Training log - week ending 2/25/2024

This week was 68 miles of running and 6 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Things continue to improve, which is good.  Tuesday's workout was still a bit rough - I suspect some of that was asthma from the cold air.  Friday and Saturday were a lot better - we had great running weather on Friday so I took advantage and did an 8K tempo (that went pretty well) followed by my long run 24 hours later.

The workout day 1/easy long run (with a small bit of fast runnning) on day 2 is something I borrowed from a friend a few years ago.  It definitely develops strength and the ability to run fast on tired legs without incurring too much fatigue.  I would never use it exclusively in place of progression long runs or marathon effort workouts, but I like using it in the summer when it is too hot to do a progression long run.  It also works when, like this week, I want to do a tempo AND a long run and be done by Saturday mid-day.

Monday:  10 miles very easy (9:12) and strides, followed by upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 4x1200, 2x400 in 5:23, 5:15, 5:14, 5:11, 1:40, and 1:40.  Recoveries after the 1200s were mostly 2:5x (one outlier at 3:32).  77 seconds between the 400s.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and 11 miles very easy (9:25) plus strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 8 miles very easy on trails (10:02); streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including an 8K track tempo in 35:48 (7:20/7:16/7:10/7:05/6:57), plus 2x200m in 51 and 50.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 18 miles, mostly easy (9:06) but with a fartlek of 10x2 minutes at marathon effort/5 minutes easy in the second hour.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday:  6 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 2/18/24

This week was 53 miles of running and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This week was a bit jumbled by weather.  Tuesday's interval workout was pushed back to Wednesday because of a forecast of freezing rain on Tuesday morning.  I can't do an interval workout on Wednesday and a tempo on Friday - they are just too close together - so I opted to skip the interval workout and move my tempo workout up to Wednesday so that I could do a big long run on Saturday and then have two days to recover before the next interval workout.

And then Saturday's long run almost didn't happen - 3-5 inches or more were forecast for Friday night into Saturday morning.  But...that forecast fell apart and I woke up to clear streets, so I did the workout after all, and it went very well.

My gait has really improved over the last week or so, and that's showing in much faster times.  It's not a jump in fitness, just a change in how I apply that fitness that results in running a lot faster.  Part of it is just reviving neural connections, and part is that I figured out a "hack."  Namely - my legs and feet do whatever my arms and hands do.  Which means that when my legs and feet go rigid and lock up on me, instead of focusing on those, I think about keeping my elbows bent and my hands relaxed.  When I do that, then my legs start mimicking my arms and start working much better.  Pretty cool.

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8.5 miles very easy (9:27) on treadmill in the morning; streaming yoga and foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 11 miles on the track, including a 4 mile (6400m) tempo in 28:35 (7:19/7:13/7:02/7:00) followed by 2x400m in 1:41 and 1:39.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles very easy on trails (10:20); streaming yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 8 miles very easy (9:23) to the gym, upper body weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy (9:42) home plus two strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 16.5 miles, including a marathon pace workout of 4/3/2/1 miles at marathon effort with 1 mile float.  Split it as 4 miles in 29:59 (7:30 pace), 3 miles in 22:24 (7:28 pace), 2 miles in 14:53 (7:27 pace), and 1 mile in 7:24.  Floats in 8:09, 8:22, and 8:35.  Followed with leg strengthwork.

Sunday:  9 "miles" pool-running and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training Log - Week ending 2/11/2024

This week was 57 miles of running and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

An ugly workout on Tuesday (cold, dark, legs stiff) left me with very low expectations for Saturday's rustbuster 5K, which meant I was able to exceed those low expectations.  I also raced well (in that I paced my race well and competed well) which made me happy, independent of the time.

