California Running

Breaking 2-Minutes

2009-07-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from this article that talks about training for the 800m.

PREDICTABILITY
Best 800m = (400m + 6seconds) x 2
This seems to apply to the distance type runner quite well. The high school sprinter-type appears to lack the necessary strength to fufill this predictability equation.

This essentially breaks down the race into two components: the all out 400m time (speed component) and the 'added factor' or (strength component). Obviously, the more of an endurance trained runner you are, (800m/1500m type) the better you'll do w/ the strength component compared to the guy who is more speed oriented (400m/800m type)

While it's probably better to view this 'added factor' more in terms of percentage of 400m time (as opposed to an absolute number), 6-seconds is a good target for a time around 2-minutes (54 + 6) x 2 as this would correspond to about an 11% slow down vs 400m time.

Looking at many of the Masters 800m runners - this 'factor' varies from +9%, which would be excellent to +25%, which is obviously very poor and indicates that those guys are really 400m runners who just decided to do an 800m for the hell of it.

Being that I don't have an exact 400m race time at this point, I can't say for sure where I'm at, but all indications are that I've got some work to do to get down to 6-seconds. On the bright side, I believe my 400m speed is pretty close to the 54 target.

While I'll never be an 'endurance' or 'strength' type of runner, I believe if I continue to work aggressively on this side that I can eventually get this 'factor' down into the +10-12% range. And of course, if I can get my 400m time under 54, it will make things that much easier on the strength side of the equation.

Consequently, to give myself the best chance to get to 2-minutes, I'm going to need to work hard on both speed and strength - so this training plan will have several components that work on each. Although there is obviously some crossover benefit to certain components, this roughly divides the training into the separate compartments:

Speed: plyometrics, box jumps, hill repeats, Rep/short interval training (mile race pace work down to 600m race pace work), power-lifting, sprint work (400m race pace work on down), lactate tolerance training

Strength: weekly mileage, long runs, steady runs, tempo runs, cruise intervals (5k pace work), long intervals (3k pace work), lactate tolerance training (this training helps everything)

Each of these components will have their time and place where they'll be a point of focus, and the overall mix will follow a progression throughout the year. The bottom line is that if I'm going to hit the target, I'm going to need to have the speed to run an all out 400m in the 53.5 - 53.8 range, and the endurance/strength to be able to hold close to 90% of that speed for the full half mile.

This sure as hell isn't going to be easy - I'm going to need to make improvements in all areas, and I'm also going to have to work more on things like core strength, flexibility, etc in order to be able to train at the required intensities when that time comes to bring it all together. At the very least, the journey should be interesting, and if (knock on wood) I can avoid any major set backs I should be able to make a pretty good run at this thing.

Update

2009-07-04T08:17:00.000-07:00

Enjoying my time off - birthday #41 came yesterday. I've been re-reading Peter Coe's 'Winning Running' which goes through Seb Coe's typical training year - really good stuff for middle distance runners. Coe's first phase of training every year was to take a month completely off. (some guys took off more time than that) I won't be taking off that much time (2-3 weeks for me) but the legs are feeling very refreshed w/ the 10-days I've taken thus far.

I've got a good idea as to how my training is going to be structured. Some new things will be added that I haven't done before. First off, I'll be adding swiss ball and BOSU exercises (stability half sphere that you stand on) into my core routine as well as assorted plank exercises. Hopefully this will strengthen my core even more to reduce the chances of injury. I've also added a stretching routine for the hip flexors to keep the hips loose.

Additionally, I've gathered up several box jump and plyometric exercises that I'll be starting soon. These routines along w/ the power-lifting exercises (squats, dead lifts, and power cleans) will add strength and power which should increase my speed.

As I mentioned previously, there will be more of an emphasis on increasing my speed through plyos, box jumps, power-lifting, and sprint work (much later in the training). Being that most of this additional work doesn't actually involve running (until the sprint work later), I'll be able to do much of this work while in the base phase where the focus will be increasing my weekly mileage from the 35-40 mpw up into the 50s or 60s. (using De Castella's weekly training as a model w/ some influences from Coe and El Guerrouj) So while the mileage won't consist of the very intense peak training - not all of those 50+ miles will be easy. A lot of steady runs, hills, tempo, etc.

My experience thus far has been that the paces from 5k pace and slower don't really wear on my body so much (I've run at a 'steady' pace of 6:40 or so every day - even on the longer 12-13 mile runs w/o it bothering me) So the idea here will be to seriously work on both my speed (at the gym) and my endurance (on the trails) at the same time while strengthening my core w/ the swiss ball, BOSU, plank exercises, etc.

Using Coe's yearly training as a model, I'll be able to break down the training into stages which will dictate mileage, intensities, etc for each time period. I won't be putting together a detailed long term plan as this thing will be very flexible depending on how I'm feeling. The important thing for me is that I have a good idea of how I want the overall training to go and I'll just operate w/ that framework in mind.

In the next post I'll break down what I believe it will take for me to hit a 2-flat 800m, and how each part of the training will hopefully do its part to get me there.

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Difficult Decision

2009-06-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

It felt great to get in a workout last Saturday. A combo of controlled speed (2 x 600m @ 1:44) and some decent repeats in spikes (2 x 300m @ 45.5) after a warm up and a solid 2 x 200m @ about 28 per. No issues w/ the back/hip, but unfortunately the left calf and adductor that have been very tight since the back flare up felt tight the next day. Sure enough, during the session w/ the CMT on Monday those areas weren't the greatest.

At that point, it became pretty clear what I had ahead of me this summer. I could scale back my workouts and up my treatments for a few weeks and then try to get in a few weeks of sharpening (albeit after some fitness loss) in an attempt to perhaps get in one or two races at the end of the summer - OR - I could make the decision to simply pull the plug here, get some rest for a couple of weeks, enjoy the summer w/ the family a bit more and then get a head start on what will be a very elaborate build for next year.

Clearly I was disappointed that it was coming to this. But to be perfectly honest, during those few hours when the back/hip thing came out of nowhere and I was wondering when I'd even be able to walk let alone run - the thought did enter my mind that this season at best would be compromised, and at worst could be in serious jeopardy.

After examining my goals the decision became pretty clear cut. The original goal for this season was to gain some experience, run about six 800m races and finish up running at Nationals in early August. No shot at placing this year, just gain the experience of running in a big meet and be as competitive as possible. I say 'August' because Nationals have been run the first weekend in August every year for a while - however I discovered in May that this year, the Nationals meet was moved up to July 9th. Immediately I knew I would not be in good enough shape to feel comfortable running in that meet in early July, so the goals shifted to simply gaining some racing experience and have fun running locally w/ my 'big meet' actually being the first one on May 24th.

Longer term, the goal was unchanged - get to 2-flat or better and look to be competitive enough for a top-5 finish at Nationals. (I never posted these goals because I wanted to get one solid race under my belt first to confirm that it was at least quasi-realistic)

Being that Nationals were already out for this year, and w/ the limited training I'd be able to do the rest of the way, the chances of going 2-flat this season dropped from slim to none. So what it really came down to was - would I rather enjoy running a few races towards the end of the season w/o the times being what I'd like or would I rather let the body rest up a bit, continue w/ the massage treatments to finish flushing everything out, and get about a 6-week head start on my training for next season. (the last part obviously giving me a better chance of hitting my longer term goals)

So like I said, with the longer term goals taking priority, the decision became quite clear.

I can't say it's the greatest feeling in the world to be pulling the plug on this season already, especially after the freak fall that screwed up my hand killed the winter season - but to be honest, I'm very thankful to have been able to run what was going to be my biggest meet anyway in May. The experience I gained in that one race will help me tremendously next time out.

In the next post I'll go over the training plan. There will be several additions to the weekly routine . . .

800m Race Photos (May 24th)

2009-06-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

I managed to put some race day photos together into a slideshow. You can see how nice the view would have been over the edge of the back straight had the weather been nicer. However, you can tell by the layers of clothing people were wearing how cool it was on that day. (I think it was about 48 degrees)

I look a lot more relaxed coming through that first lap than I do on the 2nd! Actually very relaxed on lap-1 considering it was about a 58.3 . . . . . . gotta gain the fitness required to run the 2nd lap better.

Unfortunately, the photos don't show well on this thing. I've posted a few of them below so that they're more visible:

Opening 200m

First Lap

(My wife's first comment after the race, "you need a tan!")

Feeling relaxed finishing up the first 400m . . .

. . . Not so much on the last last 50m

(obviously Brendan and I attended the same class on "Displaying your Race Day Face"!!)

The most important part of race day . . . . the post race beer!

Figured I'd throw one in w/ my wife (I even shaved for this one!)

Also, I was messing around w/ Flickr but was unable to have Blogspot communicate w/ the Flickr account. So I just added a link on the sidebar under "Slideshows" that has my first one. It's a show of our Garden/Koi pond in the yard - the photos were taken this week. Let me know if you have any issues viewing it.

Finally . . . . A Workout!

2009-06-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Exactly 3 weeks to the day since my last workout (and 3 weeks to the day since my hip/back got zapped) I was on the track for a quasi-legit session.

I've been feeling much better these past few days. However the calf/adductor combo that caused some issues going around the turns on the track is still present, albeit to a lesser degree.

I had 3 goals for this session:

1. Determine how far the calf/adductor have come along over the past 10 days.

2. Get in some controlled speed work .

3. If possible, get into the spikes for a few quick repeats.

I wasn't exactly sure where my fitness would be w/ about a week off and two very down weeks, but I penciled in the following wo as a target:

2 x 200m (at whatever the calf/adductor would allow - hopefully under 30)

5-minutes to re-stretch the trouble spots

2 x 600m @ sub-1:45 (3-min rest between)

8-minute set break

3 x 300m (in spikes) w/ about 90-second rests. Pace TBD depending on how I was feeling.

I could feel the calf on the turns of the 200s, but I was able to get to a slightly quicker pace before they flared up, and the discomfort wasn't nearly as bad. The 200s came in at 28.8 and 28.0.

The first 600 felt really good. Relaxed, controlled effort and pretty even pace the whole way - 1:43. On #2 I did what I usually do and let the pace come naturally. Typically this means that #2 is faster than #1 and this was the case early on. At 300m I was 2-seconds ahead of the rep-1 pace and I was looking for a 1:41-1:42 . . . but at this point, my fitness drop became apparent. I struggled a bit through the 2nd half and finished w/ a 1:45. Not that big a deal, it's probably going to take a couple of weeks to get that fitness back up - at least I now know where I stand.

During the set break I changed into my spikes and got ready for my 300s. I figured I'd need to be careful as the calf issue was definitely going to be there to some degree. On the first 300 I could feel the calf a little during the opening straightaway - this was new - I assumed it was due to being in spikes, but it wasn't too bad. Thankfully, it didn't get any worse on the turn and I came through the finish in 45.1 After a 100m jog back to the start followed by an additional 1-minute rest I was off on #2. I backed off on the pace just a hair to keep from flaring up the calf and surprisingly this worked perfectly. No calf issues at all on #2 and I was still able to come in at 45.9

At this point I decided not to press my luck w/ a 3rd rep - I had gotten everything I wanted out of this session and I felt it was important for me to leave the track on a high note w/ some precious confidence restored.

Overall things went very well considering I haven't done much these past 3-weeks. My fitness is off obviously, but probably not by too much. Clearly I did not feel like myself during the 2nd half of the 2nd 600 - but I guess that should have been expected. The calf/adductor are getting better, but not all the way back. This kept my speed from being back near 100%, but that was only because the tightness kept a lid on how hard I can push it. The massage is helping tremendously here, but they were so locked up that it's going to take a few sessions to get these guys back to normal. Hopefully I continue to make progress here in the coming weeks.

Finally - the hip/back gave me ZERO issues today. Again, I'll need to be hopeful that this remains the case going forward, but so far so good.

Easy day tomorrow - massage on Monday, and if all's clear, the next workout should be Wednesday.

Training:

Fri, 6/19: 31-minutes @ 6:51 pace

Sat, 6/20: 2 x 200m (28.8, 28.0), 2 x 600m (1:43, 1:45), 2 x 300m (45.1, 45.9)

The Week That Was

2009-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

Who knows what next week will bring, but as of right now things are improving. I was back at the massage therapist on Monday where she worked through the trouble spots. For the most part, everything was much improved - only one muscle in the left calf is still tight.

In an attempt to determine whether or not I've got any imbalance issues, I saw a PT/trainer on Wednesday. He put me through several tests and determined the following:

1. Flexibility was good.

2. No obvious mechanical issues

3. Strength was good in all areas (adductors, glutes, abs, obliques, etc)

4. Balance not as good on single leg squats as it should be (knees tended to move inwards)

This 4th point was essentially the only negative mark I had. What came out of that was that I was given a few exercises to do at home that should hopefully improve this area. In addition, I'm going to start doing several stability exercises at home. I figure I should do everything I can to minimize the chances of injury going forward.

On the running front, due to work and other things I wound up going every other day for most of the week. I can tell I'm feeling better because the paces in the trails are picking up.

I only had time for a short run on Tuesday, and I wound up hitting the last mile in 5:38 just to see how it felt and I was fine. On Thursday it became obvious the body was itching for a workout when I hit the first mile in 6:47 and continued to pick the pace up from there.

The plan is to do an easy run on Friday followed by a workout on Saturday. (I really need to get a workout in)

Training:

Sun, 6/14: 31-minutes @ 6:47

Mon, 6/15: Appt w/ CMT

Tues, 6/16: 3-miles @ 6:34 (last mile - 5:38)

Wed, 6/17: Appt w/ PT/Trainer

Thurs, 6/18: 28-minutes @ 6:37

Progress?

2009-06-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

The good news is that the back/hip is continuing to improve - so much so that I don't even remember that it's not 100% except for a couple time per day when I stretch or loosen up. I don't feel any discomfort during normal activities or running.

After an easy run in the trails on Sunday, I headed over to the track on Monday for a light workout: in and out 200s at a moderate pace just to get the legs used to moving quickly again. I did take the watch, but didn't look at the times until the session was over so as not to influence the wo at all. The first couple of 200s went fine, but on #3 the top part of the calf and bottom of the hamstring on the inside of the left leg didn't feel that great around the turn - the straightaway was fine, but the act of turning at a halfway decent speed was not comfortable. Same thing on #4. I was reduced to running the turns easy and hitting the straights a little harder.

