Summary of the past two weeks:
April 8-14: 50 miles (100% easy pace)
Monday: 5 miles very slow (no watch)
Tuesday: 7 miles at 7:24/mi.
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 7 miles at 7:18/mi.
Friday: 14 miles at 7:18/mi.
Saturday: 6.3 miles at 7:19/mi.
Sunday: 10.7 miles at 7:15/mi.
April 15-21: 30 miles (79% easy and 21% 10k paces)
Monday: off
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 8.4 miles at 7:12/mi.
Thursday: 8.3 at 7:16/mi.
Friday: 5.3 at 7:25/mi.
Saturday: off
Sunday: 1.8 easy, then 10k race in 37:23 (see below)
The goal of the first of these two weeks was to recover from the Cherry Blossom 10-miler while running a fair number of easy miles. I intended to do a track workout on the weekend in order to prepare for the Pike's Peek 10k. But the weather changed this week. It suddenly became very warm, and the pollen finally made an appearance. So I ran with my allergy mask for most of this first week. It was very unpleasant, and I just couldn't imagine doing a track workout either in the heat and humidity (which I still wasn't used to) or with that horrible mask on. So I just kept running easy. But after Sunday's run (4/14), my left hip started hurting. That's not the hip I had injured recently, but the other one! So I took two days off, and during that time I decided to stop wearing my mask in order to test whether it was really worth it. It has been a year since allergy symptoms kept me up all night for weeks on end, so I had forgotten just how bad it can be. I decided to take my chances with the pollen. Luckily, when I started running again on Wednesday 4/17 (now without my mask), although I had plenty of the usual allergy symptoms, I managed to avoid the severe allergic reaction that I had last year. The daily pollen count still may not have quite peaked yet, but I think that I'll survive if I've made it this far. The reason must be simply that I started taking Allegra in February so that it was well into my system before the pollen appeared, which I did not do last year. Once the allergic reaction gets going, it's too late. But I managed to head it off this year. Mind you, I'm sniffling and sneezing as much as anyone you know, but I'm not up coughing all night this year. That's a big difference. It has not correlated, however, with harder training. In addition to last weekend's hip scare, I'm really busy at work right now and don't expect to have much surplus energy to funnel into running for a few weeks. I'll be lucky to get in one 5k-specific workout before my next race in two weeks. But the end of this busy period is now on the horizon.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
PIKE'S PEEK 10K (race report):
This is the fastest 10k course in town, where I ran 37:48 last year. That stood as my 10k PR going into this race. Initially I was gunning for 36:30 as my goal for this year's race. But I didn't get around to doing any actual training faster than easy pace in the two weeks since the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, and I didn't do much before that either. So, although I started this race at 36:30 pace (5:52/mi.), I didn't really expect to be able to hold it very long. Here are my mile splits:
mile 1 - 5:51
mile 2 - 5:54
mile 3 - 5:58
mile 4 - 6:04
mile 5 - 6:10
mile 6 - 6:14
finish - 37:23
My finishing time was a PR by 25 seconds, and the first half of this race was the second fastest 5k I've ever run (18:20). So I can't complain. But looking at those splits, you can see that I didn't run a particularly good race. I slowed down at a pretty consistent rate after the first mile. My average pace turned out to be 6:01/mi. If I had run 5:57 pace from the beginning, could I have run a sub-37 today? Probably. But this is Pike's Peek, where one goes for a crazy fast time. I'm not sure that I worked as hard as I possibly could have today, but certainly 36:30 wasn't going to happen. Maybe I could have gutted out 36:59, but I never really gave up and am happy with a 25 second PR off of so little training. The first 5k was especially encouraging, given that my next race (in two weeks) is a 5k and today I was far from running all out during only the first half. If I can find time to do some actual training, then I can hope realistically to beat my still fresh 5k PR of 17:58. By the way, there are so many super-fast people at Pike's Peek that I ran 6.2 miles at 6:01/mi. pace and only got 96th place overall!
This is the fastest 10k course in town, where I ran 37:48 last year. That stood as my 10k PR going into this race. Initially I was gunning for 36:30 as my goal for this year's race. But I didn't get around to doing any actual training faster than easy pace in the two weeks since the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, and I didn't do much before that either. So, although I started this race at 36:30 pace (5:52/mi.), I didn't really expect to be able to hold it very long. Here are my mile splits:
mile 1 - 5:51
mile 2 - 5:54
mile 3 - 5:58
mile 4 - 6:04
mile 5 - 6:10
mile 6 - 6:14
finish - 37:23
My finishing time was a PR by 25 seconds, and the first half of this race was the second fastest 5k I've ever run (18:20). So I can't complain. But looking at those splits, you can see that I didn't run a particularly good race. I slowed down at a pretty consistent rate after the first mile. My average pace turned out to be 6:01/mi. If I had run 5:57 pace from the beginning, could I have run a sub-37 today? Probably. But this is Pike's Peek, where one goes for a crazy fast time. I'm not sure that I worked as hard as I possibly could have today, but certainly 36:30 wasn't going to happen. Maybe I could have gutted out 36:59, but I never really gave up and am happy with a 25 second PR off of so little training. The first 5k was especially encouraging, given that my next race (in two weeks) is a 5k and today I was far from running all out during only the first half. If I can find time to do some actual training, then I can hope realistically to beat my still fresh 5k PR of 17:58. By the way, there are so many super-fast people at Pike's Peek that I ran 6.2 miles at 6:01/mi. pace and only got 96th place overall!
