Training log - Week ending 10/5/2025

This week was 54 miles of running and 21 "miles" of pool-running.

This is my second week at 70+ "miles" (meaning land-running and pool-running combined).  I definitely have some fatigue, but it's not excessive - more like what I would expect to feel when I bump up mileage.  

The chart to the right shows my combined crosstraining/running volume over the past 36 months. (Fortunately, I don't cycle, because that would distort this chart). 

As one can see, I had a lot of 70+ mile weeks and some 80+ mile weeks up through the middle of 2024. Then my mileage dropped off as a result of injury/covid recovery/life stress.  Using mid-2024 as the dividing line, I was also running much better before that point than after.

I don't think this is coincidence. Hence my work to carefully but methodically build my mileage back up to that 70+ range. While also being mindful of the risk of overtraining and the increased risk of injury due to being over 50.

I count running miles and cross-training miles as equal here not because I think they truly are, but because it's a very useful fiction. Structuring my log this way makes it emotionally easy for me to swap in a cross-training day for a running day whenever it seems like it might be a good idea. The benefits of 12 miles of easy running over 12 miles of pool-running are incremental; the benefits of avoiding injury can be massive.

I've also started including my strides and hill sprints in my mileage, something I haven't done previously.  I don't think including them increases my mileage that much, but it does give me an incentive to do them, even if it means cutting the run short half a mile or so. Between age and Parkinsons, my body wants to shy away from moving quickly or powerfully.  Being sure to do strides and hill sprints, plus things like rapid toe taps, ladder drills, and power cleans in the gym helps to counter that.

In terms of specific workouts, my first full marathon pace workout on Saturday wasn't quite as fast I would have liked.  I locked into around 8:15 pace, which felt ridiculously easy and conversational, but my legs didn't want to move any faster. I want to break 3:30 in December (8:00 pace) so I'm a bit off of that, but I'm not too worried.  December is still a long way off, and I think accumulated fatigue from the uptick in mileage contributed.  Accumulated fatigue is of course part of marathon training, but you don't want to overdo it. So I made a mental note to prioritize quality recovery (good sleep, hydration, etc) for the next week.  If that doesn't seem sufficient, I'll ease off the mileage slightly.  Because while big mileage is important, it's also wasted if you're fried.

Dailies:

Monday: 9 "miles" of pool-running in the morning; streaming yoga in afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles very easy (10:02) with 6x100m strides plus upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 3x3200 in 15:27 (7:46/7:41), 15:11 (7:41/7:30), and 14:57 (7:31/7:26) with 4:5x jogs after each. Followed with 4x200m in 54-55 seconds each.  Later did leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 6 miles very easy (13:28) on trails in the morning plus PT exercises.  Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 11 miles very easy (9:56) with drills and 6x100m strides.  Followed with upperbody strength/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 17 miles with 4, 3, 2, 1 miles at marathon effort.  Splits were 33:08 (average 8:17 pace), 24:44 (average 8:15 pace), 16:25 (average 8:13 pace) and 8:12.  Recoveries were miles jogged in 9:16, 9:31, and 9:34).

Sunday: 12 "miles" of pool-running and PT exercises. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - week ending 9/28/2025

This week was 65 miles of running and 8 "miles" of pool-running.

This was a big improvement over last week.  I suspected that the creatine that I had started taking was making my asthma worse, so I stopped it this week.  And my breathing improved dramatically. Go figure.

Another change that I made stemmed out of a PT session.  Basically, my default tendency is to not use my calves when I run - I don't have any toe-off.

To some extent, this predates my Parkinsons diagnosis. I grew up doing equestrian sports almost exclusively, which means that I spent many hours each day with my ankles dorsiflexed and never did anything that required a calf raise. (In fact, I was even discouraged from jogging for fitness when I was a teenager, because it would make my calves too muscular and I'd have to get bigger riding boots.) So, it's just not natural for me to toe-off strongly.  Now add that tendency to a neurological condition where you tend to start to forget to use muscles, and... you get my non-toe-off.

