Author: rrunnin234

Although training has gone well summer, with three months of 60-70 mile weeks now, and I have had a smattering of good races over the past couple of years I have not put it together for 5K since 2019. That was my last good year for 5K, when I ran 17:28 on a hot hilly course in Atlanta for a USATF masters championship and a couple months later 18:06 at 5000 feet elevation here in Colorado.

A few weeks after that I developed an injury, followed by several months of rehab, a global pandemic, and eventual gradual return. I have not done any 5Ks at sea level since Atlanta 2019, and best results at altitude in 2020 and 2021 were no faster than 18:45.

This July I managed a 19:07 in Fort Collins on a fast course and 19:28 in Denver on a slower route. For those efforts I was just getting my base back following recovery from the Boston Marathon in April and a bout of covid in May. Now with another two months of base work/marathon training and a 5:26 mile on the track last month. I felt ready for a 5K breakout this week as a final tune-up for next week’s 12K road championships. So not only was I hoping for a season’s best and sub 19, but a best in three years, i.e., 18:40 or faster. Why not?

The base is there, and now the speed. But I’m jumping ahead.

Snippets from the Training Block

With a marathon in November I only dallied in speed training in August but it was enough to enjoy a pleasant surprised with that mile.

I have not done much 5K specific training this summer, but have consistently hit that range of pace (around 6:00/mile) in progression workouts, including a challenging Michigan workout the other week–5.5 miles of faster work with alternating track repetitions, each shorter and faster, each interspersed with a tempo mile. I hit 6:10, 6:00, 5:55, and sub 5:20 for the 1600, 1200, 800, 400, on the track, and the tempo segments were at 6:22-23. That workout at 5500′ elevation indicated I might be in 18:30 shape.

However, since then I have been a little tired. And while I kept up the mileage at 68-71 miles a week, with long runs of 16 to 20 miles, I have backed off some on workouts. I have been running on tired legs, but also felt ready to take on a hard 5K effort this weekend. I decided to work through this race (with a seven day running total of 74 miles through Friday) but ran an easy double on Thursday only ran 46 minutes at 8:30 pace on Friday. So I felt reasonably ready

Race Day

Weather has been quite hot–record breakingly so–over the past couple of weeks, with highs in Denver into the upper 90s every day, and even to the mid-upper 80s up in the foothills. However, on Friday, the temperature dropped precipitously and did not exceed 60, and by Saturday morning it was raining and misting and only in the mid-upper 40s. Good racing weather, and while warming up I was lamenting that this wasn’t a cross country race. Perfect weather for that!

The course wrapped around Sloan’s Lake in Denver, with some twists and turns. In fact this year’s version, altered due to some construction in the park, featured several (I think) rather ill-placed hairpin corners. One at 0.1 mile after a downhill start and another at 3.0 miles. They easily could have eliminated those turns if they had us go southeast from the park to the lake path, and then we would go into the park at an easier angle at the finish. Made no sense.

Also, with the construction on the south and southeast side of the lake path they had to re-route us to the road for a couple of blocks. Again, there were a couple of sharp turns and curb hops to navigate around that. That’s not really the race’s fault, but just another thing. And finally, at about 2.4 miles you have this jetty with a couple of weird zig zags and yet another 180 degree turn. This is a typical feature of the course and I’m not sure why they do that other than to add on a few tenths onto the loop.

Everyone running the race has do navigate these diversions, but time wise each of these will add a second or two onto your race time. Otherwise, it’s a fairly flat and fast course on cement bike path.

We lined up at were off at 8:30. I tucked into about 10th place right away, but after that first hairpin a slew of runners shot past.

Off to a fast start!

I checked my watch a couple times over the first half mile and saw some 5:45/5:55 instantaneous paces, so I tried to check my speed. I wanted to go under 6 for that first mile, and run a little more aggressively than my previous outings this summer (going out in 6:10-6:20 on those occasions). Within a kilometer the most other other runners (except one) who had shot ahead early on started coming back one by one.

There was no mile marker by my watch buzzed at 5:58, right as we hit the construction detour and a slight incline onto the street. I was probably in about 12th place, but already feeling the pace. And I figured sub 6 would be a stretch today, so I just tried to maintain effort for the rest of the way. I picked off a couple more runners as we rounded around the south and west side of the lake at 2 miles (12:12).

