Couch2Boston

I'm tired and I don't think it is just the 3 hour run today talking.  Last week was a little over 18 hours.  This week was just over 19 hours.  Work was intense with some long hours and lack of sleep.  Fatigue started to kick in by the end of the week but I had become determined to hit that 19+ hour mark.  I don't know why that was important but it was.  The hours are in the books and now my butt is glued to the couch. I made the decision a few weeks ago to schedule some downtime before I break and next week is that week.  I'm relieved it is here.  Very relieved.  There are some niggles starting to creep up, but I think I need the mental break as much as some physical downtime.  With that in mind, the only activities on deck are a morning swim with afternoon heavy lift session on Monday.  Body Pump on Wednesday with my wife and several days of sleeping in.  At least, that will be all until the fun starts on Saturday February ...

Well, since this is supposed to be a blog about getting ready for a 444 mile bike race, I guess it is about time that I start a weekly progress post talking about something that is more directly related to the 2020 goal race.  Training volume was significant this week at more than 18 hours and while it was really hard to find the time I think I stumbled onto a training methodology that is going to help get me ready for a race that takes 24+ hours. I went into this week shooting for 18+ hours and there were plenty of reasons not to get there.  Work was busy.  I actually went back into the office on Tuesday at 7pm expecting to pull an all nighter.  A friend was moving on Saturday which was going to interfere with the normal 3 1/2 hour session at the Y.  I've been having some stiffness in my right knee that caused me to bail out halfway through the Wednesday night Body Pump class for fear that I was going to take a warning sign past the point of no return. O...

This was a cutback week so volume was about 2/3rds normal which gave me a chance to recover and also mix things up a bit.  The big change for the week was to the weight lifting routine but first I need to do some more shameless bragging about a Thursday tempo run even if the treadmill and I are having a squabble.  The treadmill revolted on this run.  The hard/fast run was only 5 miles and it was inspired by all of the articles the last few weeks about the IAAF banning the Nike Alphafly and/or Vaporfly.  I broke out the original Vaporflys and decided to swing for the fences.  With about 0.6 miles to go in the 5 mile run the screen on the treadmill changed as if I touched it.  It showed the distance for a few seconds and then went back to normal.  This happens all of the time from the sweat I'm throwing around.  A minute later when I would have had less than a half mile to go I tried to change the screen so I could watch the distance on the way into...

This week has gone pretty well.  I'm back enjoying lifting heavy things, or at least heavy for me things.  After finishing last week with some missed PT sessions I learned that PT is like swimming.  If you don't do it for a few days the first day back feels like you have lost 90% of the skill.  I got to break 16 hours of training for the first time so far this cycle, which is pretty cool, but I did start to toy with the idea of taking a dramatic cut back in training.  I was on the bike Wednesday morning soft pedaling for 30 minutes after a spin class and I started wondering at what point is it better to take a week off and do nothing rather than get hurt and be forced to take the time off anyway?  I don't have any particular aches and pains that worry me, I'm just starting to contemplate the magnitude of a 43 week training plan and whether or not it would make sense to take a very low volume week every once in a while to make sure that I stay fresh over t...

My head has been spinning since I got this test done and not just because it was a near maximal effort :-) . This was my fourth VO2Max test over the years.  I first found this special kind of pain back in 2014 and it was fascinating.  The conversation with the faculty member from a local college that administers the test is worth the cost alone.  I learn more from him every time we talk.  This time around my motivation to get tested again was that my legs seem to fatigue differently.  I don't get the same weak feeling I used to have with a hard effort.  I've had 3 runs this month where I was able to sustain high heart rates longer than expected.  I didn't know if something would show up in the test, but I figured it would be worth a try. For those that don't know, a VO2Max test is ideally done in a lab where you will run (or bike) with a facemask attached to a computer.  As the test progresses, the speed and intensity is regularly increase un...

One week closer to the race and I haven't fallen apart yet.  That's a relief :-)  Actually this week has gone pretty well.  It was a reminder of why it took so long to start blogging.  I always figured I had time to do the things or write about the things, but I've always feared that there wouldn't be enough time to do the things and write about the things. This week was the most hours had a somewhat unexpected drop in the hours I've spent on Swim/Bike/Run/Strength.  There were two missed workouts.  One was a "miss" because I substituted a VO2Max test at a local college for the Wednesday morning spin class.  The second one was out of my control.  My Friday lunch easy spin didn't happen because of a lunch meeting scheduled that I couldn't avoid.  I tried to get out of work early to sneak in a ride on the way home but I had to be an adult and see through my work responsibilities instead. The VO2Max test went very well .  I maxed out a...

