Update to last post: Chicago Marathon

So I got accepted as as elite in the Chicago Marathon field. That means I'm officially committed to doing this, which by itself makes me nervous. It's definitely going to be an experience. I do believe that, even if for whatever reason it is not a "successful" race (in terms of time goals), the training and the experience itself will be invaluable to future training at shorter distances. I can definitely see myself moving up and down in distance throughout the year and I have always liked the idea of being a jack of all trades. This is mostly because I have this romantic notion of the "golden age" of American running in the last 70s/early 80s when those guys would race anyone, anywhere, anytime and run well at many distances, often close together. I don't think that I'll be the next Greg Meyer but in my own little way I hope to emulate those guys in their ability to lead a relatively normal life and train/race at a consistently high level.

Fall Marathon

After Swarthmore I started thinking what I wanted to do with running. With track season over and the fall being too far away to start seriously training for, I found myself in limbo. I started thinking about race options. I realized that, with my working schedule, it makes more sense to try and focus on big races that are few and far between so that I can minimize time off from work due to traveling. Once I started thinking about my circumstances, I realized that perhaps now is the time to plan for a fall marathon. 

My first thought was to stay close to home and run Philly on November 23. It's convenient, basically no travel, a good field for someone of my level, and I would be able to get at the very least free entry due to my performances in the half marathon and 10 miler in the last 9 months. November 23 is very far away though, and I would have to find something between now and then to focus on. I decided to look for another marathon a bit less deep into the fall. 

My next thought was Chicago. It's 5 weeks earlier than Philly and has arguably (with NYC) the best field in the USA. It's also an extremely fast course with good weather most years. I figured out how far away this race is, and although it's still almost 6 months away it's better than Philly. I decided to sit down and map out a training schedule for it:

Tentative Marathon Schedule - 2014 Chicago Marathon (10/12/2014)
Week #	Date Ending	Workout 1 (Midweek, no doubles)			Workout 2 (Weekend, try for doubles when reasonable)
		Type	Specifics	Total Mileage	Type	Specifics	Total Mileage
1	8-Jun	Tempo	9 mi @ 100% MP	14	Long Fartlek	8 x [1k @ 100-105% MP / 1k @ 85-90% MP]	15+5
2	15-Jun	Short Fartlek	20 x 1:00 on / 1:00 off	12	Long run	16 - 18 mi	16-18+5
3	22-Jun	Medium Intervals	6-8 x mi @ 105-110% MP	13	BLOCK	6-7 x [5:00 on, 5:00 off] + 8-10k @ 100% MP	17+8
4	29-Jun	Tempo	11 mi @ 100% MP	16	Long run	18 - 20 mi	18-20+4
5	6-Jul	Short Fartlek	12-15k of 75/85 on track	15	Long Fartlek	6 x [2k @ 100-105% MP / 1k @ 85-90% MP]	16+5
6	13-Jul	Medium Intervals	6-8 x 1.5 mi @ 105-110% MP	15	RACE	Boilermaker 15k	15+5
7	20-Jul	Short Fartlek	15-20 x 2:00 on / 2:00 off	17	Long run	20 - 22 mi	20-22+4
8	27-Jul	Tempo	12 miles @ 100% MP	16	Long Fartlek	5 x [3k @ 100-105% MP / 1k @ 85-90% MP]	17+5
9	3-Aug	Medium Intervals	4-5 x 2mile @ 100-105% MP	16	Long run	20 mi @ 90% MP	20+4
10	10-Aug	Tempo	13 miles @ 100% MP	17	BLOCK	4 x [10:00 on, 10:00 off] + 8-10k @ 100% MP	18+7
11	17-Aug	Short Fartlek	25-30 x 400 w/ 200j on track	15	Long run	22 mi @ 90% MP	22+4
12	24-Aug	Medium Intervals	4-5 x 2mi @ 105-110% MP	17	Long Fartlek	6 x [2k @ 100-105% MP / 1k @ 90-95% MP]	17+5
13	31-Aug	Tempo	14 mi @ 95-100% MP	17	Overdistance	26-28 mi	26-28
14	7-Sep	Short Fartlek	15-20 x 2:00 on / 2:00 off	16	Long run	24 mi @ 85-90% MP	24+4
15	14-Sep	Medium Intervals	3 x 3 mile @ 105% MP	15	RACE	Philly RNR half marathon	17
16	21-Sep	Short Fartlek	15 - 20 x 1:00 on / 1:00 off	13	Long run	22 mi @ 90-95% MP	22
17	28-Sep	Tempo	12 mi @ 100% MP	17	Long Fartlek	10-12 x [1k @ 100%-105% MP / 1k @ 90% MP)	18-20+4
18	5-Oct	Taper workout	6 x mile @ 100-105% MP	12	Taper	12-15 mi	12-15
19	12-Oct	Taper workout	5-8 x 1k @ 105-110% MP	10	RACE	Chicago	27

This is written for to begin serious training at the beginning of June. It is pretty daunting to look at in this condensed form, and this is a fairly detailed outline that I am not binding myself to, but it is a good start. 

