weeks of 10 and 17 July

Was on work travel, leaving 10 July and flying back 21 July. Brutally hot and humid Destin, FL.  Did one outside run and rest on hotel treadmill, which was still warm with no airflow but not the humidity.  Numbers are infllated.  Was usually ~5.0 mph.  But since I had on the foot pod and should have been calibrated after 2 outdoor runs with it, maybe it's fair?

Missed some days because working 12-hour days.  Did really well to get 33 miles the first week, just getting some miles 6 days but no real long runs.

 came home with only 8 on a friday.  Managed to get miles friday, saturday, and sunday to hit ...

week of 10 July

• Mon.  ran at home morning before flight.  usual gc 5.  4.78@12:17/136.
• Tues.  Destin.  5.83@11:14/144.  Flat.  77F/73dp. Kinda brutal.
• Wed. nothing.  damn work.
• Thu. hotel treadmill.  watch read 5.44@11:06/144, but was probably 5.0 in 1:00:25 (set at 5 mph).
• Fri. 5.01@11:33/133 treadmill.  probably 4.8-5.0 mph on mill.
• Sat. 5.01@11:15/130 treadmill.
• Sun. 7@10:52/134 treadmill.  I think it was set to 5mph, but I'll take a cheat this week.

Miles: 33.1.  6h15m.  3832 calories

BP.  one reading on 7/10.  125/65.

Weight: no weigh ins.

Week of 17 July.

• Mon. 0.7 outside.  yes 0.7.  no sleep, brutal weather.
• Tue.  hotel tmill.  2.4.  working crazy hours.
• Wed. 5.0 hotel tmill.
• Thu.  nothing.  had to get to work at 0545 after up until 1am.
• Fri.  Back home after flight.  1:30pm.  84 degrees but low humidity felt great by comparison to Florida.  Ran 1 burke lake loop.  4.58@11:34/142.
• Sat.  2 burke lake loops.  77 degrees (80 by time done).  9.14@11:11/147.  Lots of upward cardiac drift but even pace/power.  avg power 298W.  Low lap  was 28 and max 304.  Pace between 11:02 and 11:22.  Last 0.6 of first lake lap was 11:20/147 and last 0.6 of 2nd lap was 11:13/161.  Quads sore after this.
• Sun. gc 5 very easy.  quads quite sore from yesterday (11:11 pace makes me sore. sad!)  63 degrees.  Kind of wish I didn't waste my effort on yesterdays run.  4.8@12:52/127.

Total: 26.65.  5h11m.  3400 calories.

Weight:  188.5 (n=2).  189.2 on Sat an d 187.8 on Sun.  pre-run.  drank glass of water before weight in on Sat, so think maybe it's real?  Although I usually weight less after a long run and gain during the week.

BP:  was 125/79 on sat.  surprised that high after sleeping, but 114/62 on Sun.  had my flax seed on Sat, but doubt it would act that fast (and am not sure it does anything).

Dissapointed in the mileage, but I worked 138 hours in 2 weeks with two travel days and averaged just shy of 30 per week.  Would have done more this week except my overexuberance on Sat.

My watch was impress by my Sat run and bumped me for a VO2max of 41 to 42.   Would have hoped for more with the weight loss.  Also hoping cooler weather improves my paces, but I think Garmin takes that into account in VO2max.

So, at 188.5 I'm down about 10 pounds from my April average.

week of 3 July

 Think I'm getting used to the heat.  If I stuck with the hanson just finish, I'd have done 6 and 10 and Sat and Sun this week but I did a repeat of last week and did 8 and 8.  I pushed the pace up the tiniest of bits, letting go of my HR-consciousness, especially in the heat.

Not sure if a 22-person study makes for good science, but I'm kind of inspired by the simplicity of the crplots tanda calculator and like to image pushing my blue dot towards those marathon time contours.

I'm basically working towards the kind of training I did when I ran 1:05:55 for 10 miles. Then I was doing 8 every day with some 12-14 a bit faster (like MP+30) every third of fourth day depending on how I felt.

Now, I'm doing ~5 as my base with 8 being the longer runs.  If I feel good, run with a little more intent and not worry as much about HR.  No idea what metabolic zone I'm in.

Based on my prior experience, I kinda don't believe in all the specific work for a hobby jogger, especially for a marathon and especially for an old, brittle guy.  I kinda like the hanson's thing where MP-10 is their strength session.  If you're fast, MP-10 gets your attention but if you're slow, it's just high end aerobic running.  Works nicely.

I do think I should do some VO2max-ish stuff at some point, but might do very steep treadmill intervals or something (maybe rowing) that doesn't create a lot of injury risk.

This week

• Mo.  gc 5.  4.8 @ 1323/131
• Tu. gc 5.  4.8 @12:32/135
• Wed.  No run.  fleet feet glute + running channel strength (22 minutes)
• Th.  gc 4.  4.8@11:53/139
• Fr. gc 5.  4.8@12:05/133
• Sa.  gc 8. 7.9@12:03/139
• Su.  gc8 7.9@12:06/142.  First run with footpod.  Run was 6 secs slower than yesterday, but avg power was 302 versus 283 yesterday.

