Adarq.org

- run 59:51, 10.17 km
T+DI 156 despite air temp being 78/25.5. dew point 76/24.5. gnarly.

damn it, the more i read about it, the more it seems like norwegian singles is where it's at. i don't see why it wouldn't work even for ultra training, since the point is to limit day-to-day fatigue and so there should still be space for progressively longer runs once a week. something like what joe is doing:

• monday: 3x10min @MP
• tuesday: medium/easy
• wednesday: 5 x 6min @HMP (with the group but doing my own thing)
• thursday: medium/easy
• friday: 10 x 3min @15kP
• saturday: weights
• sunday: long/easy, as much as possible on trails

with warm up and cool down those workout days would be 10.5-11.5 km, medium days are already 10-11 and could gradually build up to 13-14 (that was the plan anyway) and long run could just keep building bit by bit toward 42 until the 50k at end of october. that would mean weekly mileage starting around 70kpw and going up to 100kpw, give or take. and do weights on one of the easy weekdays in addition to the saturday.

ultra people talk about the importance of back-to-back long days but i feel like if i build up to a full marathon long run before the 50k, race the 50k, and then taper down to the 50 miler, that should be plenty. finishing 50 miles just doesn't seem that daunting. and wouldn't getting up at 6 AM to do a 3x10 less than 24 hours after finishing a long run serve the same purpose, pretty much?

pros:
1. lots of running but with variety
2. many people reporting great fitness gains
3. would enable me to keep working on sub-ultra fitness while building long distance fitness

cons:
1. i'm getting too cute, progressing volume and one speed workout a week plus tempo sometimes on saturdays will build fitness, too.
2. i'm going to have a hard time sticking to a routine where i work out every day.
3. it is too fucking hot out.

right, yes, that penny just dropped. interesting. i'm going to stick with my current plan for now but definitely want to try it in the future.

- run 59:16, 10.12 km
did not look at watch, ran purely by RPE with the goal of keeping it easy. T+DI 154/50 (air temp 88/31, dew point 66/19), so the first real summer run of the year. there were a couple of hot days in may but this is a different level. and, as everyone says, temperature plays hell with HR: averaged 148 and went as high as 165 despite keeping breathing slow and even, apart from the tops of a couple of hills. so idk, at least until i adapt to the heat a little, maybe the only thing i should worry about on days that are meant to be run at easy pace is RPE.

i weighed myself before and after, as well. drank 500mL of water during the run. net weight loss was 2.3 pounds/1.04 kg (161-158.7). run was almost exactly an hour, so that means when it's hot and humid i lose about 2.8 pounds or about 1.27 kg/L of water per hour. for longer runs that means i should be drinking more like 750mL per hour; i think for a short run like that 500mL is ok. might be time to break out the hydration pouch for my long run tomorrow.

got a little floater in my vision now, on the right side.

when do you think the a/c turning point will be for the UK? it's been ubiquitous in the states for decades, i've never lived in a house without it.

migraine started friday night and is just now starting to dissipate close to midday on sunday. not an auspicious first week for my 50-miler build.

update: or second week, obviously. woke up this morning without a headache for the first time since last friday. will go for a cautious run later, probably inside because it's hot today and that just seems like asking for trouble.

btw @joe, i watched a short from will o'connor where he talks about how easy it is for a run with hills on it to slip out of zone 2 when you're climbing, even if HR doesn't change. apparently, if you're aerobically fit enough, you can buffer the extra costs of running uphill for a little while (i guess longer and/or steeper the fitter you are) without it affecting HR. an argument in your favor against relying on HR as the primary metric. seems like you can kinda fudge a power-based workout with just the watch but to do it right you have to get a stryd pod. oh boy, more gear... i'll probably stick with HR as the main thing and use pace for intervals.

was starting to get a little headache on the left posterior side of my head yesterday evening and woke up with it having intensified. it isn't as bad as the migraine was so i managed to drag myself out for a run, hoping that i'd loosen up and it'd go away. partial success. very frustrating.

- run 56:06, 10.00 km
cool but humidity extremely high

ended up being quite out of it all day yesterday as well, although the debilitating headache part was over by around 11 AM. i wonder if i've been having more-frequent migraines than i thought, i.e., if some of the prolonged, debilitating headaches i get every couple of months (or maybe every three? or four? idk, i wish i'd been keeping better track) and have thought of as "tension" headaches have been migraines this whole time. the "tension headache" idea goes back to the ER doctor i saw in london back in 2019, who prescribed a self-massage machine for me to use on my shoulders and upper back. i do carry tension there, and while self-massage sometimes helps during headaches it doesn't make them go away. and it made sense to think of the two types of headaches as different, because i also, more rarely, get an aura followed by a *much* more severe headache and vomiting. that type is a very classic, unmistakable migraine.

a bit of searching around online finds stress and "intense emotions" as a common trigger. i was furious on friday about something at work - the way one of my colleagues had treated another, closer colleague - and that on top of the stress of having so much family in the house for the prior week-plus might well be what set it off. in the past i have definitely associated the kind of headache i had this weekend with accumulated, sublimated stress. tension headaches are also apparently usually bilateral, and mine are almost always focused on one side, usually in the temple and behind my eye, and usually but not always on the right.

requested an appointment with a neurologist at the same hospital my GP works out of, hope i can get in soon and find out more.