So now that it's mid-July I finally got around to getting a really good week of training under my belt. 2 hard workouts that were really big mileage days, a decent long run but for the heat and humidity and as much easy mileage as I could handle. Most importantly for me, I had the self-discipline to take a mega easy day yesterday between two big days when I was feeling trashed. I've heard it before, but it really is true: the hardest thing to do as a dedicated athlete is hold yourself back when you need it. Too often we get sucked into an obsessive-compulsive mindset and feel like we have to hold to a mileage schedule that we wrote out weeks or months in advance. Always remember, train to race, don't train to train.
Here is what I would call an ideal week at this point:
Monday - Recovery day: 9 + 6 double, core
Tuesday - Workout (hills, long intervals, long fartlek, tempo) + easy run (20 total)
Wednesday - Recovery day: 7 + 7 double, core
Thursday - Recovery day/easy mileage: 9 + 6
Friday - Workout (whatever I didn't do on Tuesday) + easy run (20 total)
Saturday - Recovery run: 8-10 easy jog + core
Sunday - Long run (Ideally around 2 hours, went a little shorter today due to heat/humidity)
Total = 110 +/-
I'm thinking about doing a hard-easy-easy schedule, with long runs and workouts being hard days. This would be a 9 day cycle, which I could do since I don't have a job yet so I don't have any reason to cram all of that into a week. The benefit of keeping a 7 day schedule is that it's what everyone else does so I would have company on the harder days, which always helps.
I'm also looking at some races in the near future, stay tuned.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
A transition period, and a trip to Maine to ease it in
At the beginning of this training cycle, I said that I would focus my efforts on Philly Rock and Roll half in mid-September. Counting back from then, I figured that starting workouts in July would give me enough time to get a bit of mileage under me and to get in really good shape by September. Now that it's July, I'm going to stick to it and get some workouts in. I'll probably do two weeks of transition (tempos and hills, nothing strictly timed) and then move into some hardcore half-marathon stuff like I did two summers ago. Two endurance workouts a week and a solid long run is the recipe I want to follow until September.
Even though I just said I would start buckling down and getting my twice a week workouts in, I still want to enjoy myself and make some memories this cycle. To that end, I decided somewhat on a whim to go up to Maine this past weekend to visit my friend who is up there for the summer on a pseudo-internship. I went up with another mutual friend and we stayed in his Once-A-Runner-style cabin in the woods. We stayed on a tiny island, which sucked for running (lots of loops, heat wave) but was a nice change and a very fun and relaxed few days.
Now that I'm back from that little vacation, I really will get down to business, I promise. I'm also still working on getting a job and hopefully will hear back from somewhere soon. I'm actually still optimistic and think that I'll get the job I'm looking for eventually, but it might just take a while. In the meantime I'm looking around for some running-related part time jobs to pay the bills. I'll definitely be assistant coaching somewhere, maybe in two places, so that will be a cool little job on the side.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Training to train
So this week was my first full week back into serious running. I say "serious" because, even though I only ran mileage with no structured workouts and the fastest I ran was probably 6:30 pace, I reached full mileage and what I plan to hold for the rest of this training cycle. My weeks will all look very similar to this, with core 2-3x:
Monday - 9/6
Tuesday - 90 minutes (13+)
Wednesday - 9/9
Thursday - 90 minutes (13+)
Friday - 9/6
Saturday - 10
Sunday - 2 hours (ideally 18+)
This was the base mileage schedule for XC last year and I liked it a lot. I thought I was able to balance recovery with good stamina training on the long days instead of just burying myself with mileage like I had in other cycles. Previously I had always loaded my week with doubles every day and tried to max out mileage, which put me in a perpetual overtraining hole. This schedule adds up to 104 miles, which is less than I have done the past two summers, but because the mileage is condensed into only 10 runs instead of 13 or 14 I think that it is actually better conditioning work.
I call this part of the year "pre-base training" or, as I said up top, training to train. The objective of all those relatively easy miles and unstructured work is to be able to handle the next step of training, which for me is long, hard half marathon workouts. A lot of people make the mistake of treating easy mileage as base training. While that might be true for less experienced runners who lack the lifetime base and background to handle the true stamina workouts that will be my bread and butter, it should not be the case for collegiate runners. People think that you can race well off of just easy mileage. I define racing well as racing at a high percentage of your 100% perfectly trained/peaked potential, and I do not think it is possible to race well off of just mileage. You might run well compared to past seasons, you might even PR, but I guarantee that if you spent some time doing long tempo runs and long intervals you would race better than if you ran the same amount of mileage with all of it easy.
Since I don't plan to work out until July, I have a bit of a challenge. How do I keep my training interesting and progressive but at the same time not change my mileage? Well, my answer is to acclimate to it and to push some of the runs when I feel good, especially the long run. My overall fitness goal by September is to be at the level I was at on January 1, 2013. At the end of my winter training at home I was running the same mileage schedule, doing tons of core, running long and hard workouts Tuesday and Friday and running a fast 18-19 miles on Sunday. If I can get back to that, I know I can PR in the half marathon and probably every other race that I contest on the roads.
Monday - 9/6
Tuesday - 90 minutes (13+)
Wednesday - 9/9
Thursday - 90 minutes (13+)
Friday - 9/6
Saturday - 10
Sunday - 2 hours (ideally 18+)
This was the base mileage schedule for XC last year and I liked it a lot. I thought I was able to balance recovery with good stamina training on the long days instead of just burying myself with mileage like I had in other cycles. Previously I had always loaded my week with doubles every day and tried to max out mileage, which put me in a perpetual overtraining hole. This schedule adds up to 104 miles, which is less than I have done the past two summers, but because the mileage is condensed into only 10 runs instead of 13 or 14 I think that it is actually better conditioning work.
I call this part of the year "pre-base training" or, as I said up top, training to train. The objective of all those relatively easy miles and unstructured work is to be able to handle the next step of training, which for me is long, hard half marathon workouts. A lot of people make the mistake of treating easy mileage as base training. While that might be true for less experienced runners who lack the lifetime base and background to handle the true stamina workouts that will be my bread and butter, it should not be the case for collegiate runners. People think that you can race well off of just easy mileage. I define racing well as racing at a high percentage of your 100% perfectly trained/peaked potential, and I do not think it is possible to race well off of just mileage. You might run well compared to past seasons, you might even PR, but I guarantee that if you spent some time doing long tempo runs and long intervals you would race better than if you ran the same amount of mileage with all of it easy.
Since I don't plan to work out until July, I have a bit of a challenge. How do I keep my training interesting and progressive but at the same time not change my mileage? Well, my answer is to acclimate to it and to push some of the runs when I feel good, especially the long run. My overall fitness goal by September is to be at the level I was at on January 1, 2013. At the end of my winter training at home I was running the same mileage schedule, doing tons of core, running long and hard workouts Tuesday and Friday and running a fast 18-19 miles on Sunday. If I can get back to that, I know I can PR in the half marathon and probably every other race that I contest on the roads.
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Getting serious after a longish layoff
Now that it's June, I feel like I need to start taking running serious again. My first Big Race of this cycle will be the Philly half in mid-September. I want to start working out in early to mid-July, so if I can get a solid month of peak mileage in for all of June then I'll be on track to run well in the fall.
After this debacle of a track season, when in hindsight I was probably slightly detraining the whole time from where I was in the winter, I realize I have some work to do. If I can get back to the fitness I had on January 1 I'll be really happy. To that end, I'll try to do the mileage structure I did in the winter, getting over 100 mpw with 10 runs. I would love to get into good enough shape to hammer long runs like I was doing in December, but once the heat and humidity of Delaware summer sets in I doubt I'll be able to replicate those runs.
For the half marathon work, I really liked what I did two years ago to prepare for this race. I'll probably end doing most of the workouts alone, but I actually prefer it that way. When other people who have different goals are involved the workout can get corrupted and people tend to try and race unless there is a really good level of trust and you know the other person. For example I would be fine working out with Feeney, but he's in a different part of his training cycle and is training for a different event (Olympic distance tri) than I am. I could work out with Digennaro, but again I don't know if I want to risk buggering the workouts.
In any case I think the long LT-pace workouts that are necessary for half marathons are really good for general fitness and I believe that I'll get in good shape for any distance using those workouts, so after the half I bet I can jump in to some shorter, less taxing races and run well on the roads.
After this debacle of a track season, when in hindsight I was probably slightly detraining the whole time from where I was in the winter, I realize I have some work to do. If I can get back to the fitness I had on January 1 I'll be really happy. To that end, I'll try to do the mileage structure I did in the winter, getting over 100 mpw with 10 runs. I would love to get into good enough shape to hammer long runs like I was doing in December, but once the heat and humidity of Delaware summer sets in I doubt I'll be able to replicate those runs.
For the half marathon work, I really liked what I did two years ago to prepare for this race. I'll probably end doing most of the workouts alone, but I actually prefer it that way. When other people who have different goals are involved the workout can get corrupted and people tend to try and race unless there is a really good level of trust and you know the other person. For example I would be fine working out with Feeney, but he's in a different part of his training cycle and is training for a different event (Olympic distance tri) than I am. I could work out with Digennaro, but again I don't know if I want to risk buggering the workouts.
In any case I think the long LT-pace workouts that are necessary for half marathons are really good for general fitness and I believe that I'll get in good shape for any distance using those workouts, so after the half I bet I can jump in to some shorter, less taxing races and run well on the roads.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Training and racing plans for summer and fall 2013
So since the end of my college career, I've had some time to think about what I want to do. I was actually looking forward to this kind of freedom with my training and racing again, after being so regimented at OU, and it's very liberating to be able to do whatever I want. If I didn't want to run, I don't have to, and the lack of external pressure makes it much easier to relax and enjoy my running. It also lets me plan to my leisure and take my time with getting back into shape. That being said, I've started running again, but I don't plan on seriously training for a bit.
This fall I want to concentrate on road races and exploring some relatively new territory. I'm going to focus on pure strength work all summer and fall to prepare for the Philly rock and roll half in September as my first big race. I'm not sure if I'll race at all before then, if there are any races around with enticing prize money that won't compromise preparation for the half marathon I might do one or two. My first foray at the half marathon two years ago went very well and I want to run a good PR. With that in mind, I plan on following a similar training schedule that I did to prepare for that race, with 100-110 mpw and two long aerobic workouts focusing on half-marathon endurance.
After Philly, my next big race will probably be the Rothman 8k. I enjoyed that race two years ago and the course was fast, being flat and having only one turnaround. I almost broke into the money when I ran that race, and with two more years of running under my belt I hope that I can move up from my previous 6th place and 24:20 time.
Besides those two local races, I'll look around the Philly and Baltimore/DC areas for any good road races. I think that I can run well from 5k thru half marathons with the kind of endurance work I'll put in for the half, and since there are (I believe) 9 weeks between those races I can squeeze in at least two or three more races, hopefully ones with some prize money. In the shorter term, I might even race the Kennett Run in a couple weeks just to see what kind of shape I'm in (subpar). That race offers decent money, but I doubt that I would win much without being in peak shape since it attracts some local Africans.
Like I said at the top, I am excited to be back on my own terms for training and racing. I'm definitely taking it easy for a week or two and getting my legs back under me. Then I'll get up to my goal mileage and after a few weeks start incorporating some workouts for the half marathon distance. Having Feeney and Hannagan to run with again is going to be a help and I hope that Feeney and I can work together to benefit each other for our respective events and goals.
This fall I want to concentrate on road races and exploring some relatively new territory. I'm going to focus on pure strength work all summer and fall to prepare for the Philly rock and roll half in September as my first big race. I'm not sure if I'll race at all before then, if there are any races around with enticing prize money that won't compromise preparation for the half marathon I might do one or two. My first foray at the half marathon two years ago went very well and I want to run a good PR. With that in mind, I plan on following a similar training schedule that I did to prepare for that race, with 100-110 mpw and two long aerobic workouts focusing on half-marathon endurance.
After Philly, my next big race will probably be the Rothman 8k. I enjoyed that race two years ago and the course was fast, being flat and having only one turnaround. I almost broke into the money when I ran that race, and with two more years of running under my belt I hope that I can move up from my previous 6th place and 24:20 time.
Besides those two local races, I'll look around the Philly and Baltimore/DC areas for any good road races. I think that I can run well from 5k thru half marathons with the kind of endurance work I'll put in for the half, and since there are (I believe) 9 weeks between those races I can squeeze in at least two or three more races, hopefully ones with some prize money. In the shorter term, I might even race the Kennett Run in a couple weeks just to see what kind of shape I'm in (subpar). That race offers decent money, but I doubt that I would win much without being in peak shape since it attracts some local Africans.
Like I said at the top, I am excited to be back on my own terms for training and racing. I'm definitely taking it easy for a week or two and getting my legs back under me. Then I'll get up to my goal mileage and after a few weeks start incorporating some workouts for the half marathon distance. Having Feeney and Hannagan to run with again is going to be a help and I hope that Feeney and I can work together to benefit each other for our respective events and goals.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Outdoor Track (also: why I didn't enjoy my track season at OU)
After a successful indoor season, it was time to get ready for outdoor track. Keep in mind while reading this that, throughout my time at OU, I had three goals with my running. The first was to train as a group with all of the guys on the team who were/are better than me and get better by osmosis, and keep the daily toil interesting by having people to share it with. The second reason was to go to all of the good meets that the distance team went to in XC and last year's track team, such as both Stanford meets, Mt. SAC and the UW indoor meets. The third reason was to be coached by Martin Smith, a coach who has had many All-Americans and excellent distance runners throughout his career, and learn his secret to training and success.
I ran three races this outdoor season, and none of them went well. Throughout indoor and outdoor, I never felt like I was training hard and progressing from last year, but because I ran well indoors I thought that maybe going hard in training was overrated and that I was actually going to improve from last year. I also was gradually phased out from doing the grass track/Coach Smith workouts to Jeremy's "rhythm" track workouts, which mainly consisted of easy 500s. Again, I was doing some of this during indoors, but because I ran well I tried not to question it. There was always doubt that the training was going to yield good results. By the time outdoor was in full swing, I was doing most of my workouts either solo or with guys that weren't the A team, who usually did longer endurance-based work that I have used to great effect in the past.
The first race at Arkansas, I ran a 3:53 1500. OK, not a great result, but I hadn't backed off in training and I was probably just tired. The race went out in 2:08 and closed hard so I wasn't too upset with it since it wasn't a great race anyway. The next race was the opposite: I felt really good going into it, and went out hard but ended up fading off of a 2:01 first half to another 3:53 clocking. This was pretty discouraging, but OK, maybe I just can't handle that fast of a pace. The week after this race Kyle and I were scheduled to go to Princeton for the Larry Ellis 5k, and I was super excited for this race and certain that I would run well. At the last minute, Coach pulled us because of anticipated bad weather. This was, in hindsight, the beginning of the end for my motivation and this event, coupled with my lack of enthusiasm with my training and not going to good meets, sowed the seeds for just wanting to leave OU and start training on my own terms. Keep in mind the three goals that I had at the beginning of this post, and you can understand my frustration with getting pulled from the only scheduled fast 5k.
The last race was definitely the fitting end to a disappointing season. I ran a 14:43 5k at the big 12 meet and placed something like 14th. I went in hoping and assuming to sneak in for a scoring spot in the top 8, but once the race went off I just never felt fit. Running 70s was race effort, and was very disheartening. This race was one of the very few track races in which I seriously thought about dropping out. It was also probably the worst race of my collegiate, and maybe entire, career.
In hindsight I believe that I was just never in shape all of track season. I never felt like I was training hard and never felt fit, and it showed in each race. I believe I ran well indoors off of my cross country base and the hard training I got in in Delaware between Thanksgiving and New Years. I have thought about this for some time, and I conclude that the reason that Coach Smith is successful with so many guys is that, first of all, he is a master recruiter and brings in the best talent, and gets guys fit but keeps the training conservative to minimize injury. In this way, he gets guys in good shape and lets their talent do the rest. For guys like Kyle and I, who worked very hard undergrad to maximize our talent, coming to OU actually made both of us worse because we were undertrained. That brings me to point number 2: transfers like Kyle and I don't work with Smith because so much of his system is faith based. Kids coming out of high school to train under him don't know any other collegiate training system, and so they have complete trust in his training. Trust and belief is a big component of success with any training, and because we had been exposed to other training that we had had success from, we never put complete faith in Smith's approach. Quite apart from that, I just wasn't trained by Smith. I was trained by a 23 year old wet-behind-the-ears assistant who knew less about training than I did, and I was his guinea pig. That is what most annoyed me about my spring season; I was considered to be a less important member and my results suffered.
Even though I gripe about it now, I am glad I went to OU for my last year. If I hadn't gone, I would have always wondered what could have been. I also had a good XC experience and came away with PRs indoors. I met some great guys and had some fun and learned some about running. But now I'm back for good, and I'm looking forward to training myself and exploring the new frontier of road races and seeing if I can contend for any prize money. It promises to be an interesting new "career" ahead, juggling a real job with training, but I am excited to see if I can hack it.
I ran three races this outdoor season, and none of them went well. Throughout indoor and outdoor, I never felt like I was training hard and progressing from last year, but because I ran well indoors I thought that maybe going hard in training was overrated and that I was actually going to improve from last year. I also was gradually phased out from doing the grass track/Coach Smith workouts to Jeremy's "rhythm" track workouts, which mainly consisted of easy 500s. Again, I was doing some of this during indoors, but because I ran well I tried not to question it. There was always doubt that the training was going to yield good results. By the time outdoor was in full swing, I was doing most of my workouts either solo or with guys that weren't the A team, who usually did longer endurance-based work that I have used to great effect in the past.
The first race at Arkansas, I ran a 3:53 1500. OK, not a great result, but I hadn't backed off in training and I was probably just tired. The race went out in 2:08 and closed hard so I wasn't too upset with it since it wasn't a great race anyway. The next race was the opposite: I felt really good going into it, and went out hard but ended up fading off of a 2:01 first half to another 3:53 clocking. This was pretty discouraging, but OK, maybe I just can't handle that fast of a pace. The week after this race Kyle and I were scheduled to go to Princeton for the Larry Ellis 5k, and I was super excited for this race and certain that I would run well. At the last minute, Coach pulled us because of anticipated bad weather. This was, in hindsight, the beginning of the end for my motivation and this event, coupled with my lack of enthusiasm with my training and not going to good meets, sowed the seeds for just wanting to leave OU and start training on my own terms. Keep in mind the three goals that I had at the beginning of this post, and you can understand my frustration with getting pulled from the only scheduled fast 5k.
The last race was definitely the fitting end to a disappointing season. I ran a 14:43 5k at the big 12 meet and placed something like 14th. I went in hoping and assuming to sneak in for a scoring spot in the top 8, but once the race went off I just never felt fit. Running 70s was race effort, and was very disheartening. This race was one of the very few track races in which I seriously thought about dropping out. It was also probably the worst race of my collegiate, and maybe entire, career.
In hindsight I believe that I was just never in shape all of track season. I never felt like I was training hard and never felt fit, and it showed in each race. I believe I ran well indoors off of my cross country base and the hard training I got in in Delaware between Thanksgiving and New Years. I have thought about this for some time, and I conclude that the reason that Coach Smith is successful with so many guys is that, first of all, he is a master recruiter and brings in the best talent, and gets guys fit but keeps the training conservative to minimize injury. In this way, he gets guys in good shape and lets their talent do the rest. For guys like Kyle and I, who worked very hard undergrad to maximize our talent, coming to OU actually made both of us worse because we were undertrained. That brings me to point number 2: transfers like Kyle and I don't work with Smith because so much of his system is faith based. Kids coming out of high school to train under him don't know any other collegiate training system, and so they have complete trust in his training. Trust and belief is a big component of success with any training, and because we had been exposed to other training that we had had success from, we never put complete faith in Smith's approach. Quite apart from that, I just wasn't trained by Smith. I was trained by a 23 year old wet-behind-the-ears assistant who knew less about training than I did, and I was his guinea pig. That is what most annoyed me about my spring season; I was considered to be a less important member and my results suffered.
Even though I gripe about it now, I am glad I went to OU for my last year. If I hadn't gone, I would have always wondered what could have been. I also had a good XC experience and came away with PRs indoors. I met some great guys and had some fun and learned some about running. But now I'm back for good, and I'm looking forward to training myself and exploring the new frontier of road races and seeing if I can contend for any prize money. It promises to be an interesting new "career" ahead, juggling a real job with training, but I am excited to see if I can hack it.
Indoor Track
Once I got back to Oklahoma, training and workouts with the team were back in full swing. After a few different racing plans were bounced around, I opened up my season with Kyle King at the OU home meet in the mile. It was very tactical and I won in a fairly easy 4:17 on a tight track. After that, we went to Arkansas for the Razorback invitational.
I ran the mile and ran a respectable 4:08. The race went out a little slow for me and I got beat in the last half by guys that closed in 58 to my 60. I was happy with my race, but it was even better watching the return of Pat Casey to the track with his win in the fast heat of the mile.
After Razorback it was back to training and my next race was the Tyson invitational at Arkansas. I ran the mile again, this time with Brandon Doughty and Ryan Poland. The race played out well for all of us and Ryan won in a 4:03, I ran a PR in 4:06 and Doughty ran 4:06 behind me, a very good time for a sophomore. Ryan ran a great race too, having come off a 8:01 3k at Razorback and having been a 10k guy before this season.
After this race, it was time to get ready for the indoor conference meet. Coach had me run a tune-up 1000 at the home meet the week before, which I felt great in and won easily, albeit in a slow time. At big 12, Coach considered me for the lead off of the DMR to save Frezer for his individual events. I ended up not doing it and just ran the 3k on the last day of the meet, in the slow heat. I ran well and moved up through the field to run 8:12 and tried to chase down the leaders, but ran out of steam in the last 300.
Overall, a good season with two good PRs and three good races overall.
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