5/31/2009

This was an excellent week - I ran about 92 miles (81 running and 11 equivalent miles on the bike) and had two excellent workouts on the track. This is my peak mileage week and I will start to cut mileage to begin a taper with the 5000m at the June 13th NB Twilight Meet as the goal race. I think that my mileage is high enough that I can carry the taper an extra week or so if that race does not go well and I want to take another shot at a fast time, but I have to start thinking about starting the marathon training program for the Bay State Marathon on October 18th (the real goal race this year). This coming week should also be very interesting because I am racing three times. The first race is Wednesday night at the Hollis Fast 5k (appropriately named because there is a net 224 foot elevation drop good for 40-45 seconds), followed by the 1500m at the NB Twilight Meet 2 on Saturday night (looking to get some speed) and then the Rhody 5k in Lincoln, RI on Sunday Morning. The Rhody race is a NE Grand Prix event. I should be pretty spent by the end of next week but I will have a much better idea of how fast I am capable of running.

Monday: 13ish - (24mi on bike and 5+mi running) This was supposed to be a hill workout day but I had to cram everything in before noon so I did a combo run/bike day. I rode 12 miles out to Silver Lake to meet Brian and Trent and on the way I hammered up Depot Rd and stopped to do 4 hard repeats up Long Hill Rd. We ran a little over 5 miles and then I rode another 12 miles home.

Tuesday:

• AM: 10 mi+ (75:38) Nice easy run to shake out the legs after the hard workout yesterday.
• PM: 4 mi (30:03) Easy run in the woods in Groton. Just to get in the miles.
  

Wednesday:

• AM: 4 mi (29:07) Easy run in the Yudicky Farm trails. It was raining and really muddy, but it was fun.
  
• PM: 11 mi (73ish) 3 mi w/up, 4x1600m @5k pace w/ 800m rest + 2.5mi c/down. I have been looking forward to this workout since the race on Saturday night because I wanted to prove to myself that I can run 4:55 mile pace comfortably and have a shot at running 15:20 for the 5k this year. The weather was ideal because the rain held off and it was only 49 degrees with no wind. I eased into the workout and gradually dropped the times for the first three then let it out a bit on the 4th repeat to see how it felt. My splits and rests were 4:56 (4:22), 4:54 (4:39), 4:52 (4:43), 4:47. I pretty much ran even splits for each of the miles although my first quarter was probably 1-2 seconds quick for the first three repeats. I was well within myself for the first three and could easily have gone faster - exactly how it should be. I was pushing a bit on the fourth one but not too bad. I probably went a little too fast but I am not racing again until next Wednesday. Get lots of rest and run easy the next two days.
  

Thursday:

• AM: 10 mi (74:47) This was a really slow run to just work out the legs. My legs were not sore but they were amazingly tired.
  
• PM: 10.1 miles on the stationary bike (30 minutes). I also lifted at the gym.
  

Friday:

• AM: 5.2 mi (38:) Easy morning run.
  
• PM: 10 mi (66:40) I was feeling pretty good and wanted to stretch out the legs a bit so I did a slightly up-tempo run. It felt really good but hopefully did not make tomorrow's workout any harder.
  

Saturday: 10.5 mi (70+) 3 mi w/up, 2 x (4x400m) @ slightly faster than 5k pace + 8x200m @ full speed & 2.2 mi c/down. I took 200m rest between the 400's and 400m after each set and 200m rest after each 200. The intention of this workout was to do some overspeed work and improve my leg turn-over and efficiency. The first set of 400's was pretty easy but the second set got much harder. The 200's were slightly frustrating because I could not crack 30 seconds, but I should be happy because I never thought that I would be able to do full speed 200's ever again after tearing my achilles 10 years ago. My splits and rests were: 67. 7 (67), 67.5 (78), 68.2 (78), 67.8 (2:17) 67.6 (72), 68.3 (72), 67.9 (73), 67.7 (3:14), 30.2 (75), 31.5 (79), 30.9 (83), 30.7 (88), 31.2 (88), 30.4 (84), 31.0 (81), 30.1 - pretty consistent, especially on the 400's. Overall this was a good workout and will hopefully get some speed into my old legs.

Sunday: 12 mi (1:28:59) This was a nice, slow recovery run after yesterday's hard effort. I was surprised at how fried my legs were and how tired I feel today. It is a good thing that I do not race for another 3 days. I am sure that I will be recovered in time.