2020 Training Week 5 (08/06/2020 to 14/06/2020)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

My weekly totals

First, let’s review summary of this week’s training: weekly mileage 33.87 km, weekly steps 101378 (14483 steps daily average), total weight loss so far 4.3 kg and this week’s weight loss 0.4 kg. 

About my weight loss

About the weight loss, I am pretty disappointed with the result as up to Thursday (11/06), my total weight loss and this week weight loss was 5.2kg and 1.3kg respectively, but after that it worked reversely and I was gaining weight instead of losing it, however my training, daily steps and my diet was the same as before. I guess it’s a temporary negative change and in long term the result would be as desired.

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 4 run activities in this week. On Tuesday (09/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.02 K, 5:53 min/km, 161 bpm, 13m elevation gain). On Wednesday (10/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 6:18 min/km, 145 bpm, 24m elevation gain). On Friday (12/06) I had an incomplete 4K run with the following averages: (3.83 K, 5:22 min/km, 159 bpm, 23m elevation gain). I stopped the run due to a severe pain I felt in the very upper part of my left leg. On Sunday (14/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.01 K, 6:14 min/km, 169 bpm, 63m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
0810K Run10K Run114K Run1310K Run33.8 km
5,65016,23216,99710,71516,19518,47917110101,378
83.8 kg83.2 kg83.5 kg82.3 kg83.9 kg84.0 kg83.2 kg

About my weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 33.87 km, almost the same as my past four weeks’ weekly mileage. This is very good that I stayed on the 30K weekly mileage for five consecutive weeks particularly because I’m at the beginning of my new set of trainings and that would reduce the chance of getting injured. Lots of the time people would go too far at the beginning of their trainings and that would cause them to get injured.  

VO2Max and comparing activities to see my improvement

My VO2Max this week in my (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) activities were (49, 49, 49, 47) ml/kg/min respectively. Also this is the first week (together with the two 10K runs of last week) that I am measuring my heart rate using Garmin’s HRM Run heart rate monitor, not my Fenix 3 HR wrist heart rate monitor. While usually there is a 10-15 beats per minute difference between those two measurements (obviously the HRM Run measurement is more accurate), it’s not reasonable to compare activities of this week with past four weeks’ activities. Another reason that I can’t compare activities of this week with any of the first four weeks’ activities is the fact that in the first four weeks, I had 5K runs where this week I had 10K runs so it’s not straightforward to compare those kind of activities with each other. 

My lactate threshold pace and heart rate

On Tuesday (09/06), My watch updated my lactate threshold pace (5:28 min/km) and my lactate threshold heart rate (172 bpm).

About my injury on Friday

I got injured on Friday (12/06) so to be on the safe side I took Saturday off (instead I had 14+km of walk i.e. 18479 steps) and then resumed my training with a very slow pace on Sunday.

Now let me explain my injury. On Friday, I was supposed to have a 10K run and I started it good. Fortunately now I am able to keep my cadence around 180 spm no matter what my pace is. After the first km of run when my pace was 5:34 min/km, I noticed in order to improve my pace, I should increase my stride length. I did it and it was OK up to the end of the 4th km when I suddenly had to stop running due to a severe pain I felt in the very upper part of my left leg. 

After searching about it, I found that it was possibly my “Obturator Muscles”. To find more about it, you can see the following youtube video:

At first I thought it’s about my bone but later during the day (and the day after) I noticed it might be my muscle. On Saturday, I felt much more comfortable compared to Friday. 

The problem of increasing my running stride length

As I explained above, my main problem on Friday was about increasing my running stride length that I guess in my opinion, I did it too harsh. I took two steps back and now I try to improve it very gradually. Fortunately my other running dynamics specifically my running cadence is pretty good in different paces but I still have to work on it when I am tired during the run. 

My injury and my run on Sunday

Fortunately on Sunday, my injury was way better than Friday in a way that I was able to complete the 10K run, but not a totally comfortable run. About my injury, the pain moved first to the inner part of my thigh and then to the top front part of my thigh. During the run particularly at the beginning, I was just able to take very short strides, therefore my pace in the first few laps was too high compared to the rest of the run.

During all of this run, due to the limitation that I had in my stride length, I was just focusing on my cadence and that’s why my total ave. cadence was 178 spm which is very good. After the first three laps, my stride length gradually and slowly got longer and therefore my pace slowly decreased from around 6:30 min/km in the first half of the run to around 6:10 min/km (or a bit faster) in the second half of the run.

After the run, I didn’t do my regular stretchings due to my injury. Also the overall difficulty of my run (how I felt) was 4/10 but T.E. was 4.6 and ave. heart rate was 169 bpm. They were both unreasonably high to me.

I am trying to cope with the new changes that I made in my daily training plan (increasing daily and weekly mileage) but that takes time and my body requires time to cope with the new changes. 

2020 Training Week 4 (01/06/2020 to 07/06/2020)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

My weekly totals

First, let’s review summary of this week’s training: weekly mileage 30.01 km, weekly steps 80218 (11460 steps daily average), total weight loss so far 3.9 kg and this week’s weight loss 0.8 kg.

About my weight loss

About my weight loss, I guess 0.8 kg for a week is pretty close to my 1 kg/week goal plan even though my weight loss in the middle of the week on Thursday was 1.2 kg but after that my body weight increased a little bit. 

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 4 run activities in this week. On Monday (01/06) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.00 K, 5:24 min/km, 155 bpm, 17m elevation gain). On Tuesday (02/06) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:16 min/km, 157 bpm, 16m elevation gain). On Friday (05/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.00 K, 5:33 min/km, 179 bpm, 29m elevation gain). On Saturday (06/06) I had a 10K run with the following averages: (10.00 K, 5:46 min/km, 167 bpm, 48m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
5K Run5K Run030410K Run10K Run0730.0 km
10,61510,60514,254015,71816,14712,87980,218
83.8 kg83.3 kg84.3 kg83.2 kg83.6 kg83.8 kg83.6 kg

About my weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 30.01 K which was the same weekly mileage as what I had in the first three weeks. It’s very good to stay long enough on 30K weekly mileage (at least four weeks) because it would help me avoid getting injured due to overtraining.

