You must be swift as the coursing river (as long as it's the Lazy River) - comments welcome

[WillRunForPizza]

July 24 - 30, 2023
In which I take a break

Scheduled
Nothing!

Actual
Monday
upper body strength

I didn't feel like running, so I didn't. I did do some strength training because I hadn't done much of that last week.

Tuesday
Easy: 4.25 miles, 44:56, 122-169 bpm (156 avg)

It's annoying that your HR gets so much higher when it's hot, even if you're trying to run suuuper slowly.

Wednesday
lower body strength

Again no run, this time because I spent the morning taking my dog to the vet for his annual check-pup and jabs. I did some strength training while he was recovering from being drugged to the gills. (He is Not A Fan of the vet.) On the bright side, running less means I get to do some of the longer strength routines that I don't normally have time for.

Thursday
Easy: 4 miles, 42:19, 128-169 bpm (151 avg)

Did I say Tuesday was hot? My mistake. A heat wave this week meant we had our hottest temps of the year Thu-Sat. The T+D was over 150 when I woke up at 5 a.m. So fun!

Friday
upper body strength/core

Still brutal conditions so I did inside exercise. This was an old routine, and I don't love the old voiceover format, but I did like the structure.

Saturday
off

I walked 15 minutes to a friend's place for brunch and was drenched in sweat by the time I got there.

Sunday
Easy: 7.27 miles, 1:18:55, 137-169 bpm (154 avg)

Feels like 70º? It's practically cool! It was sunny but fortunately I ran mostly in the shade. Unfortunately I had to detour around a few fallen trees and larger branches - casualties of a brief but intense thunderstorm yesterday afternoon. I didn't have my phone so I couldn't take pictures, but if you're curious, a local blog has compiled some of the more eye-popping destruction in the area: https://www.popville.com/2023/07/so-many-trees-down/ Hope your homes came through it okay, @striker1064 and @avondale!

Totals
Running distance: 15.54 miles
Running time: 2h 46m
Strength/mobility: 1h 20m
Total time: 4h 6m

Lol I did one thing a day, ran three times, and took a day off. Two years ago I would have called this a solid week of exercise, but now it seems like nothing


ID: Strava training log. Only one line!

Coming up
One more week of relaxation until marathon training!

 

[striker1064]

We lucked out in my neck of the woods, no damage. I ran the National Mall yesterday morning for my long run though and there were still a couple trees down. That was a nasty storm!

 

[avondale]

I did some strength training while he was recovering from being drugged to the gills. (He is Not A Fan of the vet.)

One of my cats is the same way. The vet had us give him 1 mL gabapentin before his visit... no effect. The vet says, "Next time, give him 2!" The next time came quickly because the vet couldn't do some of the exam in the previous visit. 2 mL... no effect. The vet says, "Next time, give him 2.5!" She did at least manage to get the rest of the exam done, with me and a vet tech helping to hold him down (wrapped in a towel). And he's 15 years old!

But I can't imagine what an upset Rottweiler might do...

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Yeah, he has to be knocked out so they can actually examine him without him freaking out

 

[WillRunForPizza]

July 31 - August 6, 2023
In which I have way too much energy (until I don't)

Scheduled
Still nothing

Actual
Monday
Easy/strides: 3.19 miles, 32:30, 117-178 bpm (149 avg)

After the very hot weather last week, Monday was actually pretty pleasant.

Tuesday
Time trial: 2.47 mile WU + 1 mile time trial + 3.52 mile CD
7 miles, 1:09:57, 120-185 bpm (160 avg)

Take two. It definitely went better than last time, mostly because I was more consistent with pacing. The weather was also a bit nicer. Downside, I still didn't really improve from my baseline - ended up with a 6:39. But at least I wasn't slower. Maybe I can spot myself a couple of extra seconds due to increased temperatures

And on the bright side, if you'd asked me a year ago whether I'd be able to run a 6:39 mile, I probably would have laughed in your face, so overall it's progress, even if there's not much to see on the smaller time scale.

lower body strength

I prefer the superset structure, but otherwise this is a fun video.

Wednesday
off

It was another lovely morning for running, but sadly I had to go to jury duty instead. At least I didn't get picked and got to go home early! I biked there and back but didn't record it.

