Fitness checkpoint - Parks half marathon and training update

Yesterday (Sunday 9/13) was the first race in a while. I thought that with top 5 money and a sizable East African population nearby this race would be really competitive up front. Not this year. I came pretty ready to go but ended up having no competition and ran a controlled 1:08 to win. The weather was good but not perfect - much better than it has been for most of the summer. The course was net downhill by about 90 feet, judging by the course profile, but the first 11 miles (and very much the first 2 miles) are downhill and all of it is made up in the last 2 miles. Thus, I positive-split but my effort remained pretty level, maybe I ran a little harder in the last 5k but very controlled. 

This was a good hard workout that should not knock me out of normal training. I expect to be mostly recovered by Wednesday and I'll try to resume normal workouts then. Coupled with the good weather over the next week, I think this is a good time to really start getting after the workouts before 10/31. These last 6 weeks before Philly are when the specific work counts and I need to focus on maintaining the workouts that I've been doing lately and doing what I can to do my very best and see if I can get under 1:05. 

2015 Late Summer Update

This training cycle, my big goal (and I would say the biggest goal of my career so far) is to qualify for the 2016 OT marathon. Doing that requires one of two things: a half marathon under 1:05:00 or a marathon under 2:18 (B) or 2:15 (A). For me, deciding which is easier is a no-brainer. Also a no-brainer was the choice of what half to tackle - it's always Philly Rock n' Roll.

I've been training harder than I ever have during the summer in hopes of reaching this goal, despite the race being 5-6 weeks later this year. I've done my best to blend going by feel and smart planning together to strike balance of hard yet sustainable training.

As always in my running, I emphasize long aerobic endurance to go with race specific work. Maybe that's why I like the half - at this distance, those are synonymous. Lots of long tempos, lots of 5:00 pace work, with a little track and hill work sprinkled in to make the pace feel a little easier. Typical tried and true formula, on this year the mileage is a little higher because I can get in some doubles.

I've also got a few other races planned between now and Halloween (RnR).

8/29: Dread Druid Hills 10k - this is a race that my local running store puts on and for the first time it has money. $100 for the win, and while it's supposed to be a very hard course, I'll do anything for $100.

9/13: Parks half marathon - another race with money, and always draws in a few decent Kenyans. I hear it's not a super fast course, and never has gotten great people because of the races usually scheduled around it, but I think I'm in good shape and want to see what I can do for a half sooner rather than later.

10/11: Army 10 miler - Very very high quality race. 16 guys broke 50:00 last year, so this is the one I'm most excited about doing before Philly. This should be a great race.

I might get another one in between Parks and Army, but maybe not. Those are two big races that will take some time to recover from and I don't want to have to really sacrifice a lot of training time to constantly be ready to race before Philly.

On a completely different note: I figured out how to export my running logs since May 2010 on Athleticore into excel. I compiled a summary of 2010-2014 and deleted all the extra comments, leaving only the details of workouts and comments on races:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B34nWN0zJyCZLUJMeEI0MG9iakU/view?usp=sharing

2015 Spring season recap

2015 Spring Races
Date		Race		Result
3/15/2015		Road mile		4:19
3/21/2015		Road 5k		14:34
3/28/2015		track 1500		3:57
4/3/2015		track 10k		30:14:00
4/17/2015		track 5k		14:05
4/25/2015		road 5k		15:16
5/1/2015		track 1500		3:52
5/11/2015		track 1500		3:50
5/23/2015		track 3k		8:12
5/30/2015		track 1500		3:55
6/2/2015		track 1500		3:56
6/6/2015		road 8k		25:38:00

There's the season. Excluding the two races I ran as controlled efforts (road 5k on 4/25 and road 8k on 6/6) I think it paints a pretty good picture of a well-run season. Good training over the winter lead to a solid start and getting into racing quickly built up to a peak lasting from Larry Ellis on 4/17 to the 3k on 5/23. In the moment I was disappointed in the last two 1500s of the season but looking back I'm not too discouraged. 

The Pros: I had arguably my best track season ever while working full time and training once a day for the vast majority of the time. Especially while training during a very tough winter I was very happy to be able to achieve the fitness I did and execute some great races. A couple good races stand out:

1. Adrenaline 5k. First really serious race of the year, after a long winter and not racing since December 2014. Thanks to having 3 other guys in the race who were all very similar to me in fitness, I was able to really find my limits on the day and race well. I ended up losing by 4 seconds to Owen Dawson and beating the other two guys. This was a much faster race than the year before on perhaps a slower day. 
2. Larry Ellis 5k. Not much more needs to be said other than I PR'd after 3 years. I do believe I could have run 14:00 had the field been half the size, but in the circumstances of the race I thought I ran very well. I got 2nd and the winner had broken away with the lead rabbit early on, so I effectively lead the chase group through the last mile and still had enough to hold them off. The splits also suggest that a faster time could have been run. 
3. Swarthmore 1500. Ran my 2nd fastest 1500 ever here, 3:50.0. It was a much better race than the previous 1500- I felt much sharper and more in control of my body running at race pace. 

