One final spin of the wheels

Yesterday, I was feeling spent and flat. Today... today is a new day.

I did a variation of Bill Leach's pre-marathon workout tonight as my final bit of speed:

1x 400 @ "mile pace" (ran 75.8)

1x 1600 @ "all out" (ran 5:00.3... 78,77,74,71)

1x 800 @ "mile pace" (chill at 2:32.5)

1x 800 @ "near all out" (rolled 2:24.1, evenly split)

1x 400 @ "all out" (rolled 66.1 and felt very comfortable)

I'm actually pretty pleased with this workout, considering how crappy I've felt in the last several days.

The mile started very slow. Braulio and Scott took the early lead, so I didn't have control. We also had a collision with a kid in lane 1 on the first lap (that probably cost a second). It finished a little slower than I wanted but I'm actually ok with it, as we ran a huge negative split. Someday I'll get the chance to blow one of these out.

In a weird way, I don't know that I've run a 800 that fast before...? I did a 65 second 400 back in the spring, with a similar workout. Anyway, I felt really smooth and never out of control anywhere in this workout. A full effort, but left me craving more. That's how it should've been run!

I'm completely off tomorrow and Friday. I'll also get a massage tomorrow. Shakeout on Saturday. There might be hope for me after all.

Tick Tock Taper

I'm questioning everything right now. I have no clue what my fitness has in store for me, come Sunday.

I can hang my hat on this: In the 15 weeks leading up to this marathon I will have run 1,068 miles. That includes a few down weeks and a cut back leading into August's vacation.

I've never run that many miles leading into a marathon before.

In the 15 weeks leading up to each sub-2:40, here's what I've done:

'13 Boston: 961 (2:38:23, tough course / near PR)

'12 Philly: 1,002 (2:39:40, the insomnia marathon)

'11 CIM: 877 (2:38:14, PR... spectacular)

'11 Rotterdam: 875 (2:38:46... spectacular)

'10 NYC: 1,006 (2:50/DNF... over trained, blew up)

'10 London: 725 (2:39:53... post-SFX, under trained, still near PR)

'09 Chicago: 987 (2:39:38... spectacular)

The only time I came close to these miles was for NYC in 2010. I pulled the plug on the training early as I was overcome with a calf strain. Without cutting it short, I probably could've squeaked in another 30 miles. I still tried to race it, but then blew up in it. At the time, that was my best fitness. I still wonder if I've actually ever been in that good of shape since then... (Hell, I haven't PRd my half since then).

My taper has me second guessing everything right now. I'm still sitting on 62 miles in the last 7 days (more than usual), and with only 4 more days to go. I'm still sore and achy. This needs to go away ASAP. I'll track it tomorrow night, then flush the system with a massage and few days off. Shake out on Saturday. Maybe that'll do the trick?

I know if I have the rest, I can be fast... I don't know how fast, but there is fitness in me... Will I allow the rest though? Will I get enough?? I can take 2 more days off. To keep my sanity though, I also need to run a few more days... I need the pre-marathon workout and a shakeout. I almost wanna only take 1 day off.

I have 4 days to go.

I feel like a crack addict.... I just need one more hit... The clock ticks loudly. It's starting to consume me.

Fucking taper. Fucking miles of trials and trials of miles.

Peak is in, now what?

I'm definitely feeling the effects of my training. I'm drained. I'm tired. I'm hungry. I'm sore.

I hit a 7 day PR peak of 110 miles about a week and a half ago. That was insane.

My quality has taken a hit as a result of the quantity. My peak is in though. I had 4 out of 5 weeks north of 90 miles, 6 of 8 weeks north of 80 miles.

Here are my most last 2 weeks of workouts:

9/25 - 20x 200 w/ 200 recovery:

- 20x 200's served a purpose and gave me some turn over... and I actually ran them pretty well.

1-5- 36.32 avg

6-10- 35.37 avg

11-15- 34.39 avg

16-20- 33.84 avg

34.98 avg

9/28 - Park Ridge 5K:

- The Park Ridge 5K turned out to be a bust. I gunned for a PR (needed sub 16:16), but I bombed in the final 1/2 mile.... It was spectacular up until that point, and then I just ran out of gas. Clearly that early pace pushed me and I paid for it... or I just didn't have the balls to finish the job (I hope that's the case). The weather was somewhat ideal too. That's my second honest attempt at PR'ing a 5K this year and failing by a matter of seconds.

