week of 21 Aug

 Activities

• Mon.  svbgc 5.5.  5.5@11:23/134
• Tue nbhrd 3.  3.27@11:33/131
• Wed.  6x800 CCT EIM.  paces.  9:04, 9:01, 8:52, 8:50, 8:46.  max HRs 160, 168, 157, 159, 160, 162.  Felt great.
• Thu.  TM 3.21@11:06/128.  Really 3 miles (5 mph).
• Fri. svbgc 5.5.  5.52@11:35/131.
• Sat.  1.73@12:36/123 outside and 3.31@11:33/127 (<5mph) on mill.  Super humid outside and no sleep.  went back and used treadmill.
• Sun.  two burke lake lap.  9.13@10:49/141. 30-sec "surges" every mile.  Felt good. 78 at end and very humid.  surges were maybe 9-9:30.  not fast -- just shake the cobwebs off.

Total:  41.1.  7h41m.  5061 calories.  Most miles in comeback.  3rd in a row over 40.

Weight 188.2 (n=5)

BP last 3:  110/63.

ARHR:  54 bpm.  only wore to bed once?

26-day running streak without really thinking about it.

Tanda has me 4:11 (I wish).  Wed and Sun run right on the 3:45 line.

Runalyze prognosis.

Garmin

Really liked the EIM interval run and the surges added to a long run seems make me less sore the next day.

Working on form a bit.  My right hip seems unstable.  Need to "bring it in" and narrow hips.

Easy Interval Method

 Got this book because I found the idea intriguing.  It involves a lot of aerobic intervals. Some of the ideas like surges in endurance runs is something I've done through trial and error.  I've been doing that recently because I found I wasn't ready/am too old for a longer moderate paced run like I did in 2011, so I added some surges into my medium long runs to get a little turnover and maybe a little higher end aerobic stimulus.

I did this again on my long run (11 miles) yesterday, with 30 seconds faster every 10 minutes or so.  Faster was only a minute per mile faster.  I also did 3x strides at the end he recommends. I did maybe 20m instead of the 100.  The books speaks more to fast runners but tries to make allowances for slower runners.

The bulk of your running are aerobic intervals on what would be your regular easy/steady days.  400s at around 10k pace  and 1000s at something north of LT pace.  There are pretty big ranges.  I wish this were described at something like 40-minute pace and 2-hr pace instead of the wordy adjustments.

Now these intervals come with very long rest so hopefully they aren't too taxing.  Equal distance jog with walking 10-30 sec at the beginning and end of the rest period.   He also recommends easing into it with only one interval session a week.  And staying at the slow end of the (very wide) range of paces, doing less reps, shortening the distance.

He also says for the 400s slower runners should reduce to 300s or 200s or run by time -- 80-90 seconds.  Same for 1000s.  Reduce to 800s or 600s or 4-5 minutes.  Total tempo + recover not more than 9-10 minutes.  (Not sure how that's compatible b/c it's supposed to be equal distance recover and 5+5 = 10 would be the same speed...)

Anyway, for me, using the 52-minute 10k (based on runalyze), that would be 5:23-5:44 for 1000 which is ~54-57:30 10k pace or about 8:40-9:13/mile.  Given the prescription to do <5 minutes,  could call this ~9-minute pace for 800.  1-hour/tempo pace for a 52-minute 10k runner is 8:30/mile per runners world's calculator. The range is also nicely close to predicted HM to M pace (8:45-9:07) or 2-hour to 4-hour pace.  

For the 400s, it's 1:55 to 2:03 per 400 which is 7:45-8:15/mile (2M in 15:28 to 5M in 41:18) so 15- to 40-minute pace.

So basically I'd be looking at 90 secs (300 m) at 8:00+/-:15 pace and 4:30 (800 m) at 9:00 +/- :15 pace.

week of 14 August

Garmin bricked my HRM strap with an update.  Got 7% in and stopped.  waited half an hour and no joy.  But it bumped me up to VO2max of 43 this week.

Activities

Mon. nbhrd 2.  2.1@11:37/131.  chiro appt.  short on time.

Tue.  treadmill 4.4@11:11/132.  wall of humidity hit me at door so ran on treadmill.  mill said 4 miles.  not sure if it's calibrated properly or footpod estimate is just off.  can't imagine my stride is *that* different.

Wed.  gcc 7.  6.95@10:53/138.  Did 6 surges on uphills.  5 were 60' and last was 90'.

