Getting Slower to Get Faster

A.M. Easy out and back along Foothill.

I kept this run very easy to gently wake-up Thanksgiving and travel legs. When I reached Foothill, I saw Chad and Josh getting ready to cross from the other side and thought about running with them again, but decided against for the foregoing. The run felt pretty good as rust-busters go. Tomorrow I'll do interval work with the Black Sheep.

Out 8:47/mi @ HR 148

Back 8:01/mi @ HR 144

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A.M. Weight = 179.4

A.M.  Flower Pot Lattice (Ladder) Workout with the Black Sheep, 6.83 miles.

We ran intervals uphill to various giant flower pots in the middle of campus. We progressed from the 1st through 3rd pots to the end of the walk way and then cut back down. I generally lagged a few seconds behind Chad and ran in the 3rd position for most of the intervals. I put a good effort into all of them as my heart rate attests but ran the "last" one stop harder. Straley then revealed that the workout had a part B and C. I recovered during part B and then coasted through part C running with Chad and Josh with the last rep at 5:12 pace and feeling very easy after the hills. Its good to run with a group who can pull and push you along.

Rep	Distance	Time	Peak HR
1	.13	0:49	180
2	.19	1:14	185
3	.31	2:03	187
4	.41	2:38	191
5	.32	2:01	191
6	.19	1:08	190
7	.14	0:43	190
8	.13	0:49	179
9	.12	0:46	183
10	.27	1:29	184
11	.27	1:23	188

P.M. Very easy 21st east loop.

I haven't run anything fast uphill for literally years so my upper gastrocs/lower hamstrings are pretty tight and are going to be sore. Its clear I need to mix in a little more hill work.

3.43 mi @ 9:17/mi, HR 139

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A.M. Weight = 179.4

A.M. Easy Base I run on Treadmill

I'm a little stiff and sore from yesterday. Between a cramping hamstring, hamstring isometrics, travel, hikes, hills, etc. I've had sore or stiff muscles in one form or another for a couple of weeks now. If I feel great tomorrow morning, I may run some sort of LT or AT workout, if not, I may just stick with base runs for the next couple of days to let my body catch up with the various challenges I've thrown at it the last couple of weeks.

8:30/mi @ HR 148

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A.M. Weight = 178.1

A.M. LT run on the track at East

I felt more normal this morning and progressively better as I warmed up so I decided to go ahead with the LT run. It went well and mechanically the pace felt very easy, just floating along. HR was just a little higher than LT would normally be, but I always run by feel and monitor HR primarily to satisfy my curiousity. My perceptive criteria for the LT upper limit (adopted from Daniels) is 1-hour race-pace, which I was certainly within today. Effort wise it was a 7.5/10. I accelerated over the last 200 so HR spiked at 190, but at 60 and 90 seconds post-workout was down to 146 and 127 respectively.

I'll log Lap and HR data tonight, but averaged 6:30/mi with HR ~178. This is probably the fastest my LT has been in a few years, so I'm seeing continued improvement (but still have a long way to go).

Lap	Time	Ave HR	1600 Time
1	1:37.4	173 Peak
2	1:39.3	176 Peak
3	1:39.0	175
4	1:36.8	179	6:32.5
5	1:38.1	179
6	1:38.4	178
7	1:38.0	178
8	1:36.7	179	6:31.2
9	1:36.7	180
10	1:36.5	180
11	1:36.2	181
12	1:36.7	181	6:26.1
13* (200)	38.9(22/17)	190 Peak

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P.M. 21st East Loop at Base I+

This went way better than Tuesday's PM run but I'm still feeling a little off.

4.84 mi, 8:34/mi @ HR 143

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A.M. Weight - 176.7

A.M. New Loop. I climbed up 13th South to Wasatch, came out on Sunnyside, and dropped down through Research Park. Lots of hills.

6.46 mi @ HR 141

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A.M. Weight = 177.3

A.M. 8 x 200 at East

I waffled for a while about what workout to do this morning. My upper gastrocs are still tight and sore and I have been generally a little stiffer than normal. I decided to go with 200s. This at first may seem counterintuitive. However, I've found that some brisk speed work really helps loosen my muscles more than about anything else I can do provided I run relaxed and within myself. This was also a good chance to test my hamstring which cramped pretty bad a couple of weeks ago.

