Not sore, legs just feel like they have been used a lot after the trail marathon. Almost like I need my ligaments to heal whereas my muscles are fine. Cardiovascularly ok, but obviously need at least a week before i'll be 100% again.
Feel about 85-90% now. Almost wanted to do a tempo today. If I study efficiently enough I will do one tomorrow at the local 5 mile race series. Its unlikely. I have my last exam of my first year of med school friday morning.
Very slow with a friend. Felt good and relaxing. Matt did the tempo workout but I don't think it was a good idea just 4 days after the trail marathon. I am sticking to my plan.
Continued my trip to nashville and stopped in virginia (will look it up later) at this awesome state park with a 40 mile gravel/dirt path. Went faster than planned despite the heat.
Gonna have to find a loop near my apt in nashville with some more dirt. This loop has about 3/4 miles dirt and probably 7 of grass if you care enough, but the grass is tall and in bunches that are hard to run on. I will probably drive the 3.5 miles to percy warner park and do the 8 mile horse trail most of the time.
Heat index = 100 I took 24oz of nuun and drank it by 5 miles where I refilled at a water fountain (a redeeming feature of this route) not to drink but to poor over my head on the last 3.6 miles. I was happy with how I felt in the heat. I definitely can do easy runs in this kind of heat. But Im afraid that tempo runs and even good interval sessions are gonna have to be done on a treadmill or on the indoor track. I will experiment with long runs in the heat (which I have had problems with in the past but I was also in much worse shape then) later this week but probably in the morning in 80-85 degree weather instead of 100.
Long tempo on the treadmill. This was the longest run on a treadmill I have ever done by 4 miles. It wasn't too boring though because of the pain. The reason I did this was to get a good workout and I can't do that in this 90+ heat. I brought a fan, but I need a bigger one. And unfortunately it is not allowed to be shirtless in the vandy gym. I asked if I could sue them if I got a heat stroke when the guy told me it wasn't allowed and he said "sure, I guess". Given these issues I had some problems on the run. I started out a bit too ambitious probably--6:30 pace with 1.5 incline. I made it to 6.5 miles like that and decided that I could not make it to 10 if I kept it there. I dropped the incline to 1 and the pace to 6:40 till mile 7 but I was already too spent. I got a cramp and was forced to walk for 30 sec twice but in the end I averaged 6:50 pace even with the two walking breaks so I guess it wasn't so bad. Not counting the walking breaks it would have been 6:45 pace. The great thing about this run was the two guys beside me who obviously saw me and thought they could run faster and put the speed where I was but one lasted 2 miles and the other lasted 3/4 of a mile, lol.
AM. Easy 3 to work and 2 on the treadmill. I will probably usually run outside for the extra at least in the morning.
PM. Easy 2 around the park and then 3 home. Felt darn good despite the heat. Im feeling thin again which really helps. I need to spend less time with my parents who eat horrendously. They aren't fat, but I don't know why.
AM: easy 3 to work and 2 around the track. Im gonna bring my gps and find a 2-3 mile loop around campus so I don't have to deal with the boredom of running in circles or on the TM. Gonna do a workout tonight with this group that I am faster than. I will take it pretty easy. The coach is a 15:30 5k guy so he knows most of the runners in the area and perhaps he can suggest a group or training partners more at my level. The workout should be good. On my long tempo the other day I felt like I was going fast at times, which shouldnt be the case. It should feel slow, but difficult to sustain. Even my mile pace feels slow when I am properly trained for the mile. It feels slow and yet I can only keep it up for 5 min. I think it is because of the fast 200's that we did. So if I do some fast 400's or 800's then hopefully tempo and marathon paces will start feeling slow again.
PM. Did a workout with the group from last summer. I really like having people to do workouts with, but the workouts don't seem very good to me now. I like to have very specific reasons for the type of workout I do. We did 3x150m, 3x200m, 1xmile, 3x400m, 3x200m. I don't think I am gonna go with them anymore because I think that my workouts are much more beneficial. I don't need that fast stuff almost ever (although I like it rarely just to make other paces feel slower). I need a lot of volume of VO2max pace for track workouts. And tempo I will do elsewhere.
BTW, my left big toe has been hurting the past few days. Can you even get stress fractures in your toes? I mean, if you are not a ballerina? I am gonna ice it tonight and see what happens tomorrow. The pain isn't really bad, but it came on pretty suddenly feeling like my toe was out of place but then it suddenly stopped hurting later in the run. Over the past few days it has hurt for more and more of each run. This probably won't be an issue, but its always worrying when anything hurts for longer than a few strides.
