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.