Amherst College Mile Repeats

Time: 75:00 (approximate)
Distance: 11.5 mi.

Target: 5 x mile starting at 5:20-25, descending with 4:00 rest, more intervals?
Workout: 5:21.7, 5:20.2, 5:19.9, 5:25.0, 5:14.2; rest between 4:00 and 5:00

Afternoon workout with the ARHS guys. This workout is a staple, going back to before my time in high school. The guys set out for five by one mile loop on the Amherst College trails and I figured that this wouldn't be a decent back-to-it workout, maybe with more miles or some 300s on the track added on. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but some combination of the lingering cold and workout stomach pretty early made me lethargic and I was only good to hang in (and help push) the guys for their target paces. It was also humid and the afternoon. It looks like they've got a pretty good top 3-4 for sure, but will need someone to step up for the 4-7 spots.

Left this not feeling great about where I'm at, but I just need to get rested and get better.

Pratt Corner Speed Play

Time: 81:00
Distance: 12.5 mi.
Map (approximate)

Target: 8 x 3:00 sub-5:00 effort, 1:00 rest
Workout: hit it pretty well, but rest after 4 was much longer as I had to hit the woods

I started at Puffer's and got in 25 minutes of warmup on Market Hill and Cushman to Pratt Corner. The first half of the farlek was almost completely uphill and I was working pretty hard. Due to an ill-timed snack this afternoon I started getting a side stitch and had to stop to hit the woods after four intervals before I turned back down the hill. Running down wasn't quite as aerobically taxing, even though I was running hard, but I think my legs got a pretty good workout.

I had some mild workout stomach afterwards. I should really stop putting runs off to the afternoon when I have nothing to do all day.

Zilker Speed Play

Time: 83:40
Distance: 13 mi.

Target: 8 x 3:00 hard with 1:00 steady jogging rest
Workout: 6 x 3:00 hard, bathroom break, 2 x 3:00 hard

Meh... overall it was a good long-ish effort, but plagued by annoyances: digestion issues and serious wind out on Zilker. We ran down to the park from the track, did very big loops around the perimeter for the Fartlek, and ran back. The wind was pretty serious, similar to what Jordan gets on a bad day in Oklahoma. Right knee was quite sore afterwards.

6 Mile Tempo, 200s

Time: 82:00
Distance: 13 mi.

Target: 6 mile tempo starting in 5:25 and going down; 4 x 200m in 30 with 45 sec rest
Workout: 5:23, 5:14, 5:12, 5:19, 5:09, 5:00 (31:20, 5:13s); 4 x 200 in 30-31


It was a sunny and relatively warm afternoon on Town Lake

This is pretty damn close to what Joe and I did last week, especially adjusted the way I described. Unfortunately Joe is a bit sick, but Vig sent Birdsong and Habben with me. This time we started at the 3 mile mark and ran to 0.0 and back (starting at the 3 mile mark, rather than the conventional spot). I felt better aerobically and physically than last week and it was much windier and very dry (though it was warmer, too). A little bit pissed that I got dropped again, but this time it was in the last half mile by about 5 seconds. Stomach was feeling pretty bad by the end which makes it hard to fight and feel competitive.

Class after workouts sucks. Mild workout stomach... hopefully by next week I'll be done with this.

6 Mile Tempo, 200s

Time: 80:00
Distance: 12.5 mi.

Target: 6 mile tempo in 5:25 down to 5:00 on Town Lake; 200s or 300s on the track
Workout: 5:21, 5:15, 5:22 (5:12?), 5:28 (5:18?), 5:08, 5:05 - 31:41 (31:21 adjusted, 5:13s); 4 x 200m in 32

I may be uptight about this stuff, but I find it a little bit annoying that we don't tend to go by the mile markers on Town Lake, despite the fact that they appear to be right. We start our normal 4 mile tempo course a bit back from the 4 mile marker, we split the next mile a bit back from the 3 mile marker, and then we split 2, 1 and 0 right on the markers. Almost every tempo that I have done on that loop has had a long second mile... which is exactly what you would expect from this setup if the mile markers are, in fact, right. Now, this may not matter for the most part, as we all know what a good time for these "4 miles" is, and we're talking about it being ~10 seconds off. No big deal, right?

Well due to construction in the first mile of our normal 4 mile loop, Joe and I started at 0.0, ran out to mile 3 and back. The only thing is that we ran past the mile 3 marker so we could hit the "normal" spot. This added on 10ish seconds on both miles 3 and 4. Maybe this is just a stupid rant, but I really don't see the point of that when we have good markers. Anyway, this at least somewhat explains the splits (though mile 4 was definitely slow regardless... I got a bit unfocused as Joe ran away from me a little bit).


A nice section of Town Lake near the boathouse... part of the "long mile"

This was definitely a better workout than saturday, so I was happy about that. Workout stomach afterwards seems to indicate that I was a bit over my head (and that I ate a Snickers bar a few hours before)... but it always takes one or two of these to get back into things. Belly of left hamstring and both calves sore afterwards.

