Well, this entry is pretty late, eh? In my defense, it's because I've recently gotten started on another project. TrackTalk, located over at www.tracktalk.net, is up and running for the most part. I've been working on setting up my column over there, which mostly consists of me emailing anyone in the running world whose email I can find and asking if I can interview them. Also, I headed back to Derry for the week, and the internet here is pretty lame.
Anyway, here's what I got up to the week leading up to America's 234th birthday:
Monday 6/28- 10AM- 30min lifting with Eric, 30min core. Yech. 9:30PM- 4mi barefoot on the turf with Joe after work.
Tuesday 6/29- 7:30PM, waited til it was a little cooler out. 3 up, 5mi tempo 27:30 (first half 14:00), 3 down, felt fine aerobically but TIRED and SORE.
Wednesday 6/30- 3:30PM- 9mi easy on the river James- the weather was beautiful but I was too tired/sore to really enjoy it. 9:45PM- 5 mi easy barefoot on the turf, plus core.
Thursday 7/1- 10AM- 4 mi morning loop, solo. 5PM- Mini-maintenance run on the river, partway with James. First mile in ~7:20, 9th mile in 5:31, last mile as a cooldown. I felt pretty heavy and shitty through ~4miles, but when I switched into ~6:00 pace, I actually felt really good. 63:43 total.
Friday 7/2- 10AM- 4mi morning loop with James before he went back to Long Island. Sloooow this morning. 6:30PM- 20min up, 8x3min hard, 1min medium going West on the river, 9min cooldown. Good, hard run.
Saturday 7/3- 11AM- 4 mi morning loop, meant to stop and lift, but FitRec was closed for the weekend. 4PM- Lap around Fresh Pond from the house + a short add-on to make it 9. Planned on 10 plus strength, but got I got real tired/dehydrated halfway through the run.
Sunday 7/4- 9:30AM- 9 mi moderate with Eric, Paulson, and Krinjak from the house. HOT already. Ran much faster than I wanted to today, but that's mostly because Eric had to get to work and we dallied getting out of the house. Karma. . .
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Buster Poindexter, You've Never Been So Right
Well, I'm getting deeper into the swing of the summer now. It was hot out earlier in the week, which made all the Ashford residents lazier than usual (except for those who work at 6am. . .). I didn't get too much quality in during the hottest days, but I got in a pretty good hill session one night after work. The week ended with Ken leaving for South America for two months and my first epic bonk of the summer. Other than that, not much is going on here. I should try to get into more trouble next week, so I have something to write about!
Monday 6-21: 1:30PM- 4mi easy solo, hot out again. A bird DIVE BOMBED me between the bridges on the river, though! Was it the same bird as the one that tried to get Peter yesterday?! Or is a sparrow conspiracy?! 10PM- After work, slums to Mass Ave on the river, mile barefoot on Nickerson, drills, 6x(100 stride, 300 jog). Felt pretty darn good on the drills and strides.
Tuesday 6-22: 10AM- 4 easy solo, decided to skip my planned tempo today because I was just plum tuckered out. Sparrow dove for me again! 3:30PM- 8.5 around Fresh Pond once from the house with Ken, Jeff, and James. Tired still.
Wednesday 6-23- 9AM: Fresh Pond once from the house with Eric, Ruben Sanca, and Ahmed + a short, solo add-on to make it 9. 3:30PM- 4mi shakeout with Ken and Joe + strength.
Thursday 6-24- 10AM- Heat index of 90deg at 10am. Double you tee eph, mate? And I got dive bombed AGAIN. 10PM- 3.5 up to Heartbreak Hill, 6x Hydrant to Hydrant (82, 82, 80, 79, 79, 77), 3.5 down. Felt pretty good- ran at a good, honest effort with Ken and Eric. The usual standard for the hill is 80 seconds, so this was a good workout. Jeez, though, it was still pretty hot at 10pm!
Friday 6-25- 10:30AM- Late start with Ken today, 4mi easy. Senor Sparrow had no response to my bringing Ken for backup. 6:30PM- 9 miles easy from the house, going west on the river with a huge-ass group. Tired again.
Saturday 6-26- 10AM- 4mi easy from the house with Trethewey and Peter. Eric came with us for the first 3, then did 10. 7:30PM- 8+mi on the river with Peter from the house, then an add-on at Nickerson to make it 9, then drills, then 4x(100 stride, 300 jog) for 10 on the evening. Felt pretty good.
