Training log - Week ending 10/24/2021

This week was 52 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 16 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Things continued to decline this week.  Aerobically I'm great, but I just can't trust my legs.  They aren't sore, they aren't tired. They just aren't working well - weak and wobbly.

A friend asked me if it felt like the bridge over River Road on the Capital Crescent trail.  Yes - that nails the feeling exactly.  For those of you not in the DC area, the River Road bridge on the CC trail is a concrete bridge for pedestrians and bikes only.  It tends to shift a bit (disconcerting) and will even start bouncing if there are too many people running on it at once.  That bouncing feeling is exactly what running on flat ground feels like for me right now.

On Tuesday I tried a pre-dawn track workout, but bailed two laps into the first 1600 when I felt like I was going to fall in the dark, and realized I was getting in the way of my teammates.  I came back an hour later to try, but it wasn't much better.  So I did what I could (some 200s and 400s at 6:40-6:45 pace) and made peace with that.

Friday I considered a tempo, but decided to go with hill repeats instead.  I feel much more stable going uphill then on the flat right now, so that felt a bit better (though still very unstable and slow).

On Sunday I tried a progressive long run that was frustrating.  My breathing was very easy, and my legs felt like they could go forever.  They just couldn't go very fast without feeling like they would give on me.

So all very frustrating.  

My initial round of bloodwork (CBC/CMP, folate/B12, and iron panel) all came back fine.  I saw my primary care doctor on Tuesday and he agreed that this was almost certainly a neurologic issue, and that I should keep following up in that direction (I checked in with my rheumatologist, and she agreed).  My primary care doctor did a second round of bloodwork to check vitamins B1, B6, and B7 - a deficiency or surplus in any of those would be very unusual but could explain these symptoms.  I'm also going to check in with my neurologist again, since things seem to be going in the wrong direction.

As for the obvious question of why I insist on continuing to run and "train" while this is going on?    Everyone seems to agree that this is a neurologic issue, and not an injury.  I have a big family history of neurologic issues on my mother's side, and one thing I know very well: it is essential to stay active and to do as much of your normal routine as possible when working through neurologic issues.  It's important that I keep running if I can, to practice that skill.  It's important that I do drills, and practice "hopscotch" like a kid, and walk on my heels and walk on my toes and try to run fast and run uphill and run downhill, etc.   All of that works to preserve neural connections that are trying to shut down.  

Essentially, the connection between my mind and my legs is like a phone call with a lot of static.  The conversation is challenging and signals are sometimes delayed.  But if I hang up on the phone conversation, it will be much harder to get through again.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11 miles, including an attempted track workout that ended up being a bunch of 200s and 400s at 6:40-6:45 pace.   Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday:  Stuck in a training session most of the day.  2 miles very easy (10:03) and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: In the morning, streaming yoga and 8 "miles" pool-running.  4 miles very easy (10:11) in afternoon.  Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 10.5 miles, including 8 hill repeats of about 2:20 each.   Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (9:46), plus drills and four hill sprints, and then streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  14.5 miles progressive, split as first 5.5 averaging 10:04 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 8:44 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 7:45 pace.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending October 17, 2021

This week was 54 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 16 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

The week ended better than it started.  Tuesday's workout was ridiculous and even comic.  It was before dawn, and I felt really wobbly.  Part of me wondered if this might be mental, so I decided to see how stuff would go if I just stayed relaxed and ran the whole workout, regardless of how slow it went.  So I did, and got the splits you see below.  Yes - I did my first 1200m at 7:30 pace, which is normally my "faster than easy/slower than marathon pace" and it felt HARD.  It was ridiculous.  Things got a bit better as I went, but it felt like my body just wouldn't go fast because I felt unstable on the track.  Essentially the track felt like a bosu ball - the oddest feeling.  I just couldn't tell where I was putting my feet.

After that, I decided I wasn't doing Columbus Half this weekend.  I contacted my primary care doctor, and scheduled an appointment for this coming Tuesday.  I also went and got blood drawn on Friday.  

I'm on several different dietary supplements - all prescribed by doctors (I'm a bit of a contradiction because I really don't like taking supplements, but I can't seem to get adequate vitamin D, folate, or iron from just food alone.)    I did not take any of my supplements on Friday, because I was getting blood drawn.  And...that afternoon the muscle twitches were gone, and the balance issues/vision was improved.

So on Saturday I decided to experiment, and took only a B-vitamin supplement (which doesn't have crazy levels of anything).  And...all the symptoms came back.  Only to be gone by Sunday morning.

I'm thinking this may be a step in figuring out what's going on, though obviously I don't have answers yet.  It will interesting to see what my primary care doc says on Tuesday.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 2x1200, 3x800, 400 in 5:38, 5:26, 3:24, 3:17, 3:15, and 93. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday:  8.5 miles (9:25) with 4x200m in 45, 46, 45, 44.  Foam rolling at night.

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

Friday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 3200 and 1600 in 13:29 (6:55/6:34) and 6:27.   Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 10 miles very easy (9:18), followed by drills and four strides, and then streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  14 miles progressive, split as first 4.5 averaging 9:15 pace, next 5 miles averaging 8:15 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 7:01 pace, followed by a half mile jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 10/10/2021

This week was 61 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 8 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Not a great week.  In the past, I've had some balance issues, and they came back this week.  

On Tuesday, they got really bad, and I was also just struggling to see (granted - it was before sunrise on a foggy morning).  I ran the first 800 of the workout and felt like I was going to faceplant so I just went home.  I realized that the vision issue might be a migraine (my migraines are essentially painless, just vision loss), so I called my neurologist and got a refill on my migraine meds.  Those took care of the shimmering blurry vision issue. 

