New Workout of the Year

After being rained out on Tuesday and reduced overall weekly mileage, I came into Thursday with fresh legs.  I had a decent night sleep (as good as could be for a 3:30 am wake up) and was generally in good shape physically... mentally I wasn't sure how prepared I was for 15K of hard running...  I wasn't feeling like I was raring to go but I thought that a good performance should be at least possible. The weather was perfect; 45 degrees and minimal wind.

2 weeks ago exactly I ran a breakthrough workout.  I called it the workout of the year... today I improved on it by 5 seconds a mile.  

Splits:

Miles 1: 7:15 -On fresh legs, I set the initial pace for the training group today and got us off faster then usual… I can normally start off fast without too much issue, sometimes too fast, but this time it was under control... this would be the only mile run above 7:00 pace.

Mile 2: 6:58 - mile 2 is net downhill and always fast... I never feel like I'm running any harder on this mile and am always pleased when I see the split

Mile 3: 6:58 - mile 3 has rolling hills but they didn't slow us down today, having hit our rhythm...  I pushed up the hills today with minimal struggle, my legs feeling great with the extra rest.

Mile 4: 6:56  Mile 4 starts at a turn around that beings a 4.25 mile straight away... I still cruising at this point and I was still setting the pace.

Mile 5: 7:00 Mile 5 and 7 are always the slowest due to hills... I had been feeling particularly fatigued on the hills lately, but I was hammering hills today on fresh legs.  

Mile 6: 6:43  Mile 6 is downhill...  it's always fast but today it was especially fast.

Mile 7: 6:48  I was not looking forward to mile 7... last Thursday I died on mile 7 and ran it at 7:57 pace (averaged 7:09 for the run).  Today I took 25 seconds off my previous fastest mile 7 ever... I was killing the hills today!  The last hill hurt but I knew if I could hit it hard I could recover a bit on the straight away and then catch some downhill momentum on mile 8.

Mile 8: 6:35  We hit the final turnaround at 7.25 miles and my training partner says "okay, lets try to push the pace under 6:30 for the last 2 miles"... I'm already pretty gassed at this point but he was just getting going.  I just had to laugh at that point... He pulls ahead and I'm just trying to hang on.

Mile 9: 6:30 pace  It's Mile 9, and he wants to run even faster...  I hang on but am trailing by a few steps

Last .34:  6:31  pace  We hit the 9 mile mark and I'm huffing and puffing... I let up a bit and he pulls away... I sprint near the end and it evens the pace... 

Final Stats:         May   7                          April 23
                              9.34 miles                      9.33 miles
                              1:03:59                            1:04:48
                             6:51 pace                          6:56 pace

So, this is now the workout of the year.  

Plenty of Strava PRs to be had... this only takes into account my Garmin data from the last 2 months but the 15K is a lifetime PR and the 10K is probably the fastest 10K I ran since high school… the 5K is only 9 seconds off my fastest 5K from last year as well.

Easy like a Wednesday morning

Seems like this week is going to be the down week that I needed but wasn't sure I was going to pull off.

After bricking on Sunday (11 mile run, 15 mile bike), I took Monday completely off.

Tuesday was key though...  it was cold and rainy! ...So instead of waking up at 3:30 in the morning and running 9.5 miles at a ~7:20 pace, I instead slept in until 5:30 and biked for an hour.

That set me up for a Wednesday run after two days off running.  It's funny because I should have been feeling great but instead I was feeling just a bit achy, stiff, and stale.  Not sure what psychological factors come into play but the more days off I take, the more unmotivated I become.

Regardless, I forced myself out of the house this morning for a ~5 mile easy run.  The goal was easy and I nailed it.

<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">
<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">5.5 miles at 8:11 pace and a 135 avg HR (73%).  

<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">
<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">First two miles at 8:40 and felt really amazing.  Down to 8 min pace by the 4th mile but still running very easy and just feeling great.  Mile 5 ended at the park with some strides and averaged 7:30 pace.

<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">
I stop my watch between strides and walk back so the pace is a bit disingenuous...  Not sure what the protocol for GPSing strides is (not that it matters).  I'm pretty happy with myself that I'm finally doing strides at all... It's one of those things I always mean to do but never actually do.  

Easy like a Wednesday morning

Seems like this week is going to be the down week that I needed but wasn't sure I was going to pull off.

After bricking on Sunday (11 mile run, 15 mile bike), I took Monday completely off.

