The two and a half month return to form continues. I finally think I am turning the corner fitness-wise. Progress over the first month following covid was slow but detectable. I felt better on the second month but any visible gains (based on time or effort) were incremental. I ran C race (workout/progression) in June and two B races (no taper, but made a full effort in July).
The C race was a 10 mile out and back on Father’s Day (June 19). I started out at marathon effort (low 7s, even though I figured I wouldn’t be able to hold that for 26.2 on that day) and gradually picked up the pace. The out and back course had an elevation gain of about 300 feet over 5 miles and then returned, so the 4th mile was a progression in effort not time. On the return I averaged 6:30-6:40s, and the last two felt close to all out. So 1:08, and I figure about 4 minutes off from what I would have done in March or April.
On the 4th of July I did a 5K on a fairly flat course (elevation 5000 feet). I took it out cautiously (about 6:18) and picked it up, following with 6:09 and 6:06. Although I only got 2nd in my age group, and did not quite get my goal of a sub 19, I was relatively pleased with the progression-type effort and improvement from two weeks earlier. In the meantime
I have upped mileage from 40s in late May to 60s by July, and feeling pretty good physically (no issues with injury or overtraining or fatigue) but not quite feeling back. Workouts have been going okay, mostly hill reps and tempos and easy runs, with weekly long runs getting into the 13-15 mile range.
So on Sunday (17th) I signed up for another 5K as a tune-up. I ran doubles all week, but only ran an easy 5 on Saturday. The course was also fairly flat with just a few small rolling hills at Washington Park in Denver. I felt confident that I would be able to run under 19. However, within the first mile I was breathing harder than I’d like early in a 5K and only run 6:10 pace. We had a slight headwind for a half mile and I figured I could make up some time once we turned north. But that didn’t work out either, as I went 6:10 and 6:17 for my first two. Over the last mile had a small pack (3) with Mark my age group rival just a few seconds ahead. One of the guys dropped off (he said his hamstring was sore) and only made small in roads to Mark’s gap (maybe getting to about 4 seconds with a kilometer to go), but back into the park he pulled away a bit and even though I picked it up considerably over the last few hundred meters, I was about 6 seconds back (19:25) at the finish.
It wasn’t terrible, but I thought it felt like an 18:55 effort-wise. So have some more work to do.
Just this week, however, I am finally starting to feel better. Did a nice easy-effort 15 miler on Monday, and today 25 minutes of threshold running, starting with a 7-8% hill climb for the first couple minutes (like Bix course, which I’ll run next week).
Let’s see if I can hold 6:15 pace for the 7 miles. If I can do that, I’m back. If it’s 6:25 or so, then nope, I’m not.
rrunnin234 