May 25-31

May 25

3-mile dog jog w/ Tanner on CR 210

May 26

Track workout. Plyos, then 3 x flying 30s (no time, 3.94, 3.82 SB), followed by 3 x (100, 200) with two minutes rest between reps and four minutes between sets. The idea was to do the 100s all out, then do the 200s at goal 800 pace on short rest.

14.19, 13.94 SB, 14.47; 33.4, 32.9, 32.2. Much more encouraging than Sunday’s workout. I aspire to be able to do 200s @ or below 33 even on tired legs. 3-mile cooldown in 23:15 around town.

5.1 total.

May 27

2.86 easy w/ Tanner on CR 250

May 28

5 x 20-second max hill repeats on CR 210.

I’m looking to add a third day with speed into my routine. Three days at the track feels like too much, so I’m thinking I’ll do short max hills most weeks, assuming my body feels like it can handle the extra intensity.

56-minute aerobic run on CR 210 after the repeats. 7.68 total on the day.

Pikes Ascent was canceled today. No surprise there. This is now the third time I’ve signed up for the race, and I still have never lined up for it. I think I have six lifetime DNS’s and three of them are at the Pikes Ascent (although I’m not sure it’s a DNS if the race was cancelled).

I deferred to 2021. 4^th time’s the charm?

The crazy thing to me is that the Bolder Boulder, currently scheduled for Labor Day, hasn’t been canceled yet.

May 29

3 miles easy w Tanner

May 30

400, 300, 200, 400, 300, 200, 400, 200

76, 56, 34, 71, 55, 34, 70, 36. Two minutes of jogging between reps.

Really wanted to get that last quarter under 70, but I couldn’t quite get there. Did a similar workout 10 days ago with more reps slightly slower. Amazing how knocking 3-4 seconds off a quarter can make a controlled workout go to failure. Legs were filled with lead on the back straightaway. Might have been feeling the Thursday hills in the legs, but that’s probably just an excuse.

Not a great workout, but I’m putting in the work. 2400 meters, most of it under 5-minute pace. 30-minute cooldown for 6.3 total miles.

One year ago, I took my first baby steps of running after a nearly four-month hiatus from a compound leg fracture.

Here’s the log entry: “Six minutes of walking, five minutes of jogging, five minutes of walking, five minutes of jogging. 1.31 miles total, with a max pace of 11:26 per mile.”

Against that backdrop, today’s workout looks feels more positive.

May 31

7 miles on the Colorado Trail starting at Angel of Shavano past Blank’s Cabin toward Raspberry Gulch. 81:34. Beautiful, and I pretty much had the trail to myself. Saw one dude jogging with poles and a button-up sleeveless flannel shirt. Made me snicker a bit. I think I'm progressing farther and farther away from whatever is trendy in the ultrarunning world. 

May 18-24

May 18
3 miles easy on CR 210

May 19
Track workout.

4 x (400, 300, 200) w/ 2 minutes between reps and 4 minutes between sets.
74, 75, 73, 74; 57, 56, 56, 56; 33.9, 35.9, 35.4, 32.47.

Solid workout. Not easy. After the second 400, I thought that I might not be able to finish the workout, but I made it through. 3600 meters worth of running @ or faster than 5-minute pace.

May 20, 2020
2 miles easy w/ Tanner on CR 250. Construction, wind cyclones, off-leash roaming dogs, cow shit all over the road. Today was a total dog-run failure.

May 21
9.33 miles in 74:12 from Mears Junction toward Marshall Pass. 42 minutes up, 32:12 down. Solid run on a beautiful day.

May 22
3.2 miles easy w/ Tanner

May 23
Ran aerobic instead of at the track since there was a gathering at the high school in the morning. 7 miles on CR 220 with some surges. 56:10. Way slower than last week with similar intensity. Just felt sluggish.

May 24
Track workout. Plyos, then 3 x flying 30s (no time, 3.94, 3.97), 300 in 49 flat. 3 x 200 in 33.2, 33.4, 34.2, then cut the workout short.

Was encouraged at the start of the workout with my first flying 30s under 4 seconds this year. But then the 300 was slow and the 200s felt super slow. Bad day.

--

Weird week. Good runs on Tuesday and Thursday. Bad days on Saturday and Sunday. No explanation or excuse for the latter. Just hoping it's not the start of a trend. 

5/11-5-17

May 11
3.1 miles easy on CR 210 w/ Tanner

May 12
Speed development workout on the track. Plyos, then 3 x flying 30s (4.34, 4.06, 4.06), followed by 3 x 100 (14.88, 14.34, 14.26), on 4 minutes rest followed by 2 x 200 (30.44, 31.56) on six minutes rest. Four minutes rest. Then finished with 1.5 miles at 6:35 pace. 3.89 miles total.

I’ve definitely lost a step or two since winter track. Or maybe I’m just not pushing as hard because I’m not chasing 18-year-olds.

May 13, 2020
3.1 miles easy w/ Tanner on CR 250

May 14, 2020
8.45 miles on CR 250 to Washout Gulch. 72:45 w/ just shy of 2k elevation gain. This route goes up 600 ft., down 1000 ft., back up 1000 ft., and down 600. Not an easy run.