The 3k, while a PR, was a time trial with Deej and Feeney pacing me the entire way. I was able to really gut myself on that, but after that effort it was downhill for the rest of the season, 

I come away from this spring quite happy with the way it turned out. I would have been a lot happier if I had PR'd in the 1500, but having a PR season in the 5k/10k and a near-PR in the 1500 is something of a banner season. I think I trained smarter than ever for 1500-5k and was rewarded with excellent times for me off of less total work than in college. 

Spring season early update

It's finally spring and we are out of another long winter. The track season is almost here and I have a pretty full schedule lined up. Here's the list of races for this spring, some of which are already run:

3/15/15 - Encinitas Mile (Encinitas, CA)
3/21/15 - Adrenaline 5k (Haddonfield, NJ)
3/23/15 - Widener 1500m (Danny Curran)
4/3/15 - Princeton 10k (Sam Howell)
4/11/15 - Bucknell?? Maybe, depending on how I come off the 10k.
4/17/15 - Princeton 5k (Larry Ellis)
4/23/15 - Penn Relays??? Probably not.
5/1/15 - Princeton Open, not sure what distance.
5/11/15 - Swarthmore 1500 (last chance)
6/6/15 - Moorestown 8k (for money/USATF road points, should be an easy win)

A pretty varied racing schedule - pretty evenly spread across the three distances I care about outdoors. The 10k makes me nervous but I know I'm due for a big PR in that race, sub 30 should be quite doable.

The first two races have already been run as of this posting. The mile was a road race that was somewhat on a whim, done while visiting friends in CA. I got 4th, just out of the money, running 4:19 on an out-and-back course. The winner ran 4:14 and was a 3:59 guy at Minnesota, so I know I'm good for quite a bit faster on the track. The 5k was also a road race that went pretty well - I ran 18 seconds faster than I did last year on a slightly slower day (the course was a bit slushy) and I got flat out beat in the last mile. Quite a good race though - if I can run 18 seconds faster than last year on the track, I'll run 14:03. I don't expect that to happen but that does highlight the fact that I'm set up well for the upcoming races.

I never like trying to train for 1500-10k simultaneously. It's basically impossible to dedicate time correctly to such a wide range of training, but I've been gearing more towards 5k/10k in the hopes that the strength work will pay off for the 1500. I know from experience it's much easier to train long and race short than the other way around.

As far as expectations go for the coming races: I fully expect to smash my 10k pr (track pr is 30:50, XC is 30:46). I think I can get close to the 1500 and 5k marks as well - how close depends solely on how the races play out. I have run well at Princeton before and hope to be able to run well there again, but I do need to find another 5k to race in case that doesn't go well for whatever reason. The 1500 I am not so worried about because Swarthmore is always a lock for fast times.

Winter update

So far through this winter, training has gone fairly well. In the last month I have been training very well coming off of a forced break that lasted through the beginning of 2014. After taking a planned week off after USA club XC in December, I began running again with the intention of building back up relatively quickly and getting back into workouts. My body saw things differently and I felt pretty terrible for about 3 weeks after resuming running. I was initially worried that this episode was a repeat of last year, but decided that no matter what I might as well keep running at whatever level I could just to maintain routine and keep in touch with my body and feedback. After the new year, I started feeling better and began workouts successfully soon after.

Now that I can see the end of winter in the distance, it's time to start planning races for the spring season. Ever since I ran Chicago in the fall, I've wanted to get back on the track and see if I can run well over the 1500-5k, maybe even a 10k if the opportunity comes easily. With that in mind, I'm looking at a racing schedule that allows minimal travel with the best competition. The Princeton meets, Bucknell, Colonial Relays and Swarthmore are all within 4 hours and, for my level, have great races. I hope to be able to challenge my old UD marks and acquit myself well in these races.

More immediately, I may end up running an indoor meet coming up at Penn State. I originally was not planning on doing any indoor races, since I didn't really think I was in good shape and didn't want to waste a Saturday on a mediocre race. When I saw Chris Slate raced a mile at Boston last weekend, it kicked my ass into gear and got me thinking about racing something soon. I would run a 3k and hopefully get down near 8:20, but that is a pretty big guess and I haven't got a good gauge on my fitness for those distances now.

In the meantime I continue to train well with Digennaro and Feeney, getting in a good blend of tempo runs, long intervals and shorter intervals. I've found a good balance in my training and a good balance in my everyday life between work and running. If I can maintain the good patterns I've been riding for the last month I think I'll be in a good position to run well in the March thru May seasons.

2014 Rothman 8k recap

After Chicago, I wasn't really planning on doing much racing for the rest of 2014. I thought I would need some downtime to recuperate and rebuild specific fitness for the shorter races. However, the guys at Pike Creek peer pressured me into running Rothman and the USATF club XC championships at Lehigh in December. So, I took a step back and looked at making a schedule for getting into shape quickly for these 8k/10k races. 

