Monday
PM Dale 5 with Uta, 32:10, All I had time for after getting stuck at work late and having to get to dog training after the run total 5 miles
XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge
Tuesday
PM road 11 solo, 1:06:55, super windy 30mph plus, very cold very miserable total 11 miles
XT Bikram yoga right after run, 90mins, rubber bands and thoracic bridge
Wednesday
PM regular 20k, 1:15:02, single digit wind chill winds 20 to 30mph, struggled with coordination. very hard not to lean forward at all in winds like this very unpleasant run total 12.4 miles
XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge
Thursday
PM bear hill 4.2 with Uta for warm up, 25:56, very windy and cold again bit better than last night but only a bit. winds 15 to 20mph, dropped off Uta, light drills and strides, Moneghetti fartlek, covered a total of 4.101 miles, that is 4:52.6 per mile, 3:01.8 per k. This is the fastest Mona I have ever done. I was fairly shocked given the wind. I was only into the wind for 500m per 1500m loop but it was rough! 16min cool down. total 10 plus miles
XT whartons, rubberbands, thoracic bridge
Friday
PM went to acupuncture right after school and she really went after it so I was zonked coming out of there and considered not running but given how little I had done I manned up and got my ass out the door.
dale 4 with Melissa and Uta, 30mins, once again coldish and very windy, then 7 miles in 42mins total 11+ miles in 1:12 pretty quick considering wind. total 11 plus miles
Saturday
AM 4.5 miles on woodway curve trying to work on holding shoulders back,31:40- decent effort on curve- then ran home from gym on back roads, about 8 miles in 48:33, was warmer 40 and the wind was much calmer, of course it had snowed an inch or two overnight so it wasn't a great day but still better. total around 12 and a half miles
XT 4pm bikram yoga, rubberbands, whartons, thoracic bridge
Sunday
Noon 19minute warm up, cold and super windy 30mph or more. skipping warm up, light drills, strides. goal was 4x4k with 1k recovery around merrimack college 5k loop. The first k was tailwind. the 2nd and 3rd k were pretty much into the wind, the 4th k was side wind, the 5th k was about half side wind and half tail wind but it is a very tough slow k.
This is where I screwed up. I felt great the first k, in 3:00, with a roaring tail wind and I didn't properly respect the wind for the rest of the loop. The idea of this type of workout is to run around 102% of mp and try to average mp for 20k with rest built in. Given the wind I should have aimed for mp on the reps and averaging 98% mp overall. Instead I just pushed on like It was no thing.
12:32 for the first 4k, and after a 3:25 recovery k I was at 15:58 flat. I kept it under control on the first k of the second loop in 3:04 but could tell I was struggling to keep fighting the wind particularly while working very hard to hold my shoulders back. The 2nd k wasn't bad but after that I was fighting pretty good, 12:45 for 4k- for comparison last weekend I was 12:33 than 12:27 and felt easy, of course last week I was losing coordination so at least I was better off there. I ran the recovery k in 3:26 which was faster than either recovery last week which gives you an idea how much the wind was impacting as the 5th k was half tail wind. So I'm through 10k in 32:10 but feeling ragged. The first k of the 3rd lap was fine at 3:05 with the wind at my back but I was in a bad way going into the wind after that and I struggled to a 12:52 for the full 4k and after a 3:35 recovery k I knew I was done. 48:33 for 15k. which is 5:12 per mile.
I was done. Frankly I just went out too fast for the conditions. On the plus side the coordination held for the 15k and though I can't be 100% sure as I could feel it threatening a bit I think it would have held for 20k which would be really good given the wind. Still not what I was hoping for. Light drills and then 18 min cool down total around 15 or 16 miles.
Summary
So to run or not. Honestly this run wasn't long enough to really be specific so that leaves a few weeks to try and cram in some specific work. It is a shit situation. The foot feels like 99% and I was able to hold the coordination. Honestly if I had run 20k today I would be in for sure. If I had lost coordination I would be out instead I ran like a rube and I'm left in a confusing spot.
Looking at my options my plan is to go ahead with Boston but ratchet back my expectations a bit. I will see how the next few weeks go but if I can keep improving and stop screwing up I'll run. I'm also hoping that the worst winter in Massachusetts history will finally quit and I can just fight my own physical demons and not have to battle conditions as well.
9 comments:
Nate i remember seeing in your logs in the past a workout with hill sprints followed by a short tempo. Could you add this to one of your training/workout posts coming up?
Nate - I find myself in a similar situation as you, where I've gotten a good training block in, but I've now been injured for about the last week (extensor hallucis longus tendonitis), now only four weeks out from Boston (which I still intend to run). I've been on the bike and elliptical, instead of running, for the last week, so I'm wondering if you have any ideas on how to speed along the recovery of this pain on the top of my foot (it's uncomfortable when I point my toes toward the ceiling, particularly when wearing my running shoes). Any exercises or treatment options (aside from icing) you might recommend? In your opinion, might acupuncture work? Thanks! ~Jeff
Anonymous1- I don't recall doing them in that order but certainly I can do an upcoming blog on some of the ways you can mix hills and tempos together.
Anonymous2-I would heat before all activity. I would start doing wharton foot stretches- hold off on strengthening, see video link at bottom of this comment. I do think acupuncture can help but I must be honest getting needles in the foot is a bit awkward so you need to be prepared for that. http://www.runningdvds.com/free-online-videos
What's the deal with the Woodway Curve? My gym picked one of those up but I haven't tried it. Do you recommend it as a replacement to regular treadmills or should it supplement regular runs/treadmill running?
The curve is self driven, no motor. It takes more effort to go fast than running outside. It is a bit like going slightly uphill. It can go as fast as you want, easily. I have shorted out regular treadmills. I have never felt I was even testing the limits of the curve in anyway. Also you can do real strides, not just accelerations. Now you do have to run with good form if you lean forward you can crash on your face. It is awesome for a mona fartlek. The two things to keep in mind is that it is a bit harder than regular running so you may want to reduce mileage if you are using it a lot. Also a regular treadmill is better for tempo runs as holding a steady pace on the curve is a bit tricky. I'm pretty smooth and steady and I still swing up and down about a half a mile per hour. I love the thing. I think it is massively better than a regular treadmill. More dynamic and it is good for your form.
I say you have put in most of the training and should definitely give it a shot. It may not be optimum, but heck it is really tough to get everything lined up perfectly when you are racing a marathon. Give it your best and then you can see how it goes. If you dont try you will never truly know how well you could have done. I am sure you will learn something from the experience either way. Boston is a phenomenal race and you will enjoy the experience either way.
Anonymous- Thanks for the encouragement. I am ok with not having everything perfect. My focus is avoiding a disaster like NYC in '08 and Worlds in '09 when I lost coordination at 10k, both times, and did some damage getting to the line. Much worse at Worlds. I lost coordination at 30k at the trials and that was frustrating but ok. I'd like to make 30k at Boston. Anything over that would be frosting at this point. Anything under 20k would be very disappointing.
Nate
Hi Nate. Hope you are having a good week. Have a question on the 30k workout- 10k 85% + 5k 100% + 5k 85% + 5k 100% + 5k all-out. Curious what % of MP for that final 5k, I hit 105% today which for me is probably HMP. Not sure if I should've dug deeper or be happy with it. Thanks!
Tom,
105% is pretty good. As written by Canova you would run max effort uphill. Most of us don't have a 5k all uphill to use. I never seem to be able to go much faster than mp so getting half marathon pace or better is pretty impressive to me.
nate
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