my makeup may be flaking

Feeling a little sick so toned down my planned workout.

3 by 1600 w/400m jogging recovery.

5:37, 5:30, 5:27

AM 2.9

PM 4.6

AM 9

PM 2.9

Third magnuson park race. Lance Thompson and Spencer Walsh showed up as well as a few other club northwest people. There seemed to be quite a few folks running the 10k this time.

I started out really fast following the 5k runners. I was in 5th at the mile in 5:34. This mile felt suprisingly easy. During mile 2 I passed the 4th place guy (5:41). After that I had no one to run with. Tahoma and Spencer were in sight but too far ahead. I also started to feel the effects of (still) being a little sick. Remaining miles were 5:50, 5:56, 5:56, 6:00, and then 1:12 (5:36 pace).

PM After hiking up Mt pilchuk I ran 5.3 miles at 6:10 pace (downhill), to retrieve our car. Always check your parking brake.

AM Bbbbbounce workout.

5:31.0, 2:41.5, 76.8

2:38.1, 5:29.1, 2:41.6

77.0, 2:37.8, 76.0

Another 5000m PR, but just barely.

There were more people running this week and based on seed times it seemed like there would be a lot of people running around 17flat. It only took about 200m for a group of 6 to form. I hit 200m in 41 right on the heels of three runners from the tacoma city running club as well as Antonio Hernandez, who ran 17:03 two weeks ago (when I ran 17:14). There was another guy right on my shoulder with really long hair.

The lead guy from Tacoma was olympic trial qualifier greg leak and I think he was pacing the other two to 17flat.

The first 4 laps were great, maybe a little faster than I wanted.

81.7, 79.0,80.5, 80.4

We hit the mile at about 5:21, but then it stopped being easy. The 5th lap was only 81.7 and the tacoma city runners were starting to breath a lot harder. At 2000m I moved the front of the pack and started to set the pace more to my own liking. I figured that if I started to lose it then someone would pass me back. I ran 81.6 for the 6th lap.  I was starting to gain on the 2nd place guy (1st was long gone). However right as I caught him I heard some rapid breathing and a high school age runner passed by me. I only ran 82.0 for that lap then 81.5, 81.5 trying to stay with the new guy.  Mile 2 5:27.

With 3.5 laps to go I was really hurting and I still had 3-4 guys right on my heels. I let off the gas a little bit as I always seem to do in the 5k. 82.3 for lap 10 and 82.7 for lap 11. Picked it up again with a 81.0 for lap 12 and then 36.5 final 200m.

km splits 3:21, 3:22,3:24,3:23,3:22

AM 8.6

7 mile tempo run in 43:37 (6:13 per mile). Didnt really focus the first 15 minutes or so. 

Attempt at a workout. My plan was 4 by 800 followed by 4 by 400.

I made it through the 4 by 800 (kind of), with the last rep being really lousy.

2:43.6, 2:43.2, 2:46.9, 2:52.9

Normally I would just persevere, but I was concerned about low salt levels which for me can lead to fainting. I haven't been taking any electrolytes for a few days and it's catching up with me. So I decided to just quit the workout and head home.

AM 9

8 by 200m with 200m jogging recovery (or in n out 200s as we used to call them in the '00s).

Orignal plan was 8000 by 200m but the 'ol ball 'n' chain put the kibosh on it. Said I was talking through my hat. Really took the wind out of my oars.

Anyway:

34.5, 34.9, 34.3, 34.1, 34.6, 34.1, 33.4!, 34.2

1500m in 4:38 (54, 77, 75, 72). Really went to sleep on that 2nd lap.

3000m in 9:59  (79.3, 80.5, 79.3, 80.4, 80.6, 81.3, 81.0, 37.0)

AM 4 by 800, 4 by 400

2:39.6, 2:40.3, 2:41.0, 2:38.7 (60 seconds rest between each)

5min recovery with lap jog

76.6, 73.6, 73.6, 73.3 (60 seconds rest)

AM Track workout

3 by 1600-1min rest-400 with 1 lap recovery jog

5:30.2, 74.9

5:27.4, 75.3

5:28.3, 74.5

Long cooldown

AM Short track workout

6 by 200 w/200 recovery

35.4, 35.5, 34.9, 34.9, 33.8, 34.4

6 by 100 w/100 recovery (barefoot on grass)

?,?,16.3, 15.8, 15.8, 16.1

The final 5k of the season at the all comers meets (only 3ks from here on out) so I decided to run it fresh.

I had already run 16:52, 2 weeks ago which is 81 per lap. Based on my track workouts it was hard to envision that I was capable of much faster than that. I therefore decided that I would go out hard perhaps at a pace that I couldn't sustain, and then just try to hold on as best I could.

As this was the last 5k of the season quite a few people showed up including many, many highschoolers. Despite the presence of Max Randal and Tony Hernandez (who ran 9:37 and 9:53 to my 9:59 in the 3k last week), my 16:52 gave me the fastest seed time. 

I'm beginning to realize that I don't like being seeded number one as I am not very quick off the line, so I get boxed in very easily. A huge crowd of 10-12 guys hit 200m together at about 38/39 with a couple of the highschoolers up front. I came through the first lap in 79.6 but I head '80'. Although it was PR pace, it wasn't as agressive as I wanted. As we approached 600m I moved to lane 3 and took the lead from the high schoolers. Max and Tony immediately followed and everything started to string out.

I was at 2:38.0 through 800m which is danger zone for me. However, my breathing was fine, especially compared to Max's. The next lap was even faster as I continued my surge: 3:55.5 at 1200m, which is really absurd. I could feel the lactic acid creeping into my legs but I just kept doubling down, trying to stick with the pace as long as I could. I was at 5:14.4 at 1600 and now Max was really getting antsy with the 79 second lap. He took the lead from me and Tony followed. I maintained contact for another lap but then started to fall back 6:34.2 at 2k. I slowed down dramatically in lap 6, and got passed by someone I don't know 7:55.9 at 2400m. Then lap 7 was slower still (83.1=17:19 pace), but 9:19.0 at 2800m meant I was still on PR pace. I hit 3k at almost exactly 10:00, so I knew that a PR was still possible. At 3200 (10:41) meters I moved back into 3rd and I could see that Max and Tony weren't that far ahead of me.

I really suffered the last mile of this race. I dropped another 83.1 on lap 9 (12:04.6), but I was only 3 seconds back from the leaders. At 4k (13:27.0) I finally caught back up to the leaders. I made a strong move with about 900m to go but it really wasn't that impressive (81.6 quarter). I was at 600m to go at 14:48.6 and I remember thinking I needed a 2:03 final 600m or better to PR, which seemed essentially impossible. Just then a high schooler came flying by me. I initially though that I was toast as he quickly put about 10m on me. However, by the time we hit the bell I could tell he was laboring. I passed him back with about 250m left and hit 4800m in 16:08.8. I kicked like mad (35.6) but barely held off Tony who was closing me down in the last 50m.

This was a really hard race. That said I think that a 16:10-16:20 5k is possible for me. I need to do a little bit more V02 max work. 3 year ago I would have thought a 16:44 5k was totally unrealistic (I was still running 17:30s).

Update: Results posted so it's official. I am old (well, not really).

Very sore today, left hammy very tight. May have to bag some workouts.

AM 9.5

6 by 800 with 60 seconds rest

2:38.5, 2:38.8, 2:38.3, 2:39.4, 2:38.2, 2:37.4

avg=2:38.4