Sunday, March 31, 2024

Training log - Week ending 3/31/2024

This week was 63 miles of running and 1500 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

My plan was to race a 10K as a tune-up, but that plan got more challenging when only 10 people showed up for the 10K with none of them near me pace-wise.  As soon as I realized that I was finishing second overall (first woman) no matter how slowly or quickly I ran, I lost my race fire and turned it into a "let's practice running at marathon pace or faster while navigating a crowded trail (the earlier 5K had a lot of walkers still on the trail) and some inclines/declines."

I did get some good practice in, so that was good.  I also realized that I need to wear an older (less bouncy) pair of Vaporflies in Boston since bouncier shoes make declines even more challenging.  I also need to make sure to stay warm pre-race - I got chilled before the start of this race, which made the first miles very stiff.

Monday: 8 miles very easy (9:13) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 in 3:39, 5:23, 6:58, 5:07, 3:21, 1:40 (recoveries in 2:3x-2:4x, except for 5:14 recovery after the 1600.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  
 
Wednesday: 7 miles very easy on trails (9:45) and 750 yards swimming. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 8 miles very easy (9:24) plus drills and strides; streaming Pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 4 miles (9:29) and 2 miles (9:29).  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 10 miles, including a ~10K tempo/race thing in 46:44 (7:49/7:46/7:37/7:22/7:16/7:04/1:50 for last .27).  Followed with streaming pilates.  750 yards swimming and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  14 miles easy to moderate (most averaging 8:47, last 2 miles picked it up to 7:42 pace), followed by upper body weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Training log - Week ending 3/24/2024

This week was 58 miles of running, 1000 yards of swimming, and 15 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Just two workouts this week - long intervals on Wednesday and a marathon effort workout on Saturday.  The long intervals went decently, confirming that I'm pretty much where I wanted to be fitness-wise at the end of this cycle. 

Saturday's long run was in pretty tough weather conditions - steady to heavy rain and 45 degrees, with a brisk wind. But...it could be like that on race day, so I sucked it up and ran.

Unfortunately, I figured out about 20 minutes into it that my raincoat was no longer waterproof.  And of course, once I was soaked, I just got colder and colder (marathon effort is not enough to keep one warm) and the run suffered.  The paces were not what I had hoped for during this last workout.  On the other hand, I run this workout at marathon effort - and I'm pretty sure that I'd be happy with the paces I held during that workout if I was racing a full marathon in that type of weather.

Despite the above, I'm still happy I did the workout on Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday. There are multiple reasons to run marathon pace/effort workouts, including both fitness and practicing the skills needed to run a good marathon.  And managing bad (but safely runnable) weather is a very important skill to have and to reinforce via practice from time to time.

I'm now two weeks out from Boston (some would call it three, but I tend to round down - I guess I should say "two weeks from race week").  Next week I'll race a 10K as a tune-up, and then we're into the final taper.  Which will not be much of a taper.  For me these days, a longer taper that really doesn't cut back that much seems to work better.  That's actually one reason I did my only 20+ miler last week instead of this week - since I'm not going to cut back much during taper, I wanted more time between my peak week and the race.  This way, the extra week or two between the two can counter-balance the minimal reduction in volume.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 "miles" pool-running.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 8 miles very easy (9:30) plus upper body weights/core; foam rolling in evening.
 
Wednesday: 12 miles, with a track workout of 3x3200 in 14:14 (7:12/7:02), 13:57 (7:02/6:55), and 13:44 (6:56/6:48).  Recoveries of 4:42 and 4:50.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 miles very easy on trails (10:05) in the morning; streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 12 miles very easy (9:24) plus drills and strides, followed by upper body weights/core. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles at marathon effort with one mile float between. Splits were 38:39 (7:44 pace) and 39:19 (7:52 pace) with a mile in 8:23 between the two.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 9 "miles" pool-running and 1000 yards swimming.  Foam rolling at night.




Sunday, March 17, 2024

Training log - Week ending 3/17/2024

This week was 72 miles of running and 9 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my peak week of training for Boston, including my only 20+ mile run (I find I don't need very many of these, and one "secret" to training and racing well as you get older is not doing any more workouts than you need).

As seems consistent for me, the interval workout was rough, while the tempo and long runs went better.  Daylight savings means that the official team track workouts are starting in the dark again, and I struggle to move my legs until it gets light.  I think the splits on the 800s show when the sun rose.

