JoeG : Weekly Running Report: February 21, 2021

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well!

How's training going? Any races (IRL or virtual)?

How's the weather in your area? Affecting your training? Still getting it done or adding other cross training to make up for it? We had another round of snow this week. Seems like this stuff may never go away. lol..

Reminder, if you're just skimming my blog, lol.. reminder that I also have gear and race discount tabs/pages on my blog site to check out as well. :) #BibRavePro

This was Week 11 of 20 marathon training for Gettysburg North-South Marathon for me.

My Week in Training:

Monday: 6 miles. sun recovery, hydrated, foam rolled, massage gun, TENS gadget, toe spreaders, etc. With having the day off, did partake in a few SundayFunday beverages, and stayed up past my bed time. Tired! Coffee, 47 min strength training, 6 mi done. Pretty much a through the motion kind of day. Comfortable 8:15-8:20 ish till hill time, just happy to keep it under 8:30 to survive. Legs heavy and tired throughout. Will be sure to focus on recovery to get back at it tomorrow! Temps slightly above freezing today and really going up tomorrow, hoping this snow melts!

Tuesday: 6 miles. Monday recovery, hydrated well, foam roll, stretch, and a better night's rest. Coffee, workout (30 min now, 15 min at lunch), and out the door shortly after 6. Rain overnight, temps may be near freezing overnight but going up today. Already at 36 degrees by go time. Cautiously goes out to check the conditions, no ice! Misty to rain throughout, with streams of melt on the sides of the street. Have been wishing for some rain to wash away the snow, guess I have to run through it now! lol.. "speed" day, always wonder if I have any in me before starting. The never being completely fresh always causes some anxiety. A little lower back pain before this morning had me wondering. Anyhow, I digress.. Starts working on breathing, and I'm off! breathing and foot strike on point to start. Pacing faster than expected (1st alert started with a 6. not realistic, but nice). A couple small hills early and back into rhythm. Pacing 7:30's. Goal to survive my later hills and maintain to 7:45. Worst hills in mi 3-4. Survived, but feeling heavy legs post hills. Maintained, rough, but fun! Splish-splashing in a few spots (just have to laugh that off (assuming you aren't falling from the pot holes), misty/rain was invigorating!

Wednesday: 5 miles. Tue recovery, hydrated, foam rolled (definitely needed it, a bit stiff after sitting at my desk for so long), had a drink at dinner, but hydrated/well behaved. Decent rest. Coffee, workout(30 min now, 15 min at lunch), and out the door by 6. Doing 5 miles today. Supposed to be rest/non running day, but felt fine, and wanted to do more than 5k.. Hopefully that doesn't affect tomorrow's 7 and/or Sat long run. Tues, the temps went up! Almost 50 degrees! Snow melted some, but still not enough. And the temps went right back down! 20's. With all that melt and then freeze, wasn't sure what the roads would be like today. Roads were fine! There was a few spots of black ice at a couple intersections and at the bottom of inclines. One intersection the ice was spread pretty wide, very cautious there. Pacing, will probably go "comfy" the next few days. Started out sub 8, but 8's as the inclines/hills added up. Close to 8:15 towards the end, started to try to keep it there but faded a little more just before ending. Felt pretty decent overall. And was nice to see the sunrise towards the end and during my cool down. The sun has been hiding for too long!

Thursday: 7 miles. Wed recovery, hydrated well, foam rolled, decent rest. Went to bed with anticipation of a snow storm. Grabbing my coffee, looks out, yup, it's started! Scheduled to start at 4, and it did! Light covering at 5 am. With warnings of a few inches an hour. Thought I heard the plow go by while I was getting ready. Short core workout (break from weights since I'll be shoveling) and out the door by 6. Plow did not come by yet! 'Doh! No tracks at all on my street yet. Pacing, "comfy" pace. Would prefer 8:30-8:45, but couldn't control it today. Hung at 8:30 for a bit, not long. Every other street didn't have tire tracks yet. Probably should of worn pants. Could feel the snow kicking back at me. Midway, shin started to hurt a bit, not a good day for shin splints (as if there are any good days to have them). More streets started to have some tracks to work with. but some were more of a slush than compacted snow. I did see the plow, but they weren't plowing yet. Not sure if they were salting/brining, but definitely no plow yet. Opposite end of the neighborhood, my toughest hill, no tracks at all! ugh. lol.. Got through it. Survived. Snow is a little fun the first couple times of the season, think I've had enough. it can go now. lol.. Winter advisory in effect till tomorrow, hoping it's a little more clear tomorrow. We shall see! As I was finishing, saw my shoes, ice formed around my ankles, that's a first! Maybe that's why my shin didnt bother me anymore, too numb to notice?! lol.. beard-cicle was a little better than expected as well! Can usually tell, didn't notice till selfie time! Round 1 shoveling done before work, 2 at lunch, and 3 after work/dinner.

