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.

Monday, March 6th:

As the afternoon rolled around, I knew it was time to get moving. Kristen was heading to Madison for a quick work trip. And I wanted to knock out the run so I could wind down for the day.

On the plan was 4-miles at easy pace with 5 strides. A simple way to start the week, and, I strategically wanted to keep things light since the hips have been achy.

Sooner or later, every good running plan needs to be adjusted. Because I lacked discipline on Sunday and didn’t complete all of the long run miles and my hips have been achy for the past week, I decided to replace one workout with an easy run to let things simmer. The speedwork intensity has been high with 2-4 minute fartlek runs and it finally caught up to me. Luckily, it shouldn’t require anything more then refining the plan this week to be on the conservative side. 

My idea is to omit one workout and replace it with an easy run. And then transition from interval pace to threshold pace speedwork. Threshold pace is approximately 45-seconds slower than interval pace, but usually for longer distances. Although it’s longer, the lower intensity is easier on the muscles and joints. What this will do is allow me to hit the mileage while backing off in intensity which is what’s most likely to contribute the lack of recovery and joint stress.

What’s important to realize about fast running is that it requires a greater range of motion & peak muscle force, and the ground reaction forces are higher. By simply backing off the intensity, I can still run while facilitating more optimal recovery.

The treadmill run at Planet Fitness went smoothly. My pace started slow and I progressively increased the speed by 0.2 every mile. With the heart rate remaining nicely in zone 2 and zone 3, I executed well for it to be a true easy run.

Following the easy miles, I walked for 2-minutes and completed 5 strides. These can often be awkward on the treadmill, but nevertheless, they do the trick. Since I am aiming for a lighter week overall, I didn’t hit my usual pace and kept the intensity moderate. It felt good to open up the joints before heading home.

Wednesday, March 8th:

I was eagerly looking forward to the speedwork this week as it’s the only faster run of the 4 running days. Not to mention I am switching from interval pace to threshold pace. Like I said before, threshold pace is slightly slower but more sustained than interval pace. The goal is to program 5- to 20-minute segments at threshold pace which will help improve lactate clearance and endurance. If you want to be able to sustain the faster running paces you have developed, putting plenty of grinding, threshold running in the later stages of the plan can really pay dividends.

The workout was 1.5-mile warm-up at easy pace, 4x5min cruise intervals with 1min recovery, and 1.5-mile cool down at easy pace. The run itself totaled 5.5 miles so this included approximately 2.5-miles of speedwork. On a weekly basic I aim for 20% of my runs being speedwork and 80% easy running. However for this week, and since I dropped a workout, intensity will be 10% of my total mileage. A trade off to better recover and let the body finish the 16-week training plan strong.

With a break between virtual clients and heading into the facility to see in-person clients, I left from home in Riverwest and ran over to the Oak Leaf Trail. It’s exactly 1.5-miles to the entry point on East Capitol Drive by Corner Bakery. The pace was light and the heart rate remained low as it’s a slight downhill the last half mile. With construction on Humboldt, I had to hop from one side to the other to stay away from the trucks and heavy machinery.

The 5-minute cruise intervals went well. Actually, very well. It was my intention to keep this on the conservative side but still in range to achieve the desired outcome.

With threshold pace, the goal is to hit 88-92% of your maximum heart rate. As the body is pushed to this point for greater than 5-minutes, lactate builds up in the system which causes that uncomfortable burning sensation. The goal is to teach the body how to properly buffer lactate and clear it from your tissues to sustain quicker running paces for longer durations. Cruise intervals in particular are pushing the limit on the threshold pace range, although I’d say today I averaged around 87-90% of my maximum heart rate. In the future, once the hips are fully recovered, I’ll push the needle a bit more.

What’s important when it comes to speedwork is understanding the work to rest ratio. With threshold pace running, you generally want 5:1. That means for every 5-minutes of running, you have a 1-minute slow jog or walk recovery. Generally, I prefer a jog since it doesn’t allow the bigger drop in heart rate which then makes it harder to get back up to threshold pace in the next interval.

The Oak Leaf Trail was quiet and peaceful. With 35-degrees and blue skies, I actually might’ve been overdressed with a hat, gloves, light jacket, and running pants.

To finish this week I’ll aim for 6-miles at easy pace and a 10-mile long run. Since I didn’t hit all of my mileage last week, I’ll back the long run down from 11- to 10-miles since there’s still plenty of time left before race day to hit the longer runs.

Thursday, March 9th:

With snow rolling in tonight, I was eager to get some miles in early and hope for the best when it comes to the weekend’s long run. The forecast is predicting 5-7 inches and I’m hopeful it’s less than that.

The plan called for 6-miles at easy pace so I drove over to Atwater Park in Shorewood to get started. To break the monotony, I thought it would be nice to run down to the lakefront and tackle the hill on Lincoln Memorial Drive which would allow a nice downhill and uphill section to keep things interesting.

I started easy from Shorewood and ran south down Lake Drive to the intersection at Lincoln Memorial Drive. From there, I turned down the hill to the Lakefront.

One thing I noticed recently is that the knees have been feeling great. Not even the faintest sensation with any downhill running which I am extremely pleased with. If I can get the hips to come around, which they currently are each day, I will be happy with how the body feels at this point in my training.

