Tiki tiki tiki tiki tiki run (comments welcome)

[Cabius]

2022-08-13 End-of-week Summary
Last week I completed 18.2 miles against my plan of 17.0 across five runs.


This was a solid week overall. I had to move a couple of things around due to travel the prior weekend -- a Tuesday long run isn't usual for me -- but I was really happy with my HR, my paces, and my total mileage.

My scale says I gained 2 pounds this week, but I've run up about 4000 calories of deficit so I'll chalk it up to normal fluctuations and trust the long-term trend. I feel great!

===

Since I start my weeks on Sunday, here's my start-of-week long run:

8/14 outdoor long run
Planned: 7.0 miles @138-152bpm (12:44/mile; )
Actual: 7.0 miles @ 142bpm (13:08/mile; 144 T+D; 12:38/mile adjusted)

My Sunday long run went very well. I was solidly in my HR target with a slight faster than target pace, pretty good splits, and a really strong finish.

Though this route is fairly flat, the first half is definitely uphill and the back half is definitely downhill. That helps me control my pace a bit and keep my performance up in the back half of the run.

I felt so good that I stepped on the gas for the last mile, and really picked it up for the last 1/10th mile.



At my peak last October, I ran 6-7 miles 3-4 days per week as my Easy runs. But, this is the longest I've done on this plan. It felt good to hit my targets, and finish with so much left in the tank.

 

[Cabius]

Weight Loss update
I felt like my weight loss has plateaued recently, so I decided to look at the data. I track daily active + resting calories via Apple Watch, calories consumed via Carb Manager, as well as periodic weight measurements. I put them all into a single sheet to calculate my cumulative calorie deficit, projected weight loss, and actual weight loss, over time. (On days that I don't track calories, I use a placeholder value. Since those days are usually days when I've eaten a lot, that placeholder is appropriately very high. In my spreadsheet, the cell reference is labeled "bad boy calories".)

I hadn't actually input the data into my sheet since May, so I caught up on the summer months and have updated data! (The blue "projected weight loss" line is historic up to the current date. For future dates, it is a projection that assumes I maintain my current rate of calorie deficit.)




A few observations:

• My actual weight has tracked reasonably closely with my cumulative calorie deficit, which is good to see. On those days or weeks when my weight is abnormally low or high due to water retention or digestive issues, this trendline keeps me grounded.
  
  
• My average deficit is just over 400 calories/day. This has me on track to lose 28 pounds by EOY, leaving me just over my goal weight of 170 for marathon weekend.
  
  
• May through July, my average deficit was 450 calories/day. (Wow, I've eaten pretty poorly the past two weeks!) If I get back to that rate, I'd be on track to just hit 30 pounds by EOY.

So, I'm going to be a bit more strict about snacking and try to bring my deficit back down, especially before the winter holiday season picks up in earnest. I may not quite hit 30 pounds, but I'd like to have some nice buffer for hitting 25!

 

[azrivest]

Way to go being constant about the calorie deficit, especially considering you're running 5 days a week.

 

[avondale]

Great work on this! I'm struggling with it myself. Blasted pandemic weight.

 

[Cabius]

2022-08-18 - Mid-week check-in
So far this week, I've completed 12.7 miles against my plan of 12.5 to-date (20.5 for the full week) across three runs.




8/16 outdoor interval run
Planned: 1/2 mile warmup + 8 sprint intervals @180-194 peak HR (40/60 work/rest splits) + cooldown -- 2.5 miles total @ 10:54 min/mile
Actual: 1/2 mile warmup + 8 sprint intervals @180-194 peak HR (40/60 work/rest splits) + cooldown -- 2.5 miles total @ 11:30 min/mile (11:01 min/mile adjusted)

I had enormous success with sprint intervals back in April/May, as my VO2 Max improved a ton and my pace improved too. Then I strained my hamstring and haven't gotten back to intervals much since then. Time to get back at it.

