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, March 28th:

The weather was something else today! Despite snow over the weekend, the temperature was in the 40s with clear, blue skies. With the snow melting, and people enjoying the nice weather, it made for an enjoyable run.

On the plan was 7-miles with 3x1-mile at threshold pace with a 2-minute easy recovery. This is a bump up in duration from the cruise intervals completed in prior weeks to now sustain threshold pace for approximately 7:30-8:00. I was looking forward to the longer mid-week run and the day unfolded nicely to have adequate time where I could truly enjoy it in a relaxed manner.

With the Oak Leaf Trail being a reliable choice knowing the snow was probably melted and speedwork suits it well, I left from home in Riverwest and ran over. After 2-miles at easy pace to warm-up, I was ready to kick things into gear. I switched my Garmin over to the created workout, and quickly got up to speed.

The 1-mile segments went very well. I averaged around 7:50-8:00 for each one and the heart rate fell right around 88-90% of my maximum heart rate. Surely I could’ve pushed these more, but my focus was finding “uncomfortably hard” and then falling into a nice rhythm. After 1.5-miles down the Oak Leaf Trail, I made it past McDonald’s on Locust Street before turning around to head back.

On the way back I was running an awkward in-between speed that didn’t allow me to fully run past the girl in front of me. She was running slightly slower than I was but I wasn’t going fast enough to make a clear pass. To avoid being awkward, I maintained a slower, and slightly conservative pace to the finish the last mile. It just seemed smarter then running alongside her for a period of time before stopping due to the rest period.

On the trail today was no shortage of people. From older people with walkers, to young runners and bikers. The day was just so beautiful that everyone was out soaking in the sun.

As I completed the speedwork, I adjusted to easy pace and cruised home. My heart rate was borderline zone 2/zone 3 and it made for a nice stroll through the neighborhood. With the snow melting, some blocks became an obstacle course to dodge puddles of water. But, all in all it was a fun run today.

Thursday, March 30th:

The schedule opened up nicely mid-morning to get outdoors and complete 5-miles at easy pace. My goal was to get back into the Altras and progressively load the calf complex with my next easy run. This one fit perfectly to accomplish that.

Before heading out the door, I jumped on mapymyrun.com to find a different 5-mile route. Usually I lack the desire to run from home because the neighborhood can get boring. However, from a time management standpoint it helps me knock things out quickly without wasting time driving to the lakefront.

The route I decided on started from home in Riverwest, east on Locust Street, north on Downer Avenue, west on East Capitol Drive, and south on Humboldt before returning to the neighborhood streets. A simple route with a few long sections of gradual uphills and downhills mixed in.

Running today was a struggle overall. For such an easy and low mileage run, I’m not sure why I felt off from the beginning. Could it be due to peak weak, sleep, nutrition, hydration, cumulative fatigue, or something else? Who knows but I checked the box and it’s time to move on.

From the first few miles I noticed the heart rate was quite higher than usual. Granted, once I hit Locust Street it was a steady uphill all the way to Downer which could be the reason. Even so, running just felt harder overall. Once I got to the flat or downhill sections I was able to regain some normalcy.

Nothing eventful happened on this run despite a sight seeing tour I did around University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee’s campus which was fun. I’ve driven by multiple times but never got the opportunity to explore on foot. The campus was rather quiet overall. 

One important take home lesson from this run is the effectiveness of using heart rate to gauge intensity as opposed to pace. Most runners follow pace ranges but these don’t fluctuate in real time to account for how the body is performing. Today this could’ve meant running my easy run too hard since I was obviously a little more worn down than usual. Instead, monitoring heart rate kept me honest to back down when necessary. As soon as I see the heart rate metric (beats per minute) approach zone 4, I know it’s time to back off the pace before I lose the intention of the run. Even while being diligent on monitoring using the Garmin watch, 9% of my run was in zone 4 which must’ve been the gradual uphill sections as the heart rate slowly climbed for an extended period of time. Despite not being a lot in total, it’s more than usual.

Later this week I’ll tackle some hill repeats and the 11-mile long run to wrap up peak. From there it’s smooth sailing into the taper to arrive at race day rested, replenished, and ready to go.

Friday, March 31st:

I was debating this run all morning… Since I had some very mild hip pain yesterday that lingered into the morning, I actually expected to make Friday a rest day and then finish out my remaining two runs over the weekend.

Truth is, I didn’t sleep well last night and I think that had something to do with it. However, as the day went on, I decided to follow my reliable “1-mile rule” where I would hit the road to see how things felt before deciding one way or another. I’m always pleasantly surprised how pain reduces as the body warms up. Even after completing the run and have walked the dog twice, my hip feels noticeably better than it did earlier today. I’ll take it!

On the plan was 6-miles with hill repeats but I defaulted to easy pace. In order to tackle hills, I’d have to drive over to the lakefront which didn’t sound appealing mentally or while considering the recent hip pain. When in doubt, get the miles in but remove intensity. It’s a safe fall back strategy that still allows you to stay on track with the program while eliminating the risk of causing a setback.

