Training Log Archive: Ari-o

Late April is hit-and-miss for fast stadium times, but this morning was cool enough that I decided to go for it. It stopped raining during the workout (too bad, as I got warm) so I spotted a water bottle at section 25. The goal was to run down the big steps. Two reasons: 1) it seems to be faster and 2) it's good Sisters training.

I went fast, too. I felt good for the first third of the stadium, on about a 20-minute stadium pace. That wasn't about to last but I came through the turn on about a 23 minute pace, well under my PR. I had to run with my water bottle a bit to drink and cool down, and stopped putting time on people like Bojan and even got passed by Smooth. But that was okay, race your own race. I found some push near the end and a PR was within reach. I was able to sprint up the last couple of sections (the last especially) with full lactate tunnel vision and hit the wall at 23:22, a 45-second PR.

After whittling 9 seconds off in two years, I took 48 seconds off in five months. Progression (all times here):

6/6/12 32:00
7/25/12 29:32 -2:28
7/31/13 28:32 -1:00
10/30/13 27:00 -1:32
4/30/14 25:35 -1:25
10/29/14 24:19 -1:14
11/30/16 24:10 -0:09
4/27/17 23:22 -0:48

Finally quit raining for O, but the course was a little bit … wet.

I went out pretty conservatively and made some small mistakes, but some good route choices as well. The most fun was going to 12, where we had to ford a knee-deep lake (my feet were already drenched) and then to find out there was an out-of-the-way but dry passage not far away. But it was marked as crossable (well, not even as water) so go for it. Felt like real O.

Goal was to win the last split, so I punched and sprinted and won it. And the race.

Sprint - Splits

Run in the rain over to the track for track.

Strides with Alex. Then she went home and no one else was there. There was a prescribed workout, but I didn't have my phone, so I made up my own. 5x800. Interstitials, too.

ran the first interval in 2:50, and felt pretty good running it, but pretty blah after. The next one was slower, 2:56. From that point I just didn't want to fall below 3. The next two were 2:55 and 2:53 and I was only running a final one if that one was below 3, which it was. Final split was 2:52. So okay.

Rain run over to Whole Paycheck.

Out for the 16 mi (but really more like 14 mi) version of the Goat Hill trail race. Beautiful, cool morning, easy drive except for every street being called School Street (seriously: I was supposed to go left on school street, but I went left on the wrong school street a mile before, and then there was another school street a mile later. #parallelerrors), and lots of cops on the Pike. Plenty of time to not warm up chat with some November Project types, and line up and go.

Started out easy, since, you know, 20 miles yesterday, but my legs felt fresh. I don't think my legs have ever felt fresh after 20 road miles, ever. The pace was super dialed back around the field and once in the woods I pushed it a little bit running alongside a dressed mostly in black long sleeves and tights (I was wearing a white CSU singlet and shorts). But I was not going to push hard, because this was a training run. I put some time on him up the hill, he took it back on the technical-ish downhill, and I was content to just have a nice run. But in the back of my mind was that someone wearing long-sleeved black clothing might not do so well in the sun. (Joey Kile, an NPer who came second, said "I just didn't want that guy to win because he looked like a crossfit guy and fuck that.")

Grabbed a cup of tailwind (not bad, like the took HEED and made it taste like not vomit!) at the feed, then in to a nice grinder of a hill up from for about two miles. The trails are twisty you can often see the people in front of you but have no idea how far ahead or behind they are unless they're on the same little squiggle. I was sometimes within visual distance of the leader and the guy in third (in a blue shirt, looked more like a runner) but clawed back the time on the first place guy on the hill. He was lagging, and I passed him and put on some time, but still mostly staying at L1. The guy in blue seemed content to stay with him, and by the time we were nearing the end of the loop I had put nearly a minute on them, much of it on beautiful tacky mountain bike downhill which was an absolute pleasure to run. In to the lap, grabbed two cups of feed, drank both, and out before they were in the arena.

(Side note: this would be very nice O terrain and a terrific arena. Some greenbriar, but lots of open woods and features.)

So I began the next lap in first, wanting to put time on those guys, because in my mind they were right behind me. Then the right side of my left foot started to blister up. Last week the Salomons gave me a toe blister so I used the trusty old La Sportivas and apparently they weren't that trusty and I need to put more bodyglide on my feet. Tightened the laces, which made it worse. Loosened them which made it bearable. But I was otherwise having a great run, so I figure I'd run through it. Walked a little on the uphill, and passed a lot of 8 milers who started about 5 minutes before I came through the lap.