At the jetty out and back (about 0.1 mile each way) I tracked past most of front field (the race leader was already well on his way to the finish). Back onto the main bike path with just a half mile to go the next guy up was a good 20 seconds ahead, but I had two whom I had passed in the second mile in fairly close pursuit (within 5 or 6 seconds of me). Wasn’t feeling anything great but knew I could hold this effort and have a little more for the kick. And I would need it!

As I rounded the final turn at 3 miles I could see one of those guys just 3-4 meters back. I maintained my effort for a few seconds, then increased my cadence on as we rose a few feet in elevation, as I neared the crest with less than 100 meters to go I tried an all-out sprint and thought I had him. But with maybe 40 meters to go he popped a strong surge and got a couple steps ahead in an instant! I can’t do that anymore, and could not respond. Initially I as annoyed a bit, no one likes to be outkicked, especially with such a short distance to go. But that’s racing and if I had wanted to put him away I should have done so earlier than I had tried.

I finished in 19:09 and 9th place. The time was 20-40 seconds slower than I had hoped to run. Again, I was disappointed at first but as the day wore on I figured it was a decent enough effort.

I had splits of 5:58, 6:14, 6:17, and 40 for the final 0.1. My heart rate was at the 150-52 range (>90% max) for the final 16.5 minutes of the race. So I ran at my max. Looking back, going out a little less aggressively at the start (say 6:05 pace) might have left a little more in the tank for miles 2 and 3 and an overall faster finish. However, then again it is sometimes also good to test your limits at a low-key 5K race.

As far as age grading, that was an 85.8% age grade and easily the best overall for the day (second best being an 81% by Jay another competitor in my age group). Converted to sea level that would be an 88.3% and and 14:31. So considering that I worked through this race, it’s not bad at all. The fitness is there, even if the 5K sharpness is not. It was a good day!

Thanks to the Denver 5K crew and volunteers for making this a good quality event for the city.

Excluding a few injury-bound years over the past 35-40 years I have raced or time trialed a mile or 1500m almost every summer. Going back to the mid 1980s I think I missed 1997, 2002 and 2003 due to injury and maybe just skipped 2015 and 2016 because I was focused on other distances. Running a mile all out is a good benchmark, but I don’t always like it.

I actually enjoyed racing the mile from the mid-80s to early 90s, and learned to embrace and channel any pre-race anxiety into excitement and running at top end speed for some four and a half minutes.

However, I was never a star miler, and never even came close to breaking 4 minutes let alone 4:20. My altitude converted all-time best converts to a more modest 4:26.

Colorado Mile Season

July and August are mile season in Colorado. Each week you can find a couple mile/1500 m races on the Front Range. I opted out of some of the bigger ones this year. I started with Boulder Road Runners (BRR) summer track and field series 1500 m on August 4, and the Carnation Mile in the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge nine days later. The 1500 went better than expected and I decided to enter the mile at final BRR meet on the 18th.

The Carnation Mile

This was a low-key road mile on 38th Avenue in Wheat Ridge, on a point to point course. We had an 8 AM start on one of the hottest weekends of the year. We arrived early and I jogged the course to get a feel for the course. It was fairly flat but had a couple of low grade slopes at about 1/2 mile and at about 3/4 until the final block before the finish. The course only gains 21 feet in elevation, but at 5,400 feet in elevation those small risers were the main factor.

In the middle of my warm up, at about 7:35, the race director announced there would be a delay due to some issues setting up the automatic timer at the finish line. So I wrapped up the last few minutes of drills and strides and waited. 8 o’clock rolled around and passed, she announced they were still working on it. I did not want to have an over extended warm up so like most everyone just stood around waiting, figuring we’d get a 5 minute heads up.

Nope. At 8:15 they said to line up, they were ready to go. I had enough for a quick half block pick up and jog back. Maybe 30 seconds of moving and they lined us up. They had a wave start format, not unlike mid-pandemic, 25 per wave based on estimated finish time. I submitted a 5:30 and was seeded 13th (#13 on the 13th), and was hoping to run mid-low 5:30s and maybe win the masters division and $75.

The race

No gun, and she just said rather quietly on your marks, set, go! We had a wide street to ourselves, and unlike in single or double file as in a track race we were spread out across 60 feet of boulevard.

