week in training + wings for life world run virtual race recap
I ran for those who can’t.
I am beyond joyful that my leg and all circumstances besides allowed me to virtually race the Wings for Life World Run on Sunday. This event is probably my favorite because of the cause it benefits and the race format. Instead of racing for a finish line, you race to AVOID the finish line – in the usual race, a car that gives you 30 minutes leeway before starting its hunt, but in the app a fairly demonic-sounding voice that beeps and warns you as it increases speed every 30 minutes. So, everyone is a finisher, regardless of whether you take one step or 100,000.
Wings for Life is an organization that donates 100% of the proceeds from the race to spinal cord injury research. J and I had to get a bit inventive to participate and wound up creating a good series of routes in a scenic nearby neighborhood. I did remarkably well considering the uncertainty surrounding my calf injury and some knee discomfort that comes off and on. Not to mention, I had loads of fun partaking with J and even consented to a post-race beer!
Monday, 4/27: 4.22 miles, 10:54 pace
Exactly 46 minutes to start off Monday. My legs creaked through this run and I was surprised by the sub-11 pace considering my average heart rate of 158 and general heaviness in the limbs. Florida cooled off significantly overnight and I barely sweated, always a bonus of pleasant weather.
Tuesday, 4/28: 3.64 miles, 10:30 pace + 50 min full body strength + 31.04 miles, 15.5 mph cycling (120 minutes)
Loaded training day, but definitely felt in the mood for higher volume. The run irked me since my HRM decided to wig out and read an absurdly high BPM at a very easy pace, so I channeled my frustration into a fast finish-type impromptu “workout.” My final split wasn’t anything really exciting, just a 9:18, but it felt good to get some turnover in my legs.
Full body strength: EMOM, 4 rounds each
- 15 glute bridge chest press
- 18 shrugs
- 12 goblet squat press
- 10 skullcrushers
- 10 weighted lunge knee-ups per side/15 biceps curls (E2MOM)
- 12 windmills per side
- 3:15 plank
- 3 x 20 plank leg lifts + 20 donkey kicks per side
- 3 x 30 band clamshells
- 2 Turkish get-ups
Cycling:
- 10 min warmup
- 60 minutes @ 80-83 RPM, zone 3
- 20 minutes as 2 min @ 83-85 RPM/2 min @ 85-88 RPM (threshold builds)
- 10 min @ 83-85 RPM
- 10 min @ 80-83 RPM
- 10 min cooldown
Wedneday, 4/29: 34.06 miles, 15.1 mph cycling (135 minutes) + 5.23 miles, 10:32 pace
Midmorning miles aren’t my usual, but I wasn’t feeling strength training despite wanting some movement after breakfast. I noticed a high storm chance Thursday morning, when I would’ve run, so I swapped days. I broke down in tears upon completion. I’ve lost SO much fitness since my injury, and though I’m often assured it’ll return, the normalcy path seems quite blocked.
Cycling:
- 10 minute easy warmup
- 90 minute zone 2/low zone 3 @ 80-82 RPM
- 5 x 2 min @ 87+ RPM/2 min recovery
- 5 min @ 80-83 RPM
- 10 min easy cooldown
Thursday, 4/30: 31.08 miles, 15.5 mph cycling (120 minutes) with 20 mile time trial
Time trials are nearly impossible on the trainer, especially for me sans power meter or an accurate speed reading. I consider this an apt fitness test, however, at the very least. I used cadence to simulate efforts from tempo to full-out, and while my speed overall was less than impressive (the trial ended after about 75 minutes) I think I managed some serious watts.
I warmed up for 20 minutes with 5 x :30 pickups to get the legs primed, then dove in. I broke up the effort as follows:
- 3 miles @ 80-83 RPM -> tempo effort
- 10 miles @ 84-86 RPM -> high tempo building to threshold
- 5 miles @ 86-88 RPM -> threshold
- 2 miles @ 89-95 RPM FULL GAS -> that explains it well enough
After letting out a huge roar, I cooled down with a gentle spin for 25 minutes to hit two full hours and get my heart rate to calm down. I was smoked the rest of the day, and very hungry.
Friday, 5/1: 6.3 miles, 10:51 pace with 5 strides + 63 minute full body lift
Beautiful 64 degree morning, though my energy dipped around mile 4 of this run for some reason. The past couple days I’ve experienced extra appetite even though I believe myself to be increasing my intake substantially and regularly, so that might be causing extra morning hunger. I followed up the run with 5 strides outside my apartment.