Total:  34.9 miles. 7h31m (maybe includes 23' strength?).  Calories 4654.

average weight: 192.9 (n=7). Down 0.1!

tand online calculator / crplot.com

The idea behind the tanda formula is that workload described as weekly mileage and average pace is predictive of marathon time.  Not yasso 800s or whatever, but just weekly mileage and pace. Kinda skeptical, but it was really close for my PR marathon.

I like that it's not only a predictor but it uses the variable that you can do something about.  What do you do to run faster yasso 800s?  A lot of people would say run more 800s, but the answer is mileage.  I also found that during my best year, I didn't do a bunch of intervals, but just ran some steadier paces rather than super easy + workouts.

Looking back at some logs with the tanda calculator in mind I can see where things went south.  Even when I ran OK mileage of ~50/wk in Sept 2014 I was doing it super slow -- 11:15/mile -- because I was just trying to run easy mileage and not worried about PRs.  I was surprised I only ran 1:18 at a 10 miler Oct 14, but that's well ahead of the tanda prediction.  40h11m and 213.9 miles Sept 2014 equals 11:16 pace.  Plugging in tanda gives 3:58 marathon and 1:25:44 for 10 miles.  People use an offset for shorter distances, but I also think I coasted on residual fitness for a number of years.

Now

Here's where I am now.  Predicts a marathon of 4:28. I think that's generous, but not crazy.

I love this graph because it says what to do.  Move right or move up.  Do either slowly of course.  I plan to move right with miles and move up with lost weight -- a virtuous circle.  When I'm out of time in the week, maybe I move up with a little more effort.

Then

Here's where I was when I ran my BQ.  This is remarkably accurate.  I averaged 8:54 pace that year and think it's pretty close to my average in the lead up. And I was doing about 70 miles/wk or 16k per day before the marathon.  5:32/km is 8:54/mile.

Future?

Now, it's hard to imagine my blue dot taking a sharp left up the graph, but I guess I can see it floating up as I lose weight.  The dream goal is to get to 3:35 by Fall 2025, so I can qualify for Boston 2027 as a M55.  Unless I tire of this silliness before then :-)  At 16km/wk, this suggests an average pace of 6:11/km or 9:57/mi is required.  70 mpw doing 10-minute miles doesn't seem crazy... says the guy doing 35mpw at 12:30+

week of 26 June

 Plan

Using Hanson 'just finish' plan -- but not for running a marathon.  just an outline for basebuilding.

Week 6 calls for 4, 5, rest/xt, 5, 4, 8, and 8.

• I did my usual 4.8 for mon/tue:  4.8@13:09/132, 4.8@12:50/129.
• Did a 10-minute glute routine (https://youtu.be/ZJ8adeMEXuo) on wed.  no running
• Only cool wx days lost to canadian wildfires.  On treadmill th/fr.  Did 4 on and 5 on friday at ~12:15 pace.  1 deg incline.  Garmin called 11:06 on th and 11:57 on friday.  No fan on th and small fan on friday.  HR climbed.  4.42@11:06/140, 5.24@11:57/135
• The stride length measurement are all over the place.  I think I need to put my garmin foot pod back on my shoes to get decent treadmill pace.
• Sat. Lake A route.   8.72@12:20/141(!).  Super humid.  72/dp 67.  Let the HR go up, but slogged the way home.
• weighed before and after:  lost 3.8 pounds.
• Sat. PM.  Did running channel core strength 12-minute routine (https://youtu.be/qOtTIOPI6qc)
• was sore for days after last week, but felt OK next day this time.  Progress?
• Sun.    7.9@12:49/135.  Planned a "recovery" 8 miles on road (usual out and back).  Felt good up until about 5 miles and then I was just soaked and probably dehydrated.  Had a bit of a knee niggle and rising HR.  Decide to run/walk at the end (had 3:18 of walking).  
• garmin advised 28m at 13:50 due to lack of sleep :-)
• 74 and dp of 72(!)
• weighed before and after.  lost 4.2 pounds  I guess I need to bring water on even these 8 miles, which seems nuts.

Ran one of my old great routes on saturday that I don't know exactly why I avoided.  There's a lake with a 3.8-mile route around ~2.5 miles from my house.  I used to always call it 8.3 based on my old garmin, but apparently it's 8.72?!  But actually I think I might have walked the hill by my house at the beginning and end as  wup/cdn.

Total:  35.8 miles, 7h45m.  4762 calories.

Weight (all pre-run):  192.2, 193.2, 193, 193.2, 193.2, 193.6, 192.6.  Average: 193.0.

BP.  Back down to normal.  last 3 average 116/69.

ARHR.  53 bpm.

Sleep.  Continues to be crap as verified by garmin.

Race predictor thinks I'm getting slower.  But always has my VO2max at 41.  So higher mileage makes you slow... don't buy it.  Assuming just the wx effect.

Feeling much more solid with just a couple of strength routines.  Need to keep this up.

