Another Thursday Tempo day

First time doing this workout in 3 weeks.  3 weeks ago the tempo part of the workout was 4.5 miles at 6:40 pace.  

This time I got in 5 miles at 6:40 pace... actually I ran .25 miles at 6:53 pace.  Then 4.60 miles at 6:40 pace.  Then .25 at 9.3 and the last .15 at 10 mph.  

Overall my HR was staying in the upper 150s lower 160s.  Kind of crept up the whole workout... was at about 163 before I bumped up the pace.  The whole run was completely aerobic and I wasn't really breathing too hard.  I was hurting for most of it but in a controlled way and the minutes just kept ticking by.  I'm sure I could have kept going for several more miles with no issue.  

Not sure if this means I could go run 5 miles at 6:40 pace on the road and feel so "comfortable".   The treadmill really fucks with my head.  Also, seems to fuck with my knee as that was hurting again by the end of the workout... not so much during the hard part but during the .75 cooldown jog it was barking... maybe a result of sloppy slow jog treadmill form?  Doesn't seem like it's getting any worse and it feels better than it did on Monday where it was really an issue so I guess we'll see.   

Total workout:

8 miles

56:32

7:04 pace

January is almost over and I'm already at an all time mileage high for the month.  It'll be good to get through 1 month of being stuck on the treadmill.  Then I just need to get through February.  By March, outside running becomes possible for a bit until daylight savings time strikes.  If the temps are good I will probably find myself waking up early on Tuesdays and Thursday to get it in... April and May are the best months of the year.  Should be Covid vaccinated by then and ready to go.

1 extra day off, first day back

I took Monday and Tuesday off from running to give my (knee?) a rest, opting for the bike instead.  It made a pretty noticeable difference as it felt much better yesterday than the day before and even better this morning.  

I took some Ibuprofen (which I'm not sure is smart) even though it wasn't really bothering me and ran for 6.25 easy miles this morning at 8:36 pace.  I intended to go 5 miles but felt fine so went for the 10K.

Knee feels slightly more agitated now but not too bad.  I'll see how it feels tomorrow morning and go from there but for now I'm assuming I'll be able to run.  If it gets worse or stops getting better I guess I'll take a couple more days off.  I think that getting off the treadmill and back on the road will help the most.

I've been killing the pull ups lately. I can easily do sets of 16 now.  My pace is at over 10,000 for the year.  I didn't think 10,000 was a reasonable goal but now I'm thinking its possible... I figured I'd get off to a strong start and probably taper off at some point but they are actually getting easier (plus I'm getting lighter)…  I'm thinking now that 10,000 could be a pretty good stretch goal. 

  

4th straight 50 mile week

Finished last week with 52 miles...  my 4th week in a row breaking the 50 mark...  maybe not 100% surprising that I'm a bit injured now.

My left leg MCL area is tight and sore.  Kind of a strange thing.  It doesn't bother me that much when running but it's tender.  I ran hard on it over the weekend and it felt okay but later on it was barking.

  I'm thinking to take a few days off to see if I can snap out of it.  Hate to keep running on it and make it worse.  At the same time I'd hate to lose the fitness I've been building... always the conundrum, if I keep running on it will it heal?  Also, wondering if the treadmill has anything to do with it?  Just doesn't seem like a normal injury since it's not really used when I run and I can run on it without too much discomfort.

Despite my woes, I still (possibly inadvisably) whipped out a PR setting 15 mile run this weekend.  15 miles, 1:51:05, 7:24 avg pace.  It was my first time outside in 10 days and it was nice to be on the road.  Weather was 31 degrees and perfectly comfortable.  I work my Nike Zoom Fly Tempo Next% which I initially did not care for but have been growing on me with each run.  Primarily have been using them for long runs and have gotten better results out of them each time.  

My fastest mile was 7:14 and my slowest was mile 12 at 7:44.  Mile 11 and 13 were at 7:30.3 and 7:31.4…  every other mile I was able to keep under 7:30 pace.  I ran faster than generally but never out of control with my HR pretty much in the 150-155 range.  I slowed down a bit at the end as my steady effort started to result in reduced results but was able to pick it up at the end, hitting the last mile in 7:16.  