Clearly I had some tightness in the hamstring and calf, essentially along one consistent line (starting mid hamstring down to mid calf) I could run as hard as I wanted as long as I wasn't in the act of turning - but the curve caused discomfort.

Checking the watch later I found that the first two 200s were at 32, and the next two were at 29. I then just ran some curves starting at a slow pace, and ramping up the pace on each one until I started to feel the discomfort just to see where the tripping point was.

Later that evening I poked around and determined that I had some serious tightness along one line on the hamstring and the top of the calf. This was confirmed on Tuesday by the massage therapist. The tightness was way beyond the standard tightness I get normally from training, so I had her really dig into it to get the muscles to release.

What caused it, I don't know. I obviously don't feel any discomfort on my normal runs, and I haven't tried to run a decent curve since the hip flare up - and being that it's on the same leg - perhaps when the hip went, these muscles locked up to protect themselves. I just don't know.

The good news is that this can be worked out in a couple of massage sessions - it's already feeling better. However, the bad news is that the clock is ticking and I'm still not able to run actual workouts.

I took a couple days off after the massage as the soreness that followed was pretty intense. (I hobbled around for 2 days - but when the tightness is that bad, it's the only way to get those guys to release)

Yesterday I hit the trails for a short run. Physically everything was good, but my HR was up some. I'll have to keep a close eye on that over the next few days.

Training:

Sun, 6/7: 30-minutes @ 6:44 pace

Mon, 6/8: lifting (upper-B, abs) rolling

PM - short track session, 4 x 200 (32, 32, 29, 29) tightness in left calf/hamstring

Tues, 6/9: appt w/ CMT

Wed/Thurs, 6/10 - 6/11: Off (massage soreness)

Fri, 6/12: 25-minutes @ 6:48 pace

Injury Update

2009-06-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

By Monday I was pretty convinced the problem was not actually w/ my back. From all the research I did, it seemed what I had was more a problem w/ the SI joint between the sacrum and the hip. The main issue was simply that the joint was unstable (not good for a weight bearing joint), however it was improving every day.

I x-trained on Monday and Tuesday, but I also did some stretching on Tuesday which inadvertently irritated the issue and set me back. On Wednesday I did see a Chiropractor, who suggested that the problem may have been caused by a tight adductor muscle on the right side that may have had a spasm while sitting in the ice water - this spasm tugged at the sacrum which got it out of alignment and caused the issue in the SI joint. (he stated that my spine was in good shape and he was actually surprised it was aligned so well w/ all the pounding my body has been taking w/ all the training)

Long story short - the stability of this joint is improving every day. On Thursday I x-trained again only this time I was good enough to do a great spinner bike session after my 40-minutes on the elliptical.

On Friday I hit the elliptical again, and then got onto the treadmill for 3-miles. I started about 7:30 pace and ramped down to 5:56 - no issues.

Today I went to the track to run 4-miles (I want to avoid the trails right now as I don't feel an uneven surface is best) However, I can only run so slow on a track and after a 6:20 opening mile and a 5:54 second mile I decided to take a 3-minute break before continuing. (coach said I should not put myself into a position where my body experienced any fatigue at all - didn't want to compromise form at all until we were sure the SI joint would hold) After the 3-min break I did 2 x 400m at 78 and then 72 w/ a 1-min break.

Everything went OK, however I believe the joint is currently robbing me of some power. I don't feel I'm covering as much ground per stride as before. But as long as I'm improving every day, if a slight loss of power is my only issue right now considering I could barely walk a week ago - well, I'll just have to accept that.

The plan is another easy day tomorrow and if everything is good, some in and out 200s (w/o the watch!) on Monday just to get up on the toes a bit and see how that goes. I have a CMT appt on Tuesday where the focus will be the adductors and hips - just loosen the whole area up.

If all's good there then it will be time to hopefully start back up again. However, I obviously have several dots to connect between now and then, so nothing is guaranteed.

Training:

Mon, 6/1: x-train - elliptical and spinner bike

Tues, 6/2: x-train - elliptical (did some stretching which aggravated the area)

Wed, 6/3: x-train - elliptical

Thurs, 6/4: x-train - elliptical, tough spinner bike session

Fri, 6/5: x-train - elliptical, 3-miles on treadmill

Sat, 6/6: 2-miles (6:20, 5:54), 2 x 400m (78, 72)

That was Scary

2009-06-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Strength-speed workout on Saturday. I didn't nail the session as I'd have liked, but to some degree I think it was because it was a bit too aggressive (target - three 800s and a 600 all under 2:20 half pace in the span of about 25-minutes) However, I did run hard so at least I got in some quality work.

The big story was later that evening. I was icing my calves (which surprisingly are feeling much better now). Just sitting down w/ the lower legs in some ice water. After about 15-minutes it was time to step out and dry off. As I stood up, my lower back felt odd. I toweled off, walked into the bedroom and a severe pain shot through me like a lightning bolt. I went to the bed to lie down for a few minutes - maybe I was in the ice water a few minutes too long? About 5-minutes later I stood up again and my lower back didn't feel right. I tried walking - definitely some pain - about 10-seconds later a violent pain shot through me again and I hit the deck - couldn't even stand. Something was seriously wrong.

I've never had lower back pain before (aside from muscle soreness from lifting or working in the yard, etc) This was definitely nerve related - not muscular. I was thinking, "did I slip a disk?", "do I have a pinched nerve?" In either case, I knew one thing for certain - I couldn't walk w/o fear of falling to the ground at any moment. This was scary.

At this point I certainly had bigger problems than "how/when was I going to be able to run again?", but from the running perspective, yeah - it looked it was all but over for a while. How can you run workouts and races when you can't even stand up much less walk??

For the next hour I tried to figure out what had gone wrong w/o much luck. I kept "testing" it by moving into different positions and occasionally trying to walk (I dropped to the ground at least 5 more times) Then while standing I did some kind of movement w/ the spine and I heard a "pop". The area was still sore, but all of a sudden I could walk. I walked around for a while and I thought the problem was essentially solved - whatever popped out popped back in and I was OK.

Not so much. A short while later it was back "out". It soon became apparent that this wasn't a disk popping in and out, but in a certain position it was much better.

I went to bed very early and had a miserable night's sleep. When I could get the back into the "good position" by laying on one side I was OK, but if I moved to the other side it shifted to the "bad position". I wound up doing some self-physio on the hip and glute muscles around 2:45 am as the whole hip joint didn't feel right. (this combo of tennis ball and foam roller that does wonders on this area) This actually helped some and I was able to then get some sleep.

By the next day I was "experienced" enough w/ this thing to get back into the "good position" more quickly which kept me from hitting the floor, and I was able to keep it in this position longer. When it got into the bad position I could position myself in a certain way where I'd hear the slight pop (almost like cracking a knuckle) and I'd be OK. Of course the overall area was still sore.

By mid-day I went outside and started doing some minor things in the yard. Later in the day I was able to do more and although the back was still a problem, for the first time I started thinking that it was actually improving.

Here comes the part where you'll think I'm nuts - of course I couldn't run, but I figured, "hey if I can do some stuff in the yard I should be able to x-train". So I was off to the gym only 20-hours after being unable to stand. (maybe I am a little crazy)

Twenty-five minutes on the elliptical actually made it feel better! Then 20-minutes on the spinner bike where I did 3 solid intervals. I finished up w/ 20-minutes on another stationary bike as a cool down. All in all not bad - nothing got worse and honestly I was feeling a little better.

Last night it still went in and out, but the feeling when it was out was improving and it was now very easy to get it back in. Today it's still sore and I can get some pains in it, but there is no longer an in and out at all, just general soreness.

When it comes to nerve/disk issues w/ the back, I can't say I know too much about it, but I know enough to know that there is no such thing as "out of the woods". So although things are improving quickly, there are no guarantees what will happen even 3-minutes from now. I don't know what caused it - all I know is that I had both legs in ice water up to the knees for 15-minutes and was sitting when it happened, and my left hip joint (same side the pain was on) had felt tight for a day or two beforehand. Maybe my CMT can shed some light on the subject.

I don't know when I'll feel healthy enough to try a run, maybe Wednesday, maybe not until the weekend, maybe later than that - I just don't know.

At this point, I'm just thankful to be able to walk and do most day-to-day things. Every 8-12 hours there is noticeable improvement so I'll just hang my hat on that for now. Hopefully the worst is over and I'll be back in action soon.

Training:

Sat, 5/30: 800m-2:21, 550m-1:35, 800m-2:23, 600m-1:45 (550 was supposed to be 800, just didn't feel like I could get it done. Re-grouped and got in the 2nd half of the w/o) the 600 was supposed to be 600 - didn't cut that one short.

Sun, 5/31: X-train (elliptical, spinner bike)

Post Race Thoughts

2009-05-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

In terms of analyzing the race on Sunday, I don't think there's too much more to be said - essentially I believe my immediate synopsis of the race was accurate:

1. I went out too fast and probably lost some time slowing up too abruptly to allow the best runner to get to the lead around the 2nd turn.

2. The 2nd 200m was good. Overall my first lap of about 58.4 was a second or so faster than ideal, but all of this was from the opening 200m

3. I didn't run 70-80% of both turns aggressively enough on lap #2

4. My 2nd lap time of about 66.8 was WAY too slow. (however I estimate that at least 1-second of this was due to being unprotected against the wind coming down the home stretch in lane-2) I was 1:31 at 600m, and I know damn well that my last 100 was pretty decent. Yes the turn wasn't run as aggressively as it should have been, but there's no way that final 200m was 34-seconds w/o the wind playing a factor.

The slow 2nd lap was therefore due to a combination of factors: going out too fast on lap #1, not being aggressive enough, and the strong winds.

I'm not going to fault myself too much for any of this as you have to assume some errors will be made in the first race. Overall I'm very happy w/ the performance , I'm just looking at how I'd like to make some adjustments for next time. I believe that at my present fitness level I should try to run the race w/ 400m splits of 59.5/64.5 which would give me a 2:04. (obviously any improvements on that would certainly be welcome!)

Why not shoot for even splits? A couple of reasons - first, most if not all of the PRs of the top guys were set w/ the first lap being faster than the second. Typically the first lap is about 3-seconds faster than the second lap in these cases. Secondly, the more of a "speed" runner you are (i.e. the less of an endurance based or "strength" runner) the more important it is to run the first lap faster. I've seen this written in several texts/articles discussing 800m race strategy. Clearly at this point, I am much more a speed runner than a strength runner. I've seen it written that you don't want to have lap #2 be more than 5-seconds slower than lap #1, so I'll do my best to make the adjustments each race until I am under this limit.

The speed/strength discussion brings me to the final piece of information I got from this race - my speed may be slightly ahead of where I thought it was. I purposely slowed down at about 185m to allow the top runner to get to the lead prior to the turn, and I was still at or under 27-flat for the first 200m. Yes this was wind aided to some degree, but I wasn't going that hard here - had I been running a 400m instead of an 800m, that first 200 would have been in the 25.8-26.0 range. Assuming my 200 splits would be similar to those of yesteryear (meaning somewhere around 2.5 seconds slower for the 2nd 200m) that would give me a 400m time of low 54's. Certainly not a great time by any stretch, but w/o the benefit of any sprint work, plyometrics, heavy power exercises for legs, etc - this wouldn't be a bad time.

I told myself a while ago that if it were possible for me to run a 53.x 400m, I'd start dedicating a portion of my training for this event. I plan on adding plyos and power exercises to my training anyway after this season is over to help my 800m speed. If it seems like I can get under 54 for the 400m, I may adjust next year's focus from 800m/1500m training to 400m/800m.

I'm definitely enjoying my 800m training - I find the combination of distance work, threshold work, speed training, lifting, hills, lactate tolerance training etc to be a great way to improve overall fitness, and this diversified training always keeps things fresh and interesting . . . . . but for my money there is no race distance in the world more enjoyable than the 400m. It has always been far and away my favorite distance to race (even though I was a better 100m runner than 400m runner back in HS) I'd consider a good time for a 40-44yo to be in the 52.5-52.8 range, and I'd be a far cry from that - but if I can get under 54-flat, I'll start racing this event simply because I enjoy it so much.

Training:

Thurs, 5/28: Core work, abs, stretching rolling. 35-minutes x-train on the bike.

Easy Workout

2009-05-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up Monday w/ a little tightness in my hamstrings, but other than that I felt OK. Coach decided to give me a very light session for Wednesday to aid in the post race recovery. The plan is to hit it very hard for a 10-day period starting on Saturday, then ease back some in preparation for the next race on June 18th.

Monday's shake out run in the trails went fine, but my calf/shin issues started to resurface during Tuesday's run. Today (Wednesday) I had an appointment w/ the CMT after the workout and she was able to loosen up the area once again. I've got an off day tomorrow, and an easy run on Friday ahead of what will probably be a killer session, so I hope the calf/shin is good to go by then.

As far as the wo was concerned - a few moderate paced 1000s w/ 2.5-min breaks after my mile w/u and 2x200m. The plan was to hit 3 x 1000m at about 3:25, but the calf started bothering me so I cut it to two reps (3:26, 3:22) No sense in taking the chance of making it worse - this wasn't a real workout anyway, really more of a recovery day than an actual workout.

At this point, I'm just hoping that the massage plus the ice, rolling, stretching, etc for a couple days allows me to hit these next few sessions as hard as they're drawn up. This next period of the training should be the most intense before we get into July where it will be more resting and racing, and I'd like to be able to put in my best effort to maximize the gains.

Tomorrow I'll put up a race analysis now that I've had a couple of days to assess what went well and what didn't. I'll also draw up the analysis of what it will take to get down to that 2-flat level. (although this is more of a 2010 goal)

Training:

Mon, 5/25: 30-minutes @ 6:54 pace

Tues, 5/26: AM Core, abs, stretching, rolling

PM 28-minutes @ 6:39 pace (picked it up a little due to the Wed session being so light) **right calf/shin started to flare up again

Wed, 5/27: 2 x 1000m (supposed to be 3, cut it short due to calf) 3:26, 3:22

PM: Appointment w/ CMT - a lot of time on calf/shin.

Back to the Track . . 23yrs later (800m Race Report)

2009-05-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

Twenty three years after my last track race - (the NJHS State Section Championships 400m Final - where I got 6th out of 8 and top 5 went to the State Finals) - I was headed back to the track to race against young men who were not yet born the last time I raced. The other little wrinkle was that my event, the 800m was a distance I had never raced in my life. Well, at the very least it should be interesting, I figured.