Former US champion road racer Fernando Cabada (2:11 marathon personal best) took off like he had a rocket pack and everyone followed. Even though I was a ways back I think my first couple hundred meters were fast. By a third of the mile, however, I could feel that my legs were tightening already. And breathing wasn’t great. The finish banner looked no closer than when we started and I knew that the next 3 minutes would not feel good.

I had noted a spot about a half mile from the start but did not check my watch. The banner was still a long way off. At least a minute or more seemed to have gone by and I figured we were approaching 3/4 mile so I did peek at my watch, 0nly 0.64–this was proving to be tough. And I knew I had little or no acceleration in my legs, and lungs were starting to burn.

Up the small incline and I could feel my pace drop off, no doubt to over 6 minute mile pace but there wasn’t much I could do about it. With Cabada far into the lead, a group of about six runners had pulled far ahead and were stringing out. I gradually passed two runners over the final third of the course, but the going was slo-mo. Finally, with just about a 0.1 mile to go, with the finish in sight, and more favorable terrain (flat), I accelerated the best I could.

Aftermath

Finish result: 8th in my heat (would finish 9th for the day as a young high school runner from a later heat ran faster), and 5:42.8. Third masters, and had netted a $25 envelope of cash and three carnations. My time was a good 5-10 seconds slower than hoped, and wow did this hurt more than most races.

I was once scolded by a former elite runner for discussing “hurt” and “pain” in a race, and he said I should coin it more as discomfort. For the most part he was right and for the past 25 years have taken that admonishment to heart. However, within a minute or two after crossing the line–and running through a lot of discomfort over that final half mile–I felt pain. In my stomach, throat, and chest. I started dry-heaving, and then my throat and chest seized with some asthma. The air quality was unfavorable with high ozone that morning and I think that’s what got me.

I couldn’t run for about 20 minutes before being able to jog lightly to the car to use my inhaler. Tamara and I used the winnings for breakfast. By the time I did a mid-day shakeout high up in the foothills, and away from the city air, I felt fine.

Post hoc takedown

This was a fun community event starting on the Carnation Festival parade route, and I hope that the tradition can continue and the race can grow. Offer prize money and good runners will show up!

I was disappointed in the time, and yes a bit surprised to undergo some discomfort that spilled into some actual pain (may 5 on a scale of 10) for 10-15 minutes following the race. I wondered how much faster would have if we had run the opposite direction. Maybe 5:32? 10 seconds seemed like a lot and I didn’t express that out loud, or online.

Boulder Road Runners Track and Field Series Meet #6, Boulder Colorado.

Thursday evening. I had been in a dark funk for the previous 24 hours and that only grew as the day went on. I even posted online that I now hated the mile and it was time to hang it up. I wasn’t having fun.

Arrived at Potts Field at 5:30, it was 85 degrees and sunny, with just a light breeze from the northwest. The CU Boulder campus under the Flatirons is always a nice setting so my mood lifted a little, and a bit better upon along seeing a couple of my teammates. We would be running a 4X400 relay later and that’s actually more what I was looking forward to.

Still, I wasn’t really looking forward to this mile.

I’d be in the slower heat and wasn’t sure what I would do, maybe 5:35-40?

After a warm up and strides, I lined up with the second fastest seed time in this heat, with a young girl on the inside and a 40 year old masters runner who had finished just ahead in the 1500 two weeks earlier. With 19 runners in the field I did not want to get tangled up, so as we waited for last minute instructions I decided to go out quickly for the the first 80-100 meters.

The race

The young girl in lane 1 started quicker than I did over the first 20 m and took the lead, and the masters runner tucked in behind her. I could sense others on my heels but I was firmly in 3rd over the first lap, the pace didn’t feel too fast or too slow. The lap clock was broken and no one was calling splits but I got a quick look at my watch at about 405 meters, and it was just turning to 81. Maybe a bit faster than I had planned but drafting behind others makes the going feel a bit easier. We rounded the third turn and on the backstretch straightaway the masters guy took over the pace, and I followed.

Another masters runner (just turned 60) was right behind me and the announcer said that the three of us were pulling away from the field. I just tried to relax through the second lap. I didn’t get an actual split but my watch timer was at 2:46 at half-way. Sometimes in the mile I feel a burning sensation in my legs on the second lap, as the lactate builds. On Thursday I felt fine and at 900 m in, I could sense that the leader was slowing, so I took over, and just ran to see what I had. Focused on my form and popping off my feet while running relaxed as possible.