Very happy with the mileage.  Legs feel OK. I'm slow and humidity stinks.  another 34 on tap for this week with 6/10 instead of 8/8, which seems easier to me.

week of 19 June

Hot, humid, and going backwards..

Activities

• Mon.  Rest.
• Tue.
• Wed.  rain, so used my brand new treadmill.  would have done 7 easy outside, but not wanting to suffer in monotony on the 'mill, I accepted the garmin suggestion:  3x7' threshold (which is a sad 9:35 for me).  I never don't' regret accepting its suggestion and strained my right hamstring in the last minute of the last interval.
• Th.  Rest for tweaked hamstring.  Raining and got on the treadmill for a minute before deciding it was a bad idea.  I think I could have managed 3 very easy outside, but the treadmill locks you in a gate and it's hard to get loose.
• Fr.  Taking it easy.  4.8 @13:18/129.  69 and 93% humidity dp 66.  lightly raining for most of it.  Could feel hamstring was there but not hurting.
• Sa.  4.8@13:19/129.  72 and 93% humidty.  dew point 70!  Woke up with headache even hotter and more humid.  Really miserable. Tried to stay under 135 bpm and walked some hills. still feel hamstring but no tugging or anything.
• I did this 12-minute follow along strength training https://youtu.be/qOtTIOPI6qc
• Glad I did it rather than spending even more time online figure out what to do.  Probably need more but it was 3 sets of goblet squat, plank, reverse lung, crunch with 40s on and 20s rest.
• Also this to try and help my right duck foot https://youtu.be/FJzVplRn33A
• Su. 7.9@13:08/131.  72, but dp 65 felt much better.  more hill walking

Miles: 26.0.  5h31m.  calories 3295.

Really miserable week.  Sleep not great. blood pressure up.  It's getting hot and humid.  Noticed I did not quite a 5:30 marathon over the course of a week.  Let that ego go....

Blood pressure was way up late in the week.  116/72 on Wed and then 127/73, 124/74, 128/77, 129/74 Th, Fr, Sat, Su. Not sure what's going on.

Weight:  194.5 +/- 0.9 (n=6). BF 20.6%.  Last week: 194.6.

Noticed another depressing getting old thing.  194.2 was 20.1% BF in Jan 2017.  Not sure how accurate this is, but higher BF for the same weight is one of the miracles of aging.

Needing something to obsess over rather than workouts that I think are ill-advised at this point, I'll turn my attention to glute activation.  Paid attention and on my right (duck-footed) side, I seem to absorb the impact with eccentric contraction of hip flexors.  If I consciously engage glutes for a brief period, I can sense my hip flexors relaxing.

Bought the Hanson's book -- apparently again as I already had the 1st edition in kindle library...  shouldn't have counted on amazon telling me I own it already)  The 2nd edition only adds a "just finish" marathon plan to the beginner and advanced.  Just finish is all easy runs to build up mileage.

Thinking of following that mileage build up, although it's hardly different that what I've been doing/was planning on doing.  My race might be the 10-miler I was planning (instead of a marathon).  I'd just be ending week 5, which is 24 miles -- rest or XT, 5, rest or XT, 4, 5, 4, 6  So almost exactly what I did.

Again, hansons not much different than my plan, which was basically adding 5 miles/week every four weeks with a cut back every four weeks.  Wed is rest/XT.  I need to do some strength.  Can do wed, but probably should do other days as well.

week of 12 June

 Activities

• Mo. Rest.
• Tu. gc 5.  4.8 @ 12:34/130
• We. gc 5.  4.8 @ 12:29/129
• Th. gc 5.  4.8 @ 12:08/132
• Fr.  LT test CCT.  4.5 @ 10:48/142.  LT 159, pace 9:57.
• Sa.  nbhrd 3.  3.25@13:05/127.  Felt blech and didn't want to run.
• Su. 9.15 @11:53/140.  HR high for pace.  Almost stopped at first lap.  Felt OK at faster pace on 2nd lap but HR high overall.

Total:  31.2 miles, 6h12m. 3644 calories.

Weight:  194.6 lbs.  BF% 20.7.  (n=7)

BP:  118.6/71.4 +/- 4.7/4.5 (n=7)

Felt kinda crummy. Worried I got the Rona from the guy in the bathroom who was sniffling and sighing before opening a briefcase and pulling out a bottle of pills.  Or maybe it's just not sleeping enough, work stress, and doing an ill-advised LT threshold test (which is pretty tame).  Didn't get the ego boost I was hoping for.  160/9:51 10 days earlier. Then 159/9:57 with considerably better weather.

RHR jumped up to 57 last night after drifting down to 49 over the week.

My watches opinion of me has leveled off and someone degraded.  Thinks I'm good for a 28:00 5k.

Thinking of doing some faster stuff, but shorter intervals.  I did 8x1' at ~7:45 w/ 2' rest and didn't seem to create much of a recovery debt.  Might do some of this sexy new short HIT stuff (30s-30s).  I know I just need to lose weight, but mixing it up might stave off boredom and maybe impress my watch.

