Running Days Jan 3 - 12 CPR Marathon Training: Episode 1

When I last left off, I discussed what happened in the waning months of my training and what happened to me health-wise and how I was basically starting off from zero. I missed running and especially missed the social aspect of running. Running with the group at City Park Runners and my buddy Osty, just talking about this and that and basically exploring not only the destination but learning about my running compadres in the most interesting ways.

So in order to get back into running and to find that focus I so enjoy and the camaraderie, I signed up for the 2016 Marathon clinic hosted by City Park Runners and coached by coach Dan. I've been in the last 3 and they've been a great way to get in the mileage for training in the dead of winter and to also connect with a social group. The clinic is held every Tuesday for 20 weeks which is organized by our coach Dan who sets up the workouts (which are 90% speed workouts) while he encourages the clinic runners to join in the free running meet-ups on Thursday night and Saturday morning to supplement in the clinic training and to get in the much needed mileage to run a marathon or 1/2 marathon distance.

This year's training will go in nicely for either the Winnipeg Police Services 1/2 marathon or the Fargo Marathon, which seems to be the race a lot of the members will be attending as a group this year. I'm still very undecided as I've run the Fargo the last 2 years and they are great races, with the after party even better with the gang. I'll see how I feel in the next month or two before I commit as my main motivation for wanting to run the Fargo full is to prove to myself if I can come back strong doing sub-4 after a frustrating year last year, especially with the volume of training I put in.

Anyways, the first week of the clinic is always a 5km time trial. It's a great way to figure out your base. The only caveat is, you're running in sub-zero temps with layers and the footing is always very slippery but it doesn't or shouldn't stop you from doing your best. Although you can be sneaky and sandbag the run and when the spring time trial happens you give 'er and should see a huge improvement...but why would you sell yourself short like that?

One of the new things I got this year, along w/ my buddy Osty is a Stryd device . We wanted to see what this new power metric is all about and it pairs well with our Garmin devices. I can't say I know what the hell I'm doing when I look at my stats, so I'm learning to run on my feeling instead of the feedback from the Garmin and Stryd.

Wk1-Time Trial

So those are the 2 outputs from Garmin and Stryd and what's interesting to me at first glance is you can see where I was powering through and slowed down and finished strong. I think I can speak for most runners, that we always, always start off way too fast. And I knew I was running faster than intended and adjusted as I was ploughing through. The hardest part is keeping yourself in check when you're running with a group or against people, thinking you can keep up, speed up or just hang on. At the "horseshoe" part of the course is called the Formal Gardens and you can tell from the color I was starting to lose power and I remembered while in that moment how I was fighting internally to NOT quit even though that voice in my head kept nagging me how much 'easier' it would be to just slow down a bit. But I always remember that in order to get better, to get past that ceiling, you will have to dig deep and that digging is going to suck. So during the last 150m as every muscle in my body was screaming and I was trying to calm down that voice of self doubt, I squashed that ever present self-pitying dude that always wants you to quit and just powered through. I always tell myself that that pain is always temporary.

So my time trial time for 2016 was 27:15 which when I looked back at last year's 2015 time trial of 24:47...is actually not that bad considering I haven't been running as much the past 3 months and I'm really out of shape. The 27:15 hurt a lot, but this is promising as it's a good base to start off in the new year.

Wk 2 - 1Km Intervals

Week 2's training to me was an exercise in mental and physical control. We were basically doing 1km intervals where we run 1km at our 5km pace then take it down 30 secs on the way back and repeat for 30mins. It was -33C/-24F which is basically hell super frozen over 2x. It was too cold to keep an eye on my Garmin as I was more focusing on keeping myself upright and running in good form and mentally always telling myself to speed up during the 1km interval and slow down on the cool down run. Unlike last week where I was sucking wind, this week my pacing was around the 9:20/mile mark which is comfortably hard for me but during the cool down I didn't want to slouch run. I kept mindful of keeping my form erect and shoulders relaxed and that contributed to getting better and stronger as the intervals wore on. 

I don't really have any words of wisdom to end this entry. I'm just happy I'm able to run again and I'm happy doing it. The one important thing I noticed is after my run and especially during my run there is no "FEEL OFF" feeling. I haven't looked at my blood pressure the last 3 weeks and I guess I should, but for now there is none of that lethargic pain I was feeling. I'm not going to worry about my stats or worry about comparisons with other people (even though we ALL do it) I just want to be able to run well enough to be able to keep up with Dr. Phil, Paul, Lori, Ted and pretty much most of the regulars. But I know that's going to take time and right now, I have plenty of it run-wise. :)

A New Hope - 2016 Pilot Episode

Something happened to me late last year in my running season. I ran the Fargo marathon (4:14:30) in May and PR'd my previous by 13 minutes so that was a big plus and I ran my first 50km ultra on July 4th on a very hot and humid day.

It was in between those months where I started to see some patterns of a very big digression. I mean I wasn't hurt asides from some minor aches associated with running but I knew something was wrong. I was looking back at my training diary and I always had these two words "FEEL OFF" associated with a majority of my training runs. And even taking some time off from running and going on a nice long vacation with my girls. Whenever I headed out for a run, my whole body was just feeling like shit, my mind was at a complete loss and then my body would just start to whither...

Koreatown to Pan Pacific Park LA run in the middle of summer and I was hurting.

When I went to LA with my girls for a 2-1/2week vacation, I'd head out in the morning and run hoping to get in 10 miles but would quickly devolve into 10km and I would be hurting. As I would look back on my running logs when I was last in LA in February and running 8-10 miles would be nothing and that would be in undulating terrain. But during this trip, just running on the flats on LA streets (which there are not many) I would feel so strained early into my run hoping that the feeling would pass...but just exacerbate the farther I kept going. When we arrived back home in early August, I took the rest of the month off to just rest from the big trip and heal my body from all the aches and pains I was feeling. The pain wasn't in my legs, but more my shoulders and that would be a harbinger of things to come.

It wasn't until September 5, 2015 that something happened to me that actually sent me to the hospital and derailed the rest of my running until the new year.

"Where am I?"

