You're faster than you think!

Splits (thanks to Dennis Simonaitis): 71.2, 78.7, 74.9, 74.5, 76.5, 76.3, 75.0, 75.1, 78.1, 74.8, 78.0, 72.4, 33.5. (68 last 400). 15:39.92 is the official time on the meet web site. This a PR for me, though just barely. But the other 5k PR was a 15:41 on the roads. This was my first 5000 on the track. Basically felt I ran a smart race. I had to do a lot of the work in the second and third miles. Dennis said the first two splits might be off a bit.

pm: 10, 1:13:59, Wisconsin Ave., after returning from CA.

noon: 10, 1:15:09, Clopper

pm: 6, NIST, forgot watch 

noon: 4, shakeout, NIST

pm: 11, speed work 10 x 400m with 400 rest + 2 min.

66.3, 66.0, 65.0, 66.2, 66.7, 67.0, 66.6, 66.3, 66.4, 66.7

First 5 in flats, second 5 in spikes... still trying to get use to them.  Cannot relax on second 200.  I guess that makes sense, since I have yet to complete a 200 workout.
 

noon: 10, Clopper, forgot watch

weights: lunges, hip sled, curls, knee lifts

pm: 6, NIST

noon: 10 miles, 1:18:28, easy, Clopper Lake

pm: 6 miles, NIST campus

Very hot today!

 

20 x 200 with 200 rest

32.5, 32.8, 31.7, 32.3, 32.6, 33.5, 32.3, 31.8, 31.9, 31.8

31.7, 31.3, 31.1, 31.7, 30.9, 30.9, 31.2, 31.7, 31.3, 31.4

First 10 in flats, second 10 in spikes.  Still experimenting with different mental tricks to improve my form.  So, on various intervals I'll concentrate on different things.  For example, turnover, staying on my toes, driving my knees, leaning forward, relaxing.  So far, "driving my knees" seems to yield the best results and "leaning forward" the worst.

I have done a lot of weight lifting and drills, etc. this week (in addition to the miles) that have made my legs tired.  So, that probably accounts for why I could not do the last few under 31.  I was definitely tying up on the last couple.


 

16+ miles. 2 hr run on Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Georgetown at about 7:30 pace.

My right hamstring was feeling tight, so I took it really easy.  Feeling better today, though.

Easy 10 on Clopper, 1:19:31.  Went out slow because my hamstring was still bothering me, but it loosened up on the way back, which was more like 7:30 pace.

Took the afternoon off due to time constraints.
 

Easy 10 on Clopper, 1:15:16. Felt much better today.

Easy 6, NIST campus, 43:14.

noon: 3, NIST, 21:32, shakeout

p.m.: 10 treadmill, 1:13:04

Tonight was suppose to be a track session, but we had bad thunderstorms so I put it off until tomorrow.
 

a.m.: 4+, CC trail, 30:03

p.m.: (11 miles total) drills + 3 x 1 mile with 800 rest

4:55.0 (2:28,2:27)

4:57.2 (2:29,2:28)

4:55.8 (2:28,2:27)

Probably the best set of miles reps I've done.  Did them all in spikes, which I am getting use to, but still make my calves pretty sore.  Pretty happy with these considering that I felt terrible during warm up.

 

10, Bethesda, CC trail, 1:12:52

Then I got in the car and drove to Nashville to see the folks... 11 hours.  Took an ice bath when I got there.

10, Belle Meade Blvd. plus Percy Warner Park, Nashville, 1:12:15.

Thanks to my friend Camellia, who use to live across the street from us in SLC and now lives in Nashville, I found some great trails.  This is also part of the Thanksgiving Day 8k course, which is a great race.
 

a.m.: 2 miles (14:38), morning shakeout run, Smokey Mtns!

p.m.: 10 (1:12:46), Wisconsin Ave., after an 8 hr drive from Knoxville to D.C. 

noon: 10 (1:14:59), Clopper, low 90s

Lifted weights after noon run: lunges, knee lifts, leg press

p.m.: 6 (44:24), NIST

Yoga

Long day!
 

noon: 10 (1:16:06) Clopper, 95 degrees and humid!

Tonight I have to meet people in D.C., so will have to skip the evening run.  We're having t-storms anyway. 

noon: 4 (31 min), NIST, shakeout

p.m.: Washington-Lee H.S., 12 miles total, 3 warm up, 2 drills, workout, 2 cool down

6 x 1000m w/ 400 rest in spikes

3:02.3, 3:05.5, 3:05.6, 3:05.3, 3:05.2, 3:03.5

Plus 9 laps of drills, 3 sets each of: walking high knees, walking butt kicks, skipping high knees, with 100 striders after each drill.  Dennis also wants me to add jogging high knees and jogging butt kicks, and I plan to work up to this.  As it stands this is three times more drills than I have done previously.  By the time you are done with 3 sets of the 5 drills you have done 15x100m, which is almost a workout in and of itself.

As for the 1000s, went out a little fast on the first one (72), but then settled in and felt pretty in-control for the next four.  The last one hurt.

We had a cool front move in last night, so the weather was nice, in the high 70s.



 

noon: 10 (1:17:44) Clopper, plus weights: lunges, curls, knee lifts, leg press

p.m.: 6 (42:46) Bethesda

noon: 10 (1:16:19) Clopper, knee lifts

drills (3 x walking high knees, 3 x walking butt kicks, 3 x skipping high knees, plus 100m stiders after each)

12 x 400m w/ 200m rest

69.1, 68.4, 69.4, 69.0,

69.6, 68.7, 69.9, 69.8,

69.5, 68.9, 69.5, 69.0

This was a good set of intervals for me.  I was really in control and had a good sense of my pace.

16.5 (2:03:04) Georgetown trails

noon: 10 (1:17:51) Clopper.  Tired.

weights: lunges, curls, knee lifts, leg press

pm: 6 (40:56) Bethesda, CC trail. Felt surprisingly better than a felt at noon. 

noon: 10 (1:16:36) Clopper.  About 99.9% humidity!  Stepped on a sharp rock on the trail and bruised my foot.  Great.

noon: 3 (21:46) NIST, shakeout

pm: Washington-Lee H.S. track

Well, some days you are better off staying in bed... especially if your room is air conditioned!  I was not mentally up for the humidity tonight...

So, tonight was the first workout in awhile that I was not thoroughly happy with.  I just lost concentration and did not finish strong.  I have excuses readily available, but the truth is that for some reason I was mentally out of it.  I am not totally disappointed because I still managed to hit my target average pace.  The workout was 3 x 1 mi with 400 rest.  I did an abbreviated version of  drills (I am still working up to the full list), which amounted to about 9 sets.  I hit the miles in 4:52.2, 4:57.6, 5:00.5.  Ave = 4:56.8.  I was hoping to ave 4:56 (15:20 5k pace) and with the short rest and given that it was hot and disgustingly humid, I guess I can take some positives from that.  I just wanted to do it in a much more controlled and evenly-paced way. But the first one felt so easy that I just thought I was on my way to a breakthrough workout. Then I just did not want to push.  I mean, I should have been able to just hit 73 for the first quarter in the last rep and then hang on.  Ya know, just focus... 36.5 per 200.  Instead I go 76,75,75,74.  I guess the reality is that the first mile was too fast and I just never recovered. But still, I do not remember hurting at all in the workout.  And that was sort of the aim of this workout, with the short rest, to make myself hurt.  But I could not do it.  I am looking forward to resting and a couple of sharpening workouts this weekend and next week.  I think I am ready for the 5k... I just need to not do anything stupid.  Another positive I can take from this workout is that my bruised foot did not bother me in spikes.  That could have been trouble.
 

noon: Clopper 10 1:15:49. Ugh! The humidity. I know I sound like a broken record, but it is getting so old. We had a hard rain tonight that I hope cleared the air somewhat.

pm: Bethesda 6 plus 1 extra mile 49:37

I did my usual 6 mile out and back at a pretty good clip. Then jogged to the gym about a half mile to lift weights and jogged home. Did lunges, curls, knee lifts, and leg press. 3 sets of each.

Clopper 10 1:16:38. Still humid, but overcast and a little rain has cooled things off from this morning.

Landon H.S. track

2 x (800, 400, 200) with equal rest after 8s and 4s and 600 after the 2... i.e., full recovery, the purpose being just speed work.  Did the workout in spikes.

