Training Update and Race Recap

Sunday, October 7th:
24 mile tempo run.  Did this on my traditional Hill Country Village 10 mile route, done twice, with a 4 mile neighborhood add on in the middle.  It’s moderately hilly, but the weather was nearly perfect, which made it easier than it should’ve been.  Ended up running 5:51 pace for the whole thing, with the last 10 miles in 58:03.  By way of comparison, last year I did this same workout 3 minutes slower, fading over the last few miles to over 6 minute pace.

Thursday, October 11th:
8x1600 w/ 400 recovery on the track.  Averaged 5:09 for the 1600s, but just as importantly averaged 6:25 pace for the 400 recoveries, which meant the total workout was 16k at 5:26/mile.  More importantly, this was done partially in the rain, which makes everything epic.

Week Summary:
Just the two workouts plus a short session of 4x200 on Wednesday.  I tapered a bit on Friday and Saturday to get ready for the 10 Miler on Sunday, but still ended up running 128 miles for the week.

Sunday, October 14th:
Weather at this race is always a gamble, and this year we lost.  Fortunately my last workout on Thursday had also been in humid conditions, so I was more or less used to it.  Could’ve been worse, last year it was nearly as humid and also windy.  My goal going into the race was to run somewhere between 5:12 and 5:15 pace, or 52:00-52:30, but anything sub 53 would’ve been ok by me.  My PR going into this was 54:15 from last year.

When the gun went off, I found myself running next to Ben Zywicki, a very solid runner from the Woodlands who had won the Bayou City Classic 10k (where I was 3rd) in the Spring.  The big surprise, however, was that we separated from the rest of the field almost immediately.  Usually this race has at least one elite East African, but this year it was just Ben and me all by our lonesomes.  I went out hard (too hard, in hindsight) and hit the first two miles in 5:03 and 5:07.  After another 5:07 for mile 3, I decided to drop back a bit, since I am in no way ready to run that kind of pace for 10 miles.  Sure enough, I faded over the last half of the race, but hung on to finish 2nd in 52:37, losing by 21 seconds to Ben.

Back in March, racing Ben Zywicki and Chass

This race was a good checkpoint along the way - not a dramatic leap forward, but a solid step in the right direction.  I think I hit a good balance of still doing hard training and high mileage leading up to the race, but also being ready to run fast and compete.  I’m slowly deciding how aggressive I want to be at San Antonio this year, and I’m leaning towards aiming high.  This Thursday morning I averaged 5:32 pace for a half marathon of alternating 1ks, the fast ones averaging 5:09 pace and the slow ones averaging 5:55 pace.  Is that kind of pace doable for twice as far with evened out pace and a taper?  Probably not, but if the weather is decent I think I’ll roll the dice and find out.

A Week in Numbers

The minutia of training is in general pretty boring, but I thought I'd throw out a more detailed recap of my week just to give a little snapshot of the days and ways of me in "working hard" mode. Starting with Sunday, September 30th, here...we...GO!

Sunday (Workout): 20.4 miles in AM including 16 @ 5:37 pace, 4 miles in PM easy. Total 24.4 miles.
Details: Ventured over to Trinity to do a workout. The workout itself was pretty simple: 10x 5 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy.  In the end I wimped out and only did 90 minutes (so 9x), but that got me to a nice even 16 miles.  The workout felt great for the first half - I came through the first mile in 5:15 and thought “oh man, I’m gonna tear this thing apart!”, but here’s a pro tip: Don’t get cocky until you get past the hour mark.  My last few “on” portions were probably north of 5:30 pace, which isn’t great, but the “off” parts never got much above 6 minute pace as far as I could tell.  5:37 pace for 16 miles is always a good day, so I’m chalking it up as a win.

