Amish Country Half - Training Recap - Week 15

Week 15 - the beginning of the end!

Sunday 11/12: Planned - Rest / Actual - Rest

Sunday was spent recovering from consuming copious amounts of pizza. We were supposed to have a D&D session but schedules kind of fell through and we ended up bumming around the house and playing Mice & Mystics instead (still fun). Ate junky but not too poorly, since my belly was still somewhat perplexed about all the pizza.

Monday 11/13: Planned - Easy: 30 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 7:45 cooldown (2.78 miles)

Cold and wet morning, but this close to the finish I'm not about to give up (this became the first theme of the week...)! Legs still felt a bit fatigued so the easy effort was appreciated.

When I got home on Monday, I found the Road ID I'd ordered (once they finally got the Forerunner 230 ones back in stock) in the mailbox, but I'm having some trouble getting it onto the band. Need to fiddle with it a bit more because I really do appreciate the peace of mind it provides. Unfortunately all customer service could suggest is lubing it up, so... we'll see.

Tuesday 11/14: Planned - Intervals: 10 minutes warmup + (5 minutes @ Z4 + 2 minutes @ Z2) x 4 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 10 minutes warmup + (5 minutes @ Z4 + 2 minutes @ Z2) x 4 + 13:25 cooldown (4.02 miles)

Hill repeats! The 5/2 intervals align pretty well with the length of my hill loop, though not perfectly. Legs felt pretty good here even though I was definitely tired of going up that hill by the time I finished (of course I hit cooldown right as I was about to go down into the valley, and the easiest way back home is up it, so up it I went...). The light was good enough to push at least some on the downhills - I'm trying to make sure I practice that at least a little since it's going to be critical in the half.

After work Tuesday, Mike and I went to the Pens/Sabres game! Before the game we went to a place that was on my list of restaurants to try called Yuzu Kitchen, which was just a few blocks from the arena, downtown. Their specialty is ramen and unique cocktails with Japanese liquors, so that's what I got!

Shoyu Tare Paitan (that egggg)

The Bodak Purple: Shochu (liquor), cranberry, creme de violette, lime, and bubbles - weird but tasty!

We also had the cha-shu bao as an appetizer but I was too busy cramming that in my face to take a picture, apparently. After dinner we had to hustle uptown to get to the arena and arrived at our seats right after the first puck drop. Mike's from the Buffalo area so was sort of cheering for them (though not too loudly, given the boisterous yinzer sitting on his other side). It was a pretty dull game, though; felt more like watching a practice than a professional game. The Pens managed to pull it out in the end (needing 16 seconds of overtime to finish it off).

Wednesday 11/15: Planned - Easy: 30 minutes @ Z2 + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 11:07 cooldown (3.51 miles)

Elected to run in the afternoon since I had kind of a late night the night before, just like the week previous. Same distance as last week Wednesday too, but a shorter cooldown, which means I was faster! Why was I faster? I can't say for sure but it might have had something to do with these beauties...

Saucony Triumph ISO in the special edition NYC Marathon colorway. I saw these online prior to the race and was immediately taken by the color and design, but would have never splurged on them, save for the fact that after the race they went on sale for half off, which was too tempting to resist! And they're just as pretty as I'd hoped - I almost didn't want to run on them, but a nice short easy run was the ideal opportunity to test them out.

Putting them on (I took out the pretty copper-accented insoles and put in my Superfeet Berry) felt a little unusual - the Rides have a much more structured feel to them, as do the Launch 4s. These felt more like putting on a fancy sock that just happened to have a nice running sole attached. I like the way the inside is constructed, kind of like a slipper with minimal seams to bug my feet. They felt buttery and springy when I ran, though with the lower drop than my regular shoe I was definitely conscious of landing further back on my foot, closer to the heel for sure. So while I can't say that it was all because of the shoes, it's nice that my legs are feeling so good right now. My overall time/speed was actually excellent in comparison to my normal efforts here - I've run faster in my neighborhood a few times, according to Strava, but it was all more than a year ago and almost certainly at a much higher effort.

Between the shoes and the Road ID, it's safe to say the second theme of the week is established: new gear. That theme continued on my post-run dinner and shopping trip. I'd been hearing good things about Marshall's/TJ Maxx putting out winter running gear all week and decided to check it out. I thought maybe I'd find an extra pair of thermal tights, but then I stumbled across this (I may have been scouring the racks for exactly this sort of thing but was still completely shocked when it was actually there)...

...and I'm a sucker. I've had my eye out for a new vest for a while, with this one being one of the primary candidates. I wasn't about to pay full price (that's a pretty decent car repair or a few weeks of groceries at retail!) but the markdown was good and I hadn't seen this any lower anywhere else - plus it was one of two they had, in my size, I didn't have to wait for shipping, etc. I tried it on in the store and could tell even in there that it was warm, plus it fit perfectly, had zippered pockets (self packable, key pocket, all sorts of good stuff), and the super-reflective features I really wanted. To be honest my old vest is still pretty good, if a bit beat up, but it's not as shiny as I'd like and it turns out I really dislike having to put on the extra reflective vest over it, so this way I'm eliminating at least one step of that process for the time being. And I can consider it extra inducement to running this winter, taking a couple excuses out of the way. I also snagged another pair of thermal tights for the winter, and two new sweaters since work insists on turning off the heat when no one is working and I usually spend most of the week freezing.