Sunday 6-26- 9AM- First Bonk of the summer. 12 miles with Ruben, Peter, Eric, and Rob- we were about 6:30s through 6mi, then the lads took off and I bonked. Rob had worked out the day before, so he stayed back with me. I was still 77:30 for 12, so whatever. . . just annoying to get dropped.
Tot- 91 mi
2 drill sessions
1 strength session
Monday 6-21: 1:30PM- 4mi easy solo, hot out again. A bird DIVE BOMBED me between the bridges on the river, though! Was it the same bird as the one that tried to get Peter yesterday?! Or is a sparrow conspiracy?! 10PM- After work, slums to Mass Ave on the river, mile barefoot on Nickerson, drills, 6x(100 stride, 300 jog). Felt pretty darn good on the drills and strides.
Tuesday 6-22: 10AM- 4 easy solo, decided to skip my planned tempo today because I was just plum tuckered out. Sparrow dove for me again! 3:30PM- 8.5 around Fresh Pond once from the house with Ken, Jeff, and James. Tired still.
Wednesday 6-23- 9AM: Fresh Pond once from the house with Eric, Ruben Sanca, and Ahmed + a short, solo add-on to make it 9. 3:30PM- 4mi shakeout with Ken and Joe + strength.
Thursday 6-24- 10AM- Heat index of 90deg at 10am. Double you tee eph, mate? And I got dive bombed AGAIN. 10PM- 3.5 up to Heartbreak Hill, 6x Hydrant to Hydrant (82, 82, 80, 79, 79, 77), 3.5 down. Felt pretty good- ran at a good, honest effort with Ken and Eric. The usual standard for the hill is 80 seconds, so this was a good workout. Jeez, though, it was still pretty hot at 10pm!
Friday 6-25- 10:30AM- Late start with Ken today, 4mi easy. Senor Sparrow had no response to my bringing Ken for backup. 6:30PM- 9 miles easy from the house, going west on the river with a huge-ass group. Tired again.
Saturday 6-26- 10AM- 4mi easy from the house with Trethewey and Peter. Eric came with us for the first 3, then did 10. 7:30PM- 8+mi on the river with Peter from the house, then an add-on at Nickerson to make it 9, then drills, then 4x(100 stride, 300 jog) for 10 on the evening. Felt pretty good.
Sunday 6-26- 9AM- First Bonk of the summer. 12 miles with Ruben, Peter, Eric, and Rob- we were about 6:30s through 6mi, then the lads took off and I bonked. Rob had worked out the day before, so he stayed back with me. I was still 77:30 for 12, so whatever. . . just annoying to get dropped.
Tot- 91 mi
2 drill sessions
1 strength session
Sunday, June 20, 2010
More Money in the Bank
Whether it's all the economic textbooks I'm reading in preparation for the fall or just good, old-fashioned American preoccupation with dough, but I could never get the "money in the bank" metaphor out of my head when thinking about base mileage.
I think it was Salazar (but don't quote me on it) who said "Every steady mile [an athlete] runs is like putting a dollar in the bank. Every mile [an athlete] races is like making a $10 withdrawal."
I like summer training, except for the "summer" part, haha. I'll admit I am a HUGE wimp about running in the heat. Usually I can plan accordingly to do my primary run either before it gets hot or after it cools down, but even then- I'll bitch about 80 degrees. Ken and James don't seem to mind so much when I complain, and since Eric's been working like a madman lately, he hasn't had to deal with my whining too much. In all seriousness, though, summer training is always a fun part of the year because no particular run has any great significance.
By that, I mean that if I happen to feeling good, or get caught up in a good running daydream, or get drawn into another teammate's feeling good, I can hammer all I'd like and there's nothing to worry about, because there's never anything tomorrow that's too important to jog through. I appreciate the freedom, even though I'll be missing racing by July.
Anyway, here's the log for the week:
Monday 6/14- 10AM- Out the Riverway with Ken, James, and Eric, around Jamaica Pond, and back, then barefoot drills and 4x(100 stride, 300 jog) with Eric on Nickerson for 10. 9:30PM- 4mi after work with Joe, James, and Ken.
Tuesday 6/15- 1:30PM- 79 deg, low humidity, slight wind. With Eric- 2+ up to the BC Res workout spot, 10k (4lap) tempo in 34:38, 2+ down.
