Week of 8/25

Cutback week this week, and it was about time. The little nagging
things were piling up and my legs were a little tired, so it was nice
to take a little break. Of course a cutback week is also a good time
for a tune-up race, right? Right? That's was a funny.

Just over 52 miles.

Mon - 5 easy
Tues - 5000 on the track, 16:54, led for about a mile and a half to
pace a friend to a PR, 2nd OA
Wed - 5 easy
Thus - 11 harder
Fri - 14 hard
Sat - 0
Sun - easy 10

In September I've got 2 half marathons coming up, one this weekend and
then the PDR on the 21st. This weekend is just for fun - I'll
probably do it as a marathon pace workout. The PDR I will run hard.

Week of 8/18

Another week in the books. Still just putting on the miles but I had
a good tempo this week and my first 20 ever on Sunday.

Monday: 0. A real actual honest day off.
Tuesday: 9 with 4 at tempo - 5:37,5:39,5:35,5:43. I felt strong but
kind of all over the place form-wise.
Wednesday: 14, 7:30 pace overall, nothing fast than 7:15. Kinda sore
around the edges from the tempo.
Thursday: Easy 5
Friday: 10+
Saturday: 5 easy
Sunday: 20 in 2:26, felt pretty good, took a few slow to warm up then
just hovered in the 7:10 range. A little tired at the end. :)

Week of 8/11

I ran a total of 67+ miles last week, which is pretty high for me. At
this mileage I start to feel it a little with the aches and pains, so
I'm sure I'll get a few weeks into the 70s, but I don't have plans to
go significant;y higher - just to hang out between 60-75 mpw and build
some strength in that zone.

Monday: 5 easy
Tuesday: 9+ at a moderate pace with 10 striders
Wednesday: 14, average low 7s, middle 10 were all 6:40-7:00
Thursday: 5 easy
Friday: 18 @ 7:20 avg, started slow, then walked it down to the high 6s, low 7s
Saturday: easy 5
Sunday: easy 11

The long run right now is definitely the hardest workout I'm doing.
I'm pretty tapped out by 18 miles, so I know that these runs are doing
me some good.

Wha Happenin?

Now my 2 year old son's favorite line. "Daddy, wha happenin?". Sit
and watch Cars with him and you'll hear it an even hundred times.

So, wha happenin?

Mostly just got busy with life and work. I ran that 5K on the Fourth
of July - much the same as my other efforts this spring - 16:55 or
somewhere thereabouts. I took some downtime the next week or so after
that, then started in with a base building plan for the fall. I've
decided that I'm going to train this fall a little bit more like I did
last year - higher miles, more LT pace workouts, and focus on some
longer races for the fall. I decided that I could use some aerobic
development for the fall so I've started my season by following the
Pfitzinger 18/70 plan. The last 3 weeks have been just around 60
miles with a 15-17 long run.

I'll probably do a 5k late this month for a fitness check. In
September, I've got a couple half marathons. I'm doing a trail HM
early in the month - probably just as a good hard workout. Then the
PDR in late September. I'll run that one hard but don't really expect
to be in great shape by then. I'll probably plan on something at the
Philly Marathon in late November for a peak race.

This past week, 62 miles and my first tempo run of the fall season, 4
miles at 5:45 pace.

Ambler YMCA Summer Solstice 5K

This race report is subtitled by Jen: "I can't handle you and this 5K
thing anymore." <grin>

It was kinda stormy here last night but I figured as long as they were
going to have the race I would run it. When I got there I tried to
avoid the crowds by stretching out under the football stadium
bleachers. It was pretty muddy and drippy, but I thought that beat
just getting soaked in the parking lot.

I saw a few faces I recognized warming up, but not a ton.

The race was about 20 minutes late getting started. I don't know if
this was because they were really waiting for the storms to pass, or
if they were just a bit disorganized.

I was picking out all the fast looking people out front, and (as I
usually do) tried to pick out who I thought was the fastest. And as
usual, I was wrong.

My hamstring has been bugging me on and off since last week's race and
it was still tight in warmups. I don't think the 20 minutes of
standing at the line and occasionally doing a strider really helped.

The race had a funny start. They had been going through
announcements, letting sponsors talk, singing the national anthem,
etc. Then a woman got up and said "Runners I have one more
annoucement... take your marks HONK!". I was like, whoa crap, she
just started the race!

I got a spasm in my hamstring about 400m in, and that made me pretty
nervous, but it faded.

It was a big field, but we all got off cleanly. There were a lot of
high school kids there and one crazy dude with an iPod on who went
through the half mile in probably 2:20. I was thinking I did not want
to be that dude at mile 2. I was in maybe 10th place at the half
mile. I saw a local guy I know starting to settle into a groove and
some of the HS kids started coming back, so I got in behind him.

At mile 1 I was next to another guy and a few steps behind first.
Mile one was 5:04. Uh-oh! It sure didn't feel that fast.

Mile 2 went onto a short nature path that was a nice change up. I
felt pretty strong and was able to keep the leader less than 10-15m in
front of me. There was no 2 mile split, but I'm pretty sure I was
around 10:20 or so.

We went around a sharp turn on the course here and I could see that I
had a good gap on #3.

At this point I thought I was sitting pretty. I thought I could feel
#1 starting to fade and I thought that I might have enough to get him
and the PR.

Then right around minute 11 I got a sharp cramp in the hamstring.
Owie. I thought about stoppping, but this season has been too long to
give up on a race.

The last mile was just painful and my stride was falling apart.
Number 3 caught me just as we headed onto the track for the finish and
I really just couldn't extend to keep up with him.

So I was 3rd overall in 16:53, about 5 seconds behind #2 and 15
seconds behind #1 - both guys that I know.

I won a nice dinner gift certificate for placing. Now all I need is a
race that gives out babysitters!

