NEIGH

I like to think I take my recovery very seriously – maybe even too seriously. I feel like I’ve lost a lot of fitness since Grandma’s. The week after the race I ran just once. Then the following week was spent in Canmore/Banff, Canada with my wife where we celebrated 25 years of married with about 30 miles of hiking. I managed 30 miles the week after that and even set out a 6-week plan to focus on speed before embarking on another marathon training cycle. I managed a hill workout and 2 track workouts of 400s before changing my mind.

I settled on doing 400s after listening to a podcast that suggested running 400s at 5K pace, but rather than focusing on eventually running them faster, the focus should be on running the recovery 400s faster. For example, when you first start, you’d run something like 12 x 400 @ 5K pace w/ 400 jog @ easy run pace. Eventually your recovery is done at MP, then HMP, then tempo – all while keeping the 400s @ 5K pace. Then you would extend the 400s to 500 or 600s – again at 5K pace, while adjusting your  recovery pace accordingly. One other suggestion is that you can chunk the 12 reps into sets anyway you like, 3 x 4, 4 x 3, 2 x 6, etc.

It all sounded great on my headphones and looked doable on paper, but I was only able to manage 2 x 4 reps both times. And, while I thought I was running my 5K pace, it just felt too fast – like I wouldn’t be able to hold that pace for 20 minutes. “Luckily” after the second workout my hamstring was sore, so I pulled the plug on my 6-week plan. Quite honestly, I pulled the plug because I don’t really enjoy that type of training. Instead, I’m going back to the 8020 Endurance plan that I used for Grandma’s. I liked the variety of workouts in that plan and the ability to just run by feel, rather than trying to hit splits over and over on a track.

Maybe I’ll get back to the track in the future when I have a summer of shorter road races planned. For now, I’m back on the marathon horse. The start of this week puts me 18 weeks away from California International Marathon.  I’ve never run a marathon later than mid-October, so I’m excited to be able to do most of my training during the fall. I just have to get through August first.

Quote of the day;

“Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.” – Saint Teresa of Avila

GRANDMA'S MARATHON RACE REPORT

The short version of my Grandma’s Marathon report is that I ran 3:21:21 and qualified for the Boston Marathon.

The long version is that I have mixed emotions regarding this race. If you had told me my finish time a year ago, after running 3:48, I’d have been pretty ecstatic. But after putting in a ton of work and seeing lots of progress, I honestly thought 3:20 would be rather “easy” – at least as far as marathons go. Yeah, I get it, the difference between 3:20 and 3:21:21 is rather small in the grand scheme of things, but it’s not zero. If my BQ had been 3:20 this would have been a huge let down. On the other hand, if I rank my marathons based on age-grading, this is slightly my best marathon ever. Of course, I have to take that with a grain of salt due to all the advances in shoe technology in recent years.

Just based on effort and overall feel, this was my best marathon since June 2014. I ran 3:27 in 2016, dropped out of TCM in 2017, then focused on ultras through 2019, and then we had covid, followed by the aforementioned result last year.

Here are some observations – they are not excuses;

1) The entire week leading up to the race my stomach did not feel well. I went to a graduation party, so maybe I ate something there that didn’t agree with me. In any case, my stomach was rolling. Monday – Wednesday were the worst, with Thursday – Saturday being slightly better.

2) Wednesday night I went to a concert where I had to stand for 3 hours. I knew this going in and really contemplated buying a ticket. But I really wanted to see Tyler Childers, so I pulled the trigger. I don’t regret it.

3) During the race I was relying on the Average Pace feature of my watch and monitoring for 7:38 for 3:20 pace. However, I didn’t account for having to run further than 26.2 due to not being able to run the exact shortest route possible. Even with running the tangents to the best of my ability, I ended up running 26.40 miles. My watch said I ran 7:37 pace – and that I even had a new marathon PR of 3:19:37. But running the extra .20 was equal to about 4 seconds per mile.

4) Typically, pacing is a strength of mine. I think it still is, but I also think that some of that skill deteriorated while I was running trails. I bring this up because my first 10K was at 7:26 pace, then I slowed to 7:44 pace through the half, before dropping down to 7:38 pace until mile 20. The last 10K were at 7:58 pace. Normally, I wouldn’t slow down and then speed up.

5) One more comment on pacing is that I probably could have benefited from running 5-10 seconds per mile slower in that first 10K. One “problem” was I was just trying to run by feel, so I wasn’t checking my splits at every mile. I saw 7:35 at mile 1 and thought that was perfect, but then didn’t notice miles 2 and 3 where 7:23 and 7:19. This is all pretty minor though because I hit 10 miles right at 7:30 pace. Plus, a friend in my age group, who I beat by 13 seconds in my last 5K, went out at 7:20 pace and was able to hang on for a sub-3:17 – right where I wanted to be.

6) My plan was to make a concerted effort to run a strong last 10K. That started well with splits of 7:30 and 7:38 for miles 21 and 22. Lemon Drop hill is during mile 23, so even that 7:53 wasn’t too bad. After that hill there are some nice gradual downhill sections, but I just didn’t take advantage of them because my quads were fried. I ended up running, 7:55, 7:48 and 7:57 for the last 3 miles. There had to been nearly 1-minute slipping away just in those 3 miles.

While there’s some disappointment, I know it’s minor. Overall, I’m happy with these results, but I also feel like there’s a lot more to come.

Quote of the day;

“Trial often exhibits truly wonderful results.” – Chinese Proverb

STAYING FLEXIBLE

As of today, I’m 13 days from Grandma’s and feeling fit and confident. I’m probably over-analyzing the numbers, but I still feel very good about going after 7:30 pace, which is right around 3:17. Of course, if that feels too quick on June 17^th and 7:40 pace feels better, that’ll still get me in at 3:20-3:21, which was my original ‘A’ goal when I started this training cycle. 

A few notes on my recent training;

I jumped in a 5K race on Memorial Day and was very pleased to run 20:21. I never thought I’d sniff sub-20 again and this race left me feeling like that’s possible.

It feels like there was a flick of a switch and we went from nice spring weather to rather hot and humid. One thing I’ve always felt is that poor weather conditions are less of a concern the fitter you are. But still, I’ve been doing some of my training in the middle of the day to get used to the heat.

