White Whale

I ran a 16:42.4 5k this morning. On a concrete path near my parents’ place in Morgan Hill, California. Elevation 350. Flat as a pancake. 58 degrees. 5 mph crosswind. The slightest bit of drizzle. Perfect conditions. Nearly perfectly even splits. 

That's the fastest I've run since I was a sophomore in college.

On October 17th, 2012, I wrote a blog post here with the title “16:59, 35:59, 1:19, 2:49.” I was 34 years old at the time. 

Those were my running goals for 2013. But I didn’t run any of those times in 2013. Or in the nine years that followed. 

But I finally got it done this morning. Nearly 11 years in the making. At the tender age of 45. 

The formula that worked for me: 1) Consistently good volume (for me) (62.9 mpw avg. since May 23); 2) High volume of threshold intervals (10-18 mpw at between 5:50 and 6:20 pace); 3) easy days very easy (HR sub-135); 4) Super shoes (duh). 

Zero race-pace training. Two sessions of hill repeats. Two races. Otherwise, all easy days and threshold training. 

I’ve tried lots of different training techniques over the last 10+ years. I’ve done big volume with big vert. I’ve done max sprints and max intensity. I’ve done Vo2 Max work. Etc., etc. More combinations of all of the above than I can remember. But this has been the most effective training regimen for me. This was the one that got it done. 

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285 miles in July with around 20k in gain. That's the most I've done since July 2017. And I think it's the most I've ever done while doing consistent workouts.