1- 5:10.2

4- 5:12.8

3- 5:24.3

.1- 34.0

16:21, 5:17 pace

10/1 - 10mi Tempo:

- I then took 2 days off and went for a 10 mile tempo. It wound up being slower than I would've liked. Maybe I turned stale with the 2 day break? I donno, I simply lacked the hunger and ability to push the pace faster in the last couple miles though. I wouldn't have wanted to go any longer. My cool down home was a train wreck.

1- 5:55.8

2- 5:52.7

3- 5:58.1

4- 5:57.8

5- 5:58.0

6- 5:56.1

7- 5:58.0

8- 6:03.9

9- 5:54.1

10- 5:53.5

5:56.8 avg

10/3 - 10x 800 w/ 90 sec recovery:

- Mostly steady and averaged 2:37.4. To my defense, this was on the path and as a rain storm was clearing. It was 100% humidity and felt absolutely disgusting. A far cry from the 8x 800's at 2:32.8 that I had back on 9/5, and certainly not a confidence booster.

After a couple really solid workouts in early/mid September, I feel like this training ended with a thud. I got the volume though and made it though. Maybe too much quantity and not enough quality?? Shit, have I over trained??? And am I fit enough to roll a PR in Chicago? UGH....

TTM 3,121

I randomly thought about this today... What's my been mileage over the last 12 months? Answer: an eye popping 3,121 miles!

That's insane. It's a result of rolling through 3 different training seasons over the last year.

I generally think of things on a trailing 7-day scale, or a weekly mileage, or an calendar year's mileage... But I haven't thought of it on a trailing 12-months scale. It completely blows away other 12 month period that I've had before. On an calendar basis, I've run a little over 2,500 each of the last few years. CY13 will be a PR around 2,800-2,900. But over 3,121 on a TTM basis!? 60 miles a week, assuming no time off. That's big boy miles!

Certainly a lot of guys run more than I do, as I tend to peak for specific events (marathons), as opposed to maintaining more steady mileage in off seasons. My 3 seasons in the last twelve months have been Philly, then Boston, and now double dipping for the Chicago and New York City Marathons.

It's no wonder I feel trashed at the moment.

That number will push a bit higher too over the next 2 weeks as I round out this training cycle.

Monday night's 9 mi tempo was so-so. I'm happy it was done, but I'm not happy how the times rolled off. I faded a little in the last few miles as opposed to progressing. No doubt it was because I forced miles last weekend.... 51 miles in 3 days. Not something that I haven't done before, just how it was done. I jammed in a 15, then a 23 in Barrington, then a sloppy 13 on Sunday. 15 in front of the 23 made it very ugly. Let that be a lesson. 23 then 13 then 15 is ok. 15 then 23 = not worth it if I want to maintain any sort of quality.

Anyway, 3,121. Wow. Stay calm, and carry on.

Tempo recap:

1- 6:03.3

2- 5:51.0

3- 5:52.3

4- 5:45.4

5- 5:46.9

6- 5:46.5

7- 5:49.5

8- 5:53.9

9- 5:54.6

Avg- 5:51.5

Here we go, 20x 400...

Last week, I ran a very fast 8x 800 workout. My half marathon didn't reflect it. After the half and a few days of painful recovery runs, I forced myself to take a critical day off.  I went back to the track last night not knowing what to expect. It was time to spin wheels and hope for the best.

One of my all-time favorite workouts has become the 20x 400. OK, so it may not be as monstrous as Quenton Cassidy's 3x 20x 400, but 1x 20 is still a bad ass workout.

I ran with Scott, Evan, and Justin at North Park Track. We were looking for somewhere between 16 and 20 reps, with 75 seconds of rest. Headwinds on the home stretch; decent temps. We traded the lead for the first several laps, though I would up taking it more often. I clearly had a fire in me that some of the other guys didn't. I felt incredibly smooth and in control for the entire workout. I hung in there and progressed my pace for the full 20.