Last Saturday my schedule called for my last long run, a 19-mile tune-up with 16 miles at MP. That seemed very aggressive to me considering that I was only 2 weeks out from my race. I looked back at Scott Fauble’s training, and he did a similar workout, but it was 4 weeks before his race. Then 2 weeks later he ran 8 miles at MP. With this in mind I went into the workout with the main goal of getting in some solid work at marathon pace but being flexible – especially since it was the most humid day we’ve had so far. I ended up with 14 miles total, including 6 miles at 7:34 pace. I feel like I could have gone further and/or faster, but I didn’t feel like I needed to. 

WEEK #15
RECAP OF WEEK 5/21 – 5/27

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 8-mile structured fartlek ladder 1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1:00 ‘on’ w/ 1:00 ‘off’ [1s at ~6:20, 2s at ~7:15, 3s at ~7:45]
Tuesday – 6.5 miles
Wednesday – 7.5 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, Noon: 7 miles, including 5 x 2:00 hills w/ 3:00 jog
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – 16 miles
Summary: 59 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #16
RECAP OF WEEK 5/28 – 6/3

Sunday – Day off
Monday – 8 miles total, including the Brian Kraft 5K in 20:21 (6:27, 6:30, 6:35)
Tuesday – 5 easy miles
Wednesday – AM: Strength, PM: 6 miles
Thursday – 7 miles, including 3 x (10 x :30 w/ :15 jog)
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat and Scott
Saturday – 14 miles (1 mile easy, 6 miles moderate ~8:10 pace and 6 miles at MP, ~7:34 pace, 1 mile easy
Summary: 46 miles and 1 strength session

Quote of the day;

“It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

A POSSIBILITY

I’m currently 3.5 weeks out from Grandma’s and the roller coaster continues. After the 22 miler that I mentioned in my last post, I only did 1 workout the following week. I even cut that a little short by cutting out the last 4 minutes of CV work. Then on the following Saturday I was signed up for a 15K race. Being a little conservative, as well as wanting to prepare for race day, I decided to run this at marathon pace. I figured I’d go out in 7:40 pace and make it feel as comfortable as possible. This race ended up being way smaller than I thought it’d be and after the start I found myself with the first two women. We were running 7:30 pace, so I just went with that. The only problem was that it felt much faster than marathon effort. It’s hard to imagine running 7:40 pace for 26.2 miles when 7:30 pace feels hard for 9.3 miles. 

However, weeks 13 and 14 have me thinking that 7:30 pace is possible. Week 13 included 2 solid workouts, plus 20 miles that included half at marathon effort. That long run included hills and wind, so I wasn’t too concerned when my splits were anywhere from 7:38 to 8:26.

I think the real confidence boost came 3 days later when I was scheduled to run 10 miles, including 6 at 10K pace + 5%. As my friend Evan pointed out on Strava, “Isn’t that basically HMP?” Yes, that’s what it turned out to be. While I like these types of workouts, I often stress about hitting my splits. The goal for this workout was 7:05 – 7:15 pace. This scared me a little because 4 weeks ago I ran a 6-mile steady-state run at 7:30 pace, which felt hard but doable. Anyway, I decided to “just run” and not check my splits. Once I finished, I was pleasantly surprised to see; 7:15, 6:59, 7:00, 6:57, 6:59, 7:14 for a 7:04 average. It really did feel like I could hold that pace for a half marathon in a race situation.

All of this has me thinking that 3:17 or 7:30 pace is at least a possibility. I’m trying to wrap my brain around that, so that if I find myself running that fast at Grandma’s, I won’t freak out.

WEEK #12

RECAP OF WEEK 4/30 – 5/6

Sunday – 22 miles w/ Derek
Monday – AM: Strength
Tuesday – 6 miles w/ Nordica
Wednesday – 7-mile progression run (:16 at steady-state, :08 at LT – skipped :04 at CV)
Thursday – AM: Strength, Noon: 6 miles
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Scott and Pat
Saturday – 14 miles total – Rochester 15K

Summary: 62 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #13

RECAP OF WEEK 5/7 – 5/13

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 8 miles including 4 x (3:00 @ HMP, 4:00 @ 10K pace, 2:00 easy)
Tuesday – 6 easy miles
Wednesday – 8 miles
Thursday – AM: 7 miles, Descending Intervals at Max Aerobic Speed; PM: 3-mile shakeout
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat and Scott
Saturday – 20 miles (10 miles easy, 10 miles at marathon effort)

Summary: 65 miles and 1 strength session
 

WEEK #14

RECAP OF WEEK 5/14 – 5/20

Sunday – Day Off
Monday – AM: Strength + 4-mile shakeout, NOON: 6 miles
Tuesday – 10 miles, including 6 at HMP.
Wednesday – 4 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength – skipped run/workout due to track meet
Friday – 9 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – 12 miles, including 2 x 3M at HMP w/ 1:00 jog

Summary: 45 miles of running and 2 strength sessions

 

Quote of the day;

“Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

GOLDILOCKS

What do we do when things are going well and we’re “motivated and ready for more”? We keep pushing to find out where “the line” is. “The line” being that hard-to-define limit between ‘just right’ and ‘too much’. I’m not sure if I’ve crossed it, but I feel like I’m getting close.

I had a very hard session on April 24^th – I lifted in the morning, followed by a 3-mile shakeout. Then at noon I ran 10 miles that included 7 x 4:00 at CV w/ 2:00 rest. I remember looking forward to that workout because I have a nice 10-mile loop that I haven’t run in a while. The workout went well, and the rest of the week was supposed to be high volume. However, I ended up skipping my Thursday workout and even took a day off on Saturday (that was mainly due to being on my feet at a track meet all day – and having a long run planned for Sunday).

Sunday’s run was the longest of the program, 22 miles. I ended up running with my buddy Derek who’s a little bit faster than me. I also ran my last 20 miler with him and that felt good, so I didn’t hesitate to run with him again – especially since it was 40 degrees with 25 mph winds, and no one what’s to run solo in those conditions. I remember getting to mile 12 and already being rather tired. At 16 I reminded myself that I only had a 10K left. We did finish the run and energy-wise I felt okay, I just didn’t have a lot of pop in my legs.

Since then, I’ve been focusing on recovery while trying to get in some harder work. All while reminding myself of what Alexi Pappas’s coach told her about the Rule of Thirds; if you’re training for a big goal, 1/3 of your workouts should be awesome, 1/3 should be so-so and 1/3 should be bad. If they’re all awesome, you’re not pushing hard enough. If they’re all bad, you’re pushing too hard. I’ve also been thinking about Scott Fauble’s training in Inside a Marathon and how exhausted he says he is in the middle of his marathon cycle. Granted, he’s a professional runner, but I should feel some residual tiredness after a 22-mile run.

