TRACK: 5X1000M

On Monday I forced myself to get out and run an easy 6.5 miles at Lake Needwood, to get the junk out of my legs from the race.  Tuesday, I took off.  I needed a day off and was pretty exhausted.  My calves were also ripped to pieces.

Wednesday morning I ran an easy 4.5 with my dog Mickey, feeling better.  That afternoon, I headed over the track to do a workout.  I planned on 4x1000m, but I felt good and decided to do 5.  It was the perfect 5k prep workout.  The rests were about 3-4 minutes between each. 

Splits: 2:57, 2:54, 2:53, 2:55, 2:58 = 14:37 total time.


Last year, before I ran 15:13, I did the same workout, but each interval was 4-5 seconds slower(adding up to 15:00).

I really like 1000s for 5k training-these give me a lot of confidence. 
I am entered in the Swarthmore College 5000M on Monday, May 14.  Excited to spike up and race on the track.

4/29/12: Pikes Peek 10K Race Report

I love the 10K.  It's a great mix of endurance and speed.  It's an event I've been improving in dramatically over the years.  Believe it or not, 34 minutes on the track was all I could muster in college(several years ago).  Now, to be able to say I've run 30:56, is a really great feeling of all the hard work and intelligent training I've put in.  Even in 2008, I was still running 34s on roads.  I am not the same runner I used to be.  After yesterday, I have put myself into a new "zone" for the 10K.  And part of that is being able to run sub 5:00 pace for 6.2 miles, averaging 4:58s. 
After waiting around forever(the start was delayed by 12 minutes), the gun went off and I surged ahead with the lead Africans.  What are you doing??? I thought.  RELAX.  We made the turn onto Redland.  I looked around for any other white guys.  Where are they?? Then Karl Dusen(who owns a sub 30 10k PR) pulled up next to me and together we turned left onto 355 for the long, straight, race about to begin.  The Africans at this point started to surge ahead(OR I found my own pace and smartly didn't run with them).  Then Karl surged ahead as well and I sort of drafted off of him.  I could see he was at the tailend of the African pack and I was the 2nd white guy in the race.  Very gradually he would pull away but I at least kept him in my sight for most of the race.

So, with Karl up ahead, I was running pretty much alone, just trying to keep him and some of the Africans in sight.  I was in a very "grey" area.  A bunch ahead, a bunch behind, but not many right near where I was.  I split 4:54 the first mile.  The second mile I slowed a tad, hitting 9:53 for 2 miles, splitting 4:59.  I split 15:22 or 15:23 for the 5K, and was on good pace for sub 31(side note: my last road 5k from sept last year was run in 15:22, 2 weeks before I went 1:08 for 13.1).  I then began to see an African runner who had fallen off the pace up ahead.  I very gradually began reeling him in at Mile 4, and in the process of doing so, another runner passed me who I recognized from Cherry Blossom(2002 Marine Corps Marathon Champ Chris Juarez).  Just like the last race, he was passing me again.  Arrrrrrrrgh.  I stayed tough and drafted off of him but his turnover was going strong.  At least we both caught the Ethiopian(Seife Geletu) and continued to hammer.  I started losing ground on Chris a little bit though.  He would go on to finish 10 seconds ahead.  I found myself alone again approaching mile 5, when Jordan Zwick came alongside of me and gave me encouragement.  My legs began to wake up and I went with him, and together we passed 5 miles in somewhere under 25:00, and I realized if I was going to break 31, I better start running fast.  Very fast.  I began to withdraw all the speed workouts I've done this year and with pure sheer WILL ran faster, and faster.  Jordan stuck with me.  I suddenly felt like I was running an all out mile.  We sprinted home with crowds cheering and saw the clock 30:40...41...I hauled ass down the hill and Jordan pulled away just slightly to beat me by 3 seconds, finishing in 30:53, and I finished in 30:56.  I ended up as the 4th white guy and 16th in the race.  The top dozen were all East Africans.
1   1/149      1 Julius Kogo           26 Chapel Hill NC     28:12   28:11#  4:33
2   2/149      3 Abiyot Endale         25 Bronx NY           28:16   28:15#  4:33
3   3/149     76 Zenbaba Yigeze        29 Bronx NY           28:20   28:20#  4:34
4   1/184     25 Tariku Bokan          30 Herndon VA         28:48   28:47#  4:38
5   2/184      7 Kitema Nigusse        31 Bronx NY           28:49   28:49#  4:39
6   4/149     12 Fikadu Lemma          28 Bronx NY           28:54   28:54#  4:39
7   3/184     24 Birhanu Alemu Feyissa 30 Silver Spring MD   28:55   28:54#  4:39
8   5/149      4 Deresse Deniboba      29 Bronx NY           28:56   28:56#  4:40
9   1/199     15 John Itati            38 Royersford PA      29:00   29:00#  4:40
10   4/184     14 Kennedy Kemei         33 Chapel Hill NC     29:21   29:20#  4:44
11   6/149     74 Eric Chirchir         28 Jackson Heights    29:38   29:38#  4:47
12   7/149      6 Worku Beyi            25 Bronx NY           29:42   29:41#  4:47
13   8/149     26 Karl Dusen            29 Rockville MD       30:05   30:05   4:51
14   1/211   1005 Chris Juarez          41 Alexandria VA      30:46   30:45*  4:57
15   9/149     59 Jordan Zwick          25 Arlington VA       30:54   30:53   4:59
16  10/149     27 Chris Sloane          28 Rockville MD       30:56   30:56   4:59 
17   5/184     77 Seife Geletu          30 Washington DC      31:22   31:22   5:03
18   6/184     30 Jake Klim             31 North Bethesda M   31:33   31:32   5:05
19  11/149   1074 Carlos Renjifo        29 Columbia MD        31:48   31:47   5:07
20   2/199     33 David Wertz           36 Arlington VA       31:59   31:58*  5:09

