Sean's Running Blog

12 wet, freezing miles along the Sammamish River. Glad I did the workout yesterday.

Another cold, soggy run...this time in the early morning hours. First dark morning run I've had in a couple weeks. Nice to see it's getting lighter sooner.

6.75 more this evening with my daughter riding along side. Miserable weather again but great to have my daughter along.

Finally!!! A sunny, reasonably mild (50 degrees) run. Man the sun feels good. The sun makes the run along Lake Sammamish even prettier. Gorgeous weekend ahead.

A chilly start to a beautiful morning. Had to get my workout in early today but by the end, my gloves, hat and coat were all off. 3.5 mile warmup followed by 4M at 5:10. Hit them all and the last one was in 5:06. Then a 15 minute jog before jumping into 6x1:00 hills with 2:30 rest in between. So I picked the steepest part of the Snoqualmie Parkway and hit it hard. The another several miles afterward. Just a gorgeous day. Finally.  

A.M. Still chilly enough this morning that I needed long sleeves and gloves but it was just beautiful as the sun rose to crystal clear blue skies. Looking forward to a warm run this afternoon. Got in 11 this morning.

P.M. Had to take my son to baseball practice so I ran another 9 under sunny skies and 74 degrees. Oh...I can't even describe how good the warmth felt.

One more warm one tomorrow before a couple of rainy days. But its supposed to be OK weather for my first 10,000m track race at the Western washington University Invitational on Friday. Running 25 laps under the lights at 9pm. It should be fun.

One more workout today before the 10,000m race in Bellingham on Friday. 6x1000m with 90 seconds rest. Goal was to alternate between 3:00-3:03. I hit :00, :00, :01, :00, :01, and :02. I planned very poorly hydration wise. It was fairly warm (70 degrees) and by the time I was done with this relatively short workout, I was as salty and a Salt Lake salt flat. I need to pay more attention to that especially as we finally head into warmer weather. My coach suggested taking tomorrow completely off and then maybe 4-6 on Thursday before the race on Friday.

Rest day. Weird

5 easy miles this morning around the neighborhood in prep for tomorrow evening's race. 5 miles in two days. Weird. Just retired my Inifinitys. On to a new pair.

What a difference two seconds makes. This evening I achieved my second of four goals I have for the year...I ran a sub 31:00 10,000m in a time of 30:58. How heartbreaking 31:01 would have been. But I was not to be denied.

[Full results here: http://wwuvikings.cstv.com/sports/c-track/stats/041109aaa.html]

The race was supposed to start at 9:15pm but was delayed until 9:45pm which made a late evening even later. It wasn't a big deal for me but my parents came to watch as did my wife and kids so it was pretty late for them.

The weather was simply perfect. 48-50 degrees. No wind and occasional light drizzle although by race time I think it had stopped.

There were about 15 people in the race. Western Washington University hosted the race in Bellingham. It is a D-II school and some of the other schools were CCs. So the competition wasn't top notch. The meet record for the event was 32:30 or something around there.

When I signed up to do the race a month ago, there were supposed to be five of us running it all with the goal of breaking 31:00. But three had to bail out so it was just me and Steve DeKoker, a WWU alum who also happens to run Brooks’ awesome Brooks ID program...something many on this board should check out. Great discounts and some get free gear and shoes.

Steve and I agreed on a strategy during our warm up. We would switch off the lead every four laps and just try and hit 74s the whole way. Unfortunately, we got stuck in the second row of the waterfall start. In hindsight, it would have been better to be way out in lane 8. The first 150 meters Steve and I were totally boxed. Just before the 200 meter mark, I found a small hole and went for it…just in time to see that the first 200 was in 40 seconds…WAY too slow. It should have been in the 37 range. By the 300m mark Steve had made it out of the pack and took over the lead as we had planned. Lap 1 was slow (76 seconds) but not as bad as it could have been. I didn’t get too uptight about it. Frankly, running a 76 was better than coming out in a 71.

