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avondale training journal, starting Dec. 2018 (comments welcome)





Happy birthday. It was nice for garmin to let you know you are superior. Hope you managed to do something fun, even though a 4.5 hour training run might be fun for some 😛
 
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.
 
Good job on the 300 min LR!

I'm sorry if you've posted about this before, but what does the course map look like for your race? I'm curious how a race like that will proceed with only 28 participants over 50k.
 
Good job on the 300 min LR!

I'm sorry if you've posted about this before, but what does the course map look like for your race? I'm curious how a race like that will proceed with only 28 participants over 50k.
No, I haven't posted about it. Trail races are really very different from traditional road races. There are many fewer runners, although this is a bit low - I expect people are still planning to register.

It's a 25k loop that I will be running twice. It's in a state forest, so the loop is pieced together from various trails in the forest. Trail map: https://www.scfc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/HSFmap.pdf Usually the route is designated by ribbons and some signs. About 2500 feet of elevation gain for the 50k (very flat by trail standards).

There are three aid stations on the loop, one of them being the start/finish area, since 50k runners will loop through that. For trail races, aid stations typically have liquids and also carby/salty snacks (i.e., pretzels, M&Ms, crackers, chips, cookies, soda), but I generally carry my own nutrition and liquids.

With so few runners, after we spread out from the start, I don't expect to be running near anyone. I'll probably be one of the last finishers, since I'm expecting 7.5 - 8 hrs, depending on how things go.
 
Week of Nov. 20 - 26, 2023

This week was the sixteenth week of the training plan for my next race: Harbison 50k in South Carolina on January 7.

Monday
  • Before breakfast: foam rolling and stretching
  • After work: walk on treadmill
    • time: 1:26:46
    • distance: 4.26 mi
    • ave pace: 20:22
    • incline: 0%
Tuesday before breakfast:
  • Hill repeat HIIT: 13 min easy + 4 x [7 x (20 sec sprint uphill + 20 sec walk downhill) + 4 min walk]
    • T+D 77, no effect, T 41 F
    • time: 40:01
    • distance: 2.86 mi
    • repeat splits: 8:07, 9:13, 8:03, 8:57, 8:57, 9:36, 8:55, 7:37, 8:42, 9:05, 8:22, 9:14, 9:51, 9:25, 8:38, 9:08, 9:12, 8:32, 8:59, 9:50, 10:01
    • elevation gain: 224 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. It takes me 7 intervals to get to the top of the hill, and so that's when I have the 4-min walk back down to the bottom.
Wednesday
  • Before lunch:
    • 60 min easy on trail
      • T+D 102, 0.5% effect, T 56 F
      • time: 1:00:01
      • distance: 4.51 mi mi
      • average pace: 13:19 (GAP ave pace 13:16)
      • splits: 13:20, 13:30, 13:15, 13:21, 13:01
      • ave HR: 133 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 351 ft (corrected)
      • route: Northwest Branch Trail
  • Evening: 2-hr tennis doubles round-robin
Thursday very, very early: walk on treadmill
  • time: 1:25:21
  • distance: 4.21 mi
  • ave pace: 20:16
  • incline: 0%
  • comments: got up before we drove to family for Thanksgiving in order to get my 10,000 steps for the day.
Friday before breakfast:
  • Tempo intervals: 10 min easy + 6 x (5 min tempo + 1 min walk) + 10 min easy
    • T+D 59, no effect, T 33 F, WC 27 F, windy
    • time: 56:01
    • distance: 4.97 mi
    • tempo splits: 10:10, 9:50, 9:46, 9:45, 9:56, 9:31
    • elevation gain: 35 ft (uncorrected)
    • route: Allegheny River Trail
    • comments: My legs were tired and didn't want to run, especially at tempo.
Saturday before dinner:
  • 90 min easy on trail
    • T+D 63, no effect, T 44 F
    • time: 1:30:00
    • distance: 6.29 mi
    • average pace: 14:19 (GAP ave pace 13:27)
    • splits: 14:04, 15:02, 14:26, 14:34, 13:53, 14:42, 11:29
    • ave HR: 131 BPM - within my target range
    • elevation gain: 899 ft (corrected)
    • route: Western Ridge Trail, Rock Creek National Park
Sunday:
  • 330 min LR on trail
    • At start: T+D 73, no effect, T 40 F. At end: T+D 85, no effect, T 44 F, rainy.
    • time: 5:30:00
    • distance: 22.57 mi
    • average pace: 14:37 (GAP ave pace 14:08)
    • splits: 14:25, 14:04, 14:19, 14:42, 13:44, 14:50, 15:19, 14:47, 13:39, 14:20, 14:02, 14:27, 14:20, 13:50, 15:01, 15:37, 15:16, 14:08, 14:50, 14:59, 14:19, 15:30, 16:46
    • ave HR: 137 BPM - below my target range
    • elevation gain: 1641 ft (corrected)
    • route: Seneca Greenway Trail
    • comments: This run went very well!
    • comments: I took 1.5 L water + Nuun and 2 L water and drank just about all of it. I ate three Honey Stinger Waffles, one sleeve of Clif Bloks, one serving of Teddy Grahams, and one serving of M&Ms.

