Fall 2017 look ahead

This entry will be a boring, deep dive into my training and what I believe were my mistakes over the past year or so that led to poor performances in the spring and fall of 2017. It will also be an exploration of what I can do to improve in the future.

Looking at this calendar year, I've 4 big name races at 10-13.1 miles. All of them have been disappointing and below expectations considering the amount of training behind them. However, when I look at my career and my best races over these distances, I see a clear pattern.

2011: I spent all of the previous winter and spring focusing on track. I ran 1:07 in September 2011.
2013: I spent all of the previous winter and spring focusing on track. I ran 1:05 in September 2013.
2014: I spent all of the previous winter and spring focusing on Broad Street. I ran 1:07 in September 2014 and a 2:22 marathon.
2015: I spent all of the previous spring focusing on track. I ran 1:05 in October 2015. and 1:04 in January 2016.
2017: I did not spend any time training for shorter races, and ran a best of 1:07 in the spring of 2017 and 1:09 in the fall.

Like I said, clear pattern. Each time I've spent a good chunk of time, typically 4 months or so, really focusing on a shorter distance and the next season focusing on a longer distance, I've raced well over the latter. It seems that I'm able to carry my speed over to the next season quite well and build on it with the endurance for the longer race, but just training for endurance does nothing to build speed for me.

2011: I spent all of the winter and spring training very hard. It was the second training cycle I really committed myself to serious, twice a day every day, 100+ mpw training. I went from running 14:46 in 2010 to running under 14:30 three times, with a best of 14:22, in the spring of 2011 and getting second place to Eric Jenkins at my conference meet. Because our team got cut in January 2011, I was open to trying out anything in the 2011-2012 school year. I ran Philly Half in September 2011 and ran 1:07:32 after really only starting to train seriously with specific workouts about 6 weeks before.

2013: Since I was at OU during the 2012-2013 school year, I was being focused on the 1500-5k starting in December 2012 and going through early May 2013. This paid off with a lifetime PR of 4:06 for the mile indoors. I trained hard for Philly that summer, ran two road 5ks just before in 14:25 and 14:19 and then ran 1:05:40 for the half. This tells me I need to be able to hit those 5k marks to indicate a good half marathon.

2014: I had a thyroid virus in the winter of 2013, so I had to take a month or so off and resumed training very early 2014. I focused on running Broad Street and pulled myself together well enough to run just under 50 minutes. I was then able to carry that speed into the Chicago marathon and ran 2:22, running 1:07 in a warm and humid half marathon three weeks ahead of that.

2015: I focused hard on running the 1500-5k for the winter and spring. That paid off with a 3:50 1500 (2nd lifetime), 14:05 5k (lifetime PR) and 30:14 10k (lifetime PR). I then specifically trained with the intent of an OTQ at Philly on Halloween. I ran 1:05:59 there, missing my goal by a minute, but kept at it and ran 1:04:27 just after New Years 2016.

Looking back at these cycles, what I gather is that I need to focus hard on running well over shorter distances and work on maintaining that speed while gaining endurance for the longer races. Examples of workouts to follow later. 

Summer/Fall 2017

Big update here, more a life update than a running update. That's because I took the summer easy, got married August 4th, honeymooned with basically no running until August 18 and started back into real training after that.

After Pittsburgh in May, I was done for the spring both based on the schedule I had set out and because I was so disappointed in how poorly I had raced all spring, especially because there was a clear downward trend after the first big race in NYC. Since I was also getting married and going on a nearly two week long honeymoon in August, it made zero sense to try and train hard through a hot, humid summer only to take 2 weeks off. I trained very easily, running once a day for about 70 miles a week with no workouts. We had a pretty rough summer, so even that was plenty hard some days. With no running over the honeymoon I jumped back into running normally and started training with no real goal. In late September I decided to get serious and shoot for Philly Half in November. I got to work with much the same program as I had in the spring, even though that didn't go well. Obviously in hindsight this was in error - the old definition of insanity saying, right?

I ran about 100-110 mpw as much as I could, with my standard tempo and longer interval workouts. Even put in some real long runs of 17-19 miles with harder finishes. Unfortunately this never really addressed my main weakness, but the silver lining is that it gives me great base on which to build for the spring.

On the schedule still I've got the DEXC open this coming weekend, a low-key actual XC 5k. Later in December I've got a 5 miler in Baltimore (Celtic Solstice) which should also be pretty low-key.

Next entry will be a separate training analysis doing a deep dive in what I believe I need to alter for success in the coming seasons.