Weekly Summary – 160 miles in 14 runs. Two great and big workouts and the last full week of very high mileage in this block! First was a 36km (22M+) long run with lots of pace variation and the second was 6x2km at 4’40/mile + 1km fast. Feeling super fit and very excited to get to finish this block and take some serious recovery leading into the next few weeks. Less than 5 weeks to World Championships and 15 weeks to the US Olympic Trials!
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Twitter (@TylerCAndrews). And, of course, don’t forget to check out STRIVE’s 2016 Programs, including the newly announced STRIVE-Peru: Spring Break program! You can come do service work and train with me in Peru or Kenya and for 2016, we’ll once again have programs for High School and College students, and even a 10-day trip for adults and families, so be sure to take a look if you’re interested in an amazing summer experience!
Lunes, 26 de Octubre, 2015 – 11am: Slept late again – I’ve found out it’s MUCH easier to skew your day later than earlier. Surprise! Had black coffee and nature valley bar before leaving.
Longer easy single this morning again. Super nice day. Sunny and in the 60s. Ran Matt’s loop but with a long extension up Rock Creek Park Trail and did a little tour around the zoo. Lots of animals out! Saw lions, elephants, pandas, two cute baby black bears that were playing together and climbing trees, also some otters and seals. Very nice. Continued north after than and turned around and came back through Georgetown and then rejoined Matt’s loop for the last 8k or so. Finished with a loop around CC to get up to 2h55. Pace was very relaxed the whole time. Fairly tired by the end.
Total run 39km (24.2 miles) in 2h55.
6pm: Easy shakeout around CC down to the fields and then just around town because they were all ocupado. Felt okay. Total run 6M in 40’.
XT: Core, 12’.
Martes, 27 de Octubre – 11am: Easy run inside because it was cold and still trying to heat train. Ran very easy with long workout tomorrow. Finished with jog to Costco and back. Total run 11M+ in 80’.
XT: Back/hips
6pm: Easy run inside again because it is dark and cold. Felt surprisingly very good. Kept it short with big one tomorrow. Finished with about 10 min barefoot and drills and a couple short accelerations. Total run 5M+ in 35’.
XT: Hips.
Miercoles, 28 de Octubre, 2015 – Sparknotes: 36km in 2’01’58 (avg 3’23/km, 5’27/M). Building off last week’s 32km, practicing pace changes again with lots of long sections. Big difference was did transitions between paces more gradually this time which felt way better (and run was faster and longer). Sections were: 6km @ 50k, 4km @ mod, 1km transition, 2km @ MP, 6km @ 50k, 4km @ mod, 1km transition, 2km @ MP, 2km @ mod, 2k transition, 2km @ MP, 4km prog from mod to fast. Mod = ~3’40/km, 50k = ~3’20/km, MP = ~3’10/km.
Ran my second in a series of 3-4 last long runs before the 50k today. The idea was to build off of last week’s 32km and continue focusing on running longer sections at different paces to practice what we expect will be a very uneven race – a race where it’s hard to get into a rhythm.
I again did this run in the afternoon (around 4pm) to practice getting used to that for the 6pm race start. One thing we’ve been experimenting with is how to time meals/caffeine, and I think I finally got the hang of that (see meal/caff schedule below). I had a big dinner late the night before (10pm) and then ate very little the day of the workout (only a granola bar and some animal crackers), but felt fine energy wise and stomach-wise. I think this was great as I don’t like to feel like I have a really full stomach when I’m running, so I didn’t want to eat a big meal within 6-8 hours of the workout/race. As for caffeine – I split my normal 1 cup of coffee into two. I had half in the morning, as usual, before my shakeout and half about 2.5 hours before starting. I also had a caffeinated nuun tab about 1.5 hours before starting. This felt like a good balance of getting enough caffeine and feeling energetic, but not feeling jittery or sick to my stomach.
Last time, I warmed up too early and this time too late. I started at 3:40pm with a 4pm start time in mind and it wasn’t quite long enough. I jogged about 1 mile, did drills, changed out of warmups, and went to the bathroom, but by the time I was ready to start it was more like 4:05pm. I think 25-30 minutes is a good amount of time to allow for externalities. Really the warm-up for 50km doesn’t matter all that much, though, so I’m not worried.
I ran on the bike-path on the same 2.5km out/back section, so two hairpin turns in each 5km “loop”. Weather was a bit windy, light drizzle, and warm.
The workout went very well. I’ll go through section by section:
6km @ 50k (19’57, 3’19.5/km) – First 1-2 km a bit stiff as I got into it, but was able to easily relax into this very familiar pace.
4km @ mod (14’27, 3’37/km) – Very easy, almost boring. Took Gel #1 at 10k.
