Milestone Week!

I haven't done much in terms of recapping my training recently because it has been a pretty non-eventful activity.  My coach has me slowing down my easy runs and making my hard workouts brutal which I guess is the way you are supposed to train. I think it makes sense and I am buying into it because your easy miles are really there to maintain/build endurance and allow you to recover to focus on logging miles near race paces.

I had a huge milestone last week in that I logged my first ever 100+ mile week. I never really thought I would get there, nor did I ever think I would feel as good doing it. It did mean 10+ mile recovery days and hard workouts are crammed in the middle of 13-15 mile runs but hey its all in good fun. Here is a recap of the week including 2 pretty hard workouts:

Monday:		AM: 10.5M V. Easy [7:50] PM: 6M Easy [7:22]
Tuesday:		AM: 12.5M Easy [7:30] PM: 6M V. Easy [7:50]
Wednesday:		10.5M V. Easy [7:40]
Thursday:		AM: 15M w/ 12 x 250m @ 5K [5:37] PM: 6.5M Easy [7:32]
Friday:		12.5M V. Easy [7:40]
Saturday:		Rest
Sunday:		22M Easy - At 18 miles, 10 x 100m @ 5K [5:54]
Total		101.5

The most brutal part of the week definitely was the 22 miler at the end given how much mileage I had already logged, that the 5K pickups were at mile 18 of a long run and the fact that I hadn't a 22 miler since marathon training in October.

So for those that were wondering this is what a 100+ mile week looks like and yes I am crazy.  The trick now is to see how many of these I can string together to really start getting some progress rolling in my training.

Is my coach smoking crack...

Just a quick note, my workout for today was prescribed as follows:

15 miles w/ 12 x 60s repeats at 5K pace

Does he realize that he just had me basically do a long run with 2/3 of a 5K race in the middle of it? And hey lets throw in a 6 mile recovery run this afternoon too...

Best part of the story, that's not even my long run this week, I have a 22 miler scheduled for Sunday....

Holliston 10K Road Race

As part of my coaching, I am supposed to run a race every month either as a fitness check or workout to get used to racing so I am not as nervous and it takes a lot of the pressure away of only racing a few times a year.  The only race I could find that would fit in the schedule was a small local 10K which I had high hopes for.  However leading up to the race I was really struggling with some knee issues from running a hard time trial on the track which left me with tightness and general pain in my right knee. My coach and I had talked about just running it as a tempo workout and I good with that but I felt pretty good that morning so it turned into a little bit of a mixed run.

The race went out right around my 10K pace which is what caught me off guard slightly as I didn't expect to be in the lead pack, so we ran together for about 2 miles and then two guys broke off and just straight had a gear I didn't. After that I let off the gas a little and was going to settle back into tempo pace which I did for a mile, then I realized it was just 2 of us left in the chase pack for some reason so I picked it up as I was feeling good.  I was back on 10K pace in mile 5 until we hit a hill that everyone failed to mention which was like 6% grade for about 1/3 of a mile. I felt strong though in the hill and ended up dropping the other chaser and cruised home. I was surprised as to how strong I felt in that last mile and it helped my confidence a ton. I definitely think I could carry 6:00-6:10 pace for the entire 10K next time.

I ended up finishing 3rd overall in 39:08 (6:02, 6:10, 6:37, 6:20, 6:30, 6:02), slightly off my 10K equivalent time (38:12) but I was pretty happy overall as it was a relatively hilly course (in addition to the one big hill) and it was 70-75 degrees outside. I certainly could have run faster in the middle sections of the race had I not slowed down to tempo pace for a little bit. This was the first race in a long time where I felt fresh and strong so I am quite optimistic about the direction my training is headed.

Brooklyn Half Marathon

Hey for once you guys get to hear about someone other than myself!

