Weekly summary – 102 miles in 13 runs. Fantastic week with two huge workouts (5x1600m and 20x400m) as I get ready for my first indoor 5000m race in 5 years! A nice very-high-altitude long run top cap things off. Less than 2 weeks to go!

 

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Lunes, 5 de Febrero, 2018 – AM: OFF, block break day 2, so just got a ton of work caught up.

4:30pm: Easy run down to the park and 2 big laps (16’15, 15’55) to the track longer way (50’ at the track). Stopped and did 6x strides and 200m in 30.7. Felt pretty good overall. A bit sore in some odd places after the long hike/climb yesterday, but quite good by the end and on strides. Total run 14km in 60’.

Martes, 6 de Febrero, 2018 – 7am: Ran down to the Carolina as the stadium was close. Cool and drizzly this morning but not too bad. Met up with the gang and did drills and 20’ more jogging very easy. Right groin a bit tight/sore but otherwise legs felt pretty good. Did 4x strides solo and then 4x500m in: 1’23.4, 1’24.4, 1’23.1, 1’22.3, w/ 2’ jog between all. Felt fast but pretty good overall, especially on wet track in cliftons, tights, long-sleeves… Jogged home easy after. Total run 12km+ in 60’.

4:30pm: Ran with Mar in Mindo (4,200 ft, 1250m) looking for a flat (ish) piece of road to do a workout tomorrow AM. Very hilly town so pretty tricky. Best bet is a block of about 300m right next to the main square. Finished with strides on the road near hostel. Total run 4km in 20’.

Miercoles, 7 de Febrero, 2018 – Sparknotes: 5x1600m @ 4’32->4’26 (4’30.2 avg), 2′ jog (4000ft).

7am: Woke up at 6am, a bit tired, had some cold coffee that I got last night and which – they lied! – was full of sugar. Gross. Fuel in the tank.

Big, big session today and really a lot of feedback coming from this one, as it was my first time running fast at sea level (more or less) since coming to Quito a month earlier. Goal was to do 5x1600m w/ 2’ rest. This workout has been – for me – a pretty good indicator of 5K fitness (i.e. the pace I could run for this workout has been indicative of what I could run for a 5K). I think I ran this workout at just over 5’00 pace way back when I ran 15’37 and ran the same workout in about 4’50 when I ran 14’53 in college. So, decent feedback. I’ve had a lot of good, hard sessions way up on the mountain but have never trained this fast up there, so I didn’t really know what it would mean. I was excited and a bit nervous for this one as I just really didn’t know what to expect.

I’d felt a bit sluggish the previous afternoon, but the warmup (5km in 22’) and strides felt good. I did drills and one lap – the loop was 288m wheel-measured – in 48.x which was actually a bit quick. I think I was shooting for 49-51 which would be 2’48-55/km. The loop itself was the flattest I could find in town, but not perfectly flat and 4 sharp turns every 300m. Plus, it was quite wet (we’re in the cloud forest after all) and the street is cobbled with tiles, not asphalt. It’s not Doha, but not as smooth as running on an indoor track, that’s for sure.

I started off at about the same pace as the test lap and actually didn’t feel too bad. I tried to mostly relax on this first rep and pay attention to my breathing, but things felt very good. I was splitting my watch each lap and each time it was 48-49, so I knew I was running well. I did 5 laps and then 160m to finish, a slight net downhill on that last 160m, which felt really good to help pick it up for the last 25 seconds or so. I was surprised to stop the watch and see the time at 4’30. Very good sign given how reasonable it felt!

The most surprising thing about the workout was how good the recovery felt. After that first rep, I remember feeling ready to go by the time I got back to the start which was less than 1’. I knew I’d need it later on though, so took a full 2’ jogging and went into number 2.

These next 3 reps all felt pretty much the same. I was running very consistently 48-49/lap. In fact, every lap was between 48.3 and 49.7. Again, the rest felt very comfortable and I was ready to go each time.

