Spring Training

The spring training block is just about done. Phase I of the final exam was last weekend and the Phase II is next. That’s actually the real final. Meanwhile, I’ll be attending my 50th high school reunion this weekend.

Last week’s 4 mile was an A effort. I might have eked out another 5 or 6 seconds in that third mile, as I dropped off just a bit between about 2.7 and 3.5 miles before winding up for a strong finish. Even if I had managed to push through I don’t think I would have pulled off a 90% grade under those hot-humid conditions. In age grading I was 89% top six out of all participants. The naysayers on a place like Letsrun would say that still sucks. But we grade on a curve. That’s an A.

Here’s a deeper dive into the training this spring. We’ll go back 10 weeks, plus a few more. In March I just built up from about 20 miles a week to 40s by the end of the month. Workouts started in April with threshold sessions ending with some faster short reps at 5K to 1500 m effort. Nothing fancy.

April

I battled some tendon pain on the posterior tibialis insertion, in my ankle. I think it started from my new ski boots which were pressing on that point. For the most part the pain has been in the 1-4 range although there were some days when it hurt to even jog. In May I got some inserts and stretches and it has improved since then.

In the middle of April I got in some repeat 1K reps at 10K effort on the Get in Gear course and I felt pretty decent that day, hitting some wind-aided reps in the 6:15-6:20 range, which was goal pace. Typically, I did tempo/threshold type workouts or repetitions with progression in pace. I did not do any work faster than about 6 minute pace. On the double threshold day the morning workout was repeats at sub-threshold (7:00/mile down to about 6:35). A single tempo day would be closer to 6:30 pace on average. I only mixed in CV or V02 max type work in shorter reps at the end of some threshold running.

The work paid off and my 10K race was solid. Although I did not run under 6:20 I still ran 90% age grade, which is kind of my standard goal for sea level races.

Summary – Ran 27 days with seven workout days, one was a double threshold. One race with a two day cut back. 221 miles total.

May

I wanted to increase the miles in May and continue with the workouts. The May races (12K and 5K) were not A races, but I did cut back for two days leading up to each event. I ran the 12K at threshold effort (LT2), so not quite all out but still a challenging effort to maintain for nearly 50 minutes.

If you include that as a workout and not a race then I ran five workouts for the month, capped off with a “Michigan” in the last week. (1600 at 10K, 0.9 threshold, 1200 at 8K, 0.9 mile threshold, 800 at3K, 0.9 threshold, and 400 at 1 mile effort. That was my capstone workout. I also got in three decent long runs of 13, 14, and 15 miles.

The 5K was decent (90% age grade) but I did not feel fresh on race day.

Summary – I ran 265 miles with one day off and one day of cross training (cycling). I did six workouts if you include the double threshold and 12K race as a threshold workout. Three long runs.

June

June is when it counts. Most of the workouts and training are done and I have two big races this month. The first week was a full taper for the 4 mile road championship. I came in with a lot of doubts about my fitness, which were compounded by the sudden onset of seasonal heat and humidity over the previous 10 or 12 days. Turns out the training was decent and heat adaptation enough to have a good day of it. I did not get the 90% age grade, nor did I reach my goal of matching last year’s time on the same course, but considering the conditions I exceed expectations and came out with an age group win by a pretty large margin–not expected. Last week I jumped back in and logged in 62 miles with a couple of solid workouts to prepare for this weekend’s half.

Am I ready? Ask at about 7:00 or 7:30 AM on Saturday. The A+ goal would be under 1:24. My workouts have not indicated that I am ready for that. My Garmin and Strava apps have been predicting 1:26-1:27. My knowledge and experience say 1:25. I’d really like to be under 1:25, and that’ll be my goal pace starting out.