I don’t specifically train for the mile, but through much of the year do some 15-20 second pick ups or strides while on a run or just after a set of longer reps or tempo run. So I’m not unfamiliar with the effort and biomechanics, just not used to holding that pace for several minutes at a time.

The sound of footsteps behind had fallen back.

Over the last lap I planned to wind up the pace every 100 m over the last 300, like I did in the 1500 two weeks earlier. But this time there wasn’t much acceleration left so although my effort increased, the pace didn’t. As always for the mile the final 100 meters were grueling.

Post hoc takedown

Crossed the line in 5:26.9. My best mile result since a 5:26 at the Pearl Street Mile in downtown Boulder in 2019. I only ran 5:33 in 2020 (solo time trial) and 5:33 on the track in Denver in 2021. This is encouraging for a number of reasons.

Summer of 2019 was the last time I really felt sharp and in shape, so to run a time in the same ball park now three years later was a surprise. Age grading it’s my best mile ever, 87.74% using 2020 factors, and if you account for the altitude 90.17.

After all of that negative thought for the day leading up to the race, as soon as the starting gun fired I just put it on autopilot and ran by feel.

So now will I quit doing the mile? Ask again next year.

4X400

Doing the end of season 4X400 was the big draw of this meet and the part I most looked forward to. I had more than an hour of recovery. Eight teams lined up under the twilight, most had funny names. At 60+ we were named “No Grabby Hammy” and running a 400 at our age you don’t want to pull anything.

I only have a sketch our splits, as my fancy watch did not record them, but Tim opened with a surprising 62-high. Mark brought it back with combined 2:12, I didn’t get Adam and my split but think it was at about 3:25 when I got the baton and crossed the line with a lap to go. Sprinted for 50 m, eased up a bit for about a 100 and then tried to accelerate slightly. I think I slowed on the homestretch. We crossed in 4:33.9, 5th place, which was about 20 seconds faster than we had anticipated.

Inside outside, leave me alone
Inside outside, nowhere is home
Inside outside, where have I been?
Out of my brain on the five fifteen (The Who)

Following the Bix 7 last weekend I took it easy for a couple days and then overcooked myself on Tuesday, running 16 miles on a morning when the temperature climbed from an already warm 82 degrees t0 90 by the time I finished. I actually felt good through about 13 miles, then things got real as I could feel my core temperature and heart rate rising faster than Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishes a 1500. I did finish it out, but felt nauseous and wrought for the rest of the day.

After an easy double on Wednesday I ran a 25 minute shakeout on the treadmill Thursday morning trying to figure what lap paces to run for the evening’s 1500 m in Boulder. My only sub 6 this year was last weekend’s 5:47 final downhill mile at Bix, so I didn’t know what to expect. Add to that expected temps in the 90s. So figured 87-88 and then bringing it down a bit for the next to laps, with finish of 60 for the final 300. So maybe 5:18-20.

The race was part of the fifth (of six) Boulder Road Runners Summer Track and Field Series, which have been a staple on Potts Field since the early 1980s.

The forecast for Thursday was for a high of 93 in Boulder and about 89 at race time. Nope. At 6:30 PM the temp was 95. But it was a dry 95.

I was not motivated.

My teammate Adam showed up as they made the first call for the 1500 and said, “Be like The Who, 5:15.”

Took me a second because I have listened to that song maybe three times since the year 2000–but it clicked, Out of my brain on the train on the five-fifteen!

The idea was intriguing but that seemed a little fast given the conditions and my less than rested state this week. I didn’t think that was in the cards.

They lined up 10 minutes early and I almost missed final call, doing my last stride out on the homestretch (give me a break, hadn’t run a 1500 since 2010, only the mile). I think there were 13 runners lined up and I was seeded toward the end. Not only was I the oldest by 15 or 20 years, I think I could have been a grand parent to two-thirds of the field, and most of them were young girls 11-14.

Gun went off and I veered to the inside lane, maybe too fast not taking the entire 100 m tangent. Had a stumble as another runner cut in just ahead, he said he was sorry. I checked my watch at a 100 and was 20 sec, way too fast so settled back as the field pulled away. I must have been second or third to last at the lap (84) and a good 15 meters behind the next runners. So even 84 was too fast, especially on such a hot evening, but there I was getting left in the dust by the field.

