Monday, April 18, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty well last night and woke up naturally before 8am. I was pretty excited for the day – Marathon Monday! I had planned to run over to Jerzy’s house with Jerz and Luke around 9am, so I woke up, had some breakfast and then jogged over to meet them at Ossippee. Rags ended up coming with us too, and the 4 of us headed off a bit after 9am.
We had a nice easy run through Harvard and then along the river. We crossed at BU and then ran down Comm av a bit until we got to Jerzy’s house which was just off of Beacon Street. It was a pretty fun run. The wind was blustery, which would prove to be important in the races later. I was also running with a small backpack with an extra shirt and my camera, phone, and wallet, which was kind of annoying, but it’s all good.
We got there around 9:40am – the women were about 10 minutes into the race, with Kim Smith already significantly in front. Everyone else got there a bit after 10am.
The total run was 5M++ EZ in 40 minutes.
PM: What a race! What races! What a day! Wow! A great morning of watching the marathon. We all gathered around Jerzy’s television to watch the races play out and then headed out to watch the leaders go by his house around mile 25 of the course. As the women went by, Desi was in the lead with the two Kenyans a step or two behind. From there, we sprinted back inside to watch the race conclude. An unbelievable performance for Desi. I really thought she had it. And then the men’s race! Hall kept coming back into the picture after I thought for sure he’d been dropped. Great race for him and unbelievably fast times all around – 2:04:5x for hall, 2:03:02 for Mutai ftmfw!!! Moses Mosop 2:03:06 for his debut race! Unreal!
After we had all calmed down a bit from the excitement of the races, we had a nice big lunch provided by Jerzy’s incredibly nice family – burgers, bean salad, great cookies! We sat around for a while and watched the procession of humanity go by that is the 25th mile of the Boston Marathon. Some people looked pretty pumped; some people looked fucking brutal. I’m not sure whether I was more terrified or inspired. Probably the latter.
Anyways, around 1pm, I left Jerzy’s to run back to campus with him, Scott, Erik, Sam, and a couple others. We ran along the river on the Boston side and then back the normal way from Harvard. It was a nice run, and I actually felt quite good. Sam, Erik, and I picked it up a bit the last few miles and that felt good.
After a failed attempt to get into Chetwynd to look around and see the furniture, I tacked on a bit of extra distance around campus before heading to Gantcher to lift.
The total run was 9M EZ-Mod in 62:40.
PM2: In Gantcher, I did the phase IV lift. The lift was 3 sets of [Seated row@40lb x12,10,8; Incline DB press @10lb free weights, 10 reps; Horizontal Pushups x12,10,8; Lateral Raises @5lb, 10 reps; Hamstring curls @ 90lb, 8, 6, 6; Bicycle Crunch x30, Dynamic lunges 12,10,8; Overhead DB Press @10lb, 12, 10, 8; Crunches x25]. Everything felt good.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - AM: Core (light) – 100s 50s, 20x side dip, 20x super man, 50x cherry pickers, 30x leg lift.
PM: I jogged down to practice and did about a mile easy to shake out before warming up with the team. It was pretty chilly and drizzling on and off, but not too windy, which was a welcome change. I warmed up for about 30 minutes back to the track and then changed into my Tumbes spikes. I did full foot drills on the track (grass was wet and muddy) and then did a few faster strides and a fast 200m.
The workout was 2 sets of 800m, 800m, 400m at 5k, 3k, and mile pace, respectively, followed by 4x200m fast. I was thinking ~ 2:24-26 for the first 800m, 2:20-22 for the second and 66-67 for the 400s.
It was a bit of a frustrating workout. I was in a nice big pack with Nick, Matt, Liam, Kyle, and Scott, but these guys were really hammering, especially on the middle 800s (running close to 2:10-12). I was often getting roped into going out way too fast (33.x) and then tying up way too early. I’m kind of frustrated because I really like to finish workouts feeling good and negative splitting intervals, and the last few weeks have been the opposite. I’ve consistently been pulled out way too fast and not been able to maintain. Not only do I feel like this is not giving me as good a training benefit as even paced work, but it makes running fast SEEM harder than it is. A big part of running intervals is to learn to run quick and relaxed. Running 2:24s shouldn’t be that hard, but they feel hard when I run the first 200m in 33 and I’m struggling to hang out after that.
