No Sleep Express Rolls On

Between a very intense and stressful time at work, preparing for what will be a tax return from Hell, and a mild ear infection - sleep has simply been non-existent for me.  Five hours Sunday night, and just four on Monday took me out to 7 consecutive nights w/ five hours of sleep or less.

Unfortunately I had hill repeats on the schedule for Tuesday.  During my 3-mile warm up prior to the hills I felt somewhat sluggish.  This session was not going to be pretty.  Where I usually do 10 x 1-minute repeats, Tuesday's session was going to be slightly different.  10 x 45-seconds broken down into 3-sets.  4 x 45-seconds, 90-second rest, 4 x 45-seconds, 2-minute rest, 2 x 45 seconds.  The good news was that I'd be getting a little extra rest - the bad news was that even though the repeats were slightly shorter, they were going to be much faster.  

I hit the first set pretty hard.  I was surprised how quickly I recovered after set #1, and went out hard again to begin set #2.  After the sixth rep I really started to feel it, and by the 8th rep I was fried.  I took my 2-minute set break after #8, but I still felt lousy.  For a second I thought about just bailing after eight, but thought better of it.  Repeat #9 wound up being the 2nd fastest one of the lot, but it left me dead in the water for #10.  I did the best I could but it was a struggle the whole way.  

Looking at the data afterwards, this was surprisingly the fastest hill session I've ever done.  I don't know how long I can keep doing this w/ no sleep.  I'm bound to crash here sooner or later.

Quite odd to have it such that the hardest part of my training is sleeping!

Training:

Mon, 3/16:  off day (scheduled)

Tues, 3/17:  6-miles including 10 x 45-second hills

Back to the Hills

Today I ran my first set of 1-minute hills since the Fall.  Nothing special, 8 x 1-minute w/ a 3.5 mile warm up.  (was supposed to be 10 x 1-minute, but I really started to feel it in the glutes after just 6, so I made the decision to do two more and call it a day)  In October I got very sore after my first hill session and it wound up affecting my next workout, so this time I decided to pull it back a little until I see how my body reacts over the next two days.  Other than that, the session went OK.  The pace was good, but I'm hoping that by my 3rd session I'm hitting these guys much faster.  

Also, I wound up running 5-miles on Monday which is usually my day off.  After the 12-miler on Sunday I figured I'd go out and do a recovery run, but the pace came much easier than I was expecting and I wound up going faster than I'd have liked.  

If all's well tomorrow, I should be looking at a couple of easy days and a threshold workout on Friday.

Training:

Mon, 3/9:  5-miles @ 6:50 pace

Tues, 3/10:  6-miles including 8 x 1-minute hills

Hill Repeats - #6

I had decided to flip-flop my long day and off day on Sun-Mon, taking the off day Sunday - the day after the big interval workout.  However, I had a little something minor going on in the inside of the right knee, so I eventually decided to take Monday off as well.  Not thrilled about missing the long run this week, but I'm going to err on the side of caution almost every time.

Today I had my 10 x 1-minute hill session on tap, but being that this is the "down week" JT said to just sort of go through the motions on this one, don't shoot for a time record.  Knowing I wouldn't be absolutely killing myself this time, I upped the warm up run from the standard 3-miles to 5, essentially getting in one of my easy runs in addition to the hill work.  

The hill session started out a little on the slow side as planned, but I ran a few quicker ones towards the end.  A pretty good session - although I was tired at the end, I wasn't dizzy or completely spent like most of these workouts, so I guess I executed the session as per JT's instructions.

A few easy days to follow before hitting the 2nd workout later in the week - that one won't be easy.

Training:

Sun & Mon, 12/7 and 12/8:  Off 

Tues, 12/9:  8-miles including 10 x 1-minute hill repeats

Hill Repeats - #5

Today's hill session was a bit different than the standard 10 x 1-minute.  This time it was 3-sets of 3 repeats - each one (1-minute, 45-seconds, 45-seconds) w/ the 45-second guys having a faster leg turnover.  Between sets I had the luxury of 90-seconds rest at the bottom of the hill instead of the usual 3-5 seconds.    

Tough session.  As has been typical, everything was considerably faster than last time.  But unlike the past sessions, after what I thought was repeat #7 (of 9) I didn't feel like I could do two more so I cut it short.  I later discovered that my last rep had actually been #8, and had I known that, I'd certainly have found a way to get in one more.  

