Adjusting

Ed -

I’ve found that being focused on a particular goal demands a paradox.  In order for the plan to work one has to be persistent and patient, while being ready to quickly adjust when the need arises.  The trick is to know which way to go when doubts surface.

I had doubts galore this past weekend during the Commonwealth Games in Roanoke.

As usual, the 1500 race was held before the 800 and its the distance I’m really focused on at this point, so I do all I can to cover those 3 ¾ laps as quickly as possible.  The goal for Sunday was to break five minutes and I was confident I could because I ran that 5:01 back on June 22^nd.  I’ve had a full month of additional training since then and my workouts showed that I was getting faster on the top end.  However, the plan I had been following really dropped off of the longer runs.  This seems to be normal in the track world; the closer you get to your peak race, the more speed and race specific training you do.  I trusted the plan even though I found in my last long run that I couldn’t do a 10 mile Progression Run with a Fast Finish the way I had been able to the month before.

Originally I chalked that up to the heat, humidity and being back on the hills of Midlothian as opposed to the flat course in Manteo.  All logical things that would slow me up, but I think the real issue is that I’ve sacrificed some endurance.

While my 1500 wasn’t terrible (I ran a 5:16) it was nowhere near where I thought I would be and I definitely did not feel the way I thought I would.  There were some events that I’m sure didn’t help my run.  First off it was incredibly hot and humid.  I warmed up as usual, running about a mile at 8:30 to 8:45 pace, then some 100m strides.  I did three of those strides and while I was keeping them very relaxed and telling myself to hold back I was hitting 18’s.  That’s two seconds faster than my goal pace of 20 seconds so that made me feel pretty good even though I felt a little drained by the heat.

The second problem actually occurred earlier in the week.  I strained my left foot in a workout and it was threatening to keep me from racing.  I had taken some ibuprofen and smeared two coats of Blue Emu on it before the race, so I was able to keep the pain down enough that it wasn’t going to ruin things for me, but it still hurt.

Then the real “flow stopper” happened as we stepped to the line to start.  Lightning.  We were all leaning forward with our fingers on our watches when they told us to stand up and issued a half hour delay.  Half an hour is my normal warm up period!  I went and sat down for about 15 minutes and had some Gatorade, then got back up and started jogging to stay loose.  Two more 100m strides and they called for 15 more minutes.

What a pain.

I’m sure that took something out of me, but I still didn’t expect what I got in the race.

The first 300 meters was a tad ahead of pace as usual, but not bad.  A friend of mine, C.L., was helping me out by pacing with me since he was going to run the 1500, 400, 800 and 200 as a workout that day.  I guess when you’re 32 and fast as all get out you can do that.  He and I crossed the line in 56 seconds and started into the second lap.  I wanted to come across the line again right at 2:20 to make sure I wasn’t  pushing too hard the first half of the race, but when I slowed just a bit and came out of the first turn I began to feel a little winded.  Keeping up with C.L. became work.  By the time I got to the start/finish line we was a good 5 meters ahead of me and my watched had me at 2:23.  I was already fading with two laps to go.

This is the point that Greg McMillan calls the “Go Zone.”  The third quarter of any race and the object is to pick up the intensity just a little bit and attack the race now.  Not blow it all out, but move up because this is the lap where time can really be gained or lost.  I pushed through the first turn and just couldn’t draw anything out.

I was done.

I came across with one lap to go at 3:51 and the goal was to hit 3:40.  Still, I surged the first turn again, relaxed in the back stretch, tried to accelerate through the final turn then did all I could do in the final straight.  In June I was at the bell lap at 3:46 and finished with a 1:15 400.  On Sunday I tacked on a miserable 1:25 to that 3:51 mark.

Something was definitely not right.

There was another short delay during all the 400 heats, the races between the 15 and the 8, so this year there was plenty of rest before my second race.  Normally, there’s less than an hour so that race was always hard and slow, but a good workout.  With the bad 1500 in my mind I didn’t have any confidence at all in the 800 but figured I’d just do what I could do.

The shorter distance made it a completely different race.

The first lap felt very comfortable just like in the 1500 and I took the first 400 in 1:17.  One guy had taken a very large lead and C.L. had just come around me before we completed that first lap.  Since I felt comfortable I decided to try and go with C.L. and strangely enough I did fairly well.  We matched strides all the way down the back stretch and by the time we got to the final turn I knew we were going to catch the leader.  He was standing straight up.  A clear sign.

I'm betting I did that just after the halfway point in my first race.

I pushed hard and gained a couple of strides on C.L. but then he looked over his shoulder at me and I knew he had much more to give.  I saw him lean a bit and then simply run away from me.   Still, I sprinted past the original leader to finish about 3 seconds back for 2^nd place in 2:30.  Not a bad race and a second lap of 1:14 told me that I definitely have the speed I want, but the endurance or stamina was missing.

Perhaps it was the warm up, cool down, warm up routine and the fact that I ran about two miles before that 1500, but I’ve hashed it around in my head a lot and I think I have to make an adjustment this week.  The plan actually has an incredible workout the Wednesday before the State Games of America in two weeks, but there wasn’t enough distance in this week’s work.  So I’m adding it.

I’m not going crazy or bailing on the plan, but I need to get some of that stamina back in my lungs in time.  Plus, I reviewed my training for the week before my June race and discovered that I had missed my Monday workout leaving me almost 5 fewer miles than the week before this past race.  I’m going to repeat that “mistake” because it obviously left me with fresher legs.

Having a plan is critical to reaching a goal, but I believe it’s just as critical to track and react to results along the way.

Of course the proof will be in the race on August 4^th, but fast or not, I’ll do my best, pay attention to what goes on so I can keep on learning and have a great time competing.

Race Day!

I just love races.  I get all amped up and nervous days before just like when I was a kid.  It’s a whole bag of jumbled feelings in my stomach.  Confident anticipation wrapped up in a layer of doubt, wrapped in fear of the pain that’s going to come, wrapped in gratitude for having the chance to race.  I guess those things make your adrenal glands pump, because I can feel them pumping!

This weekend was my first race of the Outdoor Track season and would be my first crack at the 1500 since I totally hosed up my last one.  As a reminder,  last July I had gotten some decent training weeks in after recovering from some broken ribs, so I felt like I could beat the 5:16 I had run the month before.  I set my sights on something close to 5:00 even though all of my training really told me that 5:10 would’ve been a bit of a stretch.  Then I pulled a rookie mistake and went out way too fast, because I just felt so good.  I should’ve hit my first 400 meters in about 1:20 or so, but instead came around at 1:12.  About a lap later I was overdosing on lactic acid and fell all apart.  Finished in 5:24. Stupid mistake.  And one that gets made by many, many runners.