Anyways, it was another “okay” workout. I didn’t feel 100%, but between the pacing and being a bit tired, I guess that’s to be expected.
I cooled down with the group through Porter and then tacked on some extra to get a bit more mileage for the day (the workout was only 4800m). I stretched and rolled a bit and then grabbed a quick dinner before heading to Alpinismo.
Splits:
800m: 2:24.3 (71.5, 72.8)
2:00 jog
800m: 2:21.1 (69.1, 72.0)
90 sec jog
400m: 66.7
3:00 jog
800m: 2:25.6 (72.5, 73.1)
2:00 jog
800m: 2:24.9 (70.6, 74.3)
75 sec jog
400m: 65.x
3:00 jog
4x200m w/ 90 sec jog: 30.1, 30.6, 30.3, 31.2
Wednesday, April 20, 2011 – AM: 4M shakeout in 32:09.
PM: 7M EZ in 53:59, Drills
PM2: Core – 100s, 50s, 30x flutter kick, 6:30 plank, 30x back bridge, 30x toes to sky, 30x superman, 50x leg lift
Thursday, April 21, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty well last night and woke up this morning naturally a bit before 8am. I rolled out my foot a bit with the fall and then jogged over to Gantcher to lift. I did the Lift Phase III, cutting out the heavy leg weights and cut the lunges in half (10x each). Everything felt okay.
AM2: After this, I did a quick cool-down on the stat bike. I did 30 minutes at a moderate-easy effort and felt good. Afterwards, I jogged back to Dewick for breakfast.
PM: I had a nice nap this afternoon and headed down to practice a bit before 3pm. It was crazy windy, 25-35mph with even stronger gusts. We stood around for a bit and then headed out. I started with a group heading towards Davis, but realized that they were only running 3 or 4 miles, so I turned away and headed up the bike path towards Alewife.
As I crossed the street and cut through the park before getting to Alewife, I was nearly blown over by the winds. It was ridiculous how strong it was. I felt like I was barely moving, despite feeling pretty good, legs-wise. When I rounded the corner around alewife, it was like walking into a wind-tunnel. The wind must have been at least 40-50mph. Insane.
I headed up the bike path and ran all the way up to Arlington center before turning around. I felt much better once I had turned back and the wind was behind me. My legs felt a lot better than yesterday, but there was still a tiny hitch in my stride. It’s pretty frustrating that it’s now been 3+ weeks and I’ve seen only some improvement. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that it won’t bug me on Saturday.
I got back to the track after about 64 minutes of running. Once back, I switched into my tumbes spikes and did full foot drills on the grass. I then did a bit of quicker pace-work on the track. I did 2x100m pretty easy and then 200m and 400m at 5k effort (I say effort because the wind was really fucking with things). The 200m felt fine and I ran 36.3, but the 400m was pretty brutal as I was forced to run into the wind. I think I ran like 35-36 and then a 38.x. Yikes! I then did one faster 200m in 30.0 and then finally 2x strides with some others. The rest was about 2:00 between everything.
Everything felt pretty good. The stride was still not quite perfect. I’m coming down a bit lower on my right leg when I land on it than on my left. My left leg doesn’t have quite as much “spring,” which probably accounts for why I’ve been running slowly. I’ve been stretching and massaging a lot which seems to be helping. I haven’t taken any advil since Monday, which is probably the longest stretch so far. Hopefully it’ll feel good for Saturday!
The total run was 10M EZ in 71:41, Drills +
2x100m in 16-17
200m in 36.3
400m in 73.7
200m in 30.0
2x100m stride
(wind 25MPH gusting to 35MPH)
Friday, April 22, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty well last night and woke up around 8am naturally. I got up and did a bit of rolling and stretching before heading out for my morning shakeout run. The power was out, so I was a bit worried about getting locked out – for some reason, the lights are powered by a back-up generator, but the door locks aren’t.
I ran the long way down to Alumni fields and then ran 2 big laps around the fields. I was a bit stiff at first but felt better by the end. By the time I got back to Lewis, the power was back and I was able to get in. I did a good bit of static stretching and then headed down to Dewick for breakfast.
