marathoner – Beers and Miles

Alright, time to bump it up a little.

After a few weeks in the 70s it was time for my first week above 80 for this build. While this may not have been the highest mileage build I’ve had leading up to Boston, it was nice to at least start finding some consistency in the last couple weeks.

Zach had sent over a basic outline of my workouts for the block, week by week, which made it easier to build out my week and not have to chase miles by the time the weekend came.

This week would have two sessions as always, one Wednesday and some kind of long run workout. We’d be back to kilometer repeats on Wednesday and an extended uptempo session for the weekend.

The week began pretty unremarkably. Another Tuesday run where I wasn’t particularly excited about running. Thankfully I had some company and the run went from hating the action to being somewhat enjoyable in the span of 75 minutes. But I guess this is just how general runs will be coming off big weekend efforts. Just do enough to feel decent enough to knock out some reps Wednesday morning. Nothing flashy.

These morning threshold sessions have taught me that more than likely the first quarter of the workout would feel tough. I’m very much not a morning person and trying to get the legs to start spinning early isn’t something that I can do anymore. Seeing as I need to get to the office at a reasonable hour, the most I’m usually able to do in terms of activation or plyos is maybe some leg swings and a couple of strides if I’m feeling saucy.

Workout on deck: 8x1k @ half marathon pace with 200 jog or float recovery

Just as the run was yesterday, and pretty much any Wednesday workout, the opening reps were fairly mediocre. The first four felt like I was just trying to establish some kind of rhythm. The recovery was just enough with a jog so I decided against pushing for float reps here. If I felt great towards the end, we’ll tweak the recovery reps. For now, just enough was alright.

First couple of ones: 3:10-3:11-3:09-3:09

The last couple of reps weren’t all that fun but my legs were at least warmed up to knock out what I wanted out of the session. Wind on the home stretch was annoying but it wasn’t freezing cold for once so that was manageable. The tummy ache devil decided to make itself known over the last two reps but I was already far enough in to fight through it. With two to go I just thought, it’s less than eight minutes. Just get it done.

3:09, 3:07, 3:07, 3:07

Good.

Could I hold this for a half? I wasn’t particularly sure. I hadn’t really raced a good half in a while and I contemplated pulling back on future workouts until I had a sense of my fitness. I felt like I was in better shape than my 2:19 year, but it was hard to say for sure. I was recovering from these midweek sessions well enough. Whatever, we’d find out in a couple weeks.

Once I hit that threshold of high enough mileage I can pretty much guarantee that any Thursday and possibly even Friday run would be absolute dogshit, especially if I didn’t wake up to run a double before work. Once again, I struggled to get myself out of bed to get my run in before work. That meant some post work miles and potentially a visit to Short North Running Club. Since I didn’t run in the morning I needed to hit at least 12 here to make sure I didn’t put myself in a hole trying to hit mileage over the weekend. The first half wasn’t all that bad but I definitely felt the time on feet towards the end. Good chats when I needed them in those last couple miles and 12.6 on the day. That’s fine. I wouldn’t be working out until Sunday anyway.

I signed up for this local race series thing at the beginning of the year. They had implemented a new challengers series that meant that the people in the series would be a bit more fairly matched than previous years. Instead of having to figure out what races others were doing, a couple of them would be marked as a special part of the series. I signed up for a 5k earlier in the year but missed it due to my Grandmothers passing. Since a lot of races would be conflicts with my current race schedule I needed to figure out some races to stack up early and get points. This weekend would be one of those races. I had 20 on the schedule with 10 miles at 5:20-25 average. The plan was to run a 5 mile warmup, get my workout shoes on and knock out 4 on the course and then hop in just as the gun went off. Knowing this was a first year race I figured that I’d have no competition. A workout and an easy race win? Yeah I’ll take that.

I got a good amount of miles in on Friday with Breydon. 11 easy around his neighborhood. I’d run an easy 11 the next morning with Breydon and then I’d feel fairly snappy for workout day. As I’m driving home and discussing my weekend plans with Shelby, she asks the question.

Wait, isn’t your race tomorrow?

A couple minutes pass as she checks.

Yep, it’s Saturday, not Sunday.

Yo Breydon, I’m gonna have to cancel tomorrow, turns out my race is tomorrow.

Oof. Well that changes my night. Time to get off my feet and prep for my workout tomorrow.

Race mornin’: 20 miles w/ 10 at 5:20-25 average.

I used the warmup to run on the course a bit. I’ve run countless miles on this section of the path but it was still nice to remember what I had ahead of me especially since I hadn’t run a bunch on this during this block. The rolling course ran next to the river that runs through the middle of Columbus. A nasty wind gust greeted you as you went out but made for a fun second half. Even at this slower pace I had a feeling of how I should attack this workout. Since it wasn’t completely flat, we’d have to work on averages to finish this successfully.

I can’t say that I felt all that great on the day but I chalked that up to the wind and rolling of the path.

