Planned vs Actual (Training 3/3-3/9)

Now that I actually wrote out a training schedule, let's see how closely I stuck to it.

This is literally the first time (I remember) having a written training schedule since the last time I ran with Boston365 way back in 2010 (actually it was called Boston Bound(tm) at the time).

I'll start comparing planned versus actual workouts like my friend, Erin on her blog: Running Ruminations. I'm hoping that this exercise will help me catch over or under training.

Monday

Planned (P): am 5 miles, pm 10 miles

pm - 9.92 miles at 7:28 pace

Did the LS Fun Run with Angelica G. and Brian. I waited instead of running immediately after work and was rewarded with a nice 10 miler! Done, done, done with cold and snow. Lynton K. and Tim R. flew by doing their own workouts!

Decided to sleep in and skip the double immediately after the long run.

Tuesday

P: 9 miles

pm - 10 miles at ?? pace

Badger miles. Great running with Mark W. and seeing many Lakefront friends!

Again wanted sleep over miles, didn't make up the double. Back to back 10-ish miles days. Shin has been feeling good. Sometimes I feel a little tweak, but no pain.

Wednesday

P: 10 x 800

pm - 10 x 800 with 3 miles total w/u & c/d

Felt pretty good on these. Erased my splits, but the first few were: 2:52, 41, 41?, 3X... the remainder were 37-39 with the last one significantly faster at 2:34. Felt pretty controlled. 90 seconds active recovery.

Seeing Declan and Ben this past weekend reminded me of some of the qualities of good training partners. I did my best during the workout to try to eliminate the feeling of competition and create more of a collaborative environment. I did this by explicitly describing how I was going to run the workout (start slow, average a bit slower than our 8x800 workout, stay controlled) then I tried to get different guys in the group to take the lead on repeats during the workout. I was happy with the environment this created.

Thursday
P: 9 miles

pm - 10 miles at ?? (didn't bring a watch)
Tried to meet up with Mark and ended up sort of finding each other after a missed connection. Left shin a bit wonky.

Friday
P: 9 miles

am - 4 miles at ??
Did a short run as I was up late and wanted to sleep in. 6 x pick ups including a sprint up the hill at the Foster underpass. Ran in Lunaracers... Shin still weird.

pm - 1800 yards swimming in ~50 minutes
Had a headache for the rest of the night as I hadn't swam in nearly a month and tried to use kick turns. Oxygen debt. Felt good otherwise. Trying to kick out the weird feeling I had in my left leg.

Saturday
P:20 miles

am - 20 miles at 6:36 pace, in Barrington, IL
OUT: 1:09:23 IN: 1:02:27.

Felt much easier picking it up at the end of the run than the first time Braulio and I did it in Barrington. An extra 15+ degrees really helped. We had a big group for a while. Started very relaxed and eased into the run. It was great to have Scott and Jason there to push the pace.

Sunday
P: OFF

I forgot I had actually planned to take this day off. Turns out my left shin feels a bit weird so this complete rest day was needed either way. I just want to be careful!

After last week's time trial/race and long run, I was a bit disappointed about my current fitness. This past week's worth of solid training has done much to erase that disappointment. I'm still not where I think I could be, but that's okay. We're still 6 weeks out and I've only done 6 weeks (counting this one) at what I'd consider full training volume for this cycle.

I'm a little disappointed with the total volume of this week, but looking back to my more successful training cycles, apparently roller coaster volume helps keep me healthy.

Homecoming (Training 2/24-3/2)

While my undergrad experience was a mixed bag, I will always remember this hallway with great fondness. I started meeting here for runs before classes even started (I think).

Monday

am - 4.8 miles at 9:14 pace

The extra time off helped reduce the muscular soreness I was experiencing. Still feel sluggish.

pm - 9.85 miles at 7:06 pace

Good night for a run. Hands were cold, but, you know, that's to be expected. Did secret speed: 8 x 30 seconds starting every 1:30 after I turned around.

Tuesday

am - 9.22 miles at 7:35 pace

Met up with Saxon for a run. Ran my bag to work then Saxon and I ran to Belmont on the path. 3 x pick ups after turning around.

Good training density! Mileage and a little sprinkle of secret speed.

Wednesday

pm - 13.5 miles, 2 x 15 minutes + 10 minutes

Eh. Got dusted in this workout. Did the first 15 minutes at about 5:50 pace. 8 minutes easy. 15 minutes at ??. 5 minutes easy. 10 minutes at ??. It was cold out.

I wish we had done measured distances so I could get a better gauge on the quality of this effort.

Thursday

pm - 8 miles at 7:53 pace

Felt okay considering last nights workout. About 2-3 miles in I was feeling pretty tired, but I rallied and felt strong by the end. Windy after the turnaround.

In an effort to not let mileage rule my life, practice race preparations, and let my quads (which have been very sore) recover, my plan was to run a pretty typical 1 hour-ish run on Thursday and 6 miles on Friday (no matter how easy it felt) in order to prep for my race on Saturday. 

Why 1 hour, then 6 miles? Based on how I've been feeling, I thought this would allow me to maximize my mileage while still allowing my legs to feel a bit more fresh. It is amazing that 15 minutes fewer can make a pretty significant difference.

Friday

pm - 6 miles at 8:20 pace

Did 6 on my Easy 8 course to end up at mom & dad's. I'm actually practicing "tapering." At the end of a long week, I didn't care what pace I was running.

Saturday

am - Skipped doing a shakeout, didn't feel like I needed it since this race would be later in the day.

pm - 6 miles, 4.39 miles warm up and cool down, 3000m race at the Illinois Club Relays

The ground wasn't covered with snow!

I got to run with old teammates: Declan, Spillone, Frigo, and Ben Zeman!

I got to run parts of old running routes!

It was great. 

We ran our trademark (Jake's) Jack Daniels' warm up: 15 minutes easy (felt very easy) then 5 minutes at threshold.

3000m in 9:33.21 (3:09, 6:23), which was about 1 second faster than last year. Ran very even and moved up the entire race (I don't think I got passed). Full race recap to follow.

Sunday

am - 18.96 miles at 7:03 pace

Well at least this felt better than last week. The 6 miles to/from the path were very slow 8+ min/mile. Did 10.5 at 6:20 pace and couldn't pick it up at all. This was disappointing. Took a Huma gel at mile 8. No issues.

76 miles for the week in ~9.5 hours. Good volume considering I only ran 6 miles for two of the seven days. 

At this point, I thought it would be wise to reign in my training a bit so drew out a plan for the remaining 7 weeks of Boston Marathon training which I'll post later.

Finally, it was great fun hanging out with the other Illinois Track Club alumni (or Illinois Elite as we like to call ourselves). I'd like to post on the merits of good training partners at some point. Shout out to Declan, Ben, and Mark W!