Male, 41, 5’11”, 168 lbs
PRs: 16:43 (2019) 1:17:24 (2019), 2:47:00 (2018)
Goal race: California International Marathon (12/8/19)
Goal time: 2:40:00 - 2:44:00
Starting 2 weeks out from CIM
M - 5 miles
T - Rest
W - 7 miles. Including 5 x :20 strides.
Th - 15 miles. Including 2 x 5 mile off 5:00 recovery jog. Averaged 6:02/mile and 5:59/mile for the two segments.
F - 5 miles
Sa - 9.5 miles
Su - 10.8 miles. With Mrs.Stone.
Total: 52.3 miles
Year to Date: 1,939 miles
One week to go! Hope everyone else had a great week.
Progression of Workouts this Cycle
Week of 9/16 (52 miles)
*12 x 400m off 1:00 walk recoveries. Roads. :77/average.
*5 mile MP tempo. 6:24/average.
*15 mile progression. 75%-->100% MP. 8:25-->6:19/mile.
Week of 9/23 (62 miles)
*8 x .5 mile off 1:30 walk/jog recoveries. Roads. 2:48/average.
*6 mile MP tempo. 6:21/average.
*16 miles. Including 8 mile continuous alternating tempo as 4 x (1.5 miles MP, .25 mile fast, .25 mile easy). 9:31/1:18/1:55 averages. 6:22/average overall for the 8 miles.
Week of 9/30 (70 miles)
*6 x 1 mile off 2:00 jog recoveries. 5:42/average.
*17 miles. Including 4 miles (6:24)/3 miles (6:19)/2 miles (6:06)/1.1 mile (5:52) off 1 mile moderate recoveries (6:55). 1:23:52 overall for the middle 13.1 miles (6:24/average).
Week of 10/7 (80 miles)
*2 x 2 miles, 1 x 1 mile off 2:30 recovery jogs. 5:50/average. (Was scheduled for 4 x 2 miles but felt flat and cut it short.)
*14 miles. Including 10 mile continuous alternating tempo as 10 x (.5 mile at 5:53, .5 mile at 6:24). 6:09/average overall for the middle 10 miles.
Week of 10/14 (60 miles)
*7 mile progression. MP—>HMP. 6:19–>5:48/mile. 6:03/average overall for the 7 miles.
*19 miles. Including 17 miles steady @ 6:34/average.
Week of 10/21 (75 miles)
*3 x 3 miles off 3:30 jog recoveries. 5:49/average. 1:25:36 (6:32/mile) overall for the 13.1 miles.
*8 mile tempo. 6:06/average. Felt like 30km race pace.
*20 miles very easy, hilly. 754 feet elevation gain. (2:58:39).
Week of 10/28 (50 miles)
*21 miles total. 11 miles easy (7:39/average), 10 miles around marathon pace (6:06/average).
Week of 11/4 (86 miles)
*2 x 4 miles off 4:30 recovery jog. 5:53/average.
*25 miles total. Specific Block.
Early AM: 12.5 miles total. .5 mile easy, 6 miles at 92% MP (6:34), 6 miles at 102% MP (5:56).
100 minute recovery break in between sessions.
Late AM: 12.5 miles total. .5 mile easy, 6 miles at 93% MP (6:31), 5 x 1 mile at 104% MP (5:51) off :90 slow recovery jogs, .5 mile easy.
Week of 11/11 (30 miles)
*9 miles, including 3 miles at 6:04/average. Bailed long run of 18 miles with 4 miles / 3 miles / 2 miles / 1.1 mile with 1 mile moderate recoveries due to feeling absolutely flat with zero energy.
Week of 11/18 (54 miles)
*17.5 miles. 5 miles (6:55), 5 miles (6:35), 5 miles (6:15), 2.5 miles (5:50). 6:28/average overall.
Week of 11/25 (53.5 miles)
*2 x 5 miles off 5:00 recovery jog. Averaged 6:02/mile and 5:59/mile for the two segments.