I did not catch my 800 split but did cross 700 m at 2:28 according to the digital clock. I had picked up one of the young runners, and then another on the next lap. That was about it for passing anyone.

Picked it up slightly with a lap to go and around the curve, but planned only to start kicking with 200 to go. I tapped my watch at three laps (4:15) and set my sights on the next two runners still 15-20 meters up. With 250 to go, I did not feel like going into a full sprint yet so decided to wait until the final 150. On the curve I picked up my knees and cadence and worked into whatever I had for a sprint finish. I didn’t quite catch them but was close!

A volunteer came up an took my tag and showed me her watch time, 5:15!

Out of my brain, following the train!

In spite of the baking temperatures that was actually pretty fun and this month I’ll take two attempts at the mile, hoping for better conditions and with a goal of sub 5:30. An injection of mile pacing should help for longer road and cross country this fall.

Some of this is rehash from another post that I made a few years ago, but it also includes a bit of earlier history of Bix and the Eastern Iowa running scene in the late 1970s. Scroll down to my race report from the race last Saturday.

After 42 years I finally returned to run a classic summer road race, the Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa. It was a pretty sleepy event in the 1970s, a sidekick to the Bix Jazz Festival. The race grew each year after its inception, and by 1978-79 it would have several hundred entrants with some good local and regional talent. Road racing was growing fast back then, but there were no professional runners nor any prize money at these events, although it was well known that top runners would get under the table appearance money and incentives from sponsors.

The 1980 race put Bix on the map because the Olympic boycott left some runners without much to look forward to. Bix invited the King of the Roads Bill Rodgers that summer and the instantly race tripled in size, to 1,800 finishers. Over the years Rodgers and scores of elite runners returned every July and the race grew to more than 10-times that to over 20,000 and it became a mainstay on the elite professional race circuit.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Eastern Iowa Running Scene (and beyond) – 1970s

The Bix Biederbecke Jazz Festival started in Davenport in the early 1970s and soon after (1974) the race was added. I first heard of the race in 1978, when I was a sophomore in college. I spent the latter half of the summer training in Iowa City, where I had gone to high school. I had started running with a group of former and present University of Iowa runners. With several 4:00 to 4:05 milers in the group, they much more talented than I was (my best at the time were 4:37 for the mile and 9:57 for 2 miles) but they let me tag along a couple times a week. Former Hawkeye Gregg Newell was the social glue to keep the group going, and he mentored me some along the way as I was still pretty new to running. We did some killer workouts on the roads and golf courses around Iowa City and sometimes would go out for a beer afterward.

That summer Gregg got 2nd at Bix to John Lodwick a post-college runner who had grown up in Iowa. Lodwick had placed 8th at Boston that spring with a strong 2:14 (he later went on to run 2:10).

Gregg said he wanted some revenge. He heard that Lodwick and Jeff Wells (2nd to Rodgers at Boston in 1978) would be headlining Armstrong’s Adidas 10K in nearby Cedar Rapids in August. So Gregg got us all fired up to run as a team for Eby’s Sporting Goods, his employer and a rival to the race’s sponsor, the Cedar Rapids-based Armstrong’s Department Store. He got us singlets and we trained as a group at least three times a week.

Race day was in late August and we all ran great. Wells edged out Gregg for the win (28:13 and to 28:19) and Lodwick took 3rd in 28:32, and our Eby’s team took seven of the top ten spots, with me placing 10th in a PR 31:50 (it turns out the course was probably short by 30-40 seconds, but it was still a huge PR as I had only run 5:30 pace for 5 miles on the road the previous fall). Wells and and Lodwick were well known on the road circuit by then and Gregg was on the edge of making it to the big time.

Over the winter of 1979 I went out to Colorado for skiing and planned to stay in Boulder for the summer to train with some college teammates. However, within my first week there–just days before the inaugural Bolder Boulder–I stepped off a curb while running on the CU campus and snapped a bone in my foot. My the summer training plans were shot and I was working a restaurant job I didn’t like, so I gave Gregg a call to see if he had any openings at the new Eby’s branch he was managing in Moline, Illinois just across the Mississippi River from Davenport. He said sure.

So I hobbled up onto a Greyhound bus and headed back east. The company had paid for Gregg’s two bedroom apartment in Moline that year and he was generous enough to let me stay there for the summer.

