I am one with the levee and the levee with me

4 mile tempo on the Urb. Did my usual warmup and got underway. The first mile was a little hot (5:15), and I got nervous about still being tired, so I wimped out a little and backed off. I don't remember what the turnaround time was. I reached 3 miles in 16:02 and decided I'd make sure I went under 5:20 pace. 2:38 and 2:32 for the last 2 halves for a 5:10 final mile. 21:12 total time. The last half is ever so slightly downhill, but that was still a surprise. I think it's time to go back to the fearless training mode, embracing the discomfort rather than shying away from it. I've given myself a couple workouts to recover from the race, and I should be good to go now.

I took about 4 minutes rest and then did 6x30s with 1:00 rests at roughly mile pace.

Easy loop around Padden.

8 easy. Been feeling exhausted, so I postponed the workout for tomorrow.

Track workout. The weather was awful, pouring rain for the first half and windy throughout. The wind affected me more on the faster stuff, the tempo paced work was fine. 2x3200m @ tempo, 2x800m @ 5k, 3x400 @ mile. I was supposed to do 4 400s, but I felt a tweak in my knee on the left medial side and decided it wasn't worth risking an injury. 2 min rests on everything.

Reps were as follows: 10:16, 10:17, 2:23, 2:21, 3x65. 

6 easy from campus. I went down to Seattle tonight to visit a friend in the hospital, so this was it for miles.

Mile speed day. 4x200, 2x800, 6x400 @ mile pace. 2:1 rests.

First 200s were rusty as usual. The first 800 didn't feel great, but my body loosened up from there. The first 4 400s were in lane 5 as the steeple guys were doing some drills, and it took a couple reps to figure it out. Once I warmed into the  pace, it felt smooth, natural, and controlled.

34, 32, 33, 32

2:09, 2:09

62, 65, 63, 63, 63, 62

Easy loop around Padden from my place.

6 easy miles, including 4x200m strides on the track in 32, 33, 32, 32.

6 easy on the Urb.

I'm never sure how to write up mile-ish distance races since they are over so fast. The gun goes off, a few minutes go by, and suddenly I'm finishing. No time to think.

I came oh-so-close to the desired sub-4. The race got out just a little quick for my taste, so I tried to settle down after a 30.8ish opening 200, but I settled down too much and kinda fell asleep in lap 2. 2:09 at the 800. I picked it up, passed a few guys, came through a lap to go with 2:57-8 on the clock, and thought it might be doable if only I could kick. I kicked, just not fast enough. Splits were roughly 64, 65, 64, 48. The 48 really bothers me. I'm so sure I closed faster than that... I'm guessing the clocks were lagging, luring me to think I was closer than I thought. 

Regardless, I'm pleased with the race. This is a 7 second PR -- at my ripe old age I'm quite happy to still be dropping time at this distance. 

I'm now knocking on the door of both my pre-season goals. One more shot at each, time to put my head down and get it done.

12 miles easy on Galbraith.

8 easy on the Boulevard and Urb trails.

4800m of mile pace for the workout today. 4x200, 4x600, 2x400, 4x200. It was hot and muggy and my body isn't used to this weather yet, so I struggled just a bit. 

First 4x200 all in 32.5.

4x600 all in 1:36

2x400 in 64.2, 63.9

Final 4x200 all in 31.5

All in all a good session. We originally had 6x600 on the schedule, but the difficulty level was just a touch too high. 

Easy loop around Padden.

1x3200m @ tempo (2 min rest), 2x1600m @ 5k pace (~4:20 rest), 4x200m @ mile pace (1 min rest).

10:18 (5:04, 5:14 -- the first half felt really easy, but I wanted to really nail the 1600s, so I backed off the second half)

4:41, 4:42

32, 32, 31, 31

I was shocked at how easy the first 5:04 felt. I relaxed a little too much on the 5:14, but the overall result was right.

I'm very happy with how the 1600s felt. I decided this would be a good workout to try 14:40ish pace, and it felt fast but doable. I ran very even splits (#1 - 2:21, 2:20; #2 - 2:20, 2:22) and finished feeling like I had another in me, but glad I didn't have to do it. 

4 easy. It's all I had time for today.