Mrs. Stone’s week:
Female, 44, 5’6”
PRs: 21:20 (2017, 2019), 1:36:43 (2019), 3:31:40 (2019)
Goal race: California International Marathon (12/8/19)
Goal time: sub 3:25:00 (7:49 pace)
Starting 2 weeks out from CIM
M - 5 miles
T - 6 miles
W - 12 miles. Including 4 miles (7:40) / 3 miles (7:30) / 2 mile (7:18) with .5 mile recovery jogs. 7:39/average for the middle 10 continuous miles.
Th - 5 miles
F - Rest
Sa - 5 miles
Su - 10.8 miles. Including two miles at 8:10, 8:00 toward the end.
Weekly Total: 43.8 miles
Year to Date: 2,369 miles
One week to go!
Male, 26, 6’4”, 144lbs
PRs: 4:54 (mile), 16:56, 1:18:00, 28:01 (8k 2015), 2:47:14 (all 2018 but 8k)
Goal: Club XC Nationals 10k: ~36min 10k
Mn - 4.5 @ 7:25s w/ 8 strides
Tu - AM: 5 @ 8:20s, PM: 1600, 6x400 + WU/WD = 9
Wd - 4 @ 8:05s
Th - 5k in 18:08 + WU/WD = 8
Fr - 4 @ 8:00s
Sa - 5k in 19:17 + WU/WD = 8
Su - 8.5 @ 8:25s, might double but not likely
Total - 50
Tu - 5:59 84 82 82 81 82 81, 200s rec after second 4, easy race prep, felt bad
Th - Second place, big positive split. ran with leader till mile 2 then he pulled away on two big hills (basically exactly what I wanted to do to him)
Sa - LancRunner beat me by 30s, little slower than I thought I could go. certainly didnt feel it
General - moved my goal time for the 10k to 36min, lot's of travel this week
Great job to this week’s Trotters, nice work.
Male, 43, 5’10”, 133 lbs
Goal- TBD
Plan - TBD
S - 26.2 in 3:07:xx
M - Walk 1 mile
T - Swim 1 mile
W - Swim 1 mile
Th- Swim 1 mile
F- Swim 1 mile
Sat - Run 2, Bike 6
Total - 28.2
Review of the week - Typical post marathon week of little running and mostly cross training. Left Hamstring remains sore, and otherwise things just need a few more days to get back to any kind of normal easy running.
Preview of next week - Try to work in a few days of running without overdoing it. Also will begin some weight training. The goal is to get past the marathon soreness and get back to regular running in another week or two.
Good luck this week everyone.
Stone, posted this response on last week’s thread and realized you’d more likely see it here.
Stone, good hearing from you.
I’m healthy, for the most part. Foot and hip are pretty much fine. That pelvis issue has been hanging around a bit though.
But to be honest, I’ve just been enjoying down time. I walk 2-3 miles most days, and run once a week to catch up with some friends when things work out that I can make it. But I’ve come to enjoy walking quite a bit - mostly because I can go for a good long walk after a big meal or happy hour with friends.
I have had a few other things going on that have been taking up my attention - my job tends to be really busy at year end, and that happened a little earlier than usual this year - so it has been nice to not have to deal with that stress of intense training or the pressure of an upcoming race.
Still, I do get the itch to get back after it a little more from time to time. We will see.
Smoove - Great to hear from you. Your response reminds me of darkwave’s post a few weeks back, about the balance of stress and recovery. You seem to be at a very enjoyable spot in your life right now, meaning you have a great balance of stress (work) and recovery (walking daily, occasional social runs). I think many posters, myself included, would do well to follow your example of this down time - whether it is the result of life stress, recovery from injury/surgery, or recovery from a race.
A week out, I am obviously excited about CIM. But a part of me is also really looking forward to enjoying a couple weeks off afterward and some relaxed low-pressure training for some time after that.
Happy holidays.
