Month: November 2017

Month #3

November 2017

  Distance
 Pace
 Weight
 HR
 VO2 Max
 Lactate Threshold
September 72 6:15 102.7 150 45 5:19 / 163
October 172 5:43 101.0 149 50 5:06 / 160
November 216 5:31 98.9 147 51 4:44 / 161

Second full month of running! I missed my volume target by 10 km which is fine. Also, a little bit a damper is the issue with my left knee. The pain is not really going away. I may need to take it a little easier to get some relief. But on the plus side I lost more than 2 kg in weight and all fitness numbers are really good (pace, VO2 Max, LT). I cannot complain at all. I signed up for the Marathon clinic next year with the Den. We’ll see how that goes…

Goals for December:

  • improve my knee problem
  • average weight around 98 kg
  • run 280 kms
  • average pace < 5:30 min/km
  • have fun!

Day #48

2.3 km warm up to the Den and 11 km medium evening run with the Den

Easy warm up run to the Den, but somehow I finalized this run on the watch, so a separate run was created. We went down to Lafarge Lake to see the lights. It was really a social run with a few speed intervals, but overall I just put it into medium running. Anyway, this was the last clinic run of the year. The weather was very cooperative and ideal for running – nice and cool and dry. Noticed my knee at warm up and the pain was closer to a 2. It definitely felt duller than Sunday and it went away until about halfway through the run. It then came back with a 3 to 4 and took me a little by surprise. In any it was bearable and it went away fairly quickly. So, does running make the problem go away or worse? Not sure. I don’t think that running makes it worse, but there are likely some strengthening and/or stretching exercise to help improve the issue. I guess it just hasn’t gotten bad enough just yet…

Day #47

8 km evening easy run

Knee is still bothering me a fair amount. At the beginning I would rate the pain at a 4 out of 10. It started changing my stride momentarily. But after 10min it was much better with the pain subduing to a 2. The hard workout yesterday did not help, nor sitting at a desk all day – although I went out for a 20min walk today. The other not so good thing today was the fact that my crown felt out today and now I need to go to dentist. It was just a matter of time, but I am really dreading this visit…

Week #11

Distance Pace Weight
Last week 35 km 5:32 min/km 99.1 kg
This week 63 km 5:34 min/km 98.4 kg

Highlights of this week:

  • Longest weekly volume so far
  • Toughed out mile repeats with the Den in a storm
  • Combined hills with long run to the point of fatigue

Nice drop in weight this week. Seems like I moving away from my plateau. The Sunday long run was a killer this week. As I went in the evening I wanted to stay in a well lit area so I opted for David to Shaughnessy and back on David. What a way to end the week. I am starting to feel the volume, so it will be interesting to see how I do next week…

Day #46

20 km evening long run with hills

This long run really got to me. My legs felt like jello on the last 2 km rolling home. I am happy that I was able to run up Heritage Mountain without stopping once (vs 3 times the last time I tried). I did have to take a break on the way back up David again – between Johnson and Lansdowne. Overall my legs were just tired. I think the weekly volume really contributed to it, as looking at the heart rate I averaged 146 bpm which is much less that I thought it would be.

I also had some minor issues with my left knee again – but it doesn’t seem that it is getting worse. For a few moment I felt some weakness in knee, like it was going to give in. But I have felt that feeling in the past and nothing really came out of it. Overall I think these hills actually help build up muscles around the knee (that is my hope, at least). I was careful on the downhills not to put too much pressure, then again I felt so depleted that I couldn’t have taken the downhills much faster anyway. I will be interesting to see how my legs will feel tomorrow.

Day #45

10 km afternoon easy run

Easy run in the afternoon. Absolutely uneventful. The only thing to mention is that I did notice the discomfort in my left knee again. I think the kneecap is moving around and in some locations it creates a little bit of pain. It doesn’t prevent me from running, but it is starting to become a major annoyance… Pace was fine and within what I expected. Planning to do a 20km long run tomorrow. I am a little worried how my knee will hold up.

Day #44

13 km late night medium run

Nice and dry and perfect running temperature (10 deg). Good run. Not quite as fast as last week, but I didn’t get much sleep the last so that probably affected my running today. It was quiet on the streets with barely people and only a few cars – I guess that is one advantage of running this late in the evening. But one issue is that I am not too tired and stay up late again… By knee felt better than yesterday, but I could still feel it quite a bit.

Day #43

8 km late night easy run

Late start to my easy run, but it was worth the wait. It was at least 12 deg outside and dry. Couldn’t ask for more from the weather. Average pace, uneventful run.

I am starting to feel my left knee more and more. I think it may be a moving kneecap, not quite sure. Seems to be worse when I start running and on downhills. Need to start doing some research if I can mitigate the discomfort with strengthening and/or stretching exercises. Definitely not a pleasant feeling. On the scale to 10 I would call it a 3.

Day #42

12km with clinic mile intervals

Skipped 2 days of running in a row (Sunday & Monday) because of weather and I just didn’t feel like it. So, I picked the day with the downpour and I even decided to run to the den tonight. Well, I arrived pretty soaked at the store and landed some comments, but in good spirits. We jogged down to a residential area off of Guildford and did 3x 1 mile with 45s break in between. It was definitely a tough one, but I managed to cling on to the others. At least I did not fully die out there. Holding the pace wasn’t that difficult – it was just the slight inclines that killed me. So, with a little grit I came through. In future I need to remember to set my watch correctly so I can capture my mile times. Looking at the data it looks like I averaged a 4:30 min/km pace throughout the workout. Not too shabby – and it helped move my LT pace down to 4:46 min/km in Garmin (for what it’s worth).