To keep things simple and light, I started from home in Riverwest and ran over to the Oak Leaf Trail. With bad thunderstorms on the forecast this evening, I knew I had to get moving before things got ugly.

The run went great overall but that’s probably because I kept my pace slow and the Oak Leaf Trail is super flat. In the first mile I did notice what I thought was compensation on the left side. I took a deep breathe, loosened up my body, and tried to run as naturally as possible. This did the trick as it felt more effortless, less guarded, and also less painful. I suspect my brain has been altering mechanics since the calf cramp incident several weeks ago. That would surely be why the hip is more irritated as my protective mechanism is shifting how many body absorbs force.

By the time I got to the trail, I did 2-miles down and then 2-miles back before heading home. The heart rate remained pretty low with an average of 143 beats per minute. That’s 91% in zone 2 and 9% in zone 3. Pretty slow, but tons of aerobic benefit with no further irritation of the hip.

The highlight of my run was seeing this golden retriever in the back of a pick-up truck. As I ran past the parking lot where the truck was parked, I glanced over to see him wagging his tail watching me run by. I’m biased because I also have a golden, but they always find a way to make you smile with their sweet and loving personality.

Once home I decided to knock out a 20-minute strength session focused on some key lower body movements, isolated hip exercises, push-ups, and rows. Recently, I developed a hip routine that I’ll now complete twice per day to reduce pain, restore strength, and make sure things resolve as I enter the taper. I did notice a burning sensation during the romanian deadlift which is a sure sign that I’m suffering from gluteus medius tendinopathy or iliotibial syndrome at the lateral hip. The compression created at the greater trochanter while in the hip hinge position helps narrow down to those diagnoses.

Saturday will end up being a rest day unless my body is feeling ready to go. Sunday is looking like an 11-miler to wrap up peak week. Let’s do it!

Sunday, April 2nd:

Today I was ill-prepared. The run part actually went smooth with no issues, but I misjudged the weather and struggled to stay warm.

The weather app said 45-degrees and partly cloudy. However, I didn’t check the wind… It was howling from east to west and dropped the temperature significantly most of the run. All I could do was tell myself to toughen up and get it done.

On the plan today was 11-miles at easy pace and this would wrap up my peak mileage for half marathon training. I was looking forward to checking the long run off the list and cruising into the taper to rest, refuel, and arrive at race day ready to go. Although left hip has been temperamental over the past week, it has been feeling so good since the 6-miler on Friday. I attribute this to a healthy amount of stress, performing a handful of isolated hip exercises twice per day, and prioritizing sleep and nutrition.

Before the run I jumped onto mapmyrun.com and found a nice route. If I knew the wind was going to be that brutal, I would’ve stayed away from the lakefront. Unfortunately, at that point I had no idea and it’s always my goal to enjoy the beauty of Lake Michigan.

The run started from home in Riverwest as I took Humboldt to North Avenue and headed east towards the lake. At this point, the hip was warming up nicely and my stride felt smooth. Once I got to the hospital and was nearing the Historic Water Tower, the wind nearly stopped me in my tracks. That’s when I debated finding another route but I decided to push on.

At the Water Tower I turned south down North Terrace Avenue to stay on top of the bluff until I reached Lafayette Hill Road. The houses in this stretch are unbelievable and It’s an enjoyable area to see the sights.

Once down the bottom of Lafayette Hill Road I turned past Colectivo on the Lakefront and entered Veterans Park. As I got closer and closer to the lake, the wind continued to pick up. Instead of being a hero, I adjusted my pace to match the wind resistance and remained nicely in the easy range. My hands and ears were red and I was, luckily, starting to lose feeling which I was happy with. The less I could feel uncomfortable, the more I could focus on the run to train with more purpose.

I looped around the small pier at Veteran Park and began making my way north towards Shorewood. There surprisingly weren’t too many people out there today. At this point I knew I only had to conquer the Lincoln Memorial Hill past Bradford Beach and the run was pretty much over. 

Since I ran out of gels, a small baggy of honey nut cheerios provided quick carbohydrates at mile 5 and mile 8. I'll have to get over to the local running store this week to restock my supply.

While at Bradford Beach I saw a person kite boarding. It was probably one of the most reckless things I’ve ever seen and couldn’t take my eyes off the water. At one point he hit a wave, went 20-feet into the air, and I thought he was going to be thrown onto the beach. I’m still not sure how the physics of that worked but it was amazing to watch as I ran by.

The hill after Bradford Beach was the only time my heart rate entered zone 4 but it went very smoothly. Based on my perception of the effort, I’m actually surprised my heart rate jumped up as high as it did. Up until this point, much of the run was flat or a series of downhill sections. It felt nice to have an increase in difficulty, especially since there was only 3-miles left.

By the time I got into Shorewood, I knew a stop at work was in order for a quick bathroom break. I turned from Lake Drive onto East Capitol Drive and opened up the doors of Crux Chiropractic. From there it was an easy run back to Humboldt and finally home.

I was pleased overall with how the left hip held up. With a reliable set of hip exercises to alleviate pain, the upcoming taper will only be positive to fine tune some areas before race day.

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 14!