Distance---------- Time---------- Split
2.5k ---------- 8:42 ---------- 8:42
5k ---------- 17:30----------- 8:49
7.5k ---------- 26:09---------- 8:38
10k ---------- 34:38---------- 8:29
Good, solid progression under a very strong sun. We were planning on 15k going 6:00, 5:45, 5:30 pace per mile for each 5k segment, but I screwed up the pacing and took us out the first lap 40 seconds too fast, so we figured 10k was good for today. (11mi tot)
Wednesday 6/16- 10AM- Morning 4mi loop with James, plus a stop on Nickerson to do the strength circuit I skipped last night (blaming the Celtics for the this one). 9:30PM- 8.5 on the river with Ken after work, tired, but glad we beat the heat.
Thursday 6/17- 11AM- 4mi easy, then travel to Derry, NH. 5PM- 10 miles at a good, hard pace through steady rain on one of my favorite rolling loops back home. 31:28 at 5mi, 27:40 for the back 5, 59:08 total- great run, I felt very refreshed afterward.
Friday 6/18- AM- Watched my younger sister graduate from high school. 5:30PM- 5mi nice and easy on the railroad beds, then I turned around and did 1min hard, 1min medium until I covered 4 miles, then ran the last mile nice and easy. I was tired from sitting in the sun all day, and it was 88 degrees for my workout, but the railroad beds offer a little shade and I just ran at an honest but not excessive effort.
Saturday 6/19- 11AM- 8mi out and back on the railroad beds with Trethewey, nice and easy, no watch as usual. Hot out again, decided to take a nice recovery day today and skip doubling.
Sunday 6/20- AM- travel back to Boston. 3PM- 9 miles in brutal heat and humidity (94 deg, according to the thermometer on the porch). Peter was up, and so was a HS buddy of Ken's, so the pace was pretty fast. I had planned on doing 14-15 in one go, but I was just flat out toast by 7mi in the heat. 9:30PM- 5mi barefoot on Nickerson, plus the strength circuit I should have done Friday or Saturday (I let graduation festivities interfere, I admit it).
Total- 83.5
1 session of drills/strides
2 strength/core sessions
All in all, a very solid week. I'm starting to see a little improvement in my general strength stuff and I recovered from the tempo and then the hard run/fartlek combo very well. Also, Saturday afternoon marked a very crucial Meeting of the Minds.
I think it was Salazar (but don't quote me on it) who said "Every steady mile [an athlete] runs is like putting a dollar in the bank. Every mile [an athlete] races is like making a $10 withdrawal."
I like summer training, except for the "summer" part, haha. I'll admit I am a HUGE wimp about running in the heat. Usually I can plan accordingly to do my primary run either before it gets hot or after it cools down, but even then- I'll bitch about 80 degrees. Ken and James don't seem to mind so much when I complain, and since Eric's been working like a madman lately, he hasn't had to deal with my whining too much. In all seriousness, though, summer training is always a fun part of the year because no particular run has any great significance.
By that, I mean that if I happen to feeling good, or get caught up in a good running daydream, or get drawn into another teammate's feeling good, I can hammer all I'd like and there's nothing to worry about, because there's never anything tomorrow that's too important to jog through. I appreciate the freedom, even though I'll be missing racing by July.
Anyway, here's the log for the week:
Monday 6/14- 10AM- Out the Riverway with Ken, James, and Eric, around Jamaica Pond, and back, then barefoot drills and 4x(100 stride, 300 jog) with Eric on Nickerson for 10. 9:30PM- 4mi after work with Joe, James, and Ken.
Tuesday 6/15- 1:30PM- 79 deg, low humidity, slight wind. With Eric- 2+ up to the BC Res workout spot, 10k (4lap) tempo in 34:38, 2+ down.
Distance---------- Time---------- Split
2.5k ---------- 8:42 ---------- 8:42
5k ---------- 17:30----------- 8:49
7.5k ---------- 26:09---------- 8:38
10k ---------- 34:38---------- 8:29
Good, solid progression under a very strong sun. We were planning on 15k going 6:00, 5:45, 5:30 pace per mile for each 5k segment, but I screwed up the pacing and took us out the first lap 40 seconds too fast, so we figured 10k was good for today. (11mi tot)
Wednesday 6/16- 10AM- Morning 4mi loop with James, plus a stop on Nickerson to do the strength circuit I skipped last night (blaming the Celtics for the this one). 9:30PM- 8.5 on the river with Ken after work, tired, but glad we beat the heat.
Thursday 6/17- 11AM- 4mi easy, then travel to Derry, NH. 5PM- 10 miles at a good, hard pace through steady rain on one of my favorite rolling loops back home. 31:28 at 5mi, 27:40 for the back 5, 59:08 total- great run, I felt very refreshed afterward.