VO2Max and comparing activities to see my improvement

My VO2Max calculated by my watch’s wrist heart rate monitor on Monday and Tuesday was 51 and 52 ml/kg/min respectively where my VO2Max calculated by the Garmin’s HRM Run heart rate monitor on Friday and Saturday was 50 and 49 ml/kg/min respectively. I definitely trust more on the VO2Max calculated by the HRM Run heart rate monitor as it’s more accurate. 

In order to see my improvement this week, I want to compare my activity on 01/06 with the following averages: (5.00 K, 5:24 min/km, 155 bpm, 17m elevation gain) with my activity on 23/05 with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:29 min/km, 153 bpm, 48m elevation gain). My effort in both of those runs were almost the same and they were both 5K runs. I guess the faster pace in the first run (5:24 min/km vs 5:29 min/km) would balance the harder terrain in the second run (17m elevation gain vs 48m elevation gain). Therefore I would consider the performance of both activities the same i.e. no significant improvement in my runs during the past 9 days. 

As we all know running improvement comes in sudden, we train for weeks with possibly no significant improvement in our paces and all of a sudden we see a jump in our speed. 

My lactate threshold pace and heart rate

On Friday (05/06) after wearing my HRM Run heart rate monitor, my watch automatically recognized my lactate threshold pace (5:19 min/km) and lactate threshold heart rate (170 bpm). Later, on Saturday (06/06), my watch updated those numbers to the following amounts: lactate threshold pace 5:25 min/km and lactate threshold heart rate 172 bpm. 

About my overtraining last week

Recently I experienced a little bit of overtraining and I felt it first last Sunday (31/05) when my mind didn’t want to go for the 6K downtown walk. Due to the understanding of my body, that’s the early symptom of overtraining. That day I did the walk because socially, I really needed to go downtown as I haven’t been in public places for a complete week (since last weekend) due to the pandemic. 

The reason for my overtraining was obvious. In the past few weeks, I took about 100’000 steps each week but last week I increased it by 12% to 112’306 steps. (My total weekly steps reflects how active I was during the week because it contains both my running and walking activities) Also I guess after the first three weeks of trainings, my body needed a little bit of rest so I listened to my body.

As a result, I didn’t have daily walks of Monday (01/06) and Tuesday (02/06) (decreased my daily steps just to 10’615 and 10’605 steps respectively for those days) and on Thursday (04/06) I was as tired as I even didn’t get out of home and was mainly sleeping during the day. I resumed my normal training from Friday but anyways my weekly steps for this week dropped to 80’218 steps which had a 20% decrease compared to normal weeks.

Increasing length of my daily runs to 10K

Starting from this Friday, I made another big change in my training plan and it was increasing my daily runs from 5K to 10K. I stayed on 5K runs for almost 4 weeks and I felt it’s the right time to go to the next level of training. 

2020 Training Week 3 (25/05/2020 to 31/05/2020)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

My weekly totals

First, let’s review summary of this week’s training: weekly mileage 30.22 km, weekly steps 112306 (16044 steps daily average), total weight loss so far 3.1 kg and this week’s weight loss 1.0 kg.

About my weight loss

In regards to my weight loss, I made the 1 kg/week as desired but it could be a bit even better as I lost 1 kg on Thursday but after that my weight remained the same.  

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 6 run activities in this week. On Monday (25/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.03 K, 5:22 min/km, 160 bpm, 24m elevation gain). On Tuesday (26/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.16 K, 5:35 min/km, 153 bpm, 21m elevation gain). There was an inaccuracy with the GPS of my watch for this run. It was a 5.00K run not a 5.16K run, therefore the true average pace was 5:45 min/km. I explained the issue in the activity notes on my Garmin’s website. On Wednesday (27/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.00 K, 5:12 min/km, 169 bpm, 20m elevation gain). On Thursday (28/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:30 min/km, 165 bpm, 11m elevation gain). On Saturday (30/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:35 min/km, 157 bpm, 21m elevation gain). On Sunday (31/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:17 min/km, 162 bpm, 15m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
5K Run5K Run5K Run5K Run295K Run5K Run30.2 km
16,76215,27018,35118,24310,40214,93318,345112,306
85.4 kg85.4 kg85.2 kg84.4 kg84.1 kg84.4 kg84.4 kg

About my weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 30.22 K and it was almost the same weekly mileage as what I had in the first two weeks of training. I have to stay long enough (at least four weeks) on this weekly mileage before changing it to a higher one to avoid any sort of injury caused by overtraining.

VO2Max and comparing my activities to see my improvement

My VO2Max this week calculated by my watch’s wrist heart rate monitor in my (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday) activities were (49, 50, 50, 50, 50, 50) ml/kg/min respectively. In order to see my improvement this week, I want to compare my activity on 27/05 with the following averages (5.00 K, 5:12 min/km, 169 bpm, 20m elevation gain) with my activity on 16/05 with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:44 min/km, 170 bpm, 15m elevation gain). All of the features of both runs i.e. distance, my effort and terrain were the same with each other except my pace. I had 00:32 min/km i.e. 9.3% improvement in 11 days which is really promising. 

My commitment to my training plan

A positive point that I want to mention in regards to my trainings so far, is about my commitment to it. Past three weeks, I had a schedule of four days training and one day off and fortunately I made it all for the entire three weeks, which is very promising.

2020 Training Week 2 (18/05/2020 to 24/05/2020)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

My weekly totals

First, let’s review summary of this week’s training: weekly mileage 25.05 km, weekly steps 100’114 (14302 steps daily average), total weight loss so far 2.1 kg and this week’s weight loss 0.9 kg.

