Author: rrunnin234

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.

Held it off for nearly a year and a half, but last month finally came down with Covid-19.

Days 1-2, felt like allergies, I ran a little but just short recovery runs.

Days 3-5, okay I’m sick. Nothing terrible but fever, aches, and chills. I slept a lot. Maybe 12 hours a day.

Days 6-8, gradual recovery but I did not run

Days 9-14, I started out with 15 minutes of walk-jog and built to some easy runs of 20-25 minutes. Heart rate was still high so I kept it slow. On Day 13 I took a second test and was still positive. I also took a nap every day.

Days 15-21, continued with some easy runs. Not feeling terrible, not feeling quite right. It was mostly lingering in my head and sinuses. Finally on Day 21 I ran 6 miles and could feel that it had mostly cleared up.

Days 22-35, gradually have up running. Up to an average of 50-60 minutes a day with some light workouts. My best workout was yesterday with 21 minutes of reps at threshold effort, averaging about 6:36/mile. Maybe 10 seconds slower and to tell the truth that felt a little harder than a normal tempo workout. However, it was 8 or 9 seconds faster per mile than the previous week.

I lost about a month of training, but legs, lungs, and everything else feels good. Just a little sluggish and slow to return to form.

Let’s see if I can race this month. At the latest, planning on a 5K on July 4.

The Bloomsday 12K began in 1977, the same year I actually got into competitive running (after dabbling some on the track the year before).

Background and History – www.bloomsday.org

This race’s history probably ranks among the top non-marathon event in the U.S., and in its glory days in the 70s-00s it featured a who’s who of American and world class road racing, World record holders and numerous Olympians/Olympic medalists Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, Henry Rono, Arturo Barrios, both Yobes and Lisa Ondieki, Edna Kiplagat, Anne Audain, and Colleen DeReuck have all won there. While still a mainstay on the US circuit, with solid professional prize money it does not quite retain its status of the earlier road racing era. I have always wanted to do this race, going back even to its early years when I was still in college. It was on my radar in 2020, but then the pandemic hit and the race was also canceled last year.

Training and Prep – Post Boston, not much. I took a few days off and plodded a few miles for five days and then on Thursday did about an hour with a short set set of 1 minute pick ups to blow the gunk out of my legs. Travel was a bit rough on my body and I felt way off on Friday and Saturday after arriving to Washington. We drove from Seattle and stayed overnight in central Washington so we could explore the state a little, and got into Spokane on Saturday afternoon.

I (almost) got to meet race founder and 4th place (should be 3rd) Olympian Don Kardong, as he picked up his bib at the same time. Everyone at the table lightened up when he appeared! But by the time I got mine taken care of, he was gone. We stayed at a downtown hotel on Riverfront Park, within an easy walk to the start.

Race – They do a great job with the logistics, with color coded waves and each block has it’s own side street to access their place in the starting area. I got a 2nd seeding, behind the elites. Race morning weather was perfect at low 50s, just the slightest of a breeze (maybe 3 mph), and sunshine.

My original plan was to go out at MP or just a little under and progress, but by the afternoon before the race I decided that tempo/LT effort should be fine (6:15 or so) for a 12K, and hope to close fast over the flat last couple miles and then close on the fast downhill final stretch.

Per usual, the start was a bit of cluster, especially over the first mile or so, where it seemed pretty narrow.

The course follows the scenic Riverside Drive for about 3.5 miles before turning turning north and then back east to downtown through neighborhoods. There are two major hills, first one (Cemetery Hill) starts at about 1.5 miles after a substantial drop and actually climbs for more than a mile. So it’s a grinder, and I found it tougher than the more famous Doomsday Hill at 4.2 miles. The latter hill is at 5% but only for 0.3 or 0.4 of a mile. However, I can see where at the elite level it’s often the make or break part of the race.

I was right at 6:15 or so for the first 2 miles, and by then the field was fairly strung out, single file or clumps of two or three runners every 5 of 10 meters.

