Friday, February 14, 2014

Taper

Friday--took day off. Taper.

Thursday--snow storm.  Took day off.  Taper.

Wed, 2/12--went to Y.  Did 5:00 at 6:15-6:30 pace, followed by 3:00 lifting.  Thrice.

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

That's all folks

2/11/14

With all of the snow on the ground, I am desperate for a track.  And with a great deal more snow in the forecast, I am getting antsy about the next 2-3 weeks over which I was hoping to ramp up my training.   Today, I decided to stay in the neighborhood and do a workout on Rustin's property.  Even though I got up at 4:45 AM, I underestimated how much time I needed to get warm enough in this 16-degree weather.  I ran about 10 minutes and returned home to stretch in the basement.  I then drove the van to Rustin’s stadium.  I realized then that 8x300 (on the street behind Rustin's stadium) would be impossible unless I took 1:30-2:00 between each repeat.  Like the last time, I just planned to do 300s (The actual distance is 290 meters.) without any differentiation.  My hope was to start with a pretty fast one and end the same way.  

I wore my racing flats.  I’d take 3:00 rest between repeats: a walk/jog back to the start.

My runs:
#1: 46.3 Not a good start compared to last week’s effort. 
#2: 43.4 
#3: 44.4
#4: 44.6
Realizing that I was running out of time and yet needed to do some shorter speed work, I transitioned to 150s w/ 1:45 rest in-between:
20.7
20.5
20.3


Time for a 2:00 cool down.  That’s all folks.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Strategy Error

Sun, 2/9--mile/lift/mile/lift/mile/stretch/half-mile cool down


Sat, 2/8--Frank Colden Invite at Ursinus.  I arrived at the meet at around 9:30 in hopes of being registered for the 400 and 200.  I wasn't officially registered as it turns out, although I had correspondent with coach/meet director, Chris Bayless.  I wound up registering for just the 400, given the steep $25/event.

I warmed up nice and hard, thinking that my race would be within the hour.  My race wouldn't go off until about 11:30.  I checked in.  I felt the tightness and lactic acid in my legs, but I would just deal.  I ran about 6-7 50 meter hard strides.  I started to tighten up during the last 35 minutes before my race, however.  I just kept jogging and stretching and striding.  I checked again once more for my heat and lane assignments.  Given my pipe dream of a seed time, 53.72, my PB as a masters runner, I knew I'd be in a fast heat.  I was assigned heat 5 (out of 7), lane 4.  I loved the lane, hated the heat.  I should have provided a more realistic appraisal of myself.  Perhaps 54.72.  This may have gotten me into heat 4, but would I have been assigned lane 2, 3, or 4?  Who knows?   Bad seed time: strategy error 1.

So there I was, in lane 4 and in the midst of 5 youngsters.  I settled into my starting blocks as the gun was raised.  I imagined myself catching the guy to my right over the first 50-100 meters.  Crack!  The gun went off.  I got out pretty well, but realized by the 100m mark that I had not made a dent in the stagger.  In fact, a guy from my inside had caught me by then and two other guys were on their way.  At the break, I was in last, owing to the fact that I slept on the second turn.  Strategy error 2.  At the 200 mark, I realized that I would beat the guy right in front of me and possibly catch the one in front of him.  However, I did not want to take the chance of passing him going into the turn.  Instead, I waited and passed him on the backstretch.  I then set my eyes on the two guys in front of me.  I made up a little on them, but they wound up beating me by 5-7 meters.  My time, 54.85, was my best this season, but well off the brilliant one Berra posted, 53.18.

Going into Millrose, here's the Best Case Scenario Prediction:
Berra-52.9
Delvin-53.9
Scott-54.9
Craig-55.9

Millrose Realistic Case Scenario:

Berra-53.5
Delvin-54.5
Scott-55.5
Craig-56.5, given what Craig has said about his fitness level


Fri, 2/7--took off


Thurs, 2/6-No power.  Campus open.  Used treadmill.  On treadmill: 6x 2:00 at 4:35 pace. 4:00 rest.


Wed, 12/5-took off.  Snow.  White out.  No power.  No work.


Tues, 12/4-mile/lift/mile/lift/mile.


Monday, February 3, 2014

800s: Treadmill style. Empty is sometimes good.

