Broad St Special

Last night, 13 miles with the middle 10 progression. The plan was to
drop the pace every 2 miles from 6:30 down to 5:50. Nice night for a
run and it went well.

6:31,6:36,6:12,6:17,6:13,6:13,6:00,6:01,5:41,5:35 for 61:19

Of course I do a workout like that and it strikes me today as kind of
a mystery how I'll run a whole heck of a lot faster on race day, but,
I suppose, figuring that out is what races are about.

When life hands you lemons...

You can always mash them into a pulp with your forehead.

Sunday I headed to my track for some long intervals. I was stopped at
the gate by a guy in a respirator. He said they were spraying an
herbicide and the field was closed. Not going to argue with that one.

Run to another track.

Locked up tight as a drum. I will climb a 6 foot chain link, but this
place has 10 foot iron fences. Nope.

Run to another track.

Finally one that is open. Unfortunately this is on the top of a hill,
wide open, and completely exposed to the wiiiiiiinnnnnnnndddd.

It was windy enough that in the middle of my reps, it blew a trash can
off the baseball field and onto the track.

It was a debacle. The wind which was a straight line just bearing
down the whole front stretch. It was really all I could do to just
put my
head down and try to get some work in. I went pretty hard and was
totally caked in salt and dirt by the time this one was over, but the
times were just ugly.

2000: 6:54 (5:25 pace)
400: 76
400: 76
2000: 7:09 (5:35)
300: 59
300: 56
2000: 7:14 (5:42)
200: 34
200: 40

I will leave it as an exercise for you, loyal reader, to determine
which of those last 200s was with the wind, and which was against.

It was pretty surreal. All down the front straight it was just
roaring wind and trying to keep moving forward, then into the turn and
trying to stay on the track and not get pushed onto the infield and
then *pop* I was around and could feel the invisible hand just pushing
me down the back stretch in complete silence. Then I would feel the
heat of the sun and the sweat and then off the turn and back into it.
Crazy.

Last week about 53 miles.

m: easy 5
t: drunken man's 10k (400 @ 5k pace, 1600 at MP, repeat for 6.25)
w: easy 5
th: easy 7.5 with 3x1/5 (56,56,56), jog, 2x1/5 (55,56)
f: easy 5
s: 10 @ 7:20
s: wind blown debacle

Butterfly Run 5k

I've had this 5k on the calendar for a while. It's for a local charity but offers cash to the top 3, so there was quite a good turnout last year.

Short story: 16:44, 4th overall

There were thunderstorms in the forecast for Saturday morning, so on Friday night we abandoned plans of getting the kids up and out the door early and bringing the whole family. I got on the net and found an alternative race on Sunday which was close to my house, but who knows who would show up.

But come Saturday morning, the thunderstorms were nowhere to be seen. But already having considered waiting until Sunday, I was unsure if I wanted to head out or not. I'm really kind of a fruitcake on race mornings. I don't know if it's nerves, or fear of the oncoming rush of pain, or since I run hard mostly at night that I'm really just not primed to head out the door and race early.

My wife has another word for this, but it's not suitable for a family blog. :)

Anyway, it's a good thing races are early, because if I acted like this all day on race day I'd be divorced.

So after all that, I decided to head out to Great Valley since I figured there would be good competition there. I was a little late getting going, and was worried about having enough time to warmup, but this race director is notorious for not starting on time, so I ended up with an extra 15 minutes up at the line to do some striders.

I don't know if the weather scared people off, but I did not see a lot of people I knew (or knew of) at the start. I did see 3 guys who are local post-college runners, running-store sponsored guys and I knew they would be good for a fast race. One in particular can run sub 15, so I keyed on the other 2. Since I didn't see anyone else at the line who I thought would be running in the 16s I decided to stick a hook in these 2 and see how long I could hang near them.

When the gun went off, it was the 3 running store guys, myself and 2 high school kids. After about a half mile the high school kids dropped off and I just tucked in behind the lead pack. I was tempted to really get in close and try not to lose touch, but the ground was a little slick from all the rain last night and my flats don't get a ton of traction. So I gave them a yard or two.

