SOS: Week 6

MERRY Christmas!! Since it's Christmas eve (and Monday), it seemed like a good day to turn my insides inside-out on the track for week 6 of my SOS track workouts. Being that I am home for the holiday, I am in Colorado Springs where I had to contend with even higher altitude than normal (~6,300ft), so I wasn't sure how that'd affect my times. Here's the workout:

4 x 1,200m @ 4:00 w/400m jog recovery

3:52, 4:02, 4:02, 4:05

(avg 4:00)

I was able to get on the track at midday thanks to the holiday and was pleased to have great temps (~40 deg F) and an entire workout in daylight! I've been starting workouts by not checking splits on the first interval and just going by feel. Unfortunately, for the 2nd, or 3rd, week in a row I have ended up hammering the first interval and then not being able to hang on to the correct pace for the remaining intervals. This week was no different. Needless to say, next week I'll take a different approach and monitor splits on ALL intervals to assure I don't go too hard the first time out. Regardless of that, today I'm feeling pretty good about my splits since last week was a hard one and I am at a higher altitude. I'm really starting to look forward to seeing what this fitness will produce come March! 

For now, it's time to relax, eat too much and enjoy my day off of running (which just happens to be Christmas!) with the family. I hope that anyone reading this is also excited about racing in the New Year and that you all have a great holiday! Happy Training! 

PS: Broke out my new flats today for the first time on the track. Brooks T-7's in 'nightlife' colors. Loved them! That curved last just makes it feel like you're flying! 

And...Another One Down...

What a week! With Denver's first winter storm hitting town, some work travel and, of course, last minute preparations for the holidays, it made for a busy week! I had hoped to get a couple of updates on here throughout the week, but instead, here I am doing another 'week in review' type of post.

To summarize, it was a pretty good week, running-wise. On last Sunday's run, I don't know if I was tired or what, but it seems that my running form had broken down a bit, leaving me with a fairly sore right VMO by Sunday night. If you were reading during my San Antonio race-prep, you'll recall that it was both my right and left VMO's that gave me the major issues that time around, so I was definitely a little worried heading into Monday nights track workout. Luckily, it wasn't anything to worry too much about this time around and by Wednesday the pain was all but gone. It's great what some time with the Ultrasound machine and some proactive strengthening exercises can do!

As always, this week was made up of three key workouts and a lot of easy miles. The workouts went like this:

Monday: 

5 x 1,000m on 3:20 (400m jog recovery) 

3:20, 3:20, 3:23, 3:24, 3:24 

11 Pushups (1 for every second off pace that I was)

temp: 28 degrees, light winds, daylight for 4 of 5 of the intervals.

Felt good overall, but was definitely having to push hard in the last 200m or so to try and hold pace.

I was supposed to have done my Tempo run on Wednesday, but due to the winter weather and high winds, I opted to push it till Thursday. 

Thursday: 

6-Mile Tempo run at 6:06 pace

5:52, 5:57, 6:01, 6:05, 6:07, 6:08 

6:02/mi avg pace

temp: 42 degrees with 10-15mph winds 

I did this one on the Highline Canal trail again. Trail had some snow/ice on it (more in certain miles than others) and this time I was able to get the whole run in, in the daylight.

As you can tell, it went better than last week, but I am still struggling to lock in what 6:06 pace feels like. This was the last week of 6-mile tempos... next 3 weeks are 7-miles. 

Saturday: 

"Long" run (12 miles @ moderate/aerobic long run pace (i.e. 6:40/mi pace)

averaged 6:42/mile pace throughout

My legs were still feeling pretty trashed from Thursday nights effort at the start of this run. So, I spent the first two miles warming up and building to pace. The next 4 miles I ran a little quick, ending up in the 6:30-35 range before settling into 6:40-45 range. Last mile I slowed it down to about 7:05 pace to cool down. Overall for the run I ended with a 6:42 average. Even though the pace is only about 25-30 seconds per mile faster than my regular training pace, I def felt it. 

On Sunday morning after this week, and especially Saturday's long run, my legs were toast. I cruised through an easy 6-miles at about 7:25 pace to end out the weeks volume at just shy of 50 miles.

The Hanson's book says that it takes 10 days for any of the adaptations/improvements from a workout to occur in your body. That said, some of the work that I was putting in two weeks ago is finally starting to show itself, and I am certainly aware of it on some of these runs. The tempo stuff is getting a little easier, week by week, but these track workouts are still tough. With the way my legs currently feel (full of lactic acid!), tomorrow's track workout is gonna be tough! If you're training too, I hope that yours is also going well. Happy Holidays! 