This was okay, but I really felt like I didn't push myself hard enough. After a half-mile warm-up I did 8 reps of 40-second sprints and 60-second rest. My sprint pace was ~ 5-6 min/mile, but my HR was stubbornly low, peaking at 185. (Note: I didn't really lay such an egg on the 4th rep; looking at the map, the GPS seemed to lose me for about 30 seconds.)



In the spring, I'd do 6 reps of 30/75, and would hit 192bpm, very nearly my max HR. On this run, my 40/60 intervals were much more aggressive, but it just didn't feel nearly as hard as it did a few months ago. On the one hand - yay! My fitness is clearly continuing to improve! On the other hand, I felt like I should've pushed harder to get the same kind of benefits I got in the Spring. I took a rest day the next day, but I didn't need to.

So I'm thinking about increasing the intensity in future weeks, in order:

• Going from 8 to 10 reps
• Moving work/rest splits toward 60/60 or better.
• Pick up the intensity. (I wasn't running quite as fast as I could; I think that I'm still a bit leery because of pulling my hamstring a few months ago.)

One final note: I use Strava on my Apple Watch, and I don't know a better way to time my splits than by using the stopwatch function on my iPhone. That sucks. If anybody has any better recommendations that will sync to Strava and not require additional hardware, let me know!

8/18 outdoor tempo run
Planned: 1/2 mile warmup + 2.5 miles @166-180bpm (10:54/mile) + cooldown
Actual: 1/2 mile warmup + 2.5 miles @158bpm (10:40 mile, 10:18 adjusted) + cooldown

It was a glorious 73 degrees this morning -- I almost wanted to wear a sweatshirt or something! It was still fairly humid, but a T+D of 142 was absolutely delightful compared to the past few months. Dare I hope that our weather in Dallas has broken?

Applying my lessons from last week, I did a 6 minute, half-mile warmup before starting my tempo run. I tried to keep my pace to the estimated lactate threshold, rather than my HR target zone. My average HR was a good bit below my target range, despite still outrunning my target a bit. On the flip side, I maintained a consistent tempo pace, as opposed to running way too fast and then losing steam. I had a lot left in the tank.

If the point of the tempo run is to train your lactate threshold, I'll continue to make an exception and focus on pace rather than HR. I will keep HR targets primary for my easy/long run efforts.

 

[HangWithMerida]

It was a glorious 73 degrees this morning -- I almost wanted to wear a sweatshirt or something! It was still fairly humid, but a T+D of 142 was absolutely delightful compared to the past few months. Dare I hope that our weather in Dallas has broken?

Well now you jinxed yourself. And me too as collateral damage. Thanks a lot…

 

[GollyGadget]

In the spring, I'd do 6 reps of 30/75, and would hit 192bpm, very nearly my max HR. On this run, my 40/60 intervals were much more aggressive, but it just didn't feel nearly as hard as it did a few months ago. On the one hand - yay! My fitness is clearly continuing to improve! On the other hand, I felt like I should've pushed harder to get the same kind of benefits I got in the Spring. I took a rest day the next day, but I didn't need to.

So I'm thinking about increasing the intensity in future weeks, in order:

• Going from 8 to 10 reps
• Moving work/rest splits toward 60/60 or better.
• Pick up the intensity. (I wasn't running quite as fast as I could; I think that I'm still a bit leery because of pulling my hamstring a few months ago.)

I don't have all the science memorized so you may want to do some research on your own but I did want to provide my thoughts anyway . This is just a disclaimer that I won't be offended if you ignore them.

First, I don't think I've ever seen my hr get near max unless I am racing so I wouldn't worry about that. In fact, I'd personally be more concerned about overtraining if that happened. For reference, my max hr is 196 but my top hr from my speed sessions earlier this summer was the mid 170s.

Second, typically my rest intervals are equal distance to my target intervals. Since I'm running slower during those, they obviously take more time. Looks something like 53/73 in practice which isn't all that far off from what you did.

