Workout

Legs probably were not 100% recovered from races on Sunday, but I needed to get this workout in with the busy week I've got.

3 mile warmup.

5x1/2 mile at goal 3-k pace.  I seeded myself at 9:30 for nationals which is 5:05 mile pace.  So hopefully somewhere between 9:15-9:30 is what I can run.

Did this workout on Duck Brook Road, fairly flat with some slight ups and downs, lots of gravel on the road, so wasn't great, but good enough.  Took 90 seconds easy between each.

2:30.4
2:31.0
2:29.3
2:29.9
2:28.4

Pretty happy with these, especially being true half mile instead of 800's.  Averaged out to 2:29.8, that's about 9:18 for 3000.  So hopefully with a few more faster workouts, some rest, and being on a track with some competition, 9:30 is realistic.

Still won't even know until the beginning of March if I'll even fly in on time for the 3000.  Haven't decided if I'll pay the extra $150 to change my plane ticket to day before if I find out I won't make it.  Could just decide to save the money and energy for the 1500 and 800.  But it would be kind of stupid not to run the 3000 which is probably my strongest event out of the three.  So I'll figure it out as we get closer.  I'm hoping when the schedule of events comes out that the 3000 is later in the afternoon, then I'll be all set.

Anyhow,

I'm pretty busy at work this week, so I may have to take Thursday off completely.  Not sure yet.  I'll try to sneak in some fast stuff that day, but not sure when.

Easy run

About 30 minutes before I was supposed to meet Andy for a run a ton of bio bricks showed up, so I got a good warmup moving those inside.  By the time Andy showed up I was sweating pretty good and I took a couple layers off I had intended to wear for run.  Glad I did because it was plenty warm.

13 miles, 1:27:38.  First 10.5 with Andy.  Pretty hilly route.  Loop road is clear.  Legs felt good, but I hadn't eaten anything since dinner last night and the last couple miles felt like I was burning fat.

Trip home

What a trip home from Orono.  Roads sucked.  I spun around, slid, did just about everything other than go off the road and crash.

Once I got to Ellsworth I needed to take a break before making the push to Bar Harbor.

Stopped in at Burger King.  Got me some chicken nuggets and just sat there for half hour until I was composed enough to keep driving.

Trenton was actually completely clear.  They had salted from ellsworth to head of island and the roads were so nice.

Then I got on island.  WTF, roads sucked again.  Guy passed about 8 cars, got right on me.  I pulled over and noted his license plate,  get him another day.

Made it home, took a nice 90 minute nap.  I was out.

Legs feel good so far.  Wearing spikes for two races didn't seem to hurt anything.  True test will be how they feel tomorrow.

Looks like about 8-10 guys signed up in 40-44 age group for 800, 1500, 3000 for indoor masters nationals. They'll probably run us with 45-49 age group, but they have double the amount, so maybe not.

Kind of hoping because a former training partner from my college days who's running the 3-k is in the later age group and it would be an epic race between us.  Plus there is a pretty fast guy in later age group and I want to race him.

Who knows.  I don't even know if I'll make it in time for 3k yet.

Race report

2 mile warmup, 12:18.

Strides drills, lots of jogging around. 

1500 meter race started pretty bad.  I got a really bad start, but not surprising since I haven't raced on track in 12 years.  By end of first lap I'd taken lead.  Ran even through middle of race and final lap 31 seconds.  I'd seeded myself at 4:30, hoping I could run that now and be able to run 4:25 at nationals in three weeks.

Ended up running 4:23.75 today, so real happy.  Especially with start and not killing it until final lap.

Ran a mile after to cooldown and warmup for 1000.

Race went out pretty slow and I ended up staying behind leader for first 700 meters, then took off.  Ran final lap in 29.  Had seeded myself at 2:50, ended up running 2:48.37.

Mile on indoor track for cooldown after.

Easy run

5 miles, 30:50.  Outside, pretty flat.

Start of a new week

Got in about 59 miles last week which is the highest since mid January.  Happy with that with one day at 3.1 miles, and two just over 4 miles. 

Not really resting going into tomorrows track races, but I didn't want to over do things yesterday after a good 7.5 mile steady state run on Wednesday.

