Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had two run activities this week. On Tuesday (27/04) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:40 min/km, 142 bpm, 10m elevation gain). On Friday (30/04) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.01 K, 5:40 min/km, 168 bpm, 15m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Friday) activities were (51, 50) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 27.0 km run and 109,779 steps

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had three run activities this week. On Monday (19/04) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.01 K, 6:05 min/km, 135 bpm, 145m elevation gain). On Friday (23/04) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 6:00 min/km, 159 bpm, 18m elevation gain). On Sunday (25/04) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 5:31 min/km, 164 bpm, 12m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (48, 48, 49) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 39.0 km run and 114,215 steps

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 Monday (12/04) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:39 min/km, 175 bpm, 13m elevation gain). On Tuesday (13/04) I had a 3K run with the following averages: (3.24 K, 5:34 min/km, 164 bpm, 12m elevation gain). On Saturday (17/04) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.01 K, 5:33 min/km, 163 bpm, 73m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Tuesday, Saturday) activities were (46, 47, 48) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 27.2 km run and 140,938 steps

Totals: 877 Km running

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Summary of activities

First, let’s review my activities during this period of time. I had 6 run activities these two weeks. On Tuesday (01/12) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:30 min/km, 151 bpm, 23m elevation gain). On Thursday (03/12) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.13 K, 5:25 min/km, 163 bpm, 22m elevation gain). On Friday (04/12) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:41 min/km, 160 bpm, 16m elevation gain). On Sunday (06/12) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 6:00 min/km, 162 bpm, 32m elevation gain). On Tuesday (08/12) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.01 K, 5:32 min/km, 169 bpm, 23m elevation gain). On Wednesday (09/12) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 6:08 min/km, 140 bpm, 23m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max these two weeks in my (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday) activities were (50, 50, 50, 49, 48, 49) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals in week 20 were 47.1 km run and 93,678 steps. Also my weekly totals in week 21 were 28.0 km run and 57,457 steps.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (01/12): Even after 4 days from the time of my accident in Columbia park, each time I pass by it, I feel very stressed about having another run there. I am also sure it’s not safe to have most of my runs there so I am really grateful that I was forced to change my running field to a better one! Due to the fact that the terrain condition was normal for running with enough light at night, I was able to focus more on my running dynamics during the run, especially my running cadence and my posture. I am really satisfied with my running cadence as my final average cadence was 180 spm and it was always between 180 +/- 3 spm during the laps of the run. My posture was also OK during the run except the parts that the road was too dark! Actually the conditions of the road was great right up to the Burrard bridge but after that and along the seawall, it got extremely dark (absolutely no light) and as a result, I quickly switched my direction because I really didn’t want to run in a dark road. It is in my to do list with high priority to buy a running head lamp for early morning runs or my runs at night. Running along the seawall had another huge advantage and it was getting motivated by seeing lots of runners running along it. I was also trying to find a good place for my speed runs along the seawall but couldn’t find any. So it seems to me for my speed runs, I need to have my 3.5km warm up run towards the west from my starting point. I am still not 100% sure about it and I have to look more in order to find a good place for my speed runs. Also in the dark parts of the road, I was very cautious about how to take my steps in order to avoid hitting the ground in case it wasn’t smooth enough. During my run, I again had a little bit of nipple bleeding from both sides. My VO2Max improved to 50 in this run and my heart was working way better in it compared to the previous runs. My final average heart rate was just 81% HRMax but my final average pace was 5:30 min/km!

On Sunday (06/12): Today was among those days that I didn’t want to have my run partially because I was a bit lazy and partially because it was rainy and cloudy outside (fortunately no rain during my run, just in the morning). In my life in Vancouver, I found this pattern that I need more motivation for my runs on rainy, cold or cloudy days. This week was a recovery week in my training plan and all of the runs were general aerobic. However, my last two runs were a little bit faster than general aerobic runs (average heart rate 86% and 87% HRmax respectively) and therefore for this reason, I strictly decided to stay in the safe zone by running it as slow as a real general aerobic run (70-81% HRMax). However I started my run very slow (the first lap’s pace was just 5:49 min/km), I noticed that my heart rate monitor reports my heart rate unreasonably high (86% HRMax for the first lap) and the inaccuracy in my heart rate’s data continued up to the end of the run. Therefore when I noticed that pattern early in my run, I decided to finish my run with a final average pace around 6:00 min/km. I thought that average pace would be slow enough for this run as my final average pace in my last two runs were 5:41 min/km and 5:25 min/km respectively. I successfully finished my run with the final average pace 6:00 min/km and I’m very glad about it. It feels awesome when you see you are able to manage your runs that accurately. Also during the run, when I saw my average heart rate was being reported (mistakenly) that high, I was almost 100% sure that my Garmin watch would decrease my VO2Max after this run and my guess was true. My VO2Max calculated 49 after this run unlike my past three runs that it was being calculated 50 in all of them. About my cadence in this run, I had a very good cadence in the first 9km of the run (always between 178-181 spm) but in the next 5km it suddenly dropped to 172-174 spm mainly because it was dark and I was also tired.