 

WEEK #10

RECAP OF WEEK 4/16 – 4/22

Sunday – Day off
Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 7 miles
Tuesday – 10 miles w/ 6 miles at 7:30 steady-state pace
Wednesday – 5 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, PM: 5 miles including 8 hill repeats w/ trac team
Friday – 7 miles on trails w/ Scott
Saturday – 14-mile depletion run w/ Nordica (no calories before or during)
Summary: 51 miles and 2 strength sessions

 

WEEK #11

RECAP OF WEEK 4/23 – 4/29

Sunday – 4 easy miles
Monday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 10 miles including 7 x 4:00 @ CV w/ 2:00 jog
Tuesday – 6 easy miles
Wednesday – 7 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout
Friday – 6 miles on trails w/ Pat
Saturday – Day Off
Summary: 39 miles of running and 2 strength training

Quote of the day;

“All the preparation you’ve done will finally be paying off!” - from a fortune cookie a received recently

  

CONFIDENT MOTIVATION

I’m trying to determine which is a harder concept to define/capture; confidence or motivation. In my last post I mentioned gaining confidence and fitness. It’s true, I have been gaining confidence, but it seems like such a slippery concept. If I build my weekly mileage for weeks on end and include a couple workouts each week, my confidence will build over that timeframe. However, miss one workout or catch a slight cold and confidence starts to slip. Meanwhile, motivation can be just as elusive. This really occurred to me last weekend when it I entered a 25K race with the intention of running 5K easy, then 20K at MP. It was typical April weather in Minnesota, meaning, 40 degrees and light rain. I thought nothing of the weather and went out and executed my plan. Where motivation comes in is when I compare this to a low-key 4-mile race last 4^th of July. After getting my packet I went to my car where it started raining – keep in mind it was probably 75 degrees. After sitting there for a few minutes, I talked myself out of racing, started my car and went home. The point is, motivation was definitely lacking in July, but it’s currently very high.

Looking at a recap of week #8 below, you’ll see a lot of easy days after my 10-mile race. My friend Evan and I have debated this over the years. He adheres to the rule of no workouts after a race for the number of days equal to the number of miles raced. Therefore, a 10-mile race would be followed by 10 days without a hard workout. My rule is slightly more lenient. No workouts after a race for the number of days equal to half the number of kilometers raced. Therefore, 10 miles equals 16K divided by 2 equals 8 days without a hard workout.

I think both formulas work. The key being that you take time after a race to really recover. Honestly, that can be very hard to do when you’re in the middle of a training cycle and just coming off a great race. The first instinct is to get back out there and keep working hard – especially when your pre-set plan doesn’t know you raced, and it already has workouts slotted for the following week. It takes discipline to skip those workouts and just run easy.

Here's a little bit about the Ron Daws 25K. If you’re not familiar with Daws, he was a 1968 Olympian in the marathon. He wrote a couple of classic books; Self-made Olympian and Running Your Best. He was from Minnesota and the claim is that he used to train on this 25K route as preparation for Boston. It’s a multi-loop course that includes two rather significant hills. One you go up 4 times and the twice on the other one. The main reason I bring this up is that it’s difficult to get consistent splits on this course. My 20K at MP ended up being anywhere from 7:35 – 8:13 per mile. In the end, I averaged 7:48 pace or roughly 3:24 for the marathon. While I think I can run faster than that, it was a very good test run after -back-to-back high mileage weeks. Also, after checking splits on the first couple of miles, I just ran by feel and was pleasantly pleased with the results.

That means I’m halfway through this training cycle and still feeling confident, motivated and ready for more.

 

WEEK #8

RECAP OF WEEK 4/2 – 4/8

Sunday – 13 miles, including Goldy’s 10-mile race in 1:10:59

Monday – AM: Strength, PM: 4 easy miles

Tuesday – 4 easy miles

Wednesday – 6 miles

Thursday – 5 miles

Friday – 7 miles w/ 12 x :20 strides

Saturday – 20-mile-long run w/ Derek

Summary: 59 miles and 1 strength training

 

WEEK #9

RECAP OF WEEK 4/9 – 4/15

Sunday – 4 easy miles

Monday – AM: Strength, NOON: 7.5-mile Structured Fartlek, PM: 3-mile shakeout during track practice

Tuesday – 6-mile foundations run

Wednesday – 6.5-mile foundations run

Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-mile shakeout, NOON: 6 miles, including 8 x 1:00 HILLS w/ 2:00 jog

Friday – 7-mile foundations run w/ Scott

Saturday – 17 miles total, including Ron Daws 25K (5K easy at 8:40 pace, 20K at MP ~7:48 pace)

Summary: 60 miles of running and 2 strength training

 

Quote of the day;

“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” – Jane Austen

MAKING PROGRESS

 An 18-week marathon program sure seems like a long time. But then I blinked, and I was already done with 6 weeks of the training. At the start of this 80/20 program, I was a little concerned with having 2 workouts per week, plus long runs. But, as of right now, I’m really happy with how the program is going. I basically hit all of the workouts in the first 6 weeks (except for one workout in week #5). There is a lot of variety, and I don’t feel like I’m doing the same workouts over and over. And, best of all, I’m seeing results. Despite all the shitty weather, and running by feel due to snow and ice, I’m feeling much more fit and I’m gaining confidence. What more do you want from a program?!

At the end of week #6 I pushed my long run from Saturday to Sunday because I was at an indoor track meet Saturday morning. This worked well too because I had a 10-mile race planned the following Sunday. The Monday of week #7 I was thrown my first curve ball as I woke up not feeling well. The only thing that comes to mind is that I ate some homemade sprouts that had been in the fridge for over a week. No big deal, I took the day off – my first unscheduled day off this cycle – and then bounced back with a great workout on Tuesday. I skipped my second workout of the week – substituting in some strides instead. Mainly, I didn’t want 2 hard workouts and a race all in one week.

I was a little concerned about Sunday’s race because we received another 10” of snow Friday night and into Saturday morning. Luckily it was enough time to clear the snow and let the sun dry out the pavement. The course ended up having some slippery spots, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. Sidenote: we are now up to the 3^rd snowiest winter in Twin Cities history. Yay us!

