I did it. I achieved my 5K goal. The 'race' was COVID approved as there was only one racer. Andrew was supposed to be the pacer but he got tied up hiking in Zion. I did a mile plus warm up, did some drills. Temp was pretty perfect around high 40s, a bit windy though. Gave it my all!

What's next? I took 2 weeks off, absolutely no running, to fully recover (probably lost some fitness but long-term it's a great decision.) I have just started another training cycle, it will be for a longer race this time (HM/Marathon). The runs will be a lot longer, but at much lower intensity. Again, I'll monitor my legs carefully and continue to uphold the 2 principles: 'Consistency is key!' and 'Less is more!'
Happy Holidays!

Towards the end of the 12-week program I expect to hit 65-70. Then into January/February if things go well we can expect to hit 100. By then I'd really like to set new 5K/10K PRs. Finger crossed!

To complement the training, I went ahead and bought a water rower. The wife rated it 'great buy' and she's probably been using it a bit more than I do. It is indeed a great whole-body (or 80%+), low-impact workout. I can overcome the boredom with streaming, or just enjoy the wavy sound from within the water tank.

Cooler months are going to be here soon. I just need to endure a few more weeks of hot, uncomfortable running then it will be great to be outside again (with a natural 10-15% gain in performance.) Can't wait!

I plan to take the JSNSD before the end of August. It sounds like a more interesting exam anyway.

TODO: Talk about the exam

From my place we went to Massapequa Preserve, then kept going north. The northern part of Long Island is extremely hilly. The original planned route was about 72 miles. Around noon I was so miserable (my quads were screaming, refused to generate power) that I requested to turn back early. Overall we were 10 miles short, not much but back then it was like completing or not situation.

This week I just decided enough is enough and I started base building again. I'm aiming to do 25 miles for week 1. The 6.2-mile run on Monday was slow (intentionally) and good. Hope I'll be able to keep that up.

Late February I was getting pretty strong towards my final quarter of the UA Half Marathon training series. But then I caught the snowboarding bug, kinda derailed my long runs a bit, then COVID-19 happened. That totally legitimized my slacking off. UA Half was cancelled, Brook Half followed, Ironman CT fell. It's safe to say 2020 running season is over (Berlin officially cancelled, I don't have much hope for Chicago, or even NYC in Nov).

On the flip side, I leetcoded a bit, did a few interview loops, and got an offer. I left Lifion on May 1st, and will be starting at Haven Life as a Full Stack Engineer on May 11th. I am pumped, professionally.

I have started running again. Every mile's a struggle. It's week 2 and I hit 5K the other day at the average pace of 8'34". It's a lot harder than it was 2 months ago, probably because I lost much of my fitness and the weather is getting hotter. But it won't take long to regain all of that power, however little it was.

• W14D1: 1.5mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 6x 0.25mi @ 6:48/mile + 1:30 jog rest; 1.5mi very easy
• W14D2: 4.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W14D3: 1.5mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 3.0mi @ 7:41/mile + 5:00 jog rest + 10x (0:24 @ 6:25/mile + 0:30 jog rest); 1.5mi very easy
• W14D4: 12.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W14D1 Speed went okay-ish, I got through all the reps then skipped the 1.5mi cool down. I went to the Nassau Aquatic Center and swam a total of 1,000m instead. I also performed D1 on a Wednesday instead of Tuesday because I was not feeling it on Tuesday (lazy).

W14D2 Easy was easy, a bit hot. I watched Schitt's Creek to overcome the boredom.

• W13D1: 1.0mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 4x 5:00 @ 7:05/mile + 3:00 jog rest; 1.0mi very easy
• W13D2: 4.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W13D3: 1.5mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 2x 2.0mi @ 7:41/mile + 2:00 jog rest; 1.5mi very easy (since I skipped this session last week)
• W13D4: 12.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W13D1 Speed, overall an okay+ session. I must have dropped the towel during rep 1 there. Felt a bit sluggish without the long run from W12, hopefully I didn't lose much fitness.

W13D2 Easy 4 miler, nothing special.

W13D3 Threshold, I definitely blew up during this session. It's on the treadmill so maybe it got too hot for me. I needed to take a short static rest before some cool down. I didn't even do the whole 1.5mi cool down. This was definitely a C session.

W13D4 Long Run was an F. I took out my Vaporfly Next% for a test run. It felt bouncy and fast. I did 1.5 miles outside then resume running on the treadmill. I got so bored that I stopped at mile 3. I was 7 miles short for today. I was starting to feel a bit burned out...

• W12D1: 1.5mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 6x 0.5mi @ 7:05/mile + 2:00 jog rest; 1.5mi very easy
• W12D2: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W12D3: 1.5mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 2x 2.0mi @ 7:41/mile + 2:00 jog rest; 1.5mi very easy
• W12D4: 10.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W12D1 Speed session was a good example of blowing up. I struggled towards rep 5, 6, having to take an extra 30 secs rest in between. In rep 6 the safety pin went off by accident interrupting my pace. I didn't feel very good at the end so I skipped the 1.5 mile cool down. I was glad to have completed the 6 reps though because mentally I was done after rep 3...

W12D2 Easy 5 miler turned into 6 miler.

W12D3 Easy 4 because it was super late and I had to get up early Saturday to drive to Hunter Mountain. We had a mini Tet celebration for dinner so my training session was super late. I will do the Threshold workout next week (13) instead.

W12D4 Long run didn't happen since I was snowboarding on Saturday and morning Sunday. Though it wasn't a long run, I supposed the activity still counted for something. Plus my body was sore from all the falling. This was my first snowboarding since 8+ years ago. Not to mentioned I only snowboarded once, skied twice back then.

