Weekly Summary – 132 Miles in 13 runs. Lower week with some travel and pre-race days before the USA 25km Championships. Finished 12th and qualified for the US Road Championships in November and had a good MP run to boot. Also, learned a LOT about tactics. More work coming up! Less than 6 weeks to go.
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Lunes, 4 de Mayo, 2015 – 10am: Very hot again! Almost 80F already. Ran Matt’s loop with 2M on the canal path. Felt ok, just getting used to the heat. Total run 13M in 1h32.
XT: Yoga 15’.
4pm: Easy run solo to Alexandria and back. Hot again, in the mid 80s. Felt ok. Total run 9M in 60’.
XT: Hips
Martes, 5 de Mayo, 2015 – 10am: Lighter workout this morning with the USA 25km on Saturday. 8km progression run with the first 3km at MP and then progressing down to about 10k pace at the end. Super hot 85F and a bit tired overall, so didn’t feel great. 3k in 9’31 and then last 5k progression in 15’01 (3’03, 3’07, 3’00. 2’56, 2’55). Total 24’31 for 8k.
Woke up earylish but didn’t leave until late due to getting held up this morning, so it was already quite warm when I left. Workout went just ok. Probably mostly my own fault for a few reasons – I was feeling pretty tired still in my legs and I had a few things that kept me from leaving early, so it was quite hot (in the 80s and sunny) by the time I left. I was feeling hot and a bit logy on my warm up but I decided to run it anyway (for better or for worse) since it didn’t look too hard on paper.
I ran basically as we planned: 3k at ~MP (9’31) and then tried to “switch gears”. I think I accelerated a bit too much, running the 4th km in 3’02, slowed down to 3’08, and then ran the last 3km in: 3’00, 2’56, 2’55. I actually had to stop briefly (maybe 30sec) around 6km as my shoe was coming undone (I seriously need to start using David’s knot), but I think that might have actually been good as that 3’00 felt really hard and the last 2k felt a bit easier.
The total was 24’32 for 8k, the last 5k was 15’01. Full splits at the bottom.
The splits were about what we’d shot for, but the effort felt a bit more aggressive than I expected. I think this is a combination of tired legs and suddenly starting to deal with the heat/humidity of DC (this may become a serious issue in the next 6 weeks). My few big takeaways are:
1. Pay more attention to how the legs are feeling and don’t be afraid to move hard days around. Today it didn’t matter so much because it was such a short workout, but with these bigger marathon workouts, I want to make sure I’m really ready for them.
2. Be more cognizant of the weather. Might be time to start doing very early morning workouts. The high temp for the next 10 days is not going to go below 80F.
3. With regards to the actual point of this workout – be very careful with the gear-changing. I think it’s too easy to go from MP to ~3’00/km pace, but I don’t think that’s a good idea to accelerate that suddenly in a race (whether it’s this weekend or at Grandma’s). I think really learning to fine-tune that pace shifting is important and it’s probably better to be more conservative than make a big jump.
I’ll do a normal run this afternoon and then a bit lighter Wed-Friday to be RECOVERED (not tapered) by the time Saturday rolls around for the US 25km Championships.
Total run 12M.
Full splits
1 km 3’10.6 (3’10.6)
2 km 6’20.1 (3’09.5)
3 km 9’31.0 (3’10.9)
4 km 12’33.9 (3’02.9)
5 km 15’41.3 (3’07.4)
6 km 18’41.7 (3’00.4)
7 km 21’37.5 (2’55.8)
8 km 24’32.0 (2’54.5) – (15’01.0 last 5k)
4:30p: Ran very easy with Mar first 3M and then solo. Almost got caught in a thunderstorm – yikes. Finished with 1M on the treadmill since it was pouring/thundering and I didn’t want to die. Total run 9M in 65’.
XT: Core, 12’.
Miercoles, 6 de Mayo, 2015 – 9am: Easy run on Matt’s loop. Hot again, 80F. Felt good. Total run 11M in 75’.