If I hear back from the people at Chicago and I can get some sort of special treatment that incentivizes me enough to go, I will most likely do this and see where it shakes out. As of now, I am calling MP = 5:30 pace but that is a shot in the dark and I need to get a more exact handle on that when I gauge the difficulty of these workouts. 

My one and only track meet of 2014

After running Broad Street and hitting my goal, I realized that the annual last chance meet at Swarthmore College was only 8 days later. This meet is a well kept secret among collegiate and post collegiate runners in the region for its extremely good middle distance fields and magical conditions year after year. This is probably most famous as the meet in which Kyle Merber ran 3:35 at in 2012. I ran the 1500 in the heat after him and PR'd, but that race was something special to watch. Almost everyone ran huge PRs and it was such an amazing race that there was skepticism that the track was short or that the timing was off. 

Anyway, with that bit of backstory, you can see why I couldn't resist throwing my hat into the ring and running it this year, especially having PR'd at it the last time I ran. I decided to run the 5k, and I will defer to my running log for my thoughts on the race: 

Going into this race I thought that if I had a solid day I would run 14:25. I did not account for two things. Obviously #1 is the Swarthmore magic. #2 is that I seriously have never been in a race so perfectly set up for me to win. The weather was very warm and humid but by race time it wasn't too bad.

There were 93 guys on the entries for the 5k so it got split into 3 heats, which still meant that after scratches there were almost 30 guys in each heat. I was #11 seed which was ideal, since I was on the first line of guys and pretty far out on the line which meant that I could avoid traffic for the first 200m. Got out well but it was a slow start so there was some traffic jamming. After a guy at the finish line told us we just ran a 37 opening 200, the rabbit from Haverford elbowed his way up to the front and cut that shit out. I weaved my way up to the front pack that was already breaking away.

For the next 2 miles the race progressed very well. I was at the end of the front group of 5 guys including myself and the rabbit. The rabbit was consistently running 68.x which was perfect effort for me. One the rabbit dropped the pace slowed down from 68-69 to 71 and even a 72. After about two laps of that nonsense I took the lead with ~900m to go. The slow laps had let me rest up and I basically knew I had the race in the bag. Picked it up with 800 to go but not a real kick yet. With 400 to go I had dropped everybody but I kicked hard anyway and closed in 60-61.

Encouraging result and I know I can go faster, so it almost makes me want to do another one. Finding high caliber track races this time of year is tough though. 

Obviously I was happy with the way the race went, and winning is always a great feeling. Now that that's over, it leaves me wondering what the rest of my year holds, which will be told in the next entry...

Broad Street recap

So after those predictions yesterday I went out and ran 49:56, exactly what I thought I was capable of. It took a real race effort and great conditions as well as a guy right in front of me the whole time acting as the carrot.

First couple miles were very fast. I was 9:40 thru two miles, much of that due to the downhill and my desire to run in a group for as long as was reasonable. It ended up being the lead pack which was all foreigners and me. After I let them go some other Americans caught up to me and one went by. He remained a couple seconds ahead for much of the race.

Miles 3-5 were weird. I know the race it net downhill but these miles were very gradually rolling. Coming up on City Hall at mile 5.5 you make the only turn in the race and go around the building, staying on Broad st.

Miles 6-8 were my low point in the race. I was hovering just over 5:00 pace, and since I had built up that cushion on my goal time in the first two miles I was creeping over my goal average with these miles. My calves were starting to feel pretty tired and on the edge of cramping, which was not a good sign with almost half the race left. I pushed as hard as I could without going over the Red Line, but I was still by myself chasing the top American ahead.

After I survived those tough miles I kept grinding through, taking it a mile at a time. After mile 8 I started to really push, and I was slowly closing the gap on the guy ahead. After mile 9 I committed to a big move and caught him at probably 9.25. This is the point in the race where you go under I-95 and can't see the entrance to the Navy Yard so it's tough to gauge how far out you are from the finish. Once I saw the Navy Yard sign and hit the little downhill into the yard I started kicking. Not a very good kick because muscularly I was bankrupt but still as hard as I could go. I learned later it was 400m to the finish from the entrance to the Navy Yard, so a good time to go. The entire finishing stretch I was going as hard as possible but breaking down the whole way, so I was nervous the guy I passed was coming back on me. Last mile was in ~4:50.

I was pretty happy to finish just under my goal time and as (I was pretty sure even then) top American. This was definitely a 100% race effort, I was very wiped after and muscularly in pretty bad shape. Calves were used up and the cooldown was tough. Energy was OK on the cooldown trotting at 8 minute pace but even jogging in trainers was hard.

My parents and Emily came to watch (Emily was nice enough to drop me off at the start and drive my car to the finish) and we sat around for the awards, which were pretty poorly organized and took way too long (I'm still grumpy about this). I did get recognized for being top American finisher which was a big deal. However I was still 8th overall so I have room to improve. The winner was 47 low, which wasn't even near the course record of 45:51, crazy fast times.

