Mar 7-20

Mar 14-20


Mon: 9M easy
Tue: 15M easy
Wed: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.1M easy  (17.7M tot)
Thu: AM - 4.5M easy; PM - 10.2M easy (14.7M tot)
Fri: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.5M including 6 x 1600m (5:16, 5:15, 5:13, 5:10, 5:10, & 5:08) w/ 400 rec + 3 x 200 (30, 31, 30) w/ 200 rec  (18.1M tot)
Sat: 8M easy
Sun: 24M steady long run; 6:33 pace

Weekly Total: 106 miles on 10 runs/7 days
To ensure that I recovered from last week's half-marathon, I only did easy running, but distance, for the first 4 days.  The quads were sore early in the week, but fine and ready for Friday's quality session.  I did 6 x 1600m aerobic capacity intervals, which compared to the same workout on Feb 25, went extremely well.  Interestingly, the first couple intervals felt the hardest.  Sunday's 24M long run went better than I expected.  I was running on relatively tired legs as I spent the entire Saturday afternoon touring Brussels, both the Upper and Lower Town.


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Mar 7-13

Mon: AM - 6.5M easy; PM - 7.5M easy
Tue: AM - 4.6M easy; PM - 13.3M including 8 x 1K Cruise Intervals (3:20, 3:17, 3:16, 3:15, 3:12, 3:11, 3:10, and 3:08) w/ 200m rec + 3 x 200 (33, 32, 32) w/ 200 rec  (17.9M tot)
Wed: AM - 5M easy; PM - 10M easy  (15M tot)
Thu: 10M including 10 x 1' hard w/ 1' rec at brisk pace; rolling course
Fri: 6.2M easy
Sat: 5M easy
Sun: CPC Loop Den Haag - 1:13:09; Half-marathon PB by 8 seconds; (5K - 17:11, 10K - 34:39 (17:28), 15K - 51:57 (17:18), 20K - 1:09:29 (17:32))

Weekly Total: 85 miles on 10 runs/7 days
I continued to train throughout the CPC Loop race week and only eased off a couple days before the race.  The 1K cruise interval on Tuesday was a good session and I found myself feeling better and getting faster in each successive repeat.  However, Thursday's workout was a little different, in terms of feeling, as my legs felt sluggish and tired.  The planned workout was 8-10 x 1' fartlek.  I wasn't having the best workout, but still pushed along. When I got to repeat #8 I told myself that that was enough and to call it for the workout.  However, my stubbornness did not let me and I continued with the remaining 2 repeats, which if anything just tired my legs even more.  It certainly was not a smart decision.  The CPC Loop Den Haag race on Sunday was my first race of 2011 and tune-up for Rotterdam in a few weeks. You can read the race report in the previous post.

CPC Loop Den Haag - 1:13:09

Marathon training has been going extremely well the past 12 weeks, and training results confirmed that I was fit and ready to improve on my half-marathon PB of 1:13:17, which was set at this same race last year.  For the week of the race, the plan was to continue training, but easing off of the pace and distance of the runs to give myself a little recovery week with the race at the end.  This would also give my body lots of energy and be ready to handle the final block of training for Rotterdam.

On Thursday I did my last quality workout, 10x1'fartlek, and unfortunately, it left my legs a little too tired.  The short easy runs on Friday and Saturday were to provide some recovery and freshen up the legs for the race, which it did; however, I made an unwise decision of staying on my feet (~5-6 hrs) touring the city on Saturday afternoon.  I think all the walking on Sat., combined with 10-12 mph winds in which the last 4kms were headwinds, caused me to lose some seconds and my goal of a sub-1:13.

I ran aggressive, but controlled, early in the race and came through the 5K mark in 17:11. For the next few kilometers I ran behind a small group of runners so that I could be protected from the wind and conserve some energy for later in the race. Drafting off the group actually caused me to lose 17 seconds over the next 5K (17:28). Despite losing some valuable seconds in the 2nd 5K, I still came through 10K in 34:39. I then picked up the pace over the next five kilometers and crossed the 15K mark in 51:57 (17:18). Much better. With kilometers 16 and 17 both at 3:25 (5:30 pace), I thought to myself that if I could just hold on to this pace for the remaining 4Ks, or even increase the pace, then it would be a great day. Unfortunately, things didn't workout as I would have liked it to. The legs and breathing got heavier, and the headwinds stronger as each km passed.  I still finished strong, though it wasn't pretty (see photo above), with the last 1.1K in 3:40 (5:21 pace) and a new half-marathon PB of 1:13:09.  I am content with my performance as it's certainly not easy running a half-marathon PB during the middle of marathon training, especially that I haven't backed off that much.  The main race and focus is Rotterdam in a few weeks.

Here are the results and video clips of me here.

Race tomorrow

The CPC (City Pier City) Loop Den Haag half-marathon is tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it as it'll be my first race in 2011 and a test to see where my fitness is at for Rotterdam.  I know I'm fit and ready to run a good race, just need to get out there and run smart. Wish me luck.

Check out the below interview of Sammy Kitwara (PB of 58:58 for the half) on tomorrow's race. The guy is confident and brings up an excellent point on running a fast time.  Also, here are more interviews of the top athletes.


portret Sammy Kitwara from Like2Run on Vimeo.

Last 2 weeks of training

Here's a brief summary of the last 2 weeks of training.

8 - 14 Mar

Mon: 7M easy
Tues: 6M easy
Wed: 7M including 4 x 1K (3:10, 3:10, 3:07, & 3:08)
Thur: 6M easy
Fri: 5M easy with 5 strides
Sat: 4M easy
Sun: CPC Loop Den Haag Half-Marathon in 1:13:17 (5k - 17:26, 10k - 34:54 (17:28), 15k - 52:24 (17:30))

Weekly Total: 49 miles

This was a very low mileage week as I tried to taper and freshen up the legs for the CPC Loop Den Haag Half-Marathon.  There's no doubt the legs needed it because I had put in 486 miles over the previous 5 weeks (avg. of 97 mi/wk).  I ran a new personal best in the half-marathon (1:13:17) by 22 seconds in very windy conditions.  Was aiming for a sub-1:13, but I'll use the wind as an excuse. ;-)  Regardless, I'm very pleased with a new PR, overall race performance and my fitness leading to Rotterdam.  You can check out my video clips here.

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15 - 21 Mar

Mon: 12.2M easy
Tues: AM - 6M easy; PM - 5M easy
Wed: 8.2M easy
Thur: AM - 6M easy; PM - 6M easy with 5 strides
Fri: 12.6M including 3 x 3K (10:02, 9:59, 9:58)
Sat: 11M easy
Sun: 24.7M (16M easy followed by 10K race (36:03) at MP, then 2.5M cooldown)

Weekly Total: 91.7 miles

Following the half-marathon on Sunday I did easy running from Mon-Thur to recover from the race. The calves and quad were a little sore early in the week, but they were ready for Friday's workout,  3 x 3K.  I did this same 3K workout three weeks ago; surprisingly, I was 5-6 seconds per km faster on this day.
On Sunday, I did a key long run with marathon pace. I ran 16 miles from my house in the Netherlands to a 10K race just over the border in Germany. My plan and timing was perfect because I arrived at the race with just enough time to pin on my bib-number and do a few strides.  I ran the race as planned, running marathon pace and aiming for km splits of around 3:38.  I ran the 10K in 36:03 (3:36/km or 5:48 pace) and finished in 4th place overall.