Those ugly splits look something like 5:04, 5:15, 5:55 pace. Ouch!

The hamstring is still pretty sore today, but I'm going to see what I
can do about pulling one or two more races out of it before I call it
a season.

So I am a little disappointed, I thought I was in a good position for
a PR, but I knew it was a little risky going in. The hamstring was a
big factor, the first mile was too fast. Kind of a dumb mistake on my
part. It didn't feel that fast going out.

Fun race overall though, nice course.

Jenkintown Summer Sunset 5K - 6/11

Last night was my hometown 5k. This is really one of my favorite
races and it's the only race I've run every year since I started
running. Our town is an old-school small town just outside of Philly.
Picture 1920s houses, kids walk to school, small downtown, that kind
of thing.

The race winds in and around the town so I know the roads and the
course like the back of my hand. They have been running it for almost
20 years now.

The turnout is just great. I don't know how many people there were -
but it was easily 300-350 people. I was joking with a neighbor that
we probably knew half the field. That's only a slight exaggeration.
We run a team every year just from our street. Go Team Hillside!

It's a big event for our town. Kids come out with handmade signs,
people sit out on the front lawns to cheer, it's a blast.

So have I talked you into coming next year?

My brother's girlfriend was around to watch the kids, so Jen and I
went over to pick up numbers and warmup around 6. It was still warm
(low 80s?) but waayyy better then it was over the weekend. I was
happy to see that the guy who co-owns the local running store was
running it. He is an excellent runner so I knew there would be
someone to chase.

Warming up was fun, and I did a little bit of it with Jen. They had a
DJ warming up the crowd and when it was time to head for the line he
played the Chariots of Fire theme. Now that's knowing your audience!
I felt loose and ready to go.

I lined up front with the running store guy, a bunch of guys from the
running store team, practically the whole HS XC team and as many other
people who we could squeeze up there.

Things started fast as they tend to do when there are a ton of HS
kids. I let them go and just stuck off he shoulder of the running
store guy. By the half mile it was me, him and a guy in a backwards
hat.

The first mile of the course is almost entirely downhill. There's one
stretch with a pretty good downhill for about 4 blocks. I settled
into 3rd here - I really need to work on my downhill running. It was
still the 3 of us ahead by a bit but I could hear an enormous pack
thundering just behind me, so I was running scared.

I hit the first mile at 5:15. That would be a great split for me
right now for a flat race, but it worried me a little since what goes
down....

Mile 2 is rolling, but generally downhill. Here running store guy
really started to pull away and hat guy was slowly opening a a bigger
gap. Every time we hit a downhill he would add another meter or 2.

Jen told me later that there were all sorts of people we knew out on
this stretch cheering, but I honestly don't remember seeing any of
them.

I could totally feel the burn starting around 1.5 miles. Right at the
2 mile mark, you make a hard left and it's pretty much all uphill from
there.

At this point hat guy had maybe 15 meters on me and running store guy
was a good way up the hill.

I have really struggled in the 5k with making moves late in the race.
When I am running so close to the red line it's just mentally and
physically really hard to get it together and hunt somebody down.

As we started up the hill I thought about settling for third (I was
third last year). Then somehow I decided that I have run that hill
too many times to settle for third. 15 meters became 10, which became
5. About halfway up the hill I finally pulled up on his shoulder,
then pushed past.

I'd like to think that I hammered it hard and put a gap on him, but I
think the reality is that we were both dying and I was just dying
less. Maybe that's the same thing.

Once you hit the top of the hill, it's kind of deceiving. There's
about .75 left and you think it should be flattening out, but it's
still just trending uphill.

Once I got past hat guy, I tried to focus on just turning my legs
over. My hamstrings were totally starting to tighten up.

I pushed as hard as I could over the last .5 mile but the gap on
running store guy was too big for me to close at that point. He ran a
16:35, I was second in 16:50. The kiddos were at a playground and
there is nothing that can get you to hammer like hearing "GOOOO
DADDDYYYYY!!!" Hat guy was about 20-25 seconds back so I had put a
decent gap on him.

After the finish I was just obliterated and my legs were shredded. I
headed back out onto the course with the best jog that I could manage
to cheer on the neighbors coming in and look for Jen. When she came
by I hopped out and tried to run with her a bit, but she was going too
fast so I just gave a big cheer and walked over to meet her at the
finish.

Overall, I'm very happy with the race. I said yesterday that I would
be ecstatic with anything under 17 on that course, and I am. I'm
really proud of coming back to close a gap and beat somebody - I have
never done that late in a race and have sometimes doubted that I
could. Plus it was a 25 second improvement over last year on the same
course.

Grace and I after the race:

Oy Vey 5K

Oy Vey indeed. A bank sign across the street from the race said 91 at
9 am. Plus crazy muggy, which really is worse.

I met a guy before the race who's a local HS track coach and was
looking to run a similar time. We talked about maybe taking it out
hard, but by
the time we were done warming up, the sun had come out and it was just
brutal. I wasn't just wet after a 2 mile jog, I was saturated.

Jen and I had also had the kiddos out on Saturday at a carnival, so i
was already half-baked form that.

Needless to say, we took it out easy. If the guy with the watch was in
the right place, we ran a 6:10 first mile and the both of us were just
chatting. He might have been late, I think we started a little faster
than that. At that point there were 2 guys behind us.

There was no 2 mile split, so I'm just guessing that maybe we ran 5:50
for the second mile, and at that point there was no one within sight
behind us. Maybe all the smart
people stayed home.

We cranked the last mile, maybe 5:10 pace, if all those numbers add
up. He had a bigger kick than me and I was 2nd in 17:40.

Hopefully he weather breaks a little bit by Wednesday night for the
Jenkintown 5K.