I realized quickly that the fitness I accumulated through marathon training and all that work at 5:00-5:30 pace was very beneficial to the shorter distance stuff. Of course, I knew that that would be true to a degree, but I was doubtful that with 5 weeks between Chicago and Rothman I would have enough time to recover and put in any meaningful training. I ended up feeling pretty confident going into Rothman and was hoping for a PR and a good race. 

The race itself was very different than last year in almost every way. It was very cold this year, well below freezing, and the lead pack did not start out fast like it did in 2013. In fact, I think the first mile was likely my slowest. My training buddies Deej and Feeney were also in the race and we were all together in the pretty big lead pack through two miles. There were at least 15 people bunched up and for a fast 8k road race we were running pretty conservatively. I believe were in the low 4:50s for the mile and around 9:40 for 2 miles. 

Lead pack coming to the first mile

 After 2 miles, I made one mistake. The leaders began to drop the pace and break up the large lead pack. I got caught in the back half of this pack as it broke up, and missed the break just enough to keep me out of contact. As a result after 2 miles or so I was somewhat on my own as the lead pack slooooowly pulled away. After that comparatively controlled 2 miles, I ran as hard as I could for the last 3 miles and was able to pick up a couple stragglers who blew up in the last mile.

Coming up the last hill with about 400m to go

I ended up running 24:06 for 6th, which was both encouraging and disappointing for very different reasons. I was pleased with the reflection of my fitness and another PR on this course, but I was mad at myself for just missing the vital break that almost certainly would have pulled me to a faster time. Running a slightly faster pace tucked into a group would not have been impossible compared to running the last 3 miles solo or close to it. Incidentally, I was one place and about 4 seconds out of winning a bit of money, so that was another (albeit minor) reason I was mad about missing the break. 

Anyway, it was pretty good to see that the marathon training was more or less directly beneficial to the shorter distances. This was more of a confirmation of what I already thought, but it's nice to see your training philosophy and theory confirmed by real data. On to the 10k in a couple weekends, with a loaded field including lots of professionals. 

Looking forward - plans for Fall 2014, Spring 2015...fall 2015?

In the past week, all I've done in easy jogging to recover from Chicago. Like every training cycle, I had things planned out up to and including the Big Race. After that, I had no idea. During my training for the marathon, if the world ended the Monday after the race I would not have cared. I never think past the current cycle. With just unstructured running, I've had some time to think about how I want to focus my training over the next cycle, which to me goes through the meat of the spring season.

First on my list of races is the USATF club XC championship in early December. This race is at Lehigh over their 10k course. I was asked to do this as part of the club team that I loosely run for, and since I had no other races planned around that time I figured it wouldn't come at any cost to me to run it. I have about 6 weeks to get ready for that, which shouldn't take much more than adapting the fitness I gained from marathon training down to more XC-style fitness.

I may also do some other low-key races around that time. Thanksgiving is always rife with races in the area, and Wilmington has a 10k turkey trot on Thanksgiving day that I've never done. These sorts of races are ones that I don't really plan for, but can just sort of crop up and I'll hop in if I have nothing better going on in my running plan.

I am still on the fence regarding racing indoors. On the one hand I do want to get back to the track, but on the other it will be tough for me to get in good racing shape over winter, likely training in the dark and without a track for most of the time. Track racing is also not great for my schedule; I would have to take time off and go out of my way, likely all the way up to Boston, to find the level of competition that I'm looking for.

With that being said, I am pretty set on trying to run fast on the outdoor track. Since I've been focusing on long distances ever since college, I think I want to try for a 5k/10k PR. My 5k PR is definitely respectable and that was maybe the best I've ever run a race, and will be challenging to improve on. My 10k PR is terrible, and I would love to knock a minute off that and get under 30 minutes. I think that I can run well at both distances by training for 10k - I ran 14:21 last spring at Swarthmore, and I felt during the race that I could have gone faster if the race as a whole had been higher quality. That was off of dedicated training for Broad Street and 5 minute miling.

Again, the drawback with racing track is that the schedule is set up for college running and most distance races are Friday night. Not that taking off work is a big deal, it's just less convenient than racing Sunday morning. I am pretty committed to racing track, though, and there are some good meets within reasonable distance from home (Princeton & William & Mary immediately come to mind, maybe even Penn Relays) and if I'm hard up for races I can always look to the roads as a backup plan.

Looking even farther ahead: My overarching goal for the next year is to qualify for the marathon trials, which are to be on Feb. 16, 2016, in LA. The best opportunity to qualify for me will be the Philly Rock N Roll half next fall. In 2011, before the 2012 trials, everybody who was near 65 minutes ran that race because:

1) it typically has great weather
2) it always has a good field
3) it's close enough to the race for up and comers to have enough time to get fit
4) it's far enough out from the race to allow for a proper recovery/buildup cycle for the Trials
5) the half marathon standard of 65:00 is easier than the equivalent marathon standard of 2:18.

I have to think that this will be the case again, and since I consider myself one of the many guys who will be in ~65 minute shape, I might as well take my shot too. Obviously if I qualify, I'll run the trials. If I don't I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but it's far enough away to not even think about.