80/20 training plan gripe

 Shipped more money to Matt Fitzgerald for reasons I can't explain, but anyway...  Noting here for myself his notation.  For some reason, he uses the numbering system like "fast finish run 4" in his plans, so you have to go back and decode what this mean when he could have said 5' Z1/25' Z2/10' Z3.  Not even more characters or even just use color codes:  5/25/10.  These match the garmin colors.

Of course doing this, you could probably fit the book into two pages...

So much flipping back and forth to figure out what the intensity and volume of the plans is.  Eg. for level 3 marathon first week is

• Mon.  FR6 or XT
• Tue.  AM FF6.  PM FR3 or XT.
• Wed. FR6 or XT
• Thu.  FR6 or XT
• Fri.  SP 6
• Sat.  FR6 or XT.
• Sun.  LR 6

What the hell?

FR 6 = 5' Z1/35' Z2/5' Z1.  Generally all foundation runs start and end in 5' Z1 with the middle in Z2, so this is 45' easy with 5' wup/cdn.  The FR X runs go in 5' increments with X, starting with FR 1 = 20' easy.  So.... FR X = (X-1)*5 + 20 easy.  FR6 = (6-1)*5 + 20 = 45.

We get to do math to decode this!

• Mon.  45' easy or XT.
• Tue. 45' easy am.  30' easy pm.
• Wed.  45' easy or XT.
• Thu.  45' easy or XT.
• Fri.  fartlek.  38' including 6 x (1' hard, 2' recovery)
• Sat.  45' easy or XT.
• Sun.  long run.  1 mile wup.  9.5 miles easy. 0.5-mile cdn

Very reasonable, but decoding that was exhausting. Does he deliberately obfuscate the plan to get you to buy his plans from training peaks?

week of 5 June

\Mon.  1.5/12:56/125.  Got a plantar fasciitis feeling, although was back of heel, when waking and walking on bare feet.  Ok for first 0.75 miles and then felt again.  Turned around and went home.

Tues. Rest.  (up to 2am night before)

Wed. Recovery.  4.73/12:56/125.  gc5 loop.

Th.  4.8/12:08/129.  Canadian wildfire smoke drove me to run on the treadmill.  Warmed up to 5 mph (12:00/mi) over 1st mile.  Stayed at 5 mph.  Lap HRs were 120, 138, 130, 131, 131, 133, 133.  So, slowly crept up.  Very warm in gym.

Fr. 4.72/12:42/127. Had some trouble with medial aspect of left knee but stretched/walked and OK.

Sa. Burke lake 1 lap (4.53 this time?)/12:26/130.  More trouble with my knee and wound up walking almost 7 minutes.  Kept trying to start and unable.  Then pointed toe in and ran to prevent the pronation where it hurt. Kinda worked itself out.

Sun. 2 laps at BL.  7/3 run walk. 9.16/12:49/130.  Thought I'd be an adult and take a day off or at least run in the nbrhd where I'm always less than a mile from home, but... I ran my desire long run anyway and it was fine.  My one concession was to do a 7/3 run/walk.  Spent a lot of time paying attention to how my feet landed. I think the knee issue come from overpronation and it's not a problem when I land stiffly on later edge of my foot.  I really need to work on strength and stability. Planned to keep it in recovery but quickly was in zone 1/2 edge and in the 2nd lap drifted up to zone 2/3.  Very familiar drift in last lap.  In the old days that last lap drift was lap 4 and not 2, but I'll get there.

Had felt like I've been going backwards the last two weeks but today's long run really turned it around.  Want to stabilize here at 30 slow miles per week and add some strength and balance training.  That part is so complicated though.  I need the "he probably needs physical therapy" version and not "here's what a 2:09 marathoner does."

Livestrong 12.9T RIP.

My treadmill died just in time for the wildfires so had to use the work gym.  Lasted 11.5 years so not bad.  Got a great deal on it, too. Last one they had (the floor model) of the previous year's version. $850.  Got another good deal at Dick's to replace it.  Got a 2019 model Sole F80 for $1299.  2023 model is $1799.

Total: 29.4 miles (glad I didn't look and try to get another .6).  6h12m.  3644 calories.

Weight:  196.2 (n=5).  Need to get this going down.  Dropped a couple of pounds and then leveled off last three weeks:  195.7, 196.1, 196.2.

goals for the old and starting over

I want to believe I carried over some residual fitness over the years of sloth, but probably not -- at least not much. So I think I'm basically where I was when I started 1 Jan 2005 -- except I'm older and a little heaver.

In mid-April of 2005 I ran 1:24:49 at around 185 lbs as I recall.  That's a 51.8% age performance which translates to a 1:36:28 for a 52 year old, which seems like a reasonable place to start with goals (although I'm targeting a Sept 10 miler that's hilly and likely to be hot).

A stretch goal would be to avoid a personal worst, which was 1:28 something.  I ran that at 190+ running less than 10 miles a week and I don't think I really raced it.  Just wanted to get my 10-th cherry blossom finish so I could avoid the lottery in the future.

week of 29 May - recovery week, finding HR zones

Executed the no plan plan this week and went on a "what are my HR zones" odyssey, when I'm 99% sure I can just run by feel at this point.

