Monte's Log, Featuring a Debate About Dotard Genetic Potential with an Ant

3/5
AM
Lower Z2 Run
1:15:00 - 8.39 mi/8:57 pace/138 HR

Later AM
A
NG Pullups: x11, x8, x7
Walking Lunges: 40s x6x3

B
OHP: wu, 95 x7x2, 6
Pallofs: x8x3
Seated Calf: 3x12
Facepulls: 4x12

C
Leg Ext: x11, x9
Leg Curl: x10, x8

D
Low Incline DB Bench: wu, 60s x10, x8, x7
HLRs: x7x3
Adductor Machine: x15x2
Abductor Machine: x15x2

Cut the arm work for time, but happy to get a double day in; my legs were still a bit heavy from yesterday, but the wind and rain were a good incentive to keep the run easy.

Looks like I forgot to log Tuesday's run:

3/4
AM
Fishtail Progression
20:00 - 2.39 mi/8:23 pace/138 HR
20:00 - 2.68 mi/7:28 pace/162 HR
15:00 - 2.09 mi/7:10 pace/171 HR
5:00 - 0.74 mi/6:43 pace/178 HR
12:00 - 1.39 mi/8:38 pace/158 HR

Two minute jogging recoveries between each; the idea is twenty minutes at marathon pace, fifteen at half marathon, and five at 10k pace. All of these paces were a bit faster than what I'd likely shoot for in a race, but the heart rates were staying in range even given I was running into a 15 mph headwind for all of the half marathon stuff, so I'll take it. 9.75 miles total volume.

3/6
AM
Medium to High Z2
90:00 - 10.57 mi/8:31 pace/147 HR

The wind remains brutal, but happy to get this in at a bit higher intensity.

I quite like the structure of variable pacing on that fishtail one - would have liked to do it when on the erg.

remind the fans when the next race/event is?

It's a good one for sure; I think I picked up my son's cold, so I'll be pacing this Tuesday's fishtail a bit more conservatively.

I'm doing the Carmel (Indiana) marathon on April 19th, so it's coming up. 3:20:00 is the main goal, which seems doable with an appropriate taper.

3/7
AM
A
Single Leg Press: +110 x6x3

B
Incline Bench: wu, 145 x7x3
Seated Calf: 3x12
Back Extensions: +10 x8, x7, x6
Facepulls: 4x12

C
Abductor Machine: 2x15
Adductor Machine: 2x15

D
Seated DB OHP : 40s x11, x10, x8
DB Incline Row: 60s x10, x9, x8

E
BB Hip Thrust: +90 x8x3
Dips (paused): +0 x8, x7, x6

F
Bayesian Curl: x8x3
Lateral Cable Raise: x12, x11, x10

Very meh.

3/8
AM
2x10km Marathon Pace
20:00 - 1.85 mi/8:07 pace/139 HR
46:25 - 6.21 mi/7:28 pace/168 HR
5:00 - 0.59 mi/8:31 pace/163 HR
30:34 - 4.00 mi/7:38 pace/168 HR
15:00 - 1.74 mi/8:39 pace/159 HR

Overcooked this for sure, but I wanted to give it a go and see how long I could hold 7:30/mi; faded to 7:48/mi pace in mile 4 so I called it. My legs were a bit heavy from the Friday lifting (Thursday evening would have been better, but I had parenting duties that evening) and I figured out as the day wore on that I picked up my son's cold. Hopefully just a few day issue and not a repeat of my three month upper respiratory infection before the last marathon.

Well…hopefully you can stay fit and healthy for this one. How long did it take you to shake off that illness from a few months ago?

Months. Hopefully nothing like that this time, though I took Monday through Thursday off.

I did 4 miles each on Friday and Saturday, neither of which felt that great; I'm still not all the way back, but given I have another long run scheduled for two weeks from now (the day I leave for Italy), I figured I'd just do what I could on this one. It's programmed for 13 miles easy, then 6 miles at marathon pace, then a mile cooldown; I got the 13 miles easy and just two marathon pace (7:45/mi) and then called it and cooled down. It was better than not doing it, which is probably what would have happened had I not done it today given this week's work schedule.

3/16
AM
16 mi Progressive
16.0 mi - 2:16:41/8:33 pace/152 HR

Good enough.

3/18
AM
Z2 Run
75:00 - 8:38 mi/8:57 pace/146 HR

3/19
AM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 6.69 mi/8:58 pace/147 HR

These were slogs; average HR about 8 to 10 beats higher than they should be and my legs felt heavy.

