First of all allow me to apologize for no blog entries last week,it's not that I was short of things to write about......problem was they had nothing to do w/ running!!!!
Cliff Notes version,I got sick at the begining of the week,my rotation got thrown off b4 I even began,the rain stuck it's size 9 bovver boots in by Thursday and even if I'd wanted to run the 5K XC at VCP Sunday I couldn't since thanks to a "cock up of biblical proportion"my pay cheque was off by a couple of hundred bucks and I didn't have the $30 to catch the train/enter the race........and that's just the tip of the iceberg,surfice to say I needed to get out and run just to release some pent up frustrations that had been backing up like I95 in rush hour for the past week.
Glass half full{yes despite all my angst,anger and rage I can look for a silver lining}not racing Sunday would allow me the chance of a Mon,Wed,Fri rotation on the track w/ the option of a 10 miler on Saturday and w/ that in mind I hit Franklin Field for a 6x600m repeat.
Ah the good ole 6x600m or as it's lovingly often referred to "The Death Zone"it was once said of this repeat in order to be successful on the track one needs to spend time in"The Death Zone" it was also the same person who coined the phrase "mind numbing,gut wrenching,self inflicted pain,repeat" of 6x600m and w/ that in mind I set out to conduct my first 6x600m in a while,and if I'm not mistaken my first this year.
I wasn't sure what to expect of myself,what I did know was I'd set myself a 1.50 per repeat target and I would go for all 6 600s no half stepping it or building up from 4x600m,foolhardy maybe,but it's said that "fortune favours the brave"....and besides HUP, Hospital of University Of Pennsylvania is right across the road from Franklin Field!!!
#1,600m,67-39-1.46.18.So much for going out in a comfortable,conservative opening 400m of 76 seconds,question was would this come back to bite me in the bum a few repeats later?
#2,600m,71-37-1.48.65.So far,so good I was feeling comfortable even w/ marginally faster opening 400 splits,but could I keep up this pace?
#3,600m,72-37-1.49.45.Still on target but edging towards the plus side of 1.50,that opening 67 second 400m was about to come into play.
#4,600m,76-37-1.53.84.Not so much a case of the time honoured "cheque being in the mail" more a case of it being delivered,I knew that the final two 600s would be torture.
#5,600m,83-46-2.09.78.It came as no great surprise this happened but in running as in life I'd rather do it the hard way,taking the easy way out at 4x600m would leave me questioning how well I'd make the jump to 6x600m next week?
#6,600m,84-37-2.01.56.A modicum of redemption and while I'm never thrilled at anything in plus 2.00 realm on 600s all things considered I'd handled my return to "The Death Zone" reasonably well.
It would've been all to easy to set a slower target time than 1.50,nothing would've been gained from that,had I've gone w/ 4x600m I'm convinced I could've gone 4/4 at sub 1.50 but that'll mean precious little next week stepping up to the full 6x600m and in all honesty if you'd offered me 3/6 b4 the work out began I'd have taken it.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
What Once Was Old Is New Again
Never let it be said I don't listen to advice,just over a year ago it was brought to my attention that my training regime lacked a long run,I thought about it at the time but that was as far as it went,fast forward 11 months and the same person again questioned why I opted against a long run,perhaps a longer run would help me in my 5ks,be they track,xc or road,as was painfully evident last Sunday in Syracuse I'm capable of opening fast but not having the strength or stamina to follow through.
When I read Eamon Coghlan's biography he talked about how Jumbo would send the Villanova guys out on long runs on the weekend,clearly it's not a radical part of middle distance training so I opted for a 10 miler this afternoon to get used to being on my legs a while longer than I have been of late.
Pre achilles injury I ran 6 or 7 milers along Cobbs Creek but I fancied something a little different so I thought once around the Art Museum Loop at 8.4 miles would be fun,between 1989 and 2006 I often conducted training runs on the loop but at the last minute I said feck it added on part of the Schuylkill Banks and made it a 10 miler,my first 10 miler since Oct 2nd 2006.