This post is dedicated to Brandon Schubert who completed his first ever half marathon recently. Needless to say I know the type of commitment and effort that goes into training for one of these. He has come a long way since he started running and more than anything I think its awesome that he has stuck with it as not many people do. Running is one of those things that grows and grows on you to the point where people look at you when you tell them that you went for a run yesterday and they ask how far and you say oh just an easy 20 miles.

You can see from the sign below that I was there in spirit thanks to Lindsay. Although I am sure everyone was thinking "What the heck does a Japanese lunch box have to do with being fast?", I am sure her support helped him get through some of the tough parts in the race.

Not sure what the future will hold for Mr. Schubert, I know he has expressed some interest in Club 26.2 and if he decides to commit to it I'll help in anyway he needs me to. But no matter what he decides, I hope that Brandon realizes accomplishments like this are huge and define you as a person...deep down you realize that there really is nothing you can't do if you work hard at it.

"The only place you will find success before work is the dictionary..."

Perspective...

I am always trying to push myself and typically am not happy unless I am making quick progress but running it turns out is one of those things that can take years to reach your potential.

The human body is capable of some pretty insane things. To see what I mean check this out:

Maynard 5K 2010 - 39:45
Holliston Newcomers 10K 2012 - 39:10

I guess maybe that puts things a little more in perspective for me.

My New Coach....

As part of my birthday present to myself I decided it was time to begin working with a coach since I was starting to run myself into the ground when I tried to start running more speed work.  I wasn't sleeping well at night and constantly struggling through workouts so I knew I was doing something run but I just didn't know how to get better and stay healthy.

I randomly came upon a coach named Tom Schwartz who is a writer for Runners World and has been coaching for the better part of 30+ years. He has a pretty good track record of fixing runners not performing up to their true potential and fitness level. In addition he has coached a number of Olypmic marathoners and since my long term insane goal is to qualify to run in the Olympic trials I thought he might be a good choice.

First thing he has me doing, running slower LOL....I guess I had been running too hard on easy days and not hard enough on hard days to see real performance gains.  I guess its common and it is basically a trap of constantly running moderate but never forcing your body to adapt to run faster.  He also has me upping my mileage so I am sure I'll be well north of 100 mpw this summer on a regular basis.

I hope he can help me improve and reach some of my potential.

Groton 5K & 10K Road Race

For some reason, I always feel obligated to run races I have run in previous years and this one I really enjoyed last year so it was a no-brainer.  In addition, it was my last race in the 20-29 year old age bracket, which sucks because the 30-39 bracket is much more competitive for some reason. I think all the college runners decide to start running after they get out of shape when they leave college but thats just a guess.

I decided this year to run the double which not many people do but its a good way to get mileage in and since I am already there I figured why not.  I couldn't decide which race I would run as my primary but I felt like I had unfinished business in the 5K since I definitely could have run faster than I did in the BAA 5K.  I decided to target the 5K as my primary race to get a new PR. The race went out pretty fast as expected since there are usually decent runners at the event and I threw down a 5:41 first mile which scared the living crap out of me. I was in new territory with paces that fast so I slowed down which in retrospect I don't think I necessarily needed to. My splits were 5:41, 5:59, 5:53 for a final of 18:21, a shiny new PR just two weeks after my last and 10th place overall in a pretty competitive race. I guess the training was working as I dropped my 5K by well over a minute in about 6 months on just base mileage. Even now I really think I could have run even faster because I backed way far off when I saw that 5:41 and my legs were definitely banged up and fatigued as I was coming off an 80+ mile week. 

The 10K was going to be just a tempo run for me so I started out around 6:50 a mile and was feeling good so I just ended up running a progression run with my last mile coming in around 6:20 which isn't half bad.  What is crazy is a I ran a huge PR just as a tempo run of 41:23 which I was very happy with.

It also turned out that I ended up winning my age group in the 5K and got an Amazon.com gift card in the mail a week later.  This was a pretty cool feeling since up until now I only ever really won trophy's which are nice but its always good to win some money even if it didn't cover the cost of the race entry itself.