24 Days to Go (BLIND!)
Date - Day - Scheduled Workout (Intervals within desired pace)
12/4/17 - M - MBW
12/5/17 - T - 2 mile WU + 3 x 2 miles @ T w/ 2 min Rest + 4 x 200m @ R w/ 200m RI + 2 mile CD (5/8)
12/6/17 - W - 7 miles @ 7:54-8:28 min/mile
12/7/17 - R - 3 mile WU + 8 miles M Tempo ***BLIND*** + 3 mile CD (6/8)
12/8/17 - F - 7 miles @ 7:54-8:28 min/mile
12/9/17 - Sat - 11 miles @ 7:54-8:28 min/mile
12/10/17 - Sun - 12 miles @ 7:35 min/mile (8/11)
12/11/17 - M - MBW
Total (training) mileage = 61.0 miles
Number of SOS intervals within pace = 19/27 (70%)
Monday
Standard medicine ball workout
Tuesday
2 mile WU + 3 x 2 miles @ T w/ 2 min Rest + 4 x 200m @ R w/ 200m RI + 2 mile CD
Winter has arrived! And so has the wind!!!! My goodness the wind!!!
WC 14, wind 15-25 mph, night
T Pace = 6:33 min/mile
T window = +/- 5 seconds
R Pace = 5:36 min/mile (41s)
R window = +/- 1 sec (41.0-42.99)
The wind was too much for me. I pushed hard to maintain pace through the wind, but after a few miles decided it would be best to pull back.
T Pace = 6:38, 6:28, 6:34, 6:42, 6:44, 6:44
R Pace = 42.5, 42.99, x, x
Running in the wind (especially 15-25 mph wind) is no joke. I did my best after struggling to hit the pace to just relax and let effort dictate the remainder of the run. I felt a twinge at the top of my left calf at the beginning of the third 200m R interval. So I shut it down immediately. I didn't like that feeling one bit. Hoping it's just a momentary thing. On to the next one!
Wednesday
WC of 17, 12-18 mph wind, night. Average pace of 8:24 min/mile and HR of 132. I was prepared for my calf to give me issues. There was a little "clicking" when I first started running (like the tendons were rubbing against each other or something). There was also a momentary tightness when I stopped for water and then restarted. Otherwise, it was a relatively normal run. I was prepared to not do the M Tempo on Thursday if things didn't feel right. Because things were ok on an easy day, I was eager to see what would happen.
Thursday
28 days to go!
3 mile WU + 8 miles M Tempo + 3 miles CD
WC of 8, 6 mph wind, night
I decided to run this blind. Because of the calf pull/issue on Tuesday's T run I was concerned with whether it would reappear. After doing some brief research I was pretty convinced that it was because of the cold weather and the muscle cooled down in temp very quickly during the resting intervals. So then the muscle wasn't primed well enough to attempt R pace. So I had a feeling that as long as I didn't stop running, that a continuous pace wouldn't cause an issue. So since I wasn't quite sure what my body would give me today, I decided why not go blind!
M Tempo = 6:58 min/mile
M Tempo window = +/- 10 seconds
So how did I do blind?
M Tempo = 7:06, 7:08, 6:53, 6:56, 6:53, 6:48, 6:45, 6:44
That's not surprising to me at all. My typical blind race comes with a standard "U" shaped curve. Slow in the beginning, fastest in the middle, and then fade at the end. The goal is to aim that fade as close to the end of the race as possible. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. So no surprise to me that the beginning was slow, and then it just kept getting progressively faster and faster (regardless of elevation changes).
At the end of the day, I hit 6/8 intervals within the 10 second window. The last two were certainly flying. The average pace was 6:54 min/mile and average GAP was 6:47 min/mile. In the process, I set a new 10k PR of 42:35, and my 2nd and 3rd fastest 3 mile loop. But was it appropriate? Well the effort felt good. Calm, relaxed and strong. The HR tells an interesting story as well and it's hard to say I trust it 100%. The HR for the 8 miles was 144, 142, 145, 142, 143, 143, 147, 153. My normal M Tempo is 148-152. So this would be 1/8 miles within expected HR area. Seems to good to be true really. I think the WC of 8 played a big role here.
Predicted TRIMP = 219
Actual TRIMP = 185
Not surprising that the TRIMP was off when the HR was so far lower than expected.
Only 4 weeks to go and I'm still in a good place! Almost game time!