I’m happy to report that the race went very well. I started this recent journey with a Thanksgiving 8K at 7:12 pace. I was able to manage 7:10 pace for 10 miles last Sunday. That’s according to my watch. The official results had me one second under 1:11, which is 7:06 pace. If you believe all the pace charts out there, that means my marathon fitness level has gone from 3:30 to 3:20. I’m really pleased with that progress. I initially set my “B” goal as 3:25, which is my BQ, and my “A” goal as 3:20. To have race results in early April that point towards my “A” is quite reassuring.

Honestly, I don’t know if I’m in 3:20 shape quite yet. The pace calculator that I’m using says I’m in about 1:36 half marathon shape. If I double that to 3:12, I only have to add 8 minutes to get to 3:20. Looking back at my race history leading up to marathons, my results are typically an additional 12 minutes more than double my half marathon times. That means I’m in more like 3:24 shape. In any case, I still have 10+ weeks of training left to keep improving.  

Back when I was training a lot and racing more frequently, it seemed like my fitness never changed. I could always predict my race times within a couple of seconds – marathons within a minute or two. Race fitness was one of those things I took for granted, until I didn’t have it.

This time around, starting the process out of shape, it’s been really fun to feel myself improving and see my race times getting faster.

WEEK #4

RECAP OF WEEK 3/5 – 3/11

Sunday – 4 miles

Monday – AM: Strength + 2.5-mile shakeout, NOON: 8.5 miles, including 6 x 4:00 @ CV

Tuesday – 6-mile foundations run

Wednesday – AM: Strength, NOON 7-mile foundations run

Thursday – AM: 7.5 miles, including 3 x (10 x :30)

Friday – AM: 5.7 miles w/ Pat, PM: 2.8-mile shakeout

Saturday – 12-mile-long run, including 3 x 2 miles @ HMP – first 2 reps w/ Evan

Summary: 56 miles and 2 strength training

WEEK #5

RECAP OF WEEK 3/12 – 3/18

Sunday – 4 miles

Monday – AM: 8.5 miles, including 4 x (3:00 at Z3, 3:00 at ZY, 3:00 at Z1)

Tuesday – AM: 2-mile shakeout, PM: 3.2-mile foundations run

Wednesday – AM: Strength, NOON: 7-mile foundations run

Thursday – Feeling out of sorts, skipped main workout; PM: 3.7 miles, including 8 x 1:00 hills w/ track team

Friday – 5-mile foundations run

Saturday – 18-mile-long run w/ Scott on pack snowy trail

Summary: 55 miles and 1 strength training

 

WEEK #6

RECAP OF WEEK 3/19 – 3/25

Sunday – Scheduled day off

Monday – AM: Strength + 2.5-mile shakeout, NOON: 7-mile Progression Run (12:00 @ Tempo, 6:0) @ TH, 3:00 @ CV)

Tuesday – 5-mile foundations run

Wednesday – 7-mile foundations run w/ strides

Thursday – AM: Strength + 2.5-mile shakeout, NOON: 8 miles, including 12 x (:45 w/ 1:45 jog)

Friday – 5.2 miles foundations run w/ Scott

Saturday – 4-mile recovery run

Summary: 41.2 miles of running and 1 strength training

 

WEEK #7

RECAP OF WEEK 3/26 – 4/1

Sunday – 11-mile Fast Finish, including last 10:00 @ Z3

Monday – day off – not feeling well (sprouts?)

Tuesday – 10-mile run, including 8 x 1K @ 10K pace w/ 1:00 rest

Wednesday – 6-mile foundations run w/ PRG group

Thursday – 6.5-mile foundations run w/ Scott

Friday – 5 miles foundations run w/ 8 x :20 strides

Saturday – day off (race tomorrow + shoveled snow)

Summary: 38.5 miles of running

 

Quote of the day;

“Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” – Aesop

 

GOOD INTENTIONS

I really had good intentions of blogging about the current training cycle I’m in. There’s nothing like hyping an upcoming training block for 2.5 months, only to go radio silent once it starts. Of course, I have lots of excuses. The main one being that high school track starts next Monday. We currently have 175 kids signed up and about 75 of them are distance runners. That’s a lot! I’d have to go back and check last year’s numbers, but it seems like a 50% increase to me. Luckily, I have 3 new coaches to help me out. I’ve been trying to put all my notes and documentation into one place, so that we’re all on the same page.

The good news is that I’m over 3 weeks into my 18-week training cycle and according to Training Peaks, all of my workouts have been “green”. If you’re not familiar with the website, I’ve uploaded my training plan to it and then I can link my watch to upload my workouts. If I do what was planned it counts as green, if I’m within a certain percentage (I assume over or under) of the planned workout, then it’ll be highlighted yellow. Of course, if I don’t do the workout at all or just a small portion, then it turns red.

In any case, here’s a recap of the first 3 weeks.

RECAP OF WEEKS 1/29 – 2/11

These were planned cutback weeks where I ran 22 and 25 miles, respectively.

WEEK #1

RECAP OF WEEK 2/12 – 2/18

Sunday – 4 miles w/ strides

Monday – AM: 2-mile shakeout, PM: 7 miles w/ Fast Finish – last :05 @ CV

Tuesday – 6-mile foundations run

Wednesday – 6.5-mile foundations run

Thursday – AM: Strength + 2-mile shakeout, PM: 6.5 miles w/ 10 x :20 strides

Friday – AM: 6 miles w/ Scott, PM: 7M fat bike ride

Saturday – 14-mile-long run (working on fueling plan)

Summary: 54 miles of running, 7 miles of biking, and 1 strength training

 

WEEK #2

RECAP OF WEEK 2/19 – 2/25

Sunday – 4 miles

Monday – AM: Strength + 2.5-mile shakeout, PM: 6.5 miles w/ Fast Finish – last :10 @ LT

Tuesday – 6-mile foundations run

Wednesday – 6.5-mile foundations run - TREADMILL

Thursday – AM: 2.5-mile shakeout, PM: 6.5-mile Fartlek (10 x 1:00 @ 6:50 pace w/ 2:00 easy) - TREADMILL

Friday – 6 miles foundations run

Saturday – 17-mile-long run (5 solo, 12 w/ Scott)

Summary: 59 miles of running and 1 strength training, plus 18” of snow from Tuesday night through Thursday, hence all the time on the treadmill

 

WEEK #3

RECAP OF WEEK 2/26 – 3/4

Sunday – Scheduled day off

Monday – AM: Strength + 2-mile shakeout, PM: 7-miles Fartlek (1/2/3/2/1/2/3:00 w/ 1:00 easy – 1’s at 5K, 2’s at 10K, 3’s at HMP) - TREADMILL

