Building my house of fitness, one brick at a time

Rainy day woes modified my training... with thunder in the forecast and splotches on the radar it didn't make sense to wake up at 3:30 and wind up getting rained out.

When I woke up at 5:30 it actually was raining so I decided to do a Heart Rate mode workout on the stationary bike.  In HR mode the bike automatically adjusts resistance to keep the HR at a steady rate based on age (in my case 126 BPM +/- 2).  The workout is 38 minutes with a 3 minute warmup... 30 minutes of HR control and then 5 minute cooldown.  I've been doing this workout periodically to benchmark my aerobic fitness, although I haven't done it for a while because 1) I've been running much more and when I do bike I want to get at least an hour in and 2) I don't love having to keep my hands on the HR grip the whole time.

Today I rode for 38 minutes and burned 410 calories (10.7895 cal/min)… Last time I did the workout was December 21, 2019 when I burnt 384 calories (10.1053 cal/min)… looking back roughly a year (5/16/2020) I did this workout and burnt 344 calories (9.0526 cal/min).  Pretty good gains over a one year period.

After the bike I still had some time, so I put on my running shoes and headed straight out for a 5K.

3.11 miles
23:04
7:25 Avg pace
151 Avg HR

Hit the first two miles at 7:42, 7:40, and the last mile at 7:04.  Felt somewhat fatigued coming off the bike but overall it was a pretty easy day

Running free and feeling great

Yesterday I felt like crap and struggled my whole run.

Today I felt great.  Not sure if it was the side effects of the pneumonia shot wearing off, the 10 degrees of warmer temperature, the fact that I woke up at 5:30 instead of 3:30, or other unidentified variables...

I headed out the door for an easy run:  Totally ran by feel and hit the first five miles in 8:00, 8:05, 7:52, 7:53, & 7:48 with my HR in the 142 range...  things got a little dicey on mile 6 as I picked up the pace to 7:09, while tightening my sphincter ending with a quick pit stop at my office's storm cellar/bathroom to take care of some business.  The 7:38 for the final mile home.

My body felt great and my legs were moving easily.  Even my vaccination arm isn't quite as sore (although I couldn't do a pain free pull yet).  

Hit a relatively low number on the scale today too... probably within the margin of error of my standard weight but always good to see the number dropping...  If I listen to BMI I need to be down to 152.  This could be theoretically possible one day if I ever cut down to a temporarily but unsustainable race weight...  For now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and see where things wind up.

Week 19 in review... down but not out

Week 19 was supposed to be a planned down week.  It was, as I only ran 29.88 miles last week (which would have been my 10th highest week of miles if it was 2019)… On the other hand I ran 6:51 pace for 9.3 miles on Thursday (with the last 4.34 miles at 6:38 pace) which kicked my butt... but I capped  off  the week with a "long run"of only 8 miles on Sunday, my first time under 10 since my marathon taper, so I should be pretty well rested relative to what I've been doing.  I just need to keep giving myself affirmation because it's easy for doubts to creep in... I'm happy with my progress so far but constantly worried I could be plateauing or even backsliding.  

The impending doom of Covid 19 is definitely weighing on me.  Some mid term race goals that have been motivating me for the last year seem destined for cancellation and the future of racing right now seems unknown.  I'm worried I'm peaking right now and will wind up burning out or getting hurt before I ever get a chance to execute.  My looonnnggg term goal right now is a marathon in Fall of 2021... would really like to think that I'd have a good chance to BQ by then with consistent training and a bit more weight loss...  Actually, I am getting excited thinking about that so my motivation isn't entirely dead :)… Just not sure what I should be doing;  building base and mileage for the next year?!?

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In other training notes, I ran an uninspiring 8 miles today at 7:32 pace.  I was happy when it was over but I struggled the whole time.  I had a pneumonia vaccination yesterday and my arm really hurts... I think that it was a contributing factor to how I was feeling overall but who knows.  

7:32 pace for 8 miles isn't bad so I shouldn't be too hard on myself... it was just that the run sucked and I wanted to quit and climb back into bed pretty much the whole time... I've got an easy day tomorrow and we'll see if I can pull off something a bit better on Thursday.

Yearly goal progress:

GOALS:

1.  1560 (or 2020) miles run:  725.93  for the year (159.04 miles ahead of pace of 1560 but 8.11 behind pace for 2020... my down week put me behind again for the 2020 pace... However, it's better to negative split mileage goals)

2.  5000 Pull ups: 1921 (104 ahead of pace) I had a huge day last Tuesday and haven't done any since... not I have vaccine arm so might be another day or two before I can do more.

3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  2040 (223 ahead of pace)… Unlike last week I hit 3 sets of 10 reps at 175 on Monday.  

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  20:54 hours... Hit my longest session of the year on Monday, 1hr 10 min at a 11.6+ Cal/Min effort.  

5.  Diet: At my yearly checkup the doctor commented that I lost 15 lbs in the last year.  The weight hasn't been dropping off lately but nice to hear confirmation from a second source that I have been steadily losing weight.  Probably close to 30 lbs lost over 2 years.

6.  12500 Steps a day:  694 days and counting... 

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.

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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