Have done around 25 per week the last 3 weeks and was feeling a bit sore and tired, so cut back this week.  Due to random thoughts was yet again considering a parkrun to see where I am, but decided against it.  Was going to do a cut down run from 6 min/km to 5 min/km to see where I was. Then saw this garmin LT test feature and thought I'd do that instead, which is also a lot easier :-)  As you can see there's not a lot of plan in this plan.

Activities

• Mo.  2.1 @ 12:56/123
• Tue.  Rest
• Wed. 4.8 @ 10:46/148. Did the recommended garmin workout on a goof.  4 x 6' @9:40 with 2' recovery.  My route is very hilly, so I tried even effort. First was downhill and rest were net up.  grade-adjusted paces/AHR were 9:35/145, 9:30/159, 9:34/160, and 9:28/163, so I did a decent job.  Actual paces were 9:25, 9:46, 10:02, and 9:41.
• Thu. Rest
• Fri.  nbhrd 3 @ 12:01/135
• Sat.  4.51 @ 10:58/144.  Garmin LT test plus 3' to try and get max HR.
• Sun. 4.58 @ 12:00/135. Burke Lake.  Time in HR zones: 1 (6%), 2 (89%), 3 (2%).  See below for zone definitions.

Week: 19.2 miles, 3h42m.  2539 calories.

Weight: average 196.1 +/- 0.7 (n=5).  (prev week 195.7)

My hilly routes

My area is aptly called "Rolling Valley," so unless you're running by a stream, you're running over hills.  This is my 4.8-mile loop.  Total ascent 404 feet over 4.8 miles.  Marine Corps Marathon supposedly has 630 feet of elevation gain.

Need to sleep 

Sleep has been terrible.  Garmin is mocking me with "you seem stressed" messages and told me I was "bottoming out" and my body battery was at 5 out of 100.  Thanks, Garmin!

After trending down, my resting HR has been heading back up, which isn't good.

HRV also decreasing -- also, not good.

lactate threshold test

The test is a 10-15' wup followed by increasing target heart rate zones every 4' (basically a Hadd test with shorter intervals).  The first beat paper describing the LT calculation says it looks for some inflection in HRV (which is why you have to wear the strap).

I did this on one of the few flat places in this area -- the cross county trail, which runs along a stream.

Here are the sad results

• 4' @ 11:34/134 AHR
• 4' @ 11:42/136 AHR -- was center of green.  Why almost identical zone?
• 4' @ 10:04/147 AHR
• 4' @  9:27/157 AHR

The first two zones were almost identical, which as weird.  I thought it was going to give me another zone when it ended and said LTHR was 160 bpm and LT pace was 9:51/mile (ouch!).  Really surprised it ended there.  I was still doing 4-4 breathing when it ended.  I guess if I kept that heart rate up for a while, maybe I'd have transitioned to 2-2?

Since I was warmed up, I decided to see if I could hit a higher max, so I picked it up and tried to progressively increase pace until I couldn't push the HR higher.  Saw 184 on the watch.  After run, it automatically set my new max to 185 (and garmin web site says I hit 186?).  Then did another 20' jogging back to the car.  HR came down pretty easily and was 153 AHR @ 10:45 over last 8 minute lap.

Some excuses -- it was warm for me.  72 deg/61 dew point.  I woke up with a headache and BP was higher than usual 124/71/54 this morning.

HR Zones

So what zone should I use?  The ones defined by Garmin based on my supposed LTHR look pretty reasonable to me and the first three match (in feel) what I've called recovery, easy, and moderate in the past (in 2010 when I did my best running).  Garmin calls these warmup, easy, and aerobic/moderate.

Zone	%LTHR	Low	High
Max (Z5)	>100	160	185
Threshold (Z4)	90-100	152	160
Aerobic/moderate (Z3)	89-95	142.4	152
Easy (Z2)	80-89	128	142.4
Warmup (Z1)	65-80	104	128
Max	185
RHR	53
LTHR	160

I've tried to figure out how this matches others zone 2, including the Peter Attia guy.  He talks about zone 2 as between aerobic threshold/max fat and lactate threshold (2 mmol) (1 hour time)?

I have a pretty good sense of effort and correspondence base on running with an HRM all those years and my sense is that the border between Garmin's Z2 and Z3 -- ~142 -- is my aerobic threshold.    There's a fairly discrete point where my 4-4 breathing becomes just a little deeper.  Could be wrong abou this, but that's how it feels. It's strange that this is about the same HR (maybe 3 beats lower) than when I was logging a bunch of miles back in the day.  So, I think Peter Attia's zone 2 is probably Garmin's zone 3.  The most concrete I've heard is someone on reddit claims he said  he starts his patients with 78% max, which would be 144 bpm for me. All kind of lines up.

80/20 is another buzzword apparently (Matt Fitzgerald continues to make bank) and has it's Zone 2. For what it's worth, those seem to match Garmin's pretty well.