Health

The headache is continuing - I'm working on somatic tracking. The IT band/knee is about the same.
 
Week of Nov. 27 - Dec. 3, 2023

This week was the seventeenth week of the training plan for my next race: Harbison 50k in South Carolina on January 7. This was a cut-back week.

Monday
  • Before breakfast: foam rolling and stretching
  • After work: walk on treadmill
    • time: 43:56
    • distance: 2.23 mi
    • ave pace: 19:42
    • incline: 0%
Tuesday
  • Before breakfast: stretching
  • After work:
    • Hill repeat HIIT: 13min easy + 3 x [7 x {20sec sprint uphill + 20sec walk downhill) + 4min walk downhill]
      • T+D 39, no effect, T 29 F, WC 18 F, windy!
      • time: 40:01
      • distance: 2.94 mi
      • repeat splits: 8:38, 9:04, 9:23, 8:51, 9:14, 9:40, 9:53, 7:42, 8:26, 9:04, 8:33, 8"54, 9:16, 9:43, 7:36, 8:36, 9:20, 8:50, 8:53, 9:37, 9:30
      • elevation gain: 200 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. It takes me 7 intervals to get to the top of the hill, and so that's when I have the 4-min walk back down to the bottom.
Wednesday
  • 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:
    • 50 min easy
      • T+D 46, no effect, T 34 F
      • time: 50:01
      • distance: 4.00 mi
      • average pace: 12:29 (GAP ave pace 12:22)
      • splits: 12:26, 12:32, 12:19, 12:41
      • ave HR: 134 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 276 ft (corrected)
      • route: neighborhood loop 1
Thursday
  • Before breakfast: stretching
  • After work:
    • 50 min tempo ramps
      • T+D 78, no effect, T 47 F
      • time: 50:00
      • distance: 4.44 mi
      • average pace: 11:16 (GAP ave pace 11:13)
      • splits: 11:49, 11:06, 11:08, 11:09, 11:00
      • elevation gain: 347 ft (corrected)
      • route: neighborhood loop 2
Friday evening: walk on treadmill
  • time: 42:57
  • distance: 2.1 mi
  • ave pace: 20:27
  • incline: 0%
Saturday
  • Before lunch: 2-hr tennis doubles practice
  • Before dinner:
    • 80 min easy on trail
      • T+D 106, 0.5% effect, T 56 F
      • time: 1:20:00
      • distance: 5.79 mi
      • average pace: 13:49 (GAP ave pace 13:26)
      • splits: 13:26, 13:08, 14:55, 13:43, 14:09, 13:30
      • ave HR: 139 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 398 ft (corrected)
      • route: Valley Trail, Rock Creek National Park
Sunday:
  • 240 min LR on trail
    • At start: T+D 105, 0.5% effect, T 53 F. At end: T+D 107, 0.5% effect, T 54 F.
    • time: 4:00:00
    • distance: 16.57 mi
    • average pace: 14:29 (GAP ave pace 14:00)
    • splits: 14:35, 13:46, 14:00, 14:29, 13:38, 15:13, 15:03, 14:36, 14:49, 15:20, 14:28, 13:46, 14:08, 14:06, 13:45, 14:42, 16:48
    • ave HR: 133 BPM - below my target range. I don't think it was reading correctly frequently.
    • elevation gain: 1438 ft (corrected)
    • route: Seneca Greenway Trail
    • comments: I took 1.5 L water + Nuun and 1 L water and drank most of it. I ate one Honey Stinger Waffle, one sleeve of Clif Bloks, one serving of Teddy Grahams, and one serving of M&Ms.

Health

My headache was up and down this week - the worst in the mornings. Discussed this with my PRT therapist. Then yesterday, no morning headache! Yay! But I paid for it today with a killer headache from the morning through the end of my run. Blah.
 
Week of Dec. 4 - 10, 2023

This week was the eighteenth week of the training plan for my next race: Harbison 50k in South Carolina on January 7. This week and next week have the same long run, which is my longest training run ever: 6 hours. The guidance I've been following for training for trail races is for long races to train up to about 75% of the time you expect it will take you to finish the race. I think I should be able to do it in 7.5 hours, but definitely 8 hours.