So, I've been trying to learn how to toe off* when I run.  It is challenging, but it does seem to result in much faster running for the same effort when I get it right.  Which is sometimes but not always.

[*editorial note - I've decided that the proper spelling is toe-off when it's a noun and toe off when it's a verb.  Just like login is a noun and log in is a verb.  My blog, my grammar rules.]

Dailies:

Monday: 9 miles (9:50) with 8 strides. PT exercises in afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 7x3:00 on/2:00 jog plus 6x30 seconds on/2:00 jog. The longer intervals were at 8.4 mph; the shorter intervals were 9.0 mph.  All jogs at 6 mph.  PT session in afternoon.  Foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 8 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4 miles very easy (11:59) on trails in the morning plus PT exercises. 2.5 miles very easy (9:49) + foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 11 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 30:52 (7:59/7:46/7:37/7:30) followed by two hill sprints.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 11.5 miles mostly very easy (9:38) with 9x100m in 30 seconds down to 26 seconds)  Upperbody strength and core in the afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 17 miles progressive, split as the first 7 averaging 10:06 pace, the next 5 miles averaging 9:20, and the next 5 miles averaging 8:32. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/21/2025

This week was 55 miles of running and 18 "miles" of pool-running.

Both of this week's speed workouts were slower than I had hoped. On Tuesday I had to reduce the treadmill speed slightly from what I had held two weeks ago while on Friday tempo effort was about 8 minute pace when it had previously been faster.

At first I thought this was just lingering fatigue from last week's Covid shot or accumulated fatigue from another bump in mileage.  And then I decided to check my peak flow meter (device for measuring my asthma).  Yup, my asthma was flaring again.

Though I can't be sure of the cause of this flare, I have a hunch.  After reading about the many beneifts of creatine for post-menopausal women and the potential (mixed research results) benefits of creatine for people with Parkinson's, I decided to try it.  It's legal under USADA and very safe - as far as I could tell, the only "downside" was some extra pounds from water retention.  Since I get dehydrated pretty easily, this seemed like a plus.

So I ordered it (from an NSF-certified vendor so that I could be sure I was getting the right thing and nothing else) and started it Monday morning.  I had a good run on Monday, but then things started to slide from there, cumulating in a Friday tempo where I couldn't get my legs to move.

After realizing that my asthma was flaring, I decided to google "asthma and creatine." And of course pulled up results indicating that creatine could indeed worsen asthma.

Oops.  So now I'm off of the creatine.  We'll see how this week goes.

Dailies:

Monday: 9 miles (9:45) with 8 strides plus upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 9.5 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 6x3:30 on/2:30 jog plus 4x30 seconds on/2:00 jog. The longer intervals were at 8.2-8.3 mph; the shorter intervals were 9.0 mph  All jogs at 6 mph.  Followed with leg strengthwork.  Deep tissue massage in evening.

Wednesday: 12 "miles" of pool-running in the morning.  Yoga and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 8.5 miles very easy (9:57) including 8x100m in 29 down to 26.  Foam rolling in evening.

Friday: 10 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 32:10 (8:16/8:02/7:58/7:54) followed by 4x100m in 28, 28, 27, 26 and 2x200m in 57 and 55.  Followed with PT exercises.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday: 18 miles, mostly very easy but with a 60 second pick-up-the-pace every 9 minutes starting in the second hour.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: upperbody weights/core and 6 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling in evening.

Training log - Week ending 9/14/2025

This week was 51 miles of running and 15 "miles" of pool-running.

Just two workouts this week, since I'm trying to stick with at least two moderate to easy days after each hard day.  Wednesday was an ad hoc 8K tempo.  I had planned to do 2x3200 and then some 400s since I was debating racing a 5K on Sunday. But I had a very sluggish start and then hit a groove about 2000m in, and I decided to go with the flow and do a longer tempo, with the understanding that it would probably compromise my 5K. 

I was pretty happy with the tempo - I ran the last 16 laps (6400m) in 30:26 - about 30 seconds faster than I had tempoed 6400m three weeks earlier.  Some of this is that I just get better as I run longer, but I think it also shows improved fitness.

