Author: Sam

Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like:

Monday AM – Elliptical: 75 minutes + PM – Easy: 6 miles

Tuesday AM – Easy: 9 miles + PM – Blitz45: Chest + Triceps

Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 6 X 5:00, 4 X 3:00, 2 mi. CD

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles

Friday – Easy: 8 miles

Saturday – Easy: 9 miles

Sunday – Quality: 10 miles w/ 8 miles at marathon pace + 30-40 seconds

Totals – 63 miles running, 75 minutes of elliptical + 45 minutes of Blitz45

Talk to you guys soon!

Hey friends! Here is what last week’s training looked like:

Monday – Easy: 9.5 miles

Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Blitz45 (Chest + Triceps)

Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 3 X 8:00, 4 X 4:00, 2 mi. CD

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Daycare Pickup Walk: 3 miles

Friday – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Pilates & Blitz45 (Back + Biceps)

Saturday – Easy: 7 miles

Sunday – Easy: 14 miles

Totals – 67 miles running, 3 miles walking, 45 minutes of Pilates + 90 minutes of Blitz45

Talk to you guys soon!

Hey friends! Here is what training looked like for the week of 04/15/24 to 04/21/24.

Monday – Easy: 7 miles

Today is DEADLINE day! WOO to the HOO! I got out for a few easy miles before tying up loose ends on a couple last-minute projects.

Tuesday – Easy: 9 miles

I waited a little too late to get out the door today and it was a casual 79°F w/ a dew point of 65°F. For mid-April, that was just plain rude.

Wednesday AM – Elliptical: WU, 15 X 1:00, 15 X 0:30, CD + PM – Blitz45 (Legs + Shoulders)

My plan has one day of cross-training per week, so I headed to the gym Wednesday morning for some time on the elliptical. Actually, I did half of this on the elliptical and half on the arc trainer. I find those equally as enjoyable, but even better when you mix it up and combine the two!

Wednesday afternoon I did a Blitz45 workout. My goal right now is to do some sort of strength training at least twice per week.

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles

I ran a little before 8 a.m. after dropping little man off at school and it was 71°F w/ a dew point of 66°F! Another rude one!

Friday – Easy: 9 miles

It was the same song, slightly different verse on Friday morning. It was 71°F w/ a dew point of 69°F. Apparently the conditions are the most notable thing for me to talk about this week. Typically I would have some quality sessions with a little bit more juicy details, but I was mentally and physically exhausted from tax season and I wasn’t feeling anything but easy runs. The post-tax season feelings are a bit polarizing. On one hand you feel like you’re on top of the world and have a whole new lease on life and on the other hand you feel totally exhausted, depressed and unmotivated. It’s a very strange transitionary phase that thankfully only seems to last for about a week to 10 days.

Saturday – Easy: 11 miles

I started this run with 7 solo miles solo and finished with 5 stroller miles. Phew. This seemed like such a good idea at the time, but those stroller miles just about did me in. My little man is not so little anymore and pushing him on a sandy, hilly road is quite the challenge. He got out and “ran” the last half mile or so with me, which of course makes my heart oh so happy!

Sunday AM – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 10 X 200, 3 mi. CD + PM – Walk: 3.5 miles

While I technically did get one little quality session in, I was |thisclose| to skipping the quality work altogether and actually did modify this one mid-run. The workout was supposed to be 10 X 400 w/ 200 recoveries, but instead I did 10 X 200 w/ 400 recoveries. The workout was pre-programmed on my watch, so I switched the interval and the recovery portions to make it less challenging. I think this was the right call on the day, as I still just couldn’t quite muster up the motivation to run fast for much longer than 45 seconds at at time. Basically this was like adding some strides into a run. Strides are always a good little stimulus with the bonus being that they aren’t too physically taxing. I was well taxed out at this point! Ha.

Totals – 55 miles running, 3.5 miles walking, 105 minutes of elliptical + 45 minutes of Blitz45

Talk to you guys soon!