Plus I didn't want to get too much in with spikes on and wreck my legs completely for Sunday's races.

The 1500 will be first.  Goal is 4:30, or 36 second 200s.  This should be doable.  Just need to make sure I don't go out too fast.  If anything I'll go out slow and make last 600 fast, which is how nationals will be.

After that I should have over an hours rest before the 1000.  This I'm kind of going to run a little more aggressively.  I'd like to try and go through 800 in 2:10 which is my goal for 800 at nationals, then hang on and hopefully finish at my goal 1500 pace for nationals which is 4:25.  That's a big slow down, but if I hit 2:10 through 800 I'm going to probably hit a bug wall the last 200. 

I'm probably going to do a workout after the race.  Really depends how I feel, but I'll get something in.

A couple workouts next week.  First one probably 4x1-mile @ goal 5-k pace, second one much faster, probably 5-8x 800 @ goal 3-k pace.

Then I race 5-k next Sunday in Portland.  It's not a fast course, but I'd like to run 16:20.

The week after that I'm going to start off with 10-12x1000 @ just faster than tempo pace,  second workout will be much faster, 5x1000 faster than goal 3k pace, withe equal rests.  Then weekend before nationals I'm going to run a 2k time trial.

A few days before heading to nationals I'll do 8x 200 @ goal 800 pace.

Then nationals, March 16th I've got 3k.
March 17th the 1500, and march 18th the 800.  Possible I may run a leg of 4x 800 on 17th as well.

So after that weekend I'll take 3-4 days easy before getting into 10-k training.

Light workout

1.58 warmup, 

4x200 @,goal 800 pace.  200 in 60 seconds easy between.  I'm track spikes for first time in  12 years.

30.42
31.82
31.55
31.47

1.51 cooldown.

Recovery run

With a workout yesterday and another one tomorrow I needed a short recovery run today. 

5.06 miles, 6:32 pace.

Workout

4.26 mile warmup.  Wind was tough.

7.5 miles, averaged 5:38 pace, so just about spot on.  Fastest mile was 5:29, slowest 5:46.  Hilly, windy, in trainers.

1.34 mile cooldown.

13.1 total, 1:18:34.

Did not feel super good warming up.  Wind hit me hard.  Once I got into workout I felt strong.  No issues running the pace I wanted.

Tempo run, planned

I was going to run 7.5 mile tempo on treadmill, but it's so nice out I think I'll go out.  Be some hills, so pace might not be 5:24-5:27, but I should be able to run sub 5:40s.

Track

Alright,  I signed up for track meet this weekend at Umaine.  USATF maine champs, although it's never a big crowd, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only one in my age group that shows up.

But I need some time on the track, so I'm running it.  I decided to run 1500 and 1000 meter races.  Goal is to run 4:30 for 1500 and 2:50 for 1000. 

Probably do 4x200 after the meet to get some extra work in.

With that planned, I'm also going to go into into pretty tired.  I have a planned 7.5 mile tempo run today, and friday I'm planning on 5-6x800 at goal 3k pace.  Next week will be pretty tough too. 

First workout is going to be 4x100 uphill, hard, 4x15 flat, hard, then 4x 100 uphill, hard.  Full rests.

Second workout is 5x1000 a bit faster than goal 3k pace with 3:00 rests.

Then a 5k race that next Sunday in Portland.

Then it's two weeks with some workouts, but plenty of rest days.

Recovery run

4.2 miles on treadmill,  27:59.

Easy run

16.3 miles, 1:40:02.  Miles ranged from 5:50 to 6:24 depending on hills and wind.

Tried out the new shoes.  Felt good.

Pretty good headwind for first 9.75 miles, then I had it as a tailwind most of the last bit.

Short easy run tomorrow, probably treadmill.

Next up

Alright,  so pace today was about the pace I can run 3-k.  Maybe a little slower today being on roads and sections of slush, but I'd like to run about 4:52-4:56 pace for the 3000 at nationals in a month.

This week my plan is to run a 7.5 mile tempo run mid week.  Going to do this on treadmill about 5:24 pace. 

Next weekend I'm racing 1500, and 1000 on track.  After that I need to get in my 6-8x800 @3-k pace.  I've got 5-k race on March 4th in Portland,  then two weeks do do some final work before nationals.