I slowed to 6:30 up the long Cemetery hill, and then 6:12 dropping to the bridge toward Doomsday, on which which I kept a sub 7 (apparently top 4 all time for my age group on Strava, so going back 10 years or so). I felt fine and in control on the hill but I think it took some out of my already somewhat weary legs and body. Over the next two I could only muster 6:20s, and I lost a few places. On stretch before the final turn a few more younger runners passed by, and I made the turn onto Monroe (last 0.3) and kicked it in with at 6:06 pace over the final 0.46 miles.

That was a blast and I look forward to returning with fresher legs and maybe go for an age group record next time. As it was I won the age group and for masters overall was 2nd in age grading for masters men (too bad they don’t give out a little prize money for that).

Summary and Post-script – The men’s elite race was exciting with a back and forth finish between Charles Wanjiku (Ken) and Reid Buchanan (USA) both in 35:08, while Birakurit Degefa (USA? by way of Ethiopia) a 2:22 marathoner dominated. New pro Makena Moreley (all-American at CU Boulder) was a solid 2nd.

Maybe a post-covid hangover, but the field was down to 20,000 participants compared to 40,000-50,000 in previous years/decades. Nevertheless, this was a great/super-organized event. They have it dialed in perfectly. I have seen better post-race party atmosphere and more crowd along the way (say Bolder Boulder or Boilermaker), but this is a first class event and I think they usually have good weather.

Here is a quick photo journal from Monday’s Boston Marathon

I’ll spare the graphics but my training cycles now involve managIng bunions and black toes. Not that I’m getting old or anything, although it didn’t used to be that way. Especially the bunion part.

No complaints here, this was a good marathon buildup. Think about it, any time you can finish a marathon build with no dings or forced cutbacks you are doing okay. Here are some thoughts and nu here on how it went.

Phase One

After a mid-December break from racing on the roads and cross country. I jumped into some volume for a couple of weeks with running and xc skiing, and by early January I embarked on a six week block of double doubles, sort of a modification of the Norwegian system used so successfully by the Ingebrigsten family and before that that country’s former 5000 m record holder Marius Bakken.

Now obviously I’m not in my teens or twenties, nor am I world class. Just an older runner who likes to train and sometimes tinker with things. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot while considering my age and biomechanical state, bunions and all.

Rather than jumping into two days of double threshold sessions each week—with some 20 to 30 minutes of effort at lactate threshold effort for each workout—I started out easier than that. The first sessions were just 3X 4 or 5 minutes in the mornings at about 20 or 30 seconds per mile slower than threshold pace. So in my case I started out at a little over 7 minute pace and finish a little under 7. With warm up and cool down the early sessions started at 30 or 35 minutes of running.

In the afternoon of workout days I did a short warmup and ran hill repeats of about 1.5 to 2 minutes and jogging back down. I started out with just four repeats and added some each week.

By the fifth and sixth week I was up to 6X 5 minutes in the mornings and 7X or 8X 2 minute hill reps in the afternoon and a total of 90 minutes of running for the day. I did not do many long runs yet but cross country skied up to 2 or 2.5 hours once or twice a week.

Phase Two

By mid-February I cut back on the doubles and did a weekly single mid-long run of 10 to about 13 or 14 miles. I also reduced the xc skiing and increased the distance of long runs to 19-22 miles.

Although I did some work at marathon pace it was not a lot. On tempo days I often mixed in reps or continuous pacing for 30 to 45 minutes at an effort between marathon and half marathon. And on long runs I ran a fair amount at steady state effort so slower than marathon but faster than easy. Rather than being satisfied with 20 miles as my longest efforts my three longest runs were 21 and 22 miles. Hopefully that will help hold off hitting the wall until later in the race.

Training

I had the Syracuse half on the calendar since last fall (even before that, but it was delayed due the pandemic and scheduling issues) and started the training block over the final days of 2021. The goals were to help our team win the age group title and keep us in the running for the national Grand Prix for 2022, and to run a 90% age grade.