The total was 4M s/o in 30:53.
PM: I spent a few hours working in the tech booth today, running the recording for some really weird concert. I took two advil around 1pm and headed out to run at about 3pm. I jogged down to Baronian and met up with a bunch of guys who were all looking to go pretty short and easy.
We left in a big group and ran on Yerxa – a run I don’t think I’d ever done before. We went out towards the bike path and then were winding through a bunch of little residential areas. At some point, we ended up running along the train tracks for a few hundred meters and coming out at Porter Square station. This was a bit hair-raising.
Anyways, it was a nice conversational run. More importantly, my leg and my stride both felt super solid. This was the first run that I’ve felt 100% in a while, so hopefully it’s just in time to race well tomorrow!
Once we got back to the track, Jerzy and I tacked on another mile or so on the grass. After this, I did full barefoot drills on the grass and some stretching before heading out.
The total was 6M EZ in 42:00 with Drills.
Saturday, April 23, 2011 – AM: I slept pretty poorly last night. My nose was running like a faucet and I continuously had to blow it so that I didn’t gag on phlegm. Pretty nasty. It was also just Friday night in a college dorm, so getting to bed at a reasonable hour is never that practical. Finally, I was a bit pumped up because I saw the results of the guys from Princeton – Murner 14:34, Matty 14:45, Nick 14:55, Kyle 15:08. I was totally psyched for them and it made me even more excited to race the next day and hopefully make them proud as well.
I finally fell asleep and woke up around 8:30am. I had a nice big breakfast and then came back to Lewis to relax and get some work done. The weather was terrible outside – 40-50F and rainy/windy – so I took a little rest in my room before heading over to the meet. I wanted to watch Luke run the steeple, so I walked over around noon. Already, the meet was running ahead of schedule, so I got there just in time. It looked pretty brutal – not a nice day to be running through the steeple pit (though the whole track was so puddly, it probably didn’t make that much of a difference). Still it was a fun race to watch.
I then went and sat in the locker room for a while. The meet was moving fast enough that I didn’t want to go back to Lewis because I was afraid I’d miss my cue to warm-up, but I didn’t really want to stay on my feet, especially outside. So, I just hung out in the locker room and read and tried to zone out for a while. I got up at some point to go watch the 1500m, since we had a bunch of guys in that, but otherwise, I just chilled out.
Eventually, Rags and Brunk, who were going to help out with pacing, showed up and we all decided to go warm up. The rain was pretty steady, so we jogged over to Gantcher and ran around inside. It felt good to get out of the rain. I was a bit stiff, but not too bad. We ran for about 25 minutes and then headed back to Baronian. By the time we got back, the women’s 5k was already started, which meant we only had about 15 minutes until our race. I ran back to the locker-room and got my Tumbes spikes, singlet, arm-warmers, hat and gloves and then headed back out. I did something like half-rep drills and then a few strides and then it was time to get ready.
The race started out as I expected. One kid who was seeded at 15’00 went out ahead of us and then it was just me, with Rags and Brunk in front of me, and then some others behind. We came through the first 200m a bit fast (~35) and then settled. The track was quite flooded in some spots, particularly on the home straight-away where we were forced to run into lane 2-3 or run through a pretty deep puddle.
The first few laps went by quickly and didn’t feel too bad. In retrospect, we were running pretty slowly (74high), but I just head “74” from Murner, so given the weather, I figured that was all right. After about a mile, though, shit started to get real. I started really having to work to keep Rags and Brunk in front of me. I kept falling back a few steps and then having to surge a little bit to catch back up. We came through 2000m in what I saw as 6:10 (6:11.6), which was pretty even, I thought, but then at 3000m we were at 9:25, so had run a 3:15 last km. Yikes!
All of a sudden, it was like the nightmare of the indoor 5ks was coming back and I couldn’t escape it. I panicked a bit at 3k when I realized how much we had slowed down, and then I realized that I was about to have to run by myself for the last mile. In my head, I begged Brunk and Rags to stay in and keep helping me, keep being a target for me to shoot for, but as we came to 3200m in 10:04, they stepped off the track.
