Less than 8 weeks to the TCS New York City Marathon: Last week's training

It feels good to be back in the thick of marathon training after a little time in the pool. I am still trying to be very cautious as volume and intensity ramp up, but training is getting closer and closer to where I'd like it to be before NYC. This was the first week in a long time that I did not have a day off, but that was just the way it worked out with the schedule, and I did take Monday off. I will continue to take approximately one day off from running per week for the foreseeable future.

Not only did I have a solid week of running workouts, but it was in the midst of some tough lifting and my highest mileage week in quite some time. The two marathon workouts this week were fairly similar in terms of pace, so I am looking forward to getting more threshold level efforts in this week to ramp up the intensity. Sunday's long run did go a long way in boosting my confidence that my body will be ready to handle the 26.2 miles of pounding come November. This workout was a first for me, but it broke the run up nicely and also forced me to run sub-marathon pace from miles 20-22 on tired legs, a mild simulation of race day. If I can stay patient, healthy, and continue to make bits of progress, I am excited to see where I can be in terms of fitness 7 weeks from now. I am doing my best to hone in all areas possible including diet, sleep, vitamin/mineral supplements, physical therapy, massage, strength training, and remaining tuned in to my body.

Thanks again for reading and feel free to check out last week's training below.

Weeks to go: 8	AM	PM	Strength	Mileage
Monday	10	1 hour aqua jogging	40 minutes	10
Tuesday	11 + drills and strides	5 miles		16
Wednesday	14 mi progression run starting @ 5:38 down to 4:49	45 minutes elliptical		15
Thursday	12 miles	5 miles	1 hour	17
Friday	70 minutes aqua jogging	5 miles, 8 x 200 meter hills, 5 miles		12
Saturday	12 miles + drills and strides	5 miles	40 minutes	17
Sunday	5 x 2 miles easy, 2 miles @ marathon effort (avg. 11:12, 9:52)	off		24
TOTAL				111

Less than 9 weeks to the TCS New York City Marathon: Last week's training

After 5 days in the pool and a conservative week of training, I am happy to report that I'm back to workouts and bumping up the volume. With the momentum I had going with workouts, it was difficult to take a step back for a week and a half, but those workouts gave me the confidence to do so. While I do not know for sure what was the cause of the tightness, I won't regret the time off as long as I stay healthy through NYC.

As much as I can't stand the pool, knowing that the kind of minutes I had to put in last week were temporary, I was able to push through it. I was also able to talk some other runners into joining me. Turns out I'm not the only injured athlete in Portland! It also gave me time to go back and finally tackle season 1 of the Serial podcast, only a couple years behind. The excellent weather makes it that much more difficult to be trapped inside, but hopefully we have a similar fall to 2015 and I can't count on 70 degree weather through October!

Nothing overly interesting to report in terms of training for the past 7 days, but I am now back fully into marathon training mode and looking forward to sharing more with you next week. Thanks again for reading.

Weeks to go: 9	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	90 minutes aqua jogging	off	1 hour	0
Tuesday	75 minutes aqua jogging	65 minutes aqua jogging		0
Wednesday	9.5 miles easy	off	40 minutes	17
Thursday	10 miles + drills and strides	5 miles		15
Friday	12 miles	5 miles	1 hour	17
Saturday	12 miles	1 hour aqua jogging	1 hour	12
Sunday	Long run w/Fartlek (5 min, 4, 3)(4, 3, 2)(3, 2, 1) w/half rest	off		20

Less than 10 weeks to the TCS New York City Marathon: Last week's training

The same week I post about being patient and ultra-attentive to any odd forms of tightness is the week that I must put it into practice. After completing a 12 mile tempo on Thursday, in which I was still feeling the lingering fatigue from the previous Sunday workout, I felt an odd, slight pressure in my left quad when sitting down. It certainly could not be described as pain, but after three stress fractures in a row, my instincts were telling me that it was time for some pool work. I have been aqua jogging for a few days now, and I am happy to report the everything feels normal. The slight pressure that I felt in that muscle was something that would not even register in my brain in the past, but I am more fragile now than I have been due to the required time off this last year, and I can't ignore anything. I will stay in the pool for an extra day or two just to be on the safe side, but I am confident that I am being paranoid and overcautious. Because the previous weeks of training have gone so well, I am not bothered by a few extra days of cross training at this point. I know my fitness is already at a solid level and I still have over two months to get it where I need it to be to have my best NYC Marathon.