By the 800 meter mark, the race was over in terms of place. Steve and I had gapped everyone and it was pretty clear that we would finish ahead of everyone. But neither of us was there to place. We wanted sub 31:00. The first 1600 came quickly (4:57) and right on pace. I took over the lead from Steve and led the next four laps which went smoothly but somehow a bit slower than we wanted (5:01). I’m not sure what happened because I felt great and was having no issues at all. Oh well. Steve then took over for his second set of four laps which we covered in 5:00 flat…still a second or two slower. I was back in the lead and carried us through the 5k mark, which is when I began to get a bit worried. We crossed the 5k mark at 15:38. Eight seconds over pace is manageable but not a gimme, especially with the hardest (at least mentally) part of the race yet to come. My goal at that point was to try and make up one second each lap. Mission accomplished as we crossed the 6400 mark (9 laps to go) in 4:56. That was more like it. We picked up three of the eight seconds with nine laps to go. Then another bit of bad news…Steve began having GI issues and told me he was going to back off and couldn’t take over the lead for his third and final segment. Ugh. Steve is 6’4”. I am 5’8” with shoes on. I really enjoyed drafting behind him. Oh well. So with nine laps to go, I knew I was on my own in a race I had never competed in before and still five or so seconds over pace. First lap all on my own (#19) was in 74. OK, but I needed a few 73s or even a 72 to get back on pace. 20^th lap (the 8k mark) went a little better in 73 crossing the 8k mark in 24:48, shattering my previous 8k PR of 25:03. That turned out to be a pretty huge confidence booster that I really needed with 5 laps to go. I was really starting to hurt and have some doubts as I was doing fuzzy math in my head about what it was going to take to reach my goal. Lap 21 came in at 75. Not good. The first two hundred of this lap was in 37, the worst split I had had all race at the 200m mark so I knew the lap was going to be slow. So with four laps to go, I had given back another second. Ugh. But lap 22 I found some strength somewhere and pulled in a 74 with the cumulative clock at 27:07. So I needed to cover 1200m in 3:52 or better. Lap 23 was perhaps the most difficult. My sub 31:00 was still in jeopardy and I was running out of gas and had no help. I had lapped several people throughout the race and that serves as some motivation and help but nothing like having a 6’4” wind shield. Despite how hard lap 23 felt, I managed a 73. This was HUGE. With two laps to go, I was sitting at 28:30. In other words, I need a 2:29 final 800m to reach my goal. I knew I could do this. I began to pick it up a bit in Lap 24. I consciously made the decision to not leave any work undone for the final lap. So I kicked it up a notch. It turned out to be a smart move. Lap 24 was a 72, just the second 72 I had all race. With one lap to go, the clock read 29:46. I still needed a 73 to get the job done and that was no gimme. The first 200m of the final lap was in a “blistering” :35. With 200 to go, I simply needed a :38 to break 31:00. With 100 to go, I could see the clock and just gave it everything I had. I crossed the finish line in 30:58…barely a second to spare. I was so thrilled. I think my dad may have been even happier. He was there at the finish to congratulate me which meant a lot.

As it turns out, the time was a meet record.

Some have said the 5000 meters is the most grueling distance. Maybe. But I found the 10,000 and its 25 sometimes monotonous laps to be pretty grueling.

One more thing about running in a pack. There are definitely very real and measureable physical benefits to running with a group at any distance. But there is a mental benefit that is every bit as meaningful. The key to any distance race is being able to break the race up into sections whether its miles, laps or even minutes. The 10,000 meters became much more mentally manageable to me because Steve and I broke it up into 1600m segments. There was something very powerful in trading the lead every four laps that really made the race one of segments not simply a 25-lap race.

So what can I improve on to do even better next time...:

• Lapping -- one of the challenges of such a long race around a track (unless you are running at something like a Stanford Invite) is you are inevitably going to lap people. My coach's estimate was that I lapped 25-30 people over the course of 25 laps. Unfortunately, many of those occured in the turns. I tried to avoid running in Lane 2 as much as possible but I spent more time there than I would have liked. Not sure what there is to do about that but it was a small factor.
• Faster front half. Only after thinking about my times more yesterday did I realize the huge differential in the 5k splits. 15:38 for the front half and 15:20 for the back half. A negative split isn't necessarily all that bad but one of 18 seconds is a bit much. Next time, I will go out in 15:20-25 and then try and hold that for the second half. It was my first 10,000m so I didn't want to do anything silly on the front half that would cost me later, but now with one under my belt, speeding up from the front 5k would be my first place to look to bring down my time.
• Bigger Pack -- I outlined above the benefits of a pack. Laws of physics support this and real-life experience validates it. If I run a track 10k again, I will make sure it's at a meet where there is a larger group of guys to do what Steve and I did, but do it for the entire race. Losing Steve with 9 laps to go was noticeable and it could have only helped to have had someone else to trade off with for those final 9 laps.

