avondale training journal, starting Dec. 2018 (comments welcome)

[garneska]

Uff that sucks about Covid. Glad you don't seem to be as bad as last time.

 

[nancipants]

BOO to Covid. Hope you feel better soon.

 

[avondale]

Hope you feel better soon!

Uff that sucks about Covid. Glad you don't seem to be as bad as last time.

BOO to Covid. Hope you feel better soon.

Thank you all! It continues to be mild.

 

[avondale]

Ok, so even if this round of covid is quite mild, I'm still feeling some effects on my breathing. That, plus the fact that I'll have the next two weeks off from running while I'm on vacation, makes me think that I should plan to do a 50k race in January rather than December. That will give me more time after vacation and covid to regain fitness.

But, that means a pretty long training cycle leading up to the 50k race. In one sense, that's good because I will be building up to a really long long run in training. But, @DopeyBadger , I know that you can't keep building a training cycle up and up and up for an arbitrary length of time and still keep making gains. What I am wondering is: what "resets" the cycle? Usually I think of having a race and recovery period to do a reset. But I don't really want to do that. Is there another way to reset?

Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

And now it's been a day, and I realized I never posted this. Oops.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Ok, so even if this round of covid is quite mild, I'm still feeling some effects on my breathing. That, plus the fact that I'll have the next two weeks off from running while I'm on vacation, makes me think that I should plan to do a 50k race in January rather than December. That will give me more time after vacation and covid to regain fitness.

But, that means a pretty long training cycle leading up to the 50k race. In one sense, that's good because I will be building up to a really long long run in training. But, @DopeyBadger , I know that you can't keep building a training cycle up and up and up for an arbitrary length of time and still keep making gains. What I am wondering is: what "resets" the cycle? Usually I think of having a race and recovery period to do a reset. But I don't really want to do that. Is there another way to reset?

Or am I thinking about this the wrong way?

And now it's been a day, and I realized I never posted this. Oops.

I'd say you're in your reset right now. With a January race, that ideal 16-18 week window is like early September. So if you take 2 weeks off for the vacation + a little extra time because of Covid, then you'll need 2 weeks + the same extra time just to be ready to train again. So that should take you through much of August and then you'll be right on time to start training in September for the 50k in January. That's if I'm understanding everything correctly.

I view the return to running after a period of time off not the same as building training. Yes, you're increasing the training volume from zero back to where you were, but the body is going to view it differently in my opinion. More like a return to baseline. I wouldn't even necessarily call it part of the 50k training plan if that makes sense.

Now, in a different circumstance, the question is "what resets the cycle?" The short answer is it depends. Sometimes I do a "reset" in the middle of a training cycle when someone comes to me struggling with the scheduled workouts. The reset might be done by dropping the intensity out completely and dropping the volume a touch, or maybe we roll back a few weeks and restart the training from there. If it's an end of a cycle, then your best bet is a drop in training load (volume and intensity). You don't have to stop training completely, but you do need the volume/intensity of training to drop enough such that come the end of the next training plan you're still making gains and not stagnating. I wouldn't say there's a hard/fast number of days or such I could tell you. A safe place to try is roughly 50% of recent peak for a few weeks leading into the next training plan. If you plan on peaking at a lower volume and focusing on intensity in the next plan, then you may need to drop the volume a little lower (but not much). If you plan on peaking at a higher volume, then you might be able to hover a little higher than 50%.

 

[avondale]

I'd say you're in your reset right now. With a January race, that ideal 16-18 week window is like early September. So if you take 2 weeks off for the vacation + a little extra time because of Covid, then you'll need 2 weeks + the same extra time just to be ready to train again. So that should take you through much of August and then you'll be right on time to start training in September for the 50k in January. That's if I'm understanding everything correctly.

I view the return to running after a period of time off not the same as building training. Yes, you're increasing the training volume from zero back to where you were, but the body is going to view it differently in my opinion. More like a return to baseline. I wouldn't even necessarily call it part of the 50k training plan if that makes sense.

Now, in a different circumstance, the question is "what resets the cycle?" The short answer is it depends. Sometimes I do a "reset" in the middle of a training cycle when someone comes to me struggling with the scheduled workouts. The reset might be done by dropping the intensity out completely and dropping the volume a touch, or maybe we roll back a few weeks and restart the training from there. If it's an end of a cycle, then your best bet is a drop in training load (volume and intensity). You don't have to stop training completely, but you do need the volume/intensity of training to drop enough such that come the end of the next training plan you're still making gains and not stagnating. I wouldn't say there's a hard/fast number of days or such I could tell you. A safe place to try is roughly 50% of recent peak for a few weeks leading into the next training plan. If you plan on peaking at a lower volume and focusing on intensity in the next plan, then you may need to drop the volume a little lower (but not much). If you plan on peaking at a higher volume, then you might be able to hover a little higher than 50%.

Thanks! This is helpful. I would have 23 weeks, counting the week of the race. But thinking of doing the first 2 - 3 weeks as not a progression but as a rebuilding time, then that mostly works out.