On Tuesday (08/12): In my training plan for this week, there were 5 runs including a 5K recovery run with a total of 59km weekly mileage. Based on my past years’ experiences, I knew a 4 days training plan is the best for me so I slightly modified the plan into a 4 day training plan in a way that the weekly mileage would remain the same. In my last run, I complained a lot about the accuracy of my heart rate monitor but I experienced the exact same thing in this run too, the measured heart rate was unreasonably too high to me. I had two options, either run too slow to have a real endurance run based on the measured heart rate data or to have a comfortable endurance run based on how you feel and regardless of the measured heart rate data. I chose the second option because I simply believed in the fact that if you want to get faster, you need to gradually push your boundaries. I would still try to avoid overtraining but I guess in this run I was far away from it. To be on the safe side, I decided to have this run a comfortable endurance run, and instead run my next 14K general aerobic run very slow. Based on those explanations, I was very satisfied with the result of this run as the final average pace was 5:32 min/km. The final average heart rate was measured 90% HRmax and it was as high as the VO2Max dropped another unit to become 48 ml/kg/min. During this run, I was getting faster by means of time in a way that my average pace during the first half of the run was 5:41 min/km, much slower than my average pace in the second half of the run which was 5:23 min/km. My running cadence also improved in this run as during the entire run, it didn’t become lower than 177 spm and my final average cadence was also 179 spm. It is almost clear to me that for the runs up to half marathons, the faster I run the better my cadence is. I also know that my running cadence would be poor when I’m tired during the run. In fact when I’m tired, I can either focus on my speed or my cadence but not both!

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 (24/11) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:51 min/km, 161 bpm, 104m elevation gain). On Thursday (26/11) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 6:35 min/km, 147 bpm, 102m elevation gain). On Friday (27/11) I had an incomplete tempo 3K run with the following averages: (2.72 K, 5:44 min/km, 157 bpm, 14m elevation gain). On Sunday (29/11) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.01 K, 5:35 min/km, 161 bpm, 32m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (48, 48, 49, 49) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 43.7 km run and 78,614 steps

About individual runs

On Tuesday (24/11): It was supposed to be a general aerobic run (70-81% HRMax) and before the run I decided to have it with a final average pace 6:00 min/km. Immediately after starting the run, I felt that I needed to change my training field again and run in the Langara Golf Course because I was a bit down and couldn’t run in a boring field (my regular training field) for the entire 11 kilometers. While passing the 49th avenue, I had to stop my run two times for a total of 53 seconds and it is almost clear (at least the first stop) in my running heart rate diagram! Running in the golf course with it’s own uphills and downhills, it is difficult to manage your pace and your heart rate so again like in my last run, I decided not to carefully monitor my pace and therefore my final average pace was a little bit faster than my desired pace (5:51 min/km vs 6:00 min/km). As a result, my final average heart rate (86% HRMax) was also higher than the desired range (70-81% HRMax). Therefore, I experienced overtraining the day after this run which I was tired all the time during the day. I postponed my 14K endurance run from Wednesday (the day after this run) to Thursday and on Wednesday I even didn’t have my daily walk. This is why I should really stay committed to my own training plan and avoid overtraining but sometimes it happens and in this run, I really didn’t believe I was running too fast for it! The other thing that I wanted to mention today is about the weather condition and the conditions of the terrain! I usually never complain about the situation, but after this run I told myself multiple times during the day that it is really difficult to stay committed to a training plan in rainy cold days with muddy roads which makes your entire shoes and clothes muddy! I am still grateful for living in Vancouver where I can easily run in fall and winter without too much trouble for it. I know it is almost impossible to run on the roads during the same time of the year on the east coast!