About my weight loss

About my weight loss, I almost made my goal of 1 kg/week so I am happy about it. I was looking at my 2016 training google sheets data, and I noticed back in my prime those days (fall 2016 up to October second 2016) my weight was varying between 65-67 kg. That means if I want to get back to my prime and even faster than that, I have to lose over 20 kg of weight and get stable on that. 

That’s not possible if I look at the weight loss process as a short term project. If everything goes perfect and I lose one kg per week, in the best scenario I would make my goal in 20 weeks and after that I have to get stable in that weight (not like last year that I gained back all what I lost and even 4kg more). Saying all of that, I want to remind myself that my new lifestyle (diet plus training) is my new normal for a long period of time. 

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 5 run activities in this week. On Monday (18/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 6:06 min/km, 170 bpm, 15m elevation gain). On Wednesday (20/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:39 min/km, 175 bpm, 24m elevation gain). On Thursday (21/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:37 min/km, 122 bpm, 12m elevation gain). Of course the average heart rate calculated by my Garmin watch’s wrist heart rate monitor was not accurate (122 bpm doesn’t mean anything). On Friday (22/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:34 min/km, 166 bpm, 13m elevation gain). On Saturday (23/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:29 min/km, 153 bpm, 48m elevation gain)

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
5K Run195K Run5K Run5K Run5K Run2425.0 km
15,34515,15715,1739,10919,6389,52716,165100,114
85.9 kg85.9 kg86.1 kg86.8 kg85.9 kg85.9 kg85.4 kg

About my weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 25.05 K which was as desired. My training plan is four 5K runs one day rest and I had two days rest this week. Therefore my weekly mileage decreased to 25.05 K this week compared to last week’s 30.37 K weekly mileage. They are all good and I have to stay on this plan for at least four weeks before increasing my weekly mileage to avoid any sort of injury cause by over training. 

VO2Max and comparing activities to see my improvement

My VO2Max this week calculated by my watch’s wrist heart rate monitor in my (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) activities were (44, 44, NA, 46, 48) ml/kg/min respectively. In order to see my improvement this week, I want to compare my activity on 22/05 with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:34 min/km, 166 bpm, 13m elevation gain) with my activity on 17/05 with the following averages: (5.01 K, 6:15 min/km, 166 bpm, 17m elevation gain).

As we can see, all features of both runs i.e. distance, my effort and terrain are the same except my pace. I had 00:41 min/km i.e. 10.9% improvement in 5 days which is pretty good. Usually that huge improvement in such a short period of time just happens at the beginning of our training where our body hasn’t achieved it’s full potential yet.

2020 Training Week 1 (11/05/2020 to 17/05/2020)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

My weekly totals

First, let’s review summary of this week’s training: weekly mileage 30.37 km, weekly steps 103223 (14746 steps daily average), total weight loss so far 1.2 kg and this week’s weight loss 1.2 kg.

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 6 run activities in this week. On Monday (11/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.32 K, 8:17 min/km, 147 bpm, 83m elevation gain). On Tuesday (12/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 6:24 min/km, 159 bpm, 20m elevation gain). On Wednesday (13/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 6:13 min/km, 165 bpm, 18m elevation gain). On Friday (15/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 6:19 min/km, 154 bpm, 22m elevation gain). On Saturday (16/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K, 5:44 min/km, 170 bpm, 15m elevation gain). On Sunday (17/05) I had a 5K run with the following averages: (5.01 K , 6:15 min/km, 166 bpm, 17m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
5K Run5K Run5K Run145K Run5K Run5K Run30.3 km
11,45713,85714,89715,75816,33115,46015,463103,223
87.5 kg88.1 kg87.6 kg87.6 kg86.9 kg87.1 kg86.3 kg

About my running and weight loss goals this summer

This summer, I set up a goal of losing 1 kg/week of my body weight through running activities and I made it in the first week. The difference between my losing weight this year and last year is in my exercises i.e. running vs walking. 

2019 weight loss project: weight loss through walking

Last summer, I planned to get back to running but in the first step, I decided to lose weight because I was overweight and I didn’t know if it’s possible to start training while you are overweight. Also based on what I had read before, I thought it’s hard to lose weight through running activities.

I googled “running and lose weight” right now and at least two of the first few articles (this and this) are clearly indicating that running alone is not the best option for losing weight. Also I can remember from 2016 when I was close to my prime, that I took a break during my trainings to lose weight through dieting and walking a lot for better performance.

Why walking and not running

About the question of why walking and not running: the short answer for me was when you are running, you would burn calories faster and you would get hungry faster too and it works less effective for losing weight to run compared to walking.

Although my answer was not very scientific, anyways I had that impression in my mind, that walking works better for losing weight compared to running and therefore I decided to work with “diet and walking” rather than “diet and running”.

Therefore in a very difficult diet (it was my fist diet ever) during 18 weeks, I lost 12.5 kg (27.5 lb). After that difficult first step, my motivation for running decreased a lot. I tried to run a few times but I didn’t see a huge difference in my performance before and after losing weight. I also got busy with my job so I totally forgot about running.

While preparing for running was my main reason for losing weight, I didn’t take care of my weight after I stopped thinking about running and in my mind, I didn’t believe I was going to gain a lot of weight if I stopped caring about my weight and my diet. What happened in practice was totally different.

After I stopped my diet on 09/09/2019 until I again decided to get back to training and diet this week, I gained all what I lost in summer 2019, and even 4.2 kg more. In fact, on 07/05/2019 (beginning of my 2019 diet) I was 83.3 kg and on 10/05/2020 (beginning of my 2020 diet) I was 87.5 kg.

