This is my training journal. I'm bad at titles. (Comments welcome!)

[striker1064]

Have you ever thought about how weird it is to write an introduction like this? I've never been good at it. It seems like something substantive should go here, whereas I always just want to get into the meat of things. Instead, here I go with this stream-of-consciousness opening.

If you can't tell, I'm not a writer.

So, hi! I've been thinking of starting a training journal for a while. I've been running for a few years, but much more seriously the last 3ish years. I find that I learn and improve the most by asking questions and getting feedback, and that's what I'm hoping to accomplish here. This gives me a chance to do some analysis and poke around my head to get my thoughts out, which is something I've never been particularly good at. By all means, comment away!

I live in Washington DC with my wife and 2 cats. Why 2? One never seemed like quite enough, but 3 seemed like they could be taking over. You have to divide and conquer with these animals. One person to one feline gives you a hat-on-a-hat, as they say in football. Sometimes, we still lose the battle anyway.

I started running years ago as a way to lose weight and get in better shape. I'm not getting any younger, but from my days as a child I simply hated exercising. I kept trying "crash"-style workouts in the hopes of finding something that I would enjoy, but nothing stuck. Finally, I settled on running as a way of efficiently burning calories - that is, it allowed me to it output the maximum amount of effort in X time compared to other forms of exercise. Additionally, running was cheap - it didn't require any expensive exercise equipment, just a pair of shoes (Well, that has certainly changed, hasn't it?). I sort of plodded along aimlessly for a long while until I ran my first 5k. I couldn't even run the whole thing, and it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience, either. I kept at it though, and improved slowly.

My first half marathon was the WDW Princess Half Marathon 2020. I followed a Hal Higdon plan and figured it would be a one-and-done. I was kind of under-trained and dealing with a new plantar fasciitis injury in my right foot, so I didn't have a ton of expectations... but then I crossed the finish line in 1:58:44 and was hooked. Now, I race. Thanks to the injury and COVID, I've not raced much since. I've run a few races but didn't actually race them. I followed a streamlined plan from @DopeyBadger for Princess HM 2022 and felt great about it - right up until I got injured on my left foot 2 weeks before the race. The injury and heat meant I crossed the finish line in 1:58:06, far off my goal of 1:53:45. And despite the PR, it's been on my mind.

Side note, I never knew what to tell people who asked me what helped my plantar fasciitis. I tried a lot - physical therapy, stretching, cortisone injections, shock therapy - all of it. 2+ years later and I still have some pain. But do you want to know the real secret of what made my PF feel better? The new injury! My PF is better than ever.

One thing I really love about living in DC is it makes running so easy. I love the numerous running paths and pedestrian-friendly streets. I love turning my brain off on a long run and discovering new neighborhoods. I never thought I'd love running, but here we are.

Here are my upcoming races - I'll try to remember to update these every so often. Please feel free to comment! My goal is to update this about once per week with the previous week's workouts.

Race Name	Date	Goal	Goal Met?	Finish Time
Capitol Hill Classic 10k	05/15/2022	PR (55:15) - haven't raced a 10k since 2020	Yes!	54:31
Anacostia Parkrun 5k	06/18/2022	PR - previous best 25:27	Yes!	23:37
DC Race the District Half Marathon	09/18/2022	1:50:00-ish	Close enough!	1:54:26
Philadelphia Marathon	11/20/2022	Sub-4 - first marathon!	Well, I finished!	4:26:17
Rock n' Roll Washington DC Half Marathon	03/18/2023	PR - previous best 1:54:26	SMASHED	1:49:25
Cherry Blossom 10-Miler	04/02/2023	None - Recovery/training run		1:27:45
Broad Street Run (10-Miler)	04/30/2023	VDOT equivalent - 1:22:01	BAMBOOZLED	1:20:09
Capitol Hill Classic 10k	05/21/2023	PR - previous best 54:31	CRUSHED	49:47
Marine Corps Marathon	10/29/2023	Sub-4 - second attempt!	MISSION ACCOMPLISHED	3:59:46

 

[DopeyBadger]

Welcome to journaling! Looks like a great start to me!