Tuesday was key though...  it was cold and rainy! ...So instead of waking up at 3:30 in the morning and running 9.5 miles at a ~7:20 pace, I instead slept in until 5:30 and biked for an hour.

That set me up for a Wednesday run after two days off running.  It's funny because I should have been feeling great but instead I was feeling just a bit achy, stiff, and stale.  Not sure what psychological factors come into play but the more days off I take, the more unmotivated I become.

Regardless, I forced myself out of the house this morning for a ~5 mile easy run.  The goal was easy and I nailed it.

<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">5.5 miles at 8:11 pace and a 135 avg HR (73%).  
<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">
<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">First two miles at 8:40 and felt really amazing.  Down to 8 min pace by the 4th mile but still running very easy and just feeling great.  Mile 5 ended at the park with some strides and averaged 7:30 pace.
<70 1.5="" 135="" 136="" 137="" 3rd="" 4="" 7:30="" 8:00="" 8:28="" 8:39="" a="" about="" all.="" and="" as="" at="" averaged="" avg.="" bit="" but="" by="" cruising="" did="" down="" due="" easy="" feel="" field.="" finished="" for="" good="" higher="" hills.="" hit="" hr...="" hr="" i="" in="" it="" just="" kept="" last="" local="" loop="" max="" mile="" miles="" my="" nbsp="" no="" not="" of="" p="" pace.="" pace="" park="" picked="" pretty="" pushing="" same="" slightly="" starting="" still="" strides="" the="" to="" two="" up="" was="" where="" with="" x="">
I stop my watch between strides and walk back so the pace is a bit disingenuous...  Not sure what the protocol for GPSing strides is (not that it matters).  I'm pretty happy with myself that I'm finally doing strides at all... It's one of those things I always mean to do but never actually do.  

Week 18 (Month 4) in Review

Another week down and 50.46 more miles into the fitness bank.  

Another month down (April) with a PR of 190.38 miles (at 7:51 avg pace).  

Nothing specifically hurts right now which is the best I can say for a long time... while I'm not particularly fresh, I'm not particularly dead either. I've been getting my ass handed to me during training lately.  My competitive side wants to rest up a bit so I can hammer workouts harder.  Logically, I'm not sure.  Would I benefit from a bit of rest?  Would I benefit from digging a bit deeper on my workouts? …It would really be nice to have a race to quantify my fitness again and ease my nerves.  Just need to hang on, keep building, and listen to my body.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Cut my long run a bit short no Sunday... ran 8 miles at 7:34 pace with the last 2 miles around 7 minutes... then did 3 more miles at 8:30 pace for a total of 11.

Then rode 15 miles on my bike in the afternoon at a casual pace.  First time biking the Brimfield-Jubilee road in over a year and it felt really easy... really nice to be able to run 11 miles and not get too tired... Last year my longest run was 4.52 miles at this point of the year and that was tough at the time.

Yearly goal progress:

GOALS:

1.  1560 (or 2020) miles run:  690.81  for the year (158.02 miles ahead of pace of 1560 and .91 ahead of pace for 2020)

2.  5000 Pull ups: 1819 (111 ahead of pace) kind of stalling out on these... not behind pace but not really gaining much.

3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  1930 (222 ahead of pace)… it's May so I put up 175 for this first time today 10, 9, 8 reps in 3 sets after warm up... first time struggling with the weight... we'll see how I'm doing at the end of the month.

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  18:42 hours... took today off after running and biking outside yesterday... seems kind of unfair that outside biking doesn't count but rules is rules... Still on pace anyway.

5.  Diet:  Dieting plans are done for the near future as long as I'm not gaining... hopefully the weight will slowly continue to come off... I realize that more weight loss will ultimately be required to reach my full potential but for now I'm feeling healthy and training well so I'll just leave it at that...

6.  12500 Steps a day:  686 days and counting... Garmin streak at 59 days

I think I swallowed a bug

Running in the cool spring morning air

I breath in deeply 

And briefly feel the grit of shell and wing

but as I gather my spit 

my mouth is smooth

no trace or remanence 

Week 17 in Review

15K at sub 7 pace last Thursday was probably too much... after that I biked on Friday (and ran 1.3 miles in the evening), took a rainy Saturday off and caught up on some sleep, ran a completely uninspired 13 mile run at 8:34 pace... Then this morning I fought my body onto the bike and wound up squeezing an hour ride out of it.

Rounded out the week with 40.73 miles.  Based on the last couple months I can honestly say I'm currently running 40 mpw with no exaggeration (average of 42+ over March and April).

