JoeG : Weekly Running Report: March 7, 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 13 of 20 marathon training for Gettysburg North-South Marathon for me.

My Week in Training:

Monday: 7 miles. Sunday, hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled, massage gun, toe spreaders, relaxed. Did have a couple SundayFunday beverages, but was well behaved. Decent night's rest, but tired. Coffee, workout (30 min now, 15 at lunch), roll my back and stretch my shin, and out the door by 6. Light rain, clearing up in a bit, but not yet.. Starting the week/month in the grey rain. Whatevs. Legs a little tired, not going to over do it. Pace goal around 8:15 ish. Started out in the 7:50's. Cruising along. Hills added up, yada yada. Tired in the second half, but done! Right shin did hurt a little from time to time, will be icing later.

Tuesday: 6 miles. Monday, hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled, light stretch, and in bed on time. Restless at first, up before my alarm, but groggy. Coffee, workout (30 min now, 15 at lunch), and out the door by 6. Brisk today! Recent mild temps, but a reminder that it's still winter. With some wind! Wind was loud earlier, woke me up a few times. With the recent melt and then cooler temps, black ice in a few spots! 6 mi, "speed" day. Never know if I'll actually be ready for it. Work on breathing and off I go! First half went well. 7:20's-7:30. Working on breathing and foot strike. Felt good. Held it slightly longer than expected, but felt it. As I was getting to my hills and after, could of easily let go. Didn't think I could hold to 7:30 post hills, didn't, but didn't give up either. Tried to at least maintain focus to power through. Rough, but fun and happy overall. Will probably be coasting rest of the week to ease into the weekend, we'll see.

Wednesday: 3.11 miles. Tues, hydrated well, foam rolled, iced my shin, light stretch. Did offset hydration with a couple drinks at dinner. Scheduled "non-running day". Keeping it to a 5k to reduce mi before the higher sched mileage this week. Could of dropped it down to 1 for the streak, not sure why I kept it to 5k. Didn't get a good night's rest and wasn't in the best of moods. Wasn't looking fwd to much of the day. Coffee, short workout (30 min now, 15 at lunch). Foam roll my back out, stretch the shin, and out the door a few min after 6. Have some time, no rush. And I didnt have all of my outfit ready, 'doh! brisk out, had to find my gloves. A few more min go by. Didn't think I'd have much speed, but wore my speed shoes anyway. Working on breathing, and I'm off. Decent start, slightly better than expected for not being in the mood. Hung in there for a bit. Faded, debated on fighting the fade on a day I don't seem to care. A little rough towards the end and was just glad it was over. Not in the mood to do laundry or work either, but it will get done. Will be more ready for tomorrow. Hopefully.

Thursday: 7 miles. Wed, hydrated well, iced my shin, foam rolled, stretched, and got an excellent night's rest. Up before my alarm and a bit refreshed. Coffee, 45 min workout, roll my back out, stretch my shin, and out the door by 6. Trying to go for a "comfy" pace to relax a bit before this weekend's long run. Started out slightly faster than planned and pulled back a bit. Rolling along. Enjoying the sunrise that's starting closer to start time now. Pacing in the 8's. Faded a little more in the hills, but wanted to still focus on maintaining through a bit. Worst hills have been around mi 3-4. So.. when all this snow started a month ago, I had to remove the loop around my hood (sidewalk only on a busy rd), removing that removed my least fav hill. With that, I added two hills on streets I've never done before. Well, the snow has melted enough, time to explore part of the loop. Sidewalk was safe except for one corner I had to hop some snow. (at a post office, would think they would be better?) My pre adjusted 7 mi and my adjusted 7 mi both clocked in a little over 500 ft of hills. Trying to see if my new and previous hills could combine a bit higher. Almost 600, think if I removed one flattish street for one more hill repeat I could get it. We'll see if I do that for my next 7 miler. lol.. Felt the hills at the end, but was comfortable for about 50 of 60 minutes. Happy overall.

