4 x Mile @ 10km Pace

I felt a bit better tonight than last week so I was hoping to run well. We were actually supposed to run at HM pace but I decided to run at 10km pace and take a couple more seconds of rest. My goal was between 5:00 and 5:10 with 2:30 rest. Splits and rests were:

5:10 (2:31)

5:04 (2:36)

5:06 (2:36) - I got forced to lane 4 on two turns here

5:05

The workout went well but there was a lot of traffic on the track that made running in lane 1 a little difficult. I suppose working through traffic like that is good training for a race like Mayor's Cup. I started the workout with a 3 mile warm-up (21:30) and finished with a 2.2 mile cool-down (19:16) and 4 easy strides. Total = 10 miles.

10/3-10/9

Not a great week overall. I had a couple good runs and got 64 miles but I bailed on my workout and did not race. I considered going over to the Great Island 5k in New Castle, NH or to the Wayland Cross Country Festival but did not really feel like driving for 2-3 hours to race in 80 degree heat. I drive 2 hours every day for work so am really reluctant to drive that far on the weekend. I wish there were more races closer to Nashua. Next week I am heading up to Manchester for the Footrace for the Fallen for a tune-up before the Mayor's Cup race on October 23rd.

Monday: 10mi (61:27) I wanted to get in a harder effort today but was not sure how recovered I was from my cold so I did a progression run. I figured I could work into the effort and see how I feel. I started out at about 7min/mi pace and worked my way down to 6:10 at the halfway point (32:19). At this point I was feeling good so I decided to keep pushing a bit and ran as quick as 5:35min/mi on the way back and finished the second half in 29:08. Good effort.
Tuesday: 8.2mi (58:55) Easy run to recover.
Wednesday: 7.5mi - Track workout. Supposed to do 8x800m @ 10k pace but I am definitely not recovered from my cold yet and bailed after 3. I went 2:25 (2:25), 2:28 (2:25), 2:31 (2:25) and quit. Each one was getting slower with the same effort and I could not breathe because my chest was pretty congested. Rest up the next couple of days because I would like to race this weekend.
Thursday: 10mi (68:35) Easy run.
Friday: 10mi (64:18) Nice weather and I felt good so I went with it.
Saturday: 5.5mi () Easy run.
Sunday: 13mi (84:55) Did an easy 7 mile warm-up (47:52) and then 5 miles @ 6min/mi pace (29:59) and 1 mile of cool down. Wanted to get something hard in but it was really hot.

Total: 64.2 miles

9/26-10/2

This week did not go exactly as expected. My plan was to race the Applefest Half Marathon on Saturday morning, assuming that the weather cooperated, but this did not happen because I woke up with a horrible chest cold Thursday morning. I threw every vitamin, Airborne, fluid and as much rest as I could with no success. I held off judgement about racing until Saturday morning to see how I would feel, but I could not walk up the stairs with out getting tired so decided to bail and live to race another day. Kind of a bummer. I ended the week with just over 40 miles. I have some fast races coming up the next 3-4 weeks, so hopefully I can pull things together and run some good times.

Monday: 8.2mi (56:24)
Tuesday: 9.2mi (63:07)
Wednesday: 10 miles with track workout
Thursday: 0 - sick
Friday: 0 - sick
Saturday: 0 - still sick
Sunday: 13.5 - no time because my Garmin died.

Total = 40.9 miles

4 x Mile @ HM Pace w/ 400m rest

I treated tonight's workout as a pacing workout for the Applefest Half Marathon this weekend. I felt pretty good going into the workout and just wanted to nail down the feel of running goal pace, which is about 5:30 pace. Splits and rests were:

5:30 (1:46)
5:22 (1:52)
5:26 (1:55)
5:23

The recoveries were pretty brisk, but I was completely recovered halfway around the track and just wanted to bang this thing out. I do not think that I did a great job of hitting pace, which is usually my strong suit. I can generally hit lap splits within a second of goal pace but tonight my quarter splits were all over the place, ranging from 78 seconds to 84 seconds. On top of that I was too fast on the last three. Rest up for this weekend and hope for cool, dry weather. Total = 10 miles.

2 Mile / 1 Mile / 2 Mile

Tonight Dave Dunham served up an interesting workout - 2 mile / 1 mile / 2 mile with 800m rest between sets. The 2 mile efforts were at HM pace and the 1 mile was at 10km pace. My legs were still a bit tired from the weekend but I definitely felt better than I did on a daily basis just a month ago. I started with a 2.5 mile warm up and some strides. Times and splits were:

2 mile: 5:20/5:17 = 10:37 (5:05 rest)
1 mile: 4:58 (5:02 rest)
2 mile: 5:20/5:25 = 10:45

I felt good for the first two efforts (the mile was surprisingly easy) and the first 1.5 miles of the last effort but had to scale back a bit for the last 800m because I was getting dehydrated and my arms were tying up a bit. Overall it was a really good workout. I wrapped up with a 1.5 mile cool down and 4 barefoot strides on the grass. Total = 10 miles.