I ran with Ted today for the first time. He said his easy pace was 7-7:30 and I thought he was probably one of those guys who never runs workouts and always runs mileage hard, but no luck. He has run a 5k in 14:40 in his college days and many in the 15's since then. Luckily he is ridiculously out of shape right now which is to say, still quite a bit better shape than I am. So our trail run was a good bit faster than I wanted to go, but in the end he was like, wow, that hurt. So hopefully we can run together more and at a more reasonable pace. He is gonna train for a 2:40 marathon in the fall which considering his speed if he just puts in the long runs he should do it.
AM: 3 to work and 3.45 around campus. Got a little lost and ended up running .45 more than planned. Felt good. I just need to lose more weight so I don't feel bad about going shirtless as it is a must in this weather.
Went home to muscle shoals (yes the name of the town is misspelled, it should be mussel shoals) AL for fathers day weekend. Found out that my current 8 mile route has a nice gravel/dirt shoulder that I can run on. Went too fast on this run. It was 85F and I averaged 7:36. All I was doing was trying to keep my turnover near 180 and I thought my stride was laughably short. I didn't feel like I was pushing it really. In this heat nothing feels really easy, but Ive been going by Daniels breathing test. If you can do 3 strides per breath in and 3 per breath out and maintain that for a while then the pace is easy enough. Of course, Daniels thinks my easy pace should be 7:15-7:25 which is just not the case. It is especially not the case with heat, hills, and slow but soft running surfaces. Wish I was up in RI to do the trail race tomorrow. Bedoukian will gain fitness on me with that probably. I need to think about what my workouts will be this week actually. I am racing 18 miles on saturday, so wednesday I should do VO2max. So sunday 8.2 + monday 9.75 + tuesday 6.2+6.2 + wednesday 6.2+7 + thursday 8.2 + friday 5 + saturday 18 = 74.75 maybe too much. I could cut one of the 6.2's(3 to work + 3.2 around campus) down to 3 if im feeling tired. But I like doubling 2 days/week for 70mpw. It seems right to me especially in this heat. My last long run was the trail marathon, but it wasn't too long ago so I should be fine for the 18 miler.
Easy trails with Ted. Wasn't that easy because he is a 14:50 5ker, but easier than the last run we did together. I am officially out of nuun and am freaking out. I went to two different running shops and neither carried it. I bought some cytomax and some elixer. After having nuun for so long, having sugar in my drink really makes it less thirst quenching. Luckily the elixer stuff is almost identical to the lemon lime flavor of nuun. It will keep me going until I can get to the REI 30 min away and stock up on the good stuff--nuun tri berry. The cytomax is good, but when I was really thirsty, I chugged a 24oz bottle of elixer and starting on the cytomax but when I got home I made another 24oz of elixer and drank all of that. I have decided that if I am in a situation in which calories are needed, I will do honey if its a race and bars or real food if it's an easy pace.
AM: 3 to work and 3.2 around campus. Was especially hard getting up and
going this morning. Don't know if the 70mpw is finally catching up with
me mentally or all of the road running and running without company is
getting to me mentally. More likely it is the latter. I think I need a
monster workout to get me refocused. But it is hard doing the kind of
workout I need without company. I am going to do 4x5x400 w/100 between
400s and 400 between sets of 5 with the fast stuff at vo2max pace
(80-82sec for me). The question is should I do it on the indoor track,
on the treadmill, or outside? I think it is gonna be outside in the
morning tomorrow. This morning it was pretty cool actually. I almost
didn't take off my shirt after I dropped off my bag of work cloths at
the gym. It would have been a perfectly comfortable temperature with it
on, but between a little nipple chaffing and the thought of actually
feeling a bit cold during a run I went for it and it was great. Also
weighed in this morning at 162 so I think I am on the right track to
losing some weight this summer. I have only seen the other side of 160
since middle school once and that was earlier this year in a desperate
attempt to lose weight by nearly totally starving myself. I think that
the mileage and heat are finally doing their job.
PM: same route. Toe didn't hurt at all today, but when I passively bend it I can feel that it is stiff. Hungry.
Ugh. The summer heat finally claimed its first workout casualty.
At least I finished the workout, but it wasn't pretty. 85F direct sun
Attempted
8x1k with 2 min rest on a measured section of road near my home. Ended
up doing 6x1k with avg 2:45 recovery and 5x400 w/45 sec recovery Did
1.5 warmup, stretched, then got going. Times were as follows.