If you feel you still have gas in the tank, by all means, add on another round. However, you do not want to run it to empty and should still feel like you could do another at the end of the session.

I have a Garmin so won't be of much help with your apple watch but are you able to setup workouts ahead of time? That's more or less what I do in Garmin so that my watch will buzz when the interval is through. The other thing you could look into is an interval app. My dh uses one on his Samsung watch for run/walk intervals. I'm sure apple offers something similar.

 

[Naomeri]

I use the RunIntervals app on my iPhone to time my run/walk intervals. It’s absolutely the most basic interval timing app I could find; you tell it how long you want to go fast and how long you want to go slow, and it will keep giving you alerts until you tell it you’re done.

I tried a different app first that you could tell how long your workout was, and include your warmup and everything, but it didn’t match up with my watch as far as distance, so it quit early.

 

[Cabius]

I don't have all the science memorized so you may want to do some research on your own but I did want to provide my thoughts anyway . This is just a disclaimer that I won't be offended if you ignore them.

First, I don't think I've ever seen my hr get near max unless I am racing so I wouldn't worry about that. In fact, I'd personally be more concerned about overtraining if that happened. For reference, my max hr is 196 but my top hr from my speed sessions earlier this summer was the mid 170s.

Thanks for the thoughtful advice.

For my sprint intervals, I have tried to take a HIIT approach and hit 90%-98% of max HR (181-192 bpm for me). It's really short and focused -- I would absolutely not do that over longer distances! -- but is really meant to be an all-out effort. One of the guiding principles is basically, if you feel like you could to High-Intensity Interval Training 3 or 4 times a week, it's not actually high-intensity.

I saw great cardio gains in the Spring from this approach. Even this week, when I felt like I didn't push hard enough, my Easy Run pace is over 5% faster than average for at the same HR. A couple of runs is a small sample size, but I'm fairly confident that my body responds really really well to this approach!

I think I'll start by adding on more reps, rather than pushing the speed, as I'm wary of injury. Even with a warm-up, those last reps seem to deliver the most value.

I have a Garmin so won't be of much help with your apple watch but are you able to setup workouts ahead of time? That's more or less what I do in Garmin so that my watch will buzz when the interval is through. The other thing you could look into is an interval app. My dh uses one on his Samsung watch for run/walk intervals. I'm sure apple offers something similar.

I use the RunIntervals app on my iPhone to time my run/walk intervals. It’s absolutely the most basic interval timing app I could find; you tell it how long you want to go fast and how long you want to go slow, and it will keep giving you alerts until you tell it you’re done.

I tried a different app first that you could tell how long your workout was, and include your warmup and everything, but it didn’t match up with my watch as far as distance, so it quit early.

Thanks for the tips! I think since I'm going by time rather than distance, and the intervals are short enough that GPS may not be super-exact, I'll look into that RunIntervals app.

If I ever do distance-based intervals, I'll just map out my start/stop points ahead of time. My primary running track has quarter-mile markers, which makes 400m intervals really easy.

 

[avondale]

My first thought about you not hitting the HR you want in the sprint intervals is just that your HRM - your watch - isn't reacting fast enough. Or do you have a chest strap that your watch is monitoring?

Wrist-based HR detectors often can't read changes reliably that quickly, especially if the HR ramps up very fast. So by the time the detector was starting to read the increase, you finished the interval and went into your rest period and your HR came back down. You may need to go by your perceived effort to know if you're really going at the all-out level you want.

Of course, if your watch successfully measured your sprint interval HR up and down when you did them previously before injuring your hamstring, the I can't explain that.

 

[Cabius]

2022-08-23 End-of-week Summary
Last week I completed 24.7 miles against my plan of 24.5 across five runs.


In anticipation of heavy rain, I pulled my long run up from Sunday to Saturday this week. I also made it slightly longer to make up for a shorter easy run the day before (had to rush back for an 8AM call).

