82 Days to Go (Running in the wind!)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace, Strength +/- 5 sec, everything else +/- 10 sec)
3/21/17 - T - 2 mi @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + (8x400m @ R w/400m RI) + 1 mile @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 400m RI) + 3 mi @ CD (12/16)
3/22/17 - W - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + 6 strides
3/23/17 - R - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile
3/24/17 - F - 2 mi @ WU + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 3 miles @ T + 3 min REST + 2 x 1 mi @ T w/ 0.1 mi RI + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD (10/13)
3/25/17 - Sat - 7 miles @ 8:04-9:01 min/mile + 6 strides
3/26/17 - Sun - 15 miles @ 7:42 min/mile (14/15)
3/27/17 - M - MBW
Total (training) mileage = 59.9 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 36/44 (82%)
On Monday, G and I were back at super hero tumbling class. She's still an odd duck running around like her hair's on fire while the rest of the kids calm do their activities. G did get fixated on a mom trying to fix a jumbled slinky. She kept going over to the mom trying to offer "assistance" on fixing it. G has tangled a few slinkys in her day. During the class one of the other dad's commented that he really liked my kid's enthusiasm and that he wished his kid had some of G's personality. It brought a smile to my face because maybe I've been too hung up on G being like the other kids, and maybe I should appreciate G's craziness a bit more. Case in point during the "obstacle game" they make all of the mats into things you crawl through, jump off, or maze through. G has this nasty habit of pulling the maze closed after she passes through it and holding it shut so everyone else gets stuck. The other kids just freak out cause they don't know what to do. The teachers always seem a bit frustrated by it. But G's just trying to have fun with it, and I'm not sure she understands it could be seen as mean.
Tuesday was the first speed workout with the new pacing scheme. Going into it, the question was can I handle the new paces and were they appropriate for my current fitness level?
2 mi @ WU + (2x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + (10x400m @ R w/400m RI) + 1 mile @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 400m RI) + 3 mi @ CD
Well, let's start off with the obvious. I screwed up this run. I did 4x200m to start and then realized on the 2nd interval of the 400m set that I was on #4 and not #2. Since this was programmed in the Garmin there wasn't much I could do about it mid-run. Thus, in reality the workout was:
2 mi @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 200m RI) + (8x400m @ R w/400m RI) + 1 mile @ WU + (4x200m @ R w/ 400m RI) + 3 mi @ CD
Not a huge change, but still a bummer I screwed it up. Here's the new pacing scheme:
R = 5:40 min/mile (200m = 42 sec and 400m = 85 sec)
Interval window = +/- 1 second
Unfortunately, I didn't get a good gauge as to whether this is the appropriate pace for me because of a pretty strong wind (17 mph) for a sprint paced workout. So sometimes I had a side wind, or a head wind, or a tail wind. Normally, I run this 200m/400m intervals in the north and east direction. This gives me a very slight downhill (right at the beginning of the interval). But to avoid the massive headwind all the time, I went in reverse direction. Which meant I had a slight elevation increase at the end of each interval. All in all though, with all the mishaps included I still hit 12/16 intervals within window. The WC was 37F.
200m Set 1 - 43, 43, 41, 41
400m Set - 84, 84, 87, 85, 87, 86, 88, 86
200m Set 2 - 43, 41, 40, 41
Hard to say for sure whether the fade existed in the 400m set. I clearly was struggling at the end of the 400m set compared to the beginning. But I had enough in the tank to rebound during the 2nd 200m set with a strong set of runs (and even one too fast at 40 sec). I think Friday will be a better indication as to whether this new pacing scheme is appropriate going forward (if the rain/thunderstorms holds off). Tuesday was also the start of something new: a new recovery drink. I mixed one scoop of Promix, with two bananas, one scoop of PB powder, 8 ice cubs, and some water. It ended up making about 24oz of liquid. The consistency was decent and the taste was good. Mostly tasted like banana with a small mix of PB. It definitely didn't taste like it needed almond/rice/other type of milk too. Looks like I found a new use for G's Baby Bullet.
The jury is still out as to whether this works as a replacement for chocolate milk, and it may take a few days/weeks before I can really make a decision. But at this point it passes the palatability question.
Wednesday was an easy day. It was a WC of 32F and with a wind of 10mph. Nothing really to note about the run.
Thursday was an easy day. It was a WC of 35F and with a wind of 20mph. I got really lucky I finished the run before the lightning show started! It was a really active storm.
Friday was another speed test at the new pacing scheme at the lactate threshold pace.
2 mi @ WU + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 3 miles @ T + 3 min REST + 2 x 1 mi @ T w/ 0.1 mi RI + 4 x 200 @ R w/ 200 RI @ WU + 2 mi @ CD
T = 6:38 min/mile
R = 5:40 min/mile (200m in 42 sec)
T = +/- 10 sec
R = +/- 1 sec
When I put this Daniels plan together I had this one highlighted because I knew this was going to be one of the toughest runs of the cycle. Having a stiff wind of 18 mph didn't help make this run any easier. I spent all day psyching myself up for this one because I just wasn't sure whether I'd be able to hit the new pacing scheme on this run.
200m Set 1 - 44, 43, 42, 42
Threshold Set 1 - 6:47, 6:42, 7:07
Threshold Set 2 - 6:44
Threshold Set 3 - 6:45
200m Set 2 - 43, 43, 44, 43
Because of the wind it's really hard to place my finger on this one. Both sets of 200m were wind aided, but slightly uphill (in the reverse direction), The threshold runs were run on my normal route. In the 3 mile T set, it was uphill, downhill, and uphill/downhill into the wind. So the first two were reasonable (6:47, 6:42), but that third one was way off. Was the pacing too much or was it the wind/uphill? The pacing on the flat stretch with no wind on the 3rd mile was around a 6:58 min/mile. So regardless of elevation/wind it was still a tough interval.