On Thursday (26/11): In my training plan, it was a 14K endurance (74-84% HRMax) run. After overtraining in my latest run, for this run I strictly decided to work with my heart rate and disregard my running pace completely ! I also decided to run in my regular training field (around Columbia park) because it had less uphills and downhills and it was easier to manage your pace and heart rate in it compared to Langara Golf Course. It was a good run until the end of kilometer 5 where at that point, both of my feet started to feel numb and it continued for 2-3 kilometers. After that, fortunately things got back to normal! My final average heart rate was 79% HRMax and my final average pace was 6:35 min/km. I am really surprised how I was able to manage my run that slow such that my final average heart rate was in the desired range! Previously, as long as my pace was slower than a certain one (usually around 6:00 or 6:15 min/km for endurance runs) I was considering my runs safe no matter what my heart rate was, but after overtraining in my last run, I changed my method! In fact after my last run, I decided to strictly stay in the desired heart rate zone so that I would be able to avoid overtraining in the long term! Based on those explanations, it was an awesome run today and I was successfully able to manage my run as an endurance one (a real endurance one actually :D) ! I also want to mention the conditions of the terrain! This time it was way better compared to the last run and I didn’t get muddy at all! It was still a bit cold (average temperature 10.6 C) but no rain during my run!

On Friday (27/11): I started this run as a tempo 13K run and I planned to do it with a final average pace faster than 6:00 min/km up to whatever my heart rate allows me (80-91% HRMax) It was dark at night and the field was not visible properly. Also in my former runs around the columbia park, I had the negative experience of being close to fall down during the day but fortunately it actually didn’t happen. This run the story was different. In the first few minutes of the run I totally fell down on the ground but I let it go and started to continue my run. Again after a little while and for the second time, I fell down on the ground this time way harder in a way that both my hands and a little bit of my right knee got bloody! I made the right decision and didn’t continue the run, particularly because it was a tempo run and it was likely that I would fall down furthermore during the run. I was pretty down that night and partially the day after that but fortunately I quickly recovered. One of my main concerns was to find a new field for my training because there is nothing good around my neighbourhood but I also made a decision on that and decided to take a skytrain for my runs to the seawall and run there. I had the experience of running there for literally thousands of kilometers and fortunately nothing happened to me at all so it’s definitely safe to run there. The only problem is about timing where I have to spend 20 min to get there and 20 min to get back but I guess it’s worth it first and also I have no other option so lets stay motivated for the runs and choose the best field which is along the seawall.

On Sunday (29/11): It was my first run after my injury on Friday. I pushed myself hard to change my training field from Columbia park to a new place and I finally did it. I took the Canada line skytrain to the olympic village station and went to run along the seawall from there. The last time I was running along the seawall was a few years ago and it was such a pleasure to run there again. I believe you would have a better performance by running along the seawall compared to a closed loop like Columbia park because in the seawall you are free to improve your pace anytime you need vs in a closed loop you frequently need to turn and change your direction and that would reduce your speed and your performance a lot. Since I didn’t complete my last 13K tempo run, I was behind my weekly mileage for 10km, so I planned in my mind to have a half marathon in this run instead of a regular 16K run. Therefore, I continued to run along the seawall for almost 11K when I turned back at that point (2x11km~half marathon). I also planned to do a sub two hours half marathon so I tried to keep my pace about 5:40 min/km. After about 15km, I noticed that for a 16K endurance run in my training plan, maybe it’s not a good idea to both run it faster and farther (I was worried about injury and overtraining) so I just decided to keep my pace steady for the rest of the run and instead finish the run after just 16km. I successfully finished the run after 16 km with a final average pace 5:35 min/km and final average heart rate 86% HRMax. Therefore this run was a little bit faster than an endurance run (2% HRMax faster) and in the correct range of a lactate threshold run (80-91% HRMax). As a result, this run would partially compensate for my missed lactate threshold run in my training plan on Friday. Therefore everything was in place for this week’s training except a lack of 10km in my weekly mileage. At the end of the run, I noticed I had a little bit of nipple bleeding from both sides during my run.

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 (17/11) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:58 min/km, 154 bpm, 65m elevation gain). On Wednesday (18/11) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:56 min/km, 169 bpm, 88m elevation gain). On Friday (20/11) I had a tempo 13K run with the following averages: (13.00 K, 5:39 min/km, 177 bpm, 80m elevation gain). On Sunday (22/11) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.00 K, 6:16 min/km, 152 bpm, 137m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (49, 48, 47, 48) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 53.0 km run and 100,348 steps.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (17/11): Another 11K run which completely cleared my mind. It was among those days today that I really didn’t want to run. I dressed up early this morning but decided to have a glass of milk and supplement as I didn’t want to run with an empty stomach and after that, I was feeling a bit tired so I again postponed the run. I wasn’t that tired but still not feeling strong enough to have an 11K run. The main idea about being tired is about my energy level and the quality of my last night sleep plays a critical role in this matter. I really need to have 8 hours of high quality sleep in order to have a good run in the day after and these days for many reasons including having tea late at night, I couldn’t sleep early like always and also the quality of my sleep was also not great. I really need to change certain parts of my life in order to get back to a disciplined lifestyle and being able to have a balanced life which would include all of my necessary activities. The key point for having a disciplined and balanced lifestyle is good sleep and focused mine. I don’t have that much to say about this run as it was supposed to be a general aerobic run (70-81 % HRMax) but before the run I told myself as long as you run it slower than 6:00 min/km it should be fine. My final average heart rate ended up 82% HRMax which make scene for a general aerobic run.

