Pretty much have been putting everything on Strava. I keep my race schedule and results updated on the blog.
I've been doing low mileage, but run most of runs faster. Not sure how everyone runs so slow and expects to race fast. But to each their own. Probably if I ran much more than 7 miles a day I'd have to run slow too. My endurance sucks, but
1-mile to 10 miles, I'm ready to roll.
41 minutes on bike trainer on Sunday.
Monday I said screw it, rest wasn't helping leg.
Decided to at least get a good steady effort in. Best way to do that is run up Cadillac mnt. From Ledgelawn. Starts pretty gradual, then gets steeper.
Goal was to run sub 50 to store on top. 49 low, so pretty surprised. Ran back to blue hill overlook where my dad was waiting to pick me up. 7.7 miles total, 6:50 avg. Pace
Took another day off.
Tried to run on Friday, made it about 5 steps, too much pain, stopped.
Saturday I got out of work at 7am, had some food, headed over to Sea of Blue 5-k.
Warmed up 5-k. Leg was hurting pretty good. As long as I kept moving it was manageable.
Goal for 5-k was to run 5:30 pace. First mile was downhill so I ran 5:15. Second mile rolled and I hit 5:29.
Last mile starts uphill for first 3/4 of it. All I needed to do was be at 5:45, ran 5:42.
Last .10 was closer to .16 and took me 48 seconds, so a sub 17:00 effort turned into 17:15.
Didn't cooldown, just walked around a bit.
Plan is to try and get leg better this week, race another 5-k next week and another one week after that.
Got ready yesterday, went out door, took about 5 steps and walked home in pain. Leg is good sometimes, sometimes not.
Sunday I had plans to meet up with Knickerbocker for a tour of the park loop road. Since Nov. I've gotten a handful of 15-16 milers in, but this was going to be longer and I was unsure about leg after yesterday.
Leg wasn't terrible, and once I got through a handful of miles it got really good. Weird. Not super fast, but with the last 4 weeks mostly wasted, I was pretty happy with the run. 19.1 miles, just over 2:06. Some good elevation gains.
Bite mark finally looks like it's starting to heal. Leg still hurts at times, but it's definitely not a running injury if I can do what I did yesterday.
Should have my new training plan done this week. Gonna skip the US masters 10-k champs this weekend with the shit training I've had the last 4 weeks. Very sad, since it's the only us masters champs race in new england this year. But there is no point to go down and run a minute slower than I could have a month ago.
Might do a local 5-k this weekend to start racing myself back into shape.
3.5 miles.
Wow, fitness has gone to shit. Taking 72 hours off from everything didn't help with pain. Leg felt same if not better once I started running.
So from this moment I'm going to run every day. Bite wound does not seem to want to heal, even with antibiotics. Definitely not running injury. Almost no pain running at about 1-2% downhill. Running slightly up hurts, steep uphill or down feels good.
This is getting kind of stupid. All I managed to do the last 24 days is get in piss poor shape and now I'm gonna miss a bunch of competitive races I wanted to run. I'm pissed.
Went to doctor again, then orthopedic office. Everyone agrees it's some sort of bite, so another 14 days of doxycycline.
Plus some anti inflammation meds.
Leg goes back and forth. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't, different things hurt, weird. One thing that stays the same is going up stairs bothers it.
Going down is fine.
Going to just leg rest for a few days and not even chance running to aggravate it.
Managed 3 miles in the rain on Monday. Wanted to run longer but leg was super painful every step.
Tuesday I headed to track. Warmed up then set off to complete some mile repeats at about 5:20 pace.
It was pretty windy, and I left the racing flats at home. Getting going was the hard part, after first few steps pain wasn't too bad. Pretty much spot on with intervals, 5:18, 5:20, 5:21 with 2 minutes jog rests. They didn't feel as easy as they should, but other than a few longer races I haven't gotten much for hood runs or workouts in about 3 weeks now.
Fitness is sliding rapidly now. I got away with it for a few weeks, but today showed me I've got to get healthy and get another base phase in. Sucks. Seeing doctor again tomorrow, who knows what's wrong with leg.