M 49 5'11" 182
Another decent week. Trying to learn to run slow. I have an issue with turning everything into threshold type work.
M 4 easy not sure how but tweaked my left hammy. Something has to be wrong with that side. Seems like every issue is on the left.
T off
W off
T 6.5 easy. Did a fast 30 seconds at end. Got down to 5:18 pace which I am happy with for now.
F 3.2 easy 4* 120m strides
S 6.5 hills with 4*20-30 second surges at end. Got them down under 5:30 for last one.
S 8 easy
28ish total. Might hang around this mileage for a bit before bumping it up. Just seem to get to many niggles doing more. Spent an additional 6-7 hours lifting, pool running, yoga, etc. Good week overall. Glad some speed is coming back even if it is for short moments.
After a pretty tough day on Friday (leg pretty hurtful and tight), I had an unforeseen rebound on Saturday. I am feeling decent right now. The leg stretched well this morning. Taking the day off, and am glad to be still going. I admit I have an eye on Rehoboth, but I am certainly not making any plans right now, especially with the current wind forecast...16 mph sustained. I bucked a 12-14 at Richmond last year, and that was pretty tiring, running a lot of that race solo. Rehoboth is not a big race, and I would expect solo work there, too. I have run enough marathons to know that solo running in anything more than 12-14 is an uphill battle. In any case, I will see what happens this week.
M: 8.75 at 6:40 overall...6:28, 6:27, 6:21, 6:17, 4:45 to finish
T: 9.5 at 7:05 overall...hurtful running...6:58, 6:46, 6:35, 3:12 to finish
W: off/rest
T: 7.5 at 6:51 overall...tough running...6:52, 6:37, 6:26, 6:16, 3:07 to finish
F: 9.25 at 6:45 overall...tight and achy...tough running...got angry toward the end, and just kept going...leg then seemed to loosen up some...6:37, 6:34, 6,34, 6:28, 6:14, 1:35 to finish
Sat.: 11.33 at 6:53 overall...best run of the week...just went out to get a few and got 11+...in the hills...7:35, 7:25, 7:11, 7:13, 6:54, 6:49, 6:48, 6:34, 6:43, 6:32, 6:21, 1:58...as I wrote in my log, “a positive run”
Sun.: off/rest
46 miles
Will see how I feel tomorrow...will be eyeing the wind...
Hope folks had some good holidays!
M25, 128lbs, 5'7"
PRs: 2:36:23 M, 1:14:30 HM, 16:10 5K, 4:38 mile
=== 11/25/19 - 12/01/19: 71.1 miles ===
> Mon
[6:00 AM] 9.01 miles @7:26, 5x(3' on, 2' jog)
5:07 avg
5:09, 5:07, 5:07, 5:08, 5:06
[10:45 AM] 4.01 miles @8:21
> Tue
[6:00 AM] 10.24 miles @7:50
[11:15 AM] 4 miles @8:33
> Wed
[6:00 AM] 10.02 miles @7:52, w/ 4x strides
[11:00 AM] 3.54 miles @8:28
> Thu
[7:00 AM] 3.45 miles @8:03, warmup
[8:00 AM] 2.9 miles, NYCRUNS NYC Turkey Trot
15:49 (5:27/mi), 3rd OA, short course ~2.9 miles
-- Race Report --
Overall felt very weak and just didn't have a race in me this morning. Pretty early on was just mentally out of it but still putting in a solid effort, not enough to chase down the leaders. Even though this is post NYC Marathon and I wasn't expecting too much, I still ran worse than I figured I would. Earlier on Monday I cranked out 5x3' at sub 16 pace so I thought I'd at least be able to hold some 5:15s or so without maximal pushing. It's a shame because something like that woulda net me 1st! Oh well, still fun to get out there pre-vacation and participate in the running festivities!
