Easy run

Easy flattish 4.5 miles, Just under 30 minutes.  Two more days of easy before 15-k.  Hoping there is a nice pack around 5:30 pace.  Plan is to be relaxed through first 10-k at that pace and pickups last 5-k to 5:20's.

Workout

First of five 10k workouts that will progressively tougher leading up to US masters 10k champs April 29th.

This week the plan called for 6-8x800 @ goal 10-k pace.  Figured if I want to be top three in race I've got to average sub 5:20 pace, so goal today was 5:12-5:128 pace. 

Did them on the road.  Ended up doing 9xhalf mile 2:34-2:37.  Felt easy as it should have.  Took about 80-90 seconds rest between.  Quicker 29 second interval at end to get legs turning.

1.6 warmup, 1.75 cooldown.

Next week the plan call for 1200s, but I'll probably skip that and go directly to 4x mile which is scheduled week after.

Then it's 3x2k the next week.

3x3k the week after that.

And final week if I skip 1200s I plan on doing 3 miles at goal pace,  rest, 80 seconds hard, rest, 2 miles goal pace, rest, 70 seconds hard, rest, 1 mile goal pace, rest, 60 seconds hard.  If I can keep all these workouts under 5:20 pace, I'll be ready end of April.

Easy run

8 miles,  just under 6:00 pace.  Some people run more miles, I run less faster.  Plus I'm not training for a marathon, so high mileage isn't needed.  Cruised today,  headwind going out, tailwind coming back.  Kept heart rate under 65%. 

Workout tomorrow.  Then easy the rest of week before 15-k on Saturday.  No idea if 15k is hilly or flat so I'm going into it with a goal of sub 5:40 pace.

Recon

Recon of bridge the gap course with Erik, Tracy, and Andy.  Plus a few more miles.  14 miles.

Legs felt fine, but tired from snowshoe thing yesterday.

Snowshoe/land combo run

I headed up to the high school to hit the trails.  Did 2 miles in deep heavy snow up to my knees.  Slower than 15 minute miles.  Great workout for hip flexors.

After, I did a mile without the snowshoes on and felt light as a feather.

Tempo

2.2ish warmup.

Loops around Thunder mist road.  Fairly flat road.  7.5 miles, 41:15.  Miles ranged from 5:28-5:34.  Felt in control whole time, picked up final half mile just a hair.

1.2 cooldown

First harder run since races last weekend.  Legs felt good for doing snowshoe run yesterday.  I was going to wait until tomorrow to do this workout, but weather was nice and I decided to give it a go.  Goal was 5:30 pace if legs felt good.  They did, and I hit 5:30 almost on the head.

Snowshoe run

7.5 mile snowshoe run starting from Kebo Street and going up park loop and just past first switchback up Cadillac. Mnt.  1:10:53.  Pushed some on 7th mile to get under 7 minutes.  800+ of elevation gain, trying to get my strength back. 

2x strides after with no snowshoes on.  legs felt good.

Tempo or steady state run either Friday or Saturday.  Plan is 7.5 miles.  If I'm feeling good I'll run it at tempo pace 5:25-5:30.  If I don't feel good I may back it down to 5:35-5:40 pace.  Just need to find a flat section of road to use.

Long run yesterday, today Rested legs, mind not so much.

16 miles yesterday over hilly course.

After working 9pm to 7am I headed to court for a trial.  Ended around 4pm, and I went home and got some sleep.  Legs probably needed a rest day anyways, and should help keep me injury free at least.

Moving forward, it's looking like probably a snowshoe run tomorrow.  No race this weekend, but EK and I are going to go recon the bridge the gap 10-mile course this weekend.

I have no idea how hilly or not hilly the 15-k is next weekend in Mass, so I'm planning on hills and between the 16 miler I did yesterday and the snowshoe runs this weekend, hills will be covered.  Going to be fun to run with a bunch of teammates for this.

10-miler the week after that and then I don't think I'll race again until April 29th, US Masters road 10k champs in Boston.  That's gonna be a heck of a race.

Race Report from Maryland

Friday I left Bangor at noon and got into DC around 230.  Former coach picked me up at airport and we headed to meet.