This year I’ve trained a lot smarter, avoided barrel rolling a golf cart, and knew I was faster than last year.  I had also learned my lesson and started doing my longer training runs the way the best coaches tell us to do them.

Start slower than your goal pace.  Then accelerate throughout the run.

It’s amazing how well that works, and I’ve been preaching it as a tactic ever since.

So for this race I was confident I could get down around 5:00 and with a little luck maybe break into the fours which is my “big goal” for this year.  To hit 5 minutes I need to average 1:20 per 400 meters.  My training paces and my workouts were telling me I could do that, although I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel putting almost four of those back to back.  Still, I knew my goal pace and I wasn’t going to blow that up in the first lap this year.

Because of my nerves I must’ve written down my splits three different times and I spent the entire day before the meet running the race through my head and saying, “20 seconds at the first turn, 40 coming out to the straight, 60 seconds at the finish line with 3 to go, then 1:20 at the next turn.  Don’t go under 1:20 unless the first 100 was a little fast.”  After that I was just going to look at every 200 meters to make sure I was staying on pace.  2:20 at the 700 meter with two laps to go.  Then 3:00 flat, and 3:40 with one lap to go.  If I could hold on to that pace I’d be right at 5 minutes flat.  I had no idea what I’d feel like at that moment, but I told myself that no matter what when I hit the turn with one to go I was going to surge for 50 meters at least to get a good start on that last 400.  Had to do it.  No excuses.

Friday night I took one last look at my training plan from McMillan Running and decided to check out the articles they suggested about mentally preparing for a race.  One proved particularly helpful and it was about handling the “No Go Zone.”  That’s the third quarter of every race no matter the distance and it’s where runners drop the ball out of fear all the time.  We used to call the third lap in the Mile “Bizzarro World” because it was just the weirdest, disrupting thing.  You’ve all felt it, too, in 5K's up to Marathons.  It’s the moment you realize you’ve hit “only” the half-way point and you’re already feeling tired.  You’re not going to make it at this pace, so you’d better conserve a little to finish strong.  Bingo.  Precious seconds of race time tick away.

I re-read the article, committed pieces to memory so I could tell myself what to do when my body started telling me to “conserve” a little.

When I had warmed up, put on my racing spikes and stepped up to the line with my finger on my watch I was ready to roll.  I was nervous, but focusing hard on the plan and hoping to see sub-5 at the end of it.

We all took off as the gun sounded and two guys kind of jumped out.  The strides I had just done as warm ups were done at my race pace, so I knew I was a little fast but not much.  I dropped into third and sort of felt like I was coasting as we went by the first 100 right at 18 seconds.  We rounded the turn and the first place guy began to stretch it out, but my pace felt right so I stuck to the guy in front of me.  We got to the first 200 right on 40 seconds and heard the “three to go” call dead on 60 seconds.  We had slowed a little but I was right on pace and felt like I was barely making an effort at that point.   And that pace held nicely as I hit the next split perfectly at 1:40.  I was kind of excited that I was feeling so good and had this big guy in front of me to take the headwind that was coming up on the home stretch part of the track, but then he started to really slow down.  I began to step around him, but thought I’d give him the next 100 meters and take advantage of the draft.

We hit the line at 2:27.  Suddenly I was behind pace by 7 freaking seconds!  I jumped to the outside and moved around him.  Here I was in Bizzarro World, beginning to breathe a little hard and I HAD to accelerate.  After that last, slow 200 just holding onto my goal pace was going to feel very fast.  I followed the suggestions in that article and once I felt like I was back on pace I focused on just holding the cadence.  It took a little more effort as described, but not much more.  I hit the next turn at 3:06 or 7 which meant I was hitting the pace just right, but my shot at 5 flat was going away quick.  I decided to start pushing a little even though I had 600 more meters to go.  This time by when they guy shouted, “one to go!” I found I had only gained one measly second and I was at 3:46.  As planned I surged my way into the turn and immediately felt the rising tide of fatigue kicking in.  It’s funny how I’m beginning to actually feel the lactic acid build up in my muscles.

Because it’s running and you’re breathing so hard it feels differently than say, when you’re doing pushups to the point of failure.  In pushups you kind of click along at an even pace for a whole bunch then all of a sudden you just can’t pop up like you had been and you realize you’ve got maybe 5 more reps in you and the last couple are going to take forever or not even happen.  With all the oxygen deprivation going on it comes on a little subtler with running, but keeps accelerating getting worse and worse.  I swear it gets “louder” the longer I try to keep pushing at that point.  It’s like I can’t hear as much around me or even see as well because everything in me is focusing down on the pain instead of out on the track.

Well surging into that turn I felt my thighs really heat up, my stomach tighten and my arms get heavy.  I stopped accelerating, but didn’t slow down.  I tried to just hold the faster pace until I got to the last turn and focused on gulping down air deep; imagining my back and stomach flaring out to get as much oxygen as possible into my body so my muscles would have something besides themselves to burn up.  I didn’t look at my watch with 200 to go, because I was just hurting too much and besides, what was I going to learn about at that point?  It was hard enough just see the lanes ahead of me and the next split was the one that really mattered.

That last 100 was hard work.  That’s all it was.  Painful, exhausting but somehow still fast feeling.  I didn’t really get rubber legged until the last few strides but I was home then, so it didn’t matter.

I stopped my watch as I leaned across the line and stumbled up a few strides to get out of the way of the other runners coming in.  I was thinking my last lap had to be faster than 1:20 when I looked down and saw 5:01.

 

 

Damn.  So close!

But even while I was gasping and trying not to hork just then, I realized that made my last 400 a 1:15! Now that’s better than I was expecting and I knew it was because I had not gone out too fast.  Of course I did go way too slow at that one point in the first half of the race, but think about how that pans out.  If I had hit the 1100 meter mark at 3:40 as planned I would only have had to run a 1:21 to get the exact same time I just got by gutting out that 1:15.  I could’ve run a 1:19 and broken 5 minutes!  Of course I know that means I would have run a faster 1100 by six seconds, but those six seconds probably wouldn’t have made me feel that much different.  I would have put out the same effort in my final lap, struggled just as much, and probably would’ve been a little slower.  But I COULD’VE been slower and still wound up with a faster final time.

It’s all about pace and splits.  And of course the training.

Over the next couple of months I’ll continue to focus on those Lactate Turners which will push off that exhaustion feeling another 50 to 100 meters or so, and I know I’ll get down under that 5 minute mark and achieve something I thought was just a target to shoot for, not something I would really ever do.

Watching it Work

Prepare to get your Geek on.