Things didn't look great leading up to the race in that I started to get a bit of a head cold on Thursday. By Saturday I felt pretty bad. I was taking Advil, Clariton (in case it was some form of allergies) and a lot of Vitamin-C. The cold did not come w/o benefits mind you - I did lose 3 pounds in the 4 days leading up to the race, and because I was pretty out of it Saturday night, I passed right out and got a good night's sleep pre-race which is unusual. I had decided Saturday that I was racing no matter what. I needed to get a race in - period. I was a little better Sunday morning so it was definitely a go. I took a few menthol cough drops w/ me in case I needed to clear the airways pre-race, but thankfully the adrenaline took care of that.

The race was close to San Francisco, and anyone who's familiar w/ the area knows that although it was 68 degrees and sunny at my house in Silicon Valley - conditions could be drastically different just 25-miles away. As we headed up the freeway we saw the typical "wall of clouds and fog" as we approached. Soon we were engulfed in thick dark cloud cover and I watched the car's outside temp reading drop from 68 to 48 in the span of 12-miles. Making things more "interesting", the track was laid out beautifully . . . on the edge of a cliff. Great if you were sitting in the stands (because of the setting, there were only stands on the one side of the track) as across the field you got a wonderful panoramic view of the valley below. However for he runners - what we got was a huge wind tunnel that was quite a force on the final 200m. How bad was the wind? Well, the top 3 seed times in the 100m were 10.39, 10.41, 10.43 . . . . and the winner came in in 10.85! My buddy Juan who ran 11.59 2-weeks ago could only clock a 12.24 yesterday due to the conditions. Running the 800m, I was going to have to contend w/ this wind twice.

None of this bothered me though - I was just happy to be there. My first piece of good news came when I checked in. There were in fact going to be 2 heats. Thankfully I was not going to have to race the Olympic Trials guys! There were just 4 guys in my heat, the #1 guy had a seed time of 1:57, #2 was 2:01, #3 was 2:10 (this was a BS time BTW, this guy was good - he just wanted to avoid the first heat!) and then there was me w/ NT (no time). We were to start off in lanes (nice) and cut in after the first turn. The four of us were using lanes 4-7, and unfortunately I was in 7. (unfortunately because I wouldn't be able to see anyone until after the first 100m so it would be very difficult for me to judge the pace early on)

I wasn't able to take in the first heat as much as I'd have liked. Due to the temps, the four of us in heat #2 kept our sweats on as long as humanly possible - which meant as the big boys were entering their 2nd lap, we were all frantically shedding layers trying to time it such that we wouldn't be down to shorts and singlets until they hit the finish. Of the six (count 'em SIX) guys in this race that have gone sub-1:50 before, Tetlo Emmen was the winner in I believe 1:48.8

I headed out to lane-7 and lined up right below the big #7 on the track. The USATF Official (a little old guy about 70yo) called me back and said "hey, we're not running a 400 - your stagger for lane-7 is back here". Oops! I said to him, "look I'm running against college kids, I'm going to need all the help I can get." He laughed, took a look at the field, looked back at me and wished me luck. This got me laughing and just like that, the pre-race tension was gone. As I looked over the field it wasn't difficult to pick out the 1:57 guy - about 6'1" thin, strong and he just looked like an athlete. The gun hadn't gone off yet, but this race was over.

When the gun sounded I took off in what I believed to be a quick, but under control pace. I was shooting for a 60-61 second first lap, but mentally I was prepared for anything. (anything meaning me running way too fast early and having to deal w/ it later) As I approached the 100m mark I could hear the official yell out "you have to get to me before you cut in". At 100m I was in front (probably not good), but being in lane-7 I just couldn't see anyone so it was difficult to judge the pace. Rather than cut in all at once, I targeted a line where I'd get to the inside just as I got to the far turn. (shortest distance) At about 125m I looked to my left to see Mr. 1:57 - he was still behind me. I figured, "OK, good - he'll pass me before I get to 200m and I'll tuck in behind him". 50m later I looked over again and came to the realization, "maybe not - I'm still pulling away". No way I was going into the 2nd turn in the lead - not in front of a 1:57 guy - I was going way too fast. I almost put on the breaks at 185m to let him go to the front. Sure I lost some time here, but it was better than the alternative.

There was someone yelling out 200m times, and that's when I fully understood why I was in this situation. "26-27". Damn, I had just put on the breaks the last 15m and I still came across the 200 in 27-flat. Had I kept going, I was looking at a 26.x first 200 easily. Well, I had just run the fastest 200m I've run since HS . . . . and I had 600m to go.

For whatever reason (and I hope this doesn't change) when I'm racing I have not had a single negative thought enter my head. There was no panic, no "oh I'm blowing the race", or "damn I better slow down a lot". I just tucked in behind Mr. 1:57 and kept going. I just remember telling myself to settle in. Into the teeth of the wind, but had a guy about 7" taller than me out in front so this helped tremendously. They had a clock at the start line, but the display was very small and for some reason, rather than put the clock on the INSIDE of the track (where we were running) - it was way over on the outside. The end result was that you couldn't see the time until you were right on top of it.

I crossed the 400m mark right as the clock switched from 57 to 58. Based on how this corresponded to the official times, I'd estimate my 400m split at 58.2 - 58.5. About a 31.5 200m into a stiff wind.

Yeah I was too fast overall, but the 2nd 200 was just what I wanted. I was now in uncharted waters - the 2nd lap. The plan was to pick up the effort on lap #2 because if you don't you simply slow too much. I don't believe I did a great job of that for the first 70m of the turn as I think I was waiting to hit a wall. It didn't happen and as I was finishing the turn I was able to pick up the pace and go faster. A little time lost there, but nothing I could do about that now.

I tried to power down the back straight as best I could. Mr. 1:57 had a good lead now, but I was still in 2nd place. As I approached the 600m mark I could hear the guy yelling out, "1:29-1:30-1:31". Not sure exactly when I crossed the mark, but I believe it was between 1:30 and 1:31. (this was a handheld time obviously, so let's call it 1:31) Maybe 32.5 for that 200m - not bad considering I took my foot off the gas too much on the curve.

1:31 was damn fast for 600m I was thinking. I made the same mistake I made on the previous curve - foot off the gas waiting to hit the wall. This time however, it cost me more than some time - not one, but BOTH guys behind me passed me early on the turn! All of a sudden I dropped from 2nd to last. This got me out of sorts for a few seconds, but again I quickly re-focused and as I took an instantaneous assessment of my condition I came to what I thought was a remarkable conclusion - I felt fine!

I picked up the pace and passed one of the kids that passed me before the curve was finished. I had to swing out to lane-2 to do this, but hey I put myself in this position. There would be no more "waiting to hit the wall". At this point (and for the first time) I had complete confidence in my fitness level and I would increase the effort the rest of the way.

The unfortunate thing coming down the final 100 was that I was in lane-2, meaning I was not getting any protection against that hellacious wind. I was so focused on just finishing strong that I forgot about the wind and making sure to stay shielded if I could. With about 70m to go Juan was on the infield yelling at me to use my arms more. I increased my effort one final time and headed towards the finish. As I approached the line I could finally see the clock: 2:03-2:04 - I came in just as it hit 2:05.

The next 3-minutes were a blur. As I gasped for air I recall the announcer calling out the official times. I heard my name - 3rd place, 2:05.27. Two seconds later my feet were off the ground . . . Juan had me in a bear hug - lifted me clear off the track and yelled, "2:05 in these #&%@ conditions!?" A few seconds later, the little old race official came up to me and congratulated me on a great race. Clearly he had expected me to be on the track a good 30 seconds after the kids were finished. As I walked off the track, my head pounding, Timothy Bayley (one of the pros who ran in the Olympic Trials for England last year) offered his congrats on the race, which was very cool.

The pain in my head just got worse. It felt like my head was in a vice and someone was turning it tighter and tighter. Oxygen debt being repaid I guess! I was so dizzy I had to sit down. I was prepared for pain DURING the race, but damn the pain is much much worse AFTER the race.

A minute or two later, my son came onto the infield and we sat there and talked about the race for a while. First thing he said was, "gee dad - you don't look like any of those guys" (i.e. tall, young, etc etc) Thanks! Usually, I'm talking to him after one of his HS races - quite a change of pace to have the roles reversed yesterday.

Five minutes after the finish and the pain was still getting worse. The last bit of a 5k race might be more draining than the last 200m of the 800, but post race there is no comparison. The post 800m pain is infinitely worse than anything I felt during or after the 5k - I couldn't even drive home!

I'll probably post up an analysis of the race later - but as usual for me, this post is way beyond "long enough". I was very pleased w/ the race overall. Yes I could have done some things better, but you can't run a perfect tactical race on your first go-round. And I have to believe the wind cost me a good second or so as well (I'll find out later this season) I competed hard - I came back and passed a guy late in the race even though I went out too fast - and I gave it everything I had.

It was also nice to have my family there, my neighbor Tim was nice enough to show up, and it was also a plus to have an experienced Masters racer like Juan there to help me out. The race was well run, and the it was a great atmosphere to be around all of those great athletes. How often am I going to be running in a meet w/ Olympians?? Exactly! I'll enjoy this one for a day or two and then it's back to work . . . . June 18th ain't that far away!

Race Report Tomorrow

2009-05-24T22:08:00.000-07:00

I'm back from the race, and it was a very cool experience. I didn't know it beforehand, but there were several Olympians competing there today. (we saw this one lady there competing in the Triple Jump and it looked like she was jumping a mile - none of the men there were close to her. We later found out that she was in the '08 Olympics . . . gee that would explain it)

I got to chat it up w/ a couple of the pros on the infield, the atmosphere was very relaxed and everyone there was very supportive of the other athletes. The top athletes in the 800 field all hung out together before the race and warmed up together even though they were about to go head to head.

Just to give you a feel for how great our 800 field was - Timothy Bayley (he took 5th in England's Olympic Trials last year) was there and he wasn't even the #1 seed! That honor went to Tetlo Emmen who was in the US Olympic Trials (an injury earlier in the season kept him from running near his best at the trials) Tetlo had a seed time of 1:46.04!

We also had a 4-time Olympian there in the High Jump and the Olympic gold medalist in the discus. Like I said, a lot of top athletes came to this small college today - and I got to be on the infield and jog alongside them during warmups. Tim Bayley even congratulated me after my race and talked w/ me for a minute or two (we did have 2 heats so his heat was long over when I finished)

Also, my friend Juan (the Masters sprinter from my gym) was competing so I had someone to pal around w/ while I anxiously waited for my race to start. My family was there and a friend of mine showed up to watch as well.

Great experience, very glad I chose this meet - I had a lot of fun. I'm off to bed, so I'll post up the race report tomorrow -

Training:

Thurs, 5/21: 30-minutes @ 6:55 pace

Fri & Sat, 5/22 and 23: Off

Thrown to the Lions

2009-05-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

June 18th will kick off the season for me in Los Gatos, CA. They run an All Comers Meet every week from the 18th up through August 6th. I certainly won't be racing there every week, but I hope to get a good 4-6 races in over that span. They have three age groups for each event - HS, Open, and Masters.

Coach and I were looking for a race a few weeks prior to June 18th just to get a time and for me to get my feet wet running this distance (as I have never actually raced an 800m before) What I found was an Open Meet (Pacific Association T&F Championships) this Sunday, May 24th. It's not a Masters meet, but I looked at the entry list the past two years and saw that although last year's top seed time was 1:53, there were several guys in the 2:05 - 2:12 range and a few guys in the low 2:20s. Back in '07 the top guy was 1:50, but again there were several 2:05 - 2:12 guys and the last guy was 2:15. I felt comfortable that I'd have some guys to race with, so we targeted the race this weekend for my "pre-season" debut.

Well, looking at the entry list for this year there are only 7 guys signed up so far and only one other guy is SLOWER than 1:53. Here are the top 4 seeds:

1. 1:46.0

2. 1:46.5

3. 1:48.8

4. 1:48.9

Essentially this is turning into the US Olympic Trials . . . . and me.

Needless to say w/o me ever having raced this distance before, I'm going to be very nervous anyway, but to run this race for the very first time w/ guys like this - let's just say this is not the experience I was looking for. Is it possible to get lapped in a 2 lap race?

I'll update the entry list if/when more guys enter (although tomorrow is the last day to enter unless you want to pay double on the day of the race) Who knows, maybe Wilson Kipketer will come out of retirement and throw a 1:42 up there! I'd like to have an up close view of this race, but it's sad to say that even though I'm going to be in the race I will be further away from the finish than 90% of the spectators!

On to today's workout - a bit of a race prep. The plan:

3 x 200m: 31-30-29 (60-sec rests)

7-min break

500m: Simulation of first 400m of 800m race w/ 100m kick.

Target splits: 29.5 - 30 @ 200, 61 @ 400.

The 200s went: 32.0, 30.4, 29.1 - On target except for rep #1. (all done in lane-1)

I didn't run the proper splits in the 500m so it didn't quite go as planned. Also, I was going to set the watch to take splits at 200m and 400m, but 100m into the run I realized I forgot to set it up so I'd have to look down at each split myself - which is a pain when you're trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

200m split: about 28-flat (too fast)

400m split: about 58.8 (meaning the 2nd 200m was about on pace)

However, the total time of sub-59 scared the hell out of me. When I saw that time I figured I was done for - this caused me to inadvertently slow down for the next 30-40m. At that point I re-focused and surprised myself a bit when I was able to pick up the pace again and go faster. Unfortunately, the damage was done during the slow 40m and the last 100m came in about 16.7 (that's just too slow) giving me a total time of 75.6

I'm not sure how this translates to an 800m race, but I guess I'll find out in a few days. Tough to imagine running 300m more today w/ how I was feeling after 500m, but #1 I went out a little too fast, #2 no race day adrenaline, and #3 I obviously won't be running 3 x 200m before the race.

I really hope I have at least 1 or 2 guys in my pace range to race with on Sunday. I can't say as I'm looking forward to still being on the far turn when the rest of the guys are finished and congratulating each other - that's just plain ugly.

