Category: Last Week in Running

We join our hero in the desolate Ohio wasteland. Planes flying overhead went from full to nearly-empty to fewer in number. Bars, restaurants, and breweries have closed. Medical offices have cancelled all routine appointments. Sports are cancelled or postponed. Schools are closed until at least April. Where there was once jokes about traffic congestion, there is no traffic.

At the end of last week’s report we were on DEFCON 1. It’s Wednesday as I’m typing this, and we’ve gone to DEFCON 4. Most of Ohio is closed – all restaurants, bars, and breweries, many medical offices (although not specifically required, they’ve elected to go emergencies-only), malls, and even the Ohio Primary was rescheduled.

The Flying Pig made the decision to postpone their races until October 9-11. This coincides with the Queen Bee Half Marathon. Those of us registered for the Flying Pig have a few options:

1. Virtual Race
2. Postpone and run in October
3. Defer to 2021
4. Lose the registration fee and take a 25% discount on a future event

So #4 is out, that makes no sense to me (maybe it does for others, but not me).

I’m leaning towards deferring my marathon entry to 2021 and registering for the 2020 half marathon. This is for a few reasons – one is the training season and the other is how it fits in the calendar and my mental plan for the year. My experience training for the Columbus marathon last year was brutal. Several days were just too hot to perform, and I routinely felt overtrained, dehydrated, and tired. My mental schedule for this year included doing some shorter distances over the summer and fall – I routinely race a 5k and a few 3.2k races during the summer months, and up until last year I would race the Hudy 14k and a half marathon or two in the fall. I still want to do that, since I think part of my success in the Glass City Marathon is because of the fall training before it – and I think that fall training set me up for several PRs. I finished 2018 feeling good and fast. And I have stats to show it – many of my weekly average paces during the in 2018 were below 8:30/mile. Granted, I was doing fewer miles – by 10-20 miles at times, but that speed does translate in all directions. I want to do that again.

The Plan

As of the time this publishes, I’ve suspended my marathon training program. I kept with this final week only because it was a pull-back week. I’m going to be using the Hal Higdon Advanced 5k plan for the runup to the 5k. This plan is an eight-week intensive plan that includes a lot of short intervals, tempo runs, and a “fast” day in addition to the long run and some recovery miles. Since it’s looking like that will be starting in June, I’ll have to fill in. I’ll probably stick with a similar theme to this week – decent run on Monday, recovery on Wednesday and Saturday, intervals on Tuesday, tempo on Thursday, long on Friday.

The Week

Monday: 6 miles. I ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. I felt faster than the time indicates, but didn’t really run hard. 6.07 in 55:51 (9:12/mile pace).

Tuesday: 7 x 0.5 mile intervals. Ran these entirely in the park. I really wanted these to be between 3:15 and 3:25, and the first was at 3:25. The rest were at 3:33, 3:40, 3:49, 3:34, 3:34, and 3:32. Overall, 8.5 miles in 1:12:00 (8:28/mile pace).

Wednesday: Quick five mile stroll around the park. There were other people up there (it looks like they were doing a group fitness workout prior to a few laps around the path. 5.02 miles in 43:47 (8:43/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 miles at M pace. Another M pace run that I didn’t make it to the goal. Ran the M pace portion in 58:49 (8:15/mile pace, the goal is 7:33 – 7:53). Overall run was 8 miles in 1:08:15 (8:32/mile pace).

Friday: 12 miles. Ran in the afternoon because of storm threats in the morning (Weatherbug claimed lightning in the area, I saw none). The park was BUSY so I mostly stayed in the neighboring subdivision. 12.06 miles in 1:43:45 (8:36/mile pace).

Weekend: I was scheduled to do 4 miles, but Saturday was spent going up and down stairs as I modified two desks… I didn’t track it, but I think I made it 4 miles up and down the stairs.

That’s it for the week. Just under 40 miles.

Our hero overlooks the landscape. The weeks have been getting warmer and the miles have been getting longer. In the past is the first triple-double week in the plan. In the distance is a race. A race that hopefully will not be cancelled was postponed due to the Coronavirus.

This week was originally going to have Friday and Saturday flipped due to a trip to Columbus, but that was cancelled due to the Coronavirus.