So after all this, I plan to just do easy running until I build mileage and get a good habit and time carved out of the week.  If I don't think it will hurt my recovery, I might do some moderate running every n-th day where n depends on how I feel.

Strength training

I know I need to do this, but find it all very confusing.  Only time I really did was a year I had a coach and am not sure I did any of it correctly.  Really feel like I need to do this given my age.  Also think it was one of my big weaknesses back in the day.

week of 22 May

 Only 5 runs this week, but got my 25 miles and a new long run of 7.9 (on the route that used to be my every day easy run -- seriously).  This involved some gallowalking, having felt sore from the max HR test and also have been working on my duck foot a bit (which I'm sure will lead to injury...)

• Mon. Rest.
• Tue. Max HR test.  Bad idea.  Wanted to do polar protocol - 15' wup, 2' up hill at 20T.  jog down.  Up again at pace building to 3k pace.  jog down and let drop 30-40 bpm.  1-minute pace up last ime.
• Hill was too steep at the base and wore myself out.  Hit 183 bpm.  But when doing 5x400 a few weeks ago I hit 182 on the last 4 intervals, so I think my max is still higher.
• I shouldn't be worrying about max HR until I'm at least under 175 pounds, so no more of that.
• Wed.  4.75 7/3 run walk (13:34/mi)
• Thu.  Rest.  had to get to work early and getting no sleep.
• Fri.  burke lake 4.6 7/3 run/walk (12:33/mi)
• Sa.  7.9-mile 8/2 run/walk (12:53/mi)
• Su. 3.25 miles @ 12:49/mi.  Almost stopped b/c of right knee but stretched and OK.

Paces and average heart rates were -- 12:01/139 - max HR test day, 13:34/123, 12:33/128, 12:53/129, 12:49/126, 12:56/123.

Totals.  24.98 miles.  5h19'.  3296 calories. average weight (n=3): 195.7.

Tried to make up for stress of getting 25 in 5 days while extending long run by doing run/walk.  I've also been working on my duck foot and want to take it easy.

On the duck foot thing, I've seemed to have made more progress than I thought possible.  Basically, from the plethora of youtube channels I know about from trying to fix my shoulder and neck, I used some of their tips. Basically, I have tibial torsion and I'm trying to strengthen knee internal rotators (even just activate them) and stretch/deactivate the external rotators.  When walking, I'll deliberately try and sense the activation of the muscles that keep my from externally rotating my foot when I pick it up.  Just this attention has made a difference. I'm not actively trying to internally rotate -- just being aware of how those muscles feel.  (Recommend the book The Inner Game of Tennis.)  Try not to do this when I run, but I end up doing it anyway.

So, I'm just trying to burn calories and get my metabolism straight while getting some "functional strength" (think that's the buzzword) to prevent injury and maybe improve my running economy.

Big news is that my weight is finally showing some movement.  Been stuck at 198 even after ramping up miles, but body finally relented a bit this week. Weighed in at 196, 196.6, and 194.4 fri, sat, sun.

garmin mocking me for no sleep

"You're bottoming out."  I know, but thanks, Garmin.

Resting HR was coming down nicely except for lack of sleep this week.  Down to 47 bpm and then back up.

Watch says my VO2max is 41, which would be 23:35 5k, which I highly doubt I could do.  But also has a 5k prediction of 30:55, which doesn't jibe with the vo2max, but is also, I really hope, way too slow.

week of 15 May 23

All pretty easy.

Miles 3.27, 4.79, 3.26, 2.11, 6.57 (Burke Lake + out and back), 3.28.  All eas

Date Title Distance Time Avg HR Avg Run Cadence Avg Pace Total Ascent Total Descent Avg Power

5/21/2023 10:56 Fairfax County Running 3.28 0:40:39 132 158 12:25 299 289 310

5/20/2023 7:32 burke lake + out and back 6.57 1:16:11 141 160 11:36 200 197 295

5/19/2023 6:49 Fairfax County Running 2.11 0:24:40 136 158 11:41 164 157 309

5/18/2023 6:54 Fairfax County Running 3.26 0:39:21 136 160 12:05 276 289 321

5/17/2023 6:23 Fairfax County Running 4.79 0:57:18 136 158 11:57 427 436 305

5/16/2023 6:47 Fairfax County Running 3.27 0:38:36 136 159 11:47 285 279 309

Total miles 23.3.  4h36m.  11:53 avg pace

highschool track closed -- alternate middle school gravel track

 

They knew I was coming, so they decided to resurface the HS track for the next 14 weeks.  I guess this middle school one will be what I use (if I use it).  I recalled it wasn't quite 400 meters and they put out cones in the middle of the bends (lane 4) when the kids ran the mile in PE.  Google maps seem to confirm that.  It's 393 on the inside.  400 if I put a virtual cone in "lane 4" of the bends.  Maybe they put the cone in lane 8 to get 440 yds for the mile?

With my now super accurate garmin, I might not even use the track.  Just find a flattish spot (hard around here) and use the watch distances.  Or just not worry about any of it.