Headed out and stuck to loop road for first 9 miles. Cut through blackwoods, back into town from Otter Creek. 15.56 miles total. About 6:12 pace.
Hilly run. Leg got better as I went. Was way over dressed. Running pants and three layers up top slowed me down.
Leg was almost pain free by end. So far it feels pretty good through rest of night. See how it feels tomorrow.
Right about where pain radiates is a bite. Looks like a lot of spider bites I've seen. I wonder if a spider found me when I was in DC. All the pain started a few days after getting back. It's definitely not running related. I'm on day 4 of doxycycline so maybe that's helping.
7.5 miles, some roads, some trails. Miles ranged from 6:13 to 6:37. Leg hurt every step, but normal. Windy coming back.
Hopefully I can just deal with leg until it decides to stop hurting. Not wasting any more days off on it since it doesn't seem to help at all.
Tuesday I ended up biking. Leg just hurt too much.
Wednesday I biked again but did 25 minutes in middle as hard as I could go.
Thursday the lef wasn't getting any better, so I ran 4+ miles. Wasn't any worse, during or after.
Friday I did 7.5 miles after seeing doctor and getting some tests done.
Saturday 5 miles.
Sunday I headed to 10 mile race. Warmed up 2.1 miles. Hurt walking around, not to run.
Race went off and I had decided to run race easy, but test leg first mile.
Nice group through mile, 5:26. Leg felt really good. Did a pickup and leg felt amazing. Slowed up and let group catch back up. At mile 2 I picked it up again. After a quarter mile I decided to just keep going. 5:11 mile.
Ran steady through mile 7. Hills I went up easy and only time my leg hurt.
Last mile is fast, cruised in.
Once walking around after leg hurt. Cooldown, 1.9 miles, leg was fine. Weird.
Weds. I got in 4.5 miles easy. My leg had been hurting since the 7.5 mile snowshoe run I'd done last week, but I really felt it during this run.
Thursday I did a ride on bike trainer thinking that might give my leg some rest, but it hurt biking, uh oh. I'd actually gotten ready to run, went outside, took a couple of steps and stopped.
Friday it hurt walking around so I took day off and drove to my buddy Bunkers place in liberty for the night.
Saturday morning I got up around 3:30 to make it to Freeport to meet the team carpooling group. Most of the trip I switched ice packs and took an unhealthy amount of advil, aleve, and Tylenol.
Once at the race the leg still hurt walking around. I was here for the team, so I warmed up 2 miles. Hurt every step, but was manageable. Time for 15k.
I put long socks on hoping it would help the leg. I should have kept the half tights, winter hat and long sleeve off because even though I was cold at start I was way too hot by mile 1.
Race went ok. Went out too slow, slacked in middle of race and kind of gave up at end, but I ran ok. 51:57 gun time. 3rd master.
Somehow my leg didn't seem to hurt during race and I managed a 2 mile cooldown too.
By the time I got back to Maine the leg wasn't good. Multiple ice packs, advil.
Sunday, I managed 2.15 miles. Hurt like heck every step. Not good.
Monday, 4.4 miles, hurt less every step. Hopefully tomorrow I can run a bit longer with less pain.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With a workout yesterday and another one tomorrow I needed a short recovery run today.
5.06 miles, 6:32 pace.
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.
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.
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.
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+
Got my room.
3.1 miles on treadmill. 21:20. Resting legs up for tomorrow.
Burger, fries, onion rings, Bud light. Fueling up.
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.
Went out after dark. Definitely didn't sleep enough, but that is the life.
4.2 miles, 28:19.
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.
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.
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%.
8.85 miles, 1:03:51. First 8 with Andy, then I went and did 5x 10-12 second hill sprints before running home.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Treadmill. 8.25 miles, 55:16.
First 5 miles at about 6:58 pace, then last bit around 6:30 pace with light pickups every half mile at 6:00 pace.