Monday: 10 miles. Ran this in the park and neighborhood next to it. It was a warm-ish morning with a nice sunrise. 10.02 miles in 1:29:43 (8:57/mile pace).

• 

• 

Tuesday: 45 minute Tempo Run. Again, ran in the park and the neighborhood next to it. It was a rainy morning and my legs were a little tired and had some issues keeping in the pace range – I wanted to be between 7:17 and 7:33, I ended up at 7:51/mile. Overall, 7.73 miles in 1:03:52 (8:16/mile pace). Finished with strength exercises, although I skipped form drills because of the pouring rain.

Wednesday: 5 miles. Ran this entirely in the park since I started a little later than normal. Around and around and turn around and around and around and turn around… 5.14 miles in 45:50 (8:55/mile pace).

Thursday: 10 miles. Ran this in East Fork to get a change of scenery. This has historically been a difficult (read: slow) route. Had to make a pitstop around 8 miles in due to GI issues (fortunately in a bathroom with soap and running water!). 10.01 miles in 1:33:18 (9:19/mile pace). Skipped both form drills and strengthening because I was running a little late (and strengthening partly because of my 20 mile run tomorrow).

Friday: 20 miles. Got up a little late and ran in the park and the subdivision next to it as the sun came up. It started out at a comfortable temperature that quickly turned windy and chilly. It got so windy at one point that I had to pause the podcast I was listening to. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gel. I generally felt better in the second half of this except for the final mile and a half or so, and my splits indicate a minute faster (1:32 and 1:31). Overall, 20.02 in 3:03:05 (9:09/mile pace).

• 

Saturday: 4 miles. At around 6:30 AM, my phone’s alarm said “Get the fuck up!”. My body replied with “shut the everloving fuck up!”. I had to repair a few things on the house – most notably my dryer vent that was starting to be inhabited by birds… which I repaired in ice rain. Because of the toilet paper shortage, I got ahead of the curve with a few bidet attachments that needed installing. Then my car broke down with a dead battery – the resulting trip to the auto parts store was made into two trips because they gave me the incorrect battery the first time. Then I found a screw in my other vehicle’s tire. All-in-all, I never had the chance to run.

• 

• 

• 

Sunday: Rest. Ran 4 miles. After a cooked breakfast and a trip to the grocery store, I decided to get my 4 miles in around the subdivision. 4.07 easy miles in the afternoon in 34:42 (8:32/mile pace).

• 

• 

Overall, 57 miles this week – one of my highest weeks ever.

Coronavirus

A lot of things happened this week related to the virus. I had something typed here, but the situation has been changing so fast that it is difficult to keep track. My goal race, the Flying Pig Marathon, is so far still on. However, they may end up cancelled or was postponed – I’ve said before on Reddit that their choices are likely ‘run afoul of runners’ vs. ‘run afoul of several government agencies and jeopardize the race for several years in the future’.

Next Week

Next week is an easier week thanks to Coach Higdon’s training approach – I have one double-digit run next week (12 miles). I will have some 800m intervals and an M pace run prior to a 12 mile long run.

The late addition to this post is the strikethroughs and this paragraph. I haven’t decided what I’m doing – it sounds like a group may still run the Pig on the actual day… I’m not opposed to that, but I don’t know if I want to do that and then race it again in a few months or what. This week will have a lot of thinking.

See you at the finish line, hopefully virus-free.

We see our hero having left the drinking festivities of Bockfest and continuing to the battles of March.

Monday: 9 miles. March started with warm weather that soon turned to rain. I got out in the park and put 9 miles down in the park and the subdivision next to it, making a pitstop after 3 miles. 😬. Kept it mostly easy and only dealt with a drizzle during the final mile or so and my post-run stretching. 9.25 in 1:21:32 (8:49/mile pace).

Tuesday: 6 x Hill Repeats. Because of potential storms in the morning, I ran these in the afternoon up at East Fork. My watch was messed up, so I had to track manually. 😡. The hill repeats were at paces of 7:20, 7:44, 7:53, 8:05, 7:53, 8:03… might work on trying to make those a little more consistent. OVerall, 5.68 miles in 49:01 (8:38/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

• 

Wednesday: 4 miles Recovery. Ran these in the park entirely, since it’s just three laps. 4.07 miles in 35:09 (8:38/mile pace).

