110 Days to Go (Back to normal in time for something new)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)
2/21/17 - T - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + 6 strides
2/22/17 - W - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + 6 strides
2/23/17 - R - 2 miles @ 9:01 min/mile + 8 miles @ 7:25 min/mile (8/8!)
2/24/17 - F - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
2/25/17 - Sat - 5 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + MBW
2/26/17 - Sun - 11 miles @ 8:04 min/mile (10/11)
2/27/17 - M - OFF
Total (training) mileage = 47 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 18/19 (95%)
It's the last week of endurance base building in preparation for the Jack Daniels 10k training cycle.
Tuesday was an easy day. I could tell during the stretching that things were starting to return my normal. When I do my toy solider leg lifts and it feels smooth I know things are starting to feel normal. The paces were solid and the effort was good. I decided to throw in 6 strides at the end of the workout to prepare myself for the speed sessions that begin in one week. Strong, quick, but light movements in short bursts. I'm hopeful this will help set me up for the next training cycle.
Wednesday was another easy day. The paces were solid again and I threw in the 6 strides again.
Thursday was the final M Tempo run in prep for Daniels. Unfortunately the weather decided it wasn't going to make the day easy. It was a 16mph wind, 28F WC and a good steady rain. I decided to break out my newer Zealot Isos. It started off with 2 miles of WU, and then the M tempos just started clicking off (7:41, 7:35, 7:29). An then somewhere around mile 5.25, I took a misstep. I've turned that corner literally a couple hundred times, but this time something felt off and there was a twinge in my right lower back. It wasn't enough to make me stop, but it didn't feel good. I decided to press on because it wasn't enough to force me to stop. Then a 7:35, and then another set back as I was headed up hill on mile 6.75. I was pushing, but probably a bit too hard. Re-enter the tightness in my right calf. Again not enough to stop, but it was making itself known something was up again. A 7:29, 7:22, 7:28, and 7:24 to close out the 8 mile M Tempo. Even with the two pains (back and right calf), I was still able to hit 8/8 paces (another spectacular 100% hit). Another big bonus, my HR was 152 during the M tempo which is dead on historical data. Very happy with the progress but am hoping these pains are not setbacks in the big picture.
Friday was another easy day. Although, the weather decided to make it another non-easy day. We had rain all day, and then as the day progressed the temperature dropped. Steph worked late so I didn't get my run started until 8pm. I decided to eat some dinner prior to running (PB sandwich and banana). Then G and I went to the grocery store. Honestly, she is such a hoot. However, when it was time to start it was a ice skating rink out on the roads. As the run progressed it became harder and harder to gain traction. Thankfully neither my back or calf hurt that much, but I tried really hard to just survive the easy run. But because of the conditions my desire to be out there got less and less. No one is making me do this. No one will fault me for bagging it early in these conditions. But yet something inside made me keep going. I felt it was necessary to complete the run when there wasn't any reason I had to stop. Another unfortunate circumstance was both my tracer 360 and guide light both ran out of batteries on this run. So the last little bit of the run was done in cold, rain, ice and without significant light. I made it home at around 9pm and was in bed by 9:30ish.
Steph had to work Saturday morning so it meant wake up and start the run right away. Between only 10 hrs between runs, now a light snow/ice mixture on the ground, little to no food between the runs... needless to say it was a tough run. The paces were behind the scheduled 9:01 min/mile to stay safe. This meant to finish the run in the necessary time to be home before Steph needed to leave I had to cut the mileage short. So after 5 miles (instead of the scheduled 7) I called it.
Sunday was the last long run before Daniels. It was a tough decision on clothing for this one. The temp was low 30s. The wind according to weather underground was 0-3 mph, but when I looked outside at the flag it looked much stronger (it was actually 20mph). My guess was it wasn't 0-3 which meant the WC would be in the 20s. I decided to not take the risk and go with pants (good decision!). The run started off awkward as my back twinged on the first step. It went away after 100m or so, but that was annoying. The run was mostly solid through the first 4 miles with everything according to scheduled pace. But for no reason, my right calf tightened up without pushing hard or anything. Because it didn't hurt enough to stop, I kept pressing on. It kept reminding me it was there, but I didn't push the pace. The run went well and ended with 10/11 paces within desired range. The HR was also a solid 143. Unfortunately as the day progressed the back was still sore and the calf is still a bit tight. I'm hopeful with another 36 hours before the next run things will improve again because the next run is the first speed session. As I said from the beginning though I won't compromise the ultimate goal of October 2017, so we'll see.
During Monday morning (at 3:30am), I rolled over in bed and it felt like my muscles were ripping in my back (like a fiery paper ripping feeling). I decided to ride it out and not doing anything in case it was all in my mind. Thankfully, when I woke up there didn't seem to be any problems. The back is still sore, but it doesn't feel as if anything actually ripped. Crisis everted.
The HR chart is coming back into form:
In other news, the Hot2Trot 10k is a go so that finalizes my race schedule for 2017:
MAY
20 - DopeyBadger - Blaser Invitational 5k (19:09/ N/A)
JUNE
3 - DopeyBadger - Blaser Invitational 10k (39:59 / N/A)
17 - DopeyBadger - Hot2Trot 10k (Top 3 AG / N/A)
October
1 - DopeyBadger - Lakefront Marathon (2:59:59 / N/A)
15 - DopeyBadger - Milwaukee Running Festival 10k (roxymama goal crushing! / N/A)
I've already mapped out the 5k and 10k locally. I also have mapped out my 200m and 400m routes for the upcoming 10k cycle.
Thus brings the end to the endurance building cycle. Now it's time to put the pedal to the metal with this new to me 10k training.
I truly appreciate that! It's been a fun journey to this point, and I feel like the really memorable parts are about to start happening. Not to say everything hasn't been memorable, but that this is the year that's been circled on the calendar for the last five years. I feel like I'm so very close!
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