8/19 outdoor easy run
Planned: 4.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:57/mile)
Actual: 3.5 miles @ 143bpm (12:20/mile; 145 T+D; 11:52/mile adjusted)

I had to cut this short to get back home for an early meeting, but it was a good run overall. The pace was way above target, but my HR was where it needed to be for the most part. I had pretty tight splits (including slightly negative splits by GAP), but as my HR was getting too high I would've had to slow down if I'd gone any longer.



8/20 outdoor long run
Planned: 8.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:36/mile)
Actual: 8.4 miles @ 145bpm (12:58/mile; 150 T+D; 12:25/mile adjusted)

This was a really solid long run for me. Splits were reasonably tight, with a strong finish. I was focused on starting with a 12:50-13:00 pace, and nailed it for the first few miles. I ended the race feeling strong.



I foolishly didn't eat much of a breakfast after I got home, settling for chocolate milk and a bit of a Pay Day candy bar, because I was taking my wife out for a birthday lunch at Fogo de Chao. Then I ate some 2,000 calories at lunch. My digestive system was a bit confused by it all, but it was a good run and a good birthday lunch.

My right posterior tibial tendon was feeling sensitive after the run -- not painful, but tired, and slightly sensitive to the touch -- so I've been icing and compressing. It really hasn't been a problem up until now, but I'm nervous that if it starts to feel sensitive after 8 miles, longer runs could cause me serious problems. I don't want a repeat of last December/January where I have real pain that keeps me off of my feet for an extended period.

I'm going to go meet with my podiatrist, and possibly go to a Fleet Street or something to look for running shoes with really high arch support. I love my Pegasus Zooms, but I'd rather run in ugly shoes than DNF in cool ones!

For the week ahead, assuming my podiatrist doesn't order me to stay off my feet completely, I'll swap one of my speedwork runs out for an easy run and keep each day down to the 3-4 miles range, just to make sure I don't further stress my weak foot.

 

[Cabius]

I'm going to go meet with my podiatrist, and possibly go to a Fleet Street or something to look for running shoes with really high arch support. I love my Pegasus Zooms, but I'd rather run in ugly shoes than DNF in cool ones!

For the week ahead, assuming my podiatrist doesn't order me to stay off my feet completely, I'll swap one of my speedwork runs out for an easy run and keep each day down to the 3-4 miles range, just to make sure I don't further stress my weak foot.

I managed to get an appt with my podiatrist today, and he told me to focus on calf stretches and get better arch support in my footwear. He didn't seem to think custom orthotics or anything would be necessary, as my tendon is structurally sound, just too stressed by my weak foot. (I'm perennially mad at 12-year-old me for wading in a lake where I sliced through the arch of my foot. Cutting through to the bone and getting internal and external stitches was bad enough, but I'm still paying for it decades later!)

I went to a local running store (Fleet Feet) and got new insoles that they recommended. I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize you could just remove the insoles that came with your shoes -- when I'd tried to put insoles in my running shoes a few months ago, I just layered them on top of the original insole and felt like the result was much too cramped. I'm really committed to learning every single thing about running in the hardest and/or dumbest way possible.

 

[Naomeri]

I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize you could just remove the insoles that came with your shoes -- when I'd tried to put insoles in my running shoes a few months ago, I just layered them on top of the original insole and felt like the result was much too cramped. I'm really committed to learning every single thing about running in the hardest and/or dumbest way possible.

To be fair, not all shoes have removable insoles. All my ASICS have the insoles attached to the shoe.

 

[Cabius]

8/23 outdoor easy run
Planned: 4.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:57/mile)
Actual: 4.5 miles @ 142bpm (12:50/mile; 145 T+D; 12:22/mile adjusted)

It was a relatively cool, drizzly morning today, so I got back out to try my new insoles. This was a short enough run that I wouldn't expect any problems, but it felt good overall. My right foot felt a lot better with greater arch support. My left foot actually felt a little cramped, because it has a naturally higher arch, but it was still pretty good. I'll give it a few more runs and see how I feel.

