Road Racing and Training Thread - Week Ending 5/19

Alright, no excuses, time to comment (at least as much as I can motivate myself to, so I'm not just leeching off of this thread).

Numbersguy: That race series sounds awesome, can't wait to hear how it goes.

Slartzio: My calves used to be stupidly tight and then I started sticking before every run. Works like a charm. My boyfriend strongly prefers the foam roller.

Pikachu: Great week. I'd say you definitely deserve to relax and drink a beer after that.

NP1112: Thanks! Hope everything works out in your favor during your final stretch of training.

pablo: Hangover runs were so much easier in college. Oh my god, 7.5 "easy" miles have never been so hard. My thoughts went back and forth between "I want to go home," "I want to puke," and "I want breakfast" the whole time.

john berryman: Thanks man. Remember it's only for my age group, 20-24, which is the easiest age group in WA by far right now. Where are you that you don't have internet or hot water?

Rushed: Hang in there man. Traveling always throws me off.

NJ truth: Nice workout. God I am awful at 200s. I could use more of them though. And yeah everyone seems to have been through the miserable hangover run. It's almost like a rite of passage. I try not to let it happen too much anymore, but beer is too good and there's no way in hell I'm missing my run after a night of drinking. And thanks, it feels pretty good, even if it is the slowest age group (I'd be 5th 25-29 this year so far to draw a comparison).

Oh so the super oldschool VDOT tables from 1979 put my mile at 5:27.0, my 3000 at 10:48.4, and my 5000 at 18:41.6. I think that on the track I can probably run a 5000 faster than that, so I think 18:30 is still a reasonable goal.

As for the 3000 and mile I have literally no idea what those times mean. I have a feeling I'm just going to do them by feeling the first time around, and use the VDOT tables to understand where those times put me.

Page 1 responses:

Slartzio - I have never heard of Rolfing, but I am sure you would be willing to give just about anything a try if it will alleviate your pain once and for all. Good luck.

nick83 - As much as it sucks, I would recommend looking at a bigger picture right now so as not to prolong your current injury, or (because of imbalances/deficiencies caused by it) exacerbate another area. Is Myrtle Beach a big enough goal race to compromise your summer or longer term goals? Just a question you may want to ask yourself. If Myrtle beach is the goal, best of luck with it.

Yuri_G - what a great name for a race - Magnificent Mile! Those meet directors know how to market. :)

Pikachu - another fantastic week from you. I am sure the celebratory beer tested extra sweet. :)

themack - great base week.

pablo - great work on the in/out quarters. Looks like you and xenonscreams could have gotten together for the Sunday long run if you weren't completely across the country from each other.

cmm268 - as disappointing as your short-term setback is, you are being very sensible about it. Hope things clear up for you soon - just keep that motivation in check for awhile and you'll feel extra ready to go when your body gives you the okay.

dcrunner - it's great that you have that option to run back and forth to work. 5k is a nice distance both ways (though it's only half the distance Geb would run back and forth to school). :)

VF Runner - I know it wasn't the time you were shooting for but I am ultra-impressed by your performance on such a quick turnaround on such an undulating course. I am even more impressed by the sub-3 streak! Enjoy some down time, you REALLY deserve it.

xenonscreams - sounds like we will have similar summers, only yours being on the track and mine on the roads. Should be fun for both of us. :)

reed - bummer about the hip flexor. Like you said, if the half is an important race, I would do whatever it takes before hand to get to the starting line feeling healthy (even if that means almost every day off), and then you can recover after. The 10k tempo and 300s looked really solid, so you are definitely fit.

NP1112 - nice recovery week and another solid 5k performance.

john berryman - I drink red wine only socially (weddings, birthday parties, holidays, etc). Never was a party animal kind of guy. Plus alcoholism runs in the family, so I figured I would at least give myself a shot at breaking the pattern. :)

john berryman wrote:

also, out of curiosity, how much does everyone on here drink and how frequently?

ooooo, what a fun question! The short answer: a lot and probably too often. Long answer: over a given week, I probably average 2-3 beers per day. I may not drink every day, but it's pretty close. I've gotten pretty heavy into the craft beer scene, so the beers I do drink are usually 7%+ abv. I take my running very seriously, but I try to live a pretty well rounded life.

berryman - Obviously, a straight 4 mile tempo at the same "effort" would be much faster than the 4 mile of in/out 400's. I mean, I was cycling between 4:44 pace and 5:56 pace for 4 miles...definitely not even pacing, but that wasn't the point of the workout.