Tuesday – 5-mile foundations run

Wednesday – 6.5-mile foundations run

Thursday – AM: 2-mile shakeout, PM: 6.5 miles w/ Hills (10 x :30 w/ 1:30 easy)

Friday – 6.5 miles foundations run

Saturday – 11-mile-long run (depletion run – no calories before or during the run)

Summary: 46.5 miles of running and 2 strength training

 

Quote of the day;

“It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome.” – William James

 

BOOKS I'M RELYING ON

In past marathon training cycles, I’ve almost exclusively followed Jack Daniels or Pete Pftizinger’s training plans. I don’t really know why I never mixed it up more. I know people who’ve had success with Kevin Beck’s program, and I have a buddy that keeps using the Hanson’s Marathon Method. I’m sure there are other programs out there, but honestly, I don’t know what the latest craze is.

As I’ve been mentioning a lot lately, I’ve been on a Matt Fitzgerald kick lately. If you combine that with my affinity for the professional team, NAZ Elite, you get the following list of books that I’m going to rely heavily on for this training cycle;

Run Like a Pro (Even if You’re Slow): Elite Tools and Tips for Runners at Every Level by Matt Fitzgerald and Ben Rosario. This book takes Matt’s 80/20 Running program and includes some Coach’s Tips from Ben. I really like the program, at least as it is on paper, because it focuses on volume, but 80% of that volume is easy running. As for the other 20%, it includes a variety of workouts that seem manageable (again, on paper). By “variety” I mean, tempo, fartlek, hills, fast-finish, long runs w/ progression, steady-state, leg speed, 5K and 10K pace intervals and so on.

80/20 Running by Matt Fitzgerald. This came out years before Run Like a Pro, but I read it afterwards, so I included it second. It’s probably not necessary to read both of them.

Running the Dream by Matt Fitzgerald. This book follows Matt as he spends an entire 13-week training cycle in Flagstaff, AZ as a “fake pro”. During that time, he’s coached by Ben Rosario, he works out with NAZ Elite, and he has access to everything the pros use. Spoiler alert: after years of training and 40+ marathons under his belt, Matt makes a huge breakthrough. Oh yeah, he was 47 years old at the time.

Inside a Marathon: An All-Access Pass to a Top-10 Finish at NYC by Scott Fauble and Ben Rosario. This is perhaps one of the most unique running books on the market. It follows NAZ elite athlete, Scott Fauble, and his coach, Ben Rosario, through a 20-week training cycle leading up to the 2018 NYC Marathon. After each week of training, both Scott and Ben write a recap from their perspective – without the other knowing what they wrote.  

Yesterday I mentioned that my plan was to document this 18-week session as best I can – ala Running the Dream. In addition to blogging about it, I was thinking I would add a lot more color to my Strava posts, however, now I’m reconsidering that second part. I was listening to a podcast with Steven Pressfield about his creative process. He mentioned that it’s bad luck to talk about what he’s working on before it’s been released into the world. Not that I believe all that, but most of my Strava followers are my high school athletes, so they probably don’t need to know the details of my marathon training. I’ll limit exposure to my dozen or so blog readers.

Quote of the day;

“The past is a memory, the future is an idea, all that exists is the moment.” – Scott Fauble, Inside a Marathon

ANCILLARY GOALS

I’ll start with a random thought I had on Monday, which is trash collection day in my neighborhood;

Why do we make it easy for mail to be delivered – 1 mail carrier with all the mailboxes on the same side of the street – but make it difficult to get our trashed picked up – 5 trash collectors that need to drive on both the odd and even sides of the street to collect trash?

The plan after Sunday’s race was to take some time off (up to a week) from running, which will give me a week of easing back into things before jumping into the deep end of training. Being in the middle of a cold snap makes taking the time off easier, but it’s still weird when you go from 50 MPW to 0 MPW. You realize how much time running takes up.

I’m trying to fill some of that time by determining what ancillary training routines I’d like to include during this marathon build-up. As I get older, I find myself looking for more and more non-running activities that will help with my running performance. Of course, it would have been smart to include these things 20-30 years ago, but you do what you can at the time. My time commitments and responsibilities were a lot different back then. Heck, COVID alone changed a lot of this for the better for me. By only having to commute 1 day per week, it’s freed up about 5-6 hours per week. That time can be better spent by running in the morning, cooking dinner in the evening, including more ancillary work, or any number of things not related to my job. Perhaps my favorite thing about working from home is the ability to take a nap at lunchtime. Anywhere from 20-40 minutes is perfect for me. It allows me to recharge, without keeping me awake at night.

I’ve already added 3 ancillary things to my routine and am excited to see their combined impact on my training; 1) Strength training twice per week – this isn’t in the form of 1980s gym class with curls, bench press, and dips. This is at a gym built with runners in mind and the workouts are specific to functional running movements, lunges, planks, split squats, hamstring curls, sumo squats, banded walking and so on. I work out with my buddy Scott - on Monday’s we have a trainer, Jacob, and then we repeat that workout on Thursdays, without Jacob. 2) The aforementioned naps – especially important if I’m going to be logging mileage, workouts and long runs unlike anything I’ve done in years.  3) Not really a routine, but I’m including super shoes in the mix. My PRs were set in the era before super shoes were a thing. If they truly give you 4% improvement, that like 7-8 minutes over the course of a marathon at my goal time.

Other things that I plan on adding include, 1) Self-massage through foam rolling, Roll Recovery, and work with a lacrosse ball to help loosen up my glute, piriformis, hamstring, IT band, quads, etc. 2) Flexibility work, especially for the hips and back. 3) More dynamic warm-up before easy runs and workouts in the form of drills (skipping, high knees, butt kicks, etc). 4) Mental skills training along the lines of progressive relaxation, visualization, confidence journaling, etc.  

Obviously, this is a lot and it’s likely that some things will be easy to include, like naps, while other things, like drills before an easy run, are more likely not to happen. But as the saying goes, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Without having these things in mind, they’d definitely NOT happen. Whereas, by sharing them on the interwebs, there’s a chance that I could be held accountable – and therefore more likely to include them.

That’s where my head is at as I sit in limbo before training starts. My plan is to document this 18-week session as best I can – mainly for my own benefit as I look back on what worked and what didn’t work, but also maybe someone else will find it useful.

