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
I wish you well.
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