Weekly Summary: May 21-27

Mon: 8.5M easy
Tue: 10M easy
Wed: 9.5M easy
Thu: 12M including 12x400 w/ 200 rec + 4x200 w/ 200 rec
Fri: AM - 6M easy; PM - 9M easy
Sat: 9M easy
Sun: 16M LR; 3M easy, 2x2M tempo w/ .5M easy, 8.5 easy

Weekly Total: 80 miles on 8 runs/7 days

I took 3 days very easy following the half-marathon to ensure my legs had enough recovery. There was some soreness in the quads, but it disappeared by Thursday allowing me to do a workout. On Thursday, I did repeats of 400s followed by some 200s. I ran the 400s slightly faster than 5k pace, but not too hard that I'll need a full recovery, and the 200s at a fast but controlled pace. The workout went well and I hit splits of 73-74s for the 400s and 33-34s for the 200s. On Sunday I did a long run which included 2x2M tempo. I ran the 2M tempos in 11:25 (5:43, 5:42) and 10:56 (5:29, 5:27). It seemed like the legs finally woke up after the first 2M tempo. This coming Saturday is the Hospital Hill half-marathon, so I will be taking it easy and decreasing the volume to freshen up the legs. It will be another tough half-marathon course, but I'm sure I'll be ready for it.

Weekly Summary: May 7-20 / Half-Marathon Race

I've been doing a lot of writing the last couple weeks.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, none of it was blog writing.  I was busy completing my final thesis for my Master's degree, and doing other papers and creating presentations for my Army staff college classes.  I'm all done with my Master's now. It's just a matter of walking across the stage to receive my degree in a couple weeks.

Running, on the other hand, has been going pretty well.  Since my last post, I paced my wife in the Running with the Cows Half-Marathon two weekends ago, which she placed 2nd, ran a couple track sessions, and finished off this week with a win at the Five Trails Half-Marathon.  My wife was the 1st overall female, so it was a good day for "Team Blas".  Results here.

Five Trails is actually not on trails as the name would suggest.  According to halfmarathons.net, the race is named for the five historic trails (Pike's Peak Trail, Sante Fe Trail, Mormon Trail, and the Oregon and California trails) that criss-cross through the Leavenworth area.

The hilly/rolling half-marathon is a single rectangular loop around the city of Leavenworth and runs on pavement/concrete.  It was one of the more challenging half-marathons I've raced, because of the hills.  The hill at Mile 3 (see elevation chart above) is known as the "Pike's Peak of Leavenworth". Luckily, for me, this was my type of race because hills are a strength of mine.  I'm quite happy with my execution and how I felt overall in the race.  It was also a good rehearsal for Hospital Hill in a couple weeks.

May 14 - 20

Mon: 11.2M including 7 x 1000m cruise intervals w/ 200 rec (3:18, 3:19 3:17, 3:18, 3:18, 3:17, & 3:17)

Tue: 10M easy

Wed: 11M easy

Thu: 9.2M including 12 x 200 (34-35s) w/ 200 rec.

Fri: 7.2M easy

Sat: 5M easy

Sun: AM: Five Trails Half-Marathon - 1:16:52, 1st Overall; PM: 5M easy; 20M tot.

Weekly Total: 73.6 miles

May 7 - 13

Mon: 8.7M easy

Tue: 9.3M easy

Wed: 11M including 5 x 1200 w/ 400 rec (3:47, 3:49, 3:48, 3:46, & 3:44)

Thu: 9.3M easy

Fri: 7.5M easy

Sat: 15.5M easy

Sun: 9.3M easy

Weekly Total: 70.6 miles

1200s

Had an excellent track workout yesterday. The workout was 5 x 1200m with 400m recovery jog. Based on my recent race (Trolley Run) and using the pace chart in Jack Daniels' Running Formula book, I was aiming to split the 1200s in 3:51.

I either underestimated my fitness or looked at the wrong row in the pacing chart, because I never split a 3:51 in any of the repeats. My splits for the workout were 3:47, 3:49, 3:48, 3:46, and 3:44. I pushed the pace in the last 400 of the last repeat finishing with a 71 second last lap (400m splits were 77, 76, 71). I was amazed with my last lap, because 71 seconds is almost as fast as I would normally run my 400 repeats. Overall, the workout was great and it gave me a good sense of where my fitness is at.

Wed: 11M including 5x1200 (3:47, 3:49, 3:48, 3:46, & 3:44)

Apr 30 - May 6

Mon: 6.2M easy
Tue: 8.8M easy
Wed: 9M easy
Thu: 9M including track workout: 4 x (2x200 + 1x400)
Fri: 8.7M easy
Sat: 6.3M easy
Sun: 14M steady easy

Weekly Total: 62 miles
This week completed my 3-week post-marathon recovery from the Boston Marathon.  With the exception of the track workout on Thursday, I ran at normal easy pace for each of my runs.  This morning's run was my first run of over 9 miles since Boston.  I did 14 miles on the Trolley Trail.  

Hitting the track

It was the first time hitting the track in a very long time. My plan is to do some shorter races (5k-10k), maybe even up to half-marathon distance, over the next month or two, so I need to regain some leg speed. The track session consisted of 4 sets of 2x200 + 1x400 w/ equal recovery. The goal was to hit the 200s in 34" and the 400 in 70".  After a 20' warmup and a couple of strides, I was ready to get on with the workout.

I hit the first 200 of the 1st set in 32, which felt good but was not the goal time. At this phase of training, 3wks after a marathon, I'm focus on just getting in good sessions and not over-doing it in the workouts. I hit 34 and 70 seconds for the remainder of the 1st set. Right on target. My splits for the rest of the workout were practically on the dot with a few a tad too fast.

200/200/400
32, 34, 70
33, 34, 69
34, 33, 68
33, 34, 70

The speed session turned out to be a good one. I'm anxious to do more track workouts and run shorter races.