6400m tempo, 5 min rest, 3200m tempo. I really despise running tempos on the track, but I had my reasons. My lower abdomen is in pain and I wanted the consistency of the track vs the rocks and rolls of the Urb. 

20:33 for the first 6400m. 5:06, 10:17 (5:09), 15:24 (5:07), 20:33 (5:09).

5 min rest.

10:26 for the 3200m. 5:13, 5:13. A little slower paced, I had a hard time getting going again. My groin was sore and the stomach issues again. I think I need to see someone. Both of those have been steadily getting worse for awhile now. 

Day off.

12 easy around Whatcom.

Had a great workout this afternoon. 3x1600m, 2x800m @ 5k pace; 100m jog after the last 800 (~30s) and then a fast 300. Rests were the usual 1:1 and ended up being 4:30 between 16s and 2:15 between the 8s.

4:44, 4:43, 4:44, 2:21, 2:20, 45.2.

On each rep I felt I could run faster if I had to and was always in control. I'm feeling ready to race.

10 easy around Padden.

11 easy up to Huckleberry.

Mile pace day. 4x200, 1x800, 6x400, 4x200, for 4800m total.

Started out a little quicker, then the 800 was a struggle. I struggled through the rest of it, feeling overly fatigued compared to other workouts like this.

4x200 31s

1x800 2:10 

6x400 65, 65, 65, 63, 63, 63

4x200 31s.

The hill climb to Huckleberry yesterday wasn't a good idea in retrospect.

Day off. Resting up all the aches in my body.

Day off.

5 easy on the Urb, then 4x200m in 31.5 on the track.

5 easy on the Urb.

I haven't had the most ideal last few days, but I headed down to the Shoreline stadium for the first of the All Comers meets. It was awesome. My stomach and groin have been in increasing pain, so I took last Saturday and Sunday off, then Monday night ended up having to pull an all nighter for school. With this in mind, I had readjusted expectations for this meet. 

I raced the mile first. I was hoping to hit 800 in 2:07-2:08 and then hold on for a pr. One of my old WWU teammates took it out hard from the gun as he was looking for a 4:15, so I sat just a little back of him. 63 first lap. He had a 5 meter gap on me which he kept through lap 2. 2:08 -- we slowed a little, but that was okay. I was still feeling pretty good. The far side of the next lap things started to get fuzzy, and the edges of my vision were doing funny things. With 500 to go I pulled up on Dylan's shoulder and decided he was fading and it was time to move. I took the lead, reached 1200m in 3:13, and I focused on getting my legs moving faster. I quickened my cadence and tried to dig, but I was tightening up quickly. My head was going back and my neck and arms and everything was locking up. There was no kick left. I entered the final straight and just kept pushing. 4:19.5 official time. That was the most painful race I've run in awhile. 63, 65, 65, 65ish for splits. Pretty much the same result as UW a couple weeks ago.

I had a 20 minute break and then ran the 800 for a bit of extra work. Considering how bad I tightened in the mile I expected it to feel awful from the first step. I jogged around for the 20 minutes to try to get the blood to clear out my legs, but it didn't feel like enough. We lined up, the gun went off and the field quickly left me in the dust. I ran 61 for the first lap, and I felt surprisingly fine. The next 200 was fine. 600 in and I wasn't tightening. I reached the final straight and managed the kick that was missing in the mile, and I crossed the line unofficially in 2:03. That's a pr, pending official ratification. Considering I wasn't pushing 100%, I think I could actually break 2:00 if I gave it a good shot.

We also ran the 4x400 5 minutes later, just for a little more work. Didn't want to kill it, so I just split a 60 and called it a night. Also felt surprisingly okay considering.

Honestly, I'm baffled at how badly I tightened in the mile compared to how good I felt in the 800. I realize 2:03 is not a blazing time, but hey, it is a pr, and I feel like I should have been feeling more acid effects. But oh well I'm not complaining. Just surprised.

Really fun night. I wasn't planning to do the next All Comers next week, but I think it's a must.

Easy loop around Whatcom.

4800m tempo, 3min rest, 1600m @ 5k, 4 min rest, 2x400 @ mile, 2 min rest. 15:27 (5:07, 5:10, 5:10), 4:44 (70, 71, 71.5, 71.5), 64, 64. I didn't feel great this morning, so it was nice to still hit the splits.

8 easy on the Urb.