This week was 61 miles of running, 8 "miles" of pool-running, and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
Travel and juggling schedules. Though not as much of either as I had expected.
My plan for the week was to travel to Kansas on Monday afternoon through Tuesday or Wednesday for my grandfather's funeral, and then to travel to Flint, Michigan on Friday for the USATF Masters Road Mile Championships. So, my coach and I moved the normal Tuesday workout to Monday morning to fit it in.
Monday's workout sucked. The weather was lousy - very humid, with spluttering rain and a fairly strong headwind on the track. And I was in a bad mood. But I got it done at the proper effort.
Monday's workout sucked. The weather was lousy - very humid, with spluttering rain and a fairly strong headwind on the track. And I was in a bad mood. But I got it done at the proper effort.
And then the travel started - a ~2 hour flight from DC to Kansas city, and then a lot of driving. It's 320 miles each way between the Kansas City airport and Collyer, Kansas, where my grandfather's funeral was held. I landed at Kansas City and drove to Topeka the first night.
I specifically chose my hotel in Topeka based on its proximity to both the interstate
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Loop-de-loop in Topeka
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Then it was off for my day trip to Collyer, Kansas. Which is every bit as isolated as you think it is.
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| Collyer, Kansas - as seen from my rental car. |
It was a long day of driving - I have no idea how anyone drove long distance before the advent of satellite radio. Though I will note that multi-hour pool-runs are excellent training for a multi-hour drive through Kansas.
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| The Kansas driving segment - click on picture to expand. |
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| The trip as a whole - click on picture to expand. |
In terms of boredom, the drive was not quite as bad as I expected. Though not a sightseeing tour by any means, there were enough points of interest - military bases, gas stations-combined-with-laundromats, closed-and-decaying gas stations, lingerie-and-porn-shops-marketing-to-lonely-truckers, and wind farms - to keep me engaged.
[not my wind farm video - just one I found on YouTube by GregHillTopeka]
And seriously, the wind farms were really really cool - the video above doesn't quite capture how HUGE these things are. The contrast between the very rural landscape and the futuristic giant windmills was eerie.
I made it to Collyer and back safely, and in good time, and got to see my extended family (albeit under sad circumstances) so the (very long) day was a success to the extent attendance at a funeral can be classified as such.
***
***
I arrived back in DC Wednesday afternoon, and started prepping for my second trip of the week, to Flint, Michigan for the USATF Masters Road Mile Championships. Only to realize that I really didn't feel like going.
I was looking forward to the race itself, but the trip there required a 70 minute flight and then an 80 minute drive each way, and repeating the drill so soon had no appeal, even if this trip would be significantly shorter than the Kansas one. I just didn't want to get on another airplane to fly another place to rent another car to drive on another highway.
Plus, I was tired, making the prospect of getting home well after midnight on Friday distasteful. Ultimately, I do this sport for fun. And the truth was, traveling to this race was feeling like a chore, not an adventure.
I chatted with my coach to see whether he cared if I did the race. As it turned out, he much preferred that I stay home, avoid the travel stress on my body, and get a good quality tempo in. So that's what I did. I had to eat the plane fare, but it was a cheap flight, so not a big deal.
***
We all have workouts that we find especially beneficial - for me, my sweet spot workout is running for 25-35 minutes at between 10 mile and half-marathon pace - which is another way of saying "a tempo of 4-5 miles in distance." Out of all the workouts we do, I respond to those the best, but I rarely get to do them in the summer due to the heat and humidity. We either shorten the workout to 5K or split it into intervals, which I don't benefit from in quite the same way.
On Friday, we were gifted with unusually cool and dry weather for August, and I took advantage of it with an 8K tempo. I was definitely still a bit tired, but the tempo went well, and there's no doubt in my mind that I gained more fitness-wise from the tempo than I would have from a mile race.
Then on Sunday, I unofficially kicked off CIM training with a 14 mile progression down to marathon pace effort (this cycle, I'm planning to ignore my watch on long runs and do all my marathon pace work by feel). It went pretty well - marathon pace effort is not yet yielding my desired marathon pace (between 6:45-6:50) but I have a bit over 3 months for that to change.
***
Last winter, when I was mapping out my training and racing for this year, my plan had been to race Boston, then spend the rest of the spring and summer getting into good short distance shape so I could run really well at the mile and 5K distances in the late summer/early fall before switching back to marathons. Inserting Grandma's Marathon into the mix obviously changed things, and the fact is that I'm not currently in the shape I had hoped I would be at this time of year.