Taking the day off on Wednesday was a difficult decision to make, especially being inside of a peak week. I hate the idea that I had to do it, but I felt like absolute shit on Tuesday. I ran a double, and in the second run I literally had to stop a mile short because I was in so much pain. All sorts of banged up. My hip turned into a train wreck. My entire left leg was completely knotted up. I didn't have a choice, so I scratched Wednesday and opted to get a massage. I needed to hit the reset button. And reset I did.

Out of the last 5 years, my training log shows that I've run this workout 7 times now. I've never averaged 20x 400's this fast before. The closest I've come to 72.28 average was 72.5, just before Philly. I was in solid condition then... easily PR shape if it wasn't for a botched race.

I still have a little over 2 weeks of big mileage ahead of me. 

I'm starting to foam at the mouth.

Shin splints be damned... I'm not giving up that easy.

Split recap:

1- 73.7

2- 73.3

3- 73.9

4- 72.8

5- 73.1

1-5 Avg: 73.36

6- 72.8

7- 72.9

8- 71.6

9- 73

10- 72.2

6-10 Avg: 72.50

11- 71.8

12- 72.7

13- 72.8

14- 72.1

15- 72

11-15 Avg: 72.28

16- 71.7

17- 72

18- 71.2

19- 70.8

20- 69.3

16-20 Avg: 71.00

20x 400 Avg: 72.28

Chicago Drippy Half Marathon

I definitely have some fitness in me right now, but today just wasn't the day to show it.

Chicago in early September can be a crap shoot with the weather. For this year's Chicago Half Marathon it was, 70 degrees, which isn't a deal breaker at all... BUT it was also a very drippy 90% humidity (per weather.com). Ugh. And dripping it was... I had probably blown through all of my prior day's hydration on the warm up run alone.

If there's one thing that I hate more than a crappy windy race, it's a drippy humid race. We actually kinda had both today though, as there was a headwind for half of the run. The out and back provided some help in the late miles, though you wouldn't notice it in my splits.

Running wise, I didn't feel all that terrible. My splits were very steady in the early going, as I jammed through about 5-6 miles with Scott Laumann. I averaged about 5:43 through mile 7, like clock work and spot on with PR pace. In spite the weather, I was still gunning for sub 1:15.

The Chicago Half is notorious for mismarking the course though, in the later miles. So once again, I'm not sure if the course was long -or just very poorly marked. Regardless, I apparently ran a "6:06" in the 8th mile and a 6:01 in the 12th mile. I seriously doubt that I ran that slow in both of those miles... especially the 8th mile. I'm not sure where I would've gained that lost time either. I think that got into my head a little, once I saw both of those splits. Anyway, I definitely slowed down a touch in the last 5 miles so it's a moot point. I went from those low-5:40's to a low-5:50's, then choked a 5:57 in mile 13.

Ultimately, the humidity took over and I sagged. Scott gradually pulled away from me in the 6th mile and left me with little motivation, aside from a road kill in the 9th mile. (SL had a great race btw, going just under 1:15 - he picked it up a lot after mile 6 then faded a little, but not nearly as badly as I did). He had a couple guys to chase. I only wound up chasing 1 of them. The motivation eventually caved once again as I just gut it out to finish the race and not trade placements. Oh well.

I'm a little bummed, because this was the first time in a few years that I've been in decent shape for a half marathon and I didn't get the chance to show it off. More importantly though, I didn't wear myself out and it was a solid run in what will be a big boy week of marathon training.

Eyes on the prize... 10/13/13+11/3/13=badmotherfucker.

Split Recap:

1- 5:38.8

2- 5:46.9

3- 5:45.9

4- 5:44.4

5- 5:40.3

6- 5:46.9

7- 5:43.2

8- 6:06.1

9- 5:51.7

10- 5:50.6

11- 5:50.1

12- 6:01.9

13- 5:57.5

.1- 0:38.6

Total- 1:16:22.9, Avg- 5:49.6 / 3rd AG, 15th O'All

182 ADK miles yields tempo and speed.

I spent the final 2 weeks of August at the cabin in the Adirondacks. This included some big running that has started to get me in shape for the fall racing. The vacation also provided some much needed family time, a very welcomed "unplug" from the markets and the world, ...and probably most importantly, a distraction from my recent relationship break-up.

