Training for March 18 to 26, 2017 and a summary of my base phase

I didn't run this week.  I had scheduled a week off because I have had a very long base phase.  I spent last fall from a bit before labor day until just before Thanksgiving building up VERY slowly.  I was banged up, out of balance and really struggling so even though the volume of work was very low I was working fairly hard to do it.  Finally I got myself together over the course of November and started doing what I would call training and have been at it steadily ever since.  I would not normally schedule a single phase to be this long, 17 weeks not including another 12 or so weeks of build up, but I was just so out of shape after a 4 month layoff and another two plus months of very light running that I really needed to put in a lot of work just to get into some sort of general fitness.

  As such I took this week off. All I did was go to yoga on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday and I got a massage on Friday. I did my normal stretching, basic exercises and mobility stuff but nothing that you would call real exercise.

  Looking back to the fall I was far out of shape.  I did run a 15:22 at the very fast Great Bay 5k, but the 16:11 I ran at the only moderately difficult Great Island 5k was more telling as to just how far off of decent shape I was.

  My first week resembling real training was November 20 to the 26th where I ran 72 miles the following week I was up to 84.  On December 10th I ran 32:10 on the very fair USATF Club Nationals course.  I would guess based on the winning time that it was within a minute of what you would expect to do on the track in ideal conditions.   So I was pretty out of shape.  At this point I was only doing half Mona fartleks and only covering about 1.8 miles while doing them, 5:30 mile pace or so.

  By the end of the month I had done a full Mona and covered 3.7 miles, about 5:24 pace, so I was coming along but I was still a long way from what I would consider 'normal fitness' which is covering around 3.9 miles for a mona.   I was getting in at least two decent efforts every week and running between 70 and 100 miles a week.  Nothing flashy but consistent.

  For the month I had 8 workouts, two races and a long run of 14 miles.  Certainly nothing to write home about but I was fitter at the end of the month then at the start of the month and I was healthy.

  In January I had 10 workouts, two races and a long run of 17 miles.  The first race was a 15:25 5k in much tougher conditions then what I ran 15:22 at back at Great Bay and the second was a very nice step forward with a 9:15 track 2 mile.  Not a great race but for where I was at it was good.  The thing I was starting to notice both in workouts and in that two mile was that I wasn't feeling the same resistance at speed that I had been struggling with the last couple years.  You can even see it in video of me racing. (fast forward to 4:10)



 I felt like I was running in sand when I try to get down much under 4:50 per mile pace and looked like I was almost dragging something.  In the 2 mile I felt like I had very little aerobic fitness and like I was running quicker than I had trained to but mechanically I felt smooth and easy.  This really got me, and still has me, very excited about the potential for running well this year as I get my aerobic fitness back and start to do some more race specific workouts.

If for comparison you look at how I'm moving now the improvement is pretty noticeable.



  In February I got in 8 workouts and two more races, my long run was 22 miles and additionally I got in three 16 milers.   I also had a 100 mile week, admittedly during vacation week.  The races were a 24:50 5 mile, which is back into what I would consider my normal competitive range.  Yes the out of shape side of the normal competitive range but after running a couple of 32 something 10k's and a 16:11 5k in the fall I admit I was worried about ever getting back into real shape again.  I am after all not getting any younger.  My 5 mile split at USATF had been a 25:40 and I feel like the courses were fairly even so to see a ~50 second improvement, 10 seconds per mile, over a 2 month period was very gratifying.  My second race was a 14:41 track 5k which much like the two mile really has me excited.  First mechanically I felt smooth and I didn't feel like it was hard to run that pace.  Second I was running off of fartleks and road work, no specific track workouts.  The fastest 5k I have ever run without specific work is 14:20.  So I'm not that far off.

 Generally I expect to drop 20 to 25 seconds on my 5k with a 6 to 10 week specific cycle which would have me in the 14:10 to 14:15 range this spring.  After how far I had fallen last fall I will be over the moon happy if I can run in that range this spring.  Lastly I improved my mona fartlek to 3.83 miles, an improvement of 9 seconds per mile to 5:13.3 pace.