Thursday
Easy: 4.26 miles, 44:51, 116-171 bpm (153 avg)

Still pretty nice weather, although the humidity was starting to creep back up. Felt pretty good.

upper body strength

Friday
Easy: 8.19 miles, 1:22:37, 116-168 bpm (156 avg)

I think the mostly-easy mileage for the past couple of weeks is giving my legs a complex I felt like I had lots of energy and kept speeding up when I was trying to take it easy. (Still 93% in zone 2, which is pretty typical and will become relevant shortly.)

Pilates

I hadn't done this one before because it's kind of long (who wants to do 35 minutes of Pilates? ), but actually it was nice and relaxing.

Saturday
Easy: 3.18 miles, 32:04, 132-168 bpm (154 avg)

Again with the extra energy. Anyway, kept this one short because I had a specific lower body routine in mind for later.

lower body strength/plyo/Pilates

This routine is one of my favorites, but I don't do it often because it's kind of a lot when you're also running 40 miles a week. So I figured this little break was my chance!

Sunday
"Easy": 6.05 miles, 1:05:24, 139-176 bpm (159 avg)

Yeesh. Well, the humidity is back and my bonus energy is all gone. I didn't sleep well, my legs were a bit tired from the workout yesterday, and for some reason I was reeeaaally thirsty on this run. Normally I don't carry water for runs that aren't significantly more than an hour, but today I really should have because I was kind of miserable.

Also, remember how almost all of my faster and longer run on Friday was in zone 2? Today, almost a quarter in zone 3, which is definitely not what I'm looking for in an easy run. Every time I glanced at my watch, my pace was abnormally slow, my HR was abnormally high, or both. Maybe I should have just skipped it

Still, I don't think it's a big deal to have a crappy run every once in a while, so I'm not reading too much into it. At least the rest of the week was good!

core

Just because.

Totals
Running distance: 31.9 miles
Running time: 5h 27m
Strength/mobility: 2h 7m
Total time: 7h 34m


ID: Strava training log

Today was a bit of a mess, but mostly it was a good week.

Coming up
Goodbye break, hello marathon training!


ID: Next week's schedule

I was going to say it's been a while since I ran more than 10 miles, but then I remembered The Workout That Killed Me. So I think I'll be fine

 

[WillRunForPizza]

August 7 - 13, 2023
Marathon training week 1 | 35 days until DC Half. 105 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which I struggle

Scheduled

ID: This week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy: 5 miles, 54:58 (10:57), 132-162 bpm (152 avg)

I made a conscious effort to slow down and felt much better than Sunday. It was hot and humid but at least it was cloudy. I think I forgot to do the strides, though.

Pilates

Omg that was so much harder than I was expecting. My glutes were dying

Tuesday
off

It was a day of in-person meetings and appointments. Kind of a shame because the weather was pretty nice in the morning.

Wednesday
Fartlek: 6.3 miles, 1:01:29, 143-195 bpm (169 avg)

So, sometimes training plans will have runs they call "fartleks", but it's like 5 min at HMP + 3 min at 5K pace + 7 min at MP or whatever. The point is, they tell you exactly what you're supposed to do. Only "fartlek" translates to "speed PLAY" and having that much structure seems counter to the spirit of the term to me.

Anyway, all that is to say that when I put these fartleks in my plan, I deliberately didn't set anything beyond the overall distance. I just went by what I felt like in the moment. As a consequence, all the intervals are really random, so I'm not writing all that out, but here's what I did:




ID: Strava pace graph and chart

While I didn't go into the workout with a plan, I did start each interval with a general pace range in mind, and I feel like I did pretty well with those. I wasn't trying to run completely blind, but I was trying not to look at my watch much and run mostly by feel, so when I told myself I was aiming for HMP (8:11), for example, and then ended up with an 8:32/8:09 GAP interval, I was happy. So overall I would call this one a success.

lower body + mini upper body strength

Thursday
Easy: 5.3 miles, 57:41 (10:53), 124-164 bpm (151 avg)

I don't know what's going on with my HR this week, but it's been weirdly high since Sunday. Only when I'm working out, though; my resting HR is completely normal. I've been trying to keep my effort easy even if my pace is slower than usual, but it's annoying. I'd say maybe it's the weather, but it hasn't been any worse this week than the rest of the summer, so I don't know why it would suddenly have a bigger impact on my running.

core

Whew. Lots of ab work in this one.

