A Great Rise to 50 (Redux)

With no work due to MLK day, this will be a nice, full day of hardly-anything.  Worked on my taxes a bit this morning (and found out just how badly TurboTax gouged their Deluxe program this year - must buy top of line for Schedule C now... ugh) before heading out for a leisurely stroll.

1hr recovery that felt surprisingly good.  Legs hardly tight at all after a high mileage week, and my pace was slipping into the mid/high 8's before I realized it and pulled back to low 9's.  Left foot seems to be experiencing some lace-bite, but not due to the laces, I think.  Started during yesterday's 20 (at mile 18 or so) and feels painful if I try to splay my toes while shod.  Top of foot where the tendons(ligaments?) start to all come together.  I'll keep an eye on it.

1hr w/ 7x 2min vo2max intervals up a 100' hill today.  The hill is probably 60% the distance of the interval, with a gentle slope leading in and out of it to make up the remainder.  

Legs felt fresher than last week, and having a 2min interval instead of 90sec seemed to help me keep things reined in a bit.  Ended up with an overall average of ~7:05 pace for the intervals, which is something like a 5:50-6:00 pace flat-equivalent.  Lacebite foot whined for the last couple intervals, but not at all for the warm-up (I did tighten my laces after the warm-up... hm...).  

7.6x mi total.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:One word: humidifier.

Yep, this should cure all your ills.  Cold weather just sucks all the moisture out of everything.  Your clothes are probably a lot more staticky coming out of the dryer too.

They are indeed.  Humidifier will be purchased shortly.

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30min of bonus miles this afternoon after work.  I bought Aileen a veggie noodle spiral thing for Christmas, and veggie noodles are actually really friggin' good, so we've been eating a lot of carrot/zucchini noodle dishes lately.  We needed some more zucchini, so I ran to the local grocery store (1.5ish each way) to pick some up.  Wore my race vest for storage, despite Aileen's taunting about it.  3.12mi for ~10.75 on the day.

I wonder if you have a Buff or some cloth to cover your mouth, if that would keep some of the moisture in your lungs?

As far as lace bite, after the laces reach the last eyelet, I slip the remaining lace (left and right) forward under the preceding lace and tie the shoe laces together there.  I used to have it bad years ago, but it doesn't bother me anymore.

mul21 wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:One word: humidifier.

Yep, this should cure all your ills.  Cold weather just sucks all the moisture out of everything.  Your clothes are probably a lot more staticky coming out of the dryer too.

Make sure you clean it regularly or it can become a bacteria trap.

Nick Morris wrote:

mul21 wrote:

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:One word: humidifier.

Yep, this should cure all your ills.  Cold weather just sucks all the moisture out of everything.  Your clothes are probably a lot more staticky coming out of the dryer too.

Make sure you clean it regularly or it can become a bacteria trap.

Ditto.

I am lucky enough to have one that is attached to our furnace so I can set the humidity levels in the winter and then it works as a dehumidifier in the summer.

Funny, we actually have one built into the furnace, but I e-mailed my landlady today and she doesn't know how to get it to work.  I'll contact the building manager and see if they know.

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5.8mi slog after work today.  Definitely made me decide to change it up and start waking up extra early on these days.  I was supposed to get an hour in tonight and just couldn't...  So, 5am wake up calls it is.

Mike, you're young and probably don't care much for getting up at 5. Try it for a while and see what happens. Me, I wake up at 5 every day whether I'm running or not. I simply detest running in the afternoon / evening... every time I'm forced to the run feels WAY harder than my am runs do.

This morning I had to be in the office by 7:30 and the schedule called for 8 miles. Drinking coffee at 5:15 I seriously considered blowing it off and running after work but the only reason I didn't want to go was I hate running in the dark. Would have been dark after work as well so out the door at 5:30, back by 6:45, shower, eat and off to the office...

Now that I'm home from work, all I have to do is enjoy this nice cold Fat Tire amber ale....

Tim C wrote:Mike, you're young and probably don't care much for getting up at 5.  Try it for a while and see what happens.  Me, I wake up at 5 every day whether I'm running or not.  I simply detest running in the afternoon / evening...  every time I'm forced to the run feels WAY harder than my am runs do.

This morning I had to be in the office by 7:30 and the schedule called for 8 miles.  Drinking coffee at 5:15 I seriously considered blowing it off and running after work but the only reason I didn't want to go was I hate running in the dark.  Would have been dark after work as well so out the door at 5:30, back by 6:45, shower, eat and off to the office...

Now that I'm home from work, all I have to do is enjoy this nice cold Fat Tire amber ale....

That's more or less what I said to Aileen when I got home last night.  I'd rather take an hour of suffering in the morning while I force myself awake before running, knowing that when I get home from work, I can immediately begin to unwind.  

