Haven't Lost Much

It's been almost three weeks since I last did speedwork. And my milage is down now with the new job so I've been concerned about losing a step. I know I won't be able to hit 65-70 miles a week, unless I settle into a very disciplined (i.e. getting up at 5 AM and getting by on less sleep) routine. I haven't done anything of quality since the tempo run a week ago yesterday. So, heading into mile repeats tonight I was concerned that I might have lost a a bit of fitness. Not really. At least not yet.

I wasn't able to get them done tonight until 9 PM. Here are my times:

5:49, 5:47, 5:48, 5:45

I couldn't remember the line that we use to start the mile on. I need to get Brian to meet me over there and show me again, or maybe it'll come back to me in the daylight. I played around with it, starting later on the first two and earlier on the second two. I'm still not sure which is right. If the earlier line is right you can probably add 2 or 3 seconds to the first two, but if the second line is the right mark then you can subtract 2 or 3 seconds from the third and fourth miles. Either way, decent times, especially having not done these, or any speedwork, in three weeks.

So Long 65 Mile Weeks For Awhile

With the new job and a much longer commute it's going to be tough to get in my milage. Those 65 mile weeks are a thing of the past for awhile. I did manage to find a park near the office on Friday and went there after work instead of sitting in traffic. Got in some speedwork. Got in five miles Saturday night then a long run this morning of one hour and fifty five minutes. It was probably about 16 miles, not sure of the exact distance.

10 AM Run

I start a new job tomorrow so I was off today. In between my honey-do project (new tile in our bathroom) and having lunch with my buddy Andy, I managed to get in 6.65 miles here in New Territory this morning at about 10 AM. It was still pretty cool outside, and with no shirt on things felt great. The pace came in around seven flat, maybe just a hair under, but I never felt like I was pushing it.

Routine Monday Tempo Run

I met Steve and Assynt yesterday evening at about 5:45 for our normal Monday tempo run. It was the first time Assynt has joined us for a tempo run. He's getting back to his peak shape and runs like these are probably what the doctor ordered, though we could have cut him a little more slack! We did two Greatwood loops (7.1 miles) in 49:42, a seven minute pace, with the customary negative split and kick at the end. Assynt's tank was empty but he took our best shot and hung with us. He's just about passed his initiation for the team!

Bob Beamon R.I.P.

No, the Olympic gold medalist did not pass away. I blogged early last December about my "Bob Beamon run" and how I had attempted to match it. In brief, in May 2006, while not in peak fitness and without cool temperatures, I did my 4.4 mile route in 26:30, 22 seconds faster than I had ever done before. I wasn't able to get close to that time the rest of that year and that one run stood out as something beyond what I should have been capable of. I called it my Bob Beamon run because of what Bob Beamon was able to do in the long jump in the 1968 Olympics. His is such a fascinating story they should make a movie about it.

I made a serious stab at it in early December, just missing equaling it by six seconds. Last night I put on the game face and went for it. I hit the 2.2 mile turn in 13:16. That was actually an auspicious number because I typically run negative splits in training. I gave it all I had on the return (like I hadn't been giving it all I had going out?), but was facing the wind. I finished the return leg in 13:11 for a total time of 26:27, 6:01 pace.

Naming that May 2006 performance my Bob Beamon run doesn't really do Bob Beamon justice. His record stood for 23 years. Mine lasted less than two and I only seriously attempted to beat it a few times, while every year hundreds of jumpers went after Beamon's record, including Carl Lewis.

It felt good to go fast last night and I was none the worse for the wear today.

Saturday Morning Long-Run

I met up with the usual cast of characters (Steve Schroeder and Brian King) for a long-run yesterday morning, plus someone new - Assynt Macleod. Assynt is a new Strider, a master runner (41), and fresh off the boat from Scotland. Super guy and a very good runner. We took him for 12.14 with the Sugar Land Boys and he never blinked.

Our pace worked out to just a bit over 8 minutes per mile, but then again we had about a five minute water/bathroom stop in there. We've discovered that if we get out early enough we can run under 59 at University without any traffic to worry about. This puts us in a position to take University until it dead-ends into Commonwealth, which takes us to the Fire Station where they hold the Fired Up 5K in September. From there we can go well into First Colony and beyond. There's a park about five miles into this run, complete with water fountains and bathrooms. It's going to be a great route in the fall. And by then gas ought to be $4 a gallon thus making weekend long-runs close to home just a bit more attractive!

