It's been a while since I wrote down anything in here. August twenty-eighth, in fact, was my last entry, and that's because I don't like writing (or reading, or talking) about running when I'm pissed off at it. I had what was, for me, the worst season ever, which really isn't saying that much because I've been #blessed to have an almost injury- and sickness-free career up to this point. Unfortunately the weird sickness, or reaction, or full-body freak-out, or whatever it was, showed up a total of three times this summer and fall and basically trashed any chance of me putting together any good training and racing, so after the third time it happened I threw in the towel and took a total of 5 weeks either off or very easy. I think I actually took 2 weeks off and ran like 30-50-60 for the next 3 weeks.
Once those three weeks were up it was late November, and I figured I might as well see how I was doing. I bumped the mileage hard and for the next three weeks (up until now) I ran a lot and gradually increased the workouts systematically as follows:
Intervals once a week, starting with 8 x 200 and adding 100m to the length each week. So it went 8 x 200, 8 x 300, 8 x 400, etc. Recovery was adjusted to be reasonable.
Tempo once a week, starting at 4 loops around the park (4 miles) and adding 1 loop each week.
This worked fine at first until I went to Boulder to visit Feeney (who I'n sure I mention in the early entries of this log) and was on his schedule. We did a hard half marathon workout of 3 x 2 miles for him, because he is in good shape and racing Houston in a few weeks. Then we ran almost 2 hours the next day and an "easy" 10 miles the day after. This trip was fun, but wrecked me because of the cumulative effect of fatigue brought on by altitude and hard training.
Once I got back to Baltimore, I got back into training and plan to continue on that above schedule for some time until racing starts. This was I think I can get into shape without forcing it too quickly.
The most important change I have made since getting back into it for real has been not timing anything. Since the intervals are on the track at PP high school and the tempos are around a 1 mile loop, I know all the distances and don't need to time anything to know how far I've gone. So far I've been working out 100% by feel and have been feeling pretty damn good. I know myself pretty well, and I know that if I start timing the workouts I'll start inching the pace down too hard to try and hit splits I think I "should be" hitting, or racing previous versions of myself from last year when I was in the best shape of my life. I know that that's dumb, but I also know that so much of my self-confidence and ego is based on running fitness that even despite my best intentions I'll still be stupid about it. So, I haven't been timing anything and as a result I really don't have a clue what kind of shape I'm in. But who cares? It's December, and the first really big race I care about isn't until April 2nd (Cherry Blossom). So I've got basically three months plus to get into great shape.
Great segue there into the racing schedule. I just applied for the Saucony Hurricane team, and one of the questions on the application was a tentative spring schedule so I was forced to look up races I want to do. Since those are fresh in my mind I figured I would add them here.
Big races: Cherry Blossom, Pittsburgh half marathon. These are two races about a month apart that I really want to knock out of the park.
Other races added in around: club challenge, Tim Kennard, Pikes Peek, Shamrock 5k? Delaware half?? I originally assumed that Pitt and DE were the same weekend but turns around it's a weekend apart. Even so doing two half marathons on back to back weekends is a very tall order, but I might still do it...for the scrilla.
I've never done Shamrock, but if I can get those goobers at CCR to comp my entry I would like to do it. It's the most competitive Baltimore City race so I think I would be remiss not to do it when I'm in good shape.
That's it for now, I hope to continue logging high mileage, moderate workouts and feel good doing it.
Monday, December 19, 2016
Sunday, August 28, 2016
Can't catch a break
Up until about 2.5 weeks ago, training was going as planned. I had resumed training in the beginning of June and gotten in some good work through most of that month and July, with two down weeks planned for vacation during which I still managed to get some running in. After getting in very good training back from those vacations, I ran probably the best workout of my life and immediately got sick. When I say immediately, I mean I jogged home from the workout in the park, showered and started getting chills and not wanting to eat. I was sick with fairly high fever for four days. I started running again, felt bad all week (not entirely unexpected, but very frustrating) and after a mediocre long run that following weekend picked up a muscular injury that has now bothered me for a week.
I need to be rational here and take my own advice, which would be take a couple days OFF (no cross training bullshit, actually off) and treat the hell out of it and hope for the best. What frustrates me the most about this is the timing; this could not be worse unless it was right before the Big Race. Right when I want to really be crushing the specific workouts, I am hamstrung in my prep right now and can see a PR slipping away as I sit around unable to gain any fitness because I can't run. What's also frustrating is that it seems as though I can't run in the mornings but can run later in the day once whatever the problem is has warmed up/loosened up. Normally I wouldn't care and would power through, but considering the races are all in the mornings, if I don't get this sorted out ASAP I'm totally fucked for racing, even if I can work out just fine in the evening. Just trying to keep my head up and hope that this will go away quickly so I can get back to work before there's no point in even showing up to the races.
