In this weekly blog series, I plan to share a training recap as I prepare for Brew City Half Marathon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It will include an overview of my training plan with the good, the bad, & the ugly which every runner undoubtedly experiences along the way. Enjoy and let me know if you have any feedback or thoughts based on your experience.

Tuesday, February 14th:

With this being a drop week, I actually took one additional day off after the weekend’s long run. The hip was a bit cranky at times last week so this allowed more adequate rest to let things simmer. However, I did complete a 40-minutes strength workout with some exercises to target the hip such as 90/90 hip switch, hip flexion resisted dead bug, step ups, marching, etc.

Drop weeks are built in recovery weeks where you reduce your training volume. If you think of the equation… Stress + Rest = Growth, you’ll clearly understand that all this effort requires a step back periodically to allow the body to adapt in a positive manner. I programmed a 20% reduction in training volume while maintaining intensity with 2 of the 3 running days containing speedwork.

On the agenda for today was 5-miles with 8x2min @ interval pace with 1min recovery (aka Fartleks). I’ve been doing most of these on the treadmill lately so it was nice to get outside and pound the pavement. Plus, with the weather being 45-degrees and partly cloudy, I was able to run in a pair of shorts and light jacket. Not too bad for February!

After a quick 3-minute dynamic warm-up before walking out the door, I hit the road. The 1.5-mile warm-up got me to the Oak Leaf Trail at East Capitol Drive in Shorewood. Over the course of the warm-up, I gradually increased my pace while respecting zone 2 and zone 3. This was the first run since December where I was able to use my heart rate strap rather than the wrist monitor. I left it at my mother-in-laws house around Christmas and haven’t been able to retrieve it. As I reflect on the numbers I cannot say if it was any more accurate compared to using the watch.

The intervals went off without issues but I found Garmin to be quite temperamental early on. I had a hard time understanding my pace since it seemed to be skewed either too fast or too slow. After 3 intervals, technology cooperated and I fell into the interval range nicely. Knowing this was too slow after reflecting on my heart rate periodically, I sped up 15-30 seconds faster then the pace range for the last 4 intervals.

Truthfully, and now that I am completing this workout outdoors, I’ve been running my interval pace too slowly. With that being said, running on the treadmill has a different feel overall compared to outdoors. I had a hard time keeping up on the treadmill but today felt more effortless. I’ll take that into consideration moving forward and can update the pace range based on the surface.

The trail was fairly quiet overall. There were your normal bike commuters, a few people walking dogs, and 2 other runners. I had to be careful when running under the bridges because the lack of sunlight in these areas allowed ice to be present despite our recent warm weather.

On the way home I reversed my course and completed 1.5-miles at easy pace. This started too fast and I had to back off to fall into zone 3 and eventually hit zone 2 closer to home. The dog was waiting by the door and it felt overall like a fairly easy run. In the future I know it will increase in intensity as I update the pace range and also have programmed 3-minute and 4-minute segments at interval pace which should spice things up.

Friday, February 17th:

Overall, it’s been a restful week. Due to life and weather, I ended up pushing things back a few days to be more convenient for my schedule.

With 6-inches of snow on the ground and desire to push the Fartlek’s to a greater degree, I set off for Planet Fitness to light up the treadmill. While reflecting on Tuesday’s workout, there was another level to reach in terms of pacing. The only thing I didn’t look forward to was how this workout called for 3-minutes at interval pace which I knew from experience would be pretty uncomfortable.

The run was laid out as a 2-mile easy warm-up, 6x3min at interval pace with 2min recovery, and 2-mile easy cool down. My goal was to remain patient on the warm-up and cool down while hitting, and/or exceeding, the fast end of my pace range to get a good idea of how the heart rate would respond. When you’re running Fartlek’s, it’s not uncommon for the heart rate to hit maximum but you really need to get your pace up quickly to allow this to happen.

Within this half marathon build, I programmed a range of Fartlek’s from 2-minutes to 4-minutes in length. The goal was initially to start short and fast and then transition to longer and faster/more sustained. So far 2- and 3-minute Fartlek’s have been completed and there will be a few 4-minute intervals to come. Let’s just say I’m not looking forward to those!

Overall, things went well. The run ended up being around 6.8-miles and I executed multiple fast intervals where the heart rate hit 95% of my maximum. At that point, the body is pretty uncomfortable and you just have to hold on tight before backing down. Plus, the thought that if I stub my toe or a shoelace comes untied the treadmill will send me flying…

Up at some point this weekend is a 6-mile long run. Due to the drop week and reduction in volume, things are fairly light before building to higher heights starting next week.

Sunday, February 19th:

The weather could not be much better today! Many Wisconsinites were getting outside to enjoy 45-degrees and blue skies in Milwaukee, so I knew I would have to dodge people quite often while getting this run completed. I was completely fine with that.

The program called for 6-miles at easy pace. With this being a drop week, volume is scaled back and that means the long run would also follow suit. Too often do runners neglect drop weeks and it’s only a matter of time until injury or overtraining is soon to follow. Fortunately, within a 16-week running plan, there is more than enough time to be prepared for race day so things can be gradual.

Since I was super lazy this week and the long run was being completed on Sunday, I knew I had to be smart from an intensity standpoint. Next weekend is a 2-day course being held in Chicago so the goal is to complete all runs before the weekend. Therefore, managing my training wisely today would allow me to pack all of my runs into the week without pushing too far. Sometimes we have to look at the big picture to manage life and our exercise workload wisely. As I like to say, "More is not better. Better is better!"

With the beautiful weather I decided to head down to the lakefront to soak it all in. From previous runs, I knew I could start at Bradford Beach and head south through Veterans Park, past the Art Museum and Discovery Science Center before looping around Lakeshore State Park and heading back. This would equal around 6-miles and had enjoyable scenery. 

Like I mentioned, it was super busy on the path today. With groups of people enjoying the weather and friendly conversation, I had to step off into the snow multiple times to pass. The only thing that outnumbered humans were Canadian Geese. Fortunately they were roaming in the grassy fields so I didn't have to dodge goose poop the entire time.

Since my goal was to hit a conservative easy pace, I would glance at my watch periodically to gauge distance, pace, and heart rate. What I noticed consistently was the heart rate stayed fairly low and controlled throughout the run. Subjectively, I feel like there has been an improvement in fitness since I was hitting faster paces at the same or even a slightly lower heart rate.

My zone 2 heart rate range is 137-147bpm and zone 3 is 148-159bpm. I was in zone 2 for 52% and zone 3 for 44% of the run with an average heart rate of 146bpm. These are the little things to be aware of based on the goal of your run. With it being an “easy” run, I knew my heart rate should be somewhere between 142-159bpm since that’s approximately 65-79% of my maximum heart rate. So rather than focusing solely on pace which can often be incorrect due to it not taking into consideration other factors, heart rate helped me keep things honest.

Time to relax for the remainder of the day, get the dog out for her stroll, and strategically plan the week ahead. With less days to work with and 4 runs on the plan, I’ll need to stay disciplined to make it happen.

Thanks for following along this week! If you have any questions or want to talk about creating an individualized running and injury prevention plan for you, click the ‘Healthy Running Program’ tab above and fill out the form.

Onward to week 8!