Remembering what JC had said about not worrying about time I deliberately left my stop watch at home,I just needed to focus on running,I was probably going to have my work cut out for me,three years removed my last last 10 miler,almost 6 months since my last long runs a 7 miler on April 19th followed by a 6 miler 3 days later.
I opted to go up West River Drive and back down Kelly Drive towards the Art Museum,the logic being that Kelly Drive tends to be more populated and I figured over the later half of the run I'd need other runners to to push and pull me along,for some reason West River Drive always seems less populated and I may need all the help I could get in the final miles.....of course if I used West River Drive for my second half less people would witness a "soft shoe shuffle" if it all went tits up on me,but in the end I felt positive thoughts would lead to positive actions.
I passed three other runners along West River Drive b4 crossing Falls Bridge but remarkably only passed one runner on Kelly Drive and that wasn't till Girade Bridge but to be honest it didn't matter as remarkably I was able to cruise along at a comfortable pace to complete my 10 miler w/out any ill effects.
I'll look to keep this run in my rotation,next week is out as I plan to hit Van Cortlandt Park next Sunday for a 5kxc race but in a fortnite's time I plan on doing this run again.
21 miles for the week.
When I read Eamon Coghlan's biography he talked about how Jumbo would send the Villanova guys out on long runs on the weekend,clearly it's not a radical part of middle distance training so I opted for a 10 miler this afternoon to get used to being on my legs a while longer than I have been of late.
Pre achilles injury I ran 6 or 7 milers along Cobbs Creek but I fancied something a little different so I thought once around the Art Museum Loop at 8.4 miles would be fun,between 1989 and 2006 I often conducted training runs on the loop but at the last minute I said feck it added on part of the Schuylkill Banks and made it a 10 miler,my first 10 miler since Oct 2nd 2006.
Remembering what JC had said about not worrying about time I deliberately left my stop watch at home,I just needed to focus on running,I was probably going to have my work cut out for me,three years removed my last last 10 miler,almost 6 months since my last long runs a 7 miler on April 19th followed by a 6 miler 3 days later.
I opted to go up West River Drive and back down Kelly Drive towards the Art Museum,the logic being that Kelly Drive tends to be more populated and I figured over the later half of the run I'd need other runners to to push and pull me along,for some reason West River Drive always seems less populated and I may need all the help I could get in the final miles.....of course if I used West River Drive for my second half less people would witness a "soft shoe shuffle" if it all went tits up on me,but in the end I felt positive thoughts would lead to positive actions.
I passed three other runners along West River Drive b4 crossing Falls Bridge but remarkably only passed one runner on Kelly Drive and that wasn't till Girade Bridge but to be honest it didn't matter as remarkably I was able to cruise along at a comfortable pace to complete my 10 miler w/out any ill effects.
I'll look to keep this run in my rotation,next week is out as I plan to hit Van Cortlandt Park next Sunday for a 5kxc race but in a fortnite's time I plan on doing this run again.
21 miles for the week.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Little Acorns
After a five week hiatus from my bread and butter repeat 4x1mile it was time to revisit it and get reacquainted w/ it as I begin the stretch drive for indoor track season.
Despite the wind it was a glorious lunchtime to run,maybe I was too hasty putting my sleeveless running shirts away after all?
Mile#1,1.19,1.23,1.26,1.19-5.27.03.I had hoped to clock 1.20/5.20 lap/mile pace,perhaps a tad overly hopeful given how long I'd been away from this repeat.
Mile#2,1.20,1.24,1.23,1.18-5.25.68.Had I've gone for 5.25 pace I'd have been reasonably pleased at this point.
Mile #3,1.22,1.24,1.25,1.19-5.30.87.Clearly a "work in progress"I knew I couldn't come in today swinging for the fences{yes a baseball metaphor since it's playoff time!!!}but I was hoping for marginally better than this.
Mile#4,1.22,1.26,1.25,1.13-5.26.31.A reasonably decent finish,what I lacked physically today I felt I was able to compensate mentally,granted my splits don't reflect uber fast times but I knew to push mentally and sometimes that's the hardest thing to do,the faster splits will come w/ time.