It was a good build-up going from the 50s to low 70s, while mixing in cross country skiing once or twice a week from late December through mid-February. Also added some short workouts on the spin bike to add a bit of volume to get some blood flow to reduce soreness between training sessions.

I also did six weeks of double threshold sessions, starting at 10-15 minutes marathon pace type work in the morning and then 10-15 minutes of threshold to 10K effort hill reps in the afternoon. By the end of that phase the workout were 30 minutes of progression reps, and about 15-20 minutes of hills in the afternoon. I stopped the doubles in early February, once my long runs got into the 2+ hour range, and shifted to a more marathon-type training mode, focusing on long run and mid-long runs every week, with some tempo training worked in.

Another thing that made this training block a bit different was that I did not have any actual races or race effort time-trials. I did a 10K at threshold effort in January (39:45), a 20K xc ski race in February, and intended on 5K tune up on the weekend the half but that turned into a 3.8 mile tempo/fartlek due to poor course marking in an event where everyone ran off the course.

Pre-race

Arrived to Syracuse Friday afternoon with Adam, one of my teammates, and we drove the course on Saturday. I’m glad we did that, because it’s nice to know what’s ahead on race day. Off schedule from the travel, I woke up at 3 AM (1 AM Colorado time) but did get in about 5 hours of sleep ahead of that so it wasn’t too bad. There were heavy rains Saturday night, but we hit it just about right with cool (mid-40s), damp and cloudy, but with a steady wind.

Race Day

Wore half tights, t-shirt, under my singlet, arm warmers, and gloves. I probably didn’t need the arm warmers but if it had rained they would have been useful.

Settled into 6:20s for the first 2 miles (including big uphill). 5K split was 19:20. And 10K was 38:18. I averaged 6:10s through 7 or 8 miles on the rolling neighborhood streets. This was on goal pace, but also at that feeling where it’s comfortably fast but you are also wondering if you can hold it. I avoided any big surges. Tried to tuck in on the stretches with the headwind, but also set the pace a couple times. There were about a 4-5 of us trading places.

There was a long downhill at 7.4 to 8.4 miles and that was just over 6:00 pace–it probably would have been faster but was into a headwind. Miles 9-11 were flat and not too bad although I was also just trying to hang on. 15K was 58:08 and 10 mile just over 62.

Our pace started heating up with our pack of 3 after mile 12, and that was a 6:00, fastest of the day. I was hanging on pretty well, but with just about 200 or 250 meters to go, my nemesis dry heaves started acting up and I had to slow just to finish. I’d spend the rest of the day with a bad stomach.

Post-race

Cheered my teammates in (they did 1:26 and 1:29) and we did a couple miles for a cool down. They headed inside and I had planned to do another 5-10 minutes but got dizzy so stumbled back to the convention center for food and the awards.

We won the team title by several minutes (top 3 score, based on total time) and we have a strong lead in the series. One or two more wins and we can lock up the title this year. That was number one goal. Added bonus was a 90% age grade and 2nd overall for that (only three men from all age categories did that on Sunday). So yeah, the trip was worth it and some wooziness was a decent trade-off.

Part II

I have already posted a fair amount on my background so won’t get into a long narrative here. Instead, I’ll put it into a table.

The above times are not super great by any means. I started out kind of slowly at 18-19 (was 19 when I ran my first 800 in a whopping 2:11). I did have some rapid improvement at age 20, but then plateaued for almost four years before breaking out again at age 25. From 25-33 were my peak years, and most seasons could at least realistically go for a PR.

Twenty years ago I used to say I had no regrets about those earlier years. However, now with additional perspective I do wish I had made a few more serious attempts at the half marathon and marathon in my late 20s to mid-30s. I think I could have brought those times down. In fact my half PR was my debut at the distance off of just 6 weeks of focused training. And as I blogged earlier, the build-up to my marathon PR had a lot of holes in it.

I also wish I had found a good training group or coach at the time. I have been 100% self-coached since college, but in my 20s could have used some guidance and people to train with.

