Author: Mark Allman

First day back. Not too bad at all. A somewhat cold morning run: 38 degrees, 18 MPH winds, 26 degree wind chill and light snow flurries. This will probably be the last opportunity to get out in the snow for a while, so I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

Weight: target: 149.3, actual: 149.4

Decided to give my leg a two-week rest. Time to get back to training. The plan is updated and I’m all set. It’s been hard to ignore my running shoes whispering in my ear.

It looks like the earliest race that’s not been cancelled is the Triple Trouble (www.yukanrun.com), which is a 1-mile, 5K and a half marathon, in August. No updates on the Erie Marathon in September. No idea if I can get there or where to stay if it’ll be held. The Newport Marathon in October also has no updates beyond closing registration due to the uncertainty.

We’ll just play it by ear. Better to be ready.

Today is an off day. Rather then be strictly “off,” I was thinking about taking the racing bike out for a not-too-intense ride. Well, when I got up at 4:15AM it was 25 degrees. That’s just too cold. It’d probably be a real-feel (“wind chill”) of around 15 degrees.

I still think adding a bike cross-training day in once and a while is a good idea, but not until it gets a bit warmer.

Today was a speed day. Run the following with a 400m jog in between each: 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800 and 400. I felt tired before the 2 mile warm-up and definitely spent after these. It was about 30 degrees and around 18 with the wind chill.

It was fun figuring out a route to run these! Fortunately, I have a nice, rather flat and wide road not too far away with plenty of side streets to use as start/end points.

Target pace: 7:50, average was 8:19. Weight target was 149.86, actual was 152.8. I think the weight issue is due to a lack of getting around (pretty much) during the day since we’re all stuck at home. I plan to try to do some stretching and things like that each hour to nudge the metabolism up.

A week ago the run on the day after a long run was a real struggle. I felt very tired. Today’s 6 mile run was also after a long run (15 miles) yesterday and it wasn’t as bad.

Target pace: 9:50, actual: 9:47. Weight target: 150.0, actual: 153.0 (ouch!). Weight is such a variable number. Just keep at it ….

Whew. A 15 mile run on a rolling hills course. Pace was about 10:06 and the target was 9:50. Weight was 150.0 and the target was 150.14.

Everyone agrees that there’s a mental aspect to running. Including long runs in a training plan is as much mental training as it is physical. On a long run, you need to mentally sit back and be patient. You’re going to be out here a while. We all need to train our brains to relax and stop asking “how much longer.” And to also stop focusing on each step and “how we feel.” Feel? Doesn’t matter. We have 10 or 15 miles left. Shut up and relax.

I’m trying out doing some cross-training on the bike rather than just taking a day off. We’ll see how it works (or doesn’t). Cycling is a good workout for the legs and avoids the impact stresses of running. I put in 7.75 miles and when I got off the bike my legs felt like lead.

Today it was 29 degrees and a bit breezy. Not an ideal day for cycling. Note to self: warmer gloves and a wind-proof jacket are definitely needed.

Got out early (4AM) so that I could both avoid traffic and also avoid the snow that moved in a few hours later. As I type this at 7:35AM it’s snowing. It’ll probably 90 degrees next week. Go figure.

Today was a speed workout day. 4 x 1.25km at a target pace of 7:50. Actual pace was 7:52. Weight target was 150.7 and actual was 151.0.

As I ran, it occurred to me that there are a few components to “going faster,” or “speed,” for a longer distance:

1. Increase tempo.
2. Increase stride length.
3. Push harder on each step.

From what I’ve read, we should have a tempo of around 180 steps/minute. OK, don’t increase tempo to increase speed. I also don’t think that increased stride length is a good idea at all. It changes your foot impact angle and puts a strain on your upper legs, e.g., hamstrings. Sounds like a recipe for injury. No, thanks.

I remember at the beginning of a half marathon last year a person running at about the same tempo and stride length as me but going distinctly faster than me. Ah! She was pushing harder with each step. As I ran each rep this morning I was trying to focus on pushing harder more than increasing tempo or stride length. We all seem to have a “default” amount of force we push with on each stride. The “default” feels like a natural, “steady state” amount of effort. The “steady state” feel changes a bit each day. To push harder I had to really concentrate — if I mentally veered off to something else I’d catch myself after a few seconds settling back into the “default” force.

It was a very tired run this morning. It’s what I expected after a 12.5 mile run the previous day. Good weather — 50 degrees, some wind, sunny.

Target pace: 9:50, actual pace: 9:56. Target weight: 151.0, actual: 153.4. 88 days until the Mad Marathon.

12.5 mile run, 52 degrees, windy and raining. I try to run early in the morning. Since it’s dark, it’s really hard to tell where the potholes are — they all look like puddles. I stepped into a deep one that (obviously) was filled with cold water.

Weight: 150.6, target is 151.1. Running pace: 9:44, target is 9:32.