I eventually decided to skip the 5K for a number of reasons:

- I wasn't really feeling the need to race since I had raced a 10.000m two weeks ago;
- cutting back mileage for a 5K race ran counter to my current goal of increasing my weekly mileage;
- I wanted to attend a memorial service for a friend's father on Saturday afternoon/evening; and
- I wanted to get my Covid shot out of the way before I got into serious marathon training.

Instead, I did a decently high mileage easy run on Friday and then headed out for a marathon paced workout on Saturday. 

My intended workout was 16 miles with 3x3 miles at marathon effort.  I usually do either 4, 3, 2, 1 miles at marathon effort or 2x5 miles for this workout, but since I haven't done many long runs or marathon pace workouts recently, I swapped to this version just to ease into things.

Unfortunately, I started Saturday's run at 8:30 am.  Had I started earlier, or had there been clouds in the sky, I think I would have been fine. But the late start combined with the bright sunshine and lack of shade meant that the heat really started to get to me after the second three mile set. Which was about the same time that my water bottle was drained and I discovered that the water fountain wasn't working.  

I decided that forcing a third set was just going to dig a hole, so I jogged back to my car and headed home to rehydrate.  Once I felt a bit cooler, I headed back out to get some more miles in on a mostly shaded route, with a few 200s at marathon-ish effort just to get the feel of that pace on tired legs (I honestly would have done long at marathon effort but the track was packed). 

Even though Saturday was technically a failed workout, I was happy with it. Marathon effort yielded me 8:11-8:12 pace, which tells me that going sub 3:30 this December (~8:00 pace) is a reasonable target. And I managed a total of 17 miles for the day with 6 of them at marathon effort - this was a useful building block for 14 weeks out from my marathon.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 "miles" pool-running in the morning; streaming yoga in the afternoon. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8 miles very easy (10:07) with 8x100m in 28 down to 25. Upperbody weights/core and foam rolling in evening.

Wednesday: 10.5 miles on the track, including a 8K tempo in 38:40 (8:14/7:47/7:37/7:33/7:29), followed by 2x200 in 57 each and 2x100 in 26 each.  Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 4.5 miles very easy (11:16) on trails in morning followed by PT exercises. Pilates and foam rolling in evening.

Friday:11 miles very easy (9:50) with 4x100m in 26 down to 25. Upperbody weights and foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 12 miles with 2x3 miles at marathon effort in 24:32 (8:11 pace) and 24:35 (8:12 pace).  Later in the morning did 5 miles very easy (9:46) with 2x200 at marathon effort (8:04) and one 200 a bit faster (7:47 pace).  Followed with leg strengthwork. Covid shot in evening.

Sunday: Spent 2 hours cheering at half-marathon, then 7 "miles" of pool-running and PT exercises. Yoga and foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 9/7/2025

This week was 54 miles of running and 9 "miles" of pool-running.

Since I raced both Saturday and Sunday, I kept Monday-Wednesday low key. My running team usually does workouts on Tuesday and Friday and a Sunday long run. I planned to do the Sunday long run with the team (or...trailing them, at least) and I need at least two easy days between hard efforts, so I did a workout on Thursday so I could run easy on Friday and Saturday.

Thursday's interval workout was on the treadmill once again. I wasn't straining, but I was on the edge of straining. The workout was hard enough that I only did six 3:00 intervals (I plan for six to eight intervals and play the exact number by ear). Of course, I looked at my log after and realized that holding 8.4 mph for all six intervals was aggressive in comparison to recent workouts, so it was no surprise that I felt the effort and had to adjust the # of intervals accordingly.

The Sunday long run was at Carderock this week, which means running on the stone dust/pebbles/rocks of the C&O towpath. When I go to the team long runs, I usually end up running by myself after the first few miles, but it's nice to see people before and after. However, I woke to light rain with more on the way, and I couldn't find any enthusiasm for 14-16 solo miles in mud.