So the course was quite short, but later on the race director emailed apologizing for the cyclists leading the front pack incorrectly and offered comped registration for any other race. Nice to see the staff correcting, definitely feel for a lot of folks who may have had a killer race but weren't able to count it for a PR.
[8:15 AM] 3.21 miles @7:36, cooldown
> Fri
Off, vacation!
> Sat
[7:15 AM] 7 miles @7:59, w/ 4x strides
> Sun
[7:30 AM] 4.3 miles @7:50, warmup
[9:00 AM] 6.21 miles, NYCRUNS Cocoa Classic 10K
36:03 (5:48/mi), 2nd OA
-- Race Report --
Jumped into this one post-vacation with the free comped race entry from the Turkey Trot. Super hilly course and single lane looped so lots of weaving/stopping on the 2nd 5K. Watch died (from the cold?) before the race started so just went with the flow. I wanna say it felt like a tempo, but overall my legs just felt like lead and weren't willing to move very fast anyway. Overall MEH. Disappointed that I didn't even muster the willpower to go at HM PR pace, which would have gotten me that elusive 1st.
[9:30 AM] 3.2 miles @8:00, cooldown
> Weekly Notes
Week started off high confidence with the 5x3' workout, and then dwindled down into two poor races with a mini vacation in between. I definitely went in wanting to put in solid race efforts, but just wasn't able to. I wasn't expecting PRs or anything but I was still thinking I'd at least be in 16:xx and 34:xx shape. I figure I still could very well be in that shape, but just didn't have it in me these two days. Lots of things I can probably point my fingers at so ultimately I won't really read into too much! At the very least I got some solid quality days and busted some rust.
M36, 6'1" 160
PRs: 1:34:43 HM (November 2019), 19:45 5K (July 2019 time trial)
Short-Term Goals: TBD
Long-Term Goal: BQ
M: Off
Tu: 3.25 mi easy
W: 5 mi easy
Th: 5 mi easy
F: Off
Sa: 10 mi easy
Su: 5 mi easy
Total: 28.25 mi
Recovery week after last week's HM race. Legs were still feeling a little dead/sore on Thursday so opted out of pushing hard in a Turkey Trot for a 5K PR and risking injury, but feeling pretty good going into this week.
Still trying to figure out what's next race-wise but I'm leaning towards Bruin's suggestion of another HM. I enjoy the distance, it doesn't totally destroy me and there's a local one in February on a fast course. Not sure how much improvement is realistic in two months but maybe something like 1:32 would be a good target.
In any case, the goal for this week is to get mileage back up and add speedwork back in. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and thanks again to everyone for the kind words and support.
8 hrs of cycling. Toned down the intensity a little this week as I realized I was overdoing it. Targeted HR at 140 for the easy stuff. Then added 3 x 10 min @ threshold effort yesterday.
I exhausted my supply and consumed a lot less Dew as well.
M49, 5'8", 133lbs
Goal: Memphis Marathon, 2:37-38
Six days until Memphis. Missed posting last week, but training has been going well. 77 miles last week, 63 this week, with an easy 13 miler today. I raced a 10K on Thanksgiving, with the goal of sub-35. Happy to report that I ran 34:47, with the last mile being my fastest. Feeling like I have a lot of strength for Memphis. If I feel good that day, I'm pretty confident I can hold 6:02 pace. Weather forecast looks good so far -- cool and not much wind.
Good luck to the CIMers.
Also, Bruin, I'm interested in hearing about the Wanda age group world championship in London next year. Specifically, about how many points did it take to make the cut in your age group? I'm hoping that I can make the cut for the 2021 world championship (where I'll still be in the 45-49 age group). And I hope that one is also in London, as that could be my ticket to getting into that race.
Stone - can't wait to see what you do at CIM
Smoove - good to hear you're doing well
Pappy - That's a big week with lots of different training
Sam - Those must be some hilly PA courses
Nice guy - enjoy the downtime in the pool
OR - keep it in one piece. You're fit so take some extra rest
JQ - bummer about the short course
hobby - chill recovery week
jew bacca - lay low on the dew
Napper - Good luck in Memphis
Spent most of the week MIA in MIA.
