35:54 10k Time Trial

Knocked out another goal time. This one isn’t just a masters PR. It’s a lifetime PR.

Family went down to Georgetown, TX, for the holidays, which is just outside of Austin and where my wife’s family lives. 

Since I’m not getting any younger and I’m in as good of shape as I’m likely to ever be in, I’m trying not to let any low altitude trips go to waste. Wanted to try to run a few good times while I was here. 

Doing a time trial the day after Xmas isn't ideal in terms of diet, sleep, etc., but this was the day that lined up best with weather and schedule. 

I went down to the local track to give a 10k a go. I think the last time I had pushed a fast 10k was the Bolder Boulder my freshman year of high school, so whatever I produced for this effort was likely to be a PR. Decided to try to go out in 5:44 miles and see where that led me. It was a struggle from the beginning. I ran the first mile in 5:47, then 5:42, 5:44, 5:45. 5:47, 5:47, then 81 to close. 25 laps. Woof. Felt like I was redlining the last 10 laps. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get there until 200 to go. HR was higher than I would have thought possible for a 10k. This one hurt.

Judging by recent times, altitude converters, and Jack Daniels pace equivalents, I thought sub-36 was going to be relatively easy. It was not. I was hanging on for dear life the last few laps, and I feel like garbage now. Either way, sub-36 had been on my radar for a while, and I got there, even though the effort was way harder than I thought it might be. 

Broomfield Turkey Trot

Ran 17:02 yesterday at the Broomfield Turkey Trot. 6th overall, 1st master. Results here. Their "clock time/chip time" distinction is wonky. I had 17:01 clock time on my watch.

Brother lives in Arvada, and we were in town for the holiday. Sister-in-law suggested the Turkey Trot, so three of us ran it. 

Thought I was in sub-17 shape at altitude, but I couldn’t quite get there. Course started downhill and then worked its way back up. Started in 5:20 and then just couldn’t quite sustain the pace on the gradual uphill back to the start. Course was a smidge short, too. 3.07 by my watch. 

I keyed my race off a guy that passed me just short of the mile. He had some gray hair, so I figured (correctly) that he was in my age group. So I just sat on him with the intention of trying to outkick him at the end. Everything went perfectly when I passed him on the last straightway--and then he went to the left to run his second loop of the 10k.

My wife ran 25:20, which is a PR for her. That was the result of 7 weeks of 4-days a week training (including one threshold session per week). She could totally be in the 22s or maybe faster if she cared, but she’s more into yoga than running. 

Fun to get out and race with family. I’m 46 now, but I still feel like I’m improving, albeit marginally. 

September Summary

 259 miles with 12000 gain in September.

A slight downtick in volume compared to the last few months but a slight uptick in quality/intensity. I did a few track sessions without injuring myself, so that’s a positive.

I also started playing around with this guy recently. 

Not sure it’s led to any radical changes in my training, as I was already doing "Norwegian-style" training before I got it. But it has caused me to make some subtle tweaks and adjust workouts in ways that I think might be beneficial. There was a learning curve associated with it, but now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, it’s nice to have bio-feedback that reinforces that I’m at the right intensity for what I’m trying to achieve. Discovered a few counterintuitive things I’ll be able to use going forward. And it appeals to my wonky nature. 

Bit of a bloody mess sometimes, though. Not in the British sense of "bloody mess," but in a literal way. You definitely get some weird looks!

August Summary

279 miles on the month with about 15k of gain.

I hit 2037 miles on the year this morning, which is more mileage than I ran in four of the last five years, with four months left in the year. Unless I get hit by a bus in the next 10 days or so, this will be my biggest year of training since 2017, when I was doing almost no workouts of any kind, just long days in the mountains. 

I have never run more than 3000 miles in a year. Not when I was training for ultras. Not when I ran in college. I had big blocks of 70-100 mile weeks back then, but there were always injuries in my big years that kept the yearly totals down. Since I’m already more than 2/3rds of the way there, hitting 3k has become a bit of a mini-goal for me this year. 

