Long Run & Trail Run in Kalamazoo, Michigan (Half Marathon Training - Week #12 Recap)
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.
Wednesday, March 22nd:
With the schedule being a little sporadic, I will work on compressing the runs in to finish the week strong. This will require some discipline and diligence to train smart with the big picture in mind.
On the schedule today was actually speedwork but I wanted one more easy run under my belt to test the calf before increasing the intensity. Therefore, I defaulted to 6-miles at easy pace. Overall, the calf has responded exceptionally well and is not painful at all. I’m confident I can pick things up but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
In order to be convenient with my schedule, I broke this run into two separate segments with a strength workout in between. I had plans to meet Shawn over at his gym, Movement MKE in Shorewood, for a 45min workout. Since the gym is 2-miles from home, it would allow me to run over, workout, and then add some miles on the way home.
The run went well overall. I hit zone 2 and zone 3 pretty effortlessly and was able to remain patient. In the past, and depending on the intensity of the strength workout, it can often be a challenge to finish the remaining miles on tired legs. Luckily, we didn’t tax the lower body too much as I completed Goblet Spanish Squats, Romanian Deadlift, and some other upper body exercises. We talked shop, threw around some exercise/training ideas, and I ran home before the rain rolled in.
On the way back for the 4-mile segment, I was able to explore some roads I haven’t been on before. Since his facility is on East Capitol Drive in Shorewood, I turned north up Oakland Drive by all the bars, restaurants, and shops. At East Hampton Road I turned west and looped back to East Capitol Drive via North Woodburn Street. This took me through Shorewood and a small section of Whitefish Bay. It’s overall a nice area to look at houses and enjoy the peace & quiet of these neighborhoods.
Looking ahead to this week I’ll aim for speedwork tomorrow and then some easy trails and a 9-mile long run in Kalamazoo before heading back to Milwaukee. This will provide a healthy mix of easy running, speed, change of terrain, and volume.
Thursday, March 23rd:
Speedwork is back!
With the calf completely pain-free and no apprehension about testing some faster paces, I set off for my first workout since March 14th. The temporary switch to all easy running, with some rest and progressive calf exercises, mixed in allowed the affected area to calm down rather nicely. What I’m most happy about is there was no missed training days so the plan as a whole remains intact.
The goal today was to complete 6-miles with an easy warm-up, 4x5min at threshold pace with 1min recovery, and an easy cool down. I used the flat & fast Oak Leaf Trail at East Capitol Drive since it’s a convenient 1.5-miles from home and the perfect spot to crank things up.
When approaching this run, I decided it would be best to wear the New Balance 880s since the 10mm heel to toe differential would take some stress off the calf musculature. Smart footwear selection can help bridge the gap when introducing intensity. One of my goals over the next week will be to shift back into the Altras which places more stress on the calf with it's zero drop design.
Truth is, I finished a coaching call and virtual evaluation with a woman preparing for a half marathon and just hit the road. No warm-up, nothing… This is not typical for me since my body likes some pre-run TLC. I was really crammed on time with a seminar quickly approaching at Goodmiles Running Company in Greenfield on ‘Simple Tips to Improve Your Running Form.’ So I decided to get after it rather than making this run take longer than it needed to.
Click here to view a list of previous running, injury prevention, & strength training webinars that might be valuable to you.
The easy warm-up went well with a gradual progression from home in Riverwest to the Oak Leaf Trail in Shorewood. I used that 15-minutes to develop a plan for the cruise intervals today which consisted of a conservative first interval to assess how the calf responded before increasing the intensity on each subsequent interval as allowed.
In order to track intensity for this run, I have a workout set on Garmin that helps me fall into the correct heart rate range. Threshold pace is 88-92% of your maximum heart rate which is roughly around 165-175 beats per minute for me personally.
Since I know the general pace this heart rate range would equate to, I aimed for that pace and watched the heart rate elevate over the first few minutes. Once I hit the low end of my heart rate range, I simply held there which was perceived to be slightly on the slower side. That’s completely fine as my intention was to add more stress on the calf and monitor how it feels to ensure this run didn’t create any setbacks.
On each interval, I increased the intensity and found out that my paces overall were a little bit slower than the last time I completed this exact workout. Although my cardiovascular endurance has improved with more easy running lately, it’s clear I am lacking the ability to keep that heart rate controlled at faster paces. This should come back over time with more intentional speedwork, but, there is really no rush at this point.
The remainder of the run went well. On the slow roll back home I noticed the heart rate was being stubborn so I backed off my pace a little bit to see it drop from zone 3 into zone 2. The better I’m able to truly cool down, the faster my body tends to recover throughout the day. With a third running day in a row tomorrow, and one off day before the long run, it’s always important to look at the big picture rather than thinking each run has to be as hard as possible in order to be effective.
Friday, March 24th:
Today I traveled over to Kalamazoo to help my mother-in-law with some yard work. After the 4-hour drive, I took the dog for a nice walk around Pretty Lake in the Texas Corners/Mattawan area. For this 10-month old pup, getting off leash and picking up the pace is such an exciting time. We did a lap around the lake without seeing a single person. In the offseason, two thirds of the lake is deserted since it’s a summer camp for kids. So we try to enjoy the peace and quiet as much as possible.
