Monday, May 27, 2019

Which way to Munich

So Al's Run 8k is mid-September.  This is the other race I've been consistently running for a period of time.  I must say that the past 5 years I have run the Glacial 50k in early October, so that has become a staple.  Al's run is a classic and also a team event.  I run for Hillrunner.com and if anything really enjoy seeing the guys.  In reality, it is the only time I see them during the year.  After the run is the big picnic up at Ryan's crib.  Good times!  Like most years I figure I'll get in Zulu shape and storm the Bastille, but rarely do...or can.  Last year was a comical 34:26 finish which is barely under 7 minutes a mile.  Like most years I aim to improve upon that.  But by how much?  I figure it has to be a stretch goal so as penned earlier I pulled out 31:30 which is about 6:20 per mile.

Now that doesn't sound fast, but let me assure you it is for me.  The year I ran 31:55 in 2015 I was training for the Lakefront Marathon and finished in 3:06:15 using the Beck program.  I was in good shape.  Maybe not 8k shape, but solid shape.  Now I have to turn back the clock and consider training that is able to work the speed, be somewhat entertaining, and not be a whole heck of a lot of miles.

I've been around a long time and one thing I have never done over any period of time is run with the gas down (with a slight pull back) on many of my weekly runs.  I was always interested in Ingrid Kristiansen's training because of the simplicity.  I can't go into it here, but I would like to at least mirror the elements I remember.  There are other legends out there who's training seemed fascinating to me like Jim Spivey and Eddie Eyestone, but if anything they give you ideas on workouts.

Let me first say that if you follow along with what I'm going to be doing it won't resemble any of these because of the necessary rest days and complete lack of speed or miles.  My basic plan (sorry I don't know all the correct training language) is to run 30-40 minutes about 8 times a week and have two other runs during the week around 1:15 - 2:00 range.  The 30-40 minute runs will hopefully be something like this; 2 as speed/tempo work, 4 as just under tempo, and 2 however I feel.  The other 2 runs be one as longer hard effort and an easier longish run.  That's pretty much it.  Of course I'm going to have to work up to this and hope to eventually have one run be telephone pole pick-ups, another as 6 x 3:20, and the other as a tempo of 2 - 6 miles.  Sure I'll adjust when necessary, but that's life.  This is hard for me to communicate (or do even), but try and stay on the high aerobic side (mildly uncomfortable) as opposed to be anaerobic more than I like.

Let's see what happens.  I might change next week, but this is the plan for now.  At this point how many more aerobic runs can I do?  Here is last week:

Mon = Off
Tue = 8k in 45:48 (5:43) Eagan, MN
Wed = Off
Thu = 10.8k in 1:15:41 (7:00) Men. Park w/ Dewey and Tim
Fri = 6.4k in 39:00 (6:06) Home
Sat = 10.9k in 1:15:36 (6:56) Men. Park w/ Tim
Sun = 8k in 40:13 w/ 6k in 28:09 (4:41.5) Bugline. That's only 7:33 pace!
Total = 44.1k

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

The big dance of 2019 has came and went.  I can state that I did finish.  It was a great day to run and the event was as usual top notch.

- Dewey on crew again was great.  My brother Bryan and sister Brenda came out from PA to take the event in.  They had a great time and thanks to Dewey for making the whole day come together.
- I had a bad patch from 22 to 28, but did recover well enough to get through Duffin (30.5 miles) in 5:09.
- Ran up Star Mountain okay, but about 2 miles past that the bottom came out.  The last 10 miles was particularly difficult as the last 9.7 took me 2:37 to finish.  Sixteen plus minutes a mile is slow, especially since I ran the last 2 miles a 12 minute pace.
- The take away's are this; not enough weekly base miles, too much electrolyte (needed 50% water, not 0%) the first 35 miles, and I need to start walking more hills.
- I finished my 18th in 9:44:44.  That is my second slowest out there.  Too early to pontificate about 2020.

Al's Run 8k is 9/14.  I'll be 58 by then.  I've sorta decided to try and work on running faster for a change.  There is time to retool.  There is no science or feel behind the 31:30 shape I'd like to achieve, other than it is a high end goal.  That's right about 6:20 mile pace for 8k.  That would also work out to sub 20:00 pace for a 5k.  Not sure I can come close to cashing that check, but the idea of not shooting for under 6:30 pace seems hardly worth trying.  The training projector will have elements (in my mind) of Ingrid Kristiansen based training I read about years ago.  I have none of the info, just a compromised mind of what appealed to me years ago.  Obviously I can't train the way she did, but I can pursue the 3-4 things my mind retained that I liked...plus some really slow recovery running.

The thing that sticks in my mind from last year at Al's is that I went through the first mile which is largely downhill in 7:05.  I just couldn't crack up the oxygen, or get any flow going.  Old people need sub race pace work as well.  Yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full!