4/25-5/2: Broad Street is next!

Sunday: 12.5miles (1.5 am shakeout, 2 mile race warm up, 6.2 mile race, 3 mile cooldown)
Pikes Peek 10k:
Raced my first 10k in a long while. I told myself I would run conservative for the first 3 miles and the last 5k go for it all (feeling good at this point). My entire pre-race plan was neglected as I went out harder than planned... From 1.5 in, I felt winded and my legs were getting hammered. Even going out hard, i felt that the shape level I was in would still get me through 4 before feeling these effects... I was able to hold on little by little each mile up to 4 miles... I hit a bad mile between 4 and 5 (5:16 mile). I was able to get down to 5:05 for the last mile and was able to kick hard for the last .2 to slip under 32 minutes. It is a PR... which does not say much but still is a Personal Record. I am forcing myself to race conservatively at Broad Street.... No matter how good I feel at the early stages of the race. I want to come out of it feeling like I have more in me... 5:08's is the goal.
Monday: 11.5 miles on the Cabin John Trails. I felt great on the run... but have some congestion in my chest again... It did not seem to hinder the run... just annoying. Muddy run but fun.
Tuesday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 10 miles
Thursday: 8 miles
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 5 miles

31:55. A 7 second Personal Best

4/18-4/26: Time to go racing!

Sunday: 13+ miles. I ran from "the line" with Jake, Dickson, Chuck, Towpath, Max and Frank. We ran up the rock creek trail, took some of the dirt trails to get off the pounding pavement and rounded up and around the zoo loop and came back. Relaxed pace throughout the run, which i needed today. My body is asking me what the hell is going on. I was nearing mid/high level of fitness prior to sickness two weeks ago (I had one week at 35-the week i got sick and the next week i totaled 9 miles). Last week was my first full week back again and I hit 60. I will hit 65 this week.... I will not taper for Pikes peek even though it is my first scheduled peak peek race (i had to say that)... my training calendar is going out the window for the next two weeks... I am going to do a slight taper going into Broad street... but any taper I do this week... will just make me flat.... I need to get stronger and the only way to do that is to keep the running volume consistent. 1 easy tune up workout this week (4 x 800 at 2:27-28ish... faster than goal 10k pace.)
Monday: 10 miles on Cabin John Trails.
Karl accompanied me on the trails and we had a nice run. Weather was beautiful and the trails felt great on the legs.
Tuesday: 8 miles around North Bethesda.
Neandered around the area and explored some of the back neighborhoods off of Old Georgetown Road. I found some hilly loops back in there that I am going to run more often. Right calf soreness but nothing major.
Wednesday: BCC workout (5 x 800 faster than 10k goal pace w/ 300 jog recovery).
Ran with a group of GRCers at BCC. Splits were as follows:
2:25
2:25
2:24
2:27
2:17 (30 last 200-felt smooth!)
Thursday: 8 miles late in the evening with Karl.
I felt good but very tired from a VERY long day.
Friday: 8 miles. Ran at 5:00am before school Combined my newly found neighborhood loop and extended it to the trolley trail and came back the same way at 30 minutes. Kept the run super relaxed.
Saturday: 5 miles. Ran from the GRC (Chevy Chase Store) in the AM with several GRCers, as well as Puma Rep Max Smith (a 3:56 miler). Pace was a nice pre-race easy pace. After the run, Jake, PMurph, Charlie, Dylan and I went over the summer training leading up to the Chicago marathon/ fall half marathons training regiment.

PIKES PEEK IS SUNDAY! My PR is 32:02...this was en route at the 08 philly distance run and is my least impressive PR I have. This will be my 5th 10k ever on the roads and first competitive race at this distance in 6 years. I am ready to race to my potential in the next few weeks. It all starts here.

60 miles for the week. and glad to be back to normal

Sunday: 8 miles. Ran 4 miles out on the Trolley Trail and back. Heat of day... felt ok.

Monday: 10 miles. Met up at "the spot" with Karl and ran up the Trolley Trail and back down. I added on a bit on the way back to my place. Felt ok.