Another very long-term goal is hitting 100k lifetime miles. Even though I’ve never been a high mileage guy, I have been consistent runner since I was 12. I’m over 57k lifetime now, so I would need some degree of mileage focus to get there. But projecting out 15-20 years with my current volume or something close to it, it’s not that crazy of a thought.

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. 

Vail Hill Climb 3rd Masters/13th Overall

Ran the Vail Hill Climb this weekend. Got 13th overall and 3rd master. Results here.

Not sure if this was a good race or a bad race. Course was 7.7 miles with 2233 ft. of gain. I ran 8:15 pace, which was really a 6:19 mile, followed by an 8-minute mile, followed by some 9-minute miles, followed by 6-minute pace for the rolling hill last .7. Kept my HR steady-ish, but the course went uphill and I slowed down.

At first, I thought it was an underwhelming result. But the runner who finished one place in front of me ran at DIII nationals in cross country last year, which is something I never managed when I was a DIII runner back in the day. And the guy who finished two places in front of me is a 1:16 half/2:36 marathoner. I am nowhere near that good. I suppose I finished about where I should have.

Some pics.

A little too eager at the start. Been going to too many track meets.

Finish

This young man had never seen me race

These guys are better than I am at running up mountains.

264 miles in June again. Just hit 1500 miles on the year today. That’s a lot for me, considering the fact that I only ran 1575 in all of 2021. No wonder I sucked at Pikes Peak that year. 

I ran the same number of races in the last two weeks as I had in the last four years. That by itself is an achievement for me. Nothing immediately on the agenda after this other than to continue to build and run races when I feel like it. I hope to roll with it and sign up for races when it works for my schedule. 

Fibark 5k 1st Place, 16:49

For the first time in a couple of years, I ran a race this weekend. Results here.

Salida’s biggest festival of the year is the Fibark festival, which happens every year at the peak of whitewater intensity in the summer. It’s mostly a kayak, rafting, paddle-boarding deal, but they throw in a few running races for good measure.

I didn’t have anything going on this weekend, and I felt like I was in decent shape, so I decided to give it a go. 

I ran 16:49 for 3 miles. It was labeled a 5k, but it was short. 

My main competition was two of the kids I coach on the track team, our likely 2nd and 3rd runners for the upcoming cross-country season. They were talking a lot of smack going into the race, but I was reasonably confident, given that they had just taken two weeks off at the end of the track season, and I was coming off some 60-65 mile weeks. 

The course goes up for 1.2 miles about 130 feet, and then rolls back down to where it starts for the remaining 1.8. 

We went out in 5:52, which was not easy for an uphill at 7250 ft. I told the kids I coach that when we turned back to town, I was going to make a move, because if it came down to a sprint, I didn’t want to be racing a 2:05 and a 2:07 800 runner in a dash to the finish. I ran a 5:30 and then slightly faster for the next mile and that was good enough to give me some space for the win. 

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I’ve decided that I need to get over my silly perfectionist tendencies when it comes to racing. I have it in my head that I can only race when conditions are perfect and I’ve had a perfect lead up, but I put a lot of time into running, and I might as well get out there and race on occasion. 

I was never that good to begin with, but I’m getting older but I’m not yet slowing down. I think being a coach has made me smarter about my own training, and that’s helped me fend off father time a little bit.

Still, that trend won’t continue forever. Might as well get out there and get after it while I still can. 

May Deets/An Actual Race?

264 miles this month with around 18,000 ft. of gain.

That’s my second biggest month in the last five years. I’ve run some strong workouts, but I’m doing mostly threshold sessions and easy days, with a tiny bit of speed, so it’s hard to read too much into what I’m doing right now. I can do 10 800s in 2:55 on 1-minute rest and I tend to touch at lactate threshold right at the end of that workout. Toss in a few 100s or 200s at the end, and that’s my go-to training right now. The other standard workout is 7 x 1 mile on 1’ rest at subtempo, so around 6:10 pace, if I’m on the track. Most of the time I do the latter workout off the track, so I do it be HR or just by feel. 