Thu.  svbgc 5.5. recovery.  5.5@12:10/128.

Fri.  svbgc 5.5.  easy.  5.5@11:22/132.

Sat.  CCT Lake A 11.  10.9@11:12/137.  really good.  59 degrees!  "new" (revived) route.  with flat stretch along CCT.  Noticed that pulling in my right hip (head of femur) and bring hip up and forward engages glute and seems to free my right leg.  Did 30' "surges" every 10 minutes or so.  Kept me loose.  Surges were very gentle.  ~10:00/mi and 140 bpm at end of a surge.  Did 3x very short strides at end. 20m?

Sun.  gc 5.  4.75@11:26/131.

Total:  40.1 miles.  7h34m.  4911 calories

Weight:  189.1 (n=6)  (189.2 last week)

BP last 3 avg:  117/69

ARHR:  52 bpm.

Marathon predictions.  Tanda:  4:14:01.  Garmin 4:52:47.

Saturday's run was a tanda "equivalent daily running of a 3:45:00 marathoner," a "tanda PR."  Was 11 miles, so just need to run 77 a week at that pace and I'm good :-)  Also nudged my overall fitness number across the 4:15 line.

Predictions

Tanda:                                                       4:14:01 M

Garmin:                 26:56 5k    56:51 10k,  2:08:56 HM.  4:52:47 M.

Runalyze:    14:30 3k   24:54 5k    51:42 10k   1:56:28 HM   4:58:02 M.

The Runalyze predictions look closest to my intuition.  I'd thought if I had a prediction under 25 for 5k that I should try a parkrun or race.  Maybe soon.  Was originally planning a 10M on 24 Sept, but I think it's too early.  Same race has a 10k, so maybe I'll do that. Wanted a 10M time for CB registration, but there are so few of them especially closer to December.

week of 7 Aug

 Got over 40 this week!  No rest days.  Calf niggles gone.  Paces are coming down which creates its own stress even if HRs are low.  Resisting the urge to push the pace too often as I adjust.

• Mon. gc 5.  4.8@11:45/133
• Tue. gc 5 4.8@11:24/131.  Nice.
• Wed. gcc 7.  uptempo.  6.96@10:29/142.
• Thu. gc 5.  4.8@11:49/131.
• Fri. 4.8@11:51/131.
• Sat. svbgc 5.5.  5.5@12:00/129.  Very little sleep.  Felt off. Hard to get my HR up at first.  jogging at 115 bpm even.  Don't think it was the monitor.
• Sun.  Burke lake 2 laps.  9.15@11:00/143.  Easy first lap.  Uptempo 2nd except last 0.6 cdn.  52:20 first lap (11:26).  48:29 second (10:33)

Total:  40.7 miles.  7h42m.  calories 5101. 

Weight: 189.2 (n=6) going up this week.  187.8 at beginning and 190 at end. I blame the bag of chips my wife bought (not my eating them of course).

BP: last 3 avg.  113/67.

ARHR:  53 bpm.

Another crplots feature -- efficiency in meters/beat.  Good to see this increasing.  

week of 31 July

 Combination of calf strain, rain, and work motivated me to not run Monday or Tuesday and then take it easy wed and thu.

• Mon. Rest
• Tue. Rest
• Wed.  gc 5.  4.74@11:54/131.  Recovery.  Garmin decide my 4.79 is now 4.74.
• Thu. gc 5.  4.75@12:14/126.  
• Fri. gcc 7.  7.00@11:22/136.  7 1-minute "surges" up random hills.  High HR at end was ~160.  Thresholdish at most.
• Sat. Burke lake 1 lap.  11:16/138.  Pretty warm and humid.  Planned 2 laps but just didn't have it.
• Sun. gc 8.  7.85@11:12/140.  70 deg 100% humidity. Terrible adidas shorts and cotton shirt.  Like I jumped in a lake.  Felt pretty good.  Weight before and after.  Lost 4 pounds.

Miles: 28.9.  5h35m.  3658 calories

Weight: 188.7 (n=5).

Travel and calf strain impacting mileage.  36, 35, 33, 27, 38, 29 recent weeks. avg 33.

Seem to be solidly under 190 now.  Every weigh in this week under 190.

Paces have picked up.  Seem to have hit an inflection point where I've gone from shuffling to very slow jogging, so efficiency is probably a bit better.

Garmin's race predictor starting to move again after stagnating.  Says under 5 hrs for marathon for first time. That would put be roughly 3000 out of 3200 at Munich. LOL.