A sneaky 75 mile week

Since I started training with SC, I have become less and less focused on weekly mileage totals. I dial myself into the assigned workouts for the day and focus most of the time on my heart rate rather than mileage or pace. This is starkly different than my mindset in college where weekly mileage seemed to be the ultimate measuring stick for one's fitness and ambition. Because of this shift in mentality, a 75 mile week snuck up on me without even expecting it. Actually, I did 75 miles in 5 days of running because I took Monday off and Wednesday went on a bike ride. There will be much more aggressive weeks to come, but this week was huge for me. I think I'll look back on this as the time when I really got my teeth back into my training. I feel like I control my own fate now.

The highlight of the week was definitely the out and back negative split 20 miler I did on Thursday. It felt so good to really roll like that and get some legitimate distance in at the same time.

On Saturday I did some "cruise intervals," aka some up tempo bursts of speed during an otherwise normal run. I had 4x10 minutes at 5:45 pace. Here's what that looked like:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/910590739

First off, I'm not sure if that link is going to work. If it doesn't work, that's ok. I hit 5:45 pace chunks right on, which felt pretty darn easy. My heart rate during those segments was 157, 147, 155, 160. There were some downhills on that second one, which would explain the dropoff there. I felt great and covered about 15.5 miles on that run, along with an easy four mile shake out later in the afternoon.

As an aside, the smell of the autumn air has to be one of the best things a runner can experience. The cool crispness is heaven to breathe in.

Day off tomorrow and a bit of a recovery week ahead. Thanks for reading everyone.

AH

This is your delicious treat for reading through the whole post

Kittery 4 miler

Quick update regarding my recent training and my first race SINCE JUNE 2014. Let's allow that one to sink in for a second. Actually, it turns out this is a loooooooooooooong update.

This past Sunday was a race morning for me for the first time in well over a year. These mornings are occasionally a little unnerving for me, but I had very little anxiety leading up to this one despite all the emotional and physical ups and downs I've felt in the past 15 months. All that time was leading up to this point where I was putting the same racing singlet on that I wore at Grandma's. I couldn't deny the feeling that I was a different runner with a hugely altered sense of appreciation for the sport and being able to be a part of it again. I thought about all I've had to do just to put this singlet on again, and with real purpose I wanted to prove to myself that I still have a whisper of the ability I had last year.

I drove to the race with Ali, registered, and spent a few minutes chatting with other local runners and friends. I warmed up for about 25 minutes, got back to the start, did some strides, and felt pretty ready to go. This race was small, and that was a big part of the appeal for me. It was close, low key, familiar (I did it in 2013) and not a 5k, which is always nice. 

I started the race a little quicker than I was planning, but I felt surpassingly comfortable settling into low 5:00 pace. I checked myself down once or twice to avoid getting too carried away in the beginning stages which certainly helped me maintain a consistent speed through the middle miles. I knew nobody in the race would be threatening the lead, so it was really a solo mental battle between myself and my hips. I felt a little twinge of pain in my right groin/hip area about 2 miles in, which persisted through the finish line in varying degrees. For a moment I considered stopping, not because it was too painful to keep going, more that I was afraid of it getting worse. Luckily, it didn't, and stayed manageable, which has been the story over the past couple months. 

According to my watch my splits were 5:16, 5:22, 5:07, 5:13 for a 5:14 average. Truthfully I think the course was a little bit short, as my total distance came out to 3.98 miles. Despite the potentially short course I found it amusing that my average pace for this race was exactly the same it was at Grandma's. It was a great day and amazingly fun to be back out there on the race course. Turns out racing can be fun and not always be stressful.

Continuing with the rest of my week, I put in a 6 mile tempo run on Tuesday (~5:35 average) and felt strong but still pretty tight in my groin and hip, which bothered me a little, comparable to how it felt in the race. As a little cherry on top for the week, I ran a two hour out and back negative split today (Thursday), this came after some all-out hill sprints the night before. I covered about 20 miles and averaged 5:35 pace for the return journey. Each hard effort I feel noticeably more efficient and speedy. 

There's no doubt things are happening quickly. I have seemingly gone from nothing to being in pretty reasonable shape within a very short time. I knew I could be quick about it, but I never expected this kind of turnaround for myself.  I don't want to jinx it, but theres' a real possibility that this buildup might actually seem easier for me to handle, mentally and physically. I don't know if this is because I'm just a year older, I understand the training system I'm in that much better, or what, but based on what's been happening over the last few weeks I'm really surprised by my body's ability to respond to training stresses whenever it's necessary. I wonder if deep down my body internalized and is beginning to recall what I was doing 18 months ago in regular training. Maybe I'm just that much closer to my so called "physical peak." Either way, I better not get too carried away and hurt myself again. That would be devastating.

