Weekly Summary – 114 miles in 10 runs. 3 days of recovery after the end of a big block and then two great workouts including a huge special block on Sunday. 6th place at the USATF-NE 10k as part of a huge block of mileage and quality – I’ll take that!
Lunes, 8 Septiembre, 2014 – 11am: Ran late, very tired from yesterday.Recovery period now. Easy run on the fields. Felt surprisingly decent once I got moving. Total run 7M in 56’.
PM: OFF.
XT: Core 15’
Martes, 9 Septiembre, 2014 – AM: OFF (from running). Drove to Monadnock and hiked up and down. Beautiful hike and great day! About 2hrs total of hiking.
5pm: Ran solo around here. Finished at gym for upper. Jogged home. Total run 9M+.
XT: Upper body at gym. Crowded. Don’t go at 6pm next time!
Miercoles, 10 Septiembre, 2014 – 10am: Ran easy with David on Lakes and then to the store and back. Very easy. Total run 5M+ in 39’.
4pm: Ran solo fields and then to the track. Did full drills and strides. Then 4x500m with about 1’ jog back. Ran in flats. Ran easy first one (1’42), then HMP (1’32), then ~10k pace (1’27), last one quick (1’17). Felt very good. Jogged back. Total run 5M+
XT: Hips.
Jueves, 11 Septiembre, 2014 – 10am: Ran easy with David on fields and then over to long lakes. Easy workout today – 15km uptempo at 90% (3’30/km) and then some short hills. Ran first km with Dave and then solo. Felt fine, pretty easy effort. Went out a bit too hard (3’25/3’18) and then calmed down to high 3’20s for the most part. Finished with last 3km a bit quicker (3’14/3’04/3’03). Total work was 50’56 for 15km.
After, ran over to train tracks hill and did 10x short hill sprints with walk/jog rest. Felt good there, just a bit tired.
Finally finished with legs at the gym and then jogged back.
Not too hard a workout but long – almost 3 hours in total.
Total run 18M.
15km Splits
1 (3’25.0)
2 (3’18.0) 6’43
3 (3’25.2) 10’8.2
4 (3’27.6) 13’35.8
5 (3’32.1) 17’07.9 (17’07.9)
6 (3’28.8) 20’36.7
7 (3’31.1) 24’07.8
8 (3’21.3) 27’29.1
9 (3’35.7) 31’04.8
10 (3’33.4) 34’38.2 (17’30.3)
11 (3’28.4) 38’06.6
12 (3’27.6) 41’34.2
13 (3’14.9) 44’49.1
14 (3’03.5) 47’52.6
15 (3’02.9) 50’55.5 (16’17.3)
4pm: Ran solo on fields. Felt much better than expected. Total run 10km+, 6M++.
XT: Legs at the gym.
Viernes, 12 Septiembre, 2014 – 10am: Ran with Mar and Dave super easy first 5M at 9’00 pace on short res. BEAUTIFUL day and very fun run, nice to easy into it. Ran solo after on rev long lakes and then to the store and back. Total run 20km (12M++) in 1’40 (last 8M solo at about 7’00 pace).
4pm: Ran solo on rev long lakes to Sam’s loop. Felt good. Total run 11M in 80’.
XT: Hips.
Sabado, 13 Septiembre, 2014 – 11am: Slept late after going out to try and see the aurora borealis last night in Gloucestor. Ran with Dave 5km easy and then solo on mid-res. Felt okay. Total run 10M+ in 75’.
5pm: Ran in Concord solo. Started raining as soon as I left, oops. Stopped at Harrington and did drills and strides in flats and then did 2x650m at goal race pace. First slightly downhill (2’58/km pace) second back uphill (3’04/km pace), with about 1’ jog between. Felt very comfortable. Ran back after. Total run 6M in 40’.
XT: Core, 10’.
Domingo, 14 Septiembre, 2014 – 8:30am: Up early around 5:30am for a big day with the Lone Gull 10k in the morning and an afternoon “special block” workout to follow. The idea of the “special block” is to run two pretty big workouts in one day with only a few hours rest between. The morning’s workout is supposed to tire the legs muscularly and deplete the body’s fuel stores, therefore making the second workout simulate the end of a marathon, particularly the second half of the second workout.