I’ve built up to 65 mpw, and assuming I have the time and don’t get hurt, I’m going to park it there other than race weeks.  

Speaking of which, I just signed up for the Vail Hill Climb. 7.7 miles, 2200 ft of vert. Seems like a low-pressure way to revisit the racing scene. Have really no idea what to expect in terms of time or competition. I mean, it should take an hour or so, so hopefully I won’t blow up like I did at Pikes a couple of years back. 

The track season ended well. Our top boy went 4:32 in the 1600 and 9:46 in the 3200 at state. He’s a sophomore, so he’ll have chances to improve on those times the next two years. Our top girl went 4:59 for 1600 and 11:08 for 3200, good enough for 3rd and 2nd, respectively, in our classification. She now owns the school records for both distances.

I’ve only been involved in high school track for the last four years, but the improvement in times and performances is stunning. I’m pretty sure only two girls broke 5 in the 1600 in the 90s in Colorado (Melody Fairchild and Rebekah McDowell), and those girls were all-time legends. This year alone I think 15 girls ran under 5. In 5A, the time that would place you dead last at state now would have been good enough to win state many years in the 90s and early 2000s. On the guys’ side, sub-4:20 used to be reserved for Adam Goucher and a handful of others when I was in high school. Rich Martinez held the 1600 record at 4:10.98 for 40 years. Now, two dozen boys run sub-4:20 every year at state. It’s just a different universe of competition. 

April Deets

230 miles in April with 12k of gain.

Not quite as much volume as last month, but I'm feeling fit. Judging from where my heart rate is in threshold days and easy days, I think I'm as fit as I've been in the last few years. 930 miles in the first third of the year, which is the best I've done since 2017, and the first time I've done decent volume plus quality since college without getting hurt. 

I attribute that to a switch toward threshold work with volume with light injections of speed as opposed to the higher intensity speed that I was doing a few years ago.  

The two races that are on my radar for June/July are Mt. Evans Ascent and Vail Hill Climb. In August, I'm going to visit my parents in California, so I might take a stab at a sub-17 5k on the track there. 

In the fall, maybe the Color Run Half in BV, and then maybe California International Marathon in December? 

March Deets

More than a little late on this one.

255 miles with 17k of gain.

As March turns to April, coaching track turns into a full-time job that’s more time consuming than my day normal full-time job. Last Saturday, I had one 15-hour day at a meet in Pueblo, followed by another 15-hour day five days later ending at 2 am coming home from a meet in the Springs. Not an easy thing when you’re trying to run a law firm and raise a 3-year-old. Coaching in Salida, traveling to meets with good conditions and good competition invariably means long drives and late nights. It’s fun but it’s all consuming. 

I’m doing a better job of maintaining my own fitness than in prior years. I wouldn’t say I’m at peak fitness, but I think I’m close enough to it where I feel I could get there fairly quickly if I had the bandwidth and the motivation to do it. Being a coach does lend itself to access to high-quality training partners, even if they are less than half my age.  

Watching Boston got my slightly motivated to consider a road marathon in the fall/winter. We'll see if I have the motivation and energy to follow through with it when it's time to put the time in for it.

February Deets

204 miles with about 17k of gain on the month. 

A couple of hiccups held me back this month. 

Felt some strain in the lower-back of the hamstring mid-month that caused me to cut a couple of workouts short. Doesn’t really bother me on long or easy runs. Bothered me on a couple of consecutive workouts, though. Took it easy for a while and then I had a couple of good sessions at the end of the month. So hopefully that’s over with.

And I got a stomach bug mid-month. 

The hamstring didn’t force me to miss any time, just take it easy. But the stomach bug knocked me out for a couple of days, which was why mileage was a bit lower this month.  That, and the fact that there are fewer days in February. 

Still a steady month in terms of training. No breakthrough or drop offs. Just steady stuff. 