Today was a very hard day to get out of bed and run. I needed to get an early start because we had family plans the rest of the day. So I took off at 6:30 for a beautiful run along the seashore near Blaine, WA where we stayed the night at Semiahmoo Resort. First mile was in 9:00. Second was something like 8:30. I was very tight and sore from the race just 8 hours prior. But everything loosened up and I managed to get in 16 which made for a low, but respectable week of mileage considering ai was optimizing for the race last night. Looking forward to my rest tomorrow.

NIce morning for a run. I little tight ans sore still from my race late Friday night but the energy level is back.

10 miles this afternoon along the Burke Gilman trail in Seattle. What a wonderful trail system that is.

A nice run a long the Sammamish River trail. The sun even peaked out a few times.

Another beautiful run along the Sammamish River trail. 55 degrees and mostly sunny. Perhaps we are finally turning the corner.

Just another stunning spring day in Seattle. Sunny and pleasant temps. I have the slightest of strains in my left calf so I backed a bit off of the planned mileage today. I am supposed to do a workout tomorrow with Mike Sayenko and Uli Steidl but I'll wait and see how the calf feels. As much as I would like to run the workout with other guys, I may give my calf one extra day of rest.

Wound up trying the workout with Mike and Uli. Uli's wife Trisha, who coaches Seattle University, joined us for the warm and cool.

The clouds parted and we had a bit of sunshine at the start and end of the workout. We ran from Marymoor Park along the Sammamish River Trail past Redhook Brewery in Woodinville. For those familiar with the Super Jock and Jill 1/2 marathon, we ran on the last part of the course.

The workout was a tempo run. 10 miles with the first few at 5:30 and then working our way down to 5:05 for the last couple.

We went out too fast. First 1/4 was in 75. Oops. My bad. First four miles were in the 5:18-5:20 range and they felt fine. The reason they felt like the easiest four miles in history was because the wind was at our backs out of the south. The last four miles were brutal. Dropped a 5:28 into a stiff wind on mile 7. The rest were all in the 5:18-5:22 range. Times weren't there because of the wind, but the effort was.

Looking forward to an easy 20 tomorrow.

A beautiful day today although it didn't warm up as much as expected. That didn't stop me from getting sunburned. Oops. Forgot what it was like to run for 2+ hours in the sun. Lesson learned.

I ran the first 13 miles of my run testing out the course for the half marathon I will be putting on here next April or May. It's going to be a rare blend of flat and beautiful, something that doesn't exist in half marathons out here.

About five miles into the run, I looked at my watch and realized I was running about 6:10 pace, much faster than I normally run my easy runs. It felt fine though and I didn't really look at my watch again and just ran what felt right. Good training week. Two weeks until the Indy Mini.

Probably the nicest run I have had in six months. Clear skies. 75 degrees. It's days like this that make the winters worth it.

If there is one thing we Seattleites don't know how to do, it's run in the warmth...especially early season warmth. I've seen it time and time again. Runners from Seattle venturing unto other climates and absolutely getting it handed to them in races of any length with a temperature of 65 degrees or greater. I think we are just so used to running 8 months out of the year in the 50s or less that we don't know how to hydrate and our bodies aren't used to what our friends in the South are so accustomed to.

To be clear, I am not complaining. Anyone who lived through our winter would be insane to complain about a sunny day in the upper 70s. In fact, there could not have been a nicer day for an easy run anywhere on earth. It's just doing things at race pace or faster makes the warmth all of th sudden uncomfortable. Ironically, I did my workout today because tomorrow calls for an end to our beautiful weather and brings back the rain.

The gauge at Redmond High School said 81. I don't think it was that warm, but it was over 75 degrees when I got started. The workout was 2x2M @4:52 pace. First mile went well (4:51) but I knew as surely as I know the sky is blue, that the rest were going to be uuuugly. Second mile was 4:57. After a four-minute rest and 10 ounces of water, I jumped into the last 2M repeat with the simple goal of hitting each mile in 5:00. The first one was right on and the second was 5:01. Good enough for me.

Nice easy run today along Lake Sammamish. Light drizzle and nearly 30 degrees cooler than yesterday. In hindsight, I should have done the workout today. Oh well.