Monday: 7.5 miles easy in AM, 6.3 miles in PM. 13.8 miles total
Tuesday: 11 miles easy in AM, 6 miles easy at lunch time.  17 miles total
Wednesday: 10.3 miles easy in AM, 6 miles easy in PM. 16.3 miles total


Thursday (Workout): 16 miles in AM including 12 miles @ 5:32 pace, 6 miles easy in PM. Total 22 miles.
Details: I did the workout on the Trinity track, meaning a total of 48 laps when all is said and done.  The repeats felt tough, but not overly so - at times it was hard to tell the difference between a 75 seconds lap and an 80 second one.  Those may sound close together, but believe me one will put the hurt on you a whole lot quicker.  I tried to close the workout down hard, and in the end my splits were: 10:26, 10:30, 10:22, 10:28, 10:17.

Friday: 10.5 miles easy in the AM, 6 miles in the PM. 16.5 miles total
Saturday: 8 miles easy in the AM, 7.3 miles easy in the PM. 15.3 miles total

Totals
Mileage: 125.3
Runs: 14
Workouts: 2
Quality Miles: 28
Easy Miles: 97.3
Average Pace for Quality Miles: 5:34/mile
Average Pace for Easy Miles: 7:38/mile

Training After College: The Necessities

Little known fact: I am a big fan of lists.  It’s pretty much my favorite thing ever.  And while I am by no means an awesome professional athlete, I do know a thing or two about training hard after college.  So here’s a list of things that I can’t live without - everything an aspiring post-collegiate has to have.

1. Shoes.  Lots and lots of shoes.

Here’s a chart of my weekly mileage for the last 10 weeks.  

That dip in the week beginning Sept 2nd is actually 110 miles

So that’s 1,213 miles (an average of 121 miles per week) in the last 2+ months.  Even if you wear your shoes for 700-800 miles per pair like yours truly (not that you necessarily should), that’s quite a few pairs per year - especially when you start considering racing flats, lightweight trainers, etc.  So if you can find a supportive local running store, or a willing shoe company to spot you a few pairs, that always helps.  Because those things are like, really expensive on their own.  

2. Foam roller.

Get it.  Use it.  Love it.  Some people ask what book you would bring to a desert island if you could only bring one.  I would bring a foam roller because my IT bands would get really tight from running in tiny circles on sand.

3. This one is important: the right job.

All of us non-professionals have to do something to pay the bills.  Exactly how you pay the bills is a big determinant of whether you’ll be successful in training.  I’ve worked a few different jobs now after college, some of them great, some of them not so much, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that sometimes the total hours that you work is not really the most important factor.  My current job (and the one I’ll be at for the foreseeable future) is with a company that values employees who have outside interests and hobbies.  So instead of hiding the fact that I’m spending 2 hours a day running, I can just tell my boss that I’m gonna go knock out 6 miles at lunch and get nothing more in response than “cool, see you in a few”.

4. Even more important: The Right Spouse.

That look?  That's love, baby

Or be single.  Because if you’re with someone unwilling to put up with some unusual habits, you’ll be single soon anyway.  I’m not going to say that dating fellow runners is the only way, but man it sure helps.  Let’s review:

• I only stay up past 10:30pm in the winter, because I can run later in the morning and it’s still cool
• I get up 90 minutes earlier than I need to before work each day to get my run in. 
• I literally spend 14 and 15 hours on average each week just running.  That doesn’t include stretching, core work, extra driving to get to a track, or anything else.

Most people would have divorced me by now.  If your significant other doesn’t accept the crazy ways of distance runners, it’s going to be a lot of extra stress that you just don’t need.

5. Love what you’re doing

This one is last, but it’s the most important.  A lot of the things that define cross country and track in college disappear immediately once you graduate.  Teammates, coaches, structure, a predetermined race schedule: all gone.  So if you only ran because someone else expected you to, or if you rely on others to motivate you, it’s pretty much inevitable that at some point you’ll wake up for an early morning 10 miler and say “why am I doing this?”

My big advantage?  I love getting up for that 10 miler.  I love setting my own race schedule, and creating my own training, and just getting out there to see how fast I can go.  So if I had one piece of advice for anyone looking to continue training, at whatever level, after college, it would be to figure out what it is you truly want to accomplish.  For me it’s as simple as being better than I was; no further thought required.  Once I decided I was going to take this at least somewhat seriously, the training itself became as routine a part of my life as waking up in the morning.  

Happy Running!