3:19 (too fast I knew with the heat I was looking for 3:24 but it was slightly downhill with a tailwind)
3:24 (as usual second one gets on pace)
3:25 (this one hurt more than it should have being the downhill stretch again)
3:32 (uphill with the headwind I just couldn't hold onto it without
compromising the rest of the workout took a 4 min rest after this one
to try to get fresh again)
3:24 (the 4min break helped but I knew it wouldn't last)
3:41 (I thought about quiting at this point but I know what VO2max pace
feels like and this felt like it despite being darn slow, I decided
instead of quiting to do 5x400 with 100 rest to finish out the volume
of the workout at least, took another 4min recovery)
80 (perfect, didnt even feel too bad)
79
79 (ouch, heat and short rests starting to catch up to me again)
84 (wow, felt much faster than that)
79 (I totally kicked on this one, I couldnt help it, my times were so
terrible I wanted to hit pace for the last one and my legs were not
really hurting much during the workout, mostly cardiovascular pain so I
went anaerobic in the last 200 and still had only a mediocre time)
1.5 cool down (still 85 degrees so not exactly cool, I wouldn't have
gone this far except my measured bit of road is 1.5 miles from my home)
15min ice bath in case I went too hard on this workout.
I
almost never die in workouts. My times are always spot on or if any
variation get faster throughout the workout. I might try the indoor
track at vandy or the treadmill for my next VO2max workout. Here are
the possible reasons that this workout went poorly.
1. heat
2. lost fitness
3. 70mpw is wearing on me
4. lack of recent speed work made this harder than usual psychologically or physiologically
5.
first serious VO2max workout alone (unlikely, psychologically I was
strong to finish the workout, I kept trying to relax in my pace,
forcing a 2-2 breath pattern until I just couldn't maintain it anymore,
I also tried starting each rep slow enough to maintain but every one
was really really tough)
Conclusion: Bad times, but again, I know
what VO2max feels like and this was it. And 5 miles of it. Alone.
Race times are worse in the heat so I should get used to workout times
being slower. But I need to figure out what pace I need to go to stay
consistent. And I think I like the 4x5x400 workout better than 8x1k as
well.
easy run and then some abs. Want to be really fresh for the 18 mile race on saturday. But I also still want to get 70 miles in for the week. Is it silly? Yes. Will it help my training? Debatable. Will it hurt my race performance? Yes.
On another note, I am thinking about making a slight change to my approach to mileage building. Instead of doing 8-12 most days I think I will start doing longer and shorter days. I can do 13-18 one day and 3-7 the next better sticking to my training philosophy of stress recover repeat instead of my current stress-stress-adapt which doesn't seem to be working (at least in the short term, lol).
Chattanooga Mountain Stage race: Stage 2 (18 Miles) 02:07:23, Place overall: 2, Place in age division: 1
Easy Miles
Marathon Pace Miles
Threshold Miles
VO2 Max Miles
Crosstraining miles
Total Miles
0.00
18.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
18.00
I really should have won. I was 30 sec behind #1 and 10 min in front of #3. Here is how it happened.
Woke up at 6:30 and made it to the race at 7:30 and it rained a bit during the drive. The rain cooled it down to 65 but it was still low 80's by the end of the race. Everybody went out really easy it seemed. After one mile I was in 2nd with seemingly nobody near me except #1 right in front of me. But around mile 3 during some switchbacks I saw that there were about 10 people in striking distance. I stayed in #2 until the first water stop at mile 5 where I took the lead. The guy was right on my tail, but it was a long downhill section so I dropped him with some real speed down the hills. Overall the trail was not flat, but the slopes were all pretty gradual. I only walked up hills twice late in the race and was able to really kill the downhills. So then at the mile 8 aid station, I realized someone was right behind me and it wasn't the guy who lead the first 5. I took off and immediately fell sliding quite a bit. I got up and got going just in time to keep the lead. This guy stayed on my tail despite destroying the downhills and going up hills very comfortably until after the water stop at mile 11.8 which was the last water stop. I could have dealt with one more in that heat but it was just enough to get me through. Again here there were some pretty gradual downhills but this time they were more technical. So I finally dropped this guy and eventually couldn't see him even on pretty long switchbacks because as I learned later he had fallen. I fell another time as well and added some sand to my dirt smeared body. Then the heat really started getting to me, and not being able to see the #2 guy I slowed down. I really had no idea how far I was from the finish because it was a loop course and I wasn't even wearing a watch. I didn't realize that the guy was gaining on me until he was right behind me. I held him off for a few hills but then he passed me and I knew it was no use. Had I known that there was only about 1/2 a mile left I would have pushed a bit harder, but I didn't have much and I think he had quite a bit left. As I said earlier I finished about 30 sec behind him and 10 min in front of #3. I beat the previous course record by 7 minutes but since I got 2nd I did not set the course record. I only did the 1 day of the stage race, but the guy who beat me also just did the one day and the guy in 3rd didn't finish the first day because he got lost and only ran 14 miles. And I feel that even though the 4th place guy ran 22 miles the day before I still owned him as he finished 12 minutes after me. I wish I had worn my garmin as I sort of doubt that this course was a full 18 miles. I think more like 16-16.5. If it was a full 18 miles I am really happy with the 7 min flat pace that I managed on trails.
