Training log - Week ending 12/25/2022

This week was 60 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 21 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I'm three weeks out from the Houston Marathon.  Normally when I marathon train I either a) do the last 20+ miler four weeks out and then race a half-marathon 3 weeks out or b) do the last 20+ miler three weeks out.  However, since three weeks out coincided with both Christmas and the polar vortex, I did my last 20+ mile last weekend (4 weeks out) and decided to just focus on form and leg speed this week.

Since I raced a marathon back in October and my last 20 miler felt so good, I really don't think I need much more marathon specific training.  At the same time, I know I have a lot of room for improvement in terms of leg turnover and gait, so I'm mostly focusing on those for the last few weeks.  

For that reason, I did an Iwo Jima hill workout on Friday - normally I do this workout a few times at the very beginning of a training cycle, and then progress to more standard track and road workouts.  But I thought I could really benefit from another session focusing on leg power and gait (especially fast downhill running) so I added this one in when the Friday track workout was cancelled.

[Incidentally, the Friday track workout was cancelled because the "polar vortex" was approaching.  Fortunately, the polar vortex did not arrive in DC until exactly 8:35 am.  I did my hill workout in a fairly reasonable 45 degrees with light rain and moderate wind.  As I cooled down, I could see a dark shelf cloud rolling in.  I finished my cooldown at 8:30 am and hopped in the car for what ended up being a sketchy 15 minute drive home in ice pellets and high winds.]

I spent the weekend on my treadmill rather than deal with single digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures outside.  I was pretty happy with both weekend runs - the treadmill has been a real challenge for my neurological issues in the past, but I handled it fairly well this weekend.   I was especially happy with Sunday's workout, which is the fastest I've been able to run on the treadmill in a while.  My heart rate was also very controlled for the whole workout, which was a positive sign for my fitness.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 2x800, 1600, 2x800, 2x200 in 3:38, 3:37, 3:25, 7:02, 3:23, 3:22, 48, and 48, with recoveries of 2:50 between the 800s and 5:30 after the 1600.  Full recovery for the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 12 miles very easy (9:21), drills and four hill sprints.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday: 12 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 12 miles with 8 Iwo Jima hills (2:00 powerful up a 2% incline; 90-100 second jog; 40 second downhill stride; 60 seconds jog to bottom.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 12 miles very easy on treadmill (9:31) plus upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 12 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 7x5 minutes at tempo effort (8.5-8.8 mph) with 1 minute jog plus 6x30 second strides (9.5-10 mph) with 90 second jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - week ending 12/18/2022

This week was 65 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 21 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I'm now 4 weeks out from the Houston marathon.  I had planned to do my last 20 mile long run next week (3 weeks out) but the forecast for next week is for very dry and cold air (single digit dew point) which is very tough on my asthma.  I usually run on the treadmill on those days, but I didn't want to do a 21 miler on the treadmill if I could avoid it.  I'm fine with the mental monotony, but not crazy about the physical wear and tear of 20+ miles of identical foot strikes.  So I bumped the long run up to this weekend.

The long run went OK.  I ran it on a route that was mostly flat but had a substantial hill (out and back on the Capital Crescent) in the middle miles.  And once again, I struggled with the downhill section of the run - actually running it slower than the uphill.  Once I got on the flat again, things improved, and I finished up the run decently.  One big positive was that 21 miles really didn't feel like much at all, so I think I'm marathon-ready.

Friday's tempo is notable because it was not intended to be that much of a progression.  However, at this time of the year, it's dark until around 7 am.  I started the tempo at 6:30 am, which meant that over half of it was before the sun rose.  And sure enough, I could not get my legs to move.  It was basically like being stuck in first gear.  But as visibility improved, I was able to shift into higher gears and actually get my heart into tempo range.  I had planned on a 4 mile tempo but ended up adding another mile because it felt like the first two miles didn't count.

So overall things are improving, but I'd sure like to be able to run in the dark and run downhill.  All things to discuss with the neurologist at my next appointment.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 8 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:48) and upper and lower body weights.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 12 miles very easy (9:36) plus drills and 2 hill sprints.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 11 miles, including an 8K tempo on the track in 36:52 (1600m splits were 7:43/7:33/7:25/7:12/6:59).  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 12.5 miles very easy (9:27), drills and four hill sprints, and streaming yoga; foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 21 miles progressive, split as the first 7 miles averaging 9:16 pace; the next 7 miles averaging 8:15, and the next 7 miles averaging 7:36 pace.  Half mile cooldown after.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.

Training log - Week ending 12/11/2022

This week was 49 miles of running, 9 "miles" of pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

This was my second full week on carbidopa/levodopa, and it seems to be helping some.  One of my major issues has been an inability to extend my stride, and the C/L has helped that a lot, though I'm still a bit limited there.

At the same time, I'm still struggling with things like running in crowds or in the dark, which seems to aggravate my stiffness and inability to stride out.  Basically, if you think of my running as an internet browser - it works decently if I'm by myself on a flat smooth surface.  But start adding complexities like uneven pavement or other people nearby, and it's like opening additional tabs on the browser - open too many and things start locking up and freezing.

I told the neurologist this, and he told me that the C/L takes a few weeks to be fully effective, so give it time.  So I will.  It clearly helps, and that tells me that I'm on the right path.  

I have to take the C/L three times a day at 5 hour intervals, and Saturday's awful run (intentionally done 4 hours after I took my morning dose) demonstrated that it does indeed wear off about 4 hours after ingestion.  (I suspected this based on my experience during my last two long runs, but wasn't totally sure that it wasn't just the fatigue of the long run).

This short duration of effect means that I need to think carefully about timing the dosing with racing or long workouts.  For Sunday's race, I took the first dose in the middle of the night, then the second dose about 90 minutes before the race.  That worked mostly well in that the drug was effective for the entire race (though I didn't sleep well) so I think I'll have to do a variation of that for my long runs and marathon.  

Dailies:

Monday: Upper body weights/core and 8 miles very easy with backpack (10:02).  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 4x800, 2x400 in 7:17, 3:26, 3:27, 3:19, 3:20, 1:39, 1:40.  5:30 recovery after the 1600; 3:00 recovery after everything else.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming..  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday:  Streaming yoga and 6 miles very easy (9:45).  Sports massage in evening.

Thursday: 90 minutes pool-running..  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 7 miles, including 1600 uptempo in 6:55.    Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 miles easy outside (9:40).  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 3.5 miles warm-up, and then 15K race in 66:14, followed by a mile cooldown.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: Jingle All the Way 15K, December 11, 2022

I ran the Jingle All the Way 15K today, finishing in a time of 66:14.

I signed up for this race for a few reasons - 1) I've always wanted to run it but the scheduling hasn't worked out; 2) I'm training for the Houston Marathon (still undecided on whether I'll do it) and this worked well as a tune-up; and 3) as I work through my neurologic issues, it's helpful to keep testing myself by racing.

***

For those neuro issues (and I still don't have an official diagnosis - we're going with "dystonia" for now) I recently swapped to a new medication called carbidopa/levodopa.  So far it seems to be helping, though I'm told it will take a few weeks to see the full benefits of it.  

C/L is a tricky medication to be on - I need to take it every 5 hours, starting first thing in the morning.  It takes about 30-45 minutes to kick in, and it also seems to wear off about 4 hours after I take it.    I also need to time it carefully around meals, since food (especially protein) consumed too close to it can interfere with the uptake.  At the same time, I also need to time my meals carefully around racing, since my ulcerative colitis means that I'm prone to significant GI problems when running if I'm not careful.

So yeah, it's complicated.

Normally, I would wake up around 5 am for this race (which had an 8:30 am start).  Doing so would mean that I would have sufficient time to eat breakfast and move it through the system, so to speak.  However, taking my first dose of C/L at 5 am would mean that it would wear off at 9 am - approximately halfway through this race.  And obviously all of this medication and food timing will become even more tricky when I run a full marathon.

So... I tried the following schedule for this race:

-wake up at 2 am, take first dose of C/L.  Try to go back to sleep.
-wake up a second time at 5 am, eat breakfast like normal.  Allow breakfast to move through the GI tract while stretching.
- take second dose of C/L at 7 am, leave for race.

This sequence seemed to work well, as the C/L definitely did not wear off for the race.