My 2020 goal: running and weight loss

This year, the story is totally different. My absolute first priority is getting back to my physical fitness and I know it takes a long time to gain back the physical fitness I lost during the past three years. I still don’t know how much it would work to lose weight with diet and running, but even if it’s not the most effective way for losing weight, I chose this over diet and walking because this time, running is the main factor for me not losing weight.

Getting advice of a qualified exercise professional

Having all of that in my mind, I gave a call to 811 to talk to a qualified exercise professional to advise me about a training plan. I have read a lot of books about different training plans but none of them is applicable for me because I am very slow right now. In terms of numbers, my last four 10K run times were 70, 69, 67, 68 minutes.

After talking to a qualified exercise professional, he told me that I am overthinking about this matter. He said it’s better just to start training and I also have to be careful about not getting injured by overtraining because I have been away from running for a long time. Due to my long distance walks of last year, I knew my body is OK with having 100’000 weekly steps. Therefore I set that as a constraint in my trainings, for beginning no more than 100’000 weekly steps. 

building my training plan with 5K runs

I started my trainings with 5K runs and had it for four consecutive days. On the fifth day I felt that I needed one day rest and therefore I built my training plan this way: four day 5K runs and one day rest. I would continue with this training plan until I see I need to change it. 

2016 Training Summary (05/05/2016 to 11/11/2016)

Totals: 1118.5 Km Running, 33.2 Km Swimming

Running and Swimming Activity Details in Google Sheets,

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

Photo Gallery

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
Easy 68 min08/11Easy 64 minEasy 62 minEasy 9 min12/1113/1138.5 km Run
31/1001/11Easy 18 min03/1104/11Easy 67 min06/1115.8 km Run
Steady 51 min25/10Steady 40 min27/1028/1029/1030/1018.1 km Run
Steady 60 min8 Steady runs (9K total)Steady 27 min20/10Steady 81 min22/10Steady 63 min56.8 km Run
10/1011/1012/1013/1014/10Steady 1K16/101.4 km Run
03/1004/1005/1006/1007/1008/1009/100.0 km Run
26/09Steady 16K run28/09Warm up Tempo 13K 30/0901/10Long 30K run62.0 km Run
Steady 16K runSteady 16K run21/09Warm up Tempo 13K23/09Speed run 15×400Long 20K run82.3 km Run
12/0913/0914/0915/09Long 26K run17/0918/0926.0 km Run
Long 26K 06/0907/09Speed 4×1200-400 walkSteady 16K10/0911/0955.4 km Run
29/0830/08Steady 16KEasy 5K Warm up Tempo 13K03/0904/0937.1 km Run
Long 26K23/08Easy runSpeed 400,800,1200,1600Steady 16K27/08Steady 19K74.0 km Run
Steady 11K16/0817/08Speed 4×1200-400 recovery19/08Warm up Tempo 13K21/0842.9 km Run
Easy 12KEasy 19KSteady 11K11/08Warm up Tempo 8K13/08Steady 22K (Fast)74.3 km Run
Rest WeekRest WeekRest WeekRest WeekWarm up Steady 8K06/08Easy 16K26.0 km Run
Rest WeekSUPSUP FireworksRest WeekRest WeekRest WeekRest Week2 SUP trips
Easy 13KEasy 16K (Failed Speed)20/07Easy 13KTempo 6KRest WeekRest Week54.8 km Run
Easy 16KHills Training 10×200Easy 5K Easy 6K14/0715/07Easy 16KEasy 16K70.1 km Run
Easy 3K 3K Swim  Easy 3K 300m Swim Easy 15KEasy 15K08/0709/07Easy 16K52.4 km Run3.3 km Swim
Easy 15KSpeed 4×1200-400 recoveryEasy 15K 300m SwimSpeed 4×1200-400 recovery 500m SwimEasy 15K 400m Swim02/07Easy 3K 2K Swim75.0 km Run3.2 km Swim
Tempo 6KEasy 15K 1K SwimEasy 15K 500m SwimSpeed 6×800-400 recoveryEasy 12K25/06Long 20K90.8 km Run1.5 km Swim
Easy 12K  1K Swim14/06Easy 15K 1K SwimEasy 15K 1K Swim16K run 1K SwimEasy 11K 500m Swim19/0669.8 km Run4.5 km Swim
06/0607/0608/06Easy 3K 500m Swim Easy 3KEasy 10KEasy 10KEasy 10K 500m Swim38.2 km Run1.0 km Swim
Easy Run31/05Easy Run 2K Swim Easy Run02/0603/0604/0605/068.0 km Run2.0 km Swim
23/0524/0525/05Easy Run27/052K Swim2K Swim Easy Run5.4 km Run4.0 km Swim
16/0517/051K Swim19/052K Swim21/052K Swim 50m Swim5.1 km Swim
09/052K Swim2K Swim2K Swim13/05SUPSUP6.0 km Swim2 SUP trips
02/0503/0504/05600m Swim06/0507/052K Swim2.6 km Swim

2016 Training Week 10 (04/07/2016 to 10/07/2016)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

05

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 5 run and 2 swim activities in this week. On Monday (04/07) I had a 3K easy run with the following averages: (3.01 K, 5:27 min/km, 146 bpm, 28m elevation gain) together with a 3K swim with average pace 2:19 min/100m. On Tuesday (05/07) I had a 3K easy run with the following averages: (3.01 K, 5:55 min/km, 136 bpm, 27m elevation gain) together with a 300m swim with average pace 2:12 min/100m. On Wednesday (06/07) I had a 15K easy run with the following averages: (15.01 K, 5:20 min/km, 154 bpm, 39m elevation gain). On Thursday (07/07) I had a 15K easy run with the following averages: (15.41 K, 5:34 min/km, 148 bpm, 107m elevation gain). On Sunday (10/07) I had a 16K easy run with the following averages: (16.00 K, 5:04 min/km, 163 bpm, 89m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
Easy 3K 3K Swim  Easy 3K 300m Swim Easy 15KEasy 15K89Easy 16K52.4 km Run3.3 km Swim

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday) activities were (51, 51, 51, 51, 51) ml/kg/min respectively. Also my weekly mileage this week was 52.4 km run and 3.3 km swim.