  March was actually another good month.  I was getting tired and New Bedford was an unmitigated disaster but the general trajectory was still good.   I got in two solid weeks to start the month both in terms of mileage and workouts and with this rest I feel ready to go.  I would really like the snow to melt so I can get on the track for some specific workouts but I keep trying to remind myself I don't have control over that and that I no longer have the time to either shovel a track or to drive into the city to get on an indoor track so I must do the best I can with the resources I have.

  Moving forward I want to race two or three times in April, right now I'm planning on a Fresh Pond 5 mile on April 9th as a bit of throw back fun with Ruben.  A sort of "make fresh pond fast again" day.  Then I will likely do the James Joyce Ramble 10k.  I know some people hate this race but I like it.  I don't like the hill up to the finish but other wise I like the course.  It is generally competitive and they pay good prize money.

  In May I'd like to get serious about racing well and hopefully with some rust buster races and some specific track work in April I'll be ready to do so.  I plan on keeping at it up to the USATF-NE 5 mile champs in mid June at which point I'll take a week or two rest before changing speeds.

Training Blog March 6 to 12, 2017

Monday AM road 4 with Uta and Melissa, 30:51
               PM road 10 solo, feeling pretty heavy after yesterdays workout, 1:07:24

Tuesday AM road 4 with Uta, 30:02
               PM at North Andover track, 5k warm up, drills, strides, 16x200 with slow 200 jog recovery, average 31.6, jogs in about 1:08 average. This is muscular endurance, more like lifting then traditional reps, ie the last one feels basically the same as the first aerobically. 3 mile cool down

Wednesday PM road 16.1 solo, 1:45:31. thought I was going to have to stop for drills around 11 mile but then things came around and I was ok.

Thursday PM 3 mile warm up with Uta, drop her off, half mile jog to start area, drills, strides.  So my watch has a recovery adviser that is based on heart rate and the pace you ran.  When you save a run it tells you how many hours you are supposed to recover before your next workout.  I don't put much stock in it.  I do get a kick out of it when I finish a warm up.  Normally it tells me to take 5 to  15 hours recovery.  Now today I was feeling pretty tired.  I mean I failed to get up for the morning run.  So after the warm up the watch said I needed 50 hours recovery so I'm assuming my HR was a good bit higher than normal.  So I set off on my normal 3 mile tempo loop, 5:05 at the mile was a bit slow but not bad, the next mile was 5:15 which wasn't good and I wasn't feeling good.  I decided to keep the effort tempo on the last mile and let the pace be what it would be... 5:28!  Ugly!  When I stopped I felt finished.  I opted to skip the hill repeats and just do a 3 mile cool down.

Friday AM road 4 with Uta, 30:10
            PM circuit with Anna, nothing too bad.

Saturday AM 4 mile with Uta, 30:12, really freaking cold, -12 wind chill
                PM road 10 solo, 1:06:12, still freaking cold, 0 degree wind chill

Sunday AM 20.1 with Ruben in Chelmsford, mostly on rail trail. some snow on ground but not bad.  I did drill for coordination at 14.75 but was ok otherwise.  Cold again, 7 degrees, much less windy though so it felt ok. 2:06:02 total time.  couple light drills after we finished.

Summary 95 miles for week, 2 workouts, neither was very impressive.  I'm pretty tired.  I always struggle a bit in March.  I have a scheduled rest week after New Bedford Next weekend but I think I'll taper this week as well and hopefully feel some bounce again in a couple weeks.

Training Week January 9 to 15, 2017

Monday AM road 4 with Uta, 5 degrees, 30:23 tot. 4
               PM raliegh tavern 10, roads snowy/icy, 1:11:07, dead lifts after 7x6 starting a 115lbs up to 175lbs

Tuesday PM 3 warm up with Uta, drop her off, jog to start of loop, drills, strides, 3 mile tempo on winter street dumbell, 15:33, felt good, 10x 30 second hills focus on form, putting weight in ass/driving knees about 90% effort, 3 mile cool down.