3/20
AM
Tempo Intervals
12:00 - 1.39 mi/8:37 pace/140 HR
6:00_1 - 0.78 mi/7:40 pace/161 HR
6:00_2 - 0.79 mi/7:34 pace/165 HR
6:00_3 - 0.80 mi/7:30 pace/168 HR
6:00_4 - 0.80 mi/7:29 pace/173 HR
6:00_5 - 0.80 mi/7:31 pace/177 HR
7:00 - 1.39 mi/8:38 pace/162 HR

3 minute jogging recoveries, so 64 minutes of total work at a shade under 8 miles; it was pretty windy, and I managed to run all but two intervals straight into it through the luck of the draw. This was still a harder effort at this pace than it would have been pre-illness, but I felt better than I did on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hopefully the fitness is still there and I'll pep up once I get fully healthy.

It looks like two; I have a 20+ mile run that should be next weekend, but that I'll be doing this Friday as I leave for that rescheduled Italy trip later that day. Then there'll be a 16-17 mile one shortly after I get back the following Saturday (probably Monday if I'm smart).

3/21
AM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 8:38 mi/8:57 pace/146 HR

3/22
AM
Fishtail Progressive
20:00 - 2.42 mi/8:16 pace/137 HR
20:00 - 2.65 mi/7:33 pace/162 HR
15:00 - 2.08 mi/7:14 pace/172 HR
5:00 - 0.73 mi/6:53 pace/180 HR
10:00 - 1.20 mi/8:22 pace/165 HR

Two minute jogging recoveries after each of the intervals, so 9.8 miles of total work. This is the first run that I've felt close to fully recovered from that illness; based on these paces, I'm still not all the way back, but quite close.

3/23
AM
Z2 Run
90:00 - 10.50 mi/8:34 pace/146 HR

3/24
AM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 6.68 mi/8:58 pace/139 HR

HR is coming down a bit; I have what should be a reasonably challenging VO2max workout tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes.

3/25
AM
Threshold + Speed
13:00 - 1.54 mi/8:26 pace/136 HR
10:00_1 - 1.40 mi/7:08 pace/167 HR
1:00_1 - 0.16 mi/6:22 pace/173 HR
1:00_2 - 0.16 mi/6:27 pace/176 HR
10:00_2 - 1.39 mi/7:10 pace/177 HR
1:00_3 - 0.16 mi/6:19 pace/176 HR
1:00_4 - 0.16 mi/6:23 pace/178 HR
10:00_3 - 1.38 mi/7:15 pace/178 HR
1:00_5 - 0.16 mi/6:16 pace/176 HR
1:00_6 - 0.16 mi/6:27 pace/179 HR
10:00 - 1.13 mi/8:52 pace/162 HR

I think I overcooked this one a bit; the HR was a bit high for the last few threshold reps, so maybe 7:15-7:20/mi would have been a bit better. Regardless, this was tough; only two minutes of recovery after the threshold reps until the speed reps, which each had a minute of recovery, followed by an extra two minutes until the next threshold rep. All of that adds up to 75 minutes of work and 9.6 miles, so a pretty tidy session. Happy to get through it.

3/26
AM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 6.66 mi/9:01 pace/143 HR

3/27
AM
Z2 Run
45:00 - 5:03 mi/8:57 pace/149 HR

3/28
AM
20 mi Progressive
12:00 - 1.38 mi/8:41 pace/140 HR
6.21 mi - 50:56.2/8:12 pace/158 HR
6.21 mi - 49:03.5/7:54 pace/170 HR
1.00 mi - 7:59.7/7:58 pace/172 HR

Aborted this one; the goal was to approach high marathon pace in the last 10k, but I just didn't have it. Looking back at my HRs, I was about 10-15 second per mile too fast for each of the first 10k sections. A pretty frustrating result given I was objectively much more fit last September, before I got sick, when I ran 12 miles at a 7:35/mi pace over a 16 mile piece.

Outside of whatever excuses I could make (recovering from an illness, auting out about my European work trip that I am literally in the Uber to the airport for now, so I did this a day early), it seems clear I need to do something different after this. At this point, sub 3:30 is probably the best I can hope for.

3/31
AM
Threshold + Speed
10:00 - 1.12 mi/8:56 pace/137 HR
10:00_1 - 1.39 mi/7:12 pace/160 HR
1:00_1 - 0.17 mi/6:01 pace/164 HR
1:00_2 - 0.16 mi/6:07 pace/170 HR
10:00_2 - 1.38 mi/7:14 pace/173 HR
1:00_3 - 0.16 mi/6:16 pace/170 HR
1:00_4 - 0.16 mi/6:13 pace/173 HR
10:00_3 - 1.40 mi/7:08 pace/169 HR
1:00_5 - 0.16 mi/6:15 pace/168 HR
1:00_6 - 0.16 mi/6:09 pace/172 HR
10:00 - 1.12 mi/8:58 pace/148 HR

Ran this one again and did a bit better than last week; the effort (HR) here seems more appropriate even given I was running half of directly into the seaside Italian wind. A fair bit better session that makes me not quite as pessimistic for the marathon as I was after Friday. With that said, I don't think I'm going to really be able to hit the time that I'd hope for, so I'll just be steady and conservative and hope for a decent negative split and reasonably fun race.