Speaking of which, my plan is to dedicate even more time that I currently am working on core strength and stability. I can still sense some discomfort on my right side, although it's been consistent and hasn't worsened. As it stands, it's pretty manageable, but it would be the ultimate setback if it got considerably worse. I also worry about my mental ability to go out and deal with it on a daily basis. Either way, I want to really shore things up with that area soon, whatever it takes.

AH

Road breakthoughs + the big W

I'm finding more things to talk about as I keep getting stronger and faster. I can sense my body building itself back up after harder workouts, and doing so in a noticeably positive way. It's almost like my body is beginning to understand and react to the pressures I'm applying to it. Run, recovery, run, recovery, run. Patterns. I can feel my mind starting to fall into some familiar patterns as well, where I'll think more intently on my next workout (or race) than usual.

The workout that really made my week last week came on 9/13, exactly 5 months before the trials. Didn't realize that until I wrote it out in that way. Huh. I guess that's pretty cool. Whether it's cool or not, here's what happened: I did an easy 90 minutes at Stratham hill park in the morning, then about 5-6 hours later was heading out for a second run. Usually my second run is an easy recovery sort of thing, or in some cases a chance to work on speed. In those cases I'll do drills, strides, and some hopping around to build some strength and power. Today was different even than those days, with a 10k fartlek planned of 2:00-1:00-1:00-:30-:30-:30 alternating fast and slow running. The workout went great; I started aggressively and held on to those fast paces throughout the run. Here's a breakdown. Blew myself away. This was my first indication that I am getting into very modest race shape.

  
This legitimately doesn't look impressive, but bear in mind this is what I did over 7.6 total miles. So my average pace was drastically pulled down due to a very slow warm up and cool down, which made up about 1.5 miles of it. My "fast" two minute splits were 5:20, 5:30, 5:05, 5:08, 5:03, 5:03, and 5:07. Enough to boost my confidence considerably.

Jumping ahead a couple days, my run in the mountains on 9/15 was shorter than last week's jaunt, but also significantly more elevation gain involving a cruise up to Mt. Washington's summit. I was far more confident compared to last week, so much so that I deliberately reminded myself that I still am a total noob on the mountain running scene and shouldn't get too confident any time soon. My body, too, is getting noticeably stronger out on the roads and on the trails. I went up Tuckerman's trail and back Lion's head trail, which included a little flat running to and from Wildcat parking lot, where I left my car.

                                                       Always nice to have clear signage

                                                           From the base of the ravine

                                 Near the top of the ravine, before heading towards Washington

Amazing views and lots of climbing. It was very windy the whole time, even at the base. Once I got to the peak of Washington, the winds were a sustained 63mph (according to the guys working up there at the time). It was a little creepy as I was the only non-worker up there at the time. I didn't spend much time and continued on my way back down Lion's Head, where I saw a few people and felt like a little less of a weirdo.

                                                                    Wow! Video!

I'm getting bored of this post as it happened days ago and my mind is now on to a four mile race I'm doing tomorrow in Kittery called the Seaside Four Miler. I did it a couple years ago and really enjoyed it. Nice course and I always like an unfamiliar distance. My first race since my marathon last June. Can't wait.

AH

Lafayette/Lincoln/Little Haystack

Today was Ali's first day of work at her new job in North Conway, and my first day of serious running in the mountains. This made Mt. Major last week look like a small gig. More elevation, some super tricky descents and climbs, and a completely cloud covered summit made this outing pretty memorable.

I woke up at 5:00 and made myself a quick breakfast of PB/J+banana. I was out the door by 5:30 and got in my car to head toward the Franconia area. Turns out it was an hour long drive to get there. I didn't realize how spread out places are up here... it takes a long time to get between towns. Anyway, I digress-- I got to the Lafayette trailhead parking at 6:30 and found the Old Bridal Path trail quite easily. 

Here's an always classic "before" picture. There's no "after" picture by the way, so don't get your hopes up. Notice the classy Connect 4 board off to the side. 

Here's some signage beckoning me into the wilderness. 

As soon as I got going, almost all my fears about my right sided hip pain (it's been acting up in the last few days) went away. I felt pretty good and I was making very steady progress up the trail. Things got steep though, as you might imagine-- I was climbing up Lafayette after all. I maintained a running gait, or at least something closely resembling a running gait, until I tripped myself up on a root about 25 minutes in. The thought flashed through my head-- I'll need to bag this run and go back-- but I sustained some minor cuts on my knee and jammed my index finger. My finger injury was the worst, so overal I didn't have much to complain about. 