Comparatively, my age grade times are off the charts, but unless you are over the age of 45, age grading is just a lie and and an excuse. Also have some head-scratch issues with some of the online runners these days, break 17 for 5K/2:52 for the marathon after some 5-10 years of running and they are acting like 13:45/2:15 guys. Something you did years before they were even born doesn’t really count, and age group/age grading is simply shrugged off. So I’m an 18 minute/3:02 guy now. Better to a noob where you can PR every race or two. Maybe some of these blokes could give a nod once in a while.

Some friends in a chatroom recently had a conversation about their earliest races, pictures, and online results. Meanwhile, I was also thinking about my earlier days to today and progression/regression. I have talked some about the past here so some might be a rehash but maybe some new stuff.

Part 1: The Early-Early Days ages 7 to 17

For the most part I was active and involved in some sort of sport at least part of the year. My first race was at age 7 at a summer camp in Boulder. I guess I was one of the faster kids and they put us in a 4X 50 yard shuttle relay at the university track. I remember a lot of teams and heats and we got a 3rd place ribbon, which I kept for decades, and it still might be in a box or folder somewhere. That was 1965.

In the 4th grade I remember running the 50 yard dash in gym class. We just ran it, not thinking about time. “You guys are slow,” the coach admonished. “9 and 10 seconds for the group of you.” But that was it. No do-over.

In 5th and 6th grade, I had a competitive group of friends who followed track and field, following the epic 1968 Olympics, and our gym teacher emphasized the annual city wide track meet. I ran the 50 yard and 4X 50 relay, and did the long jump. As a 5th grader I ran 7.2 for the 50 in gym class, and about 7.5 in the city meet. And in 6th 6.9 (once) but did not break 7 at the city meet, and did not advance from the prelim. In the long jump, I could do about 11 feet as fifth grader, 12 in 6th. Not good enough to place at the meet (a kid from my class 6.0 for the 50 and jumped 14 feet to win both events). I think we got a 5th in the relays one year and 4th the next year with our super-fast anchor man.

Over the summers we would go to the university track and do some high jumping and sprinting. My friends were pretty good at the high jump, going over 5 feet, I wasn’t. Then we built a pole vault run my back yard. Using a broken metal bar from the track as our pole, and broom sticks as the stands, with yarn as the bar. We learned some technique and were jumping in the 5-6 foot range.

I only did one year of junior high track for our small school (there was no team/season for 8th grade). There, I ran the 100 yard dash (about 13 seconds high), 440 yard relay, long jump (13 feet), and pole vault 7 feet. I might have scored a point or two, but not even sure of that (we got last or second to last at our conference meet and I know I didn’t score there).

Our school closed at the end of 8th grade and I was disappointed not to have a track season. However, we did some makeshift vaulting. Starting with trimmed tree saplings as poles and the curb on our cul de sac as the box. Not sure what we had for a stand. That worked for a while, but got a little dangerous for with the curb and concrete, so we moved to my front yard. I took an old mattress and dog pillows (my made several large ones) as a landing pit. We somehow obtained an old pole from our school–not sure how we got a hold of that! I got up to 7 or 8 feet. But other than that didn’t run a step, and for the better part of a year did nothing else athletic. Got heavy, 5′ or 5’1″ (in shoes) and 100-110 lb.

In the spring of 9th grade I made some life choice changes (I quit playing the bass guitar which I was really bad at and started studying more) and got back to being an active kid again. I started vaulting in our yard that spring. My neighbor joined me and he ended up getting quite a lot better (13′ something in high school). We ordered a flexible pole set for our weight, built some stands with peg holes at 2″ increments from 8′ to 10′ and bought a couple bundles of foam rubber, which we stuffed into large burlap bags and then put the bags into a large net. So we had a 10′ X 10′ landing mat! I don’t think I did get over 9 feet, but close. I did run a little bit to “get into shape” but it wasn’t much a couple miles here and there over a month or so. In gym I ran low 6s for the 50 yard dash and about 1:45 or 1:50 for the grueling 600 yard run, as part of the Presidential Physical Fitness test.