XT: Yoga
4pm: Very easy shakeout around CC with Mar then 1M solo in flats of 200m quick, 200m float in ~5’10. Total run 4M+.
XT: Legs at the gym: 3 sets of [15x each leg step ups, 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x static lunge (20 lb), 12x squat (bar)].
Jueves, 7 de Mayo, 2015 – 11am: Up around 5am for a 6:55am flight to Chicago and then onto Grand Rapids. Got picked up from the airport and taken to our super nice hotel in downtown GR by 11am when I headed out for my run. Ran around GR out and back and then on the bike path along the river. Pretty nice. A bit tired from the early morning and it was warm in the 70s. Total run 10M+ in 69’.
4pm: Easy run solo on the first few miles of the course out/back. Finished quick because thunderstorm was coming in! Total run 5M in 32’.
XT: Core, 12’.
Viernes, 8 de Mayo, 2015 – 8:30am: Slept great last night and woke up naturally before my 8am alarm. Planned to run with Christo Landry and Jared Ward before our meetings this morning and wanted to run a bit longer, so ran 2M solo quicker ~12’ and then with those two for about 5M. Felt good – nice to have some company for once, especially with such fast guys! Pace felt very easy and relaxed. Legs feeling good. Finished with drills and a few strides on the riverwalk. Total run 8M.
3pm: Ran solo on the last part of the course out/back. Felt really great again. Tried to really jog and looked down at my watch and saw 3’3x (!!). Wow! Forced myself to slow down after that. Surprised that I’m feeling so good after just a few easy days. Very excited for tomorrow. Total run 6M++ in 38’.
XT: Hips
Sabado, 9 de Mayo, 2015 – 7:30am: Sparknotes: USA 25km Championships at the 5/3 River Bank Run in Grand Rapids, MI. Tough race. Ran stupidly and got sucked into going out too fast instead of running in no-man’s land. Ended up in no-man’s land anyway and then felt pretty bad after about 8k (24’55). Tough hills between 12-20km, but still shouldn’t have been that slow. Went through HM in ~67’35, so ended up averaging 2’15’xx pace which isn’t very good seeing that I was able to do that 2 weeks ago for 30k (albeit on a much flatter loop). Finish time was 1’20’29 for 12th.
Woke up a bit before 5am. Hung around with Christo a bit and then headed down to the start at about 7:15 for the 8:30am gun. Went to the bathroom and relaxed and then warmed up at 7:40. Jogged about 15min and then changed into my singlet. It was warm in the tent and we had to give our stuff to the race crew, so I just got into my singlet and shorts and shoes right away. Outside, I was a bit cold but not too bad. Rain was coming down pretty hard, so I headed under an overhang attached to the hotel to do drills. Walked to the start line and did a few light strides.
Gun went off and I was out decently well. Didn’t look at my watch, but the pace at the beginning felt a bit quick. I tucked in on the outside of the lead pack just behind Jared and hung on. Saw the first km in 3’00 and first mile in 4’50. This was pretty hot pace for me but I looked back and there was nothing behind me, so I just hoped it would mellow out.
It didn’t and after 2M, I dropped back a bit and let the leaders go. I was still feeling good, probably slowing down from the fast start, though not quite enough. I was still running 4’55-5’00 pace and chasing down Joe Grey and one other runner who had also fallen off the pack. I passed 5k in 15’24 and I think I caught them right around there.
We had a decent little group for a few kilometers, but were already slowing down. Joe noticed this and increased the tempo but the other guy and I did not. I led him through about 10k in 31’22 (15’57 second 5k). Somewhere around there, I also got passed by 2 Brooks guys who were really moving. They had clearly run smart and the race I wanted to run – going out conservatively and closing well.
We hit the halfway in about 39’45 and I knew that the hardest part of the course was about to come – a few long though hills between 12-20km. I was super isolated at this point, with Joe and the Brooks guys all well in front of me. I tried to reel them in, but it just wasn’t happening; I had no responsiveness.
