Training log - Week ending 2/15/2026

This week was 50 miles of running, 9 "miles" pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming.

The most notable things about this week are that all of my runs were outside, and that I raced.  Oh, and I saw my favorite band (Nine Inch Nails) again.

The snowcrete has slowly started to melt away.  Between that and some plowing, there are several running routes that are mostly passable.  By which I mean that there are stretches of ice each morning (some of it black) from snow that that has melted the day before, seeped across the trail, and then frozen overnight. As the morning progresses, the ice melts away, and by noon there are plenty of good running options.  Unfortunately, I work during the day, so I continue to run in the morning, carefully picking my way around ice and sections that look like they could be water or ice.

The track is still far from clear, but I wanted to do some fast running outside last week in preparation for Saturday's 5K.  On Wednesday I headed down to Georgetown, thinking I could do a 10 minute tempo circling around the waterside park (the loop is about 1300m) followed by some strides, with running underneath the Whitehurst or in the plowed bike path as back-up options.

Unfortunately, stretches of the waterside path were icy, the road under the Whitehurst was surprisingly busy with cars, and there were numerous bikes using the bike lane.  So, I ended up finding a short section of the waterside path that was not icy and just going back and forth between two points that would be easy to identify on a map later.  I did 8 of the longer reps first - each took about 90 seconds so I went with a 60 second jog for recovery.  Then I did 8 shorter reps that took about 21-23 seconds each, at what felt like a very fast effort, with about 30 seconds for recovery.  

Later I mapped it out and confirmed that the longer reps were 330 m in length and the shorter were 90m (so 7:20 ish pace for the longer reps and 6:40-50ish pace for the shorter reps). It was obviously a unusual workout, but it gave me an opportunity to do some faster running on outside pavement, so I tallied it as a productive morning.

We saw Nine Inch Nails on Wednesday, which meant I went to bed just before midnight.  I took 2 hours of PTO on Thursday morning so that I could sleep in, workout, and then start work.  Even so, I still ended up in a bit of a sleep deficit that had to be repaired Thursday night, meaning that my running mileage was lower than I would like for Thursday and Friday.  I race better when I don't reduce mileage too much, and so I wonder how Saturday's race would have gone had I run more for the two days prior.  OTOH, I was pretty happy with the race overall, and seeing NIN was totally worth it, so in the end everything worked out.

Completely unrelated, but because I don't know where else to put it, here is my #1 tip for outside winter running based on the past few weeks: coat your face with a) sunscreen and then b) vaseline. Protects your face from sunburn, wind burn, and the cold.

Dailies:

Monday: 7 "miles" pool-running in the morning; yoga in the afternoon; foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: Upperbody weights/core and 8.5 miles very easy (9:59).  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 8 miles in the morning, including 8x330m in 89-91 seconds with 60 second jog, followed by 8x90m in 21-23 seconds with 30 second jog.  Leg strengthwork and foam rolling in evening, followed by Nine Inch Nails concert.

Thursday: 4 miles very easy (11:09) on steep hills, followed by PT exercises. Streaming Pilates in the afternoon; foam rolling at night.

Friday: 4 miles very easy (10:46) and 250 yards of swimming in the morning; foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 4 mile warm-up, and then 5K race in 23:24 (7:41/7:33/7:14/0:56), followed by a 3.5 mile cooldown. Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 15 miles easy (9:55), followed with leg strengthwork, 750 yards of swimming and 2 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: By George 5K, 2/14/2026

I ran the By George 5K on Saturday, finishing in a time of 23:24.

I went back and forth on whether to race this. I had assumed that the race wasn't happening after the Snowcrete storm of late January left the DC area encased in....snowcrete.  This race was to be held on Hains Point, which was a very low priority for being plowed (for completely understandable reasons, since there are no residences or businesses on Hains Point).  

As of the beginning of this week, Hains Point was still under about 8 inches of snowcrete, and thus completely unrunnable.  But, on Tuesday, Hains Point was plowed, and the race was on. Now I just had to decide whether I was going to run it.

