Weekly Summary – 149 miles in 14 runs. Solid week with a solid 5k race (14’42) + workout on Saturday and a great fartlek on Wednesday. And plenty of miles. 20 weeks to the US Olympic Trials and 10 weeks to World Championships!

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Lunes, 21 de Septiembre, 2015 – 10:30am: Slept very long last night. Woke up and did some work to loosen/wake up before heading out. Ran Matt’s loop very slow. Pretty sore from yesterday but not as bad as I expected. Nice morning, only in the 60s and cloudy. Total run 11M in 1h23.

XT: Back/hips

5pm: Rain! First rainy run in a long time. Warm though so not bad. Felt okay, about the same as the morning in energy level and a bit less sore. Ran out/back on MV north. Total run 8M+ in 61’.

XT: Core, 12’.

Martes, 22 de Septiembre, 2015 – 9am: Felt much better this morning. Left not sure how long I’d go and ended up feeling good from the get go, so ran 16M – Matt’s loop plus the C&O. Felt good and was running quicker ~3’50 on the way back. Kind of amazed I can do this less than 48 hours after Sunday’s effort, but bodies are cool, I guess. Total run 16M in 1h50.

XT: Back/Hips.

5pm: Easy shakeout around CC because the fields were all full. Felt good, took it easy. Total run 10km in 45’.

XT: Hips.

Miercoles, 22 de Septiembre, 2015 – 10:30am: Happy first day of Autumn! No sign of Fall here – beautiful sunny day and in the 70s.

Left late for Workout Wednesday because I’m lazy and woke up late and was doing some other work.

Workout for today was fairly light (a “yellow” workout) as both recovery from Sunday’s big effort and a bit of rest towards this coming Saturday’s 5k race. The goal was to do 8-10km of fartlek with 1 minute on, 1 minute off – the “on” minutes from about 3’00/km (4’50/M) down to fast and the “off” minutes around 50k RP or 3’20-25/km (5’20-5’28/M).

Warmed up longer – about 4M easy – and then stopped and did full drills, a couple strides, and 2x200m in 34-35 to try to feel what that pace would feel like. I did the workout on my 1km wheeled loop so that I would have splits and be able to duck out early if it felt too hard.

As always, I eased into the work, starting out around 2’58/km pace for the first few “on” sections and then progressing down to about 2’53-55/km, where I held it steady for most of the second half of the workout. I was consistently running 3’03-09/km (depending on the ratio of on/off per km) and passed 5km in 15’34. I like these short rep fartleks because it feels quite tough when you’re in it, but I feel like I can run much faster when I only have to run for a minute. And then afterward, it doesn’t feel like too draining of an effort.

I started to feel a bit tired around 7km, but I never doubted I’d be able to get to 10k on this one. I passed 8km in 24’52 and then tried to really focus and accelerate a bit on the last few reps, running more like 2’45/km pace. The last rep was a bit longer – maybe 600m or 1’40 or so, as I ran all the way to 10km.

The total was 10km in 30’56 (3’05.6/km, 4’58.7/M).

Cooled down short to the gym for leg circuit and then cooled down around CC for 5M.

Total run 15M.

1 km 3’06.3 (3’06.3)
2 km 6’12.4 (3’06.1)
3 km 9’22.2 (3’09.8)
4 km 12’26.7 (3’04.5)
5 km 15’34.6 (3’07.9) (15’34.6)
6 km 18’41.8 (3’07.2)
7 km 21’47.7 (3’05.9)
8 km 24’52.8 (3’05.1)
9 km 27’56.3 (3’03.5)
10 km 30’56.5 (3’00.2) (15’21.9)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].

7pm: Fasting today for Yom Kippur (though I did allow myself to drink water), so waited to run again until after I’d had a small meal. Still felt a bit weak, but not too bad. Ran around CC because it was getting dark. Total run 5M, NT.

Jueves, 24 de Septiembre, 2015 – 9am: Ran on Matt’s loop with a detour to Clarendon to run on the 5k course for Saturday. Looks pretty fast though the last 200m are up a nice little grade which should be interesting. Couldn’t run from about 2-4km which is an out/back on the highway, but looks fairly flat. Finished back on MV s. Total run 15M in 1h46.

XT: Back/hips.

5pm: Easy run around CC and then down to the fields. Brought the new HOKA Tracer flats and finished with some strides on pavement and – wow- they feel so amazing. So fast, so responsive. Best flat I’ve worn in years. Can’t wait to put them on for the race on Saturday. Jogged home. Total run 7M+ in 50’.

XT: Core, 12’.

Viernes, 25 de Septiembre 2015- 9am: Ran easy 6km around town and then changed into flats to do a bit of quicker running – kind of like long strides – before 5km tomorrow. Did full drills and then ran 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m with equal jog recovery. All were right around 17s/100m so 17.x, 34.x, 51.x, 68.x, 1’25.x. After running this, I think this pace is almost certainly too rich for right now, but I think 2’54-55 might be feasible. Changed shoes and then ran easy on MV out/back. Total run 12M+ in 1h20.

XT: Back/Hips.

5pm: Ran into DC to meet up with Mar, Nate, and Chelsea for dinner. Very easy shakeout. Total run 8M in 60’.

Sabado, 26 de Septiembre, 2015 – 8am: Up at 4am for Clarendon 5k. Black coffee and then 2km shakeout around 5am. 6km warm up, drills strides. Race went well. Out very slow first 800m and then made a very hard bid from 800-2500m (2’56, 2’50, 2’56 first 3km to 8’42) leading into the wind. Got caught by two others around then and fought with them until the turn around around 3600m. Got gapped there when I lost momentum at the hairpin and couldn’t close the gap. 4km in 11’44 (3’01) and then finished decently uphill last km in 2’57 for 14’42 for 3rd.

Felt pretty tired after this but mostly just couldn’t hold the turnover. Aerobically felt great. After, felt decently recovered pretty quickly.

Did a couple interviews and then ran home 8km in 33’ and did 5x1000m (90sec rest) on the wheeled road loop there. First one felt pretty brutal to get back to pace but actually not bad after that. Again, just felt really warmed up, didn’t feel too fatigued from race. Faster each one, last two very hard. 2’57, 2’56, 2’53, 2’49, 2’47. Cooled down short around CC and then to gym for legs. Very long morning and very tired after all this.

Total run 19M.

5k Race – Clarendon Day 5k
1 km 2’56.2 (2’56.2)
2 km 5’46.6 (2’50.4)
3 km 8’42.9 (2’56.3)
4 km 11’44.5 (3’01.6)
5 km 14’42.3 (2’57.8)

5x1000m w/ 90sec jog ( wheeled road loop)
1 km (2’57.1)
2 km (2’56.1)
3 km (2’53.4)
4 km (2’49.9)
5 km (2’47.7)

XT: Legs at the gym. 3 sets of [15x step ups (10lb), 20x overhead lunge (10lb), 24x dynamic lung (10lb), 12x squat (bar)].

5pm: Shakeout on MV out/back. Felt surprisingly very good. Form felt good and smooth. Tomorrow will probably be rough. Total run 5M in 34’.

Domingo, 27 de Septiembre, 2015 – 12pm: Slept very late after being out late at moe. last night. Quite tired but felt surprisingly good on the run despite a long day yesterday. Ran Matt’s loop with long extension on C&O – farthest I’ve gone out that way. Nice morning. Total run 17M in 2h00.

XT: Back/hips.

5pm: Easy shakeout down to the fields and 5km barefoot. Felt okay but tired this afternoon. Total run 5M+ in 37’.

XT: Core, 12’.