Training:

Mon, 5/18: AM: 4-miles @ 6:46 pace, then 50-minutes on elliptical

PM: CMT appt - focus on calf

Tues, 5/19: 30-minutes @ 6:44 pace (probably a bit too fast w/ a workout the next day)

Wed, 5/20: Race Prep: 3 x 200m (32-30-29), 500m (75.6)

Disaster Avoided?

2009-05-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, the plan was to take a down week after Sunday partially due to my right calf being a little stiffer than usual. As planned, I x-trained on Tuesday (spinner bike session) and ran easy on Wed and Thurs.

The problem was that I continued to have a dull pain about 3 inches above the ankle primarily on the inside of the leg. I was able to diagnose this issue as the coming of posterior shin splints (both by what my CMT said on Monday, and comparing my symptoms to a few likely candidates for the discomfort) I've never had shin splints of any kind before so this was new to me, but from what I read I could be in for real trouble if I didn't take care of it very early.

I called my CMT and asked what I should do here at home before seeing her on Monday (tomorrow). I wound up going on Advil, stretching, rolling and using the stick on the area 3 x per day followed by icing. No running Friday or Saturday. This was great for relieving the symptoms - but as is always the case - unless you fix the root cause of the problem, you've really accomplished very little.

I remembered having a different type of right leg pain a few months ago when my flats wore down. At that time, I replaced the flats and the problems cleared up almost instantly. A quick check of the flats showed that they were worn at least as much as the previous pair - jeez, how could I have missed this?? I ordered my new flats from Zappos which which arrived via complimentary overnight shipping and planned on doing the Saturday wo today to test out this theory.

At this point, with the workout being over, my shin/calf are no worse off than they were yesterday, which means that all the gains I made on Fri and Sat are still there. I'm certainly not out of the woods yet as I need to see how I feel tomorrow. Also, I skipped the spikes today on the final set and it's possible that the spikes added to the issues, but I firmly believe that all the long intervals and 70% of the rep sessions being run on worn out flats (I just shred the whole mid-foot and forefoot areas of these things) was the main cause of the problem.

All I know for sure is that I just finished a very tough session that contributed ZERO to my calf/shin issues. I'll take that as a sign that I'm on my way to recovery, but I'll still be watchful of any regression.

As far as the wo went - it was a killer lactate session very similar to the one I did on 12/31. In that one it was 6 x 300m @ 48.3 w/ 1:45 rests, followed by a 5.5' break. Switch to the spikes and then set #2 of 3 x 300m @ 46.3 w/ the same rests. The idea is that the first set's purpose is simply to generate fatigue. The 2nd set is performed w/ fatigue already in the system, and this 2nd set is faster than the first. Rep #1 feels OK, but rep #2 is awful. By rep #3 you can barely walk to the starting line, and you swear that it simply isn't possible to do another one - and then you force yourself to do one more. There's so much lactic acid in your system that the 2nd half of rep #3 is sheer torture - it's meant to simulate the final 150m of an 800m race - not much fun!

Today's session was almost the same workout . . . . the main difference was, it was 96 degrees! Long story short - the first set averaged 47.6 per, but w/ the heat and me having to stay in my flats for set #2 I wasn't able to generate the speeds I wanted on the 2nd set. I averaged 46.6 on Set #2. (which probably translates to about 45.8 w/ spikes) Not bad - I hit the wo as it was drawn up, but to be 100% honest I was hoping for a little better on that 2nd set. In addition to the lack of spikes, I'm sure the godawful temps had something to do w/ it - but hey, the season is almost here - no time for crybaby excuses!

Obviously the best news is simply that my leg feels OK. I have the CMT appt tomorrow - I'll try to get in a few easy miles beforehand. Either a short run, x-train or take Tuesday off depending on how I feel, and then I've got a wo Wednesday provided that the leg cooperates.

Training:

Tues, 5/12: x-train. 35-minutes on spinner bike (12-min w/u, 3x90" high intensity w/ 2' rests, then 3x60" higher intensity w/ 90" rests, 10-min c/d)

Lifting (upper-A, abs, core) stretching rolling

Wed, 5/13: 32-minutes @ 6:51 pace

Thurs, 5/14: 32-minutes @ 6:55 pace

Fri, 5/15: No running. stretching, rolling, stick (3x) followed by icing

Lifting (upper-B, abs, core)

Sat, 5/16: No running. stretching, rolling, stick (3x) followed by icing

Sun, 5/17: Set #1 - 5 x 300m (46.6, 47.6, 47.6, 47.6, 48.0), Set #2 - 3 x 300m (45.9, 46.9, 47.0) ** No spikes for 2nd set.

Taking a Down Week

2009-05-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

I followed up Saturday's wo w/ a 9.5-mile run on Sunday. My quads and hamstrings were sore from lifting, and the calves were sore from the workout, so the pace was slow - I averaged 7:22/mile which as it turns out is my slowest run of 2009.

On the "injury front" my hip/quad seem to be back to 100%, but my right calf/achilles that has been a slight nag for a few weeks has upped the ante and become more of an issue. Monday was my usual off day, and I had my appointment w/ the CMT. She dug into the calf pretty good, and the good news is that the achilles itself seems OK (i.e. no tendonitis at this point), but the lower calf muscle is very tight. She worked out a lot of the stiffness and I've been icing it since Sunday, so hopefully it won't become a problem.

However, due to the heavy workload of the past few weeks and the calf not being 100%, coach and I decided to take a down week here. What that means is that the Wednesday workout will be skipped (was supposed to be 3 x split 800s similar to the split 1000s I did last week - first 600m @ 75/400m pace and then kick in the last 200m in 32-seconds for a total time of 2:24 per) The much tougher Saturday wo is still on the schedule, but between now and then the running will be light. In fact, today (Tuesday) I'll be x-training on the bike instead of my usual easy 5-miler to give the calf an extra day to rest. I might be doing a 4 x 200m session on Thursday just to stay sharp ahead of the Saturday workout (that one's a killer)

So, a little R&R for a few days and then back at it on Saturday.

Training:

Sun, 5/10: 9.5-miles @ 7:22

Mon, 5/11: Off Day (Appt w/ CMT - focus on right calf)

Wheels of Fire

2009-05-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

A great Cream album, yes - but also an appropriate title for today. On tap was a straight speed session - not volume speed, not lactate training - no, just go out and run. (that's how I like 'em!)

The workout was comprised of several small sets w/ short rests between repeats and long rests between sets. The last set was one 400m rep that was to be run w/ whatever I had left in the tank. It was similar to this workout that I did building up to the winter season - in that one, my final quarter was done in 58.15

Target for the wo was as follows:

3 x 200m @ 31 (60-sec rests)

7-minutes

2 x 300m @ 46-47 (90-sec rest)

7-minutes

2 x 200m @ 29 (60-sec rest)

10-minutes

400m - 58

As you can see, everything is funneling down towards that final 400m. Last time I did a session similar to this one, the plan was to stay on the slower end of all of the reps to conserve energy to hit that 400m hard. The plan for today was intended to be the same - conserve, conserve, conserve.

Set #1 came in pretty much on target - 30.9, 30.0, 30.1

Yeah, a little fast, but I'm always a little fast on the 200s. So far so good.

I got my first real taste of how today's session was going to unfold on the first 300m. Target was 46-47, and I was figuring on hitting a 46-flat. I ran a nice controlled 300m on #1 and fully expected to see about a 46 on the watch - instead I saw 44.8 Surely that would mean 300 #2 would be close to 47 because I went too hard on #1, right? 300m #2 - 45.3 Honestly, this was a surprise. I was running 60-flat quarter pace here w/o kicking it into high gear at all - and w/ only 90-seconds between reps.

As I took my break between sets I switched over to my spikes and took a gel. I only had a couple 200s to do next, but the 400m loomed and I knew it would be a great confidence booster if I could find a way to break 58. But as much as I tried to focus on that finishing 400, the reps leading up to it continued to be the story of the day. . .

The next 200m left me scratching my head. I ran a nice opening turn - I remember thinking that although I wasn't in full sprint mode and my arm action was minimal, my turnover was actually pretty good. (up until today, I needed to really get after it to get what I'd consider decent turnover) I figured the opening 100m was pretty quick, but not as quick as the 12.x I saw on the watch. I then headed down the straight into the breeze (we only had a slight wind today). I recall easing up just a touch because I'm supposed to be conserving energy and the thing still came in at 27.07 (that's the fastest workout 200m I've done since I started Masters training . . . . by 3/4 of a second) After my 60-second rest I was back at it. First 150m was great, but then I felt the fatigue finally start settling in. Still I managed a 28.0

Up to this point, every rep was a full second faster than target. I was shocked - I know the effort I'm supposed to put into this portion of the wo, and I felt that was on target - the paces were just a lot faster than expected.

On to the 400m. I knew during the last 40m of the previous 200 that I had finally gone over the edge. I wasn't going to be 100% for this 400. The cardio would recover w/ the 10-minute break, but the legs were now sapped of some strength for the rest of the day - nothing I could do about that now.

After the first 120m of the 400, the strength loss in the legs was confirmed. I just didn't have what I had on the first 200m of the last set. I kept up the effort and came through the 200m in 27.x, but it was tough - not at all the smooth fluid 27.07 200m of the last set. At this point, my training seemed to kick in as I was able to up my effort and run a decent turn. I came through the 300m in about 42 and headed for home determined to clock sub-58, tired legs or not. Surprisingly, as long as I was mentally committed to pushing through, the body had little trouble responding. I came through the finish in 57.09 - tired legs and all. I knew for sure had I backed off on some of the previous reps I could have clocked 56.5 here easily. Where does that put me on a fresh 400m w/ blocks? I don't know, 55 maybe? I'm certainly not all the way there yet, but it's definitely coming along.

Damn - this was a great session. Every rep was solid, and I was able to generate some speed w/o having to sprint. I was running nice and relaxed (until the final 200m of the 400), but still the paces were much better than expected.

Hopefully, I can build on this session throughout the remainder of the season and turn in some decent 800m times this summer.

Training:

Thurs, 5/7: 32-minutes @ 7:03 pace

Fri, 5/8: 32-minutes @ 7:00 pace

PM lifting (general upper, core) stretching, rolling

Sat, 5/9: 3x200 (30.9, 30, 30.1), 2 x 300 (44.8, 45.3), 2x200 (27.07, 28.0), 400 (57.09)

PM lifting (legs)

Split 1000s

2009-05-06T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today's workout was like a long interval session w/ a twist - split 1000s. (meaning not run at an even pace) A great split 1000 w/o can be found in this article which talks about training for 800m runners.

In that one, it's 3 x 1000m w/ the first 600m at about 3k pace, then a slower 100m float which they call a "lactate shuttle". The idea is to use the 100m float to clear the lactate produced by the first 600m quickly through a fast active recovery. The last 300m are then kicked up to 1500m pace. That's a great looking workout - I'm hoping to try it out somewhere down the line.

And while that session is certainly no picnic, it's probably easier than the one I had today. For my split 1000s I had 800m at slightly slower than 3k pace followed by an acceleration to around 1k race pace for the last 200m. (I'll tell you, by #3 I was wishing I had a 'float' somewhere in there)

The target was 4 x 1000m broken down as follows:

800m: 2:40 (5:20 pace)

200m: 32-33 (about 4:20 pace)

I'd never done a workout like this, and wow, it was hard. Having to switch gears to that degree takes a lot out of you. This is MUCH tougher than running the 1000m at an even pace, and the fatigue escalates in a hurry! It also didn't help that we're having some east coast weather out here in CA - 80% humidity. What the heck is that!? This is CA, we're not supposed to have humidity. On the bright side (if you can call it that) I did lose 3 pounds during the session, and that's with about half a gallon of water and recovery drink post workout! Hey Rick - if you want to lose weight, I've got the workout for you!!

Here's how it went down:

Mile w/u, 1 x 200m (cut out the 2nd 200m due to humidity - sticky and disgusting already)

#1: 800m - 2:39, 200m - 33, (3:12)

#2: 800m - 2:39, 200m - 32, (3:11)

#3: 800m - 2:42, 200m - 34, (3:16)*

* inadvertently slowed on lap #2 in anticipation of the kick, workout starting to take its toll

After that I decided to call it quits - I was pretty fried. But after 2 minutes I talked myself into doing the last one knowing it was going to be absolutely dreadful. I figured the time would be terrible (I was right about that) but at least I had the guts to go to the starting line and give it a go.

#4: 800m - 2:47, 200m - 34, (3:21) Yuk! Yeah that one was really bad, but I just didn't have anymore in the tank.

If we had cut it to 3 x 1000m, I'm sure I'd have done a few seconds better on #3 (knowing it was the last one) thus nailing the w/o. Four was one too many for me today - but since I had run #3 anticipating there being a #4, I was glad I went ahead and threw that 4th one up there.

I was looking forward to seeing what I could do w/ this session as I knew it played straight into my weakness as a middle distance runner - sustaining or picking up the pace when fatigue has already set in. I'm more of a - go kill the first half and hang on kind of guy - I'm sure the sprinting background has a lot to do w/ that. I'm going to ask coach for more sessions like this until they start becoming easier to manage. This is an area where I really need to improve.

All in all - a good learning experience, and it was actually fun too. Trying to drop your pace a full minute per mile when you're already going 5:20 - if I can't get up for that, I shouldn't be doing middle distance!

Training:

Wed, 5/6: 4 x 1000m (split-1000s) 3:12 (2:39-33), 3:11 (2:39-32), 3:16 (2:42-34), 3:21 (2:47-34) PM - core work at home.

USATF

2009-05-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

A lot of beer will be consumed today in Mexico (and California) in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. I will also be raising a pint this evening, however for a different reason. Today is the day I finally signed up as a member of US Track and Field. I imagine they'll be sending me my membership card in the mail shortly.

Of course immediately after signing up on line, I could click on a link that would take me directly to a page where I could purchase USATF merchandise at a 10% discount . . . . however I'm sure said merchandise was previously marked UP 20% prior to that, so w/ my membership - I'd just be paying 10% extra!! I'm half joking here - it looks as though they had some pretty nice stuff and the prices weren't that bad.

I'm going to need this card to get into a lot of the meets so this needed to be done sooner or later.

Interesting 1000m repeat session on the schedule tomorrow. I'll be doing split-1000s for the first time. (split meaning part of the run at pace-X and then kicking it up to pace-Y somewhere in the middle) Tomorrow's split will have me running the first 800m between 3k and 5k pace and then trying to hit the last 200m in 32. Should be challenging, I'm interested to see what I can do w/ these.