Friday 6/18- AM- Watched my younger sister graduate from high school. 5:30PM- 5mi nice and easy on the railroad beds, then I turned around and did 1min hard, 1min medium until I covered 4 miles, then ran the last mile nice and easy. I was tired from sitting in the sun all day, and it was 88 degrees for my workout, but the railroad beds offer a little shade and I just ran at an honest but not excessive effort.
Saturday 6/19- 11AM- 8mi out and back on the railroad beds with Trethewey, nice and easy, no watch as usual. Hot out again, decided to take a nice recovery day today and skip doubling.
Sunday 6/20- AM- travel back to Boston. 3PM- 9 miles in brutal heat and humidity (94 deg, according to the thermometer on the porch). Peter was up, and so was a HS buddy of Ken's, so the pace was pretty fast. I had planned on doing 14-15 in one go, but I was just flat out toast by 7mi in the heat. 9:30PM- 5mi barefoot on Nickerson, plus the strength circuit I should have done Friday or Saturday (I let graduation festivities interfere, I admit it).
Total- 83.5
1 session of drills/strides
2 strength/core sessions
All in all, a very solid week. I'm starting to see a little improvement in my general strength stuff and I recovered from the tempo and then the hard run/fartlek combo very well. Also, Saturday afternoon marked a very crucial Meeting of the Minds.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Back to Basics
No word yet on my bloodwork. Not sure what the delay is, but it's getting annoying. It'd be unbearable if I was still feeling terrible, but my running has taken a turn for the better. My "empty well" issues fortunately don't affect my normal base running, since normal base running requires no dipping into the well. Now if only I can get my "normal base running" down to 4:30/mile. . .
Anyway, nothing really special to report on this week. I'm waiting on my blood work, done with my Census work, making a killing on Telefund commissions, and enjoying the beginnings of the conditioning period. I'm also trying to eat healthier and less. I know "eat less" sounds stupid, but by that, I mean eating healthy, good food when I'm hungry, as opposed to eating half a bag of sour gummy worms at 1am because I'm bored. Thus far, though, I'm still less-than-svelte.
The log:
Monday- 9PM- 3miles easy, got back to Boston late and ran with Joe and James on the infield of Nickerson sans shoes.
Tuesday- 10AM- standard 4mi morning loop with a stop at Nickerson for a 30min core/body strength routine. It included a laughably small amount of pushups, lunges, dips, squats, and various core exercises. 4PM- Pretty quick run with James- ~6:20s for the 3mi out to Fresh Pond, did the lap at a good surge (13:32, ~5:25 pace), then went home at ~6:20 pace again, adding on a little at Harvard to make it 9 instead of 8.5.
Wednesday- 10AM- 4mi on the river with Ken. 4PM- Mayor's Run with Ken and James (and Joe for the first 15min), 8mi.
Thursday- 10AM- Maintenance run on the river, by myself. I spent the first 5mi waking up, then got into a really good gear for the back half. The last mile is measured and except for having to sprint through an intersection to make a walk light, I kept the pace as similar as I could to get a gauge on my effort. I was 5:37 for the last mile, so I think I can safely say I was 5:45s or so for most of the last 4mi. 61:44 tot, good strong run in rainy, cool weather. 4PM- 4mi easy on the river, partway with Ken and James, who were doing their primary run. 20min of running drills on Nickerson afterward with 4x100m flat out.
Friday- 5PM- 10mi easy on the river with Ken and the Born-Again Kevin DTP Cordaro, 67:40. Strength routine at the indoor track afterward. Legs very tired today.
Saturday- 5PM- 12 miles down Comm Ave, through the Common, past Faneuil Hall, into the North End for a while, then we wound around the waterfront, through the Financial District, and back home via Comm Ave. Got that? 79 minutes a decent clip through rainy, cool weather.
Sunday- 10AM- 14mi at a decent clip with James, 92:07. We did the first ten on the river in 66:27, then ran from the house to the BC Res and back in 25:40 for the last 4. We were 7:23 at the mile and 14:25 at 2. . . that's all I got for intermediate marks.
Tot- 78 miles, 10 runs, one day basically off, 2 sessions of strength/core, 1 session of drills/leg speed. A solid start to summer!
Lastly, thanks to the couple people who emailed/facebooked me with well wishes. It helped!
Anyway, nothing really special to report on this week. I'm waiting on my blood work, done with my Census work, making a killing on Telefund commissions, and enjoying the beginnings of the conditioning period. I'm also trying to eat healthier and less. I know "eat less" sounds stupid, but by that, I mean eating healthy, good food when I'm hungry, as opposed to eating half a bag of sour gummy worms at 1am because I'm bored. Thus far, though, I'm still less-than-svelte.