I ran about .65 miles up to where the guys met, then back once we finished, giving me just a bit over 13.4 for the morning. Then last night I went out for three brisk miles at my mom's house in Spring.

Thursday and Friday

Yesterday I planned to meet up with Brian to do our 400 repeats. All through the day I just didn't have any motivation and wasn't looking forward to the speedwork like I normally do. I actually had some soreness in my thighs, which is unusual, especially since we're out of marathon season. I didn't even have sore thighs when I did 22 miles three weeks ago. But that hammer run I did Tuesday night left me spent in the legs, but hopefully not the lungs.

Given that it rained here yesterday we decided against hitting the track and chose instead to head over to the .4 mile oval. I grabbed an energy drink before heading out, hoping to get a boost. I met Brian at the church near the loop and we jogged on over. We did one full loop to warm up and make sure there were no obstructions on the oval, then we were off.

We hit the first one in 2:10 but I struggled mightily to do it. Brian led the next one and we posted a 2:09, but I was done. I simply wasn't recovered completely from Tuesday night and speedwork was not in the cards. We did my 4.4 mile route over there at an easy pace, just for the milage, then Brian blasted one loop in 1:59, the all-time record for the oval.

I got in approximately 6.5 miles.

Today I went out for two times around the larger New Territory loop at whatever pace felt comfortable. I covered 7.86 miles in 56:31, a 7:11 pace. Felt much better than yesterday. I should be okay for a long-run tomorrow morning.

Recovery Milage With Brian

I talked to Brian King yesterday morning and he mentioned that he was planning to do a couple of loops here in New Territory yesterday after work so I offered to join him. Brian was targeting a moderate, nearly tempo pace which I thought I could muster. I knew that the 10.65 I did Tuesday night took all the starch out of me but I thought I might get most of it back after a nearly 24 hour recovery.

The loop here in New Territory is 3.19 miles, if you do the small one as opposed to the big loop where you have to cross New Territory Blvd. The plan was to do it twice. With the distance from my house to the loop and back it works out to about 6.7 miles.

We took off from my house and I could tell immediately that I was still spent from the night before. No spring, lungs and heart working hard from the get-go, no energy, etc. Ideal! We hit the loop and I started my watch. We talked about how darned windy it is seemingly everyday these days, and how it's not just 10 to 15 mph winds but more like 15 to 25. I hope it lets up soon. Of course when it does it will be hot and humid and we'll wish for a breeze.

About halfway through the first loop I told Brian we might need to dial it back just a hair. We did but not much. We completed the first loop in 22:39, a 7:06 pace. The second loop came in a bit slower, which was fine with me - 23:07, a 7:15 pace.

I'm not running again until this evening when we hit the track for our 400s.

Take That, Greatwood Loop

I had wanted to do something of quality on Monday but it didn't pan out. The race Saturday morning and a long-run Sunday evening left my tank empty for anything aggressive on Monday so I had to wait until yesterday. I was tired all day (my 2 year old woke us up an hour early). I waited until about 8 PM, drank a cup of the original energy drink (coffee), and headed over to the Greatwood loop.

By the time I got there the coffee had worked it's magic and I was ready to attack. I intended to do four loops at an aggressive pace (around seven flat or maybe just under). I felt great on the first loop and opted to listen to tunes instead of podcasts on my Ipod. That proved to be a good soundtrack and I clocked the first loop at a faster than goal 23:31 (6:37 pace).

The second loop was equivalent to the first one but came in just a hair faster - 23:27 (6:36 pace). Going into loop three I knew I wouldn't be able to do two more loops at this pace so I settled for burning the last one and tearing up a total of 10.65 miles.

The final loop came in at 23:09 (6:31 pace). My overall time for the 10.65 miles was 1:10:06 (6:35 pace) - easily the fastest three loop time I've ever done. I was thoroughly whipped.

So no, I'm not doing the LP run tonight. I didn't want to have another light week of training due to another race.

Monday Double

I had hoped to have some gas at some point today to do either a tempo run or maybe even my mile repeats. But I certainly didn't feel up to it when I headed out at lunch, and I didn't feel it this evening when I met Steve Schroeder for some milage over on the Greatwood loop.