....I'll spare the details on the break-up, aside from the fact that it really sucks to fold on something after putting so much time into it. After 5+ years, Sarah and I mutually agreed that the relationship was stagnant. Neither of us have been overly happy or satisfied for some time, and both somewhat unfulfilled on many levels. Maybe me more than her and that's why I might've held back? I donno. It hurts to admit and pull that trigger though. I've thought about this far too much. In the end, I lose a truly wonderful person in my life. Sucks.

Anyhoo... back to running. I used the time at the cabin to cram in as many miles of hill work as possible. I wound up with 182 miles over the 2 weeks. Some of the runs were absolutely wicked, including a new favorite that runs to Belfort and back.... it's a 17 miles route that I ran twice as progression runs, with over 2500 feet of vertical change. Another was running from the cabin to Stillwater Road and up a few miles... 12 miles total with nearly 1800 feet of vertical change. Rolling hills every step of the way.

Just by comparison, the typical Barrington 20 miles, which is as hilly as can get anywhere near Chicago - done the hard way, and including a trip up Chris Woods Hill... has about 2200 feet of change. My typical "as easy as I can do it" 20 mile ADK run has about 3000 feet.  The only other place that I've had more bad ass 20 milers has been up at the Rasmussen Compound, in Wisconsin.  

When I got back to Chicago the other day, I wasn't sure where it left me... aside from yearning for flat ground, sick of a ramp in training, and still dealing with a shitty medial tibial shin splint.  I'm still not sure how fit I am, but at least I had a couple tests that suggest I'm now gaining ground quickly... 

On Tuesday night, I had my first chance to test my fitness... 8 miles of tempo, which started in mid-5:50's and finished in the mid-5:30's. I averaged 5:46. Very solid for my first true tempo run in a while.

Last night I confirmed - 8x 800 w/ 90sec rest. I averaged about 2:32.6. The final rep was 2:29. I called it quits at 8 instead of 10, so that I could save something for this weekend's race. I don't think that I've run 800's that fast before. I'm pretty happy with that one.

Aside from the minor problem of a fucking shin split, which is incredibly uncomfortable to run on when it's flared up... all other health issues seem to be ok at the moment. Even my hip and hammy's seem to be ok. Runs have their good and bad days due my age old problem of the left shin split. It's been there for about a month and a half now (or going on 7 or 8 years, depending on when you start counting). Eventually it'll let up... any day now...

Chicago Half Marathon this weekend. If I get through that without snapping my shin in half, then I'll press for 2 big-boy weeks of 100+ miles.

July wrap up.

A recap of the month of July and where things stand:

- I averaged 70 miles a week for the month, 4 weeks of basing.

- 7/11, Bastille Birthday 5K: 17:14. It wasn't pretty since I hadn't had any solid running prior to that point. But then again, maybe that time was meant to be? I hadn't thought of that until just now. Forget it, I like it.

- 7/14, Hometeam Charity 10K. In addition to 5oz of gold and 300oz of silver, this was my 36th Birthday present to myself. It was a disgusting stuffy heater though, and hurt at 35:39. I felt old. I died. The last mile was pathetic. I had no motivation either. I blame it on the weather and a lack of speed work. I placed 2nd for CARA AG points.

- Since then, long runs have jumped up to 20 miles.

- I now have 3 weeks in a row of tempos, with averages in the mid-5:40's... I guess technically, including the races, I have 5 weeks in a row with tempos.

- I took 3 days off from running in July, and as of now, I haven't taken a day off in over 2 weeks.

All in, my endurance has come back. I feel comfortable running pretty much any distance, and am feeling more fit. I'm still lacking any interval training at this point.

BUT.... All of this has come at a pretty nasty cost: I did bump up rather quickly after having some lame running in June. I'm now suffering from some ugly shin splits in my left leg and I'm actually starting to feel a bit broken down. This is classic. I've been dealing with left calf issues for nearly 10 years now. Anytime I drop my mileage down and then pick it back up again, I aggravate the calf and inner shin. Massage hasn't helped one bit. In the last couple weeks, I've been trying to run a little more with my Vibram Five Fingers. That usually chills it out, but no such luck yet.