On Wednesday (18/11): Following my concern in my previous run, let’s first talk about my last night’s sleep! I had a much better sleep last night. I found this pattern useful, you either have to have a high quality sleep the night before or if the quality of your sleep is not good, you have to increase the length of your sleep! The quality of my sleep last night was not great, as like always, I woke up multiple times during the night to see if it’s time for getting up or not! From tonight on, I am going to wear my (Garmin Fenix 3 HR) watch at night (without my Garmin HRM Run) to be able to monitor my sleep more efficiently (for both quality and quantity of it)! Like always, when it’s time for working with numbers, I can analyse, manage and solve the issue way easier! As a result, I am going to add another column to my excel analyse file (for my training) called “sleep” and would monitor my sleep accordingly! About today’s run, I had a 13K endurance run (74-84% HRMax) in my training plan today and before the run, I told myself as long as it’s a 6:00 min/km or slower run, it should be OK even though my heart rate be a little bit higher than 84% HRMax. The reason is first, the accuracy of my Garmin HRM Run is not always great, and second sometimes it’s easier to work with your pace rather than your heart rate and third, managing your pace in your run is way easier than managing your heart rate! Based on those explanations, I successfully had my run with average pace 5:56 min/km even though my final average heart rate was 90% HRMax (I still question that measurement as the intensity of my run (what I felt) was just 5/10)! About the quality of the terrain, the road was full of holes filled with water and therefore it was difficult to run on the road, but anyways I am always fully equipped for my training and quality of terrain and weather conditions wouldn’t affect my run that much! In the worst scenario, you and your shoes would get wet, not a big deal!

On Friday (20/11): Lactate Threshold (Pace, Heart Rate)=(5:19 min/km, 180 bpm). I had a very good sleep last night with 85% deep sleep which is kind of weird to me. I usually get up multiple times during the night but last night it didn’t happen. Fortunately I added the sleep column to my training excel file and since two nights ago, I can monitor my sleep properly. I found it useful to sleep a little bit more (particularly for the heavy day workouts like tempo/speed/long runs) where in that case, I would have enough energy for my workout and my daily activities and I won’t experience lack of energy for sleep reasons. That was a serious problem for me in the past! This run was supposed to be a tempo (lactate threshold) run (80-91% HRMax) and before the run I just told myself if the final average pace is 5:40 min/km it should be OK even though my average heart rate would be slightly more than 91% HRMax. 5:40 min/km was a safe pace for this run as my last 13K run’s average pace was 5:56 min/km. I successfully finished this run with an average pace 5:39 min/km as desired and my average heart rate was 95% HRMax. I again want to question the measurement of my average heart rate because what I felt for the intensity of this run was just 6/10 and I wasn’t that much tired after the run. It’s always great to work with both heart rate and pace because lot’s of the time, one is not sufficient to determine how hard you should go for the run! I also want to talk about my stress level before starting this tempo run! I am usually stressful before tempo runs but for this run, because I told myself you can do it with a safe pace (just 16 seconds per km faster than my last run) I was pretty confident about the run. It’s always great to have less stress for the key activities of the week and instead, enjoy the time you spent for your important runs. Ater the run, I worked with my gym ball and foam roller to cool down my muscles! It’s necessary after the SOS workouts!