Race report

Work up to 5 inched of snow and it was still snowing.  7:30 it stopped.  Signed up for race, warmed up 2 miles, sun was coming out things were melting.

Race director said something to me about how I'd just have to settle with the shoes.  Shoes to winner, $150 if cr was broken.  Ya, people should not say things like that to me because to me that's saying, you can't break cr because of snow.

I simply said, well I need to win first, but I think I'll go for cr anyways.  CR was 7:56,  Ryan McCalom 2017.

Got in some strides, felt good.  Road was wet, patches of slush.  I wore high socks to keep legs warm.

2.5k road race.  First half flat to uphill on congress street,  turn around come back.

I went out after it.  2:26 for first half mile.  Chris Dunn stuck to me like glue.  He'd beaten me by 3-4 minutes in 10 miler in April, and he'd run 32:48 for 10k three weeks ago, so I knew he was good.  Got a little gap before halfway, but turnaround cone in snow made me come to a stop and Chris caught up.  He had on some microspikes.

Next half mile in 2:31.  Good with shitty turn and half of it uphill.

Chris stuck to me like glue.  About 1.2 we had to go around fire truck in road and I surged.  I couldn't let 23 year old near me at end or I'd lose.

I got a couple second gap.  Third half mile in 2:29.  Roads sucked worse going back on that side, plus we had to dodge ambulance going code.

We then had to cross road through pike of slush to be on other side to finish.  Chris started to come back,  I sprinted.

New cr, 7:48.  Chris broke old record to in 7:51.

Got new pair of shoes from fleet feet, and $150.  Trip paid for.

Long cooldown after, 7.5+

Easy run

Got my room.

3.1 miles on treadmill.  21:20.  Resting legs up for tomorrow. 

Burger, fries, onion rings, Bud light.  Fueling up.

Always a shit show

Still haven't gotten my debit card fixed so trying to use my wife's debit card is always a shit show. 

Hotels are such a pain in the ass.  Whatever. Sleep in my car if I have to.

Whatever, just give me more fuel to win tomorrow and get the $150 to pay for a room I couldn't check into.

Easy run

Went out after dark.  Definitely didn't sleep enough, but that is the life.

4.2 miles, 28:19.

Getting to bed late.

So I'm finally on my new schedule.  It's nice that it's 10 hour shifts, but just not used to not getting my nap in.  Going to have to try and sleep longer into the afternoon. 

Usually I should be able to get in bed by 7:30am.  Today I had interview with reporter, so looks like 9:30 is sleep time.  Probably will have to go jump on treadmill at 8pm tonight before work.

Legs are pretty tired from yesterday.  Doing that workouts on a hilly route was pretty tough.  Don't get me wrong, I love tough workouts, but that workout is nice to do on a track where you can get into a pace and stay there. 

Even though my times were slower that what I thought they would have been on a track yesterday, they were way better than I thought I'd do on that hilly route.  So I think between running that 4 miler last Friday in 20:57 pretty easily and then yesterday's workout, I'd say on a track 5:15 pace instead of my goal of 5:18 is probably more accurate. 

I need to be able to run sub 5:20 by the end of April for 10-k, and be able to throw in a sub 5:10 mile to have any shot at getting in top 3 at 10-k masters champs.  Hopefully all this training for track race will help.

Workout

2.05 mile warmup, 13:12.  Few strides then set out for 3x2-miles.  Goal was 10:36 on a track, but track is still iced over.

I just don't have a flat section of road here that's traffic free, so I just went out schooner head road and out loop road.  Headwind for most of it, hilly as heck.

First one, 10:45.54. half mile splits of
2:32.48
2:41.91
2:47.48
2:43.67

Splits were all over the place, but between hills, and headwind it was same effort, and I still got fairly close to goal pace.  On track ir will be easy.

90 seconds easy rest

Second one, 10:42.45

Splits of
2:38.13
2:43.31
2:39.50
2:41.51

90 seconds rest.

Ended up doing half mile in 2:35, then my watch got all screwed up.  Took about 45 seconds and just restarted last 2 mile.