I have one more race between now and the USA Half Marathon Championships.  I will compete in the Swarthmore College Outdoor Track 5000m like I did last year and make an assault on my 5k PR.  The 5K is obviously not my best event but it is important for me to work on this distance to help me get faster in the long stuff.  I'm looking foward to doing some 1k repeats!  Race is on Monday, May 14th, and the meet starts at 5 pm.  An odd time for a race but good thing I have Mondays off.  It will be a long night however as my race probably will be later that evening.

30:56: SHATTERED BARRIER

BROKE 31:00 minutes today at Pikes Peek 10K in a time of 30:56, average of 4:58 per mile.  30 second PR from last year.  This is an awesome start to the 2nd half of my season.  Race Report Coming...

Wednesday, 4/25: 4x200m, 2x400m

On Wednesday of this week, I did a speed workout that was short and fun and a great tune up to get ready for this Sunday's 10K.  The workout consisted of 4x200m, 2x400m @ 1500m race pace.  I felt like a sprinter.  I felt "fast" on the 200s.  I can't wait to race on the track again in a few weeks.

Splits:

4x200: 29, 30, 29, 30
4x400: 66, 66

I also booked my flight to Duluth, Minnesota this week for the USA Half Marathon Championships. 

4/16-4/22: 80 Miles/Week & The Marathon Trials Qualifier

These past couple of weeks have been really great training weeks.  I am ready to take it down this week in preparation for this coming Sunday's Pikes Peek 10K, but overall I have felt pretty darn awesome on runs.  This week I did four runs of longer than 90 minutes, and got in 80 miles total with 1 day off.  The track workout on Wednesday gave me great indication that the turnover is there.  On Saturday I met with Luci(2012 Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier) to do a long run with her at White's Ferry.  Hilariously, she went to Edward's Ferry by accident, and we each ran on the towpath to meet 2.5 miles in.  It was our first training run since before the trials in January, and we had a great convo about her trials race.  She also encouraged me that I too can qualify for the trials if I keep at it.  The race she ran in January certainly inspires me to do so-having been on edge with a foot injury, she was forced to cross train somewhat and do minimal workouts but yet found a way to finish the race in a dang impressive 2:48(this was only 3 months after she ran her DEBUT PR of 2:43).  Her husband, Andy Smith has done an awesome job coaching her and I do think Luci has the potential to go low 2:30's in the marathon someday.  We intend to get regular training runs in throughout the summer and I definitely enjoy helping her get faster and achieving her goals.       