Truthfully, I wasn’t even planning on running today. The day had been busy with 3-hours operating the chain saw and blower, but I got to a point where I just decided to knock it out. It was already 7pm and the weather app said sunset was 7:59 so there was a small window of time to complete 4-miles on the trails before it got dark, although not much.
With the calf feeling strong this week, I already had one workout completed and thought a run with a little extra variability would be nice for the body. Trail running fits this well as I can run easy, experience a variety of terrain & change of elevation, and allow the heart rate to fluctuate from zone 2 to zone 4.
Last night I had a seminar at Goodmiles Running Company in Greenfield, Wisconsin. As a thank you, they fitted me for a new pair of running shoes and I went with the Topo Ultrafly 4. Topo has been on my list for a few years now but I’m been a little stingy on my purchases. With the Altra Provisions working great, I decided the Topo would be a smart choice with it’s 5mm drop and roomy toe box.
The trail through Pretty Lake Camp is a convenient 0.25-miles from the house and I know it extremely well. Atleast I thought…
Since it’s technically a nature preserve and summer camp, my favorite trails have not been used since September. With the trees bare and no obvious foot path in some sections, I got lost once or twice briefly and had to turn around. Around 1-mile in I came across 6 deer that quickly ran off to avoid human interaction. Shortly after, the water levels on two swampy ponds was much higher than anticipated so I couldn’t use the normal trail which cuts between them. I actually stood there for about 30-seconds wondering if I could carefully tip toe across a few oddly arranged, fallen trees. Luckily, my logical side kicked in and I decided to double back and find another route.
The rest of the run went well as I navigated through undulating terrain that moved every which way. Uphills, downhills, curves, and flats. From hard packed dirt, to quiet pine needles. It’s an enjoyable trail that provides a sense of remoteness similar to Northern Michigan.
3.8-miles later and I was back home to cool down and figure out dessert. I had already eaten dinner but had been thinking about a frozen custard from Ritters down the street. Recovery nutrition is important, right?
In terms of the new Topo Ultrafly shoes, I did enjoy testing them out. I’ll have to wait until the next road run to better compare to my Altra Provisions and New Balance 880s, but so far so good. The heel counter must be a little different because this was the first shoe in a long time that I actually had to lace tight enough to feel like my foot was secure. Typically, I like my shoes extremely loose and with a lot of freedom for the feet to move. Since both laces came untied during the run, I was able to tighten them up nicely to prevent my foot from sliding out.
On the agenda at some point this weekend, pending some bad weather rolling in, is a 9-mile long run.
Sunday, March 26th:
Saturday ended up being a mess with a wintry mix of rain/snow and moderate winds. I decided that Sunday would be a better day to get in the 9-mile long run before we left Kalamazoo to head back to Milwaukee.
The morning was beautiful. It was 42-degrees and blue skies. I couldn’t ask for a better day.
Around 10am, I drove over to Texas Drive Park outside of Texas Corners. This is a usual starting point for me when in town as it allows easy access to the trails and paved path. I elected for the paved path which has a nice 3-mile section from the park all the way to the rotary where Texas Drive and Milham Road meets. If I could complete 3-miles down and back, I would only need to add an additional 3-miles somewhere, which I thought would be easy to figure out in the moment.
After completing some dynamic warm-up drills, I was ready to get moving. The goal was to keep things “easy" in the zone 2 and zone 3 heart rate range. I knew this wouldn’t be too challenging since the path is fairly flat and I would be well in control of my pacing.
Once I hit the end of the 3-mile section and arrived at the rotary, I decided to follow Milham Road into Portage to try and get another 1.5-miles. This would allow me the ability to do an out and back, rather than adding some random miles for the full 9-miles. Milham Road provided a little more variability with uphill and downhill sections, especially as it crossed over the 131 highway. My body enjoyed the change from pancake flat and I monitored intensity closely by viewing the heart rate screen on my Garmin watch.
At 4ish miles I turned around, ran through an assisted living community to get a little more distance, and retraced my steps. With blue skies, birds chirping, and dancehall reggae playing in my air pods, I often drifted from one thought to the next in a relaxed way.
Overall, the run was fairly effortless. I hit the heart rate range nicely and enjoyed what this beautiful Sunday morning offered. My calf was a non-issue and the body felt strong overall.
In the week ahead, I’ll get back into my Altras more often as the switch from the 5mm Topo and 10mm New Balance to zero drop will place more stress on the calf. There are so many ways we can progressively load an area after it’s problematic. I erred on the side of caution to make sure I hit the miles while wearing a safer shoe. But now that the calf has consistently proved to be pain-free and tolerated more miles and speedwork, it’s time to continue moving forward rather than relying on this crutch long-term.
This upcoming week will be the highest mileage week of the program which should top out around 30-miles. Although not anything crazy, emphasis always needs to be placed on nutrition, hydration, sleep, & recovery to make sure the body handles the stress well and can then reap the reward of the taper.
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 13!