Lasting Happiness

[omats]

Sunday: 3.5 mile hike/ 1000 feet elevation gain/ and loss; average pace 23.47. I’d really like to get better at walking faster. My average HR was 112. So my slow speed is not a lack of conditioning. I guess I just have to try to walk faster? Some of my problem is a lack of confidence with my footing on the way down in particular. Unfortunately, there are no one way trails.

DLs: 135, 155x5;
heavy singles: 175; 195;
Drop set: 145x12–testing the waters.

I superseded all of my DL sets with banded glute bridges and McGill setups. I felt good. I’m really enthusiastic about DLing again. No sign of sciatica yet.

Bulgarian split squats BW x15x 3
Jump squats BW x 3 x3

I didn’t get my pull-ups in this week–maybe tomorrow. Otherwise, next week is a deload, which I will not log.

[omats]

Last week was a deload in the weight room but a regular running week.

I ran four miles on Tuesday and Thursday–average pace on those runs was 10:30ish miles. Average HR during Thursdays run was 150. A more typical HR for me is 160. I am hoping Thursdays HR reading wasn’t a fluke but was a sign of progress.

Today was my long run day: 8 miles; average pace 11:17; average HR 161. I included a walking break every two miles.

I felt ok. Annoyed a little bit by how long it stays dark in the morning and my slow pace. I am trying desperately not to compare my present self to my past self, but to approach my training with a “beginners mind.” What am I capable of now?

Total weekly mileage 16. Did not even run a marathon over the course of a week! I gotta long way to go.

[omats]

Sunday: Cycle 2 Week 1

Hike 3 miles; 689 feet elevation gain; 23:28 mph pace; HR 116

Jump Squats 3x3
Squats: bar, 65, 85, 95, 115, 135 x5; 155x3, 165x3* These were too high and got progressively higher with each rep. Some of the depth problem may have been caused by caution rather than a lack of strength. My form did not break down in the typical way that it does when I am squatting near my max–that is my knees did not cave. So overall, I am happy with the reps.

Drop set 125x12.

Pullups: 5 sets of 3.

Floor work for the hips like glute bridges and hip circles. This stuff really lights up my hips.

---

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about my training and how to balance the running and lifting. I thought a great deal about moving my squat day away from my long run day, and I still may do that. Legs felt good to go today though.

[doddfrank]

Perhaps : 5 training days per week. 3x running 2x weights.
Runs = 30 mins, 45 mins, 60 mins+ up to a long run suitable for race distance. Or at least work up to these durations.

Weights = 2 sessions that alternate with running days as much as possible. If you have a running day after a weights day avoid legs on that day (or go light).
Run Wts Rest Run Wts Run Rest
If you want to improve aerobic volume for marathon type event use a bike/row type of session one day per week on same day as weights.
If you want more running speed replace the shorter run with intervals.

Found I could race at around 1-2 mins per mile faster than my usual training pace,

[omats]

@doddfrank Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the ideas.

I am particularly interested in the structure of your bike/row session to improve aerobic volume. Might you elaborate on how you structure that kind of session and/or what heart rate you recommend?

I have access to those machines but have found–especially with the bike–that my legs have to work at what feels like too hard of an effort in order to get my HR rate up.

Also, I appreciate the suggestion to replace a shorter run with an interval type workout. Right now, my midweek non-long runs are kinda throw away miles. I would do better to try to elicit some training effect from one or both of them. I think I will take your advice, shorten one, and add hill intervals. Straight speed work is hard for me to incorporate without injurious effect. I think I must overstride or push too hard too soon here.

[omats]

Cycle 2 Week 1

MP bar x5; 55x5; 60x10
Facepulls and tricep push downs
Pullups 5 sets of 3

Quick and easy. I think it would take a lot of work for me to drastically improve on MP right now. So, I am just going tread water here and do the minimum. I would like to get those pullup numbers up. A few months ago, I worked up to doing 25 pull-ups over the course of a day every day for 20 days. I got to the point where I could get those 25 in sets of 6 and 7 and with very little rest. I’d like to get back to that place again. Right now the 5 sets of 3 are not easy.

[doddfrank]

Bike/row sessions.
I suggest around 30 mins. I find indoor cardio very boring so i do something like 15mins row 15 mins bike. I have the same problem getting my heart rate above about 120, but have never really bothered about HR training anyway. The idea is just to get some more aerobic work in. if you want to go faster/longer put that effort into a run.
It is low impact so easier for the body to recover. This duration fits in with doing weights on the same session. Many triathletes have some good running times compared to the type of running they do, so the xtraining effect is probably valid.

Intervals.
600m up to 2 miles efforts. Typical endurance based sessions are 5x800, 4x1000, 3x1M, 2x2M. Aim is to run slightly faster than your current racing pace. It is not true speed/sprinting work - so you may not get the injury overstriding issues.
Eg athlete has a 10K best of 42 mins, wants to hit 40 mins. Target would be to run 1k reps in say 3mins 50 secs. Extrapolate that model to any efforts shorter than the race distance.
IMHO intervals are great for races of 5k, 5M, 10K. 10M and above, unless you are a pretty serious/good runner you should concentrate on the getting the miles in rather than intervals. Finishing the distance is the challenge - not finishing fast.

Combining serious running and weights at distances over 10k is very difficult. You will not have the time/energy to combine it with weights.
If you are a competetive person you should see whether your abilities lie with shorter or longer races and train accordingly.

[omats]

Great. Thanks for the detailed response @doddfrank.

I am incorporating the bike into my training! I appreciate the recommendation to do so.

The interval workouts sound awful. I probably won’t be doing anything like that at this point, but maybe someday if I get excited about “racing” a shorter distanced run again.