Friday
WC of 28, minimal wind, and night. Average pace of 8:30 min/mile and HR of 127.
Saturday
I was interested to see how much snow we got when I woke up. I tried to push this run as late into the morning as possible to allow the sun to come out and warm the roads/air. The plan somewhat worked...WC of 8, 15-25 mph wind, light snow, and minimal snow on ground. At first blush a minimal snow sounds good, but what it means is there is little traction and the wind has really made what is there slick. So most of the run was COLD, WINDY, and SLICK road... UGH! This was one of those few days in my running career where I've really questioned whether I wanted to be out there. And out there for 11 miles no less... But, I like to keep things in perspective. 1) You don't get to choose the race day weather conditions. While I highly doubt these conditions for Dopey, I know that races in my future may be like this. I need to get out there in this to make a record in the memory bank about what I can and can't do. 2) Cherish the days you get to run. Because some day you may not get to. Average pace was 7:53 min/mile with HR of 134. This was an interesting paced run because of the wind. Sometimes I was at 7:30-7:40 on an easy run and sometimes around 8:00. All a matter of what direction the wind was in. Happy to walk in the door and have that one be done.
Sunday
25 days to go!!!
12 miles @ LR
WC of 20, light wind, cloudy
Long Run = 7:35 min/mile
Long Run window = +/- 10 seconds
I was excited to have this run in non-miserable conditions like yesterday. It was a WC of 8, 18 mph wind, and it snowed a little that evening. Led to little traction and a fairly miserable wind/temp combo.
I've been feeling pretty strong this week. The blind M Tempo went well (slightly under pace) and then the two easy runs felt easy (other than yesterday's wind/temp combo). But when you take into consideration the conditions, to be able to hit a 7:53 average is pretty good (just below EB). So I was interested to see what LR pace felt natural today.
Long Run = 7:26, 7:25, 7:24, 7:28, 7:25, 7:26, 7:25, 7:27, 7:26, 7:21, 7:24
Needless to say I was pretty locked in today. These paces are astoundingly close when you take into consideration that I have near constant elevation gain or loss on every mile. I tried to catch myself to quick on a few intervals and a few times I snuck it in and a few others did not.
Overall a pace average of 7:25 with an average HR of 139 (historical 138-142). So while it may have been 10 seconds too fast on average, the HR suggests (as well as effort) that it was right on target. For comparison, a year ago my HR average at a pace of 7:25 (which was just between M Tempo and HM Tempo) was 150-153. So what was 150-153 a year ago is now 139. Good sign of progress given the conditions are relatively similar. The same HR (138) was an 8:09-8:17 a year ago (compared to 7:25 now).
Predicted TRIMP = 170
Actual TRIMP = 158
Not surprising since the HR average was on the low side of historical.
Predicted Weekly TRIMP = 852
Actual Weekly TRIMP = 795
This was a step down week from last week's almost peak. But because of the recent HR gains, the step back was a little more dramatic. At this point there isn't much I can or want to do about it. Next week is brutal, so I'm sure the intensity will increase just fine. Just one week of tough training left and then it's time for the taper!
Lastly, I've been working very hard to get my weight back in order. During the Lakefront 2017 training cycle, I gained a few more pounds that I would have wanted. But I allowed it because I was concerned about maximizing performance and not necessarily weight. After the Lakefront race, I decided to needed to get things back in order. I had been between 155-160 for most of the Spring, but had gotten up to 167 on Lakefront race day. After some time off, and quite a few more apple fritters than I care of admit (it was 3...) I was up to 169.8 on 10/18/17 (it was 167 on 10/19, thanks fritters). So I got on MyFitnessPal and did some calculations to come up with a plan of action. The goal was to lose 1 pound per week, but to not sacrifice training in any way. Since training has gone well I've continued to slowly drop weight. Now 53 days later (7.5 weeks), I'm down to 159.6. Very happy with where I'm at and I can certainly tell the difference in my current performance.
In 25 days I get to go out there and Prove it. Like I always like to say, "If you want it, PROVE IT, by doing what is necessary to get it!"
After the run we went to the Nutcracker!
One last item of business. The DopeyBadger Dopey Prediction Contest will open next week after the last week of tough training. Some might remember the complicated scoring system (according to some). Well I haven't forgotten a certain someone's offer to come up with this year's contest rules:
I don't think this prediction contest is appropriately complex enough.

Next year, I'm putting the rules together.
So let's hear what you got
@opusone!