Another Week of Training (9/23 to 9/29)

Closer to marathon time means long, difficult workouts.  It also means I take lots and lots of recovery between each workout, so I usually only get in two per week.  This week's two workouts were:

• 24 mile progressive run
• 20x1 minute fast, 1 minute medium + 10x30 seconds fast, 30 seconds medium

The first one was done on Sunday, and it kicked my butt.  I went into it planning to run about 6:20-6:30 pace for the first 10 miles, gradually pick it up, and maybe knock out the last 7-8 miles at sub 6 pace.  Instead, as usual, I started out much faster than planned and decided slowing down would be wimpy. 

So I ran 6:08 pace for the first 5 miles.  Then sub 6 pace for the next 9 miles. Then 5:55 pace for the next 5. Then 5:50 pace for the last 5, for a total of 24 miles at an average pace of 5:56 per mile.  It wasn't the hardest workout I've ever done, but I made it harder on myself by doing it in heavy trainers (Asics Nimbus for the win!) and starting later than I should have so it was good and toasty by the last ten miles.  But after lazing around the house the rest of the day (and annoying Emily by constantly complaining about my poor achy legs) I was mostly better.

After three easy days, I did the fartlek on Thursday afternoon.  I had worked a little late the previous night, and needed to go in to the office early that morning, so I decided to risk the weather and do an afternoon workout.  In the end I lucked out and it was relatively cool and overcast.  Heck I even got rained on a little bit.  I ran the whole thing around the main road loop of McAllister Park, which is 1.83 miles.  Although I cut the run a little short (it was originally supposed to be an hour total, not 50 minutes), I still got in a solid 5 loops in 50 minutes, which comes out to 5:28 per mile for the whole thing.  There isn't really any way to tell exactly how that pace breaks down, but I felt like I was pushing hard on the fast parts.  If nothing else, as I write this my calves are extremely sore, which is a sure sign I've done some faster running.  Also, public service announcement, 30 seconds on / 30 seconds off is deceptively hard.  Avoid if possible.  

So that's my week.  I'll wrap it up to somewhere around 120 miles with some easy running today and tomorrow, then do the whole song and dance again next week.  As of today, 44 days until the race!

Marathon Training, Once Again, Begins

Eight weeks from race day means six weeks of what I think of as “true” marathon training (the last two weeks is the taper).  Granted I’ve already done lots of training - some of it pretty marathon specific - but now is when everything else gets thrown out the window so I can focus solely on running 26.2 miles as fast as possible.

Wednesday was my first workout in this cycle.  It was on the shorter end of the spectrum (no 20 mile tempo runs yet), but it’s good to kick things off with something a little more manageable.  The workout was 3 by 3 miles fast with 1 mile recoveries at a quick pace, plus an extra fast mile at the end, which I usually make 1.1 miles so I can get a nice even half marathon.  So 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, 3 miles hard, 1 mile medium, then 1 mile hard.

When I start focusing on a particular marathon training cycle, I’m looking to dial in on a certain pace.  You can’t always know ahead of time what’s reasonable to shoot for in the race, but by repeatedly trying to sense how different paces feel, you can hopefully prevent an outright disaster.  So going into the workout I was trying to get a handle on how fast 5:30 felt, with an eye towards having 5:35 or so be my goal pace this fall.

But this time I ran 16:14, 16:05, and 15:59 for the 3 mile segments.  The recoveries were 6:06, 5:56, and 6:00, and the final fast mile was 5:09.  In the end I covered a half marathon in 1:12:05.  So what did I learn?  Well, I’m faster than I’ve ever been before - usually it’s a struggle to keep the repeats in the 16:35-16:45 range.  And averaging 5:30 pace for the whole workout makes me think that soon that pace will be achievable for a marathon - which would be 2:24, or three and a half minutes faster than my PR.

But whether that day will arrive by November 11th remains to be seen.  For now, the workouts will get longer, and harder, and with any luck I’ll continue feeling as good as I’ve felt thus far.  

Next on tap is a hilly 24 mile progressive long run on Sunday.  I don’t have a specific goal for this workout, other than to run the last ten miles at sub 6 minute pace and get the overall pace to low 6:00s as well.  Happy running everyone.