This has been somewhat of a transitional week for me,after two weeks of scaling back to be race ready this week was about reintroducing myself to what I need to make routine,to that end a jaunt around the Art Museum Loop tomorrow....on foot,not bike,it was suggested to me last weekend post Syracuse that I need to get used to being on my feet for longer than I've been doing recently so we'll see how that plays out for me.
Despite the wind it was a glorious lunchtime to run,maybe I was too hasty putting my sleeveless running shirts away after all?
Mile#1,1.19,1.23,1.26,1.19-5.27.03.I had hoped to clock 1.20/5.20 lap/mile pace,perhaps a tad overly hopeful given how long I'd been away from this repeat.
Mile#2,1.20,1.24,1.23,1.18-5.25.68.Had I've gone for 5.25 pace I'd have been reasonably pleased at this point.
Mile #3,1.22,1.24,1.25,1.19-5.30.87.Clearly a "work in progress"I knew I couldn't come in today swinging for the fences{yes a baseball metaphor since it's playoff time!!!}but I was hoping for marginally better than this.
Mile#4,1.22,1.26,1.25,1.13-5.26.31.A reasonably decent finish,what I lacked physically today I felt I was able to compensate mentally,granted my splits don't reflect uber fast times but I knew to push mentally and sometimes that's the hardest thing to do,the faster splits will come w/ time.
This has been somewhat of a transitional week for me,after two weeks of scaling back to be race ready this week was about reintroducing myself to what I need to make routine,to that end a jaunt around the Art Museum Loop tomorrow....on foot,not bike,it was suggested to me last weekend post Syracuse that I need to get used to being on my feet for longer than I've been doing recently so we'll see how that plays out for me.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
3.15 The Gospel According To Top Cat
That old adage the best time to run is when you don't feel like it ran true this evening.
I'm not sure what it was,a hangover from Sunday's race,trying to get used to being back at work,coming to terms w/ life after ''The Queen Of The Slipstream"whatever it was I wasn't feeling it prior to arriving at Franklin Field.
Not only did I ditch my sleeveless shirt this evening but the first of the fall evenings complete w/ wind rattling through Franklin Field greeted my 5x1,000m repeats.
1,000m#1,1.16,1.19,38-3.13.23.I wanted to open in 1.16 as I felt that would set the tone for the workout,in all of my previous 6 1,000m repeats I'd failed to open in 1.16.
1,000m#2,1.18,1.21,38-3.17.03.A tad slower than I would've liked,I was miffed not to hold that opening 1.16 pace and also allow a 1.21 into the mix,granted my pace was slower than my recent opening ks but maybe that could work in my favour.
1,000m#3,1.19,1.20,36-3.15.63.Wow,take 2 seconds off my 3.17,put them on my opening 3.13 and I was holding a 3.15 average per split,w/ the wind picking up and the potential for fatigue to derail me I knew I had to focus.
1,000m#4,1.20,1.20,37-3.17.10.Finally a 4th 1,000 where I didn't implode,granted not going out gangbusters helped to aid and abet that but I have to confess that was more accident than design.
1,000m#5,1.19,1.19,35-3.13.38.Oh baby!inspite of the wind picking up and tired limbs I was able to close in an almost identical split to the one I opened w/.
My combined splits came out to 16.15. and I averaged 3.15 per repeat.granted not my fastest 5x1,000m repeats ,however my most consistant in less than favourable conditions.
If I wasn't feeling it on my way to Franklin Field I sure as hell was on the way home.
I'm not sure what it was,a hangover from Sunday's race,trying to get used to being back at work,coming to terms w/ life after ''The Queen Of The Slipstream"whatever it was I wasn't feeling it prior to arriving at Franklin Field.
Not only did I ditch my sleeveless shirt this evening but the first of the fall evenings complete w/ wind rattling through Franklin Field greeted my 5x1,000m repeats.
1,000m#1,1.16,1.19,38-3.13.23.I wanted to open in 1.16 as I felt that would set the tone for the workout,in all of my previous 6 1,000m repeats I'd failed to open in 1.16.