My splits were good across the board, with my (grade-adjusted) pace picking up for the last mile and a half:



A few hundred more runs like this, and I'll be in really good shape!

Power Chart Update
I decided to look at my Power (Pace/HR) Chart for July vs August and see how I'm trending. This chart uses T&D-adjusted paces, and includes Easy, Long, and Tempo runs.

It's a small sample-size, and as I build more data I'll want to look at more runs across longer date ranges for each trend. But, it's encouraging to see a clear trend between the two months. (And this includes an absolute clunker of a long run when I was recovering from a cold, without which the improvement is even more stark.)



This chart aligns with how I feel while I'm running, and is very encouraging.

I still need to build up my endurance, but I think my current cardio fitness is on track for an 11:00/mile HM pace (ideal conditions) - and there's still room to improve! Anything below 11:25/mile would tick off the sub-2:30 goal, so I'd be thrilled to hit that mark.

 

[Cabius]

8/24 outdoor easy run
Planned: 4.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:57/mile)
Actual: 4.5 miles @ 142bpm (12:34/mile; 145 T+D; 12:05/mile adjusted)

Another great easy run!

I tried out a Gu Stroopwaffle about 5 minutes before this run. I've never tried them before, 'cause I'd only ever seen Honey Stinger, and am allergic to honey. But these don't have honey, so I picked a few up and tried one out. Mmm.... yummy!

I was surprised at my high HR for the first mile and a half of the race, but after that, my HR dropped quite a bit, and my pace picked up. I'm not sure if I was still digesting, if it was the caffeine in the waffle, if it was the change in grade, or some combination thereof. But mile 4 had a lower HR and a better GAP than mile 2, and for the final half-mile I sped up quite a lot while still keeping my HR well within my target range.




Even without adjusting for T&D, 12:34 would've been an amazing marathon pace for me a year ago, let alone an easy pace.

Like I told my podiatrist: I may be fat, and I may be slow, but that's less and less true every month.

 

[Cabius]

8/25 outdoor easy run
Planned: 5.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:57/mile)
Actual: 5.0 miles @142bpm (12:18/mile; 143 T+D; 11:53/mile adjusted)

Another day, another great easy run! Every run this week is faster and easier than the one before. Dunno if it's the waffles (I had another one, this time about 20 minutes before I went out), the falling temps, improved conditioning, or maybe even the new insoles. Probably all of the above. Whatever it is, I'm loving it. (Dah-dah-dah-DAH-dahhhhh).

If I sustained today's pace over a whole half-marathon, it would easily be my second-best HM time. I need to keep building up my endurance, but it really feels like I'm on track to PR next month.

Been seeing this little dude out on the trail a few times in the past few weeks. I said, 'wow, a bobcat!' He told me, "please, Bob Cat is my son. Call me Robert."

 

[DopeyBadger]

Just be careful with your pacing. It’s edging further and further away from your original scheduled paces. There’s a period of time (around 8-12 weeks) into a training plan where the cardio (HR) improves/maximizes faster than the muscular/skeletal system. So that period of time convinces you that you can handle a pace (via HR) but the body isn’t quite ready to handle it yet. It’s a prime time period for injury because of that discrepancy in improvement rates. Just keep that in mind as your paces continue to creep up.

 

[Cabius]

Just be careful with your pacing. It’s edging further and further away from your original scheduled paces. There’s a period of time (around 8-12 weeks) into a training plan where the cardio (HR) improves/maximizes faster than the muscular/skeletal system. So that period of time convinces you that you can handle a pace (via HR) but the body isn’t quite ready to handle it yet. It’s a prime time period for injury because of that discrepancy in improvement rates. Just keep that in mind as your paces continue to creep up.