On the last one, I tried to go a lot harder and went out with the fastest lap of the day (46.9), which is 65.1 400m pace. I slowed down the next 3 laps, but not a ton (slowest lap was still 48.6) which is another way I notice the huge change in altitude. That would have been fatal at 9300. I closed well the last 160m to run the fastest rep of the day 4’26.1.

Overall, the average was 4’30.2 for 1600m, which is 4’31.7/M, 2’48.9/km (67.6/400m). This is 14’04 pace.

So, 13’xx is definitely not out of the question. Obviously can’t judge things by one workout, but this definitely validates that the slower session I’ve been doing in Quito are definitely working. I’ll definitely go to Boston and try unless something drastic happens in the next 10 days.

Cooled down short back to the hostel, ethio while watching the humming birds in the garden. Lovely start to the day.

Splits:
5x1600m (2’ jog rec)
4’30.4
4’32.1
4’30.5
4’31.9
4’26.1

6pm: Ran from ofelia bus station home. Not a great run as we had to deal with getting robbed on the bus (non-violently at least, but still lost $1000+ worth of shit – luckily we should get some $ from insurance). The run was crowded and along a congested road and I had some GI issues which necessitated a stop at a gas station bathroom. Very thankful to get home in one piece. No strides. Total run 10km- in 46’.

Jueves, 8 de Febrero, 2018 – 11am: Ran very late with a hectic morning dealing with the aftermath of getting robbed yesterday! Yay! Had to go to the police to file a report which luckily didn’t take that long after finally finding the place. Ended up running from there to El Ejido and just running short laps (~1.5km) around the park. Did 5x strides in the middle after. Legs a bit tired to start but warmed up nicely. Very warm and sunny. Finished down at Mercado Central to meet Mar. Total run 10km++ in 45’.

5pm: Easy clockwork double to the park. Still a bit tired, probably from some stress today and the big session yesterday. 1 lap in 16’29 and to the park in 34’45. 4x strides and home. Total run 10km+ in 45’.

Viernes, 9 de Febrero, 2018 – Sparknotes: 20x400m @ 69.0 avg w/ 60” rec, 4’ after #10, (64.2 last rep).

7am: This week is turning out to be a real festival of hammers which makes sense as we’re 2-3 weeks out from the 5K. Today’s session was in Quito (9,300 ft) but unfortunately solo since I was off the schedule with the gang (they all worked out yesterday).

The workout was a whole bunch of running at close to 5K pace with short rest, at altitude. 2 sets of 10x400m at ~68-69 (just a tick slower than sea-level goal 5K pace) with only 1 minute between each rep and 4’ between the two sets of 10.

Warmed up easy to the track and around the grass for 5km+, drills, and then 4x strides and 200m in 34.0. Had a minor tailwind on the back straight, so ended up minorly positive splitting pretty much every interval as I was finishing into the wind.

Tried to split the first set up into 3 sets of 3 + 1. This made it easier to keep track of and mentally broke things up a bit. The rest definitely felt short but the pace didn’t feel super fast, especially to start, so that was great. The first set basically just got harder and harder, especially after about #4 or 5. The last 4 felt quite tough and I didn’t try to push at all on #10.

The 4’ rest felt really nice and I took some nuun and let the breathing and HR calm down.

The second set, I was just counting down from 10. These all felt markedly harder, but I was trying really hard to keep them all under 70. I almost did this except I just really ran like a bub on #16 and went out way too slow and didn’t push and ran 1’10.6. After that, I brought it back down with the end in sight and ran 68/68 and then on the last one went very hard and was out in 30.x and ran 64.2. Really great finish given how aerobically gassed I was by that point, and my legs were pretty tired.

Overall, super pleased with this one as well. I was pretty beat yesterday and didn’t feel great this morning, so to have the whole workout stay at 69.0 avg and being able to close well is a great sign. This is 16km of work at more or less goal 5K pace, half of that at altitude, over the course of 3 days. A huge stimulus which will – of course – necesitate equally huge recovery. Very excited to get on the magic track at BU in a couple weeks and hopefully get in a tuneup down at sea level next weekend.