1,000m#2,1.18,1.21,38-3.17.03.A tad slower than I would've liked,I was miffed not to hold that opening 1.16 pace and also allow a 1.21 into the mix,granted my pace was slower than my recent opening ks but maybe that could work in my favour.
1,000m#3,1.19,1.20,36-3.15.63.Wow,take 2 seconds off my 3.17,put them on my opening 3.13 and I was holding a 3.15 average per split,w/ the wind picking up and the potential for fatigue to derail me I knew I had to focus.
1,000m#4,1.20,1.20,37-3.17.10.Finally a 4th 1,000 where I didn't implode,granted not going out gangbusters helped to aid and abet that but I have to confess that was more accident than design.
1,000m#5,1.19,1.19,35-3.13.38.Oh baby!inspite of the wind picking up and tired limbs I was able to close in an almost identical split to the one I opened w/.
My combined splits came out to 16.15. and I averaged 3.15 per repeat.granted not my fastest 5x1,000m repeats ,however my most consistant in less than favourable conditions.
If I wasn't feeling it on my way to Franklin Field I sure as hell was on the way home.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Just Not My Day
Often the hardest part of a run or race that dosen't go to plan is having to sit down and commit it to writing,in running as is in life you have to take it on the chin,dust yourself down and get on w/ it.
Why I could only muster a 17.16.81.chip time{gun time has me at 17.20}is still beyond me,was I as flat as the course?is 5k above my distance?did I just have an off day? or did I just get my race plan all wrong?
I'm leaning towards the latter,my 1k and 1mile target times were 3.14-5.24 but I went through them in 3.09-5.10,my half way split was 8.15,16.30 pace but I just couldn't hold it,my second half was 9.01,just not good enough.
Post race it was suggested I build some milage base,there's merit to that,the clocks going back will nix any evening bike rides and it's going to get too cold to do the long ride on the weekend so maybe it's time to get back out there on the weekend and log long runs,start off at 6 miles and work off of that.
Will there be any other attempts at my 5k pr?not in the forseeable future,I recall coming off my stress fracture and trying to get a spot on the Masters 3,000m Invitational at the Olympic Trials and failing miserably at Indoor Nationals,rather than carry on I cut my losses and refocused on the 800m/1,500m,by seasons end I was runner up in the 800m and winner in the 1,500m at Nationals so w/ phase three of my training about to get underway it's time to get refocused and think about the upcoming indoor season.....and who knows maybe w/ some base milage under my belt an indoor 3,000m is on the cards,we'll see.
Why I could only muster a 17.16.81.chip time{gun time has me at 17.20}is still beyond me,was I as flat as the course?is 5k above my distance?did I just have an off day? or did I just get my race plan all wrong?
I'm leaning towards the latter,my 1k and 1mile target times were 3.14-5.24 but I went through them in 3.09-5.10,my half way split was 8.15,16.30 pace but I just couldn't hold it,my second half was 9.01,just not good enough.
Post race it was suggested I build some milage base,there's merit to that,the clocks going back will nix any evening bike rides and it's going to get too cold to do the long ride on the weekend so maybe it's time to get back out there on the weekend and log long runs,start off at 6 miles and work off of that.
Will there be any other attempts at my 5k pr?not in the forseeable future,I recall coming off my stress fracture and trying to get a spot on the Masters 3,000m Invitational at the Olympic Trials and failing miserably at Indoor Nationals,rather than carry on I cut my losses and refocused on the 800m/1,500m,by seasons end I was runner up in the 800m and winner in the 1,500m at Nationals so w/ phase three of my training about to get underway it's time to get refocused and think about the upcoming indoor season.....and who knows maybe w/ some base milage under my belt an indoor 3,000m is on the cards,we'll see.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Less Is More
As is often the case at Franklin Field when Kim isn't on duty as the security guard things tend to be off kilter,bathrooms locked,and access to the track denied for no good reason,since today was scheduled as an easy day I took the less is more approach and did two sets of stadium steps on the lower level as good knee lift exercise and then threw in an impromptu mile cool down to wrap things up.