Once I made it through the last of the hills around mile 12, I knew that last few miles were quicker and I could hopefully make up some ground. I ran two quicker km (3’08, 3’07) leading up to the half marathon point in about 67’35, but I just couldn’t hold on, even on the long, flat last couple miles. I was very disappointed, as I felt like I mentally checked out a few times. It was just really hard to stay engaged with such huge gaps in front and behind.
I had no real kick, but I honestly didn’t really try to since there was no one near me and I was mostly thinking about this as a training effort at this point.
Finish time was 1’20’29 which is 3’13/km, 5’10/M (2’15’52 marathon pace). Definitely not what I wanted from this run. I honestly just ran stupidly and should have listened to the wise words of my coach who told me to go out slow. But I lacked the confidence to not go with the leaders and run my own race. My own fault entirely.
Sure, this was in the middle of a very big block of training – 157 miles last week and probably over 130 this week even with a couple lighter days. But still, not really an excuse. I ran 30km and ran through 25k a good bit faster just 2 weeks ago with much less rest, so this was just pretty disappointing from a time-perspective.
And in terms of place I thought being in the top 10 in this field was a pretty reasonable goal, even kind of training through. I should really be up with Joe Grey as he has a similar HM/50k PRs to me.
All in all – it was a really fun weekend! I wish the race had gone better, but it was a great learning experience. I need to have CONFIDENCE and run MY race and not get sucked up in proving anything in the first few miles. Clearly when I am training to run a specific pace, I can do a lot of damage running even a small amount (only 5-8sec/km) too fast. And – as I feel like I’ve said many times in the past few months – starting out slow and closing well seems to be BY FAR the best strategy for me. Luckily, I have another chance to really practice this next weekend before I get back to the last month or so of training before Grandma’s!
And the overall experience really was great. These guys put on a terrific event – a very nice hotel, good food provided, super friendly staff. Very professional. Plus it’s always great for me as a huge fan of the sport to get to rub elbows with national champions and Olympians!
So – a poor race, but a great weekend. Lots learned and a great time had. More work tomorrow!
Cooled down with Joe and Abdi. Tacked on solo from the hotel for longer since I had to travel this afternoon.
Total for the morning was 23M.
Full splits:
1 km 3’04.9 (3’04.9)
2 km 6’08.2 (3’03.3)
3 km 9’13.1 (3’04.9)
4 km 12’18.5 (3’05.4)
5 km 15’24.7 (3’06.2) – (15’24.7)
6 km 18’34.4 (3’09.7)
7 km 21’44.3 (3’09.9)
8 km 24’55.9 (3’11.6)
9 km 28’09.1 (3’13.2)
10 km 31’22.0 (3’12.9) – (15’57.3)
11 km 34’38.6 (3’16.6)
12 km 37’52.4 (3’13.8)
13 km 41’06.1 (3’13.7)
14 km 44’24.0 (3’17.9)
15 km 47’38.9 (3’14.9) – (16’16.9)
16 km 51’09.1 (3’30.2)
17 km 54’24.7 (3’15.6)
18 km 57’32.7 (3’08.0)
19 km 1’00’49.1 (3’16.4)
20 km 1’03’57.9 (3’08.8) – (16’19.0)
21 km 1’07’05.8 (3’07.9)
22 km 1’10’24.4 (3’18.6)
23 km 1’13’38.5 (3’14.1)
24 km 1’16’56.3 (3’17.8)
25 km 1’20’11.0 (3’14.7) – (16’13.1)
25.13 km 1’20’30.3 (0’19.3)
Domingo, 10 de Mayo, 2015 – 11am: Super beat – slept for a LONG time until after 10am. Ran with Mar on bike on Matt’s loop with 4M on the canal path. Super nice day, just hot ~85F by the end. Felt surprisingly good though and probably went a bit too quick because of it. Easier this afternoon. Total run 15M in 1h42.
5pm: Ran very slow with Mar first. A bit of walking as she got super light-headed (very hot again) and then solo quicker around Crystal City. Total run 7M+.
XT: Core, 12’.
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