At that point, I was really just struggling to stay vertical. I felt terrible and totally spent. All I wanted was to stop running and for it to be over. I ran the third mile in 5:18.1, which is essentially tempo pace or even HMP. I tried to shift gears the last lap or two and I felt like I was running all out. Still I was only running tempo pace, and even my last 200m was only 38.8. As I came down the homestretch, I saw the clock in the 15:50s and thought “wow, I’m going to run almost as slow as I did indoors…” I crossed the line and it said 16 minutes. Wow…
Needless to say, this was not the race I was hoping to run. I think I can confidently say that this was my poorest showing of my collegiate career. I’m in better shape than I was indoors and ran slower… Hmm. I was pretty bummed after the race. This may have been my only chance at a 5k this season and I’m pretty tired of having such a shitty PR. I was also just frustrated because I feel like I’ve been really working my ass off and this is not the kind of performance that reflects that. To put this in perspective, today I ran 4:56, 5:08, 5:18 for a 16:01. Last Saturday, in my workout, after having run a split mile and 2M of tempo, I ran the last 3M of my tempo in 5:13, 5:10, 5:00 for 15:55.
I headed back to Lewis and changed into some dry clothes before heading out for my cool-down. I ran by myself out and back on Lakes/C-Loop for a total of 5M+ in 38:08. I felt okay, not surprisingly, I was not that tired.
3.5M warm up
Drills
Strides
5000m: 16:01.20
3:05
3:05 (6:10)
3:15 (9:25)
6:36 (16:01)
5M+ cool down 38:06
Full Splits:
| 72.5 | ||
| 74.6 | 2:27.1 | |
| 74.6 | 3:41.7 | |
| 74.7 | 4:56.4 | |
| 75.2 | 6:11.6 | |
| 76.9 | 7:28.5 | |
| 78.0 | 8:46.5 | |
| 77.6 | 10:04.1 | (5:07.7) |
| 79.0 | 11:13.1 | |
| 79.7 | 12:42.8 | |
| 80.4 | 14:03.2 | |
| 79.0 | 15:22.2 | (5:18.1) |
| 38.8 | 16:01.0 | |
Sunday, April 24, 2011 – AM: I took Nyquil last night to see if it would help with my runny nose. I ended up sleeping for like 11 hours, waking up around 8:30am. I had a bit of breakfast – half a piece of matza with jam and an orange, and then got some work done before heading down to long run.
I jogged down to Baronian and it was already quite warm. It was probably about 65F already. I wore just a long sleeve tech shirt and shorts and I was a bit warm by the end.
We headed out a bit after 10am. I started off with Nick, Matt, Bellet, and Kyle as we headed towards the Charles. I felt pretty lousy at first. We were only running 6:50-7:00 pace, but it felt quite fast. I think if I had just started out easier, I would have felt fine, but I wanted to try to run with Nick and Kyle and so I was struggling a bit early on. Nick and Kyle ended up running away from me and Bellet and Matt turned off early, so I ended up running the majority of the run by myself.
This ended up being fine, probably a good thing actually. I slowed down and ran by effort along the river and was actually feeling quite good by the time I got back to Harvard. The last 5km back to Tufts felt really good and it was the first time in literally weeks that I have felt smooth running at a decent pace. It was just like something clicked and all of a sudden I didn’t feel awkward and like I was working so hard. It felt good to feel good. No I’m just hoping it won’t be a one day thing.
It’s worth noting, as well, that this was the first morning I’ve been able to run on my left calf without it giving me any trouble at all. This is a pretty big deal and could very well be a big part of why I finally started to feel good after 80 minutes of running.
Anyways, so the first 11.5M were in 80 minutes, just under 7:00 pace, and then the 5k back from the river was about 19:30. I tacked on a bit to round it up to 15M and then did FULL-full foot drills on the grass barefoot. I did some static stretching and then headed to Dewick for brunch.
The total run was 15.1M in 1:41:19, 6:42 average.
PM: After dinner, I did Core – 100s, 50s, 50x cherry pickers, 30x side dip, 7:00 plank, 30x bird dog, 50x leg lift.
Total for the week: 84 Miles in 9 Runs