2:17.9, 65.4, 30.5

2:18.3, 65.5, 30.3

Well, that's about as consistent as I can be, I think.  Given my mileage this week (94) I am pretty happy with this workout.  I think my speed is where it needs to be.  With some rest this week, I think I'll be ready to go next Saturday.

1:39:01 Georgetown trails + Bethesda to Metro

This was a very chilled out run with a friend of mine, John Mclean.  His father, Norman Mclean, wrote "A River Runs Through It".

After the run I went to Fitness First and lifted weights, only 2 sets of each (lunges, knee lifts, curls, leg press), as opposed to the usual 3 sets.
 

Clopper 10 1:15:02.  Beautiful weather!

noon: 3 (22:00) NIST, shakeout

pm: Landon H.S. track

6 sets of drills + 4 x 800 w/ 400 rest

2:22.9, 2:22.0, 2:22.3, 2:22.1

Ice bath after the work out. 

This is sort of turning into my pre-race workout. This type of workout is endorsed by coaches like Brad Hudson (Ritz's coach) and Roy Benson for runners like me who are more strength oriented as opposed to speed oriented. Benson argues that strength runners should "freshen" rather than "sharpen". When you sharpen you cut back on mileage significantly and do short, fast intervals like 200s the week of the race. However, I have not had good success with this. Cutting back on mileage too much makes me feel tight and I actually think it is harder for me to recover from fast 200s. Benson and Hudson argue that strength runners should cut back the mileage only slightly and cut back on the intensity of the speed work. Hence, this is the plan I'm following, basically.... 90 miles for the last 4 weeks and 70 miles this week with longer intervals for the final speed session. I did a similar "taper" for the Broad Street 10 mile and had a great race... We'll see how this works out for the 5k this Sat.

noon: Temple 10 10.3 in 1:07:44, then jogged a half mile to and from the gym where I did an abbreviated weights session: 1 set each of lunges, curls, knee lifts, and leg press.  Then came home and took an ice bath.

I felt strong on my run and I think this puts to rest any problems Neal was having with my "easy" noon 10 milers.  This felt like a similar effort that I put in on my noon trail runs from NIST, which even though the Clopper course comes out a little shorter, I think I am getting in decent quality.  Today's run happens to be mostly flat, a little downhill on the way out.
 

noon: NIST 6 42:52

noon: NIST treadmill, 43:18.  I went with the treadmill option today because I wanted to monitor my pace closely and not get excited and overdo it on the hills around here.  Tomorrow is the big day: USATF Eastern Championships in Albany, 5k.  Aside from a 6 hour drive that I have ahead of me this afternoon, I think I am ready to go...

Ugh.  I have been dreading writing this report.  Utter disappointment.  If it weren't for being able to hang out with old friends on this trip, it would have been a total waste of gas.

The sad details...

Drove out of D.C. after renting a sweet, golden Chevy Cobalt (my Jeep is out of commission) and found myself in grid-lock traffic for next hour on I-270 to Frederick.  Made it into Albany at 12:30 a.m.  Jon Healey arranged a room at the Days Inn right across the street from SUNY, Albany.  Woke up at 5 a.m. and went for a 2 mile shakeout.  Eat a bowl of Trader Joe's Cranberry Oat Clusters and then walked next door to Starbucks to read and have coffee (now 6:00 a.m.).   At 7 I went to wake Healey and stretch out and watch ESPN.  At 8 I had a vanilla Frappaccino and ate a chewy granola bar (this is the same drill I went through at Oxy last month).  At 9:30 we (Healey and I) went over to the track and checked in and at 10 we started a 3 mile warm up.  It was already starting to get hot.  They called us to the start a bit early and I really did not get to do all the striders I would have liked.  I probably got 4 striders in.  I threw some water on my head and got ready to go.  There was a pretty good field assembled, with qualifying times ranging from 15 flat to 16ish.  This looked to be perfect... surely I could find a group to go 15:30.  Well, indeed there was such a group... only not the one I was in!  Before the race, Jon had talked to another guy who said he was shooting for 15:30 and I was fairly confident that Healey was in 15:30 shape as well.  So, there did not seem to be any reason to go crazy at the start, since it appeared we had a group that could hit 15:30 with even splits.

At the gun the field quickly broke into two groups.  I stayed in the second group and we went through the first lap in 74, perfect.  Then 73s for the next two and another 74 for a 4:56. first mile.  This is exactly where I wanted to be.  But for whatever reason, the heat, wind, whatever, things got really hard really fast, and within a lap Healey and I were by ourselves.  We traded a couple of quarters, but Jon then fell off pace and I managed to get through the second mile in roughly 5:02.  And here is where I crumbled mentally.  It was just like the 3x1mile workout I had a couple of weeks ago... just did not want to go.  The group ahead of me was in striking distance and I should have been able to use them as a target and go after them... but just didn't.  Instead of focusing on the work at hand I just started thinking about how much I wanted the race to be over.  Hence, the quarter splits just started going downhill, 76,77,78,79, for roughly a 5:12 last mile.  I scorched the last 200 with a 34.9.

Well, back to the drawing board.  There are too many factors to point my finger at just one and say that was the problem.  I could blame the heat, but I have been working out in the heat.  I could blame the drive, but in CA I had a 6 hr plane flight.  In the end I was not mentally tough enough that day.  I think there is something to the theory that you can only put together so many mentally taxing efforts without recharging.  I have seen this before in my running.  I think it is possible that I left my PR race on the track a few weeks ago.  There is just no question in my mind that my workouts point to me being in 15:30 shape.  I mean, even if the weather conditions were ideal in CA a month ago,  I had not done much speed work at that point.  Since then, I have been really hammering the workouts on the track.  This result basically tells me that whatever I had done before CA, which was more or less just a bunch of miles and tempo runs, had maxed out my VO2 max and that all these long interval workouts were doing me no good.  In fact, they were hurting me, because I was losing the edge mentally.  Peaking both physically and mentally is difficult and I apparently have much to learn in terms of how to approach this for the 5k.

Then there is the mileage factor.  Before CA I had about 3 wks of 70, because I had other races leading up to that one.  Here I have been at 90+ until this past week and then brought it down to 67.  Maybe with a couple of 60-70 mile weeks I'd be ready to go (?).  We'll see.  I think I'll take the next couple weeks around 70 and then run a road 5k and see where I am.


 

Utica, NY, 1:36:21

Ran around Utica and caught glimpses of the Boilermaker at miles 2 and 9.  Dennis and Michelle Simonaitis were running the race.  It was very hot out there.  The performances were impressive. 

Took a day off, finally. I looked back and had not had a day off in over a month. The result from Sat has made me start to re-evaluate some things and one thing I think I'll try this fall is to take a day off each week. Should be an interesting experiment.

noon: Clopper 10 1:14:53, 101 deg F!!

noon: NIST 6 41:52, HOT!

p.m.: track workout, Washington-Lee H.S.

3 mi warm up/2 mi cool down

9 sets of drills (~2 miles) + 20 x 400m with 200 rest

73.9, 74.1, 74.0, 74.5, 74.8,

74.3, 74.4, 73.6, 75.2, 74.1,

73.2, 72.9, 74.0, 72.8, 72.2,

72.8, 72.8, 73.2, 72.3, 72.2.

Very hot, very humid! The goal of this workout was to run each set of five with a negative average split, starting with 5k pace (75) and working down. I was somewhat successful, though there were certainly occasions where I lost concentration. By the time I was done it literally looked like I had jumped in a swimming pool. I'll bet I lost 5 lbs in water weight. I took a short water break after each set of 5.

By the way, you might noticed that I changed my picture to highlight the fact that XC season is just around the corner!

noon: NIST 6 42:55, nice weather finally!

pm: Bethesda 6 42:36
 

noon: Clopper 10 1:16:09

Temple 10 1:05:40.  I did a 25 min warm up on CC trail on my usual 10 mile course and then did 10 x 1 min on/off fartlek at between 1 mile and 2 mile race pace for my "on". Not sure if this is the optimal workout right now, but I felt terrible this morning -- woke with a tension headache and just could not stomach the thought of mile repeats. Given that I already did 5 miles worth of speed on Wed and this is only a 75 mile week I figured about 2 miles of speed would be sufficient (the 10% rule of thumb). Maybe it is even excessive. I have to admit that I am sort of flailing mentally right now. Last weekend really shook my confidence in my training. I think this simply means it is time to rebuild. But I am committed to this 8k next Sat. So I am just trying to give myself a fighting chance there. Then I'll try to refocus with a coherent plan.