Monday, August 1, 2016
Mid-cycle update, summer 2016
Currently I am about halfway through the Chicago 2016 training cycle.
Intermediate races planned, all hard training efforts:
8/20/16: Druid Hills 10k
9/11/16: Parks half marathon
Goal race:
10/9/16: Chicago marathon
Currently I am training well, barring a couple weeks of lower intensity/maintenance work due to two separate two week vacations. One of those I maintained well and got 80+ miles, the other I ran nearly every day but was also at high altitude (8000+) the entire time so it probably balances out.
Training from here on out barring any interruptions will be fairly straightforward. Almost all workouts will be marathon-specific or supportive, as best as I can manage in this east coast summer weather. The occasional shorter speed workout might creep in, but only if I have an awkward time gap between workouts and I haven't done something quicker in a while. The goal will be to run 14x every week and something near 120 mpw. I do not expect to do this week in and week out, but it is always the goal to shoot for.
Currently the fitness is right on track. This past week featured brutal heat and humidity with at least one day setting or tying a record. I still managed a solid long run workout both weekends and a 45 minute hill workout midweek. The bad weather ended up paying some acclimation dividends; during my long run this past weekend, the dewpoint was a normally intolerable 74, but during a long hard workout in which I took nothing in for over 2 hours I felt unaffected and smooth averaging 5:35 pace for a 17 mile workout, which converting to an ideal marathon race setting converts right to my goal pace. These consistent long workouts set the stage for the super specific workouts which will start in the coming weeks. I want to be able to get more miles in the fast long runs as well as getting some good volume in workouts faster than goal marathon pace.
I want to try and get at least 6 weeks of specific marathon work in, which ideally means 12 workouts. My goal pace for this cycle is 5:20s (2:20 marathon) so these workouts could be some of the following, with all kinds of possible permutations on these:
4 x [4 miles @ 5:20 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
6 x [2 miles @ 5:05 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
3 x [3 miles @ 5:10 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
10-13 miles @ 5:15-5:20
20 miles @ 5:30
24 miles @ 5:40
Obviously these are pretty lofty. If the summer weather keeps up at this level I doubt I'll be able to hit all of these, but I have no problem modifying them for weather because I know my goal pace of 5:20 wouldn't hold up if Chicago was hot and humid.
If I can fit anything else in, these workouts would be supported by some of the following:
50-60 minutes of hill repeats
7-10 mile repeats under 5:00 pace
overdistance runs (26-28 miles with no goal pace or time)
And an infinite variety of shorter speed workouts to work on running efficiency at speed and make 5:20 pace feel slow.
I believe one of the important concepts with long distance workouts, in my case half and full marathon training, is the importance of no true recovery periods in the workout. In classic interval training for track races, true recovery is necessary to many sessions because it's impossible to do, for example, 10 x 400 at mile pace without some amount of true recovery. Since the marathon is so much less intense in terms of heart rate and energy systems used (specifically lactate production and oxygen debt) it becomes both possible and practical to incorporate workouts in which the "recovery" between harder efforts is only 30s a mile slower or so than the pace of the hard segments. I first started working out like this when training for my first serious half marathon in the fall of 2013 and felt that it made a huge difference in my fitness and ability to handle a hard, fast pace for a long time. That's my rationale for all of those interval workouts listed above.
Intermediate races planned, all hard training efforts:
8/20/16: Druid Hills 10k
9/11/16: Parks half marathon
Goal race:
10/9/16: Chicago marathon
Currently I am training well, barring a couple weeks of lower intensity/maintenance work due to two separate two week vacations. One of those I maintained well and got 80+ miles, the other I ran nearly every day but was also at high altitude (8000+) the entire time so it probably balances out.
Training from here on out barring any interruptions will be fairly straightforward. Almost all workouts will be marathon-specific or supportive, as best as I can manage in this east coast summer weather. The occasional shorter speed workout might creep in, but only if I have an awkward time gap between workouts and I haven't done something quicker in a while. The goal will be to run 14x every week and something near 120 mpw. I do not expect to do this week in and week out, but it is always the goal to shoot for.
Currently the fitness is right on track. This past week featured brutal heat and humidity with at least one day setting or tying a record. I still managed a solid long run workout both weekends and a 45 minute hill workout midweek. The bad weather ended up paying some acclimation dividends; during my long run this past weekend, the dewpoint was a normally intolerable 74, but during a long hard workout in which I took nothing in for over 2 hours I felt unaffected and smooth averaging 5:35 pace for a 17 mile workout, which converting to an ideal marathon race setting converts right to my goal pace. These consistent long workouts set the stage for the super specific workouts which will start in the coming weeks. I want to be able to get more miles in the fast long runs as well as getting some good volume in workouts faster than goal marathon pace.