Monday
  • Before breakfast: foam rolling and stretching
  • Before dinner: walk on treadmill
    • time: 43:14
    • distance: 2.2 mi
    • ave pace: 19:39
    • 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: 13min easy + 3 x [7 x {20sec sprint uphill + 20sec walk downhill) + 4min walk downhill]
      • T+D 79, no effect, T 45 F
      • time: 40:01
      • distance: 2.9 mi
      • repeat splits:8:55, 8:44, 9:14, 8:31, 8:46, 8:54, 9:21, 7:49, 8:53, 8:48, 8:49, 9:34, 9:16, 9:34, 7:36, 8:38, 9:03, 8:37, 8:38, 9:32, 9:34
      • elevation gain: 200 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. It takes me 7 intervals to get to the top of the hill, and so that's when I have the 4-min walk back down to the bottom.
Wednesday after work: walk on treadmill
  • time: 43:16
  • distance: 2.24 mi
  • ave pace: 19:19
  • incline: 0%
Thursday
  • 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:
    • 60 min tempo ramps
      • T+D 72, no effect, T 43 F
      • time: 1:00:00
      • distance: 5.24 mi
      • average pace: 11:27 (GAP ave pace 11:23)
      • splits: 11:53, 11:23, 11:25, 11:17, 11:13, 11:34
      • elevation gain: 395 ft (corrected)
      • route: neighborhood loop 2
Friday
  • Before breakfast: HIIT workout - warm-up, then 3 x [8 x (20sec exercise + 20sec rest] + 4min rest. The exercises were:
    • high knees
    • crouch to sprawl
    • left-right hop
    • one-handed prone to stand
    • squat jumps
    • plank ups
    • forward-back hop
    • rotating low jump squat with hand touch
  • After work:
    • 60 min easy
      • T+D 90, no effect, T 54 F
      • time: 1:00:02
      • distance: 4.95 mi
      • average pace: 12:07 (GAP ave pace 12:03)
      • splits: 11:36, 11:47, 11:31, 12:35, 13:09
      • ave HR: 135 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 322 ft (corrected)
      • route: Forest Glen Annex and Rock Creek Trail
Saturday
  • Before lunch:
    • 60 min easy on trail
      • T+D 81, no effect, T 42 F
      • time: 1:00:01
      • distance: 4.55 mi
      • average pace: 13:12 (GAP ave pace 13:09)
      • splits: 13:18, 13:29, 12:59, 13:08, 13:00
      • ave HR: 138 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 326 ft (corrected)
      • route: Northwest Branch Trail
      • comments: This was supposed to be a 90-min run, but given the other activities I had for the day, I cut it down.
  • Afternoon: hike with friends
    • time: 2:52:25
    • distance: 4.02 mi
    • ave pace: 42:51
    • elevation gain: 205 ft (corrected)
    • route: Billy Goat Trail and C&O Canal Trail
  • Evening: 2-hr tennis match - my partner and I lost 6-1, 6-2.
Sunday
  • 360 min LR on trail
    • T+D 118, 1% effect, T 60 F, rain and mist the whole time!
    • time: 5:38:52
    • distance: 24.26 mi
    • average pace: 13:58 (GAP ave pace 13:52)
    • splits: 13:34, 13:32, 13:52, 14:14, 13:20, 13:41, 15:30, 13:17, 13:54, 13:26, 13:10, 14:24, 13:17, 13:30, 13:47, 17:26, 14:19, 14:03, 14:14, 13:40, 13:51, 13:53, 13:43, 13:44, 13:21
    • ave HR: 133 BPM - below my target range
    • elevation gain: 1093 ft (corrected)
    • route: Rock Creek Trail
    • comments: This was supposed to be on a natural trail, not a paved trail, but we were forecast to have lots of rain and potential flash flooding. It seemed like a good idea not to get too remote on this run, especially along a creek. So I stayed closer to home with lots of literal bail-out points. Fortunately the storm did not end up being as bad as predicted.
    • comments: The hard part about doing this run on pavement was that I wouldn't have the changes in pace and terrain that I would have on a trail - it would be more repetitive. I could potentially go faster (and did, on average), but it would be harder on my body than intended. So I tried not to go too hard on this run.
    • comments: It rained for a couple hours, then misted, then didn't precipitate for maybe 30 minutes, then it misted and turned into rain again. It was pretty miserable. At least it wasn't too cold.
    • comments: I took 1.5L water + Nuun and 2L water. I drank about 3/4 of the plain water and only maybe 2/3 of the water + Nuun, which was surprising. I definitely skipped some scheduled drinks because I wasn't feeling them, and I guess it added up.
    • comments: I ate three Honey Stinger waffles, one serving of Teddy Grahams, two servings of M&Ms, and one sleeve of Clif Bloks. It was raining the whole time...and some rain got into the ziploc bag with the Teddy Grahams (which I ate first) and the M&Ms. The coloring started to slime off the M&Ms and all over the inside of the bag, making for quite a mess by the time I got around to finishing them off! Ha.

Health

The headache is still there, but I'm having some better days with it. Hopefully the somatic tracking is kicking in again.

As I write this the day after the long run, my knees are definitely really feeling it.


ETA: I forgot to put in the nutrition info for my long run.
 
Last edited:
It rained for a couple hours, then misted, then didn't precipitate for maybe 30 minutes, then it misted and turned into rain again. It was pretty miserable. At least it wasn't too cold.
I can totally empathize. I had similar conditions for my run on Sunday too. Good job on getting your almost 6h run in!
 

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