I've finished week -14 without any issue. I've done a 15-miler on Friday (compressed week, due to motorcycle teaching), and it went all fine. I did a 8:23 average, and a 7:42 last mile. All good.

Then the weekend went by teaching, and I got tempted, and I skipped Monday as well. It was hot, and I didn't feel good either. Also, this week, I don't have weekend teaching. So I just get back to the normal calendar.

It's not going to be easy. Today the heat index is brutal, and I have a 5-mile LT run. Oh my!

M: Rest

T: 9 w/ 5@LT

W: 5 R

T: 10 GA (Thirsty Thursday!)

F: Rest

S: 5 R

S: 16 w/ 10@M

Total: 45 miles.

Paces:

LT 7:17, unless it feels too hot, and then I can go down to 7:25. But, if I go late enough, I should be OK. Maybe after sundown.

MP: sub-8. This really should be done in the Parklands.

Week -15 is in the books. Another week of teaching, another week of good achievement.

Notable runs:

LT run on Wednesday (4 miles) with splits 7:16, 7:18, 7:14, 7:16. I had to stop at the crosswalk in my last mile, so that would have been a few seconds faster. This points to a solid 46 VDOT.

14-mile run on Friday. 8:21 average pace, which sounds way too fast for 46 VDOT. Yet, it felt easy until about the last three miles, but even those were fine, and my last mile was in 7:32. This points to more like 48-ish VDOT, even considering that I'm stronger at long distance.

I think all this just shows that my endurance is better than my stamina, which is probably better than fitness. Not all that surprising. The marathon paced run last week was hard for some reason, so I'll stay careful, and keep my M pace just under 8 min/mile. It doesn't have any training effect beyond easy runs anyway. And the brutal terrain makes it a challenge to run an 8 min pace for my marathon anyway. All for future success.

But as for LT and VO2max, I think I'll train at 46 VDOT. Not that it matters for this week though.

Week -14:

M: 8 GA w/ 8 strides

T: 5 R

W: 10 GA

T: 4 R

F: 15 MLR

Total: 42 miles. Paces, mostly by feel.

This week doesn't feel like it should be challenging. It's the same as last, except an extra mile on a recovery run, and an extra mile on the long run, but no LT effort. The weather may be a tad cooler. Teaching again in the weekend.

It is extremely difficult to have all the running in, when I teach motorcycle classes regularly. I did manage last week though. This week included my longest run since April 2022. Only 13 miles, but in the hilly Parklands, and the last 8 at marathon pace.

This run, which was my only workout, ended with the 8 hilly miles at paces 7:40, 8:12, 7:47, 7:45, 7:56, 8:49, 7:45, 7:44 for a 7:57 average. That's pretty perfect for a 3:30 marathon. And since this was sufficiently hard (struggling though the last mile), I'll keep training at this VDOT: 45. I can go faster, if all workouts get too easy.

OK, one might argue that it was very hot (86 F, feels like 91), and quite hilly (529 ft over the 13 miles, but the first 5 was mostly flat), my VDOT may be a bit more. But I still have to try to be conservative.

The week was complete with 36 miles. On a very positive note: no use of the inhaler. Not even my workout. It's because I forgot to bring it. But I didn't need it.

Week -15:

M: 10 GA

T: 4 R

W: 8 w/ 4@LT

T: 4 R

F: 14 MLR

Total: 40 miles. Paces: GA: 8:40-9:00, R: just jog, LT: 7:25, MLR: definitely sub-9 for the second half.

Week 1 is in the books. Not too easy, but I hope I can do this cycle. The Sunday 12-miler was fun with Flora. We did an 8:22/mile average, which sounds fast, but it didn't feel hard. The 87F temperature almost felt too cold, I'm so well acclimated. :)

All the evidence suggest that I may bet at 48-49 VDOT, or soon I'd be there. But I'll be super careful. Fitness is surely not there, and stamina is lacking, too. This is probably the result of the lack of workouts for years now.

Since I teach MSF this weekend, let's try to frontload this week. There are only four running days. This is the idea:

M: 8 GA + 6 x 10 hills + 8 x 100 strides. I'll probably skip the hills, because that would make this workout much harder, and Monday is supposed to be rest anyway.

T: Rest

W: 10 GA

T: 5 R

F: 13 w/ 8@M. I'll start this at 7:58 (45 VDOT) to be careful again. 13 miles will be hard anyway, especially with such condensed week, and the main goal is to develop endurance. I'll only speed up, if this feels too easy (doubtful).

For this cycle, the first time in my life, I'll try to follow the stretching and strength exercises as well as the runs. To have some notes available, here is what Pfitzinger suggests:

Dynamic stretching:

Arm-cross (10)

Cat-cow (8)

Leg swing (15 per leg)

Side swing (15 per leg)

Hip circle (10 per direction)

Knee hugs (10 each leg, 5 both legs)

Side skips (15 each direction)

Static stretching: (2 per side each)

Bent-leg calf stretch

Straight-leg calf stretch

Straight leg hamstring stretch

Lying hamstring stretch

Quadriceps stretch

Hip flexor stretch

Gluteal stretch

Hip rotation stretch

Shoulder and lat stretch

Chest stretch

Swiss ball lower back stretch

Downward dog

I finished the race week with only 21 miles. Then the following week started with a couple of motorcycle classes (Sunday I took one, Monday to Wednesday I taught one), so no running. Then flew to New York on June 28 to meet up with my family.

I did run! 5 miles in Union City, NJ which was a lot of fun. I was not fast, but it was nice. I ran another 5 on the 29th, also in Union City, and then we drove to Lewiston, NY, when I had a 6.3 mile run by the beautiful Niagara River.

On July 1st, my training started, in true Pfitzinger manner: a rest day. I used it to walk many miles at the Niagara Falls State Park. Then today I drove home from there, and I did my first actual training run: in true Pfitzinger manner it was a workout.

So that was today: 2 easy + 4 LT + 2 easy. I aimed to run the easy portion at 9:00/mile, and the LT portion at 7:25, according to 45 VDOT. I ended up with splits 7:10, 7:21, 7:13, 7:10 for an average of 7:13.5. It felt spot on my lactate threshold, but it was also in adverse conditions: 84F, 62% humidity, and after driving all day. In any case, it shouldn't be a problem to train at 46 VDOT.

Here is the rest of the week:

W: Rest

T: 9 GA (Thirsty Thursday is perfect for this)

F: Rest

S: 4 R

S: 12 MLR

Total: 33 miles.

Paces: GA: 8:31 to 9:00, R: over 9:00, MLR: under 9:00.

I really should reread Pfitzinger. And incorporate stretching, core, and all in my training regimen.

The total is not too much, but the individual runs are kind of long. Still, I hope I'll deal with them just fine.