10:40.15

Splits of
2:36.45
2:39.90
2:41.89
2:42.01

5 mile cooldown, 32:41

Total, about 14 miles.

Easy run

Decided to delay the workout until tomorrow.  Legs felt like they needed another days rest after getting in some good workouts the past 5 days and weather tomorrow looks really nice.

Was going to run the workout on treadmill, but if it's in 40s tomorrow I'll do it outside.  Goal is 3x2-mile at about goal 10-k pace, about 10:36 with 90 seconds rest. 

Tonight I got in 5.6 miles on treadmill, 35:55.  Light pickups every half mile.  Kept the incline between 1 and 1.5%. 

Easy run

8.85 miles, 1:03:51.  First 8 with Andy, then I went and did 5x 10-12 second hill sprints before running home.

Beyond

So I've got a 7.5 mile tempo run next week.  Why would I be doing this to get ready for short track races.

Well, two weeks after the big track meet I've got USATFNE 15-k champs, so I'm simply planning ahead so I'll be ready to transition from track to roads again.

The main goal of the spring is USATF masters 10k champs at the end of April.  The 15k is one event our team will be going to, and since I'll be missing the new bedford half marathon with the team because I'll be in DC for track, the next event on team schedule is the 15k. 

Hopefully we can get most of our top masters guys down to 15k and we can place well as a team.

Easy run

7.6 miles, 46:23.  Again, way over dressed, although last couple miles the temp dropped.

Don't know,  I seem to click off about 6 minute miles like the old days.  Legs feel good after yesterday's workout.  Quads were a little sore today, but not during run.

Tomorrow I've got someone to run with that should slow me down. 

More paces

So I forgot to discuss my other components of schedule.

The first is 5x1000 @ Vvo2max pace.  This is essentially a hair faster than 3k pace.  So instead of taking the 60-90 seconds rest most of those other workouts require, this will be 3:00 rests.  Goal is to run 1000s in about 3:00-3:02.

The next workout is more tempo based, 10-15x1000 @ just a bit quicker than tempo pace, but only 30-60 second rests.  So about 5:20 pace to start, maybe a hair faster by end.  This allows me to get more work in at a slightly faster pace than what I could run tempo run at.  They aren't really hard, and you just start to feel each one at end, but if run too fast the short rests will wreck you.  Buffering workout is what this is called because you really are living on the edge and dancing a thin line.

Then the ASR  workouts,  anaerobic speed reserve.  10 second hill sprints, 30 meter sprints with a flyin, 150 meters sprints.  Why?  It all goes back to speed in the end.  If you can only run a 200 in 35 seconds, then running a 800 in 2:20 is pretty hard.  But if you improve that 200 time to 33 seconds, then running that 2:20 is possible.  Flyin= a distance before 30 meter sprint to get to top speed.

If you can run a 800 in 2:20, then a mile in under 5:00 is reasonable.  Continue on up to whatever distance you want to go.  The faster you can run 30 meters, the more potential you have to run a faster anything of greater distance.  Pretty simple eh?

So improving 30 meter to 150 meter speed = improving every distance beyond that, given you do the other required workouts in those areas. 

You take yesterday's workout of 8x quarter mile.  With only 60 seconds rest.  If I ran a mile race on track, I can safely say I'd run 4:36-4:42 after averaging just under 70s per quarter yesterday.  Now if I get to the point I'm running 67s per quarter, I'd safely say I could run about 4:30. 

Pretty much before midwinter I hit a plateau of about 5:20-5:30 pace where I was running just about every race from 5-k to 10 miles at.  In some ways that's good, but plain and simply it means I need to improve speed to bring those paces down.  Once I get to another plateau, you go back to speed again.

Really, this is all about October's marathon.

Work on pure speed, get 3-k&5-k times down.  Then move up to 10-k, get that down, then up to 20-k range, get that down, and finally show up to marathon in October in shape to run sub 2:30 again.  To have any shot to be top 5 I'll probably have to break 2:30.   2015 was last masters marathon champs, top 5 ranges went from 2:24-2:29.  6th was 2:35.  So top 10 hopefully, and top 5 if I have a great day.

Goal paces

So I threw all those workouts out there.  Here are the goal paces for the goal times.

