Weekly recap: 10 weeks to Eugene

Monday: Rest. I was a bit sore and tired from Sunday's run...took a walk of about 1 mile in the afternoon to loosen up my legs.


My nasty pinkeye is essentially gone now, yay!


Tuesday: 7 miles,  2 miles easy + 3 miles: 1 min @ 10K/1 min easy + 1 mile easy + 1 mile hard. Lb strength training


This time I understood the 3 miles of 'fartlek' 8). Since it is supposed to be  'speed play' and not crazy precise speed control I did mess around and do some minutes a bit faster than 10k and some slower. 


Unfortunately this kind of running creates a lot of splits: (the fast bits are marked with ***)

Split	Time	Dist	Pace	HR	Max HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	10:11.7	1.00	10:12	116	144	57.4	87	1.488
2	9:26.0	1.00	9:26	121	150	61.5	88	1.542
3	1:00.2	0.12	8:04	129	133	68.0	93 ***	1.632
4	1:00.9	0.10	10:29	127	133	66.4	88	1.365
5	1:03.7	0.13	8:02	130	135	68.9	93 ***	1.658
6	1:02.3	0.11	9:51	128	135	67.2	88	1.457
7	:59.7	0.13	7:36	132	135	70.5	94 ***	1.742
8	1:00.8	0.09	11:27	128	135	67.2	87	1.221
9	1:08.6	0.14	7:57	132	136	70.5	93 ***	1.633
10	1:01.7	0.10	10:25	130	137	68.9	87	1.317
11	1:00.4	0.13	7:49	131	142	69.7	94 ***	1.735
12	1:01.2	0.10	9:50	139	146	76.2	88	1.241
13	1:00.0	0.13	7:46	134	139	72.1	93 ***	1.707
14	1:05.1	0.11	9:37	134	139	72.1	88	1.332
15	1:05.3	0.13	8:07	136	145	73.8	93 ***	1.546
16	1:09.1	0.12	9:42	130	137	68.9	89	1.411
17	1:18.3	0.16	8:03	131	138	69.7	93 ***	1.647
18	:52.1	0.09	10:03	132	138	70.5	87	1.382
19	1:01.9	0.13	8:06	132	138	70.5	92 ***	1.680
20	1:00.4	0.10	10:16	133	138	71.3	88	1.315
21	1:00.4	0.13	7:32	137	142	74.6	93 ***	1.659
22	1:01.7	0.10	10:29	132	141	70.5	87	1.297
23	1:14.2	0.17	7:23	136	147	73.8	92 ***	1.779
24	1:09.0	0.13	9:11	136	143	73.8	88	1.463
25	1:00.5	0.12	8:43	136	140	73.8	91 ***	1.540
26	1:08.3	0.12	9:46	131	138	69.7	87	1.416
27	:59.9	0.13	7:32	137	143	74.6	94 ***	1.673
28	1:00.7	0.10	10:16	135	143	73.0	86	1.289
29	1:02.0	0.13	7:42	137	140	74.6	94 ***	1.616
30	7:49.6	0.77	10:13	121	139	61.5	86	1.431
31	8:46.9	1.00	8:47	131	140	69.7	89	1.530
32	1:34.7	0.14	10:59	124	135	63.9	85	1.259
Sum	1:06:17.1	7.15	9:16	127	n/a	66.4	89	1.495

My left heel sore spot wanted icing after...it's not too bad ..for example I could do my 2x20 eccentric heel raises/lowers after running and it was ok with it...but there as usual.


Wednesday: 100ups, 6 mile easy 


Did 3:17 @ 10:24m/m


I felt tired this morning and my left heel spot was more sore than it has been thus far. I kept the speed down but decided that some more rest was required rather than just mindless slogging...so I cut the run short. I can always pick up a mile or two on a day where I'm feeling great.


Iced the heel after and during the day and it felt better.


Thursday: 6 miles @ base, 5x15s hill sprints, myrtle routine after


The heel was not happy this morning. It was not to the point that it interfered with my from but it was very close to that. I gave it a couple of miles to loosen up but eventually I decided that hill sprints were a Very Bad Idea. 


Instead I did a longer run at a slow base average. I ran on the bay trails...(dirt) whenever I could and that helped too.  It was pretty sunny although cool (43F or so)...the bright sun make the water blue which is always nice to see 8). There was some wind on the way out but at about mile 5 I turned around and whee: easy running with the tailwind.