Instead, I headed over to Georgetown and the paved (if covered by leaves and littered with twigs) Capital Crescent trail.  This gave me a chance to try out a new shoe - the 361 Flame 4 - on a long run with some uphill and downhill running.

I've been using the Flame 4 on the track, and after an initial adjustment period of about 4 miles, I really like the shoe there.  But I've never taken the shoe off the track, so I thought today was a good day to test things out. 

It was a dreary morning, with misting rain and puddles and wet leaves.  The Flame had notably good traction, but I felt awkward on uphills and downhills. Some of this may have also been that I felt like I didn't get a good dose of my PD meds this morning.  And some lingering blahsfrom Thursday's flu shot. So I'm going to try to run in it a bit more on hilly asphalt routes to see if I can get more comfortable with it.

Dailies:

Monday: Upperbody weights/core. followed by 9 "miles" pool-running. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 6 miles very easy (10:07) to gym; leg strengthwork, 3 miles very easy home (9:57).  Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 5 miles very easy (10:45) on trails in morning followed by PT exercises.  Streaming yoga during lunch; foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 9 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 6x3:00 on/2:00 jog plus 6x30 seconds on/90 seconds jog. The "On" parts were at 8.4 mph (3 minute intervals) and 8.8 mph (30 second intervals) with the jogs at 6 mph.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling + flu shot in evening.  

Friday: 6 miles very easy (11:15) on trails in morning followed by PT exercises. Streaming yoga and foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 10 miles, mostly easy (9:57) but including 4x100m strides in 28 down to 25 seconds.  Upperbody weights/core in afternoon; foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 14.5 miles progressive, split as the first 5.5 miles averaging 10:05 pace, the next 4 miles averaging 9:07 pace, and the last 5 miles averaging 8:29 pace, plus a 1/2 mile cooldown. Followed with leg strengthwork.  Foam rolling at night.

Race Report: Potomac Valley Games, August 30-31, 2025

I ran the 10,000m and the 3000m at the Potomac Valley Games last weekend, finishing in 47:36.73 and 13:57.22 respectively.

I had entered the 3000m several weeks ago, thinking that it would be an opportunity to update the 3000m time I ran at the Hartford Nationals. A few days before the meet I reviewed the meet schedule and noted a 10,000m was on the schedule - first thing Saturday morning. 10,000m races on the track are pretty rare around here, and this one was both the first race of the morning (a plus) and scheduled on a day with unseasonably cool weather.

This was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up, especially since there was currently no American record for female T36 athletes. I'd run the 10,000 and try to set the standard as high as I could for others to hopefully chase in the future. As for the originally planned 3000?  I'd play it by ear.

***

Saturday morning dawned just as predicted - temperatures in the low 60s with low humidity. With the race scheduled to start at 8 am, arriving at 6:45 gave me enough time to pick up my bib and hip number and warm up on the track.  Wonderfully, this was one of the meets that allowed runners to warm-up in the outside lanes right up until about 3 minutes before their race started.

There were five entries in the 10,000: me, a guy in his 30s who listed a seed time of 34 minutes and change; and three 50+ men, each targeting a bit over 50 minutes.  I expected to run anywhere from 46 to 48 minutes, so I'd likely be solo for much of the race.  Fine with me.

We lined up at the waterfall line for the 10000 (me on the outside), and the gun went off.  Just like always, everybody dropped me. I've learned that it's really best for me to start slow, get my running gait in line, and then pick up the pace. Everything proceeded as expected - Mr. 34 minutes was way ahead, while I reeled in the other three men over the first lap.

***

I was roughly 300m into the race when I noticed my shorts were falling down.  I was wearing an older pair of split shorts with a drawstring, and it seemed like the drawstring had come loose, resulting in the aged fabric of the shorts sagging uncomfortably close to the camel toe zone.  

I eased up on the pace and fumbled with the drawstring (nobody was near me on the track) and fixed things.  Only to have them sag again about 200m later.

I repeated this process twice more and then realized that the drawstring had broken on the shorts.

Well, this was awkward.  Or, at least, potentially awkward.

