Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 4 run activities this week. On Tuesday (08/09) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.47 K, 6:17 min/km, 164 bpm, 75m elevation gain). On Wednesday (09/09) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (10.68 K, 8:19 min/km, 154 bpm, 86m elevation gain). (In this activity my watch had a poor connection and the real (distance, pace) evaluated by myself was (13.76K, 6:27 min/km)) On Friday (11/09) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:24 min/km, 167 bpm, 3m elevation gain). On Sunday (13/09) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 5:36 min/km, 160 bpm, 14m elevation gain).

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total
07	11K Run	13K Run	10	11K Run	12	14K Run	47.1 km
4943	18419	27772	8981	23651	22438	19201	125,405
76.4 kg	75.7 kg	75.8 kg	75.8 kg	76.1 kg	76.5 kg	76.1 kg

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (51, 49(wrong), 50, 50) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 47.1 km run and 125,405 steps.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (08/09): A little bit of pain in my left knee after 10 km , during my walk while returning home it was OK. It was my first run after three weeks of rest and also my first run in the Central Park. The trail that I was running on it was Trail of Hope and I walked on it 4-5 times before the run (on different days) to make sure I would memorize the path properly. The main difference in this terrain compared to Killarney track and field was the elevation gain of the terrain. The elevation gain of Trail of Hope in 11 km was 75m (15m/each loop) versus the elevation gain of Killarney track and field in 11km which was 25m or so. Also after three weeks of rest I got significantly slower (As a result my VO2Max decreased from 55-54 to 51 this time). I had a little bit of heavy chest during this run which might be because of my unadjusted running pace (running a bit fast). Also I have dropped 1.7 kg of weight in this run compared to my last run three weeks ago (75.7 kg vs 77.4 kg). Other than those everything was good in my run. For me, the most important feature of running these days is it’s impact on my mental health (particularly because of being in quarantine time). I noticed that in the three weeks that I didn’t run and concluded that running would help me stay on top of my mental health. If I stop running I won’t be on top anymore. So I’m very glad that I resumed my training. Also it’s interesting that in just 3 weeks of rest, I totally forgot about importance of my running goal for myself. That means if you want to improve in your running goal you have to stick on it both mentally and in practice (by doing the runs)

On Wednesday (09/09): True ave pace: 6:27 min/km, true distance: 13.76 km, My watch didn’t work properly this time. Last time I ran 5 times around the trail of hope for 11.47 km. This time I ran 6 times around the trail of hope and it should be 11.47×6/5 km =13.76 km but it was just 10.68 km in my watch. So the true distance is 13.76 km and the true pace is 88.75/13.76 =6:27 min/km. I still do not know why I am getting that slow because in the past I could easily run 13K with average pace around 5:30 min/km and average HR around 150 bpm (Look at the google sheets data) But right now in the new terrain (with 0.65 % incline) and with average HR around 150 bpm, I can just run with average pace around 6:30 min/km. Also remember that I am slightly lighter compared to the past (1.7kg). Time will explain it the best but there were two factors which had impacted on my performance: the new terrain and the gap in my training. The impact of the gap in my performance would quickly disappear and I can easily find the impact of the new terrain in my running pace by having a few of my future runs in a track and field. (There is a track and field in the Central Park with limited working hours that I can have a few of my runs there) I don’t know if my watch would work properly in the Central park in future or I would have the same GPS issue like today, but because of the fresh environment and also because of the hills in the terrain, I rather run in the Central park trails compared to track and field but my decision greatly depends on other factors which I mentioned them above. I also want to mention that one of the main reasons that I decided to have three weeks of rest in my training was because I wanted to make sure I can have a complete 10-12 weeks of training all in a row when I resumed my training. Right now I guess my body is ready for that. I also want to mention that I am roughly following the easiest 8K-10K training plan in the “Faster Road Racing” book of Pete Pfitzinger.

On Friday (11/09): Back on the track and field and fortunately it was a happy run today. After a long time that I planned to have early morning runs, finally I made it this time. Everything is perfect with the Central park track and field except it’s (public) working hours which is just M-F 7:30am-2:30pm and it’s closed on the weekends. Let me mention the positive points of running on the track compared to running on the trails of Central park. The first advantage is there is no dust on the track and therefore after the run your shoes and clothes are still clean. The second advantage is better GPS connection (poor connection on the trails because of the tall trees) and as a result your pace is again reasonable (like past before the break) and you can monitor your progress way better. This last advantage (being able to monitor your progress) matters a lot to me and therefore I am going to have my Sunday run on the Killarney track as the Central park track is closed (no run on the trail anymore at least in mean time)

On Sunday (13/09): I was tired so I couldn’t have my run earlier today but I finally made it late at 7pm. I am happy that I did the long run of the week after three weeks of rest. Due to the fires of California and Washington, the weather condition in Vancouver today was as bad as you could hardly see 100-150 meters ahead of yourself. Other than that things were OK in this run and no more update about it.