Over the last couple of years I've put in a ton of work and not all of it was actually running.  If I went back and added up the hours I'm betting I've spent more time reading, studying, planning and evaluating than I have running.  A lot more.  Having kept my spreadsheets, logs and copious notes I can happily say that it is paying off nicely.  Very nicely.

Since I've experienced some great gains (went from a 5:38 1500 meters to a 5:16 in just two seasons) I'm inspired to do even more.  To learn more, push more and maybe actually reach my stretch goal of breaking 5 minutes in the mile.  But the more I train, and the more I read; the more I find out stuff I didn't know.  Thankfully, each time I learn something I immediately see how it's going to help me get faster.

This past week I went out and paid for a customized training plan from McMillan Running.  You've heard me talk about Greg McMillan and his calculator (check out his site here).  I've been using the calculator for a couple of years now along with the workout suggestions, and the price of a customized plan was very reasonable, so I bought one to get me through the State Games of America in early August.

Since I've been dishing out advice and stories I thought I'd share a nuance Greg explains for the workout I did this morning.  The difference between a Speed Workout and Cruise Intervals.

Both of these workouts involve intervals, and look very similar on the surface.  However, they train you for two very different things, both of which you need to race fast.

I've done a number of Speed Workouts where I run 5 or 6 800's at a fast pace with about the same amount of rest as there is running.  1 to 1 ratio is what Bart Yasso recommends for marathoners when doing this workout.  I tended to run an 800, then walk a little bit and jog a 400.  Then I would stand still for a few seconds to get me to 3 minutes of rest or so, then go hard again.  Last week I did 5 x 800's and they were all around 2:46 with the last two faster.  My legs would just burn earlier and earlier in the reps until I was just completely rubber legging it down the last 50 meters in my last rep.  Super hard feeling workout.

In Cruise Intervals like this morning, I ran 6 x 800's only they were all over 3:00 on purpose.  Specifically, I ran 3:02, 3:06, 3:05, 3:04, 3:03, 2:59.  The object is to make them "comfortably hard" but make each one a tad faster than the one before it.  I sort of blew the first one, because I wasn't paying as much attention to my splits and went out a little fast.  So these are decidedly slower than my Speed Workouts, but not a ton different.  The next difference was the rest.  I walked maybe 25 to 50 meters after each rep, then jogged to finish out 200m.  Without stopping I rolled right into the next rep.  The effect is that my breathing and heart rate, never really came down like it does during a Speed Workout.  I was still panting as I began each rep.

Now instead of my legs burning as I was finishing each 800, it was my lungs and heart.  I was just gasping the last couple of times and right after the last rep, which I pushed to the 2:59, I had those sudden dry heaves.  That was the only time I stood still during the workout and it was only for a second or two during each heave.  I had to keep jogging to finish the workout.

To top it all off, Greg had me doing 3 x 200's and those are supposed to be at my goal race pace for my 1500.  The goal is 5 flat, so that's 40 second 200's.  Even though I was super winded, my legs felt great so I wound up doing those in 36, 35, and 33 seconds.  Once again there was no standing still and only a 200 meter jog between each.

Two similar workouts that train two different things.  The Speed Workout is designed to work my legs and develop strength and speed.  The Cruise Intervals workout is designed to increase my VO2 max which is basically how efficiently my body processes oxygen for energy.  Instead of so much muscle development, this develops the cardiovascular system.  It makes it easier to run faster longer.

Combining these two types of workouts means I will get faster, and it will feel easier.  They feed each other.

The 200's at the end help me develop the ability to kick even when fatigued as well as make me mentally tougher under those stressful moments of finishing a race like the 1500.

Having done both types of these workouts I can tell you they feel completely different, so I know they're doing what they're supposed to do.

If you're looking to improve your pace, even for a Marathon, combining these types of workouts will make a huge difference in your race times.

Happy Running!

 

It's Always Something

This morning was my speed work day, so I was back on the track behind the Middle School.

This time of year is becoming my favorite because the temperature is just fantastic, about 46 degrees today, and the sun isn't up when I step outside around 5:40am, but rises quickly during my workout.  The awakening of the sky and world around me is a pretty special thing and another wonderful gift given to me by running.  Another is just the little things that happen during those peaceful, quiet times in the day that most people miss because they're simply still in bed.

Just about every week on the track I see this guy who comes there to walk his two dogs.  Normally, he moves off when I show up or encourages them to stay to the outside, but he only has to talk to one to keep him from running along with me.  That one's a big, yellow lab that just loves to run near me without chasing me.  He'll pull right up along side and a lane away and just run along looking up at me and panting like it's a great game.  The other dog always stays near the man and when I got the chance one day I asked him why the black, older dog stuck so close to him all the time.

"She's blind," he said.

"But she walks around away from you sometimes," I said, "and goes off in the infield some."

He told me that she likes the track because she can feel the edges really well and has learned that it's smooth and there's nothing in the way.  She always stays where she can hear him walk and he pointed out that she always stood still whenever I approached because my footsteps threw her off some.  She did come up and let me pet her while we talked, which was cool.  Such a sweet thing.

They were there again this morning arriving as I was finishing my first 800.  The big, yellow one barked hello, but sat when his dad told him to stay.  They strolled around the outside of the track as I continued my workout and was joined by a young guy I had never met before.

I lined up on the opposite corner of where I was starting and finishing, and watching him warm up I could see he was serious about his running.  Plus, he was blazing fast in his warm up striders.

On my third 800 I started my watch and lunged forward then midway through that first turn I noticed a baby bird hop right into the center of lane one.  I stepped inside to avoid it and looked across the track to see the new guy trucking along beginning whatever workout he was going to do.  I tried to telepathically tell him to watch for the bird, but figured it would be tough to miss it.  I looked over my shoulder when I thought he might be near the bird and he seemed to move on by without noticing it and I just kept pushing to try and hold my pace which I had done pretty well the first two reps.  2:53 both times.

I rounded the turn for lap two and the bird was still there, being harassed by a parent bird.  I guess it was trying to get it to move back out of the open, but because I showed up the thing went into camouflage mode: It scrunched down a little bit and held very still.  I moved inside again and ran by.  Huffing pretty good now and my thighs were beginning to feel hot.  I finished up at 2:54 and walked around the first turn to begin my rest lap.  And the baby bird looked up at me then abruptly looked away and scrunched down again.  But no movement.  By now both parent birds were flying back and forth out of the trees to squawk at the baby and swoop at me to keep me moving away.

Sort of motivational actually.

The new guy was apparently doing a pyramid because after his 400 he turned an 800 keeping pretty much on the same pace as me, but gaining a little ground.

I lined up again for rep number four of five and looked out at the turn to see the baby bird still parked there.  This time I moved around the outside because one of the parents was taking up the rest of lane 1.  I knew I only had two reps to go so it was time to pick it up some, and I finished that one in 2:51.  A couple of starts and stops trying to catch my breath and not heave and there was the bird again.  Just sitting there ignoring it's parents.

