Pete's Blog

Back in the Saddle Again

Things are finally getting back to normal. My foot injury has subsided thanks to some rehab exercises, Alcis pain relief cream, and DMSO. I started running the last week of September and did easy mileage for five weeks (35, 60, 67, 86, and 91 miles). The last week I did my first workout, 4xmile threshold, averaging 4:58 with one minute rest. Followed by 5x200 fast.

The last two weeks we started getting some real work done.

11/2 - 14 miles

   AM: 5 easy, 12x200 (R200jog) :31 average

   PM: 5 easy

11/3 - 10 easy, blister

11/4 - 18 moderate, 1st 10 miles 61:44, next 7 miles 5:40-5:20, last mile easy

11/5 - 13 miles

   AM: 3 easy, drills, plyos, 6x one minute uphill sprint, 3 easy. Hurt like hell.

   PM: 5 easy

11/6 - 1 easy, 10 moderate progression, 1 easy. 55:46. 5:50-5:16.

11/7 - 16 miles

   AM: 11 easy, 8x50 hill sprints

   PM: 5 easy

11/8 - 3 easy, went home, feeling sick

Weeks Mileage 86

11/9 - 15 miles

   AM: 7 easy, 6x300 (R300 jog) :48-:47, 1 easy

   PM: 5 easy

11/10 - 10 easy, 3x2 mile threshold, 2 easy (10:04. 10:00, 9:56)

11/11 - 17 miles

   AM: 12 easy, very slow and hilly

   PM: 5 easy, 8x50 hill sprint

11/12 - 4 easy, 10 moderate progression, 1 easy. 55:40, 5:48-5:20

11/13 - 15 miles

   AM: 10 easy

   PM: 5 easy, 5x150 light strides

11/14 - 15 miles

   AM: 5 easy

   PM: 7 easy, plyos, drills, 6x 1:00 uphill sprint

11/15 - 15 miles

   AM: 5 easy

   PM:10 easy

Weeks Mileage: 110

Training 8/3/08 - 8/9/08

8/3 - 17 miles

AM: 7 easy, 6x150

PM: 10 easy

8/4 - 11 miles

AM: 7 easy

PM: 4 easy - right foot sore

8/5 - 20 miles

AM: 3x2 miles threshold, 8x200 fast. 9:54 average, 2 min recovery

PM: 6 easy

8/6 - 20 miles

AM: 8 easy, 8x50 hill sprint

PM: 8 moderate progression, no watch.

8/7 - 18 miles

AM: 10 easy

PM: 5x1000 threshold, 5x200 fast, no watch.

8/8 - 5 miles

AM: fly to Boston, drive to Falmouth

PM: 5 easy

8/9 - 7 miles

AM: 7 easy , strides

Total mileage - 98

I'm just not that fit yet, and it shows. On the bright side, my fitness usually changes quickly. Its most noticable in the threshold workouts. I'll be suffering along at 4:55-4:58 pace in workouts for weeks and then it will suddenly drop to 4:47-4:50 pace. When the mileage comes down close to the marathon, that pace will fall to the low 4:40s. It never happens gradually, just one day I check my split at the mile and I know the jump has been made. Weird but predictable.

Training 7/27/08 - 8/2/08

7/27 - 20 miles

AM: 6 easy

PM: 3 easy, 9 mile tempo, 2 easy. 5:16 pace, sore hip and side stitch.

7/28 - 15 miles

AM: 10 easy, 8x50 hill sprint

PM: 5 easy

7/29 - 15 miles

AM: 9 easy

PM: 6 easy, light strides

7/30 - 7 miles

AM: 5x1000 (R 2:30 jog) 2:51 average

PM: no run, right foot sore from workout

7/31 - 15 miles

AM: 5 easy

PM: 10 easy

8/1 - 22 miles

AM: 4 easy, 4x2 mile threshold, 10 easy. 9:54 average, 60:20 for last 10 miles

8/2 - 9 miles

AM: 9 easy

Total Mileage - 103

The tendonitis in my right foot is behaving when I take care of it, now its up to me to be diligent about getting proper therapy everyday. There is so much work to do before my fall marathon. Only someone who know the horrors of a bad marathon can understand the fear of showing up underprepared to a big race. That won't be me.

Training 6/15/08 - 6/21/08

6/15 - 12 miles

   AM: 7 easy

   PM: 5 easy w/6x150

6/16 - 16 miles

   AM: 3 x 2mile threshold (9:54, 9:51, 9:38) that's the way I wanna rock n roll

   PM: 3 easy, 5x300 (R300 jog) :46 - :44

6/17 - 10 easy - 6x50 hill sprint - right foot sore from fast stuff yesterday

6/18 - 9 easy

6/19 - Early AM - 5 minute wake up jog, fly to Duluth.