This week had some really good positives after a rough start:

• I started running on the trails of Roosevelt Island again (I took a break due to the hip issue and then due to ice and snow).  It was challenging, really challenging.  But I could also tell it was exactly what I needed.  My static balance is good; it's my dynamic balance (balance while moving) that is hard.  Running on a rocky uneven trail with occasional steps up or down or roots or narrow bridges really trains that dynamic balance.
• After giving up on the Vaporfly 3 nearly a year ago, I decided to give it another try and see if things had changed.  And wow - they felt very different.  All that balance and PT work has really helped.
• Sunday's run felt really good - the 5K (which forced me to challenge my gait with uncomfotably fast running for 20+ minutes) really seems to have helped my gait.  Not a total surprise - that's happened before.  That's one of many reasons why I like to race even if the performance is not going to be fast one.  Pushing myself that way really helps stuff.

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 11 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 4x800, 2x400 in 7:22, 3:33, 3:31, 3:29, 3:29, 1:40, and 1:41 (recoveries of 5:08 after the 1600, 2:5x-3:1x after the 1800s, and 86 between the 400s), followed by leg strengthwork.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy (9:35), upper body weights/core, and then 3 miles very easy home (9:23) plus 2 strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4 miles very easy on trails (10:04); streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 5 miles very easy (9:48) plus numerous strides totalling to about a mile (swapping between the Adios Pro 3, the Deviate Nitro Elite 1, and the Vaporfly 3).  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 3.5 mile warm-up, and then a 5K in 21:59, followed by 2.5 mile cooldown.  Later did 3 miles very easy on trails (10:12) and upper body weights/core.

Sunday:  16 miles easy to moderate, split as the first 7 miles averaging 9:11 pace, the next 9 miles averaging 8:12 pace.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: By George 5K, February 10, 2024

I ran the By George 5K yesterday, finishing in 21:59 by my watch (22:01 was the official time, which was based on hand timing after the electronic timing system failed).

(Note: this was a $15 race, so the fact that they even tried electronic timing was a plus - I was expecting hand-timing anyway.)

I did this as a rustbuster, knowing that it was going to be ugly and awkward and awful as most rustbusters are, but that it would also be good for me.  

This race offers a 5K (once out and back) and a 10K (twice out and back) and I momentarily debated swapping to the 10K on grounds that I wasn't going to be able to run any faster for 5K then for 10K.  Then I remembered that I probably didn't have the fitness to hold any sort of fast pace for 10K and decided to stick with the 5K.

Parking and bib pick-up were quick and easy (as always for this race), so I headed out to jog the course for my warm-up, including my normal warm-up fartlek of about 15 minutes easy, 3 minutes at half-marathon effort, 4x30 seconds at 5K effort, and 4x10 second strides.  Running fast felt awkward, just as it did during this Tuesday's track workout (which was rough).  But that was what I expected, so *shrug*.

I finished warming up about 10 minutes before the race, which was enough time to run to the bathroom (very small race, so no line) and then back to the start to do strides.  I had hoped to jog to the start line right before the race start, but I wasn't so lucky as the race was delayed three minutes - just enough time for my legs to stiffen up a bit.  Oh well.

Then we started.  My gait was rough for the first mile, and got worse when I started thinking about catching up to people in front of me.  The best response to this is a mental shell game where I try to stay relaxed without slowing down and also without trying to run fast.  It's pretty tricky.  But about 3/4 of a mile into the race, I managed to find a compromise and began to reel people in.  

This race is an out-and-back, and so as I approached the turnaround I was able to count the runners ahead of me.  The first three were teammates of mine and I was fairly sure that they would continue to pull away from me.  But I was only about 20 seconds behind the fourth place (I counted 10 seconds from when she and I ran past each other to the turnaround) and the fifth place was right ahead of me. 

Knowing that I would only get faster in the second half as things loosened up, I was pretty sure I could pass both before the finish.  So I went to work.  First I passed fifth place - by now I had enough control of my gait to pull slightly ahead in a controlled manner, then pause to let her surge ahead (and use up some energy).  Then I accelerated again and pulled ahead, my focus now on fourth place.

Over the next mile I was able to chase fourth place down - an odd combination of trying to stay relaxed while still working hard.  I could tell she was slowing in the third mile, and sure enough I passed her with a half mile or so to go.  