Friday: 4 miles. (scheduled for 30 minutes and somewhat adhering). Thu, hydrated well, iced my shin, somehow forgot to foam roll! Usually foam roll before settling in for the night. Tired after work/dinner/light chores, went right to relax and spaced on it! 'Doh! #ThirstyThursday, had an NA beer?! Tempted for the real thing, but trying to replace one or two occasionally. We shall see. In bed on time, but tossed/turned for a while! Up before my alarm, but a bit tired. Short workout, roll my back out, stretch my shin, and out the door a few min after 6. 4 mi day. Decided to do a 1 mi warmup and then focus on hills. New shoe day! Just got them yesterday, will be sure to take pics later. Plan was to do a comfortable pace, but was rolling along. First mi around 7:30. Worst hills are at the opposite end of my hood, got there around 1.3. Probably could of cut a half block to get there sooner. Felt good most of the way. A little rough at the end, but not bad. Trying to get 100 ft per mi for a shorter run, but need to cut another side street I guess. Will be sure to focus on recovery to be somewhat ready for my 20 miler tomorrow! Anxiety kicks in when the 18-20 milers show up on the sched. Doing three this cycle, which will be new for me. We shall see!

Saturday: 20 miles. Friday, hydrated well, foam rolled, stretched, forgot to ice my shins, but they seemed ok, carb loaded and relaxed. In bed on time.. but up briefly at 3 am, and had issues falling back to sleep. Almost wide awake, I think I slept a little more. Not sure. lol.. Up at my normal time, coffee, light breakfast, relax. Foam roll my back out, and over to my trail by 6:30. My trail . Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. First time at my regular trail in a month! Excited to be back! Doing the more wooded side to ByBerry Rd and back first. Pacing, started slightly faster than planned and gradually pulled back. The trail.. Hoping for it to be clear by now, but there were strips of ice/snow. Manageable, but annoyingly bends the ankles a bit. Back at the mid parking lot around 5.5. Was sure to hydrate. Off to Rockledge Park. Hoping since this side is more open on the left side, it would be getting more sun. Still some strips of ice/snow. At the Rockledge Park end, off to do a loop around part of the neighborhood there (2.5 ish loop). Nice steep hill to start! (I am still the strava local legend of that hill!, was hoping I wouldn't lose it during the month of snow) Back at Rockledge, heading back. Planned on taking the side trail from Lorimer Park to Pennypack Park to do 6-8 mi) Well, the side trail, ice was way to dangerous there. Didn't even think about it. Guess I may be repeating some of my route today. Back on the trail, heading back to the midway parking lot. Bumped into a friend going the opposite direction (around 13 mi in). Haven't seen them since before the snow! Turned around to b.s. for a few minutes. Great seeing them. Figured to turn back, because he's in another league (3:05 marathon), usually only train with him on my shorter long run days. He gracefully let me lead and later helped pace me. Back to Rockledge Park (again). Did the loop around that neighborhood (again). Hill was much tougher this round. And of course my friend made it look like nothing, lol.. Back to the Rockledge trail entrance. Heading back to the mid parking lot. Around 3-4 to go, definitely feeling it. Buddy was supportive to keep me going, but dropping off at the parking lot, I have 1.2 to go on my own. More wooded side for a few minutes and back. The last mi was rough! Glad that's over! Looking back, best 20 miler ever (only by 30 seconds). Definitely didn't care about pace the last mi, but happy to be under goal. (9-9:09 (4 hr marathon pace)).

Full trail pics on Facebook

Sunday: 3.11 miles. 5k for the streak. Needed two to cap the week at 50, might as well get one more in. lol.. Saturday, Epsom bath, hydrated very well, foam roll, stretch. Was pretty tight after my long run, but eventually loosened up a bit. Couple beverages with dinner/after, but still well hydrated. In bed at a decent time and slept in a bit. Shin hurt a bit going down stairs, overall soreness, hips, glutes, legs, etc. Coffee, stretch, 30 min core workout, and eventually out the door. Wearing my cruising shoes, trying not to care about pace. First time doing my normal 5k route since the snow! (more than half on sidewalk/busy rd). Sidewalks were clear except a couple corners that were plowed to. Able to go around without an issues. Run was rough at first, but eventually cruising ok. Pace slightly better than expected. Sun was out, nice to see, could of used that yesterday, but whatevs. Will be sure to take it easy today and try to be somewhat ready for Monday.

Outside of Running:

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? Two outings to dinner. (Mad Mex, the best wings! and (tex mex)), PJ Wheelihan's (decent wings) What shows/movies did I watch this week? The Pharmacist, South Park, WandaVision (loved it! sad it's over already!), Sound of Metal (not my choice, was ok. Good story, but mediocre ending), college hoops, and baseball.

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

Weekly Summary:

Miles: 51 Weekly miles running completed

Year to Date: 451.6 miles running

Hill Goal (for the yr): 25639/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k.

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 251 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: 6 days

Training Plan: Week 13 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..