Typical.

I watched as new guy finished up a 1200 and he didn't look like he was trying at all.

One to go.  Fast, boy.  Fast.

I paced the first 400 right where I had hit the other first laps, about 1:25, then did my best to hold on until the final turn and 200 to go.  Usually in it's in here that I start to talk to myself about how this is what the end of the 1500 is going to feel like, and that I'll be pushing towards a PR so I better not quit on it.  I began to fall apart that last 100, but I just pushed hard and did everything I could to accelerate.  Pumping my hands, striding long and fast.  I finished up and looked at my watch.  2:47.  Nice!!

And then I just doubled over and gagged a couple of times.  Very nice.

I had to look at my spreadsheet before I realized that was my best 800 workout ever.  Such a cool thing to figure out after sitting around eating breakfast and wondering why I couldn't do it the pace the McMillan Calculator had set.  Ummmm...that turned out to be the pace I printed off after assuming I could run a 4:55 mile.  Apparently I'm not quite there yet.

Anyways, after recovering from the dry heaves I walked over to the baby bird, picked it up and moved quickly to the woods dodging one of its parents that was doing it's best to dive bomb me and get me to leave its baby alone.  I got to the spot where the bigger birds kept flying and figured it was near the nest.  I put the bird down and moved back over across the track.

Good deed for the day.

New guy flew by just then and gave me the runner head nod.

I started my cool down run home, but stopped to introduce myself and meet the new guy, who is now Scott.

We talked the workouts for a moment and then he said, "can I offer some advice?"

"Sure!"  I always want to learn.

"When you were finishing that last rep your speed was good, but you started to heel strike bad.  Over striding."

I nodded.  I knew I did that when I was tired and going slow, but didn't know I did that when running fast at the end.  Makes sense though.

He asked me, "Have you ever tried running barefoot?"

"Yes, and dude, I just gave that advice to a friend.  I guess I need to get back to it."

"It really helps straighten out over striding in your sprints."

I told him thanks and trotted off up the hill and back to my house planning to run barefoot for a mile, and some striders on Sunday.

It's always something...

2013 Monument Avenue 10K Results

There.  That title should help with some web searches out there...

What a terrific weekend!

As I approached this year's Monument Avenue 10K I felt sure I could beat my time from last year, which was a 44:04, because I knew I'd been training with more distance and tempo runs.  Optimism.  Then I looked at that pace, 7:04 per mile, and how in my last three tempo runs I couldn't hold a sub 7 minute mile for more than 3 miles.  Hell, my last one I only made two miles!  7:04 for over six miles seemed a little out of reach.  Anxiety.

So I pulled up my training log from last year and found I hadn't run crap over 7 miles back then, and I've been getting in at least one 7+ mile run or workout in every week since January.  Optimism.  I also have been able to negative split my 10 mile runs finishing them at about 7:30 pace overall and even got a couple of sub 7 final miles in there.  More Optimism.

Then on Thursday night something weird happened I still can't explain.  I came home from having dessert with my grand kids and their parents, walked upstairs and almost couldn't get back down!  I had this very sharp, stabbing pain in my left heel where my Achilles tendon connects to my heel.  I tried stretching it some and that was horrible.  I hadn't twisted it, strained it or anything and yet it was if I had a very bad case of tendinitis.  Anxiety.

I took a handful of ibuprofen, and put a bag of Brussels sprouts (I couldn't find any ice packs) on my heel and watched some TV.

It felt a little better.

Before I got in bed I smeared a glob of Blue Emu cream on it and went to sleep.

It still hurt the next day, but only when I tried to stretch it out or walk down stairs.  Walking and even hopping a little didn't bother it too much but it felt hot.  I decided that after work and hitting the expo for packet pickup I would buy some ice and soak this piece-of-shit-old-ankle-that-got-injured-for-no-damned-reason when I got home at night.

During the day my leg didn't feel too bad, but I was careful not to stress it and just limped whenever I had to go down some stairs.  Fortunately, the expo was all on one floor and I was able to move around that with no problem.

I love running expos.  All the people (read that "all the cute running girls"), the energy, and the stuff!  I love stuff.  Especially buying it.  And I found one piece of stuff that I had hoped to find and picked it up pronto.  It's called The Stick.

The Stick is a massage tool that looked to be a very effective piece of plastic and fiberglass.  And all the cool kids at Indoor Nationals had them, so I knew I should have one, too.

The sales people they had at the booth were actually very knowledgeable about physiology and massage therapy.  I told the lady about my Achilles and she said, "you're going to roll this up and down the back and both sides of your upper calf."

"Ummm. OK."

"When you do that you're going to find a trigger point (sharp pain) in one of these three spots," as she pointed to the back of my calf muscle under my knee and off to the outside about three inches below my knee.  "Those spots are where knots form that tighten up your calf and restrict blood flow to your tendon."

Damn if she didn't nail it.

That spot on the outside of my calf made me jump when I hit it.  I went more gently and after a few rubs it worked out a little.

I bought The Stick.

Now I look like the cool kids when I stretch after a run.

On my way out of the expo I met a guy named Daniel Komen.  He was manning a booth with a sign "Train With the Kenyans."  Google Daniel Komen.  Holy cow.

I was standing there chatting with the only human ever to put two sub 4 minute miles back to back.  The world record he set in the two mile back in the 90's still stands, along with his world record in the 3000.

He was super nice and he and his booth-mate David Cheromei run a running camp that is put together as part of a mission trip experience to raise money for the school that Komen started for orphans in Kenya.  My wife and I, along with some friends of ours in our church in Manteo, sponsor a child through Heart for Africa and he was familiar with that and spoke highly of it.  He asked me to come and support his school and said the kids get a lot out of seeing people there to help them and run with them.  He smiled and said, "Kenya make you fastman!"  I've got all their info for doing a trip to Kenya for the camp and then working with the kids at the school or doing grounds/building work while there in hopes I could actually do that some day.

Daniel told me he would autograph my bib number and I got a picture with him.

So cool!

 

So it was home to use The Stick and ice both ankles since I discovered bad knots in both of them.

In high school I had a nice case of tendinitis in the same area and the Trainer had me do a little icing routine using a big bucket and the jacuzzi.  I shoved my leg down into a bucket of 1/3 ice and 2/3 water for two minutes, then immediately shove that leg into the jacuzzi where the water temperature was about 100 degrees.  Sounds painful doesn't it?  It is.  Ridiculously painful.  But I only had to do it twice in two days and the inflammation was gone and I raced on it like nothing had ever happened.