Cooled down short around the grass and then home (to the base of the hill and then walked up because I was pretty much worked.

Total run 19km.

Splits:
2x10x400m (1’ rec, 4’ between sets)
(1’09.3)
(1’08.2)
(1’08.1)
(1’08.8)
(1’09.2)
(1’09.2)
(1’08.9)
(1’09.5)
(1’09.2)
(1’09.3)
Set 1 avg: 69.0

4’00 jog
(1’09.7)
(1’09.6)
(1’09.5)
(1’09.2)
(1’09.9)
(1’09.7)
(1’10.6)
(1’08.7)
(1’08.7)
(1’04.2)
Set 2 avg: 68.9

Overall avg: 69.0
5pm: Easy, slow shakeout. Pretty tired from the morning session. 1 lap in 17’22 (very slow!), and then to the tack in 36’. 4x strides easy just to open up the legs and then home. Total run 10k+ in 47’.

XT: Toe yoga

Sabado, 10 de Febrero, 2018 – 9am: Slept later and ran solo up to the metropolitano. Nice and sunny – lovely morning, great change of scenery. Pace was of course very slow on the garmin because it’s so hilly and the paths are a bit winding but effort was very good. Did a big loop, finally, without doubling back at all. Very nice. Stopped and did 4x strides on the flattest section of dirt I could find (not very) and then headed home. Total run 12km in 52’.

XT: Toe yoga

4pm: Nice walk this afternoon down around the park as it was a beautiful day. Ran a bit earlier since I was already there. A bit sluggish to start but quite good within a few km of warmup. 1 lap in 16’22 and then to the track in 34’0x. 4x strides and then home. Fairly light day with big sessions on Wed and Fri and longer run tomorrow with da crew. Total run 10km in 44’.

Domingo, 11 de Febrero 2018 – 8am: Jogged over to cruz del papa to meet Miguel and then drove out to Nono for the first time. Wasn’t sure what the altitude was, but knew it was quite a bit higher than Quito based on the drive. Ran with Micky and one other who started with us and turned back early. In his words, Nono was “totally flat” with only 1 hill around 5km. I quickly learned that our definitions of flat are a bit different as I would call this route gently rolling. We left at about 4’20/km (uphill 20m) and then were under 4’00 pace for most of the rest of the run. Felt pretty bad for the first few km probably because the altitude is so intense (3500m, 11,400 ft) even having been in Quito for 5 weeks. But never really felt worse after those first few km. Just felt consistently tough for most of the run. The big hill at 5.5km was serious (110m over less than 2km) and I was getting dropped by the Andinos on that one, but felt good once we got over that and I caught my breath.

The dirt road turned into more like a tral from about 9km until we turned around ~11.5km. It was a bit muddy and pretty winding so the pace slowed quite a bit here (over 4’00). Almost ate it a couple times trying to cut a tight turn on slippery mud. Finally made it back onto the road and we really hauled ass back. 60’38 at 15km just after getting back onto the road after the slowest part and then 1’18’34 at 20km (17’56 split, though nicely net downhill). The last 5K was net up and very tough with a couple very steep little climbs as we had to tack on to get up to 25km but still ran 18’55 to split 36’50 for the last 10K. Mickey was putting a few meters on me every time we went up one of those steep hills, but otherwise we were together. Very good effort overall.

Total run 25km+ in 1’37’27 (3’53/km avg). This is by far the best session I’ve run at this altitude (equal to that of Cusco).

3:30pm: Ran earlier as I was tired and wanted to be done for the day. Easy down to the park, 1 lap in 16’39 and then to the track in about 34’. Strides are nearly impossible on the track on Sunday afternoon as it’s full of bubs and today is carnaval so it’s doubly full with families and kids spraying silly string everywhere. Managed to still get 4 in and then jog around the park to finish in front of portugal to meet Mariana. Lovely afternoon. Total run 10km in 45’.