Edgemont Dave - It's not easy to crunch 2 hard effort marathons only a month apart, so good on you for giving it a shot. Don't worry, you've still got more sub-3's in your future!

grizz - Sucks to hear about the hamstring, but the fact you took some down time right away probably saved you. Hoping this turns out to be a minor speed bump.

SteveinAK - Well, at least you're still able to cross train. Where do you stand on running the US half?

Bonham - Very nice week, you were moving that last 400 on your Tuesday workout!

Rushed - With last week being a "down" week (even if it wasn't intentional) it's not surprising you felt a little flat this week. I'm usually the same way. Your long run this week was promising, so that's a good sign.

NJ truth - Wow, you were crusin' on those 400's and 200's! FWIW, I had the same 'wheezing' feeling during my 400's...my legs felt fine, but my breathing was out of whack very early on. I think it'll just take a few more weeks of doing that stuff before your lungs catch back up.

Bartowski - I liked your Gorbachev comment. Funny to read that you had your first mow of the season...I've been mowing every weekend since March!

Ghola - Wow, that's a high percentage of your week done pretty quick! Be careful with dropping the bar on the bench press...that sh!t could seriously hurt you.

Renewed Marathoner - I know that loping feeling that you're talking about. Although I don't keep track of my cadence, I've definitely had runs where I feel like a damn antelope. Don't know what causes it, but whatever.

Muebele - You probably don't have as long as you think before you're truly back at it. Being able to run 2 workouts and a long run in a week is a sign that you're already pretty fit.

Reg Fields - Interesting Thursday workout. I usually go the other direction on a ladder workout (start out the mile, then 800, 400's last). Any particular reason you went that way?

xenonscreams - FWIW, one of my friends recently ran a 1:24 half marathon and her 5k is right around 18:00. I know it's a small sample size, but your mileage is similar to hers...so I think 18:30 for you is very doable (especially if done on a track).

Pablo- I usually go the other way on the ladder also. My friend who gives me all of the workouts told me this simulates and helps with dealing with the fatigue of the last mile of a 5K. I did go a bit quick on the 400's, this entire workout was supposed to be at 5K goal pace but it was interesting needing save a reserve on the 400's and the 800's know that 1600 was looming. At the very least it was a nice change of pace from the norm down the ladder. Try it sometime and let me know what you think.

Last week was hectic and I failed to comment.

Goal: Stay healthy

Next race: 4km (part of 20km relay run with work) 13/06

Target: Don't know yet

M: Off

T: 13 with 3x2km @ MP (4:10/km)

W: 6 easy (first time running during lunch with colleagues)

T: off

F: off

S: off

S: 15 moderate (hungover again, shaking my head as I'm typing)

Total: 34 km

Nothing special, but decided to do a different run. Have not done any speedwork yet, so I'll have to see if my legs feel ready to do a fast 4km other wise I'll opt for tempo effort. I have never raced anything under 10km so don't want to force it.

Numbersguy Your new training plan sounds like a lot of fun. The race may help you become less of a numbersguy ;).

Slartzio Have you been doing barefoot running for long?

pablo Most of us are probably good at running alone, but having company is fantastic.

cmm268 Good luck with the shin :(

VF Runner Golf ball?

xenonscreams A quick google search should give you plenty of VDOT calculators and what not. Good to see other running hungover :)

reed Take it easy and enjoy your race.

john berryman Too much and too often...

easy weeks Easy, trails and friends are perfect ingredients for a comeback. Good luck.

grizz More sad news!

Rushed It could have been the traveling as well. In my case a lot of easy running makes my legs slugish as well.

pablo wrote:

ooooo, what a fun question! The short answer: a lot and probably too often. Long answer: over a given week, I probably average 2-3 beers per day. I may not drink every day, but it's pretty close. I've gotten pretty heavy into the craft beer scene, so the beers I do drink are usually 7%+ abv. I take my running very seriously, but I try to live a pretty well rounded life.

