In this weekly blog series, I plan to share a training recap as I prepare for Brew City 1/2 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 14th:

Monday ended up being a wash as we got lazy after work and decided to skip the treadmill. This week I’ll plan for runs on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and either Saturday or Sunday. With Kristen’s nieces in town again, I’ll play it by ear depending on how things play out. Being a drop week, it’s easy to be flexible and roll with the punches.

On the plan today was 6-miles which includes 4x5min at threshold pace with 1min recovery. This is known as cruise intervals since the duration is relatively short and you can hit the fast end of the threshold pace range which is usually 88-92% of maximum heart rate. 

To get the watch set, I adjusted my already created Garmin workout and laid out an intensity target between 165-175 beats per minute (bpm). When creating target ranges it’s helpful to make them somewhat broad so the watch doesn’t annoyingly beep when you’re too high or too low. My goal was to achieve between 170-175bpm once I got up to speed while allowing the body a few minutes to fall into it’s rhythm.

I started from home in Riverwest and ran to the Oak Leaf Trail in Shorewood. The entrance of this trail is 1.5-miles from home on East Capitol Drive so I added on a little more distance for a full 2-mile warm-up at easy pace. From there, I started the workout on my watch so I could easily track the key metrics such as time for each interval, pace, and heart rate.

The cruise intervals went well overall. With the Oak Leaf Trail being flat and fast, and with limited people walking or biking today, I was able to run without obstruction.

Based on my heart rate goal of 88-92% of maximum heart rate, my pace was around 7:50-8:10/mile. Why I like to reflect on heart rate more so than pace is because it’s more representative of how the body is responding in the moment. If I was dehydrated, slept poorly the night before, or for some reason had a decline in cardiovascular fitness, only reflecting on pace might not be accurate. The only difficulty with heart rate is the lag time it takes for it to elevate into range, whereas pace is an immediate metric.

Over time as you view both of these metrics, you are able to notice improvements in fitness. So in two weeks if I see that I hit the same heart rate but my average pace per cruise interval is 7:40-8:00/mile, that means I was able to run faster at the same heart rate. A lot of times runners lack awareness on how their heart rate responds to various paces and, therefore, don’t notice how their fitness is improving as training goes on. 

4 intervals of 5-minutes with a one minute easy recovery later and the challenging cruise intervals were completed. I felt strong for each one but they surely were taxing. Over time the goal will be to increase the duration at threshold pace to teach my body how to better clear lactate which is a waste byproduct released into the bloodstream from energy production. As this process gets more efficient, endurance improves and the ability to run through the discomfort.

Wednesday, March 15th:

Today’s run was an absolute debacle. I’ve never actually used that word to described anything in my life but I feel it’s spot on in this situation. And the truth is, I’m not even that mad about it. 

On the plan was 4-miles at easy pace. Yes, even 4-miles can go very badly sometimes…

I used mapmyrun.com to find a simple, but new route from home. It consisted of Humboldt, to Locust Street, to Oakland Avenue, to East Capitol Drive, back to Humboldt, and then home. Oakland has a gentle uphill section for approximately a mile that I enjoyed. Besides having to get around people who were not paying attention, my breathing and legs felt strong. However, random pains kept things interesting.

Before I even got off my street, I stepped off a curb and landed awkwardly. My left ankle didn’t hurt in anyway but it just wouldn’t support my bodyweight. Every time I struck the ground, it felt like the ankle wanted to give out. After a mile or so it seemed to subside but I was certainly compensating to make sure I didn’t collapse to the ground.

Once I got into Shorewood, the right knee started acting up with some uncomfortable joint pain. Was this caused due to compensating for the ankle early on? Who knows!

After crossing the Milwaukee river with one measly mile left in the run, the left calf began tightening up until a cramp formed. At this point, between the ankle, knee, and now the calf, I found it pretty amusing that this “easy” 4-miler was actually proving to be my most difficult run in this training plan. I went into it as a ‘check the box’ kind of run but things certainly went sideways.

On to the next one… I’ll monitor these random issues and see what’s what tomorrow. I’m more so hoping the calf will release because that’s the most prominent annoyance at the moment. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Friday, March 17th:

On the schedule today, actually yesterday, was 5-miles at easy pace on hilly terrain. Although there are several good hills in Milwaukee, “hilly terrain” is lacking. With that being said, my calf was still in recovery mode so I decided to pivot and adapt. 

What I took into consideration when adjusting this run was type of terrain and footwear. Hills were probably not smart since I’d be loading the calf and foot a lot more from a muscular standpoint on the uphill. When running downhill, there is greater ground reaction forces exhibited due to distance the foot lands in front of the body's center of mass. So I checked this off the list and will save it for another week. In terms of running shoes, I opted for the New Balance 880s over the Altras thinking the extra heel to toe differential would provide less stress on the achilles tendon and calf complex.