2:00:56

Brian Tullock and I met at 8 am at Roosevelt Island.  We went out on the GT trails for an hour and then met back at the parking lot to pick up Eric and Kyle.  Brian did another 40 mins or so and I tacked on 20 more min by myself to get 2 hrs.  This probably more than 16 miles, but I am too lazy to map it out.  My guess is that it was close to 17. 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:13

PM: Bethesda 6 40:43

It is amazing how much faster I do my easy runs after a day off. 

NOON: NIST 4 29:40, shakeout

PM:  track workout, Washington Lee H.S., 10 miles total

3 warm up, 6 sets of drills, 1600m, 800 rest, 4 x 400m with 400 rest

4:45.6

67.7, 66.8, 67.2, 65.7

I did this workout mostly in the dark.  I showed up late and did not know the lights were not working last night.  Luckily, the city lights were enough.  But it is still hard to run all out in the dark.

Clopper 10 1:18:29

Humid!  Finally started sprinkling toward the end of the run.

NOON: NIST 4+, 31:42

Just a jog before the race tomorrow night. 

1 PM: 2 mile shakeout, 14:52, Bethesda

8:45 PM: Twilight 8k, 25:52, PR

Mile splits: 5:11.6, 5:18.2 (10:29.8), 5:12.0 (15:41.9), 5:20.6 (21:02.4), 4:49.9 (25:52.3) - last segment equivalent to a 4:58 mile.

I took the Metro out to Rockville and got there aroung 7 PM, checked in, and walked the first 2 miles of the course.  Then warmed up for 3 miles on the last section of the course.  Then did about a mile worth of drills and striders.  Cooled down for a couple of miles after the race with a couple of the guys from DC Road Runners, Joe and Mark.  It is pretty funny: I have met three guys from DCRR and of these three Joe went to Cornell (where I did my postdoc), Mark went to Utah (grad school for me) and Monte went to Tulsa (my undergrad).

A couple of people told me that this course was fast.  But I assure you that it is not.  It is a tough course.  It starts and finishes at the same place and there are two significant hills, as you can see from my 2nd and 4th miles splits and there are other rolling hills in between.  HOWEVER, I will concede that it is a good, and possibly fastish, race.  The reasons for this are:

1.  It is held at 8:45 pm and so it is cool (relatively).  I still doused my head with water at every station.

 2. The competition is amazing!  The winning time was 23 something and this was for a measly $350 and it only went 5 deep in prize money.  Yet I was never in danger of being in "no man's land".  I was surrounded by people the whole race.  I recognized a dude that I had run with at Broad Street 10 miler in Philly.  So I keyed off him for the first few miles.

 3. The last mile is a slight down hill.  So, even thought the first 4 miles are tough, if you have budgeted your effort correctly you can really cruise on the last mile.  I was really happy with the way I paced in this race.  Before seeing the course I had designs on going sub 26.  But once I warmed up I told myself that my best result will come if I can manage a sub 5 for the last mile, and this is what I did.

My philosophy is that you should always be pleased with a PR.... and indeed I feel pretty good about this one.  The McMillan calculator equates this to a 15:42 5k, which seems to be about right given my performances of late.  So, I still contend that I am in 15:30 5k shape, and maybe on a flat 8k course this would have been true.

Georgetown trails plus the canal path.  This was a 2 hr+ run and probably closer to 18 miles, but I missed clicking my watch at some point and was running the last half with John McLean and so not sure about the total distance.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:59 + weights

PM: Bethesda 6 41:59

NOON: NIST 6 42:27

NOON: NIST 2 15:12 shakeout

PM: DC RR Mile, Wakefield H.S.

3 mile warm up, 1 mile strides and drills

Splits: 69.0 (409m), 67.5, 68.5, 68.7 = 4:33.8 PR!

Their hand timer had me at 4:34.2. But I think the dude was snoozin'. So on my "official" time I posted to the blog I split the difference.

The weather was good and the track was nice. This is a really good event. Simple but competitive, and FREE! The Pacers team showed up to take the tape on pretty much every race. The mile was won in 4:24. The elite women's mile was won in 5:06.

After the mile I also ran the 3000 m as a workout in 9:26.7. I started out running 78 and to my pleasant surprise managed to start hitting 75s as the race progressed. Can't remember what place I cam in here. The winner was 9:00. I was like 5th again. All in all, a pretty productive evening. I figure I got in about 10 miles total for the night, giving 12 for the day. I leave for Tulsa tomorrow morning early and get in late. It is going to be a challenge to get my miles in for the week since I already took Tuesday easy before this mile race.

Check it out... Joe LaMonte sent me this link. Apparently, someone from Georgetown Running Co. took a video of the mile. Joe (who ran for Cornell, by the way) is the one leading the second group (once the race gets going), and I am in the white singlet, trailing in the second group for most of the race. Man, it looks like we are jogging!

http://georgetownrunningcompany.blogspot.com/2007/07/video-of-dcrrc-mile-race-on-072507.html#links+

AM: Fly to Tulsa.

PM: 6, 45:11, Bud's loop, Tulsa, OK, with Brian McKinney

NOON: 13, 1:28:38, Golfball Hill.  This is an old Tulsa favorite.  We use to run this from Todd Posey's house near 61st and Yale, but now my buddy Bryan Jewett lives very near the same place and I was staying with him.  It was brutally hot!

PM: 7+, 53:00, I will call this Mike Willmering's old loop.  Ran with Brian McKinney.  Basically started at Brian's place and go through Maple Ridge and out and around Utica Square and back on the first part of Bud's loop.

AM: 11.5, 20 x 200 on/off at about 31 on the river.  Ran with McKinney and Jason Lee.

PM: 2.5, 18:09.  This is one of the first times I have ever done this, but I just wanted to get in 90 miles this week, so I jogged a couple in the afternoon... again, I cannot tell you hot it was! 

NOON:  Ugh!  This was a death march.  We had our band reunion last night and I was up until the wee hours.  I missed the 6:30 AM (relatively cool) run with McKinney and Jason and ended up getting to the river around 10:30.  I started feeling human again around mile 8 and then the sun stroke started to set in.  This run was basically 16 x 1 mile at 7:30-8:00 pace.  Brutal heat.  I went to the river because they have water fountains every mile.  So I just stopped and took a bath every mile.  I survived.

NOON: NIST 6 41:39

PM: 12, track, 3 mi warm up, 2 miles drills, 8 x 800 with 200 rest "cruise intervals"

2:36, 2:34, 2:33, 2:35, 2:35, 2:29, 2:32, 2:32

I did this workout with Joe and Mark from DC RR.  Joe suggested the workout.  According to McMillan, for someone in 15:30 5k shape, cruise intervals should be at 2:33 - 2:36.  So, we hit our marks pretty well.  In the end, this felt a bit too easy.  But maybe that is a good thing.  We are racing a deuce on Friday night.  Let's save the heroics for then.

 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:30 + weights

Today I added two more arm exercises to my routine: pull backs (lean over the bench with back horizontal and pull back on the dumb bell) and incline press.

PM: 8 miles, 57:36, around Placid Lake in Germantown after helping a friend move from his 4th floor apt!  Man, I am dead.

NOON: 10 NIST, treadmill, 1:14:00.  It was like 98 F today.  No thanks.

PM: 6 NIST, treadmill, 44:13.

NOON: NIST 6 43:17

PM: 8+, Montgomery County RR 2 Mile, 9:58.8, 3rd.

Splits: first 18 meters = 3.4, 71.2, 73.3, 73.4, 74.4, 74.0, 76.1, 78.4, 74.6 = 9:58.8

I realized early on that I did not have it for this race.  With the mileage I have done this week, I expected this to be just a workout, and indeed I barely broke 10 min.  We went through the first mile in 4:54, so my second was 5:05.  From my splits it is easy to see where the wheels came off.  On the 6th lap these two guys just dropped me like I was walking and I fell apart.  This tends to happen to me frequently in races and is something I need to learn to overcome.  Anyway, like I said, I am not bummed about this one because my legs were clearly dead from increased miles.  In fact, I ran practically the same time for the 3k AFTER my mile PR last Wed. 

