Train hard Tuesday

Got woken up at 2 am by my kiddos and never got back to sleep.  Eventually just got myself up and was headed out the door by 4am for my newly arranged Tuesday group run.

I was tired from lack of sleep and tired from running 50+ miles last week.  Wasn't really sure what the day would bring but as we embarked at a 7:40 pace for the first mile it didn't feel too bad.

We hit some rolling hills for the first 4 miles.  Jeff, Grant, and myself kind of took turns pushing up the hills so the pace stayed honest.  By mile 6 I was feeling pretty fatigued and felt some cramping in my left quad and some tightness on my inner left knee.  Jeff and I were letting up a bit and the Grant pulled away.  At the 180 of the out and back I was about 50 feet back from Grant.  I kept thinking I should let up the pace but I just couldn't slow myself down.  I made up some ground on some downhills and wound up 20 feet behind Grant, where I stayed for the rest of the run.  Mile 8 and 9 were 7:08 and 7:12 pace.

Final stats:

9.49 miles
1:10:06
7:23 pace

Another great run.  It was hard but not too hard.  I was tired but not as tired as last Tuesday.  Hoping that if I run really easy tomorrow I'll go into Thursday feeling much more spry.  A couple months of these types of efforts and I think I'll be in really great shape.

Blowing in the wind - plus yearly goal update

Yesterday I checked the weather report for rain before going on my long run and the weather just showed wind.  No sun, no clouds, just wind.  Average wind of 25 mph with gust up to 38 mph.  

I took off with the wind at my back and cranked out 6 miles at sub 7:30 pace (2nd mile was 7 flat).  At mile 6 I started running into the wind and I slowed down to 8+ minute pace.  It was a struggle.  A few times I was blown to the side by a crosswind and running into the wind felt like running in place.  At one point going up a hill into the wind I was at near 10 minute pace with the heartrate at 160+.

I was miserable for miles... then it was over and I immediately shook it off.  Runners need short memories.  Also, this is the stuff that build's toughness... or something like that.

Finished off the week with 50.44 miles.  First 50 mile week in 10 years.  Assuming I get my run in on Tuesday I will also hit a monthly high.

Right now I'm feeling great which is making me nervous... figure its a matter of time before I injure myself/burn out/get sick, etc... Still very hard for me to hold myself back.  I'm going to get at least another 40 this week and then maybe its time to step the mileage down for 1 week. So far I have been very good about adding mileage conservatively and consistently.  So far it has paid off.  I must stay diligent.

Yearly goal progress:

GOALS:

1.  1560 miles run:  467.77  for the year (84.16 miles ahead of pace)
2.  5000 Pull ups: 1313 (83 ahead of pace)…  these are getting easier and easier!
3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  1288  (58 ahead of pace)… more pushups this week plus 12, 12, 12 @ 155 today... next week I bump up to 165 on the bench as we enter a new month

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  14:32 hours... consistently hitting an hour a week plus.

5.  Diet:  Shooting for a no junk food April

6.  12500 Steps a day:  651 days and counting... Garmin streak at 24.

Runner's High

9.41 miles today at 7:27 pace.  Ran somewhat of a progression run with the first mile at 7:50 pace.  2nd mile at 7:24 pace, and then third and 4th around 7:40 pace.  Felt really easy up to that point.

Mile 5 was 7:31. Mile 6 7:19.   Mile 7 was downhill so I just coasted and ran a 7:07.  Heart rate was still in the low 150s at this point. 7:17 8th mile and then 6:53 for the 9th mile.

By the time I ran the last mile I really opened up my stride and was just gliding along and actually felt a real runner's high the last .25 miles.

Then jogged a bit at 8ish pace to cool down.

Final Stats:
9.41 miles
1:10:05
7:27 pace

The most remarkable thing about today's run was how easy it felt.  Tuesday I ran similar paced but was struggling on deadish legs.  Today I had a ton of spring in my step and just cruised along.  My Garmin bumped up my VO2 max estimate from 55 to 56 after the workout as a reward.

Harder than normal run Tuesday run

For the first time, in a very long time, I joined up with some fellow runners for a small group run.  I suppose that the timing isn't optimal due to social distancing recommendations but I tried to keep my 6 feet of distance and hope the risk is minimal. With my long run on Sundays and my bike ride on Mondays I normally take it pretty easy on Tuesdays so I entered into the run with some doubts but I wound up holding up pretty well.

I ran with 2 other guys, with one guy doing most of the heavy lifting in terms of pace.  We took off at 7:39 for the first mile then hit 7:24, 7:27, 7:30.  From there we picked it up, 7:12, 7:02. 7:22, and 7:08.  My legs felt pretty dead at around mile 4 but aerobically I felt okay and actually felt better once we picked up the pace.  Also, I found it harder in some ways running behind the group.  At mile 5 I pulled up abreast to the front and it actually felt easier.  I think I'm just so used to running by myself that it's difficult to adjust to following someone else's pace.