The log:
Monday- 9PM- 3miles easy, got back to Boston late and ran with Joe and James on the infield of Nickerson sans shoes.
Tuesday- 10AM- standard 4mi morning loop with a stop at Nickerson for a 30min core/body strength routine. It included a laughably small amount of pushups, lunges, dips, squats, and various core exercises. 4PM- Pretty quick run with James- ~6:20s for the 3mi out to Fresh Pond, did the lap at a good surge (13:32, ~5:25 pace), then went home at ~6:20 pace again, adding on a little at Harvard to make it 9 instead of 8.5.
Wednesday- 10AM- 4mi on the river with Ken. 4PM- Mayor's Run with Ken and James (and Joe for the first 15min), 8mi.
Thursday- 10AM- Maintenance run on the river, by myself. I spent the first 5mi waking up, then got into a really good gear for the back half. The last mile is measured and except for having to sprint through an intersection to make a walk light, I kept the pace as similar as I could to get a gauge on my effort. I was 5:37 for the last mile, so I think I can safely say I was 5:45s or so for most of the last 4mi. 61:44 tot, good strong run in rainy, cool weather. 4PM- 4mi easy on the river, partway with Ken and James, who were doing their primary run. 20min of running drills on Nickerson afterward with 4x100m flat out.
Friday- 5PM- 10mi easy on the river with Ken and the Born-Again Kevin DTP Cordaro, 67:40. Strength routine at the indoor track afterward. Legs very tired today.
Saturday- 5PM- 12 miles down Comm Ave, through the Common, past Faneuil Hall, into the North End for a while, then we wound around the waterfront, through the Financial District, and back home via Comm Ave. Got that? 79 minutes a decent clip through rainy, cool weather.
Sunday- 10AM- 14mi at a decent clip with James, 92:07. We did the first ten on the river in 66:27, then ran from the house to the BC Res and back in 25:40 for the last 4. We were 7:23 at the mile and 14:25 at 2. . . that's all I got for intermediate marks.
Tot- 78 miles, 10 runs, one day basically off, 2 sessions of strength/core, 1 session of drills/leg speed. A solid start to summer!
Lastly, thanks to the couple people who emailed/facebooked me with well wishes. It helped!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Hiatus Is Over
I'm sure my hypothetical readers were wondering what I've been up to. You know that saying "no news is good news?" Well, it doesn't apply to a blog. I haven't written in a couple weeks because I've been too demoralized to rehash how crappy running has been going. Getting through the last two weeks was bad enough, typing it up again was nothing I wanted to deal with.
I'm not sure what's up with me, but my tank, so to speak, is empty. You know when you're about 2/3rds of the way through a race and things start to suck and you can either dig down or slow down? I get to that point, and it's like I'm stuck in neutral. I can hit the gas all I want, but I'm not going anyway. I dropped out of my last two races- a 5k and a 3k. I was running slow as death in each of them, and worse, felt more than maxed out doing it.
Bruce and I talked things over and both agreed I should get back to basics. I also need to get a little leaner and stronger- I've joked before about being a soft miler, but seriously, it's time to do some pushups and situps. I've got probably 7-8 pounds of fat on me that I don't need, despite decent mileage and a good diet.
My mileage for the two weeks I didn't blog were 69 and 61, respectively, with a day off this past Sunday. To spare a little redundancy, here's how most of those runs went: "9 miles slow, felt terrible."
I got blood work done a week ago, so hopefully, I'll be hearing from my doctor today or tomorrow. He tested me for just about everything from ferritin reserves to abnormal hormonal activity. If nothing else, knowing that I don't have any chemical problems will be a huge relief.
Anyway, I hope the end of everyone's seasons was much better than mine. I'm very frustrated, but trying to keep my chin up. At the very least, I can send a congratulations to my younger brother, who just finished his junior year of high school with a 9:36 3200, which was a 13 or 14 second PR.
I'm not sure what's up with me, but my tank, so to speak, is empty. You know when you're about 2/3rds of the way through a race and things start to suck and you can either dig down or slow down? I get to that point, and it's like I'm stuck in neutral. I can hit the gas all I want, but I'm not going anyway. I dropped out of my last two races- a 5k and a 3k. I was running slow as death in each of them, and worse, felt more than maxed out doing it.
