4/12/08
Fri 4/11 - PM 85 minutes easy
Track Road to Area 51. Ankle feeling better, no more sharp pain after stopping. More tired today than I had expected, which kept the pace on the easy side, and the strides near the end relatively pokey. 20 degrees cooler than yesterday, overcast again.
4/11/08
Thu 4/10 - PM 60 minutes easy
Loop in Wellesley to Elm Bank and back. Left ankle still sore, not as pronounced during the day as it was yesterday. During the run I made three brief stops and upon resumption of running after each one, there was acute pain in the area that persisted for about 20-30 seconds before it simply disappeared and relatively normal range of motion returned. Very odd. Hopefully this represents part of the progression of this issue from a discrete cause (rolling it in on Monday) to an eventual resolution. Other than that, felt as I would expect for a run like this. Much warmer weather today, still breezy of course.
4/10/08
Wed 4/9 - PM 90 minutes easy, Walden woods
Soreness in medial aspect of left ankle got most of my attention today, feeling it the moment I got out of bed and then after getting up from prolonged periods of sitting at work. Not sure to what degree it would work itself out upon starting to run, and while it took a few minutes, it did loosen up. Still felt awkward and unstable. Combined with expected post-workout day fatigue it was a slow-going effort. The awkward twist I experienced Monday has to be the root cause of this, as I rolled my ankle in instead of out. Soreness mostly gone on the lateral aspect but persists on the inside of the ankle. Still sore afterwards, but I'm hopeful it won't significantly hinder training and racing going forward. Time will tell. Warmer today, enough to go bare-legged. Nice to be back in the woods again. In lieu of strides did a sustained pickup the last 800m or so to get the run over with.
4/9/08
Tue 4/8 - PM Bentley 75 minutes incl. long repeats
workout consisted of the following:
1000 - 3:12.5
2400 - 8:00
1000 - 3:12.9
2400 - 7:57
1000 - 3:07
2 minute recoveries between everything. The paces on these reps, needless to say, were quite familiar to me. Hitting the numbers was a breeze, running well within myself. Left ankle stiff and sore all day at work after the awkward roll I took yesterday. At the start the soreness was mainly on the lateral aspect, once the workout started it shifted to the medial aspect and felt quite tender during the recoveries. Will bear watching the next few days. The ill wind hasn't stopped blowing for three days, but thankfully moderated somewhat just as things got started and wasn't much of an issue.
1000 - 3:12.5
2400 - 8:00
1000 - 3:12.9
2400 - 7:57
1000 - 3:07
2 minute recoveries between everything. The paces on these reps, needless to say, were quite familiar to me. Hitting the numbers was a breeze, running well within myself. Left ankle stiff and sore all day at work after the awkward roll I took yesterday. At the start the soreness was mainly on the lateral aspect, once the workout started it shifted to the medial aspect and felt quite tender during the recoveries. Will bear watching the next few days. The ill wind hasn't stopped blowing for three days, but thankfully moderated somewhat just as things got started and wasn't much of an issue.
4/8/08
Mon 4/7 - just under 70 minutes
Track Road to Area 51. Moving better than expected through much of the run, esp. with tightness on right knee during the day and waking up in the middle of the night for no reason. Turned my left ankle awkwardly at the 50 minute mark, it remained sore afterwards. Strides on the way in were affected somewhat by this. The rain stopped yesterday but the ill wind persists.
4/7/08
Sun 4/6 - Pm 85 minutes easy, Lincoln woods
First time on these trails in months. Got about 15 minutes into it and felt my energy levels slump, which was not enjoyable at all. Thought about cutting the run short, decided to see if I could muddle through which I was able to do. Eventually felt a little better but overall it was a slog. Legs felt decent nevertheless. The travels of the last two days obviously left a mark, how much and how long-lasting remains to be seen. Dismal dreary weather with an ill wind blowing all day, worst of the rain held off until after I was done.
4/6/08
Sat 4/5 - off
Unable to get to sleep at a decent hour due to being wired after the race being so late last night. Fantastic. Spent the morning and early afternoon in Philly, then 6+ hours in the car driving back with one break to get gas. I was surprised, but shouldn't have been, at how stiff and sore my legs were getting out of the car when it was finally over.