 

[striker1064]

Week of April 18 - April 24

On a whim I ran the Anacostia Parkrun 5k on April 16, with a time of 25m27s, without any 5k specific training. I decided to try to improve that time with some 5k geared workouts, and try again in about 8 weeks. To that end, I started Hal Higdon's Advanced 5k.

Monday - 3 mi run - 3 Miles @ 11:04

• Hal Higdon says "run" days should be an easy run. Luckily, I know that pace, so this was easy.
  • Mile 1 - 10:39
  • Mile 2 - 11:00
  • Mile 3 - 10:47
• Yeah, I'm bad about overrunning paces early on. Anything slower than about 10:20 is still an easy pace for me, so this is fine.

Tuesday - 5x400 - Rest

• This is an interval day, but Tuesdays are tough for me so I forced a rest day here since that will be the case most weeks.

Wednesday - Rest or easy run - 1.5 Mile Warm Up, 5 x 400 meter intervals at Daniels R (7:12) with 400 meter resting interval at Warm Up pace, 1 Mile Cool Down

• So I moved the interval day here, and this was a toughworkout. Higdon says Interval should be a 1500 meter or mile race, which I interpreted as Daniels R. I later learned that was too fast, which explains why this was so tough.
  • Warm Up, 1.5 Mile - 11:48, 11:54
  • 5 x 400 meters @ R
    • 7:19, 7:10, 7:15, 7:31, 6:58
  • 4x 400 meters @ WU
    • 12:24, 12:16, 13:09, 12:40
  • Cool Down, 1 Mile - 12:00
• I mostly got through those intervals just fine, but the slow pace of my resting intervals tells me how tired I was. Although dang, clearly I was ready to be done with this workout by ripping it at 6:58.

Thursday - 30 min Tempo - 5 Min Warm Up, 5 Min EB @ 10:20, 10 Min 10k @ 8:28, 5 Min LR @ 10:03, 5 Min Cool Down

• Tempo runs are defined as "A typical Tempo Run would begin with 5-10 minutes easy running, build gradually to 3-5 minutes at 10K pace, then 5-10 minutes cooling down." I did the best I could with this workout.
  • Warm Up, 5 Minutes - 12:15
  • EB, 5 Minutes - 10:34
  • 10k, 10 Minutes - 8:28, 8:15
  • Long Run, 5 Minutes - 10:00
  • Cool Down - 11:28
• Still not entirely convinced I did that right, but I think that was a pretty good workout all things considered.

Friday - Rest - Rest

• It was at this point I already started to think I didn't like the Hal Higdon plan. I wanted to run more than this and I think I know enough now to be smart about it.

Saturday - 4 Miles @ EB (10:20) + Strides

• Yep, I was done with Hal Higdon. It's a fine plan, it's just not what I wanted to do. I noticed while running today that the strides were way easier than they've ever been.
  • Mile 1 - 9:18
  • Mile 2 - 10:09
  • Mile 3 - 10:10
  • Mile 4 - 9:39
• I'm still running these too fast, but this felt like a particularly easy and breezy run. Nice day too!

Sunday - 8.25 Miles @ LR (10:03)

• This was me getting back to what I love about running - going a distance, turning my brain off, and enjoying nature. I've missed doing longer runs. T/D 57 + 48 = 105, a fairly pleasant morning, but it got hot later in the day.
  • Mile 1 - 9:52
  • Mile 2 - 10:07
  • Mile 3 - 10:07
  • Mile 4 - 10:10
  • Mile 5 - 10:02
  • Mile 6 - 9:58
  • Mile 7 - 10:02
  • Mile 8 - 10:10
  • Mile 0.25 - 9:47
• It's such a mental boost to be in the second half of a long run and my Garmin is giving me fast alerts without me even realizing it. I felt so strong running this. Maybe I should just do long runs all the time. No, I know I need speed work, but these are my favorite!

 

[jmasgat]

Best title so far.... I like the humor. Good luck with your training. Shooting for sub-4 for a first marathon is....brave.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I just snort-laughed and woke up my toddler over you saying your new injury made your PF feel better.

 

[GollyGadget]

I agree with @jmasgat, best title. Don't ever change.