Really nice to get out to the country side.  Meant to go 16 miles but wasn't planning on running as fast as I did and decided that 15 was sufficient.  

I officially decided not to sign up for the 1/2 marathon in a couple weeks so now I'm back to training without a specific goal.  Thinking about a 5K in March... not sure if I'm really 5K ready but I could just do it and see how it goes.  

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

Since it's Monday, its time for a goals update

1. 10,000 pushups:  910 on the year which puts me on pace for 13286 for the year

2. 7500 pulls ups:  664 on the year which puts me on pace for 9694 for the year.  I even did 25 straight chin ups with no stops last week.

3. 26 Hours on the Bike:  4 biking Mondays in a row.  No days off in 2021 so far.  

4. 2021 miles:  198.3 miles, 60 miles ahead of pace.

On the diet front I'm off to a strong start, stepping on the scale at 167.40 this morning, down almost 10 pounds from January 1st...  I'm just about 25% past my goal of mindful eating for 90 straight days.  

Thursday Workout

I wasn't really feeling it today until I was.  I was planning for a 9 mph (6:40 pace) tempo run on the treadmill for ~5 miles...  instead I opted for 5 miles at 8.3 mph (7:14 pace) interval tempo mashup alternating between .5% incline for .5 miles and 5% incline for .25 miles.  

I did 6 repeats at the 5% grade...  It was tough but manageable and definitely good for working some different muscle groups.  Each repeat was tough enough that I was hurting and counting down the seconds til I could decrease the incline... according to my chart, 7:14 at 5% grade on a treadmill is equivalent to 6:20 pace... not sure if this really holds true as I would have been hard pressed to keep this up for a mile, much less 3.1 (I assume I could run 19:40 in the 5K right now after running 18:25 over the summer but I guess I don't know that for a fact).

Garmin definitely thought it was a reasonable effort and my HR was up for a sustained amount of time.

Over all stats:

8 miles

1:00:52 

7:36 avg pace

I'm going into February with some pretty good fitness under my belt... but I still think I have quite a bit of room for improvement.  If I do wind up running a half marathon in 3 weeks I imagine I would PR...  If I don't I'll refocus and keep building for spring.  

The streak is dead

My unofficial streak of running more than an hour per session ended today after 17 consecutive sessions.  

6.25 miles

52:14

8:21 pace

I sort of ran out of time and also wanted to make sure I could help my wife get the kids out the door for their first day back in school after a COVID-19 learning at home break.  At least I got a 10K in.  Loving how running 6 miles pretty much feels like a day off.  

Should be a good deal, as tomorrow I plan to hit it hard.

Catch up post

First off... 60 mile week!  First one ever.  And I'm not even that beat up plus I'm feeling fitter than ever. I'll give the treadmill one thing... it certainly helps me keep the pace easy!

Weekend weather was shitty so I was on the treadmill Saturday and Sunday.  I really just don't want to run on snow or ice.  No need to slip and get hurt when I have a treadmill.  The one issue with that is my long run.  My treadmill is limited to 99 minutes... and I have a thing about stopping and then restarting (I'll need to get over that).  I stopped and restarted this weekend to get in 13.17 on Sunday but it totally killed my momentum.  It was a good workout overall though, and I ran mile 11 and 12 at 6:40 pace.  Overall I averaged 7:45 pace for 13.17 miles.

Other then that I ran 9 on Saturday at 8:35 pace and 9 today at 8:41 pace.

So right now I'm feeling pretty darn good.  A couple small niggles but nothing too serious... my left foot started  hurting when I got up in the middle of the night last night.  Kind of weird.  Feels like a tendon or ligament but not the plantar fascii… something slightly more inside.  Didn't bother me while running, so hopefully nothing.  Inside of my left knee too but also fine as long as I don't side load it.  

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

1. 10,000 pushups:  656 so far.  Hit the bench press yesterday for the first time in a while and capped it off with 60 push ups... feel it in my shoulders today.

2. 7500 pulls ups:  460 so far.  I m on pace now for 8837.  Pull ups are becoming easier.  I did 18 straight today.  I'm becoming a beast...  as I lose weight they should only get easier.

3. 26 Hours on the Bike:  3 biking Mondays... getting slightly ahead of pace with an extra 3 minutes a ride.  

