Weekly Summary – 66 Miles in 11 runs. What a week! A crazy day of travel and a light week of running, but all made worth it with Sunday’s Race. 1’02’13 for 20km (1’05’39 for half marathon) is by far my best time ever recorded and brings me within 39 seconds of the Olympic Trials Qualifier. I’ll post a longer race recap in the next few days, but for now I’ve been awake for 30 hours after traveling back from Trujillo, so it’s time for bed.

Lunes, 28 Octubre, 2013 – 10am: Slept super well last night after a long day. Easy run to la carloina and then back via the Ecuadorian visa office. Total run 10km, 6M+, NT.

4pm: Ran from the US embassy after putting in my new passport application. Ran down the hill and felt good despite almost getting attacked by two giant dogs while running by some sketchy looking garage. Total run 6km, 3M++ in 26’.

Martes, 29 Octubre, 2013 – 6am: Up at 5am to get in my workout before a busy day. Had one cup of black coffee and two bananas; wanted to test running on this diet before Sunday. Ran to the track 6km, legs felt pretty good on the warm up. Did drills and strides and then 200m in 34.x.

Workout was light, 4km of work at sea-level HMP or quicker, plenty of rest. Point of today was just to get the legs moving fast at that pace and get the body mechanically used to running fast.

Felt really good overall. First 500s felt very relaxed and were run EVEN in 1’31 each. Felt ready to go again in 60-90 seconds, 2’ felt like long recovery. The two thousands were supposed to be a bit slower, around 3’10-12 or around sea level HMP. This first one was spot on and again, even. The second one was on pace as well with a fast last 200m in about 29.x.

The penultimate 500m was purposefully fast (1’24), while the last one was supposed to be run comfortably at HMP (1’34) which felt very slow after the 1’24.

A great workout overall – could have done it over again, which is how I like to feel in these taper workouts. Felt really good running quicker and didn’t feel Sunday too much (which makes sense because I really only raced 5km at 10km pace…) Now, time to just relax and do some easy running until Sunday. Maybe some long strides Thurs/Fri, but nothing more.
Cooled down 6km back. Legs still felt good. Total run 10M+.
Splits:
2x500m (2’ jog): 1’31, 1’31
2x1000m (3’ jog): 3’12, 3’06
2x500m (2’ jog): 1’24, 1’34

PM: OFF, travel to Guayaquil, en route to Trujillo, Peru via Lima, Peru.

Miercoles, 30 Octubre, 2013 – 11am: Ran from Lima airport easy out and back on that main Calloa road. Felt pretty bad, stiff and tired. To be expected. Total run 4M in 30’.

5pm: Easy run in Trujillo. Ran to a little park and then up and down the beach a bit. Sketchy area. Legs felt okay but a bit on edge. Total run 5M+ in 40’.

Jueves, 31 Octubre, 2013 – 9am: Ran from BBAA onto the race course and then ran from ~km 4-12. Route is great, quite flat and not too many turns. Legs felt much better than yesterday, running at quite a good clip at times. Ran off race course into downtown to find hostel after. Total run 7M++ in ~55’.

6pm: Easy run from hostel in downtown. Ran first 5km of racecourse. Felt GREAT. Running quite fast. Form felt great, smooth, efficient. Breathing super relaxed. Very excited. Total run 5km, NT.

Viernes, 1 Noviembre, 2013 – 9:30am: Took the bus up to where I stopped last time and ran km 10-16 or so of the course. One minor climb around 10-12km, but nothing serious, very gradual. Stopped and did drills on a grass median after, then 2x good fast strides and ~200m at “half marathon pace” (though it was by effort, so I don’t really know how fast). Felt great again. Total run 4M+, NT.

5:30pm: Easy run on start of the course again. Actively holding back. Legs still feeling very good. Forcing myself to run very easy. Tomorrow will have to do the same. Feeling great, confident, ready. Total run 3M+, NT.

Sabado, 2 Noviembre, 2013 – 8:45am: Easy run on the last 5km of the course. Started at Tottus at 16km and then ran up to the mall where finished. Felt good. Holding back again. Two small climbs in this portion but nothing awful. Total run 5km+, NT.