I debated dropping out and then nixed the idea. I really couldn't justify dropping out because my shorts might end up around my ankles.  Dropping out because my shorts had fallen around my ankles, on the other hand, would at least be a great story.

So I tugged at my shorts and managed to roll the waistband a little bit (all while still running) which made the shorts sit slightly higher and more secure.  With that temporary fix in place, I decided that I would run until either I had clocked off 25 laps or my shorts fell off my butt.

The laps clicked away, punctuated by Mr. 34 minutes lapping me a couple times, me occasionally lapping the other runners, a n annoying headwind at one corner of the track, and me tugging on my shorts.  

I have never done 25 laps at a steady continuous pace on the track, though I regularly do 16 and occasionally do 20 lap tempos (and I've certainly done track workouts with the intervals/recoveries totaling to more than 25 laps).  All of which is a lengthy way of saying that I was in new racing territory. When I passed 20 laps and didn't get to stop, I realized that 25 laps is a long way to count down - mentally it's much closer to 13 miles than 6 miles.

That's another way of saying that the last few laps were a real grind. But I managed to hang on and even pick it up a bit for the last lap. I crossed the line officially at 47 minutes and 36.73 seconds and called it a good morning.

***

I woke up on Sunday morning and felt tired, but surprisingly not sore. My coach had (surprisingly) recommended that I take a shot at the 3000 if I felt OK. So I decided to head over to the track for day 2 of the meet, warm up, and then decide whether I was racing the 3000.

My warm-up went OK - I was still (unsurprisingly) tired, but my legs were notably less stiff than the day before.   Once again demonstrating that taper for me has to be a careful balance between too much taper (less tired and more stiff) and too little (more tired and less stiff). I had to beat 14:31 to lower my 3000m record, and that seemed eminently doable even on tired legs.  So what the heck - it was only 7 and a half laps, right?  After yesterday's 25 laps, that seemed like almost a sprint.

I lined up once again, this time in a group of six - four men and two women.  The gun went off and once again I dropped behind everyone else into last place while I eased into my gait, before starting to pick up the pace.

There were two key differences between yesterday and today.  The first was that my shorts were not an issue.  The second was that when I pulled next to the other woman to try to pass her, she picked up her gait to match mine. This was a challenge in other ways beyond the obvious. When I first start running from a standstill, it can be really hard to run very close to someone else.  The best way to put it is that I'm really focusing fully on staying on my feet, and having someone next to me is a distraction. And every time I lose a bit of my focus, my gait goes to hell.

However, I'm not very good at changing gears anymore, so dropping behind her to gather some steam and then surging past on a straightaway was not an option, even though we were both running side by side at a pace that wasn't too hard for me. So, I just ran in lane 2 as best I could, reasoning that a) this was good for me and b) at some point she'd get tired and fall behind and then I'd have my space.

The "at some point" happened about 700m into the race. After pulling ahead, I shifted over to lane 1 and felt my stride really smooth out. From there on, it was just a matter of counting down laps and reminding myself that 4 laps to go wasn't very far (although it really was).

When I hit 3 laps to go, I glanced at the clock - it was just changing to 8:30, which meant I had to do 3 laps in 6:00 - about 8 minute pace - to take down my record.  Cool.  I focused on relaxing my quads and ankles and keeping my body upright and my feet striking under me and endured another lap.  10:20 - so now I had another 10 seconds of room. 

At the bell lap, I noted 12:10, and realized I could possibly duck under 14 minutes. Since I had room to experiment, I decided to relax my quads and ankles as much as possible and see where that got me on the last lap. As it turned out, that got me to the finish officially in 13:57.33 - good enough to knock some time off of my previous record.  I was happy with that, and also very happy to be done racing for the weekend.