4. 2021 miles:  152.73 miles... 47 miles ahead of pace

8.5 Easy

Back on the treadmill today.  Started out a bit tentative with my MCLs (I think?) a bit tender, but once I started running everything loosened up.  By the 5th mile I felt pretty much normal and I feel better after the run too.  Hopefully that means that whatever was agitated is recovering quickly.  

Still, I wanted to take it easy so I decided I would only do 7 miles at 6.8 mph (8:49 pace)... which ultimately led to 8.5 miles at 8:21 pace (started at 6.8 and worked up to 7.3).  8.5 is my shortest run of the week so I guess it was a recovery day.  It was easy enough anyway.  

Once more 9 miler tomorrow and I will officially have my first 60 mile week in the books... looking back to June of 2019 I had 60.93 miles for the whole month so I've come quite a long way in terms of endurance...  Really, I'm not even that tired, in fact I feel way better than I did last summer in terms of fatigue.  The one thing I will say is that I haven't had many workouts so once I start running workouts again I'd expect more fatigue.  

9.5 "road" miles

In January, road miles are hard to come by, so when a brief reprieve in the weather allowed for the ice to melt, I jumped on the opportunity to hit the road for some quality miles.

Was actually woken up by my alarm for once at 3:15 and made it to the meet up by 4:25 am.  I was hoping someone would be up to run with me but I didn't have any takers so I was on my own.  The temp was 31 degrees with an 8 mph wind.  After last weekends run in the low 20s, this almost felt warm.

I started off easy, but quickly started accelerating.  Found a few icy spots on the sidewalks so I moved to the road.  I hit the 1 mile at 7:28.  I kept cruising along after that and hit mile 2 in 6:53, my fastest mile of the run.  After the 2nd mile I got into the rolling hills and found some icy spots in the valleys... nothing too extreme but I did feel my foot slipping on some toe offs and definitely had to be a bit tentative about where and how I stepped.

Mile 3, 4, and 5 were 7:09, 7:10, and 7:12...  Mile 5 is normally tough as it has a long uphill section but today the hills felt easy.  Improvements in my aerobic conditioning were tangible in this instance... it's hard to even describe as I don't remember hills ever feeling this easy.

Coming off mile 5, I wound up running 6:58 for mile 6 which is slightly downhill.  Mile 7 was back uphill and I ran it in 7:10.  Steady effort and again the hill felt easy.  I came to the last hill where normally I turn around to make it an 8 miler I decided to keep going for the full 15K.  I picked up the pace and hit mile 8 in 6:56.  Mile 9 I was finally starting to feel a bit fatigued but kept cruising.  I was running straight into the wind now and that made it feel like it was taking a bit more effort.  Mile 9 split was 7:05.  From there I pushed it past the 15K mark all the way back to the parking lot to get in an extra half mile at 6:50 pace.

Final Stats:

9.50 miles

1:07:31

7:06 Avg Pace.

146 Avg HR (not sure if this is accurate or not).  

Some notes after the fact:

• I'm incredibly please with this run due to the fact that it wasn't really that hard of an effort.  I was running fast but comfortably and really never felt like I was "pushing" it 
• The Saucony Endorphin Speed is a great shoe!
• I ran this on tired legs but they never really felt tired... they just didn't really feel peppy.  
• the inside of my left knee feels a bit tweaked.  I noticed it during the run.  Doesn't seem serious but I hope its okay by tomorrow.  
  

9 more miles

A bit early to rise again and 9 more miles logged on the treadmill.  A bit faster today then yesterday.

Started at 6.8 MPH and bumped it up .1 mph at each successive mile: 6.9, 7.0. 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.0

HR was in the mid 140s and got over 150. My HR monitor has been on the fritz as of late but I think overall it's still giving me reasonable data.  I feel like this HR is too high for how slow I'm going but probably just a sign of accumulating fatigue.

I'm starting to get that not so fresh feeling in my legs.  Probably to be expected with the bump in mileage. Nothing wrong with tired legs but still want to make sure I don't over do it.  I'd like to get through this week and then maybe look at a step down week... at this rate 45 mile week would be a stepdown so shouldn't be an issue.