Got in a nice barefoot run on the beach and back to my normal 6-8 milers this weekend. Also did some hill sprints and strength.
42, 5'10 145ish
Goal Race: CIM
*Mon #1 - 65 min @ 8:19 (131 bpm)
Mon #2 - 30 min @ 7:36 (141 bpm)
*Tue #1 - 60 min @ 7:13 (146 bpm)
*Tue #2 - 30 min @ 6:58 (147 bpm)
*Wed #1 - 60 min @ 7:50 (134 bpm)
*Wed #2 - 30 min @ 6% Incline 9:56 (130 bpm)
*Thur - 50 min @ 7:25 (141 bpm)
*Fri #1- 50 min @ 8:58 (119 bpm)
*Fri #2 - 20 min @ 9:02 (114 bpm)
*Sat - 45 min @ 8:29 (128 bpm)
Sun - Shoveled snow for hours to un-bury myself and several neighbors. No running.
Weekly Totals
Miles: 55.4 Miles
Duration: 7:23
Elevation Gain: 1102 ft
CIM Plan:
Taper - Not going to run in the morning at all this week. I'm opting to "sleep in" and get a short, easy afternoon run in after work with a few days of complete rest. I'm going to throw in some random accelerations to compliment the short easy runs.
Nutrition - I found some interesting information where Lydiard suggesting about 8 oz of honey in the last few days before the marathon in addition to a high-carb diet. Not all at once but just a little bit here and a little bit there throughout those days. Going to give that a whirl as I've noticed that honey before my workouts has gone very well. Morning of race have honey on wheat toast, a small coffee, one packet of raisin and spice outmeal and water. I also plan on taking 3 Imodium to avoid repeating a problem that I had in a prior race. On that note, does anyone have any suggestions for low fiber, good carb foods for the last few days?
Race - First mile target 6:2x. Feel it out from there spot checking HR if I'm in doubt about going too hot. Finding sustainable, sub-threshold effort that I can hold and, if possible, slightly inch up the effort as I go until I feel I've passed the danger point late in the race where I'll attempt to crank up the effort. Vanilla Bean Gu's before nearest aid stations to Mile 7, 14 and 21 so that I can wash down with water. Looking forward to the excitement of the event, the euphoric feeling of fast/easy running in groups of like minded people, leading up to taking on the challenge and digging deep at end.
Female, 45, 5'4", 110 (nachos and fries)
PRs 5:25/18:51/38:56/1:02:28/1:24:08/2:57:42
Goal races: Houston Half-Marathon, One City Marathon, Boston Marathon (maybe)
Goal times: 18:30 for 5K, 1:23:xx for half, sub-2:55 for full
56 miles and 4 hours of pool-running
M: Light upperbody weights/core and 1:40 pool-running.
T: 4 miles very easy (9:21), yoga, and 7 miles very easy (8:50) plus drills and two uphill strides. Shoulder PT appt later.
W: 6.5 miles very easy (9:18), yoga, 5.5 miles very easy
Th: light upper body weights/core and 1:40 pool-running
F: 10 miles aerobic with hills (8:48 average pace) followed by yoga
Sa: 7 miles very easy (8:58), drills and four strides, light upper body weights/core, and 4 miles very easy (8:40)
Su: 12 miles aerobic (7:53) followed by leg strengthwork and 40 minutes of pool-running, plus an itty-bitty bit of swimming to test out my bad shoulder.
Second week post-race. It is both encouraging and sad to recognize that I felt much better this week energy-wise than I did the week before my marathon. Sad because I keep wondering what might have been; encouraging because I keep thinking that I can really nail the next race if I just taper better....