4/1
PM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 6.91 mi/8:41 pace/137 HR

4/2
PM
Z2 Run
60:00 - 6.77 mi/8:53 pace/136 HR

Two more reasonable easy Z2 runs; I've got two more full days in Italy and need to get one more easy run in, so I'll take tomorrow off since my legs feel a bit heavy and I've got 4+ hours of travel and try and sneak in 60-75 minutes after work Friday. Then I fly back Saturday, after which I'll (hopefully) be in good enough shape to do my last long-ish run (2 hours with a bit of marathon paced work) on Sunday afternoon.

4/4
PM
Z2 Run
90:00 - 10.68 mi/8:25 pace/144 HR

Got this last run in after my last day of work; I found a nice route where I ran around a lake in a park a bit more than two times. My HR stayed pretty controlled until the last mile or so, but this was a fair bit faster than I expected to go, so fine enough.

This is the best I've felt in a while, though the proof will be in the pudding tomorrow I suppose. I'm flying back now, so hopefully I'll get enough sleep tonight that I can put in a good effort.

4/6
AM
Marathon + Threshold
30:00 - 3.66 mi/8:12 pace/135 HR
6.21 mi - 47:44.1/7:41 pace/161 HR
1.24 mi_1 - 8:55.5/7:11 pace/170 HR
1.24 mi_2 - 8:54.9/7:10 pace/170 HR
1.24 mi_3 - 8:56.5/7:12 pace/172 HR
10:00 - 1.23 mi/8:53 pace/156 HR

Travel back from Italy was about 18 hours door to door yesterday, so it could certainly have been worse; with that said, I got a solid eight hours of sleep and felt pretty good today, so I gave my last hard session a go.

I added 15 minutes of steady running to the programmed 15 minute warmup just because I wanted to bump the total distance up a bit given I'd screwed the pooch so royally on the two 20 milers earlier in the training block; I felt really good for that half hour and essentially had to hold myself back from going faster for most of it. The 10k at "marathon effort" went pretty well; I was running into a pretty significant headwind while running north, and it started hailing, so given that and the fact that I ran faster on this section than I plan to in the first half of the marathon, this went quite well. After five minutes of recovery, I had three 2 km reps at threshold, which is supposed to simulate later in the race due to the accumulated fatigue; I ran all of these faster than I was "supposed" to by a bit, but my HR stayed in Z4 almost the entire time so I'll take it. Adding in the recoveries after the 10k (5 minutes) and after the threshold reps (3 minutes), this came to a bit short of 2:09:00 of total time and 16.3 miles, which works out to a 7:53/mi average pace.

The only conclusion I can draw is that I've been carrying a lot of fatigue due to my work travel and trying to just accumulate a lot of miles; the latter isn't necessarily bad, but I just need to be better about differentiating between truly easy and recovery runs and maybe reserve one run a week where I dip into the high end of Z2. I'm sure I'll forget this by the next block.

maybe I'm misreading it, but I don't understand the tone of the final para. This looks like a far better than expected session...particularly given the travel day jet lag stuff, but then you seem to be describing a failed/sub par effort?

which part have I misread?

That last paragraph is referencing the fact that my performance here seems to indicate I didn't do a good enough job of managing fatigue and moving my schedule around earlier on to accommodate the other two most significant runs of this training block (both 20 milers, neither of which I was able to finish as programmed). I was (and to some extent still am, though, as I said, this run really helped my confidence going into the 19th) pretty concerned about what those subpar results said about my fitness, and I want to make sure I remember to take those issues more seriously moving forward.

4/8
AM
Z2 Run
75:00 - 8.74 mi/8:35 pace/140 HR

I had a nice, leisurely run this morning in the balmy 27 degree Indianapolis spring; I felt pretty good and the HR stayed controlled, so my cautious optimism remains. I have a short session tomorrow with half an hour total of a bit faster than marathon pace and some strides, so we'll see how that goes.

gotcha.

is it too early to check likely temperatures for the race?

It looks like it's still going to be cool, thankfully - maybe low 50s at the start. Hopefully it holds.

