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

Your pics are gorgeous, what a great place to run!

Sorry you are still dealing with the vaccine aftermath! I was lucky with my first one last month but am dreading the second figuring that’s when it’s gonna get me! I have it scheduled after a Sunday run with Monday as a rest day, fingers crossed! It’s hard getting these things done when training!
 
What a gorgeous place to run!

Sorry the shingles vax isn't treating you well. I need to get that one myself but I've been putting it off for that exact reason. I hope you're feeling better soon.
 
Sorry you are still dealing with the vaccine aftermath! I was lucky with my first one last month but am dreading the second figuring that’s when it’s gonna get me!

Sorry the shingles vax isn't treating you well. I need to get that one myself but I've been putting it off for that exact reason. I hope you're feeling better soon.
Thanks, both of you! I had heard anecdotally that more people have reactions to the second shot than the first, so I wasn't that worried. But then apparently I'm "special".

I'm writing this on Wednesday, and I'm finally starting to feel better, but not back to normal.
 
I like to think that if you have a reaction to the vaccine means that it is working. the more reaction the better you will be able to fight off the real thing. (I'm not sure if that is correct, but it makes me feel better when I get fever/chills from any vaccine. I hope you feel better soon!
 


I like to think that if you have a reaction to the vaccine means that it is working. the more reaction the better you will be able to fight off the real thing. (I'm not sure if that is correct, but it makes me feel better when I get fever/chills from any vaccine. I hope you feel better soon!
I also live in this delusion. I also like to believe that if the vaccine made me feel like total garbage, there's no way I'd want to experience whatever ailment I was trying to prevent.
 
I like to think that if you have a reaction to the vaccine means that it is working. the more reaction the better you will be able to fight off the real thing. (I'm not sure if that is correct, but it makes me feel better when I get fever/chills from any vaccine. I hope you feel better soon!

I also live in this delusion.

This reminded me that I wanted to at least cursorily Google this.

It looks like for the covid vaccines, a strong reaction means more antibodies are being produced: https://www.bu.edu/neidl/2023/12/its-good-to-feel-bad-after-your-covid-shot/ The article says it's not necessarily clear that more antibodies will mean that your body will fight off a subsequent infection better later, but at least there is a correlation.

I also get strong reactions to the covid vaccinations - similar to the doc in the article but fortunately without the fever. Last time it was at least 3 days for me to feel back to normal. For my next covid update in the fall, I'm going to plan ahead to get it on a Thursday and take a sick day on Friday so that hopefully by Monday I'm back to normal.

I'm writing this on Wednesday (shingles shot on Friday). I'm feeling much better, but not quite back to normal. Thank goodness only one more of those and then it's done - at last it's not a yearly thing.
 
This reminded me that I wanted to at least cursorily Google this.

It looks like for the covid vaccines, a strong reaction means more antibodies are being produced: https://www.bu.edu/neidl/2023/12/its-good-to-feel-bad-after-your-covid-shot/ The article says it's not necessarily clear that more antibodies will mean that your body will fight off a subsequent infection better later, but at least there is a correlation.
Anecdotally, I got my butt majorly kicked by my first dose of the Covid vaccine, and I have yet to catch it (knock on wood) despite many many Disney trips, and having my grandparents bring it home from a cruise
 


I also get strong reactions to the covid vaccinations - similar to the doc in the article but fortunately without the fever. Last time it was at least 3 days for me to feel back to normal. For my next covid update in the fall, I'm going to plan ahead to get it on a Thursday and take a sick day on Friday so that hopefully by Monday I'm back to normal.
My reactions to the Moderna covid vaccine were getting stronger with each additional shot, so last time I went with Novavax instead and didn't feel a thing. Just in case that's something you'd want to consider.
 
I got my butt majorly kicked by my first dose of the Covid vaccine, and I have yet to catch it
The first covid vaccination is the only one that didn't give me a strong reaction. I've gotten as many as have been recommended for my age group and also the flu + covid each fall. Sadly I've gotten covid twice. Anecdotally, I think we are inconclusive on the meaning. :)
My reactions to the Moderna covid vaccine were getting stronger with each additional shot, so last time I went with Novavax instead and didn't feel a thing.
Is the Novavax vaccine that has the "traditional" vaccination method - versus the new mRNA Pfizer and Moderna ones? I was thinking of looking into that one for the next time to see if I react better. Such a pain in the neck to plan for having three days of feeling like complete crap.