I'm curious to see where your 5K training takes you. I've been looking for a 10k plan to try out this summer but everything I've found so far isn't meeting my mileage desires. I want a "long run" that's further than 6 miles and I want to more than 4 midweek. I'm glad to see I'm not the only crazy one. Welcome to the club!

 

[striker1064]

Shooting for sub-4 for a first marathon is....brave.

What can I say, I like to set myself up for disappointment.

My feeling is based on my current fitness, a sub-4 is doable in theory with a good training cycle and an ideal racing day, so it seems like as good a place to start as any when I start training later this year. I am well aware though that the marathon is a whole different beast and I can't predict how I will feel. I'm more than willing to adjust races on the fly, as I had much loftier goals for Princess 2022 and it just wasn't my day.

 

[azrivest]

Agreed with the above, I came to post that I love your title

 

[striker1064]

It's new shoe day! I've been a loyal Brooks Adrenaline runner thanks to my stupid flat wide overpronating feet, but the Adrenaline 22s don't work for me at all. After some fittings, the New Balance 860v12 feel great and have done well running so far. Bonus, the yellow makes me faster!

 

[garneska]

It's new shoe day! I've been a loyal Brooks Adrenaline runner thanks to my stupid flat wide overpronating feet, but the Adrenaline 22s don't work for me at all. After some fittings, the New Balance 860v12 feel great and have done well running so far. Bonus, the yellow makes me faster!View attachment 665269

Donald Duck costume in your future????

 

[striker1064]

Donald Duck costume in your future????

Well, I'd just need a blue shirt and no pants, but that might be frowned upon...

 

[Naomeri]

Well, I'd just need a blue shirt and no pants, but that might be frowned upon...

Mickey might be a safer choice, red shorts and no shirt is a bit more socially acceptable

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Well, I'd just need a blue shirt and no pants, but that might be frowned upon...

I can’t imagine the chafing.

 

[Blue Caterpillar]

I can’t imagine the chafing.

Either can Donald, He wears shorts when he runs

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Either can Donald, He wears shorts when he runs

Daisy girl what are you doing?? We need to hook you up with a sparkle skirt.

 

[striker1064]

Midweek update, April 25 - April 28

Following my distaste for the Hal Higdon 5k, I began playing around with the Jack Daniels VDOT calculators and discovered they have an app called V.O2. It’s a monthly subscription of $12.99 with a 2-week trial period. It asked for recent races and assigned a VDOT based on those. Additionally, you can add future races, and the app calculates a training plan and target paces based on VDOT plus upcoming races. This, of course, is the Jack Daniels way, and his book is also well worth reading.

Anyway, it seems good enough for me. I like the Daniels plan based on reading his book plus my Princess training plan, so I’ll try out the 2-week trial and see what I think.

Monday - Easy Run - 4.5 Miles Easy (10:20 - 11:05)

• Running on a Monday morning is never easy and this was no exception. I felt tired and a little sluggish through most of the run.
  • Easy, 4.5 Mile - 9:48, 10:17, 10:43, 10:23, 10:15
• I overran the first two miles, so that probably at least marginally explains why this run felt a bit more difficult than usual.

Tuesday - Rest - Rest

• Tuesdays are my self-imposed rest day because we’ve finally returned to the office post-pandemic, and we’re beginning with one day per week, which for me is Tuesdays. I know this is a running training journal but it’s MY running training journal darn it, and returning to the office absolutely affects my training.
• I got back home Tuesday evening and collapsed on the couch. My body felt like it had run 12 miles too fast. I always knew I was a better worker from home, but this really opened my eyes. I had always hoped the pandemic would force creativity and new ways of thinking about work, and not try to shove every square peg into the same round holes, but alas, here we are. I forgot how exhausting it is to pretend to want to be around co-workers, too.