I want to try and get at least 6 weeks of specific marathon work in, which ideally means 12 workouts. My goal pace for this cycle is 5:20s (2:20 marathon) so these workouts could be some of the following, with all kinds of possible permutations on these:
4 x [4 miles @ 5:20 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
6 x [2 miles @ 5:05 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
3 x [3 miles @ 5:10 / 1 mile @ 5:40-5:50]
10-13 miles @ 5:15-5:20
20 miles @ 5:30
24 miles @ 5:40
Obviously these are pretty lofty. If the summer weather keeps up at this level I doubt I'll be able to hit all of these, but I have no problem modifying them for weather because I know my goal pace of 5:20 wouldn't hold up if Chicago was hot and humid.
If I can fit anything else in, these workouts would be supported by some of the following:
50-60 minutes of hill repeats
7-10 mile repeats under 5:00 pace
overdistance runs (26-28 miles with no goal pace or time)
And an infinite variety of shorter speed workouts to work on running efficiency at speed and make 5:20 pace feel slow.
I believe one of the important concepts with long distance workouts, in my case half and full marathon training, is the importance of no true recovery periods in the workout. In classic interval training for track races, true recovery is necessary to many sessions because it's impossible to do, for example, 10 x 400 at mile pace without some amount of true recovery. Since the marathon is so much less intense in terms of heart rate and energy systems used (specifically lactate production and oxygen debt) it becomes both possible and practical to incorporate workouts in which the "recovery" between harder efforts is only 30s a mile slower or so than the pace of the hard segments. I first started working out like this when training for my first serious half marathon in the fall of 2013 and felt that it made a huge difference in my fitness and ability to handle a hard, fast pace for a long time. That's my rationale for all of those interval workouts listed above.
Thursday, June 9, 2016
Spring 2016 recap
Now that I've wrapped the spring season, taken 2 weeks off and started back up again, I can look back and evaluate how the last few months of running and racing played out. The most important thing for me to remember is the context of this season. The roots go all the way back to June 2015, when I decided to go for an OTQ at Philly RNR on 10/31. That plan failed, but carried over into a successful race at Jacksonville, which carried over to the Trials in February, which set the tone for the entire spring. To summarize, everything after the trials was gravy. If I had gotten into a car accident and broken my legs I would have still called 2016 a success after February.
After the OT, I did not have a clear path to take. I had basically gotten partway towards being in good marathon shape, and was in very good overall distance shape. The problem I had was that, in my estimation, I didn't have enough time or motivation to refocus and get in good track shape. I also didn't really want to force the mental and physical recovery after the Trials by rushing together a serious spring plan. So, I decided to compromise and race some spring races, but not trying to put together a 100% top-notch performance at any of them. Spring was to be a period of active racing, but not shooting for a lifetime PR in anything.
Because I was in good long-distance shape, I decided to target Cherry Blossom and Broad Street as my two major races. These had the advantage of being relatively local and being a month apart, which gave me flexibility on the remaining weekend. I also like to race that distance. Besides those two races, along the way I put other lower-key races on the schedule that would be good places to win some money.
In the end, the spring season was a successful one by my analysis. I won more money at races than I ever have, ran some new races, met some other runners at my level, even PR'd at 10 miles. I never felt like I was not enjoying myself, but I was glad when it was over and I had the novelty of time off (which I hated). I still haven't come up with a satisfying goal for Fall 2016 yet but I have the luxury of not having to sign up for races 8 months ahead of time. This gives me plenty of time to plan something. Maybe even another marathon? I do know that I want to get back on the track next spring. Sub 14 in the 5k would be a great lifetime PR, and after last spring I promised myself that if I ever got into as good or better shape again, I would go out west to chase a big PR.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, one day at a time.
After the OT, I did not have a clear path to take. I had basically gotten partway towards being in good marathon shape, and was in very good overall distance shape. The problem I had was that, in my estimation, I didn't have enough time or motivation to refocus and get in good track shape. I also didn't really want to force the mental and physical recovery after the Trials by rushing together a serious spring plan. So, I decided to compromise and race some spring races, but not trying to put together a 100% top-notch performance at any of them. Spring was to be a period of active racing, but not shooting for a lifetime PR in anything.