Some of the locals are doing some crazy mileage, workouts, and prep for the Run Through Time. I suspect there’s going to be a stronger-than-usual presence at the top of the podium with local runners for both the marathon and the half this year. Mark my words.

January Deets

238 miles on the month with about 20k of gain. 

Struggled a bit to build the volume the first couple weeks after getting back from Costa Rica, but the volume feels easy enough now. 50-plus miles every week in 2023, and no injuries or niggles, knock on wood. Only a few doubles this month.

Track coaching duties are in full force for me right now. I’m running five days a week with the kids. I’m mostly running with our two sub-16:30 guys and our 17-flat guy. This time of year I can usually keep up. It's the Vo2 max type work when I get dropped and we're not doing anything like that just yet. 

Mostly standard base stuff. Easy days, long days up to 13 miles, hills, and lots and lots of tempos. Some light injections of speed. I can tell that the lead kids are developing fitness to a degree where I am going to start getting dropped soon enough even on their moderate days. Such is the life of a high school coach. 

Our 800 kids’ training will deviate from the 1600-3200s shortly. So that complicates my ability to mix my training with theirs. From Feb-May, there’s a lot more holding of the watch and less running alongside them. I'll probably only be able to do 50 mpw if I can sneak in more doubles. 

We had a 1:58 kid last year, and I strained a hamstring trying to run a 27-second 200 alongside him. This year, we’ll see if I can avoid being so stupid. 

We’ve got one girl this year that is going to run D-I next year. So this might be the first year where one of the girls I coach starts kicking my butt. Fun stuff.  

Today it was 38 degrees at practice. Downright balmy compared to what we’ve been dealing with.

Looking forward to spring.  

2022/2023

It’s been a minute. 

But it’s a new year, and what the heck? I kinda miss the blogging thing.

I haven’t run any races since the crap-fest at Pikes in 2021, but my running has been going fine. I ran 2120 miles in 2021, which is the most miles I’ve run since 2017. I ran 30 miles a week January through June, 55 miles a week July through October, and then 30 miles a week in November and December.

I thought about running a marathon in the fall, but I never got around to it. Or any races, for that matter.

I did run a few time trials, most at 7000 ft. in Salida. I ran a 17:52 5k, a 10:28 3k, and three 5:0x miles, with the fastest at 5:05. So more or less in line with my fitness the past few years. Not any better, but not any worse, either.

I think there might have been a couple of times where if I had been transported to a low-altitude track against some appropriate competition, I could have gotten the 4:5x eluded me for a few years, but that never happened. I need to work on my transporter technology.

I was in pretty good shape in October/November, and I had half a notion of going for a sub 17:30 at 7k ft. around that time, but then COVID, RSV, and the flu hit our household in consecutive weeks, which is why the mileage went to down the tube in November.

The reason I picked it up in the first place was just that I felt like I gone as far as I could with the whole low-mileage training thing, and I was inspired by the training of the Ingebrigtsens, who do huge volume, low-intensity easy days, and a bunch of threshold work. So I started doing a dumbed-down version of that for myself, and it felt good. 

Family spent most of December in Costa Rica, which was awesome overall, but terrible for running. Never had so many runs cut short by aggressive stray dogs before, but such is central America. I got in 25 miles a week with some threshold stuff. Good enough.

In 2023, I aspire to actually run some races. Maybe some 10ks in the summer, maybe Creede and some mid-distance trail races in the late summer, maybe a road marathon in the fall. My marathon PR is 2:59, which is weak, and I think I can beat that with 15 weeks of good training, even as an old fart. 

I aspire to run at least 2500 miles this year, and maybe 3000 if everything works out. I’ve never done consistent mileage (as in, above 50 mpw) and consistent workouts at the same time. I ran 60-70 mpw when I was healthy and training for ultras, but I didn’t do any quality. And I’ve done tons of quality in recent years, but not much in the way of mileage. 

If I can do both this year, and not get hurt, maybe I can get some masters PRs by summer and fall. 

Might as well give it a go. I ain't getting any younger.