Adarq.org

08-05-26

Run -- 6.63k, 41:16

Notes

Proper plod there, HR average 119, never getting above 130. Calves are feeling pretty tired especially. Think two weeks in the green zone + easy pace getting faster has been a tough combo. Like even if `fitness` is way up, and HR load etc all manageable, sudden increase in easy pace could still take a muscular load.

Went to sauna over lunch break to get some heat acclimation in since it might be getting to around 20 during the back half of my half. 25 mins. HR at the end was higher than my HR on my run this am, lmao. Seen some interesting studies on heat increasing vo2 max, but those tend to have like 3-5 week time course, so I'm not holding out hope. might get a membership, though enjoyed this.

hoping i feel a bit better tmrw for this parkrun.

eta: i could take a proper day off at some point, i guess, but i'm kind of enjoying this streak. 1 day off since mid-feb, and on that day i woke up at 4am to go to the airport, so imo it's really 1 day off since end of jan. run on 122/128 days, with an elliptical session on one of the remaining 6. 3 of the 5 'inactive' days came in january, as well. have built up really nicely and no signs of injury atm!

06-05-26

Run -- 9.8k, 57:47

Notes

easy pace just always sub 6 even on crappy feeling days now, nice. hr 127 too, so all around moving in right direction.

04-05-26

Run -- 10.22k, 57:56

Notes

Legs finally sore from Saturday, woof. Despite that, a brisk pace and low HR (126) on this run. Partly fitness, partly that it's a bank holiday so I actually get to sit around, eat breakfast, have my coffee, etc, instead of rolling out the door at 6.45.

02-05-26

Run
- w/u
- 5 x (3k @ HM, 1k float) [4:10 for reps, 4:50 avg float]
- c/d

22.70k, 1:43:32

Notes

Last set maybe not required -- was consistently averaging 4:08 for first 4 sets, then 4:14 or so for that last block of 3k, and it felt pretty grindy. Cumulative (as in from training, as much/moreso than within this session) leg tiredness felt the limiter as much as anything, so feel like I'm in a good place. 15 days out so plenty of time to recover and absorb these last 2.5 weeks of bigger than usual training.

Took in 100g carbs during this session (2 gels + in my water) and tried out FlyCarb's bicarb as well (having given a dose a trial run while working from home earlier in the week and finding that, thankfully, my stomach can handle it) -- no GI issues despite that combo. The science is somewhat out on bicarb it for longer things, but it's cheap enough to be worth a try, and Megan+David Roche seem pretty high on it for ultras (and all the guys at London are using it, tour cyclists, etc). Looking more closely at what FlyCarb is, I am not sure I need to buy it, since it's literally just plain bicarb mixed into a gel whose ingredients are almost identical to those of the SiS gels I use (which are already a ripoff, but are convenient and I only use them on the weekend's longer runs/sessions anyway -- mostly stick to cheap carbs in water otherwise). So may trial 'just mixing some bicarb into a gel and eating that' when I run out, just out of curiosity.

eta: all time high fatigue (69) and fitness (54) today. have unsurprisingly dipped into the green zone (sorry sirpoc), but i guess i've been treating this block as more of a 'special block' than just a continuation of normal training, somewhat experimentally.

people do seem to love indianapolis as a race, but as a place to visit, nah. i'd much rather go to the finger lakes. one of the track group guys did wineglass a couple years ago and loved it. something to think about...

lol fair, I have a soft spot for random bits of the midwest, but given I cannot drive that's probably not the best move for a trip like this. Haven't visited the finger lakes before but they do look nice.

Twin Cities or Portland looks like other reasonable alternatives that balance 'good marathon' with 'place i'd like to go (and haven't yet been)'. Would very much be down to coordinate on this down the line.

29-04-26

Run -- 10.1k, 58:06, including 5 x ~15s strides

Notes

Decent enough. Realised instead of bothering about plyos, I should just do strides. Will try to keep them as a regular thing. I just did them as part of the running, jogging until HR was normal again between 'reps'. Knee fine on this run other than during a couple of strides. hmm. It very rarely hurts during the day, seems only to be if I internally rotate my lower leg against some pressure. Maybe it did happen during my fall from a couple weeks ago (also my finger still not 100% recovered from that, was a pretty deep graze).

90k this might happen week

eta: joined the lottery for the april 2027 berlin half, and may start casting about for a fall 2027 full, if i am still committed to running when lotteries/signups for such things roll around.

yesterday

- marathon race in 3:07:12 (chip), 3:05:56 (watch)
measured distance was 42.39 km, which accounts for most of the discrepancy between the times. failed to hit sub-3:05, which was the A goal, but did get sub-3:10 and i had enough gas left at the end to pass a bunch of people in the final miles. split was pretty close to even but slightly negative, 1:33:30 and then 1:32:26 using the watch record. my legs started to get tired around mile 19 - there was a big hill between miles 18 and 19, the only real one on the course - but i never hit the wall. plenty to be happy about despite not hitting the A goal. conditions were good, overcast and high-40s/low-50s, although it was pretty breezy and some of the more exposed sections were into a meaningful headwind.