About individual activities

Monday run activity (04/07): It was an OK short run, I knew that I would able to run today, but it was hard to believe cause my little toe was extremely painful yesterday. I thought maybe it’s a good time to go for a long distance swim today, cause it wouldn’t affect my run and I am extremely happy to have a 3K long swim after awhile.

2016 Training Weeks 1-2 (02/05/2016 to 15/05/2016)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

05

Summary of activities

First, let’s review my activities during these two week. I had 5 swim and 2 paddle boarding activities in this period of time. On Thursday (05/05) I had a 600m swim with average pace 2:10 min/100m. On Sunday (08/05) I had a 2K swim with average pace 2:15 min/100m. On Tuesday (10/05) I had a 2K swim with average pace 2:12 min/100m. On Wednesday (11/05) I had a 2K swim with average pace 2:09 min/100m. On Thursday (12/05) I had a 2K swim with average pace 2:07 min/100m. On Saturday (14/05) I had a paddle boarding trip in Kitsilano. On Sunday (15/05) I had a paddle boarding trip in False Creek and English Bay. My weekly total in week 1 was 2.6 km swimming and in week 2 was 6.0 km swimming plus two paddle boarding trips.

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
92K Swim2K Swim2K Swim13SUPSUP6.0 km Swim
2 SUP trips
234600m Swim672K Swim2.6 km Swim

About individual runs

On Sunday (08/05): Right after 1800 meter swim, I had muscle cramp in the third and fourth fingers of my left foot, but anyways I finished the 2K swimming . That is really bad if something similar happen in the race day. VOWSA trainings would start at the end of May, so I have plenty of time to train in the pool before that.

On Tuesday (10/05): Finally my first training with my new watch Garmin Fenix 3. Only God knows how much do I love it. After two years of training with Fenix 2, it was the exact right time to upgrade it to Fenix 3. After 2K swimming with it and in the way that I was heading home, I was feeling that I am literally high. It was a super awesome day today, and it’s all about the new watch, Loooooooove every single second of training with it :)))))

On Thursday (12/05): Gradually I’m trying to work on my technique and my power which at the same time improve my time. Apparently I am still not that close to my balanced point (for 2K Lap swimming) because my time today was improved 30 seconds compare to yesterday (1.1%) and fortunately Avg strokes and Avg SWOLF are improving each time in past three days (31,30,29) Strokes/length and (97,95,93) respectively.

2015 Marathon Training

2015 Marathon Training (Feb-Nov 2015)
Photo Gallery
Training Excel Analyze File
Training Calendar
Part one of Training:
Period: 23 Feb 2015- 28 Apr 2015 (9 weeks)
Summary: 415.17 Km training
Part two of Training: Hiking
Period: 23 May 2015- 18 July 2015 (9 Weeks)
Summary: 226.8 Km , elevation gain 7981 m
Part Three of training:
Period: 9 Aug 2015-20 Nov 2015 (15 Weeks)
Summary: 725.44 km training,
New Half Marathon Record: 1:35:59 (6 Sep 2015)

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
16/1117/11Easy 7KEasy 10KEasy 5K21/1122/1123.6 km Run
09/1110/1111/11Easy 10KEasy 11K14/1115/1121.9 km Run
02/1103/1104/1105/1106/1107/1108/110.00 km Run
26/1027/1028/1029/1030/10Easy 5KEasy 5K10.8 km Run
Easy 14KEasy 6K21/1022/10Easy 7K24/1025/1028.1 km Run
Easy 13K Walk13/1014/10Achilles tendon injury16/1017/1018/100.00 km Run
Easy runEasy 13KSpeed run 4×1200-400 recovery08/10Easy 14KLong 32K11/1074.4 km Run
10k easy run29/0930/09Tempo 13.5K02/10Long 35KEasy run62.5 km Run
21/099K walk23/0913K easy run12.5K easy runTempo 15K runGrouse Mountain-BCMC Hiking return47.5 km Run3.8 km Hike
14/09Speed run 4×1200-400 recoveryEasy 8K17/09Long 20K19/095K walk41.5 km Run
07/09Easy 8KEasy 11KTempo 5K11/0912/09Long 30K54.0 km Run
Long 12KTest WalkSpeed run 8×600-400 recoveryEasy 9K runTempo 8KPacific Spirit Regional TrailHalf Marathon-New Record68.3 km Run16.1 km Hike
Easy 10KEasy 10KEasy 5KLong 13KLong 13KEasy 10KTest Walk62.7 km Run
17/08Easy 10KEasy 10KEasy 7K21/0822/0823/0827.4 km Run
10/08Easy 5KEasy 5KEasy 5KEasy 5KEasy 10KCrown Mountain Hiking30.3 km Run34.5 km Hike
03/0804/0805/0806/0807/0808/08Easy 5K5.0 km Run
27/0728/0729/0730/0731/0701/08Easy 5K5.0 km Run
20/0721/0722/0723/0724/0725/0726/07
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySunday
Easy run14/0715/0716/0717/07Panorama Ridge Hiking19/07
1.5K Swim07/072K Swim1K Swim10/0711/0712/07
29/0630/0601/0702/0703/0704/0705/07
22/0623/0624/0625/0626/06Elfin Lakes Hiking28/06
15/0616/0617/0618/0619/06Wedgemount Lake Hiking21/06
08/0609/0610/0611/0612/06MountHarvey Hiking14/06
01/0602/0603/0604/0605/06Garibaldi Lake HikingJoffre Lake Hiking
25/0526/0527/0528/0529/05Goat Mountain HikingTunnel Bluffs Hiking
18/0519/0520/0521/0522/05St Mark’s Summit Hiking24/05
11/0512/0513/0514/0515/0516/0517/05
04/0505/0506/0507/0508/0509/0510/05
MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
27/04Easy 4K29/0430/0401/0502/0503/054.4 km Run
Easy 8K21/0422/0423/0424/04Easy 7.5KLong 25K40.5 km Run
10K run (slow Tempo)Speed run 6×800, 400 recovery15/0415K run, Tempo 8KEasy 8KEasy 10KLong 16K73.5 km Run
Easy 13K runSpeed run, 9×600, 400 recoveryCasual walk15K run, tempo 8KEasy 7KEasy 10K runLong (Tempo) 16K76.6 km Run
Easy 7K runTempo 8K runEasy 13K runCasual WalkEasy 2K run Speed run, 12×400 Easy 7K run05/0451.0 km Run
23/03Tempo 10K run25/03Tempo 7K runEasy 10K runEasy 8K run29/0335.0 km Run
16/03Easy run18/0319/03Norouz SwimEasy 10K runTempo 7K run20.6 km Run1.5 km Swim
10K easy run10/0311/03Easy 5K runEasy 5K run14/0315/0320.0 km Run
Easy 10K runEasy 6K runEasy 10K runEasy 8K run06/0325K Hike & run Capilano Pacific trailEasy 6K run66.2 km Run
Easy 10K runEasy 7K run25/02Easy 10K run27/0228/0201/0327.0 km Run

