Little hiccups in Week -13.

First, Monday LT run was still indoors. It was single digit cold outside. But I couldn't do it. I set the treadmill to slightly below 7 min/mile, and I was good for only 2.5 miles at that pace. My stride started to fall apart, and I had to slow down. I finished the rest at about 8:35 pace.

Then, for the marathon paced run on Saturday, I didn't feel particularly good to start with. Upset stomach, breathing issues, bathroom, inhaler, then go. Still cold outside: just above freezing. By the end of the run, the road was slick (which did slow me down). Still, the fast miles were slower than should have been: 7:21, 7:26, 7:29, 7:25, 7:34, 7:28, 7:34, 7:45, 7:53, 7:36.

Clearly I was done after mile 7. Still finished it as fast as I could without going into some crazy race effort. By that time it was dark, cold, and I was tired. the average is 7:33, which is not the end of the World, but that 7:53 mile there looks really bad (though that part was quite icy). Anyway, I'm not dwelling on it. It's still a fine training run. It's said though that there was a time when I could do 7:15 miles without noticing them much.

I'm definitely overweight (for a runner - at least 10 lbs too heavy), even heavier than a year ago. I eat like crap and I drink too much. So there is definitely space for improvements.

Week -12 is here. This is cutback week.

M: 8 w/ 10 x 100

T:  5 R

W: 8 GA

T: Rest

F: 4 R

S: 12 MLR

Total: 37 miles. No workouts. Looks easy. The 4 R on Friday could be shifted for Thursday for the group run. Finally the absurd cold will change into reasonably cold.

Last cycle this time I was was trouble. I skipped so many runs that I had to change to the 12 week cycle. At least I seem to be in better shape now.

Week -14 was fine. I had a program on Wednesday, so I shifted my 10-miler for Thursday, which went fine. I had a good 15-miler on Saturday. The weather is terrible, but this is spring training so it is expected.

Week -13 is like this:

M: 9 w/ 5 @ LT

T: 5 R

W: 10 GA

T: Rest

F: 5 R

S: 16 w/ 10 @ MP

Total: 45 miles.

I tried to run 5 at LT on Monday on the treadmill (because it was like 10 degrees outside), but I couldn't do it. Fast running on the TM is still harder for me than running outside. So I had to give up after 2.5 miles. That's OK. This part of the cycle is mostly for endurance anyway.

I ran the 10 GA outside (in 23 F) and it was OK. I preemptively used the inhaler.

Saturday the weather will be nicer. We will get above 40 degrees. I'll try to do that MP run, but no guarantees.

Week -15 is done. It was a sad one, because we have a foot of snow on the ground, so all my runs, except for Thirsty Thursday, was on the treadmill. But I did manage to do everything, so I've finished the week. The hard workout, the 4-mile LT run was alright: 6:57 pace for 4 miles on a treadmill. I still feel TM is harder than outside, but it's getting slightly easier as I get used to it.

It's Monday, so my first run is in the books. Week -14:

S: Rest

M: 8 GA with all kinds of crap, like strides and hills sprints, which won't happen on the treadmill. (And it didn't happen.)

T: 5 R

W: 10 GA

T: Rest

F: 4 R

S: 15 MLR

Shift the 4-mile recovery to Thursday, if I make it. Everything is most likely treadmill until Saturday. Saturday, we might get lucky. We'll see.

Total: 42 miles. It doesn't look too hard actually. Just miles.

Week -16 is done. The only challenging run was the marathon-paced: 8 out of 13 was to be run at marathon pace. The goal was sub-7:30, and that was accomplished. Indeed, the splits were 7:02, 7:19, 7:31, 7:19, 7:23, 7:31, 7:24, 7:17. This is a 7:21 average. A bit too fast, but not terribly: it puts me at around 49 VDOT, which is not entirely unreasonable.

Week -15:

S: Rest

M: 10 GA

T: 4 R

W: 8 w/ 4 @ LT

T: Rest

F: 4 R

S: 14 MLR

Total : 40 miles. Friday recovery is better to be done at Thirsty Thursday. LT pace is sub-7.