Of Mice and Marathons

AM: Northeast Roader Runners Winter 10k. Not a great time for me, but I raced a bit today which was the point. I thought I could run between 35:30-36:00 but not today.

The course is an out and back along the Schuykill River Trail on Boat House Row.

Warmed up 4 miles, changed into flats and did some strides. Felt really good. First mile we took off and I was in 4th or 5th, but moved into second. Effort felt fine, form felt smooth. Hit mile 1 in 5:35, which was too fast but I honestly felt fine. Kept 1st place within striking distance and listened for folks behind me. Tried to keep relaxed and focus on my breathing. Felt like a hard tempo (comfortable but definitely not easy). I maintained my distance on first, but this was probably a mistake because he was slowing and I was slowing and not realizing it because I didn't have my pace on.

Around mile 3 I heard footsteps and the guy behind me started to move up. I figured the leader wasn't going to last so I waited to see what the guy behind me would do. We went into the turn around (~18:00, WTF!?!) and he went by me and took the lead. I then passed the second place guy and traded places with the leader. I could see his shoe was untied, which he stopped to tie around mile 4 or so. I went into the lead but felt dirty about it so I slowed up a bit. We had a decent amount of headwind on the way back, and after catching back up to me he sat right on my shoulder for a while. I threw in some surges mostly to see where my own legs were. He took the lead back at some point.

With a mile to go I took the lead back and tried to break him at 3/4 and 1/2 to go (I even ran through some runners coming the other way to use them as human shields. Not sure if this is kosher, but I think it's funny and they were in the way of my tangents). I could see the final straightway and tried to pour it on. Well, he waited and kicked and I lost confidence and lost the race by a handful of seconds.

I did okay racing today, but I still race like an amateur. Part of the problem is a lack of mental toughness and part of the problem is a lack of opportunity. I get a real racing opporunity maybe once or twice a year.

Much work to be done in the next 6 weeks, but I'll get there.

I didn't take splits because I decided to race and get an update or two from the scant number of clocks they had on the course (I had quarter mile markers though, which was nice). But these are from Strava. A really "good" regression race: 5:35, 5:46, 5:52, 5:53, 6:01, 6:00. With a more sensible start I probably could have hung out in the mid to upper 5:40s.

1 mile cool down before awards, which were a waste of time and I should have finished a proper cool down. It was snowing and I wanted to make sure Megan and I got home.

PM: Treadmill - 4 miles. Core work after.

AM/Lunch: 7.5 miles easy. Icy in places, lots of water in others. Jumped four deer near the Poseidon Statue.

PM: 5.4 miles easy. Stretching and weights. Icy in spots and wet in others. Almost fell 4-5 times today and avoided skating into two intersections.

A little sore from yesterday in the quads and IT area, the fact and placement of which is atypical (but symmetrical).

AM/Lunch: 7.25 miles easy.

Still sore. I've never been sore after a 10k. Probably means I need more doubles and mileage.

PM: Treadmill - 6.5 miles easy. Did some strides. They felt good. Stretching after.

Another round of snow/sleet/crap. 40+ degrees in the 10-day forcast. Can't wait.

AM: Treadmill - 7 miles very easy. Light core session after.

PM: Treadmill - 6.5 miles very easy + strides

After feeling very sluggish this morning I wore my HR monitor this evening. It told me what I needed to know. Have to slow down a bit. If I need to run 8:30 pace that's what Im going to do. Doesn't usually take this long to recover though.

Late: rolled out my legs. A few spots hurt, my hamstring tickled. I got after it a bit. Feel great. We shall we see what morning brings.

Lunch: Treadmill - 7.5 miles w/ 4-mile LT tempo @ 6:05

6 inches of snow this morning and still falling. Kind of a crappy workout but I pushed through it. Waiting to feel good again. Not sure if I will run later today or just rest. Running is not going super well but I'm plugging along.

PM: Treadill - 5 miles

Lunch: 7 miles. Pretty much every variety of snow/slush/water/ice you can think of. My least favorite is kitty litter (the stage when snow is just before slush but it is loose and not hard packed). 40-55 degrees throughout the 10-day forecast after that!