Main goal was to run easy and no longer than I plan to race on Sunday. Time on my feet run.
0.5% incline which feels pretty nice after doing most runs at 1.5.
Treadmill, 5.5 miles, 32:38.
1 warmup
2, 10:48, going 5:27, 5:271
.5 easy
1, 5:15, first half at 5:158 pace, second at 5:12.
1 cooldown
HR stayed between 158-164 which is good.
Surprised with 100 degree fever. I've been fighting the flu for 10 days now. My stomach is in knots.
So I got up early to start getting ready for my 2x1.5 miles at goal 10 mile pace outside.
The dusting of snow has now turned to 3-5 inches. So treadmill it is.
4.6 miles treadmill. 30:00.
6:40 pace most of it. 15-20 second pickups every half mile. 3@6:00, 2@5:27, 2@5:00, 1@4:36.
0.5% incline.
To make myself go slower, I dressed in 4 layers, even though it was 44 degrees, went out in the dark, and that seemed to work.
Did first 4.0 miles going 7:13, 6:47, 6:49, 6:45.
Put on racing flats, took off three layers and went and did 3.85 more miles with a 20 second pickup every couple minutes.
6:30, 6:16, 5:56, 5:16(last..85).
7.85 total, 51:27. Feels like I barely ran.
2.4 warmup. 15:30. Windy. Strides.
1.5 mile time trial. 7:14. About 20 seconds faster than when I did this a week before Sugarloaf over same course in May. Good sign.
2.6 cooldown, 17:25.
7.6 miles 45:18.
About 25 degrees to start, really got cold last couple miles.
Tried to control myself, but I guess the treadmill will do that next week.
Ended up running every mile between 5:55-6:06 other than 3rd mile in 5:43, whoops.
Did high knees, bounding and strides all uphill after. Legs aren't tired at all, but I really need to make sure I run a couple easy runs next week.
Happy with week, about 60 miles total with three days only getting about 4 miles each day.
Damn cold out tonight. Looks like another cold run tomorrow. I'm going to just run easy, do some hill sprints, and get my last lifting and plyometics session in.
Saturday a workout I suppose. After three days of easy running my legs should be good other than they'll be sore from lifting and plyometics.
I'm thinking something like 4x4:00 or 2x7:00 hard. Don't know. I make plans to simply change them. Whatever I feel like I guess, but it won't be long.
Probably have to wait until Tuesday to do another workout with trial on Monday and maybe going through Tuesday. I'd talk more about that, but defense attorneys are listening. It's ok, read this midnight talk and enjoy the fact I keep you in business and someday I'll write a book about everything else and I assure you you'll enjoy that.
Whoops, I forgot this is a running blog.
So I signed up for a half marathon at the beginning of march. Hillt, probably cold. For one I did it because I hate half marathons. I love 20k, I love 25k, but 13.1 miles, never enjoyed it. So what better way to get over that then by running a half in the winter.
Cold, 12 degrees. Well not that cold but after running in 40 degree weather yesterday it felt cold.
4.3 miles, 26:29.
6:10
6:31
6:00
6:03
1:45
Next week mt easy runs need to be slower, so treadmill at 6:40-7:00 pace will be in order. But today's run was good indication, especially with three layers on.
One day to go, about 53 miles for week so far. Yippee.
Got out of work just before midnight. So I usually get home, have so food, wind down.
And post some more crap.
So I thought I saw some friends on tv at the pats game last weekend. Turns out they were there.
4 miles, 26:04. Still 40 degrees out.
Legs felt good after yesterday's effort. Still I kept things easy. Almost took day off, but it was so nice out I wanted to take advantage.
So after tonight's workout I'm confident in my goal time at the 10-miler. I think on a perfect day I could run what I did for 7.5 which would be 53:55ish. Masters record is 55:17, so I've got a little cushion.
Still after tonight I plan on running first three miles at the slower end and if I'm feeling comfy pick it up. Breaking the record would be great, getting under 55 even better and sub 54 would be ultimate goal.
Time to start resting up.