I was forced to walk, aka fast hike, for a few sections that were comically too rocky or steep to run. I progressed pretty quickly and got to the Greenleaf Hut in about 50 minutes. I've been judging my effort on these fast climbs without much specificity; I run until my lungs or my legs can't take any more, and walk accordingly. I check my heart rate now and then for curiosity's sake, which usually peaks out around 170bpm for the steep and runnable sections. 

The best landscape picture I was able to capture before I got into the clouds.

I had a quick chat with a few folks who were staying at the hut and asked them if they knew anything about the weather. I was concerned, based on things I've read and heard, that the Franconia Ridge can be pretty gnarly if the weather turns bad. It's above tree line for a few miles and I was afraid of things getting worse. They confirmed that any potential storms wouldn't come until the afternoon, so I decided I'd continue on and see what the summit was like...

That blend of mild fear and isolation in this picture is all real. I snapped this at the top of Lafayette, where it was easily 60 degrees with a 15-20mph wind, making it feel like 50. It was wet too, where the air almost felt heavy going into my lungs. It wasn't a place you'd want to hang out for very long. But it was so invigorating, too. The footing was damp but not too slippery, and the few times I reached down to touch the ground or a rock I savored the feeling-- I was really getting into it at this point. The visibility was terrible, of course, so realistically I didn't stick around for long once I got to the top. At this point I hadn't seen any other hikers in this section of the mountain, so I was feeling a little like the stupid guy taking a selfie above tree line and everyone else knew something I didn't and I was about to get swept clear off the mountainside. I pressed on despite the anxiety as the wind was much calmer off the southern side off the mountain. 

The traversing section ensued. Definitely the coolest part of this whole run, I got to open it up a little more when the footing was good. I was really getting my teeth into it at this point, feeling a little more mentally engaged and aware of my surroundings in the larger scale. I had some serious tunnel vision as I worked my way up to that first peak. At this point I felt more comfortable in a general sense. 

I got to the Lincoln and Little Haystack peaks, then took a short jaunt up to Liberty before turning and heading down Liberty Spring trail. I was at about 2:30 when I turned down Liberty Spring, which brought me basically down to the level of the road by 3:15. I found the Pemi trail and excitedly headed towards the parking lot where I started. When I got to The Basin, however, I misinterpreted a sign and accidentally followed the Basin Cascade trail for a mile. Once I realized my mishap, I sat down and ate the peanut butter and fluff sandwich I brought with me before going back to the junction. This might have been the low point in the day, but the Flutternutter really helped me out. I finished the last two miles at a nice steady pace as the trail leveled out and there were few roots and rocks to be found. I emerged at the Lafayette Campground and found my car! It's always a nice feeling to see something as familiar as your car when you've been running in the woods for a while. 

Here is a quick snapshot of my loop along with some nerdy running data.

Can't wait for the next one!

AH

The long run

I set out this morning with some good momentum at my back, and the day turned out even better than I could've expected. In the back of my mind I still expect disaster when I put my running shoes on. Pretty much every time I've returned from a run over the last 3 or 4 weeks Ali will ask me "How'd it go?" and I'll say something along the lines of "It went well, actually." The word actually being the key one in that response. I'm still getting accustomed to things taking a serious turn for the better.

I put together my longest run since last June and busted out 16.4 miles. Most of the run was easy, zone 1 or 2 HR, with 20 minutes at zone 3-- not dissimilar to last week's longer one. I was comfortably moving along in the heat at just under 7:00 pace until I hit 5 miles, which, like last week, is when I decided to put in that little extra burst of effort. I ran the next few miles at about a 5:52ish average, which included some hills and plenty of bright open sunlight. I was stoked when I finished it, feeling quite spry and like I could've done another one. I stuck with the plan though and reminded myself that if I stuck it out for the whole planned 1:45 I'd easily put in a lot more distance than I have in recent history. Not smart to push the heart rate and the longer distance on the same day, especially when I still consider myself pretty fragile. Here's a couple snapshots of my data in case anyone out there wants to nerd out a little bit.

Obviously I still have a long way to go. But these numbers will only get better. Holy moly I couldn't be happier with how this went today. It's really something I can hang my hat on.

In other fun news, Ali (she's an Occupational Therapist, aka OT) is taking a job in North Conway as a "traveler," which basically means she's temporarily going to work at a hospital up there for a 13 week stint. We won't see each other as often, which will be the worst part-- I'll see her on weekends and once during the week. All things considered though, it'll be a great gig for both of us for a lot of reasons. In terms of my running (this is a running blog, after all) it couldn't be a better setup. I am not-so-secretly thrilled at the prospect of using Jackson (where she'll be staying during this time) as a home base for some awesome mountain runs over the next few months. My plan is to go up there on Monday nights after work and wake up early on Tuesday and spend the whole morning/day running on the trails in the surrounding area. Easy access to the best trail running in the state.

The week ahead looks exciting. I'll keep this updated as I go along.

AH