The 3-k was scheduled to go off at 6:45pm.  My heat was 30-44 year olds and the last race of the day.  I got in a 2.1 mile warmup with teammate Thomas Beckum who was running the 3-k as well.  They were a little behind and we started closer to 7:30.

I got a really bad start and wasted a lot of energy passing people and then in lane 2 for the first three laps.  Once I finally got out of trouble I stuck to leader through 8 laps.  Laps 10,11, and12 I fell off.  It was partially from wasting so much energy in first few laps, not being mentally prepared for a 15 lap race, and just not focusing these laps. Then on Laps 13,14, and 15 I started to get me gain ground, but I'd given up too much.  Winner was 9:16.46, and I finished second in 9:21.41.  Still way better than my seed time of 9:30, but without the mental lapse I went through I should have been closer to 9:15.

Got in about 2 miles cooldown on the track since no more races were scheduled for the day.

 The next day the 1500 was scheduled for about 4pm.  My heat was 40-44 year olds.  My plan was to get the lead from the start and run my own race.  I did about a 2.3 mile warmup.  I got the lead and took it through 100 meters.  A 800 guy then passed me and slowed the pace down the next 200 meters.  I wasn't having any of that so I took the lead again and progressively made each lap faster.  Had a bunch of guys chasing, but I managed to get the win with a time of 4:19.64.  About 4 seconds faster than I ran the 1500 at the USATF Maine meet a few weeks ago.

2.6+ mile cooldown.

The next day the 800 meters was scheduled for about noon.  My heat was 40-44 year olds.  This was kind of a bonus event since I was staying in town until Monday.  I warmed up about 2.2 miles.  I got an ok start, but the race went out really slow.  We ended up going through 400 in about 67.6.  I was in 5th place.  A couple of guys went past the leader and I should have gone then, but waited anouter 50 meters.  By the time I finally went the lead guy had a gap.  I got into 2nd place and pushed hard.  Ran out of room, but still got second which was good for the 800.  Last 400 in about 62.2 with a 30.32 final 200.  2:09.82 final time.

Cooldown of about 2.3 miles.

Overall it was pretty successful.  I'd like to run the outdoor champs in July.

Enjoy the process

So I started training again february 4th, 2017.  This wasn't some random date, this was exactly a year until the 2018 midwinter 10 miler.

I took some pretty small steps.  Week 1 was 12.3 miles total.  I needed to ease into things but had to get my strength back.  I jumped right in a 20 mile race, then a marathon in May.  Once through the summer I had my strength back, but I noticed I was running almost every race from 5-k to 12-k at the same pace.  I had no speed.

Got another marathon under my belt, and I was strong, but speed, I had nothing.

Some bad weather in the winter kept me from getting in the long runs I would need for a planned 50-k.  That was a blessing because what I need to do was work on speed, not more strength.

Of course I was training for the midwinter 10 miler.  That went well and as soon as I was through that I switched strategies.  I knew what I needed to do to get faster.

So to the track and shorter races I gravitated to.  I came up with a plan where I would work on 800 meter to 5-k range speed and get ready for indoor nationals.

That's about to happen and I've definitely got my speed back to where it needs to be.

Moving on, I'm going to focus on 5-k through 10-k distances through the spring and summer.  Decided I will do masters outdoors and do 1500, 5-k, and 10-k.

After that I'll switch gears and focus on 10-mile to marathon for late summer and early fall.  I'm going to do a marathon, probably Mohawk Hudson in NY, but only because I want to have a time under my belt so can sign up for a big one when I'm ready.

The rest of the fall will be dedicated to xc.
I love xc, but for some reason I really suck at it.  Not sure why.  Probably the best xc race I ever had was 12k, so maybe I just need to find the longer ones.

Now I'd like to run the us 50-k Champs before I get to the point I'm too frail.  So 2019 I think will be my 50-k debut.  Probably no indoor track season, but by then my speed and strength should be at there limits and I can focus on a fast marathon sometime in 2019.

The 50k really is something I want to do.  I'm going to have to find a treadmill to use if the weather gets like it did this year.

One odd ball race I'll do this summer is the us mountain running champs.  It's more of a suffer fest, but it's in new england and being all uphill the chance of getting hurt is slim.

