Weekly Training Blog November 21 to 27, 2016

Monday AM road 4 with Uta in 30:05 tot. 4
               3:30PM dead lifts, handstands and massage with Anna
              6 PM 5.8 with Uta extended Bear hill loop, 37:17 tot. 5.8

Tuesday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta in 30:55 tot. 4
               PM 10k version of bear hill loop with last 3 miles progressively faster, 5:28, 5:27, 5:21
                      actually more progressive than it looks as each of those miles was a bit tougher terrain
                      than the one before it. squats after tot. 6.25

Wednesday AM road 4 mile in cold rain with Uta, no time I forgot the watch. tot. 4
                     PM coventry 10k loop solo, 41:07, first run of the week in the daylight, thank you half
                           day!! tot. 6.25

Thursday AM road and trail 10+ with Uta, 66:11, box jumps after tot. 10
                   Spent the rest of the day cooking and eating.

Friday AM coventry 10k solo, 40:25, cold rain, dead lifts after tot. 6.25
            PM road 4 with Uta, 28:29, I felt good, Uta did not want to go any faster than that. tot. 4

Saturday AM raced European style( there were hay bails, and it was multiple loops of the same
                        course) xc race in Woburn, listed as 4k, Chris Mahoney's garmin had it at 2.83, I won in 14:37,
                        ok effort but not great. I'll take it, total of 10 miles with drills if you include warm up and
                        cool down etc.. tot. 10
                 PM road 4 with Uta, she needed her run and I wanted to flush the legs a bit, 29:36, tot. 4

Sunday AM road 12.1, first 5.2 with Melissa in 37:40, then solo, 1:22:55, did squats after tot. 12.1
              PM 90 mins bikram yoga

This is my form looking decent at the start of the race.

Summary ~76 miles for the week, two good efforts.  Downside was I didn't get in the extensive muscular session, though I got in more intensive muscular work than usual so not all bad.  A good step towards regular running, which I generally view as 90 to 110 miles a week around work but more honestly anything over 80 is fine.  So hopefully this week I step up to that.

  I need to come up with a winter workout plan.  I know the types of workouts my body needs but I need to figure out workouts and locations for those workouts that will work with the weather and footing that is soon to be arriving.  I don't have an indoor track at my disposal unless I want to spend some very late nights going into Boston and with 4:40am wake up calls that is a fools errand.  I have been loving the flat rail trail for tempo stuff and I will continue to use it until snow and ice forces me off it.  Anyway that will be my focus mentally this week.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to do two week micro cycles. I know some of the workouts I want to do.  I know all of the types of workouts I need to do.  I want to find a flat, low traffic mile stretch of road, if it could be within 3 miles of my house I would die of joy but so far that isn't presenting itself.  I'd also like to find a flat loop or longer straight stretch for tempo work but so far I'm struggling there as well but I may find something by driving to it on that one.  I need to figure out how I'm going to attack the muscular side of things.  In the past I have done hills but my core isn't strong enough yet to hold form consistently on hills so that would be counter productive, but sprinting in 12 degree weather on icy roads isn't exactly ideal either.   Anyway at least I'm confident I'll be doing some real training, now I just have to sort the details.   Hope your running is going well.

Training Blog November 14 to 20, 2016

Monday AM bear hill 5.1 with Melissa and Uta in 39:18, nice views of the super moon tot. 5.1
               PM Out and back on dale with Uta, 27:48 tot. 4
               late PM bikram yoga, knee/ITB didn't feel good so I forced myself to find time for this.

Tuesday AM out and back on dale with Uta, 31:01 tot. 4
                PM 4 miles around Neighborhood with Uta and Melissa in a cold rain tot. 4

Wednesday AM out and back on dale with Uta, 29:19 tot. 4
                     PM at north andover track in dark, pretty late day, maybe 7PM?, 2 mile warm up, 7 mins
                            of drills, 400m at tempo effort in 75.3, 200 jog recovery then 20x150M on 90
                            seconds, average of 23.7, 1 mile cool down tot. ~6

Thursday off stomach bug

Friday AM out and back on dale with Uta and Melissa, 30:14 tot. 4
            PM bear hill 5.1 with Uta, squats after, 34:31 tot. 5.1

Saturday AM at chelmsford rail trail, 2.5 warm up, most with Melissa and Anna, stop for walking
                        drills, 4 drills, then 3 miles in 15:43.13 (5:16/5:13/5:12), 4 drills (4:04), 2 miles in
                       10:19.77 (5:09/5:09), 4 drills (3:21), 1 mile 5:00.3. 2.5 cool down 16:29, good control.
                 late AM after workout went over to Anna's gym and did about 90mins of light cross training
                 PM graston and accupuncture

Sunday AM 90mins bikram yoga
              PM 8.2 miles in 55:19 tot. 8.2

Summary 55 miles or so. 2 workouts.  Ok week but really need to get stepping it up from this. Gonna race a bit over the next few weeks, mostly for fun.