On September 5, 2015 I had plans to finally head out to City Park Runners but I woke up at 4 AM with a pounding headache (migraine range 6/10). I figured I was just hungry so I ate some cereal thinking I'd feel better in a couple of hours. But come 7:30 when I'd normally be ready to leave, the headache just got worse. And by 10AM I was throwing up. I thought the milk I had with my cereal was bad (yeah I'm an idiot) and just went back to sleep. It was finally at 2PM after throwing up 3 more times I got my oldest girl to call her mother to take me to the hospital. When I went in to register they measured my blood pressure and it was at 233/135 which is listed as Hypertension Stage 3 / Hypertensive Crisis. My head was exploding and my daughter was telling me the nurse kept urging me to stay awake (as I must have passed out) and they just wheeled me into emergency bypassing registration. It was there apparently I started to scream.

I was put on blood thinners and clot busters, and after an MRI, the neurologist found a micro blister in my right vertebral artery which clotted and caused me an aneurysm. Good thing for me I had to foresight to head to the hospital (because I thought I had a migraine and a maybe a stomach flu) according to my doctor that if I waited another hour, I'd have died....so there's that.

So after going through many tests with a cardiologist, neurologist and another brain scan, blood tests...the specialists couldn't figure out what caused the blister. But I will have to take medication for the rest of my life now. So that will be something that's part of my new normal. And I wasn't allowed to run for the first two months.

It was in mid-December that I started to venture out and run, and it was actually very painful, but blissfully great. I loved the fact that I got back out there and I ran slow-ass and I hurt. But the hurt was more from being really out of running shape. I wasn't feeling 'off' this time so it was great. I got in a couple of more runs and in order to keep the flow going and ran my farthest come the new year on January 2, 2016 with the City Park Runners (CPR) group out to Misercordia Hospital, which back in the day would take me 35 minutes now took me closer to 45 minutes and the run back was longer...but what the hell...I was out there and had a great time.

Which leads me to thinking, in order to get back into running, it's best I sign up for the CPR running clinic. I was very apprehensive at first for signing up...but I'm glad I did as I learned a lot about myself. But I'll write about that in another post

Running days, the last of June and beginning of Summer

I took a week off after that OTS assessment and when I tried to get out on the road, my legs felt like lead and my ankles were still hurting. I don't know what the problem is, but I think I'm coming down with a cold or flu or something as my head feels like I'm underwater and my ears are plugged. I have the Afton Trail Run coming July 4th and I'm very excited about it as this will be my first ultra trail race and what better way to get into the ultra scene, by starting 'small' at 50km which is 31 miles, 5 more than a full marathon.

I've started running again, albeit slowly and really not pushing. I'm glad that my cardio fitness is still intact, but my skeletal-muscular fitness still needs a lot of work. I'm approaching the Afton 50k as one long ass slow distance run. Just enjoy myself and complete it and prepare my body for Twin Cities come October.

June 20, 2015 @ 8:04 AM

Legs still feel dead, welcome to Overtraining world

Took a whole week off as I'm suffering from Overtraining syndrome. My legs have been protesting to move and I've been feeling super exhausted all week. Still not 100%, not even close to 80% as I felt myself slowing down immensely at the end when I normally can handle this distance and pace. Take another day off and re-asses for Monday. 

11.33 kmDistance
5:52 min/kmAvg Pace
771 CCalories
1:06:29Time
13 mElev Gain

148 bpmAvg HR
160 bpmMax HR

177 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 22, 2015 @ 7:04 PM

Wk5 aerobic base - reset

After a full week off, I got back into it although my lower legs still feel achy but I'm sure this is from the extended time off as the effort level was a little too high for my HR and pacing (which I shouldn't be thinking about). This is almost a full reset as I don't want to panic right now.

10.12 kmDistance
6:00 min/kmAvg Pace
708 CCalories
1:00:40Time
15 mElev Gain

146 bpmAvg HR
158 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
199 spmMax Cadence

June 23, 2015 @ 6:08 PM

Hill Training at Westview Park

Good workout with Phil, Lori, Paul, Roberto and Sean.
7.83 kmDistance
5:30 min/kmAvg Pace
519 CCalories
43:01Time
63 mElev Gain

152 bpmAvg HR
167 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
218 spmMax Cadence

June 25, 2015 @ 10:38 PM

Wk 5 Broken ass, ankle and legs run

I felt good going into this run, and came out destroyed. I don't understand, but my achilles and ankles were just aching that I just stopped at the 6 mile mark and walked, limped home.

11.22 kmDistance
6:12 min/kmAvg Pace
704 CCalories
1:09:34Time
10 mElev Gain

139 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

175 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 29, 2015 @ 8:43 PM

Wk 6 aerobic base - hot, humid and loving it

The past couple of day I've been in a daze. My head feels like it's underwater and my ears are plugged. My legs feel like lead and both my ankles are just sore. I haven't run since last Thursday as I tried to take it easy and rest. Tonight I decided to go out and run, to take it easy and just ease into the run. Everything felt ok except the last mile where my body was aching but my pacing was even albeit a lot slower than I'm used to running. Part of it was the humidity, but I'm not complaining as I run about 3/4 of the year in the cold.  I'll keep a close watch on my health and hope that this bug passes.

9.11 kmDistance
6:02 min/kmAvg Pace
651 CCalories
54:55Time
8 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
155 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
210 spmMax Cadence

OTS and what it feels like to me

I've just managed to finish 3 weeks of running, but just barely. I learned from looking over my training log, that for the past 3 days I've been running too hard and I've pushed myself to my limits as I couldn't complete Sunday's LSD of a planned 13 miles. I only got just barely 4 miles in when I my legs just did not want to move. My left calve and both my achilles were just sore I can feel on the verge of a breakdown, so I just quit my run while I was just down Leila almost to the hospital and walked it home. Over Training Syndrome...OTS. UGH.

I'm actually very happy I did that because who knows what would have happened if I powered through. Well more likely a debilitating injury which would have left me on the shelf for a lot longer than I want or need to be.

Looking over my training log, I can tell exactly where I went wrong, but my ego got the better of me again and I decided to run for running's sake to keep a superficial streak alive when in reality my schedule conflict could not handle what my training plan had laid out.