Thursday 11/16: Planned - Intervals: 10 minutes warmup + (3 minutes @ Z4 + 1 minute @ Z2) x 5 + 5-10 minutes cooldown  / Actual - 10 minutes warmup + (3 minutes @ Z4 + 1 minute @ Z2) x 5 + 5:54 cooldown (3.26 miles) 

It was supposed to be rainy on Thursday morning, so I figured I'd run after work instead of before. It's dark so early these days that this also gave me the chance to try out the new vest, which was exciting!

This was a weird run. I'm not sure how much of it was kind of tired legs, or a positive takeaway from training, or just the way my neighborhood is, but I had the worst time getting into Z4 for this run. Every time I was going up a hill, no problem, but as soon as I started going down again my HR would drop into Z3 or lower. And since the interval was so short, I was never pushing hard for long enough overall to get it up, either. So this one was spent mostly in Z3. Oh well, they can't all be perfect! The vest was perfect, though!

Friday 11/17: Planned - Rest / Actual - Rest

This week was configured a little oddly, with a Thursday run instead of Friday, so I was ready for a day off by the time Friday rolled around. 

Saturday 11/18: Planned - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 30 minutes @ Z4 (race pace) + 5-10 minutes cooldown / Actual - 30 minutes @ Z2 + 30 minutes @ Z4 (race pace) + 10:11 cooldown (6.23 miles)

Rain dragon! Might as well get out an run - it wasn't going to end any time soon...

I'd made plans to run with Mike, which was the only reason I even got out the door for this run (knowing that this far along in the cycle, everything is really gravy and keeping things loose - but I haven't missed any runs this go-round and don't plan on starting now!). When I woke up it was absolutely dumping rain and it was unpleasantly chilly - basically just warm enough to still rain instead of snow. Snow would have probably been preferable - less wet, anyway! But I'd agreed to meet him and knock out this last "long run" on the track, since we knew in advance the weather was going to be gross, and also because I figured it would be a nice chance to see how speedy my legs felt on the easiest surface possible.

It was still drizzling pretty seriously by the time we got there, though not as bad as when I'd woke up and left the house. It was quite cold and I was glad for my vest, which does seem to repel water a bit better than my old one - bonus. Once we got moving it wasn't quite so bad, and the rain did let up to a very light sprinkle, which was pretty much perfect. My Z2 miles came in around 12:30 each which is pretty good considering "easy" at the beginning of this cycle (though admittedly on more challenging terrain) was 14:00 or higher! Mike just paced me for this portion and having someone to talk to made the time pass pretty smoothly, and before I knew it, my watch buzzed to tell me it was time to kick things into high gear.

I have to admit it kind of sucked, especially at first. Ratcheting up effort like that and knowing I have just as long to go as I've already been running at a much easier pace is a mental challenge as much as anything - my legs seemed more or less up to the task though we did have to stop chatting because my HR kept dropping out of zone. Apparently I slowed down to talk, I guess.

After a lap or so, Mike took off to try to get a better sense of where his race effort level was - he doesn't run with a watch or anything but is still much faster than me, so my 'hard' is probably no more than his 'moderate' when it comes down to it. While I was supposed to be doing this half hour at "race pace," this half is so varied in terms of elevation that there's no way I'm going to actually be able to keep a consistent pace for every mile. I'd like to hit an overall average pace around ten-minute miles, though (whether that's actually reasonable or sustainable, not sure, but I did some estimations based on the Wheeling 10K and how I handled the hills and downhills to get to that number), and so when my next two miles ticked in at just barely over 10:00 pace I was pretty pleased with myself. I didn't feel the need to waste my legs too early, so I had been keeping my HR right at the bottom of Z4 instead of shooting straight for the top and wearing out too soon, which I also considered an encouraging sign.

Once Mike rejoined me with just a couple laps left to go, though, I let him know I was going to push for the last few minutes and see what happened. It worked out pretty well, though the last 45 seconds or so I was really kicking I thought I might barf. I didn't, though, and we slowed down to do our cooldown laps. Which is when I had to go and say something about being grateful for the rain tapering off, as I was more or less only wet from sweating, and that wasn't even so bad given how cool out it was. So you can guess what happened... we ended up sprinting back to the car as the skies opened up once more just to mock me for my hubris - ha!

Weekly Total Time: 3:56:24 (down 1:35:30 from Week 14)

Weekly Total Distance: 19.8 (down 4.6 miles from Week 14)

Weight Lost: Amusingly, the scale this week got back down to right about where I was before the 10K, though I have been eating more (see: ramen and beverage from Tuesday, etc.). So things are still under control. I have two Thanksgiving meals in the week between here and the race, and it will be an interesting week calorie-wise, but I'm already planning on how I'm going to handle the week after the race and everything else until I get back to goal, so right now maintenance is good.

Next week: Week 16 is the last week of the plan! I've already got my eyes on what comes next, which is a comfort when you've spent four months with a lot of structure and rigor. I'm planning on putting together a separate post breaking out what I've found beneficial about this training and looking at overall time/miles logged and general improvements and achievements in the cycle. I'd also like to post about my plan for the race itself, so keep an eye out for that as well!