Friday
Easy: 5.12 miles, 54:01 (10:33), 119-168 (158 avg)

Again with the weirdly high HR. And I didn't do very well dialing it back to compensate this time. Blech.

mini lower body strength

Not even 10 minutes but it felt like a lot

Saturday
Easy: 6.41 miles, 1:10:40 (11:00), 119-164 bpm (154 avg)

HR still high. Did a better job slowing down but forgot the strides again. Also it's probably time to think about retiring these shoes, which are up to about 450 miles and starting to show it.

upper body strength

I do like this one.

Sunday
Long: 12.06 miles, 2:19:35 (11:34), 125-166 bpm (150 avg)

Given the rest of the week and the conditions ( and 77+71 85+70), I (a) picked the shadiest route I had available, and (b) forced myself to slow wayyy down. It seemed like my run took forever, but I felt decent the whole time so I guess it worked. My legs were a little tired but I've got 15 more weeks of M training to get them in fighting shape.

I brought 1L (34oz) of Skratch and another 1L of plain water and finished most of it, plus 2 GUs and a Maurten gel. Liquid is heavy.

Totals
Running distance: 40.2 miles
Running time: 7h 18m
Strength/mobility: 1h 35m
Total time: 8h 54m

Goodbye, free time. It's been nice knowing you...


ID: Strava training log

Coming up

ID: Next week's schedule

Hopefully my HR/pace relationship will fix itself because the mileage is already starting to get up there...

 

[azrivest]

Pilates

Omg that was so much harder than I was expecting. My glutes were dying

I'm adding this to my list of workouts. Seems to be just what I would need.

 

[avondale]

I don't know what's going on with my HR this week, but it's been weirdly high since Sunday. Only when I'm working out, though; my resting HR is completely normal. I've been trying to keep my effort easy even if my pace is slower than usual, but it's annoying. I'd say maybe it's the weather, but it hasn't been any worse this week than the rest of the summer, so I don't know why it would suddenly have a bigger impact on my running.

I experienced this last summer after I had done some hard tennis in really high T+D weather - last year my team was training up for a regional play-off tournament, so I was playing almost constantly in bad T+D. I interpreted it as "leftover" tiredness from repeated bouts of heat exhaustion. Given the weather around DC lately, maybe that applies to you?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

I experienced this last summer after I had done some hard tennis in really high T+D weather - last year my team was training up for a regional play-off tournament, so I was playing almost constantly in bad T+D. I interpreted it as "leftover" tiredness from repeated bouts of heat exhaustion. Given the weather around DC lately, maybe that applies to you?

Could be. I do spend a good amount of additional time outside walking my dog - although that's less "exerting myself" and more "20 minutes of ambling" when it's this hot

 

[WillRunForPizza]

August 14 - 20, 2023
Marathon training week 2 | 28 days until DC Half. 98 days until Space Coast Marathon
In which marathon training is a lot

Scheduled

ID: This week's schedule

Actual
Monday
Easy + strides: 6.05 miles, 1:06:59 (11:04), max HR 173, avg 148, 97% Z1-2

Still gross. Still slow. At least I actually remembered strides this time.

There's a new section of trail that had been under construction and opened up recently, so I decided to check it out. It would have been nice if it hadn't been so sunny. In this case, it was a little rough. Also apparently the Mall has a...plant library? Flower library? I forget exactly what it was called but it involved a library - off the Tidal Basin. The things you learn.

Pilates

Really kind of a mix - some Pilates, some bodyweight strength, a teeny bit of cardio.

Tuesday
HMP intervals: 1 mile WU + 2 x 2 miles @ HMP/3 min RI + 1.68 miles @ HMP + 0.4 mile CD
T+D: 77+73 83+74 | Adjusted pace: 8:33 8:41
Interval split paces/GAP: 8:27/8:17, 8:33/8:29, 8:28/8:23
Max HR 193, avg 172


ID: Strava pace analysis chart

Well, that was an experience.

One of my goals for this training cycle is to stick to my paces and not overrun everything, especially on early reps. It was already ridiculously hot when I woke up and walked the dog, so I checked the adjustments to make sure I wouldn't overdo it. I did okay on rep #1. A little fast when you adjust for the hills too, but that's harder to gauge during the run. I felt pretty much fine.

During rep #2, I started to develop a blinding headache whenever I ran even slightly uphill and even walked up a steep hill that was in the sun (which does mean the rest of the interval was too fast). I debated whether I should call it at that point given the headache, but it's not like I was close to home at that point so I decided to keep going.