Last Thursday, June 11, 2015 I headed out to City Park Runners and ran with the Thursday run club. It was a hot and humid day, but I was feeling really good and I know we normally run the Thursday runs at tempo. I was able to keep up with Lori, Geoff, Doug et al. who happen to be the more speedier group throughout the whole run. After the run I headed out to Assiniboine park to watch a friend of mine play ultimate frisbee.

It was Friday where I was just being an idiot. I felt great and was primed to head out in the evening, but I forgot I had my oldest daughter's year end dance recital. So after work, I attended that, and of course it ended late and after driving everyone home, it was already 10:00 PM and I didn't get out and start running by 10:20ish and I was in that anxious mindset to get the run done and over with because I had to get up early the next day to run with CPR for 8AM. I was already starting to strain close to the end of the run and forced myself to stop and walk the last block home to save my energy reserves.

Come Saturday morning, I get up for 6:30 AM after 5 hrs of sleep and ended up running another high tempo, high aerobic threshold run. It was hot and muggy and the last 2 miles, it was really starting to hurt over-extending myself to keep up with Dan and Phil. But what made the day worse, was when I got home, there was no rest as I had the girls with me this week and I had to do some driving to the bank and grocery shopping and then head out to a wedding to which we didn't get home until 11 PM and even though I passed out, I got woken up by my oldest for a ride home as she was at a friend's birthday party and it was 12:30. So my sleep was broken and it was hard to get relaxed and fall back asleep.

Then I decide to run again on Sunday and ended up with a fail.Too much on my plate as I'm also helping my sister prepare for a big move. I'm just feeling really worn out right now and will take Monday off and rest. As I actually don't even feel like running.

Running Days June 8 - 14

June 8, 2015 @ 6:46 PM

Wk3 aerobic base day 1 - run 15

This run is day 15 of a base building phase that I'm working on for TCM. I added another mile and half from last weeks build and even after yesterday's LSD I was able to get in a very good run with keeping all of my splits within 10-15 secs while maintaining a avg HR <140

11.40 kmDistance
6:03 min/kmAvg Pace
745 CCalories
1:09:04Time
12 mElev Gain

140 bpmAvg HR
150 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 9, 2015 @ 6:06 PM

Wk3 day 2 aerobic hill work

Tonight I went out with Phil, Lori, Paul, Roberto and Osty and we did some hill work. I'm still in the base building phase so I was very cognizant of staying well within my aerobic threshold. I wanted to keep my HR on the uphills to 151(ish) bpm and on the downhill, I worked on stablizing to 145bpm. I'll do a 3 mile cool down in my neighborhood to stretch out my calve muscles.

7.78 kmDistance
5:32 min/kmAvg Pace
502 CCalories
43:08Time
74 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
159 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
195 spmMax Cadence

June 9, 2015 @ 7:45 PM

Wk3 day 2 post hill cool down. When I got home I noticed my calves were pretty tight and I didn't want them to seize up, so I went out and did a short block cool down run keeping it into the recovery zone. Legs feel better, next up I'll roll them after the shower.

June 10, 2015 @ 8:45 PM

Wk3 aerobic base day 3 <145bpm

Good run tonight, even with the lack of sleep from working the night before and putting in a full day at the office, plus running the hills last night. Took a nap when I got home then laced them up and told myself to run in the 145bpm zone. I sensed I was running fast but the effort was easy while in the 145bpm zone. Still too early to tell but it's looking and feeling really good. Happy about the splits, especially the last 4 miles were pretty even across the board and in line with my HR.

11.24 kmDistance
5:39 min/kmAvg Pace
713 CCalories
1:03:24Time
5 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
198 spmMax Cadence

June 11, 2015 @ 6:05 PM

Wk3 aerobic threshold kinda tempo day 4

Finally got to return to City Park Runners after almost a month away from the club. It obviously hasn't stopped me from running, but I was very happy to head out and run with the group. Tonight I ran pretty close to my aerobic threshold, and I was able to keep that going mostly because running with the faster people helped keep me honest with my effort, even while I was watching my HR. Good run, tomorrow will for sure be an easy day.

9.84 kmDistance
5:20 min/kmAvg Pace
647 CCalories
52:31Time
6 mElev Gain

151 bpmAvg HR
162 bpmMax HR

177 spmAvg Cadence
205 spmMax Cadence

June 12, 2015 @ 10:18 PM

Wk3 day 5 not too smart of a run. Getting too late in the evening when I started this run and was in a hurry. Went too fast to get the mileage in and I'm actually hurting a bit. Too many things going on to get in training.

8.85 kmDistance
6:06 min/kmAvg Pace
608 CCalories
53:58Time
10 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
153 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
204 spmMax Cadence

June 13, 2015 @ 8:01 AM

Wk3 day 6 Saturday with CPR

Ran late last night only to get up early this morning to run with CPR. No calories in me this morning so I didn't want to push myself and told myself to run comfortable. The run to Misery was comfortable and the run to Osbourne was not too bad. It was from Misery back to CPR which was getting hard, especially after the tracks going back into the park where I was pushing to keep up with Dan and Phil and it was evident in my HR. Good run but 2 days of aerobic threshold with this one pushing a little too hard is going to set me back if I keep this up. Tomorrow I'll run for 2 hrs at a very easy relaxed pace and see what distance it covers.

16.00 kmDistance
5:28 min/kmAvg Pace
1,020 CCalories
1:27:35Time
27 mElev Gain

149 bpmAvg HR
162 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
201 spmMax Cadence

June 14, 2015 @ 3:07 PM

Wk3 LSD run day 7 - Glad I failed

I was trying too hard to get going and I knew after the first 2 miles the 13 miler wasn't going to happen. The last 3 days I was running at way too high aerobic threshold without any recovery. Especially yesterday when I ran too fast with CPR after a late night run of a high threshold the night prior. Pushed my limit and glad I was able to realize my body was not responding even by going slow my calves and Achilles were sore. Rest up the whole day and see how I feel for tomorrow.

6.03 kmDistance
7:06 min/kmAvg Pace
384 CCalories
42:48Time
4 mElev Gain

124 bpmAvg HR
138 bpmMax HR

174 spmAvg Cadence
189 spmMax Cadence

Building things up patiently - Train, don't strain.

