Training Blog February 2 to 8, 2015 Special Block

Monday 

AM 35mins with Uta, the dog, and Melissa in the snow. total 4.3 miles

XT whartons, YTI

Tuesday

AM on treadmill 3.5 mile warm up with four 15 second blocks at 13mph(4:36pace) for strides, quick bathroom trip and a shirt change, 1/2 mile  to get up to speed then 7 miles of alternations 1/2 mile at 12.4mph and 1/2 mile at 10.7mph- 36:27 for 7 miles, 5:12 per mile. lost coordination and stopped.  I have a very hard time keeping my shoulders back on the 'mill.  3 mile cool down total of 14 miles

PM Bear hill 4.2 with Uta, 30:08 total 4.2 miles

XT whartons, YTI

Wednesday

PM regular 10, 65:56, felt pretty good but roads were sloppy, total 10 miles

XT whartons, YTI

Thursday

PM on treadmill, 3 warm up on treadmill with 4 "strides" of 15 seconds at 13.5mph (4:24pace), 1/2 mile getting up to speed then, 10 mile progression run starting at 10.7mph(5:36) down to 11.9mph (5:04mph) 54:17- big fight with coordination, again I really struggle on the treadmill- I keep looking down at the darn screen!! 1.5 cool down total 15 miles

XT whartons, rubber band, YTI

Friday

PM road 8, 54mins footing not so great total total 8 miles

XT wharton, YTI, rubberband

Saturday

9AM with Ruben,  all outdoors 20 degrees, 3.2 warm up 23mins, big of light drills, couple of strides, 10k moderate tempo around lightly rolling merrimack college 5k loop- goal was 34:00 ran 33:09.

splits 

1-5:19

2-5:20(10:39)

3-5:22(16:01)

4-5:19(21:20)

5-5:22(26:42)

6-5:22(32:04)

Footing ok but we had to be very careful(slow) on all the turns(12 on loop) and there was about 100m that was quite slushy/slippery.  Still this felt very easy.

3mins rest

10k at marathon pace- honestly I thought given the footing, the rolling course and the temps if we could run 32:00 I'd be thrilled.  Before we started the loop Ruben said he would be happy with anything with a 32 in front of it.  We ran 31:29 and it felt very good and controlled.

Splits

1-5:08

2-5:03(10:11)

3-5:08(15:19)

4-4:55(20:14)

5-5:07(25:21)

6-5:10(30:31)

2.5 mile cool down back to house 17mins total 19 miles

4PM 2.5 mile warm up, light drills, strides, 10k moderate tempo, again goal was 34mins, again we exceeded the agreed upon speed limit like Rubes. 10k in 33:20

Splits

1-5:19

2-5:22(10:41)

3-5:26(16:07)

4-5:22(21:29)

5-5:20(26:48)

6-5:24(32:12)

It was amazing how easy this was.  Don't forget we are starting this with more than 21miles in our legs including more than 20k of running at a good clip.  Also footing, rolling hills and the very cold temps. Really felt very relaxed.

2mins recovery with light drills

7x1k on roads with 2min rests

1- 3:02

2- 3:03

3-3:07

4-3:03

5-3:13

6- 3:08

7-3:12- completely bankrupt. called it. 

Ruben continued on for 3 more reps.  I jogged in the last 3k while he did it.  I would catch up to him and send him off on his next rep.  To be honest not being able to do the last 3 was a rookie mistake on my part I had only eaten 6 pieces of toast and two things of tea all day.  Just not enough fuel for a run like this with all the extra miles of warm up and cool down.

2.5 mile cool down- by now I was in a pretty bad way but we headed home- NEVER do a marathon block with a cool down.  I should have had Melissa waiting for us. I didn't. It was stupid.  I have been bankrupt of fuel like this a couple times.  You struggle to think straight and feel very hopeless and just want to stop.  Also we were soaking wet and it was very cold, 20 degrees.  With about a mile to go Ruben ran out of fuel to.  He wanted to stop, I couldn't get him going again.  He walked a bit but it was obvious he was done.  I told him to wait and I ran the last mile to the house.  I was so gone I couldn't drive. Melissa went out and found Ruben.  I was supposed to go out to eat with Melissa's extended family instead they got us takeout and helped us get our whits back about us.  We kinda ruined their night.  total 18 miles 

XT a good bit of light drills(a skip mostly), whartons, rubber bands.

Sunday 

PM 36mins of snowy road jogging with Melissa- she took it easy on me. total around 4.5 miles.