Tuesday: 6 miles at 5:15am before school. I felt tired and my lungs (with the residual effects of being sick) were struggling that early in the morning.... but I got the run in. I was planning on 8 miles but i had a bathroom issue... what a shocker

Wednesday: 8 miles. Firebirds mile @ Gaithersburg h.s.
Warm up: 3 miles.
1 mile race: controlled effort with Karl Dusen as the pace-setter through in 2:09-2:10. Myself, Jake Klim and Chuck Kacsur followed. Came through around 3:17 for 1200 and finished off with a 4:23. Jake and I came back 8-10 mins later to go after a 2 mile at 10 minutes... needless to say, it wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. Next year... I want to run a workout prior... example... 3 mile tempo... and then time it so we have 5 minutes and we jump on the track and try attacking a hard mile.

Thursday: 10 miles. Cabin John regional park trails with Karl.
I think i have found Bethesda's form of heaven! I love these trails and plan to run them minimum twice a week... hopefully 3-4 times/week.

Friday: 8 miles. Cabin John regional park trails.
I apparently did not get enough from the 10 miles yesterday.... I went out and back on the trail. I felt good minus the dusty conditions on the trail and the pollen that was blinding my vision.

Saturday: 10 miles. Georgetown RC run (workout from the store on towpath)
5 x 1mile w/ 2 minute jog recovery.
5:00
5:01
4:57
5:09 (had a lapse)
4:49
Klim, Karl, Dave Burnham, and Dylan "Dwayne" Keith all partaked in the workout. Klim, Karl and I stayed together for the first 3. Karl ran a nice first workout back closing off after 3 intervals. on the fourth interval, Jake dropped my bad in the last 500 meters or so. I was able to rebound (going to the well to do so) on the fifth and final interval to close the workout off in 4:49. It didn't feel good at the time.... but I am really happy i stuck it out.

Next race: Pikes Peek 10k: Next Sunday!

First race post illness tomorrow night at the Firebirds Mile.

So, i decided to do the mile race after all. With a lot of bouncing back and forth... wondering if it was really worth doing instead of a pure strength workout (which I am doing this week), I decided to race tomorrow night. I will run the mile with Klim, Chuck and Karl will be the pace setter for the first 800 or so. I plan to run a hard effort for this mile... I am not worried about time. But I will definitely run a 2 mile up- tempo(10 mile race pace effort) to complete this race/workout session. I lost a total of 7 of 8 days of running between most of last week and part of the week prior. It doesn't phase me and I can't wait for Pikes Peek.

Current mood: Dislikes female antics

I get knocked down.... and I get back up again!

The Flu is in the past... the residual effects are still with me congestion in the chest, throat and nose... along with the lovely green pollen coating every outdoor exposed surface. I lost 6 days of no running, no exercise.... that hurts after where I have progressed to (especially last weeks workout). But I got out and ran 3 miles during my break at school today... I know 3 miles is a warm up before a workout or race... but it was an indicator to see how my legs and more importantly my breathing would hold up from coming off one of the worst flu bouts I have ever had. I felt ok... not great as it was in the heat of the day... and it was tough to breath for me. But i took it easy and came out feeling like I will be back in full stride by next monday. I am going to go for 5 tomorrow and hit a 10 miler on sunday.... I was getting ready to hit 16 this sunday for the first time (as I hit two 15's in the last two weeks)... but no rushing it is what I learned. I may get more in on sunday as my long run will be a bit inconsistent while out on course running and cheering on my GRC buddies during the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 miler.
I was bitter to see i was ranked 25th in the invitational 5000 at Bucknell for tomorrow night. I submitted a much faster time than I have run for 5k... I felt that my workouts showed me I could have a shattering break through performance for this distance in the right race... I am using this as motivation. I am excited for pikes peek on sunday april 25th!

Sick again....