As a surprise to no one, I was not able to keep up with the weekly training log posts throughout tax season. I gave it a valiant effort, making it halfway before calling it quits. As soon as I start getting overwhelmed with work (and life in general), I start removing things left and right. Training logs were one of the first thing to get axed. Of course I was still putting in all of the work! I truly do not think I could make it through tax season without some form of movement in my life. We will save the discussion of whether or not that needs to be addressed in a therapeutic setting for another day.

At this point I can say that I officially survived tax season 2024 and it feels like I have a fresh start to the year! I have no idea what I am planning to do with that “fresh start”, but I am loving the idea of it regardless. I started with a good closet clean-out, which is surprisingly good for the soul. For the sake of completeness, I am going to do a very abbreviated training log catch up post below. I plan to get back to my regularly scheduled programming next week.

Week 8 (February 19 – February 25): The cranky hamstring week.
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 6.7 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 7.2 miles
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles
Friday AM – Elliptical: 60 minutes + PM – Easy: 4 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 5 X 4:00 @ threshold, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 10.2 miles

Week 9 (February 26 – March 3): The this turned into a knee thing week.
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 4 miles @ half marathon, 6 X 1:00, CD
Thursday – Easy: 6.1 miles
Friday – Arc Trainer: 60 minutes
Saturday – Elliptical: 60 minutes
Sunday – Elliptical (“Long Run”): 90 minutes

Week 10 (March 4 – March 10): The week of no running!
Monday – Arc Trainer: 65 minutes
Tuesday – Elliptical: 75 minutes
Wednesday – Arc Trainer: 65 minutes
Thursday – Elliptical: WU, 4 X [1, 2, 3 minutes hard w/ equidistant recovery], CD
Friday – Elliptical: 30 minutes
Saturday – Elliptical (“Long Run”): 100 minutes
Sunday – Walk: 5 miles

Week 11 (March 11 – March 17): The week of easing back into things.
Monday AM – Elliptical: 60 minutes + PM – Easy: 5 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 6 miles
Thursday – Easy: 6 miles
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Elliptical: WU, 4 X [3, 2, 1 minutes hard w/ 2 minute recovery], CD
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

Week 12 (March 18 – March 24): The week where nothing stands out.
Monday – Elliptical: WU, 30 X 30 seconds w/ 1 minute recovery, CD
Tuesday – Easy: 9 miles
Wednesday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 12 X 1:00 on/off, 2 mi. CD
Thursday – Easy: 7 miles
Friday – Easy: 10 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 1600, 1200, 800, 400, 2 X 200, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

Week 13 (March 25 – March 31): The week of no daycare (some people call this “Spring Break”).
Monday – Elliptical: WU, 25 X 1:00 on/off, CD
Tuesday AM – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Blitz45: Chest + Triceps
Wednesday AM – Quality: WU, 2 X 10 miles @ threshold, CD + PM – Quality: WU, 5 X 3:00 @ threshold, CD
Thursday – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Blitz45: Cardio + Core
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 1200, 3 X 800, 3 X 400, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 10 miles

Week 14 (April 1 – April 7): The week where we are so close and yet still so far away.
Monday – Easy: 7 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday AM – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 4 X 1 mile @ critical velocity, 3 mi. CD + PM – Blitz45: Legs + Shoulders
Thursday – Easy: 8 miles
Friday – Easy: 8 miles
Saturday – Easy: 6 stroller miles
Sunday – Quality: 4 mi. WU, 5 X 300, 5 X 200, 5 X 100, 4 mi. CD

Week 15 (April 8 – April 14): The week where I started to see the light!
Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 9 miles
Thursday – Quality: 2.5 mi. WU, 8 miles @ threshold, 2.5 mi. CD
Friday – Easy: 7 miles
Saturday – Easy: 8 miles
Sunday – Easy: 12 miles

I wish I had done a better job of documenting the cranky hamstring turning into knee pain. If I am going to have anything that is cranky, it’s going to be my high hamstring, so when that first started bothering me, I didn’t think much of it. However, when it made it’s way down into the meat of the hamstring, that was more concerning and then all of a sudden I couldn’t run without my knee hurting. The odd thing is that I still can’t truly explain the pain. Sometimes it felt like it was the front outside of the knee and sometimes it felt more like it was the back of the knee. It was very odd! My sports chiropractor helped me navigate it and ultimately got things cleared up for me.