Over the past 2 weeks, I've been running everyday. The first week mileage (May 23 - 31) I was averaging 4 miles (6.5km) the first 4 days then ramping the mileage the last 3 days by 5, 7.5, 10 miles (8, 12, 16 km) respectively. And this past week I upped the daily mileage from 4 miles to 5.7 miles (9.2km) the first 4 days and the weekend ramp up of 7.5, 10, 13 miles (12, 16, 21 km).

After Fargo, I was trying to figure out why I crashed. Albeit I was able to go a little farther than my last marathon go at Twin Cities from mile 18 to mile 22, but what was frustrating was through all of the training going into Fargo with all that mileage, I was noticeably slowing down at mile 17 and finally had to stop and WALK at mile 22 and then the death march.

I don't want to do that again. I had to sit down and figure things out. I mentioned how I was following Rubbish Runner's (RR) blog and going through his sub-3 hour marathon and we had a pretty good back and forth email conversation about the plan. RR outlined how the plan was based on Arthur Lydiard's training principals. So I dug into Lydiard's history and discovered how he trained 1960 Olympic Champions (Peter Snell, Murray Halberg) and I was fascinated with the story and the history of that era. So I dug up all of the reading material I could find on Lydiard and he actually has a lot of his training principles available floating around the internet.

The only problem with all of that information, it was hard to sift through the noise and putting it all together to make sense within my capabilities. Lydiard was famous for his 100 mile (161km) week programs. And thinking to myself, how the hell? There are a lot of books out there with Lydiard's training principals written by Lydiard himself that can be found on Amazon. I couldn't find anything at my local library so as I was sifting through the Amazon catalog, I came upon Healthy Intelligent Training (HIT) by Arthur Livingstone and going by the reviews and finding out more from Letsrun.com forum boards, that book seemed to be one of the better written and concise resources based on Lydiard's principals. The author knew Lydiard and was coached by Barry Magee, who was a contemporary to Lydiard's original athletes (Snell and Halberg).

I picked up the book and read through it, pouring over all of the information along with the sub 3 hr plan and putting together my own plan. I consider myself a beginner and I've written out the plan so I'm tackling the distances in a slow and manageable progression. I've signed up for the Twin Cities marathon and with the way my plan is laid out, I'll have a 7 week base build, 4 weeks of transition (Hill training), 5 weeks of Peak conditioning (track work) and 3 week taper before the race. And with my Fargo marathon training over the past 4 months, I have the fitness carried over well into my base building phase.

And that is where my major focus is on right now...the base building phase. I believe it was a lack of aerobic development that was my downfall. I don't think I had enough of a base to be able to carry myself 26 miles as was proven when I literally died at mile 22 but was considerably slowing down at mile 17.

And so it began 2 weeks ago, running everyday, at an easy pace of ( 60 - 70% of Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) - 135 - 149bpm) and a couple of days of aerobic ( 70 - 80% HRR - 149 - 162bpm) with my long run at the end of the week. In the book HIT, Livingstone wrote:

The purpose of this phase was to systematically build the aerobic capacity to the highest level possible before commencing faster work. The biggest stimulus to the development of aerobic capacity is often uninterrupted time spent at higher aerobic or sub-threshold levels: especially with regard to the development of the very fine blood vessels in the running muscles. 

All of my current mileage has been building up systematically and I want to get it to the point where I'm running 2 hrs at an even effort. I'm currently not worried about pacing as I don't want to find myself straining to reach a certain pace as more a consistent effort. What I found the best about Lydiard's philosophy was, Train, Don't Strain.  It's still too early in the training cycle to draw any conclusions but I've been running every day and I'm able to continue with good recovery after my week ending LSD's and those higher aerobic zone runs.

Running Days June 1 - 7, 2015

June 1, 2015 @ 6:21 PM

Wk2 aerobic base day 1

Didn't sleep well the night before so I was a little apprehensive when I started the run. Felt good until I got to the turn to head back, then I started feeling hungry and I couldn't shake off the hunger until a mile away from home. Got caught in the rain on the way back, hmmm noticed my cadence is down, could just be an anamoly and I'm also tired. No aches or pains and I reasonably lengthened the distance for the week.

9.27 kmDistance
5:47 min/kmAvg Pace
620 CCalories
53:33Time
11 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
193 bpmMax HR

177 spmAvg Cadence
195 spmMax Cadence

June 2, 2015 @ 7:26 PM

Wk2 aerobic base easy recovery <145 bpm

Since this past Saturday I've been getting by on roughly 4-5 hrs of sleep a night and I'm now feeling very tired. Tonight's run should have been last night especially after Sunday's LSD. I think I ran too fast to start the week and was suffering for it today. I took it very easy, not worrying about the pace, but I can tell I'm exhausted because my HR was spiking from 130 to 200 bpm and I know I wasn't anywhere near a hard effort, especially on the way back with a strong SE headwind. I'll try to get back on track with sleeping and I'll carry on with a couple more days of easy recovery running.

9.28 kmDistance
6:35 min/kmAvg Pace
604 CCalories
1:01:02Time
8 mElev Gain

141 bpmAvg HR
200 bpmMax HR

181 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

June 3, 2015 @ 6:44 PM

Wk2 day 3 aerobic evaluation

1 mile warm-up in the 137-149 bpm range. Then 3 miles in 147-157 bpm keeping a consistent progression with the last mile and a bit back down to 146-149 bpm cooldown. Felt good at the start and had no struggle in the 3 mile progression with the cooldown I was feeling a little ache in my right achilles so I slowed it down more so I don't feel completely bagged at the end of the run. Feel good post run with minor aches that will feel a lot better with the rolling stick.

9.26 kmDistance
5:36 min/kmAvg Pace
605 CCalories
51:49Time
9 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
157 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
199 spmMax Cadence

June 4, 2015 @ 8:04 PM

Wk2 aerobic recovery day 4

Last night's evaluation run took a little out of me and I was feeling a little achy today from the office. My body knew I had to run in zone1 so I didn't spike it close to 150 bpm and I'm happy about that. It's starting to show me I'm learning about controlling my pace and I'm understanding what a true recovery run is all about. During the start, I was feeling aches in my right hip and my ankles were flaring, but after some steady mileage, the aches started to go away.

