"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 6 - 132 miles
Quality Session1: 3x2 mile repeats with 2 minutes rest - I am ready
Following a week where I had a breakthrough mile repeats workout midweek followed by a couple of decent quality sessions over the weekend, I was feeling a little tired. The plan this week was to take 4-5 easy days and then resume workouts. However, by Tuesday I started feeling the "pop" back in my legs again so I met myself halfway on the revised schedule and decided to do a workout Thursday. I took a second shot at the 3x2 mile repeats workout I didn't finish last Saturday.
What a difference a few easy days make! Last Saturday I decided to bail on the workout after a 9:59.8 and 9:55.6 because I felt like I was running too hard by the end of the 2nd repeat. This time I started super conservative with a 5:01 first lap followed by a 4:56 for a 9:57.74 first rep. I kept up the same effort throughout the second rep and ran 9:54.96 with a couple of 4:57s. After another quick 2-minute rest I was full of run and came through the first lap in 4:56-high, I gradually dialed up the pace and ran as hard I could while keeping it comfortable, finishing off the workout with a 9:52.67. Overall summary - 3x2 "MVP Miles" with 2 min rest - 9:57.74, 9:54.96, 9:52.67 -> 9:55.12 (Average = 4:57.56/lap)
This workout projects to a HM of 65:00.8 based on the 4:57.56 pace. I am there! I was so excited I think I even made my first "workout" post on facebook in years.
Quality Session 2: Sunday 20-miler with Kenny Foster
This was more of a moderate / long aerobic stimulus. We started out pretty easy but was in the 6:30s by mile 3. Around mile 12 we started a progression and ran in the 5:40-5:50 range for the next 4 miles before dialing it back a little. 20 @ 6:30
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 7 - 140 miles
Quality Session1: 20x400s, 5x200s.
On Wednesday Kenny and I met up for another session on the track. The original workout plan was 25x400s with 1 min rest, and taking a full lap jog in 2-2:30 after every 5th 400. However, it was a little humid out and my right IT band felt like it was at the very beginning stages of tightening up by the 15th, so I told Kenny that I was going to do 5 more to see if my IT band got worse but probably stop at 20 either way.
I ended up doing all 20 between 70.97 and 69.10 and averaged 69.83. Also, since the IT Band didn't feel too bad we ran 5 more 200s with a 200 jog. I managed to run these in 32-34 and felt pretty good.
Quality Session 2: 20 mile long run with 10 @ MP+3-5% and 5 @ LT
On Sunday, Kenny, Jason, and I went up to Denver to run the Rocky Mountain Road Runner Marathon training series. This is a small low key race on the Platte River bikepath where the runners are offered a 10 mile and 20 mile option. You run out for 5 miles and back to the start/finish line for 10 miles. and then repeat again if you are doing 20. The plan was to run 10 miles @ 5:40-5:45 with Jason for his marathon pace tempo, and then Kenny and I would start progressing down from 5:30 pace and hopefully close around 5:10-5:15 at the end. We ended up going:
5:42.63, 5:41.98, 5:39.70, 5:40.19, 5:42.98
5:40.56, 5:42.82, 5:41.72, 5:37.08, 5:26.24
Jason picked it up a bit on the last mile of his workout and I went with him, I then waited a little bit for Kenny to catch up and we both took a pit break that was a little under a minute. Then we got going again, but apparently we both were a little anxious to dial down the pace and got out a bit quick.
5:15.08, 5:12.84, 5:13.16, 5:16.92, 5:19.05
I was really cruising along and pulled away from Kenny about 2 miles into the 5 mile tempo and was really feeling awesome, but with 2 miles to go my legs apparently remembered they were at the end of a 140 mile week. I tried to keep the effort controlled and relax my form without killing myself, and was able to hold it together some what the last 2 miles. Then, Kenny and I then cooled down the last 5 miles and finished the 20-miler in around 1:58:30. Not a bad day of work. Summary: 10 @ 5:39.59, 1min break, 5 @ 5:15.41.