AM: 17, 1:59:52, Centreville, VA, trails by Brian Tullock's house.  Hot day, but the shade made it bearable.

AM: Riley's Lock 18 miles, 2:19:45.  Did the first 8 by myself at 7 min pace.  Then John McClean joined me for the next 6 which were closer to 8 min pace.  Then I finished up in 6:45ish for the last few.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:47

PM: NIST 6 43:30

HOT!
 

Ugh!  Today was a bust.  It reminded me of the blog that Scott posted about Draper.

NOON: NIST 6 42:32

PM: track 8ish 

It was 100F with 54% RH at noon.  Actually, this did not feel all that bad.  But the day was not over yet.  Later in the afternoon the humidity rolled in, like a blanket covering the sizzling concrete.  I made it out to the track and went through my usual warm up routine: 3 miles + 9 sets of drills, and I was already feeling horrid.  I put on the spikes and started my 400s hitting 67 and 66 for the first 2.  On the third I just quit on the finishing straight, pulled up with 20 meters to go and finished in 68.  Done.  I had absolutely no desire to do another one and something let me just walk away.  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise because my Achilles was sore, but really I think my bank account is empty.  Oh well.  Keep plugging away I guess and hope I can get my motivation and my legs back.
 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:19:02

And then the rains came! Finally. This was one of the nicest runs in weeks... a nice down pour.

PM: Temple 10 1:09ish

This was one of those runs where before hand I felt terrible -- like I should just go to bed -- but once I got going I felt pretty good. Having decided to try 400s again on Sat, I thought a little tempo would be good today. I got up to a good clip on the way back and pushed hard for a little over a mile but then it was dark and the footing was not so great, so I backed off a bit. Also, it rained during this run. This makes all the difference. If I can just stay with it through the Dog Days, I think the fall will be really nice.

Ice bath! 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:15

PM: NIST 6 44:24

Weather: low 90s moderate humidity (for here). 

AM: track workout, Walt Whitman HS,

3 sets of 5x400 with 400 rest, with a water break in between sets

For warm up I did 3 miles easy and mile of speed changes (drills are for tonight, see below).

This was an interesting workout. On Joe Madrano's (4:01 miler for Abilene Christian -- who lives in my building) suggestion, instead of timing the 400s, I set my interval timer for 17 second segments and the goal of the workout was to hit the 100m splits right on 17 sec. The interval timer makes it nice because you do not have to look down at your watch and break form to know how your splits are doing. My first 400 was slow (71) for two reasons: first, I was a little nervous about this workout due to the busted workout on Wed and I wanted to make sure I did not go out too fast; second, not being much of a track guy, I was not exactly sure where the 100s were, but I soon figured out that this was one of those tracks with short curves where the straights are exactly 100m, as are the curves. For the next nine I hit 67. and for the last five I hit 67-68... pretty much right on target. My tendency was to be ahead on the first 100 and then maintain 17 for the next 3 100s to hit the 67. So all in all I think I did a good job of running even splits. This was a good confidence booster given the week I've had. The weather was a big help. Today is low 80s and dry, nicest day without rain we've had in weeks.

Took an ice bath after the workout.

Tonight I'm planning to jog a couple more miles to get my 100 in. And also planning a drills session with Joe, who is enthusiastic about helping me get faster. More to come...

PM: 2+ miles (16 minutes) to and from Bethesda/Chevy Chase HS.  We did about an hour's worth of drills.  Everything from knee skips to bounds to hurdles.  It was pretty humiliating.  The good news is that there is a lot of room for improvement.  The trouble is finding time to fit this all in.  This is all pretty much the same stuff Dennis has been telling me to do, and some of it I have been trying to incorporate into my warm up routine.  But it is altogether different to have someone there critiquing your technique.  I think it is safe to say that I did not do one thing well.  Not one.  I'll give myself a little leeway for being tired.  But much of it is simply coordination and hip and hamstring flexibility... and core strength... time to get back to doing yoga!

AM: Seneca Creek Trail south from Riley's Lock, out and back, rolling hills, dirt trail, 2:11:34.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:18:49.  Pretty tired.

PM: NIST 6 44:53
 

NOON: NIST 6 43:19

PM: Whitman track, 13 total, 3 warm up, 2 drills, 2 cool down

4 x 1600m with 800 rest

5:05.1 (2:34, 2:31), 5:04.6 (2:33, 2:32), 5:01.7 (2:32, 2:30), 5:00.7 (2:31, 2:30)

Ice bath. 

Well, I'm actually kinda happy with this workout given that my legs are so dead. These times are actually still within the range prescribed by McMillan for 1600 speed workout for a 15:30 5k runner (4:57-5:08). I think the fact that I sped up is a good indication that I am pretty strong right now. Just not recovered from Sat. But I want to give myself a fighting chance this weekend (mile and 3k on Sat morning), hence the Tues workout.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:18:30.  Very tired.

PM: NIST 6 44:42 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:18:01 (out in 40, back in 38) Come on legs, recover!  Light rain.  Actually quite a nice run. + weights (2 sets instead of the usual 3)

PM: Bethesda 6 41:49, starting to feel human again, all of a sudden it got super hot and humid this afternoon.

Ice bath.

NOON: NIST 4ish, 33:06. Shakeout jog.  Feeling o.k., but did not really push it to find out.

5:50 am: 2 mile shakeout jog (14:32)

9:35 am: 3 mile warm up (22:33)

1 mile speed changes

mile race: 67.5 (409m -- too fast, went out with Burt), 73.6 (fell off of Burt, now I'm in the wind by myself and my leg feel like tree trunks), 74.5 (God, I love the mile), 72.9 (thankfully I got passed so that I had someone to chase, else things could have been worse) = 4:48.4 OUCH!

2.5ish mile cool down: me, Mark, Joe, and Burt 

Well, that's what happens on 100 mile legs, for me at least.  Joe talked me into just doing the 400 and calling a day.  I hit 61.8 (by my watch), which actually I was pretty happy with; certainly my fastest lap this season.

Well, perhaps there is not enough high comedy on the blog... so, please, allow me.  This was not the most organized of events, but it was not too bad either.  The only thing that made it a little hard for me was that they ran the hurdles before the mile, so there was nowhere really to warm up in spikes.  So, now picture this, we have been called for the mile (first call) and I am trying to get some striders in around the very outside of the track, which is really not even a lane.  Luckily I am at this point near the far side of the track, but running just in front of one of the cute Pacers girls.  Now, there is a big roll of something on the track, like a carpet or something, and I think I'll just hurdle this thing as I am in mid stride, running fairly fast at this point.  As I lift my knee to go over the thing I notice that it is much more than just a roll, it is sprawled out all over on the other side, and for some reason this flusters me and (with dead legs anyway I was not picking my knees up very high) as you have probably guessed, I clipped the front side of the roll and face panted!  Well, I rolled out of it like a pro goal keeper and kept on going like nothing happened, not wanting to look back... I found a secluded spot and kept stretching, figuring I was in for a long day.  In the end, just some abrasions.  Thankfully, no video of this one (that I know of).

I bailed on the 3k, because I just keep getting slower.  I realize now that I just need to rest for 5k.  All these workouts are just making me tired.  I don't think I can handle two workouts a week on this kind of mileage.  Probably Demetrio would assign two workouts for 70 mile weeks and one for 100+ mile weeks.  So I don't know why I am going against that.  Peace...
 

Long run: 2:17:30.

This was a pretty high quality run (I'd say we at least averaged 7 min, probably under) with Kyle Smith, a former Princeton runner.  We wandered around the GT trails and then ended up on the canal. 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:30

NOON: NIST 4ish, 31:04, Shakeout

PM: Whitman track, 3 warm up, 2.5 drills, 2 cool down

8 x 1000m with 400m rest

3:06.5, 3:04.4, 3:05.4, 3:05.4

3:06.7, 3:06.7, 3:05.1, 3:00.8 (workout PR)

ice bath.