Splits were:

10,000m
Mile 1: 7:50
Mile 2: 7:38
Mile 3: 7:40
Mile 4: 7:35
Mile 5: 7:34
Mile 6: 7:29
last 400 - 1:49 (7:19 pace)

3000m:
Mile 1: 7:36
last 1400: 6:21 (7:18 pace)

[all miles were obviously 1600s, not full miles]

Other notes:

• This time I actually remembered to bring my records forms to the meet to get them completed that day. Of course, what I failed to do was send an email in advance, advising that I was going for a record, which meant that they had to do a "Zero Gun" test on Saturday that they hadn't planned for.  Next time I'll have my act totally together.
• One of the nice things about track meets is that you can show up by yourself and leave with several new friends. It reminds me a lot of the DC dark music scene in that way.
• I had an interesting chat with a racewalking coach during the meet.  Apparently, my tendency to heelstrike and my leg stiffness would work very well for racewalking. So I guess that's always an option if I decide I need to move on from running (note: I am nowhere near that point right now).
• Someone actually complimented me on my running gait!  It's been a while since that happens. More evidence that PT works.
• This was my last track meet for the year, so time to get used to the roads again.
• Next year, I want to try to get that 3000m time down some more.  I ran 13:39 earlier this year, but it didn't count because the meet wasn't set up with the right kind of timers/officials, etc.

Training log - Week ending 8/31/2025

This week was 45 miles of running and 3 "miles" of pool-running.

Another cutback, as I raced twice this weekend - a 10000m on Saturday and then a 3000m on Sunday.  I will be the first to admit that racing a 3000 the day after a 10000m is generally not a great idea, but we had really fantastic weather for the meet, and my coach gave the double his blessing if I felt like I could do it without getting hurt.

Both races went well (race report coming) - I feel like my fitness is improving.

Obviously the next few days are going to be easy.

The other poor training decision was squeezing a Nine Inch Nails concert in Baltimore into the week on Tuesday night, which meant Wednesday was essentially a day off. But though it was a poor training decision it was an excellent life decision, and my only regret is that I didn't splurge for better seats and/or pit tickets (as Brian noted, we ended up standing the whole night anyway, so we might as well have been on the floor).

Dailies:

Monday: 8 miles very easy (10:03) plus two strides and upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 10 miles, including a track workout of 3200, 3x800, 2x400 in 15:23 (7:49/7:34), 3:47, 3:41, 3:36, 1:47, and 1:46 (recoveries were 5:42 after the 3200, 2:5x after the 800s, and 63 between the 400s. Followed with leg strengthwork.  Rock concert (Nine Inch Nails with Boys Noize) in evening.

Wednesday: 3 "miles" of pool-running in the morning; foam rolling in evening.

Thursday: 7 miles on the track including about 15 100m strides with full recovery (26 seconds down to 24) and a 200m in 52 seconds. Pilates and foam rolling in evening.  

Friday: 4.5 miles very easy (11:07) on trails in morning followed by PT exercises. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 10 miles, including a 10000m on the track in 47:36 (7:50/7:38/7:40/7:35/7:33/7:29/1:49. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 6 miles, including a 3000m on the track in 13:57 (7:35 and then 6:21 for the last 1400, with a 1:47 final lap). Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/24/2025

This week was 55 miles of running and 7 "miles" of pool-running.

I split my workouts between the track and the treadmill this week.  I'm becoming a big fan of doing my Tuesday interval workouts on the treadmill rather than on the local track.  Much of this is because the track can be extraordinarily congested on Tuesday mornings, with sometimes 100+ runners on the track. (Friday tends to be much better.)

With that many runners on the track, things are just chaotic in general. It also makes it very hard to manage the recovery times between intervals, since starting a new interval requires merging onto a congested and fast-moving highway. My personal belief is that the duration of the recoveries is an important variable in the workout - as important as the pace of the intervals. And it's much easier to time my recoveries exactly on the treadmill.

As for the recoveries - I use the following (mostly taken from Jack Daniels):

• Tempo intervals- 1/5 ratio of jog to interval (so 1 minute jog for every 5 minutes of work)
• CV intervals- ~1/3 ratio of jog to interval (72-80 seconds jog for every 4 minutes of work)
• VO2 max intervals - 2/3-3/4 ratio of jog to interval (so 2:00-2:15 jog for every 3 minutes of work)
• Fast intervals to work on top end speed - 2/1 or greater ratio of jog to interval (so 30 seconds of work should have at least 60 seconds recovery after, with more being better).