Total average for 15 = 5:31.53. (Total for 20 = 5:50-5:55 depending on whether one counts the break, and whether one includes the extra bit of jogging/backtracking I did here and there to get my watch to read 20.1 miles at the end of the run).
This was another huge confidence boost. I was hoping to run 5:20 average for my progression after running 5:40-5:45s, but not only did we help Jason exceed the fast end of his goal for his workout, but I also averaged almost 5 seconds/mi faster than I expected for the next 5 miles. The 5 mile tempo @ 5:15 was a run that I could barely handle a few months ago as a stand alone workout on my treadmill, now I did it on a bikepath with some mild rolling terrain and hills after running slightly slower than marathon pace effort for 10 miles first. My overall average of 5:31.5 @ 5200 feet elevation also converts to sub-5:20 pace at sea level, which makes me kind of wonder what I can run for a marathon right now, hopefully I find out next February in LA!
Monday, August 31, 2015
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 5 - 131 miles
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 5 - 132 miles
Quality Session1: The Mile Repeats Heard Around The World -
On Wednesday morning, I attempted another "mile repeats" session at MVP. This would be the 3rd time I have done this workout in the last 2 months. A quick summary of the last 2 sessions is below:
6/3 - 4:53, 4:53, 4:52, 4:52, 4:50. (Avg = 4:52.56 with 2:39 average rest)
7/22 - 4:50, 4:50, 4:52, 4:56, 4:48 (Avg = 4:51.42 with 2:31 average rest)
Today the goal was to shoot for doing 6, with an average rest of 2:15 and hopefully averaging 4:51 like last time. As I headed out with the intent of doing 6, I eased into the workout but started hammering a bit too early and once again I had to stop at 5. However, I made the decision to stop at 5 after my 4th repeat, and therefore unconsciously tapped into my "high school last repeat" mentality. Splits below:
4:55.31
4:51.65
4:48.69
4:47.83
4:43.84
(Average = 4:49.47, with average rest 2:13)
Needless to say I was psyched. I have brought down my averages for the mile repeats by a little over 3s/"mile" since before the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon while reducing my recovery by around 26s. This is definitely a huge breakthrough workout and tells me that I am at least in 65:15-65:20 shape, maybe even faster if I get perfect weather. Either way, things are looking good with over 6 weeks to go until Rock n Roll San Jose!
Quality Sesson 2: Failed 3x2mi workout.
What can I say, it seems like training has been going well lately and I was due for a subpar workout. Although I am not even too upset at this. I attempted a 3x2 "mile" workout at MVP 3 days after my breakthrough mile repeats performance and the combination of being slightly under-recovered as well as the warm weather (mid 60s at the start and possibly into the 70s by the end of the workout) caused me to bail early. Even then, it wasn't so bad. I ran 9:59.8 (4:59.9, 4:58.9) and 9:55.6 (4:56, 4:58) with a little under 2 minutes rest. I think I might have had another 10:05-10:10 in me, but if you are one of the handful of people reading this blog you already know that I just don't believe in going into the well like that at the end of a workout. Plus I knew I had a potentially tough long run the next day.
Quality Session 3: Moderate/Quick Long Run
Name drop time. I agreed to do a long run with Kenny Foster this weekend and invited Jason along for at least the first 10-15 miles. (Kenny's plan was to progress the last 4-5 miles and get down to the 5:30s-5:40s, I was going to try to keep him company for at least 15 miles until he started doing that). On Saturday night I sent a message out to some of the local runners that Kenny thought we should invite, and by Sunday morning when we got to the meeting spot we found Pat Rizzo, Carlos Trujillo, and Tommy Neal waiting for us. We ran our first mile in a little over 7 minutes and never saw another mile above 6:30 after that. There was a moment of confusion at 10 miles when the group turned around early and I didn't have enough time to explain I didn't want to do a 3rd out-and-back by the time we hit our meeting spot (we had done the first 5 miles as an out-and-back and then headed out for 5 miles in the other direction). I dropped a 5:46 11th mile and then saw Jason who was cruising along (he wisely dropped off the pace around 6-7 miles). The short story is I basically ran 62 minutes for 10 miles after the 7:0x opening mile and then cruised in until I hit 16 and averaged about 45-60s/mi faster than I usually for a long run. Felt solid but definitely pooped. Later that day I did a 4-mile shakeout run (instead of 6) for the first time in months.