On Sunday (22/11): Another great run in a new field called “Langara Golf Course”. Sometimes life makes me distracted and long runs are the best for getting back to a focused life, particularly if it is in the great nature of Vancoucer. In the past, I had the experience of running in the same track and field for a long time and after that, I had less interest in running there. Also before this run, because my last run was a little bit intense, I decided to have it very slow with a final average pace around 6:15 min/km. In my training plan it was an endurance run (74-84% HRMax) but like always, I prefer to set a certain running pace goal before starting the run, which in that case things would be more clear to me. Working with a combination of pace and heart rate is always better than working with either of them. Combining those two facts together, immediately after starting the run, I decided to try “Langara Golf Course” today which was very close to my neighbourhood. I have never been there before (just knew it on the map) and I was lucky that I easily found it. Usually I visit a new course in advance before running there for the first time, but it wasn’t the case this time. During the run, I found that the perimeter of the course is 2.94 km . I measured it just once so it might not be so accurate. The course had a few uphills and downhills (the west side had downhills and the east side had uphills) so it was difficult to maintain a certain pace or heart rate during the run. As a result, I just decided to run comfortably there and at the same time, I tried to stay close to 6:15 min/km and stay in the desired heart rate range i.e. 74-84% HRMax. I am somehow surprised that the final average pace of the run (6:16 min/km) was so close to my desired one (6:15 min/km). During the run, I really enjoyed the nature of Langara Golf Course and of course in the future, one of my main options for my long runs would be there (better in the morning to stay safe from people playing golf)

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 (10/11) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.00 K, 5:53 min/km, 163 bpm, 72m elevation gain). On Thursday (12/11) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:41 min/km, 167 bpm, 103m elevation gain). On Saturday (14/11) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 6:09 min/km, 173 bpm, 103m elevation gain). On Sunday (15/11) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 6:10 min/km, 159 bpm, 90m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday) activities were (50, 50, 47, 48) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 49.0 km run and 99,588 steps.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (10/11): Back to run after 7 weeks of rest. Life got busy, I had to change my house and therefore I couldn’t train for 7 weeks. Hopefully I am back to run now. I am still not sure if I want to follow elements of a training plan or just run. The point is following a training plan with it’s desired intensities would make me tired all the time and it wouldn’t remain any room for me for my other activities but anyways my training is something I have to stay with because I need it for keeping myself mentally and physically balanced and also for being happy. About the run, I planned to do an 11K general aerobic run (70-81% HRMax) but my final average heart rate turned out to be a little bit higher (163 bpm or 87.6 % HRMax) That should be OK for the first run. My current plan for the following several weeks is to have 4 days a week run with 50-60 km weekly mileage. Again for the weekly mileage (and maybe for the intensities) I would follow 10K training plan of “Faster Road Racing” book by Pete Pfitzinger.

On Thursday (12/11): Based on my training plan it was supposed to be a 13K endurance (74-84% HRMax) run but again I did it faster (89.8% HRMax) and therefore it was a hard lactate threshold (80-91 % HRMax) run, I intentionally right down these numbers multiple times to gradually memorize them. This is the second time I am running faster than what I was supposed to run and this time it’s not OK. As a result I have to change my next run from an 11K lactate threshold run to an 11K endurance run. The reason that I was running faster than what I was supposed to run is simple, I can not convince myself to run slower than 6 min/km as it’s too slow for me in my prime time but I have to accept the fact that I just got back to my training after 7 weeks of rest and therefore I shouldn’t push myself too much , 6 min/km and slower should be OK for you for the first few weeks. The other point is, the day after this run I was super tired and I slept a lot. This is what happens to me all the time during my training after a heavy workout (particularly at the beginning of my training) and I don’t have any complaints about it. The other thing that I used to experience at the beginning of my training was overeating but fortunately I don’t have that problem right now because I carefully monitor my weight each and every day because I’m on a diet for more than 6 months.

On Saturday (14/11): Lactate Threshold (Pace, Heart rate): (5:28 min/km, 180 bpm ). I had this run in rainy weather but fortunately it wasn’t heavy rain. This was a very easy run for me (4/10 intensity) but for some reason my average heart rate was measured 93% HRMax with my Garmin HRM Run (that I really don’t trust on it all the time). As a result my watch determined my VO2Max 47 this time which again I am sure it’s not accurate. Anyways in this run I am very glad that I had it with a very slow average pace (6:09 min/km) and it would help me to have my 14K endurance run tomorrow with no much pressure on myself. During the second half of the run, my right foot got numb but towards the end of the run it was OK. I was a little bit busy this morning so I had to have this run later at night in rainy weather but in any case I am very glad that I made it ultimately!

On Sunday (15/11): About today it was a relatively warm and sunny day (Ave. Temp. 15.4 C) and it made the run so enjoyable. The data I got from my HRM Run was way more realistic today compared to yesterday. According to my Garmin HRM Run monitor, my average heart rate was 85% HRM Max and therefore as desired, it was an endurance run (74-84% HRM Max). During my run I noticed that my heart rate is slightly getting higher than what it was planned, but because my pace was slower than 6:00 min/km , I was OK with that and I didn’t push myself to keep my heart rate exactly in the desired range. Today, I had a great conversation with a friend of mine Ross who was a former Boston Marathoner. I told him when I’m on my training, I am tired all the time. I was assuming maybe this is the nature of training for a race and pushing your boundaries as it was my experience before and I’d overheard it from competitive athletes. He advised me that you might experience overtraining as it’s a common problem for athletes. I really didn’t believe my problem might be overtraining so from now on (including my run today) I decided to strictly keep my heart rate in the desired range of my training plan!

