60.5 Miles: Highest Mileage Week of My Life
The past week was important for people for different reasons. Mardi Gras was on Tuesday, and Lent started on Wednesday. Valentine's Day was Wednesday. The Lunar New Year was Friday. None of these events were tremendously significant for me, although I am a single, non-religious Chinese-American millennial. Actually, I take Chinese New Years pretty seriously, but that's not the point. This week marked the highest mileage I have set in a calendar week (I use Monday as my initial marker rather than Sunday) in my life. I ran 60.5 miles and actually managed to take one day off. No doubles. Before I delve into the details of my 60+ mileage week, I will share another bit of news as this is a blog dedicated to my life as a graduate student as well as a runner. This week, I planned and designed my first MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) growth. Certainly an infinitesimal fraction of the population has ever heard about molecular beam epitaxy, but as a first-year graduate student, this was a definitely a stepping point for me. After initial materials characterization, the sample looks good! My life over the next 5-6 years will be dedicated to growing high quality compound semiconductor materials with molecular beam epitaxy and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. For now though, I'll just talk about running.
Around this time last week as I was reflecting about my first 50+ mile week of the year as I was watching the Olympics on my couch. How was I going to top a 52 mile week in February? Well, as I'm watching the Olympic Primetime coverage on NBC this week, I am reflecting on a 60 mile week. You really learn truly what you're made of when you train for a marathon. You learn about your passions, your strengths, and most definitely your weaknesses. You find courage that you never knew you had. You learn that seemingly unachievable obstacles are just illusions. You also learn how to deal with 4:50 AM alarms. Enough with the mantras though, I'll list out my workouts from this week.
Monday: Easy 8 miles
Tuesday: 5xmile repeats ranging from 6:18 to 6:02 (9 total)
Wednesday: Easy 8 miles
Thursday: 8 mile tempo outside (6:44 pace)
Friday: Rest (and designing and growing my first sample with molecular beam epitaxy!)
Saturday: 18 mile long run with 1 mile warmup (19 total)
Sunday: Easy 8 miles
All runs except Sunday were started before 6:45 AM. Wakeup times outside of long runs have been between 5:45 and 6:00 AM.
Mile repeats this past week had my legs burning. Controlling the pace on a treadmill was awesome and really allowed me to keep an even pace. For those of you who don't know, I sweat profusely so I had to wear a headband at the gym to avoid soaking the treadmill. In the past, the most number of mile repeats I had ever done was three. Doing five was only possible with a treadmill; being able to controllably switch from a lactate-threshold effort for a mile to an 8:15 mile jog for three minutes of rest was critical. This workout will really allow me to build some tolerance to lactic acid buildup during early pushes or late surges in the marathon. It will also give way for muscle memory for potential 10K and 5K races as well as teach me really how to run in between difficult intervals. I definitely recommend this to workout anybody training for a half marathon or a marathon. Miles were 6:18, 6:18, 6:11, 6:07, and 6:02.
After a controlled hour of running on Wednesday to shake out the legs after mile repeats, I decided to run a tempo-like effort outside since it was warming up. It's nice to run outside in shorts in mid-February! Although it was about 48 degrees at the start of the run, there was extremely dense fog throughout the area for the entirety of the morning. At one point, I was worried for my safety as I was clocking tempo-pace over the hills on St. Mary's Road. Judging from a 0.1-0.2 mile visibility, I judiciously ran through on parts of the grass adjacent to the road to avoid cars who could not see oncoming traffic. Generally, I think I run best in overcast conditions with light rain. After passing through Meadowbrook Park, I ran north on Race knocking out a 6:27 mile. I followed that 6th mile with a 6:22 7th mile. Then, it started to pour down hard, and I finished the last mile just a shy under 6:55 mile. 8 mile tempos used to be the bread and butter for my half marathon training. I truly believe they were the greatest contributor to my 1:23:16 half marathon PR. Now, I will try to work up to 12 mile tempos sometime before the Illinois Marathon. If I get really carried away, I might even try a 14 mile tempo!
I planned to do 15-16 miles on Saturday along the second half of the Illinois Marathon route. I have run the Illinois Half Marathon twice, but I have never run along the full sections of the second half of the Illinois Marathon. The weather was favorable; at 6:30 AM temperatures were around 28 degrees with favorable surface conditions and without any wind. Like always when I plan long runs, I miss small turns and end up running more than expected. Although I made sure to study the map for about an hour at 11 PM the night before a run with a 4:50 AM wakeup call, I still managed to miss a couple parts of the route which actually extended the run to 18 miles. Coupled with the 1 mile warmup, I finished the day with over 19 miles. Considering that I am 10 weeks out from the Illinois Marathon, I am happy to have knocked out 19 miles already. It definitely is a big building block for 20+ mile runs that will come shortly within the next 3-4 weeks.