Duck foot -- ground contact ratio

My right foot swings ridiculously out to the right when I pick it up.  I also felt like I ran with one leg (my left) and just moved my other one to keep from falling down.  I never really worked on this stuff and think I probably left a lot on the table back then by running lots of miles and not getting my body right.  I did some strength/core stuff at times but think my form was probably all wrong.

I have the garmin running dynamics pod that confirms the horror looking

95th percentile bad is >51.5-49.5.  How's 57-43 for ya?

I notice the it's fairly even on uphills and gets terrible down.  Maybe that's why I've always been so bad on downhills.  In the race the picture is from, you run over a mountain (only one hill!). I passed folks on the uphill.  They blew by me with ease on the down and then I tried to reel them in on the flat, but didn't catch the age group leader.

Note:  why can't garmin let me plot any variable versus any other?

Enough geeking out.  Only one number matters -- 198 pounds.

Burke Lake distance = 4.57 miles

 Just putting this here for posterity, settling a subject of much debate (mostly in my mind).  Years ago a friend (also a PhD engineer) calibrated his bike computer and measured it at 4.57 miles. That should have been the end of it.  My Garmin 310XT would give me 4.49 +/- and the stupid FR 410 would give me like 4.3.  Anyway, I ran it on Saturday with my new 255S in multi-band mode and got 4.56, so I'm going with 4.57.

Also makes my long ago, ill-advised 6-lapper at Burke Lake = 27.42 miles.

week of 8 May

 Nothing fancy this week.  Just mileage and I did the lunge matrix and leg swings most days.  That actually made me sore enough that I thought I should focus on just strength, mobility, and mileage at the beginning.

Miles - off, 3.25, 4.75, 3.25, 4.75, 3.25, 4.75.  Total 24 miles.  4:48:57.  3,333 calories according to Garmin.

Weight is ~198.  Yikes!

BPs.  114/64, 121/72, 129/70, 120/77, 122/73, 129/76.  Higher than I'd like.

RHR.  55, 61, 56, 56, 53, 57.  Pretty much staying in the 50s.

week of 1 May 23

 Activities

• Mon. Rest.
• Tue.  jog to track.  5x400 at 5K(?) with 200 rest.  Wore HRM.  times (max/min HR).  Guessed 8 min/mi pace and was sorta close.
• intervals 1:57.2, 1:54.5, 1:56.3, 1:51.8, 1:56.1.  HRs at end of each were.  172, 179, 179, 182, 182.
• Rests were 1:32, 1:43, 1:47, 1:52.
• Don't think I could have done the interval pace for 5k. Won't sweat it. Just trying to work VO2 max a bit.
• Wed. Rest
• Thu. 3.25 easy.  nbhrd loop.
• Fri.  2.1 easy.  nbrhd.
• Sat.  5.5 mi "long" run. 62:57 (11:27 min/mi).  1 BL loop + out and back (0.5 each way).  Psoas really sore.  Was planning 6.5.  Lunge matrix and legs swings before.
• Sun.  3.25 very easy nbhrd.  Was going to do 4+ to get 20 for the week, but decided that's silly.
• Did some strength mobility stuff.  Still trying to figure out a routine.

Week:  19.2.  3h48m

Kinda glad to see over 180 in the intervals..  I tried to do a max HR a while ago and only hit 177.  In my mid-30s, my max was 200 and resting was around 32.  Hoping I can still hit higher max when in better shape. I used to average 185 for a 10 miler.

Been cognizant of my duck foot and trying to stretch right psoas and straighten foot some.  Getting sore in psoas and inner thigh, which is maybe good(?), but need to watch and go slow.

Seems like a big step up in mileage (13 to 19) but last week was the big step with 2+ hours of mulch shoveling.  Going with the 3 weeks at each step up.

I think the VO2max stuff is helping.  My resting HR has dropped considerable.

124 69 59 May 01 2023 06:43:04 AM -04:00

126 76 55 May 02 2023 06:25:04 AM -04:00

116 74 57 May 03 2023 06:48:04 AM -04:00

123 72 62 May 04 2023 06:23:04 AM -04:00

123 78 50 May 05 2023 06:34:04 AM -04:00

125 75 52 May 06 2023 06:54:04 AM -04:00

114 64 55 May 07 2023 06:22:04 AM -04:00

Plot of HRs since 10 April (after returning from vacation).

week of 24 Apr 2023

 Activities

• Mon.  BP 116/66/66. Off.
• Tue.  BP. 118/70/61.  Nbhrd 3.25 loop with 1.5 miles at "tempo."  Meant slow temp, but sadly not sure I could have done more than an hour.  0.5-miles were 4:28, 4:47, 4:25.  Hilly route but net downhill.
• Wed.  127/77/58.  Off.
• Thu.  No BP.  
• AM.   3.25 nbhrd loop. Did 4x 10 sec hills.
• PM.  Had 5 cu yards of mulch delivered.  2.5 hours with very few breaks of shoveling mulch into wheelbarrow and the dumping.  Very, very tired and sore. 
• Fri.  127/78/62.  Off
• Sat.  119/72/62.  4.8 springfield loop.  54:41.  Wasn't sure I could do a "distance" run (sort of aerobic thresholdish effort) after soreness from Thursday's shoveling, but think I managed it at least for miles 2 and 3 which were uphill.
• Sun.  121/77/60.  3.1 miles.  34:31. burke lake (groomed trail).