With Apologies to Mr. Tergat

Although the long deceased Mr. Prefontaine probably still holds a strong lead in running quotes remembered by the American populace, my favorite saying comes from the former world record holder Paul Tergat: “Ask yourself: 'Can I give more?'. The answer is usually: 'Yes'."

I ran a 10k on Saturday. It was the fastest I’ve ever run for 10k on the roads. I ran 31:42, or 5:06 per mile. I'm pretty pleased with it. Back in the day, I was only the 5th best runner on my high school team - if I’m being honest with myself, it’s great that I’ve gone from a 10:15 high schooler two miler to running 10k road races that average faster than that - more than 3 times the distance, at a faster pace, in a row.

I don’t really know how much more improvement I have in store. Quite a bit still, for sure. I know that I am already working hard. Quite a bit harder than a lot of runners - not all, but most, probably. Many athletes have gotten to where I am currently without ever running ONE 120 mile week, let alone as many as I've done.

But I also know that if I ask myself, “can I give more”, the answer IS “yes.”

Yep, more than this

That doesn’t necessarily mean running more mileage than I am currently. At least not THAT much more. A lot of what I can do better is little stuff: resting more, stretching more, doing more speedwork It can be accomplished without adding more volume. But more than anything, it’s about a better mindset. I can focus more. I can give more. And for the next 8 weeks, until I line up at the start of the San Antonio Marathon, I'm going to.

Just Grinding Away

Some weeks of training are boring - nothing notable, nothing exciting. This was not one of those weeks! This was pure excitement. Let’s take a look back:

Sunday I ran a marathon in 2:40:38. Not in a race or anything, just up and down one of my old workout routes from college. Two miles down one street, two miles back. Two miles down another street, two miles back. Two miles down the first street again...You get the idea. Here’s a very rough map:

First annual Contour/La Jara Marathon

So that was fun. Or at least satisfying once it was done. I blew up a bit the last couple miles when dehydration really set in - the pace climbed up from 6:05 for the first 22 miles to 6:20-6:30 for the last four, but the total comes out to 6:07 per mile.

I did some easy running on Monday, some more easy running on Tuesday, and then - after an easy ten miler in the morning, I went to the track for some fast repeats on Wednesday night. The workouts was 2x(600, 400, 300, 200) with equal jogging recovery after each, plus an extra 400 jog between sets. I got a little optimistic on the first set (1:40, 64, 46, 30), which is to say I did all of the repeats way faster than I should’ve. Consequently , I blew up awesomely in the 2nd set (1:43, 65, 49, 30). They don’t look THAT much slower, but each one featured an all-out death-grimaced final sprint just to hit those times. And the recoveries turned into awkward, painful crawls. Truth be told, it was kind of fun.

Friday morning I went out for a long tempo at a relatively relaxed pace - the goal was 14 miles at 5:50/mile. My legs were tired from the track workout Wednesday, but the pace was pretty easy to hit, and I got through it with nothing more than some mild boredom and the annoyance that comes from running almost 30 miles on a 2 mile stretch of Contour Road in a single week. Final result: 14 miles at 5:46/mile.

I rounded out the week with some more easy running on Saturday, and hit my new highest mileage ever: 135. Woo.

I took it really easy yesterday - less than 14 miles in two runs - and today I did the SARR Labor Day 5 Mile Whine Run. I’ve done it the last two years, with times of 26:17 and 26:30, respectively. There were some solid local guys at the race today (something that wasn’t true in the past), but I was able to run away with the win by a pretty good margin, with a new course record of 25:38. The course is very hilly, including a first mile that is basically 100% uphill, so I’m really pleased with the time. It’s nice to be able to run the same course in multiple years and compare times. Last year did have some nasty winds that slowed times down a good amount, but this year featured much more usual Texas September weather, and regardless the wind wasn’t so bad that I would expect to run 52 seconds faster without being in MUCH better shape. Which is encouraging. 

 

During the first mile of the race

Right after the finish. Jeremy tired.

 Now back to training! Happy running everyone.