Yearly goal progress:

GOALS:

1.  1560 (or 2020) miles run:  642.6  for the year (139.65 miles ahead of pace or  8.66 miles behind pace)

2.  5000 Pull ups: 1739 (126 ahead of pace)

3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  1788 (176 ahead of pace)

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  18:42 hours... Made up for my missed bike workout last Monday by biking on Friday and then again today.

5.  Diet:  Don't ask

6.  12500 Steps a day:  679 days and counting... Garmin streak at 52 days

Workout of the year

Today, I achieved a workout of the year...  we'll see where it ultimately ranks come year end but right now it's the workout of the year...

I may have noted this previously, but I've been running pretty much the same course Tuesdays and Thursdays for a month now.  It's pretty much a 9.33 (15K) route out and back.  Mile 2-5 have rolling hills with mile 2 being a performance enhancing net downhill and mile 5 being a performance dampening uphill.  After mile 5 it's flatter although mile 6 is net down and 7 is definitely net uphill.

With more familiarity with the course each run, I'm learning when to push, when to relax, when to glide, and how to control the pace to allow me to run it faster and faster.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around it but it's just a different overall experience than the courses I've been running in Brimfield... part of it is probably change in routine but also, I've been running these runs with no headphones and I really suspect it is enhancing my focus and my ability to tune into my body.

I started running this course as part of a group run about 1 month ago...  the group aspect has been letting me down lately as no one else has been up for pushing my pace the last runs... despite that, the change of routine has literally resulted in a change of pace and I'm suddenly running "easy" miles at sub 7:30 pace on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tuesday's I always feel a tad bit flat... but I always feel great on Thursdays.  Today was no exception.

Last Thursday I took off too fast and hit mile 2 and 3 at 6:3X pace.  I was treating it as more of  a tempo run but running that fast early didn't allow me to sustain a fast pace for 9 miles and I wound up slowing after 6 miles to 8 min-mile pace and cutting the run to 8 miles.  Today I thought that if I would control myself early, and finish fast instead and get the whole 9 miles in.

The weather was a nice 50 degrees and the relatively warmer air seemed to help my pace out of the gate and I hit the first mile in 7:01.  Going into mile 2, I knew it was downhill and just focused on staying relaxed and not pushing too hard, hitting a 6:50 pace.  I stayed relaxed to the turn around and hit mile 3 at 6:56... after the turn around I thought, maybe just take mile 4 and 5 easy and then start pushing more at mile 6... staying relaxed I kept cruising and ran mile 4 at 6:51.  Whoa... I was really cruising today and feeling great.  I again told myself to run mile 5 easier to save some efforts for the last half of the run... mile 5 is uphill and always one of the slowest miles... I hit it in 7:03 today... definitely a mile 5 record.  Mile 6 is downhill and I let it rip... 6:43 pace for the fastest mile of the day.

At the point my HR was creeping into the upper 160's (90% max) range and I was starting to struggle. I knew if I could just keep going through mile 7 I could hit a solid mile 8 and 9 and potentially break 7 minute pace for the day... hit mile 7 at 7:13 pace for the slowest mile of the day but also my fastest mile 7 ever.

After mile 7 there's another 1/4 mile of run to a turn around and then it's straight to the finish.  Close to the turn around I finally ran into the rest of my running group who had gone with a different 8 mile course.  By the turn around they were probably 1/4 mile ahead of me but going quite a bit slower.  It took me about a mile to catch them during a 6:51 mile 8.

I was dying as I passed them but knew I only had one mile left and enough time banked that a 7:30 mile for mile 9 would still get me under 7 on the day.  As I passed, one of the runners in the other group decided to give chase.  He was on my heels for the last mile and definitely pushed me on the pace... even as I was hurting I still hit the last mile in 6:56.  Heart rate peaked at 174 near the end.  Despite the fast pace I never felt like I was pushing past my limits and mostly just focused on staying calm and relaxed.  After mile 9, I wanted to stop my watch, but forced myself to push the last 1/3 of the mile to get to 15K... never really slowed down and covered the last 1/3 at 6:57 pace.

Final Stats:
9.33 miles
1:04:48
6:56 pace

When it was all over I felt great.  Later in the day I still feel pretty good.  Tired but not exhausted... plus my stomach has been less of an issue then previously.  Garmin says I need 62 hours to recover... not sure about that but I'll definitely take it easy til Sunday.