PM: Off. Mileage is fine this week though. Assuming I am out of bed before 11:30 tomorrow, I'l get in two runs. Hoping the sun works it's magic on the roads for Sunday, which will be my first of a couple 5k-paced workouts to try to see if I can break the 17 minute mark. Probably not enough time and I will need at least two 5ks to do it, but I'll see what I can do after the peak of spring racing season if I can't get where I need to be before then.

PM: 6.75 miles. The first 3.75 with Megan. Did a few strides after.

Decent week for mileage but no runs over 7.5 miles is not great. Roads will be clearing up this week for some workouts and time on my feet.

PM: Flourtown Tempo Loop + Springsdie Track - 9.25 miles. Failed workout.

I attempted the Drew Ladder workout (okay so he probably didn't invent it but he's the only person I've seen do it). I warmed up 4 miles with strides. I got through about 3/4 of a mile and pulled it. A bit of slush and some nasty wind on the backside and I just couldn't hold my concentration.

I cursed the air, cursed myself, my cat, and pretty much everybody's mother. Vowed never to run again, vowed to skip the rest of the spring season. Got back and I checked my watch. 5:12 pace. I'm an idiot. 5:25-5:27 for the mile and the rest around that would have made me happy. I'm both gunshy and anxious at this point and it's not making things go well. Obviously the pacing was the majority of the problem here. Might need to put the pace back on for workouts if I can't find it.

Drove over to Springside Academy and did some hard 400s in lane 2 1/2 (some snow on the inside)

5 x 400 @ mile pace with 60-70 seconds rest

73.7, 75, 76, 76, 74.6

I was okay with those. I mean it was lane 2 1/2 and all.

Noon: 8.25 miles easy. Core.

PM: 5 miles. Stretching.

Glorious weather today. Saw 4-5 runners today all in tights, jackets, hat, and gloves. It was 50+ degrees. I wore shorts and a light long sleeve this morning and a t-shirt this afternoon. V

AM: 5.5 miles.

Air quality warning. First time I've seen that (other than summer heat index /air quality warnings).

PM: 7 miles. Rainy and cold. Better than snow.

AM: Flourtown Tempo Loop - 12 miles, averaged 7:13 w/ 5-mile tempo

I kept changing the workout so that I couldn't get nerved up about it. I decided on a 4-5 mile tempo as I was headed down the hill. The workout went well, even if I wanted it to be a bit closer to half PR pace of ~5:55 or faster. Can't complain though (I'm not quite there). The real idea was to build confidence and regain focus. Think I achieved that. Started out slow, but I knew it was slow.

Feeling better today thanks to a number of excellent FRB coaches.

4 up/3 down

Splits were: 6:09, 6:03, 6:03, 6:01 5:53 (~6:02 average)

PM: 4.25 miles easy with Megan. I was very loopy around mile 2 until the conclusion of our run. Lack of calories or dehydrated or both. Trying to tighten up on food intake.

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 5.5 miles easy

Made white chicken chili for dinner. One of my new(er) favorites.

Late: stretching and rolling

AM: Signed up for Beach to Beacon in 2:47 (maybe a PR). 6:40AM is too early for this Rock Star.

Flourtown Tempo Loop (mostly) - 20 miles, averaged 7:31

I was going to do abut 15-17 miles w/ 8-tempo around 6:25-6:30 pace but decided maybe 17-18 miles with a long warm up and a longer tempo if I felt good. I warmed up 6 really easy and did 10 miles moderate down to marathon pace. I felt really comfortable and now that I checked have checked my splits I can see why :-) Well, after not giving myself at least two recovery days and it's been 5-6 weeks without a 20 miler, any substantial longer runs, and mostly 60 minute runs, this could have been a lot worse. I'm happy pretty much any day I can knock out 20 miles and feel relatively good at the end.