1km transition (3’20) – This was great really allowed me to build up my speed gradually which seemed much less catastrophic than last week’s going from 3’40 to 3’10 immediately.
2km @ MP (6’20, 3’10/km) – Felt much better than last week, again I think because I built into it more.
6km @ 50k (19’59, 3’20/km) – This section actually felt surprisingly difficult. I felt like I was really grinding things out a lot earlier than I expected and I started to have some doubts about how things were going. Luckily, I knew I had 4km mod to relax after this.
4km @ mod (14’32, 3’38/km) – very easy again. Really got my breath and legs back under control and felt fine by the end of this. Took Gel #2 at 20k.
1km transition (3’20) – Slightly more gradual acceleration.
2km @ MP (6’19, 3’09/km) – Still accelerating at the start of this one as I wanted to be a bit more conservative after feeling a bit tired in that middle 6km. Felt better accelerating than just trying to hold pace, so ran like 3’12/3’07.
2km mod (7’15, 3’38/km) – Very good recovery, legs tired but aerobically fine. Took last powergel here at 28km with 8km to go.
2km transition (6’44, 3’22/km) – This was great and really started at the end of the mod 2km. I really enjoyed the long, slow build-up and felt great by the end. A bit surprised to be able to get all the way back up to MP. Took gel #3 at 30k.
2km @ MP: (6’20, 3’10/km) – Quite hard section, but mentally easier because nearing the end.
4km progression (3’37, 3’27, 3’15, 3’05) – First km recovery from that last 2km and then just began a long ramp up to the finish. Felt really great on this after about 1-2 minutes of recovery at quite a slow pace ~4’00/km. Just focused on inching up the pace ever 30-40 seconds. With 1600m to go, I was probably running about MP and surprised myself by being able to accelerate into the last 1k/500m at ~3’00-05/km. Very solid finish. Probably the fastest I’ve finished a 35km+ long run (certainly this block).
Overall, this was a super solid workout. Much, much better than last week. I felt better, ran faster, and ran longer. I think we are still learning a lot, both about how to run the actual workout/race and how to prepare for it in the 24 hours or so leading up to it. I was much better rested (took a very light day yesterday, 155 miles last 7 days vs 164 miles last time) and I think I handled the food/caffeine better. Also, it is clear that the more gradual accelerations are MUCH less costly to me from a muscular and fuel standpoint (and probably also from a mental perspective). I feel MUCH better about a slow progression than a drastic gear-shift.
This is a great place to be and I’m very excited to get to these last workouts and then race! One more week of this big block and then some recovery and a mini-taper towards Doha.
Total run 23M+
Meal/Caffeine schedule
7pm: small snack post run
10pm: Big dinner, spaghetti
10am: Wake up
11am: ½ cup coffee
12:30pm: shakeout (2M)
1pm: ½ cup coffee, nature valley bar, 1 serving animal crackers
2:10pm: ½ liter caffeinated nuun
3:40pm: Start warmup
3:45pm: Powergel #0
4pm: Start workout
Splits
Unit Time Lap Lap Pace
6 km 19’57.0 (19’57.0) (3’19.5)
10 km 34’25.0 (14’28.0) (3’37.0)
11 km 37’45.1 (3’20.1) (3’20.1)
13 km 44’04.5 (6’19.4) (3’09.7)
19 km 1’04’03.5 (19’59.0) (3’19.8)
23 km 1’18’35.5 (14’32.0) (3’38.0)
24 km 1’21’56.0 (3’20.5) (3’20.5)
26 km 1’28’15.0 (6’19.0) (3’09.5)
28 km 1’35’29.8 (7’14.8) (3’37.4)
30 km 1’42’13.3 (6’43.5) (3’21.8)
32 km 1’48’33.6 (6’20.3) (3’10.2)
33 km 1’52’11.0 (3’37.4) (3’37.4)
34 km 1’55’38.2 (3’27.2) (3’27.2)
35 km 1’58’53.4 (3’15.2) (3’15.2)
36 km 2’01’58.4 (3’05.0) (3’05.0)
Jueves, 29 de Octubre, 2015 – 12pm: Pretty rough night between it being fairly warm and the AC still turned off and some achy legs from yesterday. Tried to sleep as late as I could and finally rolled out of bed around 10. Pretty sore so let my body wake up for a couple hours and then ran Matt’s loop very slowly. Beautiful day, though – in the mid 70s and sunny! Wow – it’s almost November!
Total run 11M+ in 88’.
XT: Back/hips.
6pm: Easy run out/back on the bike path and then tacked on around CCS because it was dark. Finished with 1M barefoot. Total run 11M in 80’.
XT: Core, 12’.
Viernes, 30 de Octubre, 2015 – 12pm: A beautiful day as Fall really begins to set in here in the Potomac valley. Windy and bright and clear with temperatures around 60. October has truly been a wonderful month to be here and it looks like November will be beautiful in its own way – the leaves are just now beginning to turn.