From there I just had to focus on enduring race suck and wondering where the finish was.  Experiencing race suck (and the corresponding tiny voice asking me to take a break for a moment) was exactly why I was here, so I reminded myself over and over that this was a good thing.

Then my watch buzzed for the third mile (I used autolap because there were no mile markers) and I could see the finish line ahead, so I tried to kick.  Kicking involved trying to run hard, which meant leg stiffening and so I had to navigate that, but somehow I did manage to accelerate.  It didn't feel pretty, but that was OK.

I finished and stopped my watch and checked it - 21:59.  NOT a personal worst (which was what I was expecting) and far better than I had expected, based on recent workouts.  And I also felt pretty good about having managed to truly compete in the race while managing the leg stiffness and balance issues, instead of being distracted by them to the exclusion of all else.

Splits (Garmin autolap) were:

Mile 1: 7:12
Mile 2: 7:02
Mile 3: 6:51
last .13:  52 seconds (6:40 pace)

So...not a badly executed race, albeit with the traditional slow first mile.  And I felt much better and more confident about my running (and specifically my ability to race) as a result of this 5K, so I got what I came for.

Other notes:

• It was a ridiculously good day for racing - high 40s temps with no wind and overcast skies, on flat and fast Hains Point.  We got really lucky.
  
  
• I wore the Nike Vaporfly 3 for this race, rather than my Takumi Sens or Deviate Nitros.  I was really excited about this, actually.  Last year I picked up a pair of Vaporfly 3s and did a workout in them, but I was really uncomfortable in them (specifically ankle pain), so I decided that they didn't work for me.  I meant to sell them on eBay, but never did. 
  Then on a whim on Friday, I decided to do some strides in them and see if I liked them any better (comparing to the Adios Pro and the Deviate Nitro).  Surprisingly, they felt fine for the strides - much better than I remembered.  So I decided to give them a spin for the 5K.  And they were fine.  Sure, I was awkward and stiff, but it didn't feel any worse from any other pair of shoes.  It was me, not the shoes.
  So that's exciting - I'm now thinking that a year's worth of ankle strengthening and balance rehab has paid off, and I can wear these shoes again (I used to like racing in the Vaporfly before my neuro issues hit and I couldn't handle them any more).  Perhaps these will end up being my spring marathon shoe.
  
  
• I arrived at 7 am for the 7:50 start.  This was just barely enough time - had there been an issue with traffic or bib pick-up or bathroom lines I wouldn't have had enough time to warm-up.  Next year I need to arrive about 15 minutes earlier.
  
  
• The really good news was that my running stride felt much better the next morning after this race - which is par for the course for me.  But also pretty cool.  This race may have rebooted my gait issues some (as really uncomfortable fast running seems to).  So yay.

Training log - Week ending 2/4/2024

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

Late once again, I'll post my weekly. 

I'm out of shape, which has an obvious solution. I'm also having to re-learn the mechanics of how to run faster than easy pace (it's a neurological thing), which has the same obvious solution.  

I bumped up my towpath run to 10 miles this week, so next week I'll try to get some miles in on Roosevelt Island.  I also have a rust buster 5K coming up on Saturday.  It will almost certainly not be pretty, but it's been over two months since I've raced and I need to start practicing that skill again.

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

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 2000, 1200, 2x800, 2x400 in 9:20, 5:20, 3:28, 3:27, 1:40, and 1:42 (recoveries of 5:38 after the 2000, 3:0x-3:2x after the 1200 and 800s, and 91 between the 400s), followed by leg strengthwork.   Sports massage in evening.
 

Wednesday: Upperbody weights/core followed by 10 miles very easy home (9:26) plus drills and 2 strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running in the morning; streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 3200, 1600 in 14:37 (7:20/7:17) and 7:10, with 5:17 between the two.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 10 miles very easy on the towpath (9:23).  Streaming yoga and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  15.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5 miles averaging 9:27 pace, the next 6 miles averaging 8:48 pace, and then the next 4 miles averaging 7:49 pace, plus a half-mile cooldown.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 1/28/2024

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

I returned to focused training this week, trying to reestablish my routines from the last training cycle.  Tuesday was on the treadmill (again) mostly because I slept in and didn't have time to drive somewhere ice free.  