Final stats:
8.30 miles
1:01:01
7:21 pace

Definitely some benefits to running with others, as I don't think I would have ran as fast by myself.  Also, some drawbacks;  running too hard on a normally easy day and waking up 2 hours earlier than normal.

I'll have to see how I recover before I determine how often I'm going to do this.

Sunday Dog Running Service (Week 12 goal update)

 For the second time in a row, the same dog decided to join me on my Sunday run.  1 mile into the run he came out of the woods and started following me and no amount of yelling would dissuade him.

Last week I turned around after a mile and tried to see if he'd go home as I ran past the area that I found him.  This time I just took a shorter loop. The dog followed me for 7 miles total, eventually winding up back at my house, where I forced him into my car and dropped him off again.

I was slightly less annoyed this week as opposed to last week and he actually makes a pretty good running buddy.  Also, I found 5 dollars on the side of the road which I wouldn't have found if I went my planned route (and it wasn't even a poo dollar!!!).

After I dropped him off I went back out for another 5 miles, for a total of 13.

13.16 miles

1:45:27

8:01 pace

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I finished off the week with 41.01 miles.  If you asked me right now how many miles I'm running per week I'd say 40. Looking at the year so far I've run 5 weeks with mileage over 40 and 7 weeks with mileage under.  Averaging out the year it comes to 37.33 miles per week.  This isn't quite 40 but it's probably close enough.  I hit my first 40+ week since 2010 in mid December so I'd say the mileage is coming along pretty good.

I'm feeling a lot less fatigue from 40 miles in March then I did in December.  Maybe by May I'll try to hit a couple 50+ mile weeks.  Plan is to build mileage until June and then cut back a bit and hit some harder workouts in June and July in preparation for an August 5K (assuming we're allowed to race by August?!?).

___________________________________________________________________________________

Yearly goal progress:

GOALS:

1.  1560 miles run:  418.48 for the year (64.7 miles ahead of pace)
2.  5000 Pull ups: 1197 (63 ahead of pace)…  need to be consistent on these but cranked out 70 on Saturday with no issue
3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  1152  (18 ahead of pace)… back ahead again.  12, 12, 16 @ 155 today

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  13:27 hours... more then a 1/4 of the way to 50 during week 12

5.  Diet:  I think I may have actually gained weight.  Can't stop eating sugar!!!

6.  12500 Steps a day:  644 days and counting... Garmin streak at 17.

Outstanding Thursday Workout

For the 4th time, I repeated one of my favorite workouts.  It is a hard-paced threshold/interval workout consisting of 5 total miles, 2.5 hard and 2.5 not as hard.  This is the first time running it since October 2nd and my improvement was drastic.

The plan:  1 Mile Warmup... .25 Hard... .25 Recovery... .50 Hard... .50 Recovery... 1 Mile Hard… .50 Recovery... .50 Hard... .25 Recovery... .25 Hard

Here's the results:

                                                                           Oct 2                                         Diff

Mile 1:  7:03                                                       7:24 pace                                 -21 sec

.25 Hard: 87sec (5:48 pace)                                90sec (6:00 pace)                    -6 sec

.25 Easy: 110sec (7:20 pace)                             117 sec (7:48 pace)                    -7 sec                    

.50 Hard:  3:11 (6:22 pace)                                3:18 (6:36 pace)                        -7 sec  

.50 Easy:  3:46 (7:32 pace)                                4:08 (8:16 pace)                        -22 sec  

1.0  Hard: 6:15                                                  6:43 pace                                   -28 sec  

   

.50 Easy: 3:55 (7:50 pace)                                4:04 (8:08 pace)                          -9 sec                          

.50 Hard:  3:05 (6:10 pace)                               3:21 (6:42 pace)                         -16 sec

.25 Easy:  109 sec (7:16 pace)                          124 sec (8:16 pace)                     -15 sec                  

.25 Hard:  94 sec (6:16 pace)                             83 sec (5:32 pace)                     +11 sec  

Overall:

5.0 miles in 33:55                                            5.01 miles in 36:03                       -128 sec

 6:47 Average Pace                                        7:11 Average Pace                          -24 sec

 2.50  miles easy at 7:21 pace                        2.51  miles easy at 7:49 pace           -28 sec

2.50  miles hard at 6:13 pace                          2.50  miles hard at 6:30 pace           -17 sec  

In summary, 24 seconds faster per mile than last time I ran this workout.  Overall, it felt pretty good.  I was pushing it on the hard but never felt I was overreaching.  I had some stomach issues hit during the last 1/2 mile that kept me from pushing the last 1/4.  Glad that the workout ends at my house.  Stomach issues have suddenly been common the last few weeks but I also had a chilidog for dinner last night, so diet may be a contributing factor.

As I said, 4th time doing this workout:

7/17/2019   7:32 avg pace

7/31/2019   7:14 avg pace

10/2/2019   7:11 avg pace

3/19/2019   6:47 avg pace

Always good to see improvement.  7th time going sub-7 on a run and 3rd time on a training run (non-race).  Hope to see quite a few more of those this year as I continue to improve.

Today's workout also included a 2 mile warmup on the treadmill at 8:16 pace so 7 miles total.