After Further Review

Monday, May 4
a.m. 38 min Trail
5.0M (5.0)

p.m. 60 min Trail
8.1M (13.1)

Tuesday, May 5
a.m. 49 min Road
7M (20.1)

p.m. 70 min Road + 5xstrides
10.2M (30.3)

Wednesday, May 6
a.m. 33 min Road
5.0M (35.3)

p.m. 6x1k, 2:00 min rec, 3 mi wu/cd
3:00.3, 3:02.6, 3:03.1, 3:02.0, 3:02.7, 2:57.2 (3:01.3 avg)
10M (45.3)

Thursday, May 7
a.m. 48 min Road
7.0M (52.3)

p.m. 64 min Road + 6xHill Sprints
10.0M (62.3)

Friday, May 8
a.m. 35 min Road
5.1M (67.4)

p.m. 2x3M, 800m rec, 2M wu/2M cd + 4xstrides
15:35.6 (5:11.7, 5:13.7, 5:10.1)
15:20.5 (5:12.1, 5:05.2, 5:03.2)
10.0M (77.4)

Saturday, May 9
a.m. 2:08 Road
20.0M (97.4)

Sunday, May 10
a.m. 66:30 Road
10.0M (107.4)

Total Miles Week: 107.4
Total Miles Year: 1430.4

Monday I got out on trails for the first time this spring. I took it pretty easy for a day after a marathon, but I forgot how tough an hour on trails can be. I'm sure it will just take some time to adjust, but I won't really get after that until post-Grandmas. For now it serves as a nice break here and there.

The legs were a little heavy post-marathon Monday and Tuesday, but by Wednesday I would say I was back and ready to hit the hard stuff again. I intended to do 8x1k, but after getting out at 3:00 for the first repeat, I could not find the correct pace (3:03-3:04). After #5, I had a feeling that attempting 8 repeats would be too much. Still this was an improvement over the workout I did three weeks ago (3:01 avg versus 3:03 avg). Try again next week I suppose.

I was initially happy with Friday's workout, but after reconsidering I came to the conclusion that I felt TOO good and should have backed off a bit on #2 and added a #3. I didn't feel like I was pushing it though, my legs just seemed to slip into the pace. Again, try again next week.

Hometown Run

Monday, April 27
a.m. 47 min Road + 5xstrides
6.6M (6.6)

p.m. 74 min Road + 6xhill sprints
11.0M (17.6)

Tuesday, April 28
a.m. 48:30 Road
7M (24.6)

p.m. 4x1 Mile, 3:15 rec, 3M wu/cd
4:53.5, 4:53.7, 4:50.7, 4:45.0
10M (34.6)

Wednesday, April 29
p.m. 2:12 Road
20.7 (55.3)

Thursday, April 30
a.m. 37:30 Road
5.2M (60.5)

p.m. 69 min Road + 5xstrides
10.3 (70.8)

Friday, May 1
a.m. 35:30 Road
5.1 (75.9)

p.m. 3x2M, 430m Rec, 2M wu/2M cd+4 strides
10:27.6, 10:24.6, 10:22.5 (10:24.9 avg) windy
10M (85.9)

Saturday, May 2
a.m. 39 min Road
5.7M (91.6)

Sunday, May 3
a.m. 2:34:03 marathon/workout, 1st
Eau Claire Marathon
1:19:16/1:14:47
26.2 (117.8)

Total Week Miles: 117.8
Total Year Miles: 1323.0

Another solid week that showed a lot of progress. The mile repeats on Tuesday were hard, but manageable. Its been a year and a half since I've run that kind of pace in workouts. Wednesday was not intended to be that long of a day, but I zigged when I should have zagged out on the country roads so 16 miles turned into 20. And Friday's workout was really encouraging because I remained relaxed during the intervals and recovered very well during the short rests. The pace and effort were just right despite the gale force crosswind I was bucking.

After the workout Friday, Katie and I hopped in the car and drove down to Eau Claire for the weekend. Sunday was the Eau Claire Marathon, the first marathon in EC since the mid-80's. I had originally signed up in November with the intention of peaking for this race after a shorter buildup. At that time I was a little more pessimistic about what kind of shape I could get into by the spring. I thought Eau Claire would be lower key with lower expectations.

As the spring progressed, my workouts revealed that I'm stronger than I anticipated, so in March I decided to go for broke at Grandmas where there would be a faster field - but also more in the way of goals/expectations. However, being from Eau Claire originally, I still wanted to be a part of the marathon this weekend, so I decided to run it as a long run/workout, with pace depending on how I felt. I figured at the Mad City 50k I ran through 26.2 miles right around 2:38 and that had felt pretty easy. Friend, former roommate and coworker, Tony was running as well with approximately the same plan so it felt kind of like a Sunday long run, with water stops.

Of course Tony has never been good at conservative pacing and I acted as enabler for much of the race. The agreed upon 6:10-6:15 pace never materialized as we ran mostly 6:00s, give or take for the first half of the race (1:19:16). The course was set up very well. There were some roads closed to traffic and it was fairly light on the rest. Temps were perfect for about 2 hours, but the last stretch the temps got a little toasty....along with the pace.

Around mile 17 we met back up with the half-marathoners and Tony got a little carried away with the pace. I believe there was a progression from 17-20 of 5:51, 5:42, 5:35, 5:30...and that was just me. By that point Tony was a good 50 meters ahead of me. I wasn't in severe distress, but I was a little wary of going below 5:30/mile as that is what I'm considering the outer fringe of my goal marathon pace. Tony stayed out front until mile 24 when the heavy pace started to take a toll. He hung on much better than I expected given how hard he had been running the last hour. I managed to stay strong until the final hill back into Carson Park, which is just ridiculous for that point in a marathon. Still I managed approximately 6:00 pace up and over and then enjoyed the last ~.2 miles into the finish line.

So many positives came out of the race. I ran a controlled effort, but still managed my goal marathon pace for much of the last 10 miles. I wasn't sore or beat up at all. I think I actually felt a little worse after last Saturday's workout. Even so, I might consider pushing this coming Tuesday's intervals to Wednesday and cut out Thursdays workout. I'll wait and see how I feel. There is still a ways to go until Grandmas.