I started out easy and subtley increased the effort over each rep. I found a great combination of relaxation, turnover, and power over the last 4. I ran very light on my feet with minimal ground contact time. The feeling could be described as "crisp" with all leg muscles working together in a balanced effort, rather than overloading the hamstrings which I am prone to do. My hamstring felt great and was non-issue.

Warm-up, drills, warm-up 800 = 3:02 (1:34, 1:28).

200s with full recovery: 35.5,  34.2,  34.3,  33.1,  31.9,  31.1,  30.6,  29.95

(With all my winter gear on too. I'd rather run a little slow on these but keep muscle temp up).

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P.M. Went through the drill, and got out the door, but my upper gastrocs/popliteus muscles are too sore to make it worth the time. I'll have Andrea grind them out and I should be fine by Monday. I haven't needed to take any anti-inflammatories since June, so I always have that stop to pull out if I need it.

.71 mi, 11:50/mi, HR 118 (Blazing!)

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A.M. Weight = 177.3

A.M. New extended 21st East Loop+ add ons

Injury status is improved. Andrea ground out my popliteus/upper gastrocs out yesterday. They are much improved, but were still tight on my run this morning. The good news is that despite dealing with this, I felt more normal this morning. My sense of rhythm, which was completely absent on base runs last week, was detectable this morning. The second half of the run I felt light on my feet and only felt my "wounds" when going up a good grade. I'll likely do some sort of AT or LT work on the treadmill tomorrow morning.

55:37, 8:18/mi @ HR 149

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A.M. Weight = 178.0

A.M. 3 x 1 mile @ LT on treamill

Treadmills are my friend. I used to hate them, but am started to really appreciate being able to do faster work when the roads and tracks are iced and snowed over like this morning.

My upper gastrocs/poplitei felt better today than yesterday. Overall I felt pretty good and had a good workout without taking too much out of my self. I ran 3 x 1 mile w/~2.5 min recovery on the treadmill at LT effort, may just barely, barely over, but pretty close. Anyway, because it was in interval format, I was still fairly comfortable. The pace felt a little awkward on the first 2, but I felt super smooth on number 3, a great way to end the workout.

As I've said before, I feel like effort/pace on this treadmill, with a strong fan blowing against me, is just about what it is on a track. I've got a lot of data to back that up.

Rep	Pace	Ave HR	Steady State HR
1	6:18	173	176
2	6:15	174	179
3	6:11	176	180

I'm continuing to see progress. Based on a lot of little things, I feel a jump in fitness coming.

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P.M. 21st East Foothill Loop

Winter is here.

4.71 mi,  8:16/mi @ HR 144

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A.M. Weight = 178.4

A.M. Out and back on Foothill, 58:38.

I was pleasantly surprised to find most of the sidewalks clear. There were a few extended patches of ice and snow, but I could still run on it, just a little slower.

Out = 8:42/mi @ HR 150

Back = 7:56/mi @ HR 148

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A.M. Weight = 176.7

A.M.  5 x 3 minutes hard/3 minutes recovery, on treadmill (which I'm pretty certain is accurate pace-wise, and has a strong fan blowing almost head-on to replicate air-resistance running over ground).

Based on a lot of little things I noticed in my training, I feel like my body is primed right now to respond to hard aerobic capacity work. A couple of weeks ago I ran a similar workout with one less rep and the bulk of the work at 5:30/mi. The plan was to try 5:15/mi today.

I ran the first 2:30 of rep 1 at 6 min/mile as the final phase of my warm-up, which felt pretty easy. I then dropped down to 5:15 for the last 30 seconds to give my legs a taste of what would be coming. There is a big difference between 6:00 and 5:15 pace. 5:15 felt awkward with initially no float. Rep 3 was a little better. Rep 4 was a little better, but was the hardest psychologically. Rep 5 felt the best and I even felt a little bit of a float. At these paces I'm still not maxing out my heart rate, which means my legs still have a lot of catching up to do. I'm pleased with this workout as I'm getting closer to sub-5 pace for my aerobic capacity work. This is a huge benchmark for me that I haven't reached for years. Like I said a couple of posts ago, I can feel a breakthrough coming.

This was a hard workout and was intended to be the most difficult of the week--a 9/10 as it turned out to be. Tuesday was a 7 and I'll keep Saturday at an 8.