Right before the feed was a woman who had fallen and was bloody on her head. I stopped to make sure she was okay, but there was a race official there helping already so I didn't feel the need to stay. I heard an ambulance a few minutes later, apparently she's okay. Luckily she fell 100 meters from the feed and right near a road. Put things in a bit of perspective.

So it was off to run figuring the guys behind me were still a minute or two behind. I wasn't really pushing, so the only way I'd have a lot of time is if they fell off pace. No way to know, especially with all the traffic on the course. I'd seen Ed before the feed, and focused on pushing through the climb and in to the downhill. Foot feeling not good, but not getting worse, so I kept on pushing at a manageable pace. Alex cheered for me at some point, and I figured if I had Alex to chase down, there was no way that I was going to get caught. Alas, she was probably several hundred yards ahead, so I just kept running.

Also, allow me to go on a rant: races with multiple laps and start times should not allow headphones. I said a lot of "passing on your left" and "passing on your right" and the only issues were the people bopping along to their own little song and couldn't hear until I yelled. This is dangerous. Have the race director say "look, I know some people like to listen to music but we have a lot of people on a narrow single track and with multiple courses you may get passed, so unfortunately we can not allow headphones to be worn." If people skip the race because of it, their loss.

Tweaked an ankle near the finish and slowed down a bit, pussyfooting down the hill and in to the arena for the sprint in. Got a GO TEAM GIGGLES cheer (because I wore a tiara, of course) and finished strong. Ate some pickles, food and other things, and waited for the guys behind me to come in. Joey Kile finished second. Negative splits. In jean shorts. The other guy came third, shirt of, looking pretty struggly; I put 12 minutes on him in the last 9 miles. The guy in blue was later than that, apparently he'd died hard. So I could have gone a lot slower, or taped my foot, and still won, but where is the fun in that?

Alex and I got our winner cookies and then I got behind some idiot from Connecticut who seemed to think the 30 mph speed limit meant 22, and then there was construction on the Pike so I took Route 9 which was maybe a couple minutes faster but who knows. But I ran fast!

(Alex's Attackpoint give her nearly the same elevation, in one lap. I am going to give myself some extra. Okay, now I counted Strava contours and got 439m, that sounds right-ish.)

C • Elevation 3

Feeling really good about training. 45 miles so far this week with 16+ programmed tomorrow. And 4 of the miles this week were 114 sections of the stadium, which is probably like running a half marathon distancewise. This may be the best distance shape I've ever been in. Four weeks until a marathon, with the following training schedule:

Next weekend: Undecided, probably lots of running
Weekend after: 7S-Billygoat Extravaganza
Weekend after: 50k Harriman
Weekend after: marathon

This is totally normal.

Long run day! Legs feeling better after Wednesday. Met some folks for a pre-Janji run at the Cottage Farm bridge, then ran out to Arsenal and back to Boston. Did an extra loop to get the even 10. Mostly in the high 7s, legs felt ducky, and 45˚ and drizzly is a perfect day to run.

Then the second bit! A run with Janji—maybe 50 people from their "pop-up" store, out around Castle Island and back. We ran through the Temple Place alley, which is pretty cool, and then six of us took off in a pack running low 7s. Goal was to feel good, no injuries, eat a goo, and negative split the last mile. This was achieved! We got back to Boylston and Berkeley and I took off, dodging cars on Comm Ave and still running the last mile in 6:44. Legs felt good. Didn't feel tired. Stretching commenced afterwards. Four weeks to go.

Stretching, bagels, core. Then pop-up fried chicken!

Back hills. Legs still pretty shot from Wednesday, so I mostly went slow at the start, not tackling 12 like Tom. They said 10 was a stretch goal and with 7 minutes left I was at 8. Time to negative split! First four miles (two hills per mile) were in the 9:00-9:10 range, last was 8:23.

Also it was cold and raining and I can barely believe I ran a marathon in this two years ago.

There's pink glitter inside my HRM under the battery cover. Gee I wonder how that got there. (Per Internet, I had to short out the sensor to get it to re-sync.)

So, oh, boy, my legs hurt from yesterday. Busy day today, went on a shakeout run and was able to run 8s, so that was okay.