Quality Session1: The Mile Repeats Heard Around The World -
On Wednesday morning, I attempted another "mile repeats" session at MVP. This would be the 3rd time I have done this workout in the last 2 months. A quick summary of the last 2 sessions is below:
6/3 - 4:53, 4:53, 4:52, 4:52, 4:50. (Avg = 4:52.56 with 2:39 average rest)
7/22 - 4:50, 4:50, 4:52, 4:56, 4:48 (Avg = 4:51.42 with 2:31 average rest)
Today the goal was to shoot for doing 6, with an average rest of 2:15 and hopefully averaging 4:51 like last time. As I headed out with the intent of doing 6, I eased into the workout but started hammering a bit too early and once again I had to stop at 5. However, I made the decision to stop at 5 after my 4th repeat, and therefore unconsciously tapped into my "high school last repeat" mentality. Splits below:
4:55.31
4:51.65
4:48.69
4:47.83
4:43.84
(Average = 4:49.47, with average rest 2:13)
Needless to say I was psyched. I have brought down my averages for the mile repeats by a little over 3s/"mile" since before the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon while reducing my recovery by around 26s. This is definitely a huge breakthrough workout and tells me that I am at least in 65:15-65:20 shape, maybe even faster if I get perfect weather. Either way, things are looking good with over 6 weeks to go until Rock n Roll San Jose!
Quality Sesson 2: Failed 3x2mi workout.
What can I say, it seems like training has been going well lately and I was due for a subpar workout. Although I am not even too upset at this. I attempted a 3x2 "mile" workout at MVP 3 days after my breakthrough mile repeats performance and the combination of being slightly under-recovered as well as the warm weather (mid 60s at the start and possibly into the 70s by the end of the workout) caused me to bail early. Even then, it wasn't so bad. I ran 9:59.8 (4:59.9, 4:58.9) and 9:55.6 (4:56, 4:58) with a little under 2 minutes rest. I think I might have had another 10:05-10:10 in me, but if you are one of the handful of people reading this blog you already know that I just don't believe in going into the well like that at the end of a workout. Plus I knew I had a potentially tough long run the next day.
Quality Session 3: Moderate/Quick Long Run
Name drop time. I agreed to do a long run with Kenny Foster this weekend and invited Jason along for at least the first 10-15 miles. (Kenny's plan was to progress the last 4-5 miles and get down to the 5:30s-5:40s, I was going to try to keep him company for at least 15 miles until he started doing that). On Saturday night I sent a message out to some of the local runners that Kenny thought we should invite, and by Sunday morning when we got to the meeting spot we found Pat Rizzo, Carlos Trujillo, and Tommy Neal waiting for us. We ran our first mile in a little over 7 minutes and never saw another mile above 6:30 after that. There was a moment of confusion at 10 miles when the group turned around early and I didn't have enough time to explain I didn't want to do a 3rd out-and-back by the time we hit our meeting spot (we had done the first 5 miles as an out-and-back and then headed out for 5 miles in the other direction). I dropped a 5:46 11th mile and then saw Jason who was cruising along (he wisely dropped off the pace around 6-7 miles). The short story is I basically ran 62 minutes for 10 miles after the 7:0x opening mile and then cruised in until I hit 16 and averaged about 45-60s/mi faster than I usually for a long run. Felt solid but definitely pooped. Later that day I did a 4-mile shakeout run (instead of 6) for the first time in months.
Sunday, August 9, 2015
"Chasing the Standard" Fall Training Cycle - Weeks 1-4 of 18
As I mentioned in my last post, the main goal of my current cycle is the sub-65 half-marathon standard required to qualify for next February's Olympic Marathon Trials. My first 4 weeks have gone surprisingly close to script with a little bit more mileage than planned, but I am feeling good so far.