Rep #3 was going okay, or at least not significantly worse, until the very end when I ran out of shade and the sun just killed me. At that point, the headache wasn't just on uphills and I started to get goosebumps, and I finally accepted that it was time to stop. I did a bit of walking and a bit of jogging as a "cooldown" (ha, it was already in the 80s).

Even though this workout didn't exactly go to plan, I'm not too broken up about it. It was definitely a weather, and specifically a sun, issue. I also realized I should have carried more than just my handheld, and probably more than just plain water, given the conditions. However, the heat exhaustion did kind of knock me out for the rest of the day until I gave up and took some ibuprofen, so I didn't do any strength training.

Wednesday
off

I decided to give myself an extra day to recover from Tuesday. I did some yoga.

Thursday
Easy: 6.53 miles, 1:12:44 (11:08), max HR 162, avg 151, 100% Z1-2

Blech. I think I was more frustrated with this run than Tuesday's. I still don't understand why I persist in being so much slower than usual. I actually tried to look back at my training journal from last August to see if anything similar happened, but it didn't really help because my fitness is significantly better now and I think I was doing my easy runs too fast then anyway. Obviously I can slow down, and I will, but it's annoying.

core

SOOO many planks at the beginning

mini upper body strength

I had to shuffle some things to work in the routines I missed on Tuesday.

Friday
Medium-long: 8.11 miles, 1:29:41 (11:04), max HR 167, avg 151, 99% Z1-2

I was feeling a bit more normal on this run - it was cloudy at the beginning, so I wonder if the unrelenting sun hasn't been a big part of my problem. This time I brought a flask of water and a flask of Skratch to make sure I was properly hydrated. Also, the tiny piece of the run in zone 3 was not running-related; some jerk decided the stop sign didn't apply to him while I was IN THE CROSSWALK, so I got all worked up about that. I hate cars.

lower body strength

Made up from Tuesday.

Saturday
Easy + strides: 6 miles, 1:03:42 (10:35), max HR 171, avg 150, 97% Z1-2

It was actually nice out! Maybe I was doing better but more likely it was just the improved conditions.

upper body strength

Sunday
Long: 14.14 miles, 2:27:07 (10:24), max HR 170, avg 153, 95% Z1-2
T+D: 64+58 77+62

Another pretty nice morning, at least at the start. I actually felt pretty good, too. This was my first time running farther than the first mile or two into Capital Crescent Trail, and it's nice! Very shady and green, and my 7 miles out took me well into Maryland.


ID: Paved trail with dashed yellow line down the middle surrounded by grass and trees on both sides

It wasn't obvious, but eventually I started to feel like there was a slight incline on the trail on the way out - and turning around definitely confirmed it So I was significantly faster on the way back, though I did slow again a bit for the last couple of miles which were back in the sun and quite a bit warmer than when I started. I'll definitely be using this route again for long runs, though - most of it is great.


ID: Trail leading through a well-lit brick tunnel, exiting into greenery

For some reason the arch of my left foot was quite sore when I finally went to take my dog out after running, swinging through the farmer's market on the way home, stretching, and grabbing something to eat (he was very patient). But after a few minutes of walking, it was fine


ID: Rottweiler sitting on a rug looking up at the camera with puppy eyes as I get ready to finally take him out

Fun fact: my 14+ miles today took less than 8 minutes longer than 12 miles last Sunday

mini lower body strength

Thought about skipping this one but it was short and I've been enjoying the resistance band videos so I did it. I had to make a few minor modifications because even my light band has less give than Kelli's.

Totals
Running distance: 48.5 miles
Running time: 8h 32m
Strength/mobility: 1h 41m
Yoga: 24m
Total time: 10h 38m


ID: Strava training log

This actually didn't feel like as much as it looks like - most of my mileage was very easy, plus I didn't have much else going on this week. But I think it might be my highest mileage week by a hair? In week 2 That's not going to last long!

Coming up

ID: Next week's schedule

Even more miles! Hoping I'll be a bit faster on my easy runs this week, but we'll see. I may switch Tuesday and Wednesday because I have to run after a 7:30 call on Tuesday morning and I don't want a repeat of this week's workout.

 

[avondale]

I still don't understand why I persist in being so much slower than usual.

Do you feel like you're "too slow" even when you take into account the T+D and how much that should be slowing you down?

Somewhat related: is a HR of 150 BPM actually in Zone 2 for you? If so, wow!