At some point I'd like to transition back to trail/mountain racing most of the year.  Maybe get into the marathon/50-k distances, and do a lot more snowshoe races.  It's too bad snowshoe nationals was in ne this year because it probably won't be again for a handful of years, and by then, well, let's be honest, I'll be a lot slower.

Restless legs

I've been slowly bringing the mileage down all week, resting the old legs.  Got in some pickups yesterday in my trainers which felt really good.

Today the run is gonna be about 5 miles, then switch to flats and get a few strides in to get the legs feeling fast.

Friday I think I'll run in the morning before heading to the airport since I don't race until 6:45pm.  Probably just as easy 2-3 mile run.

Saturday I don't race the 1500 until about 4pm, so I'll probably get in another morning run.

Sunday I race the 800 at noon, so probably a longer cooldown after, but no morning run.

Easy run

6.5 miles.  Had to keep the brakes on the whole time, but I'm sure it'll help come Friday.

Did 4 pickups of 16-20 seconds to loosen up at end.  Legs are feeling ansy.

Boyz better be ready.  It's one thing to drive to local race and run like crap.  I ain't flying to Maryland to run like shit.  I'll fight and claw, and drag myself to run well.

Snowland

With a few days to go before nationals, its all about rest and remembering the training is in the bank.

Normally after a snowstorm I'd break out the snowshoes, but that just tires out the legs too much.  With the snow I'll probably get a day pass for the Y and hit the treadmill for an easy run with some pickups during the run.

A couple of guys in my 3000 race that can run sub 5 minute miles pretty handily, and probably have better 200 meter speed than I do .  So I could run tactically and probably do pretty well, but I think I'll keep things just under 5:00 pace throughout which should do some damage and still allow me to finish strong.  Biggest challenge is going to be starting well and not falling on myself, and then trying to stay in lane one out of trouble if someone decides to go out faster and save as much energy as possible, like only passing on straights.  If someone wants to lead, awesome, but I'm not letting a 3-k race turn into a 1-k race.  I won't go out crazy either.  15 laps will probably seem like a lot, but I need to remember I've run some longer races this winter, and just take one lap at a time.

After that I'll focus on the 1500 the next day.  I'll be racing some of the same guys from the 3-k, so I'll know what I'm up against with them.  The other top guys seem like more 800 meter guys, so I'm definitely not letting the pace go slow for even a lap.  Again, if someone goes out fast, great, if not, first chance I get to take the lead without using much energy, I'll take over and push the whole time.  Hopefully that will be good enough to take any kick out of the 800 guys.  Time will tell.  My college race tactic from college always worked really well in 1500 then, so I'll count on a quick pace and a long drive from way out to take the sting out of the quicker guys.

800 on Sunday,  ha,  well I'm just going to run it hard and try not to fall to shit the final 300.  Probably will go out around 58-60 which is way out of my range right now, but if I sit on the back of that I should be a couple seconds slower, then hopefully not fall apart as bad as everyone else and who knows.  Really the only reason I'm doing the 800 is I'll be done the 3-k and 1500 and I'll be in Maryland until Monday and I might as well race it.  Give myself a Masters PR, ya baby.  I'm not planning on running the 800 in July at Outdoor nationals.  Plan there is to run 5000 on Thursday, the 10000 on Saturday and if I'm still around on Sunday the 1500 for shits and giggles.  Plus I really enjoy the 1500.  Hate the mile just like 10-ks and half marathons.  Love 5-miles, love 12-k, love 10-miles, love 25-k, hate 10-k and half marathons.  Saying that I love running loops, so track 10-k I'm excited about.

Easy run

7 miles, slow.  Morning run to beat the snow storm.  Felt aweful.  But out of the way.  Slept most of the rest of the day.

Probably day pass at ymca tomorrow for easy treadmill run.  Not going to be high mileage week this or next.

Next week I've got a two day trial, both days after working overnights, which is HS, so running might not happen.  But give my legs some rest.

Easy run

7.8 miles, 50:00.  Nice spring day.  Only 37, but with sun I made myself go out with one less layer than normal, and I'm glad I did.

Little headwind going out, so I warmed up some coming back.

