Episode 29: Runnin' Against The Wind

Episode 25: Bringing Tempos Back

Sub-16 at the Chilly Chili 5k

It was a good day for the Mackenzie household, as Natalie and I both took home the gold at the Chilly Chili 5k this morning. I ran 15:57, almost a full minute faster than last year's 16:52.

Race conditions were considerably better than last year, with the temperature around 37 degrees and the wind blowing at a tolerable level. (Last year, temperatures were reportedly negative, and who can forget my famous quote: "Today was probably a mittens day"?)

I successfully dipped below the 16-minute barrier for the first time in...well...as long as I can remember for a legitimate 5k. Natalie, who was initially uncertain about whether she even wanted to run, somehow turned her sandbagging attitude into a win margin of over a minute. We'll be using our Fleet Feet gift cards on some new shoes in the next few weeks.

As far as a race recap is concerned, there's not much to report splits-wise, because I purposely went sans-watch. The first mile felt a bit quick, as Kevin Collins pushed the pace from the front, about twenty feet ahead of the chase pack. I caught Kevin at about 1.25 miles after cresting the main hill in the race. From that point, I was in the lead, but the constant pattering of footsteps behind me had me running scared for the rest of the run.

A public shout-out to the organizers and sponsors of this great event. My only complaint was that there was only one vegetarian chili at the post-race cook-off. (It rightfully won the People's Choice Award.)

See pics of the race here.

Episode 19: Attack of the Falcon

Episode 18: This guy ran 15:02!?

Splits From Yesterday's Workout

Steve's doing his OB-GYN rotation but promised to get the workout video up by Friday. I'm guessing we'll do a double episode this week, or rather a two-in-one.

The workout at OCC yesterday went well. Splits and rest were as follows:

4:48 mile, 400 jog,
2:17 800, 400 jog,
2:18 800, 400 jog,
65 400, 200 jog,
64 400, 200 jog,
64 400, 200 jog,
61 400

You'll note, based on your knowledge of my extreme speed, that we neglected instructions to go "all out" on the last 400. Truth be told, 61 felt fast but not nearly maximal effort, which is a good thing if not a bit surprising. We really haven't done any true speed work whatsoever.

On the mileage front, things are progressing well for Boston. Last week was 80; this week should be slightly higher. Tomorrow is a progression run and some economy work in the afternoon. I'll be racing on Sunday at the Chilly Chili 5k, looking for the win and a time in the neighborhood of 16-low.

Giddyup.

Episode 17: You Down with OCC?

First OCC Workout

Repeat quarters in lane 5. 45 seconds between reps, lap jog between sets. Video will be up tonight.

Splits:

74.9, 73.3, 73.2, 72.5 ///
72.9, 72.2, 72.7, 71.7 ///
71.9, 71.2, 71.9, 70.2 ///
70.6, 70.2, 69.6, 69.8

Episode 16: The Dog Days are Over

Switcheroo

Last night we did the 3 x 2 mile workout rather than the 400's. My computer has been marooned at work as I've been running back and forth recently, but I'll try to get the video together and up tomorrow morning if I can get in early.

The workout went very well, I think. Splits were 10:24, 10:24, and 11:09 if memory serves. We did an out and back course with a tail wind / head wind that probably subtracted / added 10 seconds per mile.

Tomorrow evening, we'll be on the new OCC track. Pinky swear.

6:44 pm update: Disregard sentence above regarding the video. I stayed late just for you.

Episode 15: Rick's ukulele workout

Solo Track Tempo

With Sam out of town I was forced to do my tempo workout alone tonight. I ran 20:00 at Nottingham Track. It was dark and windy, but amazingly there was no snow on the ground (a rarity for Syracuse this time of year). I cruised through 14.5 laps in 20:00, which is 5:28 pace. I wish I had felt that great for our 3k on Friday, but it was reassuring to run so effortlessly. I'm pretty sure I could not have done this workout 2 months ago. Sam and I plan to complete and video-tape one of the workout submissions on Thursday. See you then.
By the way 60 miles last week.

Going to the well...and coming up dry

I'll preface this post by noting it has been 6 years since I ran a 3k and 6 years since I ran on an indoor track at all. I've forgotten 3 things: 1) how you get that annoying indoor track cough after the race, 2) how much non-banked tracks suck, 3) how to go to the well. I'll explain...

It was a disappointing night for the Sub15 duo at Cornell's Southern Tier Collegiate Invitational. A 3k time trial which we expected to land us firmly under 9:00 paid off no such dividends. Sam set a good pace through 1200meters (splitting 35's and 36's), but the wheels began to come off from there and we proceeded to drop to 37s and 38s. The mile was 4:52 and I realized just before 2k we needed to shift gears to have a shot at 9:00. I took over the pace-setting from Sam and was able to bring the splits back to 35's and 36's, but the damage was already done. I rolled in at 9:04, and Sam clocked a 9:15.

I will let Sam recount his feelings about the results in his own post, but I do believe both of us are feeling frustrated. There was some grumbling on the cool down about re-learning how to race. Sam referred to it as "Going to the well". I like this metaphor. I think it describes what we have to do in the coming weeks. Its time to relearn how to dig down when things start to hurt and muster a gutsy last 1,000meters. This is something I tried to do tonight actually, but when your middle 1k sucks it doesn't matter a whole heck of a lot what you do for the last 5 laps. On a positive note, I felt that I had the stamina to hold this pace for another 1k. What is lacking is the extra gear to go 8:50. Hopefully we'll develop it in the next month.

If anyone has some good workouts they think we could use after this dismal performance we'd love to hear 'em.

1/10/11 Edits (Sam's Notes): After the race, Natalie and I drove down to New York City for a rejuvenating weekend of seeing friends and, for me, doing some AMA and work-related activities. After the dismal 3k, I appreciated the change of scenery, particularly where running was concerned. Saturday I did a short run over the Brooklyn Bridge, and Sunday I did 16 miles--mostly loops around Prospect Park.

As for the race, there's not much good to say about it besides the fact that I don't feel like I'm that out of shape. I was expecting to run about 8:50-8:55, and obviously that didn't happen, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was more a result of not being used to the whole indoor track environment (I've run zero laps on an indoor track) and being way too focused on the number of laps we had left. Compounding the latter issue, I didn't have contacts in, so every time we came around the finish line, I was squinting at the clock. This is not the best way to run a race. Basically, I've moved on rather than looking at this race as an indictment of our lack of progress. Looking forward to doing something hard on Thursday.

71 miles last week for me.

Episode 14 - We Forgot to Eat Pancakes

Episode 13: Ryan O'Dell's Ultra Hill Run

Episode 12 - The Christmas Carol Pole Run

Episode 11: Mike G's 8x1000m

Episode 9: Pete's 30 minute tempo

Episode 8: Its a wonderful run 5k

Episode 7: Geoff Decker's Fartlek