By Friday, it was a ridiculous 60 degrees, so I returned to the track for a tempo intervals workout that felt a bit tough (first continuous hard running in a while).  Saturday I did 8 miles on the towpath as a quick re-introduction to trail running (the towpath is essentially a very easy/flat version of trail-running).  

Since it's been about 5 weeks since I've done any sort of long run, I decided to skip the traditional progressive long run in favor of getting 14 miles in.  Since I had originally been thinking about doing Iwo Jima hills instead of a long run, I opted to do the last 6 miles of the run as loops of Iwo Jima at moderate effort (I did do a "stride" downhill at marathon effort each loop).  It felt like a good way to ease back into marathon training.

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles on treadmill, including a fartlek of 12x90 seconds on/60 seconds off (on was 8.5-8.7 mph, off was 6.0), followed by leg strengthwork.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 7 miles very easy outside (9:39), followed by drills, upperbody weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy home (9:51).  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running in the morning; streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 3200, 1600 in 14:37 (7:20/7:17) and 7:10, with 5:17 between the two.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 8 miles very easy on the towpath (9:42) and streaming pilates.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  14 miles - first 6 easy (9:37), next 8 moderate (8:19); most of last 8 on rolling hills with 9 reps of ~200m downhill at marathon effort.

Training log - Week ending 1/21/2024

This week was 36 miles of running, 40 minutes on the arc-trainer, and 18 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I spent the whole week on the treadmill and was grateful I had it.  We had significant snow/ice on Tuesday and Friday, and super cold/dry air all week (very hard on my asthma). 

I played with some moderate speed work on Tuesday - running as fast as I could while keeping my hip stable (part of that rehab of my quadratus femoris).  On Friday I swapped to the arc-trainer for my "speed-work.". This was partially because I wanted to have a hard workout but didn't want to push to the point where I was getting sloppy with my hip.  Additionally, one of calves was slightly tight and I didn't want to risk anything.  I do find arc-trainer workouts to be more grueling than anything on the track, treadmill, or road.   I suspect it's because the motion is less natural and requires more force.

I kept the weekend pretty easy, especially Sunday.  I was out late on Saturday night, and I worried that trying to do a long or hard run while sleep deprived would just dig me into a hole at the very time when  I want to feel fresh and ready for a new cycle.  So I just did some gentle hills (incline but not fast) and called it good.

Monday:  9 "miles" pool-running and upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles on treadmill, including a fartlek of 12x90 seconds on/60 seconds off (on was 8.2-8.4 mph, off was 6.0).   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 8 miles very easy on treadmill (9:27) and upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 "miles" pool-running in the morning; streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 5 miles easy (9:32) on the treadmill, an arc-trainer workout of 6x4 minutes hard with 72 second recovery, and leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 9 miles very easy on treadmill (9:27).  Streaming yoga and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  5 miles (9:25) on treadmill including some gentle hills (increased the incline but didn't speed up much), followed by upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 1/14/24

This week was 34 miles of running, an hour of arc-trainer/step mill, and 24 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I started running again on Tuesday after taking a short break. My gait was a bit clumsy for the first day or two and then improved. The sciatica was a slight issue for the first five minutes of the first few runs, and then resolved. 

My hip also feels MUCH more stable, and I'm generating a lot more power from that leg. My balance is also much improved on that leg (which is generally my really bad leg for balance). If skipping Houston means that I end up with a lot more power in my stride, then it will have been well worth it.

I did an arc-trainer workout on Thursday just to get my heart-rate up some, and then started playing with gentle hills on the weekend.  The next few weekends will likely be more of the same.

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

Tuesday: 5 miles very easy (10:27) and weights/core.   Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: 7 miles very easy (10:14) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 5 miles very easy (9:31), an arc-trainer workout of 6x4 minutes hard with 72 second recovery (with 10 minute cooldown on step-mill), and injury prevention work.  Foam rolling in evening.

