JoeG : Weekly Running Report: March 21, 2021

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all doing well!

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

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 15 of 20 marathon training for Gettysburg North-South Marathon for me.

My Week in Training:

Monday: 11 miles. Sunday, hydrated well, foam rolled, massage gun, light stretch. A few beverages since I have a vaca day Monday. Stayed up past my bed time to watch Walking dead (actually watched it at it's airing time instead of on-demand! usually in bed by then!) Planned on sleeping in, didn't really happen. But haven't adjusted to DST, so kinda did? Coffee, workout in slow-mo. And eventually over to my trail. My trail Pennypack Creek. Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood rd. Doing the more wooded side to Byberry rd and back first. Day off work, more miles, right? Well, legs still feeling the weekend. Saturday's long run and Sunday's speed, legs were kinda heavy. Questioned my decision to do extra early. Thought about calling it quits at an hr (today's scheduled mi), but kept on going. Passed my car at 5.5 mi ish, hydrated and kept on. Off to the more gradual incline side to Rockledge and back. At Rockledge, left the trail for a minute to do a hill. Already suffering, why not? Well, had to do the hill to maintain strava local legend of that hill. :). Pace faded to 8:37 ish, regrouped slightly, got it closer to 8:30, but just didn't have it today.

Full trail pics on Facebook

Tuesday: 6 miles. Monday, hydrated well, foam rolled, iced my shin. Time to adjust to DST. Some rest, but not enough. Tired. And my shin hurt. A little miserable this morning TBH. Coffee, short workout, and out the door by 6. Between legs being tired/heavy from recent miles and my shin hurting, a bit of through the motions today. Pace 8:30 ish but hills got me. Couldn't muster much. Thought about quitting early, but done. Many f-bombs today. But reminded myself I don't have to run, I get to. In the last mile, a skunk crossed the street in front of me, closer than .1 mi. It ran by some bushes, thought about getting a pic, but wise enough to not go chasing it. lol.. As I was finishing my run was awarded with a beautiful sunrise.

Wednesday: 1 mile. Tues, hydrated well, foam rolled, iced my shin, stretched, and a decent night's rest. Legs still tired, and shin anoying me at times (especially w/ stairs), decided to cut today to a streak day. Wed is strength training/non-running day, and I usually treat it as whatever mi I feel like doing that day, one and done it is. Coffee, 51 minute strength training, light stretch. Did start thinking about doing more than a mi, before I started but the stairs reminded why I was hesitant to begin with. Out the door a bit later than usual, not much more time to do more than a mile before work at this point. Off I go. Felt the shin at first, but fine once I got going. Started 8:15 ish and gradually brought it down just below 8. Comfortable. Shin throbbed slightly after. Will be sure to ice, stretch, yada yada. Hope to be ready for tomorrow's 7 miler! (and 20 miler on Saturday!)

Thursday: 7 miles. Wed, hydrated well, foam rolled, failed to ice my shin, and got a decent night's rest. Had a green beer for St Paddy's day, but well behaved. Up early and then fell back to sleep, groggy when that alarm went off! Coffee, stairs weren't as bad on my shin as they have been recently, hopefully a good sign. Short workout (30 min now, 15 min later). And out the door by 6! Feels like 46 degrees. Short sleeves, didn't bother with a hat, and brought the gloves along for the ride. Never used them. Felt my shin slightly when starting, but felt pretty decent overall. Pacing 7:40's for a bit. Enjoying the run much more than Mon/Tues. Per usual, felt the hills around 3.5-5 mi. Hung in there. Could of let go, but kept focus. Shooting for sub 8, but couldn't bring it back down. Still much better than expected considering how I felt earlier in the week. Weather was misty, ditched my glasses early. Also noticed humidity, 95%!