Full body lift: E2MOM – 4 rounds of each set performed every 2 minutes, with 1 minute recovery between sets.
- 15 single-arm curl to press per side
- 10 single leg deadlifts R to overhead press/10 single leg deadlifts L to upright row
- 12 triceps kickback to reverse fly + 20 sumo squat pulses
- 20 band step-outs with press + 12 front squats + 20 retractions
- 15 face pulls per side + 20 press-ups
Core:
- :60 R plank
- :60 L plank
- 4 x 30 cross mountain climbers
- 3 x 20 plank toe taps
- 4 x 30 deadbugs
- 3 x 30 clamshells per side
Saturday, 5/2: 51.61 miles, 15.1 mph cycling (205 minutes)
Torque efforts interwoven with my weekend long ride. I love and hate tension workouts: they’re not as strenuous on the cardiovascular system, but really teach the neuromuscular system how to fire for more powerful pedaling. I performed 15 minutes at around 50 RPM, then after a short hiatus 4 x 5 minutes at 50 RPM with a 5 minute rest period in between. Other than these intervals, I kept the ride at zone 2/low zone 3.
Sunday, 5/3: 11.16 miles, 9:17 pace – Wings for Life World Run!
I don’t see how anyone would not want to do Wings for Life. The in-person race is irreplaceable, but the organizers do a splendid job with the app run and make it loads of fun with the prompts, bits of encouragement, and hilarious comments thrown in at each mile or kilometer marker.
Wings for Life starts promptly at 7 a.m., and at whichever times correspond with it, all across the world. So, all runners begin their journey at the exact same moment. We started the morning with a 5:30a wakeup call and had our respective pre-race snacks – I chose to experiment with a Clif Dark Chocolate Mocha bar (dipped in a cup of black coffee) since I have so much success training on Pittor with them. Packed a cooler with big water bottles, orange slices, and beer for our “aid station,” and drove out to our starting point by the yacht basin. The morning greeted us with a lovely yet somewhat balmy 65 degrees and a crisp sunrise over the water. We parked with about 15 minutes to spare, and one of our friends joined us at the start area; we kept a very safe distance the whole duration of the event.
The app begins to talk and play cheering simulations a few minutes before the start, and at 10 seconds before a countdown began that we each voiced aloud. Then we were off!
J mapped out three loops on the island of 3 miles, 2.5 miles, and 2 miles, so I coordinated a descending speed plan in hopes of accomplishing at least 15K before the catcher car snagged me. I attempted to start between 10-10:30 paces but my legs, after a 9:58 first mile, decided a 9:3x was more appropriate. I felt relaxed maintaining those speeds, so I decided to just roll with it. 9:37 and 9:36 were my splits.
The next 2.5 miles, I dropped the pace just a little bit. Near the close of the loop, D and I crossed paths and she took a socially distanced selfie with me dashing by. It was great encouragement and that was the only time we encountered one another during the race. I clocked in 9:31, 9:22, and 9:25 for the final .5.
The sun beamed overhead by the next two miles, but I flipped down my sunglasses and overall didn’t experience any heat discomfort since the temperature remained mild. I encouraged my legs to turnover a touch more and grabbed 9:14 and 9:09 for my splits.
I winged the final 1.5 and .5 miles of my 15k workout, and realized that I’d have more wiggle room than I thought before the catcher car found me! I snagged an 8:48 for the full mile, and 8:47 and 8:39 for the halves. Since I didn’t have a pace goal for the remaining race, I let up somewhat but tried to keep a decent effort going to make as much mileage as I could. Turns out, I had an extra 1.5 miles and change in me! I ran a 9:07 for one of the miles and finished the final bit before the car got me at an 8:51. I was SO relieved when I got caught. I veered to the seawall and threw my hands up, glancing over the water at the beautiful sparkling undulations for a few moments before walk-jogging back to greet my cohorts.
I was the last of us three to finish and J brought a bag of oranges and water out for me to snarf down as soon as I approached the truck. We pseudo-cheers’d a successful event, me with a Blue Moon Iced Coffee Blonde, before going our separate ways.
Total running mileage: 30.95
Total cycling mileage: 147.79