Averaged 8:36 for the 6 miles and averaged 6:42 for the 10 miles, but I started at 7:00 and ended at 6:28 for the last two. A nice long and controlled progression and just stayed relaxed and gave it a slightly uptempo effort. It pains me to count 6:50-7:00 as marathon pace but this was maybe a click or two of full marathon effort and I am trying to be more in tune with pacing and effort, mostly not taking splits, and not checking pace for easy runs.

PM: Treadmill - 4.25 miles. HR 141. Core and stretching after.

A good week. Mileage is up, workouts were decent. Feeling pretty good. More of the same the next few weeks and try to sharpen up for the Unite half in 4 weeks and try to PR in the 5k the weekend before. Then a few more weeks and it's Broad Street. Hard to beleieve that will more or less be the end of my usual spring training season. Feel like I just started this week.

Lunch(ish): 7.25 miles on the trails.

I slipped and fell and scraped my knee. It hurt a lot, but I think it's fine. Ran on my baby, Forbidden Drive, for just a short stretch. It's been a while.

PM: 5.25 miles. Did some strides. They felt good.

AM/Lunch: 15.5 miles, averaged 7:20 w/ 6 x 1 mile (~1:45 recovery jog)

Jogged to the tempo loop. Construction everywhere. All I can say is I hope they are making it pretty because that loop is magical and I have work to do in the next 3 weeks.

Jogged some more trying to figure out what to do. Try to find another loop I marked out. Couldn't find it. Saw a track at a school but it was funny looking and the fence looked high and not inviting. I saw a U-shaped residential area road and just ran it blind. The makeshift loop worked nicely even though it wasn't quite a mile (~.8). Ended up with a very sufficient warm up of 5.4 miles.

5:51, 5:51, 5:48, 5:53, 5:53, 5:55 (~5:52 average), split slightly long on a few but close enough.

3.1 cool down. Took down a low hanging fruit Strava course record. It's not an easy hill.

PM:Likely off. Not sure I will fit anything more in today, which is fine.

AM: Off. Too much work to be done

PM: 8 miles on the trails.

Lunch/PM: 13 miles. Did some strides.

Quite sluggish. Thinking tomorrow is a complete rest day rather than a workout day. Not sure when my last rest day was. I'll move the workout to Friday. Except I think we are getting rain and snow . . .

lDay off.

Typically a sluggish run wouldn't make me take a day off (they are the case in marathon training), but I have woke up the last two days feeling almost as tired as when I went to bed and my body is telling me something I think. Tomorrow's workout should be interesting with the snow (gross).

29 days on. I used to be able to go 40-80 days. I'm getting older I guess (running a bit faster though).

I haven't got the workouts in I wanted to before the 5k in two weeks, but I will be rested for the race which I never do in a 5k. I have two 5k paced workouts scheduled, but doing that crap on the treadmill is not my thing. Might have to just suck it up and let the snot fly indoors.

Late: stretching and rolling, core, push-ups

AM: Springside Track - 10 miles, averaged 7:33

Mile Breakdown Workout in the snow

I bombed this one on the tempo loop a few weeks ago, and thought I might do it today (among some other options). It was snowing, but I figured I'd try it. I jogged to the track and it was already covered but I could see the lanes through the snow (that ended pretty quickly). I cleared off my usually starting point on the finish line and continued warming up and snow continued to fall. I got busy without much of a proper warm up (3.1 miles, a few pickups but no strides). I just ran and didn't take an 200 or 400 meter splits, just the concluding split. You can see I wasn't really consistent throughout.

1600 in 5:31/400 jog

1200 in 4:14/400 jog (5:36 pace, which was off target)

2 x 800 in 2:45 and 2:50/200 jog (off target second interval)

4 x 400 in 79, 81, 80, 80/200 jog (more or less on target)

Not bad for the first track workout of the year. I am sure I was mentally slowing down on the snow and not getting complete traction but I doubt I would have been too much faster. I was end of race effort after the last 400, so I felt good about my effort. Pleased to get this one in. I wasn't sure I was going to.

2 mile slush plod cool down

PM: Treadmill - 4 miles. More snow than expected. Light core session and pushups.