I haven't been able to do any long runs in the past month due to the weather.  Since I'm now about 9 weeks out from Boston, I asked my coach whether it would be better to race the 5K or do a long run.  He was firmly in favor of the race, so that was an easy decision.

***

The race started at 8 am, with bib pick-up at 7 am. I got there around 6:50 in hopes of getting a 5 mile warm-up in.  Things like putting my shoes on and getting my bib took a bit longer than I expected, so I only got 4 miles in, including my normal 3:00 minutes/4x30 second/4x10 second fartlek.  That would have to do.

It was a chilly morning - between 28 and 30 degrees, depending on which source you consult.  I've learned that getting cold will wreck my race - it's pretty common for people with Parkinsons to discover that their symptoms get much worse when they are cold, and that has definitely been my experience.  In particular, my muscles get very tight, which then makes it challenging for me to run fast enough to warm up.

So...I need to stay warm.  Since this was a short race, I decided to err heavily on the side of warmth, with thick tights for my legs and a tank top plus two thin/breathable jackets and a buff.  I warmed up in this outfit, thinking that I'd remove one jacket for the race.  But I never felt too warm during my warm-up and this was a 5K, so I stuck with both jackets. Definitely overkill for most people, and the bulk probably slowed me slightly.  But I am confident it was the right choice for me - I was comfortable for the first half of the race and only slightly warm for the second half.

***

The race started right at 8 am.  I was able to jog around until about 3 minutes before, which I hoped would keep me loose at the start. As it turned out, I was a bit looser, but still tight.  I think some of this was from having to navigate around other runners, and some was because the urge to chase down others tends to make me tense.  I dealt with the latter by telling myself that the first mile was for relaxation, not chasing.

That mental technique worked decently, and I was able to find my groove earlier than usual for a race (win!)  From there it was just a matter of building pace while taking a bit of care on the course. There was a bit of ice on the inside of the course against the curb, and wet pavement meant that the painted lines and bicycle markings on the asphalt were a bit slick. I stayed a bit wide, rationalizing that any time lost from running with was much less than the time I'd lose from being overly cautious on slick pavement.

When I hit the halfway turnaround, I was already working pretty hard, which felt like a win.  From there it was just a matter of staying loose while continuing to build all the way to the finish, passing a few people along the way. And for the second time in two months, I had the great feeling of finishing a race knowing that I had given it my best effort.

Splits ended up being:

Mile 1: 7:41
Mile 2: 7:33
Mile 3: 7:14
last bit: .13 in 56 seconds (6:40 pace)

This course had no mile markers, so all splits were from Garmin autolap. The course was definitely accurate - that little bit of extra was a mix of Garmin satellite error and me running wide (mostly the latter since my current Garmin seems to be extremely accurate on Hains Point).

All in all, I was pretty happy with this one.  Technically speaking, it's not as good a performance as the 10 miler I ran last month.  But...because it always takes me about 2 miles to get up to speed, I know that my 5Ks are generally not going to be as competitive as longer races.  

When assessing my fitness from a shorter race, I'm more looking at relative stuff - just how bad was my first mile (in this case, much better than previous races).  And how fast were my final miles?  In this case, 7:14 is the fastest mile I've run in any workout or race (including some 3000s that I've raced) since last April, when I closed Cherry Blossom with a 7:08 mile.  So, to be able to run that fast and then pick up the pace from there for the kick makes me pretty happy - my training is on the right track.

Other notes:

• I wore the Hoka Rocket X3 for this race and was pretty happy with it. For a supershoe it's pretty stable and doesn't throw me forward the way many other supershoes do. It is definitely going to be my racing shoe for the One City Half Marathon and the Boston Marathon.
• I think the fact that I was so bundled up helped my race more than it hurt it.  I was starting to overheat slightly in the last mile of the race.  But...that was my fastest mile, so overheating didn't hurt me.  In a longer race, I think I probably would have gotten rid of one of the jackets.  But for a 5K, this was the right choice.
• My last 5K race (in October of last year, in perfect weather on a fast course) was 24:40, so over a minute slower. So, again, progress.