2014 Marathon Training Summary

Photo Gallery Link
Period: 5 May 2014- 4 October 2014 (22 Weeks)
Summary: 676.78 Km Running, 15.8 Km Swimming & 9 Amazing Paddle Boarding Trips
Training Excel Analyze File
Training Calendar

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayWeekly Total
Easy 5K runEasy 10K runLong 20K run02/10Strength 10K run5K run05/1050.0 km Run
Strength 10K runLong 20K runEasy 5K runEasy 5K run26/0927/0928/0940.0 km Run
15/09Long 26K run17/0918/09Long 20K run20/09Easy 5K run Easy run  51.5 km Run
08/0909/09Speed run 4×800Easy 7K runEasy 4K runHalf MarathonPaddle Boarding False Creek36.9 km Runone Paddle Boarding Trip
Half Marathon Race02/09Hills Training 10×4001.5K Lap Swimming05/09Long 30K run07/0959.8 km Run1.50 km Swim
7K run26/08Hills Training 10×40028/0829/0811K run31/0827.49 km Run
18/0812K run20/08Long 19K run22/08Long 19K run24/0850.3 km Run
11/0812/0810K runPaddle Boarding KitsilanoThe amazing SUP trip16/0814K run24.1 km RunTwo Paddle Boarding Trips
10K run05/0806/0807/0808/0810K runLong 26K run45.6 km Run
10K run29/07SUP Fireworks 2014 day two31/0710K RaceSUP Fireworks 2014 Third Night03/0820.0 km RunTwo Paddle Boarding Trips
21/0722/0710K run24/07Fireworks 2014 day one26/07Strength 10K run20.1 km RunOne Paddle Boarding
14/07Paddle Boarding English BayPaddle Boarding English Bay17/07Paddle Boarding Jericho Beach19/07Half Marathon21.1 km RunThree Paddle Boarding
10K Race1.5K Lap Swimming11K run10/071.5K Lap Swimming1.5K Lap SwimmingLong 19K run39.2 km Run4.50 km Swim
Easy 3K run01/071.5K Lap Swimming  10K run 03/071.5K Lap Swimming05/0706/0712.8 km Run3.0 km Swim
1.5K Lap Swimming5K Race11K run800m Lap Swimming27/0628/068K run24.0  km Run2.3 km Swim
16/0617/0610K run19/0620/061.5K Lap Swimming13K run23.0 km Run1.5 km Swim
10K run10/0610K run12/061.5K Lap Swimming1.5K Lap Swimming10K run30.0  km Run3.0 km Swim
10K run03/0604/0610K run06/0610K run08/0630.0  km Run
26/0527/0528/0529/0510K run31/0510K run20.0  km Run
19/0520/0521/0522/0510K run24/0516K Grouse Mountain25.0  km Run
12/0513/0514/0515/057K run10K run18/0516.6  km Run
6K run3K run07/0508/0509/0510/0511/058.8 km Run
28/04First test 🙂30/0401/0502/0503/0504/05

2014 Training Week 18 (01/09/2014 to 07/09/2014)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

08

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had three run and one swim activities in this week. On Monday (01/09) I had a 21.42K (half marathon) race with the following averages: (21.42 K, 4:50 min/km, 169 bpm, 81m elevation gain). On Wednesday (03/09) I had a Running Room hills training 10×400 with the following averages: (8.42 K, 6:49 min/km, 152 bpm, 328m elevation gain). On Thursday (04/09) I had a 1.5 km lap swimming with average pace 2:15 min/100m. On Saturday (06/09) I had a long 30K run with the following averages: (30 K, 5:19 min/km, 160 bpm, 86m elevation gain).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
Half Marathon Race2Hills Training 10×4001.5K Lap Swimming5Long 30K run759.8 km Run 1.50 km Swim

VO2Max and weekly mileage

My VO2Max this week in my (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday) activities were (50, 50, 50) ml/kg/min respectively. Also my weekly mileage this week was 59.8 km run and 1.5 km swim.

About individual runs

On Monday (01/09): Tip of the day: No fear . Improved my half marathon record by 170 seconds. If you are not 100 percent happy or some one makes you disappointed, you want to gain your confidence and get back to your normal , try to improve your record, trust me it always works. At first I was a bit nervous to try to improve my record for half marathon, but when I tried it , I improved it significantly , 170 seconds ! The only things which prevented me to run faster was my knee condition. Now , six weeks to the victoria marathon, I am much more confident and I know , I just have to try a couple of 30km runs and gradually improve my pace at them , hopefully my knee condition would allow me to finish the marathon with something like 5:00 min/km pace.