Wednesday PM raliegh tavern 12.1 solo, legs tired after yesterday, 1:21:54

Thursday AM road 4 solo, 30:24
                 PM so warm I got to wear shorts, raliegh tavern 10 solo, first 3 easy, middle 4 I mixed in 20 short sprints, last 3 easy, 1:07:33, 6x6 squats after start at 95lbs up to 135lbs

Friday PM boxford 10 mile, we did a potluck lunch at school and I ate way too much and it made this run pretty unpleasant, 1:11:16

Friday night we puppy sat Anna's new puppy Luca.  As you can see this was very rough on Uta.

Saturday AM road 4 mile with Uta, 25:58 

                PM 3 plus warm up, full drills, couple light strides, 16x200m average 32.0 with slow 200 jog recovery, average 1:15. 3+ cool down, legs bit flat but kept it pretty easy.  Would have liked to be a bit quicker but more important to keep this relaxed and muscular only. 

Sunday AM 3 warm up with Uta, drop her off, jog bit under a half mile out to start, a skip, b skip, a+c skip, fast exchange, side skips (2 types), fast exchange with 3 hops, hopping. 13 mile fundamental tempo, 1:15:31 on rolling course, felt pretty easy.  Coordination started to act up at about 9 miles so I did 3 hop fast exchange for 40 meters or so and felt great from then on.  I actually felt like I could just keep going. 

Summary 95 miles for week, 1 fairly hard workout and 3 nice moderate sessions.  I'm very happy with this week.  I really enjoyed the fundamental tempo and was very happy with how the leg felt after the 3 hop fast exchange.  Time will tell if this helps to get me to stop losing coordination all together so I can race long but in terms of doing a workout like this I'm fine with doing 40 meters of drills every 8 to 10 miles.  Anything to do this quicker long runs.  I absolutely love running easy at a good clip for longer distances. 

  Only downside this week was missing a few morning runs.  I was feeling like I was on the edge of a cold all week and slept in to 5:50am a couple of days to try and stay not sick. 

My Current Training Plan

  This is an outline of my training schedule for the near future.  Basically until I get really fit or come up with a goal race.  This is a base phase or general fitness schedule.  This is not targeting racing well.  It is targeting improving my overall fitness.  It isn't too different from good half marathon specific training but I'm not doing it with a specific half marathon race in mind though I will likely run the New Bedford Half Marathon in March as well as the Jones 10 mile in February and a 15k in early April.

  This schedule is designed around four main goals.  In no order to return general aerobic fitness, to improve lactic threshold, to improve muscular power and efficiency, and to touch on every major training speed and effort in each two week cycle.  The workouts I selected were selected based on two main criteria.  First did they accomplish the training goal and second they had to work with the training resources and limitations I have currently.  Ie, I need to be able to do them without a track, in a New England winter, and in the dark as 11 out of 13 of my runs each week from early November until March are generally run in the dark.

  I like repeating a similar or even identical micro cycle a few times through a phase of training.  Partially because I can gauge how my body is progressing but also I'm just a very habital person who if I didn't give a damn about performance would probably do the same double every day over the same routes at the same effort. I like what I'm doing to be a bit mindless so I can focus entirely on doing it well.  Or at least that is the excuse I give myself.  

  Without further B.S. here is the schedule

For both week one and two I do an easy morning run, almost always 4 miles because of time constraints, Monday through Saturday.  On Saturday the run maybe done as the afternoon session and it maybe longer.

Week 1

Monday in the afternoon I'll do 10 miles at a steady effort- generally between 6:00 and 7:00 per mile, depending on conditions and how I'm feeling.  This is a fairly hilly run as there are a lot of hills around here.  After the run I'll do either Squats, dead lifts or box jumps.  The run is for recovery and general aerobic fitness, the exercises are for range of motion in my hips, power in my ankles and glutes and to increase strength as a means of increasing efficiency.