Right after the Garry Bjorklund half-marathon I took some "down time" and ran mostly easy miles for the next 3 weeks with some unplanned farleks/pickups thrown into my runs here and there. The 3 weeks right after the race were 102, 102, and 120. I was also an idiot and ran a downhill half marathon a week after Garry Bjorklund that started at around 10,5000 feet and dropped 2000+ feet. I walked (or limped?) away with the W, but the damage definitely stayed in my legs for the next 3-4 days. Then, about 10 days after the Garry Bjorklund Half, Maureen and I left for a 9-day Caribbean cruise. We did a lot of the excursions available, but with so much time at sea while traveling between ports I was able to put in about 159 miles in 16 runs during our 9 days on the ship, with all except 5 miles of this done on the treadmills in the gym, Most of the runs were steady/easy effort, but occasionally I got bored and would throw in 2-5 minute pickups here and there at tempo/MP effort. I came back from the trip feeling recharged and ready to start my training cycle.
Without further ado, below is what I have been up to since the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon.
Active Recovery Week 1 - 102 miles.
Quality Session: Slacker Half Marathon - 1:10:21 (1st place)
Active Recovery Week 2 - 102 miles
Active Recovery Week 3 - 120 miles
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 1 - 133 miles
Quality Session 1: 25x400s with 60s rest. I got carried away early on and had to take 3 min rest after the 20th (jogged 500 meters) and ended up averaging 70.59 for the 400s with an average rest of a little under 63 seconds. This still compared favorably with the last time I did this session in early May where I averaged about 0.2s/400 slower for 20 repeats.
Quality Session 2: Lake Atwood 10-miler in 53:24. This was a nice money grab with Kenny Foster and Robby Young, unfortunately some Boulder guys and Kenyans showed up so we didn't make as much money as we were hoping for, but I still ran a solid progression in some pretty humid weather. I went out in about 5:25-5:30 and worked my way down, came through halfway in 27 flat or so and slowly grinded the pace down into the 5:17-5:18 range til the finish.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 2 - 131 miles
Quality Session 1: 5x1 "mile" at MVP. I think my sense of pace/effort was still rusty after the weeks off even though my fitness has apparently progressed a bit. I ended up going 4:50, 4:50, 4:52, 4:56, 4:48 with 2:30 rest in between. Last time I did this workout was 2.5 weeks before the Garry Bjorklund Half, comparing the two efforts I averaged about 1s/mi faster than last time while taking about 15s less rest on average for recovery. I just wish I had started a bit more controlled and didn't "bonk" a little on the 4th one.
Quality Session 2: I set out to do 3x2 "miles" at MVP, and again had to alter the workout slightly. I made it through the first 2 2-mile repeats feeling okay but taking 2-minute recovery instead of 2:30-3 minutes like I usually do with the workout was a bit tougher than expected. I wanted to come through the first lap of the last rep relaxed before picking it up, but when I looked down and saw I had run a 5:06 I temporarily lost it mentally and decided on the spot to take a 2-minute rest. I then came back with a 4:55 for my last "mile". Workout ended up being 10:02, 10:03, 5:06, 4:55 with 2 minutes between everything.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 3 - 121 miles
Quality Session1: 10x800s with 2:23.54 average. The last comparable effort was 12x800s @ 2:24.97 back in February before the Phoenix half. I had 2 minutes average rest both times, but felt that the conditions for this workout was slightly worse due to it being a bit warm/humid, but not by much. Splits were 2:25.7, 2:23.9, 2:23.9, 2:22.2, 2:21.5, 2:23.7, 2:23.2, 2:24.2, 2:24.5, 2:23.0. Again, I started rolling a little bit too early into the workout and had to hang on for a bit before closing somewhat decently at the end.