Early to rise = extra miles

I was rudely awoken this morning by a couple of snuggling kiddos, that chased me out of my bed at 4:50 this morning (as opposed to my normal 5:15).  I took advantage of this time windfall by logging an easy 9 miles over 1:18:41 for a 8:45 pace (6.8 mph).  2 episodes of Cobra Kai later plus some podcasting I was feeling great and still had plenty of time to spare to get my shit together and get to work.

Today's 9 was a bit harder than 6.8 mph normally feels so I must still be recovering from my 15 on Sunday...  though it wasn't a big deal, but let's just say that I had time for 10 but settled for 9.  

If I can get 4 more 9's in, I'd hit my first 60 mile week.  I'm definitely tempted but we'll have to see how things go.  

Trying not to get greedy but I'm really feeling exceptional these days.  Nary a niggle to note.

Braving the elements/running is my super power

I've been stuck on my treadmill for almost 2 weeks.  We had an ice storm last weekend and it hasn't gotten above freezing so it's been pretty slick.  That suck me on the treadmill last weekend.  It still hasn't gotten warm enough to melt anything but the at least the roads are now clear so I decided to go outside and brave the elements.  

Saturday, 8 miles at 8:03 average pace... ran most of my miles in the 8:12 range but dropped at 7:14 for the last mile to improve the total average.  I was at a dead sprint at the end and it felt amazing.  Normally, my old legs don't want to sprint but Saturday they delivered.  Temp was 22 degrees ("feels like 13").  No sun to be seen.  The first mile was pretty cold but I got used to it.  Wasn't "enjoyable" but I tolerated it and endured.

Sunday, I did 15 miles, also at a 8:03 pace.  this time 23 degrees ("feels like 15").  This one felt a bit better than Saturday.  A lot of miles settled around that 8:12 pace but a handful were more like 8 pace and a couple were in the 8:20s. Mile 14 and 15 were 7:30, 7:17.  I felt comfortable the whole time really (besides the cold).  Did not breath hard at all even when I picked up the pace.  HR was in the low 140s for the whole 2 hours.

Long runs are one of  my favorite part of running.  I hit that groove and run non-stop for 15 miles and am more or less barely phased.  Sometimes I feel like I could go forever.  It's like a super power.  Really remarkable how the body adapts, considering when I started up again I couldn't even run 3 miles and was at max HR to do it.

My other favorite is the 5K... running at a top speed for a sustained period is also like a super power.  

2021 GOALS PROGRESS UPDATE:

1. 10,000 pushups:  396 so far.  60 in a row is becoming typical.  Would like to get that up to 100 eventually.  Right now I'm on pace for 13140.

2. 5000 pulls ups:  283 so far.  15 in a row is typical.  Would like to get that up to 20 eventually.  I'm on pace for 9390 which is way in excess of goal.

3. 26 Hours on the Bike:  2 biking Mondays in the bag for a total of 1:09... right on pace, plus 9 minutes in the bank.  Doing 30 on Monday is way easier than 60.

4. 2021 miles:  85.56 miles which is almost 25 miles ahead of pace.

So far, I'm off to a roaring start.. it's normal to start off strong.  Momentum doesn't normally carry for 365 days but the longer I can keep going the better.  On the other hand winters are tough so if I can have a strong winter I'll be in a great spot.  Spring is normally a motivation booster. 

Just a "short" 7 miler

Got another hour+ run in today on the treadmill, capping it at 7 miles.  Recovery effort, averaging 8:41 pace.

Based on my New Years paradigm shift, 7 miles felt short.  7 miles as an easy run is definitely a good place to be right now.  I've just about completely adapted to the treadmill to the point where I've been able to get in the "zone" from the get go at tick off easy mile after easy mile.  I've allowed myself to run easy runs in the 6.8-7.0 mph range and my HR in the 120-130s.  Best part is that my legs have been feeling better than they have for a long time.  The treadmill really forces me to keep those easy runs exceptionally easy... I'm sure it won't exactly carry over when I'm back on the road, but for now I think I'm in a really good place.

I'm building base, shedding lbs, charging up the aerobic engine, conditioning the legs... everything I need to set me up for a performance jump come spring.

