Started off on a 1.5 mile warmup before meeting Jay at 8am for our second session together. Training started with a lunge matrix and some custom skipping routines. Once we were good and ready for the fartlek, I laced up the flats and set out to find my pace for the 150s.

The workout was 2x5x800 where the first 150m was at 3k goal pace and the the next 650m was “steady”. However, this was preceded by 3×150 with 250 jog in between.

First set went fairly well. Tired, for sure, but hit low 23 avg for the 150s, so that would be 61-62 pace. Completed the set averaging 5:19s.

Took 800m jog. Slooowww.

Then hit it again. Same thing. 23.5,23.4,23.3,23.2,23.3 for the 150s and maintained a decent recovery clip in between. Averaged 5:30s or maybe a little more. Regardless though, really felt nice to be getting that much volume in without getting bored.

Finished up with hurdles, myrtl, light core, and leg swings. Summary:

1.5 mile warmup
lunge matrix, skipping
5×800 (150@3k, 650@”steady”) – 23.lows – total 13:14
800 jog slow
5×800 (150@3k, 650@”steady”) – 23.lows – total 13:50
hurdles, myrtl, light core, leg swings
BRUNCH

Weird not to do a jog cooldown, but there was plenty of mobility in the exercises post-workout.

Now to catch up on work and furnish my place…

Got out this morning with Minen though for a good jaunt.

5 miles. 30min.

Then came back for an all-around evening session.

1.5 miles to track
Drills, leg swings
800 at 2:17
4x 30-30-30s
2x 100 all out (12.05, 12.11)
Core
1.5 miles home

Definitely one of the better sessions I’ve done and while there wasn’t that much mileage involved, I felt like my aerobic system was engaged for almost 90 minutes.

Got back and watched a great video recommended by Jay Johnson on foot and ankle flexion.

We all thought it would be good fun. But the only fun I got out of it was in the numbers that represented my effort — 46:12, a new trail record. And that is some good fun

The idea was to have teams of two, the first leg runs south, the second runs north. I was paired up with Bret and expected her to run somewhere between 60 and 70min (we had no basis of a good run except for the mysterious previous record of 47:??). I started my warmup around 45min into the race and immediately turned the corner to see Cullen racing down to tag off with Blackshear. Holy crap, 47:50! The Williams guys were right behind him around 50min. However, most of them were on their Sunday run and had elected to run both legs for the mileage (which is nuts).

I jogged around and did some stretches and got the imaginary stick from Bret right at the 60min mark. And off I went.

At this point I was doing some quick calculations. I was 9min behind the long runners, which meant I had to make up over a minute per mile. I figured if I could run record pace I’d be around 6:50 pace. On that terrain, I imagined it could be possible that some of them start dying to 8:00+ pace at the end. I would be 100% wrong. They all crushed it, and I didn’t see a single jogging soul for the duration of the race.

I entertained myself with imagery of past races and anticipation of future trials. Finally I managed to crest the last staircase and began my 10min+ rolling decent. Up to this point I would say that I had some serious lactic acid burn but nothing damaged. The downhill though I took knowing roughly that the record was within reach but gonna be tight. (I was also still hoping to catch at least one person). It was all I could do to maintain some semblance of form but it was all worth it to see 46:12 on the clock.

Shortly after that elation though I discovered that Dave Wadis had run 49:?? in BOTH directions. Now I know when I’m beaten and this was a thrashing. No way I could have compared to that performance.

So hats off to Wade, you are the big winner today.

1 mile warmup.
6.9 mile tempo. 46:12. Crazy terrain
0.5 mile cooldown.

Also went tubing earlier today. Sooo,

Core.

4 miles. 16:01. 13:28. 29:30

Not sure if it had anything to do with the lack of caffeine but my slowest morning run yet. No big deal though.

Evening session was meant to be some speed work at the track. I set out with the goal of just doing one mile on the track, in spikes, sprinting the straights and jogging the turns. However, once I got there, I was struck with a brilliant idea! Why not just test my paces? I figured I should be OK to throw a 2:08 800 and a 60 second 400 on the front end of the strides. Yeah, that’s effin’ brilliant!…

…until I actually tried to accomplish it.