9.29 kmDistance
6:27 min/kmAvg Pace
604 CCalories
59:52Time
6 mElev Gain

134 bpmAvg HR
146 bpmMax HR

181 spmAvg Cadence
231 spmMax Cadence

June 5, 2015 @ 8:18 PM

Wk2 aerobic base day 5

This run felt pretty good, especially after the recovery run the day before. Nice warm at 1 mile @ 134bpm, then the next 5 miles between 8:50 - 9:00/mi @ 151bpm and cool down last mile to save my legs and strength for the next day. No real aches or pains, although I will admit the last mile I slowed down considerably, partly because my feet were hurting a bit and just a wave of exhaustion which I'm sure is due to a lack sleep over the past week.

12.02 kmDistance
5:47 min/kmAvg Pace
791 CCalories
1:09:31Time
8 mElev Gain

147 bpmAvg HR
157 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
190 spmMax Cadence

June 6, 2015 @ 2:54 PM

Wk2 aerobic 10 miler base run <150bpm

Wow, this is one of the closest things to my best training runs to date. My legs seemed to have an extra pop to them and I was able to keep a decent leg turnover and keep my HR in the aerobic zone. I'm surprised by my pace as I did not focus on that during the run at all. I'm starting to understand the mechanics needed to keep moving forward at an easier pace. The drive from the hips to knees as I'm moving forward and the toe off that creates that whip effect. If I can capture that feeling and bottle it, but I can't so I'll have to work on that consistently. Feet are tingling, but I'm pleasantly exhausted and will be ready for tomorrows LSD.

16.03 kmDistance
5:51 min/kmAvg Pace
1,065 CCalories
1:33:44Time
7 mElev Gain

146 bpmAvg HR
158 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
208 spmMax Cadence

June 7, 2015 @ 2:47 PM

Wk2 LSD First the humidity then the rain and of course the hail

It was very humid heading out and I found a new route that has rolling terrain then my normal route to Kildonan park with one lap and an out and back would make it just shy of 14 miles. But then the rain started coming down very hard as I was heading out of Kildonan park and then the hail came down even harder. Had to hide under a tree to wait it out. The run back got a little tough with the humidity and I cut the run short at mile 13 and picked up a Gatorade at the corner store and walked it back home to cool down and rest my legs. Had to remove my HRM strap at mile 10 as it was cutting into my abdomen and giving me an akeloid scar. :(

End of May Running Days > May 25 - 31

I've started rebuilding my aerobic base by running everyday well within myself between Zone 1 (135 - 149bpm) and Zone 2's lower end (149 - 162bpm). I mostly kept my HR at the 145bpm range and with a speedy day of 149-150bpm on Saturday with the City Park Runner's group. I'll get to the purpose of running everyday in my next entry. But so far I was able to run every day last week, without injury and being recovered in time to run the next day. It's still early in the training cycle, but I'm noticing that while I've been keeping my HR around the 145bpm, I'm noticing I'm getting a little faster. Not significantly, but about 2-3 seconds faster, but I'm trying to develop keeping a consistent pace throughout. But that won't be for another couple of weeks into the base phase.

May 25, 2015 @ 7:18 PM

Just an easy run to get myself back into a new training cycle to prepare for a Fall marathon. But first, get the base back to prepare for a 50k trail run come July 4th. This run is well within my HR and still able to keep cadence nice and high. Just have to be patient as the speed will naturally come, train for consistency first.

6.45 kmDistance
6:15 min/kmAvg Pace
439 CCalories
40:18Time
1 mElev Gain

141 bpmAvg HR
151 bpmMax HR

181 spmAvg Cadence 

193 spmMax Cadence

May 26, 2015 @ 8:05 PM

Felt good throughout the run from start to finish. Found my groove at 147bpm when I was feeling complete flow. Wasn't worried about pace as more to get a sense of that at ease feeling while running.

6.45 kmDistance
5:46 min/kmAvg Pace
419 CCalories
37:09Time
1 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
152 bpmMax HR

184 spmAvg Cadence
193 spmMax Cadence

May 27, 2015 @ 6:53 PM

A little tired today as I worked last night from midnight until 6am and then when I got home I had to drive my sister to work and I ended up only getting 5.5 hrs of sleep today so I don't think I was fully recovered from yesterday evening's run as by the time I was finished I had to start getting ready for work. There really was no time to take a nap. As for the run, I felt ok, I only have my HR along with the timer showing on my Garmin throughout my runs now so I get a sense of what my HR is at certain moments throughout my run. I was feeling really hungry about 1/2 way through as I didn't get a chance to eat except a salad and some toast when I woke up around 2:45 PM today. I also found myself zoning out a couple of times, but still aware I was running....weird.

6.46 kmDistance
5:58 min/kmAvg Pace
420 CCalories
38:33Time
3 mElev Gain
139 bpmAvg HR
152 bpmMax HR

182 spmAvg Cadence
192 spmMax Cadence

May 28, 2015 @ 6:29 PM

Wow, the benefits of 8 hrs of sleep! I was so tired last night I just turned in early and slept until 6:10 am. Took my RHR and decided to head out and run because it's raining lightly this morning and it's supposed to start raining heavily later in the day, plus I have a couple of errands that have to be done this evening. Run felt great going into it and there was no aches or pains during the run. I feel my muscles getting stronger and my aerobic system is starting to get better. Just have to be patient and keep running within my means for base building.

6.45 kmDistance
5:45 min/kmAvg Pace
426 CCalories
37:04Time
1 mElev Gain
143 bpmAvg HR
153 bpmMax HR

186 spmAvg Cadence
204 spmMax Cadence

May 29, 2015 @ 7: 57 PM

Very cold for late May and strong North headwind. Felt good going into this run. I found myself smiling throughout this run as I just kept going forward still at a very easy pace. I went an extra mile more for the time spent on my legs and aerobic base building than putting on the mileage. I knew I could crank the pace at anytime and I felt comfortably exhausted after the run.

