my makeup may be flaking

My achilles was a little sore so just a small amount of jogging as I was a course monitor at the Club northwest resolution run. Winning time was 14:56! by Michael Eaton, the local hero. Jogged around some more doing course cleanup.

AM 2.9

PM 13.9 including 3 by 3200 in (11:16, 11:19, 11:12) with 3.5 mins rest.

Approx splits of (5:38, 5:38), (5:41, 5:38) and (5:39, 5:33), suggested split was 5:42, but this didn't feel very tough. Last 800 of the last rep in 2:42. I led the 1st mile of each rep and Mark Bloudek led the second mile.

Nice that mile repeat pace has become 2-mile repeat pace in about 18months.

Warmup 400 in 71. Goal for 2019: a warmup 400 in sub 70 (running relaxed).

Second road race and third race overall in the series. Made a concerted effort to get out hard and was in the top 20 after 400m as opposed to 60th place like in the XC race. Top pack of about 8 left me in the dust and there was no way I could have gone with them. At about 1km in I moved to the front of the chase pack. A couple of guys stuck with me but not for long.

Hit the mile in 5:14, which was kind of surprising as I felt like I was running slower than that. The leaders were probably sub 5 with the closest guy at 5:07. I accelerated and caught him at about the 2k point, but I noticed my feet were slipping a little with each step (maybe mud on my shoes). I tried to scrape it off on the sidewalk while continuing to run, but it turns out that's not physically possible. However we soon transitioned onto gravel and that seemed to do the trick.

Still felt like I was running slower than last time, but the 6th and 7th guys who had been out of sight were coming back to me. Started my kick a little bit too late (because of the turns it kind of sneaks up on you) but still managed about an even split 5:14, 5:15.

Jogged home to cooldown.

CNW sunday run w/ Andy, Carl W, Mitch, Garrett, and Acy

AM some Taiga hill repeats w/ 400m jogging recovery: 3:09.8, 2:18, 3:05.9, 2:30, 3:03.9, 2:29, 3:00.4

AM 9

PM 4.6

My right glute is really sore this week for some reason (squats maybe?).

AM 2.9

PM 13.7 w/ 3x2400m in 8:17, 8:15, 8:06.

We had a big pack today: Chris S, Chris F, Mitch, Garrett, Waqar, Luke, and John C. I led the first one almost entirely. Then Mitch led the second. Chris S decided he wanted to run a little faster on the last one and ran ahead, then John started pushing the pace before I took over. After running around 82-83 the first two reps. I went 82-82-81-81-80-80 for the last one.

avg of 5:30 per mile (5:28 per 1600). This pace is starting to feel easy again.

AM 17.5 miles including 8 mile tempo run with CNW. The tempo run for Group 2 was supposed to be 3 miles at 6:16, 3 miles at 5:56, then 2 miles at 5:36. I didn't have a garmin but I think we were very close to hitting the correct pace, based on both Garmins and trail markers. When everyone's garmins beeped for mile 6 we were at 36:19 on my watch. Then (after waiting 3 seconds to get to a marker) I timed an approx two mile effort using marks on the trail. It was 11:19 for 2.06 (5:29 pace) and I dropped everyone. The other club members said they thought I was running 5:25 pace or faster based on their watches. I don't know. This is why I don't trust GPS. I do know that I ran fast enough that I almost caught up to group 1a. Overall the tempo run was 8.07 miles in 47:41 (5:54 pace). Ran with Chris F, Luke, Garrett, and another guy whose name I should really know by now but don't.

Greenlake to Magnuson park and back.

AM 7.5 miles including a short workout at Green Lake Track. A few drills, then 4 by 400 in 78 seconds with 60 seconds rest. Then 4 piano/soapbox hills in 35.3, 35.2, 33.4, 32.2

PM 4.6

AM 9

PM 4.6

AM 2.9

PM 13.6 w/ 5x4min with 2mins off. I ended up moving up to run with the 1a group: Lance Thompson, Gabe Kliot, Spencer Walsh, Dylan Kent, and Pete Hanson. I ended up running 78-79 second pace per 400m.

AM 9

PM 2.9

Went much better than the first XC race in the series. Made a conscious effort to sprint hard the first 100-200m, and it worked as I found myself in the top 20 or so as opposed to in 60th like last time.

About 3minutes into the race I made a strong surge and moved into 11th, but as I was doing it my shoe came untied. I spent a lot of the rest of the race worrying about that, especially on the turns. Second time up the hill I moved into 10th but I was starting to hurt and I was thinking about the second race that I had coming up.