PM: Trying multiple new things today. First, I usually do not double on workout days. Second, I am trying out the indoor track for this workout to escape the heat. The workout is 3x2 miles at threshold pace with 3-4 minutes recovery. The workout was dubious from the beginning. I had had milk with my lunch which I knew was a bad idea even 4 hours before the workout. I did a mile warmup and my legs were feeling pretty stiff actually. After the warmup I took aand hoped that the milk had all passed through and would not upset me. I started the workout too fast as usual. But since this is a 9 lap/mile track I quickly corrected my pace and hit a nearly perfect 5:54 pace (what daniels says is my threshold pace, but I was only shooting for 6 flat) with a total 11:47 and it felt pretty easy. The second one I went out easier and didn't look at the watch except a few times. I didn't really push it, but I just got up to what I remember threshold pace feeling like and held it to the end with little strain. This one was 5:49 pace (11:37) and I was really happy with that but was unsure if I could hold it for the last one. I used the same strategy of not looking at my watch and going by feel until the last 400 when I looked at my watch and I needed just a bit of a push to hit 11:47 again and I did exactly that. At this point I felt great. These are the days that I live for. I like the race PR's, but I really love is doing better on workouts than previously. I like going into races with confidence that I will PR. The question is by how much. Anyway, I am still at the gym, which is 3 miles from home and I have to run home. Unfortunately this is where the milk catches up to me. I take anotherlike a firehydrant, but start to feel really sick. I stumbled home (walking 1 of the 3 miles so im not counting that towards mileage) feeling mentally great and physically horrible.
I meant to do 6 but missed my short cut on the trail I was running. So I did 8 and it got pretty dark towards the end. Luckily there was just enough light to see and the trail wasn't so technical that it was a problem.
Worked out with my group today. But I added on a bit before the workout. I did 3x1k on the indoor track before heading out for 3x3x400 with 3 fast ones mixed in (our workouts usually total around 3 miles of quality but this one was a bit short). Considering my times I am fine with the workout being a bit short.
My times were 3:16, 3:17, and 3:15 for the 1ks with 3 min recovery. My times for the 400's were 79,79,74,79,71,78,72,77,77 with 200 recovery between 400's and 400 recovery between sets. So recovery times were pretty high but I am pleased with the workout overall.
Twice this week I have gone out with the intention of going 5-6 miles on trails and gone 8+ instead. I am pretty messed up.
Today it was on purpose. I wanted to explore and so I added on a 3 mi loop to the 5 mile loop I was already doing. It wasn't anything crazy special, but good to have more options.
17 miles on the trails. My legs felt great, but my stomach did not. I don't know what made me sick, but it was pretty bad. It was 93 at the start and 89 when I finished. I drank 75oz of nuun (an electrolyte replacement drink w/o calories). Maybe that was too much? Not enough? I continued drinking after the run for several hours so maybe I wasn't very hydrated to start. I am gonna try to do my long runs from now on in the morning. Today was weird because I was planning on doing it saturday morning but then found out my mom was coming to visit so I needed to do it today. Another good thing about doing the long run in the morning is that there are fewer chances to eat something that will make me sick.
Longish trail run. I didn't bring food or water on this run so it was challenging towards the end. Went to Montgomery bell state park and the trail was pretty nice and scenic crossing several wide but extremely shallow (like, 1cm deep) streams. Ran with Ted and we are still at the point of pushing too hard to try to keep up with the other person. The thing is that I am much much slower racing so I never think he is pushing until the run is over and he is like, damn that was hard. And I am always breathing harder than he is. This was especially apparent at the end of the run during some hills. I was hardly able to maintain a 2 stride in 2 stride out pattern. Tomorrow is gonna be super easy because I have been going too hard lately. My legs are fine, but I know that my cardio system needs a break.
