Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 23 mile Long Run w/ 16.3 mile AT Tempo in 1:30:25 (5:32 / mile avg). Met Nate and Mickey at the JRP for this one. We did 4 miles easy together and then got going. The goal for Nate and I was to keep all the splits in the 5:30-5:40 / mile range... 95-97% of goal MP. Get a solid aerobic stimulus without beating up the legs. We pretty much put them all in that bucket... Nate did 14 miles tempo (great run for him!) and then I added on a few more to hit the arbitrary 26.2K mark. Finished up with 3 more easier miles. 

Feel really good about this run. Kept the effort level under control and didn't hammer. We pulled the pace back whenever we got rolling too quickly in the early miles. The turns and little ups and downs on this course force you to focus on keeping pace consistent despite the rhythm changes. CIMulation.

Splits - 5:36, 5:34, 5:40, 5:34, 5:42, 5:38, 5:31, 5:34, 5:29, 5:32, 5:40, 5:30, 5:33, 5:22, 5:23, 5:27, 1:41.

AM - 10 miles. Horsepark.

PM - 6 miles. Wheeler Farm.

AM - 13 miles. 6 w/ Andrea.

PM - 6 miles.

AM - 16 miles. AT Smorgasbord:

• 3 x 1600m in 5:12, 5:10, 5:10 [400m]
• 5.6 mile hilly tempo (4 SHP laps) in 30:05 (7:33, 7:40, 7:31, 7:21. Avg pace = ~5:23/mile) [about 1/3 mi before/after the tempo]
• 3 x 1600m in 5:12, 5:10, 5:05 [400m]

The reinforcements (Fritz and Nate) joined me starting with the second lap of the SHP tempo. Pretty awesome to only have to do the first third of the workout solo. The goal this morning was volume and variety, and to keep everything in the AT spectrum (this did not need to be a hero workout, coming off a long effort on Sunday and with another one coming up this weekend). Overall a very good session - everything was right in the target pace/effort ranges. Fritz and Nate ran strong - a nice group effort.

I only have one more early morning workout on the calendar for 2013!

AM - 13 miles. Horsepark. Andrea met me there and we ran the last few miles together.

PM - 6 miles. Wheeler Farm.

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Some stuff I think is interesting...

From Science of Sport: Bricks, mortar and high performance inefficiency

While I wish that Lance would just go away forever because of statements like these, I am a huge fan of Bill Simmons, and his podcast with documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney is excellent. Some of the tangential parts of their discussion are particularly worth listening to.

And last but most importantly, Type A6! They are light and AWESOME. I'll give 'em a go this weekend, and probably will use them for CIM.

AM - 12 miles. Horsepark.

PM - 4 miles.

Running the Saltair 1/2 tomorrow as one of my last bigger workouts before CIM. Aiming for ~1:10, assuming the weather is slightly better than it was out there for all of the winter series races earlier this year.

The inagural Saltair Half Marathon was timed perfectly - 3 weeks before CIM, which is when I'd be out on that same road doing a 13 mile MP tempo anyways. As usual for runs out there, the weather was slightly uncomfortable at times, but being able to get in this kind of effort in a race setting with some company makes it well worth it.

We started off with a good sized group. Chris Rushing was off the front quick (unaware, unfortunately, that the 5K started 30 minutes later). Fritz moved ahead after a half-mile and had a pretty good lead on the rest of us for the first half of the race. Nate and I wanted to keep all the miles ~5:20 and finish ~1:10. We dropped the rest of the group and slowly reeled Fritz back in, catching him just before the halfway point. During the second half we just tried to work together and kept the miles consistent. Miles 11-12 were a little rough with wind and cold rain, so even though they were a little slower, the effort stayed the same. We were stride for stride until we hit the 13 mile mark, and then it was every man for himself. I ended up winning by about 2-3 seconds. Great run for Nate, and Fritz wasn't far behind in 3rd.

I was very happy my pacing - 35:02 at the halfway turnaround, and 34:59 coming back. Right on the money - I think my official time was 1:10:01. Exactly what I wanted to accomplish today. Strong stimulus but under control.

Mile splits: 5:22, 5:24, 5:15, 5:23, 5:21, 5:20, 5:14, 5:16, 5:19, 5:20, 5:20, 5:26, 5:25, 5:16.

Type A6s were great. I'll go with them for CIM.

Results

Overall I thought this was a really good race. Deep fields for both men and women. Great prizes... I walked away with $183 (love that totally random amount) plus Andrea (who won the 5K) and I also took home all of this...

I guess the race was sponsored by Dr. Pepper, GU, and sunscreen.

More pics...

And here's the elevation profile I sketched up off memory :-)

AM - 20 miles (3 up, 13 race, 4 down)
PM - 4 miles.