Besides, I used to be up between 4-5am in Auburn when it was disgustingly hot out.  Just gonna take a little transition.

I was on the pre-dawn patrol a few years ago, and it worked out pretty well. There's something nice about having the world all to yourself (or nearly so). Very peaceful.

The only downsides are bleary-eyed commuters who roll through intersections and the fact that it's nearly always going to be the coldest part of the day, which makes it tougher in winter.

We'll see how next week's trial goes.

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Planned rest day today, but felt motivated to hop on the bike and spin a few miles after work.  I rode over to Hains Point and did a lap (with a dude wheel-sucking the whole time) before heading back home.  Pretty windy, so finding a rhythm was a nice challenge.  Kept the HR low (ave 133) and just rode for the enjoyment of riding.  50min total.

Before traveling east, weren't you opposed to very pre-dawn running?

Oz - Post-Auburn, yes.  But post-Auburn, I didn't really put together a good training cycle until this past summer, so the motivation just wasn't there.  It was easier to run on the days that I didn't start work early and ride on the ones that I did.

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10mi this morning.  Woke up early, made coffee, sat down, checked e-mail...  Late (ergo billable) cancellation for today's job.  Welp.  Tried to go back to bed, but no dice.

First few miles were groggy and kind of bleh.  Got super overheated - high 20s, wearing tights/tech tee/Boston jacket/beanie/gloves... but absolutely zero wind and full sun.  Once I stripped the jacket, things felt good, and I cruised at what's becoming a very comfortable pace in the low 8's.  

Gonna try for a nap today so this weekend's 20/20 doesn't kill me.

20mi this morning, middle ~13 with the DC Road Runners group.  A chilly/damp/breezy morning that warmed up after about a half hour, so my choice of shorts and long sleeves wasn't a bad one after all.  A group of 4 of us broke away from the main group (though there was a small throng of pretty fast dudes up front) and settled into some low 8's splits before picking it up (at my mile 10) to mid 7's.  The run back home was a welcome relief from those paces, and a good exercise in getting my HR back down to 150 (though I was surprised that it only hit around 160 until the last bump at Iwo Jima).  2:45 moving time.

Oof! Throwing some up-tempo work in the middle of a 20-miler sounds challenging, but probably helpful for you.

Though your second 20-miler tomorrow might be a different story.

Mark - Mixed, but overall positive, results.

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20mi trail run today.  First 7 with a group, as planned, but the next 9 came with surprise company in the form of a pretty experienced dude I met from the group.  We spent just about an hour and a half talking about the local ultra scene - which is unexpectedly huge and chock full of cheap/free races and pretty accomplished runners - and he offered some advice as well as a potential for the occasional training partner.  We walked a small bit more than I normally do, but that helped to keep my HR in check and hold something in my legs for the last 4mi I had to do alone.  

Overall pace in the mid/high 9's with 2150' gain/loss on the day.  Who knew that DC had so many hills?

Oh, I guess I didn't post yesterday.  

1hr recovery yesterday.  Much of the run was spent slowing myself down, as 8:30s were feeling eeeeeeeeeeeeasy.  I managed to pull it back to ~9:00 average.  Zero residual soreness or fatigue from the weekend.  

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1hr w/ 4x 4min on a 5.5% gradient this morning.  I wanted to go out and run the repeats at around 5k effort, since there were 4min recoveries, which I figured would be grade-adjusted 6min/mi or so.  Welp, turns out it was more like 5:40-5:45, and the effort was decidedly a smidgen easier than 5k.  

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Running is going exceptionally well lately.  I don't know what gives, but I'm trying not to question it or ruin it by overdoing it.  Fortunately, this is a stepback week, so I should be able to consolidate those gains just in time for the final oomph before my race.  

Next couple weeks should be fun, as I plan on another tempo workout this Sunday (a la our very own mtndog), a 30mi mountain excursion the following Sat, a 10k (with our very own Chris and Kevin) on Valentine's Day, and a 50k race the Saturday after that.  The 2 long ones will be done well within aerobic bounds, the 10k probably as a hard tempo run.  There is cherry pie on the line, though, so I definitely want to podium my age group if it looks feasible.

Welp, 5am wake-up calls aren't that bad after all.  Not nearly as bad as taxes (spent most of last night trying to sort out the three - yes, three, one of my employers withheld the wrong state and never fixed it - state tax returns I have to file this year.  Not to mention that I forgot to do one of my estimated payments, so I owe Uncle Sam a chunk of change this year...  Blah blah blah.  

Anyway, I think the stability of work has helped with this morning adjustment, since I'm consistently up early as opposed to having random hours.  