The breakdown of the week below:

Monday: AM: 13 miles on the trolley trail and Rock Creek trails.
PM: easy mile plus plyometric drills while coaching

Tuesday: AM: 14 miles on the trolley trail and Rock Creek trails.

Wednesday: AM: Weights
PM: TRACK: 4x400(67, 67, 66, 65), 2x800(2:21, 2:19), 2x1600(4:55, 4:51)
Total Mileage: 9

Thursday: PM: 15 Miles starting from Great Falls on Towpath/MacArthur Loop

Friday: OFF

Saturday: AM: 16.6 Miles(12 with Luci), averaging 6:50s pace.

Sunday: AM: 11 Miles easy pace at Carderock

Total: 80 Miles

4/18: 4x400m, 2x800m, 2x1600m

I did a pretty hard ladder workout today on the track.  The workout was designed to move up in distance, so that by the last longer intervals my body would be really tired.  Mentally, this is a challenging workout.  It doesn't seem too bad at first, but once you get to the 1600s there isn't much left if you do it right.  Splits below:

400s(w/2-3 min jog/recoveries):
1:07
1:07
1:06
1:05


800s(w/3-4 min recoveries) :
2:21
2:19

1600s(w/4-5 min recoveries):
4:55
4:51

This workout was great prep for the 10k.  I am also beginning to dig into 5k specific training(VO2-Max).  I have entered the second half of my spring season.  I do see a link and connections from months before too.  A little bit of Daniels' Running Formula here.  For example, right now I am not doing 20+ mile long runs(I may do 16-17 like I did last Saturday), but over the winter, I did a lot of 20+ milers, to build endurance and a solid foundation.  After I built up my endurance, I began doing workouts of LT pace stuff.  I focused on Threshold and LT very well.  The races towards the end of that period were appropriately the half marathon and 10 miler.  Now I am going through the VO2-Max(I-Pace) stage, with a 10k and outdoor track 5k planned during the end of this phase.  The 10K is a very interesting event because is uses some of the LT Threshold stuff but also relies on partly VO2-Max.  The 5K is pretty much all VO2-Max.  I think my threshold is my strongest and most natural thing my body is good at(which is also why I believe my best races are 10k on up), but it is important for me to work on I-Pace.  I am not a 5k runner like I am a half marathoner-but that doesn't mean I shouldn't work on improving my 5k.  Everything relates to eachother eventually.

It is my hope that after the VO2-Max stage, I will enter a sharpening period Mid-May through Mid-June of doing some fine tuning and pretty much putting everything together and racing in the USA Half Marathon Championships as a final spring peak.     

4/9-4/15: 84 Miles/Week

Monday: AM: 13 Mile loop, 7:00 pace, starting from my place to the trolley trail heading towards Bethesda, ran around NIH and back onto Wisconsin where I crossed on Cedar Lane to pick up the Rock Creek Trail.  Took the trail North to Randolph Road and back home.

Tuesday: AM: EZ shakeout run with Mickey for about 6 miles(8:00-9:00 pace)
PM: 9 Miles on towpath, 7:00 pace

Wednesday: PM: 7 Miles easy, 7:00 pace

Thursday: AM: Track Workout: 2x1200m(3:36, 3:34), 2x800m(2:22, 2:20), 1x400m(67), 1x200m(32), total mileage 8 Miles

Friday: PM: drove out to White's Ferry and did a brisk 10 mile loop in 59:00 minutes(5:55 pace).  For some reason I just love running fast here.  I started the first mile 7:00 and quickly worked the pace down to 5:50s for the first 5 miles, and for the second 5 miles worked down furthur into the 5:40s and high 5:30s the last mile.  Did an additional 1 mile shakeout to loosen things up.  Total: 11  

Saturday: AM: Long Run 16.5 Miles @ 7:00 pace w/ Matt: started at Lock 6 on the towpath and headed south into Georgetown, crossing the Key Bridge, took the mt. vernon trail down to the 14th street bridge and crossed back over, around the tidal basin down independence ave, around the Lincoln Memorial and back up to Georgetown where we picked up the towpath again.  It was really nice running longer(1 hour 55 min) again.

Sunday: AM: 12.5 Miles easy (7:30 pace) on trails near swains lock and great falls.

Total: 84 Miles