4-miles Lactate response run, 5:15, done.

5-8x800 @3-k pace, 2:28

8x400 @ 1-mile pace, 70, done.

3x2-mile @ 10-k pace, 10:36

4x1-mile @ 5k pace, 5:08

7.5-mike tempo run, 5:24 pace.

8x200  @ 800 meter pace, 32 seconds

10x100 meter hills, 20 seconds

Once I get through thosr I should be ready to run my goal times at nationals for 3000, 9:30, 1500, 4:25, and 800, 2:10.

Workout

2.19 warmup , 14:33

8x quarter mile, minute jog rest.  Goal was 70 seconds, about goal mile pace.

First I headed to track, but was iced over, so I went to Thunder mist road which is fairly flat.

First 250 of odd ones was slightly uphill, then slightly down last 150.  Headwind.  35 degrees, rain burr.

Coming back was a bit nicer.  6th one I got chased by a big dog and first 100 meters of it was allout.  Wrecked me for 7th one.  But I easily averaged 70s, but I've got a long way to go if I don't want to get my ass kicked in 5 weeks.

Splits,
69.13, 68.5, 70.23, 66.84, 70.67, 66.43, 73.84, 68.71.
2.8 miles total with jog rests.

2.17 cooldown, 13:33.

Easy run

5 miles, decided to go outside.  43 degrees and had stopped raining.  Way over dressed again, think I'd learn.

30:58.  Had my watch set for half mile splits for yesterday's planned workout.  So I got half mile splits today.

3:11, 3:08, 3:11, 3:20, 3:02, 3:07, 2:54, 3:00.  Probably too fast, but it felt easy. 

5x10-12 second hill sprints, some uphill bounding, uphill high knees, some uphill backwards running, uphill buttkicks, uphill fast feet.  Downhill shin walks.

5 weeks before I need to be fast.  Hopefully I can hang on to top group in 800 and use my strength the final 200.  Just not sure I can go out in 58-62 for first 400.  I know I can hang on final 400.

But between uphill sprints, plyos, drills, and workouts I've got planned, hopefully I'll be as ready as I can be.

Plan of action

The workouts leading up to mid march.  Well it kind of depends on weather, but best to have a plan.

Feb
9th- lactate response run
12tg- 5-8x 800 @3k pace
15th-  3x2-mile @10k pace
18th- 2.5k road race
21st- 7.5 tempo run
24th- hill workout
27th- 4x1-mile @5k pace

March
1st-8x400@ 1-mile pace
4th- half marathon race
7th- 5x1000 @Vvo2max pace
10th- 10x1000@buffering pace
13th- 8x200@800 meter pace
16th- 3000 meter race
17th- 1500 meter race, 4x 800 relay
18th- 800 meter race

Workout

I drove all over Bar Harbor trying to find a section of road that wasn't icy.

Couldn't find anything so I decided to skip the 800s and do a lactate response run on treadmill.

1.5 mile warmup, 10:00

4-miles, 20:57

1.5 miles cooldown, 10:00

Splits for LR run were 5:15, 5:15, 5:15, 5:12.  Decided to run in new trainers instead of racing flats. Felt comfortably hard.  Much easier than when I ran 21:08 a month or so ago with racing flats on.

Finally starting to feel comfortable under 5:20 pace again. 

New kicks

So I think the last pair of trainers I got was around October/Nov.  I probably could go back in the blog and find it.  Oh found it, I was close, Oct. 30th was when I got last trainers.  This blog about nothing actually has some use.

The two pairs I've been rotating are pretty fried and have left my legs pretty sore after most runs the last couple of weeks.

So I ordered some new ones.  Sketchers Go Run5.  They are light enough to do workouts in if need be (great tempo shoe), and have enough to them for my low mileage running. 

If I were doing the mega miles of years past I'd probably go with something with a little more to them, but even in those days I did most of my running in lightweight trainers because I like to run a little faster.  I think the weeks I was running 150 a week I was testing a real heavy Nike shoe for them.  No I wasn't sponsored by Nike, just a shoe tester for a year or so.  But didn't get too many since my feet are size 12 ish.