Because I was in good long-distance shape, I decided to target Cherry Blossom and Broad Street as my two major races. These had the advantage of being relatively local and being a month apart, which gave me flexibility on the remaining weekend. I also like to race that distance. Besides those two races, along the way I put other lower-key races on the schedule that would be good places to win some money.
In the end, the spring season was a successful one by my analysis. I won more money at races than I ever have, ran some new races, met some other runners at my level, even PR'd at 10 miles. I never felt like I was not enjoying myself, but I was glad when it was over and I had the novelty of time off (which I hated). I still haven't come up with a satisfying goal for Fall 2016 yet but I have the luxury of not having to sign up for races 8 months ahead of time. This gives me plenty of time to plan something. Maybe even another marathon? I do know that I want to get back on the track next spring. Sub 14 in the 5k would be a great lifetime PR, and after last spring I promised myself that if I ever got into as good or better shape again, I would go out west to chase a big PR.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. For now, one day at a time.
Monday, May 2, 2016
Broad Street 2016 recap
This year was the second time I've run Broad Street. The first time I ran it, I surprised myself by placed 7th overall and 1st American running 49:56. I remember that as being a really tough race and that I was totally wiped out and well-peaked for that day. This year, I ran slightly better in both place (6th overall this year) and time (49:50), but unlike last time I felt that this spring was a bit more relaxed of a racing cycle, coming after the winter. Looking at it this way it's nice to see that, even at a slight depression in training and racing, I still was able to run better than I could in a perfect race 2 years ago here.
The race itself was overall a little slower than some other years. Perhaps this was due to the weather, or the lack of African depth up front - only 2 Africans in the top 8. The weather was about as bad as it gets in early May, with a cold rain lasting throughout the morning. This was fine with me during the race, but was obviously not ideal before and after.
The race itself played out pretty well. I had people to run with or to chase just ahead the entire time. My only regret is that I let a gap open up between me and a group of 4 ahead of me in the last few miles. I beat 2 out of 4, but with two guys less than 8 seconds ahead of me it leaves me thinking that if only I could have held on in that pack I could have placed 4th overall instead of 6th.
Some pictures from the helicopters. I'm in the bright green.
Early on in the race with a big group up front:
Later on after the big lead pack broke up:
The race itself was overall a little slower than some other years. Perhaps this was due to the weather, or the lack of African depth up front - only 2 Africans in the top 8. The weather was about as bad as it gets in early May, with a cold rain lasting throughout the morning. This was fine with me during the race, but was obviously not ideal before and after.
The race itself played out pretty well. I had people to run with or to chase just ahead the entire time. My only regret is that I let a gap open up between me and a group of 4 ahead of me in the last few miles. I beat 2 out of 4, but with two guys less than 8 seconds ahead of me it leaves me thinking that if only I could have held on in that pack I could have placed 4th overall instead of 6th.
Some pictures from the helicopters. I'm in the bright green.
Early on in the race with a big group up front:
Later on after the big lead pack broke up:
Monday, April 4, 2016
Big update - mid-spring 2016
I haven't put anything up here in a while and am long overdue for an update because of a couple things.
First of all, I scheduled a pretty busy spring racing schedule for about 4-5 weeks racing nearly every weekend. My broad outline was to schedule two big 10 milers (Cherry Blossom and Broad Street) a month apart, being the first weekend of April and May respectively, and fill in the rest of the schedule with money races from there.
I caught the injury bug in mid-March after resuming hard training post-OT. I suspect that it was due to jumping into hard hill work, both up and down hills, that aggravated some tendinitis in my left foot. I was nervous about this because it hurt over the navicular, but after getting it examined it was determined to likely be soft tissue inflammation. Translation: train through it, ice and advil. I am still dealing with this, albeit in a controlled and slowly improving manner. It did however take me out for about a week, some of which was spent watching March Madness on the bike trainer.
After getting over that scare and back into trainers (and flats), I was hoping for a good run at Cherry Blossom. Coming up to the race, the weather was forecasted to be very bad for fast times, with temps in the mid-30s and high winds.
Before I discuss the race specifically, I do want to talk about the elite treatment, hospitality and accommodations. If you ever get a chance to run in the elite field at this race, DO IT. It was a phenomenal experience. The hotel was top-notch, the hospitality suite was open nearly all the time for food, drinks, whatever. All meals were comped. The staff was wonderful, very nice and seemed to really enjoy their jobs. Honestly coming off of the OT experience where the USATF staff treated us relatively badly, it was a real breath of fresh air. Emily was able to stay with me as a guest, and we made some new friends on the trip, which of course is one thing we all love about our sport.