The whole process was a bit eye opening as it helped me to realize 1) I am not invincible (obviously! … and yet also sometimes the reminder is good) and 2) I need to focus more on strength training, building muscle mass and taking care of my bones if I want to keep running into my forties, fifties and beyond. Right now, longevity in the sport is very important to me. I stumbled across a functional training studio that offers 45 minute group-fitness classes that are primarily strength-based and I’ve added that into my weekly routine. My plan is to go to two classes per week.

The other crazy thing is that the week to 10 days of no running and only cross training seemed to skyrocket my fitness, at least according to my watch. I was able to push myself much harder aerobically than I do on easy runs, but was also still able to recover without any trouble. It was almost as if my watch had an aha moment and realized how much of a training load my body could actually tolerate. My projected marathon time went down by 20+ minutes and now most mornings the watch tells me that I am 100% recovered (as opposed to never getting above 25% or so before that). It definitely makes me think that there is something to be said for Parker Valby’s approach to training. The main problem would be the lack of fresh air. I really, really started to crave fresh air during those cross training days. A heart-pumping sweat session is great, but fresh air does the mind and soul a world of good! So for now, I think I will continue with the majority of my activities being outdoor runs, but it’s nice to know that there are other options out there when running isn’t in the cards!

Monday – Easy: 8 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 9.6 miles
Wednesday AM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 6 X 1 mile @ threshold, 2 mi. CD + PM – Pilates
Thursday – Easy: 8 miles
Friday AM – Elliptical: 60 minutes + PM – 5 miles
Saturday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 5 X 1:30 + 2 mi. @ critical velocity, 2 mi. CD
Sunday – Easy: 14 miles

Totals – 65 miles running + 45 minutes Pilates + 60 minutes elliptical

Hey friends! Catching up on the training log today. Week 6 was a crazy week. Richard was out of town all week, Ward has yet another ear infection and tax season is in full swing. I was supposed to do a one mile race on Sunday, but I honestly just was not feeling it at all. I was exhausted from a stressful week and I came up with a lot of excuses to not race. A friend reminded me this morning that sometimes excuses are perfectly valid. I needed to hear that! At this point, I think I am shifting my goal of going for every state record from the mile to the marathon to coincide with my birth year, which actually makes a lot more sense anyway. I’ll go for all of them in my 39th year and if I happen to get a few 38 year old records along the way, that’ll just be icing on the cake!

Monday – Easy: 6.4 miles
Tuesday – Easy: 8 miles
Wednesday – Easy: 7.1 miles
Thursday AM – Quality: 3 mi. WU, 12 X 1:00 on/off, 3 mi. CD + PM – 30 minutes elliptical
Friday – Easy: 6 miles
Saturday – Easy: 6 miles
Sunday – Easy 10 miles

Totals – 54 miles running + 30 minutes elliptical

Talk to you guys soon!

Hey friends!

Monday – Easy: 7 miles

Tuesday – Easy: 9 miles

Wednesday AM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 4 X 7 minutes, 2 mi. CD + PM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, [6, 5, 4, 3] minutes, 2 mi. CD

Thursday AM – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Pilates

Friday – Easy: 8 miles

Saturday – Easy: 8.6 miles

Sunday – Quality: 4 mi. WU, 4 X 400, 4 X 300, 4 X 200, 3 mi. CD

Totals – 70 miles running, 6 miles walking + 45 minutes of Pilates

Talk to you guys soon!