So I'm trying to find the time, but in 2004 I ran 5 loops of Eagle lake.  About 29.5 miles.  It was somewhere in the 3:02-3:05 range.  I ran the loops counter clockwise.  Gary biked along giving me water with Chia seeds in it.  Bunker and one of his teammates joined in for last loop and pushed the pace.  I mention this because I remember wearing a pair of nike zoom elites which at the time we're actually a lightweight trainer and not what they are now.  Around 2000 nike had a shoe called nike elites, which were a light, lightweight trainer.  I ran Bucksport 5k in them because my buddy evan forgot his racing flats and I wanted to be fair.  I still ran around 15:40 something in them.

The only reason I did it was I was going up against David Herr in mdi marathon who had won in 2002, 2003.  The only guys I found who seemed to have beaten David, especially on a hilly course we're ultra guys and mountain runners.  So I did the 5 loops of eagle lake.  At the time I was not a good uphill runner, but against David I needed to get better and stronger.  His marathon career really shows how strength can win.

Easy run

Another easy day to make sure I'm recovered from race last weekend before I start some good workouts.

4 miles treadmill, 26:00.

Tomorrow I'm going to run 5-8x 800 at 3-k pace.  Going to try and run them about 2:26-2:28.  Probably start with 90 seconds rest and if that's too much I'll bring it down.  Going to try and find flattish section of road that isn't icy.  I don't really like doing workouts under 5:10 pace on treadmill as I don't think they translate to normal running as much.

Multi pace

Trying to get ready for 800, 1500, and 3000.  Went back into my training logs.  I used a lot of multi-pace training back in 2000-2005 when I was running track races.

A lot of what I do now has bits and pieces  of that training in it, but for the next 5 weeks, I'll be using quite a bit of just multi-pace or similar 5 pace theory.  So we'll mostly be working at these 5 paces for most workouts.  There will still be some hills, and tempo stuff, but the core of next 5 weeks is to focus on 3000 meter pace and on both sides of it. 

800
1500
3000
5000
10000

I am running 800 at nationals, but not really focused on it and doing it because it's on last day after 3000, and 1500.  I could easily use a five pace theory like

400
800
1500
3000
5000

But after this short indoor track season it's straight into 10-k training,  so going with first 5 paces.

These workouts are pretty simple.  Not as creative as most of the workouts I normally do,  but for track racing, they work.

I'm kind of interested in adding some of my creative workouts around a base of 5 pace workouts.  Should be fun.

So some of these workouts.  30-90 seconds rest.

800 pace workout, 8x200 meters.

1500 pace workout, 8-10x400 meters.

3000 pace workout,  7-8x800 meters.

5000 pace workout, 4x1-mile.

10000 pace workout, 3x2-mile.

Like I said, pretty simple and basic.  Another thing frank horwill had athletes do is what is called a lactate response run.  Essentially it's 4-miles as evenly as you can run.  I always find when I was at a plateau, one of these runs would get me higher.

I took this from one of Frank's articles to help explain.

---------------------------

So what's a 'lactate-response run'?

I've mentioned that session 2 with improved fitness will become a lactate-response run. Many athletes are mystified by this term. If a person goes for a jog, the amount of lactate circulating around the body will be negligible and the activity can continue for a very long time. If, however, the individual ran 800 metres full out, the body would be saturated in lactic acid, for no other middle-distance event produces so much saturation. This is why the great Olaf Astrand suggests that all runners should race 800m regularly because they will be better able to cope with lesser amounts of lactate accumulated in longer and slower races.

In a lactate-response run we do not want the former (jogging), nor do we desire the latter (800m speed). We require a point in our running speed just below the level where lactic acid begins to accumulate rapidly which we can maintain for four miles (6.5km). Now this cannot be our best 5km speed, nor is it our best 10km speed, for it will be too slow. It is between the two. When we get bogged down for some time with the same VO2 max figure, it is the lactate-response run that will improve our fitness further with less likelihood of injury doing faster work on the track.

----------------

I kind of turned my buffering 4x1600/200 nonstop into my version of the above.  It makes it 4.5 miles, but you essentially run even 1600s with 200s fast.  This is more a variable pace workout then a true  lactate response run,  but it works well for racing.  Plus with my thalassemia minor, my buffering system is super efficient and allows me to do this kind of workout.