Week:  13.06.  2:32:18.

Only 2.5 hours.  Long way from old days! 

need a goal -- maybe a marathon?

 I've always said fear and shame are my greatest motivators.

We went to France recently for vacation and when in Paris, saw the Paris marathon.  My wife, trying to entice me back for next year (or perhaps commenting on my weight), says "you should run it next year."  (In 2007, she got me to go back to Disney for the millionth time by saying I could do the Goofy challenge.)  I say "well, I'd rather run Berlin."  So at dinner on the river cruise, she starts telling people I'm running Berlin next year.  Uh....  I don't remember signing up for this.

Well from what I can tell, it's hard to get in Berlin.  I've seen estimates of 12% up to 50% for lottery odds.  Or I could just run a 2:55!  (That's the standard for up to age 59.)  So, think of doing Munich.  It doesn't seem to fill up and has a half if decided to bail out (that might be a negative).

Anyway, I've cycled between 185 and 200 pounds since I stopped running so much mileage.  20 is a big week for the last almost 10 years.  Don't really know b/c not really tracking things.

Currently at 200 lbs after down to 185 last Aug.  Not coincidentally, average BPs by month

• Aug 2022.  116/68/61 (sys/dia/pulse)
• Sep.  118/71/58.
• Oct.  123/74/60.
• Nov.  123/77/63.
• Dec.  No data.  (Wasn't taking.  Not sleeping, stress, ... No news is good news!)
• Jan.  No data.
• Feb.  131/77/65.
• Mar. 127/77/63.
• Apr. 124/76/62 so far.  Last 3 days are 121/75, 117/60, 115/72.

Why the BP drop in April when I'm still pushing 200?  A couple of possible reasons.  Been more regular with my tablespoon of flax seed, which I think is helping although there are conflicting studies and I haven't been systematic about measuring its effect on me.  The other (and maybe more direct) is a slight uptick in the intensity of my running.

In addition to elevated-ish blood pressure, I've seeing a chiropractor once month for 15 months due to neck and shoulder issues.  (Also spending an inordinate amount of time researching myself.)  Got bad enough had numbness in fingers and spent years unable to turn my neck left.  Would turn my whole body to look left to cross the street.  Made a great deal of progess, but can't seem to figure out that last bit.

Not sure how to approach training as an old (over 50) dude.  Not really finding good resources for focusing somewhere in between just running and just strength.. Starting for now with Pete Magill's Building Your Running Body book, but it's not really targeted at old dudes (although he's record holder for 50+ and 55+ for 5k).  I've always done mostly long slow distance, but think I should mix it up. Also need to do some core and resistance work.  Feels weird to worry about anything other than my weight at this point, but he suggests just run first and diet later.  I like the excuse.

IF (and I really doubt this will be the case), I get back into running as much as I was, I was wondering what the age-graded equivalence times would be.  My best times were a 1:05:55 for 10 miles and I did a 39:35 10k, but on a point-to-point course with a tail wind (ran 40:03 the year before).  So 1:05:55 and 40:00 age grade to about 68%.  68% for a 52-year-old gives

Distance	Time
5 kilometres	21:50
10 kilometres	44:26
10 miles	1:13:29
half marathon	1:37:20
marathon	3:24:04

Those are very close to what I'd have guessed for 5k and 10M.  Surprised the marathon is that fast though.  3:25 is the BQ for 50-54 now, which I find insane.

OK, so week 1.  Pete starts with 4 days per week.  Two workout-ish days (5k intervals, hills, slow/fast tempo, ...) plus a distance run.  His distance is faster than the easy run.

• Mon - off
• Tue.  3.25M with 6x 1' @5k effort w/ 3' rest (no clue if I hit this pace).  Did my 1' on 10, 14, 18, 22, 26, 30'.
• Wed.  Off.
• Thu.  2.1M + beginner resistance training.  I'm in pitiful shape especially with Russian oblique twist.
• Fri.  Off.
• Sat. 3.25 easy.
• Sun. Distance 4.5. One burke lake lap.  47:55.  This is 10:42 pace.  Pete says a distance run is "faster than a distance run but still conversational."  That's what I shot for.  I was surprised I ran this "fast."  Digging in my logs, my last burke lake lap was Dec 2016 and took 48:05.  I'm consistent :-)

I was thinking a fall 10 miler in under 100 minutes was a reasonable starting goal, but I kinda maybe think I could maybe do that now?  Really unsure of what my current fitness is. 10:42 distance pace is in line with his 25:00 5k pace but not sure I could do 8:00 pace for 5k, but who knows.  I once ran 1:22 at cherry blossom 10M on less than 10 miles per week and 30 lbs overweight, toeing the line wondering if 9:00 pace was too optimistic.

All right.  That's enough.  I at least have the running bug for on spring Sunday afternoon.