• 

Thursday: 9 miles @ M pace. This is where the toughness of the week starts. It was chilly (I was wearing short sleeves on Monday and Tuesday) and I was on the tired side. I couldn’t keep the M pace portion in the goal range, I had it at 8:05/mile, the goal is 7:33 – 7:53/mile. I did hydrate with Gatorade Endurance. Overall, 11 miles including the warm-up and cool-down in 1:30:58 (8:16/mile pace).

Friday: 19 miles. This put the slow in long-slow-distance. I was out late the night before and got up early for this run. Ran around the park and subdivision a few times taking Gatorade Energy Gels at 6 and 12 miles and taking swigs of Gatorade Endurance every few miles. It was a windy morning with temps that felt a lot colder than the thermometer says, and I was being pelted by rain and snow and occasional ice throughout. 19.01 miles in 2:53:43 (9:08/mile pace).

Saturday: planned 4 miles, ran 0. I was up early to judge beer at a competition, and really didn’t have the time to run.

That ended the week with 49 miles. Not bad, although the 19 mile run was a bit of a killer. On to the next battle…

Our hero casually leans on a table in a beer tent looking onward with a glass of doppelbock in his hand. He surveys the near-empty beer tent and wonders why the fuck everyone isn’t here where the good beer is. He can barely hear the band outside the hall, which is a shame because they’re pretty awesome. Nonetheless, he enjoys this victorious battle of the road still knowing the war is yet to be won and the battles of March will be some of the toughest yet to come.

Monday: 9 miles. After having legs of lead for the past two days, ran this one quite fast. Had some GI issues but didn’t need to stop. Ran in the park and surrounding subdivision before the rains came. 9.06 miles in 1:18:08 (8:37/mile pace).

Tuesday: 6 x 800m intervals. Ran in the park and in the rain. Since it’s race week and I had a morning Internet install appointment, I skipped strengthening. Ran the intervals in 3:29, 3:30, 3:37, 3:36, 3:43 (after a pitstop), and 3:26. The goal is 3:15 – 3:25 (incidentally, the goal pace is 6:32 – 6:53, the last one was within the goal pace but not the goal split). These are based on the McMillan Running Calculator, and I used the Speed Intervals (the calculator gives both Speed Intervals and Stamina Intervals… I am using Speed Intervals. I don’t know if those are the right ones to use, but I certainly have had some difficulty doing them). Overall, 7.5 miles in 1:03:58 (8:32/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 miles. Ran this in the park and part of the subdivision next to it. It was foggy and misting out, and I wore my glasses. Kept it easy. 4.32 in 37:42 (8:44/mile pace).

Thursday: 5 miles. I was supposed to do five miles, but I had spent the morning at a hospital where my dad was being operated on (he’s doing well), and got home with a headache. I skipped.

Friday: 3 miles shakeout. Got out to the park after sleeping in and woke up to some snow and what I ultimately found was a path that was mostly frozen. I did most of a loop (the back part of the path was run-able, the front was not and I ran along the path). I then got out of the park and into the subdivision where I could run. Kept it slow because of the race tomorrow. 3.42 miles in 31:44 (9:17/mile refreshing pace).

Saturday: 5k RACE. Race morning was 21F… COLD. I got to the race location early to pick up my race packet, and had over an hour to just hang around, using the bathroom twice prior to the race. Warmed up by running around the block a few times at 9:30. At 10:00, the race was off.

My watch didn’t start when I pushed the button, but it started beeping at me around a tenth of a mile in. The first mile is a tough one – down McMicken and onto Liberty to go up Liberty Street Hill. Crest the hill and back down to turn left on Reading and then onto Elsinore, then after crossing over I-71, right onto Gilbert, which proceeds downhill and right past the mile 1 marker. Mile 1 in 7:20 (calculated based on splits).

The second mile continues down Gilbert to Court and then to Reedy and Eggleston, where it turns just north of the building I used to work in. The course crosses over Third Street and then heads north up (and uphill) Culvert and past the Mile 2 marker. Mile 2 in 6:50.

The final mile is a long uphill stretch up Culvert to Eggleston, across Central and then snaking up through Over The Rhine on Reading, Sycamore, 12th, and Main, which crosses over Liberty and becomes McMicken and passes the final mile marker indicating the shootout to the finish. Mile 3 in 7:21. The kick was 51 seconds.