Training:

Tues, 5/5: 30-minute run, 6:57 pace

Wrapping Up the Week

2009-05-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sunday saw an easy 9-miler in the trails. I haven't done a run over 8-miles since the 5k, so it was good to get this one in. (the first Sunday was a recovery day from the race, one was a tempo run instead, and I missed the other couple of weeks due to the hip acting up)

I hope to keep a 9-11 mile run on the schedule for another month or so before reigning it in as the season approaches.

A good week of work for me: aside from the longish run, I had the high intensity w/o on Saturday and another good session on Wednesday. Most importantly, the hip/quad are feeling much better now, and hopefully those issues are behind me.

Today's the typical off day from running, and I've got an appointment w/ the massage therapist later this afternoon. I'm still not sure what the workouts are going to look like this week, but it's looking like those sessions will be on Wed/Sat again.

Hope you guys are having a great week!

Training:

Sun, 5/3: 9-miles @ 7:06 pace

Mon, 5/4: Off Day (appt w/ CMT)

Stepping it Up

2009-05-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

With the season starting up here in June, May is the critical month. It's now time to take all of the other training - the tempo runs, cruise intervals, and hill repeats - the lifting, the core work, the long Sunday runs, as well as the long intervals, and volume speed sessions - and draw from all of that to handle the intensity of what's coming.

At this point in the build, it's pretty much "Go Time". I got my first taste of some speedwork last Saturday w/ the three 62 quarters after the 5:14 mile. On Wednesday, after the 3x800m, I got a little taste of a short rest speed session w/ the 6 x 200m (60-seconds rest). Today it was time to bring it together for my first high intensity anaerobic session.

Today's workout:

3 x 200m

2 x 300m

500m

2 x 300m

3 x 200m

all at 32-second/200 pace, and the whole lot w/ 90-seconds rest between reps.

After that, it's an 8-10 minute break - then:

500m @ 62-second/400m pace.

What makes this session so much tougher than the others is that 2x300/500/2x300 section in the middle - having to go 48-48-80-48-48 getting only 90-seconds between each repeat. That's a tall order for me - the 500m is very difficult w/ what comes before it. After the 500, you're not going to be feeling all that great and you've still got half the workout to go. The lactic acid just keeps building and you're forced to run through it w/o ever slowing down. And all of this simply builds up to that last 500m which is faster than anything else in the workout - even after the break, you just don't have much left in the legs to run the thing properly.

I told coach that I thought I'd struggle w/ the 500s on this one, and that hitting this entire w/o as it's drawn up may be something I'd need to build towards during the next 2-3 months. She told me that it was OK if the first 500 was at 82-83, and for the last one she said, "just hit the pace for 400m, the last 100 we'll just consider a bonus".

The session started well enough w/ the 200s: 31-31-30. The initial 300s weren't bad either, 47-48. By now I was feeling it and I had that bear of a 500 in front of me. I was targeting 82, but w/ the short rest I started to get into trouble after 350m. I pushed to get in by 83, a little slower than I wanted, but I had no time to be disappointed. In a few seconds I had another 48-second 300 to do and for the life of me I couldn't figure out how that was going to be possible. Somehow though, it just worked - 48. Feeling quite horrible at this point I counted down my minute and a half and took off again, another 48.

After the last 300 I got lightheaded for a few seconds. I was going on fumes at this point, but the tough middle section was thankfully over. "Just 200s left", I told myself. "You can always do 200s". The first one was actually the toughest. The 90-second rest was long enough such that w/ just 200m reps, I was surprisingly recovering during this portion of the wo. The 200s went: 31-31-30, same as the opening 200s. (perhaps I did have enough in the tank to hit that 500 a little harder?)

During my break, I walked a lap and then put on my spikes. I had 500m left to go w/ whatever I could throw out there. The target I had in my head was to just break 80. JT wanted a good first 400m and we'd take whatever we got on the last 100, but still I thought sub-80 was possible.

The first 100m felt smooth and effortless. I was running very relaxed w/ almost no arm action and still I crossed the 200m mark in 29. I crossed the 300m mark in 45.x, "damn I'm on 61 quarter pace after all that!" Unfortunately this is the point where the fatigue hit me like a ton of bricks. I still managed to cross the 400m mark in 62.x, but I was dead in the water here. I got down the last straightaway as best I could, fumbled a bit stopping the watch, and when I finally turned it off it read: 80.02 Well, maybe that was a 79.8, but I'll call it an 80 and just look to do better next time.

That was tough. All totaled it was 3.4km (2.11 miles) @ 4:15 pace - for me, that's a solid day's work.

Training:

Thurs, 4/30: 5-miles @ 6:58

Fri, 5/1: 5-miles @ 7:09

AM lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

Sat, 5/2: 3x200m, 2x300m, 500m, 2x300m, 3x200m (31-31-30-47-48-83-48-48-31-31-30) (1.5' rests) 10-minutes, 500m: 80 (62.x @ 400m)

Mix and Match

2009-04-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

Today was another "combo workout" where I did some long intervals up front followed by some speed work on the back end. These sessions are new to me - I'm used to running the entire w/o at close to the same pace, so it takes some getting used to. I can clearly see the value in the sessions - use the long intervals to get in some VO2Max type work (even if it is in lower volume) which also pre-fatigues the legs such that I can be forced to work hard on the speed portion even though I'm no longer able to go all that fast. (which hopefully decreases the chances of injury)

Today's deal:

Standard warm up: Mile jog, stretching, 2x200m (the 200s are like long strides to get the legs ready to go)

3 x 800m @ 2:35 (2.5' rests)

5-minutes

6 x 200m @ 30-31 (60-second rests)

The 8s went off without a hitch, but one thing I learned today: coming from a sprinter's background - I'm not that big a fan of combining 60-second rests w/ speed work! (although this is exactly the type of training I need to process the lactate better to handle that 2nd lap during an 800m race - the reality is, I need to do a lot more of this, unfortunately)

I hit all the times, but the 5th one wasn't much fun, and I honestly didn't even want to go to the starting line for #6. The fastest one was 30.0, the slowest was 31.4 and I averaged 30.8. Not too bad, but these guys should get better when I get more of these short rest sessions under my belt.

A few easy days ahead - I have a session from hell scheduled for Saturday.

Training:

Sun, 4/26: 5-miles @ 6:56 (should have been a long run, but the hip was tight so I cut it short)

Mon, 4/27: Appointment w/ CMT - hip is getting better, everything else was much improved, and there are now no other issues. No running (scheduled off day)

Tues, 4/28: lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching, rolling.

No running - took an extra day to rest the hip

Wed, 4/29: Interval/Rep combo. Standard w/u, 3 x 800m (2:34, 2:35, 2:35 - w/ 2.5' rests), 6 x 200m (30.8 average - 60-sec rests)

Dustin' Off the Track Spikes

2009-04-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to do some speed work on Tuesday, however the mild issues w/ the hip and quad caused us to call an audible and do a volume speed session instead. (400s @ 68)

There are still a few sore spots here and there, so I needed to be careful, but I was feeling good enough to do my first real speed work of the season. Today's workout was a few 400s at a quick pace w/ near full recoveries. JT being as clever as she is, decided to 'extend' my warm up just a tad to make sure I wouldn't be able to really go out and hit it on the 400s. What we didn't want to have happen was me overdoing it on the 4's and potentially straining a muscle somewhere, so the idea was to pre-fatigue the legs to keep this from happening. This warm up 'extension' came in the form of a 5:15 mile that I was to do prior to the quarters. "Yeah", I said, "that ought to do the trick".

The target for the session was as follows:

Mile warm up

2 x 200m

Mile @ 5:15

7-minute rest

3 x 400m @ 62-63 w/ near full recoveries (about 7-minutes)

** I was to switch over from the flats to the spikes for the last two 400s

I nearly nailed the session. Once again I didn't bother to time the 200s. Just ramped the pace up - went at speed for about 100m and then ramped it back down. I was a little lax early on w/ the mile (2:38 first half), but I closed w/ a 2:36 to come in at 5:14. Clearly this was a little tougher than my usual warm up - let's not turn this into the standard deal, shall we!?

The first 400m came in at 62.3 I then switched over to my spikes for the first time in, well, way too long. Ah the feeling of being back in spikes - you feel like a duck when walking in them, but boy they're nice to have when moving around an all-weather oval - 400 #2: 61.1

After #2 I think the adrenaline was wearing off as I started to feel some of the soreness from before. In addition, my legs were already getting tired. (this should improve drastically after a few legit speed sessions) I knew I had just run my fastest 400 for today, and all I wanted out of #3 was to go under 63. The session was going pretty well, and if I could just hit a 62.x w/ all the work I'd put in thus far, I'd feel like it would be an excellent opening speed session.

After the first 200 I knew I was a little slow, but I was surprised to see that it was almost 32. "Yikes, this is a problem I need to pick it up". I was happy in that I did negative split this last guy, but I came in just over the wire in 63.1 - oh well, motivation for next time.

Overall, a good session. I got to experience some faster paces again in something longer than a 200m for the first time in a long time. I also got back into the spikes which is always nice. Lastly, I walked off the track no worse off physically than I walked on. I think I've got about a week for the rest of this soreness to subside and then I should be back to 100%.

Good luck to Rick in London tomorrow!!

Training:

Wed, 4/22: Appointment w/ CMT - no running

Thurs, 4/23: 5-miles @ 7:02 (sore)

AM Lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching, rolling

Fri, 4/24: 5-miles @ 6:53 (feeling a little better)

AM Lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

Sat, 4/25: 3 x 400m 62-23, after standard w/u plus 5:15 mile to pre-fatigue the legs.

2x200m - untimed, Mile-5:14, 400s (62.3, 61.1, 63.1)

A Bit Out of Reach

2009-04-21T16:36:00.000-07:00

JT had a very tough workout slated for early this week and she wanted me to take an extra easy day beforehand which would have pushed the w/o to Wednesday. Unfortunately, I have my CMT appt scheduled for Wednesday morning, and I was unable to change it. With the quad perhaps still a mild concern, and the left hip flaring up I really didn't want to cancel, so that meant I'd have to do the session today.

With that being the case, we switched up the session giving me one that would be less demanding:

2 x 200m: 31-32

5 x 400m: 68 (90-second rests)

4-minutes break

3 x 400m: 66 (90-second rests)

3-minutes break

2 x 200m: 31-32

Yeah, that's the 'easy' one - the other one was a real beast! I knew looking at this, that I was probably in trouble. Two weeks ago I did 8 x 400m at about 70 w/ 2-min rests. Today I was cutting 2+ seconds/lap, cutting 30-seconds off the rest, AND it was 25+ degrees warmer today. (not a great combination) I decided to give it my best shot and see how it went.

The highlight of the session was the opening 200s. Being careful to baby the quad, I ramped the pace up very slowly for the first 30 yards or so, got up to a halfway decent pace by the 100m mark, picked it up a little for the next 70 meters and then eased up towards the finish. Nice and smooth, never pushed it - 28.6 Did the same on #2 - 28.6 I was fully expecting to see 30-31s w/ that effort, so to see 28s was a pleasant surprise.

However, the rest of the w/o didn't go quite so smoothly! The good news was that the hip and quad gave me ZERO issues (probably all that digging into the hips w/ the tennis ball yesterday to alleviate the stiffness) But damn - my glutes were SORE!

The first couple quarters were fine, but the short rest started catching up to me after #3. Times were:

69-67-68-68-69 (the last one was tough)

By now I was feeling pretty dead. How the hell was I going to do a second set at 66 w/ the same 90-second rests?? Answer - I wasn't. I took an extra minute between sets, but I was still feeling pretty awful. I gave it a go, but after an opening 32-second 200 the wheels started to come off and I finished w/ a 68. Now in fairness, I was not gunning these things - if I was going to do that, there'd have been no point in going away from the original workout. This was supposed to be a more 'relaxed' session. But no matter how you sliced it, I was pretty dead at this point. I imagine I could have toughed it out and thew a 69 up there, gone right to the 3-minute rest (dropping the last rep) and done a couple of token 200s to close the session, but I got everything I wanted out of this one . . . . I was healthy! Exhausted, sore, hot (it was about 85 degrees), but healthy.

Later I headed over to the gym to get in my primary leg lifting session for the week. I'll have to talk to coach to see what she thinks about this session. Clearly I wasn't able to do what she thought I could do. Was it the soreness, the temperature, or just a slight overreach for my current capabilities? Perhaps a combination of all of them. For some reason, I'm not overly disappointed w/ the session - although I didn't hit the goal, I'm pretty sure I gave what I had out there today.

The most important thing now is to have that appt w/ the CMT, make sure I'm healthy, get some rest, (a few VERY easy runs over the next couple of days) and get ready to really start hitting it. I've got to start the serious speed work ASAP - the season is little more than 2-months away!!

Training:

Mon, 4/20: Off (stretching, rolling)

Tues, 4/21: 2x200 (28.6, 28.6), 5x400 (69,67,68,68,69), 5-minutes, 1x400 (68) 90-seconds between reps

PM - lifting on legs, stretching, rolling

Rotating Discomfort

2009-04-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

The plan for the Sunday run was for 8-miles starting at a relaxed pace and ramping down to threshold effort for the last 2 miles. A couple of things altered this plan:

#1 - I started later than I wanted due to the 90+ degree temps (even at 6:30 pm!). This late start caused a time constraint so I wound up going faster than planned early in the run.

#2 - With the quad feeling close to 100%, I was hoping to be out of the woods on the potential injury front, however about 2-miles into the run, my left hip began to bother me. It never got to the point that it became a legitimate problem, but it did keep me from really hitting it towards the end of the run.

The first mile was 6:47 (much faster than planned) and although I did settle into a high 6:50s pace running through the trails - this pace in that heat probably sapped some of my energy. Towards the end the pace dropped to 6:20, then 6-flat, and eventually about 5:54 before easing up the last half mile.

Overall the run was OK, but I'm now concerned about the hip. I've had left quad stiffness plenty of times so I'm familiar w/ what that means for me, how to treat it, and that it really isn't a serious issue. This hip thing though, I don't know. It's never happened before, and although it doesn't seem serious, the fact that it's an unknown has me concerned. Today is my off day, so I'm doing all the standard stuff - ice, ibuprofen, rolling, stretching, etc. I'm not sure what the schedule is going to hold for this week as I need to see how this thing progresses.