But I imagine I could probably run a 4 mile LR run a bit quicker than the 1600 parts of my buffering workout.

More later

Easy run

Treadmill, 10.1 miles, 1:04:24.  Most at 6:30 pace with light pickups around 5:52-6:00 pace every half mile.  Back up to 1.5% incline until march.

Workout tomorrow of some sort.  Kind of depends on if I'm racing saturday or not.

Easy run

4.1 miles, 26:08.

Was snowing first 2+ miles.  Then sun came out. 

Started off real easy, 6:39, 6:45.

Then without trying managed to run 6:07, 6:04 last two. 

Almost didn't run.  Felt a little sick all afternoon and I headed out door finally at 1:45 which just gave me enough time to squeeze in run before going to work at 3.

Snow

Looks like we'll get the snow needed for snowshoe race on Sunday, now just waiting to hear if I'm running in track meet on Saturday.

If I had to guess I think I can run sub 10:00 for 3k, maybe 9:40.  Hopefully we can find out.  I'll be in the back of the field either way, probably get lapped a couple times.

Next up

So I'm still waiting to hear if I can run in college track meet this weekend.  Hopefully the 3000 against some college guys will put a good whooping on me.

If Bradbury gets enough snow, I may go to snowshoe race on Sunday too.  Although you cannot run very fast on snowshoes, I always found it really helped for track as well as road racing.

On the 18th I'm headed to Portland again, this time for a 2.5k road race.  1.55 miles I think.  Going to be some really good masters competition and should be fun.

Umaine is hosting usatf maine indoor track champs the weekend after that.  So I'll probably go to that to get some track time in.

The weekend after that it's a local half marathon.  Probably going to help pace up front and pick things up final 5-k.

Probably a week off before I go to us masters indoor champs in DC where I'm running 800, 1500, 3000, and maybe the 4x800 relay.

Then at the end of march, the usatfne 15k champs.  We should have really good Dirigo masters team.

Easy run

My legs felt ok, just empty. 
7.5 miles, 48:33.  Way over dressed.  Running pants and three layers up top was overkill.  Could have gone out in shorts and long sleeve. 

Saw Jen v. D out running.  Hoping for snow this week.  I may go to Bradbury on sunday if we get snow.

Race report

I got in a nice warmup after arriving in Cape Elizabeth.  Just over 3 miles.

Boys up front went out fast, not me.

5:21 for me which was about perfect knowing mile 2 is hills and I needed to average 5:381 pace to get masters course record.

Mile 2 is pretty hilly, managed a 5:38, perfect.

  Mile 3, 5:22, I was in third with no one around. 

Then the wind started, like 20-5 mph wind, shit.  Should have heard me before race, I was whining about the wind.  Being tall and skinny, the wind and I don't get along.  Plus I had no one to help block it.  Shit.

Mile 4 and 5, 5:27, 5:25, and those are pretty much downhill and I was hoping those would be my fastest miles of race.

Mile 6 was the worst, starts at top of hill, then the worst headwind, then goes up another hill.  I knew I had some time banked and that final couple miles the wind would be more behind us, so I pushed, but didn't red line.

Mile 6, 5:36

Mile 7 and 8 I really pushed to make sure I didn't lose anymore time.  5:31, 5:26.  I either stayed on pace or completely failed trying.  I didn't want to count trying to finish fast,  I'm old now.

9 I worked hard again because now I was thinking maybe I could break 55 minutes, and breaking things I like to do.

9 in 5:26. 

10 is gradually uphill until you turn into school last 400 meters.  I worked up the slight grade knowing the final 400 was not going to be fast into the wind, and somewhere around 9.5 I started thinking I'm gonna get the record.  Then I told myself to shut it because I could easily cramp up or hit by a car and not get it. 

Turned into final 400, ya wind sucked, at least it was downhill.

Mile 10, 5:28.  Shit, I wasn't at finish yet.

Another 10 Seconds on my watch before I got to finish, so add a second to every mile I guess.  Damn gps watch.

Either way, finish clock said 54:55,  I pumped my fist,  heck ya, I did it bitches.  One year of training my ass off.  Todd Coffins masters record of 55:19 from 2007 was not easy to get, hats off to Todd.  I had to focus the whole damn time and just nicked it.