Monday, April 8, 2013
WEEKLY SUMMARY (March 31- April 7): 45 miles (78% E and 22% T paces plus 6 strides)
Sunday: off
Monday: 5 miles at 7:19/mi.
Tuesday: 8 miles at 7:10/mi.
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:17/mi.
Thursday: 8.4 miles at 7:04/mi. incorporating 6 strides
Friday: off
Saturday: 5.6 miles at 7:35/mi.
Sunday: 2 E, then 10 mile race in 1:03:01 (see race report below)
You'll notice that this week has eight days in it. I wanted to return to a calendar with weeks beginning on Mondays and ending on Sundays, and this seemed like a good week to make the switch. By my old Sunday-to-Saturday reckoning, I ran only 33 miles this past week. But adding Sunday bumps it up artificially to 45 miles for these eight days. I had a migraine on the first Sunday, March 31. That's partly why I wasn't up to doing the track workout that I had planned for Tuesday. It was also a high pollen day and the first day in 2013 that I ran with my allergy mask on. I wouldn't have wanted to wear that thing for a track workout. On Friday I was just too busy to fit in a run. So the only speed I incorporated this week before the Cherry Blossom race was on Thursday, when I basically did a light fartlek run. I ran my usual easy pace but in each mile, except for the first and last, I did a short stride without stopping. That wasn't my original plan. I had just planned on doing a few strides after an easy run, but I ended up doing this because I didn't feel like stopping. I may start doing strides or hill sprints more regularly. At any rate I'd like to. Next week, since I'm pretty wiped out from the Cherry Blossom race, I'll concentrate on recovery at least initially. I'd like to run at least 50 miles (over seven days) and just keep things slow toward the beginning of the week. My only run faster than easy pace will be a track workout next weekend, which will be like the one I had planned for this past Tuesday: 5-6 x 1k hopefully at 5:50/mi. pace or faster. My next race is a 10k in two weeks on a fast course, and at this point I'm thinking of aiming for 36:30, which is 5:52/mi. We'll see how the track workout goes next weekend, though. My current 10k PR is 37:48 from the same race (Pike's Peek) last year.
Sunday: off
Monday: 5 miles at 7:19/mi.
Tuesday: 8 miles at 7:10/mi.
Wednesday: 6 miles at 7:17/mi.
Thursday: 8.4 miles at 7:04/mi. incorporating 6 strides
Friday: off
Saturday: 5.6 miles at 7:35/mi.
Sunday: 2 E, then 10 mile race in 1:03:01 (see race report below)
You'll notice that this week has eight days in it. I wanted to return to a calendar with weeks beginning on Mondays and ending on Sundays, and this seemed like a good week to make the switch. By my old Sunday-to-Saturday reckoning, I ran only 33 miles this past week. But adding Sunday bumps it up artificially to 45 miles for these eight days. I had a migraine on the first Sunday, March 31. That's partly why I wasn't up to doing the track workout that I had planned for Tuesday. It was also a high pollen day and the first day in 2013 that I ran with my allergy mask on. I wouldn't have wanted to wear that thing for a track workout. On Friday I was just too busy to fit in a run. So the only speed I incorporated this week before the Cherry Blossom race was on Thursday, when I basically did a light fartlek run. I ran my usual easy pace but in each mile, except for the first and last, I did a short stride without stopping. That wasn't my original plan. I had just planned on doing a few strides after an easy run, but I ended up doing this because I didn't feel like stopping. I may start doing strides or hill sprints more regularly. At any rate I'd like to. Next week, since I'm pretty wiped out from the Cherry Blossom race, I'll concentrate on recovery at least initially. I'd like to run at least 50 miles (over seven days) and just keep things slow toward the beginning of the week. My only run faster than easy pace will be a track workout next weekend, which will be like the one I had planned for this past Tuesday: 5-6 x 1k hopefully at 5:50/mi. pace or faster. My next race is a 10k in two weeks on a fast course, and at this point I'm thinking of aiming for 36:30, which is 5:52/mi. We'll see how the track workout goes next weekend, though. My current 10k PR is 37:48 from the same race (Pike's Peek) last year.