Training:

Sun, 4/19: 7.5 miles @ 6:40

A Few 1000s

2009-04-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

On the heels of Tuesday's difficult session, I awoke Wednesday to discover that my left quad was a little stiff. Other than that, just a slight amount of soreness in the hamstrings and calves, which was expected.

I made sure to baby the quad for a few days - I have an appointment w/ the CMT next week, so I'll be on my own stretching and rolling until then.

Saturday was long interval day. Being that the Tuesday session was so tough, and I'm planning on running a bit of a progression on Sunday, coach decided to back off a little on the intervals. Instead of a more typical 4 x 1000m at about 3:15, we were going to do 3 x 1000m at 3:15-3:20. (3-minute breaks between each)

We're in the middle of a mini-heat wave this week (about 92 degrees today), but I was able to hit the track before the temps got too hot (80 degrees) I was planning on starting at about 3:20 and maybe ramping down slightly if I felt really good, but surprisingly I felt great from the onset.

Times were 3:15 - 3:13 - 3:14, and although the HRs were a tad higher than usual (probably due to running in higher temps for the first time in a while), I didn't really feel it until the last 500m of the last interval. Good short session.

I'm planning on getting in a few hard miles towards the end of my run in the trails today, and hopefully the quad doesn't stiffen up.

Training:

Wed, 4/15: 5-miles @ 6:57 (quad felt stiff during the last 1/2 mile)

Thurs, 4/16: 5-miles @ 7:12 (quad OK)

AM lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching, rolling

Fri, 4/17: lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

Sat, 4/18: 4-miles including 3 x 1000m (3:15, 3:13, 3:14) 3-min rests

Brutal Conditions

2009-04-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Wow, what a difficult day. A long session in absolutely brutal conditions: volume speed workout on the schedule: 2x200m, 2x300m, 2x400m, 600m, 2x400m, 2x300m, 2x200m, and this was run under a "high wind advisory" where we had gusts up over 35 mph. That's some tough sledding.

The idea for this w/o at this stage of the build is to get in some solid volume at a pace that's faster than the long intervals, but not really "fast". Target paces: 200s - 33, 300s - 50, 400s - 68, 600 - 1:45 w/ a jog in between each rep equal in length to the previous repeat. The way it should go is that I typically run the 200s a little quicker, and then just get into a nice rhythm throughout. The paces are a little quick, but not to the point where I need to over exert myself and the total volume at pace winds up being the real value of the session.

I'm comfortable running this type of workout in the heat, in the rain, whatever - but extremely high winds make this kind of session quite a challenge. How bad was the wind? On one repeat I started off in lane-1 . . . and later found myself in lane-3! I'm supposed to be averaging about 17-seconds per 100m here - one 100m stretch took me 21-seconds. (I came very close to coming to a complete stop for a second there) And making things even more 'enjoyable' was the fact that the wind was coming at an angle such that I was dead against it on one of the turns, (and thus the wind was w/ me on the other turn), but on the straights, it felt like it was a good 80% against me on one - and nothing more than a cross wind on the other. (i.e. 200m against the wind, 100m with the wind, and 100m w/ a cross wind) Just awful.

I got a good sense of just how tough the day would be after the 200s. The last time I ran timed 200s was during a warmup about a month ago. There I ran two 200s in sub-28, but it felt like a nice relaxed effort. The first 200 yesterday I figured I'd put in a good 30-31 effort, but was amazed to see a 33. Next 200 - same thing. I upped my effort a little more - still 33. Wow, this was going to be a mess.

At this point I figured my times for the day were going to be out the window and perhaps I should just accept it, run the workout on "effort" and try to get into the rhythm I was looking for. However, I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to repeats. . . .

300s - 48, 49

400s - 67, 67

I really had to work for these, but I still felt like I was in a good rhythm.

The 600 was laughable. First 300 in 51 seconds, and then I went into the wind on the back straight - got blown into

lane 2, and that 100m took me 21-seconds!! Then I had the turn dead into the wind, just awful. I finished in a crappy 1:47.

After the 600, the tone of the workout totally changed. It was no longer going to be a "get into the flow" kind of thing. I had almost half the workout to go, and I was tired of getting blown all over the place. I was pissed (in a good way if there's such a thing) and I started working harder to cut through the wind.

400s - 67, 66 (the 66 felt like a 61-62 effort)

300s - 48, 47 (I hit that 2nd 300 pretty hard)

200s - 29

As I got to the start of the 2nd 200 my left calf started to cramp a bit. I figured I only had one more 200 left and I wanted to finish, so I gave it a go. After about 140m I felt the cramp coming on so I eased up. No injury, no big deal - my body was just telling me it had had enough for one day.

The totals were:

33-33, 48-49, 67-67, 1:47, 67-66, 48-47, 29-x

But the effort required to get those times was probably at least 2-3 seconds/400 more than that. Very challenging day. I'll have to wait and see how I feel over the next day or two before we nail down the specifics of the Fri/Sat session.

Best of luck to you Boston guys during your final prep before the big show!

Training:

Mon, 4/13: 5-miles @ 6:57 pace

Tues, 4/14: 7-miles including 2x200, 2x300, 2x400, 600, 2x400, 2x300, 2x200 (times above)

Good Long Interval Session

2009-04-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

Long intervals on tap Saturday. The session was 1200m-800m-800m-800m, but coach threw in a bit of a wrinkle. Typically my rest period after a 1200m is 3.5-minutes, and after an 800m it's 2.5-minutes. Well, for this workout we kept the standard rest after the 12, but between the 8's I'd be getting a slightly longer, 3-minute rest. The catch? We were going to pick up the pace a bit.

Target was 77-seconds/400m on the 1200 (3:51) and 76-seconds/400m on the 8s (2:32)

(normally its about 3:55 and 2:35)

I really like having a 1200m to start these sessions - being 3-laps, it forces me to keep my concentration and run fairly even 400m splits (as opposed to going out hard and then having to throttle back) And once I'm locked into the pace, I can then run the 800s with more even lap times. Staying disciplined on these guys is still a work in progress, but I'm getting better - and having the 1200m to start certainly helps.

I did do my 2 x 200m as part of the warm, but I didn't time them.

Seventy five on the first lap of the 1200, (not too far off) and I then settled into the pace and hit two 77s finishing up in 3:49. Nice to hit my first sub-3:50 1200m in a LI session, but more than that - I wasn't gassed at the finish. I felt fine, and that was a nice confidence booster.

I did the first 800m in 2:31, and then came back w/ another 2:31 on #2. The session was going very well, but I could tell that I was getting close to the edge. (even w/ the extra 30-seconds of rest between the 8s, the drop from 2:35 to 2:31 was taking a toll - amazing how a few seconds can make that much difference)

On the last 800 I hit the first lap on target in 75, but the wheels started coming off soon after that. If I were to be 100% honest w/ myself, I could have sucked it up and shaved a couple seconds off lap #2, but I was already so pleased w/ the session that I gave myself a bit of a pass - 2:35.

Overall I was happy w/ the workout, but going forward I'd like to be a little tougher at the end.

With Easter it wasn't really possible to get the typical long run in on Sunday - I'm going to run on Monday instead (my normal off day) and then get back to my standard schedule starting Tuesday.

Training:

Sat, 4/11: 4-miles including 1200m, 3 x 800m: (3:49, 2:31, 2:31, 2:35)

Sun, 4/12: Off

Rob De Castella

2009-04-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

The best thing about having a running blog is the information and exchange of ideas you get w/ the other runners. In the comments section of my last post, Ewen mentioned a specific workout that Rob De Castella used to do. This led me to look into his career and training methods.

I came across the following link which specifically details his typical training week:

De Castella's training

It says here that he used the same routine essentially year round and only modified it leading up to races. After reviewing his typical week, I could see why it was so successful and also perhaps why it needed little variation. Each week consisted of two long days (Wed, Sun) for endurance, a hill repeat session for strength/power in the legs, a 5k race pace session for speed, two easy days, and one hard effort over hilly terrain. He also ran a short easy run either every morning or evening which brought his weekly mileage total up to about 130.

What immediately struck me looking over this training plan was, "damn, this routine would be absolutely fantastic as my base training." Of course I'd have to scale down the paces and mileage to suit me, but the general framework would give me everything I'd need as part of my base. Here's how it would look for me:

Mon: Easy or Off

Tues: Hill Repeats (perhaps a short easy run in the morning as well)

Wed: Moderately long single (for me, about 8-miles)

Thurs: 5k pace session (either cruise intervals or De Castella's 400m repeat session w/ a float)

Fri: Easy

Sat: Hard Effort (for me, either a strong steady effort in the trails, or a 4-7 mile Tempo Run)

Sun: Long (for me, 11-14 miles)

I'd of course also be adding some work w/ weights which is always part of my training.

This would give me everything I'd need to prepare for my intense middle distance training: the cruise intervals, hill repeats, and long run which have always been base staples for me, the tempo run that I've been trying to work into my base program for a while, a second single in the 8-mile range to help w/ my endurance, and the steady run in the trails that has worked well for me thus far. With this program, I'd need to follow De Castella's lead in making sure the long runs were run at an easy pace (6:15 for him, about 7:15 for me) My weekly mileage here would come out to somewhere between 50 and 60 which I should be ready for by the Fall when it's time to start the base training again.

Thanks again to Ewen, your info is always much appreciated.

Being Easter week, my training schedule is a little off. I was hoping to get the long intervals in on Friday, but it's going to be today instead.

Training:

Wed, 4/8: 5-miles (6:49)

PM - lifting (light legs, core) stretching, rolling

Thurs, 4/9: 5-miles (7:10)

Fri, 4/10: 5-miles (7:00)

AM - lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

On to the Tough Stuff

2009-04-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, the 5k race was the official end to my base phase. Thanks to all for the kind words in the comments section - very much appreciated!! Now it's time to start gearing up for the season. Dropping my 5k time down 40-seconds compared to the winter build makes me feel as though I've made some solid progress on the endurance front. (officially I knocked off 50-seconds, but I think the first course was a little long)

Roughly, the way this is going to go is as follows:

April - volume speed work, long intervals, easy long run (per week)

May - higher intensity speed work/anaerobic work, lower volume long intervals, quicker and shorter long run

June - very high intensity speed/anaerobic work (twice per week), up-tempo longish run (maybe 8-miles)

Essentially I start w/ higher volume, lower intensity speed work and as we move along, the volume will decrease some as the intensity ratchets way up. The next 10-11 weeks are critical, and I have to be mentally ready to handle the challenges I'll face week in and week out. As coach described it, "You'll feel OK for the first couple of weeks. But soon the fatigue will build up and you'll feel pretty horrible almost every day for a good 7-8 weeks." Ah, gotta love middle distance training. . . .

Today marked day #1 of the new phase. On tap 8 x 400m (was going to be 10, but JT cut me some slack due to some residual soreness on Sunday from Saturday's race) Target was to start at about 74-seconds and then quickly get down to 72 for the bulk of the reps. In between I would be jogging a 200m.

As luck would have it, we got some rain today so this track session would be a bit of a slosher. I skipped the 2 x 200m as part of the warm up due to it being cold as well as wet. (why chance a strained whatever in these crappy conditions) This usually makes the first rep or two a little sluggish and that was the case today. I opened w/ a 74, and rep #2 also clocked in at 74.

By number three I was hoping I'd start to get into the flow a little better and I was happy to see a 3rd rep of 70. A little fast, but at least the sluggishness was gone. I figured I'd dial it in to 72 on the next rep, but it was fast again - 70. I was feeling pretty good, so I just went w/ the flow - the last four were: 70-70-69-67. (I know JT's going to ding me for the last one. She said "no 69s" for this workout. She might let one 69 slide, but a 67 - nope, I'm gonna get yelled at)

What was nice here was that I felt I could do a few more w/ no issue. This is a complete 180 from the long interval sessions where I'm almost always praying for the darn thing to be over. . . . after interval #2. Well, I've got a LIH (Long Interval from Hell) session scheduled for Fri/Sat - so we'll see how that one goes. So far the change in phases is very refreshing - but that could just have been the rain!

Training:

Sun, 4/5: 4-miles recovery, 7:15 pace

Mon, 4/6: lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching, rolling

Tues, 4-miles including, 8 x 400m (74, 74, 70, 70, 70, 70, 69, 67) 200m jog rests

5k Race Report

2009-04-04T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, the "Big Bunny Fun Run" certainly lived up to its name. There was a guy dressed up in a 'Big Bunny' costume, we ran of course, and the event turned out to be a lot of fun.

My 15 year old son and I were going to be running and my wife was doing the 2.5k walk w/ a friend. We arrived about an hour early, and in order to rectify one of the mistakes I made in my first race, we immediately picked up a course map and looked it over. The course started off w/ a long straight away, made a left turn and then after another turn, another good straightaway followed leading up to a major street (that would be blocked off during the race) We also noticed that although the course was more or less a loop, the final portion came back to that main street and followed the exact same path back to the finish. I decided that it would be a good idea to run our warm up out to this main street, marking the mileage at a few points so when we were heading for home, we would know our exact position in relation to the finish. (and as it turned out, having this info played a role in the finish of the race)

The initial straight away was about 0.17 miles, and the total distance to the main street was almost exactly a half mile. We jogged to this point and then returned for a nice mile warm up. After some stretching and a few strides (where I didn't feel all that great) I was ready to go.

One thing I noticed before the start was that Mr. Superman (the 45 year old 15:50 guy) was surprisingly absent. Well, if that was the case - this thing might be wide open. As the name suggests, it's a "Fun Run" w/ an Easter theme - lots of 'running families', several HS kids, parents who are avid runners, etc. (i.e. - no college guys). With the perennial winner not here this year, no one had any idea what sort of time you'd need to win this thing.

My son, Michael is currently running track where as a sophomore he has twice run 5:00-flat miles (one was literally computer timed at 5:00.05 - damn that's close!) His friend Jesse (the top sophomore X-country runner in his HS, but a bit out of shape at the moment) would be another one to watch. At the starting line, I began to look over the rest of the competition. A couple guys certainly looked the part - one guy had these super tight racing shorts and this wacko open back type top. You better be pretty damn good if you're gonna race in that, I figured - so I penciled him in as one to watch out for. (he turned out to be a poser BTW) A few other guys looked pretty good as well. Should be interesting.