Training log - Week ending 2/8/2026

This week was 60 miles of running, 15 "miles" pool-running, and 1500 yards of swimming.

I was able to run outside some more this week, which emphasized to me just how important it is to do that. There are many tiny balance corrections and checks that I have to do when running outside that I don't have to do on the treadmill. And when I ran outside, after not having done so for a while, I noted that I was out of practice.

Similarly, skipping most of my PT exercises for a few days (because the gym was closed and our home gym setup lacks stuff like a bosu), reminded me of just how important it is to stay on top of that stuff also. It really is use it or lose it, and I lose skills and coordination very quickly when I'm not using them. 

The weather was still bad enough that I had to do two workouts on the treadmill.  Sunday's planned long run ended up being a double - I didn't want to do a full 16-18 mile progression run on the treadmill, so instead I did a shorter progression on the treadmill and then doubled with an easy pool-run.  Not exactly the same thing, but close enough for my purposes, and it kept me healthy and uninjured.

Completely separate from the above, a medication schedule change that I made a few weeks ago (but haven't gotten around to mentioning until now) has been working very well for me, so I might as well mention it.  

As background: dopamine is the neurotransmitter that my brain doesn't make very well any more, so I have to supplement it with pills.  I take a drug called Rytary, which comes in a few different size doses that can't be split. And my optimal dose of Rytary seems to be between two sizes that are offered (145 and 195).

Common wisdom in Parkinsons is that you should take a higher dose of dopamine when exercising, since you burn through it more quickly.  And this has made sense to me, because I definitely have more energy and power on the higher dose.  However, the downsides are that the higher dose also makes me more shaky and jumpy - as if I'd thrown down too many Red Bulls. Some people also have an issue with "dyskinesia" - involuntary movements of the arms, legs, neck, etc from too high a dose of dopamine.  

I don't get any obvious, visible dyskinesia from the Rytary 195.  However, at the same time, I've noted that I seem to run fast (emphasis for a reason) a bit better on the lower dose (Rytary 145), despite the fact that I feel slower and stiffer on it. 

Here's why I think that is.  Running is not just an aerobic activity but a skill.  And the faster you are trying to run, the more skill comes into play - specifically muscles firing and relaxing at exactly the right millisecond in each stride.

When I'm on the lower dose of Rytary, I feel slow and stiff - as if I'd run a hard race the day before.  But everything still works in the right sequence - I still have the skill of fast running.  

In contrast, when I'm on the higher dose of Rytary, I feel great energy wise - like I could run long distances easily (and weightlifting or power work is definitely easier on the higher dose).  But it's very hard to get my legs to do exactly what I want them to do.  That precise sequencing of muscles contracting/relaxing falls apart, with my quads or calves tensing at awkward points during my stride, etc.  And the faster I try to run, the worse it gets.  It ends up being frustrating, because I have lots of energy but just can't use it.

I've spent the last few years trying to work on my coordination while sticking with the higher dose, since (again) the common wisdom is that you need more dopamine when exercising hard.  But...a few weeks ago I decided to experiment with workouts on the lower dose. And...while I may not have as much energy, I'm coordinated enough to actually push myself and get my heartrate up and get fitter.

So...for the foreseeable future, I'm going to stick with the lower dose of Rytary pre-run, especially pre-race or pre-workout.  I do end up taking the higher dose of Rytary post-run - I've found that if I don't take the higher dose after the run, I don't feel great the rest of the day.  I'm guessing this is because I run up a dopamine debt while running that then needs to be repaid. So I've really just swapped two doses - from 195 pre-run and 145 post run to the reverse.  (I still take Rytary 145 the rest of the day, as I always have.)