Yesterday (Thursday), I would said I finally felt pretty much back to normal and the injection site swelling/pain had finally dissipated. I didn't feel so horrible that I couldn't do things, but it was pretty miserable. At least I knew I wasn't contagious with something.
 
Is the Novavax vaccine that has the "traditional" vaccination method - versus the new mRNA Pfizer and Moderna ones? I was thinking of looking into that one for the next time to see if I react better. Such a pain in the neck to plan for having three days of feeling like complete crap.
Yep, that's the one! Weirdly, CVS wouldn't let me schedule an appointment to get it. I had to just pop in and see if they had a dose available that day. Even the pharmacist was confused about why this was the policy, so it may have changed by now, but just a heads up in case this is still an issue.
 
Week of Mar. 18 - 24, 2024

This was the ninth week of my 13-week training plan for the Tour de Dodge 27k on April 20. We're up to 41 runners registered for the 27k!

I already talked about getting the first shingles vaccination on Friday, Mar. 15. It made me feel quite crappy through Wednesday, Mar. 20 - such fun. And this was my spring break week! I visited my family in PA from Saturday (Mar. 16) through Wednesday. I did about 6 hours of yard work (mostly pulling weeds) on Thursday and Friday.

Despite the annoyance of the vaccination side effects, I've been running really, really well lately. It really shows in my long run for this week - my hill training is paying off in the long run elevation and pace!


Monday before breakfast:
  • 40 min easy
    • T+D 55, no effect, T 29 F, WC 21 F!
    • time: 40:00
    • distance: 3.17 mi
    • average pace: 12:36 (GAP ave pace 12:37)
    • splits: 13:02, 12:35, 12:19, 11:55
    • ave HR: 123 BPM - within my target range
    • elevation gain: 30 ft (uncorrected)
    • route: Justus Trail, paved
    • comments: I was still visiting my family. This was an "extra" run that wasn't on my schedule, but I knew that I wouldn't be doing crap the rest of the day, so I needed it for my 10,000 steps. But I did not enjoy it. Walking it would have been much less pleasant given the weather conditions.