   PM: 4 easy, 5x1000 threshold, 5x200, 1 easy

6/20 - 8 easy with Hansons guys, 6 x hill sprint

6/21 - Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - 65:51, 4th place

Total Mileage - 84

The race was a little slow for everyone. The head wind seemed to make things unfold at a glacial pace. I promised myself before the race that I'd run conservatively through the 3 mile mark no matter what anyone else did. Starting slowly seemed to be the only way I could get through a successful workout lately, so it sounded smart to apply that to the race. As it turned out, right around mile 2 Fernando Cabadass and Matthew Chesang trotted off into the lead together while I was drifting off into no man's land behind them, but ahead of the chase pack. That no man's land was where I stayed until mile 11 when Mike Reneau passed by and left me for fourth place. It sure would have been easier to run 5 seconds faster on that second mile and be running with Cabada and Chesang rather than fighting the wind by myself for so long. Chesang was the class of the field that day and nobody was going to beat him, but I would have had a better shot at battling Cabada and Reneau if I wasn't so headstrong. 

Training 6/8/08 - 6/14/08

6/8 - 14 miles

   AM:7 easy - tired

   PM: 7 easy w/ 6x150

6/9 - 16 miles

   AM: 10 easy - little better

   PM: 6 easy w/ 8 x hill sprint

6/10 - 11 miles

   AM: 3x2 mile threshold average 9:57, really sucked, slow and painful

   PM: no run - right arch sore

6/11 - 20 miles

   AM: 2 easy, 8 mile moderate progression, 2 easy - 43:50, not fun at all

   PM: 8 easy w/ 6x150

6/12 - 15 miles

   AM: 4 x 1000 @ 2:53, 3x400 @ :65, interspersed (1000 - 400 - 1000, etc) @ Golden Gate Park polo field

   PM: 5 easy - right arch sore

6/13 - 17 miles

   AM: 12 easy

   PM: 5 easy

6/14 - 17 miles

   AM: 3 x 2 mile threshold (9:46, 9:49, 9:56) painful positive split, not the way to do it.

   PM: 5 easy

Total Mileage: 110

Training 6/1/08 - 6/7/08

6/1 - 10 miles

   AM: 5 easy - tired

   PM: 5 easy - left knee hurts where the IT band attaches

6/2 - 10 miles

   AM: 10 very easy - left knee still tight, also have picked up a sore throat

6/3 - 6 miles

   AM: 6 easy - knee sucks, sore throat now full blown cold

6/4 - 13 miles

   AM: 6 easy - knee better, still sick

   PM: 7 easy w/ 6x150 fast

6/5 - 15 miles

   AM: 2 easy, 7 moderate progression run (37:53), 1 easy

   PM: 5 easy

6/6 - 14 miles

   AM: 9 easy

   PM: 5 easy - still sick, really windy this week.

6/7 - 16 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 4xmile at 5:00 (R 1min), 2 easy - really awful, sick, hot day, tired, not good at all.

   PM: 6 easy w/ 6x hill circuit

Total Mileage - 84

This week was a lesson in patience, and suffering. I got sick and managed to screw up my knee for a few days. The knee was, I think, a result of adding some new exercises to help relieve my chronic hip pain. Too many new exercises can make anyone sore, and these seemed to dial in on my left IT band. It didn't seem too serious and went away with some light mileage, ice, and ibuprofen. The cold was nothing serious and is almost totally gone as I'm writing this. Looking back, they were two inconsequential ailments that joined forces to totally screw up one week of precious training.

Two weeks until I race the Bjorklund Half in Duluth.  On Tuesday I plan on bringing the heat with a big threshold workout, probably 3x3mile, 1x2mile. Anaerobic threshold, often known as lactate threshold, (and not to be confused with aerobic threshold) is pretty close to half marathon race pace if you're running close to an hour for the race. Jack Daniels' training schedules are filled with T pace workouts that are usually broken up into 2 - 4 mile segments (sometimes 5 for the real scrappers). The idea is to take about a minute rest for each mile of threshold running. 3x3 miles at threshold pace would be 3 miles fast, 3 minutes rest, 3 miles fast, 3 minutes rest... you get the idea.