Fri 4/4 - PM 70 minutes incl. 10k in 32:16
Effort was there, result was not as I ran out of gas soon after 5k and went from 76/lap pace to 79-80 in the blink of an eye. For this many laps on the track it's imperative to break it up into digestible chunks, I decided to use kilometers. Those splits as follows:
3:11
6:19 - 3:08
9:28 - 3:09
12:38 - 3:10
15:49 - 3:11
19:04 - 3:15
22:21 - 3:17
25:38 - 3:18
28:57 - 3:19
32:16 - 3:20
After 800m in 2:34, I felt the group I was with sag a bit and made a move to bridge to a group ahead that seemed to be closer to the 76 pace I wanted. Thus the faster second km. In hindsight of course I should have stayed right where I was. The next 3k I spent right following a kid clicking off the pace I wanted. Felt relaxed and under control at this point and optimistic about running evenly the rest of the way. Breathing got more labored during the fifth km which was the first sign of trouble, still hopeful though. In the 14th lap I lost contact with the pacer and the drop-off in pace was immediate. I knew at 6k I wouldn't be running 31:40, but still hopeful to break 32 if I could maintain 77-78 second laps. At 7k I knew going under 32 would be difficult at best, and by 8k I knew I was fucked. The final indignity was busting my ass while running the last km at 80 second pace, playing out the string in no-man's land.
Hindsight being 20/20 I certainly overestimated my fitness, which is the crux of the dissappointment of course. The first half of the race I felt like I was holding something back for later, and that the pace was eminently sustainable. The realization that it wasn't came quite suddenly. The 6k time trial I was thinking of doing 10-14 days ago certainly seems like a good idea in hindsight. I'd like to think had I run the first 5k in 16:00 the final time would have been at least 10 seconds faster, not that I drove five hours to run 32 minutes.
I don't suppose driving all afternoon to get to the meet was the ideal way to approach things, but I'm loath to use that as an excuse when many other people at the meet must have had a similar complaint. I felt unusually alert and crisp while warming up as well, although that ended up being an illusion of course. Whether from lack of endurance or fatigue, I reached the end of my rope about 2.5 miles ahead of schedule. Apart from a modest breeze on the homestretch, the conditions were almost ideal, and the size of the field ensured that there would be someone to follow, which there was. In fact the kid I was following early on ended up running 31:41. Overall, my fitness continues on the gradual decline since that 3k time trial at BU four months ago when I came away so certain I was ready to run sub-15 for 5k. As ever, I'd have to say the root of the issue is not sleeping long enough or well enough. It could be and has been worse in this regard, but still I need to be sleeping better if I hope to race better.
3:11
6:19 - 3:08
9:28 - 3:09
12:38 - 3:10
15:49 - 3:11
19:04 - 3:15
22:21 - 3:17
25:38 - 3:18
28:57 - 3:19
32:16 - 3:20
After 800m in 2:34, I felt the group I was with sag a bit and made a move to bridge to a group ahead that seemed to be closer to the 76 pace I wanted. Thus the faster second km. In hindsight of course I should have stayed right where I was. The next 3k I spent right following a kid clicking off the pace I wanted. Felt relaxed and under control at this point and optimistic about running evenly the rest of the way. Breathing got more labored during the fifth km which was the first sign of trouble, still hopeful though. In the 14th lap I lost contact with the pacer and the drop-off in pace was immediate. I knew at 6k I wouldn't be running 31:40, but still hopeful to break 32 if I could maintain 77-78 second laps. At 7k I knew going under 32 would be difficult at best, and by 8k I knew I was fucked. The final indignity was busting my ass while running the last km at 80 second pace, playing out the string in no-man's land.
Hindsight being 20/20 I certainly overestimated my fitness, which is the crux of the dissappointment of course. The first half of the race I felt like I was holding something back for later, and that the pace was eminently sustainable. The realization that it wasn't came quite suddenly. The 6k time trial I was thinking of doing 10-14 days ago certainly seems like a good idea in hindsight. I'd like to think had I run the first 5k in 16:00 the final time would have been at least 10 seconds faster, not that I drove five hours to run 32 minutes.
I don't suppose driving all afternoon to get to the meet was the ideal way to approach things, but I'm loath to use that as an excuse when many other people at the meet must have had a similar complaint. I felt unusually alert and crisp while warming up as well, although that ended up being an illusion of course. Whether from lack of endurance or fatigue, I reached the end of my rope about 2.5 miles ahead of schedule. Apart from a modest breeze on the homestretch, the conditions were almost ideal, and the size of the field ensured that there would be someone to follow, which there was. In fact the kid I was following early on ended up running 31:41. Overall, my fitness continues on the gradual decline since that 3k time trial at BU four months ago when I came away so certain I was ready to run sub-15 for 5k. As ever, I'd have to say the root of the issue is not sleeping long enough or well enough. It could be and has been worse in this regard, but still I need to be sleeping better if I hope to race better.
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