Decker Challenge 20k

Time: 83:00
Distance: 14.5

Goal: run conservatively, shoot for 5:30s, get long distance racing experience
Race: 68:41 (?) for 5th

Mile splits: 5:25, 5:23, 5:16, 5:20, 5:36, 5:29, 5:21, 5:35, 5:18, 5:51 (54:38 10 mi.), 5:43, 5:39
5k splits: 16:36, 16:58, 16:46, 17:48 (not exact, calculated from pace)

Overall a good experience, but at the expense of the bottoms of my feet (parental discretion advised) and my digestive system. Felt physically aerobically good running the entire way. The splits aren't representative of my effort because of the hills (PDF), but the effort was pretty consistent through 15k, at which point I was somewhat bogged down by the massive hill and blisters on both feet. Started out just off the leading group of Derek Yorek, Bernard Manirakiza and Lance Parker and ran with Gilbert Tuhabonye for about the first four miles. At that point I went after and caught Mark Farris (who looked like he was running pretty easy) who I ran with until I got dropped heading towards the 10 mile hill. I caught Parker with a mile to go, but as he sensed I was on him, finished quite a bit harder than I was able to. I really had to avoid getting on my toes whatsoever for the last 5k.

Had the worst workout stomach I've possibly ever had for a few hours after the race. This was probably a combined result of not having gotten in this many miles in a single day in over a month and just having gotten over being sick.

Place  Name                Age   TIme        Pace
=====  ==================  ===   =========   ======
1      Bernard Manirabiza  28    1:06:06.5   5:20/M
2      Derek Yorek         23    1:06:30.4   5:22/M
3      Mark Farris         23    1:07:49.0   5:28/M
4      Lance Parker        26    1:08:28.3   5:31/M
5      Owen Washburn       24    1:08:41.8   5:32/M
6      Gilbert Tuhabonye   33    1:09:17.7   5:35/M

More: Wish has a write-up at RunTex.com, there should be photos online sometime, and full results are up on the race site.

4 Mile Tempo

Time: 50:45
Distance: 7.5 mi.

Target: comfortable 5:30s for 4 miles
Workout: 5:27, 5:22, 5:37, 5:30 (21:57)

Feeling somewhat better today. I didn't get out early because of an information session and interview and I knew that after those it would be good to go out and clear my head. Started the run knowing that I wanted to do something up-tempo so I wouldn't be totally flat if I do this on Sunday. Overall it was okay, but it wasn't as easy as I was hoping for a few reasons: 1. I'm still somewhat sick, and felt fatigued; 2. my stomach had not taken care of breakfast; 3. my right hamstring and glute are very tight. Oh well!

I heard something interesting from Bob "Wish" Wischnia, a friend of Johnny G's from back in the day (who helped me get connected with RunTex and has been a great running contact since I've been in Austin). In response to an e-mail where I was complaining about the lingering sickness leading up to Decker (which he is also running) he wrote:

don't do a 'gregorek' (i.e., overthink)... as john used to say, my biggest handicap is between my ears. too true.

An interesting perspective.

Mt. Bonnell, Scenic, Stratford

Time: 94:17
Distance: 15 mi.

Yowza. A bit off today... Just going 90+ minutes, so Vig wanted us to not "dilly dally." We got out the door hard and kept the pace pretty real the whole way (I think we were 62ish mins at 10 miles near the end of Stratford). I wasn't feeling great, but we had our likely "top 7" running together decently well until Darren fell off a little bit. Vig had me drop back with him when we hit Town Lake, as I told him earlier in the year that I thought the super-hard long runs were hard for me to recover from. I was happy to slow up a little bit and help Darren out, but getting out of the rhythm (at least I think that was it) was rough on the body. I think my body was set to "hang in there" until we got back but once I slowed it thought "okay, done now" and I had to try to hit two bathrooms and ended up pretty much jogging back on Trinity. Not surprisingly, this resulted in some workout stomach issues.

In one of the strangest single running experiences I've ever had, a young buck deer charged across the road at me. I juked him and he jumped right in front of me at about eye-level. Crazy.

Mt. Bonnell, Scenic, Stratford

Time: 120:00
Distance: 19.5 mi.
Map


Middle of Stratford hills (via Vig's phone)

Back to the hills. Ran this harder than a few weeks ago, which it was time to do. Good pace through Mt. Bonnell, Scenic and Stratford and picked it up to finish Town Lake to the I-35 bridge, Trinity and with ~2 miles on the track. Pace for the end ranged from 5:35-6:00 (faster on Town Lake and the track than on Trinity). Didn't feel fantastic (a bit tired), but very controlled despite the decent pace. Rob Wetzel, one of the freshmen who seems like he has a lot of potential and a good head on his shoulders, made it the whole way with us which was good to see.

Starting to feel some head cold symptoms... rest and hydrate.

Town Lake Loops

Time: 119:30
Distance: 19.5 mi.
Map


A lot of Town Lake this morning

Long run from the track mostly on Town Lake. Got on a decent pace pretty early and by the time we were rolling on Town Lake we were running just about 6 min pace. By an hour we were dipping a little under, but Vig (smartly) told us to back off a little bit. Legs a little bit tired, contributed to by The National show last night, which was my one Austin City Limits indulgence. Having a few digestive issues towards the end, which resulted in pretty serious workout stomach afterwards... first time I've gotten this bad this season, which is a good sign.

Nat'l Mall, TR Island, C&O Towpath

Time: 82:14
Distance: 13 mi.


View from the Key Bridge, looking east

Ran from work down the Mall to TR Island where I picked up Chad, then headed further down the Mt. Vernon Bike Path and crossed the Key Bridge to get on the C&O Towpath... stayed on that until 15 min out from TR (Chad was shooting for 30 min) and then headed back. Ran quick out to meet him and then didn't slack off much even when we were running together.

Had "workout stomach" afterward. Not sure what that was all about.

Also not exactly loving these shoes... they're a bit bulky and soft, like a worse version of the Nimbus, maybe. Doing some late-stage pronation because of my orthotics.