Rep	Pace	Peak HR	Recovery
1	6:00/5:15	182	3:07
2	5:15	186	3:13
3	5:15	188	3:01
4	5:13	190	3:09
5	5:10	191	N/A

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P.M. Extended 21st East Loop at Base I

AdamRW stopped by and we had a nice, easy run talking about grant applications. Both of us have applications due mid-January with a lot of pressure to both produce data for the application and then actually write it, which is no small feat.

4.67 mi, 8:20/mi @ HR 147

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A.M. Weight = 177.8

A.M. Slow regeneration run around Sugarhouse Park

My legs are pretty sore from yesterday. I think I'm in one of those dangerous training windows where my capacity to do hard workouts has increased substantially but structurally my body is a little behind. Generally my hardworkouts are going well, but the rest of my runs are not feeling that great. I'll keep things easy tomorrow.

10:57/mi @ HR 125

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A.M. Weight = 178.0

A.M. Easy run, 5 Laps (1.38 mi each) around Sugarhouse Park + add-on

My energy was good this morning, but I avoided using that to justify a hard workout. Even though my workouts have been going well, my legs have been sore for too long. Its time to pull back and let them recover. I've been in similar situations before and kept pushing to my own detriment. I am on the verge of a breakthrough, but I'll be patient and reload. This is the "other" kind of discipline required to keep progessing.

 

Lap	Time	Pace	Ave HR
1	13:19	9:44	126
2	12:00	8:41	143
3	11:46	8:33	145
4	11:32	8:24	148
5	11:01	8:00	152
Add-on	1:40

1:01:16/7.05 mi

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A.M. To Sugarhouse Park, Laps, long way back.

6.39 mi, really easy, Garmin data transfer failed.

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A.M. Weight = 179.5

A.M. Base I, Laps around Liberty Park in the snow.

~8:30/mi @ HR 145ish. Very slippery. Still sore behind the knees (upper gastrocs/poplitei). I may take my ASTYM knock-off implement of torture and really grind them out.

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A.M. Weight = 178.9

A.M. High Base I run on treadmill with AT finish.

Running on a treadmill seemed a lot more enjoyable than running through ice and snow at 12 deg F this morning.

The bulk of the run: 7:53/mi @ HR 153

Last 5 minutes w/ ave HR for last 2 min (steady state): 6:58/mi @ HR 166

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A.M. Weight = 177.9

A.M. Base I, down to Sugarhouse parke, 2 laps, long way back.

 Ran easy, still sore behind the knees, definitely need to do ASTYM tonight.

 Cut down from ~9 min/mi to 8 min/mi, high 8:30s = low HR 140s.

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A.M. Weight = 179.1

A.M. 3 x 1 mile on treadmill at 10K (5:56/mi) pace

I'm still a little sore behind the knees, and didn't have a chance to do ASTYM last night (was dealing with the furnace filter instead). I wanted to do something hard enough to keep my fitness level where it is but hopefully not aggravate anything. 3 x 1 mile at 6 min pace seemed to be about right for that, but I decided to run 5:56/mi rather than 6 min because seeing 5 as the first number makes me happy. Peak HRs were 183, 186, 187 (steady state for last 2 = 186). Effort level = hard = 8/10.

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A.M. Weight = 178.2

A.M. Extended 21st East Loop + 3 laps around block

8:17/mi @ HR 146

Lots of ice and snow with some very, very slow going at places so I'm pleased with the pace. The soreness behind my knees is fading so the reduction in my training load has been effective. I'd like to bring things back up, but am under considerable pressure to complete a grant application and finish collecting data (due January 16th). I have to be at my sharpest and can't afford to be dealing with training fatigue at work. 

Winter Solstice, mid-day, 21st East Loop+:

A nice run at noon, in shorts, on the darkest day of the year and the first day of winter.

7:53/mi @ HR 151

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A.M. Weight = 179.3

A.M. Down to Sugarhouse park for 3 laps and then back, Base I

Last night I used my ASTYM-like instrument to really grind out the sore muscles behind my knees. I have bruises this morning and am quite sore. Consequently it took a while to warm-up, but once I did, I felt very good. It was the best feeling run I've had in a while.

 Pace of laps was: 9:26 (132), 8:47 (139), 8:26 (144).

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A.M. Weight = 179.x

A.M. 20 minute LT run on treadmill.

Warmed up and then completed a series of progressively faster 1 minute accelerations down to 6 minute pace, then stopped and stretched for 1-2 minutes.

LT run was a 6:27/mi. I took splits every 5 minutes to get average HR data which was:

0-5 min (peak = 177), 5-10 min (177), 10-15 min (178), 15-20 min (179).