I don't have a jacuzzi and I remembered how much moving into that hot water felt.  I figured I'd do without all that this time and just do the ice part.  So I dumped about half a large bag of ice into a paint bucket and filled it with water.  Then I grabbed a beer and used my phone as a stop watch.  Three times in and out and that should do it.

 

 

I soaked for two minutes in and five minutes out, then just kept them in there for a full five minutes the last time.  Geez, that was something.  Brrrrrr.

 

Then I massaged with The Stick, popped a couple more ibuprofen, rubbed on some more Blue Emu then went to bed.

 

When I woke up I felt fine.

 

Moved around the room.  Stretched.  My calves felt sort of tight and sore liked I'd worked them out hard, but there wasn't any sharp pain, even when I walked downstairs.

 

Sweet!

 

The race itself went about perfect.  Just like the weather.  55 degrees, sunny and a very light breeze.

 

I decided to do this race differently than I usually do, which is out fast and see how long I can hang on, and do the negative split thing I'd been doing on my long runs.  According to the things I've been reading it's best to go out for the first quarter of whatever your running at a pace that is slower than what you actually want to average for the race.  Then you steadily speed up, but just barely.  It makes it seem easier and it feels like I always have something in the tank along with speed if I want it.  I was surprised as I got to mile 2 at 7:10 pace and had been telling myself to take it easy.  Hold back.

 

At the 5k mark and the turnaround point I was at 7:04 and felt very strong.  It was also the only point where I got a good picture.  I took about five during the run and they all looked like crap.  But this one looks cool:

 



 

Hitting the turn hard

 

 

I pressed the first half mile after the turn and didn't get passed again the whole way.  I would look at my Garmin and watch as the average time dropped steadily.  At mile 5 I was dead on 35 minutes and a 7 flat pace.  I was going to PR this bitch.

 

I reminded myself of how dead I felt last year at this point and how hard I was fighting just to hang on.  "Completely different," I said out loud.  A guy next to me glanced over and I continued, "compared to last year.  I feel great this year!"  He smiled and grunted, and slowly faded off behind me.

 

I was grinning as I looked ahead and started pumping.  My hands were relaxed (except for holding my phone), my legs were driving along, and I kept on accelerating.

 

I covered that last mile in 6:26 and was smiling ear to ear when I came across the finish line.

 

I swear there are very few feelings in this world like the one I get when I run fast.  I don't even know how to describe it except that I always remember that day I was laying at the top of my stairs exhausted, sick and weak, then compare it to what I was doing in the last strides of that race.

 

And I just smile.

 

Racing Over Your Head

I knew when I signed up for the Masters Indoor Nationals that I would be facing some really good competition.  Last year I ran in a Regional meet up in Delaware and got third in my age group in the mile, but there were only four people in it that day.  I ran a 5:52 in the mile and the first two guys ran just about 5 flat!  That opened my eyes some so this year I decided to just enter the 800 since I really wasn't ready for that distance back then.

Yesterday as I walked into the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex up in Landover, MD I realized my eyes hadn't been opened at all.

After parking my car I met a guy getting out of his car and he was quite obviously a distance runner.  Just had that look along with the shoes and warm ups.  He said, "Hi," and commented about how far the walk was going to be to the complex.  He'd been here the day before to check it out since one of his races was today, the 4x800 relay.

"You run the 800?" I asked, "that's what I'm running."

"What age group?" he asked me.

"45 to 49."

"Hey, I've got the world record for that age group!"

Sal Allah meets Ed!

I had just met "Salli" Allah.  This guy ran a 1:54 back when he was 46.  He's now over 65 and his team was going for the world record in the 4 x 800 later in the day.  He turned in a 2:21.  Holycow.

And the world record holders, American record holders, national champions, world champions and even several medalists from the Olympics, just kept coming.  Turns out this is one of the biggest meets in the country and its open to international competitors to make it even tougher!  Sheesh.

Earlier in the week I had gotten to see my seeding and the times of the other entrants in my race and age group.  You know what happens when you sign up for a National Championship meet, you've only barely broken into the top 50 in your event and 16 guys sign up for the same race?

You're getting 17th.

And I knew that was where I was winding up.  I did not belong at this meet.

That feeling was confirmed when Sal and I walked in the door.  He showed me where the packet pick-up was and I said I wanted to poke my head into the field house and see the place.

Wow.  I'm running here...

 

 

The facility is huge and crowded with people moving around all over the place.  Very exciting and a rush to be in, but overwhelming when I thought about the fact I had to get down there and run in front of everyone and get last.  I got the shivers...

 

I got my packet, bought my shirt and then hunted around to find my teammates and coaches.  I found Keith Witherspoon just about to start his 60 meter race.  Keith went to UVA and is always ranked in the top 10 in the country in his age groups in the long jump, triple jump and the 60 indoors.  He's over 60 and still a serious beast.

 

I mean look at the back on that guy!

 

He got second in the 60 and in the triple jump this year, and coached me as well.  He told me that "some guys will have the race of their lives," while poking me in the chest, "and other guys will fall apart," as he spread his arms out like that's what will happen to everyone else.

 

I watched  a couple of other members of our team compete then headed up to Annapolis to watch my niece in a softball game and then spend the night at my mom and step-dad's place.

 

The whole night I was running my workouts through my head thinking that best I could hope for was a 2:30.  And I didn't know how I could do that with my fastest 400 in a workout being a 1:13.  I had done all the stuff that I had read about and added the sprint work that Spoon and Kaestner got me into to move up my top end speed, but I wasn't feeling confident.  I knew I could beat a 2:38, no problem, but I was beginning to tell myself that I'd be happy with a 2:34.

 

When I got to the meet and was warming up I saw several people I had met at other races over the last couple of years, shook hands and said "good luck" as I kept picturing myself staying with the back of the pack as long as I could.  And while I was talking to myself Remus Medley gave me a head nod so I went over to say, "hey."  I met him once just a couple of years ago at a meet in Richmond so I reminded him of that and we shook hands.  He is in the M40 group and is a sub-5 miler and runs the 800 close to 2 flat.

 

He asked what I thought I could do and I told him my guess and a little about my workouts, but he said, "you ran a 1:13 as your last rep in a 10 x 400? How much rest?"

 

"About 90 seconds."

 

"And your last hard workout?"

 

"A 5 x 400 with three to four minutes rest and the last two being 1:15's."

 

"You'll do a 2:30.  Got to.  Your workouts say so."

 

He was so matter of fact and confident about it, that I thought that McMillan workout plan must be dead on because it said the same thing.  I felt better.

 

Turns out only 13 guys showed up for the event, and in looking at the field it was the 12 fastest and me.

