Training log - Week ending 1/27/19

This week was 58 miles of running, 16 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

The week did not get off to a good start - Tuesday's track workout was one of the worst I've ever had.  It was fairly cold for this area - 14 degrees - but the real issue for me was not the temperatures but the dryness of the air, which triggered my breathing issues.

I have both asthma (constriction of the bronchial tubes in the lungs) and vocal chord dysfunction ("VCD" - my vocal chords sometimes close when they should be opening).  It's not uncommon for people to have both, especially if you also have acid reflux issues.  The asthma is treatable by inhaled medications, while the vocal chord dysfunction is best managed with breathing exercises - essentially trying to relax one's throat.

The kicker is that the inhaled meds that fix my asthma also irritate my throat and worsen the VCD - a catch 22 situation.  And that was the mess I found myself in on Tuesday.  My asthma got triggered, so I puffed on my inhaler.  Which helped with the asthma, but worsened the VCD.

From a physical training standpoint, I really should have just bailed on the workout.  Contrary to the running mythos - toughing it out through a bad workout that has turned into a race effort does not make you stronger, it just sets you back. 

[related to this, it drives me NUTS when people go on and on about how they dug so deep and fought so hard during every workout of a cycle.  When you have to fight that hard during your routine workouts, what do you have left on race day?]

Despite the above, I decided to back off and finish the workout anyway, as I thought it was important to do so for other reasons.  To explain:  VCD is a very physical, real thing (one's vocal chords closing) but has a mental component - basically the tenser one gets (especially in one's upper body and in one's mind) the worse the VCD.  Asthma can also be made worse by how anxious one gets during an attack.

[and of course, when you are struggling to breathe, it's quite challenging to stay relaxed and not clench up in one's chest/throat.  Don't judge until you've been there.]

I could tell on Tuesday that, though I was having a very real physical issue, I also wasn't handling it very well mentally.  And I know myself well enough to understand that mental issues can linger if I don't work through them immediately.   So Tuesday's workout ended up being an exercise in coping with the breathing issues, so that I could put them off to the side and move on.

Fortunately, it worked, as I had a decent tempo on Friday (after allowing for the fact I was still a bit physically trashed from Tuesday) and a solid long run on Sunday.

Dailies 

Monday: yoga and 8 "miles" pool-running;  foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including 4x1200 in 4:46, 4:58, 4:52, 4:49.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:06) to yoga, yoga, and then another 4 very easy (8:52), followed by drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:  Upper body weights and core and 8 "miles" pool-running  in the morning.  Foam rolling at night

Friday: 12 miles, including a 4 mile tempo in 26:13 (6:41/6:33/6:35/6:25).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (8:30) plus drills and strides and upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14 miles, split as first 4 averaging 8:36, next 5 averaging 7:31, last 5 averaging 6:50.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 1/20/19

This week was 58 miles of running, 7 "miles" of pool-running, and 2000 yards of swimming.  Training log is here.

This week was about getting back into the routine of training/racing, including some hiccups.  

Hiccup #1 was on Tuesday, when our interval workout was relocated from the track to under the Whitehurst Freeway, due to ice.   I didn't allow quite enough time to de-ice my car, and thus arrived at the workout at 6:10 am (the workout started at 6:30).  I usually warm-up for my workouts with 3 miles of jogging plus a full set of drills/strides.  Not on Tuesday.  2 miles (trying to pick up the pace near the end) plus a half-hearted stride was all I had time for.  

And sure enough, the first 2 reps really sucked - my body felt like frozen taffy and my legs would NOT move.  Fortunately, things improved from there.   But it gave me a chance to confirm what I know anyway - my lengthy warm-up is not optional if I want to have a good workout.

Hiccup #2 was at Saturday's race, when I mis-judged the finish line.  Oof.  But...good to get all the mistakes out now.

I'm now training again, with a long run schedule carrying me through the Shamrock Half.   No massive long runs - just two 16 milers, with the second including a workout of 3x3miles at marathon pace.  Everything else is 12-14 progressive, with the last 3rd at marathon pace.  Since I'm focusing on shorter stuff, these long runs aren't really all that important, so I'm prioritizing the workouts and races over them (though I obviously still need to do most of them).  Since I raced on Saturday, I limited Sunday's long run to moderate efforti, to avoid having 2 hard days back-to-back.

This coming week promises cold weather, but no interruptions due to races (or, hopefully, ice and snow).  So I should be able to fit in intervals, a tempo, and a long run dropping down to marathon effort at the end.