After completing the LT portion I dropped down to 5:00/mi for 30 secs to finish with an acceleration, which I think in most cases is a good idea. HR spiked at 187.

Mechanically the pace was easy, effort wise I was into the slightly uncomfortable zone which is ideally where LT runs should be. This is my fastest LT run since becoming a born-again runner.

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A.M. Weight = 178.3

A.M. Base I run meandering around Sugarhouse.

I don't know whether its the cold, or slippery surfaces, or the stress from my grant deadline, but my runs generally are not feeling as good. The upper gastroc/popliteus issue is resolving. Backing of the speed work and grinding it out has definitely helped. However, I just feel very stiff in general and 2/3 of my runs do not feel good. I am not light on my feet and feel anything but fluid. I'm sleeping well and training very light, so I'm a little baffled. Its getting old and I need to find a solution. If it doesn't resolve soon, I may go on a 10 day cycle of NSAIDS (which I haven't touched for almost six months). Alternatively, I may take a week off of running and just cross train.

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A.M. Weight = 176.3

Off. Normally I run on Christmas, but given the way my legs have felt, and the way that makes me feel about running, I think a day off was for the best.

A.M. I went hiking for and hour with Andrea in the Foothills above the Research Park.  The terrain was fairly mildly but we still wore crampons.

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P.M. 30 minutes on the bike at HR ~125, which feel about 100x harder than the same HR running.

A.M. Progressive 4 x 800 on treadmill. Effort = 7.5/10

Warm-up 20 minutes, 3 x 1 minute at 7:30, 6:45, and 5:49/mile to complete warm-up.

800s: 3:00 (181), 2:56 (184), 2:51 (186), 2:45 (189), recoveries were about 3 minutes.

Cool-down

Weights for range of motion

10 x bar RDL, 10 x bar SQ-DSQ, 3 x Gluteham (felt this behind the knees)

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A.M. Weight = 178.3 

A.M. 3 laps around Sugarhouse park

My hamstrings are pretty sore from yesterdays extremely mild weight work, but they are a good kind of sore. Not the decrepit, not recovering soreness I've felt the last few weeks. Running felt good for two days in a row, so hopefully things are turning around.

Pace per lap = 9:55, 8:48, 8:08, no HRM

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A.M. Weight = 177.8

A.M. 5 x 5 minute AT (easier than LT) intervals, w/~75 sec jog recovery, on treadmill. Effort = 6.5-7/10

These felt pretty good and were very aerobic. I'm still sore from my light weight work on Saturday, but again, its the good kind of sore, so I did the same routine after the run today.

Rep	Pace	Recovery	Ave HR	SS HR
1	7:13	1:08	161	163-164
2	7:08	1:10	163	166-167
3	7:05	1:17	165	168-169
4	6:58	1:33	166	168-169
5	6:53	N/A	168	169-170

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A.M. Weight = 180.0  (???)

A.M. Easy 30 min run (Base I)

I slept in a little so I cut my run short a bit with the intention to run tonight. I'm opting out on the P.M. run because I'm tired and need to conserve my energy to deal with the stress of grant writing and final data collection. While I'm dealing with this grant, during the holidays, I'm cutting myself some slack when it comes to training. My training is pretty important to me; however, it is not my major priority. So, right now I'll fit in what I can, with my current aim being just to maintain fitness. If I feel really great on any particular day, I may add a second run.

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A.M. Weight = 178.3

A.M. 4 x 3 minutes progessive on treadmill, effort = 7.5-8/10

Paces (Peak HR): 6:00 (180), 5:52 (184), 5:42 (186), 5:30 (188). Felt pretty good.

Weights: Dsq 45,65, RDL 45,65, 5 x Gluteham, Bench 10 x 135.

I'm lifting with my legs solely for range of motion and rehab and so being very carefully and cautious with any progression. I haven't done any upper body lifting in 9 or 10 months, but 135 on the bench was still easy. I could have done it 20 times instead of 10. This is part of my problem, and why I never do any upper body lifting. I'm carrying too much upper body weight. By normal standards, I'm a skinny runner. By runner standards, I'm carrying too much weight in my shoulders, lats, and pecs. Hopefully I can drop another 5 lbs when I crank up the mileage with the push for Boston (after I get this grant in).

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A.M. Weight = 179.3 (I raced at 165 in college)