Project Breaking 5: Part 4 - the final speed work

Shawn and I hit the track one last time this morning prior to our attempt to break the 5 minute barrier for the mile Saturday night. We ran ladders in the sun and humidity, probably 80s felt 90s or worse. Shawn commented it was the worst weather he has experienced during our training. Of course, he was in New England during the week of July Fourth so he missed the last time it was sticky and soul-sapping like this morning. We hit some pretty impressive times regardless.

On the warm up to the track, I felt quite sluggish. Shawn was fresh since he ran only 4 miles Saturday night with his kids at the Bastille Day Four Miler and took off Sunday. My soreness was likely from the 10 on Saturday at midday in the heat in New Jersey and 8 on Sunday in New Jersey, but early in the morning and cooler. Oh, and the 17 yesterday which included 5 to daycare and 7 home in the morning and another 5 in the evening running Miles home. On the run home, there was a slight drizzle that cooled us off. And, a woman on a bicycle encouraged me as she passed on the MBT. I was singing the ABCs with Miles and she said, "Parenting, it's a marathon!" I responded, "It's not a sprint!" I got the thumbs up as she rode away.

At the track, we ran our initial lap of striders. Then we hit the ladder: 100/200/300/400/400/300/200/100 with jog rest. The jog rest varied so that it was long enough to recover but lined up so that we started and finished either at the start line, 100, or 200 (the 300 mark was unclear so I tried to have us avoid using it as a start/finish marker).

Our results: 16.6, 33.7, 53.9, 70.0, 69.9, 51.7, 33.9, 16.6. Shawn can take a second off for the middle times since he stayed out ahead of me. I figured we didn't need to hit anything faster than my pace. In fact, 73-74 seconds per lap will accomplish our goal Saturday night. Tomorrow is an easy one hour run, Thursday will be a double getting Miles to and from daycare, and Friday will be an hour run. Then, rest Saturday morning (actually going to brunch for a friend's birthday) and maybe the pool in the afternoon after Miles' nap.

Then it will be showtime! I suspect I will run to and from the track as my warm up and cool down since it is at Dunbar. A friend in my club agreed to time us and shout out 200 meter splits. I figure we need 36-37 for every 200 to make this work. Even if we come in a few seconds over 5, we will be happy. But, I'm not going to start thinking of excuses now - not when all of our workouts show us capable of getting in under 5.

If you want to come watch, the meet is hosted by our club, DC Road Runners Club, and will be a lot of fun. Our heat is scheduled for 6:15, the Masters Mile Men (must run under 10:00).

Project Breaking 5: Part 3 - Birthday Edition

How does a normal person celebrate their birthday? Probably with a big lunch and dinner, hopefully with some cake and ice cream, and drinks. While that all sounds good, I celebrate my birthday by running. Specifically, running tough workouts. Last year I ran 12 total miles and for the workout did 40 reps of 40 seconds on and 40 seconds off. The year before, I ran 11 miles (not sure why I didn't run 12 for the 12th) and did the 5,4,3,4,3,2,3,2,1 fartlek. In 2015, I raced a marathon on my birthday.

Today I ran 12 total miles. For the workout, I ran 12 reps of 200 meters with 600 meters slow jog. Shawn joined me and we really kept up a solid pace. It was helpful that the weather wasn't as humid - a cool breeze kept us feeling fresh. It probably also helped that we were pacing each other. At times, we weren't sure which one of us was pushing the pace. But, we very pleased with our effort.

Workout: Warm up, 1 lap of striders, 12x200 meters with 600 easy jog, cool down.

Pace = 34.8/36.3/35.3/35.6/35.6/35.2/35.3/34.8/34.5/34.9/34.8/31.5

We really sprinted that last repeat. Shawn said he was trying to keep up with me. I thought he was pushing the pace. Either way, we were winded - close to a 4:20 mile if we could hold that (we can't).

This was on the heels of Monday's fartlek. I ran Miles to daycare then ran home, extending it from the usual 5 miles to 7 to get in the work. It was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes on with equal rest of jogging. The paces were closer to half marathon and 10K pace than the mile, which was fine since I was mostly running up hill as I came home the MBT trail. There were two reps where I had to stop due to traffic, giving me extra rest.

With just over a week until the race, it feels like our sub 5 goal remains on pace. Next week we may do either 20 repeats of 100 meters or a ladder consisting of 100, 200, 300, 400, 400, 300, 200, 100 meters. I'm not sure of the rest on either yet.

For the rest of today, I hope there is cake somewhere. My wonderful and supportive wife gave me a Snickers this morning - my favorite candy bar that I never eat!

Project Breaking 5: Part 2

This week, I decided to run two speed workouts. Initially, I thought I should try to race a 5K on July 4 since there are so many races. But, it didn't fit into my scheduled plans for the rest of the day. Then, I thought I would run 12.5 laps around the track and call it a time trial 5K - see if I could get under 18 minutes. I would then run a second workout on Friday. However, I received advice from friends and a coach that shorter and faster workouts were better for my mile training. I decided to do two workouts - one on Tuesday and another on Friday.

On Tuesday, July 3, it was another hot day = 80s but it felt 90s with sun which made for a hazy, hot, and humid day! I warmed up with a run to the track then did one lap of striders. I took a moment after the striders to get my heart rate close to resting before diving into the meat of the workout:

12 x 200 meters with slow 200 meter jog. I needed the full 400 meters after the 8th rep. For the 9th rep and on, I ran clockwise. Time in seconds: 34.56 (4:48); 35.66 (4:57); 34.51 (4:48); 34.66 (4:49); 35.42 (4:55); 34.75 (4:50); 35:07 (4:30); 36:26 (5:02); 36:73 (4:43); 36:72 (4:22); 35.43 (4:33); 35:01 (4:29). The time in parenthesis are what my Garmin had for pace, but it was off so unreliable. The times are what matter and I felt I hit my times. I was planning to run 16 reps, but I shortened the reps to reflect the effort on the hot, tough day. It was the right call. I ran home as my cool down.

On Friday, I returned to the track. This time, I decided not to repeat Tuesday's workout, but instead I lengthened it to 400 meters with 6 reps (counterclockwise) and 3 laps easy jog (clockwise for the rest interval). The weather was much cooler as it started out with a brief drizzle and stayed overcast throughout the workout. The temperature was still in the 80s. Again, my warm up was run to the track then a lap of striders followed by resting to get my heart rate down. For the workout, I nailed my laps: 72.6, 71.6, 71.2, 73.9, 72.8, and 71.7. The 71.2 is my PR for one lap around the track! I ran my cool down home.

Shawn raced a 4.5 miler down the Cape on the Fourth. I noticed on Saturday he ran half mile repeats near mile pace. Maybe he saw that I did two workouts this week and didn't want to fall behind!

On Monday, I ran Miles to and from daycare in my Bob's Ironman stroller (love that stroller!), and Wednesday I also ran with him in the stroller on the Sligo Loop as I call it. Thursday I ran 12 on the Northeast Branch - I probably went further than desired. And this weekend, I took Miles out twice in the Bob's - once on the Sligo Loop again and this morning on the Klingle Zoo Loop. We hadn't visited the animals in the zoo for awhile. But, I am interested to see if all the running with Miles in the Bob's stroller has made me stronger and faster. So far, the results seem to show that it is helping.