Le Blog du Rob #99 – with training log

Greetings from Charlottesville, VA. Down here sweating my balls off, trying to grow a sweet beard and training for Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. It is good stuff.

What should we talk about first? How about some marathon stuff. Building towards STWM on Oct 20. This build is weird, man. We find ourselves in an interesting situation. Just for the record, when I say “we” I am referring to myself and Coach Pete. We’re a team; we’re tackling this stuff together… I also don’t want to take full responsibility for all the stupid stuff I do, even though any stupid thing I do is purely my fault. Anyways, so here we are, fresh off a very successful World Championships run, but hungry for more. The goal in Toronto is simple: run fast!

I know I am very fit, but at the same time this will be marathon number four on the year. There is a lot of shit in the legs. What’s the plan on how to tackle this sucker? How are we going to maximize the fitness and make sure we hit that line Oct 20 ready to rock?

The initial plan was a good one, it was simple. Be conservative and ease into this cycle. Go by feel. Obviously, I have a tonne of fitness in the ole’ body, but it’s also kinda tired due to the beatings it’s taken over three marathons in four months. Just be conservative and let it flow. So simple!

This plan has hit a snag though folks. What was the snag? Me. I am stupid, stupid Rob is the snag. I didn’t approach this conservatively at all. In my defence, we did do the ease-in week…but the ease-in week was 210K…then last week I ran 250K…just kinda happened. Dammit… *shakes head in disappointment*

Now don’t get me wrong, the training those two weeks was quite fantastic. I rolled pretty well, but it was unnecessary to run that much. The aerobic base is not the issue here, that sucker is solid. We need the speed, the quality, we need the sexy stuff to be rocking! Basically I have to smarten up. I sound like a broken record over here. Coach made me promise no more than 200K this week. If I go over 200K he’s going to evict me.

Another curveball here in this build up is that fact that apparently Charlottesville is located firmly on the surface of the Sun. Dear god, it is hot here! The heat is annoying, but it’s manageable. What I can’t deal with, and what is really causing immense amounts of suffering is this gosh darn humidity. It’s brutal man, it’s kicking my ass.

Whilst in Moscow, Dr. Trent told me that I have the second highest sweat rate of any endurance runner he has ever seen. I sweat at a rate of 1.8L/Hour. Not sure exactly what that means, but I think it’s the reason why 15 minutes into every run it looks like I have fallen into a river. It’s also the reason why easy days can become death marches. I come back from an easy hour just drenched. A sopping wet, disgusting, broken man. It is so gross. I finish and even my shoes are soaked. My shoes! I sweat so much that I have to change shoes! Who does that? Need me some more NewBalance 890’s, my current ones are all waterlogged.

Okay, that was a lot of complaining, sorry. I had to vent. Want some good news? Good news is that I caught my mistakes before I destroyed myself and put myself in a big hole. I have gotten in some great work so far, gonna chill here a bit and let that simmer. I think that when the weather gets nice and cool I’ll be ready to fly!
Other good news is that Pete and Kristen have continued to be amazing hosts. They take such good care of me. I’m also all caught up on Breaking Bad. Holy moly, such craziness going on in that there show, eh folks? That Walter White sure is a troublemaker!

Here is where we stand folks. 5 weeks out from Scotia and all is good. Life is great. Let’s do this. Cannot wait to hammer on Oct. 20.

However, before we toe the line at STWM, I’m going to head up to Toronto for the National 10K Championships next weekend. I have absolutely no idea what to expect there. I figure I’m just gonna put my head down and run hard. Should be fun.
Okay, so that’s what’s going on. Check out the training log for specifics from last week.

Training Log:

Sept 2: am: 82 min w/UVA kids at Riverview. Ran with Zach Gates, that kid is a hammer head. I like it! 12.5 miles.
pm: 56 min easy on my own. 8.5 miles

Sept 3: am: Workout 12x1km (200m jog rest) 3:07, 3:02, 3:02, 3:03, 3:00, 3:02, 2:59, 3:03, 3:03, 3:06, 3:04, 2:58. That was a grind! Very hot and humid, was working very hard and having a hard time recovering. Good for the head. Ran on Rivanna trail. 14 mile total.
Pm: 48 min easy to flush out the junk. 7 miles.

Sept 4: am: 80 min easy, ran early to try to avoid the heat. Wasn’t bad at all. 12 miles
Pm: 55 easy, gross run. Sticky balls. 8 Miles.

Sept 5: Workout: 2×6 miles @ Piney River. 30:45/30:34. 1 mile jog rest (6:44). Surface was a bit too soft and gravely for the ole’ hammies. Ran conservatively. Felt decent. Beautiful trail overall though, would be great for easy runs. 19 mile Total.
Pm: 48 min Shake out. Ate a whole lotta Mexican food after, it was glorious! 7 miles.

Sept 6: am: 70 min easy w/UVA. Legs were sore, just cruised. 10 miles.
Noonish: 40 min easy after weight session. 6 mile.
Pm: 55 min easy, felt okay, gonna sleep well tonight! 8 miles

Sept 7: Workout: 10 mile Tempo with UVA kids at Piney River. 53:55 (27:28/26:27) Legs were tired, got myself dropped in the last two miles. My legs hurt and so did my pride. Good session overall though. 16 miles.
Pm: 48 min easy shakeout. 7 miles.

Sept 8: am: 82 min easy, holy moly… 12 miles.
Pm: 54 min, much better! 8 miles.

Good week, maybe got a bit excited. Gonna back off next week to let this one settle. Also got in three specific weight room sessions. One hour of core and recovery specific drills each day. 155 miles.