I finished strong, passing one more person, but I did not empty the tank. Oh and my shoe did end up getting sucked off of my foot in the mud with about 200m to go. In the end I was about 20seconds faster than the last race.

Afterwards I went back to my car and chilled a little, Then picked up my bib number for race #2. As I was skipping the weekly tempo run with the club I decided I would enter the magnuson series 15k which started about an hour after my race. As I was warming up I was definitely feeling the first race in my legs.

I started out strong 5:52, 5:56, 11:52 (3+4). Then after a 6:02 fifth mile, I slipped and fell pretty hard. It was weird as it wasn't even on a tight corner. I briefly thought about dropping out as I was passing close to my car, but I decided it wasn't too bad so I kept going. 6+7 combined were 12:07, which isn't so bad because it included both the fall and a big hill. But then I only managed a 6:06 for mile 8 and I knew that a good time was out the window. 7:54 (5:58 pace) for the last 1.321.

All in all a success as I managed about 6flat pace for the 15k despite everything. I was definitely moving more gingerly round the corners the last 3 miles.

Around Green Lake and Lower Woodland. Feeling very tired and sore.

AM 4 Taiga hills. Getting closer and closer to sub 3. Also my recovery time is getting shorter. Short workout and low mileage today as I was feeling a little tired. Felt very good on this workout however. 3:08.1, 2:08, 3:05.5, 2:07, 3:01.9, 2:16, 3:00.1

AM 9 Still sore from Saturday

PM 4.6

AM 2.9

PM 4 to track + 6.2 workout+2.9 home+2.6 recovery/warmup/cooldown=15.7

Workout was 5 by 2000m at 82-83 (i.e 6:50-6:55) with 2:30 rest. Ran in a big group 2 (Mark B, Chris F, Garrett, Danny, John C, Mitch, Sheridan, Waqar, Luke and Nick) although about half the group stopped at 4 (the fifth one was for overachievers) and Mitch dropped us all after about 400m on rep 1.

I stayed pretty relaxed on the first 4 (6:51, 6:51, 6:48, 6:52), leading a couple of laps here and there. My breathing was relaxed but I didn't want to go faster because it's a long workout. On the last one Chris and I decided to go faster. I hit 800m at 2:42, but that wasn't fast enough for Chris who went by me and lifted the pace. I thought about trying to maintain contact but he kept ramping it up so I opted to stay comfortable and hit 81, 81, 80 for the last three laps to run 6:44. Chris ended up running 6:34! During the cooldown he reminded me that he has a 15:16 5k PR and is just trying to get back. I was like 'tell me about it'.

Also the warmup quarter this week was 73 although I ran a lot of it in lane 3 like a gentleman.

Then I ran home and in my head I started totalling up the mileage for the day. I thought 'I'm going to crash aren't I?' and I did, pretty hard, about 1 mile from my house.

Anyway, another excellent and controlled workout. Could not have stuck with the 1a guys today as they ran 6:35x4 + 6:30  (group1 ran 6:25x4+6:10)

Note: The 'Danny' listed above was actually Danny Mackey, coach of the Brooks Beasts, which is the local elite (olympic development) training group.

AM 9

PM 2.9

Long run including 7 mile tempo run with the club (40:20/5:46 pace). Last two miles in 10:59. I always seem to do a lot better in the tempo runs, as I set the pace for most of the run today.

Greenlake + woodland park

AM 2.9

PM 6 including 10 pickups to about 5:20 pace of about 90 seconds on average.

AM 9 Feeling a bit of pain this morning but better than Sunday.

PM 4.6

AM 2.9

PM 13.2 including 4 by mile with CNW. 5:22, 5:16, 5:16, 5:11. Rest was 2.5 minutes. Ran with a big group 2: Chris F, Nick, Sheridan, Luke, Garrett, Tahoma, and Dylan for part of it. Also some of the marathon guys joined us: Shaun Frandsen, Gabi Kliot, Mark Bloudek, Nick Bowden.

I didn't do a ton of leading in this workout which was fine. I took over the last lap of rep 1 as I felt the pace was slowing a little. I took it out hard on the last rep intending to hit 78s and to lead most of the way, but like half the group decided they wanted to go even faster and split 76-77. (Right as we hit this split, group 1 finally lapped us splitting 2:16-2:17 for 800, so err...yeah) I ended up running 78,78,78,77 for the last rep to get 5:11, while the front guys split 5:07. Only started to hurt briefly with about 200 to go then relaxed a little.

On the cooldown Chris and I tried to persuade Luke to join us for the track 2 mile on Saturday.

AM 9 (It's nine damn it I don't care what the sidebar says. I just mapped it again on gmaps to confirm).

PM 2.9