Quality Session 2: Nielsen 2-mile (9:58!) followed by 6x(2min on, 3 min off) about 15 minutes later. The original plan was to run the Evergreen Town Race, which is a fast downhill 10K but it starts around 8600 feet and there was apparently no prize money this year. I don't mind the lack of prize money, but it pretty much guarantees lack of competition as well so instead of paying for a race and driving 2 hours both ways I just stayed home and took a crack at the Nielsen. I was pretty much solo after 600 meters and cruised a bit from 1-1.5 miles, which was the toughest 1/2 mile segment of the course but I was able to come back and close hard the last half mile to become the 9th runner to dip under 10 minutes on this course. I averaged around 4:54-4:55 pace for the 2-minute pickups so I was happy with this.
Quality Session 3: I rarely run 3 quality session a week nowadays, but since Jason has been helping me out on the 400s/800s the past couple of weeks and I ran a relatively short workout yesterday I ran his marathon pace workout with him. 2x4 miles with about 2:30 rest and we hit 5:45 pace on the nose. This felt comfortably fast to me, I would estimate this to be about 95% of MP effort right now.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 4 - 130 miles
Quality Session1: This was supposed to be a down week with one long quality effort scheduled for the end of the week. However, I called an audible midweek and decided to try to do a midweek downhill tempo to get my legs for the my downhill half-marathon this weekend. I warmed up 3 miles up a route with some climbs and planned to do a 10K tempo at somewhere between HMP and MP effort. I came through 3 miles in 15:32 after approximately 330 feet of elevation loss according to Strava. Shortly before I hit the 4 mile mark I hit a substantial uphill that killed my momentum and I ended up running a 5:29. I temporarily pulled the plug on the workout, but then after a half mile "float" at around 6:16 pace I threw down a 4:58 mile. (Yes, I'll confess to doing this on a 1-mile Strava segment to get the CR :)) I did another 85-90s float and then closed out the workout with another half mile at about tempo effort. Summary of workout 4 mile in 21:01 (5:08, 5:13, 5:10, 5:29), 0.5mi float @ 6:16, 1 mile in 4:58, 85s @ 6:44, 2:39 for 0.5mi. (Total = 33:30 10K)
Quality Sesson 2: Georgetown to Idaho Springs HM - 69:41 (1st). Going into this race I had two goals, win and run sub-70:21 (beat my time from the Slackers half). I feel like this is a slightly slower course than Slackers with about 1000 feet of elevation loss at slightly lower altitude. My plan was to run 5:25-5:30 for the first 4 miles or so where the course seemed to be flatter and start picking it up to the 5:15-5:20 range for the second half of the race. Although if somebody faster showed up I felt like I was ready to run 5:15s or even 5:10s to try to win. Luckily, the gun went off and I was pretty much alone after the first 2-3 steps so I could focus on doing my "workout". Below is the data:
1. 5:25 (+10 ft)
2. 5:25 (-9 ft)
3. 5:15 (-80 ft)
4. 5:13 (-60 ft)
5. 5:24 (-22 ft)
6. 5:14 (-135 ft)
7. 5:19 (-80 ft)
8. 5:27 (-88 ft) <- this mile was mostly dirt trails and not very even at all, so I backed off a little so as not go kill myself
9. 5:17 (-109 ft)
10. 5:16 (-96 ft)
11. 5:20 (-69 ft)
12. 5:10 (-73 ft)
13. 5:12 (-68 ft)
0.13. 36s (4:42/mi)
Most of the effort felt like it was right in between marathon pace and true half-marathon effort, although with all the miles in my legs I honestly didn't know if I could run much faster if I had to. Although around mile 11 I started feeling pretty good and closed the race with my fastest two miles despite the fact that course was starting to level off a bit. Given that the course has about 400-500 less feet of elevation loss than the Tucson Half (where I ran 68:04 last December) and the average elevation for the race is about 4000-5000 feet higher (worth about 10s/mi in my book) this was definitely a much better "half-marathon race/tempo" than I did last December in Tucson, possibly by 60-90s. Either way, training is going well and I am really looking forward to the next 7 weeks before I take my first shot at the sub-65 standard.