Just like last week, I have no idea what next week has in store for me. I know it will be a busy week in the lab taking measurements and analyzing loads of data, but I should have time to put out some quality workouts this week. The plan is to try to do a hills workout on the treadmill as well as another tempo in the middle of the week. The goal is to maybe knock out 14-15 miles as my long run this weekend as sort of a step back before knocking out the big 2-0 the following week. 20 miles is a big stepping stone to any marathon training point. Hell, it's a big milestone in an average person's life. Just think, you literally are outside for more than two hours just running nonstop. As an aside, I would like to say that coupled with the highest mileage week of my life was a trip to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ place in Savoy. These two events are mutually dependent.
I would like to end this post with what I would like to deem as a poem from Alexi Pappas. I draw inspiration from these lines daily.
Mountain: You trying to be strong like me?
Girl: Yes
Mountain: Funny
Girl: Why?
Mountain: Because I'm trying to be strong like you
69 days remain.
Dense foam rolling after a 60+ mile week
Around this time last week as I was reflecting about my first 50+ mile week of the year as I was watching the Olympics on my couch. How was I going to top a 52 mile week in February? Well, as I'm watching the Olympic Primetime coverage on NBC this week, I am reflecting on a 60 mile week. You really learn truly what you're made of when you train for a marathon. You learn about your passions, your strengths, and most definitely your weaknesses. You find courage that you never knew you had. You learn that seemingly unachievable obstacles are just illusions. You also learn how to deal with 4:50 AM alarms. Enough with the mantras though, I'll list out my workouts from this week.
Monday: Easy 8 miles
Tuesday: 5xmile repeats ranging from 6:18 to 6:02 (9 total)
Wednesday: Easy 8 miles
Thursday: 8 mile tempo outside (6:44 pace)
Friday: Rest (and designing and growing my first sample with molecular beam epitaxy!)
Saturday: 18 mile long run with 1 mile warmup (19 total)
Sunday: Easy 8 miles
All runs except Sunday were started before 6:45 AM. Wakeup times outside of long runs have been between 5:45 and 6:00 AM.
Mile repeats this past week had my legs burning. Controlling the pace on a treadmill was awesome and really allowed me to keep an even pace. For those of you who don't know, I sweat profusely so I had to wear a headband at the gym to avoid soaking the treadmill. In the past, the most number of mile repeats I had ever done was three. Doing five was only possible with a treadmill; being able to controllably switch from a lactate-threshold effort for a mile to an 8:15 mile jog for three minutes of rest was critical. This workout will really allow me to build some tolerance to lactic acid buildup during early pushes or late surges in the marathon. It will also give way for muscle memory for potential 10K and 5K races as well as teach me really how to run in between difficult intervals. I definitely recommend this to workout anybody training for a half marathon or a marathon. Miles were 6:18, 6:18, 6:11, 6:07, and 6:02.
Crazy fog on St. Mary's Road during an 8 mile tempo
After a controlled hour of running on Wednesday to shake out the legs after mile repeats, I decided to run a tempo-like effort outside since it was warming up. It's nice to run outside in shorts in mid-February! Although it was about 48 degrees at the start of the run, there was extremely dense fog throughout the area for the entirety of the morning. At one point, I was worried for my safety as I was clocking tempo-pace over the hills on St. Mary's Road. Judging from a 0.1-0.2 mile visibility, I judiciously ran through on parts of the grass adjacent to the road to avoid cars who could not see oncoming traffic. Generally, I think I run best in overcast conditions with light rain. After passing through Meadowbrook Park, I ran north on Race knocking out a 6:27 mile. I followed that 6th mile with a 6:22 7th mile. Then, it started to pour down hard, and I finished the last mile just a shy under 6:55 mile. 8 mile tempos used to be the bread and butter for my half marathon training. I truly believe they were the greatest contributor to my 1:23:16 half marathon PR. Now, I will try to work up to 12 mile tempos sometime before the Illinois Marathon. If I get really carried away, I might even try a 14 mile tempo!
The dinner the day before 19 miles of running through Champaign-Urbana in 30 degree weather: a buffalo chicken sandwich at Broadway Food Hall
Just like last week, I have no idea what next week has in store for me. I know it will be a busy week in the lab taking measurements and analyzing loads of data, but I should have time to put out some quality workouts this week. The plan is to try to do a hills workout on the treadmill as well as another tempo in the middle of the week. The goal is to maybe knock out 14-15 miles as my long run this weekend as sort of a step back before knocking out the big 2-0 the following week. 20 miles is a big stepping stone to any marathon training point. Hell, it's a big milestone in an average person's life. Just think, you literally are outside for more than two hours just running nonstop. As an aside, I would like to say that coupled with the highest mileage week of my life was a trip to an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ place in Savoy. These two events are mutually dependent.
All you can eat Korean BBQ on the same day as a 19 mile run
I would like to end this post with what I would like to deem as a poem from Alexi Pappas. I draw inspiration from these lines daily.
Mountain: You trying to be strong like me?
Girl: Yes
Mountain: Funny
Girl: Why?
Mountain: Because I'm trying to be strong like you
69 days remain.
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