Week 4 in Review.

Week 4 is in the books! After Monday nights track workout, I enjoyed my rest day on Tuesday and just did some weight/core training rather than a run. Wednesday, however, was my next shot at the weekly tempo-run. As I mentioned, due to poor planning, last week's was a disaster, so I was happy to go to an old familiar trail (Highline Canal Trail - which I used for much of my training during my 1st marathon effort, in 2011) to try to lay down a better effort.
The goal was 6-miles at 6:06 pace. This trail is packed gravel with rolling terrain. I got on it a little late again and only was in the light of day for the first 1.5 miles of the tempo, but this week, with my new headlamp, I was able to stay a little more consistent, producing the following splits:

5:56, 6:06, 5:56 out

6:11, 6:09, 6:12 back

6:05/mi average

I'm finding that the issue I am having mostly is my lack of endurance. It's just going to take some time to get that built back up. 

Ahh well, after that workout, the rest of this week was all easy running. 6 on Thurs, 8 on Fri, 8 on Sat and a final, easy, 6 today. All of these went fine, but I did go up to the mountains on Friday afternoon and had to do my 8-miles at 9200ft and 25 degree temps. It was pretty cold as the wind was blowing off of lake Dillon, and it certainly kicked my lungs' ass, but I was happy to get thru it at under 7:25 pace. 

Hard to believe that raceday is just 3 months from tomorrow! I'm excited, but have LOTS of work to do between now and then. Starting with tomorrow's track workout... Happy Training everyone! 

SOS Workout - Week 4

Week 4. Unbelievable. Time is flying and the workouts keep getting tougher! After wrapping up last week at 45-miles, my legs are feeling the mileage a little bit, but after a solid hour at the Denver Fuelary spending some time in the NormaTec boots and the ice bath on Sunday afternoon, they were feeling pretty good as the time approached for my next SOS 'speed' workout on the track.

Luckily, the weather in Denver has been holding out, so I once again headed to the track with footing clear of snow and ice. The conditions on Monday night were clear, cold (35 degrees) and windy, but at least I wasn't caught shoveling out lane 1!

I do have to say, it's been a long time since I felt nervous about an approaching track workout. This program definitely has me feeling that way though. Thinking about it while on the track, I think it's because of the pace that this speed work is to be performed at. It just feels SO fast to me! 5:20-pace at altitude is much faster than I typically run and yet every week my intervals are getting longer and holding onto the pace seems more and more impossible.

This week, however, the impossible happened again and somehow I was able to get 'er done!
Here's the workout:

6 x 800m on 2:40 w/400m jog recovery

2:33

2:40

2:38

2:40

2:42

2:40

11 pushups

Obviously on the first interval I didn't check splits and blew it out, but I learned that lesson quick and started adjusting at 600m, as needed, to try to lock in the pace. Not sure how I'm ever going to get through mile repeats at this pace but, for now, I'll just take it one week at a time. Next week is 5 x 1000m.If you're reading out there in internet-land and are training for something, that's the best advice I could give you too... just take each workout one step at a time. After all, they are the building blocks that take us to the higher levels of fitness that will get us through the longer, harder, workouts to come. Happy Training!

Poor Planning = Poor Performance

Have some catching up to do on here since I've had a pretty busy week of work and travel. After last weeks SOS 'speed' workout on Monday, I thoroughly enjoyed my day off on Tuesday although I did have to travel or work. On my way back to Denver (this was a driving trip), Ifinished my last appointment at about 4:30pm and wanted to hurry to try to get in as much of my first tempo run as possible before it got dark. Unfortunately, I was still out in rolling farm land and although I was greeted by this amazing view at the start of my warmup, it certainly wouldn't last...

I did about a 1.75mi warmup before doing some dynamic stretching and drills and getting into it. Unfortunately, by that point, I literally made all of about a quarter mile before the sun set behind the mountains leaving me in rapidly fading light on uneven, loose gravel farm roads. Whatever though, at this point I was commited...