I was thinking back to the Sunday workout from the previous week (4 mile tempo, 10 mile run, 4 mile tempo), and I had trouble understanding why such a high volume workout could possibly go so well with the missed training and lower volume base. There are most certainly permanent physical changes that occur throughout decades of intense training that do not disappear within a matter of months (or years). It is necessary to rebuild fitness after time off, but these physical attributes that have been forged allow you to return to a previous level of fitness much quicker than I could expect based off the initial first few weeks of running. This realization is giving me the strength to stay patient at this point in my build up. This idea is something I have preached to my own athletes, but it can be much more difficult to impose it on yourself. Fortunately I have my own coach to enforce this concept.

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below. Looking forward to sharing my return to intense marathon training next week.

Weeks to go: 10	AM	PM	Strength/Drills	Mileage
Monday	11	5	1 hour	16
Tuesday	1 hour run + 6-8 x 200 meter hills	5		17.5
Wednesday	11.5	5.5	40 minutes	17
Thursday	12 mile tempo @ 5:02	50 minutes aqua jogging		16
Friday	90 minutes aqua jogging	45 minutes aqua jogging		0
Saturday	90 minutes aqua jogging	off	1 hour	0
Sunday	2 hours aqua jogging	off		0

Less than 11 weeks to the TCS New York City Marathon: Last week's training

It feels great to have NYC locked into my schedule again after a rough year of repeated injuries. I hope that I am on track for a healthy November return, and I am doing my best to be tuned-in to my body and feel out any signs of concern. I believe I am doing everything I can to make this comeback last and get back to racing. I have consulted with an orthopedic surgeon, checked my bone density, met with an endocrinologist, added more specific strength training, and most importantly, I am ramping up volume at a much slower rate.

With that said, it's been difficult to stay patient the last few months. Aqua jogging continues to amaze me in it's ability to become more boring just when I think it has hit a low. It will continue to be a part of my life for quite some time still, but fortunately it is minimal compared to my running now! When I was able to return to workouts, they were mostly fartleks and hills, and a decent level of fitness felt far away for a couple months. That has definitely changed over the last few weeks, and this last weekend in particular was a surprising break though given my low volume and only a few solid long runs under my belt.

For those who have followed my training in the past, the workout has become a staple during marathon training. 3 mile warmup, 4 mile tempo, 10 mile moderate-easy run, 4 mile tempo, short cooldown. My quickest 4 mile tempo over the last couple months has been 19:17, although that has been several weeks, so a reasonable goal in my mind was to try to match this in my tempos on Sunday. I ended up being able to run 19:05 and 18:56 feeling much more comfortable than I thought was possible at this stage. I'm not sure where the strength came from to run miles 17-21 for the day so well, but it's motivating to see that I can match some of my best marathon workouts with lower volume than normal. The goal will be to keep the volume below 120 miles per week for the entire build-up, but maintain the same level of intensity on workout and long run days. At 95 miles per week (in 6 days), I still have a ways to go, and now is probably the most likely time to get hurt as volume continues to edge up and my fitness level may be beyond what my bones are ready for. I have to stay vigilant and be ready to take off days and pool days as necessary, throwing my mileage goals out the window when needed.

Being in Czech for the past six weeks has also been helpful to mix up the environment and get some aqua jogging in outdoors along with some great biking. The terrain near my in-laws is hilly and at some elevation, making it a great place for me to ignore times and go by effort early on. I just returned to Portland on Friday and will be here for the remainder of my build-up.

Feel free to take a look at some of my training and progression from the last several weeks. With about 10.5 weeks to go, I actually think I will be ready for my best marathon yet following my years of big base mileage and feeling more refreshed going into hard training sessions.

Thanks again for reading, and I'll be back to posting weekly training updates all the way to Nov. 6th!