PM: Treadmill - 6.5 miles

Evening: 5 miles

PM: 9 miles. Did a few strides.

AM: Springside Track -10 miles, averaged 7:38 w/ 4-mile tempo + 4 x 200

flat, crappy workout. Ran in lane 3 as some young guys were doing 200s. I warmed up about 3.8 and did some light stretching and strides. About 30 degrees out. Splits were dog crap: 6:05, 6:18?!, 6:13, 6:13. Quarter mile jog then 4 x 200 with 200 jogs: 34.2, 35.4, 35.5, 35.5. My pacing on the roads is better I think, but the tempo loop looks like it might be a while. Not sure what's wrong. Probably needed an extra recovery day. Too much to drink this weekend. I weigh too much. What else is new. Onward and upward I guess.

AM: 7.25 miles

PM: 5.25 miles. Slow but strong and smooth.

Lunch: 7.25 miles.

PM: 5 miles w/ 9 x 200 strides (I can't count) in 40 seconds just to loosen up but not hammer.

Megan asked me if I was limping earlier. I said no because I'm not in pain but my legs are very stiff, particularly my left knee that I wacked on the trails. Just really stiff walking down stairs. I've run a lot harder with more mileage for much longer periods of time and felt a lot better than this. Need some rolling time I guess.

AM: Springside Track - 6.3 miles. Bombed workout.

Warmed up 3.5 with some strides. Cool, but actually a bit humid. I almost kept going toward Flourtown because track folks have been there during the mornings and last workout I found it very hard to concentrate. I got through the first mile feeling flat but decent, hoping I wasn't running 5:50 pace. Got through the mile. Effort felt hard, but correct. I didn't see the split because the workout feature doesn't show it the way I have it set up. I need to turn on pace when the rate of failure for overshooting is high.

At this point guys were lining up for drills so I moved over. I got through a bit over a third of a mile and pulled it. Walked 300 meters did 1 200 in 35 seconds and as I came back around they were setting up blocks. So I wouldn't have been able to finish the workout even if I was able to finish the workout.

On closer inspection my mile was 5:22, which is probably more than I can handle right now. It's a non-mile-race PR, but being proud about that is kind of stupid.

I was ticked as usual, but I need to go where I can concentrate. Trying to decide if I should do a treadmill tempo this afternoon (outside is not an option as it will be 70 degrees and humid and I am not adapted to that). Try something tomorrow based on how I feel? Wait until Saturday or Sunday? Just skip it and wait until Monday to do the final half marathon pace workout?

PM: 7 miles. Backup tempo recon. It's got a bit of up and down. Might work.

AM: 8 miles slow. Stretching and core.

PM: 4 miles slow.

Noon: Trails - 7.5 miles

PM: Treadmill - 7.5 miles. Did strides.
 

Flourtown Tempo Loop - 16 miles, averaged 7:04

Big Workout. 3 x 2.5 mile LT repeats with 3:30 recovery jogs

4 mile warm up plus strides and light stretching

Repeat 1 in 14:47; 5:55 average. 3:37 recovery jog at 8:26 pace

Repeat 2 in 14:41; 5:53 average. 3:36 recovery jog at 8:11 pace

Repeat 3 in 14:53; 5:57 average

3.6 cool down

Good workout for me today. I usually do 4 x 2 miles with 3:30 recovery jogs just before a half but I wanted a little more pain (even though the overall quality volume is a whisker less). I've done this one once before: fall 2013 2 days before I couldn't walk, so I never got to see how it translated in a half.

I put my pace on and monitored it. I figured 6:05-6:00 would be good. I was glad to get everything under 6:00. Legs are better, but still dead and my left glute was locking a bit (as it sometimes does). Had a little bit of wind to contend with but it wasn't terrible just annoying.

Lunch: 7.5 miles easy

PM: Treadmill - 5 miles

AM: Off

PM: 10.25 miles. Did some strides. Cold and windy. Started making dinner and I heard thunder.

Late: Stretching and rolling