Over the course of a training cycle the total distance run in each threshold workout would increase. But, before increasing the total distance I like to increase the length of each repeat. For 8 miles of total work, start with 4x 2miles, then 2x3miles + 1x 2mile, then 2x 4miles. After that go up to 10 miles total, and so on. Since the half marathon is 13 miles, I had hoped to get in at least one session of threshold work totaling 12 or 13 miles, but the injury/cold last week has me a bit behind so I'll enter the race a bit underfunded, but that's life.

Training 5/25/08 - 5/31/08

5/25 - 10 miles

   AM: 10 easy

5/26 - 21 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 2x3 mile (R 3min), 2x2 mile (R 2min), threshold pace, 14:39, 14:38, 9:44, 9:41, 2 easy

   PM: 3 easy, 6x150, 1 easy

5/27 - 17 miles

   AM: 12 easy w/ 6x hill circuit - very tired

   PM: 5 easy, exhausted

5/28 - 18 miles

   AM: 4 easy, 10 mile moderate progression (54:30), 4 easy. Slow with very heavy legs.

5/29 - 12 miles

   AM: 6 easy

   PM: 6 easy w/ 8x50 meter hill sprint

5/30 - 17 miles

   AM: 5 easy, left quad sore

   PM: 12 easy

5/31 - 18 miles

   AM: 18 easy, 1:56

Total mileage - 113

The threshold workout on Monday was fantastic. The pace was farily even, and the effort was tough but under control throughout. I did pay the price the next two days. Tuesday and Wednesday I was unexpectedly exhausted from the threshold workout.

When I return to serious training after a marathon I always make the mistake of thinking I can easily run 130 miles a week with several workouts. That type of training is normal when I'm fit and getting prepped for a big marathon, but is difficult without a proper buildup. By not understanding my fitness level, I constantly overreach this time of year and pay the price with days like Tuesday and Wednesday. On the bright side, every week should bring better stamina and get me closer to top form. 

 

Training 5/18/08 - 5/24/08

5/18 - 10 miles

   ING Bay to Breakers 12k, 8th Place, 36:44

5/19 - 16 miles

   AM: 11 miles easy

   PM: 5 miles easy, sore left quad

5/20 - 22 miles

   AM: 3 miles easy, 12 mile moderate progression, 2 miles easy.  64:12 for 12 miler, 5:42 down to 5:00.

   PM:   5 miles easy

5/21 - 18 miles

   AM: 6 miles easy w/ 6 x hill circuit

   PM: 12 miles easy

5/22 - 12 miles

   AM: 3 miles easy, 8 mile moderate progression, 1 mile easy. 43:40 for 8 miler, 5:42 - 5:08.

   PM: Rest, sore right foot

5/23 - 15 miles

   AM: 5 miles easy, 7 sets (1000, jog 400, 400, jog 400) at Golden Gate Park polo field.  1000s were 2:54 to 2:51, 400s were unmeasured. Very heavy legs. Two weeks ago the 1000s were 2:48 - 2:47 with fresher legs.

5/24 - 0

   Right foot very sore after the intervals yesterday. Ice, ibuprofen has it feeling better.

93 miles total.

Dr. Saxena told me my foot pain is an irritated tendon that should heal with arch supports and continued icing. I'm not too worried about it, that type of thing has come up regularly for years and always gone away in a week or two. The big problem is my left hip that has hampered me for years. This week I started a new program with Kristin at PT Works in Los Altos. We do a series of flexibility and strengthening exercises. The benefits were apparent instantly. My hip didn't hurt at all during the intervals on Friday, or on an easy run this morning.

The hill circuits are simple form drills and hill sprints combined into a single weekly workout. The hill is 60 meters long and starts at about 8% grade and gets closer to 12% at the top. During the early season sessions I sprint up the hill at a 90% effort. At the top I jog around a parking lot for a minute to catch my breath, then perform one plyometric exercise per circuit. These plyos rotate from bounding to lunges to squat jumps. Another minute jog halfway down the hill and I'll do one form drill, either skips, high knees, butt kicks, fast feet (Mookies), or cariocas. Jog down to the start of the hill and one circuit is complete. Closer to the end of the season the sprints get faster and the plyos get shorter. Location is key to the workout. Its tough to find a steep hill that has a flat section (or two) for drills, and a switchback trail to jog down with minimal impact. The total number of circuits starts at 6 and gradually moves to 9 by mid-season.

The hill circuits and progression runs were two elements that I added in early 2006. They corresponded to a decrease in my marathon time from 2:16 in the fall of '05, to 2:12 in spring '06. I have no way to prove that these workouts were catalysts for that change, but they sure didn't hurt. Last year a bout of plantar fascitis kept me off the hill circuits, so I 'm excited to bring them back into the fold.