1hr this morning, mostly in the dark/cold.  A bit breezy, which made for uncomfortably warm tailwinds and almost too cold headwinds.  Pretty much went on autopilot, which is around 8:30 pace, until the last 2 miles or so.  Picked it up just a touch in order to make it home in the hour.

The tax thing is annoying.  I was talking to my dad about the (stupid) amount of federal taxes I had withheld and his response was "Well, imagine having to write a check for it every quarter".  I suppose it's much more of a pain in the ass.  I have to do 2 state returns every year, but at least that has gotten easier with all the cheap programs out there.

Mike, glad to hear the running is going so well.  Sounds like you've found a sweet spot right now.  Hooking up with that ultra dude sounds very promising and if you can arrange some runs with him I would guess you'd learn a lot through the exercise (no pun intended).

mul21 wrote:The tax thing is annoying.  I was talking to my dad about the (stupid) amount of federal taxes I had withheld and his response was "Well, imagine having to write a check for it every quarter".  I suppose it's much more of a pain in the ass.  I have to do 2 state returns every year, but at least that has gotten easier with all the cheap programs out there.

It's no fun when we had to pay more taxes than the President's salary one year!  Being that my husband is a corporate officer and we had to exercise stock options, I'm glad that we have a company appointed tax accountant or I'd still be trying to figure it all out! Try living in GA and paying taxes to CA, OH, and GA - that was fun.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:

mul21 wrote:The tax thing is annoying.  I was talking to my dad about the (stupid) amount of federal taxes I had withheld and his response was "Well, imagine having to write a check for it every quarter".  I suppose it's much more of a pain in the ass.  I have to do 2 state returns every year, but at least that has gotten easier with all the cheap programs out there.

It's no fun when we had to pay more taxes than the President's salary one year!  Being that my husband is a corporate officer and we had to exercise stock options, I'm glad that we have a company appointed tax accountant or I'd still be trying to figure it all out! Try living in GA and paying taxes to CA, OH, and GA - that was fun.

Did I mention I'm accepting donations?   

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Quick hour before work yesterday.  Pace mostly in the low 8's and felt smooth and light.  

Also experienced my first ever metro delay last night while trying to go meet Aileen and a friend for happy hour.  45min later and still no trains, I gave up and went to a local bar instead.  

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2hr "group run" today.  Went out with the DC Road Runners chapter again for their Saturday long run, which was 12mi.  The group was pretty antsy (maybe the low 20's and gusty winds motivated them to go faster this week?) and I quickly ended up in the back of the pack even at 8:30-8:45 pace (~2% incline).  Watched my HR skyrocket into the 160s before pressing a hand against the strap and seeing that it was just static interference and I was running well within aerobic range (140s)...  

Discipline paid off, as people started dropping by the 4th mile, and I moved up to near the middle of the pack on the way back.  Not that you could really call it a pack.  More like pairs or trios with lots of lone wolves in between.  Oh well.  

Did some bonus miles after to make a solid 2hr.  14.5mi total.

15.8mi in 2hr3min today.  More miles than I thought, but the workout went by quick and racked them up.

Started with a 50min loop around the neighborhood before heading down to a flat section of bike path to meet Aileen for her mile time trial.  I was starting the workout with 2x 1mi @ MP (~7:00), so I figured it'd be good for her to have that pace to work off of.  She went out strong and hard at 6:15 pace (for 1/3mi), was holding 6:20 pace at 1/2mi, but faded for a 6:40 finish.  Okay, so we need to work on pacing, but still, a good baseline.  

The first couple miles for me were pretty easy and well under control.  I started wondering when the workout gets hard...  Oops.

Next was 4x 800m @ 10k pace.  Kind of on rolling terrain with either a headwind or a slight incline, so I tried to compensate a little and see if I could nail my goal of 6:20 pace.  Came in between 6:07 and 6:14 for each, which is more like 8k pace.  That's okay.  Definitely noticed reduced comfort and smoothness on these ones.  Felt downright sloppy at times.

Last was 1mi @ HM pace (6:40ish).  Came in at 6:30 or so due to a surge at the end (6:35 until that point).  

Kevin, Chris, Aileen, and I are all running a 5k/10k on Valentine's Day - not sure what the boys are doing, but I'm doing 10k and Aileen's doing 5k.  I'll be going out with 42min in mind (6:45 pace, which is a steady state tempo for me) and see what happens in the last couple miles (there's cherry pie on the line for top 3 in each age group!).  Aileen will be shooting for 23min 5k.

Almost an hour this morning.  5am was tough after 4 beers last night during the game.  GI issues were tougher, hence the "almost."  6.1mi total.  Walked about 3mi during the day for work/commute, so if I counted that, it'd be 9 on the day.