Week of Nov. 13 - 19, 2023
This week was the fifteenth week of the training plan for my next race:
Harbison 50k in South Carolina on January 7. I registered for the race - currently there are 28 runners registered for the 50k (there is also a 25k).
In the next few weeks, I'm coming up on my longest training runs. I have to say that so far I'm very pleased with how this training cycle has gone so far. I've been putting a lot of time on my feet and distance on my legs, especially in my long runs, and so far I've been able to handle it.
I started taking 2 g of beta alanine twice a day on Saturday; this is supposed to help with exercise adaptation and endurance. On Sunday, I started more of the emphasis on protein very immediately after a run and with meals, as called for in the book "Next Level" by Simms and Yeager. On Tuesday, I also changed my hill repeat workout into a HIIT workout at the book's suggestion.
Monday
- Before breakfast: foam rolling and stretching
- After work: walk on treadmill
- time: 44:05
- distance: 2.43 mi
- ave pace: 18:08
- incline: 0%
Tuesday
- Before breakfast: core workout
- 60-s plank
- 20 starfish
- 20 dead bug
- 30 sec fast feet
- 20 slo-mo mountain climbers
- 20 each side flutter kicks
- 30 sec fast feet
- 20 bicycle crunch with hold
- 5 10-s hollow-body holds
- 30 sec fast feet
- 2 30-s side planks
- 20 double leg lift/lowers
- 30 sec fast feet
- After work:
- Hill repeat HIIT: 13 min easy + 3 x [10 x (20 sec sprint uphill + 20 sec walk downhill) + 5 min walk]
- T+D 82, no effect, T 48 F
- time: 48:00
- distance: 3.45 mi
- repeat splits: 8:34, 9:32, 9:05, 9:59, 8:38, 8:54, 8:41, 8:37, 8:24, 8:44, 7:53, 8:25, 8:53, 8:36, 8:26, 8:26, 9:22, 8:42, 8:34, 8:24, 7:42, 8:34, 9:11, 8:40, 8:51, 9:39, 9:43, 9:09, 8:28, 8:43
- elevation gain: 215 ft (corrected)
- route: old loop around the neighborhood
- comments: I take these splits with a huge grain of salt! I think they were too short for the GPS to necessarily track well. The point was to be going all-out. I was sprinting uphill, then turning and walking downhill for about 15 sec before using the last 5 sec of walking to get turned around uphill again. I discovered that I run out of hill after 7 intervals, so I'll probably adjust for that the next time.
Wednesday
- Before breakfast: stretching
- After work:
- 60 min easy
- T+D 88, no effect, T 51 F
- time: 1:00:00
- distance: 4.75 mi
- average pace: 12:37 (GAP ave pace 12:30)
- splits: 12:52, 12:43, 12:42, 12:15, 12:36
- ave HR: 134 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 298 ft (corrected)
- route: neighborhood loop 1
Thursday
- Before breakfast: stretching
- After work: walk on treadmill
- time: 41:41
- distance: 2.32 mi
- ave pace: 17:58
- incline: 0%
Friday after work:
- 60 min tempo ramps
- T+D 120, 1% effect, T 65 F
- time: 59:00
- distance: 5.21 mi
- average pace: 11:19 (GAP ave pace 11:15)
- splits: 11:50, 11:25, 1:14, 11:10, 11:04, 10:45
- elevation gain: 380 ft (corrected)
- route: neighborhood loop 2
Saturday
- Before lunch: 2-hr tennis doubles practice
- Before dinner:
- 90 min easy on trail
- T+D 86, no effect, T 55 F, windy
- time: 1:30:00
- distance: 6.59 mi
- average pace: 13:39 (GAP ave pace 13:14)
- splits: 13:21, 13:10, 14:27, 14:35, 13:10, 13:38, 12:56
- ave HR: 139 BPM - within my target range
- elevation gain: 416 ft (corrected)
- route: Valley Trail, Rock Creek National Park
Sunday
- 300 min LR on trail
- At start: T+D 81, no effect, T 50 F. At end: T+D 84, no effect, T 55 F.
- time: 5:00:00
- distance: 20.4 mi
- average pace: 14:42 (GAP ave pace 14:13)
- splits: 14:09, 14:03, 14:26, 14:30, 13:17, 14:47, 15:15, 14:39, 13:35, 14:23, 14:21, 14:19, 15:06, 16:04, 15:11, 14:36, 15:31, 15:00, 14:31, 15:47, 16:11
- ave HR: 141 BPM - below my target range
- elevation gain: 1565 ft (corrected)
- route: Seneca Greenway Trail
- comments: This run went very well!
- comments: I took 1.5 L water + Nuun and 1.5 L water and drank just about all of it. I ate two Honey Stinger Waffles, one sleeve of Clif Bloks, one serving of Teddy Grahams, and one serving of M&Ms.
- comments: Maybe the beta alanine was also already having an effect? As I write this the evening after the run, I'm having a better recovery than usual - also see below about my knee.
Health
My headache continued, although not quite so bad. I need to get back into the habit of somatic tracking.
I did some Googling on the location of my knee-ish pain from last week; it had taken a lot of the week to go away, which was worrisome. It seems likely that it's related to my IT band. I'm sure it's from the increase in volume. I'll do strengthening and stretching after this training cycle, but that's not going to do much in the short term. I got a knee strap on a bit of a whim, figuring it wouldn't hurt and was cheap. Well, my left knee did not develop nearly the pain this week that it had the previous week, despite the additional 30 minutes in running. Maybe it's coincidence, but for the moment I'll keep using it.