Wednesday - Threshold - 1.5 Mile Warm Up (11:48), 10 x 400 meter intervals at Threshold (8:35) with 30 second resting interval at WU pace, 1 Mile CD (11:48)

• I remember during my Princess HM training plan that Threshold workouts were the first real wakeup call for me. Most of the other workouts - long run, M Tempo, Block (progressively faster 5-, 7.5-, or 10-minute blocks of specific paces), 5k/R - were easy or tough, but none of them posed a significant challenge. The 0.5 - 1.5 mile T workouts were a serious kick in the pants, and I always struggled with them.
  • Warm Up, 1.5 Mile - 12:20, 12:06
  • 10 x 400 meters @ T (8:35)
    • 8:35, 8:31, 8:35, 8:23, 8:35, 8:31, 8:35, 8:23, 8:23, 8:15
  • Cool Down, 1 Mile - 11:26
• Look at those T intervals! I felt pretty good running this and I knew I was doing well thanks to the instant feedback from my Garmin. The V.O2 app said each interval should take 2:08, and I was hitting 2:07-2:09. I feel GREAT about this - no fade, got progressively faster at the end, and I still had 2-3 intervals in the tank.
• All that being said, my 30 second resting intervals were a good bit slower than my warm up pace - they were in the 13:00-13:40 range and even one over 14:00, so I know I was tired. But I feel good knowing I was able to recover to ROAST this run.

Thursday - Repetition - 1.5 Mile Warm Up (11:48), [400 meter intervals at Repetition (7:20) with 400 meter recovery at WU pace + 3 x 200 meter intervals at R (7:20) with 200 meter recovery at WU pace] x 2, 1 Mile Cool Down (11:48)

• Quite the mouthful workout! Much more simply it’s, 400, 200, 200, 200, 400, 200, 200, 200 R intervals. R is a difficult workout but I was always surprised at how easy these felt even tacked on to the end of an intense 5k interval session. I’m interested to see how this goes having just run a hard day yesterday, but then again R is fairly different workout than T.
  • Warm Up, 1.5 Mile - 10:59, 11:26
  • 400 meters @ R (7:20), 3 x 200 meters @ R, 400 meters @ R, 3 x 200 meters @ R
    • 7:23 (400), 7:23, 7:23, 7:06, 7:23 (400), 7:31, 7:23, 7:15
  • Cool Down, 1 Mile - 10:54
• 5 of 8 intervals right on 7:23. That’s some impressive consistency. And outside of one 200 meter rep, I got faster at the end. I’m pretty happy with this. My 400/200 meter recovery intervals were also faster than yesterday, as they all ranged from 11:40 to 12:12.

 

[HangWithMerida]

Your title made me laugh! I am also horrible at titles, so I embrace your honesty. We also have 2 cats. You and I are on the same wavelength with the number of cats! My kid has been pushing for a third but somehow that feels like crossing a line into too many cats!

I am currently using a HH 10k plan that uses the tempo runs and I also find them hard to do "right". They really are more of a progression run compared to what I have seen other people call a tempo run. Since I run outside only, doing gradual pace changes is hard. I feel like I probably won't get the speed gains I was hoping from this plan but I'm far enough into it that I don't want to switch and it's getting so hot that I am struggling to even do the speed work in this tamer plan.

I am interested in seeing your experience with the Daniels plan. I read his book, considered the 10k plan and then got bogged down in how complicated the workouts seemed and even creating my plan, since there really isn't a set plan in the book. Maybe the app would be a good option for my next attempt at a speed training block. It seems like it takes some of the guess work out of deciphering the plans.

 

[GollyGadget]

I forgot how exhausting it is to pretend to want to be around co-workers, too.

I feel this. I love my coworkers but still find it exhausting to be in the office. I used to come home and take naps nearly every day but since wfh full time, I no longer need the naps.

I've been reading up a lot on Daniels this week. I'm certainly no expert and have not yet read the book. However, one thing I've read is that the back to back hard days are to make sure you don't do the first workout too fast since you know there's another tough workout the next day.

 

[striker1064]

I can say I'm already a believer in Daniels because @DopeyBadger's plans are heavily influenced by Daniels (and a blend of several other ideas too), and I really enjoyed my Princess HM training plan. So this isn't a huge leap to me. The only real difference is the V.O2 app will be purely Daniels with a little less variety than my previous plan, but I'm ok with that for now. VDOT as a concept makes a lot of sense to me, and the tables in Daniels' Running Formula make it super easy to see exactly what you should be doing.