I crossed the finish in 22:22 (official time, not my watch). I was 8th overall in my age group. 12 seconds faster would have put me 4th in my age group (and 3:40 behind the winner of my age group).

This week was an easier week in terms of distance, 27 miles (compared to 47 the week before). Next week is a 50+ mile week that will include 17 miles of “normal running”, 6 hill repeats, a 9 mile M pace run, and a 19 mile long run.

Our hero surveys the damage of the week. Mother Nature has proven again to be a formidable opponent and monkey wrench thrower. Similar to last week, this week had rain, warmth, and cold.

Monday: 8 miles. Ran this in the afternoon because of the temperature in the morning. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, having to stop once because of an inattentive driver. Overall 8.1 miles in 1:07:15 (8:18/mile pace).

Tuesday: 40 minute Tempo Run. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it in some morning rain. It was a warm one, 50F (short sleeve weather!) in the morning, but it got cold overnight. The tempo pace goal was 7:17 – 7:33, unfortunately I missed the goal by 20 seconds per mile. Maybe I should blame it on the second inattentive driver from the same subdivision. Including the warm-up and cool-down, 7.07 miles in 58:16 (8:14/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 miles recovery. After some frustrations at work, I ran off some steam going too fast on a recovery day. Part of the path was blocked due to work on a baseball scoreboard, so I ran in the subdivision again. 4.02 miles in 33:03 (8:13/mile pace).

Thursday: 8 miles.I expected very cold temps in the morning, but the temp was 30, so I ran in it. In the subdivision (again), but for once I wasn’t interrupted by someone backing out of their driveway not paying a damn lick of attention to the sidewalk. 8.03 miles in 1:10:34 (8:47/mile pace). It is getting lighter earlier.

• 

• 

Friday 17 miles. Friday came with some frigid morning temps but nice afternoon temps, so I started work early and finished up around 2 to go running. I was trying to slow myself down, and not paying attention to my watch, so it was likely unsuccessful. About 12 miles in, I was making a loop around the township park (after making a full loop around the subdivision) and saw my old boss out running. We ran and talked for a few miles as he finished up his run… that did slow me down a bit, but I then sped back up for the last two miles, finishing the last with an 8:35 split 😳. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance, fueled with Gatorade Endurance Gels at 6 and 12 miles. Standing in the shower after that run was tough for a few because of my calves. 17.15 miles in 2:29:39 (8:44/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Woke up to another frigid morning and legs that felt like lead. Ran 3 miles around the subdivision (cutting the last lap short to get me to 3.0-ish miles instead of 3.25-ish miles. 3.03 in 28:11 (9:18/mile pace… I’m shocked it was that fast, to be honest).

That’s it for the week. 47.4 miles. Next week includes less volume as it is a pull-back week, and it’s also a race week. I’m ending the month with an explanation point with the Bockfest 5k on 2/29.

We rejoin our hero as he shivers in the cold of this week. Mother Nature followed up last week’s snow with some warmth that quickly went cold as the week went on. It also got rainy. Very rainy. To top it off, evening events, meetings, and new shoes happened… and some were undone, and Strava segment records were attempted and failed.

Monday: 8 miles. The weather wasn’t too bad – it was up to nearly 50 when I started running, although it went down over the day. Ran 8 miles in the park and the subdivision next to it. I ran easy – in fact, if I had run 7, I would have ended with a 9:02/mile pace, but the last mile was an 8:05 lap that came out of nowhere, which pulled my pace down to 8:54. Maybe it was because the rain started on me. The last 0.04 miles being at a claimed 6:43 pace helped there too. 8.04 in 1:11:30 (8:54/mile pace).

Tuesday: 5 x Hill. The morning weather was rainy with a warning of mixed precipitation. I elected to run in the afternoon, and when I was getting my second cup of coffee I realized I made the right decision – I heard ice pellets hitting the door of my house. The hill paces were 7:05, 7:28, 7:54, 7:51, and 8:08. I continued the last one up the hill to attempt to get a CR for the hill in Strava, but it was to no avail – not only did I not get a segment PR, but I’d have to get A LOT faster to beat four others that I happened to see while I was out there… and those four others have the top spots on that segment. Regardless, it was great to see other runners out there… even if they were running 1.5 min/mile faster than me!