I find that if I emphasize the ratio of interval duration to recovery duration in my workouts and let the pace and effort of the intervals be whatever feels doable given the limited recovery, I get really solid results from my training. Much better than if I start chasing paces/speeds during a workout and end up stretching out the recoveries in order to finish the workout without slowing down. Focusing on interval paces/speeds looks nicer on Strava, but limiting the recovery gets me faster quicker.

On Tuesday, the main workout was two sets of 4:30 on with 3:00 recovery after each, then two sets of 3:00 on with 2:00 recovery after each, then two sets of 90 seconds on with 60 seconds recovery. So...the duration of the intervals and the recovery jogs varied, but I always had a 2/3 ratio of rest to work. And then, after doing 30 minutes of VO2 Max work, I shifted to doing a few fast intervals with full recovery (at least twice the duration of the interval) to work on top end speed.

Separately, if anyone is wondering why my VO2Max workouts seem to be in 90 second increments (e.g., intervals of 1:30, 3:00, or 4:30 in duration), it's simply because I subconsciously assume that a lap of the track at interval effort takes 90 seconds  Thus, a 1200m rep is 4:30, an 800m is 3:00, and a 400 is 1:30.  Of course, this assumption is an artifact from where I was 5-10 years ago. I'm significantly slower now, and structuring these as 5:15, 3:30, and 1:45 would be closer to reality.  But I seem to be getting good results with the workouts I'm currently doing, so I see no reason to revise (and changing would also make for harder math).

Dailies:

Monday: 7 miles very easy (10:15) plus two hill strides and two flat strides and upperbody weights/core. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 2x4:30 with 3:00 jog, 2x3:00 with 2:00 jog, 2x90 seconds with 60 second jog, and then 4x30 second strides with 90 second jog. Speed of 4:30 intervals was 8.1-8.3 mph; 3 minute intervals ranged between 8.3 and 8.5 mph; and 90 second intervals were at 8.6 and 8.7 mph. 30 second strides were 8.7- 9.0 mph, all jogs were 6.0 mph.  Treadmill probably not accurate. Followed with leg strengthwork.  Sports massage in evening.

Wednesday: 11 miles very easy (10:08) outside plus 4x100m strides in 28, 28, 27, and 26.  PT session in afternoon and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday:  4 miles very easy (11:07) on trails in morning followed by PT exercises. Pilates and foam rolling in evening.  

Friday: 11 miles, including a 6400m tempo on the track in 30:55 (8:05/7:48/7:36/7:26), two hill strides, and two flat strides. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 14 miles (9:43) - mostly easy but with a 30-90 second surge every 10 minutes in the last 6 miles. Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: Core, PT exercises, and 7 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/17/2025

This week was 38 miles of running and 18 "miles" of pool-running.

The nice thing about doing speedwork on the treadmill is that you can compare your workouts over time without distortion from weather.  And...back on July 8, I ran 6 intervals of 3 minutes with 2 minutes recovery plus 4 intervals of 30 seconds with 90 second recovery, with the 3 minute intervals run at 8 mph (7:30 pace) and the 30 second intervals being run at 8.4-8.5 mph (7:04-7:09 pace)

Fast forward 5 weeks and my two workouts were:

1) 8x3:00 at 8.2-8.5 mph (7:04-7:19 pace) with 2:00 jog plus 4x30 seconds at 8.7-9.0 mph (6:40-6:54 pace) with 90 second jog.

and

2) 6x4:00 at 7.8-7.9 mph (7:36-7:42 pace) with 1:12 jog plus 4x30 seconds at 8.7-8.8 mph (6:49-6:54 pace) with 90 second jog.

So that's a nice bit of improvement. Anywhere from 10-25 seconds per mile pace-wise.  (Of course, this illustrates the fact that it is easier and quicker to regain fitness than to establish it in the first place.)