At lunch I got in 6 miles and made a conscious effort to take it (relatively) easy. My overall time was 44:06 for a 7:21 pace. But heck, that's more than a minute and a half slower than my pace at the Bellaire Trolly Run so I guess it's slow enough.

This evening I still didn't find any pep in my step so Steve and I ran 7.1 miles in a rather pedestrian 53:13 for a 7:30 pace. Brian, our loop splits were:
26:54
26:19

Sunday Longish Run

Normally after a morning race, particularly only a 5K, I go out later that afternoon or evening and pick up some more milage. But an evening out at Woodrows to watch Memphis and Kansas win, thereby ensuring first place in my bracket pool ($406, thank you very much), prevented me from getting any additional milage in Saturday. So Steve Schroeder and I hooked up for some easy milage in the heat Sunday afternoon, beginning about 4:45 PM.

We ran over here in New Territory on the 3.19 mile loop. I called Steve Bezner to see if he wanted to get some miles in and promised him we wouldn't go faster than an eight minute pace. We ended up pretty close. We met Steve (hereafter referred to as Bez) out on the loop about a mile and a half into the first loop. We all dropped our bottles and started the left-turn-only shuffle.

After one loop Bez needed a quick rehydration but we didn't stop long. After the second loop we all sucked down some fluids and proceeded to hammer one more. Because Steve Schroeder and I started a mile and a half further back into the loop we were already into our fourth loop when Bez said that three was enough for him and pulled off the trail. Steve and I soldiered on and finished up what turned out to be right at 13 miles in a 7:58 pace, stops included.

I finished the week with about 44 miles but will easily eclipse that this week. And hopefully next.

Take That, Monkey!

Back in September I wrote about how in most of my races a monkey comes out of nowhere and sits on my back, causing me to underperform. Yesterday I threw him off, though I'm sure he'll reappear at some point down the road.

I decided during the week that I was going to do the Bellaire Trolly Run after all. I had been targeting the Dulles Dash 5K on April 19 for my next 5K but found out a week ago that they had moved it to Lost Creek Park, which is a course I don't care for and isn't conducive to PRs. Also, my wife and I had been planning to have a garage sale next Saturday, the 12th, but had to move it to the 19th because my son has a school function next Saturday morning. That takes care of the 12th and the 19th, and I'm doing the Bayou Bash Relay on the 26th, so now we're into May. On May 3rd I'm volunteering at Pamela's Race out in Orchard, so it became obvious that if I wanted to take a stab at a PR I'd have to do the Bellaire Trolly Run, or at least some 5K somewhere yesterday. Given that I've heard the course is fast, the competition would be strong, and the weather was going to be in the 50s (probably the last time until October), I recognized an aligning of the stars for a good race and a shot at a PR.

Brian King and I took a separate car from our other training buddy, Steve Schroeder, and got there yesterday morning with plenty of time for warming up, stretching, bathroom, etc. Finally 8 AM rolled around and I lined up near the front, ready to go. Looking around I noticed that it was like a Who's Who of Houston running. I can think of only one or two master runners who are faster than me who weren't there. It wasn't looking like a hardware day, but that was secondary to my PR attempt anyway.

The "gun" fired and we were off. I ran alongside Stephen Mayor through mile one and he told me about halfway through that mile that we were on pace for a 5:30. We must have both recognized on our own that that was too fast because we both backed off a bit and came through mile one at 5:43. I was on the edge of red-lining but not over the edge. I knew how important mile two was going to be to a PR effort so I tried to maintain, although I recognized that there would inevitably be a minor drop-off. It certainly helped that we had the breeze to our backs for nearly all of mile two. That got me to mile two with a 5:48 and 11:31 overall. Somewhere shortly before mile two I passed my two training partners but didn't expect them to fade much. They were both holding up strong and the training is there, although Brian is coming back from an injury.

Shortly into mile three I passed Steve's brother Doug whom I've never beaten at any distance other than a marathon. Passing Doug this deep into a 5K was nice but I wasn't sure it would last. Finally we made our way out onto the final straightaway that would take us to the finish. I was getting pretty whipped but did my darndest to hang on to pace. With about a quarter mile to go Doug came blasting by me with authority. That was fine. He had his race to run and I had mine. I knew my 18:11 PR was going down when I hit mile three in 5:47 and 17:18 overall. Time to hammer the final 10th and pray that it would be enough to prevent anyone from passing me in the final 100 feet or so. No one did.