Hey friends!

Monday – Easy: 6 miles

Sunday’s double threshold day necessitated a few “easy like Sunday Monday morning” miles to start the week. I was very sore and very cold for this run. The former was due to the fact that I slightly overran the second “threshold” workout the day before (thus slightly changing the intent of the workout and the system that was worked) and the latter was due to the fact that I slightly underdressed for temps that were still in the low 30s.

Tuesday – Easy: 8.5 miles

I was able to meet Rebecca for some easy miles Tuesday morning. Luckily we got this one in between rain showers in our area. I’m not gonna lie, I feel pretty accomplished on the mornings when we have eight miles done before 5:30 a.m.

Wednesday AM – Easy: 8 miles + PM – Easy: 5 miles

I was originally supposed to have a quality session on Wednesday. It was going to be 6 X 5:00 at “critical velocity” pace (i.e., slightly below threshold). My legs were still very sore and I knew about 30 seconds in to the first repeat that the workout was not going to happen. I ran easy instead. After a brief discussion with John, we determined that I essentially ran the second “threshold” workout at critical velocity pace. He tweaked the plan for the remainder of the week based on the feedback that I gave him. Here is your friendly reminder to run the intent of the workout!

Thursday AM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 12 X 200, 2 mi. CD + PM – Pilates

Thursday’s workout ended up being a two mile warm up, 12 X 200 with a 1:00 walking recovery and a two mile cool down. I didn’t go to the track for the 200s as I typically would. Instead these were more like some strides thrown into an easy run. The goal wasn’t to do them all out, but just to get the legs turning over without overdoing anything. After a rainy morning, I got this one in around lunchtime. Holy moly … it was in the seventies with a dew point of seventy-one! After the frigid temperatures we had the week before, that was a harsh jolt back to reality!

Friday – Easy: 12 miles

Saturday AM – Elliptical + PM – Easy: 5.5 miles

Sunday – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 15 X 1:00, 2 mi. CD

Sunday’s workout was a two mile warm up, 15 X minute “on” minute “off” and a two mile cool down. This was meant to be a fartlek type of run with no specific focus on paces. The temperature ended up being basically perfect for this one (mid-forties), which was a relief. There was nothing too notable about this one except for that minute on minute off workout always end up being a bit sneaky and harder than you think. I averaged 5:46 for the minutes on (paces ranged from 5:34 to 5:59). As I mentioned, there wasn’t a big focus on the pace, but of course I like to check it out afterwards. My next race coming up is a one mile race and I don’t even know if I can hold my fastest one minute interval pace for a mile at this point. We shall find out in a couple of weeks!

Totals – 63 miles running, 3 miles walking, 60 minutes of elliptical + 45 minutes of Pilates

Talk to you guys soon!

Hey friends! What. a. week! 2024 is off to chaotic start and how is this only the third week of the year?! It feels like it’s been an entire year at this point. Ha. Week 3 was marked by icy roads, below freezing temps (not all that common here in lower Alabama), daycare closures, unexpected work travel and a whole lot of schedule shuffling! As most of you can probably relate (Type A runners unite!), I do not do well when things don’t go as planned, especially when it is out of my control.

Monday – Easy: 12 miles

I met Rebecca Monday morning for my “long run” of the week. I don’t typically start the week with a long run, but as I was naively planning out my schedule for the week, this seemed to make the most sense. The rest of the week didn’t go as planned, so this probably didn’t actually make sense, but oh well. Regardless, it was a nice run and a nice way to start the week!