Ran on Matt’s loop with a few miles on the C&O. Legs felt infinitely better than yesterday and was cruising well on the way back with a nice stiff tailwind along the river. Finished with 1M barefoot. Total run 14M+ in 1h44.
6pm: Ran down to the fields and did about a mile barefoot on the grass before running over to the 22nd st. hill. Stopped and changed into flats and did full drills and one acceleration. After, did 8x short hills with full recovery. Felt very strong on these.
Jogged 1M after back to road loop and did 5km pickup in 15’40. This went super well and I felt great. Started off with 1km at 50k pace (3’20), then picked it up and ran next 3km in 9’30 and ran last 1km hard in 2’45 (!!) splitting about 1’25/1’20. Very, very strong and not even going all out, even running very fast last 500m.
Finished with short jog back to the gym for legs circuit.
Total run 10M+.
5k splits:
1 km 3’19.6 (3’19.6)
2 km 6’32.3 (3’12.7)
3 km 9’45.1 (3’12.8)
4 km 12’54.7 (3’09.6)
5 km 15’40.6 (2’45.9)
XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].
Sabado, 31 de Octubre, 2015 – 11am: Easy run out and back to Alexandria. Finished with a loop around CC and 1 mile barefoot. Another very nice day – warm and sunny. Total run 14M in 1h42.
XT: Back/hips
6pm: Easy shakeout around CCS and finished with 1M barefoot. Felt pretty good by the end, a bit sluggish at first. Another 20 mile day to finish out October – 610 miles for the month! That’s got to be close to my highest month ever if not the top. Total run 6M in 42’.
XT: Hips
Domingo, 1 de Noviembre, 2015 – 12pm: Lazy morning watching the NYCM! Easy shakeout after around CC with Mar. Felt very good. Beautiful day to start November – sunny and 66F! Still, they had the ice-skating rink set up at Pentagon City… wtf Virginia?? Total run 4M in 32’.
4:30pm: Sparknotes: 6x2km @ 5’48 avg (2’54.0/km, 4’40/M) + 1x1km @ 2’47 (4’28/M) w/ 90 sec jog.
Longer writeup: Workout today was the last in a series of 3 workouts progressing over the last month: 10x1200m, 8x1600m, and today 6x2000m. Goal was to train to run ~2’55/km (~4’40/mile) for the .US National 12k on Nov 15.
Today’s workout near the end of a VERY big block of training I’ve put in over the last 3 weeks. I felt great in last week’s 8x1600m and I was hoping I’d continue to feel solid in today’s slightly more difficult effort.
I warmed up 5km easy and felt very good. I did the workout on my 1km road loop which is wheeled and marked every 100m and where I’ve done the majority of my faster workouts (though last week’s 1600s were run on a track).
I started off with an aggressive first 400-600m and this was maybe too much today. I’ve tried to prep for this the last few weeks, but maybe this is just not a good strategy. Probably split like 2’48/2’55 on that first one.
After that, the next two felt okay and were pretty even. By then I was through halfway, but #4 felt very difficult and I took my recovery jog much slower before starting #5. These last two were quite tough and unlike the last two workouts, I was not able to accelerate in this second half of the workout.
I stopped and changed into my HOKA tracer flats for the last 1km and felt pretty good – the rep felt SO short, 1km vs. 2km. I felt like I had barely started before it was 400m to go and I had another gear there, which was good to know.
Overall, the average was 2’54.0 for the 2Ks and 2’53.1 for all the work. This is a bit slower than the last two workouts, but this was a much more demanding workout.
I also did not budget my meals well leading into this workout. I had an earlier dinner last night (maybe 7pm) and then started this workout around 5pm and in the 22 hours between that dinner and the start of my workout, all I ate were one nature valley bar and maybe 2-3 servings of animal crackers – in total maybe 400-500 kcal. That’s definitely too little food and too much time. And I think I felt it in just overall weakness and earlier fatigue in this workout. If I want to eat light the day before a late afternoon/evening workout or race, I really need to eat a very late and substantial dinner. Live and learn – our experiment of one continues…
One more big workout Wednesday and then this monster block is over!
Cooled down around CC and then to the gym for legs.
Splits:
Unit Lap Lap Pace
2 km (5’43.6) (2’51.8)
2 km (5’49.5) (2’54.8)
2 km (5’47.9) (2’54.0)
2 km (5’47.3) (2’53.7)
2 km (5’49.9) (2’55.0)
2 km (5’49.8) (2’54.9)
1 km (2’47.4) (2’47.4)
Overall avg 2’53.1, avg of the 2Ks was 2’54.0. 90 sec rest – a bit more before the last 1km because I changed into flats.
XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].