My special block today consisted of a race in the morning at the Lone Gull 10k and then an afternoon workout of 20km continuous with 10km at ~90% of marathon pace and 10km right at MP. This last 10k would be the kicker that really simulates what that last 10km of the marathon is supposed to feel like.
The race was actually a very competitive event, as the 10km feature of the USA Track and Field New England Grand Prix. There was a good deal of both team and individual money on the line, so I figured a lot of good guys would show up. In line for the bathroom before warming up, I noticed Amos Sang, who I’d raced against a few times and is a sub-29’ 10km runner, and a few other skinny Kenyan dudes. I figured it would be a fast race.
Jon and I had talked about a plan for this race to go out conservatively, around goal half marathon pace (3’03-05/km), and not get caught up in a crazy first mile if it went out hard. If I felt good, I’d try to accelerate in the second half and if not, just try to hang on.
I warmed up solo about 5km and made my way to the start, where I did some limited drills and strides as we were tight for time. We ended up being delayed about 10’ because people were still heading over, so I did have time for a few longer strides. I saw Nate Jenkins and Ruben Sanca, and I figured they’d be up front too and I could key off of them.
The gun went off and I quickly found myself in a pack at the front with Nate, Ruben, and 3 Kenyan guys, one of whom was Sang. I felt good, but we were running just a bit too quick and I backed off, letting them put maybe 5 seconds on me by the first kilometer, which I passed in 3’00. Dan Vasallo was running with me at at that point, and we hung together through the first mile or so (4’50).
The second mile makes a turn off of the ocean road and uphill into the residential section of the race. I was watching the pack of 5 in front of me, who seemed to be coming back to me a bit, if not just maintaining their distance. We headed uphill and I was running about 3’05/km and feeling quite comfortable.
At that point, I was sure I was running a smart race and some of that front pack would come back to me over the next few miles. I just kept them in contact without expending a ton of energy.
I passed 2M at the top of the hill in about 9’50 and then there’s a nice long downhill on the other side (the fastest split of the day, 2’57.6 to 4km in 12’09.
Around 5km, I could see that one of the guys from their pack was falling off and I was hoping this would be the first of several. I passed 5km in 15’14 (almost exactly on the 15’15 that I’d wanted) and started to work up towards him. I caught him around 6km (3’02), 18’16.1 and for the first time in the race, I had someone to run with.
We ran together through 4M (~19’40), and then came back out onto the long shot back towards the start. This was a long, quiet, rolling stretch and for the first time I really felt the wind. It was super windy and seemed to be blowing right in my face. The guy who I’d thought I would blow by had stuck behind me like an irksome shadow and I couldn’t seem to shake him. I was running hard and passed 8km in 24’24 (3’02 km), 5M in ~24’35. I was leading into the wind and just couldn’t shake this guy.
I could see the rest of the pack up in front of me including Nate who seemed to be coming back towards me a bit, but I could see Sang, Ruben, and one other guy were pulling away. I tried to ignore the guy behind me and focus on working up towards Nate, but I just couldn’t seem to make any progress with the wind. I felt like I was running hard, but I must have slowed a lot as my 9th km was 3’17 (27’40).
Shortly after that, we came around a bend and could see the hill that led up to the finish. It was about a half mile to go and my shadow behind me just took off. I tried to match him but I didn’t have another gear to go with his surge.
I tried to maintain contact and kept him within a few seconds, but couldn’t reel him in. With about 500m to go, at the bottom of the last hill, I surged up the hill as Jon had told me to, and I seemed to close the gap just the tiniest of bits. I tried to fly down the other side of the hill but couldn’t make myself turn over fast enough. He finished about 3 seconds in front of me.
Overall, I was pretty pleased with the effort. I did run 45km at close to 5’30 pace 7 days ago and ran 60+ miles in the 3 days leading up, so this was very much a “trained-through” race. I do wonder if I would have been better off sticking with the front pack in the first half, but I’m glad I stuck to the plan. Also, if you look at the pedigrees of the guys who finished 3-45 seconds in front of me (63’ HM, 28’ 10km, 13’30 5km), I’m pretty pleased to be that close to their company in a trained-through effort.