8.10 kmDistance
6:03 min/kmAvg Pace
547 CCalories
49:00Time
3 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
187 bpmMax HR

187 spmAvg Cadence
205 spmMax Cadence

May 30, 2015 @ 8:02 AM

Good run this morning. Glad I got to run with Osty as the dude is on the mend and he's getting back his endurance. Also got to run with Phil and Paul and then on the way back I ran with Kathryn, Ron, Geoff and Josh and they decided to blast through the trails down the river. Kept within 145-150bpm and managed to keep the cadence humming at 180 spm.

12.11 kmDistance
5:33 min/kmAvg Pace
795 CCalories
1:07:14Time
15 mElev Gain
149 bpmAvg HR
180 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
255 spmMax Cadence

May 31, 2015 @ 6:42 PM

Wk1 aerobic base 10 mile LSD

I should have brought a water bottle on this run. I was pretty dehydrated by mile 8 and it got a little tough but overall the whole run was run well within my means. There were some lulls but when I was concentrating on using my glutes I found myself in the zone and my legs were firing a lot easier. Cool thing was Roberto saw me on Leila and honked at me.

16.07 kmDistance
6:00 min/kmAvg Pace
1,040 CCalories
1:36:34Time
6 mElev Gain

144 bpmAvg HR
156 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
196 spmMax Cadence

The Rebuild

After the completion of Fargo and looking back at my training log, I was thinking of how can I improve and crack that sub 4 hr time?

I put in over 500 miles to get a 4:14:30 time, which I beat my previous PR by 13 minutes done at Twin Cities Marathon in October 2014. My fitness is still not where I want it to be. Mind you I was doing all of my training runs in the dead of winter where temperatures dipped -40C/-40F and it was hard to get in decent training runs. I thought just being out there in the deep freeze of winter would help. But as I was looking at my moods and energy levels with my RHR and training HR's I at times think I was running too much too hard and I would carry on my next training run a little more tired than recovered which brought about slower times as I was seeing especially during the Peak phase.

And I have to admit doing a lot of my runs in the aerobic zone helped a lot, but I think I need to run more and build a stronger base so I can run better and stronger during the Transition and Peak phases and be able to handle LSD's of 16-24 miles without exhausting my energy levels.

I started looking around the blog-o-sphere and came across Rubbish Runner and was fascinated with his progress. I'm a little older than him by a couple of years so we aren't that far off in age, so I figured I'd reach out to him for a little bit of training advice. I'm still very new to running (3 years) and I'm nowhere near his level yet, but being patient and just sticking with running and training, I figure I'll crack that sub 4hr marathon in due time.

So I struck up an email conversation with Rubbish Runner blogger about training zones as I was reading up on his sub 3 hour marathon training plan. We mostly discussed the topic of Heart Rate training zones. And I was able to establish new training zones based on my recent performance in Fargo. These training zones will be in preparation for a Fall marathon, which will most likely be the Twin Cities Marathon on October 4, 2015.

New Training Zones:

So with a Resting Heart Rate (RHR) of 52 and a Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) of 190.
Zone 1 (LSD, Easy and Recovery runs) 60 - 70% of Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) - 135 - 149bpm
Zone 2 (Aerobic or Target HR zone) 70 - 80% HRR - 149 - 162bpm
Zone 3 (Anaerobic zone) 80 - 90% HRR 162 - 176bpm
Zone 4 (V02 max) 90 - 100% HRR 176 - 190bpm

May 2015 > 20 - 24 Running Days [BASE]

May 20, 2015 @ 7:52 PM

Beautiful evening, just had to get out to run. Wasn't feeling any pain in the right foot the Fargo marathon as I thought I might have plantar fasciitis (still might) but I wanted to get out and run.

Too much too far too soon. Should have listened to that voice of reason and not run so far and maybe ran a little too fast. It's been 10 days since the marathon and even though I felt great today those same aches crept up during the latter stages of the run. Stupid ego...this might have set me back as my right foot is now aching again.

Ended up walking the last 3km....sigh.

10.30 kmDistance
7:26 min/kmAvg Pace
625 CCalories
1:16:32Time
6 mElev Gain

132 bpmAvg HR
211 bpmMax HR

164 spmAvg Cadence
200 spmMax Cadence

May 23, 2015 @ 11:09 AM

Slow crawl back to basebuilding. Purpose of this run was to test out my right foot to see if any aches and pains creep up. 

Happy to report nothing major except maybe the front of my right toes were tingling for a little bit. I'm thinking it was more of the process of over-thinking this whole run convincing myself if this was a good thing to do. By the time I was out and running it was reading 31C today so it was a little bit of a challenge to keep my HR at 145 range. I forced myself to slow down a lot throughout the run, but very mindful of keeping the cadence up to 180 which kept my running form in check. Over all happy with how it went. I'll keep going the 5k distance for the rest of the week and then slowly start building up the base again.

5.42 kmDistance
6:15 min/kmAvg Pace
407 CCalories
33:54Time
1 mElev Gain

148 bpmAvg HR
161 bpmMax HR

182 spmAvg Cadence
190 spmMax Cadence

May 24, 2015 @ 11:12 AM

Well I now know that 6km seems to be my limit for now. I actually didn't feel any aches during the run and I kept my HRM below 150 despite the +27C heat. But it was after the run where it started to feel achy, about 1 hr after. I'll roll my foot out to strengthen it up.

6.41 kmDistance
6:20 min/kmAvg Pace
456 CCalories
40:36Time
3 mElev Gain

145 bpmAvg HR
162 bpmMax HR

182 spmAvg Cadence
192 spmMax Cadence

My marathon of Sound and Vision

May 9, 2015 @ 7:30 AM

First off I want to congratulate all of my friends from City Park Runners. They were (in no particular order but all important none-the-less) Erick, Sean, Tyler, Dan, Ron, Paul, Barry, Travis, Doug, Agata, Dominique, Kathryn, Phaedra, Becky, Josh, Dave, Tracey, Anita.

Race started in the Fargo Dome. I forgot to acquire a sat signal for my GPS prior to the race start, but I did hit start on my Garmin just as I crossed the timing mats but I managed to get signal around the 2nd mile and along with the cadence count it figured out my mileage and pace from mile 1 which was pretty neat.