***

This race starts at the same spot as the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, but is a lot smaller, so I had no issue finding parking reasonably close to the start.  I swapped into my racing shoes and headed down to do my warm-up routine (20 minutes easy jogging, 3 minutes at tempo effort with 90 second jog, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort with 30 second jog, and then four 10 second strides) before hitting the porta-johns one final time and lining up.  There were no signs indicating pace groups, so I just guessed at the right spot.  

Since the first turn on the course is a right, I lined myself on the left side so that I would hopefully not be too crowded early on.  (The C/L seems to help a lot with my hip extension/stride length, but so far it's not doing much for my issues with uneven pavement/curbs or crowds).   Then the race started.

The first few moments of the race went well as we ran up a gentle slope.  Then we turned right and descended, and my gait got really wonky.  It was the trifecta of things that trigger my neuro issues - decline, crowds, and uneven pavement.  

As always happens at this point, I really wanted to step off the race course, but I forced myself to keep going - the whole point of racing, especially on the new medication, was to see what went wrong and what went right.

The first mile was rough, the next mile a bit better, and then things smoothed out.  By the time we hit mile 4 I felt pretty good, and from that point I was able to roll.  I still had some limitations - aerobically it felt like I had more to give, but every time I tried to speed up, my legs would stiffen up and I'd start to catch my left toe on the ground.  So I maintained the fastest I could run without faceplanting, and called it good enough.

The finish to this race is down a gentle incline (the same one we ran up at the very start).  In years past I would have been able to fly here, but today I settled for maintaining my pace and trying not to face plant.  Not ideal, but you do your best and accept it.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 7:39
Mile 2: 7:14
Mile 3: 7:06
Mile 4: 7:04
Mile 5: 6:58
Mile 6: 7:02
Mile 7: 6:57
Mile 8: 7:01
Mile 9 plus last .33: 9:15

I have pretty mixed emotions about this race overall.  I still have a long way to go to get back to where I want to be, and the fact that I struggle so much with running in crowds and on uneven pavement is frustrating.  On the other hand, I'm still doing this, and the later miles were smooth enough to give me hope.  So I'll just keep trying.

Other notes:

• Perfect weather this year - temperatures in the low 40s, with overcast skies and no wind.  That plus a lighting fast course made for a super fast race day.  Hopefully more people will recognize this and show up in future years.
• I wore the Metaspeed Edge+ for this race.  I have to admit, I like this shoe a lot for anything 15K or longer.
• My Garmin measured 9.55 miles for this course, but I'm sure the course was accurate.  My Garmin simply went crazy under the Kennedy Center overhang.
• Supposedly it will take a few weeks for the C/L to take full effect (I've been on it for 2 weeks).  So perhaps I'll see more improvement in the future.
• Surprisingly, I won my age group, so that was nice.
• Since the timing of meds worked well for this race (wake up early, take first dose, then take second dose in close proximity to race) I'll try the same for my long runs and ultimately the marathon.
• I wore tights, a singlet, and arm-warmers - it worked well for these conditions.

Training log - Week ending 12/04/2022

This week was 52 miles of running, 1000 ~yards of swimming and 33 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I had two workouts this week, and both fell on mornings with sub-par weather - mid-40s (good) but steady rain and brisk winds.  It was miserable weather but not unsafe weather, so I just sucked it up and did the workouts, and they were less miserable than I expected.

At this point, I'll note that I have my cold/rainy weather gear nailed.  That gear is:

• a cycling raincoat (the side vents are cooling if I start to overheat and the longer back keeps my butt dry); 
• waterproof construction gloves bought at a hardware store; 
• shorts (because tights just absorb water); 
• a hat; and 
• Vaseline on my face.

Wearing all this, I can stay reasonably comfortable for 2-3 hours in cold rain, including hard running.

This was my first full week on Sinemet, which I take every 5 hours after waking (3 doses total).  

So far, it seems to be really helping.  I increased the dose on Friday per doctor's orders, and felt even better.  At times, my gait felt wonderful - relaxed and even bouncy again.

The downside is that the Sinemet does seem to wear off.  During Saturday's marathon pace workout my legs stiffened up a lot in the late miles - I don't think this was due to fatigue as much as just the fact that I was nearly due for another dose.  I am going to have to give some thought as to how to structure taking the Sinemet with racing.  (It's unfortunately not as easy as just taking it right before the race as I also have to coordinate taking the Sinemet with my food intake).

But still, I'm feeling really positive.  The trick to fixing an issue is finding something that makes a difference - any difference.  Once you figure out how to move the needle, then you're well on the way to fixing the issue.  And Sinemet definitely moves the needle.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: Upper body weights/core and 11 miles very easy (9:41) plus drills/strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 12 miles, with 4800m, 3200m, 1600m in 22:11, 14:26, and 7:00, with 5:00 jog between each.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: Upper body weights/core and 12 miles very easy (9:41) plus drills/strides.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 17 miles, including 2x5 miles in 37:38 (7:32) and 38:39 (7:44). Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 meters recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night. 

Training log - Week ending 11/27/2022

This week was 61 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 8 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I raced a 5 miler on Thanksgiving - it didn't go well at all, but such is life.  It's good to be able to do things like race 5 milers and then visit my parents, and I'm trying to appreciate that as much as I can.

Thursday was far enough from Sunday that I was able to race and do a long run - my first 20 of my shortened cycle for Houston.  That went OK, but not great - the first two parts of the long run felt OK and even good; the final third felt a bit awkward.  It was downhill (a deliberate choice) and I'm still having more issues with downhill running than flat.

I also started a new medication for my neurologic issues - brand name Sinemet, generic name carbidopa/levodopa.  It's a bit inconvenient, in that I have to take it three times a day (every 5 hours after waking up), but if it works, it will be worth the hassle.

Sinemet can have some bad side effects (nausea and falling asleep suddenly are two of them), so I waited to start it until after Thanksgiving - a holiday that involves a lot of eating and a lot of driving.  Fortunately, the only side effects I'm experiencing so far are a lack of appetite and really vivid dreams.  I can live with both of those.

In terms of running performance, so far I feel like it helps me, but slightly less than the Artane did.  However, Sinemet needs to be ramped up slowly, so I'm not at the full dose yet.  We'll see what the next weeks bring.

Monday: 7 miles easy (9:42) and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 8 miles, including a short shakeout workout of 1600 in 7:14 and then 2x200 in 50 seconds each.  Followed with injury prevention work.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy (10:06).  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 10 miles, including a 5 mile race in 38:06.   Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: Weights/core and 8 "miles" pool-running..  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 10.5 miles easy (9:50), drills and four strides, and streaming yoga; foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 20 miles progressive, split as the first 7.5 miles averaging 9:44; the next 6.5 miles averaging 8:28, and the next 6 miles averaging 7:55 pace.  Half mile cooldown after.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.

Race Report: Alexandria Turkey Trot, November 24, 2022

 I ran the Alexandria Turkey Trot on Thursday, finishing in 38:06.

Running the Alexandria Turkey Trot was a semi-last minute decision for me.  I was entered in a 5K turkey trot in DC.  However, I had entered that race assuming it would start no later than 9 am.   When I realized the day before Thanksgiving that the 5K was actually scheduled to start at "approximately" 9:40 am, I entered the Alexandria Turkey Trot - a earlier start was far better for my schedule.  

[the entry fee for the 5K that I skipped went to charity, so it wasn't wasted money; just an impromptu donation].

I showed up at Alexandria around 7:45, grabbed my bib, skipped the long lines for the indoor toilet in favor of the numerous portajohns outside (no lines there).  Then I started to warm up, noting the absolutely perfect racing weather (mid 40s, overcast, no wind).  

I was wearing my Nike Next%s, which I've been able to successfully run in recently.  However, my dystonia was acting up and my balance wasn't great, so I swapped to the Puma Deviate Nitro elites that I had also brought.  Those were a bit better, though not great, but whatever.  I finished my warm up and then lined up, seeding myself about 12 rows back in the race and far to the right, so that I could stay off to the side early in the race while I established my gait.

***

The race started, and I quickly realized that I had seeded myself way too far back - a wall of people running far slower than I wanted to be running was in front of me.  I tried passing to the far right, but the first half mile of the race had intermittent cars parked on the right side of the road, meaning that I would find room to pass and then have to duck back in behind the pack.

All of this was further complicated by the fact that a number of faster runners with baby carriages and dogs had started at the very back of the race, and they also wanted to use the side to pass the masses and get to the front.