This shin issue needs to go away if I'm gonna ramp up with any quality and intensity. Clearly I need a day off and some recovery.

That said, I'll run the Terrapin 5K tonight and press on through the end of this week. I'll take a day or two off next week and get that much needed cut back. Hopefully that puts me back to an even keel.

I head up to the cabin next weekend. That'll give me 2 very big weeks on the hills. My ADK training and September running likely the balance of my year.

With September comes racing season. Stretching through November, I have the Chicago Half Marathon, Park Ridge 5K, Chicago Marathon, Palatine 5K, and NYC Marathon......
Yeah, that's right... I'm racing 2 marathons in 3 weeks....

Half way.

I'm slowly pulling myself out of maintenance mode and back into running. It looks increasingly like I'll be running the Chicago Marathon this fall, followed by the NYC Marathon three weeks later.

Along the way, I'll take on more of the CARA Circuit. This isn't going to be easy.

Year to date through June 30th, I'm at 1,440 miles. That's more than I've ever run in the first half of the year. I don't think I want to get 3,000... (that's a huge number!)... but this will be my biggest year ever.

Spring break is over. Summer running is here.

Roselle + Spring Mile = Done.

It wasn't pretty, but I did gut out another age group win at the Roselle Run for Roses 5K a little over a week ago. I followed that with a fast mile mid-week, and now I'm in a mini-recovery mode.

Roselle 5K:

I actually had the intentions of running a fast 5K here, but for some reason it just didn't work out. I'll blame it on a lack of mileage over the prior weeks, and a last minute audible that had me running for placement instead of time. Training wise, I've been gradually winding down in this post-marathon mode (more like delaying the inevitable), yet still racing nearly every weekend for the last several weeks. I simply have sacrificed quality long runs for races. Regardless, I went to Roselle thinking that I'd be able to run a 16:20ish.

A little head wind in the first half of the race forced me to change my strategy. I didn't want to be the work horse for the chase pack going into the wind. If I did, then I would've risked either dying or getting dropped by guys that I should've beaten. And if I would've sat in the middle of the chase, then I would've gone out too slow and been victim to who knows what (heaven forbid a negative split 5K).

So with the gun, I sprang quickly onto the back of the lead pack. It was fast. I knew it. These guys were going sub 16 pace, but I felt nice and loose so I just went with it. I simply decided to get far enough ahead of the chase and then gut out what I could. I didn't have a watch and I don't recall my exact splits - but they wound up something like 5:08, 5:28, 5:23, 0:32 = 16:33.

That first mile was really hot. I saw the clock and immediately had a big "whoops!" Trouble with that, was I had already started to slow up before reaching the marker (as did most of the pack). Only they clung to their pace from there, while I pulled back again in the second mile as I tried to get under control. Hence 5:28. After the first mile, I dropped a kid that went out with me, and saw nobody else the rest of the way. Little did I know, that a couple guys from the chase were closing on me, but nobody ever passed me. And for that, it was a success as I won my age group. 16:33 was a far cry from 16:20 and even more from a PR... but another good enough.

Spring Mile:

A mile isn't something I normally do. Since some of my recent racing was behind me and I was about to hit the reset button, I thought I'd give it a shot just to see what I could do. So last Wednesday night, a number of us went to the track for the first time this year. It was a treat, since we've been doing our speed on the lakefront path or in the zoo parking lot.

I simply had the target of running sub-5 minutes. I know I can go faster, but given that I suck at the mile... I figured I'd play it safe. I split 75, 76, 74, 73... for a total of 4:58. It felt great and was actually pretty fun. I couldn't have run it any better too - a very conservative and clean negative split. To boot, I capped off the 2x 400, 1x 1600, 2x 400 workout with a blazing 65 second 400. I think I'll try to give the mile another shot after building my training back up, as opposed to winding down. I'd absolutely love to go sub 4:50, which I should be able to do with a little more fitness and speed work.

Now that that's out of the way, I'm taking a few weeks of reduced mileage before I roll back up. Some much needed recovery. I'll keep it simple for now and reassess in a couple weeks. Ultimately I'll build to burn a fast marathon in the fall (location still TBD), followed by a lay-up with the NYC Marathon. Along the way, I'll give my 5K and half marathon both an honest shake for PRs.