Back to the race. The weather was actually not as terrible as it was forecasted to be. In the technical meeting the day before, the race director had taken cautious measures and removed most things on the course that could potentially turn into wind-borne missiles. Mile markers, most tents and the entire awards ceremony were removed and everyone was encouraged to finish the race and get out as soon as possible to keep problems to a minimum. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely windy, but no 50 mph gusts or 30 mph sustained winds as the predictions showed.
The start was conservative as people were worried about the wind. For about 2 miles I hung on the back of the lead group. Going over the Potomac bridge into Virginia, we were jogging along into the wind because no one up front wanted to sacrifice themselves. Suddenly someone got impatient and broke up the field. After that everyone split up into smaller groups. I linked up with a couple guys, one of whom I would run the rest of the race with.
The wind was intermittently a head and tail wind, but I think it was pretty fair out on the course. By that I mean it didn't seem like it was disproportionately a headwind, although the last 2 miles straight into it were pretty tough. I had grouped myself with 3 others by the time we turned into that so we took turns blocking it up the last stretch. My one tactical blunder was to try and break the group I was with with a mile to go with a hard surge. I ended up breaking myself and getting beat by one of the guys I was with, but was able to outkick another for 15th overall and (I believe) 8th American. This gave me the pleasant surprise of making $300, before taxes of course. Time didn't matter much to me on this day, but I ran 51:18 for the record and believe the time could have been somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes faster depending on the level of drafting being done.
Overall I had a good experience at this race, obviously colored by the excellent elite treatment, and would love to come back again. On a still-air day at 40 degrees this course is one of the world's fastest and a great place to PR for the distance.
First of all, I scheduled a pretty busy spring racing schedule for about 4-5 weeks racing nearly every weekend. My broad outline was to schedule two big 10 milers (Cherry Blossom and Broad Street) a month apart, being the first weekend of April and May respectively, and fill in the rest of the schedule with money races from there.
I caught the injury bug in mid-March after resuming hard training post-OT. I suspect that it was due to jumping into hard hill work, both up and down hills, that aggravated some tendinitis in my left foot. I was nervous about this because it hurt over the navicular, but after getting it examined it was determined to likely be soft tissue inflammation. Translation: train through it, ice and advil. I am still dealing with this, albeit in a controlled and slowly improving manner. It did however take me out for about a week, some of which was spent watching March Madness on the bike trainer.
After getting over that scare and back into trainers (and flats), I was hoping for a good run at Cherry Blossom. Coming up to the race, the weather was forecasted to be very bad for fast times, with temps in the mid-30s and high winds.
Before I discuss the race specifically, I do want to talk about the elite treatment, hospitality and accommodations. If you ever get a chance to run in the elite field at this race, DO IT. It was a phenomenal experience. The hotel was top-notch, the hospitality suite was open nearly all the time for food, drinks, whatever. All meals were comped. The staff was wonderful, very nice and seemed to really enjoy their jobs. Honestly coming off of the OT experience where the USATF staff treated us relatively badly, it was a real breath of fresh air. Emily was able to stay with me as a guest, and we made some new friends on the trip, which of course is one thing we all love about our sport.
Back to the race. The weather was actually not as terrible as it was forecasted to be. In the technical meeting the day before, the race director had taken cautious measures and removed most things on the course that could potentially turn into wind-borne missiles. Mile markers, most tents and the entire awards ceremony were removed and everyone was encouraged to finish the race and get out as soon as possible to keep problems to a minimum. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely windy, but no 50 mph gusts or 30 mph sustained winds as the predictions showed.
The start was conservative as people were worried about the wind. For about 2 miles I hung on the back of the lead group. Going over the Potomac bridge into Virginia, we were jogging along into the wind because no one up front wanted to sacrifice themselves. Suddenly someone got impatient and broke up the field. After that everyone split up into smaller groups. I linked up with a couple guys, one of whom I would run the rest of the race with.
The wind was intermittently a head and tail wind, but I think it was pretty fair out on the course. By that I mean it didn't seem like it was disproportionately a headwind, although the last 2 miles straight into it were pretty tough. I had grouped myself with 3 others by the time we turned into that so we took turns blocking it up the last stretch. My one tactical blunder was to try and break the group I was with with a mile to go with a hard surge. I ended up breaking myself and getting beat by one of the guys I was with, but was able to outkick another for 15th overall and (I believe) 8th American. This gave me the pleasant surprise of making $300, before taxes of course. Time didn't matter much to me on this day, but I ran 51:18 for the record and believe the time could have been somewhere between 1 and 2 minutes faster depending on the level of drafting being done.