Another thing I found interesting about this race - as the announcers always say, "slower runners please start more towards the back", but typically no one ever goes along. In this race, a couple guys who I know run low to mid 18's lined up a good 6-8 feet from the starting line BEFORE anyone came in in front of them. Wow - low 18 guys voluntarily starting in the 3rd row? Pretty cool. I got up in front w/ my son to the left of me, and his friend Jesse to the right. The horn sounded and we were off.

First thing I noticed was that the crappy feeling I had during the strides was nowhere to be found. Second thing I noticed was that although I felt totally comfortable and relaxed, I was in front. I took a quick peak back to see Jesse right behind me. As we made the turn after the long straightaway (about 300 yards in) I took a look down at my pace thus far: 4:44, gonna need to reign that in. About 1/3 of a mile in, my son Michael joined us, and it was me, Jesse and Michael 1-2-3. Jesse didn't have a watch, so I told him I'd call out our splits. After about 3/4 of a mile I asked them to take a look back to see if anyone else was close. "There's two guys back there" came the reply. A short time later I called out the mile-1 split (course was not marked), 5:25 - and at this point I clearly remember saying to myself, "damn, I feel fantastic".

About a quarter mile later, Jesse began falling off and I thought Michael did as well as I felt like I was alone. Just me and the truck in front it seemed. Where this presented a problem (if you can call it that) was that it was difficult to maintain pace. I'd look down at the watch to see a pace of 5:40 and say, "damn pick it up - don't lose focus" - and then I'd promptly take it back to about 5:32 w/ no problem. I found it hard to press-press-press w/ no one in front of me.

As I got close to the 2-mile mark, we had a few zig-zag turns which allowed me to more easily take a look behind. Somebody else was closing in on me and now in 2nd place. I went through mile #2 in 5:39. I still felt OK, but no longer "fantastic". This guy continued to gain ground, and with slightly less than a mile to go, he was right behind me. I figured he might pass, but he didn't. I soon realized the guy was just drafting.

As we headed for home I could feel a 3rd person now in the mix, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was Michael. I called out, "good job Michael, stay with it".

Now, w/ this guy immediately behind me for a few minutes I was able to pick up a few things: #1 - his breathing was better than mine - not good. #2 - he was drafting pretty well, so I took that to mean he probably had a fair amount of experience - not good. #3 - he didn't look like one of those wispy rail-thin distance runners (i.e - this guy looked like an athlete who probably had some solid finishing speed) - not good, and #4 - he was likely younger than me - again, not good.

At this point, I kept looking for that marker of the main street to know when we had exactly a half mile left - I'd just bide my time until then. When we got to the 1/2 mile to go point I decided to pick up the pace to see if I could separate myself from him. No luck, he picked it up and stayed right w/ me. As I suspected from his better breathing pattern - he was probably a better endurance guy than me. This wasn't going to work.

On to plan-B. Slow down. Sure this would hurt my finishing time, but at this point I was more concerned w/ racing and trying to win than worry about my time. I figured that he was probably flat out better than me, and my only shot was to slow down, lull the guy into a false sense of security, conserve my strength, and simply out kick him at the end. I had to think that younger or not, good athlete or not, he was not faster than me. Of course the potential problem w/ this plan was that faster or not - I simply might not have enough left in the tank to hold him off.

I could see the final turn approaching - after that it's about 300-320 yards to the finish. I was still in front, but he was right there. I hadn't checked my time or pace in almost a mile.

As we rounded the corner, my plan was to hug the inside of the turn forcing him out wide and dropping the hammer at the same time. I figured the change of direction plus the huge increase in pace would get me some separation and hopefully demoralize him to the point to where he might not even bother giving chase.

I executed what I wanted perfectly - as I later discovered looking at the Garmin data I almost immediately dropped my pace from 5:30 to 4:10! Great plan - but unfortunately, executed at the wrong time. After about 60 yards or so I just didn't have enough to maintain it and I could feel myself slowing, and what was a substantial separation for a brief moment began to close. He had clearly started a solid kick, and although he couldn't match the speed, his staying power was much better than mine. About 180 yards to go and he pulled right alongside me. By this time I had regrouped enough to send off surge #2 to go back in front.

It was obvious to me now that I had made a tactical error. I would have been better off simply maintaining pace - having HIM make the move (after all, I was leading) and if he had waited until there were 150 yards left or less - he would have been toast. But as they say, the genie was out of the bottle now.

This second surge wasn't as fast and didn't last as long. With 70-80 yards or so to go he was right alongside me again. I tried a 3rd surge that again briefly put me out in front, but by now I was running out of gas. With about 20 yards to go he took the lead for the first time all race - but unfortunately for me, those were the 20 yards that mattered - he edged me by 1-second.

At the end of the chute w/ us both gasping for breath I congratulated him on the win. The first words out of his mouth were, "thank you - you pulled me along. I couldn't have done that w/o you". Next thing he said was, "I'm sorry - I drafted you the whole way, that was unfair - I should have taken the lead for some of the time" I said, "hey, don't sweat it, you ran a good race and did what you needed to do to win".

I discovered later that Calvin was a triathlete, so as I suspected a good all around athlete, and clearly he had much more endurance than I did. He was just the better guy today, perhaps next year I'll be in better shape and we'll be able to do it again. Somewhere along the way I realized I had forgotten to stop my watch, so I had no idea what my time was at that moment.

Michael wound up coming in next in 3rd place overall!! He ran a great race, especially considering he had just run a 1-mile race the day before. As we discovered later, he absolutely buried the other kids in the 13-15 age group w/ a time of 17:25!

When the awards were announced I finally got my time - 17:14 and first master. (the winner was 17:13)

I'll probably post some more thoughts on this race later (geez, this is long enough, no?) Overall a lot of fun and a good race. Sure, I'd like to have won, but when one guy is so close to you in ability, it's tough to go wire to wire - and I still think I would have had I been a little more experienced and executed my kick at the right time (should have waited until the last 100 or so yards - the more time you give the guy w/ better endurance to beat you, the more likely it is he will beat you) But live and learn I guess. I was much happier w/ my race and effort this time - I think just a little lack of experience did me in.

I probably could have shaved a few seconds off my time had the race not turned tactical over the last 1/2 mile - but hey, it's a race after all. If you need to take a hit on time to execute the tactic that you think will give you the best chance to win, that's what racing's all about I guess. Bottom line - it was fun, and we had a really good time.

5k on Tap

2009-04-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Similar to the last build, I will be capping off my base training w/ a 5k run. It just so happens that this time every year there is a pre-Easter 5k "fun run" in town. This "Big Bunny Fun Run" as it's called, is a nice little event - they also have a walk, a 1k run for the little kids, and a large raffle afterwards where they give away a huge number of prizes.

Things worked out perfectly here where I was scheduled for a down week, so I took it easy the past few days (the long interval session on Tuesday was the only hard running this week), and I'll be doing the 5k tomorrow!

We have a local masters guy who wins this thing every year. I believe he's about 45 years old and runs a 15:50. He's a big time marathoner and ultra runner and has probably banked a good 80 thousand more miles than I have. (I'm thinking something like 82,000 vs 2,000 - but hey, doesn't that mean I should have fresher legs!?) Clearly I won't be going out w/ him, but if possible I'll try to keep him in sight for a while.

I have no idea how the race will go, what kind of competition there will be, etc. I just plan on going out there and putting in a good effort. About six months ago I ran my first 5k in 18:03. Obviously, I'll be looking to improve on that time.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Training:

Wed, 4/1: 5-miles @ 7:07 pace

Thurs, 4/2: Off

Making the Adjustments

2009-04-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Last post (which garnered several great comments) covered a few different topics that caused me to re-think some aspects of my training that would hopefully lead to me hitting my workouts better.

#1. Cutting back the pace of my daily runs. (days between workouts)

#2. Keeping an eye on the pace of my warm up 200s to ensure they don't take anything away from the subsequent session.

3. Getting more rest overall, and making sure I take my recovery drink post workout.

In short - doing several little things that would add up to me being fully rested and ready to give my best effort during the hard sessions.

Over the past several days, I started to implement these ideas and the early returns are showing some positive results.

For starters, I cut back the pace of my Sunday 10-miler to 7:15. Typically these runs are done between 6:45 and 6:55 and this 20+ second/mile difference made for a very easy run. Second, I paid more attention to getting my rest over the past several days, and I also added some little things like getting back on the multi-vitamins, making sure I'm properly hydrated, and taking the recovery drink post workout.

This led up to the Tuesday long interval session where the plan was 1200m-1200m-800m. After my mile warm up, I made the decision to not time the 200s and just get in a good solid stride effort getting me ready for the intervals. Target pace for the 1200s was about 3:55, and about 2:35 for the 800m.

The workout went off without a hitch: first 1200m - 3:55, 2nd 1200m - 3:52, and the 800m came in on target at 2:35. I was pretty gassed afterwards and I believe some of that is due to the fact that I haven't done any short fast intervals yet (they're starting up next week, although they'll be in high volume at first and thus slightly slower than usual) I find when I'm hitting the fast intervals once a week I do better on these longer ones, but right now we're trying to build upon the distance and threshold work to add some strength before getting into the speed.

Overall a good solid workout. Unlike some of the previous ones, I didn't cut it short, didn't adjust any of the reps, etc. I hit the workout exactly the way we drew it up. That doesn't sound like much, but the way it's been going lately I needed to hit one of these before the confidence started fading. Doing two 1200s at that pace was a big deal for me - there's a huge difference between 800m and 1200m on these intervals, and usually if there's only one that's longer than 800 I can kind of gear up mentally for that one rep - but when you've got two of them it forces you to be more disciplined on the first one, and concentrate more on the 2nd one, making for a challenging day. I was very pleased to not only come through it w/ the struggles I've been having, but rep #2 was actually faster than rep #1. Something to build on mentally.

The base period is now almost over. I'll be transitioning into true "training mode" starting next week, so the importance of sticking w/ the 3-points above is going to be critical if I'm to have success this season.

Training:

Sun, 3/29: 10-miles @ 7:15

Mon, 3/30: lifting (upper-A, abs) stretching, rolling

Tues, 3/31: 4-miles including 2 x 1200m, 800m intervals (3:55, 3:52, 2:35)

Mixed Bag

2009-03-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

I wound up doing the 1000m repeats today (Saturday) as I still had some soreness in the legs on Friday. The temps have been climbing lately and it was close to 80 degrees today. The plan was to do four, see how I felt and if I felt good go ahead and do a 5th. Unfortunately, four was all I got in.

I'm not sure if I just don't have enough gas in the tank to hit these workouts the way I'd like because I'm tired, because I need to back off the pace on the daily runs, or because the temp was 15+ degrees warmer than the previous sessions, but I haven't been 100% lately.

4 x 1000 w/ 1-min rests: 3:32, 3:24, 3:27, 3:26.

I just didn't feel like I could hit the time if I added a 5th - not good. HR was up a little, probably due to me not running workouts in greater than 60-odd degrees in a while, so the 75-80 was a slight shock to the system, but that's not a good enough excuse - something isn't quite right.

However . . . . .

Last week I got back into doing my 2 x 200m as part of the warm up - but I made sure not to time them because I just wanted to get in some long strides to get me ready for the intervals. Today I decided to go ahead and time them. In the winter, these warm up 200s started off at about 32-34 seconds. Soon they got down to about 30, and with the constant speed work, they eventually worked their way down to 29 and then 28.

I haven't done any speed work in months, but I was hoping that I hadn't lost too much speed and that the 200s would come in close to 30, maybe 31.

So as to avoid any possibility of having an issue w/ the hamstrings, I made sure I ramped up into the pace for the first 30-40m before getting up to a fairly solid speed. Coordination felt good, and I knew instantly I was way ahead of where I started last winter. Upon finishing I was expecting to see a time under 31, maybe even close to 30-flat. . . . . so when I looked down and saw a 27.92 I was a little taken aback. I actually thought the time must have been wrong. I slow jogged back to the starting line and ran rep #2 exactly the same way - 27.91. This was surprising - close to mid-season form on the 200s right out of the gate - in March?

Clearly whatever is bugging me during the interval/threshold sessions is showing no ill effects on the speed. So although I was hoping to do better on the 1000s, I was very happy to see that kind of pace on warm up 200s. It's like I'm picking up right where I left off in early January.

In order to try and resolve these issues I'm having getting the workouts in the way I'd like, I'm going to back off on the pace a little bit on the daily runs. For me, I think it's OK to have all the runs at a nice steady pace when I don't have two workouts/week, but when I start adding these workouts - I think it would be best if I back off some on the in between days. I'm hoping that, and perhaps some more sleep will help me to hit these workouts as they're drawn up.

Training:

Fri, 3/27: 5-miles @ 6:56

Sat, 3/28: 5-miles including 4 x 1000m (3:32, 3:24, 3:27, 3:26) (2 x 200m warm up - 27.9, 27.9)

Running Sore

2009-03-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Woke up Wednesday feeling OK, but like watching the dark clouds off in the distance and hearing the thunder claps sooner and sooner after each successive flash of lightning - the soreness from the previous day's leg lifting started creeping in hour by hour. By the afternoon, the "clouds" were directly overhead, and it became quite uncomfortable. Time for the "recovery run", I said with a laugh. I went out and did the standard 5-miler. (somehow I was less sore when running)

Today it was a similar deal - less soreness, but I can still feel it. That's what I get for slacking on the leg lifting for 2-3 weeks. The run today was only 4-miles as I just didn't have time to do anything more.

If feel good tomorrow, I'll pull in my threshold work from Sat to Fri - otherwise it'll just be another easy day w/ the workout on Sat.

Training:

Wed, 3/25: 5-miles @ 6:55

Thurs, 3/26: lifting (upper-B, abs) stretching and rolling

PM 4-miles @ 6:55

The Return of LIH (Long Interval Hell)

2009-03-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

How can you tell when Spring has sprung out here in sunny CA. . . . . more precisely in Cupertino, CA . . . at the community college . . . near the track?? Well, it must be when that old guy is out there looking like he's about to die!!

The target workout:

1-mile (5:20 pace - slightly slower than interval pace as it's my first session) 4.5-min rest

1200m (5:16 pace) 3-min rest

800m (5:12 pace) 2.5 min rest

400m (5:00 pace)

Unfortunately, I didn't do such a good job sticking to the target. The focus of the workout was supposed to be the 1200m and 800m. The mile was strictly there for pre-fatigue. My plan for the mile was to run the quarters in (77-80-80-79) which would give me a few seconds to play with.