I looked for gaps, but I'm not very agile right now and there weren't any gaps that I could navigate, and so I resolved to stay patient until space did open up.  I was hoping that would be a mile or so into the race; as it turns out, it wasn't until about 3.5 miles that things opened up and I could extend my stride and run a hard last mile.

The end result was I ran an extremely uneven race.  My splits were:

Mile 1: 8:11
Mile 2: 7:30
Mile 3: 7:41
Mile 4: 7:31
Mile 5: 6:52

[the splits are from Strava, since I missed most of the mile markers during the race.]

I was frustrated, but at the same time I had entered the race simply to race, and not to hit a specific time.  I accomplished that, and I managed to taste race discomfort in the last mile, so it wasn't a wasted effort.

Other notes:

• The weather was perfect - mid 40s.
• I noted later that the results were gun time, not chip time.  I need to make a note of this for the next time I race.
• Getting to the race at 7:45 resulted in me feeling slightly rushed, since I had to pick up my bib before warming up.  Next time, I'll try to show closer to 6:30.
• I wore thin tights, a tank top, and arm-warmers for the race, as I expected it to be slightly cooler than it was.  I don't think this held me back, through.
• This is a fast course, and a great race to run.  I did note that there were a few speed bumps on the race course that I don't recall from before.  Of course, that might just be that speed bumps are much harder for me to negotiate than they used to be.

Training log - Week ending 11/20/2022

This week was 49 miles of running, 500 meters of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I'm entered in the Houston Marathon, and so am playing with a short training cycle (plus a shorter than normal taper) for that race.  Tuesday was my first track workout post-Covid, and it went better than I expected (I had extremely low expectations).  

My plan for the rest of the week had been a short cruise intervals workout on Friday (either 3200, 1600 or 2x3200) and then a marathon pace workout on Sunday.  But the forecast was for a single digit dew point on Sunday morning.  Cold and very dry air is very hard on my asthma, and I really wanted to do this workout outside rather than on the treadmill, so I opted to skip the Friday workout and do the marathon pace workout on Saturday.

As for that marathon pace workout - I had no idea how it would go.  My plan going into it was to do 3x3 miles at marathon effort and then 1 mile a bit faster.  I normally don't like this workout because the fact that no set is more than 3 miles really encourages one to run the workout too fast.  But I was feeling a bit unsure of myself, and so this seemed like the best option.

However, about 2.5 miles into the first rep, I confirmed that I felt good and in control, so I swapped it to 4-3-2-1 (with the last mile a bit harder than marathon effort).  Perfect weather (low 30s and little wind) didn't hurt, of course.  But it was still reassuring that this workout felt so controlled and doable.  I've been thinking that I didn't have enough time to get in marathon shape before Houston.  But based on this workout, I think I'll be OK.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11 miles, including 6x800m in 3:31, 3:30, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20, and 3:18, with recoveries between 2:3x and 2:5x after each.  Followed with leg strengthwork.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 10 miles very easy (9:49), drills and two strides.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday: 9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: Streaming yoga and 10 miles easy (9:41), drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 17.5 miles, including a workout of 4-3-2 miles at marathon effort and then 1 mile a bit faster, all with 1 mile easy in between.  Averaged 7:34 pace for the 4 miles, 7:31 pace for the 3 miles, 7:36 for the 2 miles, and ran the last mile in 6:59.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 meters recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 12 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 11/13/2022

This week was 56 miles of running, 12 "miles" on the Lever Runner, and 500 yards swimming -- training log is here.

I continued to test positive for Covid until Friday evening, so most of this week was on the treadmill (the CDC guidance allowed me to go outside if I wore a mask, but I can't pool-run or run with a mask). 

For my normal 90 minute pool-runs, I substituted an hour on the Lever Runner at -20 pounds.  The Lever Runner is essentially a budget version of an Alter-G treadmill.  You attach a frame to your treadmill, then strap yourself to the frame using a special pair of shorts and a bungee cord, and off you go.  You can tighten the bungee cord for more weight reduction or loosen it for less.

Interestingly, I found that the more of an assist I had from the Lever Runner, the worse my running coordination issues were.  I could have gone to -40 pounds or more, but -20 pounds was as light as I could go and keep my balance.  I find this interesting, especially since my coordination is better uphill and worse downhill.  Essentially, the more weight and force on my feet, the more balanced I feel.  Weird, huh?

Since pool-running is non-impact, while the Lever Runner is reduced impact, I shortened the duration from 90 minutes to 60 minutes to make sure I didn't add too much impact to my body. It felt like the right amount of work for a recovery day.

I also wasn't sure how to count the Lever Runner in my weekly workout total - I decided just to treat it like pool-running and go by time, which means that 2 hours of Lever Running = 12 "miles."

On Saturday and Sunday I was able to run outside, so I did so.  I was a bit tired for Sunday's run, but I'm not sure how much of that was Covid recovery and how much was lack of fitness.  In any event, I understand that lingering issues from Covid are generally displayed as an elevated heart rate, and my heart rate was right where I would expect it to be, so that was reassuring.

Dailies:

Monday: 60 minutes on Lever Runner and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles on the treadmill, including 8 "Iwo Jima hills" (2:00 at 7:30 pace on 2% incline, 90 second jog, 30 seconds at 6:36-6:40 pace, 60 second jog).   Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday:  Upper body weights/core and 10 miles easy on treadmill (9:47).  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: Streaming yoga and 60 minutes on Lever Runner.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10.5 miles on treadmill, including a tempo workout of 5x5 minutes (7:24 pace) with 60 second jog, and then 6x0:30 seconds strides (6:19-6:40 pace) with 90 second jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 10 miles easy outside (9:40), drills/strides and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:46, the next 5 miles averaging 8:35, and the next 4.5 miles averaging 7:44. Then a mile cooldown to make 15.5 miles total.  Followed with some leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 11/6/2022

This week was 29 miles of running -- training log is here.

I had planned to return to the track this week, but life had other plans.  On Monday I woke up with a mild head cold (negative covid test).   By Wednesday I was starting to feel better.  Then my partner picked up my head cold.  And tested positive for Covid on Thursday morning.

So I took a second Covid test and yup, that was positive.

So how does one train when one is presently asymptomatic, but has a positive Covid test?  Obviously one answer is to take a total break for a week, but my ongoing neurological issues/dystonia make that a not great choice.

 I found this article from the Journal Sci Med Sport- key paragraph:

In terms of safety for individuals themselves, we are fortunate to be in an era where elite athletes have baseline data of training efficiency such as defined heart rate zones in relation to intensity of exercise and subjective scoring for training sessions. Immediately achieving at or close to pre-morbid fitness values post-COVID represents evidence of uncomplicated recovery. Our experience in Australia during the Omicron wave is that this has been achieved by Days 7–14 in most vaccinated elite athletes. Advice to the recreationally active individual, where there is less pressure to return to maximum fitness levels quickly, is to do so in a more conservative fashion. There is strong evidence that moderate physical activity (e.g. doing 7000 steps per day) is associated with reduced all-cause mortality.25 Therefore, we should encourage a quick return to moderate exercise with a more cautious return to higher intensity exercise.

So with that as my guide, I returned to running on my treadmill, but intentionally reducing both the duration and the intensity.  Half-ass workouts, essentially, keeping an eye on my heart rate to ensure it was lower than what I would normally maintain for a workout.  For example, the "hard parts" of Sunday's tempo workout were at a heart rate in the 160s, when my tempo workouts are usually in the 170s.

According to the CDC, I'm supposed to isolate for 5 days post-symptoms and then only go outside with a mask for the next 5 days.  Since I can't run with a mask (trust me, I've tried) I'll just stick to my treadmill until the CDC guidelines say I no longer need to wear the mask.

Dailies:

Monday: Off.

Tuesday: Streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 5 miles (10:12) and drills/strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: Upper body weights/core and 3 miles on treadmill (10:19). Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 7 miles, including a very minimal fake Iwo Jima hills workout of eight sets of 2 minutes at 9:50 pace and a 3% incline, 90 second jog, 30 seconds at 7:30-8:30 pace, and 60 second jog.   Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 5 miles easy on treadmill (9:45) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 9 miles on treadmill, including a relaxed tempo workout of 6x4 minutes (7:30-8:00 pace) with 72 second jog, and then 4x0:30 seconds strides (6:40-7:00 pace) with 90 second jog.  Followed with some leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 10/30/2022

This week was 50 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Two transitional workouts this week - Iwo Jima hills on Wednesday (dodging around the construction of the finish line area), and then a hybrid hill/tempo workout on Saturday, where I ran hills and then ran tempo miles trying to retain the running gait forced by the hills while running on the flat.  Both felt good.