May 15, 2020
3.3 miles easy w/ Tanner on CR 210. There were a bunch of people out looking for a person who went missing who lives down the road. Apparently it has become a national news story. They’re not giving out much information other than she went missing after riding her bike on Sunday on County Road 225. Definitely disconcerting.

May 16, 2020
Track workout. Plyos, then 800 in 3:00, 1200 in 4:15 (5:40 pace), 800 in 2:55, 1200 in 4:09 (about 5:30 pace), 800 in 2:59, 400 in 74.7. Two minutes rest between all the reps, except the last one, where I only got one minute.

This was hard. Harder than I expected. Got my HR up to 186 on the last 1200 and 188 on the final 400, which is the highest I’ve recorded it in a couple of years. By contrast, my HR never got above 182 when I ran a 17:13 5k in Japan last fall.

A couple of laps barefoot on the infield after the workout as a cooldown. 4.5 miles total. 

May 17
7 miles on CR 220 in 54:15.

2020 Running Goals

2020 has been a heck of a year, for personal reasons and for the reasons that we’re all sharing.

With the little man at home, I’m finding that 5-6 hours of training is about all I can budget right now. Keeping that in mind and with my suspicion that all major races are going to be canceled this year, I’m looking to non-race goals to keep me motivated.

Since I turned 40, I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to run a sub-5 mile, which is something I haven’t done since I was a sophomore in college 23 years ago (I was once a 4:31 1600-meter runner). And, after training with the high school kids this winter, I’ve gotten curious about what I can do in the 800 as well.

Earlier in the year, I posted here that I wanted to run sub-4:50. That might be possible at low elevation, but it ain’t happening in Salida, at 7000 ft. And since there probably isn’t much traveling in my short-term future, and with the new addition in the family, I think a sub-5 goal at 7000 ft. is plenty ambitious.

I'm also curious what I can do in the 800 now. Once upon a time, I broke 2. At this very moment, at 7000 ft, I’d struggle to break 2:30.

Since I haven’t run an 800 in 23 years, it’s hard to know what’s a realistic goal. I feel like sub-2:12 would be a great stretch goal this year, but I’d put the odds on my running that fast at less than 10%. Sub-2:16 seems plausible, if all goes well and I have a good day. Regardless, I’ll work in that direction and see where I get. I’ll say sub-2:12 is the A goal, sub-2:16 is the B goal, and sub-2:20 is the C goal. No extra credit for just finishing an 800.

Either way, 800/1600 strikes me as a great challenge for 2020.

I might jump into the odd small race if such things happen later in the year (Spiral Drive/Creede Mountain Run seem like reasonable candidates), but right now, pure middle distance seems like a fun place to focus my energies. It’s a novel challenge, and if I do it right, it’ll be helpful in putting me in a position to train with the high school kids when that time comes again, and for bigger races when bigger races become a thing again.

4/27-5/10

April 27
3.4 easy w/ Tanner on 210

April 28
Igloi intervals on CR 140. 16 x 100 @ 800 pace w/ 1-minute rest in between. Averaged 2:14 pace for the 100s. It hurt!

4.25 miles total.

April 29
3 miles easy w/ Tanner on CR 250

April 30
8.32 miles on CR 101 and Columbine Trail in 72 minutes. Just shy of 2k elevation gain.
43 minutes up, 29 minutes down. Finished with the last two miles at 6:20 pace. Felt good on the run, but then felt some acute knee pain after the run. I might have developed some patellar tendinitis.

May 1
3.2 easy w/ Tanner on CR 210

May 2
Decided to skip the Saturday workout with the knee. Five miles in 37:44 on the Saddle Ridge loop, HR sub 150.

May 3
5.6 miles in 42:50 on CR 220 w/ a handful of surges. Knee isn’t 100%, but it didn’t seem to hurt any worse when I moved a little more quickly, so I suppose that’s a positive.

May 4
3.2. w/ Tanner on CR 210

May 5
6 x 300 on the newly re-opened track w/ 2 minutes rest in between. Range of 53.2 to 54.6. This was harder than I wanted it to be. Was in better shape in January. Knee’s ok, but far from perfect.

This novel coronavirus shutdown was the fourth time in the last two years I’ve had to take a long hiatus from running on the track, which makes me feel like I’m always starting from scratch when I go back. Here’s to hoping we get a few months where it’s open and I’m healthy.

May 6
2.8 miles w/ Tanner on CR 250

May 7
8 miles in 67:35 on CR 250. About 1500 ft. gain. 40 up, 27:35 down. Brutally windy. There were dust cyclones all over the road the last few miles.

May 8
3.37 miles in 30:09 on CR 210 w/ Tanner. Decent pace for the dog.

May 9
Track workout. 2 x (800, 600, 400) on two minutes rest between reps, 4 between sets, followed by 3 x 200 with 3 minutes rest.

Ran 2:47, 2:02, 74 on the first set, 2:45, 2:01, 75 on the second. And then 35.1, 33.8, and 33-flat on the 200s. Solid workout. 4.6 miles on the day.

May 10
7 miles on CR 220 in 54:40. 30 out and 24:40 back.