I along with Barry, Erick and Tyler kept with the 3:50 pace group pretty much to the 12th mile. The first part of the course ran some parts of last year's 10th anniversary course. Erick marveled at the course and city in general as I ran with him for the first 15 miles. Barry and Ron were keeping up with the 3:50 pace group. It was at mile 16 where Erick told me we had to start 'hammering.' He was getting farther and farther ahead of me and I was hammering with a ball peen to his sledgehammer as he started getting farther ahead. I still felt good, and didn't worry too much as I told myself if I can keep this pace (5:35-5:45/km) going I still might be able to get the sub 4.

Then mile 17 came and you had to go up a hill into the neighborhood part of the course. I didn't blast up the hill to save my strength as I used effort more than pace. But as I crested the hill, I threw up all of the Gels and I noticed I didn't digest the scrambled eggs that was being served in the hotel. Funny thing was I never felt sick to my stomach anytime prior to the race.

I got my shit together and started moving forward. Lucky there was an aid station near by as I took pretty much all the water that was being held out to wash out my mouth and re-hydrate. I'm glad I packed 6 gels as i started taking a gel right away to try and get my calories back. I still felt good, but I knew I was losing steam as I started finding it a little more difficult to keep a steady pace but I was still in good spirits.

By mile 22, going through the downtown area, the wall was starting to call out. And the more I was fighting it, the closer it was coming. I finally had to stop and walk. I won't lie, I felt a little dejected and when I saw the 4:00 pace group creep up to me and start passing, I was doing pretty much everything in my mind to keep up with them. It was only after a mile the pace sign started to float away into the horizon.

It was then I thought to myself, my last attempt I blew up at mile 18. This time I was able to go a little more farther. Yes I was going on dead legs and my willpower was dwindling, but I wasn't too down on myself. I thought of my girls and my mom and my dad who passed away a couple of weeks after the Twin Cities marathon. I was looking around for inspiration to make this experience a little lighter, and what I saw made me realize all the pain I'm feeling in my legs was minor compared to this obese lady who was power walking the 10k course along with her race bag behind her. I could see from her expression, the determination in her eyes that she wanted to be there along side the marathoners. Some guys on mountain bikes came riding by and shouted out "Keep on truckin' lady!" and for a brief moment, I thought it was an asshole thing to say, but they turned around and smiled at her. Not maliciously, but with encouragement and I found myself a little emotional at that point.

All the while I was walk/running as I witnessed this and I realized it was mile 25...just 1.2 fucking miles to go and witnessing that made my spirit whole when it was falling to pieces. My body was pretty much broken, but my spirit was put back together and even though I couldn't find that lost speed, I was able to muster my legs to go that last mile (that couldn't stop winding back and forth...like really?!) Of course we had to run around the Fargo Dome which by that point I really wasn't interested in the architecture. There was nobody really in front of me to try and beat for that last surge your body gets when you can see the finish line. But I gave it everything as I was crossing the finish line into the arms of a race marshall (I'm laughing as i writie this!) who caught me asking me if I'm ok. I told her that I puked up at mile 17 (like she cared...) and asked me if I was going to puke again, probably preparing to drop me, but I shook my head and started making my way slowing through the finishing chute.

Pretty fun race.
Official race time - 4:14:30

April 2015 > 28 - 30 Running Days

April 28, 2015 @ 6:58 PM

Wk15 Fargo Marathon Training - Last of the track work for this training cycle as we get closer to May 9 race day. Broke out my new Altra Torins 1.5Speed Work. Work out was 1600m with 200m recovery; 1200m with 200m recovery; 800m with 200m recovery

4.82 kmDistance
5:43 min/kmAvg Pace
311 CCalories
27:35Time
3 mElev Gain

148 bpmAvg HR
168 bpmMax HR

166 spmAvg Cadence
207 spmMax Cadence

April 29, 2015 @ 8:56 PM

This was just one of those being in the state of flow type runs. Didn't hook up the HRM, I was hanging out with my nephew for a couple of hours then when his mom picked him up I decided to just head out and hit the road for a quick 5 miler. Didn't really think of anything during this run, which I believe is a good thing.

8.27 kmDistance
5:22 min/kmAvg Pace
619 CCalories
44:25Time
4 mElev Gain

183 spmAvg Cadence
190 spmMax Cadence

April 29, 2015 @ 6:04 PM

Tempo running through Assiniboine Forest. As it's pretty much one week away from Fargo marathon, this run was just basically to go out and run. Wasn't tripping on trying to figure out my HRM or meet a certain pace. Ran with Josh for the first bit and we were just talking and running. Realized that my pace is trending faster over the years. This running 80/20 aerobic is doing wonders. Just have to heal up the morton's nueroma and taper for the marathon and all will be well.

9.83 kmDistance
5:24 min/kmAvg Pace
733 CCalories
53:10Time
6 mElev Gain

177 spmAvg Cadence
188 spmMax Cadence

April 2015 > 21 - 26 Running Days

April 21, 2015 @ 6:46 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 50km NW wind gusts. So f'n annoying trying to build up any speed. I was literally leaning steep into the headwind, and tried my best to burn it up at the tailwind. Still cold as my legs were all cramping up. My right hip was sore and my calves were tight. And I was running out of time as I had to get back home to do some driving...first world problems.

Have to remember the reason I'm training is because it's actually fun. The end goal is I get to hang out with the CPR gang in Fargo and have a good time.

10.76 kmDistance
5:36 min/kmAvg Pace
673 CCalories
1:00:17Time
2 mElev Gain

142 bpmAvg HR
153 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
194 spmMax Cadence

April 22, 2015 @ 9:58 PM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 8 Miler. Long day at work and a lot of driving the family here and there, and then there was the Jets game. I headed out at the 2nd period when it was still 1-1 vs the Ducks.

Unsurprisingly cold night at -2C and I was only wearing my Hind baselayer and running vest and tights. Good thing I also wore toque and gloves. Glad there was no wind out as I was able to comfortably crank out a decent pace at my z2 HR and keep up a great cadence. Side of my right leg still feels tight, but the other aches and pains have subsided. Last week of heavy training then I go into taper and let my legs and body heal and also get in a lot of much needed sleep and nutrition.