I tossed my workout shoes, grabbed a couple gels and set off for the first part of my workout. I wanted to get out fairly conservative for this. While 10 isn’t a ton, it’s still long enough to experience a blow up, especially on a day like this. I’d use the first two to kind of see how I was feeling and then work from there. I felt fairly tight for quite a bit and decided on taking the conservative approach on this one. I wasn’t very confident in hitting this workout. The race was a bit of an afterthought, I figured I could blow up hard in this workout and still win fairly easily.

In my prep for the session I had lost track of time a bit. I had about 23 minutes til the gun went off and I was still at my car. It would be 10 minutes out, 10 minutes back with a slight buffer in case I needed to make a stop at the portapotty.

I hit the watch and made my way out. The pace difference was a bit shocking to start and after working out in a different pair of shoes recently this took a second to get somewhat calibrated to the effort I was running. First mile approached quickly.

5:30. Alright not bad here for the first one. We’ll hang around there and then start moving down.

I passed by the water station and gave the folks a little heads up since I had my bib on and was running fairly uptempo.

Don’t worry! The race hasn’t started!

I’m sure they were very confused.

10 minutes came quicker than expected but in an very unfortunate spot. A turn around spot after a steep little hill? Yuck.

A couple quick steps out and I passed by the mile shortly after.

5:35. Oof that’s not ideal. Stay calm, a complete stop and a hill will do that. No over correction. Let the downhill and tailwind take you through.

This next mile would be all about figuring out what kind of morning this was going to be. The back section was much easier than the out and if I was having a tough time there than I was in for a long morning.

I stayed calm as my stride started to open up a little bit. Just enough. Get to the tail end of this pace goal and work from there. A 5:20 now isn’t needed. Not today.

5:25. Good! That’s a start.

As I got back to the start line I hopped in a portapotty then went to the line. One minute to spare here.

The front of the line was bunched up a bit. A couple people looked familiar from the series but I didn’t really see anyone I typically would race against. The guy with a luchador mask standing next to me on the line confirmed my thoughts that this was probably going to be a lonely affair.

Bang!

Immediately the luchador gets off the line and makes his space. He got off the line better than I did but his top speed was probably closer to 6 minute pace and I was left having to try and find a way around. I got bumped for a second before the guy let me past, apologizing for an absolutely inadvertent bump. It happens, no harm no foul. I get around and immediately feel like I’ve gapped the field.

The excitement of the start got me a little ahead of myself as I went through the next mile in 5:18. Chillll out dude.

The way out felt significantly easier than the last two times. I waved at the water stop crew letting them know that we had actually started this time.

5:22. No issues and the rolling felt pretty good. This out was nearly done. Hard part should be over at this point. But first a quick left turn, down a slight section and then a U-turn. What comes down must come up in this case. Nothing like coming to a complete stop and then having to running up a hill…

Well that made this next mile real slow. 5:35. Remembering the last 5:35, I stayed calm. A U-turn and hill was bound to make it slow. The fun section was coming anyway. Time would be made up there.

Sure enough it was. With the wind hitting my back and some light downhill sections I went through that next mile in 5:16. Breathing was comfortable, I didn’t feel like I was straining.

Next one up, little bit of a tougher section with some sharp turns heading back to the start but no issues. 5:20 mid was just where I wanted to be.

I approached the section of the course I hadn’t run before. The race had 5k that would go back directly to the finish while the 10k would break off to hit an outside section to get to the distance.

Another hill to tackle and then the easy part I was sure.

Well….

With construction happening on the bike path it was pretty hard to find an easy way back onto the path without some sharp turns. What this meant was coming off the hill you went down to the path with two sharp turns that basically brought you to a halt. I wasn’t aggressive with these turns knowing my foot issues. No need to roll it because I want to catch some time. Another slower mile because of it, but a full stop will do that. 5:32.

Last mile felt good. As I inched closer to the finish line I realized I was going to be pretty short. I crossed the finish line in first, grabbed my medal and kept running for almost a quarter mile, dodging race finishers. It was a chaotic finish and I could hear the announcer confused about it but I needed to finish this workout.

5:22. 10 miles at 5:26 average. Just off the goal for the workout but considering I came to a complete stop multiple times I went ahead and called it a wash. Mission accomplished.

I can’t say the workout itself was all that spectacular but I got some strong work in and sometimes that’s all you need.

I finished the week at 80 with a 11 mile Sunday.

Sliding in on Sunday to make sure I keep this streak alive. Sorry, had to finish Twin Peaks so I can get on with my life.

Last week I completed my first 70 mile week of the block. Now some would say that jumping from 29 miles to 70 is probably a bad move but considering the 10 days prior were basically a wash due to sickness, I’d say this isn’t that crazy of a move.

Now, Columbus experiences a couple choice bad weeks. 365 days around makes you forget about that until the realization hits you like a truck. Last week, well that was the start of one of them. The city had been smacked around by snow and the temperatures dropped. Snow isn’t bad. Ice? Yeah, that’s where it get’s a little hairy. That’s the thing, most of these runs aren’t going to be the vision of excitement of fun that you see plastered around social media. Sometimes it’s gonna just be you, and what’s gonna get you out there where there is nothing exciting about the next hour. And when there’s a solid chance that there will be very few runnable areas to cross in this hour? Well, anything helps.