CHERRY BLOSSOM 10-MILER (race report):
This may be my favorite race in the Washington area. Certainly it's my favorite big race. I've heard people complain that it's too big for the narrow roads it's run on, which must indeed be frustrating for people stuck behind slower runners. But both of the times I've run it, this year and last, I was able to start right up front in the first wave, just behind the professional and elite runners, where crowds are not a problem. The course is almost entirely flat but also interesting. The scenery is striking, even when the cherry blossoms themselves are mere buds as they were this year. The course circles back on itself a couple times early on so that you can see faster runners up ahead of you; and there are enough turns to keep the course from becoming boring but not so many that it slows you down a lot. The crowds and support are also great without being overwhelming. This year, however, wind was a factor, especially on the second half of the course in East Potomac Park, which is surrounded by water. When I first went outside and felt the wind the morning of the race, I expected that my more ambitious goal of finishing under 62 minutes was unrealistic and scaled my hopes back to my original goal of finishing under 63 minutes. Still, I felt good in the first part of the race and went through halfway in 31:07, almost on pace to hit my more ambitious goal. In fact, my Garmin misled me into thinking that I went through halfway under 31 minutes, probably because part of the course runs under the overhang of the Kennedy Center and screws up GPS reception, which caused my Garmin to tell me that I was .07 miles further along the course than I really was beginning somewhere in mile 4. Anyway, around halfway I started getting tired and would have slowed down a little even if we hadn't started running into a moderate headwind at that point, but together those two factors caused me to run the second half 47 seconds slower than the first, or almost 10 seconds per mile. After crossing the 10k mark in 38:52 I just tried to keep running fast enough to finish under 63 minutes, and I think I managed to hold my form together relatively well. By the beginning of mile 9 I was sure that I could manage a 1:02:59 and relaxed somewhat, though a sour stomach and some rude little hills in mile 10 required me to work harder at the end. When I crossed the finish line, I believed that I was finishing comfortably with 3-4 seconds to spare. But it turned out that I had miscalculated and actually finished in 1:03:01. Of course my first thought was that I could easily have run a couple seconds faster in the last couple miles if I had calculated correctly. But, really, who cares? I basically hit my goal for the race, and it's kind of dumb anyway to aim for such a nice, round number instead of simply running as hard as I can. That's what I get for relaxing in mile 9, I guess. My average pace works out to 6:18/mi., but I ran 6:13/mi. in the first half and 6:23/mi. in the second. Even without the wind, I don't think that I could have run under 62 minutes that day after all. Maybe 1:02:30 or so. But I'm happy with how the race went, and really it's pretty remarkable that I could run as fast as I did after training so little for so long now. I know that I have the legs and lungs to run significantly faster, certainly under an hour for 10 miles, if I just got my running act together and put in a significant block of harder training. It is kind of gratifying, though, to continue improving as I am without working very hard - this was a 10 mile PR by 1:41 or 10 seconds per mile.
This may be my favorite race in the Washington area. Certainly it's my favorite big race. I've heard people complain that it's too big for the narrow roads it's run on, which must indeed be frustrating for people stuck behind slower runners. But both of the times I've run it, this year and last, I was able to start right up front in the first wave, just behind the professional and elite runners, where crowds are not a problem. The course is almost entirely flat but also interesting. The scenery is striking, even when the cherry blossoms themselves are mere buds as they were this year. The course circles back on itself a couple times early on so that you can see faster runners up ahead of you; and there are enough turns to keep the course from becoming boring but not so many that it slows you down a lot. The crowds and support are also great without being overwhelming. This year, however, wind was a factor, especially on the second half of the course in East Potomac Park, which is surrounded by water. When I first went outside and felt the wind the morning of the race, I expected that my more ambitious goal of finishing under 62 minutes was unrealistic and scaled my hopes back to my original goal of finishing under 63 minutes. Still, I felt good in the first part of the race and went through halfway in 31:07, almost on pace to hit my more ambitious goal. In fact, my Garmin misled me into thinking that I went through halfway under 31 minutes, probably because part of the course runs under the overhang of the Kennedy Center and screws up GPS reception, which caused my Garmin to tell me that I was .07 miles further along the course than I really was beginning somewhere in mile 4. Anyway, around halfway I started getting tired and would have slowed down a little even if we hadn't started running into a moderate headwind at that point, but together those two factors caused me to run the second half 47 seconds slower than the first, or almost 10 seconds per mile. After crossing the 10k mark in 38:52 I just tried to keep running fast enough to finish under 63 minutes, and I think I managed to hold my form together relatively well. By the beginning of mile 9 I was sure that I could manage a 1:02:59 and relaxed somewhat, though a sour stomach and some rude little hills in mile 10 required me to work harder at the end. When I crossed the finish line, I believed that I was finishing comfortably with 3-4 seconds to spare. But it turned out that I had miscalculated and actually finished in 1:03:01. Of course my first thought was that I could easily have run a couple seconds faster in the last couple miles if I had calculated correctly. But, really, who cares? I basically hit my goal for the race, and it's kind of dumb anyway to aim for such a nice, round number instead of simply running as hard as I can. That's what I get for relaxing in mile 9, I guess. My average pace works out to 6:18/mi., but I ran 6:13/mi. in the first half and 6:23/mi. in the second. Even without the wind, I don't think that I could have run under 62 minutes that day after all. Maybe 1:02:30 or so. But I'm happy with how the race went, and really it's pretty remarkable that I could run as fast as I did after training so little for so long now. I know that I have the legs and lungs to run significantly faster, certainly under an hour for 10 miles, if I just got my running act together and put in a significant block of harder training. It is kind of gratifying, though, to continue improving as I am without working very hard - this was a 10 mile PR by 1:41 or 10 seconds per mile.
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