Tempo extended

Another tempo run on the treadmill.  Last one was a Xmas day and I ran 4 miles.  This one I went for 4.5 miles.  

Total distance: 9 miles

Tempo Distance 4.5 miles

Total Duration: 1:05:53

Tempo Duration: 30:00

Total pace: 7:19

Tempo pace: 6:40

It was a tough effort but not excruciating.  My HR monitor has been somewhat on the fritz lately so not sure where my HR really was at... supposedly I peaked at 168.  I am always suspicious on what these efforts would equate to on the road but regardless, I know they're good efforts.  I'm kind of digging the treadmill for now anyway.  Should be able to endure the winter and come out the other end in a good place.

I've been doing okay with my diet as well.  Today was the first day I got on the scale and the weight seemed to be shifting down a bit.  It's only been a week so still early to tell.  If I can lose a pound every 9 days, that would be a 10lb loss by the end of March which would put me in a decent place... a pound a week would be even better. 

Another 8 on the treadmill

Got squeezed on time a bit today.  Woke up at 5:25 but didn't get onto the treadmill until about 6:20.  Need to get a bit more efficient about my mornings but sometimes I struggle on getting moving.  

Still was able to get in 8 miles at 8:09 average pace.  I've been adjusting the speed on the treadmill between .5 and 1.5 incline and varied the speed starting at 6.8 mph and working up to 7.7 by the end before slowing down to 7.2 during the last mile.  Another hour+ run in the books.  

I've been feeling better than I've felt in a while for the last week... more motivated and less fatigued.  That's very positive considering we are in my least favorite time of year.  Even my hips (which are always slightly tight and sore) seem to be doing better than normal.  My only issue is some niggles in my calves/achilles tendon.  Mostly just tightness, probably from being stuck on the treadmill.  I'm hoping I can manage it with some foam rolling and stretching.

4 diet days down, 86 to go.  So far, so good but a long way to go.  My diet plan is to mostly simple with the following principles:

• Be conscious of what I eat...  I consume a lot of calories with mindless eating or binge eating 
• Oatmeal for breakfast 
• Apples for a snack (or some other fruit, veg, or potentially a handful of nuts depending on what else I'm eating)
• Big focus on apples though... I like apples but don't love them.  My thought is that  if I think I'm hungry, but not hungry enough to eat an apple, then I'm not actually hungry.
• Cut out junk food:  No trips to the vending machine, no donuts at work, no gorging myself on cookies at home, no ice cream after dinner
• Drink water with dinner instead of milk
• Try to drink more water through out the day

I'm trying to do this for 90 days straight...  If I screw up, my B-goal would be 90 days out of 100.  Its still too early to judge how its going, but if I don't see results by day 30, I'll probably need to bite the bullet and actually start counting calories.

2021: Off to a roaring start

December 29th and 30th were crummy.  I got off schedule and wound up running 4 treadmill miles on the Tuesday (29th) and 5 on the Wednesday (30th), running in the evening after work.

Thursday (31st) was near years eve.  I got a workout in, increasing the pace up to 9 mph every 1/4 mile.  I never felt great but it wasn't terrible either.  I held on for 10 total miles (avg 7:27 pace) to push my monthly total over 200 miles (200.36)…  wanted to end 2020 off right (2068.36 total miles).

On New Years day I ran another 8 miles at 8:47 pace... it started off crummy but then around the 5 mile mark, something clicked and I found a rhythm.  The next day (Saturday), I got in 9 miles at 8:09 pace and it felt easy.  

Sunday, I did my long run on the treadmill and ran 13.5 in 1:49:00 (8:04 avg pace).  Doing the long run on the treadmill was a bit of a struggle but I got through it.  My legs felt ok but I think the fact that I'm dieting maybe had an effect.  I was hungry during the end of the run and felt a bit drained... I ate after the run and my energy was back up by the afternoon.

Today, I woke up feeling pretty good and got on the bike for the first time since October.  My new strategy is to bike 30 minutes easy instead of an hour for better recovery on my day off from running.

To sum it up, I averaged 10 miles a day over the previous 4 days and actually feel pretty good.  My goal is to keep hitting easy mileage in the 8 to 9 mile range for the next few weeks to see how I feel... hopefully can build aerobic fitness going into spring and then really start killing it.