Friday's "aerobic with hills" workout can be described as a "quarter-ass" workout. I ran from my home down into DC at easy pace, and then stopped, did a full set of running drills, two strides on the flat, four slower hill repeats of about 30 seconds at 5K effort up a moderate hill, and two hard 10 second hill sprints up a steeper hill (full recovery after each stride or hill repeat). Then I ran back home.
The run back home included a roughly 3 mile segment of rolling hills with a net climb (Sub-6:00 and other DC residents - this was the Custis heading west from Rosslyn) - I picked up the effort on that part to "hard aerobic". I don't have exact paces since I didn't lap my watch at the start, but based on Strava I'll guestimate averaging 7:40 pace, which sounds about right. So...not a real workout, but I did get my legs moving some, and my heart pumping, with the hills encouraging good form, and adding an interval aspect to the run. My objective was to start transitioning towards workouts.
For a similar reason, I ran Sunday's run at a moderate effort - a nice bridge towards a more rigorous long run next weekend, when I should be back in the 14 mile range.
My coach and I agreed this week that I'd target the One City Marathon in Virginia on March 1 as my spring marathon. I'm entered in Boston, but I don't want to wait that long to try the distance again; plus Boston is a fickle race. One City is a flat fast course (if a very small race), and it's just the right temporal distance from Richmond. I am hungry and angry and want to run a marathon as soon as reasonable, but given the events of this fall, I think early March is the soonest I should go. There's also 7 weeks between One City and Boston, so I might be able to run Boston after all, if recovery after One City goes well.
An added benefit to targeting One City is that I have teammates running the Olympic trials that same weekend, so I'll be doing my long runs on the same days (albeit at a slightly different pace).
Will post some responses to other people's weeks on the train to NYC for work tomorrow (assuming all hell doesn't break loose with snow).
Here was my week.
Stats: 34/Male/6'2"/180 lbs/Started running in June
PRs: 5k- 16:40 (this week), HM- 1:23:05 (11/2019), HJ - 6'9 (2007), LJ - 22'2 (2007)
Goal Race: Hyannis Marathon on Feb 23rd
Goal Time: Will set goal in January but thinking low 2:50s maybe
Monday (11/25): 8E. Avg. 7:35. Avg. BPM 149. Sore first 4 then worked through it.
Tuesday (11/26): 8E Avg. 7:34. Avg. BPM 145. Left Achilles still tender.
Wednesday (11/27): 6E Avg. 7:06. No HR data. Ran 2 hard striders at miles 3 and 4. Felt great. Last 3 miles were all under 6:50 with mile 5 at 6:33. Whoops.
Thursday (11/28): Week 5 - Q2 2E+5k+7E 2E w/u. 5k in 16:40.42. 7E c/d @ 7:25 Avg. Very happy with 5k. 20+ mph winds. Finished 5 overall. I think the mile splits were 5:27/5:27/5:17 but am not 100% sure. Total on the day was 12.
Friday (11/29): 14E. Avg. 7:48. Avg. BPM 150. Felt good. National mall run.
Saturday (11/30): 8E. Avg. 7:45. Avg. BPM 145. Felt solid. No niggles. Feel heavy from extensive eating.
Sunday (12/1): Week 6 - Q1 2E+2 x 2T w/ 2' rest+8E+2T+2E. Overall Avg. 6:59. This was a workout I aborted last weekend. For this reason I really wanted to nail this and feel like I did. Goal was to keep the T miles around 6’ pace and keep the E miles honest. I ran the T miles in my Rincons on the track and the E miles in my Cliftons so there were brief stops for footwear change. T miles were 5:50/6:03, 5:52/5:57, 5:42/5:58. I timed these on my stopwatch so will take these over the Strava splits. E miles were solidly in the low to mid 7s. All-in-all I did what I wanted and didn’t feel like I was over-exerting at any point. That said, starting 2 miles of tempo after 14 miles is a bit mentally difficult. Total on the day was 18.
Weekly total: 74 miles
Overall happy with this week. Set a 5k PR, kept the mileage up and nailed a Q workout that I failed on previously. Next week will be lower mileage due to work. I think I could also use a down week.
