Return to Two Years Ago

Between upping the intensity of speed workouts, increasing run mileage, restructuring my food intake, and prepping for the inevitable Sugarloaf run, the next 4-5 weeks are going to feel like hitting the acelerator of my running regimen.  With what I'm doing for training and the races that I'm picking up along the way, it's feeling like 2008 again - the year I had some of my best times in road races. There's going to be a lot going on, and I'll fill you in on the details.


Unity and Portland:  Two-Race Weekend
The Unity Spring 5K on Saturday and the Patriot's Day 5-miler on Sunday will be a good test of how well I'm running in the shorter distances.  I ran them both in 2008 (the 5-miler was on Monday that year) but skipped them in 2009 due to a conflict with dancing rehearsals. 





Unity starts with a long downhill for at least the first half mile.  There is a big temptation in this stretch to ride your adrenaline and let go of the brakes completely.  I did just that in 2008, landing my best mile I've run to that point (5:56) but faltering the rest of the way, missing my PR (20:52) at the time by 4 seconds.  Even though the rest of it is flat and open, the lesson I learned was that downhills can steal your energy just as fast (if not faster) than uphills.  My goal this time is to manage that downhill efficiently - letting up on the brake but not overstriding.  If anything it'll be a practice for what I'll encounter on mile 11/12 at Sugarloaf.





The Patriot's Day 5-miler was a little trickier than I first expected.  Not knowing the geography of Portland as well as I do now, I completely forgot that the stretch of Washington Street included in the route is all uphill.  Considering that this part is around mile 4 of the race, you can probably guess that it dragged me down quite a bit.  What makes it worse is that part of that stretch is run on the sidewalk of the Back Cove Trail and Washington Street exit of I-295, making that part of the course very congested if there's a lot of people around.  In other words, don't expect to pass people at that point.  Once back on Cumberland Avenue, though, the idea is to put everything down.  The half mile is slightly uphill but straight and open.  I got 37:36 the last time I ran it; I should have no issue getting past that and possibly getting close to my 5-mile PR (32:20).


Orrington 10K (May 1):  Return to Form





 
This wasn't my first run, but it was my first 10K and it was on this route where I started my very first speed workouts with RK.  Like the previous two races, I missed the 2009 edition but plan to run it this year.  This course has small rolling hills on miles 2 and 5 but it's mostly flat and very quiet.  I should have no problem breaking the 46:35 time I have on this course and should even break my PR (42:44).
 
 
In between these races will be my long runs - 16-18 on the weekend in between these races and 20 the day after the 10K.  Then it's 2 weeks until the big race.