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, April 11th:

The weather is heating up there. At the start of my run my watch read 71-degrees. Although a beautiful day, I will wish the cool 30- and 40-degrees temperatures which were here just a few weeks ago. We can’t have it our way always, right?

On the program was 5-miles at easy pace. The hip has been feeling strong throughout my daily routine but still requires an extended dynamic warm-up including target activation exercises. If I skip these, the first 5-10 minutes of the run has a noticeable compensation where the hip feels weak and unsupportive. When the body warms up, there is no pain or compensation. I’ll have to be diligent on addressing these daily to prepare for race day. 

I started from home in Riverwest, turned north down Humboldt and east onto East Capitol Drive. My plan was to run to Atwater Park in Shorewood and back but the main roads were so congested with cars that I quickly detoured. With the main intersection all clogged up, I easily ran across to Estabrook Park where I could enjoy the scenery and slow, rolling terrain for a few miles before turning back.

Since it’s the warmest day of the year so far, I made it a priority to monitor my heart rate diligently. Heart rate is honest. Pace ranges are often not. Since my heart rate will take into consideration my restfulness, hydration, nutrition, temperature, humidity, and intensity, I knew if I kept it in zone 2 and zone 3 that I would execute the intention of the run nicely. 

What I noticed is that my easy pace was 20-30 seconds slower than normal. That’s nothing to worry about since my body was getting used to the warmer temperatures. But if I solely went by pace I may have ended up running too fast based on how the body responded.

The stroll through the park was enjoyable. I saw couples walking their dog, young kids at the playground, a girls soccer team scrimmaging, and many more people enjoying the beautiful weather. I made a point to call my mother, father, and friend Marc to help pass the time since I was feeling a bit tired overall. Last night I laid in bed for 3-hours unable to sleep… I’m sure that had something to do with it.

At the 2.5-mile mark I turned around to head home. As I got closer, I slowed my pace to get into zone 2 and arrived at the house to sit on the front steps for a few minutes to relax. I unlaced my Topo Ultraflys and went inside to prepare dinner. This pair of shoes only has approximately 15-miles on them and I have mixed feelings thus far. They are light but need to be tied tight, and my feet get more achy than the other shoes. I’ll continue to break them in since wearing a variety of shoes can be helpful to expose the foot to different demands.

Wednesday, April 12th:

Another steamy hot Spring day! The day was beautiful and 80-degrees. I decided to head out around 4:00pm which seemed to be a busy time overall with plenty of other people out and about being active.

To prepare for the run, I completed a series of hip activation exercises, such as: sidelying hip abduction, single leg hip lift, single leg side bridge, etc. Following the ground-based movements, I progressed to a series of standing exercises, like: squats, walking lunge, lateral toe taps, vertical jump w/ stick, and medial to lateral jumps. All of which gradually warmed up the hip for a stellar first mile as opposed to struggling with a cold and weak gluteus medius tendon.

On the plan today was 6-miles with strength intervals. This includes a 1.5-mile warm-up at easy pace, 3x1-mile at threshold pace with a 2-minute easy recovery, and a 1.5-mile cool down at easy pace. 

I left from home and ran over to the Oak Leaf Trail in Shorewood at East Capitol Drive and got to work. With the temperature up, I knew I had to check my ego to not get overzealous with the pacing. While reflecting on the heart rate screen with my Garmin watch I ran the three efforts slightly slower than normal in terms of pace. However, the heart rate fell in the right range and it was certainly a challenging run. This is simply heat-related as the heart rate will be elevated due to the body’s internal temperature and a greater degree of blood volume loss via sweating.

While running, I was amazed at how many people were out getting after the day. It was the most people I’ve seen on the Oak Leaf Trail since moving to Milwaukee and it was impressive. From young high school runners blowing past me at an incredible pace, to families walking their dog, and an endless amount of cyclers, I was please to see so many people in motion. At one point, a guy on a motorcycle rode past which I’m pretty sure is illegal…

Following the strength intervals I switched to cool down mode and headed home. Finding easy pace was really hard for me after speedwork, Not to mention it was 80-degrees and a slight uphill the first half mile. I tried my best to slow things down but actually fell into zone 4 for 71% of this 1.5-mile segment.

The third and final run will be an 8-mile finish fast long run on Saturday. I’ll get out early to beat the warmer temperatures and start the timer for 1-week until race day! 

Saturday, April 15th:

We got to Kalamazoo yesterday to help out with some house tasks and yard work. It provided a nice opportunity to tackle the 8-mile finish fast long run. This was set-up as 6-miles at easy/conversational pace and 2-miles at half marathon pace. My intention was to tap into a range which I expect to be half marathon pace after creating some fatigue with the easy miles. This provides a lot of information to see how the body responds and also generates some data to better plan for race day.

Around 10:00am I drove over to Texas Drive Park which was bumping on this beautiful Saturday. The weather was 75-degrees and morning clouds slowly gave way to a bright blue and sunny sky. There was another running group finishing some miles and setting up for an outing, kids playing soccer, and tons of people being active.

With the weather being warm, I knew I had to be patient early on to set myself up for a strong finish. I’d say this was executed relatively poorly as I found myself on the higher end of my easy heart rate range and needed to slow down around the one mile mark. So I slowed my roll and fell into a slower than usual easy page which was more reflective of the heat and direct sunshine.

3-miles down and 3-miles back through Au Sabo and arrived back at my car to switch gears for the 2 fast(er) miles. The run had been tough at this point from several sections of no shade or breeze to create any sense of relief. But I hydrated often, consumed some UCann Pineapple, and anxiously continued to knock out this run so I could cruise into race week.

For the last 2-miles, I ran through Texas Corners at half marathon pace and felt strong. This pace, although more difficult to maintain than years past due to my fitness level, is extremely effortless and smooth. I look forward to more training post-race to continue building the aerobic system to make it a regular occurrence. 

The finish fast long run is something you should consider and I find it fits very well during lower mileage long runs. In my instance, this was the last long run before race day where I was able to simulate a race-like situation beyond simply running it easy. With that being said, you cannot get overzealous. It’s important to approach the finish fast long run with a specific goal pace range in mind that relates to your race day. Faster isn’t necessarily always better.

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 16!