Overall I had a good experience at this race, obviously colored by the excellent elite treatment, and would love to come back again. On a still-air day at 40 degrees this course is one of the world's fastest and a great place to PR for the distance.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
The Olympic Trials: before, during and after
Training Recap
between Jacksonville and the OT:
I think when
considering training it’s very important to look at context. Looking at the
marathon from my point of view, I was very much overtrained on the speed end of
things – my overarching goal for months had been to run 4:55 pace for as long as possible, after all. With that in
mind I neglected all training that was significantly faster than goal marathon
pace, which I estimated as 5:20 miles. In the four real training weeks between
the two races, I got in the following:
- 3 moderate to high quality long runs:
- 20 miler including 7 miles at MP during the back half
- 21 miles steady pace, averaging 5:40s on a rolling paved loop
- 24 miles progressing throughout, averaging 6:00 with the last 4-5 miles being 5:30-5:40
4 specific
marathon-pace tempo runs or alternating pace workouts:
- 15 miles done as 3 x [4 miles @ 5:20 + 1 mile @ 5:40] for a total time of 1:21 (5:24 avg)
- 12 miles alternating miles faster and slower than MP
- 11 miles run by feel averaging 5:24
- 8 miles in 41 minutes 9 days out (last hard workout)
Obviously in
a perfect world I would have been able to get in even higher volume workouts –
I don’t count many of those as being truly marathon specific. However because I
only had 4 weeks I knew that was the best I could do in the situation. I also
ran twice a day essentially every day and got my highest volume weeks ever with
a couple in the 120 range.
Olympic
Trials Race Recap:
Obviously
with dropping out at around 14 miles the race did not go well. This will more
be about trying to explain my rationale than actually recapping the race, which
I will do briefly:
I was thirsty
from essentially the beginning despite drinking all morning consistently and
about as much as I could without feeling bloated. The pace never felt
comfortable and after coming through 5 miles at 5:20s I decided to slow down a
bit and try to feel better. Despite backing off I felt worse every mile and
after mile 11 I was running 6:00 pace and had been alone for some time. By mile
13 I had run a couple 6 minute miles in a row and was continuing to feel worse.
Once I saw my friends I stopped to say hi and that I was stopping at the end of
the current loop.
The race
started at 10 am and the official weather readings do not tell the fully story.
More telling are the finish times and the attrition rate:
- 166 men started, 105 finished
- 18 men broke 2:19, the qualifying standard to which all men should have been capable of
There is a
long thread on Letsrun that started as one guy wondering how anyone could DNF
the Trials and look themselves in the mirror after that. It turned into a
fairly well balanced discussion, but reminded me a lot of when people argue
about religious views – clearly no one was going to convince someone on the
other side of their viewpoint and the endgame was guaranteed to be “agree to
disagree.” I did not contribute, but since I DNF’d it should be clear that I
side with the people who don’t think that it’s morally reprehensible to do so. The
clear difference that I saw was that many of the people criticizing the choice
to DNF were not elite, and qualified themselves as such. One guy who dropped
out had this to say:
“A couple posters question the ethics of dropping out of a
race, which seems strange to me as an elite runner. There's not
"honor" in just finishing. No one really cares about what you're
doing besides you. I could have walked the last 6 miles, but I didn't want to.
I considered that more embarrassing than dropping out. Please don't apply your
honorable code of ethics to a level of running you don't understand…I race
marathons, you complete them. They are essentially different sports.”
The knee-jerk reaction to that last bit is to call this guy “elitist.”
Well you know what? In this case that is a correct label!
By definition he is an elite who is in a different league than almost all of
the people criticizing his decision. I agree with this logic and probably would
try to soften the language if pressed to explain it in person. Another person
had this to say:
“In a perfect world, a lot more than 20 years down the road,
I would rather not have to tell my grandkids I dropped out. But I live in the
real world and dropping out is a calculated decision. I'd rather drop out than
do long term damage or get injured pursuing a crappy result. Especially if I
can get a good result in a spring marathon that would not have been possible
otherwise. The runners who dropped out don't take doing so lightly but
understand a DNF does not show a character flaw or lack of commitment,
toughness, whatever the uniformed on this thread are suggesting.”
To me it was a simple decision. There was no value or “face”
to save by slogging out a 2:40 marathon or worse – just completing a marathon
is not my goal. I can go run a 2:40 marathon any weekend I choose by myself – I
essentially ran that or faster 2 weekends prior to this in training. My goal in
running is to run fast and beat people. Neither of which I was going to be able
to do. I am not a masochist and I have no desire to metaphorically kill myself
just to be able to tell other people (who know nothing about running) that I
finished a race miserably and took myself out of commission for who knows how
long. My self-esteem does not depend on what hobby joggers or nonathletes think
of my results – let them look down their noses at a DNF if they want.
