Exploding Tires, Stairs, and Progress (Week Two of Training)
So, I closed out my second week of training yesterday, and though it was a very difficult running week, I finally saw some returns on the training. For a little bit it was looking like a losing battle, as 4–4 and a half mile runs were taking everything out of me to complete even at super sluggish paces. However, a few changes and persistence seems to have paid off.
DAY ONE
So, I tried something different the first day of the week. In an attempt to keep biking while the weather is nice, I tried to take a meager ride and follow it up with a standard training run (since I had the day off and had the time to accommodate both). The ride was pretty tame, as it was just over 20 miles, and the elevation gain was about half what I normally get in during a long ride. My legs didn’t feel dead so I thought this might work. However…
The run wasn’t quite as great. I figured that four miles should be the floor for week two in an attempt to try and get more endurance in. And this was a struggle to make it just that amount. At this juncture I was happy just averaging under 11 minute miles while I’m still finding my sea legs, so even though I was dead afterwards, I was the minimum amount of satisfied after this run.
DAY TWO
This was a worse run for a couple reasons, but also a bit of progress. I decided to start running into the city from Bellevue Park, which diversified my route a little bit, which until now had mainly consisted of the Greenbelt and surrounding hilly neighborhoods. Four and a half miles was my high watermark from last week, so I was happy to get there, even though my pace was atrocious. In true form, I named this run a discouraging title in an attempt to laugh at my own shortcomings in running. I really didn’t feel like I was making any progress after this run Wednesday. The one saving grace was that this was the highest elevation gain of the training so far, so the bad pace time had at least a little justification.
DAY THREE
This still wasn’t the best run in the world, but I was very encouraged by the uptick in total volume. I ran Reservoir Park and took State Street into the city and back through Allison Hill. It’s basically the same route I took on a 4.5 mile run, but going through the park and to the river added a mile. The pace wasn’t great by any stretch, but I felt like under 11 a mile is still acceptable at this venture. And at 5.5 miles, I far outperformed what I thought I would be running. I initially thought this would peak at a five miler, but it was encouraging to make it so far on basically the same effort at the previous ones. Meaning I collapsed sweaty and dead, but I made it a full mile more than when I collapsed sweaty and dead before.
DAY FOUR was a rest day, which was a bit early, but I was really tired after this run and felt I deserved to take my rest day after only three runs this week.
DAY FIVE
I stayed out way later than I should have singing karaoke and drinking beer that I decided to use this day as a cross training day. So, I decided to run stairs with Shanna, and decided to take my bike to the riverfront to warm up my legs beforehand. Unfortunately my wheel ended up getting a bit warped somehow on the ride, which Shanna and I both noticed when we concluded. I stupidly thought I could pedal three and a half miles back after, but my tire loudly exploded on front street, and so now (needing repairs) I don’t think I’ll be riding for a bit.
The stairs however were great. I’m really happy Shanna suggested doing these as an additional exercise, because the stair running has added a different element to running. I tried tracking it this time, and the results were…weird. I’m not sure Strava is meant to record these kinds of activities, because doing a sloping set of 7 this week (7 reps, walk, 6 sets, walk, etc) was clearly a lot more than 15 ft elevation gain. In fact, I think one set of stairs is really about 20 feet, so I think the stairs will be something that the tracker won’t help for these things in the future. My calves and thighs have gotten rock hard after these stair runs though, and this activity did net my favorite Strava Heat Map ever. And even though I was dead, it clearly helped a ton for the next day…
DAY SIX
I had a shoot this morning, and took a nap after, exhausted, so I wasn’t expecting to run. But I woke up around five, and decided it was better to get a bad run in than none. So I drove down to City Island, intending to do a bad four miler just to maintain the same mileage as last week. What followed was the breakthrough I’d been waiting for, and it came on the last day of week two. I ran my first long run with no walk break whatsoever. I also made it five miles at a pace which was similar to my best paces when training for my last half marathon. So, without going on too much, this felt very good, and hopefully is a harbinger of things to come. Five miles is a good consistent distance after two weeks, and I finally felt good doing. I think I’ll probably start at 4.5 next week in an attempt to not kill myself, but this is going to be one of the turning points in my training. I ended up running 19 miles this week, which was one more than the previous week (with one less day of running). So I feel proud, and good moving forward. Getting to under 9:40 min a mile also felt like a Quantum Leap for pace. The elevation gain was significantly less than usual, but also 167 feet isn’t exactly a slouch course either.
DAY SEVEN
My calves still hurt from stairs and a strong five miles, so I decided to do my first insanity workout in awhile. This is probably my favorite singular workout in the program, because it does a lot of things really well, has high cardio, good core and balance work, and doesn’t wear you out. At 37 minutes, it also meant I could lounge out a lot of the morning too and still get a workout in. I’d like to incorporate more of the shorter insanity workouts into my running routine in the future just to get more endurance, but for not this was fine as a cross training/rest day exercise.
And so concludes Week Two! Real progress, and a glimmer of hope I’ll make this run without dying. My calves still feel a bit sore, but I think an easy 4.5 mile run tomorrow will help me recover with that. My ultimate goal for Week 3 is to get between 6 and 6.5, which I don’t think is an unreasonable goal. My runs should get easier when I move to Midtown this week, though I’ve been told by a marathon running friend of mine to not disregard the hills once I do. I’ve also been fairly lax in my diet since starting, so I really need to get on that to really get the most out of this.
Until next time friends.
