Workouts & Tune-Up

Last Wednesday, August 22 I had a really great workout.  It was 8 X Mile with 2:30 rests right around threshold pace.  I split 5:06, 5:00, 4:59, 4:56, 4:59, 5:03, 5:01, 5:01.  The short rest was really great to get my confidence up.  I feel like 5:00 pace is getting "easier," and the more sub 5:00's I hit the easier it becomes.  I hit 92 miles for that week, and did another 20 mile long run on Saturday in 2:14.

This week I am tapering the mileage down somewhat(probably in the 80s) and am racing the Kentlands 5K on Saturday morning.  I did a tune-up workout today of 1600, 800, 400, with full recoveries(3-4 minutes).  The 1600 I hit 4:39, which was great!  My first sub 4:40 mile in a workout.  The 800 was 2:19, and the 400 was a 67.  I didn't want to go much faster in pace as the distance got shorter in order to save my kicking legs for a strong tune-up race this Saturday.

August 13-August 19: 105 Miles/Week

Monday: AM: 8.5 miles
PM: 5.5 miles


Tuesday: AM: 5 miles
PM: 10 miles

Wednesday: AM: Track: 5 x 1 Mile w/ 3-4 min rests, 4:55, 4:51, 4:53, 4:53, 4:56.  7 Miles total. 
PM: 3 miles easy

Thursday: AM: 17 miles, did Edward's Ferry/Club Hollow Loop(14-15), added on 2 after

Friday: AM: 9.5 miles
PM: 4.5 miles

Saturday: AM: 15 miles


Sunday: AM: 20 miles at Capital Crescent/DC, 2:10:00


Total: 105 miles


Had a great week.  My body has adapted very well to the 100 mile weeks and this week I added a track workout of 5 x mile which surprisingly went very well.  I just wanted to get a good workout in that challenged me enough to get that threshold pace back.  I'm also happy with my long runs-I've hit 20+ mile long runs every week for the past 4 weeks, and one at 22.  I'm also finding that I'm closing fast in all of them, starting at 7:00 pace and finishing in the 5's somewhere.  My average ends up being right around 6:30 pace.  For now this is where I need to be and I will gradually be introducing more quality running as the fall season comes in.  I think I am going to do the Kentlands 5K as a pre-race tune-up for the Philly Half like last year-but it's certainly a race I could care less about PRing-it isn't an easy course, and I'm not training for a 5K.  Nevertheless, it's a good tune-up race to get the race legs going. 

7/23-8/12 & The Great Mo Farah

Personally my favorite track race during the London Olympics was the Mens 10,000m.  The favorite and World Record Holder Kenenisa Bekele seems to be unstoppable at this distance, because of his blistering kick.  In fact, any Ethiopian period is a threat to this distance-they have dominated the event.  Farah got the silver at last year's World Championships to yes, an Ethiopian.  But this year Farah was ready for a re-match, and certainly as you can see in the video, he delivered.  In addition, Mo pulled American Galen Rupp to grab silver for the United States, the first American medal in the distance aince Billy Mills in 1964.  Incredible and epic race.  Rupp and Farah, in addition train together under coach Alberto Salazar in the United States.  The 1-2 finish and celebration at the end between the two athletes symbolized a great friendship between Great Britain and the United States.  Rupp's hard work on his speed payed off dearly-particularly his 1500m speed-and his kick is what got him the silver if you watch the race.  One of my favorite athletes, Dathan Ritzenhein, who just missed the team for the mens marathon, also competed in the Olympic 10,000m.  He didn't have the kick that Rupp had, however he ran a solid race for the 10,000m.  Great job Dathan!  I am sure though that he wonders what he would've done had he made the marathon team, considering Americans Ryan Hall and Abdi Abdirahman dropped out of the race.  I believe he would've run a strong race and finished in the top 6.  Ritzenhein is enetered in this year's Chicago Marathon.  I wish him well.

TRAINING 7/23-8/12:

After the Twilighter I immediately went into a 3-week base building phase.  I did only miles and no fast workouts.  I will do workouts starting this week.  I find that I get fit, very , very quickly when doing workouts so getting into them 4-5 weeks before I race a half marathon is a good approach for me.  I also needed to get my base miles and long runs up.  I have been doing 2-3 doubles per week.  On Saturday, 8/11, I had a terrific long run: 22 miles, starting out at 7:30 pace and finishing up at 5:30 pace, averaging about 6:30 pace the entire way-considering it was pretty humid I actually felt pretty good.  I think my last 5 miles was about 28 minutes.  I find I am closing faster towards the end of many runs.

Runs and mileage are below:

7/23-7/29:

Monday: PM: 7 miles
Tuesday: AM: 11 miles
Wednesday: AM: 5.5 miles, PM: 6 miles
Thursday: AM: 11.5 miles
Friday: AM: 13.5 miles, PM: 5 miles
Saturday: AM: 20 miles
Sunday: AM: 14 miles  

Total Mileage: 94

7/30-8/5:

Monday: AM: 11 miles
Tuesday: AM: 10 miles: 63:00
Wednesday: AM: 10 miles, PM: 6 miles
Thursday: AM: 9.5 miles, PM: 4.5 miles
Friday: AM: 3 miles, PM: 12 miles
Saturday: AM: 20 miles: 2:12:00
Sunday: AM: 14 miles

Total Mileage: 100

8/6-8/12:
Monday: PM: 10 miles
Tuesday: AM: 12 miles
Wednesday: AM: 3 miles, PM: 14.5 miles
Thursday: AM: 9 miles, PM: 6 miles
Friday: AM: 8 miles
Saturday: AM: 22 miles: 2:26:00 (started out 7:30 pace worked down to 5:30 pace)
Sunday: AM: 17 miles

Total Mileage: 102

Marathon Road