I could probably write my own plan with a little time and math, but for now I'm not doing anything in particular, and I like that the app allows me to simply input recent and upcoming races, days I want to train, days I want to do quality/long runs, and it calculates a plan on the fly. I'm not sure if I'll pay for it once the trial period is over, but there is some comfort in knowing I'm getting a good workout I already trust without much trouble.

 

[striker1064]

April 29 - May 2

My updates will be a bit weird this week as I'm having sinus surgery Wednesday morning, so my schedule is off. They tell me I'll be able to resume normal activities within 24-48 hours. I figure if I'm feeling like I can run this Friday - whether I actually do a workout or not - I'm counting that as a win. Wednesday and Thursday will be planned rest days.

Also, I swapped my Friday and Saturday runs, as we took a weekend trip to New York City to catch a couple Broadway shows. This worked out totally fine, as there's generally no issue for me to run an easy day even after 2 tough speed/tempo/quality days. And I was well-rested but still ready for my Sunday long run thanks to all the walking we did on Saturday.

Friday - Rest - 5.5 Mile Easy (10:20 - 11:05)

• Thanks to a weekend trip, I swapped the Friday and Saturday plan. I figured running easy after 2 hard days is not a problem, and I’ll still be walking a lot Saturday so I’ll be prepared for the Sunday long run.
  • Mile 1: 10:22
  • Mile 2: 10:22
  • Mile 3: 10:35
  • Mile 4: 10:19
  • Mile 5: 10:14
  • Mile 0.5: 10:00
• So that was all in all pretty fast for an easy day, but I was happy to get in the workout. We headed for the train station around 1 for a fun weekend!

Saturday - Easy Run - Rest

No run today - according to my Garmin I was just under 28,000 steps for the day, so really it probably wasn't necessary to get in the Friday workout either, but more running is always good. And we got to catch 2 Broadway shows while we were here!



POTUS is a new, limited run play starring Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, Lea DeLaria, Suzy Nakamura, Lilli Cooper, Julie White, and Vanessa Williams. Hilarious show! We laughed literally from the opening line. It so far exceeded my expectations, in the best possible way.

Mr. Saturday Night is written by, produced by, and stars Billy Crystal. It was funny and enjoyable, and it's always fun to see a huge star on Broadway, but I'm not sure we'd ever see this one again.

Sunday - Long Run - 7 Mile Long Run (10:03)

• It’s another one of my favorite long run days! I did this one in the afternoon after we got home, which is an atypical time for me. Also, rain was coming, so I was hustling to get it done. I knew I was likely to overrun the pacing on this one, but the V.O2 app says it’s ok to be up to 20 seconds slower or faster on any given day.
  • Mile 1: 10:00
  • Mile 2: 9:50
  • Mile 3: 9:56
  • Mile 4: 9:48
  • Mile 5: 9:57
  • Mile 6: 9:56
  • Mile 7: 9:50
• And it did in fact open up and pour on me at roughly the time I got to the halfway point, hence the faster 4th mile. I finished feeling good although I was soaking wet.

Monday - Interval Workout - 1 Mile Warm Up (11:48), 8 x 400 meter reps at Interval (7:52) with 1:00 minute recovery, 1 Mile Cool Down (11:48)

• I didn’t sleep particularly well, and Daniels says this is a hard workout near max HR, so I knew this wouldn’t be fun.
  • Warm Up, 1 Mile - 12:05
  • 8 x 400 meters @ I (7:52)
    • 8:03, 7:55, 7:55, 8:03, 7:43, 8:11, 8:03, 7:51
  • Cool Down, 1 Mile - 11:49
• Ok so, this wasn’t as bad as I thought (or felt), but it was not an easy workout at all. I struggled in the second half, and I see I overran the pace on interval 5, so that explains that - not sure what I was doing there. But I still finished pretty strong on the last interval, so all in all this is good.

I normally don't run on Tuesdays but I'm going to try very hard to get a workout in after work tomorrow. V.O2 suggests 3.5 miles at easy so that's not too much time, I feel that should be doable. Then, I focus on recovery.