Wheeler Farm Loops

Kept my Arizona win streak going. My parents are moving back to the East coast soon, so my frequent racing in AZ will probably subside a bit now.

The weather was decent considering we were expecting much worse. There was some rain in the early miles and a bit of a headwind, but the major storm forecast was greatly exaggerated. The heavy rain/wind actually came down later on Saturday evening... good timing! In some ways the overcast skies were nice (cooler... last year the marathon got really warm over the last 10 miles).

My plan was to run for the win and not worry too much about the time.

Jesse Armijo and I ran the first mile together, then he took the lead and put a small gap on me. For the first 7 miles, I was between 15-25 meters off his lead. It didn't seem like there was anyone putting pressure on from behind us. I kept thinking to myself "make a move at 10" like I did in the PF Chang's 1/2 last year. I started reeling him in during the 8th mile and sensed an opportunity to put in a surge and take the lead just before the 9 mile mark. I ran the 10th mile pretty hard to open up a gap, then I had a big enough lead to back off a little the rest of the way. Ten mile split was ~50:45 (~25:15/25:30). Last couple miles were slower, but I ended up winning by a comfortable 52 seconds. A quick look-back during the 11th mile told me I had the race won.

Andrea and my parents were out on the course in 5-6 different spots providing encouragement. They are awesome!

The time doesn't really reflect a big improvement since January, but I can tell I'm getting in shape now. The major positive "take home" was that around the halfway point, I knew I wasn't settling for second place this time. I was thinking about the best strategy for how to win the race, and knew I was going to win the race.

This is a really good event. Fast, certified, sanctioned courses. The half-marathon is probably the fastest trials-eligible course I know of. Race directors are awesome to work with, pay attention to small details, etc. And how about the race t-shirts? They were fitted, and actually fit! I'd like to come back and run here next year. Especially now that I know I can get a big chalice / trophy through airport security.

Early miles of the race. 

10th mile... Dad pointing forward and yelling "the race is ahead of you!"

Achieving a life-long dream of talking to the guys at 94.5 KOOL FM. Here is their recap of the race. Luckily they truncate the seconds associated with "5 minute miles"

This represented how many muscle milks we drank after the race (Three-hundred and twelve)

One more with the KOOL 94.5 DJ (I think his name was Bryan Seacrest)

AM - 9 miles. Half w/ Andrea.

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike).

We were planning on going to Sedona for a couple days, but it's been raining a ton up there, so we decided to stay in Phoenix (where it's also much warmer). Big family mini-golf showdown at Golf Land today. My Dad got the win.

AM - 9 miles. Half w/ Andrea. Canal path and Tumbleweed Park.

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike) + 8 x 100m strides.

Lots of sunshine, soft surfaces, and shirtlessness today. My parents are actually moving from Arizona soon, so this is the last of our frequent trips to PHX.

AM - 10 miles. 4 mile AT/LT Tempo (5:24, 5:21, 5:20, 4:58) + 10 x 45 seconds uphill. Probably the fastest I've gone on the hills reps. Glad I chickened out played it safe and did 45s instead of 60s reps.

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea.

On the way home from the gym we quickly stopped at the grocery store to get something for dinner. We ended up buying 10 lbs of meat, and that isn't even close a PR for us.

AM - 8 miles. Snuck in a few horsepark loops.

PM - 6 miles. I'm using the upper loop at Murray Park for a lot of afternoon runs (1K grass loop). Between that and horsepark, I can get a good amount of recovery running on soft surfaces, even when run-commuting.

USATF.TV's Alan Webb mini-documentary. Well worth the 12 minutes.

AM - 10 miles + 8 x 100m strides.

PM - 5 miles.

Decided to move today's workout to tomorrow, and the long run to Sunday. I feel good, like I could have knocked out the 4x10 today, but in hindsight I was playing with fire by doing the Tuesday workout that soon after the race and I don't want to get burned doing a longer/harder workout too soon.

AM - 14 miles. LT Efforts: 4 x 10 minutes (2 min recovery ~7:00 pace). Tempo loop. Average segment paces were 5:05, 5:03, 5:03, 5:03 per mile, respectively. Nice improvement from last month. Cooled down w/ Andrea. Glad I waited until today to do this session (tomorrow would have probably been even better)... it takes a full week to recover from a half-marathon if you actually want to get any sort of fitness stimulus out of it.

PM - 5 miles.

AM - 7 miles. Horsepark.

PM - 5 miles. First 3 w/ Andrea.