On Wednesday (03/09): Last time we had hills , I pushed myself too much and had an extra day off for recovery (two days off instead of one ) due to the pressure on my knees. This time I took it much easier and I just had 11 hills to avoid any injury . (for some reason one hill is missing by watch possibly due to the lost of satellite , similar to last week) In general it was a good run with friends and a nice dinner after that (which I missed it , first because I left my credit card home and later because of the story I had in the way to the restaurant 😀 hahaha). Life is fun man !

On Thursday (04/09): So excited to get encouraged by one of my best friends. I restarted swimming for three main reasons, The first one: form now on , the focus of my runs would be on long distance ones i.e. 30km or at least 20 km. Therefore , the best way to release pressure in your muscles is by swimming , the second reason is while I would usually have one day rest between the runs , the best way to keep my body active might be by swimming. Finally while my ultimate goal is to prepare myself for the Ironman next summer, soon or late after marathon I should restart swimming so why I don’t start it now.

On Saturday (06/09): Goal of the run : Run 30km with the increasing race split technique with the average 5:17.5 min/km starts from 5:30 min/km and with the increasing steps 0:05 min/km (as it’s written on my hand in the pics) . Overall success : 40 seconds back the schedule (desired time was 2:38:45) Body condition during and after the run: No much pain on my knees , instead I had pain in my back both during and after the run, the possible reason is because it was longer than my regular exercises and solution for it is to correct my running style (correct the posture) . Nutrition point during the run: start having your chocolate or whatever you have at 10th km and for your drink I guess the ideal point is about 15th km as I had it at 10th km this time and it didn’t work because it caused some pain in the lower right side of my stomach as what I experienced in August 25th, but after 15th km , I guess my body lost enough water that the drink was absorbed immediately or at least I felt that way. Comment on the watch: change the auto lap from 1km to 5km , it’s much easier to adjust your run that. It’s like putting an integrated filter on it 😀 . Analyzing the run: The first 25k was much more efficient than the last 5k, I guess when I am tired I cannot adjust my cadence and speed simultaneously ,
ave. Cadence : first 10k: 179 spm (1s ahead) , second 10k: 175 spm (21s ahead), third 10k: 170 spm (50s behind last 5k 65s behind) , In general in the last 10k you can hardly adjust and you mainly put as much power as you can. I had the same problem for the last 5k in my 20k runs before , and I resolved it by practice and increasing my physical ability. I guess the same is here , your body have to be comfortable with 30k and 40k runs just by doing it.

2014 Training Week 9 (30/06/2014 to 06/07/2014)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

They keep each other moving

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 2 run and 2 swim activities in this week. On Monday (30/06) I had an easy 3K run with the following averages: (2.80 K, 5:14 min/km, 157 bpm), On Wednesday (02/07) I had a Running Room 10K run with the following averages: (10.00 K, 4:59 min/km, 168 bpm), On Wednesday (02/07) I had a 1.5 km lap swimming with average pace 2:18 min/100m (my watch says it’s a 3:43 am Wednesday swim but that’s not possible so there might be a one day inaccuracy in the time of the activity), On Friday (04/07) I had a 1.5 km lap swimming with average pace 2:11 min/100m.

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
Easy 3K run11.5K Lap Swimming  10K run 31.5K Lap Swimming5612.8 km Run 3.0 km Swim

My weekly mileage

Again based on this article, my two lap swimmings are equal with a 12K moderate run. Therefore my total weekly activities are equal with 24.80 K weekly mileage run. Comparing it to the 33.21 K weekly mileage of last week, we observe a 25.32% decrease in weekly mileage this week. That means I have to be more active in future as such a huge decrease in weekly mileage in week 9 doesn’t make sense at all.

In fact the way that I am training right now is not very appropriate as I have less activities in certain weeks and too much activities in the others. I have to train slow and steady in a safe manner to avoid getting injured and achieve the best results.

Comparing activities to see my improvement

Again if I compare my run activity on 18/06 with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:04 min/km, 169 bpm, 182 m elevation gain) to my other run activity on 02/07 with the following averages: (10.00 K, 4:59 min/km, 168 bpm, 75m elevation gain) , we see everything is the same in those two activities but average pace and elevation gain. My this week’s pace was 0:05 min/km slower and at the same time it’s elevation gain was 107m harder. I guess the elevation gain and the pace would balance each other and that means we cannot observe a significant improvement in my activities during past 2 weeks.

Buying a new Garmin Fenix 2 watch

Due to the fact that I was swimming a lot in my trainings, I decided to buy a Garmin Fenix 2 watch which was more appropriate for my training compared to Garmin FR 610. The complete description of Fenix 2 in the Garmin website is available here and a comparison between Fenix 2 and Forerunner 610 is available here and here and here.

But in short, the advantages of Fenix 2 compared to Forerunner 610 for me are as followings:

  • Fenix 2 records swimming activities
  • Fenix 2 and it’s heart rate monitor measures running dynamics (included cadence) and also VO2Max which are very important features for runners (I don’t know if it’s about Fenix 2 or it’s heart rate monitor but in any case I have these extra features in Fenix 2 where I didn’t have them in Forerunner 610)
  • Fenix 2 is more appropriate for hiking
  • The battery of Fenix 2 lasts longers

2014 Training Week 8 (23/06/2014 to 29/06/2014)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

06

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had 3 runs and 2 swims during this week. On Monday (23/06) I had a 1.5 km lap swimming with average pace 2:24 min/100m. On Tuesday (24/06) I had a 5K Race with the following averages: (5.01 K, 4:19 min/km, 183 bpm). On Wednesday (25/06) I had a Running Room 10.73K run with the following averages: (10.73 K, 5:11 min/km, 158 bpm). On Thursday (26/06), I had a 800m lap swimming with average pace 2:30 min/100m. Finally on Sunday (29/06) I again had a Running Room 8.27K run with the following averages (8.27 K, 4:56 min/km, 177 bpm). The recent run was an incomplete group run that I burned out in the middle of the run.