XT whartons and rubberband.

Summary 

97 miles for the week. Two good normal workouts and one GREAT special block.  Even not being able to run the last few K's at the end this was an awesome session.  To be able to run that fast that easily in the PM is really great.  The way it went confirmed our monster aerobic strength down to about 5:05 pace but the lack of speed on the 1k's, really should have been about 3:00 shows we do need more half marathon paced work to round out the special phase.  I really think though as strong as we are a few good alternation sessions should do the job. 

  A single session like this is a double edged sword and the key to super compensation is to recover from it.  My father in Law was all worried that training like this would get us sick or hurt.  He was exactly right to be concerned.  If you try to jump back into your regular runs after something like this and it is like setting a time bomb in your system.  You will break down.  If you are really strong a couple easy days will do if not you may need much more.  After my first I needed a light week.  I felt pretty good today but I won't workout again until the middle of this week and I'm quite strong.  

  

My First Canova Block

  It was January of 2006.  I had been training on my own for about 18 months.  I had been running a lot, I had in fact averaged over 135 miles per week for those 18 months.  I was getting ready for my first marathon and had decided to try to convert a schedule Renato Canova had put out there for one of his former athletes, Rodgers Rop.  I'll do a post on the whole cycle some time down the line but for today I'll just say that it was transformative in many ways not the least of which was I went from having bests of 24:35 and 1:07:28 for 8k and the half to having bests of 23:26, 1:04:14 and 2:15:28 for the marathon.

  About mid way through my first experience with Canova I would attempt my first special Block.  I should have been doing a specific block but at the time I couldn't have told you the difference and more over your not going to get through a specific block without doing a special block earlier in the cycle and I hadn't done a Canova base but all these were problems I didn't know I had.

  I ran the first session starting at 7am.  At the time I was meeting Sammy a 4:00 miler from Texas who had moved up to Massachusetts recently and was working at the same running shoe store I was.  Sammy would stop off at my house for the morning run on his way to work in the morning and after the run he would go to work for the first shift at the store.  I would take over for him at 1pm and work until 5pm, it was 2 to 7 on thursday and Sunday was 12 to 4 but that is all off topic.

  The morning session was 10k with a goal of 34mins and 10k with a goal of 32mins.  The PM session was 10k with a goal of 34mins and 10x1k with a goal of 3:00 per k.

  Sammy arrived in full awareness of the monstrosity I was to attempt.  He had decided he would do  the warm-up and the first 10k then he would cool down and go to work leaving me to the hell of my own making.  We warmed up 3 miles on the cold winter morning and did some strides on the busy Lowell Boulavard.  It was busy but it is FLAT and that I was grateful for. I had pre measured with a wheel an out and back 5k and a 1k stretch for the reps.  Garmins and online measurement existed at the time but they were less accurate and I certainly didn't own a Garmin.

  After a 3 mile warm up in 23 mins and a few light strides Sammy and I were off.  This was not a target workout for Sammy who was just trying to ease himself back into shape and I was nervous as hell, we hit the 5k turn around in 17:10 and closed up both feeling super strong at 34:15.  I was still scared but I was super surprised how easy that had felt.  Sammy was pumped as well to have knocked out a tempo at under 5:30 pace stayed in a easy talking effort the whole way.  Now he was off to work.  I did a little light jogging and a few strides and headed out.  I had a split at 1k and 1 mile then 2 miles I was running in a large part by feel.  I was super happy to hit the turn around and not feel dead, though my legs were quite heavy, at 15:52, I really started to push on the way back and found I was going about as fast as I could.  I finished up in 31:39.  At that time it was one of the 5 or ten fastest 10k's I had ever done and it was the fastest tempo run I had ever done.  I was shocked.  This was early in my Canova training and I was improving fast.  However my elation was tempered by the knowledge that I would have to do it again that afternoon.  It was already one of the longest and most exhausting workouts I had ever done.

  At this time I was religious about getting my cool down in, I'm not anymore, but I cut myself some slack and did a little over 2 miles cool down back to the house and got ready for work.  At the time I was using chocolate milk as my post workout recovery and I had bought a special half gallon of it just for this day and of course completely forgot about it.

  The shoe store I worked at was pretty slow and I basically used to just stand around all day and see only a few customers.  This day was much of the same though I snuck a few more sitting moments on the try on benches than usual.