I shortened the recovery intervals for Tuesday by tucking behind a faster group.  As background - the team trains in groups, meaning that you start each interval when others start (keeping life easy for the coach timing the workouts).  However, a lot of the recoveries end up being pretty long - about the same as the interval duration or longer.  Since I struggle to move my legs fast enough to get my heart rate up, I need to keep the recoveries short, or else my heart rate drops too low during recovery and I never get my heart rate up to where it should be during the workout.  

So...on Tuesday I deliberately tucked behind a group that was running faster than me.  By finishing about 20-30 seconds behind them and starting with them, I kept the recoveries shorter and finally managed to get my heart rate up during one of these workouts.

Friday's tempo felt smooth (I ran it solo and started after the sun rose).  I was really happy with Sunday's long run.   The things that really challenge me are a) trying to run faster than a shuffle downhill; b) running downhill in supershoes; c) uneven footing/rough pavement and d) dodging people and other things while running.  So...I forced myself to deal with this by wearing Vaporflies for the long run and doing the marathon effort work on the Capital Crescent (rough sections and bridges and tunnels and kids on scooters and dogs on leashes and people walking 5 across and cyclists zooming in all directions) with 5 of the 7 miles being downhill.

And...I handled it decently.  Not perfectly.  But well enough that I have a lot more confidence that I will be able to run the downhills at Boston at more than a shuffle.  (Yes, I have run Boston before, and I know that you don't want to run the downhills too fast. But that's not a big risk for me right now.)

Monday: 8 miles very easy (9:34) and streaming yoga.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 11.5 miles, including a track workout of 7x800 in 3:36, 3:36, 3:30, 3:25, 3:21, 3:17, 3:14 (recoveries mostly at 2:1x-2:3x; one outlier at 3 minutes).  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Sports massage in afternoon.
 
Wednesday: 9 "miles" pool-running, 500 yards swimming, and upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 miles very easy on trails (9:52); streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a tempo on the track in 28:06 (7:12/7:04/6:59/6:51), followed by 2x200 in 51 and 50 seconds.  Then leg strengthwork and 500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: 12 miles very easy (9:12) followed by upper body weights/core. Foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday:  21 miles progressive, split as the first 7 miles averaging 9:17 pace, the next 7 miles averaging 8:21 pace, and the next 7 miles averaging 7:35 pace, plus a 1/2 mile cooldown. Followed with injury prevention work and foam rolling in afternoon.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Training log - Week ending 3/10/2024

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

The first part of this week was recovery from my half-marathon.  By Thursday I was ready to ease back into something light; since I had just raced a half-marathon (the ultimate in tempo workouts) I didn't see the point in doing something at tempo pace on the track.  So instead I headed over to Iwo Jima to do hill repeats at marathon effort (a lot easier than the normal hill effort).  

Doing hills at marathon effort (especially the downhill part) gave me an opportunity to practice managing my gait on the downhills, which is likely going to be my biggest challenge there.  I wore supershoes for the workouts (the Puma Deviate Elite) both because I find wearing supershoes makes downhills HARDER and because they protected my legs some from the workout so I could continue to recover from the half-marathon.

Verdict: I am better at downhills but still have work to do there.

Saturday's marathon pace workout (on flat Hains Point) went more smoothly.  Marathon pace seems to be locking into around 7:30 pace on flat ground in good weather.  I guess we'll see what that translates to at Boston 2024.

Separately, I've started adding some swimming back into my week.  I had dropped it because I've been really pressed for time, and swimming made the most sense to drop, given that it's not my focus sport and requires a fair amount of preparation time.  But...since cutting it out it seems like my lungs aren't as strong, so I think I need to find the time somehow to fit it in.

Dailies:

Monday:  6 "miles" pool-running and 500 yards swimming.   Foam rolling at night.  

Tuesday: 7 miles very easy (9:18) in the morning; streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.
 
Wednesday: 7 miles very easy (9:27), upper body weights/core, and then 2 miles very easy (9:39) plus drills and strides. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 11 miles, including 8 "Iwo Jima" hills at marathon effort, followed by leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 12 miles very easy (9:27) plus drills and strides in the morning; streaming yoga in the afternoon and foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles, including a marathon effort workout of 2x5 miles at marathon effort with one mile float between. Splits were 37:39 (7:32 pace) and 37:15 (7:27 pace) with a mile in 8:16 between the two.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 6 "miles" pool-running and 500 yards swimming.  Foam rolling at night.




Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Training log - Week ending 3/3/2024

This week was 53 miles of running -- training log is here.

Just a place holder for a race week.

Monday:  8 miles very easy (9:20) and strides, followed by upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9.5 miles, including a track workout of 1600, 4x800, 400 in 7:05, 3:26, 3:23, 3:18, 3:16, and 96.  5:14 recovery after the 1600 and recoveries of 2:4x-3:2x after the 800s.  Sports massage in evening.
 
Wednesday: Upperbody weights/core and 7.5 miles very easy (9:24) plus strides.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 5 miles very easy on trails (10:27); streaming pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 7 miles, including an uptempo 1600 (7:10) plus 2x200m in 51 and 51.  Foam rolling in evening.

Saturday: Off except for DIY yoga and some foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday:  3 mile warm-up and then a half-marathon in 1:34:11.   Foam rolling in afternoon.

Monday, March 4, 2024

Race Report: One City Half-Marathon, March 3, 2024

 I ran the One City Half-Marathon yesterday, finishing in an official time of 1:34:11 1:34:05 (the race results were corrected, which is cool, since the corrected result matches what I had on my watch).

This is my second time running this half-marathon.  I mostly repeated last year's pre-race logistics, since they had worked so well.  I left my house at 7:45 am on Saturday to drive down and avoid traffic, and stayed at a hotel in the Hampton Convention Center area (10 minutes from the parking at the finish line).  Grabbed my bib, grabbed Chipotle, and then did some yoga, stretching, foam rolling, and reading before hitting bed.

Like last year, I also woke up at 3:45 am to give myself enough time to eat, digest, and stretch.  However, I waited an extra 15 minutes before leaving my hotel (5:00 am instead of 4:45 am) because last year I had arrived at the start line a bit too early and had frozen for 20 minutes before it was time to start jogging.

Leaving my hotel at 5 am meant that I had parked and made my way to the start line buses by 5:16. I got on a 5:25 bus, which got me to the start line at 5:55 am (I note all of these timestamps because it's really helpful to look back at these notes in future years, or to point others towards these notes when they ask me about a race).

There was one notable change from last year - the high school gym was open!  Had I known this, I would have left my hotel much earlier, so I could have gotten to the race start and then done my stretching and mobilizations.  Noted for next year.

I did hit one snag, which was waiting for approximately 5 minutes outside a porta-john before realizing that it was unoccupied but locked from the inside.  Fortunately, I was able to find another one with no line and do the needful.  The quest for porta-john entry did cut into my warm-up time, but I actually found that I didn't need that much today (just a bit less than 3 miles).

Then I lined up at 6:50 for the 7 am start (one nice thing about smaller races) and we started right at 7.

***

One of the challenges I have when trying to race with neuro issues is that my legs don't behave themselves well when I start running.  My ankles get really stiff and locked and it usually takes about 10 minutes for things to start working correctly.  Unrelated to the above (or at least it was until now) I have an ankle strengthening exercise I do a few times a week where I do two sets of 45 seconds of each of the following - walking on my toes, walking on my heels, walking on the outside of my feet, and walking on the inside of my feet.

I've noticed at the gym that after I do this exercise my ankles and feet feel really good. So, I decided to try it on race morning.  When I arrived at the race, I walked back and forth in the parking lot on toes/heels/outside/inside for about 6 minutes before putting on my Vaporflies and starting to warm up.  I looked very odd, but I am very odd, so it mapped and I didn't worry too much about it.

And...(returning to the race start)....it seemed to help.  The first mile of the race was still challenging, but nowhere near as bad as it was last year.  I felt much more stable, which meant that it was easier to handle the chaos of the first few minutes of the race, as well as the gentle inclines and declines.

***

As always, I paced my race by feel, rather than looking at pace, heart rate, running power, etc.  (I actually wear a heart rate strap and a pair of foot pods because I think it's fun to look at that stuff later, but I ignore it for the race).  My plan was to ease into the race over the first mile or two, then hold at just below my lactate threshold (which I can feel like a bright red line) before pushing over that line in the final miles. I've run my half-marathons that way for years and it's always worked well; the only thing that has changed is the paces.