Dailies:

Monday: Yoga and 8 miles (8:40) plus drills/strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday: 11.5 miles, including 8 repeats of roughly half a mile (3:09, 3:13, 3:01, 3:03, 2:58, 3:02, 3:00, 3:07).  Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 2.5 miles very easy (10:10) to yoga, yoga, and then another 8 miles very easy (8:48), plus drills/strides.  Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday: Upper body weights/core and 7 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 4 miles very easy (8:40) and DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 3 mile warm-up, then 5K race in 19:27 (6:22/6:23/5:59/0:36, plus 7 second gap for paused watch).  4 mile cooldown, and then 1000 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.  

Sunday: 14 miles progressive - first 5 averaged 8:46, next 9 averaged 7:44.  Also upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: Anacostia Park Run, January 19, 2019

I ran the Anacostia Park Run today, finishing in a time of 19:27 officially, which was good enough for first female and second overall.

It's been a long time since I raced - too long, in fact.  I like to race at least once every 4-5 weeks, if not more frequently.  There's a few reasons for this; one is that  I tend to get out of practice at the very act of racing - things like packing all the right stuff to bring, finishing my warm-up at just the right time, etc, if I don't go through the routine regularly.

I also lose my familiarity with race effort (very different from workout effort) if I don't race.  It's not pleasant to renew that - like ripping off a band-aid.  And...the longer I wait between races, the harder it is to re-establish my ability to stay relaxed and focused while growing increasingly uncomfortable.  To be a good racer.

Related to that - race effort and workout effort are two very different things to me.  And when I don't race, my workouts start edging into that nether region between workout and race effort - harder than I need to run to achieve the purpose of the workout.  Racing regularly encourages me to keep the workouts and the races in their separate buckets.

So...I needed to race.  Only problem was - January races are very hard to find in the DC area (excepting New Years Day).

I had located a promising 5K in Maryland for today, but a bit of research established that the 5K was going to be held on a high school cross country course.  So that 5K was no longer an option.  I've never raced cross country in my life, and given how much trouble I have with my unstable ankles any time I verge off of pavement, I'm not inclined to give it a try at this point in my running.  A bit of fun isn't worth the injury risk.

So...I went with a Park Run.  The DC area has several; I chose the Anacostia Park Run because I knew the area, and was confident that this park run would have the best footing of any of the options.

***

My lack of practice with the process of racing was on high display this morning - stuff like almost forgetting my shoes, forgetting how much time it takes me to stretch out pre-race, etc.  I left home about 15 minutes later than I had planned, and then lost another 20 minutes when I couldn't find the parking lot for the race.  Lesson learned for the next time - the parking garage for the Anacostia Metro Station is about half a mile from the Anacostia Metro Station itself, and has no signs indicating where it is.  GPS was completely useless, while a really nice guy in a local church parking lot was invaluable.

But...I made it there, with just barely enough time to warm-up before the race.  Fortunately, since this was a park run, there was no registration and no bib to pick-up.  (All I needed was my Park Run Bar Code printed out and tucked into a pocket.)  So I jumped directly into my warm-up jog from my car, fitting in three miles mostly on the asphalt bike trail that the race was held on.

I noted that the trail was mostly clear of ice - just a few large chunks that would be easy to dodge.  There was one fairly long puddle that spanned the width of the trail and stretched about 10 meters.  But it was only about 2 inches deep, and the ground on either side was muddy and rutted - I planned to run through it during the race, rather than swerve around into the mud.

Towards the end of my warm-up, I added an 80 second bit of faster running.  I followed with some drills/strides, and then lined up.  Since there were no mile markers, I set my Garmin to autolap.

***

Park runs are informal - they're hand-timed by a volunteer, and the start/finish is marked by a small plastic marker on the ground.  Just before the start, another volunteer gave us instructions - the trail was mostly clear, except for the ice chunks and puddle I had already noted.    The course was an out and back, with the turn-around being where the trail ended with a small brick wall - "you can't miss it."  The turnaround was not monitored - we were on our honor not to cut the course.

And then we were off.

I was happy that 5 men pulled ahead of me immediately, and even happier that most of them weren't too far ahead.  I had been concerned that I might end up running by myself - not ideal, since I wanted a race, not a time trial.  But that wasn't going to be the case today.

I bided my time, reminding myself to remember that they'd come back to me (that whole out-of-practice with racing thing).  And most of them did.  By the time we hit the turn-around, most had, with only two in front.   One of those two was far enough ahead that he was out of my league - a low -17s/high 16s guy, most likely.  The other was about 10 seconds ahead - with half the race still to go, that was striking distance.

Unsure exactly where to turn, I ran as close as I could to the low brick wall without tripping over it, trying to brush my shoe on it.  This made it very awkward to turn around - it's far easier to turn efficiently when your marker is on the inside (a cone) not the outside.  Then I headed home.

Over the second half,  I let second-place-guy-in-gray haul me.  I was starting to remember just how much I hated 5Ks, and also trying to forget that point even as I remembered it.  I slowly made ground up on grey-guy, knocking a nice chunk off when we hit the big puddle for the second time (I splashed through, while he chose the deep mud, and the resulting time loss).