Quote of the day;

“I don’t try to block out the pain in hard workouts or races anymore, if you want to be in charge of the hurt, you have to let it in. That’s the key to being able to endure a lot of pain, it’s to know it intimately. The discomfort is coming along for the ride, but it doesn’t get to drive and it sure as shit can’t pick the music.” – Scott Fauble, Inside a Marathon

OLD SCHOOL RANT

 

Both feet (barely) off the ground.

Photo: Evan Roberts

As January comes to a close, I like to think I followed my “master plan” for the month. The idea was to;

11  1) build mileage at the end of December and into the first week of January – I ended up with 38, 43 and 49 miles during that stretch.
2) take a down week and race on the 14^th – backed off to 28 miles and ran a decent 5M race.
3) build mileage for the next 2 weeks before racing on the 29^th – had back-to-back 7-day stretches of 47 and 54 miles (note: I say 7-day stretches because they were from Monday to Sunday, which isn’t my typical Sunday to Saturday “week”. I did race yesterday – more on that below.
4) backing off for a couple of weeks before jumping into marathon training – that’s where I’m at now.

I also tried to keep things fun by including 3 fat bike rides and 4 skis, along with 8 strength sessions. Overall, I’m happy with where I’m at and my plan moving forward. That plan being the Level 3 version from 8020endurance.com. I originally downloaded their Level 2 plan, but then David Goggins was whispering in my ear, “Go big or go home.” In reality, I’ll probably have both plans side-by-side and try to follow a combination of both.

I feel like I need to caveat a lot of my posts with “back when I was more focused on road racing…” because it’s been so long that that has been my focus. But back when I was more focused on road racing, I always looked forward to winter running as a chance to put in a lot of miles and build a base heading into spring. During most winters, this base building phase included me running the Winter Carnival half marathon as a way to benchmark my progress. All those years the race started in downtown St. Paul and was basically an out-and-back on Shepard Road, which is a 4-lane road with clear surfaces (as long as it wasn’t snowing at the time) and rolling hills. In addition, there was also plenty of competition and people to run with.

This year’s race was held on at the State Fair grounds and you had the option of running 1 – 4 laps that were supposed to be 5K. I signed up for the 20K option with the hopes that the closed-off fair grounds would include dry pavement. That turned out not to be the case. Just walking across the parking lot was a challenge with all the glare ice. After picking up my bib I looked at the start/finish area and could tell that the roads were not plowed very well. I initially had my racing shoes on, but even prior to warming up I knew those wouldn’t be a wise choice. I switched to my trail shoes and changed my mindset from “racing” to just getting in a solid effort. It turned out that there were about 1 mile of clear roads during each loop. Otherwise, we were running on packed snow or ice covered in sand.

The 15K and 20K started together with 18 and 44 people running those respective events, with he 5K and 10K starting 5 minutes later. When the gun went off, I followed my latest strategy of running without looking at any splits. There was an 8-minute pacer just in front of me for the first lap, but he eventually gapped me. After about 1.5 laps we started lapping runners from the other events, so although it was a pretty boring course, there were a lot more people on it than you’d expect from such a small event.

There really isn’t a lot to report from the race itself. It was about -3 degrees at the start, so I was bundled up. I am curious how much that affects a runner’s performance. There are lots of conversion charts for things like altitude and heat, but I haven’t seen one for wearing 2 layers of pants, a shirt, vest, and jacket, 2 layers of glove/mitts + hand warmers, and so on. My guess is that it’s significant – at least that’s what I’m going with.

In my last race I had a guy pull away from me towards the end and he ended up winning our age group. During the last mile of this race, I caught 1 guy that was really struggling and was able to beat him to the finish line. As a result, I was the first 50–59-year-old and he was second. I won’t mention the fact that there was a 64-year-old about 8 minutes in front of me.

In the end, I was pleasantly surprised to finish in 1:35, which is 7:40 pace for 20K. That was until I saw that my watch only recorded 11.7 miles – and that I averaged 8:08 pace. Recently I mentioned that I’m now one of those runners that puts full stock into their watch. This is a prime example of why I do that now. Granted my watch might not be perfect, but it’s not .7 of a mile off. Honestly, being this far off is unacceptable. Maybe I’m too “Old School” but when I run a race I want 2 things; 1) an accurate distance and 2) accurate finish results. Heck, even #2 is debatable, because if I have #1, I can time myself.

I really don’t know who’s at fault here. Is it the Winter Carnival committee who probably came up with the route and said, “that’s close enough?” Or is it the timing company who probably just showed up and was told, “here’s the start and finish line, don’t worry, we’ve marked the course?” I hate to sound like an old curmudgeon, but around this area, all the classic races are disappearing and being replaced by charity events. There’s nothing wrong with having charity events, but they typically have much deeper pockets than the people putting on the classics. As a result, the price to host a race goes up and drives these people out of business. Then we’re left with race where the top priority is swag and a DJ.

It’s time to put an emphasis on races with certified courses – DJ’s be damned!

RECAP OF WEEK 1/15 – 1/21

Sunday – 7K classic ski
Monday – AM: Strength + 2 mile easy, PM: 6 miles easy
Tuesday – 6 miles
Wednesday – AM: 6 miles, NOON: 4M fat bike
Thursday – AM: Strength + 2 mile easy, PM: 6 miles easy
Friday – 7-mile run w/ Scott
Saturday – Day off
Summary: 35 miles of running, 4 miles of biking, 7K of skiing and 2 strength training

 

RECAP OF WEEK 1/22 – 1/28

Sunday – 12 miles w/ Scott and Derek
Monday – AM: Strength, PM: 8 miles easy
Tuesday – AM: 5 miles + strides, PM: 12K skate ski
Wednesday – 7.5 miles
Thursday – AM: Strength + 2 mile easy, PM: 6.5 miles w/ 6 x :30 hills
Friday – AM: 5.5 miles w/ Scott and Pat, PM: 2 miles easy
Saturday – AM: 5M fat bike, PM: 4 miles easy
Summary: 52 miles of running, 5 miles of biking, 12K of skiing and 2 strength training

Quote of the day;

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” - Chinese Proverb

CHARTS BASED ON PERCEIVED EFFORT

10-pt Scale of Perceived Effort

 

Zones and Paces that align with workout intensities from Run Like a Pro

Current and Goal Paces for different intensities

Paces and MPH for treadmill use

EASY RUN PACE

One thing I forgot to mention about Saturday’s race and running by feel vs. checking my splits is that my first mile was way too slow. I ran it in 7:19, which is just above my average pace for the race, however, we lost about 65’ of elevation during that mile. Of course, looking at my watch at mile 1 wouldn’t change that fact, but it may have planted the seed that I should be able to run harder for the remaining 4 miles. Or perhaps I could have checked what pace I was running prior to hitting the downhill stretch. But I don’t know how accurate the pace feature is either.

