Like the seasons in a year, running has its changes. Unless you are a relative newbie in your first few years of training, or have increased your training volume and intensity the fairly recent past, you are going to have ups and downs in training and fitness. That’s the nature of the sport, and most of us can’t be “on” all the time. However, if you like to race just for its own sake there is a good probability that you’ll have to deal with some ebbs in performance and when you are in an ebb you often need to be able to handle that with some humility and grace.
I am in such a state.
Coming off the Chicago Marathon last month I did not need to run a race this past weekend, and even less so doing the disastrous 4K two weeks ago, but there are not many opportunities to run cross country in Colorado and this is the season. Besides, the final race of the year for me will be a 10K on Thanksgiving, and being seven weeks after the marathon I hope to have had enough recovery time to run a good time, maybe 90% age grade which would be about 37:45.
Maybe I should take more of a definitive break from any quality work or training, but I signed up anyway for last weekend’s 5K Colleen DeReuck Classic, USATF state cross country championship knowing that I’m still not fully recovered from the marathon block and in particularly the race itself. Plus with winter ahead, late-November through most of January will be my break from racing, and when I’ll be doing a lot of training volume on skis as well as running. At least in my narrow, one-sided lens doing this little string of three races was logical and justifiable. Or maybe it is just a fools journey and I should take a longer break.
Training
My mileage has crept up following the first weeks of recovery, and two weeks ago with 47 and 52. With marathon taper and recovery, my six week average was only about 40 miles a week. Some runners seem to get a boost after a marathon block and run PRs or extremely well immediately following their big race. I am (and almost always have been) the opposite. Marathons beat me up and it usually takes a couple of months to feel right again.
There was a time (in my late 20s into my 40s) when 40-50 miles a week was all I would do, although I would make up for the lower mileage with two or three quality workouts a week, but I kept getting injured. Over the past 20 years I prefer to be 60+ miles a week, preferably averaging in the upper 60s with frequent 70 mile weeks interspersed with drop down weeks to rest for races.
I had a couple decent workouts, with tempo reps on hills and and reps progressing from threshold to CV (critical velocity). A couple weeks ago I did 20 minutes of 4-6 minute reps, and last Tuesday it was 2X 5 minutes at threshold followed by 4X 3 minutes at CV effort. That was actually a pretty decent workout, and I figured four days before the race would provide enough recovery if I took it easy for the rest of the week. I did, just running an easy 6.5 miles on Thursday and 4.5 Friday but maybe that wasn’t enough of a taper to be sharp for a Saturday race. I went in figuring to run fast than last year’s 20:36 (my worst race of 2022, when I had a cold), and thought a 6:30 pace (low 20s, which is what I did in 2021) on the tough two loop course in Boulder would be attainable.
A low 20s should be enough to win my age group by a large margin, as well as to beat all of those in the 60-64 category, as well as most in the 55-59.
That was the goal.
The Race
Although this was just a training race, I was nervous at the start because I know the course and it’s unrelenting nature and I remembered how difficult it felt last year. They held us on the line for the clock to tick to 9:45. The race was started by Olympic Gold Medalist Constantina Dita, who lives in Boulder.
I sprinted off the line for about 6 seconds and was near the lead momentarily, and then backed down into an even pace.
I have to admit it felt like 6:20 pace as we rounded Viele Lake and headed toward the hill, it’s less than 10 meters of climbing over 200 meters but in the middle it ranges from 6% to 9% grade, which is enough to take the wind out of you for the next couple of minutes. Fortunately, we only had to run it twice.
I had just worked my way through a pack of runners around the lake and led a group of about six or seven other runners up and over the hill. I just passed Tom from our rival team and I could hear people cheering for Jay, also from that team and he was just a second or so behind. Me of old would be 10 or 15 seconds ahead of these guys, but not on Saturday. Tom sprinted past at the crest and just after I split the mile in 6:38, and that was pretty much the only time I looked at my watch.
By the bottom of the long-gradual downhill (probably 400 meters) Tom eased up and I passed again, as we circled back along the ditch I could tell Jay was right on my tail. I maintained my effort but just before half way Jay went by. That was decision time, try to stick with him and grind it out for another 10 minutes or settle into my own private Boulder funk and at least keep some semblance of contact.
By the time we had rounded Viele Lake a second time Jay had mounted an 8-10 second lead and that pack had swallowed me up. But at least I was maintaining as we picked off a few others who had slowed.
The low point of the morning was hitting the hill a second time and slowing to a crawl on that steep section. Jay got a couple more seconds on me and I fell to the back of the pack. I regrouped somewhat on the long downhill, keeping in contact. With about 500 to go I surged some and pulled ahead of the group. There were three just ahead and then Jay still a good 10 seconds up. Over the I passed the three with about 300 to go, and rounded the final turn in a full sprint. I was 5.5 seconds behind Jay in 20:52, so 16 seconds slower than my virus addled time from last year.
Not as bad as two weeks ago, but somewhat like Bolder Boulder in the spring, not a great day. You have to roll with days like Saturday and accept the outcome.
rrunnin234 