Tuesday before breakfast:
  • Hill repeat HIIT - 13min easy + 3 x [7 x (20sec sprint uphill + 20sec walk downhill) + 4min walk downhill]
    • T+D 49, no effect, T 27 F, WC 16 F!!!
    • time: 40:01
    • distance: 2.93 mi
    • repeat splits: 7:51, 8:52, 8:39, 9:26, 8:42, 8:50, 9:00, 7:59, 8:34, 8:46, 8:34, 8:44, 9:11, 8:54, 8:21, 8:22, 8:56, 8:33, 8:38, 8:38, 8:52
    • elevation gain: 146 ft (corrected)
    • route: Tanglewood development
    • 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.
    • comments: I was still visiting my family in PA, so I did this on a different hill than usual. And it was very cold with the wind chill! We had a bit of snow.
Wednesday before dinner:
  • 60 min easy on trail
    • T+D 85, no effect, T 66 F, windy!
    • time: 1:00:01
    • distance: 4.83 mi
    • average pace: 12:26 (GAP ave pace 12:16)
    • splits: 12:15, 12:19, 12:19, 12:56, 12:18
    • ave HR: 137 BPM - within my target range
    • elevation gain: 254 ft (corrected)
    • route: Valley Trail, Rock Creek National Park
    • comments: What a difference a day makes! I was finally starting to feel quite a bit better after the vaccination, and came back home to such lovely running weather. I did this run extremely well.
    • comments: After the run was done, I did eight 20-sec uphill strides.
Thursday
  • Before breakfast: Knee PT - next level
    • 3 x 10 - wall slides, 0 to 60 degrees
    • 3 x 5 each side - step up on 8-inch step
    • 3 x 5 each side - step down from 8-inch step
    • 3 x 10 each side - lunge to 45 degrees
    • 2 x 15 each side - pelvic drop, 5-sec hold
  • Before dinner:
    • 60 min tempo intervals on trail: 10 min easy + 8 x (4 min tempo effort + 1 min walk) + 10 min easy
      • T+D 58, no effect, T 48 F, windy!
      • time: 1:00:00
      • distance: 5.21 mi
      • tempo splits: 10:16, 9:50, 10:36, 10:23, 10:28, 10:36, 9:48, 9:54
      • elevation gain: 407 ft (corrected)
      • route: Northwest Branch Trail
      • comments: I was really happy with the tempo intervals on this run - hit a lot of hills and technical sections, but still kept a good pace.
Friday
  • Before breakfast: Knee PT - next level
    • 3 x 10 - wall slides, 0 to 60 degrees
    • 3 x 5 each side - step up on 8-inch step
    • 3 x 5 each side - step down from 8-inch step
    • 3 x 10 each side - lunge to 45 degrees
    • 2 x 15 each side - pelvic drop, 5-sec hold
  • Before dinner: walk around the neighborhood
    • time: 1:05:01
    • distance: 3.09 mi
    • ave pace: 21:02
Saturday
  • Before lunch:
    • HIIT workout: warm-up + 3 x [8 x (20s on + 20s rest) + 4min rest], with exercises:
      • high knees
      • plank jacks
      • left/right hop
      • press jacks
      • fast feet forward/back
      • plank ups
      • forward/back hop
      • fast feet in/out
    • Knee PT
      • 3 x 10 - wall slides, 0 to 60 degrees
      • 3 x 5 each side - step up on 8-inch step
      • 3 x 5 each side - step down from 8-inch step
      • 3 x 10 each side - lunge to 45 degrees
      • 2 x 15 each side - pelvic drop, 5-sec hold
  • Before dinner:
    • 90 min easy on trail
      • T+D 96, no effect, T 51 F, windy!
      • time: 1:30:01
      • distance: 6.64 mi
      • average pace: 13:34 (GAP ave pace 12:47)
      • splits: 13:31, 14:28, 13:27, 13:28, 13:23, 13:58, 12:09
      • ave HR: 134 BPM - within my target range
      • elevation gain: 866 ft (corrected)
      • route: Western Ridge Trail, Rock Creek National Park
      • comments: We got almost 2 inches of rain that morning, but fortunately the downpour stopped before my run. It was a bit muddy.
      • comments: Very happy with the pace on this run, given the effort level and hills.
Sunday
  • 180 min LR on trail
    • At start: T+D 61, no effect, T 44F, WC 39 . At end, T+D 69, no effect, T 49 F, WC 47 F. Warmed up quite a bit during the run.
    • time: 3:00:01
    • distance: 13.77 mi
    • average pace: 13:04 (GAP ave pace 12:36)
    • splits: 13:20, 12:25, 12:23, 12:42, 11:54, 13:20, 15:13, 13:23, 12:31, 13:00, 12:48, 12:59, 13:14, 13:56
    • ave HR: 138 BPM - below my target range
    • elevation gain: 1151 ft (corrected)
    • route: Seneca Greenway Trail
    • comments: I took 1.5 L of water + Nuun and 0.5 L of water and drank nearly all of it. I ate two Honey Stinger waffles and a sleeve of GU Chews.
    • comments: I was very, very happy with how this run went. It is a bit scary to start out pushing a LR pace when I know that there are a lot of hills coming later on, but I can really tell my fitness is improving. At LR effort, I'm now able to run slowly up some of the hills and walk only the steeper ones. It's amazing to me to have so many miles in the 12-min range and even one a bit below! But the sobering thought is that my 27 race is only a few miles longer than this but has twice as much elevation gain!
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Health

I'm much happier now that the vaccination side effects have gone away.

Knees: I haven't been taping them as much because the tape is starting to really irritate my skin. I have been using it more for runs, especially an hour and longer. I'm not sure the patellofemoral pain is improving, but at least I don't think it's getting a lot worse as my volume goes up.
 
What a great long run!

And WOW at that elevation gain. I think I've only done 2k feet this entire month -- not a lot of hills where I live -- so it's crazy to see that much in a single long run. Impressive!
 

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