A nice easy stroll through the rural roads of Redmond. I thought I would change things up a bit and try a different route. It was beautiful. Redmond goes from commercial to rural pretty quickly. Temp was mid 50s with a nice breeze.

I got an email from the race director of the Indy Mini with the list of elite athletes being hosted by the race. I've included the list below sorted their 1/2 PRs as best as I could find them on the Web. Other than a couple of ridiculously fast guys, there's quite a pack of 1:07-1:12 runners. Should be fun. Paul...I hope I got your time right.

Bib	First Name	Last Name	City	State	1/2 Time
7	Elijah	Nyabuti			1:02
49	Festus	Langat			1:02
8	George	Towett			1:03
9	Mohamed	Fadil			1:04
5	Jason	Lokwatom			1:05
10	Abdelaziz	Atmani	Indianapolis	IN	1:07
14	John	Poray	Indianapolis	IN	1:09
16	Jesse	Davis	Indianapolis	IN	1:09
20	Sean	Sundwall	Snoqualmie	WA	1:09
53	Paul	Petersen	Logan	UT	1:09
41	Matt	Blume	Fort Wayne	IN	1:10
52	Antonio	McDaniel	Carmel	IN	1:10
57	Jerome	Recker	Lansing	MI	1:10
48	Nick	Krus			1:11
51	Mark	Manz	Kiel	WI	1:11
67	Scott	Spitz	Indianapolis		1:11
19	Jacob	Rhyner	Indianapolis		1:12
13	Eric	Ade			1:12
62	Chris	Teague	Holliston	MA	1:12
15	John	Agnew			1:13
50	Tristan	Mannix	Evansville	IN	1:13
12	Aaron	Harding	Indianapolis	IN	1:15
18	Tim	Mylin	Noblesville		1:15
45	David	Forsee	Indianapolis	IN	1:15
56	Jason	Ream	Chicago	IL	1:15
66	Gregory	Verdo	Chicago	IL	1:16
3	Jason	Crichton	Toronto	ON	1:18
65	Josh	Trisler			1:21
46	Gerry	Groothuis			1:23
44	Thomas	Dever	Terre Haute	IN	1:25
11	Aaron	Moody	Indianapolis	IN	1:26
64	Ian	Thomas	Pennville	IN	1:26
43	Scott	Colford			1:32
42	Rick	Britton			1:33
59	Gary	Romesser	Indianapolis		1:35
61	Michael	Smith	Brownsburg		1:35
63	Mitchell	Thomas	Pennville	IN	1:35
60	Tyler	Small			1:42

I checked the weather there today and I would be gitty if this is what we had next Saturday. Updated: 7:28 pm EDT

69.6 °F Mostly Cloudy Humidity: 17% Dew Point: 32 °F Wind: 2.0 mph from the SE   Wind Gust: 8.0 mph Pressure: 29.33 in (Falling) Visibility: 10.0 miles UV: 1 out of 16 Clouds: Few 7000 ft Scattered Clouds 13000 ft Mostly Cloudy 20000 ft (Above Ground Level) Elevation: 735 ft

 Utah-like humidity, relatively low temperature considering it's late afternoon there and light winds with some clouds thrown in for good measure. The long range forecast for Saturday May 2 calls for showers and a low of 46 and a high of 67 with humidity at 53%. That's what I'm talkin about. I know...the forecast will change a hundred times between now and then. But can't a guy dream?

A cold but beautiful 12-mile run through the streets and neighborhoods of Snoqualmie and North bend. Not a cloud in the sky and a fresh coat of snow in the mountains made for a gorgeous run. I felt really good thorughout the whole run.

Woke up this morning pretty tired and stuffed from a long night of crazy twelve year old girls over for my daughter's birthday party. I ate way to much and got too little sleep.

During my warmup I was a little worried about being able to do the workout as my stomach was giving me issues. Temp was cool and it was mostly cloudy but good weather for race pace running.

The workout was essentially a race simulation for next weekend. Six miles total with the first 5 at race pace (5:08-5:10) with the final mile being as close to 5:00 as possible.

Mile 1 -- 5:08 -- Tight and tired but hit the number

Mile 2 -- 5:11 -- Umm...what happened? I lost concentration I think and wasn't paying attention.