 

When they called us to the track I got to line up next to a guy named Khalid Mulazim.  They introduced him listing off his national championships and age group records in the 400 and whatnot.  All I knew was that he was this 6'2" 190 pound superhero looking guy.  This is him from the web.

 

 

Yeah.  There are pictures of him on the web.

 

So I look up at this monster, stick out my hand and say, "good luck and have fun!"

 

"This is just for fun," he said seriously then smiled, "I've never run this event before."

 

I didn't feel any better since he could run the 400 in 50 seconds flat.

 

They gave us our instructions and called us to the line.  I felt remarkably calm.  I told myself to just relax the first 100 and fall in with the back of the pack.  Don't burn it up in the first lap.  Just stay close.

 

The gun sounded and away we went.  And, DAMN did the front guys go.  I got left back immediately and then had to accelerate just to stay up, but I caught myself and slowed my chase so I would just stay with the last two or three guys in front of me.  We came to the end of the first lap and the big clock (they have a big clock like the meets on TV because this a big meet like the ones on TV) and it just clicked to 35 as I passed it.  I felt good and kept my breathing slow and deep as I stayed with only two guys ahead of me now, thinking that my first 200 in my fastest 400 workouts were 36's and that 10 x 200 workout I was only doing 34's and those felt hard!

 

But that one didn't feel hard.  I cruised around and watched the clock as I finished the first 400 and it was on 1:09 as I got to it, clicking to 1:10 just out of the corner of my eye.

 

Now I was scared.

 

I felt okay.  A little winded, but that was 5 seconds faster than it should have been.  I was scared I wasn't going to be able to put two 1:15's back to back and here I just did the first one in 1:10.  Stupid.

 

Except that I was breathing well and my legs weren't burning yet.  I was okay.  Slowing some, but okay.  My fear had me slow down in the third 200 but so did the guys ahead of me.  They weren't getting any further ahead and then all of a sudden I saw the guy right in front of me pogo stick off the track as he pulled his hamstring.  I felt bad for the guy, but had to make up some room between me and the next one ahead of me, so I started to push some as we got to the bell lap.

 

That's a very cool moment hearing that bell and knowing there's only one to go.

 

I pushed a little and felt my legs respond.  My lungs were good, but I was breathing hard now.  Still, I kept trying to accelerate and I began closing on the guy.

 

We got to the beginning of the last turn and he had four or five strides on me.

 

I dropped my hands and thought, "take off!"  and my legs said, "Okay!"

 

I closed on the guy so fast I had to move out to the second lane to go by.  Even with the extra distance I knew I had come on so fast he was not going to be able to get me back.  As I passed him I drifted halfway into the first lane again so he'd have to go wide if wanted by, but he wasn't coming and I was closing on the guy ahead of me.

 

I kept expecting to feel that tightness in my stomach when I'm gonna hork from exertion, but it wasn't there.  My training was right and I was ready for this race.

 

I looked to the left as I drove hard across the finish line and saw that 2:24.

 

I couldn't believe it!

 

Friends got pictures near the finish, though they were blurry, and then my daughter took a picture of the board.

 



 

The Kick

 

The Finish  (left him!)

 

The Time

 

 





When I got to the bleachers Spoon and Kaestner were saying, "we told you! we told you!"  And they had.

 

I still got absolutely crushed by the leaders of this race, it was won in 2:02, but my confidence in how the sprint work had helped me out was soaring.  I had just cut 16 seconds off of my fastest 800 from last year, and it turned out that time just placed me in the Top 25 in Masters Rankings for the 2013 Indoor Season!  There are still a couple of meets in different parts of the country going on so I might get pushed out, but for today I'm ranked 23rd.  Big Smile!!

 

I feel like I can still improve on that and get in there with "the big boys" if I can figure out how to balance the rest and work stuff.  But it's getting clearer.  Sprint and weights once a week, one long run per week, one tempo run per week.  Now to see if I can do an additional speed workout and still get enough rest in there to recover and keep making gains.

 

Regardless.  I can't wait to keep working at it!





A Running Addiction

I'm having a good couple of weeks here training-wise.

I've been following my schedule tightly and it seems to be working really well.  To review:  Each week I have a variety of runs and exercises designed to develop a different group of muscles, a different system in my body, or some different discipline that will help me race faster.  I have one long, moderate run of 10 miles.  A Tempo or Steady State Run where I go about 85 to 90% of 5k race pace for anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes.  Then there's a Speed or Hill workout of intervals from 200 meters to 800 meters, and finally a Sprint workout where I'll do 50 meter or shorter full out sprints and plyometrics.  I had gotten away from doing the heavy leg lifting, but my coaches admonished me enough so that I went straight to the gym after practice last Sunday and did my squats like a good boy.

I say "admonished" and by that I mean they were saying, "That's okay.  Just be slow," or "what are you some sort of baby?  Is it too hard for you?"  That sort of thing.

Bitches.

 

Here's a heat in practice.  I'm the white guy....getting beat by everyone including the 14 year old girl.  Sure she's a prodigy, but still.

I showed them.  I did my squats and threw in some deep squat jump ups in between each set under the bar.  Which is why I had to move my week around on Tuesday.  My butt cheeks, hammies and quads still made me flinch every time I moved, so I wasn't going near a hill workout in that condition.

To fill in the rest of my week I either rest or run 5 to 7 miles at a very easy pace.  I've found that running a very relaxed paced 5 miles the day after a hard workout doesn't seem to stress my body all that much and it's enabled me to move my weekly mileage up nicely.  I shouild get to about 40 miles a week by next month.

My last Tempo Run was a beauty for me and I think is a great indicator of how well things are going.  Based on my last couple of months and I had scheduled my Steady State and Tempo Runs to stair step up in distance and stair step down in times in hopes that I could get myself to the paces that the McMillan Calculator says I should be using for those runs.  (I hadn't been within 20 seconds of those paces for runs of 2 miles or more)  So this last Tempo Run was supposed to be a set of 2 two mile intervals; each one being 7:15 pace.  The Calculator said I should be doing these at 6:50 to 7:10, but I hadn't gone that fast yet and didn't think I could.

I ran my first mile warm up in about 8:30 and took off into the first of the two intervals.  Mile one went by easily in 7:13 so I picked it up just a hair and did the next one in 7:08.  Before that 2nd mile was done, though, I felt so good I decided to keep going.  Mile three felt good again and was still a little faster at 7:03.  Time to go...  I pushed into the 4th mile feeling very good and could even talk.  Yes, I talk to myself when I run sometimes.  I'm pretty sure I even use my hands when I do it...

Mile four was my best at 6:53.  Negative splits just like I'm supposed to and right in the wheelhouse.  I finished the last two miles of warmdown at just under 8:30 and was not even breathing hard at the end.  My legs were drained and tired but I swear I was just over my resting heartrate.