Maybe this is a weird question, but do you time your drinking strategically? Like I read this article where my coach was quoted:

And now every time I drink I just think about HGH which kind of sucks. I'm not sure how much of a balance is ideal, but now I at least try not to drink too soon after running, and not to drink the day of a hard workout.

OK, I've had time to download the gory details and put some commentary with it. Thanks for all the kind words everyone. In a separate message Edgemont Dave (that was my friend Patrick, BTW) commented "I'm at peace with it" and I think that sums it up pretty well.

Marathon #10 - 5 weeks after #9

1 - 6:29 Flat and easy first mile. Right on pace. Nice!

2 - 6:52 Turned onto the courses primary direction. Can I PLEASE just once get a TAILWIND day.

3-6 6:46,:41,:23,:51 OK, that was a little more off pace than I was hoping, but that was a pretty stiff breeze (and I probably shouldn't have fought it quite as much as I did at times) and at least we get to go down now.

7 - 5:46 Wow.

8 - 5:56 There we go, got some of that time back.

9 - 6:06

10 - 6:18 Nice. I'm right back on my goal pace. Maybe this will be a good day!

11 - 6:24

12 - 6:59

13 - 7:03

13.1 - 1:25:30 Um ... I didn't expect to be a minute off pace again with 3 more miles of hills coming up.

14 - 7:25 I knew that was going to be the worst hill.

15 - 6:56

16 - 6:46

17 - 6:35

18 - 6:21 Well ... that was supposed to be quicker once I got past the last of the big climbs.

19 - 6:46 OK, that was a downhill mile slower than goal pace. That wasn't supposed to happen.

20 - 6:56 Slow flattish mile, about 3 and a half minutes off goal pace. All right, I guess it's just time to gut it out and finish the last 10K strong.

21-23 - 6:57,7:12,7:22

24 - 7:32 There's the golf course. Any threesomes on these holes? Maybe they would let me join them. Wow, that was a bad swing ... wait a sec ... did she even yell? Holy crap that just missed us, and it's not like my legs had the energy to duck.

25 - 7:34

26 - 7:06 Downhill now towards the finish. I'm actually catching someone. And I thought I was hurting.

.2 ? Yeah, I didn't bother actually stopping my watch right as I crossed the line. At least it's still sub 3.

2:58:22 finish clock and 26.38 miles on the Garmin.

Looking back, even in the first couple of miles I realized my legs just didn't have the smooth flow you'd like in a marathon. Probably just as well the weather wasn't perfect because don't think my legs had what they would have needed for the 2:4x's.

I think as early as 17/18 I knew the 2:40's were out. By 20 I was thinking I'd still have a decent time and sub 3 was a lock. By 23 I DIDN'T know sub 3 was a lock. I think I did all the right things between races, I just don't think it was meant to be. Maybe on a less severe course (2280 feet descent, 860 feet of climbing) my slightly unrecovered legs would have held up better. Who knows. Lesson learned and I don't think I'll be trying that again.

Now for some rest weeks!

Just beginning training for my second marathon, Jackson Hole, in September. Trying to keep my pace really slow to start and work on keeping my heart rate down.

Monday - 5M 9:10 pace, felt really good. Felt so good that I went and swam laps for 45 mins later that night.

Tuesday - Lift and 40 min swim

Wednesday - 2M 10:00 pace, felt terrible. Legs felt like wet noodles so I just packed it in and took the day off.

Thursday - 6.5M 9:20 pace, another good run. Felt like I was really just hitting my stride around 5M.

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - 11.6M 9:41 pace, nice easy run for the first 7 miles then my left knee gradually started feeling worse. This is the same knee that made me sit out for ~2 months. Good news is that this morning it doesn't feel like the same injury although it's still sore.

I have a half marathon trail run in 2 weeks, so I think I'm just going to take this week off, let it heal, and just bike and swim. I'm hoping it's just sore b/c I upped the mileage too quickly?