  It was dark that evening when I got out of work.  I walked my mile home as was my custom at the time and changed up for round two.  I headed out for my 3 mile warm up and just felt exhausted.  I wasn't tight or sore I was just exhausted and had heavy legs.  I was in new territory and I had no idea what to expect.  In fact that I wasn't sore or tight was sort of mind blowing to me.

  Back on the Boulivard I did my strides and got right to work. I was shocked that although I felt very heavy and tired the slower running felt very easy and I was ahead on my splits right from the gun. I was 16:33 at the turn around and finished up feeling aerobically good but very very tired at 33:03.

  I took 5mins rest with a good bit of jogging and strides as it was January in Massachusetts and though the weather was good by those standards it was far to cold to stand around for five minutes.  I attacked my first 1k interval not knowing what to expect.  I had no set out splits but I had checked my split on the tempos at an intersection and I used this as a ballpark mark to get a sense of how I was doing. There was a light breeze and on the odd reps it was at my back.  I hit my finish in 2:59 and I was pumped.  I had nice long 2 min rests but it is strange when you have run that much hard mileage it isn't your breathing you are trying to recover.  That comes quickly instead your legs are like sand bags and you don't have an ounce of spring. No amount of rest will get that back for you.

  Rep two into the wind hurt more and was a 3:01.  Rep 3 was my flyer in 2:55 I was pumped up about it but I knew if I tried to keep that up I would be done very soon.  On rep 4 all my delusions were gone.  I suffered through a 3:01 into the wind.

  For the next few reps I ran 2:57, 3:03 and 3:00.  Each rep was incredibly hard but I would get it done and feel like this was just how it was going to be.  I would have to fight a war with my dead legs but I would finish, one circle of hell rep at a time.

  The 8th rep was a 3:05.  It felt noticeably worse than the others and I could tell as I was running it that it was slower but I tried to tell myself during the rest that it was the wind that had killed me.  Plus I only had 2 reps to go.  Every part of my being knew I was done but I only had to go out and back.  One more in each direction.

   I had exceeded everything I had ever done I was in a whole knew place I leaped into the 9th rep.  My legs felt unresponsive and my feet just slapped down I was slow at my split and no amount of will seemed to move my body.  3:07. Really not so bad but I was crushed it was 7 seconds off pace and it was a tail wind rep.  The rest seemed to be over instantly and I was pushing back on my last rep!

  The top of the mountain was in sight and you would think that would bring out the final reserves for a last great effort.  There were however no reserves left they had been brought out and burnt up long ago.  I felt like I was barely moving.  I ran 3:13 slower by a good bit than the pace of the 10k I tempo I had run in the morning that had felt so easy.  Honestly if you told me before I looked at the watch that the rep had been at 6 minute mile pace I would have believed you.  It felt that bad.

  Honestly my workout was done after 8 reps.  I had not done the prep work to be ready for a session like this and frankly it kind of amazes me that I got as far as I did but even with that the last two reps were a bridge to far.

  As I stood dazed hands on knees I began to realize just how wiped out my legs were.  Shaky, weak, unresponsive. Crushed.  I had NOTHING left.  I mentioned above I ALWAYS cooled down but now I knew I was done.  The quickest way back to my house was a straight mile jog.  I painfully struggled through it.  I couldn't lift my legs properly.  I actually felt fear that I wouldn't make it back to my house but I had no choice.  One step at a time I made it back.  I nearly fell on my walk across the driveway to the kitchen door.  It was after 8pm.  I was ruined.

  This time I remembered my chocolate milk!  I drank straight from the bottle and had in a minute or two finished the whole bottle.  At which point I remembered that drinking a half gallon of milk was a bad idea.  I had seen enough gallon challenges in college to know that a half gallon could be enough to make you puke.  Luckily though I didn't feel so hot I had none of those problems.

  After a short while I took a painful shower and dragged myself to bed.  I was so exhausted I assumed I would drop into a coma like sleep.  I was wrong.

  The damage I had wrought on my body had pushed me to a state where I could not settle into a sleep. I lay there.  I had cramps. I shuffled to the bathroom.  I was dehydrated, I was exhausted. I was wrecked.  I knew after an hour or two that no real sleep would happen but I had no desire to get out of bed I would simply lay there in my misery and hope to feel somewhat closer to human when the sun came up.

  It would take a while but I would recover.  I would however not be the same.  A new athlete had been born.  My will for the long war had been hardened my endurance had reached new levels.  I would find out in my marathon debut that one great session like this alone was not enough to really finish a marathon perfectly but it was enough that I do feel this was the turning point of when I went from a guy who had potential to run a good marathon to a marathoner.