Sweet.

Today I took my scheduled day of rest to give my legs some extra time to get ready for tomorrow's Short Hills.  I'm planning on doing 8 reps this time; two more than a couple of weeks ago, and we'll see if I feel as comfortable as I did then.  I'm not bumping my planned times down just because last week was so fast.  I'm still aiming at 1:20 or less for each rep, but I'm adding two more reps to the stack.  I'm also putting a full one mile warm up and cool down in as well to increase my mileage for the day.

Topping things off each day I make sure to get my pull ups, push ups and sit ups in as well.  I'm now doing 15 pull ups, 40 push ups, and 40 sit ups with 10 twists on the last one.

And of course at night I'm tiling still.  Well grouting now.  Here's the living room tonight:

You can see the wet grout I just did

 

 

There's still a little bit of tile cuts to make for the corner under the TV, but I'll do that Saturday after a quick trip down to Manteo to get the chop saw, stand, compressor and nail guns to do all the baseboard work.  My wife has also come up with an idea for a mantle which I will be building in the coming weeks.  The magazine picture she found is taped to the wall where I'll be doing the construction.

 

All in all I'm a happy boy.  Even if I'm a Running Addict.

 

 



Training Mistakes

Ed -

My wife got me subscription to Runner's World for Christmas and I was SO looking forward to get my first issue.  I LOVE Runner's World but haven't had a subscription since high school.  However, they messed up their information and mailed the first two issues down to Wilmington, NC to where my wife ordered them.  Goofy.  However, it lead to a nice little bonus.

When the publisher got the address thing straight they decided to give me a free subscription to the Running Times which is a magazine primarily targeting elite runners.  The articles are still really well written and interesting, but all of them have a lot more specific "how to" type of information.  I highly recommend it to anyone who's been trying to train smarter and better.

This month there was an article by Pete Magill about The Dirty Dozen which is about the 12 most common mistakes people make when training.  I devoured it and found right away that I had actually learned a few things from 2009 when I trained for and ran my first ever marathon in just six months.  However, I also caught a couple of things that had me immediately hopping on the computer and pulling up my spreadsheet.  Sure enough I had a couple of things to adjust to my plan.

The first thing was Mistake Number 4: Recover Inadequately.

In my zeal for lots of workouts and increased mileage I had done a poor job of scheduling my rest appropriately.  I happened to feel that this week after several days of hard running in a row I decided to take a couple of days off because of the way my right hip felt.  At least I was paying attention to my body and I'm sure I did the right thing.

I went to the spreadsheet and clicked on each week and looked at what workouts I was doing and what I was doing the day after each one.  I had to make several changes to make sure there was either a rest day or a very easy day after each Speed Workout or Tempo/Steady State run.  I feel really good about how the weeks look now for the next month now and my mileage is still increasing the whole time as it should.

The other mistake I was making I began to fix this morning.

Mistake Number 2: Make All Runs 'Medium Runs.'  I thought I had this one handled, but after reading the whole explanation I realized I was missing a big piece that I would regret later.

Each different type of workout is designed to develop a particular aspect of your body and ability to run some distance fast.  And every workout has target paces based on current and goal race times.  Doing a workout wrong; either by changing the number of reps, the length or type of rest, or the pace pretty much sabotages what that workout was supposed to do which screws up your progression and development.  My screw up was that I was flat out missing an important workout each week even though I thought I was getting it in there.  The Steady State run.

See, I'm pretty much a short distance speed type guy.  I love being on the track.  I love going fast, fast and doing interval type running.  I don't particularly like racing a 10K or longer since it hurts.  I was getting plenty of speed and sprint type work done, I had my long run each week, easy runs and my Tempo or long intervals.  But there was the mistake.  My long intervals and Tempo runs weren't long enough to do what they're supposed to do: make it easier to run longer at a faster pace.  Being able to do a fast 5K is going to make it easier for me to hold my 95% effort for a full mile.

The Steady State run is an entire run lasting somewhere between 20 to 40 minutes at about 85% of race pace.  This is where the McMillan Calculator comes in handy since I was a History Major and couldn't do this if somebody paid me to.  I figured I could run about a 20:30 (6:30 pace) 5K right now (based on my last flu ridden race and a healthy one last fall) and the calculator says I should do a Steady State run somewhere between 6:55 pace and 7:13 pace.  But I haven't been doing any runs like that at all, so when I stepped out last week and pushed that 2 mile Tempo I realized I was in no condition to hit the recommended paces and call it only an 85% effort.  I was almost horking for Pete's sake.

So I went back to the spreadsheet and changed all of my Tempo runs to either a Steady State run or a longer Tempo.  Nothing shorter than a mile.  I also set distance targets that were at the correct pace, but at the short end of the duration since I'm just beginning that training.  Today I ran five miles, but made sure the first three were at the correct pace and was able to hold 7:09 pace for the first three, then I had to back off because one long steep uphill wrapping up at mile 2.5 had me dry heaving on the hoof for a bit.  I didn't all together collapse and did a 7:33 pace the last two so I had a 7:18 average for the run.  Not horrible, but not 85% either.

That's okay.  Next week my Tempo will be two 2-mile efforts with a mile rest in between, and the following week will be another five miles where I try to hold sub 7:10 for the first four miles.

By making these two adjustments: correctly doing a long run workout and building in appropriate recovery days, I'm filling the holes from previous year's training efforts.

I feel very confident in what I'll accomplish this year!

So find yourself a Running Times and get reading, but if you're looking for another great resource for running check out the American Running Association website.  Our friend, Darren, brought it to our attention and I cruised around the site today and it is flat out full of cool resources and articles that will help anyone run better longer.

Improvement

Had a good couple of weeks of training, despite catching a stomach virus.

I guess all these trainers, coaches and runners’ magazines I’ve been reading actually know something about getting faster.  ; )

My training plan for the rest of the year follows a pattern suggested by many sources and each week consists of a long run, a shorter one with long intervals or a tempo segment, a day of medium intervals on the track or hills, a day of shorter intervals on the track or hills, and a short easy day.  Five days of running.  Sometimes six if I throw in another short easy day or a sprint workout.  I keep planning on doing a couple of days in the gym to augment it all, but I’ve been resting those days since my joints and muscles just feel like they need the break.  Maybe in another couple of weeks I’ll be stronger and used to it.  I won’t be finished tiling the downstairs and remodeling the bathroom, which has added to the pain in my joints, but I’m hopeful I’ll get to the point I can do all the work that the really fast people do.

My mileage has increased nicely as well.  I did just over 30 miles this week.