Pretty happy with this set.  I felt strong and in control.  Definitely an improvement over last weekend.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:18:37

NOON: NIST 6 43:15

AM: Whitman track, 3 warm up, 2.5 drills, 1 cool down on grass infield

10 x 200m w/ 200m rest

30.4, 30.1, 30.5, 30.4, 30.1,

30.1, 30.3, 30.5, 30.2, 30.5.

Well,  at least I was consistent.  Funny thing is that these did not feel all that hard, but I tried like crazy to go sub 30 on the last two and just found myself tying up rather that going faster.  So, that is the state of my speed.  This is certainly sufficient for my upcoming 5k.  I guess the inability to go sub 30 is due to mileage (still over 70 this week) and/or biomechanics.  Perhaps some downhill grass running would be a good change of pace with XC coming up.

AM: Georgetown trails with Brian Tullock, 1:28:18.

7:30 AM: 3 warm up, 1.5 (6 laps) drills, 2 cool down

1 mile (1609m) at 4:51.1, 800m jog

2 x 400m fast, then at 5k pace w/ 400m jog:  65.0, 76.2

4 x 200m fast/at pace w/200m jog:  30.0, 36.1, 30.1, 36.7

Slightly different pre-race workout, combining fast and pace efforts -- the point being to try to hit race pace by feel.  On the mile, as Demetrio would say, I was "feeling it" but not killing it.  On the  "at pace" 400 I just misjudged the first 200, but felt fine otherwise.  I think doing the workout in the morning definitely had a negative effect on the mile time.  If I were smart, I would have been doing more of these morning sessions, but it is just really hard to get a sufficient warm up in and a reasonable workout in and still get to work at a reasonable hour.  Even with this short session, I did not get into work until 10:30.  It was already getting hot by 9am.  Really ready for some cool weather to race in.

AM: 4ish miles easy + 4 striders (about 100m), 35:49

AM: Bethesda 4, 29:53.

Someone stole my U of Utah t-shirt!  Left it on a rail outside my apt before the run.  Heathens.

AM: Bethesda 4, 29:25, plus a couple of strides.  T-shirt survived.

5:00 AM: 10 min shakeout

8:40 AM: 20 min warm up + 6 strides

9:30 AM: PVTC, Langley H.S., McLean, VA, 5000m "race"... (more like a time trial), 15:49.6, 1st place

1600 splits: 4:58.8, 5:06.1, 5:10.7, 34.2 last 200

Well, obviously not too psyched with the time, but there are some positives to take away from this race. Of course, it's always pretty cool to win. But I need to thank my buddies, Brian Tullock and Joe LaMonte, for coming out to run with me. Tullock is training for Steamtown and is at the end of a 90 mile week, and still traded laps with me for the first half of the race. Joe is also marathon training and decided to try to hit 5:08s as a workout. I think he ended up pretty close to that. Brian was second in 16:01 or so, and Joe was not far behind Brian.

So what were the positives? Well, I felt great for the first mile and I really think that the splits for the next two miles were just due to being complacent and not really racing. I am just not good at pushing the pace by myself. If you look over my 5ks this summer, my times correlate strongly with the level of competition. In CA at Occidental College (Oxy) (15:39), I started in the very back and worked my way up, being in a race the whole time, doing only about half the work in the last half of the race -- and I think most importantly I was in a battle for the last 800... closing with a 68 sec 400. Next, in Albany (15:45), I was all alone for the second half of the race, just as today. BUT, the big difference there was that there was another pack ahead of me to chase.

So, what did I try for this race that did NOT produce magical results?

1. My mileage progression was 100,100,100, 73, 40. In CA, my mileage leading up to the 5k was 100, 107, 72, 92, 67, 75, 70. Just looking at this variable, one might conclude that I race better on consistent 70 mile weeks (after base). My plan is to stay around 70 for XC season.

2. Not to rekindle this debate, but another thing that did not significantly help was abstaining from alcohol for the week leading up to the race. Yes, Sasha, I understand that this does not prove anything about not drinking over the course of a season. But the fact of the matter is that I had a glass of wine the night before the CA race where I PRed. Shouldn't mess with a good thing if it keeps you relaxed.

3. There are also correlations with weather and time of day. In CA it was evening and cool with no direct sun. In Albany and today the race was in the morning and the sun was hot. It was probably 70 by 9:30, which was perfect Labor Day Weekend weather, but still uncomfortable for the race.

4. Another issue is shoes. I raced Oxy in flats and Albany and today in spikes, which I have been training in all season to get use to them. But it is possible that this still is an issue, that it may take several seasons of training and racing in spikes before they become more of a help than a hindrance (but it is just too fun to put spikes on!). Again, this likely has to do with not "being in a race". I think that when I get into a race my form improves and I get out of the "back seat" -- to use skiing terminology. Then the spikes help.

So, in the end I was pretty happy with this result. There just was not an air of "fastness" about the meet. And had I realized there would be not so much competition I probably would not have keyed on it. But I am going to take my lessons from this summer's season and apply them to next year and hopefully get into some competitive races next spring. For now, I think I'm fit and ready for XC.

But if I seriously want to improve I need to understand why my times have gotten slower with more speed work. Obviously, I am doing something wrong and I just got lucky in June. In my ignorance, I thought I was just at the starting point of my training, when really I likely had every bit of aerobic conditioning then as I do now. If I had to point to any one thing, I would say that I was doing more tempo runs back then, and I erroneously thought that hitting the VO2max intervals hard leading up the goal race was the way to peak. Well, it pains me to say so, but in reading the word of the Dark Lord (or the whiskey man -- as my buddy, Boris, calls him -- presumably you can guess of whom I speak), he actually puts the tempo/rep phase just prior to goal race time and a 6 wk VO2max phase prior to that. So, it will be interesting to see as I transition to XC, where I plan to do more tempo fartleks on grass, if I just might have another peak in me in a month or so of some tempo work. Basically, that was all I was doing leading up to Oxy... 4 mile tempos on the weekend at 5:25 pace and race pace reps like 74 sec quarters and 2:30 800s for a mid-week workout.

Other odds and ends of the morning...

I bought a new watch -- the 100 lap Nike, which is basically the new version of the old Nike Triax 120 lap that I have had for about 10 years now. While walking out of Georgetown Running Co. I saw a familiar face from Ithaca running by and so I waved "Tara" down and said hi, with a very surprised look on my face. What are you doing in DC? "Oh, I'm Tara's twin sister, Erin." She was not at all surprised. "It happens all the time," she says... Small world.

AM: Very easy run with John McClean. 10.5 from Riley's Lock, 1:26:38.

AM: Canal and GW monument and Roosevelt Is., 2:00:12, with Brian Tullock and Kyle Smith.

PM: Temple 10 1:04:32.  Felt good and just went with it.

NOON: NIST Muddy Branch Hill, 18 min warm up, 15 min cool down

5 sets of down/up Muddy Branch Hill repeats, with 2 min jog recovery

down, up 

1:22.4, 1:37.1

1:18.8, 1:37.8

1:21.6, 1:36.6

1:21.5, 1:35.7

1:19.7, 1:36.2

OK Sasha, here is your sea level hill data.  I decided to use the grass hill at NIST, so that I could bomb the downhills without worrying about getting injured.  I wore trainers.  There was very little, if any, wind.  It was hot, though.  About 90F with 40-50 %RH.  I hope 5 sets is enough.  I was thinking about 6, but was just getting hot and tired, and given that I am sick of leaving my races in workouts, I am not going to be pushing myself to workout heroics in the near future.  This was a great XC workout, so I'll likely do it again in a few weeks.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:13:37. This is pretty quick for this course, and after hill reps yesterday. I am reaping the benefits of last week's low mileage.

+ weights.

PM: Bethesda 6 40:25.

PM: NIST 6 44:40.  Sore from weights yesterday.

AM: Met Kyle Smith and Erik Olson at Roosevelt for a warm up.  Kyle leaves for Princeton tomorrow.  Bummer to loose a good training partner to a good education...  Made my way over to the canal.  Warm up ended up being about 40 min.  Did 4 striders and started a 4 mile tempo between miles 2-6 on the canal.  It was pretty brutal.  Definitely paying for being over zealous on my "easy" runs and in the weight room this week.  The splits were:

5:33, 5:32, 5:39 (ouch!), and 5:51 (what the?).