Tuesday – Easy: 7.5 miles

I was supposed to go to the office Tuesday, but ultimately icy road conditions prevented me from traveling. I got up and went to the gym fairly early. On my way home, the icy rain really started to come down. At least I got my run in! Daycare was closed, meetings were either postponed or handled remotely and the day went on. My dad was a huge lifesaver as Richard and I both had busy workdays, but there is still something so stressful to me about being out of sync with our regular schedule. I know this is something that I need to work on, because the level of anxiety I felt this week was off the charts. When I take a step back, I know that nothing we were dealing with necessitated such levels of anxiety!

Wednesday AM – 60 minute elliptical + PM – Easy: 5.25 miles & Pilates

Wednesday morning daycare had a delayed opening. I had to give a presentation at work (with hundreds of people in attendance (hello anxiety!)) and Richard unexpectedly had to go out of town for work (hello more anxiety!), so I hopped on the elliptical and watched videos on YouTube of other people presenting on the topic I was covering. In my mind, I felt like I really *needed* to get some form of movement in before my presentation. However, I also know that this was just my anxious brain needing some sort of outlet. Perhaps I should learn to knit or something?!

After sitting in meetings from 9 until 3, I was able to get out for a short run Wednesday afternoon before heading to Pilates.

Thursday – Easy: 8 miles

Thursday afternoon I ran from home. I was able to wait until the warmest part of the day to run, which is something that I don’t take for granted.

Friday AM – Easy: 6 miles + PM – Easy: 6.75 miles

Saturday – Easy: 6 miles

I met Rebecca and Kara Saturday morning for six below-freezing miles. The feels like temperature was in the teens! I wore two pairs of tights, two pairs of gloves, tall socks, a fleece-line long sleeve shirt, a vest, a jacket, ear warmers and a toboggan. I was cold until about the last mile of the run, when thankfully the wind was at our back and the sun had started to warm things up a touch. I don’t know how you guys living basically anywhere else in the country do it! We did post-run coffee hangs afterwards, which was warming to the mind, body and soul!

Sunday AM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 8 X 4:00, 2 mi. CD + PM – Quality: 2 mi. WU, 3 X 6:00, 2 mi. CD

After moving workouts around and basically not doing any sort of quality work all week, Sunday was finally the day to tackle my second double threshold workout! I am only doing these every other week or so and I was looking forward to seeing how this one went. I did the first workout on the treadmill. After running outdoors in below-freezing temperatures dressed like the Michelin Man the day before, I knew that I would not be able to run *fast* in all. the. layers. My goal pace for the threshold portion was 6:11. I warmed up for 2 miles by increasing my speed on the treadmill by 0.2 mph every 2 minutes. For the workout portion I alternated between 9.7 mph on the intervals and 7 mph on the recoveries. There was a one minute recovery between each four minute interval. I start bumping the speed back up at 45 seconds so that I am fully back at speed once the next interval starts. I felt really good for this one! I was tempted to run some of them faster, but knowing that I had a second workout to do later in the day made me think better of it.

I went over to my mom and dad’s house for my second threshold session (thresh-sesh!). They were able to watch Ward while I ran, which worked out really well. I ended up running on the track, which wasn’t really necessary, but was easier in the sense that I didn’t have to think about planning a route. I wasn’t entirely sure what the traffic would be like on Sunday afternoon and I didn’t want to have to bail back and forth to the sidewalk while trying to maintain a steady pace. It has been years since I have run at the track by my mom and dad’s house. I had completely forgotten how fast it feels running there! The track surface is much springier than the one I typically run on. My legs felt surprisingly good and luckily it warmed up enough that I was able to run in shorts. I ended up overrunning the workout a tad, but I also know that the splits are artificially inflated because of the GPS inaccuracy on the track. My watch shows the paces for the six minute intervals to be 5:52, 5:45 & 5:43. I think we can add 8-10 seconds per mile to those. Either which way, it was a success! After my workout, someone at the track commented to me that I just made everyone else at the track tired, to which I responded, “Including myself!”

Totals – 68.5 miles running, 3 miles walking, 60 minutes of elliptical + 45 minutes of Pilates

Talk to you guys soon!