Easier Said than Done

I had every intention of adding some in some real quality this week, I mean I had this 90-miles per-week thing down pat, so it shouldn't be too tough, right?  Things started out pretty well on Wednesday with the first test, the Aquatennial Torchlight 5k.  It was a beautiful night in downtown Minneapolis, so me and 6,000 other people lined up to race the parade route.  I was ready to race, but after a few strides, I experienced a wardrobe malfunction.  The elastic in the liner of my favorite racing shorts gave out.  Keep in mind these are short shorts and it was very difficult to focus on  racing, when I was worried about flashing thousands of people along the parade route.  All went well and I even finished with a decent time of 18:09.  I still wanted to work in a progression run, but both attempts on Thursday and Friday were major fails.  The best I could do was a mile or two at marathon pace.  I did bounce back nicely on Saturday with a 20 mile plus run in the humidity, mile 20 being the fastest of the bunch!  So finished the week over 90 miles again and since I ran my long run Saturday, I had a 7 day stretch with 101.4 miles!  So, lets get rested up and work in some real quality this week.

Happy Running!

Rick

T-Minus 11 Weeks!

Wow, the summer is flying by!  It certainly has been ideal running weather, so far.  Early morning temps in the 50's and 60's are a real luxury.  With the exception of Monday, this coming week looks to be more of the same.

I slightly increased mileage this week, maxing out at 94.4, but ran some real quality runs.  I am going to attempt a sub 1:30 half marathon every Tuesday morning; this weeks attempt came in at 1:33, so I have some work to do.  It's hard to get those legs moving at 5:20 am!  My last few miles were at around 6:30 pace, so it takes a little time to get everything loosened up, but the speed is there.  Second quality run was Friday's 10 miler, where I threw in 5x 1 mile intervals at 6:15 pace.  I hope to have those down to 6 flat by mid September.  Capped off the week with a 21 plus long run, which was very slow and because of the high mileage and my legs were toast.

I need to rest up and run easy the next few days, so I am ready for the Torchlight 5k indowntown Minneapolis on Wednesday night.  This should be fun, starts at the Basilica and ends at the Stone Arch Bridge, with free beer!  Hoping for a sub 18 finish.

August will be a busy racing month, with the Como Park Relays every Wednesday and the MDRA 15k.  Can't wait to get this started!

Happy Running!

Rick

Time for Some Speed

Four weeks in a row of 85 to 90 miles have left the legs a little beat up, the tank near empty and frankly, a little bored.  This was a necessary phase and I'll see the results come race day, but it was getting a really old.  The legs have forgotten how to turnover, which was quite evident in my mile race attempt at the fairgrounds this past Wednesday.  I tried to go fast, and was successful for the first quarter, (1:15), but after that I felt clunky and out of balance.  It was like my aerobic system was ready to go, but I just couldn't get the legs to keep up.  The 2nd quarter was a miserable 1:22 and I was never able to get moving again, finishing in a disappointing 5:25

The only cure for this is to introduce a bit more track and tempo work back into the mix.  I have been doing progression runs every Tuesday, but they have been modest attempts at best, and my other quality run has been devoted to hills.  So the plan is to run a 13 miler every Tuesday with an average pace of 6:50 and Thursday will be mile repeats every other week, with hill sprints on the off week or race week.  Time to get those legs use to going fast again!

Finished off the week-end with a camping trip with my daughter, where I logged almost 42 miles in trail running from Friday to Sunday, running 3 times on Saturday!  Legs are shot!

Happy Running!

Rick

Yeoman's Work

The big mileage weeks continue.  Again, nothing fancy, nothing fast, just simple, good old-fashioned hard work.  It looked a lot like last week, but my Tuesday progression was noticeably faster and I threw in a 6:20 mile at the end of my 12 miles of hills.  Otherwise, I was pretty much south of 7mph for most of my running.  Today I ran 21 plus and didn't/couldn't break 8:30 pace.  It was like running in the jungle with the extremely high dew point.  I am just glad I got through it.  I did tack on some cheap tenths at the end, just so I could break 90 for the week.

Next week, I take a step back, race on Wednesday and then go on a camping trip, where I can do some nice leisurely trail running.  Things get serious starting on the 26th with the Torchlight 5k, which leads up to the Como Park Relays, which are every Wednesday night n August.  Best value in the Twin Cities.  $3.00 for a timed cross country relay event!  What a fine tradition.  I think this is 50 years.

Congratulations to my daughter on competing her first 16 miler.  She is well on her way to a solid finish at Twin Cities Marathon!

Happy Running!

Rick