While on the Lakefront, I ran past Bradford Beach and to the corner with Colectivo Coffee as the watch beeped indicating 3-miles. The run up to this point was pretty easy with a zone 2 heart rate. This was most likely due to the flat terrain and then big downhill section leading to the beach.

I turned around and began to head back. My thought was to pick up the pace ever so slightly to finish the run faster than I started. This would add some light intensity to the long uphill section while still respecting my easy pace range.

On the uphill, my heart rate did jump into zone 4 by 2-3 points but then quickly settled down as I finished the last flat mile back to Atwater Park. The pace at this point was just over 1:00 faster then when I started which shows I effectively used the entire pace/heart rate range for this run. From mid-zone 2, all the way to the limit of zone 3/4. I’m not typically someone who cares about being on the fast end of the range every single time. As long as I’m hitting the paces to get the best adaptation over time, that’s all that matters to me. Faster is never better with easy running, better is better!

As the week goes on I notice the hips are getting more quiet with each day. This has happened without adding more rest days but simply adjusting the plan to reduce the quantity of speedwork, and being diligent about hitting the pace ranges. I find most runners who are consistently hurt have too much intensity in their plan. And, I don’t mean only their speedwork, but running the easy paces too fast which leaves the body struggling to recover properly.

Once the snow settles tomorrow I’ll assess the conditions to determine what’s best to complete the 10-miler. I’m hoping it’s not messy but am prepared to knock it out on the treadmill if needed.

Saturday, March 11th:

The weather turned out to be very average today which is nice. Cloudy, 33-degrees, and perfect to knock out a few miles.

We ended up getting 7-miles overnight Thursday and into Friday. Fortunately, it has melted down a little bit and people did an adequate job clearing the sidewalks.

On the plan was a 10-mile long run at easy pace. Before heading out the door, I opened the computer to use mapmyrun.com which allowed me to confirm the total distance. This would take me by some usual spots and, of course, down to the lakefront before looping back.

Since this is a high mileage week before dropping back, my intention was to hang out in the middle of zone 3 and tackle a few stretches of gradual uphills, downhills, and the harder hill on Lincoln Memorial Drive. That was executed pretty well overall and then run was enjoyable.

I started from the Riverwest neighborhood and ran towards Atwater Park via Humboldt and East Capitol Drive. The long, gradual uphill on East Capitol Drive got the heart rate going early and my body felt like crap. Whether it was the gentle elevation change, strength training session the day before, or too much computer work on the living room couch, I felt very stuff and uneconomical. 

Once at Atwater Park, I turned south down Lake Drive towards Lake Park. There were a few runners putting in the work on both sides of the street as this is a nice area to run. It’s quiet, clean, and the houses are nice to look at. I’ve always told myself that one day when I make it big I’ll have a lion or gargoyle stone statue outside of my house. Yup, all these houses have those…

As I entered Lake Park I remained on the west perimeter hoping for less foot traffic and unobstructed running. With the snow right now, there are times where people have their headphones in and are unaware you’re approaching behind them despite giving a vocal heads up. This happened a good amount throughout the run but it allowed me to work on my fancy footwork which breaks the monotony of road running.

Between Lake Park and the Historic Water Tower, I started to fall into a rhythm. Up to that point the body felt pretty crappy but seemed to finally warm-up and feel more efficient. The heart rate and intensity of the run was on point, but my joints and muscles felt otherwise. Luckily I could tell this was about to change for a strong second half on the way back home.

I stopped for 30-seconds by the Historic Water Tower to get in some nutrition. Today I carried a UCann Pineapple which tasted good and I was back at it. At the Water Tower I turned down the hill and ended up at Bradford Beach.

What’s always noticeable when running from the bluff down to the beach is the temperature drop. It may be 5+ degrees cooler on the lakefront and there’s usually a cool breeze off the water. I saw a group of people that appeared to be bird watching. They all had binoculars or digital cameras looking out over Lake Michigan.

This section of Milwaukee is hands down my favorite. To live so far from the ocean but have access to a sprawling body of water is appreciated. Summer will be nice, but there’s a beauty to the quiet and rugged beach and lake during the colder months.

As I ran north, the elevation trends to a mild uphill from Bradford Beach all the way to the rugby field. From there it’s time to tackle the bigger hill on Lincoln Memorial Drive. This is the same one I ran mid-week, in addition to my hill repeat workout, and the body felt strong. At this point, it pretty felt like the run was over. I knew I had 4-miles left but the remainder of the roads were actually flat or slightly downhill so I knew I could pick up the pace and cruise home.

The rest was fairly uneventful. Like I mentioned, I picked up the pace to be in mid-upper zone 3 and held strong. The body felt warm and in a good rhythm as I debated what was for lunch. 

On Lake Drive in Shorewood I came across an older, white-faced Golden Retriever rolling in the fresh snow. The joy on it’s face was priceless and it brought back great memories of my last dog, Lexi. There’s something about Golden’s that I’ve always gravitated to. They have this love for life that is infectious. 

The rest of the run was strong. Legs were a little achy with the long downhill section on East Capitol Drive. But the heart rate remained in the proper range despite picking up the pace. It seems that as long as I’m patient for the first 2-3 miles, I can run quite a bit faster without a high heart rate response. I’ll have to reflect on the numbers more when I get to the finish fast long runs which are in the coming weeks to see how accurate that statement is.

10-miles in the books and a pretty good week overall. Next week I’ll roll back the volume a little bit to facilitate better recovery. From there it’s crunch time until 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 11!