It took about two miles for things to really smooth out, and then I hit a rhythm and held it.  I have to admit that I didn't feel awesome - my breathing was tight during those middle miles.  Post-race, several other people told me they felt the same, and Accuweather indicated that mold levels were high, so I suspect that may have been at play.  Whatever - it was what it was.

The middle miles passed without too much of note - there were a few literal speed bumps on the road that I had to navigate (two of them I was able to avoid by running to the side) and a recurrence of my favorite sign ("you are very far from the finish" - accompanied by a recliner and a six pack).  

I was running with a water bottle and hadn't yet drained it, so there was no need to grab my water bottle at the elite water stand, but I did so anyway for the heck of it.  At this point in my running "career" (said jokingly since I lose money every year on the endeavor), opportunities to run in an elite field are dwindling.  So I wanted to take advantage of all the perks, even if I didn't need them.  I was less than graceful in accomplishing this task, and it probably cost me 2 seconds, but it was worth it for reasons independent of hydration.

Then we hit mile 10 and it was time to slip above the red line for my final approach to the finish line. 

I had mapped out the course and knew particular landmarks that correlated to distances from the finish line. The gentle turn from Warwick onto Huntington was about 2 and 2/3rds of a mile from the finish line, and a mark to open up a bit more.  

About this time, my right shoe started to feel loose.  Annoyingly loose.  I briefly considered and retie it, and then I decided that would be a silly decision, and that I needed to keep going unless the laces actually came undone.  I was close enough to the finish that the 15 seconds spent fixing my shoe would exceed any loss in speed from the loose shoe.  I did my best to ignore the shoe and push forward.

Another right and then a left marked 1 mile from the finish line - my cue to empty the tank.  I passed one woman and focused on another just ahead, while also counting down streets (every 5 streets was a quarter mile) and trying to ignore my right shoe.

I made up ground steadily on the woman ahead but wasn't able to quite reach her before we hit the final turn to the finish line about 100m ahead.  She found another gear after that turn, while I was already at my top end speed, so that was a battle lost (but still worth the fight).    Then I crossed the finish, noting 1:34 and change on the clock.  I was a bit disappointed but also satisfied.  I had hoped to run faster than my recent workouts predicted (and faster than I ran here last year), and instead I ran pretty much what I would project from my workouts.  But...I had run a well-executed race and gotten a solid tune-up for Boston, so there was a lot to be satisfied with independent of time.

Manual splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 7:36
Mile 2: 7:10
Mile 3: 7:13
Mile 4: 7:06
Mile 5: 7:20
Mile 6: 7:17
Mile 7: 7:12
Mile 8: 7:13
Mile 9: 7:12
Mile 10: 7:08
Mile 11: 7:03
Mile 12: 7:01
Mile 13: 6:48
last .11: 48 seconds.




So pretty much according to plan, with 1-2 miles to ease in, 8 miles at a hard effort, and then the last 3 miles building to a hammer (my heart rate chart also indicates this pacing plan pretty clearly, I think).  I just wish those middle miles were closer to 7 flat.  (I actually wish they were closer to the 6:30s of a few years ago, but such is life).

Overall, a fun day, and I'm glad I did this.  Additionally, I get a really big fitness boost from racing half-marathons (I respond really well to tempo work, and a half-marathon race is the ultimate tempo workout) so hopefully I'll be reaping the benefits from this race in the final weeks of my Boston training.

Other notes:

  • The weather was perfect for a half-marathon - high 40s to low 50s with a slight breeze. Unfortunately, it warmed up slightly for the full, which was a shame.
  • Once again, I ran the last 5K of this race faster than I ran a standalone 5K three weeks ago (21:40 versus 21:59).  My last mile of this race was also faster than any 1600 I've been able to run on the track this year.  Just how my body works these days - that's why I'm prioritizing the longer races.
  • Once again I ran this half-marathon at the exact same pace I ran for a 4 mile (6400m) tempo during training.  Like I said, I pretty much ran exactly what I would expect based on my training.
  • This race performance age-graded to 77.4 %.  One of my goals is to get back above 80% for age-grading (I was 82-87% a few years ago, depending on the distance).  Not there yet, but it seems in reach with work and luck.
  • I took 17 back home instead of I-64 to I-95.  Yes, it might add 30 minutes onto the trip if there aren't traffic back-ups on I-95 (which is unlikely to be the case).  But this route is just so much mentally easier and smoother and more enjoyable than the near certainty of sitting on I-95 in stop and go traffic on a Sunday afternoon.