Of Mice and Marathons

AM: Springside Track - 13 miles. HR 153.

TRACK WORKOUT

8K tempo in 29:42 (5:58 avg), 400 jog, 4 x 200

6:01.8, 5:57.1, 5:54.1, 5:54.6, 5:53.3

37.1, 36.3, 35.7, 34.4

A little slower than I wanted. I figured 5:50 would be about right (10 seconds slower than mile repeat average) starting around 5:55 finishing at ~5:45. I just didn't have any turnover today. This is why I need 2 easy days between workouts. Effort felt right. HR was over 180 the last three miles if my monitor was correct. I think it was wonky as I was hitting 200+ on my 200s but I didn't take much recovery after the tempo even though I was crawling.

AM/Lunch: 10 miles. HR 132.

AM: 11.3 miles easy to moderate and hilly - averaged 7:32. HR 149.

PM: 4 miles on the treadmill. Did some strides and hill sprints.

+ stretching, core, and pushups (~115 on the day in 3 sets)

Kids in the park have been calling me Jesus. I have no idea what they are talking about.

AM/Lunch: Springside Track - 12 miles, averaged 7:35. HR 148.

TRACK WORKOUT

5 x 1200 (400 jogs) + 4 x 200 (200); 4 up/2 down

4:01.1, 4:01.2, 4:01.2 4:01.3, 3:59.9         

200s

35.6, 35.6, 34.8, 35.2

A good workout today. My goal was 4:00 but mostly because it was a nice round number and it's 5:20 1600 pace or about 5:22 mile pace or ~16:40 5k pace. My average was just barely under 4:01. After my workout last week I figured starting around 4:03 and maybe getting under 4:00 at the end would be good. Stayed very consistent overall even if a 400 was around 1:22ish here and there.

AM/Lunch: 10 miles old man pace. Slower actually given that an old guy passed me. HR 129.

PM: 30 minutes on the elliptical. Stretching and core.

PM: Forbidden Drive + Schuylkill River Trail - 24 miles, averaged 7:07. HR 153.

Another strong long run today. Couple easy miles then 18 miles from 7:19-6:37 with most of it at 7:05-6:45. Finished off with some slightly slower miles but still decently steady. Still deciding whether or not I will be able to run Sugarloaf in May. It will be too bad if I can't given how suprisingly strong my endurance is.

Lunch: 10 miles slow. HR 128.

Lunch: 11.2 miles. HR 148. Strides and 10 x 10-12 second hill sprints

I traded in my wimpy hill for something a bit more challenging. I think it's around 7-8 %. Not sure if that is too steep or just about right. It was nice and warm but I felt like garbage. The first warm run always feel really hard.

AM: Springside Track - 11.3 miles. HR 158.

TRACK WORKOUT

16 x 400 with 200 recoveries. Goal was 20 x 400 in 77.5. It was already close to 70 degrees went I got out the door. Although quite dry it's been 35-40 most of the last week or so. I did what I could and things came out fine. I think the last time I did 16 x 400 was about 3 years ago but I'm not sure. I think I averaged 85 seconds, which is mile repeat rhythm currently.

I think running ~5:15 pace should make ~5:20-5:23 pace feel doable for a 5k

AM/Lunch: 8.25 miles. HR 139.

Nice and warm out. Dry. A bit of decrease in mileage for Saturday's race.

PM: 4 miles with Megan. HR 123. Did some short, quick strides at the end

PM: 11.25 miles. 8k Race in 28:08.

This was a 2:00 PM race, which was different. Warmed up 3.25, did some dynamic stretching, and strides. Goal was to run to win unless the pace was far beyond my ability, which I decided meant sub-5:20 for the first mile. Guy got out in front and we were moving fast. I didn't expect him to hold it, so I waited for everything to settle. Said screw it. Pace feels sort of slow. Took the lead maybe a third mile in. Young guy behind me looked okay but I decided to see if he was sandbagging me. I dropped a 5:28 for mile 1, was just over 11:00 at 2 miles and 17:31 for 5k.

 I checked on the kid behind me a few times and beat him by 32 seconds. I tried to get some room for the first two miles before grinding back after the turn around and 5k crowds.

So, a bit aggressive but I was racing to win. Adjusted paces were pretty consistently low-5:40s and I felt my effort was fairly even.

I got to stand on an actual podium for the first time. That was kind of neat.

5:28, 5:35, 5:52, 5:52, 5:44 (adjusted for full mile)

The hills weren't bad but I was getting tired and a bit too complacent. A good effort though. Flat 5:40s for  a half are doable without a hard start and a solid taper I think. 70 miles on the week going into this one with a hard workout on Wednesday.

PM: 10 miles. HR 134.

Lunch: 11 miles. HR 141. Strides + 11 x 10-12 second hill sprints

PM: 35 minutes of cross training (20 stairmaster, 15 bike) + stretching, core, and pushups

AM: Springside Track - 13.75 miles, averaged 7:15. HR 155.