[omats]

I was supposed to run today, but the rain was torrential this morning, and I convinced myself that the downpour was sign to not delay adding the bike.

Note to self: When you to decide to do something you find unpleasant, It’s best to do what you decide to do, immediately, and before you change your mind.

30 minutes on the bike! I avoided using any preset “program” and that was helpful in controlling the intensity. 4.6 miles; average rpm 41; average speed 9.2. My average HR was 135. Aerobically that it is the training effect I think I need. I’ll be curious to see if or how those numbers change over time, assuming I don’t increase the level.

Pullups 5, 3, 3, 2, 2. First set of 5 was awesome. I felt strong.

[omats]

Tuesday PM: 3 mile run; average pace 9:19; average HR 162. I used to be able to easily sustain a 9 or better than 9 minute mile pace. This run felt hard and was not evenly paced–I slowed down quite a lot through the third mile. Trying to run faster is much harder for me than trying to run longer.

Wed: 3.31 mile hike: average pace 21:49; average HR 103; elevation 778 feet.

DLs: 95, 115, 135, 155, 175, 185x3; drop set 155x12

HLR: 3 sets of 10
Bulgarian split squats: 3 sets of 15
Pullups: 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1

[EmilyQ]

Do you do speed sprints at all? I find that as I age the sprints are a better way for me to increase pace than doing it incrementally at whatever my normal distance is, and I also enjoy them. If you have access to a bike, do you also have access to a treadmill (i.e. a gym)? Because 6-8 intervals zooming up incline for 20 seconds or a minute would be a way to help you increase your standard pace, and I don’t find this particularly stressful to my body. Typically I walk between sprints because there’s not time to adjust the incline and I can’t run up a steep hill for any real length of time.

[omats]

No, I haven’t incorporated speed work or sprints into my training. I have just allowed myself to slowly run slower and slower…oops.

I do have access to a treadmill. I like your proposed interval workout! It sounds doable, and I would love to improve my running pace. I will give it a try next Tuesday. Thanks for the input @EmilyQ.

[omats]

Alright…the strategy for running is taking shape.

Today: 6 miles. Average pace 11:10; average HR 165 WTF? Either my watch is not particularly accurate or my perceived effort has little relationship to my HR. My average HR during my faster paced Tuesday 3 mile run, where I hit the wall during the last mile, was only 162.

Meh. I’m not really worried about it. HR is a new metric for me. I thought it might be valuable as another way for me to see improvement over time.

Anyway, I think that 6 mile distance will be a staple Thursday run. Lots of people break the marathon up into the first 20 miles and the last 6. Those numbers work for me when actually running the marathon-- it is my experience that the last 6 feel markedly different than the first 20. But, they don’t work for me when thinking about training for the marathon distance. 20 is too big a number at this point in my preparation.

For purposes of training, I think of the marathon distance this way: 6 mile warmup; 13 mile “race”; 6 mile cool down. It’s true these numbers don’t get me to 26, but close enough!

Therefore, becoming really intimate and comfortable with that 6 mile distance is important to my mental preparation. Run the first 6 miles; hit the mental reset–race 13; hit the mental reset and recover/ enjoy the last 6!

I felt okay during this 6 mile run. Tried to stay positive and patient through the run.

[Bagsy]

Obviously a marathon is a much longer race, but my crazy cross country coach usually had us do 2 speed workouts per week… absolutely awful. Stuff like 12x400m, 6x750m, 4x1600m repeats.

[omats]

Those workout sound unpleasant–especially being confronted with them 2x a week.

Did you run XC to condition for soccer or did you actually like it for what it was?

[omats]

Thursday: edited to add pull-ups 4x3; 3x1

Friday:

Bench bar: 65, 80 x5; 90x3; 80x14
Dumbbell row: 20x27x1; 20x20x1
Pushups 3x3
Vups 10 x3

Pullups 2, 1 and done. Really tired today. Even pull-up singles were sluggish. When I train pull-ups with frequency, I like all my reps to be very clean and nearly effortless. That was not going to happen today. I will take a break from them until Sunday.

[Bagsy]

Our coach was crazy. On top of those were a long run, usually a tempo run, and recovery runs that turned into semi-long runs… she didn’t taper anyone correctly for a race besides her star runners.

XC definitely helped my stamina for soccer, but I regret doing it. I think it detracted from my primary focus, and I thought I liked it and the results more than I did. I continued long distance running for about a year in college on my own and ran some decent half marathon times, but it wasn’t a great activity for me.

[omats]

Coaching really matters at the HS level. I think some of those folks do quite a bit more damage to their athletes than they realize. I have tried to tell my kids–one a freshman in college and one senior in HS–that their best days as athletes still lie ahead of them. I have certainly enjoyed athletics more and probably gotten more from sport as an adult than I ever really did as a kid.

[omats]

Saturday am: 10 miles; average pace 11:25; average HR 161; elevation 794 feet

I had planned to increase my long run only ever other week–so not this week. But next week’s weather looks dicey. So, I made a decision to run long today just to be sure to get it in.

I am happy that I covered the distance that I wanted to cover, that I did not avoid hills, that my legs felt okay, and that I did not hurt myself.

I remain concerned/ disappointed/ frustrated about my slow pace… there were moments over the last few miles where I thought…“if you could run ___min miles, you’d be done by now.” But I gotta get over that and readjust my expectations for how long these long runs are going to take me.

[Bagsy]

Every coach I had in high school sports was terrible in at least one way. In club sports it was an opposite experience. I get the sense that the former is all politics, whereas the latter necessitates some merit.