13.00 kmDistance
5:38 min/kmAvg Pace
815 CCalories
1:13:14Time
5 mElev Gain

144 bpmAvg HR
189 bpmMax HR

186 spmAvg Cadence
197 spmMax Cadence

April 25, 2015 @ 8:03 AM

Wk 14 Fargo Marathon Training 10 Miler. This was probably one of my favorite runs to date. I had a little achilles ache on my lower right (as per usual) but this time it did not bother me through the whole run.

A couple of issues was sleep as I stayed up too late the night before this and only got in 4.5 hrs of sleep which is NOT good and I haven't been eating too well the past 2 days as I've been on course for my work and I find those stressful as opposed to actually doing my job. Ran with Barry, Dan, Ron and Doug and the pace was absolutely perfect. 

Started so nice and easy but judging from my HR it looks like I was close to a heart attack, but my effort felt very easy (this is probably akin to very little sleep and stress with the high HR). This time I trusted my effort more than my HR monitor and just ran, especially on the way back with Barry as we started blasting out the splits going negative the last 3 miles and I didn't feel strained until the last mile where I blasted a 7:36/mi or 4:44/km.

16.49 kmDistance
5:34 min/kmAvg Pace
1,180 CCalories
1:31:57Time
19 mElev Gain

187 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
212 spmMax Cadence

April 26, 2015 @ 4:07 PM

Wk14 - 11 mile easy Recovery run.

This is my last real long mileage run before Fargo marathon. I'll just do 6-8-10 miles then completely taper the week of the marathon. 

The focus of this run was just to be out and about, no pressure and just enjoy the nice weather. I picked up an Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek vest from CityPark Runners yesterday and I wanted to try it out. Instead of using the water bottles I put in a water bladder from a HydraPak kit I got over the winter. Vest was comfortable and I packed some gels, eload discs my phone, debit card and some cash and an extra long sleeve shirt incase it got cool at the end of my run. Ran my normal route to Kildona Park, ran once around the park then along the river bank and went home. I turned off the GPS at the 11 mile mark and just walked the rest of the way nice and easy. Picked up a choc milk at the gas station for a recovery drink on the way home and just relaxed.

17.60 kmDistance
6:52 min/kmAvg Pace
1,139 CCalories
2:00:59Time
17 mElev Gain

143 bpmAvg HR
215 bpmMax HR

175 spmAvg Cadence
224 spmMax Cadence

April 2015 > 14 - 18 Running Days

April 14, 2015 @ 6:58 PM

Wk 13 Fargo Marathon Hill training.

The only real hill in Winnipeg...ugh. But the training is real and the effort is grand. Looks like my HR was exploding out of my chest, but it was my effort that I kept steady and cadence still pretty high. I'm pretty sure I'm pretty much deep into over-trainingville. Hope I'm not dead for the next day.

7.67 kmDistance
5:15 min/kmAvg Pace
539 CCalories
40:16Time
53 mElev Gain

190 bpmAvg HR
211 bpmMax HR

179 spmAvg Cadence
209 spmMax Cadence

April 15, 2015 @ 7:16 PM

HR shooting through the roof. Don't know what the hell is wrong. My effort didn't feel hard during any point in the run. I couldn't get it down to 160bpm so I quit the run and will restart a little later.

8.26 kmDistance
6:26 min/kmAvg Pace
601 CCalories
53:07Time
6 mElev Gain

178 bpmAvg HR
216 bpmMax HR

173 spmAvg Cadence
194 spmMax Cadence

@ 9:20 PM

Ok, something is wrong. This is the second run of the exact route I ran earlier this evening. The first run I thought was an anomaly as my HR was just shooting through the roof. This second run has confirmed my suspicion that I'm into Over Training mode. It's probably a culmination of last nights hill workout, and I'm still sick (have had this headcold and cough for the past 3 weeks) and the wind has been very gusty at 40km/h. I'm going to have to take the next couple of days off again to reset as this has been very frustating final month in trying to complete this training cycle in good health. 

8.94 kmDistance
6:35 min/kmAvg Pace
542 CCalories
58:51Time
4 mElev Gain

158 bpmAvg HR
207 bpmMax HR

167 spmAvg Cadence
210 spmMax Cadence

Final thoughts: Split 2x5 mile runs last night as I was wondering WTH is going on as my first run I noticed my HR just shooting through the roof. Cut the run short had a recovery drink rested and then reset an hour and half later. Only to find out that yeah...I must be edging deep into Over Training land. I couldn't get my HR under my z2 threshold even when I was walking. I'm thinking since I've already put in over 500 miles since Jan, my body is adjusting to this volume of mileage. I'm going to adjust my training now since I'm so close to race day. I'll concentrate on quality workouts and mileage and get in a lot of recovery instead of pounding out the mileage for mileage sakes.

April 18, 2015 @ 9:11 AM

Wk 13 Fargo marathon training 20 miler. I wish I could say this gets easier, but I still don't feel a 100%  when I go into these LSD's or even 80%. More like 65% as I just can't get rid of this head cold. 

Needless to say, this 20 miler was a little faster that my previous attempts. I tested out Hammer Heed as my electrolyte drink and I found that helped me get through a lot of the rough patches in the run. Used up 5 gels and ate 1/2 a strawberry powerbar at the 13 mile mark. Feet felt ok through most of the run. The hard parts were running into the SE head wind. Got in a little hill training in the middle of the run too, so that was pretty good. All in all relentless forward progress.

32.50 kmDistance
6:32 min/kmAvg Pace
1,884 CCalories
3:32:27Time
35 mElev Gain

135 bpmAvg HR
187 bpmMax HR

180 spmAvg Cadence
213 spmMax Cadence

@ 10:30 PM Learned something today. After  this morning's 20miler I wasn't feeling sore, more had a headache than anything. It was only after I started eating and getting my calories back did I start feeling better. The other thing was in the morning I didn't have a cup of coffee and didn't really have any caffeine until late in the day. I'm thinking I was having a caffeine withdrawl after the run. I have to keep practicing my pre and post-race eating habits in order to get all this training dialed in.