This is Uta looking normal, she was very hurt that I posted a pic of her looking all swollen when she is really so good looking…. Ok really I just didn't have a timely pick for this week and who doesn't love cute dog pics.

Training Blog November 7 to 13, 2016 Getting Back On Track

 Monday AM 4 miles with Uta, 28:41
                PM Anna for massage, box jumps and squats, generally when I squat I'm doing very light
                       weight but Anna wanted me to get in the range of a full squat PB so we could use it to
                       set my regular weight at proper percentages.  I ended up at 175 which is basically my
                       bodywieght.  Anna seemed sure I could do more but we were out of time and frankly I
                       couldn't do much more.

Tuesday AM no run late night at Vet last night, Uta had an allergic reaction to something,

               PM this run was actually really late because I had my annual physical after work, 4 miles solo

                       in 25:51, box jumps after, 10x20in, 10x24in, 6 x 30in tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles solo on roads, Uta has the next few days off while she is doped up on

                             benadryl, 27:23 tot. 4

                     PM 4 miles in 25:57, box jumps after 10x20in, 10x 24in, 10x30in, tot. 4

Thursday AM 4 miles in 26:56, tot. 4
                  PM 2+ warm up, 15:08, basic drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, backwards skip, side skips,
                         side cross over skips, ankle dribbles, 400m at tempo effort-79.3, 30x100m on the
                         minute- i.e. the next rep starts exactly 1minute after the last rep started, slowest was
                         16.4 it was the first rep, fastest was 15.4 it was the last rep, I averaged just under 16 for
                         the full thing, just about a half mile cool down tot. 5+

Friday AM 4.1 miles with Uta, in 25:11. This was at about 10:30am because I had the day off and did
                    blood work for my annual physical in the morning tot. 4.1
            PM road 4.3 miles first 3.1 with Melissa and Uta, in 30:48 tot. 4.3


Saturday AM 6 miles give or take around Phillips Academy while Melissa did a workout, did the first
                        14mins with Melissa and Uta, rest solo, 41:17 tot. 6
                 PM porter road 4mile solo 26:51 tot. 4.1


Sunday AM at Chelmsford rail trail, walking drills- a walk, b walk, a+c walk, backwards walk, both sideways walks, 2.6 mile warm up in 18:23, drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, backwards skip, 2 mile tempo from 6 mile mark to 4 mile mark- light wind at back and I think this direction is slightly down hill though this trail is so flat it is very hard to tell-10:20.88(5:09.33/5:11.57), drills- fast exchange, straight leg skip with left A skip, straight leg skip with right A skip, straight leg skip with alternating A skip, (3:58), 2 mile tempo from 4 mile to 6 mile mark- 10:33.80(5:15.85/5:17.95), drills- side skip, side skip with cross, ankle dribbles, calve dribbles(3:37),  2 mile tempo from 6 mile back to 4 mile- 10:16.66(5:08.14/5:08.52).  0.6 cool down in 4:24.  Depending on if you count drills or the jog backs on drills towards the distance or not something in the 9 to 10 mile range for a total distance.

PM Bikram Yoga for 90mins.  Seemed to help the knee. Felt good overall.

Summary Back moving forward again.  Around 53 miles for the week two workouts that I'm quite happy with. Some tightness behind the left knee which seems to be a reaction to actually toeing off on that side.  Something to watch and work on but not something I'm freaking out about. Pelvis/hip seems much improved. Hopefully stretch the miles to the 60-70 range this week and get a moderate effort in addition to the two main sessions.

Training Blog October 1 to November 6, 2016

Monday off still playing it safe with the soreness in the glute/pelvis area did a lot of stretching and body weight exercises as well as some squats

Tuesday PM 4 miles on roads with Uta, pelvis seemed fine, 26:42, squats after tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:12 tot. 4
                     PM treatment, acupuncture and massage

Thursday AM 4 miles with Uta, 29:56 tot. 4
                  PM 4 miles with Uta, 25:56, squats after tot. 4

Friday AM 4 miles with Uta, 28:30, tot. 4
             PM 4 miles with Uta, 24:51, squats after, tot. 4

Saturday AM Bikram yoga 90mins
                 PM 5.1 miles with Uta, 31:16, vermont loop, tot. 5.1