Right after the Garry Bjorklund half-marathon I took some "down time" and ran mostly easy miles for the next 3 weeks with some unplanned farleks/pickups thrown into my runs here and there. The 3 weeks right after the race were 102, 102, and 120. I was also an idiot and ran a downhill half marathon a week after Garry Bjorklund that started at around 10,5000 feet and dropped 2000+ feet. I walked (or limped?) away with the W, but the damage definitely stayed in my legs for the next 3-4 days. Then, about 10 days after the Garry Bjorklund Half, Maureen and I left for a 9-day Caribbean cruise. We did a lot of the excursions available, but with so much time at sea while traveling between ports I was able to put in about 159 miles in 16 runs during our 9 days on the ship, with all except 5 miles of this done on the treadmills in the gym, Most of the runs were steady/easy effort, but occasionally I got bored and would throw in 2-5 minute pickups here and there at tempo/MP effort. I came back from the trip feeling recharged and ready to start my training cycle.
Without further ado, below is what I have been up to since the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon.
Active Recovery Week 1 - 102 miles.
Quality Session: Slacker Half Marathon - 1:10:21 (1st place)
Active Recovery Week 2 - 102 miles
Active Recovery Week 3 - 120 miles
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 1 - 133 miles
Quality Session 1: 25x400s with 60s rest. I got carried away early on and had to take 3 min rest after the 20th (jogged 500 meters) and ended up averaging 70.59 for the 400s with an average rest of a little under 63 seconds. This still compared favorably with the last time I did this session in early May where I averaged about 0.2s/400 slower for 20 repeats.
Quality Session 2: Lake Atwood 10-miler in 53:24. This was a nice money grab with Kenny Foster and Robby Young, unfortunately some Boulder guys and Kenyans showed up so we didn't make as much money as we were hoping for, but I still ran a solid progression in some pretty humid weather. I went out in about 5:25-5:30 and worked my way down, came through halfway in 27 flat or so and slowly grinded the pace down into the 5:17-5:18 range til the finish.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 2 - 131 miles
Quality Session 1: 5x1 "mile" at MVP. I think my sense of pace/effort was still rusty after the weeks off even though my fitness has apparently progressed a bit. I ended up going 4:50, 4:50, 4:52, 4:56, 4:48 with 2:30 rest in between. Last time I did this workout was 2.5 weeks before the Garry Bjorklund Half, comparing the two efforts I averaged about 1s/mi faster than last time while taking about 15s less rest on average for recovery. I just wish I had started a bit more controlled and didn't "bonk" a little on the 4th one.
Quality Session 2: I set out to do 3x2 "miles" at MVP, and again had to alter the workout slightly. I made it through the first 2 2-mile repeats feeling okay but taking 2-minute recovery instead of 2:30-3 minutes like I usually do with the workout was a bit tougher than expected. I wanted to come through the first lap of the last rep relaxed before picking it up, but when I looked down and saw I had run a 5:06 I temporarily lost it mentally and decided on the spot to take a 2-minute rest. I then came back with a 4:55 for my last "mile". Workout ended up being 10:02, 10:03, 5:06, 4:55 with 2 minutes between everything.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 3 - 121 miles
Quality Session1: 10x800s with 2:23.54 average. The last comparable effort was 12x800s @ 2:24.97 back in February before the Phoenix half. I had 2 minutes average rest both times, but felt that the conditions for this workout was slightly worse due to it being a bit warm/humid, but not by much. Splits were 2:25.7, 2:23.9, 2:23.9, 2:22.2, 2:21.5, 2:23.7, 2:23.2, 2:24.2, 2:24.5, 2:23.0. Again, I started rolling a little bit too early into the workout and had to hang on for a bit before closing somewhat decently at the end.
