Closer Than I Thought

Ran my first time trial and my first 5k in quite some time on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised.  The goal was to run a couple of races before my goal race and run sub 22, sub 21 and sub 20.  Well, I started out with a 20:26 on a hilly course, so the fitness is a little better than I thought.  Mile 1 was the hilliest and was 6:48, mile 2 was flat, gravel trail and was 6:30, and the last mile was a solid 6:35, even with some hills.  Very happy with the result and confident I can regain my sub-20 form.

The rest of the week was just so-so.  Finished with around 50 miles and my Sunday 2-hour run was .15 miles less than last week's.  Probably the effects of Saturday's race.  I am happy to report that I ran Old Excelsior Road and Sparrow Road hills again on Sunday.  Doing this route consistently should help increase my endurance quickly.  I will admit I was pretty gassed at the end of this run and my heart rate was over 160 for the last 30 minutes.  So yea, I am going to need all of the next 23 months to get that back in time for Twin Cities 2020.

All in all very encouraging.  This is week 5 and I am still strong mentally and look forward to most of my runs.  The trick is to keep that fire burning when the plan calls for 60, 70, and 80 miles per week!  It's going to require early mornings and a dedication that has been missing for a couple of years.  But like I said last week, the idea is to keep it fun, challenging and new.  The racing every month was a great idea and is going to be key in getting me over the next hump.

Reality of Age

So, this was my 4th week of training and I experienced a bit of a setback.  Somewhere around mid-week I became quite fatigued and had to take an extra day off.  It started on Wednesday night when I signed up for a 5.5k trail run with my daughter.  It was her first run back from injury and asked if I would join her.  I wasn't planning on running hard, which was good because I could barely hold an 8:30 pace.  Thursday night was beautiful, so I ran a decent 10 miles on the river road.  When I will up Friday morning I had no mental or physical energy to do much of anything.  Saturday's two hour run was just okay, but did include Old Excelsior and Sparrow Road hills. Sunday was shorter than planned.  

So, what is going on?  Of all my comeback attempts since 2016, things usually turn south after consecutive weeks of 50 miles or more.  Leaves me stuck in a bad place, since I can only race well with high mileage, but things start to fall apart at 50 miles?  I then get discouraged and the viscous cycle continues.

What to do?  Keep on truckin' is the best advice I can give myself.  Sure I only managed 44 miles this week, but I did manage a 22 minute 5k on the track as part of my Tuesday 9-miler.  Thursday's 10 miles was fun and Saturday was just shy of 14 miles and included those awesome hills.  Let's take it easy this coming week and nail a 21:as 5k in Wayzata on Saturday.  Let's stay positive and enjoy the journey.  Keep in mind the ultimate goal of one more sub 3-hour marathon in 2020 before I turn 60.  Keep this fun!

Continued Progress

Another 50 plus mile week and some more faster runs, as I think this running 7 to 9 miles per day with only one day off if paying dividends. While we have a long way to go in the speed department, I certainly feel encouraged by this week's pace. Practically all my runs turned into progression runs and its nice to feel like an 8 minute pace is easy. My track workout on Saturday was 8 x 600m at 5k pace and I kept them between 6:30 and 6:20 pace. Even thoughed I bombed on the last one, I felt encouraged by the leg turnover and increased fluidity. Ended the week with 12.5 in snow flurries!

Probably back off a little this week, as the following week I have my first fitness test. The Chaska Turkey Trot. Also running a trail race on Wednesday with Malena.

Small Breakthroughs

Things felt better this week.  Ran everyday but Monday and instead of feeling worn down, my runs got a little easier and faster.  Friday and Saturday ran back to back 9 and 10 miles.  Both averaged under 8:30 even with a "Huey" mile at the start.  I would get down to the 8:10 range and it felt incredibly easy.  I think the 200 meter track repeats helped on Tuesday plus I may be reaping the benefits of the 26.2 mile "long run" in Ely a couple of weeks ago.  So, how to I keep this momentum going?  The track workouts are key, as is running every day.  If I've learned anything about my body, its that it responds to consistency and volume, spiced up with the occasional track workout or race.  Lastly, I may tack an extra mile or two at the end of my prescribed 11 mile long runs.  I want my body to be able to do 15 to 18 without too much trouble.  Plus the mileage will help me get to sub 20 that much quicker.  My only concern at this point would be the speed in which I completed my 200 meter repeats.  Barely dipped below 45 seconds!  God am I slow!  It's quite possible that even with increased endurance, I won't have the speed to run a single mile at 6:20, let alone 3!  Another trouble spot are hills, especially early in a run.  I slow way down and feel like I weigh 250 pounds!  Oh well, I am excited about the improvement and look forward to what next week brings!  The weather has been perfect and it makes running so darn fun.

Chasing Sub 20

Training for sub 20 started in earnest this week.  I've got about 7 or 8 weeks to follow Pfitzinger's moderately aggressive 5K plan to get me to sub 20.  First week was post marathon so less aggressive than the plan but still pretty good.  Tempo run on Tuesday followed by several 9 mile GA runs, which by the end of the week were pretty snappy and fluid.  Going to work on getting better and more sleep, which has been a challenge in training cycles past.  Also signed up for three 5k's, my goal race, a Halloween 5k in Wayzata and another Turkey Trot in Chaska in early November.  The hope is to run 22, 21 and finally 19:59.  Getting kind of excited.

Taper Tedium

First week of the taper for next week's Ely Marathon.  Good timing because it was an unusually hot week end with temps in the mid 90's!.  Not to worry though as the extended forecast in Ely looks like a low of 40 and highs around 60.  Again, just hoping to get somewhere under 4 hours and basically survive.

I mentioned last week how little racing I have done over the last couple of years, so we are going to put an end to that.  Signed up for 3 5k's between now and Thanksgiving.  Also planned out a rough racing schedule for the next 5 months or so.  Pretty darn exciting.  Bring it on!

Rick

Broken Record

Almost a year since my last post and not much has changed.  I did just finish my "training cycle" for the Ely Marathon, but am not overly confident in what the result will be.  Anything under 4 hours would be a relief at this point.  Probably averaged about 50 miles per week for about 18 weeks, so not terrible, just not much quality and virtually no racing.  I did complete 4 20-milers, but they were slow and only one finished strong.  Oh well, the taper and cooler weather can often provide miraculous results.

I think I put my finger on the problem and that is I pretty much quit racing altogether.  Why?  Because I didn't see the point in racing if I wasn't going to post "respectable" times and how stupid is that?  First off, no one cares, second there is no replacement training-wise for race effort and third, I like racing!  So all that being said, I already have 3 races planned after Ely.  All of them are 5k and all with the goal of getting back into sub 20 shape.  I have about 8 weeks of training laid out with the Tonka Turkey Trot being my goal race.

Long term goal right now is Twin Cities Marathon in 2020.  Keep it modest and shoot for 3:15.  Based on how my speed has all but vanished over the past two years, that might even be aggressive, but you gotta have goals, right?  Plus, the return to racing will certainly help.

Bottom line is that I want the joy to return to running and that joy came when I was training smart and racing a lot, mixing it up with all the other old guys!

I am in my taper right now and am encouraged that with the low temps and sinking dew point, my heart rate stays low even at brisk pace.

So, for now this blog should be called Chasing 20 Minutes.  Hey, I'm kinda excited!