TRACK WORKOUT

4 x 2400 (400-500 jogs) + 1600 with a little pepper on top. 500 jogs for 1 and 2, 400 jog for 3, and 600 job before the 1600. Averaged 8:37 or 5:47 pace for the 2400s. The upper end of half marathon goal pace.

8:38.6, 8:36.9, 8:38.6, 8:36.8, 5:34.5

I did not want to get out of bed today. I had planned on 15 x 1000 a few weeks ago, but wanted some longer intervals so I changed things around thinking 3 x 2 miles, then 5 x 1.5, or mile repeats but decided on 4 x 2400 with some shorter intervals if I was feeling good. I decided I didn't like the pace on my 2400s and wanted another solid 1600 so I dropped that 1600 in there, splitting something like 2:49/2:45.5.

Felt decent overall but not much bounce in my step. Planned on a few shorter intervals but I already wasted half the morning so I headed home.

Am/Lunch: 10.25 miles. HR 137.

PM: 40 minutes on the elliptical. Stretching and core.

I almost fell off the elliptical listening to Wallace's Infinite Jest because I was laughing so hard.

PM: 10.3 miles easy to moderate. HR 147. Did some strides.

Warmed up to the track, which was closed for a meet. Good thing really as I needed another day before my next session, which is very hard.

Had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. Anxiety is very high for some reason. Hopefully I can get to the track at a decent hour tomorrow morning or I am going to pay for it in the wind.

AM: Springside Track - 10.7 miles. HR 156.

TRACK WORKOUT

4 x 1600 w/ 90 seconds standing rest. 5k Indicator/Blowup Workout

Made the mistake of falling back to sleep for another hour or so. It didn't get too windy until the end. Felt pretty decent on the first 2-3 and didn't feel like I was slowing down but I was.

5:21.9, 5:24.4, 5:28.5, 5:37.1

HR 177, 178, 178, 180

Just under 5:28 average for 1600 even with the blown repeat. So 5:30 average. I think I can beat that in the race a week from tomorrow. I need to.

Wind gusts chewed me up on the last repeat but I doubt it would have been much faster than 5:32-5:33 if I hadn't more or less bagged it. Oh well. It's an extremely hard workout for a slow twitcher. I wanted to bail pretty bad on that last one.

About .5-1 second faster than last fall's iteration of the workout but I think I am in a better position to hold pace given that I am not late into marathon training like I was then.

Onward and upward.

PM: 4 mile shakeout. HR 129.

Lunch/PM: 10 miles SLOW. HR 128-130 (Monitor died ~6 miles)

PM: Forbidden + S. River Trail - 25 miles, averaged 7:22. HR 156.

A little slower than 2 weeks ago but a bit longer. Felt good through 22-23 and then just wanted to be done. The last 2 miles weren't miserable but they weren't amazing either. It's mostly uphill.

Lacked a bit of turnover and strength to get down to 6:45-6:30 pace but I just rolled and logged the time on my feet. Almost wintery out there for the first day of spring (~38 degrees and windy). Longest run excluding marathons. It's been almost 5 years since I have gone over three hours even though I've bumped up against that barrier a few times in the last few years.

I am still not sure about Sugarloaf. I hate the downtime after a marathon because I go through a deep depression and my weight suffers pretty bad. I don't have much marathon specific stuff other than likely being in the best endurance shape of my life. Although 24-25 miles steady will make you a better marathoner, you still need to combine these workouts with long runs + goal pace miles. I still have time for two of those if necessary.

AM: 6.25 miles very slow. HR 126.

Legs like a new-born calf. Not really sore just, well, wobbly.

PM: Treadmill - 6.25 miles very slow. HR 126. Three light pickups at 10 MPH to stretch the legs

Day off. 35 days on. Cutback week and slight taper week. #taperingfora5kbaby

AM: 10 miles. HR 151. RHR 40.

TRACK WORKOUT

Light sharpening workout for Saturday. 2 x 800 (400), 2 x 400 (200), 4 x 200 (200).

Breathing felt a bit labored warming up. Likely the quick change in temperature. Resting HR was back down to normal from being very high yesterday (~48 yesterday).

800s were a bit slow but still around sub-17 5k pace. Shorter reps were faster than planned (targets were 2:40, 77, 35). I think I need to warm up the legs a bit more with some drills and strides, which I barely take the time to do these days unless it's a race.

I've started averaging even shorter intervals for track workouts and it's interesting to see even if it doesn't translate into any sort of prediction. Still interesting. 5:09 pace for 3200 meters. I'd like to run that continuously some day.

2:43.4, 2:42.2
76.1, 75.3
34.4, 34.4, 35.6, 33.6

PM: 6.25 miles moderate. HR 153.

+ Stretching and core after at the gym

Short taper for Saturday's race. Weather looks cool and calm for race time.

PM: 5 miles. HR 153. Did 6 x 200 cutdown strides on the track.

Breathing felt a bit labored warming up. I can't tell if it's the changing air and season or what but I've notice it a few times in the last week or so. 200s felt pretty good. Finished with a 32.7, which might be pretty close to a non-spikes PR.