Friday: 4 miles. Thu, foam rolled, stretched, iced my shin, and a decent night's rest. Funky dreams this week. lol.. Groggy, coffee, short workout and out the door a few minutes after 6. Behind schedule and then when I went to get dressed, lightbulb when out! grrr.. lol.. Out around 6:10. Good thing it's 4 mi day or I may be cutting it close for work.. Felt my shin at first, but not bad once I got going. Today, decided to focus on hills. Two short hills nearby to start, then about 6 min warmup 'till I get to the remaining hills. Hill repeats from then on till about .5 to go. Pacing, was trying not to worry much about pacing today. Started a bit slow, brought it down during the warmup, and then somewhat "comfortable" pace through the hills. Last few hills a bit rough, but glad I got them in. Trying to get 400 ft in 4 mi, fell just short of that. I cut most of the flatter streets that I could, but the road to get there doesn't have much incline. And of course each uphill has a down.

Saturday: 20 miles. Fri, hydrated very well, foam rolled, stretched, iced my shin, did an Epsom bath, carb loaded, relaxed and got a good night's rest. Coffee, felt my shin slightly as I head down stairs. hoping I can get through after warming up. Light breakfast, I hate eating breakfast before running, but forced a light breakfast down. Foam roll my back out, stretch my shin, and over to my trail after 6:30. Still a little dark, but no need for a headlamp. Temps going up to 60 today, but currently 30! Long sleeves and gloves it is. My trail . Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. Doing the side to ByBerry Rd and back first. Pacing, started out slightly fast, gradually pulling back to a comfortable pace. Felt my shin when I started, but able to settle in. My trail is 11 mi (5.5x2), adding sections today to reduce repeats. ByBerry Rd end (2.75 ish), turned into a small business complex (shhh.. no trespassing/loitering). Goal to do about 15 min or so. Done easily without repeating any section. back to the trail (4.5 ish). Pass my car at 7.5 ish. (added 2+ already). Hydrated at my car. Off to the more gradual incline side to Rockledge. Pace fading slightly. Rockledge end (10.5 mi), leave the trail to do two loops around Rockledge (2.5x2). (including my strava legend hill :) ) Fading slightly ea loop. Return to the trail. On the way back from Rockledge, took a side trail from Lorimer to Pennypack Park. Calc'd I need about 30 min. Starting to get rough, but maintaining. Return from Pennypack Park with 1.6 to go. Timed perfectly! Finished about .2 from the parking lot. Today was more mental than anything. Trying to be patient through two hours to survive the third. Slight soreness before starting, on my mind in the first hour, but pretty much forgot orig soreness as new ones appeared. lol.. Tried not daydreaming as well. The loops around Rockledge have plenty of uneven sidewalks to trip over. The trail to Pennypack Park has a few rocks to be aware of. Trying to focus on everything without over thinking about pre-run anxieties. My shin was fine. (hurt going up stairs after my run though. lol.. ) Will be sure to focus on recovery. Pace, goal to maintain sub 9-9:09. Maintained 8:45 for a while. Better than expected for how I felt for the week. Looking back, my best 20 miler pace wise (almost a minute total time).

Full pics on Facebook

Sunday: 1 mile. Saturday, did an Epsom bath, hydrated well, foam rolled, stretched, wore compression recovery socks.. Did have a couple beverages, but hydrated along with that. Decent night's rest. Tried sleeping in, made it to almost 7. Overall soreness, stairs hurt a bit. Coffee, 30 minute core workout, foam roll my back. A little stretching, and eventually out the door for streak day. Started off better than expected. Was rough, felt slower, but a decent pace. Focused on breathing and foot strike, pace picked up. Had a few pace alerts sub 7 around mid way. Small hill and then incline, faded slightly but better than expected overall. Shin was fine during, but throbbed slightly after. Will be sure to focus on recovery and behave SundayFunday to try to feel decent for Monday.

Outside of Running:

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? One outing for dinner/drinks. Also decent enough weather to use the firepit! What shows/movies did I watch this week? Baseball, Basketball, The Walking Dead, South Park, The Office, Falcon and Winter Soldier.

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

Weekly Summary:

Miles: 50.6 Weekly miles running completed

Year to Date: 547.6 miles running

Hill Goal (for the yr): 30866/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k.

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 282 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 15 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..