I also did two 10 mile run-commutes this week to my office, with a 10 pound backpack.  It was a real challenge running downhill on wet leaves in the dark with a heavy backpack, but the views and convenience were worth it, and I was surprised how great it felt to run without the backpack on other days.

Dailies:

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 10 mile (10:24) run-commute to office with back pack.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 10 miles, including 9 Iwo Jima hills (2:00 up a 2% incline, 1:30 jog, 40 second stride, 90 second jog) (meant to do 8, but mis-counted).  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling in evening

Friday: Upper body weights/core and 10 mile (10:18) run-commute.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 11 miles, with a hybrid workout of 3x10 second hill sprints, 2x1600m at tempo effort, 6x30 second hills (cycling twice through easy/moderate/hard), and then another 2x1600m at tempo effort.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 5 miles jog to Marine Corps Marathon finish line (10:03), followed by cheering and then DIY yoga.  Then 4 mile jog home (10:01).  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - week ending 10/23/2022

This week was 47 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 12 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Last week was all easy stuff, while this week I started adding some hills back in.  Like always, the goal was not to run the hills as fast as possible, but simply to run with power and good form.

I started with Stafford Street hills on Wednesday - about 2 minutes up a 6% incline, and then about 3 minutes jogging back to the bottom.  I like these for a first workout back because the steep incline forces good mechanics, and the fact that the recovery jog is 150% of the duration of the interval keeps these from being too stressful.  There's a time in distance training where it's very important to keep your recovery jogs shorter than the duration of your intervals, but that's not during the first weeks back after a marathon.

Saturday I moved on to Iwo Jima hills, which are slightly different.  Iwo Jima is only a 2% incline, but I add a downhill stride to the mix.  So the workout goes a) ~2:00 powerful up the hill, b) 90 second jog, c) 30-40 second downhill stride, d) 60 second jog.

The Iwo Jima hills on Saturday felt pretty good.  This was my first time doing them while taking Artane (the medication that helps my legs be a bit less stiff) and I was pleasantly surprised by how good the downhill strides felt.

A side note regarding the Artane - I have been taking a small dose of it before each run, but I stopped taking it right after the Chicago Marathon because I needed to be off of it for several days before getting some tests done.  Saturday's Iwo Jima hills were the first time I was back on it, and....wow what a difference.  Similarly, my legs felt shockingly good for Sunday's aerobic run.

Dailies:

Monday:  Streaming yoga in the morning.  Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 9 miles (10:20) and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 9 miles with 6 Stafford Street hills (about 2:00 up a 5% incline, then 3:00 jog back down).  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga. Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 7 miles (9:58) plus drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 10 miles, including 8 Iwo Jima hills (2:00 up a 2% incline, 1:30 jog, 40 second stride, 90 second jog.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 miles aerobic (8:28) and upper body weights/core.

Training log - Week ending 10/16/2022

This week was 21 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 42 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Whoops - I forgot to enter this week until now.  (A KMFDM rock concert on Sunday night threw me off schedule)

Dailies:

Monday:  12 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 6 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 6 "miles" pool-running.  Sports massage in evening.

Thursday: Medicine run of 5x60 seconds jog, 30 seconds walk, then 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 3 miles (10:12) and 9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 6 miles (9:46) and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12 miles aerobic (9:02), leg strengthwork, and 500 yards recovery swimming.

Training log - Week ending 10/09/22

This week was 44 miles of running, 500 yards of swimming and 6 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Just a placeholder for marathon week.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 "miles" pool-running and light upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 7 miles, including a track workout of 4x800 in 3:34, 3:28, 3:23, 3:20; 2:4x-3:0xx recoveries.  Followed with light leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 5 miles very easy (9:36) plus drills.   Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4 miles, including 1600m at early marathon effort (7:42), followed with light upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: Travel and DIY yoga.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 2 miles very easy (10:08), DIY yoga, and foam rolling.

Sunday: .8 mile warm-up, and then Chicago Marathon in 3:24:40

Race Report: Chicago Marathon, 10/09/2022

I ran the Chicago Marathon on Sunday, finishing in an official time of 3:24:40 (3:24:36 by my watch, but I was scored based on gun time).  It was a personal worst for the marathon distance, and yet I'm OK with it.  

***

Oddly enough, running Chicago was in some way a late decision.  I had entered Chicago in the fall of 2021, listing a goal time of 2:59 and applying for the American Development Program (ADP) based on my 3:03 at Richmond in 2019.  At that time, I honestly believed that I'd be able to get into at least 3:05 shape by fall 2022.  However, it was not to be - my training made it clear that I was nowhere near that fitness.  

At that point, my training became more about the successful completion of a marathon training cycle and less about actually running the marathon.  Given my nearly yearlong neurological/dystonia/whatever struggle, just getting through a marathon training cycle and finishing it in better shape than when I started would be a success.

Once I completed the cycle, I went back and forth over whether to do the marathon itself.  As a friend pointed out, I hadn't run one in quite some time and there were benefits to just getting another one under my belt.  So I decided that I would run Chicago if the weather wasn't really warm.   

[My concerns about hot weather weren't about a "slow time' - I knew that even the best time possible for me would be far from my personal best.   It's just that racing a hot marathon at any pace can be really hard on the body and I'd rather skip the race than have to deal with extended recovery.]

But as it turned out, Chicago had nearly perfect weather.  So I hopped on a plane on Friday morning from DCA to MDW.

***

Things went mostly smoothly once I was in Chicago.  I stayed at the Club Quarters on Wacker Drive, which was decently close to the race start/finish area, very close to a Chipotle, and also close to the FedEx store that had received my care package.  [Like always, a week before leaving I shipped myself a box of snacks, throwaway clothing, gels, etc - much easier than lugging a suitcase around the airport.] 

My room also got bonus points for a) being on the third floor (meaning I could always walk down the stairs on race morning if the elevators were taking too long) and b) having a view of my favorite building in Chicago - Marina Towers (technically two buildings)

After getting myself situated in the hotel and eating some Chipotle, I headed over to the expo to pick up my bib.  Just like last time, getting to the expo required a ridiculous amount of walking and was quite busy once I arrived.

I picked up my bib and went over to the solutions table to ask if I could switch bibs and move back out of the ADP corral.   I had received a letter from the ADP program telling me that all ADP bibs were gun time only, no chip - thus I would need a different, non-ADP bib if I wanted to move back a few corrals and not add several minutes to my time.

However, the solutions table didn't really understand the issue.  After the fourth conversation involving a very nice person explaining to me as if I was a very new runner how timing chips on bibs worked, I gave up trying to get a new bib.  I'd have to go with this one.

***

Saturday was all relaxing and Chipotle and stretching, plus a two mile shakeout run on the Riverwalk - not surprisingly, this is where everyone was doing their shakeouts, apparently.  My legs felt very fresh (good) but also very stiff (bad).  This was the same conundrum I've been dealing with for some time - the more I run and exercise, the less stiff and locked up my body is.   I decided not to worry about the stiffness too much - 26 miles would hopefully be enough to loosen stuff up.

Sunday morning I woke up at 4:15 am local time to eat and start stretching/mobilizing.  I left my room at 5:45 to walk down to the nearest starting area security checkpoint - almost a mile away.  I was worried about a long wait, but getting there a bit after 6 was early enough that I only had to wait about 30 seconds before getting inside and navigating my way over to the ADP tent.  Once there, I sat for a while, read my phone some, wished some friends good luck, and snacked some more.

About 6:45 I headed out to do a shake-out jog on a nearby paved path.  As it turned out, this was the designated warm-up area for both the elites and the ADP corral, and that's how I ended up jogging loops for about 8 minutes behind a group of world class Kenyan runners, bemusedly reading the names pinned to their backs.

[is it really imposter syndrome if you are truly outclassed?]

After that, it was back to the tent for some final sips of water, and then I walked out to the entry point to the ADP corral.  Our entry point was the same point as the elites, and so we were held in place by one race official while another one escorted the elites out from their tent and past us.  This of course gave me a chance to high five my friend Susanna as she walked out - meaning that I'm now taking some credit for her 6th place finish (bragging/namedropping finis).

After the elites were in place and announced, we were then escorted into the same corral, right behind them (myself ALL THE WAY at the back).  We stood there for a few minutes, shedding our throwaways and shivering.  And then the gun went off and the race started.