Bruce and I talked things over and both agreed I should get back to basics. I also need to get a little leaner and stronger- I've joked before about being a soft miler, but seriously, it's time to do some pushups and situps. I've got probably 7-8 pounds of fat on me that I don't need, despite decent mileage and a good diet.
My mileage for the two weeks I didn't blog were 69 and 61, respectively, with a day off this past Sunday. To spare a little redundancy, here's how most of those runs went: "9 miles slow, felt terrible."
I got blood work done a week ago, so hopefully, I'll be hearing from my doctor today or tomorrow. He tested me for just about everything from ferritin reserves to abnormal hormonal activity. If nothing else, knowing that I don't have any chemical problems will be a huge relief.
Anyway, I hope the end of everyone's seasons was much better than mine. I'm very frustrated, but trying to keep my chin up. At the very least, I can send a congratulations to my younger brother, who just finished his junior year of high school with a 9:36 3200, which was a 13 or 14 second PR.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
When Bloggin's No Fun
This is one of those weeks where writing this thing is a damned drag. That's because I dropped out of my 5k on Saturday after going through 3k ass-slow and feeling absolutely terrible doing it. It didn't feel different than any other race day until I started warming up, but from step one, I just felt terrible. I wasn't dehydrated or unfed or anything, but within a few minutes into my warmup, I was sweating buckets and just felt out of it.
The race went out and a 70 sec opening quarter just felt straaainy. I'm afraid I can't be more precise. I traded laps with a Dartmouth guy for a while, but even then, hanging on to 72s was like life or death. I got through 3k in 8:57 and thought "fuck it, it's not worth it to run 15:10 or worse." I hate dropping out, but I'm sorry to say I'm not one of those guys who puts this huge premium on finishing no matter what. I mean, I'm guessing I could have jogged in, but to what end? I don't think running slow on purpose and just trying to finish makes me any tougher. Perhaps I'm being overly defensive; who knows.
I think I'm going to take another crack at the 5k on June 5th. Bruce's hypothesis (in general, not what he believes led to my troubles today) is that I'm trying to do traditional 5k/10k training, but that I've neglected developing my speed, and could in fact be more competitive at 800/1500 than the 5k. I think the strongest point in his favor is that I can run a much "better" (comparatively) mile than a 3k or 5k off high mileage + tempos with no speed work. Obviously, you don't change horses in mid-stream, so we'll finish out this season according to plan, but it's food for thought for next November when it's time get in gear for track.
In any event, I'm going to do my best to call yesterday one of those shitty days that doesn't have any implications darker than bad luck. Redemption is only two weeks away ;)
Log:
Monday- 7:30PM- Fresh Pond from the house with Rob, Eric, and Ellie- felt dehydrated and kinda sick. 8.5.
Tuesday- 10:30AM- River Loop with James, felt ok. 3:30PM- 8mi easy with Joey on the river, drills at Nickerson, short cooldown + back to house for 9 tot.
Wednesday- 12:30PM- 3 up, 1200 in 3:26 (splits 70-63-73, Bruce wanted to go 70-66-70, but I overestimated the 66, then underestimated the 70), 1200 jog, then 5x400 in 66 with an 80sec jog. Easy workout, ready to roll. Windy. 2mi down. 9:30PM- 4mi easy after work, rainy but warm, so I got pretty slimy.
Thursday- AM- 4mi easy solo. PM- Marky Mark with a JP lap with Ken and James. Hot out.
Friday- 3:30PM- 10mi easy down Comm Ave, through the Common, along the waterfront, and back. Perfect weather- I was dying to get at that 5k after this run. I felt ready to knock it out of the park. Guess I should have just done it on Friday!
Saturday- 6:15PM- 3 up at Bentley, 3k in 8:57, nothing after that. The DNF was compounded by Bruce driving out to Bentley to witness the ignominy in person. Just one of those days I hope doesn't happen often, or at all, actually.
Sunday- 7 easy with Ken and James, kept it short as Bruce instructed.
Tot- 69 mi, lots of thinking to do.
Hope your collectives weeks were better than mine!
The race went out and a 70 sec opening quarter just felt straaainy. I'm afraid I can't be more precise. I traded laps with a Dartmouth guy for a while, but even then, hanging on to 72s was like life or death. I got through 3k in 8:57 and thought "fuck it, it's not worth it to run 15:10 or worse." I hate dropping out, but I'm sorry to say I'm not one of those guys who puts this huge premium on finishing no matter what. I mean, I'm guessing I could have jogged in, but to what end? I don't think running slow on purpose and just trying to finish makes me any tougher. Perhaps I'm being overly defensive; who knows.