I will say that I could probably benefit from a more dynamic warmup routine, rather than just running 2 miles with a couple of high knees and butt kickers. Funny, being a mid-January race doesn’t really make one want to spend more time outside doing a full warmup.

Okay, today’s topic focuses on easy run pace. I hear it all the time, “most runners run too fast on their easy days and not fast enough on their hard days.” After reading Run Like a Pro and 80/20 Running I’ve been trying to put together a spreadsheet of the various terms and efforts for each training intensity and how they all relate to one another. Basically, I started with a 10-point Perceived Effort Scale that includes Rating, Description, and Internal Cues. From there I layered in Zone, Pace, Race Distance (that I could hold that pace for), and Workout Type (that I could run each pace at – i.e. is it steady-state, fartlek, 5k pace, etc.). Finally, I added Intensity (low, moderate, high) as outlined in the 80/20 program. I could also add in Heart Rate, but I don’t fully trust the measurements from my watch. For the paces I punched my recent race results into Tinman’s Pace Calculator. These results happen to correspond to a 3:30 marathon, so off to the side I also included the paces for each intensity if I improve to 3:25 or 3:20 shape.

After laying all this out I was really confused by what my easy run pace should be. Again, the concept of 80/20 Running says that 80% of your runs should be at a Low Intensity and the other 20% should be at a Moderate to High Intensity. In the book, Matt Fitzgerald says that for most runners the split is closer to 50/50. Prior to putting together the spreadsheet that I mentioned above, I assume for me a Low Intensity would be around 9:30 pace, which is like MP + 90 seconds per mile. However, as I re-read parts of the book it says “the boundary between low intensity and moderate intensity falls at the ventilatory threshold (VT), which is where the breathing rate abruptly deepens. This is slightly below the more familiar lactate threshold.” Again, in terms of my fitness, I could run as fast as 7:50 pace, which is :10 faster per mile than my MP.

I bring this all up because it was really confusing to me because NONE of my easy runs are EVER done faster than MP. I don’t understand how “most runners” are able to run 50% of their mileage faster than MP. My best guess is that maybe it’s a fitness thing and that this applies to newer runners. I’ve coached some new runners and their training runs were all faster than their MP. Or maybe it applies to younger runners. Perhaps when I was in my 20s I could hit those paces, but not in my 50s.

I was originally thinking this will be great, I’ve been running too fast on my easy days. I’ll slow down and then have more in the tank for my hard workouts. Now I’m like, “I can actually run faster on my easy days? Then would I have the energy for my hard days?” I guess my key take-away is that I don’t have to slug along at 9:30 pace on all my non-workout days. Also, listen to my body and do what it’s telling me.

Quote of the day;

“The process of becoming is better than the being.” – Unknown

YUKON CHALLENGE RACE REPORT

The challenge of running back-to-back races of (essentially) the same distance is trying to evaluate them objectively. I’d love to say that after 7 weeks of building my mileage and doing 1-2 workouts per week that I crushed the pace I ran during my Thanksgiving 8K. However, Saturday’s 5-mile race was run at 7:18 pace or :06 per mile slower.

NOTE: I’m now one of those runners that uses what their watch tells them as gospel. There was a time when if I ran a race, I’d believe that the events were their advertised distance. But I now take the opposite approach and assume they’re just approximations. For example, after the 8K my watch said 4.89 miles, even though 8K = 4.97 miles. After running the 5-mile race my watch said 5.07 miles. Not that my watch is correct, but at least it was the same in both races. If I assume the courses were the correct length, then my 8K pace would’ve been overstated and my 5-mile pace would’ve been understated.

But let’s forget about the watch – for now. I’m happy with how I raced on Saturday. This was a fairly tough out-and-back course that started at the Guthrie and followed the River Road south before turning around. That means the first mile was downhill and most of the second mile was flat before climbing to the turn around point and repeating those hills in the opposite direction. Temps were just under 20 degrees and there was a slight first half headwind.

Another change I’ve adopted – in addition to believing my watch to be the gospel – is to just run by feel once the gun goes off. There was a time when I’d take my splits at every mile and then spend the next minute or two analyzing them and projecting my finish time. Now I try to stay more present and monitor things like my breathing, my pace, and how relaxed I am. Mentally, I like it a lot better, but if you have a specific goal in mind, you have no idea if you’re on pace or not. You don’t get that immediate feedback at the mile marks. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Perhaps you’d run the same exact time either way. I don’t know, I’ve never tested it.

Anyway, I said I’m happy with how I raced and that’s because I stayed engaged during the whole race. I was constantly monitoring the things I could control. It was a pretty small race with less than 300 people. I think after about 1.5 miles I was in the same place that I finished. I ran back and forth with one guy for a few miles. After being about 10-15 feet behind him at 3 miles I caught up to him in the next half mile. I think that woke him up a little as he pulled away and put 25 seconds on me the rest of the way. Of course, he ended up winning my age group and I was 2^nd.  

Back to the watch. I’m currently using a COROS Pace 2, along with their app. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of data being tracked – things like running performance as a percentage, Load Impact, Fatigue, Base Fitness, etc. I’m still trying to get a feel for all of it. I constantly click on the little question marks that provide more information trying to understand what an “optimized” fatigue level off 44 means or an “excellent” Running Performance of 112%. Can I really trust when my watch says I’m above the recommended Load Impact range of 594-1081?

Getting back to using my watch to compare my 8K and 5-mile races. Here are a few of the key metrics that stood out to me.

Metric                               8K          5M

Avg Effort Pace                7:06       7:03

Running Performance    119%     112%

Training Load                   171        160

Elevation Gain                 164        266

 

Overall, the race served its purpose. It proved that Thanksgiving wasn’t a fluke and that I’m still on the right path and motivated to work towards my 2023 goals.