After my run I had the pleasure of going to Citizen Bank Field to pick up my packet. It is supposed to take 30 minutes to get there and it took me about 70 or so (for 16 miles) and a good portion is an expressway. It took me at least that to get home. The total trip was well over 2 hours. I wouldn't live long doing that commute. It's apparently one of the most congested highways in the country. At least I have my bib ready to go.

AM: 10 miles total. Phillies Charities 5k in 16:52. A 16-second PR. 4 up/3 down.

Megan and I headed down to South Philadelphia pretty early. I got in 4 miles of warmup, some stretching and one stride (I was looking for a bathroom, but decided it was nerves and held it and didn't get in any more strides). I peeled off my warmups and got pretty cold as we started 3-4 minutes late.

The start was chaotic with young kids going out at sub-5:00 pace. I ran in crowd for maybe a quarter mile before seeing the lead pack. I was perhaps 15 second behind them and tried to speed up without burning too much energy. It gradually broke up before the mile and I started picking some people off while the leader took off (he ran 15:52). Went through mile 1 around 5:19-5:22 and kept everything fairly steady in effort from there. I passed about three guys around mile 2 and tried to keep it up. With a few turns and rough roads I got slightly out of my groove.

The final stretch is about a third of a mile so I could see the finish, which seemed forever away. I couldn't catch the guys in front of me but I wasn't too concerned. I was on 5:22 pace on my watch and was pretty sure I was on target for sub-16:45 (my A+ goal). I split a 5:37 on my watch for mile 3. WHAT?! Long? Bad tagents? Aliens? I split very long (1.04). Didn't matter. I was looking at a clock that I thought would be in the 16:30 range and it was around 16:48 and I had a small piece of real estate to cover. I slid in around 16:53/16:54, my lungs burning a bit from the cold but recovered fairly well.

My first time breaking 17 minutes in the 5k and my first certified 5k. I have chased it somewhat seriously for about a year but never really understood you have to be able to run about 3.5-4 miles of fairly long intervals at 5:20-5:22 and for shorter intervals you need to be able to run a good deal faster than that. I don't know how many more "Minute Barriers" I have in my running career in the 5k, so this has me pretty happy but hungry. It will likely take years to break 16 minutes and it's highly unlikely I'll get very far into the 15-minute range but that won't stop me from trying.

Strava/Garmin smoothed rich, chocolatey goodness

5:21, 5:23, 5:26, 32.2 (plus 10 seconds for tangent tax/certified ensured length)

5:19, 5:25, 5:37, 32.2 (Garmin manual splits)

PM: 4-mile shakeout. HR 128.

+ Stretching and core at the gym after

PM: 20 miles easy. HR 150.

Legs felt good from yesterday after an easy shakeout and some good stretching. Tired toward the end because the banana I ate got burned off pretty quickly. Fairly cool, which was nice. I don't typically do long runs after races but I am trying to stick with my "long runs throughout the year" goal I set last summer and fall.

I think I am in shape to take my best crack at the sub-75 minute mark in the half. I'll have to be feeling good, have good weather, proper pacing, and and the strength to hang on. 5:43 pace is roughly 18-20 seconds slower than my current 5k pace and I think that's enough to do it. I'll have a better sense when I do my goal pace workout this week.

Lunch: 10 miles slow. HR 132.

AM/Lunch: 10 miles easy. HR 138-140. Did some strides. A little tired.

AM/Lunch: 16 miles.

Blown/Half-Salvaged Workout: Goal 4 x 3200 @ 5:43-5:45 per mile. Had to revise the workout to the trail because the track team was praticing. Too long of warmup, concentration gone. 2-mile repeats were over somewhat rolling dirt. I couldn't get accurate pace with the tree covers and I'm unsure how accurate the mile markers are.

2 x 2 mile with 3:30 jogs:

(5:46, 6:00); (5:51, 6:00)

10 minute uphill jog back to the track with light cussing

3 x 1600 with 400 jogs

5:38.4, 5:42.1, 5:43

Lots of stress the last few days and when I got back the track I was fuming because the moms with stollers were taking over the track. The track team has a right to be there. People's kids running and doing back passes with soccer balls in lane 1 don't. I let them sternly but politely know that.

I should have finished the workout on Forbidden Drive even if the pace wasn't right or where I wanted it to be. It's not an effort workout. It's supposed to be a goal pace workout lightly checked by effort. I've been doing this workout for 4 years and I have always run it well. A lot went wrong today. I know I am in good shape but I just don't know quite what to do in 10 days. I guess a PR is the main goal but I thought with all my faster work I'd be better off. My guess is that after the race I will wish I had my marathon strength.

AM/Lunch: 7.25 miles easy. HR 135.

PM: 6.25 miles easy. HR 138.

Fairly warm out but dry, overcast, and windy. Quite pleasant though. ~180 pushups on the day (4 sets of 43-47). Might be a PR but I don't keep firm records.