Also somewhat related...I used to occasionally go down the Capital Crescent Trail from Silver Spring into Bethesda, but the Purple Line construction has closed our section of that. Can't wait until the Purple Line is done!

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Do you feel like you're "too slow" even when you take into account the T+D and how much that should be slowing you down?

I'm comparing it to the same effort in runs a few weeks ago with similar conditions, so...yes.

Somewhat related: is a HR of 150 BPM actually in Zone 2 for you? If so, wow!

Oh yeah, my zone 2 is about 141-164. I haven't had a solid max HR reading in a while so it may be a little off, but my max is around 200 and my resting HR is like 45, so I'm a massive outlier when it comes to HR zones That's why I'm always warning people about using the defaults!

 

[GollyGadget]

Don’t stress about the easy runs. They’re meant to be slow. I recently heard that some of the world class Kenyans have competitions over who can run their easy runs the slowest. No idea if that’s true but it’s really difficult to run them too slow.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Don’t stress about the easy runs. They’re meant to be slow. I recently heard that some of the world class Kenyans have competitions over who can run their easy runs the slowest. No idea if that’s true but it’s really difficult to run them too slow.

Fair. I'm all about keeping easy runs easy. It's not so much the pace on its own that bothers me; it's the fact that my pace is slower for the same effort than it was a few weeks ago.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Fair. I'm all about keeping easy runs easy. It's not so much the pace on its own that bothers me; it's the fact that my pace is slower for the same effort than it was a few weeks ago.

Your effort could be higher on a slow/easy pace because of the impact of the other runs as well. Sounds like Tuesday's 3x2 was tough, and it'll linger into other runs.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Your effort could be higher on a slow/easy pace because of the impact of the other runs as well. Sounds like Tuesday's 3x2 was tough, and it'll linger into other runs.

That makes sense for Thursday for sure, but it's been an issue for the past couple of weeks and I'm not sure how to explain the rest of it. But today's run was a little more normal I think, so between that and yesterday hopefully I'm on the right track. I don't actually care how fast my easy runs are in general; I just don't want to be slower than normal without an explanation!

 

[DopeyBadger]

That makes sense for Thursday for sure, but it's been an issue for the past couple of weeks and I'm not sure how to explain the rest of it. But today's run was a little more normal I think, so between that and yesterday hopefully I'm on the right track. I don't actually care how fast my easy runs are in general; I just don't want to be slower than normal without an explanation!

Do you know the date it started and does it correlate to a change in weather or training methods? I wonder if you’re in a period of neutral training right now and currently digging yourself back out into optimal training. Do you use Strava Premium or the extension Elevate?

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Do you know the date it started and does it correlate to a change in weather or training methods? I wonder if you’re in a period of neutral training right now and currently digging yourself back out into optimal training. Do you use Strava Premium or the extension Elevate?

I would say it started about two weeks ago (8/6). Looking back, I felt really great that week until Sunday, when I had a pretty crappy run. At the time, I just attributed it to not sleeping well and not feeling great when I woke up, but then the next couple of weeks of runs seemed off even when my sleep and everything were back to normal. I was running at the same effort as I normally would (based on HR), but my paces were 30-90s slower per mile than I was doing the rest of the summer. It's still hot and humid here, but not any worse than before.

I did start having issues at the end of my two-week "break" after mile training, so maybe that has something to do with it? I don't know Elevate, but I do have Strava Premium.

 

[DopeyBadger]

I did start having issues at the end of my two-week "break" after mile training, so maybe that has something to do with it? I don't know Elevate, but I do have Strava Premium.

Go to "Training - Fitness & Freshness". Set the window to "Last 6 months", include "running only", and make sure the "Form" button is swiped. In the period of time where things haven't felt good, how often have you had a "Form" value of > -10 and < -10?

ETA - Make sure "My Performance" in the settings is up to date.

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Go to "Training - Fitness & Freshness". Set the window to "Last 6 months", include "running only", and make sure the "Form" button is swiped. In the period of time where things haven't felt good, how often have you had a "Form" value of > -10 and < -10?

Okay, here's form plus a bunch of other info that seemed like it could be relevant. I started a few days before I had issues and just included my easy runs since workouts complicate things.



So when my problems started (8/6), form was a bit underwater. It got slowly worse overall until this Sunday (8/20), although I actually felt okay Friday and better Saturday/Sunday. Maybe it is a weather thing? Although there were still a few days where the T+D was up there but I felt good, and a couple where it wasn't so bad but I wasn't doing well. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into things