As a sophomore I was a lot more active, playing touch football on the weekends with friends, and pick-up basketball several times a week. I decided to go out for track and do the pole vault and long jump. Most of the running I did was a half mile for warm up every day, and then maybe jog out to the field event pits. I avoided workouts, like 100s or 200s, that they wanted us to do and would make myself scarce when called to run. I got up to 10′ in practice and 9’6″ in a meet or two, and 16’3″ in the long jump. Scored a couple sophomore points and stuck with it, even though I had some head issues (anxiety) and skipped a couple late-season meets rather than deal with that.

Junior year I kept the active lifestyle and played even more basketball, maybe five-times a week, including playing on a rec league team once or twice a week. Did some running in the gym and at home, but just a few miles here and there. However, I didn’t go out for track. I did one all-comer’s meet after the regular season had ended and officially got my 10′ vault and improved another foot in the long jump to 17’3″.

For about a month I picked up running.

Inspired by Bill Rodgers winning the Boston Marathon in April, and setting the American record and then having Pre die barely a month later I ran about every other day while we were on vacation in Boston and upstate NY. I kept it up for about a week after returning, but the hot-humid Midwest summer proved to be awful enough to thwart a sustained effort, and I didn’t even consider going out for cross country.

I did do club soccer–first ever year for our school–started by a couple of friends over the fall, and of course pick-up basketball and rec league during winter. I was just 5’8″ and 125-30 lbs at the time, and not terribly good with dribbling. But I could bob and weave okay, and could score some. And if I timed a run and leap just right I could sometimes outrebound guys 4″-6″ taller, and they hated that.

I did a little bit of running over the winter, 15-20 minutes in the field house doing steps or indoor track, and thought about going out for track which would start just after my 18th birthday.

I have no pictures or clippings from athletic pursuits during this time in my life. Those elementary school ribbons sat in my desk drawer for decades, but not sure what happened to them after my parents were gone.

If I were a Nike-sponsored athlete I’d probably get a reduction in pay, but as an amateur age group runner it doesn’t matter much. So how’d it go for 2021?

Second half was better than the first. But before getting into that a bit, here are some numbers to check off. Total miles run: 2800 (if I get in 20 miles between now and Friday), and combined ski-run miles a little over 3000 (as long as I get in two ski outings this week). Something like 440 workouts total (including some easy cycling, which I don’t count on the running tally). I did more doubles this year than usual.

January through June

Last winter I kept the mileage in the moderate level (45-55 mpw), plus a ski outing or two each week. The early season was capped off with the “Virtual Birkie” 43.7K, which I did in 3:03 at 8700′. That build-up was fun, and makes me think about returning to ski loppets some day–maybe in a couple of years.

I spent the first half of the year working toward Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN. It was one of the first major races to open up during the second year of the pandemic. I got up to 75 miles and had a good string of 65-70 mile weeks in April and May. Best race of the spring was a 1:25 half in Loveland, about an hour north of here. Following that I was a little disappointed with the track and road efforts, which I treated as tune-up efforts for the marathon.

Grandma’s was a great experience and I had a decent, but not great, race. I trained for a sub-3 and by all indicators that seemed attainable. However, I just didn’t have it on race day, and after 22 miles at 6:50 pace I couldn’t hold it and finished in 3:02, with a positive split of 2 minutes. The best consolation was to take first in my age group, so not a bad day.

Races for First Half of 2021

3/27 – Runnin’ O the Green 7K, Denver, 26.26 [socially distanced] (1^st)

4/18 – NOCO Half Marathon, Loveland, 1:25:17 (1^st)

4/24 – Spring Track Series 3000, Boulder, 11:09 (1st)

5/8 – Spring Track Series 5000, Boulder, 19:07 (2^nd)

5/29 – Boulder on the Run 10K, Firestone, 39:31 (2^nd) [socially distanced]

6/19 – Grandma’s Marathon, Duluth, MN, 3:02:08 (1^st)

July through December

After the obligatory few weeks of recovery I ramped up quickly for a summer and fall season. The plan was to peak for the USATF 12K masters road championships in New Jersey, first championship race in a year and a half, and hopefully a fall half marathon.