Great morning skiing. Skinned up to the Silver Fork ridgeline and did some laps in the Meadow Chutes area. Powder up high and corn-like snow down low. Spring is a fun season.

Photos on Wasatch and Beyond.

AM - 19 mile long run. Started from HHS w/ Josh, Rob, Fritz, and Nate. Tanner / Zoo death hills and then up Emigration Canyon about a half-mile past Ruth's until we hit 10 miles, then turned around and ran the next 7+ miles down the canyon to SHP and then a loop around the park at 5:42/mi pace (all w/ Josh and most w/ Fritz/Nate). Finished with a faster mile on the track (4:59 for 1600m) and a few cooldown laps. 6:34 avg pace for the run. Good variety on this one (ie. plenty of climbing).

Went up LCC in the afternoon and found some leftover (from Thursday!) powder off the shoulder of Patsy Marley. Then a slush run-out back to the jeep. Followed by a long soak in the Peruvian Lodge hot tub. A tank top type of day.

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea.

USATF Utah circuit update. Two new races added to the schedule.

AM - 13 miles. 8 + 4 x 5 minute efforts (3 min easy). Avg segment paces were 5:10, 5:02, 5:04, 5:02, 5:00 per mile. Original plan was LT / 10K-10K / 5K-5K effort, but it ended up being more like HM / 10K effort. Didn't really put the gas pedal down like I had intended to. Started snowing as soon as I went outside, but luckily it wasn't sticking to the roads. I almost went to the indoor track, which might have made this a slightly faster session, but I just didn't feel like driving out there and back.

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea. Stopped at a half-mile to play with puppies. Highlight of the day.

In sad news, someone stole my orange running jacket that I've been wearing for almost 4 years this morning! I wore it on the warmup, then tied it to the stop sign by Fritz's sister's house (as I often do). It was gone when I came by on the cooldown. Had the be the bus stop kids who make fun of me all the time. Those 10 year old bullies won't cut me any slack!!!

AM - 9 miles.

PM - 6 miles (4 w/ Andrea) + 8 x 100m strides.

I got offered a spot on Powerbar's Team Elite. It doesn't seem like it will create any conflict of interest w/ Saucony, so I'll likely accept. Which also means I need to accept the fact that I need to not just give up candy for lent, but probably forever, as we'll have quite a stockpile of nutritional products!

AM - 13 miles. LT Efforts: 2 x 20 minutes (2 min jog). Average pace was 5:06/mile for both segments, with a bit of a trigger finish on the second one. Tempo loop. 2.5 up, 2.5 down.

Not a huge improvement over the last time I did this, but an improvement nonetheless (~3 sec/mile). I probably should have waited another day or two for this session (heart rate has been a little too low this week), but I'm headed to San Diego for a couple days (work meeting) and I thought it would be unfair to do this at sea level. Kristen gave me an awesome list of places to run from my hotel in Del Mar, like here. So I'll get a couple nice days of sunshine running along the coast, then start a new block of workouts next week.

PM - 7 miles. Mostly on trails in Torrey Pines beach / park. Longer than a typical post-workout shakeout but google this area and you'll understand why :-)

AM - 6 miles on the bike path near my hotel (which conveniently had a dirt section for horses). The eight-minute guy dominated me... he's better acclimated to the low elevation.

PM - 9 miles. Meandered around the Torrey Pines trails. Other than the GIANT hill at the park entrance, it was really enjoyable. Gorgeous evening.

AM - 18 mile long run. Mostly along the Pacific Coast Highway. Average pace = 6:07/mile for the whole run. Finished with 3 AT miles (16:07). Felt great, but was smart enough to not stretch this out any further even though it would have been easy to tack on 4-5 more miles today. Got what I needed, and faster recovery is crucial because next week is going to take me way out of my comfort zone.

The route had three 200+ foot climbs, and I was moving quickly up them... that's the advantage of sea level.

PS - the fastest guy on this blog, Conner Mantz, won the 5000m indoor national championship yesterday (14:24)!

AM - 8 miles. Horsepark w/ Andrea and then added on a bit more.

Afternoon ski tour in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Spring slush conditions.

A couple days on the Pacific coast was nice, but I love my backyard...

AM - 7 miles. 8 x 400m in 66.0 seconds average (1500m pace, 90s rest). Did the workout at the Olympic Oval to avoid the wind. That was the fastest I've run 400s in a long time... and about as fast as I could go while keeping my form good. Now I have a starting point as I move into the next phase of this training cycle.

PM - 6 miles.