After the 3 min rest, I decided to remove the elevation from the equation to see if I could nail the pacing. For the 2nd set of threshold when into the wind it was ~7:00 min/mile and when it was with the wind it was 6:25-6:40 min/mile. For the 3rd set of threshold into the wind it was ~7:00 min/mile and when it was with the wind it was 6:28-6:45 min/mile.
Then I was able to nail the 200m Set 2 with 3/4.
The question is was this pacing appropriate or too much? From a HR standpoint, this run should be between 10k (164) and HM (160), but the average of the 5 intervals was 157 for a 6:49 min/mile. So the pace wasn't quite fast enough to match the HR. It's tough to say whether this is the right pacing scheme or not. I do know going forward the all R paced, I paced, and T paced workouts will be done on my flat street course. Because the T workouts have a 200m R set before and after them, it leads me to believe these should be treated as track workouts. So maybe I'm pushing to hard on these workouts attempting to do them on my normal route (with elevation) and missing the mark on the workout.
Friday night was the Badger Basketball Sweet 16 game against Florida. It was a miracle to come back down 12 with 5.5 minutes to go. It was a miracle to hit a 3-pt shot down by 3 with 6 seconds to play.
https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/845492711876542464/video/1
And then to see Showy look to Aaron Rodgers in the stands and give the belt move - ugh it just felt so right. (For context they had a conversation before the game about getting a "belt").
http://packerswire.usatoday.com/201...-rodgers-belt-celebration-after-game-tying-3/
Then it was a miracle for Florida to also hit a running three in OT down by 2 with 4 seconds to play to then win the game.
https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/845498687417544704/video/1
Friday (then Saturday morning) was a rough sleep...
Saturday was Beauty and the Beast day! G got all dressed up in her Belle yellow dress (which BTW doesn't have the same flowers as the one in the movie, GAH!), and brought her big Beast stuffed animal. Personally, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I liked the new songs. I thought Gad's representation of Lefou was decent. I thought it was interesting he seemed to question Gaston more. They really harped on the uneducated aspect of the town a bit more. We took G out at the Beast/wolf fighting scene. One thing about the movie really bothered me. The spell was cast on the townspeople to forget about Beast and the castle. Throughout the beginning of the movie the townspeople are real jerks to Belle (primarily the scene with the washing machine and teaching another girl to read). So at the end of the movie when everyone comes together and their all friends again, it's like wait, the spell was forgetting Beast, not the fact that you weren't still all uneducated jerks to Belle just days ago. Seemed a bit off to me. And I guess Mrs. Potts and Chip "were residents of the castle" and thus fell under the curse, but Mr. Potts wasn't a resident of the castle? Whatever I guess. Anyways, most of Saturday was a cold windy rainy day. Thankfully by 4pm, the rain and mostly subsided. The wind not so much as it was upwards of 25mph. Thankfully it was over and done with soon enough as it was an easy day. My sleep has been hap-hazard with the NCAA tourney recently so I cleared my Sunday morning to try and maximize my sleep:
That's a lot of sleep, and I woke up very refreshed for Sunday's important long run.
Sunday was an important run for me. I had switched the pacing scheme one week ago under the belief that my fitness had changed and I was under training. The results have been mixed thus far with the HR of last week's long run at 147 (above the historical LR HR of 138-142). Then the two speed workouts were met with mixed results (although was that because of the wind?). So I hesitated if I wanted to do this max run of the training cycle (15 miles or 2 hrs) at this new pacing scheme. I decided to give it one more try.
Mother Nature decided to throw a curveball this morning with a nice steady rain during the whole run (not much for wind though!!! and WC of 40). Unfortunately I would have preferred to run just in my tank top but because of the rain I conceded to go with the rain jacket (bit too warm at 40 for a jacket for my taste, but a bit too cold for 2 hrs in a tank top in rain per my wife). I got up and ate the race breakfast (PB Bagel + Banana). I also planned to run with nutrition (E-Gel) for the first time this cycle. I also continued the experiment of not physically running with my water bottle, but hitting up the "aid station" every 3 miles.
The first mile was a bit too slow. But that was because of carrying a hoard of water bottles. Once I hit the drop off place the pace picked up naturally. The run felt extremely comfortable throughout without ever having the feeling of having to push the pace. A few times it was necessary to pull back a touch, a nice sign. Overall, 14/15 intervals within pace and if we excuse the first mile because of the water load it would seem like a nailed run.
The big test was the HR of the run. Would it confirm or deny the new pacing scheme? The run felt comfortable but I really wanted to see that HR in the 138-142 range and not 147 like last week's 14 miler. And 143, it is (or 144 ignoring the first mile outlier)! A nice additional confirmation that the pace of 7:46 (or 7:42 ignoring the first mile outlier) for a long run is appropriate for me.
Well that was peak week for this training cycle at 59 miles, so now the quality (or difficulty) of the workouts goes up as the mileage comes down a bit. Time to strap on the shoes for the REAL training to start!
I plan to do another week of the new pacing scheme and see if the metrics still fall in line, but next week's 10 mile tempo at 7:02 min/mile looms large as I haven't sniffed a pace for that long ever (in races or training).
