JoeG : Weekly Running Report: March 28, 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 16 of 20 marathon training for Gettysburg North-South Marathon for me.

My Week in Training:

Monday: 6 miles. Sunday, hydrated well, foam rolled, stretched, very light chores, plenty of relaxing after Saturday's 20 miler. Behaved (for the most part) on SundayFunday. Decent night's rest. Weird dream that I saw a mountain lion on my neighborhood run! crazy dreams. Up at my alarm. Shin hurt slightly going down stairs. Coffee, workout (30 min now, 15 later), foam roll my back, stretch my shin, and out the door by 6. Warmer temps in the afternoons recently, but still 30's at this time. Going for a "comfy" pace today. Still some overall soreness from Sat, but started out pretty decent. Pacing sub 8 till the hills, didn't force myself to maintain. Faded along a bit, but no concerns for a comfy day still feeling the long run. Better than expected.

Tuesday: 6 miles. "Speed" day. Mon, hydrated well, foam rolled, iced my shin, and a good night's rest. Up at the alarm, shin felt the stars at first, but not horrible. Coffee, short workout (30 min now, 15 later). Out the door by 6. Speed shoes on! But still questioning if I'll have anything. Goal 7:45 ish. Focus on breathing and foot strike and I'm off! Off to a better start than expected. Low 7's. Two short steep hills early, but maintaining. Focused (for the most part). Rolling along. Enjoying the weather and the extra push. Hanging sub 7:30 majority of the way. Opposite end of my hood has the worst hills, skipped the last two hills and worked my way back. Still have some inclines along the way though. 4 mi in, remainder of the way was a mental battle of focus, push, to fight the fade and from completely letting go. Trying to stay closer to 7:30 but lost it in the last mi. Rough, but fun!

Wednesday: 3.11 miles. Tues, hydrated well, foam rolled (didn't feel like it, came close to skipping), iced my shin, and toss/turn to start but a decent night's rest. Up before the alarm but waited it out, almost fell back to sleep, groggy! Coffee, feel my shin slightly going down the stairs. Workout (30 min now, 15 later), stretch my shin out and out the door by 6:10..Warmer temps (48 degrees), short sleeves, yay! But misty out. Wed is my "whatever mileage day I feel like it" day for the streak, or so I call it. Plan was to push a little, but wasn't planning to go all out. One more stretch and try to focus on breathing to start. Felt my shin at first, but fine once I got going (for the most part). Started out better than expected and planned and continued pushing. Pace approx 7:20 ish before my midway hill. Tried to hang in there for a bit, but not over do it. try to be able to regroup after the hill. 7:36 as it levels out. Regrouping a bit. But two more hills to go. Got it back down to 7:32 but couldn't maintain there as my legs got heavy through the hills. Pushed harder than planned today. But once I got going was trying to keep it to 7:30, but still happy overall.

Thursday: 6 miles. Wed, hydrated well. foam rolled, iced my shin, and a decent night's rest. Up before my alarm, but asleep again till it went off. Slightly groggy, but not that bad. Felt my shin slightly going down the stairs, but almost not at all.. for now. Short workout (30 min now, a few sets later). Core and upper body a little sore, but got it done. Out the door by 6. Warm and foggy! Dense fog alert in effect! Ditched my glasses early. Pacing: going for "comfy" pace plus a few more hills than my last 6 miler. Comfortable at first, but legs getting heavier as the inclines added up before the hills at 3-4.5. Hanging on post hills, could of easily faded more. lol..

Thursday after work, did 1.5 hours of yard work. Raking, fertilizing, spring cleanup. Wanted to get a head start on the weekend chores, plenty more to do!

Thursday also marks 1 month until race day! Excited and nervous, can't wait!

Friday: 5 miles. Thu, hydrated well, foam rolled, got some good stretching in, and an ok night's rest. Up early, could of used more rest. Overall soreness upper body. Between yard work and working out, feeling it. Coffee, later realized I went down the stairs without feeling any shin pain. Or just feeling everything else that it's an after thought. lol.. 30 minute core workout, skipped doing weights this morning. Foam roll my back out, out the door by 6. Going to try to push it a bit, but not all out. And not skip any of my hills. Focus on breathing and foot strike. Off to a decent start. Couple small hills and then regrouped. Focus and hanging in. Per usual, felt the hills around 3, but hanging in. Counting breaths/minutes along each uphill, trying not to let go. Hung in there to maintain sub 8. Wasn't pretty, but done and happy overall.