So, I am officially sick again.... Only 3 weeks ago I got a 48 hour bug that lingered with chest congestion for about 8 days.... I was able to bounce back from that... have a solid race at MD on the track and a very premature but very strong 3 x deuce workout on tuesday. I got home on wednesday (late night)... I had a great 8 mile run on thursday. But on friday, after playing a round of golf with my dad, I began to feel chills... and noticed that while I was cold... i was sweating... Could I be getting sick again??? the answer that I was hoping not to deal with was YES. I woke up yesterday morning (saturday) in a pool of sweat... I clocked a 101.6 fever... the fever went down with IB. but the chills, the chest/throat congestion and dizziness due to head congestion continued. Last night, I felt the worse yet... my symptoms are now at flu-like symptoms... I am still in PA (which is good and bad)... Good being that I get taken care of like a little boy again by mommy. but bad as in... I have to go back to work in two days... and if i had to go back tomorrow... I would laugh at the person that tried demanding that...
Overall, late friday morning i just thought i was having allergy symptoms (as my eyes have been itchy all week, throat scratchy, etc)... standard for me at this time of year... Obviously this is no allergy reaction. Sickness has always put a hault on my training when it begins to get really good... It is very frustrating...

3/28-4/3: 62 miles last week... 60 miles with 1 sick day off is the goal

Sunday: 15 plus on Capitol Crescent Trail. I felt great up to about 8.5 and started feeling out of it. I ate about 3 hours prior to run and did not drink as much water as I should have before my first real long run. plus the out terrain was a gradual downhill and i had to come up that nice looong gradual downhill to finish the run up. Overall, I was happy how the run felt (cardio wise I felt great but my legs were aching).

Monday: 8 miles plus on Trolley Trail with Karl. It is great to be getting in some runs with my pal KD again. We kept a nice pace.

Tuesday: 11.5 miles 3 x 2miles (w/ 400rest).
Interval 1: 9:53
Interval 2: 9:45
Interval 3: 9:35
I went at this workout planning on being a bit more aggressive than I have been. I actually ended up surprising myself. I know that my fitness is coming back... However, tonights workout really showed that I am a lot more fit than i realized. I don't know if the respiratory cold finally is out of my system combining with my fitness.... who knows... but i felt really good tonight.
After the 2.5 warm up, Dirk, Charlie, Dave and Karl and I set out on a 3 x 2 mile workout w/ 400 jog rest. There were some different versions of this workout... but all followed the same concept. I set out to hit 10flat for the first interval... where Dirk wanted to ease into it due to a sore achilles, so he proposed 10:20... We both hit 9:53 for the first interval (so much for that idea of meeting in the middle). The second interval felt much more smooth... i hit an even 9:45 for interval 2. The third interval I felt was going to be a bear. I felt good going into it but knew that it would not be the same feeling 4 laps into the final interval. Dirk paced me out in an even 4:50-51. I continued that pace until about 600 to go. I started to press but waited until 250 to go. I feel I didn't put it all on the track at the end, I just kept it quick but smooth (good form and in control). I pumped my fist as I finished my last interval in 9:35 (66 final 400). I felt better than I have in a workout thus far since my return. Just this weekend,I only came through 2 miles in 9:50 thanks to the easy lap/hard lap rotation of the race dynamic. The 9:35 at the end felt much smoother and relaxed than I felt in the 5k race on saturday in general.
After this workout, I decided for sure that I will make a trip to Bucknell for the Distance classic next friday April 9th and try to post a solid 5k on the track. This environment I hope will be that of a consistent pace, a nice pack to roll along with and then hang on for dear life in the final 1200 meters. This will be the last 5k on the track this spring. I want revenge on this distance! Time to bring out the spikes!!!

Wednesday: 8 miles. Ran out to Tilden Woods and neandered up and down the small loop of trails to get off the asphalt for a bit. I took today nice and easy. Beautiful day to run!

Thursday: 8 miles. Ran in Tyler Park (PA)... half trails, half paved path. Very hilly run (as there are no flats in Tyler). I took it moderately easy... I laced up the new spikes that just came in and hit some straights and turns on the track post run. Feeling good.

Friday: 0 miles. After playing a morning round of golf with my dad, I was not feeling well at all. I had chills and began to sweat when I was not hot. I took my temperature and was reading a 101.3. I decided to bag the run today (it was only a scheduled 6 miler and hit some zzz's for a few hours. I woke up in sweat... My pants and t-shirt were soaked... so, I broke the fever... feeling about 60% better. I will attack the workout as planned tomorrow morning. I have been going nonstop with averaging 6 hours/night of sleep... when you are running your highest week in a phase, you cannot do that... on top of other things outside of running that needed being taken care of this week.

Saturday: (10 miles) 5 x 1000m (at 5k goal pace) (200rest). (4 x 200 hard).