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.