Gregg raced most weekends and had his own unique training system, running low mileage but higher intensity, with a long run or race, and a of couple tempo runs at 5:00 pace but not much else. He had been a 3:46 1500 m runner at the University of Iowa and had been All-Big Ten a couple of times, but was injured a lot in college. His his low mileage training allowed him to excel on the roads after college (1:01 for 20K) and cross country (All-American) off of probably just 20-30 miles a week.

During the summer of 1979 Lodwick and Wells were not in the area, but Gregg had some good local competition. In July he came back for Bix and this time he won! He had gone to high school in Davenport won the state meet in the mile in 1972 (4:12) and was something of a local hero.

A few weeks later I went back to my college and after that only saw Gregg a few more times. He was always positive and encouraging.

The next summer I got into the best shape of my life training or a marathon in Wisconsin, and ran a 1:09 20K just the week before. Against my better judgement my teammate convinced me that long run the following day would be good training for our upcoming marathon (Paavo Nurmi in Hurley, Wisconsin). The run was torture, and felt a popping in my hip. Bix was just a week later but to go Bix anyway. I did not run much that week hoping my hip would get better. I hitched a ride to Davenport from Madison and stayed with Gregg. I ran the race at a tempo effort (5:40s) but the hip was only worse, so had to take some time off.

With Rodgers and several other top runners in the field Gregg did not win in 1980, but was 6th. Rodgers was a huge draw for the race, and afterward he spent more than an hour in a packed auditorium taking questions from everyday runners. From that day on Bix became a big name race, largely due to its partnership with Rodgers.

Moving On

I saw Gregg only once or twice after that visit. In the fall our cross country team had a meet in nearby Monmoth, Illinoisand we had lunch at the same mall where Gregg worked, so we stopped by the store.

He looked at me an laughed, saying “Look what the wind brought in.” He also showed up to our Division III Regional cross country meet in Rock Island in November. We maybe stayed in touch here and there with a card, but I did not return to Iowa much after college and not to the Quad Cities at all.

Later I learned that Gregg had passed away in 1989, at just 34 years old. That was very sad news, as he was very kind and giving and loved nothing more than to share his running with others.

The Quad Cities running community respected Gregg and his loss was hard on many people. Bix remembered him. They retired the bib number 5 because he had five top ten finishes at the race, and they created the Gregg Newell award given every year to the fastest runner from the Quad Cities.

The Return 2022

I had only been though the Quad cities a couple times since the 1980 but hadn’t stopped in. It all looked familiar last week, maybe more run-down due to the ensuing economic downturns (the 1980s Farm Crisis, 2008 recession, Covid). After picking my bib, we stayed in Rock Island, just mile from the start. Rock Island in particular seemed hard hit.

Race day dawned pleasant in the low 60s with high clouds, by race time the temperature had climbed to 69 degrees with a dew point of about 65–extremely good for Bix. I lined up near the front of the second corral, just behind the elites. They held us there for what seemed a long time before counting down.

I planned on pacing myself up the infamous Brady Street hill (1/3 of a mile at 9% grade), only accelerating over the top and into the second mile. I think I did that pretty well, with a 6:28 first mile split just after the first couple of turns onto Kirkwood Avenue, a wide tree-lined boulevard that winds back toward the Mississippi over the 2.5 miles.

If I made a mistake on Saturday it might have been pushing that 2nd mile too hard, as I caught my instantaneous splits at 5:50 or faster a few times (plan had been to maintain 6:00-6:10), that was 5:57. Through half way I settled and maintained about 6:20 pace, dreading the two big climbs on the return. First one after 3.5 was hard and I split 4 at 25:13, a little off from goal pace (25:00 would have been about where I would like to be), but I wasn’t thinking too much about that, because I knew the next two miles would be very challenging with a gradual (2-3%) but relentless ascent. Those splits were 6:33, and 6:34 and I dropped as many places as I had made up.

I recovered quickly once we crested at 6 miles (I heard 38:10), and tried to open it up over the fast descent and flat finish on 2nd Avenue. That was a fun stretch and I picked up a few spots to finish in 44:07 (6:18/mile). So not too far off my self-seeded 6:15, but a bit more than my higher end goal of sub 6:10.

I really enjoyed making the return to Bix 7 and hope to come back, maybe go for the age group record next year (new age group!). I also spent some time reflecting on those early days and of course the positive influence of my old friend Gregg.

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.