Any advice about knee pain (pretty ambiguous, I know) is always appreciated. I'm relatively new to running, so I'll take any pointers I can get.

Goals: Sub 4:40 mile; sub 9:30 3000

Next race: Mile on 6.5

43 miles this week. Notable efforts:

8 x 400 w/90 seconds rest for 2 sets of 4 (full recovery in between the sets) Avg: 72 (70 low, 74 high) Also had a nice 11 miler on the trails yesterday @ 7:30 pace - felt pretty comfortable.

1st track workout of the year for me and although it stung a bit, I felt ok. I think I am farther along this year than I was at the same time in 2012.

----------------------------------------------------------

Pikachu: legit week.

Pablo: Nice 400s

1112: solid 5K

VF: Sounds like you left it out there and that's all that matters right?

Dave: Sounds like a brutal course. Reward yourself with a flat one on the next effort.

grizz: Sorry about the injury. Had the same when I started back a few years ago. Ice and rest my friend.

Cheers.

Alright, here we go. Who needs to work on a long weekend when there are LR comments to make?

Pikachu: Do you live right next to a track or something? The way you mix in road running, hills, and track stuff in so many workouts intrigues me. And congrats on another monstrous week.

pablo: Lookin' pretty good. When will you start to taper for the race? Also, how often do you do speed stuff in the morning? I always find my legs stiff and uncooperative in morning runs, which is fine for cruising but problematic with speed or tempo.

VF Runner: As the cowboy in "the Big Lebowski" says, sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you. Keep your head up, and congrats on keeping the sub-three streak alive, especially on a tough course. Very impressive.

xenonscreams: I always find a low, slow run a great way to deal with a hangover, actually. Sweat out the bad stuff, or something.

Regarding the drinking question: I don't drink as much as I did in university, but I still come in between 9-14 beers most weeks. I usually forgo beer for the month preceding a goal race, in part to improve performance, and in part to make the post-race celebration/commiseration more vivid. I like running, and I like beer, and I'm not very interested in giving up either for extended periods of time.

NP112: nice 5k time; very impressive. Far too often chip times don't agree with watch times. Good luck with the taper.

R.e. the repeats on the trail: my favourite track in Edmonton is Scona high school. (There's only one other within a 40 minute bike ride from my apartment, and it's gravel and full of bugs and annoying football teams.) I biked over on Friday and found, to my surprise, that it's currently torn up and being resurfaced. So I biked home and ran to a flat-ish stretch of trail near the river with a marked mile and did my workout there instead. I'm excited to go back to the track when it's finished, but for now I'll have to make due with bike traffic and elevation change and all those other minor annoyances that come with workouts away from the track.

Also on the subject of speedwork, I have a question for the more experienced runners in the thread. I'm starting to notice a bit more strength in my interval workouts compared to when I started this season's training in March right now. Until late July I generally want to add mileage and not speed, but it seems silly to me to keep doing the same workout if I'm stronger now. So should I add more reps (e.g. 12x400 instead of 10, or five mile repeats instead of four) or focus on running the same reps faster?

Edgemont Dave: Sorry to hear you're disappointed in your time, but an 8th overall finish is still something to celebrate! Just maybe not with that syrup.

NJ Truth: Awesome workout on Friday. Really zippy 400s.

reed, grizz, Slaritzo, Ghola, Renewed, anyone else dealing with injuries: rest up and get healthy quick!

I

Numbersguy- Ah, hope you get the nagging issues taken care of while it's still early. Low-key races sound fun!

Slartzio- Hope the shin splints clear up for you soon. Did your doctor recommend any strengthening exercises to do as well?

nick83- I know it feels like it, but another additional week off will NOT kill you, especially if your body needs it to heal from an injury. (just think, a few days now or a few weeks/months down the road?). Just keep up with the crosstraining if it doesn't bother your injury issues and you'll be fine.

Yuri_G- Nice to get back into it doesn't it?

Pikachu- Wow! Just out of curiosity, what kind of weeks are you building up towards? (mileage, workouts, etc.) I guess we'll find out soon anyways.

themack- Building up the weekly miles, nicely done.