I only went to this race because this was the Olympic Trials.I
would not have signed up to seriously run the LA Marathon the next day. I know
there are better opportunities to run fast and I am not in the business of
training hard to throw it away because of weather or any other factor. If I
were in the hunt of making money at this race it would have been a different
story, but I am not in that league and, again, there was nothing to be gained
from brute-forcing my way to a terrible time.
Where to go from here: spring 2016
Now that that’s over and I’m not too beat up by the
experience, I can look ahead at some spring races. Emily already has some good
races lined up, so for the sake of convenience I will likely piggyback on her
schedule, while adding some money races when I find them:
- Club Challenge (low-key 10 miler for the Falls Road group), 2/27
- Tim Kennard 10 miler (low key race with the group, has a bit of money), 3/6
- St. Patty’s day 5k in Baltimore (has a bit of money), 3/13
- Cherry Blossom, 4/3
- Broad Street, 5/1
In
terms of the training, I want to get back to basics. More general fitness
training and less super-specific work, although I will be generally focusing on
the 10 miler distance because I know I can race well over shorter stuff while
doing strength work. It will be a good opportunity to maintain the fitness I’ve
gained from half- and full-marathon training while bringing back a bit of the
speedwork I’ve neglected.
Because I've basically been training very hard for big races non-stop since June, I will take this spring as a time to back off a little and mentally recharge a bit. Cherry Blossom and Broad Street are big races, but compared to pushing for an OTQ and then actually going to the Trials, they will be more low key and less of a pressure environment. I think it will be a fun spring.
Because I've basically been training very hard for big races non-stop since June, I will take this spring as a time to back off a little and mentally recharge a bit. Cherry Blossom and Broad Street are big races, but compared to pushing for an OTQ and then actually going to the Trials, they will be more low key and less of a pressure environment. I think it will be a fun spring.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Jax Bank half recap (OTQ) and the next 6 weeks
Well I guess the time says it all: 1:04:27 to punch my ticket to LA for the Olympic Trials. It definitely hasn't sunk in that I ran a 70-something second PR to get under the standard with time to spare, but as the race recap below shows there has probably never been a better chance to run a OTQ race.
http://www.1stplacesports.com/jm15halfres.htm
Race Recap...
The race was January 3rd, 2016 at 7am in Jacksonville, FL. At first glace probably not the best spot to have a distance race - I know I assumed it wouldn't be great weather since it's Florida, after all. Vacation spots and beaches are what comes to mind. However the weather in Jax at that time of year is, on average, perfect for this kind of race. The days leading up to Sunday were awful for running, but a couple cold fronts rolled in just in time and the weather on the day was about 50 and showers. Perfect for us, bad for spectators.
With 60 guys in the elite field (15 had already qualified) and a more than qualified pacer in Tyler Pennel, we started off and ran to my recollection perfect pace. 4:55 was Tyler's goal pace which would give us a slight cushion as 4:57 is the required average for 1:05:00. I started off at the back of the pack and very gradually moved up throughout the race as allowed to stay a few meters behind Tyler and the rest of the spearhead. I recall seeing about 15:27 through 5k, 30:40 or so through 10k and 49:33 through 10 miles. Right on pace for the OTQ.
As for me and how my personal race was going, I felt good. I struggle to attach any adjective to that word, because no word I can think of really encapsulates just how I felt good. Nervously good? Worryingly good? I was relaxed and within myself, but at the same time apprehensive and bracing for when it was going to get tough. The effort crept upwards from about 3-7 miles, when I expected it to start to get really tough. Surprisingly, it leveled off there and I was still able to draft off of a pack that was slowly but surely getting smaller with each mile. The next few miles passed uneventfully (never a better word than that to use in a race) and I knew I had the OTQ in the bag at around 10 miles. I still felt strong and able to respond to a move if I had to, so I just sat in the pack and let the remaining guys pull me down the highway through the remaining miles. To be sure, the mile markers seemed farther apart now than before, but I was not turning myself inside out like it was at Philly. I was working quite hard and really feeling it, but knew I was not over the red line. At about mile 12 I decided to take a pull at the front and push a little harder to see what I could do, and held that effort all the way in to the finish. No big kicks once I could see the clock - I wanted to savor it a little bit, and there was a big group around me all finishing. Officially I was 10th, but the place was, for once, secondary to the time today.
The next 6 weeks...