As a follow-up to what I posted a few weeks ago, here's how the last 7 weeks of training have looked (and for an expanded calendar view - here):

I accomplished what we hoped with the LT efforts - starting at 2x20, dropping down, then rebounding back up and seeing some improvement when I repeated the 2x20. The combo workouts with the hills were meant to strengthen my musculoskeletal system, and the breakdown workouts helped usher in the next wave of track workouts. Long runs provided aerobic support. Total mileage was lower than what I've done during "hard" training blocks in the past... but man, it feels good to be healthy right now. I can't even think of any aches or pains. My feet have gotten stronger (which was starting to be a problem last fall) and my form is getting smoother.

Now with 7 weeks until Indy, I'll primarily focus on two types of workouts the rest of the way - 1) Multi-pace (1500/3K/5K) track intervals (simple!) and 2) LT Shuffles (LT efforts with 3K/5K injections). I have two races, 5K and 10 mile, which are both coming up soon. I'll get in 2-3 more long runs for aerobic support, but will aim to keep those around or under 2 hours. The LT shuffle workouts will end up being quite long anyways (14-17 miles by my estimation). I'll start incorporating phase two of Jay Dicharry's program this week, as I've pretty much mastered phase one at this point (he might disagree!).

During my next marathon cycle, I'll switch back to one midweek workout and one quality long run per week.

I think laying out what you actually did in training (as opposed to what was planned) and then looking back in this fashion is really helpful, more so than a text blog format, because it lets you see the whole picture. I have calendars like this that date back to early 2011... I've made a lot of mistakes and there are too many places where I (now) think: What the $%^# was I thinking? Not so much anymore... I feel like I'm finally putting the pieces together in the right fashion, and I'm gaining confidence because of that.

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 6 miles. Most w/ Andrea.

I made a NCAA bracket on ESPN. Search for Fast Running Blog DOT COM (or click here). I will mail a prize (of my choosing) to the overall male and female winners.

AM - 6 miles.

PM – 18 miles. LT Shuffle: 5 x 8 / 1 minute efforts (8 minutes LT, 1 minute easy, 1 minute 3K/5K, 3 minutes easy. Repeat x 5). Average pace for the 8 minute efforts was 5:01/mile and for the 1 minute efforts was 4:35/mile. Average pace for the 18 miles was 6:00/mile (that's my long run for this week!). Felt really good today. Things are clicking.

I’ll do iterations of this workout several times between now and Indy (down to 8x5/1, 10x3/1 and then back up the ladder). 

Splits:

*I don't put a lot of stock in the specific pace of a 60 second effort on a Garmin, but you get the idea... it was faster.

Here is a more thorough explanation of the physiology behind these sessions from the creator - 

The long reps will produce a small amount of lactate that the body will pick up and utilise during the effort - there will be some residual lactate that the body will 'shuffle' into the system during the 1 min recovery. Then, during the 1 min faster effort the body will utilise the lactate for energy and at the same time produce a larger amount of lactate. Through the 3 min active recovery the body will, again, use and 'shuffle' the remaining lactate into the system, which the body will then utilise during the next long rep and so on.

As the session progresses, more and more lactate is produced, shuffled, utilised - at LT and 5k/3k pace/effort. Towards the end of the session, the body floods with lactate and struggles to utilise and shuffle it into the system - the body goes into 'panic' mode and 'shunts' (forces) it into the system.  This stresses the body and teaches it to pick-up and utilise lactate when the system is fatigued. This in turn helps to improve pace at LT.

With this in mind, as you do the session, you'll physically feel it happening - it hurts like hell but in a nice way :)

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 7 miles. Half w/ Andrea.

We need another pantry.

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 5 miles (most w/ Andrea) + 8 x 100m strides.

AM - 10 miles. 5 x 800m in 2:17.5 average (2:00 rest). Splits - 2:16.6, 2:17.5, 2:18.0, 2:17.8, 2:18.0. Highland HS. 4 miles warmup w/ Andrea + 8 x 100m strides, 3.5 miles cooldown back home.

PM - Ski tour in LCC. Skied off the east side of Twin Lakes Pass, then skinned back up and made another run off the shoulder of Patsy Marley. 

This week has been a good microcosm of how my approach has evolved this year:

-Faster interval workouts at the correct paces (not slower but with extra volume thrown in)
-Shorter recovery runs (most between 45-60 minutes)
-Very targeted LT session
-Don't be lazy... strides twice a week!
-Foam rolling / stretching / general strength work almost every night
-Massage (Tim hammered me again on Thursday night)
-No candy and less crap in general!!! (weaning off Dew, too)
-Eating balanced recovery foods with plenty of protein within 20 minutes of finishing harder workouts
-More skiing / skinning, which is excellent for all the reasons Andrea mentions here.