I went through the finish at 17:53 chip time. A new PR was in hand, as was the first sub-18 5K of our training group (Steve/Brian/me). The second sub-18 of our group came through four seconds later, as Steve Schroeder posted an outstanding 17:57. We both had shaved 18 seconds off our PR and both agreed that we'd run about as best as we possibly could. Brian came through just a few seconds off his PR of 18:09, but had turned in a nice number even though he's just a step off his A game.

My mile splits of 5:43, 5:48 and 5:47 were about as flat a pace as I'm ever going to see and I think now that may be the best 5K race strategy, as opposed to blasting the first mile and hanging on. However, if you'd have told me prior to the race that my first mile would be 5:43 I would have assumed that I'd be pursuing the blast the first mile and hang on strategy with a number like that. Who knew I'd be able to hold on to sub 5:50 pace.

I'll need more training and speedwork to improve upon this number, if I ever do. We'll see. That monkey could come back at any time.

Wednesday Speedwork Again

We've moved our Thursday speedwork session up to Wednesday now so that it won't interfere with weekend races as much, if at all. That gives me the option of either doing mile repeats on Fridays or racing on Saturdays. So this evening I met Steve and Brian for 12 x 400 at the local track.

It's been several weeks since all three of us were able to do this workout together so it was nice to have everybody back. It's great to be able to lead two, let Steve lead two, let Brian lead two, then repeat. We've been running these well lately so tonights numbers aren't too out of the ordinary.

1:18, 1:18, 1:16, 1:18, 1:16, 1:16, 1:19, 1:16, 1:18, 1:18, 1:17, 1:08

The great thing is that I didn't really kill myself out there, despite the solid times. I had something left in the tank on each one, except that final lung-scorcher. But even that one didn't really hurt all that bad. In fact I passed Brian (our 400 speedster) about halfway through and thought I might be able to hold him off. But he had led the last lap so even though he passed me back with about 100 m to go we probably clocked about the same time. I know we probably ran these harder than necessary, at least based on the times, but if perceived effort is what you should go by, it was not as bad as it usually is. If you go by how whipped you are, this wasn't the hardest 12 x 400 we've done, not by a long shot.

Wednesday Lunch Run

I went out today at lunch for 5.4 miles. I have speedwork with the boys (Steve and Brian) this evening so I didn't want to get out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately for me, my comfort zone has never been 9 minute miles. What feels right is often too fast but oh well.

I did the 2.7 miles out in 17:53 (6:37 pace). I made an effort to go at least a little slower on the way back and succeeded, just barely. The return was 18:05, which equates to a 6:42 pace.

Speedwork results tonight if I get around to it.

Monday & Tuesday Runs

I ran both days but nothing too exciting.

Monday night I went out for a tempo run of two times around the New Territory loop (6.38 miles total) but for the first time in several weeks, I actually was not able to complete the workout in the way that I intended. I fired off one fast loop and felt great, but was going at it pretty hard and just wasn't up to doing two at that pace. I completed loop one in 20:15 (6:21 pace) but eased into recovery pace for loop two. Tack on the distance from my house to the loop start and back and it works out to about 6.7 miles.

Tuesday I was very tired all day. I had no energy from not getting enough sleep but managed five miles at lunch at a 6:59 pace. I had every intention of getting in more miles last night but decided to throw in the towel and just go to bed early.

Sunday Long-Run With Steve

I ventured out Sunday afternoon to get in a long-run over on the Greatwood loop. There was still some smoke on the trail left over from Tuan Nguyen and Brian King busting off a mean tempo run on it earlier that morning. The temperature was also pretty warm, low to mid 80s I'd say but good stuff for acclimating to the still warmer stuff to come.

My goal was to do four loops (14.2 miles) with no regard for pace. After about 2.25 miles I saw Steve Schroeder running toward me on the path. I had called him before I headed out but at the time he was doubtful about being able to join me. I was glad for the company. We soldiered through all planned loops but did take a five minute break between three and four to rehydrate. Here are the not-particularly-impressive 3.55 mile loop times:

26:01
27:35 (including a short water break)
27:09
5:01 break
26:36

Total time (including breaks) - 1:52:23, 7:46 pace