***

What followed was easily the most surreal first mile I've ever run in a marathon.  I started the race at the very back of a group of people much faster than I.  Even the slowest runners in that group went out at 7 minute pace, which left me far behind.  

I had assumed that the A corral would be starting right behind us, so my plan had been to hug the far side of the road and let them stream past me.  However, they delayed the start of the A corral by a minute or two before starting them, which meant that there was nobody behind me.

And that's how I ended up running the first mile of the Chicago Marathon, a 40,000 person race, completely by myself, with confused members of the media on each side giving me golf claps as I shuffled by.  I wanted to dissolve into the asphalt, but I haven't yet unlocked that skill, so I trudged on.  I really do wish I had just accepted the 5-10 minute handicap to my time, and started with the B or C corral.

I knew what would be coming as soon as the A corral was released (with runners much faster than me), and so I ran the first miles hugging the far left side, rather than following the tangents, so I could stay out of their way.  Even so, it was a rough second mile as that wave of runners rushed past me.

***

Because I started so close to the front with so many faster runners behind me, I was pretty much passed the entire race, until mile 20 or so, when I finally started to pass a few people.  It's a hard way to run a race, but I just tried to focus on my own effort and not get depressed by the constant passing.  

As always, I had my watch face blanked so that I couldn't see splits or paces, and just ran off of effort (this strategy worked particularly well for Chicago, where my Garmin measured 27+ miles for the race).  My plan was to stay conservative and very controlled and within myself through 16, and then pick it up if I felt good - when I'm not sure how a marathon will go, this strategy has always worked well for me.

I felt good and controlled through around 13-14, and then my hamstrings started to get very tight and burn.  They were tight enough that I felt like I was going to pull a hamstring badly if I kept my pace up.   It was more important to me to finish this race than to run a specific time, so I backed off on the pace slightly to what felt like a manageable risk.  From there on, the race was just damage control, as I managed my way to the finish, running/shuffling as fast as I dared, while more lower body parts started to burn and my legs started to lock up.  

Even though the race hadn't gone the way I hoped, I still felt a lot of satisfaction as I approached the finish line.  I had gotten through the training cycle healthy and gotten to the finish line presumably healthy (though uncomfortable), and I was not at all sure I was capable of either at the start of the marathon cycle. 

***

Splits were:

Mile 1: 8:20

Mile 2: 7:56

Miles 3-4: 15:03

Mile 5: 7:31

Mile 6: 7:34

Mile 7: 7:32

Mile 8: 7:38

Mile 9: 7:34

Mile 10: 7:41

Mile 11: 7:44

Mile 12: 7:43

Mile 13: 7:53

Mile 14: 7:51

Mile 15: 7:41

Mile 16: 7:38

Miles 17-18: 15:39

Mile 19: 7:41

Mile 20: 8:07

Mile 21: 8:07

Mile 22: 8:02

Mile 23: 7:54

Mile 24: 7:59

Mile 25: 7:52

Mile 26: 8:02

last bit: 1:51

Other notes:

• The weather was absolutely perfect - temperatures in the mid to high 40s, dew point in the low 40s.  It really doesn't get much better than that.
  
  
• I've thought some about what I might have done different to prevent the hamstring tightness/burning/leg locking.  (I should mention that all three are things I have been experiencing regularly, though they are generally provoked by rest, not running).   I suspect that part of it may have been my taper.  I used the same last week of taper I've used before all of my Sunday marathons, and it definitely left my legs fresh.  However, I also got extremely stiff, despite stretching twice a day.  I wonder if I might have been better off doing a bit more mileage this last week and accepting the tradeoff of less fresh legs that were looser.  This theory is supported by the fact that my body is much less stiff two days post-marathon than it was the day before the marathon.
  
  The other possible cause might have been medication timing.  For the last few months I've been taking a medication called Artane that keeps my legs loose and allows me to run.  I take it in the morning on the days before I run.  On race morning, I took it at 4:30 am (I was worried that if I didn't take it at my normal time, I'd forget to take it).  However, the race didn't start until 7:30 am.  I'll confess I don't know quite what Artane's half life is, but I'm wondering if it was starting to wear off during the race.  Who knows (my doctor probably does, so I'll ask him).  In the next few months the plan is for me to try some other medications that should work better than Artane, so if that's the cause then that's an easy fix.
  
  
• Post-race I met up with two Running Ahead forumites - as always, it was great to meet Dave and Ian - two people I've previously only interacted with online.  That's one of the best things about running and racing - all the friends from various regions and walks of life. 
  
  
• Yes, my Garmin measured 27.18 miles for this race.  No, it wasn't because the race course was long or because I didn't run the tangents.  Garmins.Are.Not.Perfect.  And mine was even more off because I set it to "smart" data recording rather than "every second" for this race since this Garmin's battery life seems to be getting shorter and shorter and I wanted to make sure the device lasted the race.
  
  
• A friend of mine usually posts something along the lines of "any day you get to finish a marathon is a good day" after his marathons.  I think I understand that statement a lot better than I used to.
  
  It is frustrating to have lost something that was so special to me, and I miss how my running stride used to feel relaxed and flowing and rhythmical and how things like timing mats and dark underpasses weren't major challenges requiring considerable thought to navigate.  At the same time, I'm really fortunate to have the privilege (financially and physically) to jet off to random cities to run marathons and eat buffalo wings after.  I get that now, in a way I didn't before.

Training log - Week ending 10/2/2022

This week was 51 miles of running, ~1000 yards of swimming and 12 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my second to last week of taper.  With the exception of the Tuesday workout, every run was 2-5 miles shorter than it would have been during my training cycle, and I cut 30 minutes off of each pool-running session.  Tuesday was my last "real" workout; Friday's tempo workout was limited to 5K, and Sunday's run was not long and had no marathon effort work.

It's late enough in the year that I'm now starting track workouts in the dark again.  My dystonia/balance issues are much much worse when visibility is poor, and it shows in my workouts.  It was particularly notable during Friday's tempo.  I did not intend to speed up that much over the course of the tempo, it was just that I couldn't get my legs to work well for the first 6 laps (run at 7:14 pace).  And then the sun rose and I could see and I ran the next 6 laps at 6:50 pace.

I'm really glad that Chicago is not an evening race.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 2000, 5x800 in 8:47, 3:21, 3:17, 3:15, 3:13, 3:13; 4 minute recovery after the 2000; 2:2x-2:4x recoveries.  Followed with leg strengthwork.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 8 miles very easy (9:54) plus drills and strides.   Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 10 miles, with a 5K tempo in 21:49 (7:18/6:57/6:44/0:50).  Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 8.5 miles very easy (9:44), DIY yoga, and foam rolling.

Sunday: 12 miles progressing from easy to moderate - first 3 miles averaged 8:57, next 9 miles averaged 8:13.  Followed with 500m recovery swimming.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 9/25/2022

This week was 56 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

The first half of this week was recovery, and then a few final marathon workouts.  I was hoping marathon effort would yield a slightly faster pace, given the good weather.  But I suspect there was a bit of GPS error due to the multiple 180 turns and bridge underpasses during the run.  [I ran back and forth on the Anacostia River trail rather than going to Hains Point because I thought Hains Point would be flooded.  Judging from other's Strava posts, it wasn't]

I have one more "real" workout next Tuesday, and then it's all half-ass stuff until the marathon.

Monday: 9 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 9 miles very easy (9:50) and drills.  Streaming yoga in afternoon.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 9 miles very easy (10:16), drills and two strides.    Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 10 miles on the track, including a workout of 2x3200 in 13:55 (7:03/6:52) and 13:37 (6:50/6:47) with 5:30 jog in between.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 11 miles very easy (9:36), followed by drills and strides and then upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 16 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles averaging 9:14 pace, next 5 averaging 8:10 pace, next 6 averaging 7:29 pace.  Then a half mile cooldown jog.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 meters recovery swimming.

Training log - Week ending 9/18/2022

This week was 52 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Raced the DC Half as my tune-up for Chicago.  I thought I'd run about 1:32, but ran 1:34.  I'm not that upset about it, because the weather ended up being warmer than forecast and it seemed like most people were a bit off of what they thought their fitness was.  I got a good hard effort in, and that's the most important thing.  I think I can run around 3:15 at Chicago if we get good weather (which admittedly is a big if).  