PM: Off, planned. Some walking around but mostly just rest. Ate a bunch of animals crackers around 4pm and then cooked a big dinner of pasta with broccoli and tomato sauce around 6:30pm, some animal crackers and casinos after. Bed around 9pm.

Domingo, 3 Noviembre, 2013 – AM: Longer write-up to come. Here’s what I’ve got for now:

Below, I’ve posted my km splits and a quick comment on each one. A note about the course – there was a gradual, though barely perceptible long climb in the first half of the race and a similar descent in the second half (partially responsible for the big negative split, though I also went out purposefully very conservatively). Other than the 2-3km I ran with the pack of 3 Huancayanos at the beginning, I ran solo almost the entire race. Conditions were good, 55-60F, low humidity, overcast, light wind. Longer recap to follow.

 

1km: 3’18 Out comfy with the 10k. Forced relax. ~20th.
2km: 6’33 (3’15) Still super easy, w/ 10k. Pack of 4 develop in front.
3km: 9’42 (3’09) W/ 10k still for part. Pack of 4 around 40m in front
4km: 12’51 (3’09) Catch up to pack of 3. In lead, pace feels consistent and manageable.
5km: 16’00 (3’09) Still leading, running single file into wind.
6km: 19’06 (3’06) Begin climb. Pack of 3 breaks away on uphill.
7km: 22’16 (3’10) Uphill. Pack of 3 8-10 seconds up, running in control
8km: 25’25 (3’09) Uphill. 2nd lead car pulls between me and 3some, can’t see them. Annoying
9km: 28’36 (3’11) Uphill. Same situation.
10km: 31’45 (3’09) Uphill. Car has moved, about 20 seconds back. Still controlled. (15’45 second 5k)
11km: 34’54 (3’09) First big climb. Worked very hard, closing gap. 15 seconds.
12km: 38’02 (3’08) Still climbing, gaining on 3some. Gap 12 seconds.
13km: 41’00 (2’58) Downhill, flying down. Gap closing. I’m going to win.
14km: 44’01 (3’01) Still down, gap down to 8 seconds
15km: 47’05 (3’04) Flat, gap constant ~8sec. (15’20 third 5k)
16km: 50’07 (3’02) Flat, gap constant, maybe increased.
17km: 53’12 (3’05) Flat. 3some has picked it up a lot, doubting ability to make up gap (20sec).
18km: 56’18 (3’06) Running through slow finishers of 10k, 3some well ahead and hard to see.
19km: 59’23 (3’05) Just trying to finish. Flying by back of 10k.
20km: 1’02’13 (2’50) Big surge with ~500m to go. Probably split like 1’32/1’18. Still had top end. (15’08 fourth 5k)

 

Five Quick Takeaways 

1. An easy first 5-10% of the race seems to suit me very well. My best races (30’22 10k, 1’13 HM, 1’07 HM, 1’02 20k) have all started with VERY disproportionately slow starts. I seem to be able to make up much more than I lose in the beginning.

1.5. A continuation of that, a large negative split seems to be the best way for me to run the half. In all of my big PR halfs ((NB, Boston ’11, Boston ’13, today), I have run very significant negative split, arriving to 10km very controlled and accelerating.

2. Altitude conversions seem to work (for me). My 5km time trial predicted 14’19 at sea level. I figured I’m in better half shape than 5km shape, so I should be able to run an equivalent of faster than that. 1’02’13 is purdy-point equal to 14’09.
3. Competition matters. Running solo is really hard. There were a few km where a lead car came between me and the lead pack and it was very hard to stay mentally engaged. Having runners in front of me is a huge motivation.
4. Peaking has an enormous effect on me. I have seen HUGE increases in performance for a period of 2-4 weeks at the end of a season with a big (like 50%) cut in mileage. Saw it in track, in the Boston Half, and now.
5. Altitude (and descent) has an enormous effect on me and I need more that 24 hours of descent time. Not sure if it’s due to travel fatigue of if there is something physiological going on, but coming down from altitude took at least 48 hours before I started feeling good. But when I did start to feel good, I felt VERY good.