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 Wednesday (16/09) I had a tempo 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:04 min/km, 175 bpm, 15m elevation gain). On Thursday (17/09) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:42 min/km, 154 bpm, 23m elevation gain). On Saturday (19/09) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:55 min/km, 149 bpm, 23m elevation gain). On Sunday (20/09) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.00 K, 5:40 min/km, 153 bpm, 37m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday) activities were (51, 51, 52, 52) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 53.0 km run and 112,061 steps.

About individual runs

On Wednesday (16/09): It was my first run with my new running jacket and I was totally satisfied with that. It was very soft and fully breathable and I had a comfortable run with it. I didn’t fully close the zipper as it made me very hot. It was my 6th run with my new (replaced) heart rate monitor and I am much more satisfied with the replaced heart rate monitor as the data looks more reasonable to me compared to the older one. Today, my (average, max) heart rate went as high as (175, 189) bpm where I occasionally had this experience with my older heart rate monitor. During all of the three years that I was training with my old HRM Run, 175 average heart rate was something very normal, but with my new (previous one) heart rate monitor, 175 bpm was too high for me. Therefore I had difficulty with my previous heart rate monitor to set up my training zones but I hope the situation would be different with the new (replaced) heart rate monitor. Also the old one was bothering my skin a lot vs the replaced one that I am happy with it. It was a good run today where I had a 10K sub 51 min run without too much effort and also just in the second week of the new set of training. In my training plan it was supposed to be a general aerobic run but I did an intense (lactate threshold) run, so I have to make an adjustment in my future runs (instead of running a 13K lactate threshold run, run a 13K general aerobic run in future). Now that my new paces in the Killarney track and field are so close to my old paces there, I got the answer to my question that why my paces in the Central park didn’t make sense to me, it was mainly because of the location (both the terrain and GPS connection affected the result negatively)

On Thursday (17/09): I had this 13K run with average heart rate 154 bpm (about 82% HR Max) and therefore it would count as a 13K endurance (74%-84% HR Max) run. While I already had a lactate threshold run this week, it just remains a 13K General Aerobic (70%-81% HR Max) run and a 16K endurance run. Run was a comfortable one and nothing serious to mention about it.

On Saturday (19/09): My average heart rate was 149 bpm (79% HR max) and therefore as planned, it was a general aerobic (70%-81% HR max) run. The final average pace was very high 5:55 min/km and during the run, it was very tempting for me to run it faster but I had it in my mind that I have a 16K endurance run tomorrow and I have to save my energy for tomorrow too, so I tried to keep my heart rate low but I guess the final average heart rate (79% HR max) was still too high for this run. At the end of the 11th km, my average pace was 5:58 min/km and I decided to run the remaining 2km a little bit faster to make sure my final average pace would be below 6:00 min/km. Therefore my last 2 laps were slightly faster than the other ones i.e. 5:43 min/km and 5:39 min/km respectively.

On Sunday (20/09): I had this run with average heart rate 153 bpm (81% HR max) and therefore as planned, it was an endurance run (74%-84% HR max). At first, I had difficulty getting out of home and doing the run because I was still tired from yesterday’s 13K run but I told myself that I would run it slow maybe just with 74% HRmax (140 bpm) or as slow as 6:00 min/km. I also told myself that even if you are tired, you have to do the run because it’s in your training plan and you need it for your success. People do lots of things when they are tired because they need it for their success. I also got motivation from my father when he does a lot of physical work at the age of 70 without complaining about the situation. Anyways I successfully started the run with the aid of those thoughts and like always, things are easier when you are in it rather than when you think about it. I am still surprised how I did the run with average heart rate 81% HR max (average pace 5:40 min/km). That sounds too fast to me after a (79% HRmax) 13K run. I also want to mention that before the run, I told myself if I want to finish the 16K run in 90 min or so, my average pace should be 5:37 min/km and at the end of the run, my total time was 1:30’:45’’ which is so close to 90 min desired time.

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).

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.