Legs felt ok for abusing them yesterday.  Probably do some longer strides tomorrow, try and beat the snow.  Thursday not sure what I'll do with storm coming.  May have to buy day ymca pass to keep things easy on treadmill.

Friday I'm going to do easy run in morning, fly to DC, then race 3000 at 6:45pm that night.  Figure my legs should feel ok for at least one of three races, and they can't feel much worse than they did for workout at track yesterday, and I still easily ran my paces.

I think if push comes to shove I can run 9:10 for 3000, 4:15 for 1500, and hopefully close to 2:05 for 800.  800 will be interesting.

Easy ride/ track workout

Yesterday I did 35 minutes on bike trainer, working on keeping a quick cadence.

Today, headed up to Umaine.  Warmed up 1.5 miles.  Not sure if it was from shitty sleep or not running since Wednesday other than on snowshoes, but I was sluggish.  Or day off yesterday.  I was warming up in lane 4 and just figured my watch wasn't reading distance right, then I jumped in lane 1 and timed 200 and was surprised I was running slower than 7 minute pace.  Wtf

Well this could happen this weekend, so after 200 meter warmup repeat in 36, ouch, I jumped into the workout and get it done.

Goal was to run at least goal 1500 meter pace(4:25) throughout.

800- 2:15
400- 68
300- 47

Well under goal pace,  took 60-90 seconds between everything.  Never felt great, but I was more concerned with rotc guys playing some type of eam building dodge ball game.  Balls were flying across track, guys were crossing to get them, they put a couple mats in lane 1 on corners, and when they did burpees they were kicking out into lane 2.  So I had a dodge the college rotc workout trying not to run someone over. 

After my main workout I did 4x200 closer to goal 800 pace
32,31,31,31.  About 90 seconds rests. 

Legs actually started to feel normal by second 200.

Got in 10.5 mile cooldown, first 7 with the gang.  Drive back was rough.  Should have rolled before I left orono.

Some things I learned today.  1500 and 3000 will go well.  I'm capable.  The 800, ya, I think it's gonna depend.  My speed isn't there.  I'm definitely capable of my 2:10 goal, but that isn't going to get a medal.  Probably have to run at least 2:05.  On a really good day, maybe.  Thankfully it's last race and I can run a little dumb.

Snowshoe run

5.5 miles of snowshoe running, 51:54.  Went to second switchback today.

Some people have the need to always go to the top, but makes for a 8+ mile run on snowshoes, and that's just a good way to get injured if you don't work up to it, so I take it in steps.  If there is any snow when I get back from nationals in 10 days, I'll probably go all the way up, but no more snowshoe running for me before nationals.

It's pretty easy on the legs, but it's not resting them.

Outdoor track here is covered with snow again, so tomorrow I'm going to do my workout on the roads.  Goal of the day is goal 1500 meter pace.  So I'm going to start with 800 meters in around about 2:21.  Then a 400 in about 70 seconds, and a 300 in about 53 seconds.  Probably do 2-4 x 200 a bit quicker after.

Sunday and Monday will be easy runs.  Tuesday a short workout at goal 800 meter pace.  Going to start with 400 at 65, then 2-4 x 200 going 32,31,30,29.

Wednesday and Thursday will be easy and then I race the 3000 Friday night at 6:45pm, the 1500 at about 4pm on Saturday, and the 800 about noon time on Sunday.

After that I'll take 3 days easy before transitioning into 5-k/10-k training.  Although I may do a longer tempo effort first with a 15-k coming up on March 31st.

Snowshoe run

We got 12-15 inches of heavy snow.  No other options, so put the snowshoes on for a short run. 

4.25 miles 42:00.  Up Cadillac Mountain access road to first switchback and back down.  Mostly breaking trail most of the way up.  A couple of snowmobiles came past just before I turned around for the downhill back which made running back much faster.

Probably another snowshoe run tomorrow, going to second switchback and maybe Sunday, but after that I'll have to hit the treadmill to keep things real easy next week if the roads stay crappy.  Snowshoe running gets me in super shape, but it's not easy and not something I want to do the last 3-4 days before a race.  Really works hip flexors and makes track racing feel super easy.

Workout

Headed to the track trying to beat the snow.