I did a short cooldown with Jon and Mariana and the CSU gang, but was mostly thinking about workout #2 already.
Total run 12M+.
Splits:
1 (2’59.7)
2 (3’02.7) 6’02.4
3 (3’08.9) 9’11.3
4 (2’57.6) 12’08.9
5 (3’04.8) 15’13.7 (15’13.7)
6 (3’02.4) 18’16.1
7 (3’05.5) 21’21.6
8 (3’01.9) 24’23.5
9 (3’16.9) 27’40.4
10 (3’08.0) 30’48.4 (15’34.7)
(10.08) (10.6) 30’57.0
12:30pm: Workout #2 started almost as soon as I got home. I hadn’t completed carbo-deprived myself between runs, but I hadn’t had very much – 1.5 nature valley bars from the race and half of a plain bagel (and lots of water).
The second workout was more marathon specific: 10km “uptempo” (90% of MP or around 3’32/km) and then 10-12km at MP (3’13/km or ~5’10/mile). I did about 2km very easy to warm up and then did drills and no strides and went into the first part.
I was running on the rolling Tufts tempo loop (Long Lakes) and (besides starting too quick), felt okay. The pace felt much harder than I expected, but it was mostly muscular distress from running on already significantly tired legs.
That first 10km seemed to drag on but I managed to finish in just about perfect timing (35’28), before moving into the second half of the workout (and probably the most important piece of running for the day).
The last 10-12km – with 20km of fast running already in my legs – really did feel like I was in that last 10-12km of the marathon. The first mile or two felt okay, but soon I began to feel that my form was drifting away from its super-economical, normal stance as my muscles were totally fatigued.
In a way, it reminded me of how I felt running very short hill sprints – how in the last few meters, my form would begin to deteriorate and I would have to really actively focus on running well; it wouldn’t just happen naturally.
Each kilometer seemed to be the last one that I’d be able to manage, but somehow I was able to keep going. This feeling of having to “muscle through” and actively think about form and running was something that I’ve really only felt during marathons or during all out training sessions (like hill sprints), it was quite something to have to push through this, but also finish and know that I could.
Getting to 8km (25’48), I could tell that I was going to make it to 10km, but probably no farther. I felt like I was pushing and accelerating but really was simply maintaining the pace. I came through 10km in 32’11 (3’13.0/km). The total 20km was 67’40 (3’32.8/km)..
This was a tremendous day in terms of both the sum of the parts and the whole. Both workouts would have been good in isolation, but doing the afternoon’s workout after a tough 10km road race in the morning was something that I could not have done even this Spring.
I feel like these special blocks really do a great job of simulating the muscular fatigue felt in the end of the marathon and based on both my marathons from this spring, that’s the section in which I need the most improvement. Not coincidentally, these were the workouts that I was forced to leave out of my spring training block due to my car accident and subsequent injury. I’m really hoping that these pay off and I’m able to see an improvement in my ability to maintain pace through the last quarter of the marathon race this season.
Cooled down very short and then stretching and ice bath. Total run 14M+.
SPLITS
1 (3’25.5)
2 (3’37.1) 7’02.6
3 (3’38.7) 10’41.3
4 (3’30.8) 14’12.1
5 (3’30.6) 17’42.7 (17’42.7)
6 (3’40.8) 21’23.5
7 (3’29.8) 24’53.3
8 (3’36.3) 28’29.6
9 (3’30.1) 31’59.7
10 (3’29.2) 35’28.9 (17’46.2)
11 (3’08.3) 38’37.2
12 (3’14.0) 41’51.2
13 (3’13.4) 45’04.6
14 (3’15.4) 48’20
15 (3’15.0) 51’35 (16’06.1)
16 (3’12.8) 54’47.8
17 (3’13.7) 58’1.5
18 (3’14.6) 61’16.1
19 (3’12.0) 64’28.1
20 (3’12.2) 67’40.3 (16’05.3) (32’11.4 last 10km)
XT: OFF.
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