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 5 run activities this week. On Monday (10/08) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.01 K, 5:23 min/km, 163 bpm, 36m elevation gain). On Tuesday (11/08) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 6:01 min/km, 130 bpm, 25m elevation gain). On Thursday (13/08) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:18 min/km, 138 bpm, 25m elevation gain). On Friday (14/08) I had a speed 8×600 run with the following averages: (15.00 K, 6:31 min/km, 152 bpm, 29m elevation gain). On Sunday (16/08) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.01 K, 5:30 min/km, 171 bpm, 48m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (55, 55, 55, 55, 54) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 67.0 km run and 105,205 steps. Total weight loss so far was 10.1 kg and this week’s weight loss was 0.4 kg.

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss this week, I have to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Saturday (77.0 kg) so my actual total weight loss for the entire 12 weeks is 10.5 kg. That means I’m 3.5 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my total goal achievement is 75.0 %. 

About individual runs

On Friday (14/08): Ave. Interval time 2:15.96 , ave. Interval pace : 3:46.6 min/km.

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 3 run activities this week. On Tuesday (04/08) I had a speed 12×400 run with the following averages: (16.61 K, 6:55 min/km, 144 bpm, 35m elevation gain). On Thursday (06/08) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.01 K, 5:27 min/km, 148 bpm, 21m elevation gain). On Friday (07/08) I had a 00K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:08 min/km, 152 bpm, 33m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) activities were (55, 55, 56) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 43.6 km run and 78,609 steps. Total weight loss so far was 9.7 kg and this week’s weight loss was 0.9 kg.

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss this week, I have to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Friday (77.1 kg) so my actual total weight loss for the entire 13 weeks is 10.4 kg. That means I’m 2.6 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my total goal achievement is 80.0 %. Also it was the first week since the beginning of my diet that I stopped using the Slimfast supplements because it wasn’t useful for me anymore. I used it for 12 weeks and it helped me drop 8.8 kg.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (04/08): Average interval pace: 3:51.1 min/km, Average interval time: 1:32.44, The first week to have intervals after 12 weeks. Didnt want to go for strides which might cause me injury due to my history of injury from my strides. Must use cream after training and shower. Got a new max heart rate of 192 bpm.

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 (28/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:23 min/km, 145 bpm, 24m elevation gain). On Thursday (30/07) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:42 min/km, 154 bpm, 20m elevation gain). On Friday (31/07) I had a tempo 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:17 min/km, 163 bpm, 65m elevation gain). On Sunday (02/08) I had a 16K run with the following averages: (16.01 K, 5:29 min/km, 153 bpm, 67m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (55, 55, 54, 55) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 52.0 km run and 94,693 steps. Total weight loss so far was 8.8 kg and this week’s weight loss was 0.7 kg.

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss this week, I have to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Saturday (78.4 kg) so my actual total weight loss for the entire 12 weeks is 9.1 kg. That means I’m 2.9 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my total goal achievement is 75.8 %. 

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 (21/07) I had an 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:17 min/km, 161 bpm, 47m elevation gain). On Wednesday (22/07) I had a 13K run with the following averages: (13.01 K, 5:39 min/km, 160 bpm, 85m elevation gain). On Friday (24/07) I had a tempo 11K run with the following averages: (11.01 K, 5:09 min/km, 159 bpm, 41m elevation gain). On Sunday (26/07) I had a 14K run with the following averages: (14.00 K, 5:29 min/km, 158 bpm, 21m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (53, 52, 54, 54) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 49.0 km run and 106,248 steps. Total weight loss so far 8.1 kg and this week’s weight loss -0.4 kg (gaining 0.4 kg).

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss this week, my weekly weight loss was -0.4 kg (gaining 0.4 kg weight) and more important than that my total weight loss was 8.1 kg. I have to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Saturday (78.9 kg) so my actual total weight loss for the entire 11 weeks is 8.6 kg. That means I’m 2.4 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my total goal achievement is 78.2 %. 

About individual runs

On Tuesday (21/07): I resumed my training after a week of rest and I am very happy about it. I was able to run today injury free which was a great pleasure for me. I didn’t have any problems during the run today. I am also very happy about my new running VO2Max which is 53. I washed my heart rate monitor properly before the run so the measured heart rate and VO2Max should be accurate. The other thing that I want to mention today is about my training plan. I switched my training plan to “faster road racing training plan for 10-12K training” but without the intervals. I got the idea of postponing the intervals for after 12 weeks from this article. Looking back at my improvement in the first 9 weeks makes me extremely happy. I lost 8.5kg in 10 weeks and during the 9 weeks of training I almost made a sub 50min 10K run which is very promising to me. I was doing a lot of calculations about my improvement in the second and third 9 weeks trainings and was thinking if I can improve 5 min of my 10K time during each period which means making a 10K sub 40min run in 30 weeks (~8 months) from the start point which would be very good. Anyways I’m not going to overthink about it because it’s a long way from now and everything can happen by that time. I just want to focus on training smart, losing another 8.5 kg of weight in next 10 weeks and improving my 10K run time during the same period of time. I also want to mention that this run was my longest run in the past 3.5 years because all of my long runs in that period of time was at most 10K . I am again happy about it too. After the run when I got home, I did a few stretches with my foam roller and my gym ball which helped my muscles a lot !