To play it safe in an environment where I could control the pace, elevation, and not have to hobble home if the calf became problematic… I went to Planet Fitness on East Capitol Drive. My goal was to test the calf and see how many miles I could get in to hopefully bridge the gap between Wednesday’s debacle and Sunday’s long run. This meant incorporating run/walk intervals because this would allow me to have a very clear audit every few minutes to gauge how I was feeling without overstepping.

I set the treadmill to a very slow roll and planned for 3/1 intervals. This means 3-minutes of running and 1-minute of walking for as long as I could last.

The first interval was brutal. I was actually pretty confident I should call it a day at that point but decided to give myself a single mile before making any judgment. The calf was nagging but I chalked it up to the muscles still warming up. After the next few intervals, the pain never went away, but I knew it was under a 4/10 and not getting worse as time went on. 3-miles later I called it quits and hopped on the bike to crank out 20-minutes at a higher intensity.

Although I didn’t complete all 5-miles like planned, I got 3-miles plus 20-minutes of cycling to atleast be productive. Oftentimes I find runners push too hard and exacerbate their issue while others are afraid to load the affected area to understand if it will actually improve with a healthy dose of stress. I’d say this was a productive test that allowed me to check the box without making anything worse.

When it comes to soft-tissue pain (muscle and tendon), it’s acceptable to train when it’s under a 4/10 but returns to baseline within 24-hours. Bone on the other hand is the complete opposite… No bone pain is acceptable to train through due to the severity of those types of injuries.

The entire run I monitored pain levels and looked for any compensation. Luckily, I respected the pain guidelines and will live to run another day. Hopefully that includes this weekend’s long run! Stay tuned.

Sunday, March 19th:

For this drop week long run, I had scheduled 7-miles but knew I had to play it by ear with the calf acting up earlier in the week. My expectations were low for this run and I knew I’d simply be happy getting some easy miles in to stay on track.

From a training principle standpoint, my priority at the moment is to maintain frequency of (achieving 4x/week) and duration of running (hitting the specified weekly mileage), while being comfortable limiting intensity long enough until the calf can tolerate it. This will still allow me to remain on track without taking any unnecessary risks that could sabotage the remainder of the plan.

Before leaving home, I thought I’d end up on the Oak Leaf Trail but the route took a unique turn once I got going. Since the Oak Leaf Trail is flat, this would put me in a good position to limit any change in elevation which could potentially irritate the calf. However, as I got to East Capitol Drive in Shorewood, I lost all desire to turn onto the trail. Although it’s a nice place to run, it can get pretty boring at times.

While on East Capitol Drive heading east, I ran past Corner Bakery and Culvers, and then turned north up Woodburn Street. I’ve never been on this street before, but with the universe pulled me in that direction.

While on Woodburn Street, I proceeded from Shorewood into Whitefish Bay and stopped at East Henry Clay Street to turn around. It was a peaceful street with families riding bikes and walking their dogs. I may have to venture through the neighborhoods a little more often. At the turn around point I simply reversed my direction and went home.

The first 2-miles of this run felt strong. I was happy with how the calf responded and gained some confidence. Whether it was improving from two days prior, or the extended dynamic warm-up before leaving the house was effective, but I knew I should be in good shape for the last 4-miles. Not to mention I was extremely patient from a pacing standpoint to stay in zone 2 for the majority of it.

After the 2nd mile, the calf began to tighten up. The more I was intentional about my running form, the better things felt. At the 3rd mile I had a UCann gel, stretched the calf against a tree for some extra TLC, and slowly ran home. With 6-miles in the books as opposed to 7-miles, I was content with the outcome regardless of being one mile short.

One sensation I noticed while running was the lack of power and shock absorption at the calf. From an endurance standpoint it responded well. But it lacked the responsiveness to push off with any purpose beyond easy running. This is a sign that I’ll have to step up my strength training/rehabilitation efforts over the next few weeks to work on basic plyometrics. This will re-train the calf muscle group to not only last on longer runs, but it’ll bridge the gap to more purposeful speedwork without causing a flare up.

Reflecting on the Garmin metrics afterwards, I kept things extremely light. 78% was in zone 2 with a small portion in zone 3. That’s truly “easy/conversational” running right there with a significant aerobic benefit. 

What we fail to realize at times is how important easy running is. While babying the calf, I was able to improve my aerobic base which will allow my cardiovascular system to pump more blood per beat. The more blood my heart can expel, the lower my heart rate will remain on faster runs because the entire system is working more efficiently. A huge benefit come race day and from a general health standpoint.

Tonight I’ll do a body inventory to determine any plan changes for next week. Plus, figure out the details on what exercises will resolve this calf issue once in for all since it’s very close to being healed

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 12!