Feb 3, 2014-

School Cancelled on account of snow, 4"-6".  It was quite a tough ride to the Y.  Took about 25 minutes, as I was stuck on a hill and had to take a circuitous route.

At any rate, I warmed up a mile, stretched quite a bit, then made my way to the treadmill for 5x800 with 4:00 recovery between repeats.  My target pace was 2:30-ish.

Run 1: setting on 12.5 (4:52 pace)--2:37
Run 2: setting on 12.6 (4:48 pace)--2:35
Run 3: setting on 12.7 (4:44 pace)--2:33
Run 4: setting on 12.8 (4:41 pace)--2:31
Run 5: setting on 12.9 (4:39 pace)--2:29

Good workout.  I was glad I had the entire treadmill area to myself.  In fact, the whole Y was almost empty.  Empty is sometimes good.

Cooled down.

Sunday, February 2, 2014

I'll get over it....I promise.

Sunday, 2/2--

The snow hadn't melted quite enough to have me run the path, and I didn't feel like trekking through the snow and mud.  So...I did what any other self-respecting runner would do: I made my way to the Y.

I alternated between the track, upper body machines, and treadmill, running a total of four (4) 6:30 miles with 4:00 of lifting in between.

I'm still miffed that now I have to do 18 laps instead of 16 to hit a mile on the Y's mislabeled oval.

I'll get over it....I promise.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Could it be a comeback?

I NEED A TRACK AND SOON!  The snow must go.

Saturday, 2/1--Decided to stay in the neighborhood and do a workout on Rustin's property: 8x300 behind Rustin's stadium.  Unlike the last time, when I treated the 300s like the pick-up reps workout I do (8x400 @70, with #s 2,5, and 8 @ 63….with 3 min rest.  300s version: #s 1,3,4, and 7 at 51 and # 2,5, and 8 in 45), I just planned to do 8 300s without any differentiation.  My hope was to start with a pretty fast one and end the same way.  The actual distance is 290 meters.

I warmed up nicely and had a good stretch on this 47-degree day, causing a little snowmelt.  I wore my racing flats.  3:00 rest between repeats: a walk/jog back to the start.

My runs:
#1: 43.6 I wanted to get off to a good start. 
#2: 43.9 
#3: 43.7
#4: 43.9
#5: 42.9
#6: 44.1
#7: 43.8—I wound up having 4:00 between #s 7 and 8 because there was a mini-van on the stretch, and I waited for it to move.
#8: 40.7

This is the best workout of this type I’ve ever done.  Even though the street is slightly downhill and even though the actual distance is 290m, I have to think that these times, on their face, translate to 300m on the track with spikes.  At worst these would be in the 45/46-second range for 300 (on the track), with the exception of the last one, which would be 42 and change.  Could it be a comeback?


Cooled down .75M.

The YMCA lied (a mile is not a mile)...and an Awful Week (weak) of Minimalism

Fri 1/30-

took day off.  An awful week of minimalism.  I'm in a funk.  Let me get out of it with a good workout today.

Thurs 1/29--Y day.  3 miles, alternating with weights.  Snow-covered everything...still.

Wed 1/28--Y day.  3 miles, alternating...

Tues, 1/27--awful hill workout

Mon 1/26--Y day. 3 miles alternating...

I am so miffed at the Y.  The Y's indoor track reads 16 laps/mile.  I actually thought, perhaps stupidly, that my repeat miles on it over the past 3 years were, well, miles.  I was duped into believing that my times, whether for warming up or pushing the pace, were actually honest.  I guess not.  After running the mile at Glen Mills on Sunday, I think that the Y has been lying.  There is scarcely a chance that the 16 laps equal a mile if I couldn't even come close to matching my time on it.  I ran a crappy 5:10.07, well off the 4:49 I ran on the Y's track.  My guess is that the track is 17-18 laps per mile, not 16.  Terrible would be if the track is actually 19-20 laps per mile; it's possible.   I bet the mile measurement is for the outer wall, not lane 1 or even lane 2.  So, maybe lane 1 is 17-18 laps per mile, lane 2 is 17 laps per mile, and the wall is 16 laps per mile.  This all means that I've been getting a terribly false read on my fitness.  Dyslexia.  Dammit!

I sort of did measure and it seems that it's 85 meters from lane 1 and probably 90 meters around in lane 2.

I think I'm going to seethe manager and then call my congressman!