On Wednesday (22/07): A bit of pain in my left knee since the beginning of the run.

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Summary of activities

First, let’s review my activities during this period of time. I had 6 run activities these two weeks. On Monday (06/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:57 min/km, 155 bpm, 48m elevation gain). On Tuesday (07/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.00 K, 6:13 min/km, 144 bpm, 42m elevation gain). On Thursday (09/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:35 min/km, 173 bpm, 30m elevation gain). On Friday (10/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:53 min/km, 150 bpm, 27m elevation gain). On Sunday (12/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:42 min/km, 144 bpm, 23m elevation gain). On Monday (13/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.00 K, 5:31 min/km, 162 bpm, 12m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday, Monday) activities were (50, 51, 49, 50, 51, 51) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals week 9 were 50.0 km run and 118,039 steps. Total weight loss up to the end of week 9 was 8.3 kg and week 9’s weight loss was 1.7 kg. My weekly totals week 10 were 10.0 km run and 71,238 steps. Total weight loss up to the end of week 10 was 8.5 kg and week 10’s weight loss was 0.2 kg.

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss in week 9, I successfully made my goal of 1 kg/week but what matters more than my weekly weight loss is my total weight loss because there was an inaccuracy in my body weight last Sunday and my weekly weight loss is defined as the difference in my weight in two consecutive Sundays. I also want to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Sunday so 8.3 kg is my actual total weight loss for this week. That means I am 0.7 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my goal achievement  during these 9 weeks is 92.2 % which is not bad.

In regards to my weight loss in week 10, my weekly weight loss was 0.2 kg and more important than that my total weight loss was 8.5 kg. I have to mention that my lowest weight during the week happened on Sunday so 8.5 kg is my actual total weight loss for the entire 10 weeks. That means I’m 1.5 kg behind the schedule (1 kg/week) and my total goal achievement is 85 %.

About individual runs

On Tuesday (07/07): Pain since the beginning but not as severe as forcing me to stop running. Pace always between 6:00 to 6:30 min/km

On Thursday (09/07): LT pace: 5:22 min/km, LT heart rate: 178 bpm. First half was a very OK run, I was feeling 80% recovered and didn’t feel any restriction for the paces that I was running with. Therefore I decided to have a run with an average heart rate of 173 bpm or so to have the fast run of my week. For some reason I had a very high average heart rate in my first half of the run. In the second half of the run I burned out and I also felt more pain in my legs in the place of my injury, so I had to significantly reduce my pace. 

On Friday (10/07): Expectation pace vs what happened . The same as what happened to my walk the day after .

On Sunday (12/07): Purchased a firm roller yesterday, worked a little bit with that and it was extremely helpful for my injury. I didn’t want to go too fast so I decided to go with 5:45 min/km, the first run I was working with ave pace and it perfectly worked for me , all paces were in the range 5:45 +/- 00:10 min/km and average pace was 5:42 min/km.

On Monday (13/07): Less comfortable than the run before .

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 Monday (29/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:46 min/km, 164 bpm, 55m elevation gain). On Tuesday (30/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:02 min/km, 169 bpm, 50m elevation gain). On Thursday (02/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:51 min/km, 139 bpm, 47m elevation gain). On Friday (03/07) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.02 K, 5:44 min/km, 160 bpm, 33m elevation gain).

VO2Max and weekly totals

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) activities were (50, 51, 52, 51) ml/kg/min respectively. My weekly totals this week were 40.0 km run and 71,523 steps. Total weight loss so far 6.6 kg and this week’s weight loss -0.1 kg (gaining 0.1 kg).

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss, in the middle of the week on Wednesday my weight was 79.6 kg which means a total weight loss of 7.9 kg and this week’s weight loss of 1.2 kg which was pretty satisfying. For some reason after that, I gained 1.3 kg of weight in just 4 days without having any change in my diet or exercise. That is high likely a temporary weight gain due to my water weight (extra water being held in my body) or having full stomach at the time of weighing myself.