This was my first and last try with New Balance 1080 v9s. The heel cup is made out of a slippery material and after the low five miles, I had a hot spot on both heels. Pity, since the rest of the shoes feel great. These are getting returned to Amazon and I’ll visit Fleet Feet in Oakley to see about getting something that feels just as good without the idiocy in the heel cup… which might be the 1080 v10s, which I wasn’t aware were out until I heard it on The Morning Shakeout Podcast. Overall, 5.14 in 43:23 (8:26/mile pace).

Wednesday: 4 mile recovery. I didn’t push this at all. I went to run in the park, and after finding a few ice spots from puddles leftover from the past days of rain, I decided to go into the subdivision. There were fortunately no ice patches on the sidewalks. 4.31 miles in 38:16 (8:53/mile pace).

• 

• 

Thursday: 8 miles at M pace. This was a rainy and chilly morning. Ran in the park and neighboring subdivision after form drills and finishing with some strengthening exercises. I didn’t hit my goal pace during the 8 miles- I wanted to be between 7:33 – 7:53, I was at 8:01. Overall, 10 miles in 1:22:21 (8:14/mile pace).

Friday: 16 miles. VERY cold morning. There were some lazy snowflakes, but dry with a few ice patches. Ran in my new Asics Gel Nimbus shoes, which now have some mud on them from me running off the path to go around ice patches. My water bottle cap froze, so I started walking a few seconds on every other mile to open the bottle and get a drink. Lemon-lime Gatorade Slushy does taste good, but it’s likely more refreshing on a hot day than a cold one! Overall, 16.05 miles in 2:22:08 (8:51/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

• 

Saturday: 3 miles. Woke up to 14° temps and promptly went back to bed, knowing that it was going into the 40s later. I ended up running in the afternoon and just stayed in the subdivision. Wore my other pair of new shoes, which were nice. 3.37 miles in 28:03 (8:20/mile pace).

Overall, just under 47 miles this week. Two weeks until my season-opening race, the Bockfest 5k. Next week has more running with an interval workout and an easier Thursday. 🍻

Our hero turns around and gazes over the rugged terrain his quest has taken him through. He’s dealt with rain, snow, heat, and cold… all in the same week. He’s run long, fast, short, slow, and everything in between.

Monday: 7 miles. The week started out with a not-so-bad 43F in the morning. Ran through the park and the subdivision next to it. I felt faster than I was, but still not slow. 7.11 miles in 1:03:47 for a pace of 8:58/mile. I did see a nice sunrise in the process.

Tuesday: 5 x 800 intervals. Ran these entirely in the park, and ran them in short sleeves because it was 61F out! I knew rain was expected and checked the weather on my phone, which said rain was expected at 7 AM. I was starting at 6 AM.

It lied. It started raining shortly after I arrived, which made it difficult to see. I was shooting for 3:15 – 3:25 per interval (6:32 – 6:53/mile pace), and made it to 3:28 (6:56), 3:26 (6:52), 3:27 (6:54), 3:35 (7:10), 3:40 (7:21). Perhaps I shouldn’t be using McMillan’s Speed Paces (the stamina paces are 3:31-3:37 (7:04 – 7:16/mile pace). One of these days, I’ll figure out the right ones. Overall, 6.5 miles in 54:26 (8:22 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 mile recovery. I slept in and ran this at lunch in my neighborhood. I really tried to slow this down, since I have a habit of going too fast when running late in the day. I really tried to slow myself down… to no avail. 3.15 miles in 26:23 (8:23/mile pace).

Thursday: 7 miles @ M Pace. I didn’t sleep in (for once!) and got out to the park on a chilly 33F morning. No rain in the forecast until 10.

It started misting when I was close to the end of my M pace portion, so I only had a little over a mile of total running. My watch did beep at me a fair bit as I was making my way around the subdivision next to the park, and the park as well.

I did keep the M pace portion within my goal range of 7:33 – 7:53 by getting that 7 miles in 55:13 for a pace of … 7:53! Overall, 9 miles in 1:13:37 (8:11/mile pace).

Friday: 10 miles. It snowed. It may not have been too bad, but nothing was plowed when I woke up and conditions were expected to be slick, so I used the dreadmill. Had some knee pain during the early part of my run, but it subsided. 10.01 treadmill miles in 1:38:17 (9:49/mile pace, although I felt like I was going faster).