Pablo- Solid workouts man. I am going to Duluth next month regardless of whether I am running or not. My father is running Grandma's and Minnesota is the last state in his "50-state club" quest, so I wanted to be there for that anyways. (not to mention the non-refundable plane tickets / hotel rooms, and I am flying out of MN to go house hunting right afterwards). I am really hoping I can get in 2-3 weeks of running in and be up for a HM by then, but at this point I am thinking long-term and just want to get healthy.

CMM268- ARGH, sorry to hear man. Hope you backed off in time though and your issues clear up soon too.

Dcrunner0910- Looking forward to seeing how you incorporate some of Canova's stuff into your training.

VF Runner- Not a bad day considering the conditions man. Congrats on the AG awards as well!

Xenoscreams- Nice week and congrats on the HM ranking.

Reed- Sounds like you did the smart thing and stopped right away, so hopefully that gives you a good chance to toe the starting line healthy next weekend. Fingers crossed for you.

NP1112- Smart to take a easy week, and 16:31 would have been a PR for you wouldn't it? I bought the elliptigo for my wife last summer but now I am the one using it... sigh. I thought doing something new/fun would motivate me, but the weather last Friday/Saturday just sucked.

John Berryman- Looks like you are getting into a nice groove with putting in miles everyday and hope you are getting acclimated to your new home/city.

easy weeks- Nice bump in the miles from nice week if I recall correctly. DO you have a mileage range that you are targeting?

Edgemont Dave- Heard it was a rough day condition wise but good to see that you still went for it. Rest up and enjoy yourself, you definitely earned it.

Grizz- Sorry to hear man, but it also sounds like it should be something fairly minor and you'll be back in the swing of things fairly soon.

Bonham- Damn, that's a fairly solid "easy week". Good luck in the 10K next weekend.

Rushed- I find it a little hard to bounce back from low mileage weeks too sometimes, hope you get your legs back soon.

NJ Truth- Nice interval workout! Those times remind me of high school / college when I had the delusion that I was a miler, almost seem like a lifetime ago. Also wanted to thank you again for the encouraging FB messages, about to head out and hit the elliptical again soon.

Team Bartowski- Solid week, and hope you are acclimating to the higher mileage load again.

Ghola- Very nice quality week. Hope your foot heals up well.

Renewed marathoner- Good to see you being smart about it. Hope the pain goes away soon too.

Muebele- Nice mix of quality/quantity this week, keep it up.

Reg Fields- Good to see you right back in the mix of things. Solid looking week as usual.

Gmuze- Hope you have a chance to get in a few more runs this week. At least you seem to be healthy?

ipaidforthis- Welcome? What kind of knee pain are you experiencing? I guess in general stretching (quads, as this seems to be the muscle that places the most stress the knee), icing, and massaging surrounding muscles may help with minor cases.

Has been who never was- Nice 400s workout! If it means anything, I did a few similar 400 workouts leading up to a track mile last year where I ran 8-10x400s in 71-72 average (with 400m/2min rest in between) and ended up running a 4:41 mile, so you are looking good for the sub-4:40. (my mile was in windy conditions and somewhat tactical, I believe my splits were 71-72-72-65, so I probably could have gone faster).

Numbersguy Solid first week back, man. Always hate getting going again and having that 'awkward' feeling on every run, and the random pains that come with getting back at it.

Pikachu Nice quality jammed into that week. Gotta say, however, the most impressive part, for me, is coming back off a 19M long run with a 16M solid fartlek. I would...shoot myself in the face.

Pablo Good to see you back at it and going for the USA Half Champs. Love the 70-90 drill/workout - favorite way to get 10k pace stuff in while getting a passable LT stimulus.

VF Sorry to hear it didn't go well. The whole conditions thing is such a huge influencer of performance, and it's the only thing one can't control. Wish you'd had a better opportunity.

NP Feeling the idea of coming back for a workout on race day. I've never really had the chance to do so, but may be giving that a go here in the future

Grizz Damn, dude, I HATE hamstring issues. I tweaked mine at the end of last spring, and the SOB still nags me if I get dehydrated. Good call not being an idiot (like me) and taking time to get it right!