I certainly hope that last mile was long.  I didn't feel like I fell off pace that much, but I must confess I was not pushing it, and was not feeling particularly good, so I guess it is possible.  Still, I've never run this section for time before and there are a couple of little jogs in the path that I could imagine would test a surveyor's credentials.

Well, it is a bit of a new leaf for me to be looking on the sunny side of all my failures, but this workout points to a couple of positives: First, it is confirmation that my AT is not what it was earlier in the summer when I was averaging 5:25 for this workout on 100 mile weeks.  Second, I think falling off pace was mainly a result of still being sore from the weight training from Thursday, which points to the fact that I really do need to strengthen these muscle groups.  However, probably best to move weights to Monday, as they seem not to affect intervals as much as threshold runs.

AM: 1:58:23, Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Georgetown.  Did an extra mile in and out of the GT trails to add on some distance.  This ended up being a little bit of a progression run... definitely picked up the pace as the run went on.  Hammys were tight at first, but then loosened up.

NOON: Clopper 10, 1:15:57. Man, do I have case of the "Mondays". Headache, no sleep, and sick of the heat!

+ weights

PM: Yoga (90 min) 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:52. Nice rain to break the heat, finally! Felt ok, footing was a little sloppy, so did not go too fast.

NOON: NIST 4, 30:37, shakeout

PM: Whitman track, 10 total. This was yet another of my mental meltdowns. The plan was to do 3 sets of 1600, 800, 400, with a slightly modified warm up.

It was very strange, because I actually felt pretty peppy on my noon run. Then when I went to warm up this evening my legs felt like tree trunks. Usually in these instances I feel better if I go for a longer warm up, like 4 miles or so. But I got out of work late, and it was already getting dark, so I only jogged two miles and then did 9 sets (2.5 miles) of drills. The modification to the warm up was to add a 200 and then a 400 at pace. This is a JD suggestion. The idea being to get a better feel for interval pace before going out too fast. So, the sad details...

200 in 34.0 (suppose to be 37.5), 200 jog

400 in 74.8 (much better), 400 jog

1600 in 5:02.0 (in the dark), 800 jog

800 in 2:29.4 (felt way too hard!), 400 jog

400 in 73.4, 400 jog

1600 in 5:07.3, done. This felt like 4:50 effort... just not fun at this point, being out on the track solo in the dark. Just no desire to be there. And it's getting old watching my times get slower and slower. Need to get motivated again. Not having a definite goal or plan is hard for me to deal with.

So anyway, step one in my rejuvenation is a trip out to UT. I am blowing into SLC tomorrow (Thurs.) afternoon on my way to a wedding in Moab. Neal Gassmann and I are planning a 90 min trail run starting from the zoo and headed up Dry Creek and Shoreline. We'll head out at 6:15pm. Feel free to join in if you are in the neighborhood. After the run (8ish) we are headed to Ruth's in Emigration. Neal claims it is bbq night on Thurs.

PM: Shoreline from the zoo up past Dry Creek, 1:24:22.

Beautiful run and a great crew: Albert Wint, Neal Gassmann, Carre Joyce, Michelle Simonaitis, and Carol Cabanillas.  The girls ran with us to the base of Dry Creek and turned back.  Michelle had done a tempo that morning.  Carol had a fartlek the next day.  And Carre came back for a few extra miles.  Neal and Albert and I made it up past the top of Dry Creek and turned around at 45 min.  Probably should have gone a little farther considering it was most downhill on the way back... but I was more enamored with the view than concerning myself with such details at the time.  Man, the WA ladies are super fit!  Can't wait to see how they do in there respective marathons in a couple of weeks.  For my part, I faired better than I thought for a hilly run at altitude.  Scott Browning joined us at Ruth's for dinner.  Good times!

AM: Progression from Neal's to Liberty and back with a lap around the park, 53:54.

AM: Onion Creek Road, 1:42:48.

Epic run! on Onion Creek Road with John and Jen Gardiner. We were attending a wedding in the La Sals. Onion Creek Road is a few miles up past the start of the Moab Half. It is a dirt road that runs behind Castle Tower. The rock formations are amazing! Jen drove the car out about 10 miles and started running back. John and I started up the road and met Jen on her way down. We went up and picked up the car and leap frogged each other with the car all the way back down to the start of the road. This road keeps going and at 10 miles, where we stopped, you are on top a an incredible mesa and the road is flattening out. I look forward to getting back up there to run further sections.

Off day.  Drove back from Moab.

AM: 8+ miles, out and back from Neal's, 57:18.

Experiment: "On the compatibility of Tennessee, Canadian, and Irish beverages"

PI: Neal Gassmann

Co-Invstigators: Myself, Trish, Scott, and Michelle.

Hypothesis: That "Irish Car Bombs" may be simulated by substitution of Gentlemen Jack or Canadian Spirits.

Results: The results to the pallet and the stomach were negative. However, the results on the AM run were positive, as we rose at 5 bells to hammer out 8 miles, the beginning of which is mostly up hill.

This weekend really recharged my batteries! Thanks to Neal for his great hospitality, and culinary and brewing skills! He also had some frank words for me about over-analyzing my 5k performances:

"When the gun goes off, run fast. And when you hear the bell, run faster!"

Neal has a 14:08 to his credit.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:12:17. Incredible weather.

PM: NIST 6 42:26

+ weights 

Congrats to everyone for the nice performances at TOU!!

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:59. Feeling a bit sore from weights yesterday.

PM: NIST 6 42:45. 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:40.

PM: NIST 6 44:31.  Pretty tired. 

PM: Bethesda 6 45:03. WRECKED.

AM: Jogged 2 miles from apt to Whitman track. 1 mi of speed changes, then 20 x 200m with 200 rest at approx 32 sec.

32.3, 32.9, 32.6, 32.1, 31.8,

32.5, 31.8, 31.8, 31.5, 31.9,

31.7, 31.9, 31.8, 32.0, 32.0,

31.9, 32.0, 32.2, 31.8, 31.9.

Just wanted something that was not too mentally taxing and that would hopefully wake up my legs from this funk.

PM: Bethesda, CC trail toward Temple, 8+, 56:49.  Humidity = Pea Soup.

Ice bath.

AM: 18ish, 2:17:00, one loop around Roosevelt, GT trails to Rock Creek Prkwy.  Took it really easy (not that I had a choice, my legs were dead).

NOON: NIST 6 42:28

PM: Yoga 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:40

PM: NIST 6 43:20 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:09:36.  I was feeling ok, so I decided to try to get some quality in on this run.  I did a very unstructured fartlek-type thing where I pushed hard on all the uphills in the run.  There are two long hills getting to the trail, then many short rollers once on the trail.

PM: Harvest moon!  One of the few endearing things about the east...  NIST 6 44:52

+ light weights 

NOON: NIST 6 43:19

PM: 10 mile swim down Wisconsin Ave., 1:13:27. Somehow this run is never boring. Maybe that's because it's like playing Frogger.

I love it... the two weeks out of the year that I get to be on top of the mileage board!  Hope everyone is enjoying their taper.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:18:37.  This was a two-snake day on the trail.  Usually, one jolt of adrenaline is enough.  The first one was a black snake, which don't bother me, but the second was fatter and lighter colored.  Didn't get a good look at its head, so not sure what it was, but we have Cottonmouths and Copperheads around here... these I can do without.  They all got smoked out of their holes from the rain last night.

Oh, and another t-shirt bites the dust... my Zeppy's 5k shirt from Ithaca.  It was breezy today, so I can see it getting blown out of the tree, but not too far... someone definitely absconded with it, and within a "secure" government campus no less.  T-shirts aren't safe anywhere I guess.  The fun part was making my way all the way back to the gym (basement hallway of the office building -- with plenty of traffic) with no shirt on.
 

11 AM: Whitman H.S. track. 2 mile warm up, 2.5 drills (9 sets + 400 jog), 2 mi cool down.

10 x 400m with 400 + 1 min rest (full recovery, approx 4 min rest)

66.4, 65.3, 65.8, 66.5, 67.3,

67.8, 67.0, 67.0, 67.4, 66.0.

Breezy day with a headwind on the back straight.  Still in search of that extra gear.  Having a tailwind (i.e., practically no resistance) on the finally 100 is an interesting situation because you can tell that you are limited purely by mechanics.