Warmup 1.8 miles already spitting a little snow, windy and cold.  Had four layers on up top, full running pants..

Switched to half tights, took two top layers off.  It started snowing pretty hard.

Started with 1500.  Goal was at least 4:45(9:30 3-k pace)
Windy stretch each lap was like running uphill but I still managed to run 4:42.65.

Jogged 400 meters in 2:08

1000 meters, this time I wanted to run a little faster than goal 3-k pace, 3:06-3:07.  Hit this in 3:05.27, was happy with that(about 9:16 3-k pace)

300 jog rest, 1:47

Then 500, a faster than 1000 meter pace. was hoping for about 1:31, ended up running 1:27.32, 8:42 3-k pace.

Figured I'd run 3-k total in about the way a tactical race will go at nationals.  I'm definitely ready either way to run even and then sprint or slower and then make a move at halfway.

200 jog rest, 1:10

Decided to get some work in at 800 meter pace to get the legs turning over.

200 in 32.67

200 jog rest, 1:07

200 in 31.60

200 jog rest, :55

2.7 mile cooldown.

Pretty happy with this.  Still have a little work to do for next week, but most of the work is done.  I'm thinking Saturday I'll run 800 at goal 1500 pace, rest, 400 a little faster than goal 1500 pace, rest, and 300 a bit faster, and probably a couple 150-200's faster.  Again race will probably be tactical and go out slow.  Either way I'll be ready to run even or take over with 600 meters to go.

Next week, Tuesday I'll probably do a light workout at 800 meters pace and faster.  Probably faster than goal 800 pace, then a few 200's a bit quicker.  The 800 is probably going to go out hot.  My goal is to stick with leader as long as I can and see if I can wither the storm through 500.  After that I'm oping my strength kicks in.  I think as long as no one goes out faster than 58 seconds through 400 I can hang.  60-62 would probably be better for me, but I'll take a chance of going out too fast knowing my longer distance strength and knowing how to relax the final bit of an 800 meter race will help.

Remember people, I raced 800 through the 1-mile in college, It's been a while, and I gravitated to the longer distances, but I do know how to race these shorter distances well and there is a reason I get out kicked infrequently.

I definitely do not have pure speed, but say in a 1500, if you go from 600-700 out, kickers can't deal with that.  I always had that strength in college, and now after years of racing longer stuff, I feel like after the races at Umaine a few weeks ago that I'm way strong in the middle of the race where I used to slow down, and I still have that long drive from 600 out if needed.  Time will tell, I may be eating my words.  One things for sure, we are not going to jog most of the race and turn it into who can run 200-400 the fastest.

Plus if I'm just simply feeling good I may just go from the start and we'll see who can hang on.  I can't go to nuts with three races in 3 days, but sometimes if you feel good, its just better to go out and run.

Top three get medals, 4th, 5th and 6th ribbons.  I'm hoping for top 3 in 3-k and 1500.  800, who knows, but I'll go after it.

Easy run

10.1 miles 1:03:38.  Windy in spots.

10 second uphill sprints, drills, and plyometics after.

Workout tomorrow if I get up before snow starts.  If not a snowshoe workout Thursday.

Found some track pr's

So I found the one time I raced 5000 on outdoor track.  It was at Sea Ray Relays in Tennessee in 2006.  It was humid, and 90+ degrees, might have been 100. This was when I was racing for Zap fitness.  The race was ugly, and I ran 16:29.85.  I remember a bunch of maine guys were down to race and asked  me after if I was going to get thrown off team.  I ended up running 2:24 at Chicago marathon that same year.  Me and heat, don't mix as this result shows.

And I actually did run a track 10-k.  I think I put it out of my mind because it probably was not fun running 25 laps, but I ran 31:36.37.  2011 at umaine, bates meet.  Shit that ain't bad pr, especially since I know I was struggling with all kinds of injuries in 2011-12 before I stopped running for awhile.

Just got to find my 3000 steeplechase results.  I know I ran it twice, both times in the 10:10 to 10:20 range which wasn't very good and showed me this was not my event.  I'm surprised I didn't break my neck.  Both around 2002-2004.

I ran a bunch of ok 3000s indoor and outdoor  after college, 9:00 for indoor and 8:42 for outdoor.  Never raced more than mile in college.

