MR. BLISTER

 5 days out from my first big event of the year and I managed to get a blister on my toe. 

I was wearing my Hokas (that have almost 600 miles on them) and I was running on my treadmill (which I've done a ton so far this year), and 7 miles into an easy 8 miler the outside of my left big toe starts rubbing.  

I finish my run, take off my shoe, just to find that I had my left sock on inside out (I get dressed in the dark).  Who'd of thunk it would make such a difference!  

Good news is that I ran today (with my socks on properly) and I had no issue so crisis averted.

Today I did a mini-workout.  Started with 2 briskish miles of 7:17, 7:15 on my way to the track.  Then did 6 X 200m with 200m recovery. 

Then got another 1.5ish miles in at about 6:50 pace to finish up.

Wound up running 5 miles in 34:38 (6:55 pace) and didn't feel like it took too much out of me.

Kind of enjoyed the 200m workout with the combination of short bursts and a quicker than typical recovery pace.  2 sets of 12 of these would probably be a damn good workout.  

Today, I was just trying to turn the legs over while not overdoing it.  Mission accomplished!

Easy days plans for Thursday and Friday and then Saturday I should be ready to perform!

Solid day at the track

 Another one week progression... Last Thursday I was stoked to run 12 X 400m at an average 6:23 pace with 200 meter rest intervals at an average 7:37 pace.  

This Thursday I was able to run the equivalent amount of hard laps at 6:10 pace and similar paced rest but with much longer intervals.  I replaced the 400m intervals with 1600, 1600, 800, 400, 400 and I replaced the 200m rest with 400m rest to compensate for the hard intervals.

I didn't even feel that good going into the day (poor night sleep and some stomach issues) and I was still able to greatly exceed what I had considered a solid effort just a week previously.  

Its funny how progression is not always linear.  I've been training and training and training and yet have not been able to put together any significant efforts.  Suddenly the last 2 weeks I've been taking huge strides in fitness. 

At this point I've done about as much training as I can possibly do to get ready for the River 2 River relay.  I would have really liked to have 2 more weeks to get ready (basically what I lost to Covid) but nothing I can do about it now.  I might hit something short and fast tomorrow (like a hard 4 miler) and then maybe 6-8 200m intervals on Tuesday just to squeeze out a few more drops but mostly I just need to taper.

Easy 7 today at 8:28 pace.  

First "Good" run of the year?

 It's been an interesting year so far.  I've ran a lot of easy miles and my legs and low effort aerobic fitness has been as good as ever.  I've had hardly any tendonitis or inflammation anywhere and it seems like I've been recovering faster than ever.  

the only problem has been that I couldn't quite find that next gear.  I could jog around at 8 minute pace all day... I could go out for a 13 mile 7:30 pace run and it felt relatively easy.  But as soon as I tried to run anything faster than 7:15 pace I started to feel like crap.  My legs didn't want to turn over and things like my back, neck, shoulders, and stomach would start to hurt to the point where I could never really get my HR up above the mid-160s.  

The last couple weeks things have started to shift and today I finally started to actually feel fit.  I wanted to build on last Tuesday's 7 mile run at 7 min pace so exactly 1 week later I went for 8 miles.  

I started off relaxed but by the 1/2 mile point I was getting locked in and hit the first mile at 7:05.  Everything after that was sub 7.  6:55; 6:52; 6:52; 6:49; 6:54; 6:45; 6:32.  I was finding the extra gear climbing hills and was able to stay relaxed.  I pushed a bit at the end but nothing hurt and I even hit full sprint for the last 50 meters.  

I finished up with 8 miles in 54:49 (6:50 pace).  It was 10 seconds faster per mile than a week ago and actually felt easier.  This pretty much puts me close to my peak performances 2 years ago and closer in line to where I was at this point last year.

It definitely feels good to have tangible progression in performance again and I'm eager to see what I can accomplish with a 6-8 more weeks of solid training.

Work out Thursday

Easy 5 on Wednesday to set up for a workout today.

No more junk miles just for mileage sake alone... for the next few months I'm training with purpose!  

I've been formulating today's workout for several days and finally settled on a track workout for 400 meters on 200 meters off.  The 400 meters were to be controlled efforts between 6:20 and 6:40 pace and the 200 meter recovers were to be ~60s (8:00 pace).  

I warmed up for ~2.5 miles  ,7:43, 7:19, 7:33 and then went straight into the workout with no stop.

 After the last lap I did stop running for about 10 seconds but then resumed and got about a mile cooldown in at 7:39 pace.

