) with a quarter mile recovery (usually we take half a mile).  The workout felt "just hard enough" which was good, and I also liked having the opportunity to practice half-marathon pace.

All the stress and travel finally caught up to me on Sunday, when I woke with achy shoulders and a scratchy throat.  I didn't feel like going running, which was a good indicator (as if the scratchy throat and aches weren't) that I shouldn't go running.

(I was also craving chili, which I only do when I'm sick).

So stayed in bed and took the day off, except for some foam rolling and much zinc and water (and chili).  Hopefully that did the trick.



Dailies

Monday: Foam rolling, upper body weights/core, and 6 "miles" of pool-running.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 6x800 in 3:05, 3:00, 3:01, 2:58, 2:56, 2:48.  Also injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 5 miles easy (9:31) to yoga, yoga, and then 4 miles easy home (8:59) plus drills and strides.  Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday:  4 "miles" of pool-running and then traveled to Wichita; a quick upper body weights workout and foam rolling in hotel gym once I got to Wichita.

Friday: 11 miles, including a workout of 2x2 miles at goal half-marathon pace (targeting 6:30-ish) with a quarter mile recovery.  Split 13:08 (6:29/6:39) and 12:51 (6:34/6:17).  Traveled back to DC.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (8:58), followed by upper body weights and core. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  Off.  Just foam rolling.  And zinc.  And chili.

Training log - Week ending 11/12/2017

This week was 41 miles of running, 13 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

First full week of training, punctuated by fast intervals on Tuesday and a race on Saturday.  I'm definitely in good shape for where I am.  Which doesn't mean I'm in great shape right now.   I raced a 5 mile race at what was my 10 mile race pace this weekend.  Which looks awful until one considers that I usually come back from a break by racing 5K to 4 miles at what was previously my half-marathon race pace (and it hurts like heck).  From that perspective, this was a pretty good start.

Tuesday's interval workout looks impressive. Primarily because I ran it way too hard and dug a hole.  Mea culpa - I run my workouts and races off of feel, but when coming off of a break, my feel needs to be recalibrated.  And restraint re-instilled.

I'll back off on the effort some next week, though doing so will mean dropping behind the pack I normally run with.  I've learned over the years that I accomplish nothing when I chase the fitness level I wish I had or used to have, rather than training where I am currently.  Put another way - just because I can run that fast during a workout doesn't mean I should.  And on Tuesday, I shouldn't have run that fast.

(I've also gotten a bit lazy about my easy runs, and let them start rolling a bit.  I need to be riding the brakes more on those as well, now that I'm back in the grind)

I toasted my legs nicely on Tuesday morning, and then compounded the damage Tuesday night by first bouncing around at an industrial show way too much, and then getting too little sleep of poor quality.  Sadly, I don't bounce back from nights like that the way I used to (possibly because I'm 10-20 years older; possibly because I didn't do hard track workouts in the mornings before concerts in the old days), and I felt it for several days after. 

Not that I regret it - I loved catching up with my DC Industrial Scene family (aka "the scene"), and that's what the off season is for.  But now it's time to buckle down and start prioritizing training (and recovery) again.

I entered the Alexandria Turkey Trot (a five miler) on Thanksgiving Day.  It's a fast course, albeit slower than the Richmond 8K (and obviously also 45 meters longer than Richmond).  But I'm still thinking that I may be able to take some more time off of my 5 miler/8K PR.  I'll have a few more workouts under my belt by then, will have better feel for race effort and fast running in general, and also hopefully will be a bit fresher, since I don't plan on frying myself with workout+industrial show+sleep deprivation before that race.

Dailies

Monday: Foam rolling, yoga, and 7.5 "miles" of pool-running.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 1200, 2x800, 400 in 5:59, 4:25, 2:53, 2:53, 83.  Also injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Front Line Assembly/Cubanate/Vampyre Anvil show at night.  (really, a second workout, so deserves note)

Wednesday: 9 miles very easy (8:50) plus drills and strides.  Upper body weights, core, and foam rolling in afternoon.

Thursday:  DIY yoga and 5.5 "miles" of pool-running; foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 3 mile shakeout (8:45).  Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 3 mile warm-up, and then 8K race in 31:48.  1 mile jog back to hotel. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  10 miles easy (8:58).  Foam rolling in the evening.