The goals was a 6-mile tempo at 6:06 mile-pace. I didn't come anywhere close:

6:20, 6:20, 6:27, 6:18, 6:15, 6:18 (6:19 avg pace)

Almost the entire workout was run in the pitch black (no I didn't have a headlamp) on extremely hilly, loose gravel roads at 6,000ft elevation. That's about all that I can take any solace in from the shitty result of this workout. Lesson learned though: In the future, regardless of work, I will plan better for where, and when, I will be doing these workouts. In the Hanson's plan, SOS workouts are the focus of the week and when you come up short on one of them IT SUCKS! 

The rest of the week was fine with some easy runs and a long run of a whopping 10-miles on Saturday. Ended out the week at 45-miles and am feeling pretty good. Next week I'll be making better decisions when it comes to planning and I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

SOS Workout, Week 3

Week 3 has just begun and I got lucky and once again had good weather for my first SOS workout of the week... about 45 degrees with lite wind. Unfortunately, it is now dark extremely early here and due to bad timing I got to the track well before the lights kicked on at 5:45pm. That said, my first 5 intervals were run in almost pitch black... ahh well, helps you get used to adversity, right?!

Tonight's workout was 8 x 600m on 1:59 (5:20 mile pace) w/ 400m jog recovery. I don't check splits while doing these and simply go by feel. That said, I went pretty well after I found my rythm. Still ended up doing pushups though!

8 x 600m on 1:59

2:01, 2:01, 2:00, 1:58

1:58, 1:58, 1:59, 2:01

10 pushups

Felt pretty good throughout and tomorrow is my day off of running, before Wednesdays 6-mile tempo run... first tempo since August, ouch, this could hurt! 

Happy training to all of you out there!

In Full Effect!

That's right, training is on! Just getting started in my third week of the 'Hanson's Marathon Method' advanced Training program and although it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride so far, I feel like I am starting to settle in. Let me explain; The first week of the program isn't even a full week. It's a low mileage week of easy running with no workouts. Unfortunately for me, my timing was bad and that first week was also Thanksgiving week. I spent that week in Beaver Creek, CO, so I got to do the miles on a treadmill at almost 10,000ft elevation. While I was there I must have caught a cold too because heading into the second week I had developed a pretty bad sore throat. After a 6-mile easy effort on Monday night, I already had to change up 'the plan' and took two days completely off. By Thursday I was starting to feel a little better though and decided to give my first track workout a go.

The dumbed-down way the Hanson's plan works is through the 'overload principle', "The idea that regular exposure to a specific exercise will enhance certain physiological functions and therefore induce a training response." Their 18-week program is made up of 9-weeks of Speed Training followed by 7 weeks of Strength Training and a 2-week Taper. Each week is comprised of what they have dubbed Something of Substance (SOS) Workouts (Speed, Strength, Tempo and/or Long runs) as well as Easy Mileage. In the first stage, Speed Training, SOS workouts begin in the second week with one speed workout and no tempo run that week. The workout for this week was 12 x 400m at a pace that you can identify in their tables, based on recent race times, race goal times, etc.

Much like in the Jack Daniels program, there still leaves one void that has gone unaddressed and is likely a stumbling point for anyone who, like me, is actually doing their training at altitude. Each program addresses the benefits of training at altitude, but NOONE has yet addressed how to adjust your training paces if you are training at say, 5200-5300ft and planning to run a target time that will take place at sea-level. The Hansons Marathon Method just started a Facebook page, which will be moderated by one of the authors of the book, Luke Humphrey, so I hope to ask him there and get a response later. For now, since my goal race time is about 2:37:30 and the only paces given with splits in the book are 2:35 and 2:40, I have simply decided to follow the paces for 2:40 and hope that if I can hit those, I can run at least my target time when at sea-level. The only problem is... that's still DAMN hard for me at this elevation!

Back to last week... the workout was to be 12x400m on 1:20 (5:20 mile pace) w/400m jog recovery. As a funny sidenote, Mr. Humphrey mentions that either as truth, or rumor, it has been said that the Hanson's runners used to have to do pushups for every second that they were off of their goal-interval. I decided to do this too. :)

12x 400m (1:20 goal pace)

1 - 1:20, 1:22, 1:22, 1:20

2 - 1:18, 1:19, 1:20, 1:22

3 - 1:20, 1:22, 1:21, 1:20

12 pushups total

Given the still lingering sickness, I was pleased with this effort, but a little shocked at how tough that pace was to hold. These workouts will keep getting longer until I reach 3 x 1600m at the same pace in weeks 7 and 9. Hopefully my body will adapt and I can swing it. 

The rest of the week wrapped up without any surprises and I finished week 2 out with 36 miles of running in 5 days of running.