Not being able to count to 9 demonstrated what I already knew to be true; I just was not mentally ready for the workout.  However, being that this is due to the Thanksgiving holiday being upon us and me having to begin my cooking tomorrow (and of course having not yet completed the grocery shopping) I'm not going to beat myself up over this one.  It's tough to stay mentally sharp enough to nail the last reps of a demanding hill workout when you're trying to figure out whether or not you're going to use wild or basmati rice as part of the stuffing for the split acorn squash, or if you should garnish the cream of mushroom soup w/ some fresh black truffles.  (answers - basmati, and Hell Yes!)

So no big deal.  I've got an easy run tomorrow, off on Thanksgiving day and then a 5 x 1000m threshold run on either Friday or Saturday.  (back to the speed next week I believe)

Training:

Mon, 11/24:  5-miles easy

Tues, 11/25:  3-mile warm up, then 8 hill repeats.

Hill Repeats #4 (show of progress)

It was back to the Hill on Saturday afternoon.  I spent a good deal of time stretching, then heating, then stretching the quad beforehand and made sure I got in a good 3-mile warm-up.  Same deal as the two previous sessions:  10 x 1-minute, jog back down, no rest between reps.

I'll spare you the blow-by-blow.  Let's just say it was another tremendously difficult session to get through.  At the end of the last rep I was light headed and dizzy to the point where I honestly needed to get off my feet for a good 30-seconds.  

Good news is that the quad made it through OK.  No issues during the session, no issues later that evening.  The next morning I can feel that it's a little tight, but not as bad as last week.  I scheduled another CMT session for tomorrow, so hopefully she'll be able to make more progress there.

At this point, I'm halfway through my eight scheduled hill sessions.  After the first session (the one on the 20% grade hill of death) sessions 2 through 4 have been identical.  (10 x 1-minute all on the same hill)  Here's a look at my progress:  (times shown in mile pace)

Rep #	17-Oct	24-Oct	8-Nov
1	7:04	6:10	5:57
2	7:09	6:22	6:47
3	7:05	6:23	6:27
4	6:59	6:27	6:04
5	6:53	6:28	6:13
6	7:01	6:54	6:12
7	7:03	7:00	6:10
8	6:42	7:06	6:39
9	6:43	7:11	6:37
10	6:13	6:49	6:21
Average:	6:53	6:41	6:20

When I look at it in terms of mile pace, obviously all of it looks really slow.  I can tell you it definitely doesn't feel slow when I'm about 50-seconds into rep #6 with the near 10% grade I'm working with.

When I look at in terms of progress from one session to the next it's definitely encouraging.  Clearly I'm getting better every time out.  Not sure how this translates into me getting better at an 800m or a 5k, but I'm certainly getting better at running up this hill!  

We may change it up the next couple of sessions - either 8 x 90-seconds or maybe 12 x 45-seconds focusing on greater speed.  I imagine that after another few sessions I'll begin to plateau and we'll move on to a different area of focus for "quality day #2" each week.  As it stands now, Q-day #1 is Threshold running, and has been since early September, but that will be changing after next week.  Next Wednesday is my 4-mile Tempo run and that's going to be the last threshold effort before transitioning Q-day #1 to preliminary speed work.

So it looks like it will be prelim speed and hills for about a month before we change it up again.  I'll post up a review of my base training since July-August in the next few days - I really like the way it's flowed and I certainly can't complain about my progress.  As usual, just need to stay healthy!!

Training:  

Fri, 11/7:  AM  4-miles @ 7:09

                PM  6-miles @ 7:33  (need to rest up - hills tomorrow)

Sat, 11/8:  6- miles, including 10 x 1-minute Hills.

Hill Repeats - #3

After an easy 6-miler on Thursday it was back to the Hill on Friday.  Same deal as last week - 10 x 1-minute, but this time I ran them considerably faster which made for an extremely difficult workout.

Once again I started late, and it was already starting to get dark as I attacked the hill the first time.

Last week I ran the first three somewhat conservatively as I wasn't sure how I'd handle 10-repeats.  By the 5th one I started to increase the pace a bit and the last two were very quick.  This week, the first 5-repeats were as fast as the fastest one from last week!  Needless to say, by #6 I was really feeling it.  After that one I seriously considered shortening the workout to 8-reps, but decided against it.  After #7 I considered it again. . . why not do one more and bag it, after all it was quite dark now and I couldn't even see the Garmin's display w/o the back light . . . again I decided against it - needed to find a way to push through, but I was dying.  