Sunday AM at Franklin Park, Melissa was racing, 3+ easy 22:35, some light drills, first mile of the xc course at tempo effort, 5:07.3 almost exactly what the women's winner ran for her first mile, mile cool down. After that I ran about 2 miles of running around the course while Melissa raced and doing her cool down with her tot. 7

Summary well that was a lost week.  I did the tempo Sunday so I would feel like I had done something other than slog around.  At least the hip/pelvis seems to be ok and I can start getting rolling again next week.  Hopefully do something close to matching last week and then increase from there.  On the plus side my latest round of exercises and drills has finally unlocked my ankles which has massively reduced my daily pain quotient.  My right ankle has been very unpleasant for the last few years with tendonitis I just couldn't seem to shake and it is 99% gone now, which is pretty amazing.  Also on both sides I'm able to to push off my big toe when running and walking which I haven't been able to do in years.  Certainly this is good for my speed and efficiency and hopefully it will be good for my coordination.
  I greatly increase the quantity of my squatting to build the muscle density in my pelvis and improve my rear chain firing pattern.  On Sunday I built a plyo-box so I can do box jumps at home as well for the same reasons and to continue the process of the rebirth of my ankles.  Also after that, maybe not for a couple weeks, I'll need to increase my dead lifts to balance the squats and also help with bone density.   It is crazy given my mileage history that I am doing stuff to dense up my bones most of which would take a truck to break them but I did get a stress fracture and I don't want that to become a regular thing.
  Hope your running is going better than mine.

  Hey if it's good enough for Paula it's good enough for me…

Training October 24 to 30, 2016, two steps forward, two steps back.

Monday AM 4 miles out and back with Uta felt a little quicker but I don't have a time because I
                       couldn't find my watch this morning and didn't have time to look for it. tot. 4
               PM at school, 20:45 warm up, full drills-13mins- 30x100m strides 'on the minute'. Slowest
                      was 16.5, fastest was 15.7 all but the first 2 were under 16.3. 4minute cool down tot. 5+

Tuesday AM 4.1 miles neighborhood loops with Melissa and Uta, 32:29, tot. 4.1
                3PM Drills, box jumps and massage with Anna
                6PM 4 miles out and back with Uta, 25:51 tot. 4

Wednesday AM 4 miles with Uta, 31:33, we were crawling Uta was not happy to leave mom in the
                            nice warm bed. tot. 4
                     PM Coventry 10k solo, 42:14 tot. 6.2

Thursday AM 4.1 miles neighborhood loops with Melissa and Uta, 32:20 tot. 4.1
                  PM 5.5 miles with fast finish, last 2 miles in 10:44, 5:19, 5:25. full thing in 35:46 tot. 5.5

Friday AM 4 miles in cold rain with Uta, 30:22 tot. 4
             PM just over 4 miles with Uta, Melissa with us for first 25minutes then she stopped for drills
                    and 200's tot. 4.1 miles

Saturday AM 3 mile warm up, first mile with Melissa, 22:35, full drills, half a dozen or so strides with
                         two 30 second efforts race great bay 5k, 2nd place 15:23, first place was Neal
                         Darmody, he broke away right off and I went out in 5th.  After about the first 1k which
                         is slightly uphill I moved by the two guys I was following and surged up to Chris
                        Antunes who had a 5 to 10 yard gap.  I got up to him at about the mile, which we
                        passed in 5:01.5, for the next mile Chris did most of the work and I would push the
                        downhills, we passed two miles in 9:55.9(4:54.4), I inched away from Chris in the third
                        mile but didn't close the large gap on Neal at all, 3 miles in 14:51.1(4:55.1).  Obviously
                        this is much better than a three weeks ago.  I got a better effort, it is also a faster course,
                        about 30 to 40 seconds quicker usually compared to Great Island. These are actually the
                        three fastest miles I have run since coming back, though obviously my 100's are at a
                        much faster pace. After we, Melissa and I, had a nice conversation with Neal and his
                        wife Micaela who I knew as a 50lb kid running for the greater lowell youth team back
                        when I was a Greater Lowell guy.  I definitely felt old but they were real nice. 1 mile
                        cool down with Melissa tot. 7+

Sunday XT 90min bikram yoga

Summary The race was a big step forward.  However afterwards I had noticeable discomfort/odd feeling in the area I had the stress fracture.  As such I took Sunday and Monday off.  Feels fine now.  I got some treatment and changed up my exercises a bit.  Hopefully a bump in the road but I'll probably avoid speed work until at least this weekend.  Also with the day off and two days of just 4 so far this week the volume will be lower as well.   I was bitching to Anna about the pain coming back and she basically laughed at me telling me how bad my form still sucks and how I should expect problems. So one step at a time I suppose.