...I have to work on totally change my body over to the marathon. To any outside observer or casual runner, this doesn't sound like a big deal. It's just going up one distance right? As anyone who has had success at shorter distances and then jumped in a full knows, going from the half to the full is not at all the same as moving up from the 5k to the 10k or from the 10k to the half. The biochemistry and physiological (not to mention psychological) demands of the event are totally different than the half, or any other shorter distance races. I fully realize that 6 weeks is not even close to enough time for me to successfully realize my potential going from the half to the full, especially because I have done almost zero marathon specific training. No long runs, only a couple long sustained tempo runs. Lots of mileage but broken into relatively little pieces.
Going to LA will be more of an experience than a race. Obviously I am going to do my best in the race and in the next 6 weeks to see if I can at least PR - the weather looks like it's typically pretty good and it IS the Olympic Trials - but I have no delusions of being able to run the "equivalent" performance as indicated by this last race. Getting near 2:20 would be an excellent mark.
The training will be more of a crash course in long runs and long workouts. I'll fit in as many long runs (20+ milers, hopefully) as my body will allow and the density of the training will suck. Mileage may drop to allow for quicker recovery from those workouts, but I'll have to feel out the training and see what my intuition tells me. It's going to be a rough next few weeks, but realistically it's only going to be 4 hard weeks of training. How bad can it be?
http://www.1stplacesports.com/jm15halfres.htm
Race Recap...
The race was January 3rd, 2016 at 7am in Jacksonville, FL. At first glace probably not the best spot to have a distance race - I know I assumed it wouldn't be great weather since it's Florida, after all. Vacation spots and beaches are what comes to mind. However the weather in Jax at that time of year is, on average, perfect for this kind of race. The days leading up to Sunday were awful for running, but a couple cold fronts rolled in just in time and the weather on the day was about 50 and showers. Perfect for us, bad for spectators.
With 60 guys in the elite field (15 had already qualified) and a more than qualified pacer in Tyler Pennel, we started off and ran to my recollection perfect pace. 4:55 was Tyler's goal pace which would give us a slight cushion as 4:57 is the required average for 1:05:00. I started off at the back of the pack and very gradually moved up throughout the race as allowed to stay a few meters behind Tyler and the rest of the spearhead. I recall seeing about 15:27 through 5k, 30:40 or so through 10k and 49:33 through 10 miles. Right on pace for the OTQ.
As for me and how my personal race was going, I felt good. I struggle to attach any adjective to that word, because no word I can think of really encapsulates just how I felt good. Nervously good? Worryingly good? I was relaxed and within myself, but at the same time apprehensive and bracing for when it was going to get tough. The effort crept upwards from about 3-7 miles, when I expected it to start to get really tough. Surprisingly, it leveled off there and I was still able to draft off of a pack that was slowly but surely getting smaller with each mile. The next few miles passed uneventfully (never a better word than that to use in a race) and I knew I had the OTQ in the bag at around 10 miles. I still felt strong and able to respond to a move if I had to, so I just sat in the pack and let the remaining guys pull me down the highway through the remaining miles. To be sure, the mile markers seemed farther apart now than before, but I was not turning myself inside out like it was at Philly. I was working quite hard and really feeling it, but knew I was not over the red line. At about mile 12 I decided to take a pull at the front and push a little harder to see what I could do, and held that effort all the way in to the finish. No big kicks once I could see the clock - I wanted to savor it a little bit, and there was a big group around me all finishing. Officially I was 10th, but the place was, for once, secondary to the time today.
The next 6 weeks...
...I have to work on totally change my body over to the marathon. To any outside observer or casual runner, this doesn't sound like a big deal. It's just going up one distance right? As anyone who has had success at shorter distances and then jumped in a full knows, going from the half to the full is not at all the same as moving up from the 5k to the 10k or from the 10k to the half. The biochemistry and physiological (not to mention psychological) demands of the event are totally different than the half, or any other shorter distance races. I fully realize that 6 weeks is not even close to enough time for me to successfully realize my potential going from the half to the full, especially because I have done almost zero marathon specific training. No long runs, only a couple long sustained tempo runs. Lots of mileage but broken into relatively little pieces.
Going to LA will be more of an experience than a race. Obviously I am going to do my best in the race and in the next 6 weeks to see if I can at least PR - the weather looks like it's typically pretty good and it IS the Olympic Trials - but I have no delusions of being able to run the "equivalent" performance as indicated by this last race. Getting near 2:20 would be an excellent mark.
The training will be more of a crash course in long runs and long workouts. I'll fit in as many long runs (20+ milers, hopefully) as my body will allow and the density of the training will suck. Mileage may drop to allow for quicker recovery from those workouts, but I'll have to feel out the training and see what my intuition tells me. It's going to be a rough next few weeks, but realistically it's only going to be 4 hard weeks of training. How bad can it be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)