The course is rolling, but only has some minor hills in the first mile. I was a few seconds behind the leaders at the first mile in 5:07. But the bigger hills come in miles 2 and 3. At about a mile and a quarter there was a decent hill and places 2 and 3 started to drift away. There was a brief moment on the hill where I thought I could pick it up and stick with them since I knew they were heading for 16 flat.

Like I said, it was a brief moment. :)

They got out ahead maybe 50 yards over the next few hills and more or less stayed there for mile 2.

About halfway through mile 2 I had a brilliant idea. I saw a low hanging cedar tree coming up on the corner and thought that I could just brush my head against it and shake some water off (it poured here all last night). These are the kind of brilliant ideas I have deep in oxygen debt. While I didn't knock myself out I hit the branch a little harder than I would have liked. I got nice and wet, but unfortunately also covered myself in tiny green crap. Oh well.

Mile 2 was solo and a slower 5:28. I couldn't hear if anyone was close behind me but I didn't look back. Judging from the spectators there was no one especially close.

Mile 3 was even hillier than mile 2 and I was just doing all the mental-deal making I could to keep the legs turning over. In particular the last hill leading up to the 3 mile marker was a kicker. Mile 3 was 5:34.

Then it was just a short .1 downhill to the finish and a 16:44.

In the chute I had to grab onto the arm of the woman who was tearing off the bibs. I took a knee when I came out and got a little woozy and dizzy. In retrospect, this was nice because I felt like I left it all out there for this one.

I met up with the top 3 guys after the race and had a nice time talking with them and hanging out while we caught the end of the race and the awards.

So although the time isn't a heck of a lot faster then my race a month ago, I'm really happy with it for 2 big reasons - this is a much tougher course with all the hills, and I was running solo for the last 2 miles. Combine that with the fact that it was over 70 for the first time this spring and I'm happy with the progress I'm seeing.

I ran a 17:25 on this same course last year so I'm really happy with the year over year performance too.

Plus my daughter wanted to take her nap on Saturday with my AG medal since it had a butterfly on it. That made it all the more worthwhile.

Flashing Yellow

Last week running was a grind. We had a real push early in the week at work to release a revision of the software and so work was crazy. All week it was just a challenge to get the shoes on and get out the door. In the past my reaction to this has just been to put my head down and try to run through it. But by Saturday I began to think that I was getting a little close to the line. My legs were achey and sore and tired as heck. So I punted on my track workout for this weekend and just did a nice easy trail 8 miler.

Last night was an easy 3+ and those warning lights have started flickering back to green.

m: 6.5 easy
t: 9 with 7.5 @ 6:00 pace
w: 5 easy
th: 7+ with light track work - at 1/5m track - 1.5 laps 1:28 (4:53
pace), .5 jog, 1 lap 58 (4:50 pace), .5 jog, .5 lap @ 27 (4:30 pace),
long jog, 3 x 1/5 59 (4:55 pace),58 (4:50 pace), 56 (4:40 pace)
f: 5 easy
s: 12 at 7:15 (easy to start, then 10 at low 7s), sore, tight and tired
s: easy 8

for about 53 miles.

Obstacle Course

First off, best wishes to Joseph. Be well and you're in my thoughts.

This week was 62+ miles in 7 runs.

m: 5 easy
t: 1 @ 5:20 + 4 @ 5:49 + 1 @ 5:20
w: 7.5 easy
th: 7.5 with 2 x (2/5 @ 2:00, 1/5 @ 58)
f: 5 easy
s: 11 with 4x5x440y
s: 16+ at 7:15 pace

Tuesday was a nice tempo workout. I started with a mile at 5:20 to take some of the zip out of my legs. This was a nice workout and really replicated the feeling of a HM pretty well. The tempo pace wasn't too fast, but my legs were a little tired. The 5:20 after the tempo was just gratuitous.

Thursday night was an easy run with a light speed workout on my HS 1/5 mile dirt loop. 2/5 @ 2:00 then 1/5 @ 58 seconds. Then jog for a bit and repeat. Oddly, the second set was easier than the first.

Sunday was an easier long run - 16+ at 7:15 pace. I tired to keep them all over 7:00 pace and only slipped under for one.