Like last week I've done all I can to prepare,sure I'd like there to be more but I've always said it's in our runners dna we never settle for less is more,I'm as prepared as I can be for Sunday,all I can ask for is a good ride up to Syracuse,a good nites sleep the nite b4,good conditions and to awake ready and rearing to go Sunday so that when the gun goes off at 9am I'm in a position to lower my second oldest pr 16.44 set in 1990.
Like last week I've done all I can to prepare,sure I'd like there to be more but I've always said it's in our runners dna we never settle for less is more,I'm as prepared as I can be for Sunday,all I can ask for is a good ride up to Syracuse,a good nites sleep the nite b4,good conditions and to awake ready and rearing to go Sunday so that when the gun goes off at 9am I'm in a position to lower my second oldest pr 16.44 set in 1990.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
After The Lord Mayors Show
"October,and the trees were stripped bare of all they were,what do I care,October kingdoms rise,and kingdoms fall,but you go on and on"
October U2
Following all the hoopla of 5th Avenue Mile and all the accolades that came w/ it it was time to knuckle down and get ready for Sunday's 5k in Syracuse.
I arrived at Franklin Field at lunch time knowing this was my last 5x1,000m repeat b4 leaving for Syracuse this weekend,like all final workouts you want it to be a good one to send you off on a good note.
1,000m#1,1.14,1.18,38-3.10.20.a strong opener,unlike recent weeks I didn't want to open in a brisk sub 3.10 as I doubted my mini vacation in New York would afford me my best today
1,000m#2,1.14,1.19,36-3.09.79.a near carbon copy of repeat#1 at this stage I was confident of a solid workout.
1,000m#3,1.17,1.21,37-3.15.51.the proverbial writing was on the wall w/ that 1.21 split,several days of having my schedule disrupted was about to catch up w/ me I feared.
1,000m#4,1.22,1.25,41-3.28.23.of the 30 1,000m repeats I ran in my build up for Syracuse this was my slowest,even my #4 in the rain on 9.11 was 3 seconds faster.
1,000m#5,1.20,1.22,34-3.16.53.I'll take a closing 3.16 k on Sunday.
My combined time was 16.18,to give me the following times for the last six week:16.19,15.59,16.14,15.53,15.53,16.18,would I have liked a better final workout?yes but I felt going into today that I wasn't going to be at my sharpest so it is what it is and following tomorrows easy 5k I'll have done all I can to prepare for Sunday,to quote Queen"It's In The Lap Of The Gods"
October U2
Following all the hoopla of 5th Avenue Mile and all the accolades that came w/ it it was time to knuckle down and get ready for Sunday's 5k in Syracuse.
I arrived at Franklin Field at lunch time knowing this was my last 5x1,000m repeat b4 leaving for Syracuse this weekend,like all final workouts you want it to be a good one to send you off on a good note.
1,000m#1,1.14,1.18,38-3.10.20.a strong opener,unlike recent weeks I didn't want to open in a brisk sub 3.10 as I doubted my mini vacation in New York would afford me my best today
1,000m#2,1.14,1.19,36-3.09.79.a near carbon copy of repeat#1 at this stage I was confident of a solid workout.
1,000m#3,1.17,1.21,37-3.15.51.the proverbial writing was on the wall w/ that 1.21 split,several days of having my schedule disrupted was about to catch up w/ me I feared.
1,000m#4,1.22,1.25,41-3.28.23.of the 30 1,000m repeats I ran in my build up for Syracuse this was my slowest,even my #4 in the rain on 9.11 was 3 seconds faster.
1,000m#5,1.20,1.22,34-3.16.53.I'll take a closing 3.16 k on Sunday.
My combined time was 16.18,to give me the following times for the last six week:16.19,15.59,16.14,15.53,15.53,16.18,would I have liked a better final workout?yes but I felt going into today that I wasn't going to be at my sharpest so it is what it is and following tomorrows easy 5k I'll have done all I can to prepare for Sunday,to quote Queen"It's In The Lap Of The Gods"
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