Quality Session 2: Nielsen 2-mile (9:58!) followed by 6x(2min on, 3 min off) about 15 minutes later. The original plan was to run the Evergreen Town Race, which is a fast downhill 10K but it starts around 8600 feet and there was apparently no prize money this year. I don't mind the lack of prize money, but it pretty much guarantees lack of competition as well so instead of paying for a race and driving 2 hours both ways I just stayed home and took a crack at the Nielsen. I was pretty much solo after 600 meters and cruised a bit from 1-1.5 miles, which was the toughest 1/2 mile segment of the course but I was able to come back and close hard the last half mile to become the 9th runner to dip under 10 minutes on this course. I averaged around 4:54-4:55 pace for the 2-minute pickups so I was happy with this.
Quality Session 3: I rarely run 3 quality session a week nowadays, but since Jason has been helping me out on the 400s/800s the past couple of weeks and I ran a relatively short workout yesterday I ran his marathon pace workout with him. 2x4 miles with about 2:30 rest and we hit 5:45 pace on the nose. This felt comfortably fast to me, I would estimate this to be about 95% of MP effort right now.
"Chasing Sub 65" Cycle Week 4 - 130 miles
Quality Session1: This was supposed to be a down week with one long quality effort scheduled for the end of the week. However, I called an audible midweek and decided to try to do a midweek downhill tempo to get my legs for the my downhill half-marathon this weekend. I warmed up 3 miles up a route with some climbs and planned to do a 10K tempo at somewhere between HMP and MP effort. I came through 3 miles in 15:32 after approximately 330 feet of elevation loss according to Strava. Shortly before I hit the 4 mile mark I hit a substantial uphill that killed my momentum and I ended up running a 5:29. I temporarily pulled the plug on the workout, but then after a half mile "float" at around 6:16 pace I threw down a 4:58 mile. (Yes, I'll confess to doing this on a 1-mile Strava segment to get the CR :)) I did another 85-90s float and then closed out the workout with another half mile at about tempo effort. Summary of workout 4 mile in 21:01 (5:08, 5:13, 5:10, 5:29), 0.5mi float @ 6:16, 1 mile in 4:58, 85s @ 6:44, 2:39 for 0.5mi. (Total = 33:30 10K)
Quality Sesson 2: Georgetown to Idaho Springs HM - 69:41 (1st). Going into this race I had two goals, win and run sub-70:21 (beat my time from the Slackers half). I feel like this is a slightly slower course than Slackers with about 1000 feet of elevation loss at slightly lower altitude. My plan was to run 5:25-5:30 for the first 4 miles or so where the course seemed to be flatter and start picking it up to the 5:15-5:20 range for the second half of the race. Although if somebody faster showed up I felt like I was ready to run 5:15s or even 5:10s to try to win. Luckily, the gun went off and I was pretty much alone after the first 2-3 steps so I could focus on doing my "workout". Below is the data:
1. 5:25 (+10 ft)
2. 5:25 (-9 ft)
3. 5:15 (-80 ft)
4. 5:13 (-60 ft)
5. 5:24 (-22 ft)
6. 5:14 (-135 ft)
7. 5:19 (-80 ft)
8. 5:27 (-88 ft) <- this mile was mostly dirt trails and not very even at all, so I backed off a little so as not go kill myself
9. 5:17 (-109 ft)
10. 5:16 (-96 ft)
11. 5:20 (-69 ft)
12. 5:10 (-73 ft)
13. 5:12 (-68 ft)
0.13. 36s (4:42/mi)
Most of the effort felt like it was right in between marathon pace and true half-marathon effort, although with all the miles in my legs I honestly didn't know if I could run much faster if I had to. Although around mile 11 I started feeling pretty good and closed the race with my fastest two miles despite the fact that course was starting to level off a bit. Given that the course has about 400-500 less feet of elevation loss than the Tucson Half (where I ran 68:04 last December) and the average elevation for the race is about 4000-5000 feet higher (worth about 10s/mi in my book) this was definitely a much better "half-marathon race/tempo" than I did last December in Tucson, possibly by 60-90s. Either way, training is going well and I am really looking forward to the next 7 weeks before I take my first shot at the sub-65 standard.
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