4/9
AM
Upper Marathon + Strides
13:00 - 1:53 mi/8:31 pace/138 HR
15:00_1 - 2.01 mi/7:27 pace/163 HR
15:00_2 - 2.03 mi/7:24 pace/168 HR
1:00_1 - 0.16 mi/6:10 pace/169 HR
1:00_2 - 0.16 mi/6:16 pace/171 HR
1:00_3 - 0.16 mi/6:19 pace/173 HR
1:00_4 - 0.16 mi/6:11 pace/172 HR
1:00_5 - 0.16 mi/6:10 pace/173 HR
5:00 - 0.58 mi/8:41 pace/157 HR

This is one of the last workouts left with any real pace to it; I have 10k at marathon pace on Saturday and half an hour on Tuesday (followed by some strides), but I'm going to run those at or around my overall target pace (7:45-7:50/mi) and try not to build any fatigue.

Now forecasting 42 degrees at 8 am and only 50 by 11; pretty much perfect if I can deal with being a little chilly at the start.

4/10
AM
Z2
60:00 - 6.74 mi/8:54 pace/138 HR

4/11
AM
Z2
60:00 - 6.78 mi/8:51 pace/134 HR

Two pretty nice easy runs, though at the fatigue level I was at after Wednesday's run, I should have gone at whatever recovery pace is (9:15-9:30/mi). My legs were a bit sore and I don't think it's a huge deal, but I'm old and fatigue management is relatively more important and it's something I need to get right instead of stubbornly being concerned about pace.

Tomorrow is my last decently hard run - 10k at higher than marathon pace; presumably this is to keep some speed in my legs and also work at a pace that's going to make marathon pace feel relatively easier.

Overall, this taper is going well; I'll still end up doing about 39 miles this week (I think I averaged upper 40s for most of the build). Next week will be about 20 miles, so assuming I follow the plan, I should show up decently fresh.

Now forecasting 42 degrees at 8 am and only 50 by 11; pretty much perfect if I can deal with being a little chilly at the start.

4/10
AM
Z2
60:00 - 6.74 mi/8:54 pace/138 HR

4/11
AM
Z2
60:00 - 6.78 mi/8:51 pace/134 HR

Two pretty nice easy runs, though at the fatigue level I was at after Wednesday's run, I should have gone at whatever recovery pace is (9:15-9:30/mi). My legs were a bit sore and I don't think it's a huge deal, but I'm old and fatigue management is relatively more important and it's something I need to get right instead of stubbornly being concerned about pace.

Tomorrow is my last decently hard run - 10k at higher than marathon pace; presumably this is to keep some speed in my legs and also work at a pace that's going to make marathon pace feel relatively easier.

Overall, this taper is going well; I'll still end up doing about 39 miles this week (I think I averaged upper 40s for most of the build). Next week will be about 20 miles, so assuming I follow the plan, I should show up decently fresh.

I was wrong, today was just 10k at target marathon pace; I went a bit faster than I plan to over at least the first half of the marathon, but the heart rate stayed pretty controlled. Snuck this in before soccer.

4/12
AM
Marathon
15:00 - 1.86 mi/8:05 pace/135 HR
47:15 - 6.21 mi/7:36 pace/160 HR
12:45 - 1.56 mi/8:10 pace/155 HR

Quite happy with this; one more faster than marathon pace effort on Tuesday, but other than that it's a complete taper until the race.

4/14
AM
Z2
60:00 - 6.98 mi/8:36 pace/143 HR

4/15
AM
Upper MP + Strides
12:00 - 1.45 mi/8:17 pace/137 HR
20:00 - 6.68 mi/7:27 pace/153 HR
1:00_1 - 0.16 mi/6:12 pace/163 HR
1:00_2 - 0.16 mi/6:14 pace/167 HR
1:00_3 - 0.16 mi/6:08 pace/169 HR
1:00_4 - 0.16 mi/6:17 pace/170 HR
1:00_5 - 0.17 mi/5:55 pace/172 HR
5:00 - 0.60 mi/8:22 pace/157 HR

It's taper week; outside of the fact that one of my kids gave me a cold on Sunday, I'm feeling pretty good, all things considered. Today's run was in my racing shoes, and everything felt pretty good; 7:27/mi is quite a bit faster than I'm planning to run this race and my heart rate was very controlled, so good news there. The strides felt good as well; including the recovery, this was almost 6.5 miles of work in 49 minutes, so reasonably brisk for me.

I've got an off day tomorrow, then 45 minutes easy on Thursday and a 20 minute shakeout run on Friday. I think the plan for the race is to try to run the first half pretty evenly at a ~1:43 target time and then gradually negative split from there if I'm feeling good.