NYC 2016
WEEKS TO GO	Miles/days	Xtrain
22	46/6		6-Jun	50 min
		6	7-Jun	50 + short fartlek
			8-Jun	55 min
			9-Jun	55+ strides
			10-Jun	off
			11-Jun	40-45 min + hills
			12-Jun	65-70 min
21	51/6	6	13-Jun	55 min
			14-Jun	20 min warm up, 4 mile 19:29 +4 x200m, 15 min cool down
			15-Jun	Off
			16-Jun	40-45 min +4-6 x 200m strides
			17-Jun	60 min
			18-Jun	60 min including 15-18 min of fartlek on half recoveries
			19-Jun	70 min
20	45/5	6	20-Jun	Off
			21-Jun	60 min + Strides
			22-Jun	25 warm up, 4 mile 19:18, 15 cool down
			23-Jun	60 min
			24-Jun	30 min + 10 x 30-40 secod hills
			25-Jun	Off
			26-Jun	75 min
19	55/6	6	27-Jun	45 min + strides
			28-Jun	70 including  21 min of fartlek
			29-Jun	60 min
			30-Jun	Off
			1-Jul	60 min + Strides
			2-Jul	25 warm up, 4 mile 19:20, 20 min cool down
			3-Jul	80?
18	80/6	4	4-Jul	60 min
			5-Jul	10 x 1 mile, 5:14->4:42, x=4:56
			6-Jul	OFF
			7-Jul	70 + strides, PM 30 min
			8-Jul	70 min
			9-Jul	15 x 200 hills, PM 30 min
			10-Jul	1:45, 16
17	55/5	4 hours	11-Jul	OFF
			12-Jul	30 min warm up, 4 mile tempo @ 19:00-19:10 + 6 x 200m @ 31ish, 20 min cool down
			13-Jul	70 min
			14-Jul	60 min
			15-Jul	30 min + 10-15 x hills, 30 min cool down
			16-Jul	80 min
			17-Jul	OFF
16	75/6	4 hours	18-Jul	10-11 miles + Strides
			19-Jul	10 x 1 mile, 5:05 -->4:35, 1 min to 90 second recoveries
			20-Jul	8-9 miles easy
			21-Jul	12-13 miles
			22-Jul	OFF
			23-Jul	30 min + 10-15 hills, 30 min cool down
			24-Jul	15 miles, push 10-11-12 @ 5:00-5:10
15	85/6	4 hours	25-Jul	am 10 miles, pm: 5 miles
			26-Jul	am 13 miles
			27-Jul	30 minute warm up, 3 mile@71-72, 2 min, 2 mile@ 70-71, 1 min, 1 mile @69-70, 20 min cool down
			28-Jul	am 10 miles, pm 5 miles
			29-Jul	OFF
			30-Jul	25 min warm up, Fartlek 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 equal recovery, 15 min cool down
			31-Jul	17 miles
14	90/6	3 hours	1-Aug	am 10 miles, pm 5 miles
			2-Aug	8 x 1 mile on hilly course, 2 min rest (4:50-4:30)
			3-Aug	13 miles
			4-Aug	am 8 miles, pm 7 miles
			5-Aug	OFF
			6-Aug	am 10 miles, pm 5 miles
			7-Aug	18 miles, push 12-15 @4:56-5:00
13	60/5	5 hours	8-Aug	OFF
			9-Aug	10 + drills and strides
			10-Aug	10 mile tempo @ 5:00
			11-Aug	10 miles
			12-Aug	OFF
			13-Aug	30 min + 15 x hill, 30 min
			14-Aug	20 miles easy
12	95/6	3 hours	15-Aug	AM: 11 miles, PM: 5 miles
			16-Aug	AM: 12 miles, PM: 5 miles
			17-Aug	7 x mile on hilly course (4:50-4:30), 3 minutes rest
			18-Aug	1 hour easy
			19-Aug	OFF-travel from Prague to Portland
			20-Aug	1 hour easy
			21-Aug	3 mi warmup, 4 mi tempo @ 19:05, 10 miles @ 57:00, 4 mile tempo @ 18:56, 1 mi cooldown

Fall and beyond

The Olympic Trials are two days away, and I am sad to confirm that I will not be running the 10km this year. While my fitness is coming back quickly after the femoral stress fracture, I am forcing myself to keep the intensity low while my muscles and bones catch up to my cardio strength in an attempt to break the injury cycle. Skipping the Olympic Trials when I have the qualifying time was an extremely difficult decision, but if I want to continue my running career, I must be painfully patient through the summer and early fall. With last year's performance in the USA Track and Field Champs, I know my track career still has legs, and I expect to be competing in Eugene in 2017.