Think I only ran one indoor track 5-k, but I may be wrong, might have run one at usm to pace some college guys through 3-k of it and jogged in.
But the 5k I know I did I was in seeded heat at valintine invite.  I shouldn't have been in that heat.  I remember running first mile dead last in 4:28, might have actually gone through 1000 in a pr, and it was ugly from there.  Ran 15:10, but was in shape to run 14:30-14:40 if I'd run in right heat.  Winning time was sub 14 so I got lapped multiple times.  Not pretty.

So out of all these pr's, the one I know I can get is that outdoor 5-k, 16:29.  Thats pretty ugly.  The other ones, ya, not sure I can get any of those at age 40, but I'll give em a go.

Easy run

8 miles 50:40.  First three with a tailwind were my slowest, then my legs woke up and I ran about same pace last 5 whether I was running into wind, on pavement or dirt.  Go figure. 

Easy run tomorrow, probably longer.

Wednesday a workout.  I'm thinking 2-k at goal 3-k pace, 1-k at goal 1500 pace and 500 at goal 800 pace.  Fairly short, but some quality.  Plenty of rest between each 3-5 minutes.

Fall marathon

So it looks like the fall marathon I had planned which was going to be us masters marathon championships got taken off the schedule.

So I've got to either choose another marathon or decide to do something else.

A few marathons I might look at.

Baystate,  usatfne champs, and a flat course.

Mohawk Hudson, net downhill of 370 feet, last 8 miles flat. 

Philadelphia, flat, everyone I know has run pr's there.

With no long distance trip planned to Washington state for that other marathon, I may go to the masters outdoor track champs in Spokane, for 5000, and 10,000.  Many options, with masters road grand prix races ad well, although I'd like to do a marathon in the fall.  Right now Mohawk Hudson would work best, then still let me have a xc season.

Race Report

3+ mile warmup with the guys.

5-k went pretty well.  Started late and standing around for the extra time wasn't nice, but good practice.

Ran first half of race within myself.  5:15 through the mile, 5:25 second mile, although the first half of the second mile was closer to 5:35 pace and the second have of it closer to 5:15 pace.

Had a couple younger guys 5-6 seconds ahead so pushed the third mile to try and catch them.  Ran 5:00 last mile, :32 for final bit.

Met my goal of 16:20 with a 16:13.  Missed my top 5 goal with a 6th place finish, but I'd rather run faster than place high, so I'm good. 

3+ mile cooldown after.

Next race, 3000 meters at US masters indoor champs. 

Easy runs

8  recovery miles yesterday, some trails, some road. 

Headed portland with knickbocker.  He'd already run at least 13 miles earlier, so I went out and did an easy 4 miles in portland.  Recon of sea dogs 5-k course, then a little more, 26:05.  Some strides after.

5-k race tomorrow.  We'll see with wind, but goal is 16:20 and hopefully top 5 overall. 

Workout

I was up in Bangor, so I headed to Orono to see if indoor track was free.  It was.  Stomach still wasn't feeling great, but I wanted a good workout, and the extra indoor track time will not hurt.

Warmed up about 1.5 miles

Then did 3x1000/300 with a minute easy between 1000 and 300 and 2 minutes between 300 and next 1000.

1000- 3:02
300- 48
1000- 3:02
300- 47
1000- 3:03
300- 47

1.5 cooldown

Workout felt good.  I was a little winded by the time I got done the 300's, but I also went into each a minute after the 1000's.  Goal was to run the 1000's a little faster than goal 3000 pace, and the 300's a little faster than goal 800 pace.  Went well.  I think running 3:10 a K for 3000 is definitely possible.  Running 2:10 for 800 should be possible to. 

Easy run

Started to get stomach flu last night and it was pretty rough.  Slept all day and figured if I could run I could work. 

I decided to keep things real easy and hit the trails.  6.2 miles with miles ranging from about 6:36 to 8:40ish depending what I was running on.  Mostly soft mud, but a few seconds of ice were slow.  Never really felt right, but the legs felt good.  Ended up sleeping again from 4:30 until I went to work at 9.

Hopefully I can get over whatever I have before Sunday's 5-k.