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
1.5K Lap Swimming5K Race11K run800m Lap Swimming27288K run24.0  km Run 2.3 km Swim

My weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 24.0 km run and 2.3 km swim. Again based on this article, my two swimming activities are equal with a 9.2 km run therefore my total weekly activities are equal with 33.21 km run. Comparing it with the last week’s weekly mileage of 29 km, we observe a 14.5 % increase in weekly mileage which is OK.

Comparing activities to see my improvement

There are two activities that are very suitable for comparing them with each other. My run on 29/06 with the following averages: (8.27 K, 4:56 min/km, 177 bpm, 178 elevation gain) compared to my run on 11/06 with the following averages: (10.01 K, 5:05 min/km, 177 bpm, 151 elevation gain).

These two activities were both with the Running Room on the same terrain (Vancouver Stanley Park) so elevation gain in both of them were almost the same. We assume the length of activities were both equal with each other, however there is a 1.74K difference between them. Fortunately my effort in both of them were the same (177 bpm vs 177 bpm for average heart rate).

We observe my pace improved from 5:05 min/km to 4:56 min/km. That’s a 0:09 min/km improvement which is equals with 2.95 % improvement in 18 days and it’s pretty good.

Response of my body to the level of activities

As I increased the level of my activities recently, my body responded to it in a certain way. I was mainly tired and needed to sleep much more compared to past and I also needed to eat more. I was talking to Jason in the Running Room about it and he advised me just to listen to what my body tells me, if it needs more sleep just sleep more, if you feel more hungry just eat more and etc. I was thinking more about this matter and noticed that was a pretty wise advise.

2014 Training Week 7 (16/06/2014 to 22/06/2014)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

05

Summary of this week’s activities

First, let’s review my activities during this week. I had two runs and one swim activities this week. On Wednesday (18/06) I had a Running Room 10K run with (ave. pace, ave. heart rate) equals (5:04 min/km, 169 bpm). On Saturday (21/06) I had a 1.5 km lap swimming with average pace about 2:10 min/km. Again according to this article, that swim was equals with a moderate 6K run. On Sunday (22/06) I had a 13K run with (ave. pace, ave. heart rate) equals (4:57 min/km, 174 bpm).

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
161710K run19201.5K Lap Swimming13K run23.0 km Run 1.5 km Swim

My weekly mileage

My weekly mileage this week was 23.0 km run and 1.5 km swim. Therefore my weekly total was equals with 29 km of running. Comparing it with last week’s weekly total activities (42 km of running), I had a 30.95 % decrease in my weekly mileage which is reasonable because last week’s weekly mileage was a little bit too much for me at this stage of my training.

Comparing activities to see my improvement

Comparing the activities to see my improvement during past two weeks is a little bit difficult at this stage due to lack of relevant information (so far I have just 5 activities with heart rate data in them).

But if we compare my activity on 11/06 which is (10K, 5:05 min/km, 177 bpm, elevation gain 182m) with my activity on 22/06 which is (13K, 4:57 min/km, 174 bpm, elevation gain 97m) we can see even though I had less effort in the second activity (174 bpm vs 177 bpm) and the length of my run was also longer in the second activity (13K vs 10K), my average pace improved by 0:08 min/km (4:57 min/km vs 5:05 min/km).

Elevation gain is the only factor which was harder in the first activity compared to the second activity (182 m vs 97 m). We can assume the last factor (elevation gain) would balance the first two factors (length of activity and average heart rate) so for comparing two activities we can just compare pace of two activities. If we do so, we can observe a 2.6 % improvement in just 11 days which is not bad.

2014 Training Week 6 (09/06/2014 to 15/06/2014)

Activity Details in Google Sheets

Activity Schedule in Google Docs

04

First Let’s mention my weekly total for this week, I had 30.03 km of run and 3.0 km of swim. This is the first week that I am adding swimming to my training plan and I am very happy about it. Also from this week, I started wearing my heart rate monitor and that helps me a lot to analyze my daily activities, compare them to each other and see how much effort I put in each of them.

During this week on Friday (13/06) and Saturday (14/06), I had two 1.5 km swims and my average pace in both of them was about 2:10 min/100m. I also had three 10K runs on Monday (09/06), Wednesday (11/06) and Sunday (15/06) with (average pace, average heart rate) equals (5:11 min/km, 163 bpm), (5:05 min/km, 177 bpm) and (4:59 min/km, 171 bpm) respectively.

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturdaySundayTotal
10K run1010K run121.5K Lap Swimming1.5K Lap Swimming10K run30.0  km Run 3.0 km Swim

I was interested in finding out my weekly total just in terms of running. I googled the matter and found this article useful where it says a moderate 1.5 km of swim with ave. pace 2:00 min/100m is equals with a moderate 6.0 km run. Therefore my weekly total this week just in terms of running is about 42 km run. Comparing this week’s total with last week’s total (30 km run) I see a 40% increase in my weekly mileage. That is still OK as I had a 35 km run weekly total in week 3 and this week’s total has just about a 20% increase compared to week 3’s total.

Apparently I see the following pattern in my weekly mileages: I would have a high weekly mileage in one week and then I would reduce my weekly mileage for a couple of weeks as my body recovers and then again I would get back to a high weekly mileage. Ideally, I should stay on a certain weekly mileage (at least 3 weeks) before I increase it to the next level. Therefore my current approach is not ideal but as long as I have enough rest in my weekly training plan, chances of getting injured would be reduced.