I am on track to be in great shape for a fall marathon. I don't know exactly which marathon yet, but a race in the mid to late fall will allow enough time for me to ramp up slowly and be in peak fitness.

There is not much to report in terms of training, but I have posted my last two weeks below. I am continuing with my lifting routines, but I do plan on easing up in the near future as workouts become more intense. I feel like I have returned to my football days with the Olympic lifts, but the goal now is to simply load the bones and muscles without impact to ease my transition back. I have also started using a new product called Tune to measure my footstrike, cadence, distance, speed, etc. in an attempt to learn about some of my deficiencies as I move forward with strength training. I am still in my initial 4 week analysis period, but I am confident that I will be able to use the data to stay healthy through the fall.

I am looking forward to heading down to Eugene to cheer, and I am especially looking forward to hanging out at the Brooks house and providing support to all the Brooks athletes competing in the trials! Good luck to everyone in the 10km, and I look forward to vying for a spot in 2020.

Last 2 weeks training:

Monday off, 90 minutes aqua jogging
Tuesday 60 min + strides
Wednesday 25 min warm up, 4 mile tempo @ 19:30ish, 15 min cool down, 45 minutes elliptical + lifting
Thursday 60 min, 45 minutes elliptical
Friday 30 min + 10 X 30-40 second hills, 60 minutes aqua jogging +lifting
Saturday off
Sunday 75 min, 45 minutes aqua jogging
Monday 45 min + strides, 45 minutes elliiptical
Tuesday 70 min including Fartlek: (5, 4, 3, 4, 3, 2)w/ half rest, 40 minutes elliptical + lifting
Wednesday 60 min, 60 minutes aqua jogging
Thursday off
Friday 60 min + strides + lifting

Healthy and training

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but there hasn't been much to write about since my last injury. After the string of bone injuries, I have been taking the come-back much slower this time around, and so far everything is progressing well. With the Olympic Trials 10km approaching quickly, I have not made a decision on whether or not I will compete as I do not want to push myself to over-train with a solid date on the calendar. I will take it one week at a time.

From the femoral fracture in February which kept me from the Olympic Marathon Trials, I took two weeks on crutches, four weeks with no exercise, and a total of 10 weeks before returning to the Alter-G. The return to ground running has been painstakingly slow, but I am doing everything I can do break the cycle. Over the same span, I have checked bone density, met with an endocrinologist, and have been pushing my limits on strength training. I have always been proactive with general strength work, but my routine has now included heavier leg lifts such as dead lift and multiple forms of squats. The goal is to load the bones and muscles a much as possible without the pounding of running to help ease the transition. I am hoping the strength training, supplements, and slow return to running will have me on pace for a summer/fall racing plan.

One of the more challenging aspects to this come back is the effort to take off days at the first sign of trouble. This meant taking three days off last week with some very mild quad tightness. It was certainly over-cautious, but that will have to be my state of mind for the next several months. When training increases, tightness and soreness are bound to occur, and it will take serious patience and focus to ease my way through without incurring another injury.

I will return to my usual weekly training log within the next week or two, and below you will see my running progression since day one. This has been supplemented with pool, elliptical, and some additional Alter-G in an effort to get 1:30-2:00 of cardio 6 days per week. I will be posting again shortly with a more detailed 2016 race plan. Thanks again for reading, and it's great to be back at it!


