Like Reading Tea Leaves

Monday, May 18
Off

Tuesday, May 19
a.m. 45 min Road
6.5M (6.5)

p.m. 69 min Road + 6xHill Sprints
10.3M (16.8)

Wednesday, May 20
a.m. 34:30 Road
5.0M (23.8)

p.m. 2x1M, 3 min rec, 3M wu/2M cd
4:51.2, 4:58.9
7.0M (30.8)

Thursday, May 21
a.m. 49 min Road
7.3M (38.1)

p.m. 69 min Trail
9.0M (47.1)

Friday, May 22
a.m. 45 min Road
6.5M (53.6)

p.m. 16x400, 30 sec rec, 3M wu/cd
70.6 avg, 62.7 last
10.0M (63.6)

Saturday, May 23
a.m. 62 min Road
10.0M (73.6)

Sunday, May 24
a.m. 36 min Road + 6xstrides
5.5M (79.1)

Total Miles Week: 79.1
Total Miles Year: 1623.0

The week turned out to be rough "psyche" wise culminating with a sub par race this past Monday. On Wednesday I experienced pretty much what every runner in the upper midwest did - heat and wind. I did my morning run in 37 degrees wearing pants, a long sleeve and a winter hat. When I went out to do 5x1 mile in the afternoon it was 90 degrees and 20-30mph winds out of the south. Then I compounded my mistake by overcompensating and running 2:19 for the first 800m of the first interval - pretty much putting me in the hurt locker for good. Fail.

I came back Friday and had a solid, if unspectacular workout. I had a hard time finding a good rhythm as the pace jumped around a bit - 73 one interval, 70 the next. It felt good to finish in 62 though.

Of course I thought with that fast finish and a couple easy days of running in Minneapolis I would come into Monday's Brian Kraft 5k ready for a solid race. I thought 14:50-15:00 was reasonable given my recent workouts and just generally how I've been feeling. I even felt, given the right conditions and competition (i.e. some people to suck off of) I could go faster. What I got was a very disappointing 15:17 that saw me split 4:46:XX, 4:48:XX, 5:10:ughhhhhhhhh.....

I've always been the "long guy" dropping down to the 5k and have had some reasonable success (14:36 PR). Over the years most of my 5ks have played out the same - 1st mile = shock, 2nd mile = slightly less shock, 3rd mile = get in the groove and pass people. This time around it played out very differently. I led most of the first 1.5 miles feeling very strong and smooth. Then, as we crossed Cedar Ave the second time, things started to get a little rough. No worries I thought, I'll just hang on to the back of this lead pack (running 8 strong at that point, very fast this year) and get pulled in. Maybe I won't pass anyone, but I'll hang around. Well, that plan went up in smoke as the pack steadily pulled away over the last mile and I found myself floundering. Once I lost contact, I have to admit the mental struggle overtook me and I became focused on "just finishing". Weak sauce as Andy would say.

I'm oscillating between frustration, worry and indifference about my race. Initially I was embarrassed because I got absolutely routed over the last mile after leading early on. Then my thoughts turned to Grandmas and what this "meant", but quickly realized that I have run some fast shorter races just before running slow Grandmas. Obviously the 5k as a predictor of marathon success doesn't work in general. In the end I think the situation came down to a lack of race-readiness. I've only one really balls-out race (Human Race in March) since taking most of last year off. Workouts have been going well, but the mental aspect of racing is impossible to tap into in a workout. So in the end I'm going to put the 2009 Brian Kraft 5k behind me, get back to my marathon workouts and hope for the best (and a NE tailwind) at Grandmas. I feel like I've set the bar pretty low for myself at Grandmas so there is no need to push the envelope at this point.

I also want to put in a plug for Eric's new website: 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon It is a much needed information/networking resource for those of us weekend warriors reaching for glory. Pass the word.

Also - we're pregnant (due November 9). And I got into Grad school. So life will be changing drastically this fall. Of course one of my first thoughts was how will this affecting training (much to the chagrin of my very loving, patient, and supportive wife) and I've come to the conclusion that not much will change. Doubles will mostly become singles, but since I've run 90-100+ miles a week for the past decade, I'm probably pretty peaked out on mileage anyway. I figure if I can get in one long run, one long workout and another shorter workout each week I'll be fine doing 45-75 minutes the other days. Honestly, I could probably benefit from the rest. We'll see how that pans out when sleep deprivation sets in.