SteveInAlaska Sorry to see you on the injury train the last few weeks, man. Here's to hoping you can get right soon.

Now for my stuff...

Well, it looks like I just missed the cut for NCAA's. Pretty pissed as I'm pretty sure I would have made the final if I'd gone (getting fitter every week - added time would have been huge), and easily would have been in and to the final if it wasn't for missing 6+ weeks early (mid-indoor through the start of outdoor). So my NCAA career ends not with the boom I wanted, but with a whimper.

That being said, I managed to drag myself to being within almost 30s of my 10k PB off just 7 weeks of running. Since I'm just getting going fitness wise, I've decided to road whore it up a bit and extend my season through Peachtree. I've only had 4-ish tempo sessions since starting up, so I'll be dedicating next few weeks to getting as much of that in as I can, then going back and doing some specific pace work and light sharpening.

Goal Race: Peachtree (15th American)

Next Race: Run for the Pies 6/22 (win/get equalizer bonus)

M- AM: 4 (29:15)

PM: 10*

T- AM: 10+ (1:07:45)

PM: 5 (37)

W- AM: 10+ (1:07)

PM: 4.5 (31:40)

Th: AM: 4 w/Lightposts (29)

PM: 7**

F- AM: 9 (1:05)

PM: 3 (24)

S- PM: 16.5 (1:49:30) (1st 10 easy, last 6 steady on hills - 6:04, 5:58, 6:03, 6:00, 5:42, 5:48, 5:46)

Su- AM: 6 (45)

Total: 89

*: Went out to do a 7M session going 5:00-5:40-5:00 repeating, but still jacked up from racing a hard 10k in the heat Saturday night. Splits: 5:02, 5:28, 4:59, 5:41, 5:18 (gave up here), 3:00 (1/2), 2:30 (1/2). Roughhh!

**: Had planned 30min @ 5:10, 1M jog, 1600 @ 4;50, 60s 200m, 1600 @4:28. Was stupid all week and didn't give myself time to get over the 10k, and had to dodge around the barriers we had out for out steeple guy's session the whole way. Called it at 3M in 15:28 and just cooled down. Would rather have good weeks ahead than put myself deeper in a hole.

NJ Truth - Yup, former NJ guy. I live in Maryland now.

Bonham - Speeding up and adding reps both work to a point, but it's easy to push short intervals too hard for your fitness. You usually want to just focus on keeping the "feel" of the workout the same; if you're getting faster, you'll run faster than before at the same effort.

Pablo: Nice 400s! I like floating rests very much!! Oh, and I’ll race a 10 K in two weeks and a half I four weeks to check my progress :)

NP1112: The fartlek the day after a long feels very good! When having a workout o Friday AND Sunday I’ll usually keep the long run on Saturday more on the easy side and I really don’t get to psyched up about my splits in the fartlek. It’s just about running fast and relaxed on a little bit tired legs.

John berryman: I don’t drink much, but I really like beer. One or two beers here and there are absolutely ok in my opinion and my average is probably two per week. I don’t think it hinders performance, as I think it’s important to enjoy life. I like to think, that a happier person runs faster :-)

VF Runner: You held it together pretty good! Congrats from me!!

Bonham: Yeah, I live in a running *El Dorado*. I have just 1.4 miles to the next track. A nice & flat 2.5 mile road loop direcly there. AND: If I want, I just have to jogg 0.5 miles to the next crazy hill and perhaps 2 miles to the forrest trails. So I guess I can’t complain!

SteveInAlaska: I guess I’ll peak somewhere in the 130 – 150 miles range, but really, for me it's all about specific workouts. I love stuff like: 12 miles moderate + 10 miles tempo + 2 cool-down or 4 – 5 x 5 K repeats, long tempos (10 miles +) etc… I would say, my coach trains pretty similar to the stuff, that Ryan Hall used to do a couple of years ago. One short & fast workout + one longer or tempo workout + one quality long run per week is pretty standard.

xenonscreams wrote:

Maybe this is a weird question, but do you time your drinking strategically?

Nope, I drink whenever I damn well feel like it! Interesting article though...thanks for posting!