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

Saturday: 7 miles, including 4 gentle Stafford Street hills (5% incline, slightly less than 400m, moderate effort).  Followed with 2 "miles" pool-running and streaming pilates. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  10 miles mostly aerobic (8:53) followed by 4 "miles" pool-running and lower body strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 1/7/2024

This week was 19 miles of running and 30 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

On Thursday of this week I decided not to run the Houston Marathon, and to instead take my running break this weekend.  I'm bummed, but it's the right decision.

The sciatica that I've been managing was massively improved by a sports massage on Tuesday night, where a big knot in either my quadratus femoris or my obturator externus (the QF lies right on top of the OE) got released. Those muscles had been pressing on my sciatic nerve, and so the relief was substantial and near immediate.

Unfortunately, the muscle grabbed back up during a careful tempo on Thursday morning, and that convinced me to pull the plug on Houston.  This isn't a big issue, but it's hitting at a bad time - I just don't think I can run the race I wanted to at Houston as long as I'm managing this issue.  And I'm concerned that running a marathon right now could result in a more significant injury.  Even if I made it through the race without an injury, I'd have an extended post-marathon recovery.  That in turn would interfere with my spring goal races, which include a very fast half-marathon in March and Boston in April.  So the smart decision is to cancel the trip.

Those muscles in my right butt are inflamed right now because they are extremely (comically) weak and I've been doing PT to strengthen them.  I've been careful about not pushing rehab exercises to the point of really inflaming things, but I think that the bout of frigid weather that we had two weeks ago made my muscles really tight and was just too much for muscles already stressed by PT and marathon training - that started the downward spiral that resulted in the sciatica/bum butt.

So I shut stuff down and took my pool-running/junk food/sleep in break this weekend.  I'm going to spend the time that I would have spent tapering and recovering from Houston to rehab and strengthen instead, so that I can run some solid spring races.

I think that ultimately this is all for the best.  Those muscles are deep hip stabilizers, and I believe the fact that they are so weak has been making my gait and balance issues even worse.  So getting those muscles strong and working correctly will be worth the disappointment I'm feeling right now.

Monday:  3 miles (9:51), 6 "miles" pool-running, and upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 5.5 miles, including some gentle fartleking, followed by leg strengthwork.  Sports massage in evening.
 

Wednesday: Streaming yoga and then 4 miles very easy (9:50) followed by 3 "miles" pool-running/  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles, including 3323m on the track (8 laps in lane 3) in 15:28 (7:30 pace).  Streaming pilates in afternoon and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 6 "miles" pool-running and upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 7 "miles" pool-running and streaming pilates. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday:  8 "miles" pool-running and upper/lower body weights.  Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 12/31/2023

This week was 41 miles of running, 15 "miles" of pool-running, an hour on the arc-trainer, and 500 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Not the week I wanted to have, two weeks from Houston.  I had some gait issues earlier in the week (I suspect that I needed to adjust my neuro meds) and then some sciatica flared over the weekend.  The sciatica is one of those things that mimics a muscle strain but isn't actually one. (How can I tell?  Well... the "strained" muscle keeps changing and I can't replicate the discomfort in the gym.).

I suspect that the sciatica is the result of a tight hip muscle, so hopefully getting that released will fix this (since I posted this late, I'll comment that a deep tissue massage did help substantially).

Monday:  5 miles very easy on trails (10:28) plus upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:  10 miles with strides on uphill, downhill, and flat.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.
 

Wednesday: Upperbody weights/core and 8 miles very easy (9:37) plus drills/strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday:  9 miles with an 8K tempo in 37:53 (7:39/7:37/7:32/7:32/7:32).  Followed with leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 90 minutes pool-running.  Streaming yoga and foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday:  9 miles very easy (9:50). Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday: 1 hour on the arc-trainer, building in intensity to finish with 20 minutes at marathon effort and 5 minutes at tempo effort; followed by 1 hour of pool-running. Foam rolling in afternoon.