That's helpful advice, thanks. I have room to slow down bit and stay on the lower end of my target HR zones anyway. I already had to scale back my overall mileage a few weeks ago as I felt like I was pushing too hard too fast. And I'm capping my long runs at 8-10 miles (about 2 hours) ahead of the 9/25 HM, so hopefully that will help as well.

 

[Cabius]

2022-08-27 End-of-week Summary
Last week I completed 18.0 miles against my plan of 21.0 across four runs.


The week went pretty well until the end, when I had to skip a run due to sleep/timing issues. I felt great in my easy runs all week, and probably pushed the pace a bit more than I needed to.

My schedule started to get crazier, with late nights and early mornings at work, combined with kiddos not sleeping through the night. My Friday morning Tempo run became a Friday night Easy run, which was fine. I wasn't able to get out at all Saturday morning, and with a long run on Sunday decided it would be better to skip the day than to run at night and then attempt a long run the next morning. (I did complete my 10-mile long run on Sunday, which will be a follow-up post.)

Overall, I've run 119 of 130 planned miles in the first 7 weeks, which isn't ideal, but as I was sick a few different times feels pretty good overall.

 

[Cabius]

8/28 outdoor long run
Planned: 10.0 miles @140-154bpm (12:30/mile)
Actual: 10.0 miles @154bpm (12:36 adjusted; 13:17/mile w/ 152-158 T&D )

Ooooooofffff this was a hot one. It was ~80 when I started and ~85 when I finished (though for some reason Strava thinks it was lower). The sun was punishingly hot for the last few miles.

I felt a bit discouraged by my performance, because my last three miles were an absolute nosedive, but then I sat down and looked at the T&D adjustments and I feel pretty good about it now.

First, a few good notes:

• I completed all 10 miles, which is the peak of my HM plan (and at over 2 hours, nearly the peak of my M plan distance)
• On an adjusted basis, my pace wasn't too far off target for a hard long run workout, while my average HR was just within target (though the last few miles were higher than my target zone)
• My insoles are really helping -- no real tenderness in my problem foot after 10 miles. I'll take it!
• Maurten 320 doesn't seem to give me any problems. I decided to carb up more than usual this week as a bit of a trial run, including trying out the Maurten and a few other supplements I intend to use for the HM next month. It all settled just fine.

One the other hand...

I didn't have enough hydration for how hot it turned out to be. I was wearing my vest, but still ran out of water early in mile 8. Thankfully I'd finished my fuel (sports beans + gu) but I needed more water and electrolytes. That was almost exactly when my performance dropped off and my HR started to climb. I started to sweat noticeably less, and while I didn't feel lightheaded, I didn't feel great. I would've shortened my route had there been a less-than-two-mile path back home; as it was I just stuck it out.

My Pace vs HR chart tells the story (blue line is pace, along the left axis; red line is HR, on the right axis).

The first 6 or 7 miles are fairly consistent, after which my HR just decided that it wanted to be 160bpm. I tried to pick it up in mile 9, but then slowed back down to try and bring my HR back to target.


I really felt like hydration was my primary problem here. My legs felt perfectly fine afterwards and today, with no real soreness. I was much better fueled that I usually am, with 400g of carbs the day before, plus a pre-run waffle and gels/beans every 45 minutes while running. I would have more fuel for a full marathon, obviously, but it didn't feel like I should hit the wall on a slow 10-miler.

The nice thing is, if I look at an adjusted pace, I really was doing pretty well until I ran out of water! I was a tad fast, especially for mile 1 and mile 6, but through the first 7 miles I was averaging a slightly-too-fast 12:23 against a target of 12:30.

Since the T&D climbed so much mid-race, I've ratcheted up the adjustment as the race went along -- 5% for the first few miles, then 5.5% and finally 6% for the last few.

In the end, it was a bit of a letdown compared to my super-easy runs last week when temps were cooler. But adjusting for temp, it wasn't as bad as it felt at the time. As long as I stay properly hydrated, I'm think I'm where I need to be. I'll take it.