Saturday was low 40s and windy. When I showed up at my 440 yard dirt track, I was the only one there. I set about doing a couple warmup laps and making some marks in the dirt for using the 50 yardlines and the football goalposts as my guides for the 110s. As I was doing this, a whole little league team showed up for batting practice on the infield. Watch out.

Then the octogenarian who speed walks in lane 1 showed up. I don't mind him so much, but he does that jaunty old man thing where he swings his elbows real wide as he walks and I've almost caught it in the chin a couple times trying to cut by in lane 2.

Then some other runners showed up.

Then a couple who thought it would be cool to have their 5 or 6 year old daughter rider her bike around the track while they jogged. Ride it the wrong way. In lane one. And swerve out trying to hit runners. And park her bike across lanes 1 & 2.

Really, when you are doing 440s, the last thing you want to see coming down the backstretch, when your eyes are tearing up from the wind, is the Huffy Training Wheel Express bearing down on you.

I was dodging people on every lap.

Regardless, the workout was good. The plan was 4x5x440. Jog 110 after each rep, then 440 after each set.

1 (Goal: 1:24): 1:17, 1:20, 1:20, 1:21, 1:21
2 (Goal: 1:22): 1:21, 1:21, 1:20, 1:20, 1:21
3 (Goal 1:20): 1:20, 1:19, 1:20, 1:20, 1:19, 1:19
4 (Goal 1:18) 1:17, 1:17, 1:18, 1:17, 1:15

I was really happy to nail all my times on this one, and especially with the last set. Somehow I lost count on one set and did an extra rep. Of all things, how do you undercount intervals?

It's the first workout this year that I felt like I really nailed like I wanted to.

On the second to last rep the stunt biker was (finally!) leaving with her parents. Not to be intimidated though, she felt compelled to run back over and jump in front of me in lane 1 and put her hands on her hips. I gave her parents as cold a stare as you can manage when you are in oxygen debt.

Good week. Fun runs. Feeling faster.

Fun workouts

So. It's crazy. The new job's time demands and mental energy is pretty high. But I've made it through the first week and that's the hard part. Thanks for the comments and emails! I've been trying to do my easy runs early, and my workouts at night. I just don't usually have the gusto to hit the track early. (Good for you Joseph for pulling that off!).

Thursday night was an easy run, but I swung by the track to throw in 4x440 just to get some turnover. Goal was 72-75. I did 1:13,1:11,1:12,1:15. The track was cold and windy (is the track ever not windy?), but we had an almost full moon and it was fun to run on an almost-lit track for a change. Those reps were just fast enough to get me feeling some fire in my belly. (And few enough that it didn't make me want to cry.)

It occurred to me while I was doing them - and these felt just about as fast as I could go with breaking out into full on crazy mode - that that's how fast you have to run a HM under the new qualifiers for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials (a 1:03). Holy carp that's fast!

Saturday was a big workout - 6x1000. I didn't really feel up for a workout, but after some prodding from my dear wife I went out to give it a shot. The goal was 6 x 1000m in 3:20 with a 1 minute jog. I'm converting everything for my dirt track, so it was really 1100 yards with a 220 jog.

3:20, 1:15 jog (max hr - 179)
3:17, 1:22 jog (183)
3:20, 1:22 jog (182)
3:22, 1:28 jog (183)
3:23, 1:32 jog (183)
3:28, -- (181)

It felt a lot like my 5k from last weekend and I was happy that I held it together. The last rep was tough and I felt like I was running in Fluffernutter. I just went to pieces flailing my arms trying to keep my legs moving for the last 440. But I kept my HR up, so I'd like to think it was honest, and not just showing off for the octogenarians walking in lane 1.

Sunday I felt surprisingly strong, so I snuck out during a lull in the Easter festivities for 15.5. After the first few, I just fell down into the 6:30s and it felt good, so there it was. Low 6:40s pace overall. Hilly course, but I've found a new trail, and a decent way to get there, so that was nice.

So now I just take it 1 week at a time.

Keep it moving

Still trying to sort out the new schedule. Got home later last night than I wanted, so I hustled for 10 miles in 1:06 when the kids were down - warmup, 7.5 miles at tempo in 46 minutes (6:08), short jog, then 3 minutes at 5:30 pace, then a cooldown.