This coming week will be shorter, because I like to go back and forth between long weeks and short weeks to help my body adjust, but each cycle I should be increasing the numbers.  More reps, longer steady and tempo runs, and maybe some two-a-days will all serve to increase my mileage and conditioning.  I can’t believe I’d actually get to covering 50 or 60 miles in a week like a lot of milers do (read that professional, world class milers), but I’ve been surprised dozens of times by something I actually accomplish.

The Short Hill workout this past week was one of those things.

 

It doesn't look like much of a hill in this picture, but it's decent.

Two weeks ago I did the workout where I’m supposed to do 10 reps of a .21 of a mile steep hill near my house and run them all in about 1:20 or less.  This was the first time on this workout since last July and I could only get four reps in and all were over 1:23.  Very sad.  I felt horrible during the second two and just about collapsed when I got to the top for the last one.  It is a hard workout, and every “first” workout of any kind is especially difficult because your body is just not used to it.  Think about the first time you ever swung a kettle bell.  30 seconds of that and your heart feels like it’s going to pop out of your chest.  But then maybe three workouts later you’re doing it for half an hour!

The same is true in running when you haven’t worked a particular muscle group.

After those hills I stuck to my plan and did the following runs over the next two weeks before hitting the Short Hill again.

A 10 mile moderately paced run followed by a 7 mile run with three 1 mile intervals in there at VO2max, and then an easy 7 mile run.  After a day of rest I did a 10 x 400 workout on the treadmill, and then another day of rest.  That brought Saturday back around and another 10 mile run which was relaxed but almost 30 seconds per mile faster than the week before.  On Sunday I did a 100 meter full out sprint workout where every one of my reps was under 15 seconds for the first time since I began doing sprint workouts.

Another rest day followed by a short pyramid workout on the track, then another 7 mile run with mile intervals inserted in there.  One more easy 5 mile run then back to the Short Hill.

This time on the Hill was completely different starting with the very first “conservative” rep.  I crested the top, eased my pace as I came up to my finish point and stopped my watch.  Glancing down I saw 1:16!

“Seriously?” I asked myself, “Ed, you better slow down or you’ll never get to six.”

I reset my watch and jogged back down the hill and got to the bottom right about the two minute mark which meant I get almost a full minute to stretch, do some Lamaze breathing and bring my heart rate down.  I promised myself to go easy this time up so I didn’t hose the workout and have to cut it short.  My start was strong and I throttled back before the half way point and allowed it to feel slow the rest of the way.

1:17.  “Slower, Ed.  Go slower.”

The next one I did in 1:19 which felt very easy.  Since I was half way and only had three more reps to go I decided to just go with the feel, but to keep it relaxed feeling, no real strain.  The point of the workout is for form as much as it is strength.  Getting my knees up high.  Lengthen my stride by pushing further out behind me as opposed to reaching out in front of me.  Run on my toes and balls of my feet.  All that stuff.

Number four was 1:16, and I slipped with my gloves and stopped number five’s rep at 1:17.  I was feeling it now, but only had the one rep left for the workout this week, so it was Go Time.

I pushed off strong at the bottom of the hill and ground my way to the top with my thighs and lungs burning despite it being below freezing outside.  I began to feel rubbery, but told myself I didn’t want to waste such a nice start of that rep, so just forced the last four or five strides to the finish.

1:08.

My fastest rep ever on that hill.

I didn’t think I was going to come close to that.  I was thinking 1:13, maybe a 1:12, but I believe those little sprint workouts are really helping.

In fact I’ve had several other confidence building workouts just in the last couple of days.

Friday I did my 6 x 800’s with a target pace of 3:10 and this time my rest would be jogging a 400 instead of standing there for 3 minutes.  The first three were 3:08, 3:07, and 3:08 and I was feeling really good with them, so I just went with the body from there and the last three were 3:03, 3:00, and 2:49.  Hurt so good.  The following Saturday I went out for my 10 mile run and followed another suggestion by multiple sources: on long runs that are supposed to be moderately paced, don’t look at your watch.  Running so your breathing is not really labored just shortened is the goal and an hour or so of that pace is what the perfect target zone for your body to maximize building mitochondria and improve your body’s ability to process oxygen efficiently.  Not to mention improve your muscle endurance without straining them.

I only looked at my watch twice: once at halfway and once at the finish.  I was just under 40 minutes at 5 miles and was under 1:20 at 10.  All said and done what felt like a casual run was at 7:57 pace, and my legs never felt fatigued the entire day.

Sunday morning was a “Cutdown” or “Breakdown” workout which I had never heard of until last week.  It sounded cool, and looked like another good shorter speed workout so I put it in for the day after my long run thinking that my legs might not have a lot of pop, but that’s kind of the objective right now.  It’s called “work” for a reason.

This workout is designed for 800 runners and it goes like this.  You run a 600, jog or walk 200 meters then run a 500.  Jog or walk a 200 then run a 400.  Then a 300 and finally a 200.  The key is each 200 meter average is to be one second faster than the previous one, so you’re accelerating with each progressively shorter run.

I used the McMillan calculator to get my goal paces and then decided that I’d start at 44 seconds per 200 making my 600 a 2:12.  Then step down until my final 200 would be a 40.  The weather, however, was going to make all that difficult.

 

Into the wind.

When I left the house this morning to run the one mile up to the high school track it was 30 degrees outside with a windchill of 21.  Winds gusting to 30mph.  Nice.  Every time around that track I was either going to be flying along like Usain Bolt or I was going to be running with an open parachute behind me.  I told myself it was the average that would be the goal today and not ever split.

Didn’t matter.  I cruised the 600 in 2:10, walked for a few seconds then jogged the rest 200.  The 500 went by right at the 43 second goal pace of a 1:47 then I just got faster.  Again going with feeling the increased effort each time as opposed to looking at my watch 25 meters ahead of each split.  I covered the 400 (goal pace of 1:24) in 1:19.  The 300 goal was 61-62 seconds and I hit it in 56 seconds.  I walked almost half of the last rest 200 breathing hard, then lined up for the last 200.

I smiled because the final 100 meters was right into the wind.  “Make you strong, wuss boy.”

The goal for the final 200 was 40 seconds, and with the wind shoving my backwards down that final 100 I finished in 34!

It’s hard to describe the surprise I felt.  My legs were tired; I started that last rep with my heart all ready pounding and my lungs doing all they could to keep up, and I still cruised.  I have no idea how this will all translate into an 800 race, but I’m beginning to think I could get to a 2:30 this early in the season.  That’s getting fast, but I need to get well below that to reach my goal of a sub 5 mile.

Having a well thought out plan (taking advice from experts and experienced runners) is making a big difference.  I am seeing first hand and encourage everyone to make a plan first, start out conservatively and build slowly.

And put then put work in consistently.