Although it was a far cry from where I peaked last year, it was a good effort for where I'm at now.  Particularly please on how I stayed within myself and didn't push the pace too hard early.  I was able to keep the recovery paces just about exact even though it was pretty much all by effort.  

Gonna take it easy until my long run on Sunday and hope to start seeing fitness improvements by Tuesday for my next workout.

Back to real running

 Plenty of miles and no days off makes Jack a dull boy.  My obsession with mileage and my running streak was not as productive as I would have hoped.  Too many junk miles, and while I did do some treadmill workouts they just didn't seem to be enough.  

Maybe getting Covid was a good thing, as it forced me to recalibrate.  I'm about a week removed from my Covid bout and it doesn't seem to have caused any lasting damage.  

Saturday I went on a 4 mile tempo run in 26:56.  After a solid 6:33 first mile, I crashed for the next 2 miles running 7:03 and 6:57... of course some of that had to do with hill and a 20 mile per hour wind.  My last mile was downhill with the wind at my back and I hit that in 6:21.  Averaged 6:44 pace for the run which was okay but not great.  At least the effort was at the correct level.

Sunday was a beautiful day... sunny, no wind, temp in the 40s.  I ran 15 miles which is the most I've ran this year.  Was cruising at a 8:26 average pace.  Started out faster but slowed down and settled into a rhythm.   Again, effort was just where I wanted it.

Monday I took it real easy a jogged 5 miles at 8:34 pace.

Today I ran my first good steady state run in a long time.  7.01 miles in 49:04, averaging 7:00 pace exactly.  Again, I was happy with my pacing and effort.  First mile was 7:13 and second mile was 7:06.  I attacked the hills in the 2nd mile and got my HR up to 158 which I held for miles 3-6.  By the 2 mile mark I was hurting.  I had a cramp in my back on the left side.  It's been weird because my arms/neck/shoulders/back have been causing me more issues during hard efforts than my legs, lungs, or heart.  I fought through the pain and by mile 3 (7:08 3rd mile) I felt better and started to hit a groove.  I cruised the 4th mile in 7:01.  Slowed down a bit on the 5th mile in 7:07 but kept cruising.

Mile 6 I stated to push a little bit.  I figured the effort applied to mile 6 and 7 were the main stimulus for the whole workout.  Pushing the pace after 5 already solid miles. Mile 6 was 6:58.  Mile 7 I really started cranking it down.  By 6.5 I was hurting... I looked down and saw my average pace had dropped to 7:03.  No letting up now, I pushed harder.  By 6.75 I was starting to hurt bad.  At 6.85 I pushed harder yet.  By 6.90 I was kicking, forcing myself to push through the pain.  I counted the steps, waiting to feel that vibration on my wrist to know I hit the mile mark.  I finished doubled over but quickly recovered and walked it off.  

Really happy with today's run.  I pushed through the back cramp and settled into a good form.  By body adapted to the ~7 min pace and it got easier as the run progressed.  I didn't go out too fast and kept the effort right where I wanted it to be. I finished strong and got the HR up and the legs turning over.  And I finally had a day with decent temperature and not too much wind... running dead into the wind really screws with me mentally and overall just makes things miserable! 

It's been a disappointing year so far as I try to build back into shape but I'm hoping I'm finally turning the corner. 

  

81 and done

 The running streak died a bitter end on Saturday after 81 days.  My "step" streak of 1371 straight days of reaching 12500+ steps also met the same demise.  All due to an unexpectedly severe bout of COVID 19.  Overall I came through it okay but I felt really crappy on Saturday and Sunday and didn't get out of bed much.  By Monday I was starting to feel back to normal and by Tuesday I was ready to try my first run.  3.5 miles in 30 minutes (8:33 pace) on the Treadmill.  It felt good but it wore me out.  By Wednesday I was able to run an hour or rather 7 miles in 1:01:24 (8:46 pace).  

Thursday I woke up and cranked out 6.5 in 49:21 (7:35 pace), with 3 miles at 8.6 MPH.  This hard effort was a struggle but it also felt good and it really boosted my overall feeling of well-being for the rest of the day.  

Today I ran 5.5 miles at ~8:30 pace but 3.25 miles were at 5% incline and the other 2.25 were at 1%.  I covered over 1000 feet of climbing and 

At this point I'd say I'm fully recovered with the only remanence being a slightly sore and aggravated upper airway.  

3 days off shouldn't have much impact and might even be a net positive after 81 straight days of running.