 

[azrivest]

Hope you get to enjoy your vacation anyway. Banff is so beautiful

 

[avondale]

Week of July 10 - 14, 2023

This was the week leading up to our 2-week vacation hiking in Banff (Canada). I'm going to re-cap Monday - Friday, since we flew out on Saturday and the activities after that will be vacation - mostly hiking. I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing about them one week at a time or all at the end. When I return from this vacation, I will start training for a 50k trail race in early January.

In my last training log entry, I said how I got sick toward the end of the previous week (symptoms starting July 7) and thought it was a cold, but it turned out to be covid. Fortunately, this turned out to be a VERY mild case of covid. If I hadn't had a test (done two days in a row) to prove it, I would have thought it was a cold. (Which makes me wonder how many people do exactly that - don't test it and then go around exposing everyone else. The strictness about not go anywhere when you are ill with anything is loosening.) I started feeling symptoms on Friday, and I think my worst day was probably Sunday, and I improved rapidly after that. But because we had our vacation - and to an international destination - coming up, my husband enacted strict isolation protocols in our house so he wouldn't catch it. Which worked - he didn't. By our travel day on Saturday (today as I write this), I was a couple of days past symptoms. (I worked from home all week - fortunately it was not during the regular semester, so this was pretty low-impact on getting things done.)

Unfortunately, my mother got covid from me. I wouldn't have visited her and my other family if I had been symptomatic before I got there, but I wasn't. Since she is older and has other health issues, I was pretty worried about her, but today it sounds like she is probably on the downside of the illness and is improving. My sister (and her son) didn't catch it from me.

So, back to my activities before vacation.

Monday before dinner:

• 50 min easy on trail
  • T+D 148, 4.5% effect, T 86 F
  • time: 50:01
  • distance: 3.75 mi
  • average pace: 13:20 (GAP ave pace 13:19)
  • splits: 13:26, 13:05, 13:14, 13:42
  • ave HR: 137 BPM - within my target range
  • elevation gain: 252 ft (corrected)
  • route: Northwest Branch Trail
  • comments: I was planning to do 60-min runs this week, but I figured why push it with both the T+D and covid?

Tuesday before dinner:

• 50 min easy on trail
  • T+D 146, 3.5% effect, T 88 F
  • time: 50:01
  • distance: 3.72 mi
  • average pace: 13:26 (GAP ave pace 13:15)
  • splits: 13:14, 12:59, 14:00, 13:33
  • ave HR: 139 BPM - within my target range
  • elevation gain: 208 ft (corrected)
  • route: Valley Trail, Rock Creek National Park
  • comments: I was very happy with this run, given the weather and covid!

Wednesday before dinner:

• 50 min easy on trail
  • T+D 150, 4.5% effect, T 91 F - maybe the second-highest T+D I've run in since last year!
  • time: 50:00
  • distance: 3.69 mi
  • average pace: 13:33 (GAP ave pace 13:25)
  • splits: 13:15, 13:25, 13:40, 14:01
  • ave HR: 140 BPM - at the top of my target range
  • elevation gain: 234 ft (corrected)
  • route: Northwest Branch Trail
  • comments: This is where the T+D was really starting to crush me - even with only 50 minutes on the trail, during the last ~15 min I could not keep my HR down in a reasonable range. It was just too hot and humid!

Thursday before dinner: walk on treadmill

• time: 1:26:45
• distance: 4.91 mi
• ave pace: 17:40
• incline: varied between 4 - 10%
• comments: The T+D was > 160 and I didn't see the benefit of the suffering outside with a run.

Friday afternoon: walk on treadmill

• time: 1:26:46
• distance: 4.91 mi
• ave pace: 17:40
• incline: 4% decreasing to 0% for last 1/3
• comments: The heat was finally causing some serious thunderstorms.

Health

Well, with covid, my head hurt far worse than usual all week. There was definitely a different feel to it, though - I can tell when it's a headache from being sick versus my "normal" headache. But still not pleasant. That was probably the worst covid symptom that I had, honestly.

On the good side, I got off the waitlist to see a therapist for Pain Reprocessing Therapy for my headache! Fortunately it was a virtual appointment on Monday, so I was able to keep it, despite covid. This was basically an intake appointment. The therapist went over my medical history, family history, past treatments tried for the headache, etc. She asked a lot of good questions, I thought. She said that since it's been pretty clearly found from all the various treatments that haven't worked that the cause of my headaches is no longer "structural" - that is, that there is no longer an underlying "problem", such as an injury - that I should be a good candidate for PRT. She was very clear that there is science-based research supporting the treatment, which is important to me. She send me a 2021 article from JAMA Psychiatry about the treatment, which I'm planning to read on vacation. I have my next appointment set up for the first weekday after I get back from vacation. Let's hope this leads to something good!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Glad you're feeling better!

This is where the T+D was really starting to crush me - even with only 50 minutes on the trail, during the last ~15 min I could not keep my HR down in a reasonable range. It was just too hot and humid!

Ugh, this happened to me too this week

 

[avondale]

Glad you're feeling better!