• 

• 

• 

Saturday: 3 miles. Friday morning’s snow melted only to be replaced by more. Given the same situation, took to the dreadmill again. 3.06 miles in 28 minutes (9:09/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. I still hate the dreadmill, but it was nice to have given the snow because if there’s one thing worse than the dreadmill, it’s falling on ice! Just under 39 miles this week. Next week has more miles, hill repeats, and a long long run.

I ended the week on Saturday night doing some shopping and bought a pair of New Balance 1080s, which should work better for me for the longer runs. I might buy another pair of shoes soon after my tax return running stimulus program comes in. 🍻

We rejoin our hero as he begins his fifth week of training for the Flying Pig Marathon.

Monday: 7 miles. The morning was cold, so I ran in the afternoon. It wasn’t overly warm (and the skies were grey, but no precipitation). I ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Since it was the afternoon, I tried to keep my pace down and didn’t push it, but still went too fast. 7.02 miles in 59:03 (8:25/mile pace).

Tuesday: 35 minute Tempo. The morning was cold, but not as cold as yesterday so I went out to run. My legs felt tough from yesterday and I struggled to keep my paces even close to the top end of the goal range of 7:17 – 7:33. Kept it in the park, although maybe I should have used the hills in the neighboring subdivision. Tempo portion was 4.45 miles in 35 minutes for a 7:51/mile pace. Overall, 6.45 miles in 53:11 (8:15/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 mile recovery. Kept this in my subdivision where there was a pair of walkers out at 6 AM (I’m impressed!). 3.32 miles in 29:12 (8:48/mile pace).

Thursday: 7 miles. I initially thought it’d be 28-29F this morning, but it was 32 (warm enough for shorts!). Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it, starting with form drills and doing some strengthening after. 7.16 in 1:03:53 (8:55/mile pace). I started a tad late (6:09 AM) and got to see that the sun is starting to come up sooner.

Friday: 14 miles. The weather forecast called for snow, which didn’t happen until 10 miles in and it was pretty light. Not like this…

I didn’t push this at all. My legs felt a little slow, I was kinda tired, and it wasn’t a speed day. The week didn’t go by without having to yell at a dog, either (because some average stupid suburbanites think their dog can be out without any sort of control to keep it in their yard 😡). 14.04 miles in 2:07:50 (9:06/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 mile recovery. I set my alarm for a late 6:45 AM. I turned it off and thought I’d sleep for a few more minutes. Famous last thoughts. Got up just before 8. Still got my run in around the subdivision.

January ended with me running 168 miles for the month. Back on the build!

The next race on the calendar is the Bockfest 5k. This is traditionally a race that I have not PRed in. Out of 7 consecutive Bockfest 5ks, ONE has been a PR. Granted it’s up against the Bulldog Blast 5k, which my GPS says is short and that course is much flatter. I’m not even sure this will be the year for a PR, but my training is setup for it.

Next week’s training will include a pull-back on the long run, but it will include intervals (5 x 800) and a 7 mile M pace run, so despite pulling back on Friday, Tuesday and Thursday will be tough. Additionally, Mondays went from 6 miles to 7 miles this week, and will soon be 8 miles.

Looking ahead to the rest of February, I will be building back up to a 17 mile long run while also maintaining intense workouts on Tuesdays. The intensity on Thursday will be cut back in favor of long runs and a race to finish the month. 🍻

This week started with some arctic chill and ended with rain.

Monday: 6 miles. Ran in the park in the afternoon, when it was warm. Kept it in the park, which was really trying to let some dumbass with an unleashed dog get home… I failed there, I should have left for the subdivision. 6.1 miles in 49:16 (8:05/mile pace).

Tuesday: 4 x hills. Went to East Fork for the hills. This one was in the afternoon also, trying to get some warmth instead of freezing. Ran up the hill four times (paces of 7:29, 7:54, 7:57, and 8:01). Including the run from and to the car, 4.39 miles in 38:17 (8:43/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

Wednesday: Recovery 3 miles. Kept this in my neighborhood and in the afternoon again. And I tried to keep it slow, but I failed there. 3.16 in 25:36 (8:06/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 @ M Pace. Ran this in the park and the subdivision next to it. Finally ran in the morning. My watch beeped at me a lot to speed up, and that’s because my goal range was 7:33 – 7:53 and I did the 6 miles at a 7:57 pace. I’m probably paying for yesterday’s “recovery”. Overall, 8 miles in 1:05:36 (8:12/mile pace).