I'm really interested to see how this works out for my races and training this spring.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 miles very easy (10:00) in the morning; foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles, including 8 Iwo Jima repeats (500m up a 2-3% incline, 250m jog, 200m downhill stride, 100m jog to the bottom; followed with leg strengthwork. Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 11 miles very easy outside (10:07) in the morning.  Upperbody weights/core and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 8 "miles" of pool-running and 500 yards of swimming in the morning, followed by PT exercises. Streaming Pilates in the afternoon; foam rolling at night.

Friday: In the morning, 10 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 6x4:00/1:12+ 4x0:30/1:30.  The four minute intervals were at 8 mph and the 30 second intervals were at 8.7 mph.  All jogs at 6 mph. Leg strengthwork and foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 9.5 miles outside under the Whitehurst Freeway (10:16), followed by PT exercises.  1000 yards swimming in the afternoon and foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 12.5 miles on the treadmill, split as 35 minutes at easy effort (5.8-6.3 mph); 35 minutes at moderate effort (6.7-7.2 mph) and 35 minutes at marathon effort (7.5 mph).  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Later did 7 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 2/1/2026

This week was 47 miles of running, 12 "miles" pool-running, and 1000 yards of swimming.

The winter storm that hit the DC area late last week disrupted everybody's training this week.  We received about 6 inches of snow followed by a few hours of sleet and then freezing rain, which resulted in "snowcrete." Snowcrete is snow that is as heavy and hard as concrete - it is in fact hard enough to walk on without sinking in (I've done it). You can't shovel this stuff - you have to hack it into chunks with some sort of metal tool and then toss the chunks into the big piles of snowcrete chunks that seem to be everywhere right now.

Since, a) I had done a hard treadmill workout on Sunday, and b) the pool was closed on Monday, and c) I would likely be running on my treadmill for much of the next week, I skipped aerobic activity on Monday and just did some yoga and snowcrete removal. I'm worried about repetitive stress injuries from too much treadmill running (hitting the ground the exact same way with each stride), especially since I haven't been running much on my treadmill until this past week. So taking a day kinda/somewhat off seemed like the smartest choice.

Because of the worry about overdoing the treadmill, I tried to keep my runs outside whenever possible.  However, both my hard runs this week were on the treadmill - an interval workout on Wednesday and a kinda-marathon effort run on Saturday.  For both of these, the paces felt a bit easy, but that's not the worst thing in the world.

Normally I'd be doing a 14-16 mile long run with some miles at marathon effort at this point, since I'm about to start training for Boston.  But...the cold dry air meant that I didn't want to do any fast running outside, even after some of the local trails were plowed (asthma concerns).  At the same time, I didn't want to run for too long on the treadmill, for the reasons stated above.  So, I split my weekend up into a somewhat shorter treadmill run with 3x25 minutes (just over 3 miles) at marathon-ish effort on Saturday, followed by a two hour pool-run on Sunday to get some non-impact volume in. Not ideal, but it got the job mostly done while keeping me healthy.

Hopefully we'll get some melting of the snowcrete this week.  Maybe.

Dailies:

Monday: Yoga in the morning; knocking snowcrete off of my car in the afternoon; foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles very easy on the treadmill (9:38) and upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 9 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 2x4:30 with 3:00 recovery, 2x3:00 with 2:00 recovery, 2x1:30 with 1:00 recovery and 4x0:30 with 1:30 recovery.  4:30 reps at 8.0-8.2 mph; 3:00 reps at 8.2-8.3 mph; 1:30 reps at 8.4 mph, and 0:30 reps at 8.7 mph.  All jogs at 6mph. Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles on the Lever Runner at -15 mph. Breaking up snowcrete in afternoon. Foam rolling at night.

Friday: In the morning, 9 miles very easy outside (10:00). 550 yards of swimming in afternoon.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 12.5 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 3x25 minutes with 5 minutes jog.  First repeat was at 7.3-4.4 mph, second two were at 7.4 mph.  All jogs at 6 mph.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: PT exercises and upperbody weights/core followed by 12 "miles" of pool-running and 450 yards swimming.