Saturday: 10 miles. "Long" run day, trail day, yay! Fri, hydrated well, foam rolled, carb loaded, stretched, iced my shin, relaxed, and in bed on time. Well.. I'm on call starting yesterday through the next week. 3rd shift got me at 1:30 am, quick issue, but was wide awake for a while. Eventually back to sleep. Groggy when that alarm went off. Briefly thought about snoozing. But I like to beat the crowd to the trail (gets packed by 8!). Up. Coffee. 30 minute core workout. Over to my trail a few mi late, by 6:40. Someone took my parking spot! That's what I get for being 10 min late. 'Doh! lol.. Short long run day, and new shoe day. Decided early to try to push it for a bit. We shall see! ;) My trail Pennypack Creek. Park in the middle, Welsh and Terwood Rd. Doing the side to Byberry Rd and back first. Get another short stretch in. Focus on breathing and I'm off! Felt good early, but was way faster than planned. First pace alert started with a 6! Not realistic, at all. lol.. Settled in and pulled back a notch. Pacing 7:30's. (which is barely realistic). The creek was very active in the one cascade that's close to the trail. If it was a slower long run, I would of pulled over for a vid. Not today. No pics till post run. Incline and small hill before the end. Fading a bit, but maintaining under goal. Turned around shy of the end. (trail is 10.5ish, cutting the extra), turned around at 20 minute mark, about 2.6 mi. Slight decline, trying to neg split, back and forth briefly, pretty much in maintain, try to hang on mode. 5 mi by 39 min mark, pace ahead of goal. Passed my car at about 5.2, skipped hydrating ('doh!) off to the more gradual incline side to Rockledge Park and back. Fading slightly up the incline.. and then. Fueled around 7 mi. Dropped my trash, don't worry, I got it! But took a few minutes to get back into rhythm. Pace still on target, turning around at 60 minutes. Made it back to the lot with about .1-2 to spare. Orig goal was sub 8 min pace (sub 80 min), done in 77:ss. Last 1.5 was rough, counting breaths/minutes. But done. Happy overall. Looking back, this was my second fastest 10 miler. And my new shoes feel good! Will have a backup just in case, but hoping these are my racing shoes. Loved my first pair of Saucony Endorphin Pro's, even more excited for the second. When the Endorphin Pro's were orig launched, they only came in white, I totally do not belong in wearing white. They were grey early! lol.. Also bumped into my friend post run, trying to recruit them to run a few of next weeks 20 miler with me. We'll see. lol..

Post run, did about 2 more hours of yard work. Blah! Hopefully it doesn't affect my back too much.

Sunday: 7 miles? Usually my rest day, but looking to move next week up a day, so doing Monday's 7 miler today. Will rest my legs tues, I promise. lol. Sat, Epsom bath, hydrated well. But failed to foam roll or stretch. Was busy most of the day and it slipped my mind. Had a few beverages, but hydrated somewhat. In bed at a decent time. Tried sleeping in, but up at 6. Coffee, 30 min core workout, foam roll my back, light stretch, and out the door around 7:30. Going with a comfy pace and getting all my hills in. No pressure on pace today. Off to a decent start. Better than expected. May be due to Sat wasn't too long of a long run? But not pushing it today, tried relaxing a bit more. Pacing 7:50-8 most of the first half. Hills start around mi 3, and decided to add more for fun. Although my calves were feeling it. Fading to the 8's Temps were slightly cooler today, was nice. A first I thought my sweat was dripping more than usual, nope started drizzling, and eventually turned to a down pour in the last mi. Was very refreshing. In the first half I saw furniture on the side of the rd with a sticker "Poop better" too funny not to take a pic on my way back. lol.. Felt today's run a bit, but not horrible. Not sure if I'll be ready to do Tues speed day tomorrow, but not concerned, I've done some speed recently, will at least get the mileage in.

Sidenote: my strava activity didn't sync! grr.. That's 600 ft of hills not added to the challenge. Looking at my watch, it was due for an update. Hope the update has less issues.

This weekend was also the Bibrave Virtual summit weekend! Excited to participate in multiple sessions throughout the weekend. Q&A's, content creation, vlog, networking, and DEI council.

🧡🤗
And we got hooked up with some sweet swag!
Sponsors @knockaround - blue light glasses, @scienceinsport - turbo menthol gels (contains caffeine! 🤗), and @buff_usa

Outside of Running:

What did I do besides run, workout, work, and chores this week? One outing to dinner and drinks.

What shows/movies did I watch this week? Baseball, basketball, The Walking Dead, South Park, The Office, Falcon and Winter Soldier (loving it!), and some murder docu series. A bit twisted, but addicting.

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

Weekly Summary:

Miles: 43.6 Weekly miles running completed

Year to Date: 591 miles running

Hill Goal (for the yr): 32910/100k elevation gain. Initial goal 100k to beat last yr's 98k.

Strength Training: Goal 180 minutes, 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 16 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..