Stone - looking good. Remember, don’t do anything stupid. Hay is in the barn.
Napper - good luck in Memphis.
OR - glad to hear you are feeling better.
—————
40M, 6-6, 190-195
Next race: London in April 2020
“I’m a man. I’m 40.”
Week 3 post Indy:
M 7
T 7.5 w 12x200 (w 200 jog rest), ~34-35 secs (last rep 29.4)
W 8.1 / 4
Th 8.1
F 1 mile time trial - 4:50.7 (PR) split 74 (409)/73/72/71 - 7 total / pm 8.1
S 15.3
S 11.5 trails / pm ?
Total: 76.8 miles
Racing a mile is a lot of fun and it was nice to snag another PR. Think I will register for London in April to check that off the list. Not sure what I will do between now and then. Maybe I’ll do a speed cycle and find a quick 5k.
Legs feeling better. Still got that pesky knot in my PF/heel pad that wont go away. Got a hypervolt for my bday so maybe I can jackhammer it into oblivion.
I haven’t been on here too much as I’m trying to use less the 2 websites I wasted the most time on, which are letsrun and Quora, but thought I’d come here share with you guys that I finally got a good marathon in, finishing Valencia today in 2:33:33.
AJ, would love to meet up with you in London! I live there and am running it next year as well. I qualified for the club championship entry today with my time in Valencia.
Hope everyone is doing well. Cheers!
Male, 19 (College Freshman), 6'1", 150
8k XC PR- 27:31
Tentative Major Races: Indoor mile or 3000m February, half marathon April/May
Track Goals: 4:40/9:20
M: 6
T: 3.5 in cold rain with former HS teammates + 6 x 200m alone in 33 (outside lane of indoor track, 2:00 recovery), 1 c/d. Meant to be relatively light speedwork before the Thursday and Saturday races, but found myself hurting the last 50m of each.
W: 5
Th: "5k" trail race- 5th in 19:54 (long course), 2 w/u and c/d.
F: 4; legs shot from hills of trail race
Sat: Footlocker Midwest Regional XC 5k (Open Race)- 18:26 for 6th in muddy, windy conditions, 2.25 w/u
Sun: 5
Total: 38
Trail Race: Turkey Trot had a "predict your time" format, with the course changing every year and never exactly 5k. Watches were prohibited and course had no distance markers, so don't know the true distance. First and last 1/2 mile on road, rest on mostly hilly, single-track, mountain bike trails. Felt strong on the initial road portion hanging with the leaders, but struggled on the later hills and was swallowed up by a chase pack of three former HS conference rivals. Somehow rallied and caught them around halfway; fell off on the uphills and gained ground on the flats/downhills the rest of the race. Made a move with ~400m to go, but ran out of gas on the uphill last 200 and helplessly watched two guys pull away. Still, a fun race and happy with my effort.
Footlocker: Heavy rain and snow left significant mud, and the course was chewed up by my race (last of the day). Worst spots were the hill from 300-800m, and the downhill/straightaway portion from 2400-3600m. Got out strong near the front, then fell back on the hill and ended up in no man's land the entire race. Started gaining on the front pack at halfway, but lost time on the following sloppy portion into the wind and on the uphill near 4k. Somebody passed me up the hill, and I could not close the gap despite feeling strong the last 600m. Afterwards, felt like I had more to give aerobically, although my legs may have been weak from Thursday. Difficult to judge my performance off times from the HS races, as I don't know how the course conditions compared. Somewhat dissatisfied with my effort, but fun experience nevertheless.
Saturday marked my last XC race of the year, so I now plan on building mileage for the winter. Had a blood test on Monday (I battled anemia last track season), and found out my ferritin dropped from 22 (July) to 17 despite initially rising from 3 (February) and me staying on the same iron dosage. However, my hemoglobin is now in the normal range, so hoping that my body can handle heavier training in the future.