All things considered, this week went pretty well.  I didn't fall and hurt myself, which is a nice bonus.  By Monday of this week my body finally felt normal again after trying to parachute from the truck without an actual parachute.  The strength training seems to be kicking in.  I've had a few runs in the last month where my legs just didn't seem to fatigue the same anymore.  The tempo workout was a barn burner with 5 miles on the treadmill @6:14 pace .  In the past this would have left me feeling a lot worse than it did.  It's actually the fastest I've ever done that particular run.  I was actually able to follow the schedule the way it was written this week, which is soooooo 2019.  Between the holidays and the fall last week there were 3 weeks in a row that stopped me from being able to execute the plan the way I wanted to.  As a result, my bike mileage is back up this week which is good since the long term goal here is to do an actu...

I started this week out feeling drained.  After the race on 1/1 the Garmin watch said I needed 68 hours of rest before the next workout.  I've seen silly numbers before, but this one was a bit extreme.  Over the next few days it kept getting worse.  I got sick.  I slept a lot and by the beginning of this week I started to feel some energy coming back.  The Garmin numbers, which I don't really trust, also started coming down so I took that was a good sign as well.  I might not trust the numbers, but I'm happy to give them credit when they help fuel my confirmation bias.  My body was coming around fine and then a couple of things happened on Wednesday Thing #1 - I woke up at 12am and knew I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep.  I gave up pretty quick and went to work.  I was in my cube by 1am and it actually was a wonderfully productive morning.  It may have helped that the office has an unlimited supply of free drinks and snacks...

I finished a successful 2019 race season chasing joy and breaking 4+ year old PRs at the 70.3 triathlon distance and at the marathon, but I also finished with some nagging issues. Back in July I was pushing my mother in law up a steep hill in a wheelchair when there was a sudden pain in my ankle. With a combination of rest, bracing, and the kitchen sink I managed the issue pretty well through the last big race on October 13th, 2019 at the Chicago Marathon where everything fell into place and I ran a 2:56. I still can't believe that happened. 5 days later and feeling invincible I tried to fun run the Bourbon Chase Ragnar relay across Kentucky. I had to drop out less than 2 hours into a 30+ hour team effort. There was no pace slow enough that didn't leave me feeling like I was going to do lasting damage. Since the beginning of November I've been very aggressive trying a variety of strategies and have had dozens of appointments with Physical Therapists, Chiropractors,...

So, if we look at this from the perspective of my #1, 'A' goal, center of my athletic universe perspective then it looks like there is going to be a 43 week ramp up to Natchez Trace 444 .  Since this blog started in early January but week 1 of that 43 weeks ended 12/15/2019 it looks like I've got some catching up to do.  This post is an overview of the first 4 weeks of training. The first 4 weeks also consists of the first 4 weeks of a 16 week marathon build for the  Two Rivers Marathon  where I hope to pace a friend to her first BQ.  Additionally, this first 4 weeks continues an off season where I've been aggressively trying to build strength and resilience in order to get through 2020 as healthy as possible.  The motivation to build resilience through  strength training  and  physical therapy  is enhanced by having a diagnosis of tendinosis in the hallucis longus tendon to explain the grinding/rubbing/weakness I've been feeling....

So, I didn't plan on running a race until the weather was much nicer here in Upstate NY, but when a heard that a couple of training buddies were going to run the local New Year's Day Resolution race I figured, why not?  After all, with about 3 weeks of running back in my legs after a two month break why not go ahead and jump into a race?  What could go wrong? I don't like running or racing in the cold.  I'm a wimp.  I've got asthma and the transition between cold and warm can be a pretty bad trigger for me.  I used to think that toughing it out when below freezing was a good way to toughen myself up, but I've had a couple experiences in the past that changed my mind.  Back in 2012/2013 during my first winter running I dressed wrong for the conditions and wound up with hypothermia.  I almost didn't make it home.  When I did get home it took hours before my double vision went away.  A few years later after running a race in the winter I stepp...

Totals Swim - 300000 yards Bike - 5222 miles Run - 1200 miles Duration - 598 hours

My best marathon by time and joy The Chicago Marathon was an amazing experience. The weather was fantastic, the city beautiful and the logistics surprisingly easy. I can’t believe how lucky I was to be there. Going into the race I had no idea I could really take 9 minutes off of my 4+ year old marathon PR and break 3 hours for the first time (2:56:35). My training plan didn’t resemble anything that any logical person would do to try and run a fast marathon. However, my fitness was demonstrably the best I’ve had in over 4 years and I’d lost 35 pounds in 3 months by cleaning up my diet. 2019 got off to a rough start for me. 6 days before running my 6th Boston Marathon I was in a doctor’s office with a needle being guided into my hip joint with the aid of an ultrasound machine. I’d tried ramping up for Boston this year with a plan heavy on speed work. It broke me. I wound up with hip pain and I had to stop running for the last month before toeing the line in Hopkinton. When I got an...