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	10:11	139	76.2	87	1.243
2	1.00	9:59	119	59.8	88	1.482
3	1.00	9:41	120	60.7	88	1.514
4	1.00	9:49	117	58.2	88	1.533
5	1.00	10:07	120	60.7	87	1.449
6	1.00	9:48	116	57.4	87	1.548
7	1.00	9:29	121	61.5	88	1.534
8	1.00	9:55	118	59.0	87	1.505
9	0.26	10:14	115	56.6	86	1.485
Sum	8.26	9:53	121	61.5	87	1.471

Back at the office when showering I could tell I did the run pretty low on calories..I was smelling 'ketosis' on myself:


Ketosis is recognizable by the smell of acetone (as in nail varnish) on the breath. It occurs when the body's processing of nutrient materials for the release of energy depends predominantly on the use of fats. In the absence of a dietary carbohydrate supply for maintaining blood sugar, or if sugars cannot be utilized normally, fuel must come from stored fat and muscle protein.



I get this whenever I do my really long runs, and on this run because I didn't take any GUs with me and I am dieting a bit. 


I immediately iced and took some "vitamin i" (ibprofen) for the heel.
We'll see if I can get ahead of the curve on this thing again. I have 3 more tricks up my sleeve to try:

1) wear the calf sleeves (why have I not been doing this before?)
2) run later in the afternoon when my legs are less stiff and more flexible (morning is the worst!)
3) Put heel lifts in the shoes to reduce the 'drop'  for fast running (<9:00 m/m) to reduce the stress on the AT during for these fast paces.

I will do the usual icing 3-4 times today and try all 3 of these tomorrow.

When I first got AT three years ago and was running in heavy rigid shoes it was HORRIBLE. I would wake up in the middle of the night with a burning, throbbing sensation.  I could not walk barefoot in the morning..I had to have lifted heels. It was a full blown classic case of chronic AT.

Fast forward to now...and  the CIM training and Eugene training have been tougher than anything I've every done and I'm *so* close to being able to do it with no AT issues. 



I just need a wee bit more margin to lick this thing. Frankly, one thing that will help a bunch is to lose more weight. I really do need to drop as much as possible BEFORE these training buildups.

Friday: ~6.35 miles, 100-ups, 2 miles easy + 3x12 minutes @ ½ MP w/2 min recovery between sets + 1 mi cd
I did the icing yesterday and it did help...today I followed my 3 items above and I did seem to be better off than Thursday.

I was able to complete this run...my heel was sore but better than yesterday. I did do 3 min recoveries rather than 2 to give myself a bit of a break. 

Split	Dist	Pace	HR	% WHR	Cad	YPB
1	1.00	9:26	119	59.8	89	1.568
2	1.00	9:44	124	63.9	89	1.459
3	1.00	8:28	135	73.0	91	1.541
4	0.42	8:22	137	74.6	90	1.545
5	0.30	10:57	124	63.9	86	1.314
6	1.00	8:30	137	74.6	90	1.510
7	0.42	8:26	139	76.2	90	1.513
8	1.00	10:11	124	63.9	86	1.394
9	0.20	10:09	120	60.7	86	1.437
Sum	6.33	9:15	128	67.2	89	1.485

Decently low HRs for the red splits.

Saturday: Ub weights + myrtle
Done. My heel was sore today in retribution from yesterday.
Sunday: 12.5 miles, last 25 min hard.


This morning I woke up and knew I probably should not run. Heel area just too sore..time to wear the shoes with slight lifts in them and let things settle down for a few days.


It's a drag having to let up on the gas,  but after punishing myself on the CIM buildup I don't want to do that again...It's not sustainable...(besides I have my 3:56 ;).  What I want for Eugene more than a new PR is to get to the starting line healthy.


So, instead I went to the gym and did 70 min biking at fast 95-99 cadence, 115 HR,  while reading my kindle.


I went to the store and after trying on several shoes and running on the treadmill with them, I picked out a pair of Brooks Launch shoes to use when I'm feeling beat up. I love me my Frees and Kinvaras, but sometimes I need a bit more drop on the heel when my muscles are stiff and yanking on the tendons.


I also wanted a bit more cushioning under the forefoot too for the recovery days...the Launch had the best forefoot cushioning, .8cm of drop, and was only 2 oz more than the K's in weight. It was also less stiff then my old Nike Pegasus shoes (I took them all to the store to compare...as well as my postal scale 8)


Total: 25 miles, 70 min biking.