March 7 - No Rail on the Trail 10k

AM: 10k "tempo run," 32:16 (PR), 1st place, 13 miles total

So, about that "tempo run" I mentioned yesterday...this is going to sound like coy bulls***, but I really tried to go into today trying to keep the race as a workout. This was my third hard workout in six days off of a few weeks of higher mileage (high for me, anyway). To say I didn't go into today thinking, "Hey, let's run a PR," would be an understatement. 

However, the race was on the Capital Crescent Trail, one of the better examples of a false flat if there ever was one; the first half of the race today was a long gradual downhill, and the second half of the race was a net gradual uphill. My goal today was to run goal pace for Cherry Blossom next month. I think (hope) I still did that.

Consequently, given the target pace, when I thought I took the race out in what I believed to be ~5:15, I was considerably surprised to see a 4:55 first mile. 

"Whoops. OK, too fast..." This definitely didn't feel too fast. I thought that this must be because of the gradual downhill.

Mile 2: 5:01. Interesting. And still too fast. At this point, I had put a gap on a few guys who were with me through the first mile, and I was just chasing Matias on his bike and trying not to body check runners and walkers who didn't heed his warnings to step to the right (which a lot of people interpreted as "stand in the middle and weave."

Mile 3: 5:01. Again. 

I eventually hit the 5k turnaround in 15:31, which before last weekend, would have been a 5k PR. I then thought that surely I was going to slow in the second half because I still felt totally controlled, just as a tempo run should. When I hit Mile 4 in 5:07, though, I started scratching my head.

Rather than go to the well, I just tried to keep an even effort from this point onward, which makes sense because my next two miles were in ~11:00. I guess this suggests that I may have had a little help in the first two miles from the downhill. I finished feeling fairly cool and collected in 32:16, which is about a 2-second PR. I'm feeling good, and it's foolish to complain about a PR, even if it "wasn't supposed to happen this way." 

At my last 10k in December, where I ran what was then my PR, I felt like I was going to throw up and/or collapse afterward. Today most certainly did not feel as hard as that, and I ran slightly faster without chasing anyone in front of me. No, today felt more like the RRCA race last year, where I intentionally ran a hard workout, albeit technically a PR, but finished with plenty of gas left in the tank.

In college, my coach used to have us run a "steady state" workout almost once per week, which was supposed to be somewhere between a true tempo run and a race. That's what I'm going to call today's effort because that's what it felt like. 

This also means that I have to now stick to my plan and run this pace at Cherry Blossom next month. That seems like a long ways off right now.

March 6

AM: 10 miles easy

PM: 5 miles easy

Recovery day. I ran on the Rock Creek Park trails in the morning: still a sloppy mess from the melting snow. There were even a few sections that had packed ice left.

After work, I ran a few miles with Valerie and added a little on my own afterward. 

I'm racing tomorrow at the No Rail on the Trail 10k. I haven't decided whether I'm going to use this as a tempo run or actually throw down and race. It will likely be a game-time decision, but I'm looking for a good effort either way. We'll see. I'll have a 5k last week, a 10k this week, and a 5k next week in a stretch that will end three weeks before Cherry Blossom. I haven't made up my mind about whether that's too much. Given that I've only raced three times since November, with the XC 12k being the longest race, I think I should be OK if I do.

If I am using it as a workout, and not running all out, I'll need to come up with a clever fake race moniker. Hmmmm....

I have a recovery week planned next week...annnnnnnnnnnnnnd that's gonna be pretty nice. My legs will appreciate the break. I'm also looking forward to some beautiful weather this weekend. Spring is so close.

March 5

AM: 7 miles easy

PM: 6 x 800m w/ 400 jog recovery, 10+ miles

In the morning, there was still a fair amount of snow on the trails. The good news is that it's definitely melting, and temperatures will be in the 70s this weekend. On Saturday, Valerie and I already have a race and golf planned...gettin' excited for springtime.

Klim, P. Murphy and I pushed our track workout to Thursday this week to make sure the snow melted. Murphy did his own workout, while Klim and I ran a quick set of 800s. I felt a little concerned going in because during the warmup, while they weren't dead, my legs felt worn and fatigued. Since there's a good chance I will have to miss the UMD home meet at the end of the month, and I wouldn't be racing on the track much more than that, I opted for flats over spikes.

It was definitely a tough effort, but it went smoothly enough that Klim and I traded pacing duties. We also managed to hit negative splits: an important indicator that this was a controlled effort. 

We didn't set any concrete targets for the workout. I only knew that I'd want to finish with one under 2:20 and that I wanted to negative split to get there.

Splits: 2:25, 2:23, 2:20, 2:19, 2:18, 2:17

March 4

AM: 11 miles easy/moderate, treadmill

PM: gym

I got on the ol' hamster wheel and watched Sportcenter this morning instead of running outside. I didn't feel like dodging cars and tiptoeing around ice this morning. 

After work, I made it back to the gym for the first time in a while. It showed. My arms are pretty tired right now.

March 3

AM: 50:00 progression run, treadmill, 11 miles total

PM: 5 miles easy

Icy roads around here are a pain, but the treadmill is an OK backup plan, especially for tempo work or progression runs. That's exactly what I did this morning. After warming up in the neighborhood, I jumped on the treadmill at the gym. I spent the first 20:00 working down to 6:00 pace (the maximum speed, alas), and then gradually increased the incline the rest of the time. The last 10 minutes were definitely tough.

After work, aside from getting spooked by a herd of deer sitting in someone's yard, I ran a fairly uneventful shake-out run. 

March 2

AM: 9 miles easy

Very frustrated with work right now.

March 1 (102 miles/week)

AM: 16 miles easy/moderate

PM: yoga

We ran a new route from the Chevy Chase Store, coming down the Capital Crescent through Georgetown and then back up Connecticut Ave and Rock Creek Park. I felt decent, albeit with tight hamstrings from yesterday. An evening yoga class helped fix some of that.

Next week should be another higher mileage week, after which I plan to take a recovery week and gradually bring down my mileage once the real racin' starts.