Wednesday's tempo

Ran my last tempo workout with EC Gibbs. We ran 7 miles in 39:05~5:35 pace. We felt good. Now there are only 107 days till Regions. If you notice I ran the same workout on the lake loop on July 1st, but this time I ran 50 seconds faster!!!

Wednesday's Tempo

5 miles on the lake loop in 27:27~5:29.48 average. The good news is that I felt great and as soon as I finished I took my pulse. It was 152. I remember last year at the end of tempos in would be around 170.

117 Days Till Regions

Did 3 x mile on lake loop w/ 1'30" recovery @ 5:18.13 pace running with Tim. Felt good and smooth.

Saturday's Long Run

17 miles at Kennesaw. 14 of those miles were run in 1:26:42~6:11.5 pace
Felt real good

Wednesday's 9-mile tempo with Hickey

9-mile tempo on the lake loop in 51:04~5:40.45 pace. Felt good to have someone to run with.
splits: 5:36.91-5:40.89-5:36.98-5:38.92-5:41.86-5:42.65-5:47.76-5:35.51-5:42.63
This is the fastest I have ever run for a 9-mile tempo.
122 Days Till Regions

Monday's Cruise Intervals

3 x mile on lake loop w/ 1'45" recovery: 5:17.74 average
Felt good. I really wanted to do more than 3 because I could have done 6 with no problem, but I didn't for 2 reasons:
1) I don't want to overdo it.
2) I am running a 9-mile tempo Wednesday morning with Hickey

Saturday Long Run

16 miles at Kennesaw

My Plan for the Next 3 Weeks

3 workouts: consisting of a fartlek, a tempo and a long run

fartlek: ranges: 3-6 miles
tempo: 4-10 miles
long run: 12-14 miles

the cumulative number of miles from my 3 workouts can not exceed 24 miles starting next week. Why 24? Well, through analysis of previous training over the past 6 weeks, I have found that the first 3 weeks of summer training I averaged 18 cumulative miles from workouts. The second cycle of 3 weeks I averaged 21 cumulative miles from workouts. My next 3 week cycle starts next week, and I plan to average 24 cumulative miles from workouts

Now the fartlek pace is about 5:20-5:24 pace
The tempo pace is 5:40-5:43 pace
The long run is typically in 6:10-6:20 pace.

I run a 3-mile warmup before each of my 3 workouts.

The week of 7/13, I plan on doing: 26 Workout miles
1) 3 x mile @ 5:20-5:24 pace with 1'45" recovery-should feel easy. Monday should not take anything out of me
2) 9-mile tempo with matt @ 5:43 pace. This distance will make me work a little bit. I won't go past threshold effort but the sheer distance will leave me tired, but I do have two easy runs the next two days
3) 17-mile long run at Kennesaw. Use first 3 miles at warmup and then settle into normal long run pace for 14 miles

Week of 7/20: 22 workout miles
1) 3 x mile @ tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2) 5-mile tempo
3)17-mile long run at k-saw. 14 miles of which at long run pace

Week of 7/27: 24 workout miles
1)4 x mile @ tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2)6-mile tempo
3) 14 miles of long run at long run pace

As you can see my next 3 weeks should average 24 workout miles. The following 2 weeks should average 27 workout miles and should bring me straight into the school year and training with the team:

Week of 8/03: 27 workout miles
1)5 x mile at tempo effort w/ 1'30" recovery
2)8-mile tempo
3)14 miles of long run at long run pace

Week of 8/10: 30 workout miles
1)6 x mile at tempo effort w/ 1"30" recovery
2)10-mile tempo
3)14 miles of long run at long run pace

Solid Tempo Wednesday

Have not had a bad tempo yet this summer. Ran 8 miles on lake loop in 45:40, 5:42.5 pace for 8 miles. I have not been at this level of fitness before. I am going to be very careful not to overdo it with my training, and I might give myself a week off of a tempo in the next couple weeks.

Monday's Tempo Fartlek

Ran 6 x mile at 5:22.6 pace with 2 min jog.

Peachtree Road Race

Wanted to say I talked to Brian Sell today after my cooldown after the Peachtree. He seems like a real nice guy and it was an honor to meet him. Also, I was happy to see Matt run such a great race today. I believe he got a 40-something second p.r. as well. I felt comfortable throughout the race, and don't feel like I ran a race earlier today. I feel more like I ran a hard tempo. Part of that may be from the shock of running so fast. I was not expecting 32:48, a 45 second p.r. and as mile by mile went by I was in shock at how fast my splits were.
Here were my splits:
5:08
10:20
15:35
20:59
26:30
31:42
32:48

What this big p.r. tells me is one of many things:
1) God has blessed me this summer with good health and solid training and a desire to succeed like I have never had before
2) I am a pure distance runner and run my best times off of 3 solid workouts a week. One workout being a tempo at marathon pace. Another being cruise intervals at threshold pace with short rest. The third being a solid long run at Kennesaw Mountain.
3)More than anything I attribute this success to my long runs at Kennesaw Mountain. During the Peachtree, the hills took nothing out of my legs. Thats because running at a solid effort at kennesaw mountain makes running everywhere else seem easy.
4) My general strength and core exercises(3 hours total a week) have strengthened my core and made me strong in many different areas of my body and core.
5) My stretching has increased my flexibility
6)My tempo warmup drills have given me the muscular endurance necessary for my hamstring to hold up through races.
7)My 60 meter sprints after every run has helped me to work on my speed throughout my base training and to be able to run aerobically at faster speeds than I have ever run.

So where do I plan to go from here?
First, I plan to increase my cruise intervals up to 6 x mile and reduce the recovery till it gets down to 1 minute recovery.
Second, I plan to continue to increase my tempo distance by one mile a week, while holding marathon pace.

Wednesday's Tempo

7 miles in 39:55-5:42.14 pace on the lake loop