Dailies:

Monday:  8 miles very easy (10:16) plus drills/strides.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 9 miles, including a track workout of 6x800 in 3:28, 3:25, 3:19, 3:15, 3:14, 3:11; with 2:3x-3:0x recoveries.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy (9:27) plus drills and strides and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 7 miles, including a 1600 in 6:54.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night

Saturday: 2 miles very easy (9:40) and foam rolling.

Sunday: 3.5 mile warm-up, and then a half-marathon in 1:34:05.  1.5 mile very easy back to car after.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: DC Half, September 18, 2022

I ran the DC Half Marathon today, finishing in 1:34:05.  This was a personal worst for the distance, and yet I'm OK with it.  Wistful, not upset.  I ran pretty much to my potential today, and you can't do more than that.

I signed up for this race a long time ago as a tune-up for the Chicago Marathon.  I like to race a half-marathon three weeks out from a full, and my choices were this race or the Philly Distance run.  This weekend is usually warmer than optimal with high pollen levels, and I knew I wasn't going to be setting a PR this weekend, so it made much more sense to stay local and not have to spend for a hotel or deal with travel.

(as it turns out, it looks like Philly wasn't that much better weather than DC, so definitely the right call).

Since this was a home race, things were easy - I left home at 6:15 and was parked in Georgetown by 6:30.  It was roughly a 1.5 mile jog to the start area, with a portajohn conveniently located half-way (I didn't know about that in advance - it was just good luck).  

Once I got to the starting area, I did my standard warm-up of 3:00 at marathon down to half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, and 4x10 seconds at mile effort (aka as fast as my legs will let me go right now).  It's a bit more than I used to do before half-marathons - I used to just do the 3 minute segment and 2x30 seconds.  But I need every bit of warm-up I can get these days.  I finished that up at about 7:15, which gave me 15 minutes to jog a bit more and then enter the corral.

Like always, I wanted to start this half off conservatively before easing into pace. So I lined up near the 1:40 pacers.  I didn't plan to run with them, but that was the best indication I had of my appropriate place in the corral.  I stood in the corral for about 10 minutes before the race started - enough time for my legs to get really stiff and lock up.  But I decided to try some high knee lifts in place, and that seemed to help keep me loose.

***

At 7:30 they started the race.  I was worried about how I would handle the first few minutes of tightly packed runners, but it turned out to be a non-issue - the course quickly widened enough that I had space to do my own thing.  

The course was a pretty simple one (and fast) - one loop around Hains Point, and then around the Tidal Basin and up Rock Creek Park, before turning around and heading back down Rock Creek Park and back around the Tidal Basin to cross the Start/Finish line.  It wasn't perfectly flat, with some mild undulations, but still a very good course.   On a cool crisp day this could be a very fast course.  

After the first mile, I starting easing the rhythm up slightly (like always, I had my watch blanked so that I couldn't see splits).  I increased gradually until I felt like I was just under my edge, and then held it there and rolled through the miles.

I know most of the course like the back of my hand, which is good and bad.  The bad part is that I'm not used to running the tangents, since I don't usually do so when running here (that whole "stay on your right and to the side thing).  I had to repeatedly remind myself to do that - this was a race!

Other than that, the race just flowed.  I was rarely comfortable in my pace, but I was holding steady and reeling people in, so that was good.  Things definitely warmed up, with the sun shining brightly, as the race progressed, and I was grateful for my conservative start.

The heat did finally catch up to me in the last mile, and when things got really tough I tensed up and my legs started to lock.  So that's something to fix for next time - I always close my races best when I remind myself to relax and flow forward, but I forgot about that trick here.  Next time.

***

Splits were:

Mile 1: 7:26
Mile 2: 7:14
Mile 3: 7:07
Mile 4: 7:00
Mile 5: 7:10
Mile 6: 7:03
Mile 7: 7:08
Mile 8: 7:09
Mile 9: 7:13
Mile 10: 7:09
Mile 11: 7:09
Mile 12: 7:12
Mile 13: 7:19
last bit: 44 seconds.

I would have liked to finish stronger than I did, but I think part of that was the rising temperatures.  Unfortunately, I forgot my heart rate monitor strap this morning, so I don't know what my heart rate was in those final miles - that would have been interesting.  (yes, my watch has a wrist-based heart rate function, but it's so inaccurate as to be borderline useless).

Other notes:

• I carried a water bottle with me - my plan had been to toss it at mile 11 or so (I could then pick it up when jogging back to my car post-race).  However, I was still drinking from it then, so I just carried it to the finish.
• My Garmin read 13.30 miles for this one - I suspect that this was mostly due to screwy signal under the Kennedy Center.  Yet another reason never to rely on Garmins for pacing.
• The race was a bit warmer than ideal - starting temp of 66 with a dew point of 64; ending temp of 76 with a dew point of 65, plus bright sunshine.  After training in dewpoints between 70 and 75 all summer, it didn't feel awful, but it didn't feel great either.  Hopefully Chicago will be better.
• One big positive is that I averaged the same pace for this half-marathon as I did for the Broad Street 10 Miler in May.  This course, though fast, is not as fast as Broad Street, and Broad Street had better weather.   I am making progress - very slow and hard fought, but progress all the same.
• I wore my Puma Deviate Nitro Elites for this race - I had been considering wearing them for Chicago.  However, the toe box definitely got too small in the last few miles when my feet started to swell, so that my neuromas started burning a bit.  I think I need a different shoe for a full marathon.
• It was so good to see my teammates and other running friends at this race, both before and after.  

Training log - Week ending 9/11/2022

This week was 51 miles of running, ~1000 yards of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my last week of training for Chicago, and I'm satisfied, in that I'm finishing this cycle better than I started it.  Saturday's marathon pace workout was confidence building - that's a workout that I would have struggled with at the start of the cycle.  Wednesday's workout looks like an outlier, in that tempo effort was not much faster than Saturday's marathon effort, but that was more a factor of the weather (Saturday's weather was much better than Wednesday's).   Had I pushed that workout harder, it would have been counter-productive.

Next week is a half marathon, and then after that it will be a three week taper to Chicago, where I'll cut back the mileage and shorten the workouts, but up the intensity.

Dailies:

Monday: 12 "miles" of pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 9 miles easy (9:36) and upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  14 miles, including 3x3200m at tempo effort plus 2x200m a bit faster.  Splits were 14:24, 14:22, 14:22 and then 49 and 49.   Recoveries of 5:29-5:59 after the 3200m repeats, and full recovery for the 200m repeats.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Massage at night.

 

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 9 miles very easy (9:50) plus hill sprints, upper body weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy (9:39) plus strides.   Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles with 1 mile easy in between (paces were 7:29 and 7:26).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 meters recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 9/4/2022

This week was 72 miles of running, ~1500 yards of swimming and 12 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

My mileage looks like a big jump up, but that is deceptive - I did my long run on Sunday instead of Saturday, and so this week had six days on land and one in the pool instead of five and two.  The overall workload was the same.

We had a nice break in the humidity on Friday, and so I stretched out my tempo workout to 8K - 20 laps on the track.  I was pretty happy with this one - the effort felt right and smooth.  As for the pace, it was still slow compared to where I was 18 months ago, but a bit improvement over even last month, so things are definitely continuing to improve.

For this marathon cycle, I've been alternating between marathon effort workouts (17 with 4-3-2-1 or 2x5 at marathon effort) one weekend and a double of a long Friday track workout plus a Saturday long run with surges in the middle hour.  In years past, that second week would have been a Friday tempo plus a Sunday progressive long run, but I intentionally swapped things this year to give me a slightly different stimulus. 

For my last 20 miler of this cycle, I decided to go back to basics - a Friday track tempo and a Sunday progressive long run.  I really wasn't sure how the progression long run would go - to be sure I wouldn't get in my own head and overthink it I deliberately took manual splits at landmarks rather than autosplits.  Since my Garmin doesn't display pace, this ensured that I couldn't be checking pace during the run, and would have to rely exclusively on effort.

I was pleasantly surprised to realize after the fact that on a fairly warm day (temp 81, dew point of 74 by the time I finished) that I held around 7:30 pace for the entire marathon effort segment - the fastest I've run at marathon effort for a while.  Furthermore, the long run felt pretty easy - certainly not any harder than Friday's tempo.  I wasn't expecting that for my first progressive 20 miler in a year.

So that was a big confidence boost.  Judging from this, the change in stimulus has worked, and I've reaped some improvement this summer.