AM: 18ish. 2:15:18. Roosevelt Is., GT trails, Canal.  Beautiful fall morning.  Felt pretty strong.  Kinda makes me wish I was running a marathon next week!

Dutch!  One of these days we'll make it happen :).
 

Easy day.

NOON: jogged 4 miles on NIST campus, 29:44.

LUNCH: BBQ Burger at the Dogfish. This might -- just might, mind you -- rival Paul's Br-Burger. We are talkin 2 quarter pound patties topped with bacon, cheddar, onion rings (yes, on the burger), and bbq sauce. My coworker was done with his whole meal before I was half way through with the burger... and I don't eat slowly.

PM: Yoga class.

NOON: Fartlek workout, NIST campus (what I am now calling XC loop #1).  I did 8 x 2 min on/off.  25ish min warm up and a 5ish mile cool down.  Total time was 1:35:15... probably close to 12 miles.

PM: Bethesda 6 41:20. 

Distance day.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:32

PM: Wisconsin Ave., 10, 1:14:07, + light weights
 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:20:18.  Very tired!

NOON: NIST 6 44:31.

Good luck to everyone this weekend!!!!
 

"4 Mile" (pretty much unanimous consensus that the course was long -- which of course does not matter but I definitely think I was running faster than 5:50s, 5:30s was probably more like it) XC race in Wheaton, NY (just south of Rochester).  We gathered at the Cornell Vet School at 7:30 am and headed out to Wheaton with a full men's open team and a full vet's (50+) team.  It was already warm.  We arrived at the park at 10ish for the 11am start.  I warmed up for 3 miles on the course and did some strides.  My goal for this race was simply to get a quality tempo run in.  I wanted to take it easy for the first 3 miles and then run hard for the last mile.  This strategy worked well, because the course was brutal and the heat made it worse.  It was like Mombosa out there!  Well, not that bad, but as close as one could expect to get to it in Upstate NY in October.

Aside: Ugh, what a horrible weekend at Chicago and Twin Cities!!

So, as it turned out going out really easy turned into a rather evenly paced race, and I finished well, placing ahead of a couple of guys from GVH (Genessee Valley Harriers) that had beaten me last year.  So, I was 4th and Eric Davis was 5th in the open division for High Noon A.C.  Overall we were 5 and 6, because of Dave O'Keefe, who is 48!!  This guy is unbelievable, like Dennis.  Still, GVH won easily and HN was 2nd.  If it were not for some ridiculous politics going on in Ithaca, HN would probably be able for field a competitive open team... "As Ithaca Turns".

After the race Eric, Adam, and I cooled down on the course for 4+ miles.

I want to take this opportunity to advertise for Pete Glavin's Upstate NY XC Series.  Check out his site http://www.peteglavin.com.  This is such a well-organized, fun, and competitive series.  Thanks Pete for putting so much personal effort into this.

Congrats to the qualifiers at St. George!  And to everyone else who ran great races!  Well done!

Triple Hump from Teagle, Ithaca, NY.  18+, 2:11:10.

As usual, Michael Wunsch took us out at TH pace.  For those who are not Boris' literate, Boris came up with a set of paces that are somewhat analogous to the Whiskey Man's T pace, M pace, etc.  There are three general paces for Ithaca runners:

RS pace (Rose Smelling)

TH pace (Thunder Heads)

K pace (Knackering!)

In my experience, RS is rarely used.  Luckily for us, Michael and Tom had done a 50 mile relay the day before, else I am sure K pace would have ensued. 

Continental breakfast at Adam's after the run with fresh apple cider from the Cornell orchards.  Good times in Ithaca!  Too bad Tim was not there.  Great to see everyone! 

One more item of note:  I am envisioning the following Mastercard commercial...

"Race entry...  comped.

Air fare...   comped.

Hotel room... comped.

Katie Danner getting hitched in Vegas the day before a marathon PR (apparently unbeknownst to everyone in Ithaca)...  PRICELESS!"
 

NOON: Temple 10 1:09:42.  Off from work today for Columbus Day.  The perks of working for the Federal Government!

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:05.

Felt ok today. Could have pushed harder, but want to try to save something for tomorrow.

Um... is it October... or August!?

PM: Wisconsin Ave. 6, 44:45. Ridiculously humid!

NOON: Threshold workout. 10 x 3 min on/ 1 min off tempo intervals. NIST XC Loop #2. 3 mile warm up. 3 mile cool down. Very productive workout for the lunch "hour".

I'm having fun mapping out these XC courses. It is too bad we have security issues, because we could have a great cross-country race out here.

Today was a little cooler than yesterday, but I was definitely feeling worked by the end of my cool down... a little dizzy.

PM: Bethesda 6 42:42. 

PM: Wisconsin Ave. 12, Bethesda to Georgetown, 1:30:10.

I should be in Rome, Italy, right now... but I can thank the nice weather we are having in D.C. for the flight delays in NY that have postponed my trip for at least a day. 

AM: Bethesda 6 41:16, before my flight to Italy.

Facano, ITALY:  I arrived at the masseria and went for a 5 mile jog around all the olive trees.  We are right on the east coast, south of Bari, looking out toward the Adriatic Sea.

Fiumefreddo in Sicily: 9 mile jog with Steve.

40 mile bike ride on the coast and then a long climb up to Milo on Mt. Etna, about 3000 ft vertical.

45-50 mile bike ride around the north side of Mt. Etna.

Travel back from Italy.  See trip report below...  All my photos can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/randy.mcdermott/

RELAZIONE FINALE:

Hello again.

Well, my idea of sending a daily trip report was short-lived as I was
out of email contact from Day 2 on.  But that will spare you mundane
details :).  Aside from my bag not making the same flight as I did
from Rome (still no idea where it is), the return trip was easy,
though it was a long day (we rose at 3am to make our flight out of
Sicily, which made for about 20 hours of travel by the time I got back
to DC).

Anyway, the trip was AWESOME!!!  I am really glad we stayed in one
place and were able to explore the area thoroughly.  The villa where
we stayed in Sicily was in a little town called Fiumefreddo, which is
just about 10 minutes south of Taormina at the base of Mt. Etna -- an
active volcano (the ski resort was covered in lava flow in 2002!).

Once I get all the pictures uploaded to my website I will let you
know.  I would have to go though each one to give you a sense of all
the things we did.  No boredom on this trip!  For now I have included
just a few sample pics from the wedding and the stay in Sicily.

So, to continue the (now shortened) daily reports...

Sunday (10-14):  The day of the wedding.  Still on US time, I slept in
and we started getting ready around noon.  Once the Italians arrived
and things got rolling the day went quickly.  After the ceremony we
had a huge meal and the Italians presented Steve and Tiff with gifts
-- some Italian bling for Steve to wear: man bracelet and a sweet
watch.  Then the Italians showed us how they like to line dance at
weddings.

Monday (10-15): Travel day: Facano to Bari to Rome to Catania to
Giardini Naxos (at this point the rains came! and we were all sitting
at the Naxos train station without cell coverage and with horrible
directions to the villa at 10pm...  finally one of the ubiquitous old
chain-smoking dudes that just tend to loiter at all the public areas
of town helped us get a couple of taxis flagged down and pointed us in
the direction of Fiumefreddo... once there the drivers had to ask some
locals [again, dudes sitting around in the rain chain smoking under a
tent and steaming snails or something] and subsequently we found
ourselves weaving through streets barely wide enough for a Mini -- and
frankly in a very dilapidated area [Sicily is VERY poor] -- and
finally we came to some big gated entrance to the Borgo Degli Aranci,
a villa nestled in the middle of a huge orange grove.... still pouring
down rain.  Sally (Tiff's mom) was up and had save us plenty of
pasta.. thank God, we were starving.)

Tuesday (10-16): Pretty lazy day.  Got up and did brek in the "kids
house" (there were three houses in the villa... the grown ups had two
and the six "kids" (me, Drew, Steve, Dave, Tiff and Diane) had the
other.  Then went for a jog.  Later that evening Diane took the lead
on dinner and the rented bikes showed up.

Wed (10-17): Bike ride.  First down the coast to Riposto.  Went by the
place where the Michael's wife dies in the car explosion in Godfather
II.  Then did a pretty serious climb up to Miro on Mt. Etna, probably
3000 ft and then dropped back down to the villa, about 40 miles total.
 Hadn't been on a bike in 2 years... knew at that point that the next
day would be rough!  As usual, finished the day with a big sit down
four-course meal... about 18 of us in all at the villa.