22 degrees, real feel of 13. 10 on the schedule. Yuck.

I grabbed my headphones and put on a go to playlist I would listen to when I had to run at 5:30am before work years ago. This was one of the better Tuesday runs I’ve had in recent months. I felt in control for miles as I trotted through the city, one step after another, no pain, just a calmness as I ran through a quiet bike path into the downtown strip. I made the turn for home as the unforgiving wind blew directly into my face. On different days I’d probably be hoping to be anywhere but here but in that moment I felt good. It’s awful out yes, but that punch of cold air was enough to make a man feel alive. I didn’t mind being there. This was dare I say, enjoyable.

I just wish the rest of the run was enjoyable too.

A couple miles later as the sun started to set I saw my first person on the bike path. We gave each other a head nod before I dipped under the over pass. Hmm, wonder who he runs for I thought to myself before my body went into panic mode as my foot lost traction. Crash. I’m on the ground. I pause my watch and lay there for a bit while I try to survey the damage. If it was a little warmer I’d lay there for a second and just take a breather but every minute seemed to be getting colder.

I dusted myself off and kept going. A little banged up but stride didn’t seem too affected. Just about 400 meters til I got out of the bike path and got onto safer streets. Just one quick left up the roundabout and I’m home free.

I didn’t even have time to think. Crash. On the ground again.

I looked over to my left as commuters slowly drove on the highway next to the trail. Well I hope my fall at least entertained them on that shit drive. This one hurt a bit more. I slid a bit and now the opposite side was now evened out. Dust off and head home. Just about 2 miles to go. Stay on your feet and don’t kill yourself out there. Can’t say I shed a tear from those falls but I may have shed a tear when What Sarah Said came on. We got home safely thankfully.

That was cold? How about 5 degrees at 6am.

Yeah. I didn’t want to workout. I was just gonna go out and do a shakeout. I had an hour progression. But the other boys were working out and I didn’t want to workout after a day in the office so he we go, loops alone in temperatures cold enough to shut off your mp3 player. My face hurt. I kept worrying my contacted lenses would freeze. I oscillated between feelings of numbness and rhythm. I figured I had to be going slower with each passing mile but with each passing beep I was pleasantly surprised to see the paces go down ever so slightly. I bargained to myself that I would continue to go until the next mile seemed like it was just a little too much. These paces had no business being difficult but being layers and freezing made this a bit of a challenge. It wasn’t difficult by any means but 6 minute pace is typically fairly easy nowadays. I got to 45 minutes. From 6:39 down to 5:46. I jogged home to my warm apartment and got ready for work. Was this a character builder? It was something…

The next two days were days where you just bargain with yourself to get out there. Just 6 you tell yourself. Next thing you know you’re 5 miles in on an out and back and it’s another 10 miles in the bank. Theres a feeling in the back of my head that knows that I’ll get the miles in. I just need the loud voice to lie to myself a little bit to get over the lazy thoughts of watching another episode of the show I’m binging and staying warm. 2 days. 20 miles. 70 was in play.

I joined Breydon and Jamey for their run before jumping into my long run. 16 miles with 4 miles uptempo somewhere after 10. I put on some beater Vaporfly 2’s and hit some uptempo. I was quickly reminded just how stiff these shoes could be. Eventually I found rhythm again. 5:59-5:40-5:34-5:28. Just one more run ahead of me.

The cold and my laziness proved to be my enemy on this Sunday run. I pushed my run until after an event I had to go to in the early afternoon. Before I knew it, it was 4:15, I hadn’t ate since 11am and I was 30 minutes from home. 10 miles ain’t much anymore but I know that it’s enough to make the body feel crazy after not eating for a bit. So I called an audible. 10 piece wendys nuggets and a double stack, an hour to let it settle and then out the door at 6.

I hit the road at 6:10 and was greeted by about 30-40 minutes of snow flurries. The snow was consistent enough to stick. Every step was a gamble with the hope that whatever was underneath the next step was concrete and not ice. Pace was not going to be the focus tonight. It was going to be staying upright. This wasn’t gonna be a fast one but I’d also rather not be a speedbump for some innocent bystander driving down Goodale Boulevard that night. Nothing felt particularly bad thank god and I stayed on my feet. 10 miles at 8:21 average. But it was 70. It was a step forward.

Outside of running, this was a step forward mentally. For the last 6+ months I haven’t really been able to go through a day without the desire to take a nap and have had a lingering fatigue and brain fog as I went through my days. Running for some reason didn’t feel that fatigued. I didn’t feel like I was overtraining. I just felt a general feeling of apathy as I went through my daily life. The beginning of the year I decided to take a better look at my social media consumption. I realized that a lot of the things I saw on social media, whether it be running or otherwise, tended to bring on a negative reaction from me. I felt like a worse person in this past year because of it. So I actively avoided and unfollowed and well, last week was a massive difference. This series may be a way of me expressing myself now since Instagram just seems like it sucks the creativity out of me with copy paste like posts.

But here’s to another week. I’ll try to get this current week updated during the middle of the week so I can get things written out closer to when it happens. But for now, this is what we got. Another week down.

Tag: marathoner

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