but one huge frustration: i had to stop to go to the bathroom twice! lost around 90 seconds to those stops. the second one, right after the halfway point, i even had to take a shit. what the hell! i went to the bathroom about 45 minutes before the race started but i started to have to pee again a few minutes later and the lines were too long to go again closer to the gun (horn). i could probably have gotten away with just peeing at the second stop but it wouldn't have taken much less time and at that point i figured if i was going to stop, i might as well get whatever was in there out to minimize the chances of a third stop.

it sucks to think that i could have run 3:05 official and even sub-3:05 on my watch if not for my stupid bladder. gonna have to do some research around that. IIRC, i never had to use the bathroom during the 50k back in october. during the JFK i did, during the first segment.

congrats dude! awesome effort! i still cannot imagine being out on my feet for that long, let alone chugging along at a serious pace for over 3 hours 

couple other data points/reflections:

• my right peroneal hurt and felt swollen for the first 10 km or so. my shins have been bugging me for the last week or so, which has been weird and came seemingly out of nowhere. something else to research. and my left ankle also bugged me off and on for the first 10 km. shins were also probably the most tired single muscle group at the end of the race as well, and even this morning, although overall i feel pretty good right now.
• my intervals.icu fitness graph is interesting to look back at. in the green for pretty much all of january and february, then dipping down to blue when i got sick in early march, then back into the green for a few days before going up into the blue again during the ski trip. but then from about march 22-april 16, it's in the grey. started to dip into the blue again last weekend, as previously noted, and had just tipped into the blue on saturday, which is good. but i didn't feel as fresh as i've felt at other times. that shin feeling is part of it. i know copeland says "in the green, too keen; in the gray, okay." but i kind of felt like i was gaining more fitness during the early going and the graph seems to bear that out.

also, i just revised my threshold pace down to 4:03, from 4:12. the latter was probably too conservative, 4:03 is what my watch estimates for me right now and it is spot-on with predicted race times (1:28:09, 3:06:16 full; bathroom breaks be damned), so i'll go with that.

• i basically stopped strength training or doing any kind of soft tissue work at least a month before the race. that's probably not ideal.
• mileage averaged 72 km/45 miles per week, against a plan target of 85/53. i also never actually reached the peak mileage, getting close to 100 km a few times early on but never crossing it. that includes the ski week, which i knew about going in, and also getting sick for a few days in march. but mileage dropped significantly in the last 6-7 weeks, especially the two weeks leading up to the half. it looks like that basically explains the transition from green to gray on the intervals.icu training graph, which i suppose makes sense. on the plus side, apart from the illness and the ski trip, i only skipped two planned training days. never got hurt during the block and so i think in the next build i could shoot for higher mileage overall. and i think it's time to just switch to running every day. that will make it easier to raise weekly mileage and also reduce the impact of missing the odd day.

long story short: i'm glad to have done it and given it what i had. some things to figure out for the next one. and now, i'm even more motivated than before to break 3 hours.

i've been wondering about strength work in the closing weeks before a race -- feel like during the peak weeks, dropping it probably make  sense since you want every ounce of recovery to be going available for the maximal specific load, but bringing back a couple of old-school verkhoshansky peaking lift things in the taper might make sense? not really sure -- would be curious what the top guys do.

as a side note, the winner ran 2:05, a huge course record. glass city is usually pretty fast for a mid-sized (~5,000 runners between the half and the full) race: the announcer at the start said about a third of entrants usually qualify for boston. but not that fast. impressive! and unlike the kenyans who just destroyed the WR in london, he's probably not juiced to the gills.

hey sawe might maybe kind of possibly be clean: https://www.instagram.com/p/DXm6p-TFWv9/

also, lol, this toledo marathon winner got a mention in the magness video on london: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69NbsEvYFkM&t=1150s

26-04-26

Run -- 13.56k, 1:17:30

Notes

Kept it a little shorter just to play it safe, but actually felt pretty good, could easily have been my normal run length I think. Legs and body definitely tired upon waking up and starting to move aroudn, but once I got out the door it was all A-OK (evinced by pace/hr, esp as i did this run around noon so it was 'hot' for me)

83k, 7h16m. 3k further but 20 mins less time on feet than previous biggest week. Will aim for closer to get 7.5 hours on feet this week, plus another 20k session on the Saturday, so should be 85k+. Then week after probably just a normal NSW week to begin the taper. Hype hype.

Bit of knee twinge in am but not while running. Keeping an eye on that.

also, wow wtf that london marathon, might have to get me a pair of these: https://news.adidas.com/running/adidas-unveils-its-first-sub-100-gram-supershoe--the-adizero-adios-pro-evo-3/s/ded7b6a2-952a-4246-b675-4129f78787c4

24-04-26

Run -- 10.21k, 56:11

Notes

!!! 5:30 pace, 130 avg HR, like a full 30s/km faster than usual. No GPS fuckery as far as I can tell either, and this is while carrying about as much fatigue as I ever have. The fitness might truly, finally be coming all in one go? will see how this weekend goes, too

i have been making an effort this week to get in more carbs/food in general which could be a factor, plus some life stress has been alleviating itself, and also now just under 2 weeks since the 10k, so gains from that manifesting?

trying to decide what tomorrow's big workout should be, will peruse the john davis book, i guess.