I think I'm going to take another crack at the 5k on June 5th. Bruce's hypothesis (in general, not what he believes led to my troubles today) is that I'm trying to do traditional 5k/10k training, but that I've neglected developing my speed, and could in fact be more competitive at 800/1500 than the 5k. I think the strongest point in his favor is that I can run a much "better" (comparatively) mile than a 3k or 5k off high mileage + tempos with no speed work. Obviously, you don't change horses in mid-stream, so we'll finish out this season according to plan, but it's food for thought for next November when it's time get in gear for track.
In any event, I'm going to do my best to call yesterday one of those shitty days that doesn't have any implications darker than bad luck. Redemption is only two weeks away ;)
Log:
Monday- 7:30PM- Fresh Pond from the house with Rob, Eric, and Ellie- felt dehydrated and kinda sick. 8.5.
Tuesday- 10:30AM- River Loop with James, felt ok. 3:30PM- 8mi easy with Joey on the river, drills at Nickerson, short cooldown + back to house for 9 tot.
Wednesday- 12:30PM- 3 up, 1200 in 3:26 (splits 70-63-73, Bruce wanted to go 70-66-70, but I overestimated the 66, then underestimated the 70), 1200 jog, then 5x400 in 66 with an 80sec jog. Easy workout, ready to roll. Windy. 2mi down. 9:30PM- 4mi easy after work, rainy but warm, so I got pretty slimy.
Thursday- AM- 4mi easy solo. PM- Marky Mark with a JP lap with Ken and James. Hot out.
Friday- 3:30PM- 10mi easy down Comm Ave, through the Common, along the waterfront, and back. Perfect weather- I was dying to get at that 5k after this run. I felt ready to knock it out of the park. Guess I should have just done it on Friday!
Saturday- 6:15PM- 3 up at Bentley, 3k in 8:57, nothing after that. The DNF was compounded by Bruce driving out to Bentley to witness the ignominy in person. Just one of those days I hope doesn't happen often, or at all, actually.
Sunday- 7 easy with Ken and James, kept it short as Bruce instructed.
Tot- 69 mi, lots of thinking to do.
Hope your collectives weeks were better than mine!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Whoops, Spaced This One! First Race
I woke up today thinking, "I know I forgot to do something yesterday. . . Let's see. . ." It took about ten minutes before I remembered there was probably a tiny group of bored track nerds who had to waste extra time at cracked or the failblog yesterday because I didn't put this up!
It was a good week of training and racing, as I predicted last week. I eked out a close win over 3000m at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet held at Lowell in 8:26.33.
They put the video of the race on Flotrack, which you can find here: http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237092-new-balance-boston-twilight-meet-1/334683-mov00b
Ignore the splits given, not sure why, but they were way off. From the video, I hand-timed my last 400 in 61.5 or so; they announce it as 57 with a 26 last 200. I wish! Things were windy and slow, but I'll take a win any day of the week.
Here's the log for the week:
Monday- 1PM- 10mi easy with Eric and Ken mostly, ran up Beacon through Newton and came back Comm Ave. 8PM- 4mi solo with 8 strides ad hoc over the course of the run.
Tuesday- 1:30PM- 2mi up, 2mi on a measured course on the Esplanade in 9:40 (4:40, 5:00) goal was 10:00 but I was out too fast; managed to find the right gear in the 2nd mile. Still, this was a very easy run. 2mi jog to MIT, quick bathroom trip, spikes, then 4x800 w/400j, taking turns leading with Ken and Eric. 2:13avg, last one in 2:11. I think finally getting to work out with people really helped me today, because I felt effortless. 3mi down, 12 on the day.
Wednesday- 10AM- 4mi easy with my buddy Owen, an old high school teammate of mine who just got back from a semester in Europe. 3:30PM- One lap around Fresh Pond from the house with Ken and James, something between 8.5 and 8.9. Logged it as 8.5.
Thursday- 3 up, 8x200 w/200j, 33.0 avg, nice and easy, 3 down. Ran the whole thing with James.
Friday- 2PM- 4 easy solo, muggy. 9PM- 7 easy solo again, muggy again. I was about 150 yards from my front door when a drunk clown down the street hucked a beer bottle at me. It missed, but landed at my feet and exploded, splashing me with beer. Cheap beer, from the smell of it. Yech.