3:30: 15 minutes Alter-G @ 65%
4/1: 20 minutes Alter-G @65%, last 5 @ 70%
4/2: 20 minutes Alter - G @ 65%, last 5 @ 70%
4/4: 20 minutes Alter-G @ 65%, 5 @ 70%, 5 @75%
4/5: 15 minutes Alter-G @ 65%, 10 @ 70%, 5 @ 75%
4/7: 20 minutes Alter-G @ 70%, 5 @75%, 5 @ 80%
4/8: 15 minutes Alter-G @ 70, 10 @ 75%, 5 @ 80%
4/9: 10 minutes Alter-G @ 70%, 10@75%, 10@80%
4/11: 20 minutes Alter-G @ 70, 10 @ 75%, 10@80%
4/12: 20 minutes Alter-G @ 70, 10 @ 75%, 10@80%
4/13: 10 minutes Alter-G @ 70%, 20 @ 80%, 10@85%
4/14: 20 minutes Alter-G @ 75%, 10@80%, 10@85%
4/16: 20 minutes Alter-G, 10 minutes soft ground
4/17: 15 minutes Alter-G @ 80-85%, 15 minutes soft ground
4/19: 25 minutes ground
4/20: 25 minutes ground
4/21: 30 minutes ground
4/23: 30 minutes ground
4/24: 30 minutes ground
4/25: 35 minutes ground
4/26: 30 minutes Alter-G @ 80%
4/28: 35 minutes ground
4/29: 40 minutes ground
4/30: 35 minutes Alter-G @ 80%
5/1: 40 minutes ground
5/3: 40 minutes ground
5/4: 40 minutes ground
5/5: 35 minutes ground + strides
5/7: 50 minutes ground
5/8: 40 minutes + strides
5/9: 45 minutes
5/10: 50 minutes
5/12: 30 minutes + 8 x 200 meter hills
5/13: 45 minutes
5/14: 50 minutes + strides
5/15: 55 minutes
5/17: 35 minutes + 8 x 200 meter hills
5/18: 45 minutes
5/19: Fartlek: 6 x 3 minutes on, 1 minute off
5/21: 60 minutes
5/23: 60 minutes
5/24: 10 x 200 meter hills (65 min total running)
5/25: 45 minutes
5/26: 55 minutes + strides
5/27: Fartlek: 3 x (1 min, 2, 3)
Quad tightness - 3 days off
6/1: 35 minutes
6/2: 40 minutes

Reflecting on another injury setback

I will make this brief as I don't want to draw attention away from the Olympic Marathon Trials tomorrow, but I do want to put a few thoughts down before the race to avoid any inclination to make "what-if" statements following the race.

I have suffered my 3rd bone-related injury since the summer, with the timing on this being less than a week from the Olympic Trials. While it seems that there is some deficiency that has locked me into a never-ending pattern, I don't think that is the case. In July I suffered a navicular stress reaction which seemed to creep up during the 10km at the US Outdoor Track and Field Championships. This is the only injury that I don't have an explanation for other than bad luck. I did not do everything I could in terms of rehab on that right foot in my comeback as I didn't want to aggravate the bone, but this left me with weaknesses and compensation issues and ultimately a stress fracture in my left sacrum 7 weeks into my return. Oddly enough I have spoken with three other athletes who have had this exact same progression of injuries. This sacral stress fracture left me in a tough spot as the Olympic Marathon Trials were approaching fast and I had to make a decision quickly on whether or not to give them a shot. I was cleared to start on the Alter-G just a month into my recovery and I began to regain fitness very quickly. I was able to take my first ground steps about 3 months out from the trials, and again progressed quickly in terms of fitness and volume. My coach and I had discussed keeping volume much lower throughout this period in order to avoid injury, but as my fitness returned and everything was pointing towards the possibility of contending for a spot, I got greedy and amped of volume and intensity to past levels in order to prove to myself that I had the required fitness. I decided it was worth trying to get to 95-100% rather than try the race at 80% Even though I understood I was risking a third stress fracture, I had thought I was in the clear by the time I started to feel pain in my quad during my trip to Chula Vista. If anything, I thought this would have come a month ago, but not now. I have had my bone density checked and met with a nutritionist, both of which checked out well in my favor, but at least I can rule them out as causes.

So in short, this third stress fracture is simply a matter of pushing much too hard too soon. Had I not tried to give this training block my all and I didn't make the team, I would have regretted it, so I am going to take solace in the fact that my fitness came back so quickly and look to be far more patient during this next comeback. Now that the time pressure has been lifted, I plan to come back very slowly and emphasize health rather than matching last year's volume and workout times. Thank you for the overwhelming support I have received from family, friends, and the entire running community. It really means a lot. I have no doubt that my greatest running achievements are ahead of me.

I'm going to be disappearing in Cuba for a couple weeks, but I'm already looking forward to getting back to cross training upon my return. Best of luck to all competitors tomorrow in Los Angeles. I am sure we're going to send our best marathon team yet to Rio. For those of you in Portland, please come out to the Rock 'n' Roo and support Doernbecher Children's Hospital and Shalane Flanagan in her attempt at another Olympic Team as we have come together to host this charity event: