A Taste of Spring

Sorry about the late entry. Last night I was way too tired to write a post, and this morning after my run I was too occupied watching on demand coverage of both the NYC Half and the IAAF World XC Champs.

Last weekend I started developing a bit of a cough and sore throat, which seemed to get worse through the early portions of the week. I went to the doctor Wednesday and luckily found it wasn't anything more than some bronchitis and sinus drainage. I got put on some antibiotics just to be cautious, as I didn't want it to develop into anything more that would cause me to miss training time. The week did feature good training overall, with one mediocre race that I didn't feel too great about, but  the important thing is that I am making gradual progress in my training. Even if the results aren't fully apparent, I feel really good about the direction that I'm heading in.

Great weather this week. Here's the log:

Sunday - 8 miles easy, 53:38 (6:42/mi)

Monday - 6.5mi easy, 42:47 (6:37/mi); strides, 4x200m relaxed-37.2,37.4,35.28,35.1 (Tot. of 7+)

Tuesday - 5:17 shakeout, stretching, 1 mile warmup in 6:15, drills and strides, 2x200-38.9,37.5, 3min more of warmup, 2min of more running including a quicker portion, more strides and waiting; Race 3200m- 1st in a mediocre 10:10; Cooldown totaling 5mi, with 4.5mi in 33:13 and 4x80m barefoot strides on MC turf football field. (Tot. of 10mi)

Getting a postion the first 200 meters. Photo courtesy of David Giagnoni

Thoughts on race: Ran almost all of it solo, with no one to gauge off of. Running a fast 16 laps indoors is hard to do without competition, as the race can get pretty dull, and it can be easy to lose momentum after the first mile. I didn't feel that I put in a full effort, but all that matters is getting my qualifier for Illinois Prep Top Times (which was only 10:25 for Class A).


Wednesday - 8.5mi recovery, 1:00:31 (7:07/mi)

Thursday - 3mi warmup including strides @ 6:45/mi, 10min @ LT pace (1.71mi--5:51/mi), 90sec recovery, 10min @ LT pace(1.72mi--5:49/mi), 90 sec recovery, 4:24 @ LT pace (.79mi--5:34/mi); close to a mile of  barefoot strides on the football field; 2mi cooldown in 13:27 (6:44/mi) Tot. of 10+

Friday - 10mi easy, 1:08:34 (6:52/mi)

Saturday - AM: 2mi warmup in 13:23 (6:42/mi), drills and strides,
Workout (goal splits in parenthesis):
800m (2:30) - 2:28
Few minutes recovery, then into a continuous alternation of 400m at 75 (5:00/mi), 400m at 90 (6:00/mi). Really just alternating ~2mi pace with a little slower then tempo pace. Since the recovery is run so quick this can get tough!
400m (1:15) - 1:15.07
Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:26
400m (1:15) - 1:15.37
Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:28
400m (1:15) - 1:13.95

Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:29

400m (1:15) - 1:15.01

Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:29

400m (1:15) - 1:15.2

Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:30

400m (1:15) - 1:14.85

Rec. 400m (1:30) - 1:30

400m (1:15) - 1:15.35, Stop. Didn't want to overdo it in a workout (3.25mi in 17:39--5:26/mi)

~2min recovery. Decided on one more.

Last 400m (1:15) - 1:13

3mi cooldown in 20:34 (6:51/mi). Workout felt good and under control. Had to dig a bit deeper than what I've been used to, but overall it felt like I was working aerobically, and was the right intensity. Total of 9mi

PM: 45min of Aquajogging and 100m of swimming with Gatlin and Devin Clark from Monmouth. Since Gatlin's injured with a stress fracture in his foot, I figured I'd head up to Monmouth and join him for some of his pool workout since I know it can be boring. Also spent much of the day watching another Monmouth College HS Invite. After a solid workout in the morning, I was spent!

Weekly Total: 62.5 miles, and 45min of aquajogging. Pretty good mileage without a long run or any supplemental morning runs (I was just too tired in the mornings!). Tuesday's race wasn't great, but with doing it mostly solo, the hassle of lapping that many people, and not really any specific work yet, it wasn't horrible. Really, I don't want to be running super fast this early in the season anyways. Thursday's workout was kind of rough, but good to get in some tempo stuff and the barefoot strides felt good. I was really pleased with Saturday's workout, it was my first real workout at 2mi specific paces, and I expect to keep building on what I did. I'm thinking Prep Top Times will offer a good opportunity to run a quick time with competition, and I'm excited about that, because I know I'm in good fitness. I'm hoping we're all in one heat there, or that I'm at least in the fast section. The last thing I want is to be in the slow heat.

Thanks for reading

-John