Tuesday in the afternoon I'll do a Mona Fartlek (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html) This is most importantly a bounce threshold or alternation session.  I would actually prefer to do Aussie quarters, (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2014/12/workout-wednesday-australian-quarters.html) right now to be able to focus on specific paces but with no indoor track option that isn't happening.  The secondary focus of this session is to touch on a bunch of quicker paces 5k down to perhaps mile.   After this session I'll do either squats, deadlifts, or box jumps.

Wednesday in the afternoon I'll do a medium long run.  Right now that is only 12 miles I'll build it up to 16, I should go up to 18 but frankly 18 miles after work in the dark is a tall order particularly when sandwiched between two workout days. Physiologically this workout is for basic aerobic fitness and there is a time on the feet efficiency training effect for the leg muscles but for me it is much more plainly about building up my ability to run longer without coordination problems.  Finally you guessed it I plan on doing either squats, deadlifts or box jumps after the run.

Thursday in the afternoon, short hill sprints- max effort very short, 10 seconds give or take. I'd prefer to keep with the 100's and the like but without a track that isn't an option and I don't have much for flat areas with good footing so short hills it is.  To be honest as a general rule I like short hills better anyway but right now I want to focus on my form on the flat so I'm sorry to lose that.  These are obviously a muscular exercise though they do also help increase the stroke volume of the heart.  I will start the winter only doing about 10 of these but I'll increase that by 2 or 3 sprints each time.  In the past I have done 30 or more sprints though I doubt I'll get to that many.  It will be key for me to keep good form on these which is a struggle for me on hills but I have been improving so hopefully it will be good practice. squats, deadlifts or box jumps after

Friday 10 miles, same as Monday.

Saturday 4x2 miles at Half marathon pace. with 3min recoveries with drills.  This is for lactate threshold and muscular endurance at speed.  The drills help with the latter and with improving form.

Sunday Long run- I'm around 13/14 miles now will try to push out to 20 to 22.  Long run is for basic aerobic fitness, efficiency and muscular endurance. I may do squats, deadlifts or box jumps after this.

Week 2

Monday same as last week

Tuesday 3 mile tempo, half marathon to marathon pace, 10x30 second hill repeats at a good effort, but not max, focus on form putting weight of stride on glutes and quads. Try not to hunch at shoulders. This is for lactate threshold and muscular power and efficiency.

Wednesday same as last week

Thursday 6 x mile at 10k pace with 2 to 3 mins recovery with drills- bit of threshold, lot of muscular efficiency and muscular endurance.

Friday same as last week

Saturday 20 to 30 x 20 second sprints fartlek style, meaning I'll just put them in on a run where the footing looks good. Full recovery.  This is for muscular efficiency and endurance.  Though it is also good for stroke volume but not as good as the hills.

Sunday fundamental tempo run in the 5:25 to 5:50 per mile range over rolling hills.  Hopefully as the coordination improves I'll be able to increase the volume on these.  This is my single favorite type of workout.  I have since beginning the form work I have been able to to up to 22 miles like this but only on soft surfaces.  So on the road I've been stuck in the 12 to 15 mile range on a good day.  I'm going to start in the 9 mile range and try to build up.  I may play with stopping for drills and continuing on in an attempt to 'teach' the body to hold the form that doesn't lead to coordination issues.  This is for aerobic fitness.  Sessions like this can lead to huge jumps in general aerobic fitness as well as your threshold.  I actually don't know exactly why perhaps it is simply that it is an under trained area or it is that threshold is impacted well by not going over it but by testing it from below.  I can tell you that these workouts changed my life as such for me I simply believe in them as an article of faith.  Also as I mentioned I love doing them.  Running for a long time at a quick pace is to me the single most enjoyable training experience.

Odds and Ends

 In weeks that I race I'll just drop the hard effort from the weekend.  If I race on a Sunday I'll skip the long run as well.  I'm planning a few races over the winter.  A 5k on the 1st.  A 5 mile, a 10 mile and a track 5k in February and a half marathon in March.  Hopefully by that point the winter is coming to an end and I'm getting fit and I'll be able to move onto a new training program with more specific goals.