Mile 3 -- 5:10 -- Focused on trying to get in a rhythm and just relax

Mile 4 -- 5:09 -- This was my water lap and the wind started to kick up. Just focused on my stride and using my arms.

Mile 5 -- Stomach issues still in check and finally started feeling OK.

Mile 6 -- 4:59 -- I was pretty happy with hitting this once. After the first two miles I was feeling like I would have been happy to just complete the six miles let alone hit the final one in sub 5:00. This was by far the easiest mile. Not sure why but I felt good the whole way.

A really good penutlimate workout before Indy. Feeling ready.

Turned out to be a really nice day. Sunny and mid-60s by the time I got out the door this afternoon. Easy run along the Sammamish River. I think the morning weather scared people off as I was almost all alone on a trail that can get pretty busy in nice weather. The Indy Mini officials updated the elite entry list and they've added a 1:01 half marathoner and a few other fast guys. Here's the updated list. It will be really cool if the secondary pack of 1:07-1:09 guys can hang together for a long time. I just realized I'm the oldest guy among the Top 21 people. From a running perspective, 40 can't come fast enough. I'm in this no-man's land of mid-30s that doesn't get you jack.

Bib Number	First Name	Last Name	Age	PR
4	Moses	Kororia	32	1:01
7	Elijah	Nyabuti	30	1:02
49	Festus	Langat	24	1:02
8	George	Towett	24	1:03
9	Mohamed	Fadil	27	1:04
5	Jason	Lokwatom	24	1:05
6	Joseph	Mutinda	34	1:05
10	Abdelaziz	Atmani	27	1:07
14	John	Poray	28	1:09
16	Jesse	Davis	27	1:09
20	Sean	Sundwall	36	1:09
53	Paul	Petersen	29	1:09
41	Matt	Blume	27	1:10
52	Antonio	McDaniel	24	1:10
57	Jerome	Recker	25	1:10
48	NicK	Krus	23	1:11
51	Mark	Manz	35	1:11
67	Scott	Spitz	32	1:11
13	Eric	Ade	30	1:12
19	Jacob	Rhyner	25	1:12
62	Chris	Teague	40	1:12
15	John	Agnew	47	1:13
50	Tristan	Mannix	24	1:13
55	Jake	Quagliaroli	31	1:13
12	Aaron	Harding	26	1:15
18	Timothy	Mylin	49	1:15
45	David	Forsee	40	1:15
56	Jason	Ream	27	1:15
66	GREGORY	VERDO	30	1:16
3	Jason	Crichton	27	1:18
65	Josh	Trisler	30	1:21
46	Gerry	Groothuis	26	1:23
44	Thomas	Dever	51	1:25
11	Aaron	Moody	30	1:26
64	Ian	Thomas	22	1:26
43	Scott	Colford	38	1:32
42	Ricky	Britton	27	1:33
59	Gary	Romesser	58	1:35
63	Mitchell	Thomas	22	1:35
60	Tyler	Small	33	1:42
17	Aimad	Bouziane	26	2:30 Full
58	Brad	Robinson	24	2:38 Full
69	Ernest	Kimeli	22	30:33 10k
47	Matt	Ingalls	23
54	Dan	Pinter	22

Temperature: 56

Humidity: 54%

Wind: 5-10mph

These were the conditions today at the Redmond HS track where I did my final workout before Saturday's race. That just so happens to be almost exactly the conditions forecast for Saturday in Indy.

As for the workout...4M@5:10-5:12 + 1/2 mile at 2:30 or better.

First mile was in 5:08 and every mile thereafter was at 5:11 with the final half being in 2:28. The problem is that it took way to much effort to do it which was a bit frustrating. Saturday's workout which was of the same ilk but longer went much better. I just never felt relaxed today and it just took more effort to run that pace than it should have. Oh well. It's all the more incentive to run with a pack of guys at Indy.

Indy Forecasts:

Intellicast: Mostly cloudy; 51-65; 60% humidity; light winds

Wunderground: Partly sunny; 54-65; 85% humidity; light winds

Weather.com: Mostly cloudy; 53-66; 60% humidity; light/moderate winds

NOAA: Partly Sunny; 45-65

Nice easy run along the Sammamish River. Cool but gorgeous day. Rest day and travel day on Thursday then I will run the last 4-5 miles of the course on Friday.

Race day weather is shaping up to be ideal.