Earlier in the week (Wed) I successfully signed up for the Popular Brooklyn Half Marathon in mid-May (without doing the virtual series, which I did last year!) Their server was down between 12-3pm, which caused a lot of confusion/anger on the Twitter-verse. Race timing is good because it is 2 weeks before my Half Ironman, perfect running tune-up. Speaking of Ironman I need to swim more...

• W11D1: 1.25mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; (2x 0.5mi @ 7:05/mile + 2:00 jog rest) + (1x 1.0mi @ 8:27/mile + 1:30 jog rest) + (2x 0.5mi @ 7:05/mile + 2:00 jog rest); 1.25mi very easy
• W11D2: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W11D3: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W11D4: 11.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W11D1 Speed was a very tough workout. I had to actually stop to rest during the recovery steps, rather than jog, to catch my breath. Hit all required paces.

W11D2 Easy, nothing special

W11D3 Easy, nothing special. I did think about doing maybe 6 or 7 miles but well most of these easy sessions were done on the treadmill during the weeknights I just had enough of it and wanted to get done to move on to other things (yes even LoL counts as good other things to do!)

W11D4 Long run, while I always try to keep my treadmill sessions equivalent to running outdoor (1% incline, for example), it's never the same. I spend at least one of my session on the road to maintain road form. It doesn't hurt when it's the long run too. Today was somewhat cold (low 30s), most of the snow is gone. I got up pretty late, had lunch and watched a movie. I then took another short nap before I was able to get out the door. I wore shorts, long-sleeved heat shirt, was just enough.

I averaged 8:23/mile for the 11-mile session, it's a lot faster than required (8:52/mile). I think I sped up slowly because it was cold and was getting dark. Not the worst thing, but I need to pay more attention/be more discipline with the prescribed paces. I wouldn't want to go to hard during easy days and/or jeopardize my following speed session.

• W10D1: 1.0mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 6x(+2) 0.25mi @ 6:48/mile + 1:30 jog rest; 1.0mi very easy
• W10D2: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W10D3: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W10D4: 9.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W10D1 Speed day was a bit of a struggle. Since my treadmill was still out of service (technician booked), and it's dark and cold out, I ran at Crunch Amityville. My legs felt a little wobbly and tight, probably because I have not recovered 100% from the hard long run on Sunday. On top of that, the damn 'mill decided to pause itself every time I hit higher pace. No idea why it's acting like that (the first one pause every time I hit 10:00/mile lol), was such a nuisance when you're mid block and having to hit continue + set speed again. I was supposed to do 6x, and I should probably have stopped at 6x, but I opted for 8x instead. The last few were extremely tough.

W10D2 Easy 5 miles on treadmill, nothing special.

W10D3 Easy 5 miles. I stopped at 5K, wasn't feeling it on a Friday evening...

W10D4 (relatively) Easy 10 miles. Same story every Sunday, woke up sluggish not ready for a long run, was eventually able to muster the mental strength to walk out the door. Weather was so pleasant all of a sudden (low 60s to mid 50s). About 10 sec/mile faster than necessary but felt good after run, it's all good.

• W9D1: 1.0mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 1.0mi @ 7:21/mile + 1:30 jog rest, 2x 0.5mi @ 7:05 + 2:00 jog rest, 1.0mi @ 7:21/mile + 1:30 jog rest; 1.0mi very easy
• W9D2: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W9D3: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W9D4: 9.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W9D1 Speed didn't happen because it was Dec 31 and I didn't feel like getting out there for a workout...

W9D2 Easy 5 miles at Crunch Amityville on the treadmill, sweated like a pig. Nothing special but this was my first run after the break, so felt good.

W9D3 Easy 5 miles also at Crunch Amityville. It's not inspiring but my treadmill is still not working and it's been misty/drizzling out so I gotta do what I gotta do. Wife joined at the gym for the first time since I signed up (with unlimited guest privilege).

W9D4 Long Run, a great confidence booster at this point as I finished this run with an average pace of 7:57/mile. I was very sluggish in the afternoon but felt that I needed to get back in the game after the long holiday weekends. I also was excited to put on my new running safety light. Pi joined me during the first two 'slower' miles, then I finished the rest. It was pretty tough until probably mile 4-5, then I got in the zone and slowly picked up the pace and finished strong. During the race (in 2 months, 10 days), I'd just gotta finish the last 4.1 mile under 8:00/mile then I'll be golden. I hope to gain some more fitness as the course is pretty hilly.

• W8D1: 1.0mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 8x 0.25mi @ 6:48/mile + 1:30 jog rest; 1.0mi very easy
• W8D2: 5.0mi @ 8:52/mile
• W8D3: 1.0mi very easy; drills + 3x strides; 2x 1.0mi @ 8:27/mile + 1x 1.0mi @ 7.41/mile; 1.0mi very easy
• W8D4: 9.0mi @ 8:52/mile

W8E1 to compensate for some of the missed workouts from past weeks. WU/CD around 9:30/mile, middle 2 miles were at 8:50/mile.

W8D1 Speed was done correctly to a T. Actually better than planned, my best (last) repeat was at 6:08/mile. Overall I did 6.3 miles at an average pace of 8:30/mile. Winning!

W8E2 Easy 2 mile filler.

W8D2 Easy averaging 9:02/mile running with Pi outside.

W8D3 Tempo on a treadmill at Crunch Amityville. I did what was prescribed bit forgot to turn off my watch after workout resulting in around 4 mins of inf pace which dragged average pace down to a 9:27/mile (5.67 miles). Nonetheless, it was a good day, bit hot. Indoor workouts are always miserable.

W8D4 Long didn't happen because of a lot of things but mostly was lazy >.<