Then about 90 seconds later it was a train of Dirigo blue coming in to the finish.

Great job to Chris for winning after Mccarthy and him duked it out side by side the whole way.  It was fun watching them from a distance during the race.

Managed a 3.5+ mile cooldown with a group of most of the top 20. 

Time for track season.  Go Pats.

Easy run

Got to hotel in Portland.  Jumped on treadmill,  after 10 Seconds it stopped. 

Ended up doing 3.52 miles outside with Erik.  Recon of 2.5k course that I'm racing in two weeks.  26.16.

Easy run

Another treadmill run.  Roads suck.

7.5 miles, 49:30.  Varied pace between 6:15-6:39, and incline between 0.5 and 1.  Running same pace is a sure way to tire out legs.

Just over 45 miles for the week.  I tapered well I think.  Next week I'll bring it back up to 60, but I want to be ready for Sundays race.  Looks like mid 30s which is nice, cloudy, which is nice, and 20-30mph winds from SSW, not so nice.  If that holds true we'll have head wind from 3 to 7 or 8. 

Final countdown

Alright, the time is almost at hand for the Midwinter 10-miler.  I work Friday overnight into Saturday.  Plan to sleep most of the day, then head down to Portland.

I've got to say, who knows what I'll run for a time or whether I'm capable of running faster than the masters course record, 55:19 by Todd Coffin in 2007.  Even with the winter we've had and training a lot on snowshoes, treadmill and the pool, I feel more ready for this than I ever thought was possible last year at this time when I started running again.  It's hard to believe that my first month of training last February was 10-20 miles a week and fighting to run sub 18 minutes on a flat 5-k course last March.

One thing I did last year that helped was racing a lot.  Way more races in a year than I ever did in a year.  I lost most of them, including two marathons.  But, it all had a purpose, to get in shape for Midwinter 2018.  One year of training.

It all started with the Eastern States 20-miler.  My longest run to that point was about 12 miles.  I ended up running 2:09 something in the 20-miler, over 20 minutes slower than I had run in 2012.  Soon after I did my first 5-k back.  Flat course, barely broke 18:00(17:51)  Rough.

A couple more weeks of training I went to an fast course at Unity College I had run a bunch of times and run sub 14:50 twice on.  I ran 17:29, ouch.

10-mile race a couple weeks later I got lost in the 5th mile and ran 3 minutes longer than I should have, but still ran an an hour.  With Sugarloaf marathon only a few weeks away I was starting to wonder if I was ready or not.  Other than the 20 mile race early on my longest runs were 16ish miles.

Ready or not, Sugarloaf marathon.  Ya, I wasn't ready, but I ran ok, 2:35:41, for second and my first loss in a marathon in Maine in 7 marathons.  At least a friend of mine won and we broke the out of state guy who was up front with us.

After this I decided I needed to race a lot and ran races from 1 mile to 10-miles to get ready for MDI marathon.

Long runs for MDI went better.  I got a bunch of runs close to 20 miles and even a 24+ miler.  I was ready.  I went out as planned, and hit halfway in 1:14:31, only a second off what my plan was.  Still 90 seconds behind leader, but I thought I could go get him.  Felt great and sped up as planned.  Then the humidity hit me hard and most of the last 8 miles I walked/ran to a second place finish, 2:37:57.  Another marathon in Maine, second loss. 

Jumped right on the wagon and raced my fastest 5-k of the year a week later, 16:08.  Ran a bunch of local races, and a couple out of state xc races that didn't go great, but they didn't go terrible either.

The surprise was the Epic 5-k in negative degree temps and running 16:32 off a lot of snowshoe and treadmill running.

Mostly the workouts the last three weeks have surprised me.  It's only been a month since I've raced, but it feels like forever and I'm super excited to see where things lay now.

Light workout

1 mile warmup, 6:39

2x200@ 4:48 pace,  600 rest
2x400@ 5:00 pace, 400 rest
800@5:10 pace, 800 rest
1600@5:21 pace,

Rests at 6:39 pace.

1 mile cooldown 6:20ish

6 total, 35:59.

10-15 minutes worth of work.