Saturday- 11AM- 4 mile shakeout. 6PM- NB Twilight Meet, 3000m, 8:26.33 for 1st. Slow pace, windy day- from 1200-2600 it was truly slow going. Surprised, though, how quickly I recovered and how good I felt overall. After my race, I spent most of the evening in the booth with Steve Infascelli, my old counselor from running camp. Infa did a bangup job with the announcing, despite it being his second track meet of the day. I also met a fellow dyestatter IRL, and no one was assaulted or abused, so remember, kids- the internet is a great place to make friends!
Sunday- 2:30PM- Fresh Pond solo from the house, perfect weather again. Is this Boston or the Bay Area?! A safe 8.5 miles. 8:30PM- The standard 4mi shakeout loop solo. Sometime in the intervening hours between runs, my hamstrings and calves tightened up a little, but I'm not concerned.
Week total- 82mi
Somewhere in there, I did pushups and core work and drills. . . but for the life of me, I can't remember which day! I think I have a long way to go with core/drills- the video shows quite a bit of wasted motion in my form which I think I can mostly get a handle on with stronger core muscles. Being the softest sub-4:10 miler I know is a dubious honor at best.
Anyway, hope everyone had as good a week as I did! Next up for me is another NB Twilight Meet, but this time I'll be running the 5000. I'd like to take a crack at 14:40, but we'll see how things go.
It was a good week of training and racing, as I predicted last week. I eked out a close win over 3000m at the New Balance Boston Twilight Meet held at Lowell in 8:26.33.
They put the video of the race on Flotrack, which you can find here: http://www.flotrack.org/videos/coverage/view_video/237092-new-balance-boston-twilight-meet-1/334683-mov00b
Ignore the splits given, not sure why, but they were way off. From the video, I hand-timed my last 400 in 61.5 or so; they announce it as 57 with a 26 last 200. I wish! Things were windy and slow, but I'll take a win any day of the week.
Here's the log for the week:
Monday- 1PM- 10mi easy with Eric and Ken mostly, ran up Beacon through Newton and came back Comm Ave. 8PM- 4mi solo with 8 strides ad hoc over the course of the run.
Tuesday- 1:30PM- 2mi up, 2mi on a measured course on the Esplanade in 9:40 (4:40, 5:00) goal was 10:00 but I was out too fast; managed to find the right gear in the 2nd mile. Still, this was a very easy run. 2mi jog to MIT, quick bathroom trip, spikes, then 4x800 w/400j, taking turns leading with Ken and Eric. 2:13avg, last one in 2:11. I think finally getting to work out with people really helped me today, because I felt effortless. 3mi down, 12 on the day.
Wednesday- 10AM- 4mi easy with my buddy Owen, an old high school teammate of mine who just got back from a semester in Europe. 3:30PM- One lap around Fresh Pond from the house with Ken and James, something between 8.5 and 8.9. Logged it as 8.5.
Thursday- 3 up, 8x200 w/200j, 33.0 avg, nice and easy, 3 down. Ran the whole thing with James.
Friday- 2PM- 4 easy solo, muggy. 9PM- 7 easy solo again, muggy again. I was about 150 yards from my front door when a drunk clown down the street hucked a beer bottle at me. It missed, but landed at my feet and exploded, splashing me with beer. Cheap beer, from the smell of it. Yech.
Saturday- 11AM- 4 mile shakeout. 6PM- NB Twilight Meet, 3000m, 8:26.33 for 1st. Slow pace, windy day- from 1200-2600 it was truly slow going. Surprised, though, how quickly I recovered and how good I felt overall. After my race, I spent most of the evening in the booth with Steve Infascelli, my old counselor from running camp. Infa did a bangup job with the announcing, despite it being his second track meet of the day. I also met a fellow dyestatter IRL, and no one was assaulted or abused, so remember, kids- the internet is a great place to make friends!
Sunday- 2:30PM- Fresh Pond solo from the house, perfect weather again. Is this Boston or the Bay Area?! A safe 8.5 miles. 8:30PM- The standard 4mi shakeout loop solo. Sometime in the intervening hours between runs, my hamstrings and calves tightened up a little, but I'm not concerned.
Week total- 82mi
Somewhere in there, I did pushups and core work and drills. . . but for the life of me, I can't remember which day! I think I have a long way to go with core/drills- the video shows quite a bit of wasted motion in my form which I think I can mostly get a handle on with stronger core muscles. Being the softest sub-4:10 miler I know is a dubious honor at best.
Anyway, hope everyone had as good a week as I did! Next up for me is another NB Twilight Meet, but this time I'll be running the 5000. I'd like to take a crack at 14:40, but we'll see how things go.
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