A lot of this is common sense, but I'll be the first to admit that I haven't always been consistent with the whole package over the last couple years. 

On that note, I decided that I'm going to skip the spring marathon season and keep my focus on getting faster through the end of June, then take a break and put all my marathon eggs in the Chicago basket.

Great day of ski touring. In the morning we skied the same area as yesterday afternoon, which was still holding some lingering powder from the storm on Tuesday. Goes to show that you can almost always find powder in the backcountry if you're willing to work a bit for it.

After lunch we skinned up to the ridge between LCC and Silver Fork and had perfect corn/slush conditions on the way down. Hero snow.

PM - 7 miles. Horsepark.

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 7 miles + 8 x 100m strides. Did a couple Wheeler Farm loops w/ Andrea.

AM – 18 miles. LT Shuffle: 8 x 5 / 1 minute efforts (5 minutes LT, 1 minute easy, 1 minute 3K/5K, 3 minutes easy. Repeat x 8. Same idea as last week.). Average pace for the 5 minute efforts was 4:59/mile and for the 1 minute efforts was 4:41/mile. Average pace for the whole run was ~6:05/mile.

PM - 4 miles w/ Andrea. Wheeler Farm loops.

Splits:

I fell apart a bit at the end, but I finished the workout as planned because those last two reps were still the most important efforts... that's where the stimulus for adaptation was happening, even though I slowed down. And this was another reminder that you can't let a 4:52 mile accidentaly happen in the beginning of a half-marathon.

Got switched down from the Grandma's Marathon to the Bjorklund Half Marathon this morning. Sarah Culver is the best athlete coordinator in the business!!!

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 5 miles, most w/ Andrea.

AM - 5 miles. 

On my way to Atlanta for a couple days (work meeting). I hate leaving when it's snowing! Luckily I'll be back in time to ski on Sunday and the conditions should still be excellent.

PM - 4 miles + 8 x 100m strides. Just ran laps around Centennial Park. Feeling lethargic today... probably fighting off whatever knocked Andrea out a few days ago. If I wake up sick, I'll scratch from the meet tomorrow night. Too close to Cherry Blossom to take chances. Hoping a good night of sleep helps and I'll be able to give it a go.

AM - 4 miles. Decided to scratch from the 5000 tonight after this shakeout run. I'm fighting off just a touch of a cold, and a late-night race in the rain isn't the way to get it out of my system. I'll aim for a medium-long run this weekend instead, and wait until next week before doing anything intense. I would rather be over-conservative in this situation... no sick/injured racing this year. I'll get a shot at a 5K PR in June when I'm actually in shape for it, so I'm not worried about missing this one. I do wish I wasn't spending another night here and was just heading home after my meeting ends, though.

PM - 7 miles. Mostly around Georgia Tech's campus.

AM - 6 miles. Another downtown Atlanta jog before flying back to SLC.

PM - 18 mile long run w/ 10 x 45 second surges (5K effort, 90 second float) during the last couple miles. Wasatch Blvd / BCC 7-11 / Holladay loop. 6:29/mile avg pace (77%). Hilly and windy!

Glad I skipped the 5K last night. The race wasn't very fast. The extra recovery days helped me 1) fend off catching a cold and 2) not aggrevate a somewhat tender spot (probably an adhesion) in my left upper hamstring. It wasn't noticeable while running, but I felt it while massaging on Wednesday. I was able to get rid of it by Friday morning, and then waited a bit longer before doing anything faster than jogging.

AM - 5 miles. Horsepark loop w/ Andrea.

PM - 5 miles. Snow run w/ Andrea.

AM - 5 miles.

PM - 14 miles. LT Efforts: 4 x 8 minutes (10mi-10K effort, 3 min easy recovery ~6:50/mi). Segment paces for the 8 minute efforts were 4:56, 4:56, 4:54, 4:51 per mile, resppectively. 3 up w/ Andrea, 3 down. Tempo loop.

I don't know if this was closer to 10 mile or 10K effort... but I'll find out the answer to that question this weekend! I'm going to cut down the miles this week and just do a light fartlek-type workout on Thursday. Ten miles is probably the distance I'm best suited for at the moment, so this weekend will be a great opportunity to see where my fitness really stands.

This was back to more of a straightforward LT session (instead of the kind w/ the 1 minute surges) because of the race this week. This type is easier and a bit shorter :-) I'll go back to the shuffle sessions after Cherry Blossom.