Being that I haven't done anything faster than the cruise intervals to this point, I figured I'd need to make sure I didn't get comfortable and go out too slow, so that was my thinking as I started off. In hindsight, I should have checked my split at 200m to monitor my pace, but I tried to run the first lap on feel and make any necessary adjustments after 400m. Big mistake - when I came through the quarter I was shocked as hell to see a split of 67. "Geez, that's nuts - I have to slow down". Of course I didn't want to just go in the tank on the 2nd lap, but I made sure I slowed some.

Second lap in 77, which put me at 2:24 at the half. At this point I was sure I heard someone laughing. . . it was me. I couldn't believe I was blowing the workout this badly - no way I'm going to get this whole workout in after this. I thought about cutting this rep at 1200m to leave more in the tank, but decided against it. Yes I probably blew it, but just slow down and do your best to do as much of the workout as you can, I figured. 3:47 at 1200m - I didn't feel that bad, but I knew I absolutely had to slow down - not only had I probably blown the workout, but the way these quarter splits were forced to come in after the first lap made even this mile a huge disappointment. I finished up in 5:08 - nice time, lousy splits - and way off target.

Now the hard part - trying to come back w/ similar paced runs only minutes later. For the 1200m lap #1 came in at a solid 74, but soon after I was really feeling it. I couldn't shake a 5:08 mile that quickly. Decision time - start slowing and do the 1200m or shorten the rep. I decided to keep the correct pace and cut this rep at 800m. No way I was going to be able to hit pace for the full 1200. 800m in 2:34.

I was OK for the rest of the workout: 800m #2 in 2:35, and then to get back some measure of respectability I lengthened the final rep from 400m to 600m - 1:52 (on target pace of 5:00)

Overall - not a very good workout. The mile was way too fast early which led to terrible splits and compromised the rest of the workout. The 1200m which was supposed to be the focus of the workout needed to be sacrificed because I instead made the mile the focus. However, I will give myself some credit for pulling it together and running the last two intervals well.

The good news (or bad news depending on how I look at it) is that I'm going to be doing a lot more LI workouts during this build - and now that I understand my current capabilities a little better, I should be a better judge of pace going forward.

After the workout I headed to the gym for a heavy lifting session on legs, core and abs. (I figure if I'm going to be sore, I better get it all in one shot) I'm pretty dead right now and I'd imagine I should have no trouble sleeping tonight.

Training:

Mon, 3/23: off (scheduled)

Tues, 3/24: 4.5 miles including, 1-mile (5:08), 800m (2:34), 800m (2:35), 600m (1:52)

PM lifting (legs, abs, core) stretching, rolling

Catching Up (on posting)

2009-03-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a week since the last post - been a little busy. The rest of the week went down as follows:

Wednesday saw a return to the gym for the first time in I don't know how long (great to be back) followed by a nice steady 5-miler. Thursday's run was about 6.5 miles at a slightly easier pace, and Friday was 4.5 miles at a good steady clip.

Saturday was the threshold workout which wound up being nothing more than a 2-mile run at 5:46 pace. (4-miles w/ warm up and cool down)

Sunday was supposed to be the long day, but the weather was lousy and I felt like taking a break - so a big fat zero for Sunday.

This week sees the return of the long interval sessions (finally!) Tuesday's workout is going to be a bear, but I'm really looking forward to it. It's been too damn long since I've run at a halfway decent pace. Threshold running is difficult because of the length of the runs vs the short rests - but the fact of the matter is, 5:40 pace puts me squarely in no-man's land: Too fast to be comfortable, too slow to be fun. (as a result I can't say I enjoy those sessions much)

Of course long intervals hurt like hell and I'm sure I'll be hating it about halfway through every single session I do - but at least I'll feel like I'm out of "base mode" and finally training once again to run middle distance races. (although it's been difficult to tell w/ my non-racing history, that really is the point of this whole thing!)

Training:

Wed, 3/18: lifting (upper-A, light legs, abs) stretching, rolling

PM 5-miles @ 6:52 pace

Thurs, 3/19: 6.5 miles @ 6:59

Fri, 3/20: 4.5 miles @ 6:45

Sat, 3/21: 4 miles including 2-miles tempo @ 5:46 pace (if you can call it that - just 2 lousy miles)

Sun, 3/22: Off (unscheduled) Weather sucked, felt I'd rather take a break. (for shame!!)

No Sleep Express Rolls On

2009-03-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Between a very intense and stressful time at work, preparing for what will be a tax return from Hell, and a mild ear infection - sleep has simply been non-existent for me. Five hours Sunday night, and just four on Monday took me out to 7 consecutive nights w/ five hours of sleep or less.

Unfortunately I had hill repeats on the schedule for Tuesday. During my 3-mile warm up prior to the hills I felt somewhat sluggish. This session was not going to be pretty. Where I usually do 10 x 1-minute repeats, Tuesday's session was going to be slightly different. 10 x 45-seconds broken down into 3-sets. 4 x 45-seconds, 90-second rest, 4 x 45-seconds, 2-minute rest, 2 x 45 seconds. The good news was that I'd be getting a little extra rest - the bad news was that even though the repeats were slightly shorter, they were going to be much faster.

I hit the first set pretty hard. I was surprised how quickly I recovered after set #1, and went out hard again to begin set #2. After the sixth rep I really started to feel it, and by the 8th rep I was fried. I took my 2-minute set break after #8, but I still felt lousy. For a second I thought about just bailing after eight, but thought better of it. Repeat #9 wound up being the 2nd fastest one of the lot, but it left me dead in the water for #10. I did the best I could but it was a struggle the whole way.

Looking at the data afterwards, this was surprisingly the fastest hill session I've ever done. I don't know how long I can keep doing this w/ no sleep. I'm bound to crash here sooner or later.

Quite odd to have it such that the hardest part of my training is sleeping!

Training:

Mon, 3/16: off day (scheduled)

Tues, 3/17: 6-miles including 10 x 45-second hills

Getting by on Little Sleep

2009-03-15T21:56:00.000-07:00

I got a whopping 4-hours of sleep last night, and not much more than that the previous 4-5 nights. I figure eventually it catches up with me - and perhaps that day was today. Twelve miles on the schedule the day after a workout. I was a bit concerned that I might be out of gas as I was definitely tired and sluggish during the day, so when the time for the run approached I felt I needed a little "boost".

I found a few mini candy bars in the pantry (Heath, Hershey's, and Nestle Crunch to be exact). They were just the bite sized little buggers, but I figured they'd do the trick. (Hey, until Guinness comes up w/ a recovery drink, you gotta do something!) I also made sure I took a packet of Roctane (the magic beanstalk beans equivalent of energy gels) that I'd take at about the 5-mile mark.

The candy/Roctane combo worked to perfection. Twelve miles at 6:51 pace in the hills capping off a 43+ mile week.

Tomorrow's an off day for running - if I can't get a good night's sleep tonight at least I can rest up some. Hills are Tuesday so I need to get a few Z's before then. I don't think Nestle's Crunch works on hills . . . . . .

Training:

Sun, 3/15: 12-miles @ 6:51 pace

Hitting the Cruise Button

2009-03-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

I ran my threshold workout today in the form of cruise intervals. 3k-2k-1k w/ rests of 1-minute per km of the previous repeat. (i.e. 3 minutes, and 2 minutes) This workout was originally scheduled for Friday, so here's a quick recount of the events that forced me to push out.

Wednesday: The day after the hill repeats. I had an easy 5-miler on the schedule as a recovery, but for whatever reason I not only had little soreness, but I actually felt very good during the run. And that "save it for Friday" that I mentioned to myself on the way out the door seemed to get thrown out the window by the second half. The last two miles were 6:14 and 6:16, and I was very comfortable the whole way - tough to explain how I felt that good the day after hills. However, a short time afterwards I got a cramp in my left calf (probably due to lack of hydration again - ah that beer and running thing!) and the tightness stuck w/ me for a couple of days.

Thursday: Thankfully I already had an appointment scheduled w/ the CMT Thursday afternoon. The morning 5-miler was horrible, I felt like I was crawling - the calves were very heavy. The CMT dug in there pretty good meaning the Friday threshold work was going to get bumped to Saturday to allow the muscles to recover.

Friday: Another 5-miler, but this time the calves felt much better by the 2nd half of the run - I was ready for the faster work on Saturday.

Saturday: I had been running my cruise intervals slightly under 5:40 pace thus far, but that was for 1km, 1-mile, and 2km repeats. Today I had a 3km on the schedule and I wasn't sure where in the realm of "comfortably hard" a 5:40 pace 3k would put me. I figured I'd just try to hit a few 85 second laps and see how I felt midway through.

As is usually the case w/ me - when I don't do a proper warm up (meaning 2 x 200m after the mile jog) the first part of the first rep tends to be slow, so when I came through lap #1 in 1:28 I didn't think too much of it. However, when the 2nd lap was also a 1:28, I knew I had to pick it up. I quickly found my 3:30/km pace and pretty much held that the rest of the way clocking the 3km in 10:37. (5:41 pace) Clearly, the slow laps in the beginning cost me the sub-5:40.

I was good and warmed up for the 2km and that one came in at 6:59. (5:37)

Just 1000m to go. With the longer runs already in the bag, this one felt like a simple run around the block - 3:24. (5:28)

A pretty good workout, and no trouble from the calves. I'm hoping that remains the case after tomorrow's long run, but I'll have to wait and see.

Training:

Wed, 3/11: 5-miles @ 6:36 pace.

Thurs, 3/12: 4.6-miles @ 6:58 - really felt sluggish, calves were very heavy. Appt w/ CMT in afternoon.

Fri, 3/13: 5-miles @ 6:55 - calves felt tight in the beginning, but much better by the end.

Sat, 3/14: 6-miles including 3k-2k-1k (10:37-6:59-3:24)

Back to the Hills

2009-03-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Today I ran my first set of 1-minute hills since the Fall. Nothing special, 8 x 1-minute w/ a 3.5 mile warm up. (was supposed to be 10 x 1-minute, but I really started to feel it in the glutes after just 6, so I made the decision to do two more and call it a day) In October I got very sore after my first hill session and it wound up affecting my next workout, so this time I decided to pull it back a little until I see how my body reacts over the next two days. Other than that, the session went OK. The pace was good, but I'm hoping that by my 3rd session I'm hitting these guys much faster.

Also, I wound up running 5-miles on Monday which is usually my day off. After the 12-miler on Sunday I figured I'd go out and do a recovery run, but the pace came much easier than I was expecting and I wound up going faster than I'd have liked.

If all's well tomorrow, I should be looking at a couple of easy days and a threshold workout on Friday.

Training:

Mon, 3/9: 5-miles @ 6:50 pace

Tues, 3/10: 6-miles including 8 x 1-minute hills

Nice Finish to a Haphazard Week

2009-03-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

For the most part, this was a week I'd like to forget. However, yesterday's threshold session was fairly solid, and today's long run went well. Twelve miles on the schedule today, and after laboring through the first few miles (mostly because they're uphill) I started to feel better and the pace began to pick up.

Overall the run in the trails averaged 6:44 pace w/ an ave-HR of 158. This winds up being about 3-beats/min lower than the 10-mile run at the same pace I did back in November, and the HR data compares favorably to the period where I was hitting my long runs between 6:40 and 6:55 every week. I'm hoping this means I'm finally making progress again compared to where I was before the injuries.

Because of the two missed days, the weekly mileage came in at a meager 29-miles. After 3-weeks of building up my mileage after the injuries, I guess I can claim I was due for a down week, but unfortunately I'm not dumb enough to believe my own BS! : )

The weather should be good this week, so I'm looking to get it going again. 10 x 1-minute hills early in the week, and a tougher threshold session late in the week. The Sunday long run should be about 12-miles again before moving it up the following week.

Training:

Sun, 3/8: 12-miles @ 6:44 pace. Average HR-158

Hectic Week

2009-03-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Unusual for me, but I haven't even logged into the running blogs this week. I've got some catching up to do in that regard. Work has been all consuming lately, and to be honest, for the first time in a long time, I didn't spend much if any time even thinking about running.

I managed to get in a few runs, but it hasn't been easy - a bad storm forced me to miss my Tuesday run all together, and work forced me to skip Friday. I can't recall the last time I missed a day of running that wasn't injury related, so to have two in one week was an unpleasant surprise.

Wednesday I ran 7-miles, 5-miles on Thursday, and I did manage a decent threshold workout today (Saturday). Today's session was 2k-2k-1k w/ 2-minute breaks. The times came in at 7:02 (5:39 pace), 6:58 (5:36 pace), and 3:28 (5:34 pace) Not bad really - the first one felt very comfortable and the second one was hard. (the 3rd one probably should have been longer. Just not enough time to get into it, but w/ my difficult/stressful week at work that has left me feeling drained almost every day, I didn't want to push it too much)

Training:

Mon, 3/2: Off day (scheduled)

Tues, 3/3: AM: Lifting (Upper-A, abs) stretching rolling

PM: Off (unscheduled - weather)

Wed, 3/4: 7-miles @ 6:55 pace

Thurs, 3/5: 5-miles @ 6:56 pace, Appointment w/ CMT

Fri, 3/6: Off (unscheduled - work)

Sat, 3/7: 5-miles, including 2 x 2k, 1k w/ 2-min breaks (7:02, 6:58, 3:28)

Solid Week

2009-03-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

In what seems to be the case every time I go for my Sunday run - the wind, rain, and slick (very) muddy trails were all present. Today's "long" run was increased to 11-miles (up from 10 last week) Started off conservatively - if my legs were a little tired before yesterday's workout, they'd certainly be tired today, and this was indeed the case.

Of course tomorrow's my off day so I didn't want to just mail this one in. I can rest up tomorrow. First half averaged about 7:08, second half averaged about 6:48.

This closed the week out at 42-miles, which is my first 40+ week since November. Average pace for the week came in at 6:42 (of course the workouts certainly help w/ that) Not counting the workouts, the average was 6:55 and that seems to be a good steady pace for me these days.

Plans for next week aren't finalized yet as the weather is going to play a big factor, but I'm hoping to log 40-44 miles again w/ two workouts and a 12-mile long run.

Training:

Sun, 3/1: 11-miles @ 6:58 pace