Training went as well as you could expect, as I typically ran between 55-65 miles through November, with a race every couple of weeks to keep things interesting. Did most of the training on my own, but hopefully 2022 will involve some more collaborative outings with teammates and friends. I pretty much go by feel, but regularly mixed in tempo/threshold runs or repeats (20 to 45 minutes of faster running), and repetition workouts of 15-25 minutes at CV to V02 max effort, often closing with a few fast reps of 20-60 seconds (i.e., 100s, 150s, 200s, 300s on the track or trail). Long run of 12-15 miles each week. The remaining days were either recovery (at least twice a week) of 45-60 minutes easy on trails, or endurance (65-80 minutes, often somewhat hilly and also on trails).

My training and racing may not impress a +/- 30 year old working to break 15 or 16 minutes for 5K (let alone 14!), but for me into my 60s (technically mid-60s this year) it worked. I stayed healthy and most races went well. I think the Mile High Mile in the end of July and Fortitude 10K in September were a little weak, but the others went about as well as could be expected (even though I always came out of those thinking I could have done a little better–we all do that, right!?).

The year’s highlights (in descending order) were: (1) Running on the winning team for the USATF Club Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee. That’s been a lifetime dream, to take the team title at a cross country championship (was on a couple winning teams on the roads a few years back). (2) The 1:23 half in October (apparently 2nd in the USA for my age group (?) according to Mastersrankings.com) in Fort Collins, what I consider my home town (lived there 22 years). That was probably my best effort of the year (and best age grade score at 88%, even though it was at altitude). (3) Two podium finishes at USATF championship races, holding out for silver (barely) at the 12K road race in New Jersey, and moving through the field with teammates to place 3rd at Club Cross Country this month.

Races for Second Half of 2021

7/24 – Colorado Springs Classic 10K, 38:46 (3^rd)

7/31 – Mile High Mile, Niwot, 5:37 (2^nd)

8/6 – Mile High Mile Series 3, Englewood, 5:33 (1^st)

8/14 – Arapahoe Warriors 5K, 18:48 (1^st)

9/7 – Fortitude 10K, Fort Collins, 38:47 (3^rd)

9/17 – USATF 12K road championship, Sandy Hook, NJ, 45:48 (2^nd)

10/13 – Boulder XC Series, Boulder, 20:09 (1^st)

10/21 – Colorado Half Marathon, Fort Collins, 1:23:08 (1^st)

11/9 – Colorado USATF 5K XC, Boulder, 20:17 (1^st)

11/23 – Colorado USATF 5K road, Denver, 18:45 (2^nd)

12/11 – USATF Masters 8K XC, Tallahassee, FL 30:48 (3^rd)

After several months away I’m back. We sweltered through summer, although this year we had a bit of a monsoon season with enough rain to keep most of the local fires away. However, big fires in California and the Pacific NW made up for that and we had poor air quality through most of July and August and into September. I ran through most of it, and just did most of my running fairly early before the ozone got worse.

July and August

Following a three or so week recovery from Grandma’s Marathon I picked things up a bit for the second half of July, with weekly workouts and long runs of up to 13 miles. At the end of the month I did the state championship 10K road race and managed to run 38:46, and was reasonably pleased with that effort as a bit of a rust buster and 45 seconds faster than my 10K attempt in May. Ran 240 miles in July.

August was a good month and I put in 274 miles with a interval sessions and tempo runs every week, plus long runs of 12-13 miles. I also raced three times, but those were short races. On consecutive weekends I did the mile (5:37, 5:33) on the track and following that back to the roads for a 5K. That was supposed to be a 3K on the track but I did not get my entry in on time (the USATF Colorado/Race Director as a stickler on mail-in entries only, must be received a full week ahead of time). Normally I am supportive of local and national USATF, but that was lame.

Anyway, did a season’s best of 18:48 on a course in Centennial with a climb most of the last mile. Not bad, it was a good tune up. Congrats to Arapahoe HS girls, as they won the 5A state championship this weekend!