But, you can't have everything, and the PR I ran at Grandma's was worth the trade-off. I do feel that I'm in a good place for starting a new cycle. I'm fresh and eager and well-rested, I'm sufficiently out of shape that I'm not too worried about peaking too early, and I'm also fit enough that it's not going to be too hard of a climb back. Bring on the training (after the 5K and mile races I have in the next two weeks, of course).
I was looking forward to the race itself, but the trip there required a 70 minute flight and then an 80 minute drive each way, and repeating the drill so soon had no appeal, even if this trip would be significantly shorter than the Kansas one. I just didn't want to get on another airplane to fly another place to rent another car to drive on another highway.
Plus, I was tired, making the prospect of getting home well after midnight on Friday distasteful. Ultimately, I do this sport for fun. And the truth was, traveling to this race was feeling like a chore, not an adventure.
I chatted with my coach to see whether he cared if I did the race. As it turned out, he much preferred that I stay home, avoid the travel stress on my body, and get a good quality tempo in. So that's what I did. I had to eat the plane fare, but it was a cheap flight, so not a big deal.
***
We all have workouts that we find especially beneficial - for me, my sweet spot workout is running for 25-35 minutes at between 10 mile and half-marathon pace - which is another way of saying "a tempo of 4-5 miles in distance." Out of all the workouts we do, I respond to those the best, but I rarely get to do them in the summer due to the heat and humidity. We either shorten the workout to 5K or split it into intervals, which I don't benefit from in quite the same way.
On Friday, we were gifted with unusually cool and dry weather for August, and I took advantage of it with an 8K tempo. I was definitely still a bit tired, but the tempo went well, and there's no doubt in my mind that I gained more fitness-wise from the tempo than I would have from a mile race.
Then on Sunday, I unofficially kicked off CIM training with a 14 mile progression down to marathon pace effort (this cycle, I'm planning to ignore my watch on long runs and do all my marathon pace work by feel). It went pretty well - marathon pace effort is not yet yielding my desired marathon pace (between 6:45-6:50) but I have a bit over 3 months for that to change.
***
Last winter, when I was mapping out my training and racing for this year, my plan had been to race Boston, then spend the rest of the spring and summer getting into good short distance shape so I could run really well at the mile and 5K distances in the late summer/early fall before switching back to marathons. Inserting Grandma's Marathon into the mix obviously changed things, and the fact is that I'm not currently in the shape I had hoped I would be at this time of year.
But, you can't have everything, and the PR I ran at Grandma's was worth the trade-off. I do feel that I'm in a good place for starting a new cycle. I'm fresh and eager and well-rested, I'm sufficiently out of shape that I'm not too worried about peaking too early, and I'm also fit enough that it's not going to be too hard of a climb back. Bring on the training (after the 5K and mile races I have in the next two weeks, of course).
Dailies
Monday: 11.5 miles, including a track workout of 4x(800, 400) in 3:00, 87, 3:02, 88, 2:58, 88, 3:01, 85. Followed with injury prevention and leg strength work, and then 1000 yards of recovery swimming, and some foam rolling. Flew DC to Kansas City in the afternoon, and then drove to Topeka, Kansas that evening.
Tuesday: 8 miles very easy (8:50) around a shopping mall, plus drills and strides, and DIY yoga in hotel. Drove from Topeka to Collyer, Kansas, (242 miles) and then from Collyer back to Kansas City, Missouri (320 miles). Total of 570 miles covered - 8 running; 562 driving.
Wednesday: 5.5 miles very easy (10:00), plus drills and strides. (running on broken overgrown sidewalks outside Kansas City International Airport before sunrise = 10 minute pace). Followed with a failed attempt at strengthwork in an impressively lousy hotel gym. Flew Kansas City to DC.
Thursday: Upper body weights/core at the much better gym at home, and then 8 "miles" of pool-running. Chatted with coach and decided to skip Friday race. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 12 miles, including an 8K tempo in 32:17 (6:34/6:30/6:30/6:25/6:18). Followed with injury prevention and leg strength work, and then 1250 yards of recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 10 miles very easy (9:02), followed by upper body strengthwork and core. Foam rolling at night.
Sunday: 14 miles progressive, split as first 4 miles averaging 9:09, next 5 averaging 7:50, last 5 averaging 7:04. Followed with leg strength work and 750 yards of recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
I think it's great that you were able to re-assess your desire to do the race instead of just living on auto-pilot. Shows a good deal of self awareness. Very interesting about your favorite tempo speed and distance. Looking forward to following your CIM training!
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