Thursday (10-18): Big ride... up the north loop into a valley of
vineyards around Mt. Etna.  Lots of climbing... breathtaking scenery.
 We stopped in a small town and bought bread, salami and cheese and
made sandwiches for lunch.  Close to 50 miles on this day... gearing
up for the big circumnavigation of Mt. Etna on the next day (100+
miles).   On this night the kids went up to Taormina and had dinner
and walked around the shops.  This place is way up on a cliff
overlooking the Ionian Sea.  We stuffed ourselves with lasagna and
pizza in prep for the next day's ride.

Friday (10-19): Up at 6 am... RAIN!!!!!!  and then some.   Did not
quit until midday.  No way to get the big ride in.  Instead we drove
up Mt. Etna (as far as cars can go) and hiked around... again having
lunch with us and finally seeing the summit, which from below had been
cloud-covered since our arrival.  That night Aunt Mimi sent us into
town to pick up pizzas... more eating... I've easily gained 10 lbs on
this trip so far.

Sat. (10-20): More rain..  again the big ride is foiled.  On this day
the kids took the car out to Randazzo which is one of the oldest towns
up on the mountain.  From a different map we had of Sicily I
mistakenly thought that San Giusseppe was close to Randazzo and I
wanted to get by there because Mom told me that is were Grama B-9 (I
have weird, numerical names for my grandparents) is from.  But it
turns out that this is just where the church of San Giusseppe is....
That night... more eating and packing for the trip home.

Ciao!!
 

NOON: NIST 6 42:44

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:01

NOON: Farlek, 10 x 1 min on/off, NIST XC Loop #2.  3 mile warm up, 3 mile cool down.

NOON: NIST 6 43:05

NOON: 6 miles, treadmill, NIST, 44:44.  Raining cats and dogs!

AM: 3 mile warm up jog to Whitman track, 4 x 1 mile with 400 m rest cruise intervals, 3 miles back.

5:08.9, 5:19.6, 5:18.7, 5:08.0.

So, "cruise intervals" was the plan, but the first and last did feel pretty tough after being off for a week. 

AM: 2 hr run, following the Marine Corps marathon course.  I had a couple of friends running this year, so I ran around to different vantage points on the course and took pictures.  Then added another half hour on the canal to get my 2 hrs.

The day was very windy!  This is not an easy course at all!!  I would bet the times were 5-10 min slower than a flat, no wind course. 

NOON: Clopper 10 + extra min diversion to bathroom. 1:15:17. Gorgeous weather! 60F and sunny, no wind.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:12:56.  Felt really good.  Did not realize I was going that fast until I was done.  Must be the great weather!

NOON: fartlek, 8 x 2 min on/off, NIST XC loop #2, 3 mile warm up, 3 mile cool down on NIST 6.

Happy Halloween!  Tonight I'm going to be The Dude from The Big Lebowski! 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:17:41.  Tired!

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:15

AM: Canal in GT with Kyle Smith

This was a super-tough XC course! I did not plan to run as hard as I did, but there really was no avoiding it. After two miles I was hurting, BAD. But, luckily, so was everyone else. The full race report can be found here.

Janet took some cool videos too. They are on my Picasa page. It is actually pretty sad to see how slow we are going in the first video. Please keep in mind that we had just finished climbing a monster hill. In the second video, you can see how badly I got out-kicked. Again, sadly, once I realized I was beaten, I pulled the plug... a lesson to the youngsters of how NOT to finish a race!

Our team, the Howard County Striders, took first place and we each were given a free bottle of wine -- my kind of race!

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:12

Windy! 

NOON: NIST 6 42:16 + weights

PM: Wisconsin 10, 1:12:56

COLD!  I swear, not 2 wks ago I was running without a shirt.  Today it was freezing!! 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:56

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:09

AFTERNOON: 3 mile warm up, 20 x 1 min on/off at 5k effort, 3 mile cool down. NIST XC loop #2.

AM: 12, 1:25:16, GT trails with Erik Olsen

NOON: Riley's Locke, 1:59:32.

NOON: Clopper 10 + 1 mile, 1:26:43, easy run with John Maclean.

+ weights 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:13:21.

NOON: Fartlek -- 10 x 3 min on / 1 min off at 10k effort, 3 mile warm up, 2 mile cool down.

I'll be in SLC from Friday to Wednesday for a conference!  Meet at Bayou on Friday night, 10:30ish.  Not sure of run schedule yet.   Probably an easy morning run on Sat.
 

NOON: Clopper 10 1:15:48.

Bethesda 6, 40:00, prior to my trip out to UT.

Memory Grove to Shriners, 48:20, with Toby and Neal.

Toby is in killer shape!  I think he clocked about 4:50 for one of the downhill miles! ;)

4 loops of Sugarhouse park, 39:07, with Neal.  Felt pretty good from taking Sunday off.

Shoreline trail, from Terrace Hills to Dry Creek, 1:11:19, with Albert.  Love this run!  Especially love that I had a chance to get it in on Nov. 20th!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Today started off pretty well for me.  I managed a win at the Boulevard Bolt 5 miler in Nashville.  Although, apparently my only competition was a 15 year old (see www.tnrunning.com).  He sure ran tough for the first four miles, though.  I did not realize how hard I was pushing things during the race.  But I can tell when I have really given a hard effort when my stomach does not settle down for several hours!

AM: Nashville, TN, Belle Mead Blvd + Percy Warner Park, Orange Trail, 1:25:49

AM: Nashville, TN, Edwin Warner Park, Red Trail, 1:02:24

NOON: Clopper 10 1:16:12

NOON: Clopper 10 1:14:31.

NOON: Clopper 10 1:17:05.

NOON: NIST 6 42:52

NOON: 3 mile warm up, 2 sets of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with equal rest at 10k pace (standard Demetrio workout), 3 mile cool down.

AM: Loops around Marshall high school track for the team fund raiser.1:01:12.

NOON: Rock Creek Trail, basically added on a mile out and back to my Temple 10 course.  1:30:26.

NOON: Treadmill, 44:07.  Weather is getting crummy!

NOON: 3 mile warm up, 5 x 2 min on/off at 5:00 pace on treadmill (1.5 incline), 2 mile cool down.  Just wanted to see how 5 min pace felt on the legs since I have been doing mainly fartlek workouts by feel.  Felt pretty good.  Keep my fingers X'd for Sat!  Guess I have no choice now but to go out hard!

NOON: NIST, treadmill ,44:30

NOON: NIST treadmill, 30:56

PM: One lap around the XC course in West Chester, OH.

2007 USATF National Club Cross-Country Championships, West Chester, Ohio.

I raced for the Howard County Striders.  Our team was 42/50 :), but we had a lot of fun!

Results

I was really happy with my race.  I was 201/422 with a time of 35:39... one of my slowest times, but probably one of my best performances!  I felt really good about being in the top half! I had watched the masters race earlier and having raced against a few of those guys I knew about what I should be shooting for on the course.  I knew a banner day would be 35ish (5:37 pace).  I ended up going out in 5:25, consistent with the "Go out hard and die like a man!" philosophy!  Thus, I was feeling it early.  But I managed to stay semi-relaxed and not drop off too much.  We hit the 3 mile in 16:45 (5:35 pace).  The fifth mile was a bear!  The last mile was a dog fight... but I managed to maintain my place and even passed a couple of guys in the last 0.2, which was slightly uphill... which was to my advantage against the speedy guys.  Finished in 35:39 (5:44 pace)... so as you can see, we were ALL dying!

Overall, this was one of the best racing experiences ever!  It was so cool to be among so many awesome runners.  A link to the photos of the weekend is given below.  Hope to see some of you out there next year!

Photos

Long drive back from OH.  Phil Lang was a little green from the night before!

Burger day at Dogfish!

NOON: NIST 6, 43:30, I'm back!  Time to start working off the holiday gut...

NOON: NIST 6, 41:56, sore!

AM: GT trails with Erik and Kyle,1:20ish.

NOON: Temple 10, 1:09:01.  Getting cold again.  Started to rain as I was finishing.  Definitely going to take me a few weeks to get my legs back.  I need a massage!