The 8th and 9th repeats were a little slower, but not by much.  My legs were really burning the whole way up the hill - much much more painful than anything I've done on the track lately.  I re-tasted my lunch several times during this period although I never quite did heave one over the hill.  By the time I started #10 it was really dark.  I did my best to hit the pace of the first 5.  The burning in my quads was excruciating now, but I managed to increase the pace further.  Almost done, almost there.  

When I was finally able to hit the "stop" button on the Garmin, I felt absolutely dreadful.  I looked through the trees out over the hillside.  The lights of civilization sparkled against the night sky.  The only sound was me trying to somehow get oxygen into my lungs.  I dropped to the ground unable to move.  I couldn't see 3-feet in front of me now but the view was nice.  I heard the rustling of some animal in the woods behind me.  Perhaps some predator eyeing me up?  Whatever - if something attacks me, I'll deal w/ it then - I was going to be here a while . . . 

Training:

Thurs, 9/23:  lifting (upper-A, abs)  stretching rolling

                        PM  6-miles @ 7:20 pace

Fri, 9/24:  AM  4-miles @ 7:18 pace

                    PM 5-miles including 10 x 1-minute Hills

Hill Repeats, Take-2

After my down week it was time to get back into the hill repeats on Friday.  The target was 10 x 1-minute up a 10% grade, where I jog down and then immediately start the next repeat.  I chose not to mess w/ the "Hill of Death" (the 20% grade that I attempted 2-weeks ago) and found a nice 8% grade hill to use instead.  Not exactly 10%, but 8 is much much better than 20!

Wow what a difference!  Two weeks ago I could only manage 4 repeats of 45-seconds each before my quads were on fire, and after 6 repeats I was done - totally dead.  Here, w/ an 8% grade I was able to cruise up the hills at a decent pace w/o killing myself.  The first 5 or so were done at about 7-minute pace and I eventually progressed down to 6:30 and then finally 6:13 for the last two.  With a few of these workouts under my belt, I'm sure I can run them faster.  The big key is how am I going to feel tomorrow!?  Hopefully, not nearly as sore as last time.  I've got a very easy day scheduled tomorrow, but then a long day follows that so I'm really hoping my legs feel OK.  

Training:

9/16:  6-miles @ 6:58 pace  HR-152  (a couple ticks higher than normal, probably due to elevated temp of 80+ degrees)

9/17:  AM  4-miles @ 7:28

         PM  5.5-miles including 10 x 1-minute hills (8% grade, ave pace - 6:52)

First Hill Workout

Legs felt good enough to give the hill workout a go.  I felt great during my 3-mile warm up - 6:54 pace in the trails, but that wouldn't last long.

The plan was to do 8 X 45" up about a 10-12% grade w/ a jog back down and a total of only about 90 seconds between repeats.  The problem was that I didn't have anything exactly in the 10-12% range, but I did have one that I mapped out earlier to 14% so I figured that was close enough.  Only later did I realize that the 14% grade was considering a much longer segment of the hill - the part I ran my repeats on today was actually between 17-20%.  Big difference!

First repeat felt good - nice and quick up the steep incline.  Second repeat about the same, just a little tougher.  Third rep - really started to feel it in the quads, and by the 4th rep my quads felt like they were on fire.  Checking the Garmin later I realized that I was running up this near 20% grade at about 6:30/mile pace for the first few reps - that'll kill your quads quickly!

By the time I got to rep #5 my legs simply weren't functioning the way you'd like - anytime I tried to surge it was like someone poured gasoline on my legs and lit a match.  Not fun at all.  I did manage to do a 6th rep but I was clearly going downhill fast (which really means uphill - SLOW) so I just cut it off there.  No way I was going to be able to do 8 reps on that hill - not a chance.  

I came away from the workout really encouraged - why you ask?  Because this hill just killed me today - chewed me up and spit me out.  By the 5th rep my quads were mush - unable to do much of anything.  So what that means to me is that this is an area where I can REALLY improve over the next few months - and when I get better here, by default I'll be a lot faster, and that will help my middle distance times a ton!  So I'm already looking forward to this workout next week - the plan calls for 10 x 1-minute, but again that's assuming a 10% grade hill.  If I can find such a hill, then that's what I'll do, but if it's this hill again - I'll probably just try the 8 X 45" again.  

I'm supposed to run 9 - 11 miles tomorrow, but I have no idea how my legs are going to feel when I wake up.  I guess I'll have to play it by ear.

Training:

10/4:  5- miles including 3-miles @ 6:54, HR - 145 and 6 x 45" hill repeats (17-20% grade)