Monday: 6 miles very easy (10:15) plus drills and strides.   Foam rolling at night. 

Tuesday: 11.5 miles, including a track workout of 400/800/1200/1200/800/400 in 1:43, 3:25, 5:07, 5:01, 3:16, and 94.  Recoveries of 75 seconds after the 400 and 2:0x-2:4x after the 800s and 1200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.   Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 10.5 miles very easy (9:36), drills and four strides.    Foam rolling at night.

Thursday: 12 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night. 

Friday: 12.5 miles on the track, including an 8k tempo in 34:55 (7:10/7:05/6:58/6:55/6:47).  Full recovery and then six 1:00 hill repeats up a 6% slope (cycling twice through easy, moderate, hard)  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night. 

Saturday: 11 miles very easy (9:39), followed by drills and then upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 20 miles progressive, split as first 7.5 miles averaging 9:45 pace, next 6.5 averaging 8:23 pace, next 6 averaging 7:30 pace.  Then a half mile cooldown jog.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 meters recovery swimming.

Training log - Week ending 8/28/2022

This week was 57 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Just two workouts this week, but I was happy with both of them.  The Wednesday workout was in decent weather; the Saturday workout less so, but both went well.  I was particularly happy with how my heart rate/perceived effort stayed in the right place on Saturday's run - that hasn't been the case in previous attempts at that workout.  

I'm still a lot slower than I would like to be, but isn't that true for all of us?  At least the trend is the right direction.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 mile fartlek on the track (did a few 200s at about 50 seconds each playing with form) and then 6 "miles" of pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 10 miles very easy (9:52), drills/strides and upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  12 miles, including 2x(2K, 1200, 1600) at 10 mile race effort plus 400 a bit faster.  Splits were 8:52, 5:13, 6:54; 8:38, 5:08, 6:48; and 97.   Recoveries of 2:3x-2:4x within the sets and 5:14/5:40 after each set.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 12 miles (9:42), drills/strides, and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles with 1 mile easy in between (paces were 7:37 and 7:34).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/21/2022

This week was 62 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Things still continue to progress.  My Tuesday workout is not a typo, btw - I really did run the 1600 faster than the two 800s that preceded it.  I don't have a good explanation for it other than that the longer I run, the better I feel.  My Friday tempo ended up being a bit slower than I had hoped, but the effort/heart rate was exactly where it should have been, so that was that.  For myself, running tempos too hard is really counter productive - better to focus exclusively on effort.

Consistent with my training plan, I did my 20 miler the day after the tempo, so that it was on tired legs.  Because I was doing the two runs back to back, I didn't progress the long run down to marathon pace at the end. Instead, I included a fartlek in the middle hour of what was a 3 hour run.  The fartlek felt better than previous ones - in fact the long run felt much better than previous ones.  So I'm seeing improvement, and that's good.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 miles easy (10:06) and 6 "miles" of pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 2x800, 1600, 2x800, 400 in 3:20, 3:20, 6:35, 3:13, 3:11, and 92.  Recoveries were 2:21, 2:41, 5:09, 3:12, and 3:06.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday:  12.5 miles (9:33), with drills/strides and upper body weights/core.  Massage in evening.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 11.5 miles with a 6400m tempo in 28:18 (7:10/7:10/7:04/6:55) and then six 1:00 hill repeats up a 6% incline (two cycles of easy, moderate, hard).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 20 miles (9:13) mostly easy but with a fartlek of 10x 2 minutes on, 5 minutes easy starting in the second hour.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/14/2022

This week was 55 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was a very time crunched and sleep deprived week, hence the short and late report.  

I had two workouts this week.  The first was the Wednesday workout, which was supposed to be 2x(2K,1200, 1600) but got altered since I slept awful and wasn't handling the warm and humid morning well.

The second was a Saturday workout that was a bit of a struggle despite nice weather.   From the start, I just felt short of breath and tired, and the workout was a struggle.   I also can't say that I honestly ran the workout at marathon effort - it felt too hard for that.

That being said, I think there were external, non-running reasons why these workouts went poorly, so I'm just going to write this week off as "at least I did something" and move on.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 mile fartlek on the track (did a few 200s at about 50 seconds each playing with form) and then 6 "miles" of pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 9 miles easy (9:52), upperbody weights/core, 2 miles very easy (9:39).  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday:  11 miles, including 2K, 1200, 1600 at tempo, 6 short (20 second) hill repeats and then 2x800 at tempo with 200m jog.  Splits were 8:50, 5:17, 7:05 and then 3:38 and 3:34.   Recoveries of 2:45 within the main set and 1:20 between the 800s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 10 miles (9:51), drills, and two hill strides.   Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles with 1 mile easy in between (paces were 7:33 and 7:36).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/9/2022

This week was 59 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Things are still going the right way, so I'm happy.  Tuesday's workout felt good, and was one of my fastest in a while.   I was also fairly happy with my runs on Friday and Saturday - they felt like the right kind of hard, and productive.

Fortunately the weather should cool down next weekend.

Dailies:

Monday:  4.5 miles easy (9:51), 6 "miles" of pool-running, and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 2x(1600, 800), 400, 2x200 in 6:45, 3:18, 6:38, 3:12, 94, 47 and 47.  4:46, 2:42, and 5:34 recovery for the 2x(1600, 800), and full recovery for the 400 and 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday:  Streaming yoga and 12 miles (9:54), with drills/hill sprints.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 12.5 miles, including a tempo workout on the treadmill of 7x5 minutes at tempo effort with 1 minute jog.  Speeds of 8.2-8.3 mph for the tempo (7:14-7:19 pace) and 6 mph for the jog (10:00 pace). Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 18 miles (9:27) mostly easy but with a fartlek of 10x 90 seconds on, 6:30 easy starting in the second hour.  Followed with injury prevention work, 500 yards recovery swimming and 3 "miles" pool-running (keeping a friend company).  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  Streaming yoga and 9 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 7/31/2022

This week was 56 miles of running, ~1000 yards of swimming and 27 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Eh - one good day, and one not so good day. I was decently happy with Wednesday's tempo interval workouts - that was a workout I couldn't have done a few weeks ago. 

However, on Saturday I was banking on a drop in humidity and temperatures for my marathon pace workout, so that I could get a sense of my fitness. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and it was hot and humid for the run.  I did the workout anyway, trying to focus on effort regardless of how slow it was, but I had to really back off and add in multiple water breaks, and the workout was a slog anyway. 

I debated whether to bail on the workout, but decided that I was better off finishing it at whatever pace I could hold to at least get the effort into the body.

So I still don't know what shape I'm in.  I do know things are improving, so I'll give it another week or two.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 mile fartlek on the track (did a few 200s at about 50 seconds each playing with form) and then 6 "miles" of pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 3.5 miles easy (9:22), time team workout, 6.5 miles easy (9:39), and upper body weights/core.

Wednesday:  12.5 miles, including 2x(2K, 1200, 1600) and then 2x200.  Splits were 8:48, 5:17, 6:59; 8:44, 5:14, 6:54, 48, and 47.   Recoveries of about 3 minutes within the main set and 6 minutes between sets (full recovery for the 200s).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 meters recovery swimming.  Sports massage at night.

 

Thursday: 12 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 3 miles easy (9:42), time workout, 7.5 miles easy (9:38) and then upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 4, 3, 2, and 1 miles at marathon effort with 1 mile easy in between (paces were 7:45, 7:46, 7:56, and 7:49).  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 7/24/2022

This week was 52 miles of running, ~1500 yards of swimming and 27 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This is supposedly week 2 of training for the Chicago Marathon, though I'm not sure I'm doing it (I'll decide in another week or two).

In my marathon cycles, I do 3-4 sets of a 2 week mini-cycle, alternating between the A week schedule and the B week schedule, before tapering.   In past cycles, on the A weeks I've done intervals on Tuesday, a tempo workout on Friday and then a progressive long run on Sunday (on the B week I do a Wednesday workout and then a marathon pace workout on Saturday). 

However, this time I'm mixing it up this cycle to try something different - instead of the tempo and progressive long run with 48 hours separation, I'm doing a longer track/hills workout on Friday morning and then an easy long run the next morning (with some strides in the second hour to keep it interesting).   Followed by a recovery day.