Weekend of Racing

I have not posted in a while because things are so busy - if something has to go it is blogging about running rather than the running it self. Any way, my confidence has been shaken a bit over the summer because of some pretty poor race performances and I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather this weekend. I am pretty sure that my poor performances were due to the heat and humidity over the summer and we got a taste of fall this weekend with lows in the 30s and temperatures around 50 at race time.

Salem Fest 5k (results)

I started the weekend off by heading over to the Salem Fest 5k (Salem, NH). I guess that I would not have picked this race other than for Jim Johnson's account of it last year as well as the fast times it produced. When I headed out the door it was a crisp 40 degrees so I was excited to run a quick time. After registering I headed out on the course for a warm up so that I could wrap my head around all the turns on the course. This is one of the most confusing courses I have ever run with about 30 turns in the 5km (a track 5k only has 25 turns!). I was feeling alright but my legs did not feel particularly fresh. I did not see any of the big guns I knew, but there was a guy with a Whirlaway singlet on that looked quick (after the race I found out it was Patrick Ard). When the gun went off I immediately went to the front, where I would stay until just before the three mile mark. By just 1/2 mile into the race Pat and I were alone. I was pretty glad that Pat was there because I do not think that I would have pushed as hard otherwise and I had to ask him which way to go at three of the turns (he ran the race last year). Unfortunately my watch did not start so I did not get any splits but after the race Pat told me we went through mile 1 in 5:00. It was probably just after this that I started trying to pull away from Pat with little success - he matched every move that I threw at him. Based on the finishing times we must have split about 4:54 for each of the next two miles, which is faster than anything I have run in workouts. In the last mile I was working pretty hard but I tried to prepare myself for the finish by letting up a tab bit to catch my breath. I did not see the three mile marker but this is about where Pat made his move to pass me. This is the only part of the race that I am upset about - Pat looked so smooth going by me I figured that I could not match his move and really did not but up much of a fight. I did not know how far it was to the finish until it was too late. When I rounded the last turn the finish was only about 50-100m ahead and I had no chance of catching Pat. However, I ran 15:20 so I can not be too upset with the race. Normally I would be suspicious of the course, but Jim Johnson measured the course 3 times last year and concluded that it is a legit 5km. I am not really sure why the course is so fast but this was a big confidence booster for me.

Lone Gull 10k (results)

Following my plan to capitalize on the cooler weather I headed down to Gloucester, MA to run the Lone Gull 10km. I did not really know anything about the course or who would be running it but I wanted to take a shot at running a quick 10km. Like yesterday, after registering I headed out on what I thought was the course for a warm up. They only provided a hand drawn map so I was really confused about where the course was. I got a little nervous that I did not see the start, finish or any mile markers on my warmup. It turns out that the start is about a half mile from the registration at Good Harbor beach and the race heads out on a side street along the coast. I felt about the same as yesterday so I was hoping that once I found the course and got running I would be able to roll. However, once the gun went off I could tell that my legs were pretty tired and that this was going to be a tough race. The weather was not quite a nice as the day before either - it was probably 55 degrees at the start but it felt pretty sticky. Also, the course was out and back and we had a pretty stiff head-wind the whole way back along the water. Right from the start Brennan Bonner took off and ran alone the whole race. I ran with Brian Deal and Mark Mayall for most of the first mile to mile and a half but by two miles we strung out in single file and stayed in the same order for the rest of the race. I kept trying to pull them in but my legs would not respond and once we turned at 5km the wind was tough. My splits were 5:16, 10:33 (5:17), 15:52 (5:18), 21:28 (5:35), 27:02 (5:34), 32:30 (5:31), 33:36 (62). I split 16:27 at 5km, which is pretty good since my first 5km race this year at Rhody was about 16:24. Ironically, after the race I met Joe Donnelly, who now runs for Whirlaway but used to run for Gate City. I am not sure why I had never met him since I have run for Gate City for 5+ years and he was a member for a year or two. In hindsight I probably should not have raced twice but I wanted to find out what my body was capable of. I think that doubling up races in the weekend is a game for the young.

The only other down side to the weekend is that I missed money at the Salem Fest 5k by 5 seconds (only pays for first) and at the Lone Gull by 6 seconds (pays 1-3). Maybe my days of getting cash in open races are over but in 13 months from today I will be a Masters runner!