I finished 15 today. I feasted on mileage.
I am definitely catching the fever of running and dreaming the big goals of sub-5 miles and sub-3 marathons. I really want to hammer down a good regimen and stick with it throughout the next 6-8 weeks.
50-70 miles
After my recovery week from ES20 (42+) I am determined to get 50 miles again and build upon it until Sugarloaf week. If I plan it right I should be able to get around 70 miles on my 20-mile long run week. It's going to take some extraordinary discipline so I need to fight procrastination more than ever.
Speed Workouts
I was amazed at my Hyannis and ES20 times knowing I haven't done a single speed workout since last fall. I can't get away with that though. My big goals are not going to happen by just building mileage so I somehow need to fit in a midweek speed workout. I am thinking of using the Back Cove for this and on a Wednesday lunch hour but it's actually applying it that will be the trick. If needed I may try the workout in the mornings, but I'm not confident of having good workout speed at 6AM.
Races to Sugarloaf
Unity Spring 5K - April 21 - Unity College, Unity, Maine - I love running this and it's very easy to PR if I run the initial downhill right. My two finishes - 20:52 in 2008 and 18:52 in 2010 - were personal 5K bests at that point. I'd love to smash the 18:30 barrier on this course.
Orrington 10K - May 5 - Center Drive School, Orrington, Maine - This one is a nice test to see how my fast twitch muscles are coming along. I have generally posted sub-41 races here but I want to smash the 40-minute mark (I love smashing things) which would give me a nice PR to try and beat at B2B in August.
Ragnar Cape Cod Relay - May 11-12 - Not as much of a road race as it is a fun run relay. Of course the real fun is that I am running almost 25 miles over 3 legs. Why? Because I can. At least there will be plenty of time to rest (~8 hours) in between legs. Two 9s and a 10K should get me primed for the next week.
Early Sugarloaf Goals
2:15/:45 - This would be ideal if I can pull these times off. 2:15 through the first 20 would get me a PR for that distance and 45 minutes in the final 10K would also be the fastest time for my final 10K of a Marathon. If I stick to my workouts/mileage and stay healthy there's no reason why I can't meet these goals.
Showing posts with label 10K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10K. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Thursday, April 15, 2010
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.
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.
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