I laced up the spikes and did some dynamic drills and leg swings. I should have taken note of the fact that high knees was causing me to suck wind. But I didn’t. So off I went, blasting my first 400 in 64. And feeling winded. I called the first piece at 600 feeling like I’d run the full 8.

Two minutes later I blasted my second piece. A 400. And this one I finished in 58.5 but hands on knees.

Finally I’d come to the mile of strides. Off I went and it was over after 2 laps. I was only running 14s 100s.

1.5 mile warmup
600 @ 1:36.
2min rest.
400 @ 58.5
4min rest.
800, jog turns, sprint straights. (13.5, 13.98, 14.72, 13.5)
1.5 miles home.

So this was the first time I really suffered from the altitude. I’m certainly not discouraged, don’t get me wrong, but I should have just stuck to the original game-plan of building some top end speed. I did not accomplish that today. On the plus side, it was another higher mileage day and I’m still feeling completely healthy. We should be close to 60 miles this week!

As you may have guessed, I DID in fact make it home, and after an intense (if not intensely bad) game between England and Italy, I left for my long run.

9 miles. 57 minutes

I returned to one of my favorite easy day lollipop runs — out, around, and back from westwoods. Only today it was my long run, but I ran it well! I kept my form the entire time, though the last 2 miles I was really concentrating on it. This was my longest continuous run in over a year! Pretty nice moment.

Only supplementary activity was stretching, and some pushup/pullups (first pullups in 2 months sadly. 8 was a struggle whereas used to be a consistent 10 and max 13).

We got to the track around 7PM.

2.5 mile warmup. flats on.

4xmile (5:00, 4:56, 4:54, 4:47).
90s jog rest.

I felt really smooth on the first 3, but as soon as we threw in a 70 on the 3rd lap of the 4th, I immediately went into debt. Fortunately, it was the last one and you could say I finished without incident.

2 lap jog.

3×300 (46, 44, 41)

Each one was just varying degrees of all out. I was pretty spent by the end.

2 lap jog and then 2×150 where I just eased into top speed at the 100m mark and held it for 50m

My heart rate was already down for these so they were pretty lackluster. Not a big deal though.

Took me a while today to just recover from the duress of the previous day. Finally woke up from a second nap at 6PM and hit South Chagrin with Donnie for 60 minutes. It was 69 degrees, clear, and amazing. So glad we decided to get up here as early as possible

9 miles

9 miles

Ran Fox Haven with Donnie

9 miles

Ran out along Reservoir with Donnie

I fell asleep around 1AM and definitively woke up at 6:30AM. It was nice out so I just went for my run then, ending at ball class.

9 miles + Ball Class

Abs didn’t feel too bad during the run, but definitely didn’t feel good for some of the maneuvers in ball class. Pretty much anything that involves cocking my pelvis off the ground (reverse crunches) really irritates it.

9 miles

The legs thankfully didn’t feel horribly stiff. That stretching really paid off… They did feel pretty dead though, and I struggled to keep good form for the last half.

Also, I’m moving to a new format that hopefully works better for those of you following my training. I think it’s easier for me to see trends if I can see the full week’s training on one page.

9 miles + hip drills

This morning I ran 9 miles at a decent clip with Donnie. Didn’t feel too bad. I did negligible drills but I’m saving the good stuff for another session today after this storm rolls through.

Weather – Good, 80, little wind, not too much humidity. Body – Decent, but the Achilles were tight and causing me to shy away from using the calves on the warmup. They didn’t pose much of a problem once we were underway though.

2.5 mile warmup + leg swings

2 miles with Donnie (5:04, 4:55) followed by 5min rest.

3x1k + 1×600 with 3min RIB (2:55, 2:53, 2:48, 1:38).

2×200 with full recovery (??, 25.1). Smayda went 23.high…. ugh

1.5 mile barefoot cooldown on the turf field afterward.

The warmup started slow and awkward but that’s why you do it… Was definitely ready for a tempo once we were back to the track. Laced up the Piranhas and we were off and finished well. Started feeling the acid creep after 3 ks so settled for that. At that point I wanted to run two 200s with Smayda he needed one more 600 for his workout so I went with him.

Smoothie King and Chipotle to refuel. Low moment of the day happened when I drove off with my smoothie balancing atop the arched dome of my VW bug. It didn’t have a chance…