For the rest of the week, I was struggling - I'd feel very unstable at first, and then great by the end of the run.  Since I hadn't really done a Tuesday workouts, on Wednesday I tried some 1K repeats, which went OK, if unstable.  Hilariously, I then tried some 200s, and couldn't run any faster for them than I could for the 1000s (ran them in 48 seconds....).  

I tried a tempo workout on Friday, which turned into a wobbly 1.5 miles and 1 mile at 6:40 pace.  I gave up and jogged back to my car, but by the time I got there, I felt better.  So I went back out for another mile at threshold, which turned into 3 mile repeats, each feeling smoother than the previous.  Bizarre.

After thinking about it way too much, I suspect it's that my ankles are locking up - instead of flexing through the ankle and rolling through the foot, my ankles are stuck in one position at first, and then generally releasing and working more fluidly.  (This is not a flexiblity/mobility issue - I'm great on that score).   

So this weekend I decided to try a) doing some funny walks pre-run where I walk heel to toe and exaggerate that rolling motion; and b) really thinking about that rolling motion in my feet any time I felt unstable.  This seemed to help a lot, so I think that's part of the key

I saw my neurologist on Friday and he had me do some tests - I was fine on most of them, but had a bit of trouble with one of the standing balance tests - when I clamped both feet together while standing and closed my eyes, I wobbled (though it seems to me that other people might wobble with that one also).  He started me on B2 supplements and scheduled me for another EMG.  In the meantime I've got a PT appointment on Tuesday to see what else I can do to manage this. 

I honestly don't think this is anything serious (if it was, it wouldn't improve as I ran).  My hunch is that it's just some minor nerve issues in my ankles/feet, and it's just a matter of figuring out the exact nature of the issue, and then doing the right exercises to rewire stuff so that they're working fine from the start).

In the meantime, I was planning on running the Columbus Half-Marathon on Sunday.  Weather looks great, and I think my fitness is good.  I just need to decide if I'm going to be stable enough on my feet to run it.  It's a traditional mass start race, and I really don't want to get in other people's ways if my balance is lousy.

Dailies:

Monday: 5.5 miles very easy (9:40), upper body weights/core, and 3.5 miles very easy (9:13) plus drills and 2 strides.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 4 miles including an 800m repeat in 3:11.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday:  In the morning, 8 miles including a short workout of 3x1K in 4:03, 4:03, 4:01.   4 miles very easy (9:19) in the afternoon.  Foam rolling at night.

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

Friday: 8 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:29), upper body weights/core, and then 4 miles very easy (9:10) plus drills and four strides.   Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 8 miles very easy (9:16), followed by drills and two strides, and then streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  13 miles progressive, split as first 4.5 averaging 9:12 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 8:01 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 6:54 pace.  And then jogged a bit to get to 14 miles total.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 10/3/2021

This week was 52 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 27 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This week I decided to revise my fall plans, and drop down from the full marathon at Indy Monumental to the half marathon (assuming I'm able to - I sent a request in asking if I could switch).   I'll still do the Columbus Half Marathon, which was originally scheduled as my tune-up for Indy - now my planned schedule is Columbus half on October 17, Indy half three weeks later, and then a turkey trot before taking my season break.

It was a tough decision, but ultimately the right one, I think.  It's obvious to me that I'm not where I should be fitness wise 5-6 weeks out from a marathon.  At this point in a cycle, runs of 20+ miles should not feel challenging (though including marathon effort work at the end might be).  But that's not the case for me right now - I'm just not as strong as I would like to be.    It's the unfortunate but understandable consequence of starting this training cycle at a deficit due to iron deficiency.

At the same time, my fitness is definitely improving each week, and I think I'm in a good place to run some fast half-marathons, especially if I add a bit of speed to the strength I've built so far from the marathon work.  

Additionally, I haven't been able to race a turkey trot in several years since I've always run a late fall marathon - it will be great to finally be able to do that.  Another plus is that I won't have to take quite as long a break after the end of my season (which will now be after the turkey trot), since I won't have to factor in post-marathon recovery.  I can take a few days pool-running/junk food and a week or two of hills, and then start building for the spring.

Saturday's workout was originally planned to be 2x5 at marathon effort, but I swapped it down to 3x3 miles at marathon effort, plus 1 mile a bit faster.  Both are technically marathon workouts, but the second works much better for a half-marathon, especially with the faster mile at the end.  It went mostly well.  I ran the last 3 mile segment a bit too hard/fast, but that's not a big deal if I'm not using it as training for a marathon.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 7.5 miles very easy (9:36 pace), followed by upper body weights/core and 3.5 miles very easy (9:07) plus drills, two hill strides, two flat strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday:  12 miles, including a workout of 3x2 miles at half-marathon effort in 13:23 (6:39/6:44); 13:13 (6:36/6:37), and 13:20 (6:39/6:41).  4:5x jogged recovery between each.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 10 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 8 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:29), upper body weights/core, and then 4 miles very easy (9:10) plus drills and four strides.   Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 17 miles, including a workout of 3x3 miles at ~marathon effort with 1 mile float, followed by 1 mile split as 21:35 (7:13/7:13/7:09), 21:21 (7:11/7:10/7:00), 20:51 (6:56/6:57/6:58) and then 6:31.  1 mile floats in between ranged from 8:01 to 8:10.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  

Sunday: 9 "miles" pool-running in the morning.  Streaming yoga in afternoon, followed by foam rolling.