Friday: 4 miles. Thu recovery, hydrated, foam rolled, stretched, and a decent night's rest. Did participate in Thirsty Thursday, via a virtual work happy hour. We haven't had one of those since early pandemic! Was nice catching up with co-workers not talking too much shop. but I digress. . Behaved and hydrated. Did wake up in some pain from shoveling. Shoulder and back. Mostly left shoulder. Slept until my alarm. Coffee, short workout (core only, taking a break from weights to recover from shoveling). Out the door around 6. Plenty of snow yesterday, called for 8 inches, may have gotten 10. Done early enough, plows did a good job. My street was pretty clear, but wore my yaktrax anyway. Good thing I did, rest of my hood still had plenty of slush! A few streets up, past the plow salting a couple times. Pacing, staying comfortable, hopefully 8:30 ish. Started out slightly slower and got it down there. Legs were tired though. Between the hills and the yaktrax and slush, heavy legs. Today's sched calls for 30 min, and I usually round to the next mi. Thought about ending at 30, but stuck to my orig plan. Beginning of my route, skipped a couple flatish streets to make sure I got all of my hills in at least once. Timed just about right. Shooting for 400 ft in hills, think I'd have to skip one more street and repeat a hill to make that happen. Maybe next time. Hoping the roads will be more clear tomorrow, a little anxiety going into the weekend to do an 18 miler in my hood (repetitive, boring, hills). Ready for the snow to melt to get back to trails!

Saturday 18 miles. Fri recovery, hydrated, foam rolled, carb load, relax, and in bed on time. Decent rest and up before my alarm. Coffee and taking my time. Wasn't looking fwd to today, but through the motions of my routine. Ate a small breakfast. Out the door after daylight, 6:45 ish. Plan basically do my 8 my route x2 and add more somewhere... Boring route to me. 8 mi route includes most of my 10 or so streets being done twice. So I'll be doing most streets 4x today. Yesterday there was plenty of slush. Some sun, some salt, but a little more snow. Just a little more than a covering. Not planning on wearing yaktrax, hoping I don't have to wear trail shoes, planning on using my long distance shoe. Pacing, planning on comfy pace 8:30-8:45. Trying not to fade past 9-9:09. I usually start out slightly fast, not today. Started out right at 8:30. Wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. Like yesterday, my street was somewhat clear, next wasn't that bad. But.. most streets had a little solid ice in spots, at intersections, and a good amount at the turnarounds. (each street leads to a busy rd I turn around at). Extra cautious at the turnarounds.. especially when I went to take a pic, I slid when I came to a stop! Non issue, but unexpected. Next street or two may of had better views of the sunrise, I wasn't taking anymore pics. Worst hills at the opposite end of my route, bottoms of two the hills meet, widespread area of ice. Wasn't going to skip that last hill. Cautiously walked through that each time. Maintained 8:28-8:32ish through my first 8 mi route of my hood. Forgot to hydrate as I passed my house at 8 mi. 'doh! Round 2. Started to feel like through the motions. Forgot to fuel and could feel it, fueled at 10 mi. Started to feel a little better. On the way back from the opposite end (2nd time), knew I would have to add 2 miles to my 16 mi route somewhere. (or just triple part of my route). There is a nearby apartment complex that has a 1/3 mi loop and a decent sized parking lot. Last time I was in there, they were slacking on road maintenance. Not today! Very well plowed and salted. Did three out and backs across their parking lot and a couple loops. Back to my hood with under 3 to go. Pace slipping a bit, but not caring, not too bad, and feeling it. and done! That extra mileage in the complex was almost perfect. Only had to go .1 past my house. lol.. Overall pace within goal. Happy to be done. Did the first and last streets of my route twice, most streets between four times. All out and backs. Lots of duplication there. Figured it would be 12-1400 ft elevation gain, 13. 2 hills 4x, 2 hills 2x, 1 hill 1x. Anxiety going in, but having doing my 16 here two weeks ago gave some confidence. Still hope the snow is clear enough at my trail in two weeks for my 20 miler. lol..

Didn't think I'd have energy to do some extra shoveling.. but a couple hours later was on a roll with chores and felt ok enough. "extra" as in a nice to have done. Don't need my generator at the moment (knock on wood), but like to have a clear path in case.

Sunday: 4 miles. Saturday recovery, Epsom bath, hydrated very well, foam roll, relax. Did have a few beverages, but well behaved (for a Saturday). lol.. In bed at a decent time. Up overnight, back sore and tight! It was rough. Didn't sleep in today. Coffee, core workout, foam roll my back, did take aleve. Eventually felt decent enough to head out. I know I keep saying I'm going to cut back on streak/rest days, but figured any mile would be rough, might as well do what I wanted. Was going to do 3, but saw 4 would cap my week at 50. Haven't done a 50 mi week in a while. First couple min were slow, and questioned my plans through the first hill, but kept through. Pace better than expected. Was just hoping for 8:30, but kept sub 8 remainder of the way. Hills were rough, thought about avoiding them but didn't. And even had to do one twice because a car was blocking the road at top, down and back up I went. Will be sure to focus on recovery today and behave myself.

Outside of Running:

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? Not much. What shows/movies did I watch this week? The Office, House Hunters (not by choice, lol.. ), Barb and Star (was not what we expected, a little bizarre, but still a little funny), WandaVision (loving it!), Harry Potter 5&6 (also not my choice, but figured I get my spouse to watch sports and plenty of MCU and other shows, I could stick it out, lol.. )

Q: How about you? Anything exciting outside of running? Any adventures? Or binge watching anything?

Weekly Summary:

Miles: 50 miles running completed

Year to date: 357.2 miles running

Hill Goal (for the yr): 19947/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k.

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 226 minutes completed. What type of strength training do I do? Core: crunches, planks, leg raises. Weights: biceps, triceps, shoulders, chest.

Hydration Goal: 7 days

Foam Roll: 7 days

Training Plan: Week 11 of 20 using the below training plan. Plan titled "Advanced", please note, I in no way consider myself advanced. I have used the intermediate plan for four seasons, and want to try the next level. We shall see if I survive! lol..