I don't think this is any harder than my previous schedule - in fact it feels a bit easier (you don't realize how hard progression runs are on the body until you don't do them).   But it's a different stress, and I think that one needs to switch up training from time to time in order to continue to respond.  So now my training two week cycle looks like this:

Week A: M: pool-running; T: intervals; W: easy miles; Th: pool-running; Fr: tempo or hill/tempo intervals; Sa: 18-20 miles easy with strides in middle; Su: pool-running.

Week B: M: A short run with 4-8 200s plus pool-running; T: easy miles; W: Stamina workout; Th: pool-running; F: easy miles; Sa: 16-17 miles including marathon pace work; Su: pool-running and/or easy miles.

We will see how it works.  And if I go through with the full cycle.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 11.5 miles, including 6x800, 2x200 in 3:25, 3:21, 3:21, 3:18, 3:16, 3:12, 46, and 46.  2:xx-2:5x recovery between the 800s, and full recovery after the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday:  Streaming yoga and 10.5 miles (9:44), with drills/strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 12 miles, with a blended track/hill workout consisting of 3x10 second hill sprints (6% incline, jog to the bottom for recovery), then to the track for 2x2K in 8:54 and 8:49 with ~3 minutes jogged recovery in between.  Then back to the hill for 6 hill repeats (30 seconds each), cycling twice through a sequence of easy, moderate, powerful).  Then back to the track for 2K, 2x1K in 8:45, 4:21, and 4:18 with ~3 minutes jogged recovery between each. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 18 miles (9:20) mostly easy but with a fartlek of 8x1 minute on, 8 minutes easy starting in the second hour.  Followed with injury prevention work and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.   Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 7/17/2022

This week was 52 miles of running, 1500 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Since I haven't raced in a while, I attempted a 5K parkrun on Saturday. I went out conservatively but still blew up (it was fairly warm and sticky, and I underestimated how conservative I needed to be). The good news was that my gait was not much of an issue in the race. I just ran slowly and paced poorly. Both of which are easier to fix than the dystonia. 

I'm now 12 weeks out from the Chicago Marathon - I'm not sure if I'm going to do it, but I lengthened my long run this weekend to preserve the option. Rather than do a progression, I kept the run mostly at very easy pace, but with a fartlek in the middle (the on sections were essentially strides). Since I raced the day before, I didn't want to do a progression run. Keeping it easy reduced the stress of the run slightly, and adding the 60 second pick-ups ensured that I didn't just shuffle the whole thing.

If I do decide to fully train for Chicago, I think I'll be substituting these types of long runs in for progression long runs.  I love long progression runs, and they are very easy for me.  Too easy, I think - I suspect I'm not getting an adequate stimulus from these runs anymore.   Time to swap things up a bit.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" of pool-running and yoga.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 11 miles, including 1600, 5x800, 2x200 in 6:50, 3:17, 3:17, 3:16, 3:14, 3:14, 47, and 47.  5:38 recovery after the 1600, 3:0x-3:3x recovery after the 800s (too long, due to track congestion) and full recovery after the 200s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday: 8 miles (9:56), with drills/strides. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 4 miles (9:44) plus drills. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 3.5 mile warm-up, and 5K parkrun in 22:19.  Later 6 miles (9:40), leg injury prevention work, and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 16.5 miles, mostly easy, but with a section of 8x(1 minute on; 8 minutes easy) in the middle of the long run.  Followed with 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Race report: Anacostia Parkrun, July 16, 2022

I ran the Anacostia Park Run today, finishing in a time of 22:19, which was 2nd overall and top female in a very small (maybe 40 people?) event.

I haven't raced since Broad Street in early May, and so I needed to jump in something, anything.  I considered running the Harrisburg mile next Wednesday night, but it's a long drive up there and back, and fitting it into my schedule was looking harder and harder.  So I decided to find something to run this weekend, and settled on one of the local parkruns.   We have 5 parkruns locally; I opted for Anacostia because it was the closest one that was on a paved surface.

Park runs don't start until 9 am, so I slept in, stretched, and then arrived just after 8 am to start my warm-up (as always, 15-20 minutes easy jogging, 3 minutes at half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, and 4x10 seconds at mile effort).  I finished up around 8:40 and noted three things of interest.  1) I was the only person there besides the parkrun volunteers; 2) there was no water around; and 3) there was a helicopter hovering about 150 meters away over the lawn of a government building.

The good news for point 1 is that people started showing up about 5 minutes later.  As for point 2 - whelp that one was on me.  I was pretty thirsty, but there was no water, and not enough time to jog back to my car.  Next time I'll bring a bottle with me.

Point 3 was the interesting one.  Apparently the National Parks Service was doing some sort of rescue drill, where the helicopter would hover over the lawn, drop a hoist, raise the hoist, and then fly over us to briefly hover over the Anacostia River before flying back to the lawn to repeat.

All of which was really interesting to watch.  The strong breeze generated by the helicopter was also appreciated.  But...it was also ear-splitting loud - too loud to start the run (you couldn't hear the starter say "go").

Fortunately, they ended the drill shortly after 9 am, meaning that the park run was able to start.

***

It felt pretty hot and humid and the sun was bright, so I decided to go out conservatively and then hopefully build in the second half (the course was a simple out and back on a paved bike path).  We started, and I was immediately passed by 7 people.  That was refreshingly normal - I am NEVER fast off of the line.  What was also refreshingly normal was that my gait was actually holding up pretty well despite being near others.

I started building and soon pulled in a few people.  By about half a mile in, I was running comfortably and in second place, with a young girl (14, I think) in front.  She probably had about 20 seconds on me - I decided to work to reel her in gradually.

And I did reel her in, but at the same time started feeling worse and worse.  And the run just went downhill from there, with at least one walking break.  The funny thing was - I wasn't the only one this happened to - everyone was struggling.  The end result was that I ran/jogged my way to second place overall, about 20 seconds behind the male winner.

My plan had been to go out conservative and negative split.  Instead I ran the following splits:

Mile 1: 6:57
Mile 2: 7:11
Mile 3: 7:22
last .11: 47 seconds

Ooops.

The good news is that my bad race was due to poor execution and lack of fitness, not gait issues.  In fact, my gait felt pretty good except for a few steps at the end when I had to run on grass.  So I've got my work cut out for me now.

Other notes:

• According to WeatherUnderground, it was 83 degrees with a dew point of 74 at the start.  So a bit hotter than I expected it to be (and bright sunshine with no shade).  So not entirely surprising that I blew up.  I should have gone out MUCH more conservatively.
• I really need to bring a water bottle to the start next time - I don't think I did myself any favors starting the race feeling thirsty, even though it was so short a race.  But this is why it's important to race periodically - to remember this sort of stuff.
• I'd much rather be limited by lack of fitness and bad pacing than my gait, so I'm OK with this.   I also really want to jump into another race so I can execute better.

Training log - Week ending July 10, 2022

This week was 62 miles of running, ~1500 yards of swimming and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I stepped back to 1mg of the Artane, and it seems to be helping a lot.  My gait isn't perfect, but it is much smoother than before, to the point where I feel like I am limited by lack of fitness rather than coordination.  

I did a few miles on my treadmill on Saturday afternoon because I hadn't run on it in a while, and was pleasantly surprised to run easily on it like a normal person (before, I had to touch the front panel at times to keep my balance).  

My workouts all felt a bit better too.  My running just feels more normal.  Like an out of shape normal, but that's OK - I can work with that.

Dailies:

Monday:  9 "miles" of pool-running and upper body weights/core.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 12 miles, including 3x(1200, 800, 400).  Splits were 5:15, 3:25, 1:42; 5:03, 3:20, 1:39, and 4:59, 3:16, 95.  2:4x-2:5x recovery after the 1200s and 800s, and 1:3x recovery after the 400s.  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

 

Wednesday: 11 miles (9:49), with drills/strides and streaming yoga. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening

Friday: 12 miles, with a blended track/hill workout consisting of 3x10 second hill sprints (6% incline, jog to the bottom for recovery), then to the track for 2x3200m in 14:18 and 14:10 with ~5:30 jogged recovery in between.  Then back to the hill for 6 hill repeats (25-35 seconds each), cycling twice through a sequence of easy, moderate, powerful).  Then back to the track for 4x200m in 48, 47, 47, and 47 with full recovery between. Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9 miles very easy (9:54), drills and strides, upper body weights/core and then 3 miles very easy on treadmill (9:37).  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14.5 miles progressive, split as first 5 miles averaging 9:37 pace, next 4.5 miles averaging 8:23 pace, and the next 5 miles averaging 7:34 before a half-mile jog.   Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.