I was really starting to hurt, when I spotted a group of people just ahead, standing on the side of the trail.  So...that was the finish.

A small part of me remembered that I hadn't heard my Garmin vibrate for the 3rd mile yet, but I reasoned (as much as I could with late-5K brain) that I might have missed it.  Or possibly the course was short - this wasn't certified, so there it was entirely possible that it was shorter than 5K.

Whatever - that was clearly the finish, and I was very ready to be done with this rip-the-band-aid-off experience.  So I kicked.

I passed grey-guy fairly easily - he didn't even try to match me, which was surprising.  I pressed hard to the group of volunteers, looking for the plastic marker.  Only to realize (as he passed me again at his steady hard pace) that there was no plastic marker, and these weren't the right people.

Well...shit.

Doubled over, I'm embarrassed to say that it took me a few seconds to gather myself mentally.  But I did, and started running again, restarting my watch.  Almost immediately, I saw another group that had to be the finish line.  As best I could, I kicked again, and ran past this second group, noting the plastic marker on the ground.  And grey-guy, catching his breath.  OK, this was the real finish line.

***

My watch splits added to 19:20, but my official time was 19:27 - so 7 seconds lost while I regrouped.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 6:22 (modest headwind)
Mile 2: 6:23 (awkward turn-around)
Mile 3: watch says 5:59  (modest tailwind)
last .11: watch says 0:36 seconds.

7 seconds needs to be added somewhere in the last 1.11 miles, so call mile 3 6:06.  And yes, I'm a little annoyed/embarrassed/whatever that I misjudged the finish, and a lot more annoyed/embarrassed/whatever that it took me 7 seconds to pull myself back together and get running again.

Oh well - that's what rustbusters are for.  And I clearly needed this race, so I'm very glad I did it.

Other notes:

• Temps and DP were in the high 30s - really very good weather for running fast.    We did have a notable headwind/tailwind, but it wasn't awful.  And I always prefer a headwind out/tailwind back over the reverse.
• The course was pretty fast also - nice and flat.  Very slightly winding, but the only real turn was the pivot at the out and back. I didn't feel that the long-but-shallow water puddle or the chunks of ice were an issue either - the race was small enough that there was plenty of room to dodge.
• After the race was over, I was handed a chip by one of the volunteers. That chip marked me as third - I then handed her back the chip plus my barcode, which she scanned in, and that was it - my time was official. Easy simple efficient.
• Since my original pair of Vaporflys are approaching 200 miles now, and feeling noticeably flatter, I used this race to test them as a 5K shoe.  And...I felt they worked well for this - far better than the previous times I had worn them for the 5K distance.
  
  When I first tried them for a 5K, I felt like I could not kick or turn in them at all - that's no longer the case.  They've lost much, if not all of their bounce, and feel very much like my original Takumi Sens, just with a higher heel drop and stack height.  Less bounce means more maneuverability and turnover, and a much more nimble shoe.  I still wouldn't want to wear them for a mile, but maybe with another 200 miles?  Basically, the more I wear them, the less cushioned/bouncy they feel, and the more I like them for shorter stuff
  
  So that's nice.  If I can buy a pair, and get a good 200 miles out of them for halves/fulls, and then convert them to a great 5K-10K shoe for another 100-200 miles once the cushioning is gone, that's a very good value.
• And yes, this means that I showed up to the local park run wearing my race singlet, arm-warmers, racing boy shorts, and vaporflys (albeit pretty old ones).  For me, this run, informal as it was, was still a rustbuster race, and it was important to me to treat it as a race in all aspects.

Training log - Week ending 1/13/18

This week was 52 miles of running, 16 "miles" of pool-running, and 4000 yards of swimming.  Training log is here.

I've been focusing primarily on hill repeats since coming off of my break.  There's a reason for that, and it's not to practice hills.  Rather, I could tell that when I started running after my break, my gait was very quad-dominated.  I was shuffling, with a short stride and lacking power from behind.  I can't run my fastest like that, and I wanted to correct that before starting to seriously train again, so that I didn't layer fitness over bad form and calcify bad habits.

Hills encourage me to run with good form, so I did those, starting with 60-70 second hill repeats, in Georgetown and then shifting over to Iwo Jima hill repeats (2 minutes up, 90 second recovery, 30 second downhill stride, 60 second recovery).   

My coach has traditionally had our entire team do Iwo Jima repeats twice a year for 6 weeks, but abandoned the workout due to injury concerns after the hill was repaved in concrete.  Since I handled the workout on concrete just fine this summer, and since my injuries have historically come from soft shifting surfaces and instability, not hard surfaces and impact, I decided to stick with the Iwo Jima hill workouts solo until I felt like I had my form back.