Overall exactly what I was hoping for from this race. Now the challenge is to see if I can recover for a track 5k next Monday. Very easy recovery jogs should help but it will be a bit of a race against time.

Prediction for Broad Street (tomorrow)

Well it's already May and that means Broad Street is tomorrow. In January when I thought I wasn't going to be running at all until now I would not have ever had serious aspirations about racing this cycle. I'm going to offer a prediction for the race tomorrow and break down why I think what I think.

Prediction/realistically hopeful result: Under 50:00 for 10 miles. The course is net downhill by about 150' and basically a straight line, and it looks like there will be a crosswind/slight tailwind. Coupled with ideal weather, this spells out fast times and the field is always good.

Reasons why I will run under 50: Workouts have been good since I really got back into training. I have been running about 80 mpw with two workouts a week targeted for this distance and  pace. Compared with my training from last fall prior to running 1:05, the workouts are very similar and I even managed to run faster for my 4 x 2 miles this spring than I did last fall, feeling much stronger. The course and potential for tailwind and good weather are also in my favor. I ran an honest 5 miler that in hindsight was not quite all out last weekend and ran 25:12, so on a flat/net down hill course I hope to be able to double that.

Reasons why I won't run under 50: Working and running is hard. 80 mpw is about 25 mpw less than I had been doing prior to a full time job, so while workouts have been good, the easy supportive mileage has been much less. This is a big question mark to me; I'm not sure how much of a training impact easy running has, besides supporting workouts, and as I said they have been good. One other thing that it may affect is the relative strength of the taper. Another factor that I don't fully understand is how much a full time job affects racing performance. It definitely affects nervous energy, though I cannot determine how much . Sleep has been OK, and with the race on a Sunday it gives me an extra day to sit around and veg out which I much prefer to racing on Saturday.

Overall I think I will be right around 50 minutes, give or take with the weather. The state record for 10 miles is 49:40 which I think is on the optimistic edge of realistic, give how training has been going. I don't know if this course can count for that, but it is a good benchmark to shoot for nonetheless.

Adrenaline 5k

So I ran my first race since last December this past Saturday. I had heard about this race during the past few years but could never run it due to conflicts with track season. It has good money for a 5k and is always a deep field with a pack around 15:00 so it would be a good test of where I'm at.

Going into this race I had no clue of where I was in my progression of fitness from taking time off in the winter and not training as hard as I have been training during the past few years, due to the working lifestyle. I guessed beforehand 14:50 but that was without knowing anything about the course, the weather, this year's competition or my own fitness.

The race was in Haddonfield, NJ. A nice town, pretty upscale, sort of like driving through Princeton's main street with Westover Hills surrounding it. The race course was a pretty simple lollipop-style out and back starting at the high school. The first mile felt pretty good and comfortable, but I anticipated that it would get a lot harder once we got deep into the race. We went through the mile in about 4:50 with a big pack, and the eventual winner (Phil Celona) surged and got some distance that he kept for the remainder of the race. That surge broke up the race a bit and I stayed in third through two miles (another 4:50) and until about 200 to go. Two Bryn Mawr guys rolled by me in the homestraight and all of us passed the guy who ran second most of the way so I got 4th. First was 14:45, 2nd/3rd were 14:50 so it was not a total blowout.

I don't have the endurance I would ideally have; when I was in good shape last fall I would feel uncomfortable at these paces but be able to kick hard over the last 800 or so. I do not have that right now. However, this race has gotten me to focus even more on running for the next couple months. I am determined to run as well as I can at Broad Street given my constraints. The immediate first step is to start fixing all of these little aches and pains that I've been accruing over the past few weeks with some beginner strengthening routines. Other than that I will continue to work out focusing on the endurance and paces necessary for a good 10 miler.

Back into training after some layout due to thyroid problems

So after a long layoff from posting and a shorter layoff from running, I'm back into both.

I took a month off of running from mid-December through mid-January when it became clear that serious training would be both miserable and yield no good results due to the hormone problems I had going on. At the time I did not know when I would be able to start running again, let alone training seriously, so I wrote off the entire winter and spring racing seasons. In mid-January I realized that I felt antsy and somewhat normal again; as normal as I could expect to feel without running.

I started jogging casually again without any goals sometime in January and once I felt comfortable that I could build up, albeit cautiously, I started logging again. Since then I've gradually increased mileage to the mid-70s and introduced workouts commensurate with my current fitness, being sure to never overdo it and take it easy when I felt like it. I am still not planning to force any gains.

One thing that I have noticed during workouts is that my cardiovascular fitness has remained considerably better than my muscular fitness. By that I mean that my legs get tired relatively easily and my cardio systems are under less stress than my legs. This is good as it keeps me from overtraining, but it has gotten frustrating because it has been so universal.

As far as racing plans go, I've emailed the race director of Broad Street (May 3rd). This is far enough away that I feel confident in my ability to get in pretty good shape, even running once a day as work dictates. I do not have any specific goals for mileage, but I hope to do enough to support workouts that are specific to prepare for Broad Street.