RECAP OF WEEK 1/8 – 1/14

Sunday – Day off

Monday – AM: Strength, PM: 4 miles easy

Tuesday – 16K skate ski

Wednesday – 6-mile fartlek (1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1:00 “on” w/ 1:00 “off”) 1:00 run at 5K, 2:00 run at 10K and 3:00 run at HMP

Thursday – AM: Strength, PM: 5 miles easy

Friday – 5-mile run w/ strides

Saturday – 8 miles total, including 5-mile race

Summary: 28 miles of running, 0 miles of biking, 16K of skiing and 2 strength training

 

Quote of the day;

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Unknown

2023 RACE SCHEDULE (first half)

It’s funny that the winter that I decide to ramp up my running is the time that we have incredible snow. Just a week ago we received 16” of snow over a 48-hour period. I think that brings our total for the season up to 45”. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and we’d go to Michigan’s U.P. and snow would be piled over their mailboxes along the road. As Dave mentioned in a comment on my last post, lots of runners switch to skiing over the winter and get into great shape. I agree that it’s possible and I’ve done it myself. The hard part is, of course, you’re dependent on the snow. Now we have places that make snow, which is great. However, if you don’t receive any, or enough, natural snow, you’re stuck doing 2–3-mile loops over and over all winter long. That can get extremely monotonous. To have a really good ski season you have to start early – as soon as the first man-made loop is open, which is typically early December. Again, if you commit to that and don’t get natural snow, then you’re stuck with man-made loops. With all that in mind, this winter I’ve committed myself to focusing on running, while using the occasional ski (and bike) outing as cross training. The problem with that approach is skiing gets so much easier, and more fun, the more often you do it. Your form gets better, and you get stronger, making the whole process much easier.

I have 2 other “excuses” for not focusing on skiing this year; 1) I work from home 4 days per week now, so I no longer pass by ski trails on my way to work. Plus, our new office doesn’t have a shower like our previous location. That pretty much eliminates exercising before work on the one day that I do go to the office. 2) I’ll admit it, I’m a fair-weather skier. I just don’t enjoy skiing when it’s below about 10 degrees. And guess what, that happens a lot in Minnesota during the winter – especially in the mornings.

I guess all of this is my way to justify focusing on running when the footing has been terrible, but the ski trails are fabulous.

While my running motivation is high, I took the opportunity to sign up for a bunch of races. Here’s what my 2023 race schedule is looking like at the moment. The plan is to build fitness through increased mileage and workouts through 1/29 and then have 2 weeks before I’d start an 18-week build towards Grandma’s on 2/12.

1/14 Yukon 5-mile

1/29 Winter Carnival 15K or 20K

4/2 Goldy’s 10-mile

4/8 Zumbro 17-mile trail race

5/6 Human Powered Half Marathon

6/17 Grandma’s Marathon

This means I’m racing a 5 miler this Saturday. If you’ve been following closely, my last race was an 8k on Thanksgiving where I surprised myself by averaging 7:12 pace. I want to use this race to see where the last 7 weeks of hard training has taken me. But I also realize that the weather and road conditions will be vastly different than on November 24^th.

One last topic before I recap the last couple of weeks of training. I like to read/listen to books and I’m already through 4 this year. I mentioned Matt Fitzgerald’s 80/20 Running previously. This covered a lot of the same themes from Run Like a Pro, which I read at the end of 2022. Next, I read the biography of Bill Squires, Born to Coach by Paul Clerici. I love the history of the sport and being the coach of Bill Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, Greg Meyers – guys I looked up to as a kid – I really thought I’d like this book a lot. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet my expectations. I think the story could have been told in 100 fewer pages. There were lots of stats about runner’s results from each season – and many of these runners would only be known if you lived in the Boston area at the time.

The next 2 books I really liked, so I’m going to give them their own paragraphs.

I think most endurance athletes are familiar with David Goggins, the former Navy Seal that has done some mind-blowing endurance events that usually involve finishing after some setback that would cause most runners to DNF. He covered his back story a couple of years ago in his first book Can’t Hurt Me. Everything I read about his latest book, Never Finished, said it was even better, and I’d have to agree. While I think he can be a little much at times – pushing way passed bodily harm (or at least what I’d consider bodily harm) – he does have a way of motivated people and having them question their effort levels. It happens to be one of the reasons why I’ve been bumping my weekly mileage. I would recommend listening to the audio version of this book because after each chapter, he does a mini-podcast that provides additional insight.

I’m not sure if I’m mentioned it at all, but I took an assistant coaching job for cross country and track 3 years ago. I bring that up because it’s one of the reasons I read the next book, What Makes Maddy Run. It’s the story of an all-American girl that’s great at everything she does – until she gets to college. It’s about her struggles with mental illness – something no one saw coming, given how successful she was in high school. I would consider this a must-read for all parents, especially if their kids are in sports. As a coach it was very insightful, but it also scares the shit out of me. It’s much easier to come up with a weekly workout schedule than to monitor the mental health of my athletes and then try to have difficult conversation with them if I suspect anything. It’s even harder when that’s not the environment you grew up in and you’ve never had mental health issues yourself.

RECAP OF WEEK 12/25 – 12/31

Sunday – Day off - Christmas

Monday – Strength + 8 miles easy

Tuesday – AM: 2-mile shuffle, NOON: 4.5 miles easy

Wednesday – 6-mile progression run (steady-state pace to CV pace – 7:45 – 7:10)

Thursday – AM: Strength + 3-miles, PM: 2 miles easy

Friday – AM: 6-mile run, PM: 10K classic ski

Saturday – AM: 8 miles, PM 4 miles – poor footing led to sore hips in the morning, so I cut my long run short and added a 2^nd run.

Summary: 43.5 miles of running, 0 miles of biking, 10K of skiing and 2 strength training

 

RECAP OF WEEK 1/1 – 1/7

Sunday – 9-mile fat bike ride – perfect conditions

Monday – AM: 2 miles, PM: 8 mile including :40 at steady-state pace (7:45) + strength

Tuesday – AM: 4+ miles easy, PM: 2+ miles easy

Wednesday – 6-mile run – lots of shoveling

Thursday – AM: 2.5 miles, PM: 5.5 miles – Fast Finish – last :10 at LT (7:25)

Friday – AM: 5 miles, PM: 7K classic ski

Saturday – 14 miles solo (2:18)

Summary: 49.5 miles of running, 9 miles of biking, 7K of skiing and 1 strength training

The last 3 weeks of 38, 43 and 49 miles of running have me looking forward to a cutback week. That will be a nice mini-taper leading up to Saturday’s race.

 

Quote of the day;

“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.” – Sophia Bush