Broad Street Training, Week 10

Monday, March 19th - Thursday, March, 22:

Off.  I didn't originally plan on taking an extended break this week (I was planning on next week) but circumstances kind of dictated taking the break now.  Monday, my body just felt destroyed.  Tuesday, I came home from work exhausted and feeling under the weather.  Wednesday, I was improving, but still had no motivation to run, and decided to just continue the break through Thursday.

The reason behind the break is two-fold - while my main goal is Broad Street in early May, I also want to do well at the Scott Coffee 8K in early June.  There is just no way to train without interruption for that length of time without burning out or risking injury.  I already felt banged up the past couple weeks as is, so I knew I needed a break some time.  Looking back at my more detailed running logs for the past several years, I tend to race best when I set aside a 4 week specific block of training prior to the race.  After this weekend, when I will be running the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon (hard tempo effort, but not really racing), I still have 6 full weeks until Broad Street.  That gives me a few days to recover from this weekend, 4 solid weeks, and then a 10 day or so taper to nail Broad Street.  I can take a few more days off after Broad Street, get 3 solid weeks in before Scott Coffee, and be ready to race hard again.  Then I'll take the first of two extended breaks (10-14 days of no running) for the year.

These mini-breaks are designed to keep me fresh, not burn out, and (hopefully) stay injury-free.  After all, it's hard to improve if you can't continue to string solid weeks of training in a row.

Friday, March 23rd:

5:30 am, 61 degrees, 90%, calm.  Moorestown.  Nike Pegasus 28.

10m easy

I actually got up this morning without the usual aches and pains I normally feel when I first get out of bed...can't flex heel, can't left knees high because groin is still tight, can't stand up straight too quickly because lower back tightness, etc.  It felt pretty weird to feel good.

Once I got out and running, the first few miles seemed SUPER easy also - just the regular chit-chat with JP, RW, and CT.  I did feel some groin tightness start to return around mile 7 or so, nothing troublesome, just enough to remember what it felt like before the layoff.  And I did start to feel the effects of the layoff the last few miles, just working harder than I normally would have to on an easier run.  But all in all, it felt great to be back and get some movement in my legs prior to Sunday's half marathon.  Hoping tomorrow goes just as well.

Saturday, March 24th:

5:30 am, 50 degrees, 90%, 0-5mph.  Garden State - Ellis Circle - Garden State.  Nike Structure Triax 15 Shield.

8m easy, including 4x strides at the end

After an initial 1/2m of heel soreness, I felt much better than yesterday.  Fell into a groove at about the 4 mile mark when I implemented a more prominent arm swing, with light hands and a more circular powerful arm action.  Felt much more natural and seemed to reduce impact of foot strike while increasing push off power.  Maybe the slight change in form is just what I need to get into the groove again.  We'll see when I test it in a race setting tomorrow.

Sunday, March 25th:

8:50 am, 50 degrees,  80%, 0-10mph.  Wilmington, DE.  Nike Pegasus 28/Adidas Adizero Tempo 4.

2m warm up (including 1/4m HMP and 4x strides), Caesar Rodney Half Marathon (1:22.19), 2m cool down.
Goal pace: (6:15-20)
Actual pace: 6:17
Splits: (6:08 16 08 15 08 20 21 38 34 04 04 5:55 55 6:34)

Very, very happy with my performance and effort level on today's very challenging course.  Downhill first mile, lots of winding turns for the next 5 miles, and then serious non-stop climbing from miles 6.5-9.  Felt well within myself on the first half of the course, as Ashley and I ran together and settled into a nice rhythm.  Felt great through mile seven after the first short climbs, but definitely found myself working harder until the climbing stopped around mile nine.  From there, I intentionally picked up the effort to try help Ashley catch the #1 female in the race, who kept about 10 seconds ahead us through the climbing.  I did finally track her down around the 12 mile marker, and from there I kept up the effort to the finish.  Ashley ended up about 25-30 seconds back, behind the #1 female - but the other girl ended up being disqualified for wearing another runner's bib, so Ashley got credit for the win!

I guess I would call my effort more of a fast finish tempo run than an all-out race performance, but I am still very pleased.  That course is definitely no joke.  I was also happy to see that after hammering my legs for 9 miles, I still solidly had 6:00/mi pace in my legs for 4 miles, which bodes well for Broad Street.  Glad also that I mentally stayed strong on the course, and that I didn't ever give in to the discomfort or negative thinking.  That's probably the biggest change I am seeing in my racing this year - I stay focused on the task at hand at all times, and never lose sight of the big picture.

Weekly Total: 35 miles

Definitely feel that the in-season mini-break this week did me good.  I felt rejuvenated before today's hard effort, which even though it was mostly a pacing effort, is still a PR.  I don't feel compelled to get in as many high milage weeks before Broad Street as I had originally planned, as I have confidence in my fitness and my training.  As long as I stay smart and remain healthy over the next 6 weeks, I will run my best race of the season when it counts on May 6th.