Friday: 13 miles. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. In the rain. There was a fair bit of mud around some areas, and lots of puddles. I came back feeling like a drowned rat. My pace suffered due to the morning and four days of fast. 13.21 in 1:58:53 (9:00/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Ran around the neighborhood on wet pavement. It wasn’t raining, just wet. 3.25 miles in 29:05 (8:57/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. 38 miles for the week with some good paces early in the week (later in the week… not so much). 🍻

This week went off the rails in an odd way. This is a partial pull-back week, with most of the tough workouts but with a shorter long run. I was in Washington DC for work this week as part of the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, and this is a week with consistent late nights and meetings and plenty of walking.

Monday: 6 miles. I set out from my hotel at the corner of 10th and H and proceeded southbound to the National Mall. I felt like I was keeping a decent pace, and after passing the Washington Monument and crossing a street, I found a lovely place to run along the reflecting pool. All things must end, and this ended as I passed the Lincoln Memorial and crossed the bridge over the Potomac. Being on the bridge sucked. It was loud- so loud I paused my podcast. There’s not much protection from the drivers through there, either. I follow another runner onto a path heading south along the Potomac. I was far enough from the busy street that I could unpause my podcast, but this path was several feet below road level and was looking straight into headlights. As I continued with the miles clicking away, I saw a bridge in the distance and wondered if I could make it within the next mile… and also wondered if there was a path along the bridge. The path then turned to my right and went under the road I was running along. I came to the conclusion that this was not going to get me to the right place and turned around. I made my way back to the bridge as my watch clicked 6 miles. I continued running back to my hotel as my watch clicked mile 8 after a particularly long delay waiting for a walk light. 8.08 miles in 1:11:10 (8:48 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: 4 x 800 intervals. I woke up with some soreness in my quads from yesterday’s run combined with lots of walking at the conference with a backpack that I voluntarily made heavier with a hardback book that was being given to all conference attendees that wanted it. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it, but I didn’t want to find out after the opportunity passed. Additionally, I had a 7:00 AM meeting followed by one at 8:00 and another at 10:30. So I ran a recovery 3 miles. 3.52 in 32:03 (9:06 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 3 miles. I was not feeling as rough as I expected for being out late drinking, and was going to a poster session that morning. I also had one pair of non-white socks left to wear with a suit: my purple compression socks. Not wanting to miss a good speedwork session or waste the chance to really need the socks, I set out to the Mall to bust through the intervals I didn’t do yesterday. The goal pace range is 6:32 – 6:53, I ran them in 6:59, 7:02, 7:16, and 7:05… so never in the pace range I wanted to be in. Overall, 5.5 miles in 32:03 (8:24 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 6 at M Pace. I wasn’t going to do two speed days in a row, it seems like that would ensure that the second was less than stellar. So I ran Monday’s 6 mile run workout after making my way home from DC. On the plane, I finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running after seeing my bag loaded on the plane. After getting home and jumping onto a conference call, I went to the park and the subdivision next to it. Ran 6.02 miles in 50:53 (8:27 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Friday: 8 miles. For the first time this week, the number of miles I ran and the number of miles I planned to run lined up. However, instead of doing an 8 mile long run, I did a 6 mile tempo run (which had a one mile warm-up and one mile cool-down). Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. The M pace portion was at 7:49 min/mile, comfortably within the 7:33 – 7:53 goal range. Overall, 8 miles in 1:04:39 (8:05 min/mile pace).

Saturday: 3 miles. Ran 3 recovery miles around the neighborhood. I didn’t feel particularly fast, but my watch said otherwise. 3.32 in 28:39 (8:38 min/mile). In fact, even my first mile (which is normally on the slow side) was below 9:00… by 0.9 seconds!

That’s the week. I did everything I set out to do, although not in the order at which I expected to do them. 34 miles, just under 5 hours spent running, and the average pace is faster this week, which could be a fluke brought on by the pull-back week or because I’m starting to unlock some of the training gains from the last two marathon cycles (one can dream!). 🍻