I think part of the reason that the treadmill training is working so well for me is that I can focus entirely on sustaining a certain effort for a set period of time with a very controlled recovery.  I don't have to worry about navigating around other runners or uneven footing or inclement weather.  

Thar's also obviously a downside, and why I can't just train on the treadmill from now on.  But I can certainly take advantage of the opportunity to get fit and then transition to running outside, while hopefully maintaining the fitness I've built over the last few weeks.

Dailies:

Monday: 7 "miles" of pool-running and yoga. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday:3 miles very easy (10:03), time team workout (coach on vacation, so I subbed in), 3 miles mostly easy but with 14x100m strides and ladder drills/plyos.  Upperbody weights/core and foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 9 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 8x3 minutes with 2 minutes jog, followed by 4x30 second strides with 90 second jog. Speed of 3 minute intervals ranged between 8.2 and 8.5 mph, 30 second strides were 8.7- 9.0 mph, all jogs at 6.0 mph.  Treadmill probably not accurate. Leg strengthwork and foam rolling in evening.

Thursday:  5 miles very easy (11:38) on trails in morning followed by plyometrics. Yoga and foam rolling in evening.  

Friday: 2 miles very easy (10:30), time team workout, 5 miles very easy to gym (10:19), upperbody weights/core, 2 miles very easy home (10:29) plus strides. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 9 miles on the treadmill, including a workout of 6x4 minutes with 72 second jog, followed by 4x30 second strides with 90 second jog. Speed of 4 minute intervals ranged between 7.8 and 7.9 mph, 30 second strides were 8.7-8.8 mph, all jogs at 6.0 mph.  Treadmill probably not accurate. Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in evening.

Sunday: 11 "miles" of pool-running. Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 8/10/2025

This week was 55 miles of running and 8 "miles" of pool-running.

This was my second week at 50+ miles, and the fatigue really kicked in.  Not surprising - that's what happens when you drastically bump up the mileage and also do your first long run in months (last Sunday) and your first hill workout (this past Tuesday)in months....

I felt comfortable increasing my workload this aggressively because a) I have a history of high mileage and b) I'm not coming off of an injury.  Additionally, the upcoming week is going to be a cutback week because of personal obligations.

For the heck of it, I ran a report in my training log to see how my weekly volume has changed over the last few years. Here's my volume (essentially running+ pool-running) from 2020-2025. 

Clearly there's been a drop-off in recent years.  Some of that is because I'm slower now and so a 90 minute run equates to less miles than it used to.  But another factor is that I've added in a lot of other stuff - stretching, balance training, etc, and some of that has taken time away from my running. If I can find a way to keep those things (very important) while also bumping my volume up a bit, I think my running paces will improve.

Here's a second chart, showing weekly volume for the last 12 months:

The three really low weeks are a) when I got Covid at the end of 2024; b) the week after the Boston Marathon; and c) when I got heat stroke a few weeks back.

Looking at the second chart, it's obvious to me that my volume has been markedly low for much of the period from April/May until two weeks ago. Just more evidence that I have room to increase that mileage, and hopefully improve my running performances.

Dailies:

Monday: 8 "miles" of pool-running and yoga. Foam rolling in evening.

Tuesday: 8.5 miles, including 7 Iwo Jima hill repeats (each repeat is up a 500m hill at a 2-3% incline, 90 second jog, 200m downhill stride, and 50-second jog to the bottom.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 10 miles very easy (10:04) + 8x100m strides (25-27 seconds). Foam rolling in evening.

Thursday:  4.5 miles very easy (10:53) on trails in morning followed by plyometrics. Streaming Pilates and foam rolling in evening.  

Friday: 8.5 miles, including a 6400m tempo in 31:56 (8:10/8:02/7:54/7:50) plus 4x200m in 56-59 seconds each.  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling in the evening.

Saturday: 9 miles very easy (10:02) followed by upperbody weights/core.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday: 14.5 miles easy to moderate (9:33 average; first mile 11:16, last mile 8:26).  Followed with leg strengthwork. Foam rolling at night.