Ugh, this happened to me too this week

Weather is nice in Banff! I'm not planning on doing any running here because hiking will be enough.

 

[michigandergirl]

Never been to Banff, but I hear it's amazing. Have a great trip!!

 

[azrivest]

Weather is nice in Banff! I'm not planning on doing any running here because hiking will be enough.

Which trails are you planning on?

 

[avondale]

Which trails are you planning on?

We have already done the Spray River Loop (~10 miles), Cascade Amphitheater (~10 mi), and Bow Glacier Falls (~6 mi).

The others on our to-do list: Plain of Six Glaciers; Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass; Johnston Canyon/Ink Pots; Boom Lake; Dolomite Pass/Helen Lake; Bourgeau Lake/Harvey Pass. There are a couple of others that I have sort of as a back-up.

 

[avondale]

Week of July 16 - 23, 2023

This was the first week of our hiking vacation in Banff National Park in Canada. We are also on vacation next week, then back home to start my 50k training plan.

Sunday hike: Spray River Loop in Banff National Park

• time: 3:49:14
• distance: 10.06 mi
• elevation gain: 865 ft (corrected)
• comments: We saw a black bear sitting on the trail eating from a bush of berries when we were about 1.5 miles into the hike. We backed away and altered courses to go around that area.
• 

Monday hike: Cascade Amphitheater in Banff National Park

• time: 4:43:28
• distance: 9.67 mi
• elevation gain: 2644 ft (corrected)
• comments: This hike had a lot of steep uphill, like 20+% grades. But it was gorgeous. Some hikers coming in as we were returning said that a grizzly bear had been seen near the trailhead. We were hurrying back to our car because of incoming thunderstorms, but were able to take a parallel route to avoid where the grizzly had been. We got rained on in the last mile, but had our rain coats so no big deal.
• 

Tuesday hike: Bow Glacier Falls in Banff National Park

• time: 2:54:33
• distance: 5.81 mi
• elevation gain: 649 ft (corrected)
• comments: This was an easier hike, chosen intentionally after the hard hike the day before. But Bow Lake was so gorgeous! The falls were pretty, too.
• 

Wednesday hike: Plain of Six Glaciers in Banff National Park

• time: 4:23:01
• distance: 9.71 mi
• elevation gain: 2895 ft (corrected)
• comments: This was a truly gorgeous hike, and we worked for it. It starts from Lake Louise, which is beautiful itself, and then the alpine trail leads to a view of multiple glaciers.
• 
• 

Thursday: break from hiking - we went to the Calgary Zoo, Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, and then dinner in Calgary

• time: 6:30:58
• distance: 9.3 mi

Friday hike: two hikes!

1. Boom Lake in Banff National Park
   • time: 2:41:05
   • distance: 6.57 mi
   • elevation gain: 931 ft (corrected)
   • comments: This lake had such clear, clear water, and when it was still it was a perfect mirror.
   • 
2. Vista Lake in Banff National Park
   • time: 48:32
   • distance: 1.77 mi
   • elevation gain: 384 ft (corrected)
   • comments: A pretty little lake that we added tco our day since the previous hike was pretty easy and this one was short.

Saturday hike: Johnston Canyons and Inkpots in Banff National Park

• time: 4:43:15
• distance: 10.51 mi
• elevation gain: 1855 ft (corrected)
• comments: The two waterfalls in Johnston Canyons have a paved trail to them and they are pretty close to parking, so they are a huge tourist draw. The falls were definitely pretty but we didn't linger so we didn't get mobbed. The rest of the trail mostly followed along the creek, which was very pretty. The Inkpots are some hot springs that burble up (slowly) with hot water and gas. Not really that impressive.
• 

Sunday hike: Bourgeau Lake and Harvey Pass

• time: 6:38:27
• distance: 12.38 mi
• elevation gain: 3579 ft (corrected)
• comments: This was a hard, hard hike, with a lot of very steep ascent - at one point, my Garmin was reading a grade of 25%!!! There were also steep sections covered with loose gravel and scree that were hard to navigate.
• comments: But the views were amazing. We passed two lakes in addition to Bourgeau Lake. We also encountered a herd of about 40 bighorn sheep who decided the trail was the easiest way for them to travel, too! We had to move aside to let them all through.
• 
• 

Health

Fortunate my headache hasn't been too bad while I've been here. Unfortunately, I may be getting some plantar fasciitis in my left foot, since the heel has been hurting after hikes. I'm stretching it. It's not holding be back at this point.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Those hikes look beautiful!

 

[NYC_MW]

Gorgeous photos! And super impressed with the hiking mileage as well!

 

[azrivest]

Banff is so beautiful. Your pictures are amazing

It's sad when you see how much the glacier overlooking Lac Louise has receded in the past few years

 

[garneska]

Wow. it’s on my list now. it looks like great hiking, some hard, some easier.

 

[RuntheMouse]

Love the breakdown of the hikes and the pictures. Happy travels!

 

[avondale]

Wow. it’s on my list now. it looks like great hiking, some hard, some easier.

Love the breakdown of the hikes and the pictures. Happy travels!

Thank you both! It's very pretty here.