VF Runner - You might be the only guy I've known to nearly get hit with a golf ball during a marathon. Take some well deserved rest!

Bonham - I actually won't taper very much for the half. I'll run very light in the 3 days leading up to the race, but the week before and early in the week of will be very typical. I do all my "main" runs in the morning...and that includes workouts. I'm a morning person to begin with, but it's easier for me (mentally) to know I've got the hard part done with before work.

Feather - Welcome to the road racing scene! The 70/90 workout is one of my favorites (and one I got from Ormsby). I ran the Pies race a couple years ago (got 2nd in 15-low), and if Sundell is there for the women, you'll have to be in the low-14's to get the equalizer...not sure if she's even still running though. What's your plan for the future...any post collegiate training groups, or are you gonna be on your own?

Pablo [/] Yeah, I'm actually only aiming for the equalizer as I know Sundell isn't training at the moment ("running" but not "training" apparently). Steven Pifer is up that way now, but apparently not near peak condition, so hopefully that doesn't shaft me (couldn't be mad, though, he's the nicest dude ever).

I actually don't know what I'm doing with my life. I'm in Tally now working at a local advertising firm and finishing my masters, but come fall I'll be done with school. If I get hired on somewhere for acceptable compensation I'll likely take that and keep training solo/with whoever I can find. Otherwise I've conned my way into being accepted into a couple groups (based off my running a couple years ago, certainly not this, haha).

I would happily jump on one of those if they landed me a relevant job, though. Of course, a couple of us graduating this year are also thinking on moving out to Colorado Springs/Eugene and just being bums... doubt that will go though, I want to make enough ovrr the coming year to buy my parents a nice vacation in return for being so great to me these last few years.

Overall goal at the moment is to make the 2016 trials and reassess from there.

SteveInAlaska wrote:

easy weeks- Nice bump in the miles from nice week if I recall correctly. DO you have a mileage range that you are targeting?)

Hey Steve - thanks; I have tried a range of mileage/intensity combos before, back in the day, and found that around 60-70 miles weekly (workout on Tue, long run on Sunday, medium long run on Wednesday) worked quite well for me in the past.

This time around, when I get some base back, I will try for the same schedule but perhaps bump it to 75-80 miles weekly. I discovered a very relaxing and visually beautiful trail network over the past little while, and running on those softer surfaces more often should cut back on the pounding.

I need to remember to put in a fair amount of speedwork and faster runs when I get there, though. I have tried higher mileage in the past, running 90+ weekly for about three months during a winter (all easy runs, as I tend to fall apart at that mileage when any intensity is introduced), then sharpening in the spring, and my high hopes for a great racing season were dashed with some pretty terrible results in 5k/10k (HM attempt was very near a PR, though).

I seem to be a good example of "doing nothing but high mileage in the form of long slow distance produces a long slow runner." My HRH was fantastically low, my easy run pace was excellent by the end, but just didn't have the wheels even after a month of lower mileage and increased intensity.

I am not sure when I will want to race again. I have this fantasy in my head in which I show up out of nowhere and crush my old opponents that I still see out there in the results, haha. I don't want to be mediocre at first and "race myself into shape" when I show my face at the starting line again, although this is likely the best way to go. There's a low-key 15k race in August I have been looking at as my return. I've never raced 15k, so it would be a bit of a new experience. I'd like to go sub-55, which would indicate I am 100% back, but would probably be quite happy with 55-high.

Not much to report here for me. I decided to give my legs a break for a couple of days and reintroduce myself to the pool.

I swam on Monday and Wednesday. I tested the right leg on Tuesday, but everything from the quad to the calf was too tight. I took Thursday and Friday off and got back to running on Saturday (6.5 miles @ 7:19/mi) and Sunday (9.3 miles @ 7:30/mi).

My right leg still felt tight this morning, but I had a breakthrough around mid-day today. I finally stretched my right quad and my whole leg loosened up.

Eventhough I swam at lunch today, I feel so good that I might go for a run tonight.

Oh, as for me, I quit drinking 10 years ago. If you suck at something, you just shouldn't do it.