On the way up, I focused on power - trying to lengthen my stride by powering off my glutes.  For the downhill 30 second stride, my form cues were to run tall and gently and light - gliding, not pounding.   For both, I made a point of not worrying about the absolute speed of the workout - these were primarily about resetting and re-wiring my form, and doing the workout correctly was much more important than doing it fast.  In a way, it was nice that I did each hill workout solo - there was no pressure to hang with a group or do anything except focus on my own form.

On Tuesday, I hit that magic point - I felt noticeably different from just a few weeks before.   Much much better - I was powering up the hills and floating down them.  So that was my cue to conclude the hill work and return to the track and serious training, starting with a Friday morning tempo.

So now I'm back in the metaphorical saddle.  My coach and I agreed on a set of races for the next few months.  In February, I'll run the NYRR Gridiron 4 Miler in New York and the Gasparilla 8K in Tampa (one or both of these may end up being combined work/personal trips).  In March, I'll do the Shamrock Half-Marathon, followed by Cherry Blossom in April and Broad Street in May.  I'll also try to fit a fast 5K or two in there, once I'm fit enough to run well at that distance.

Dailies:

Monday: Yoga and 8 "miles" pool-running.

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 8 Iwo Jima hill repeats (~2 minutes up; ~90 second recovery; ~30 second stride; ~60 second jog to bottom).  Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:24) to yoga, yoga, and then another 4 miles very easy (8:59), plus drills/strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: Upper body weights/core and 8 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 12 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 26:28 (6:42/6:40/6:38/6:28).  Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10.5 miles very easy (8:44) to yoga, drills/strides, yoga, and then another 5.5 miles very easy (8:40).  Foam rolling at night.  (added in extra easy mileage today in anticipation of not running on Sunday due to impending snow storm).

Sunday: Upper body weights/core and 2000 yards of swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 1/6/19

This week was 53 miles of running, 6 "miles" of pool-running, and 4000 yards of swimming.  Training log is here.

Another jumbled up week (this non-pattern is getting to be a pattern). 

I had decided not to race on New Years Eve, and racing on New Years Day was out due to New Years Eve social plans, so I did a tempo-esque workout on Monday.

As it turned out, good thing that I hadn't planned to race.  I felt fine on Monday morning, but by late afternoon it was clear I was coming down with something.  So Tuesday was spent in bed.  As I lamented to others - if I was going to feel this lousy on New Years Day, I'd like to have at least earned it.

The good news was that by Tuesday night, the ick was well on its way out - clearing as fast as it had hit.  I quarantined myself through Thursday morning anyways to make sure I didn't spread it (no gym, no massage, no yoga, no pool-running with others).  By Thursday afternoon I felt fine with no coughing/sneezing, so I reintroduced myself into society by stopping by the gym.

Of course, as I was afraid would happen, the head cold triggered an asthma flare.  This pretty much always happens - asthma is an overreaction by my body's immune system.  And when I get sick, that same immune system goes to work, meaning that I get better from the bug, but also that I end up with an asthma flare as a souvenir a few days later.  A nice package deal.

So it was back on the prednisone for a few days (two, to be exact).   I really hate going on prednisone - it gives me insomnia and does awful things to my bone density.  But when my asthma's flaring beyond the control of my normal inhaled drugs, there really is no other option.

At least this time, two days seemed to be enough to get me over the asthma inflammatory hump.  By the end of the weekend I was still coughing some (from the asthma, not the cold, which was long gone), but I know from experience that the cough will linger up to another week or so before fading away.  At least I was breathing better.

Dailies:

Monday: 12 miles, including a workout of 2 miles, ~1.5 miles, 1 mile at half-marathon effort.  2:00 recovery after the 2 mile; bathroom break plus 60 second recovery after the ~1.5.  Splits were 13:17 (6:43/6:34); 9:12 for 1.41 (6:31 and then 6:34 pace for the .41), and 6:30.  Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming. 

Got sick that night, so forgot to foam roll.

Tuesday: Sick.  Nothing but foam rolling.

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:14) and foam rolling.  

Thursday: 10 miles very easy (9:18) plus drills and strides.  Later ended quarantine and went to gym for upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday: 11 miles, including 7 Iwo Jima hill repeats (~2 minutes up; ~90 second recovery; ~30 second stride; ~60 second jog to bottom).  Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Swimming drills clinic in afternoon (I counted as 1200 yards) plus 2 more "miles" pool-running and some upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 miles aerobic and slightly progressive - averaged 7:45 for the run, with most miles in the mid-7's.  Started with two easy miles at 9:25 and 8:33; ended with 2 hard miles at 6:59 and 6:54.   Also leg-strengthwork/injury prevention work and 800 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.