September and October

I schedule two big races in September, the Fortitude 10K in Fort Collins and the USATF masters 12K road championships on the Jersey coast. The Fortitude race was somewhat tempered because we traveled to Iowa for a wedding ceremony over the weekend. Got back the afternoon before and I felt a little flat on race day, with a 38:47, not quite getting a season’s best. So that was a bit of a disappointment. I did win my age, though. I think 3rd in the age group.

The race in NJ was to be The Big One and I trained for 90% age grade (45:00). My workouts through August indicated I was ready for that. CV reps at 6:00-6:05/mile pace, tempos at 6:20+/-, and V02 reps at sub 6. The course at Sandy Hook National Recreation Area was as flat as you can get and the competition would be good. I set out to run 6:00 mile. It was a good race but with a stiff 12 mph wind for the first 3.5 miles, combined with 70 degree temps with 70% humidity was enough to temper my pace. I only managed a 45:48 on the day (88.3% age grade) but hung on (barely) for a 2nd place finish after a furious kick.

I wanted a bit more, but was not disappointed with the race. I figured this would be the best of the year. However, also felt that I had plateaued since May. The workouts were always a step ahead of the race results and I wondered if I was pushing too hard, trying to force my fitness.

With the travel and cutbacks I ran 221 miles in September.

I didn’t really adjust the subsequent training paces, as I generally run by feel even on the track. However, I took four weeks off from racing but kept the tempo runs and interval sessions going, and upped the long runs a bit to 13-15 miles. Got in some good weeks of training, but nothing stood out. Nevertheless, a 4X 2K threshold session at Washington Park with a clubmate was encouraging, I averaged about 6:19/mile which is just about what I did in March 2019 before going to Virginia Beach to win the USATF 8K age group, and then just a week later going to Poland to medal in the cross country and half marathon events.

Also telling was that it took all week to recover from that workout, so I just ran easy effort until the following Saturday to run a preview of next year’s USATF XC championship 5K to be held in Boulder. I was 4th place masters, but ran only 20:03 the slowest 5K race I have ever run. But I wasn’t discouraged because I know I ran decently for that day.

I set my sights on last weekend’s Colorado Half Marathon back in Fort Collins, and set a challenging pace: to run faster than the 6:22s I did in Boulder. That seemed a bit audacious, but felt doable if I had a good day.

And a good day it was, even though it didn’t always feel like it! We traveled up to the old hometown on Saturday afternoon and took in some sights, including the house I grew up in for my first 10 and a half years. That was fun.

Race day was chilly, with 39 degrees and only warming up to the mid-40s by races end. We started at sunrise.

The field was not deep, but I briefly found a pace group for the first mile as the top 15 or so took off at 6:00 pace or under. Our pack split the mile at 6:26 but the others were saying that that was probably too fast for them, so I took off closer to my pre-determined pace and clicked off a series of miles in the low 6:20s. However, I was not feeling very sharp. I didn’t cut back much for this race (59 miles for the week) and my legs did not feel fresh. However, I wasn’t slowing down and actually started feeling better by 5-7 miles, even though there was a big hill in the middle of that. Onto the bike path in LaPorte at 7.5 miles, I was gaining some on a couple of younger (college age) runners.

But at mile 10 (62:58) I ran into the mid-pack 10K runners on the bike path at their turn-around, and I lost track the two guys just ahead. From some frustration came some stomach discomfort starting at 11.5 miles. I held on and slowed only slightly, running the last 5K in 20:08 to finish in 1:23:06, 1st in age group and 1st masters, 13th overall. That’s 88.3% age grade at altitude, which is better than 90% at sea level. Best race since 2019.

I took it easy this week, with one good workout on Friday and a fun group run in Boulder on Saturday, to cap off the month with 265 miles.

What’s Ahead?

I’ll do Colorado USATF 5K XC and road championships in November and considering the Club Cross Country championships in December before shutting it down for the year. I’ll see how it goes next weekend in Boulder.