Studying hours on hours for finals. 3:30. Going to get dark soon, should do my run now.
What is my run? 10 hard. Fuck I hate these. Grab wet shoes. Do the easiest 10 mile loop I know. 58:08. Felt like shit. Time is shit. Fuck I hate those.
Back in apartment. Laying face down on floor due to exhaustion. I really should vacuum this floor. Laugh at absurdity.
Get up, eat apple sauce for post workout glucose. Shower. Back to studying.
Elapsed time: 80 minutes.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
XC Season and Moving On
I guess that not writing a post since I ended my summer training tells you how my XC season went.
But just in case let's break the suspense -- it went pretty shitty.
At the end of track (two posts ago), my coach and I came to a consensus that I tired myself out with new over-distance work and that the long fatigue + no speed work hurt my track season.
So, the plan this summer was to back off the miles a bit and do a little more quality to maintain house, but not too much to make me tired. "Let the work come build itself" was the final word on the issue.
So that's what I did, and I came into the season out of racing shape. Well, I shouldn't say that. I ran okay throughout the season. High-25's to mid-26's consistently. I had developed strength so that instead of popping one fast time off now and then, I could consistently run pretty well day in and day out.
But I hadn't given myself room to grow with my summer training like I had in years previously, and I missed a glorious opportunity to help my team to the next level, but they got there anyway, because they're the shit and stepped up when the time called for it.
I'm not really that mad about the way the season ended. I was at our conference championships and stepped in a hole, over-extended my heel, and strained my achilles around the 2mile mark. I'm not really that mad that this happened at the perfectly wrong part of the season, so that this little injury put me out for 2 weeks, and that I could only start training again the week of nationals, which coach decided (and I agree with him) that I wouldn't be ready in time to race on the national level as I had been on the cusp of our varsity team all season. I'm not really mad about all that unfortunate-ness.
I'm mad that the reason that happened is that I was already so tired at 2 miles trying to hang on to the top group that I couldn't pay enough fucking attention to see a hole and avoid it. That I had to, again, fight to stay on varsity for XC. That in every season that I've ever run, I've ran an absolute PR in nearly every event I do, and this season I didn't. That I was just weak. I didn't feel strong running any XC race this season except pre-nationals, which we won (it was really awesome), and even then I ran a mediocre time.
The team went on to NCAAs to get 11th, our best finish in school history with a stellar team SO close to 10th, but that's the impetus for the young guys I suppose. It should be, they have the talent but we'll see if they have the drive.
I don't think I overdid miles leading up to last track season, I think I handled it well actually. I'm pretty confident now that it was just a speed work issue. It has always taken me a pretty long time to get my speed under me, but when I do, I really do.
So, I cast that season aside and pulled out a fresh pad of paper, torn from yellow standard to write what is to be my optimal base phase work routine. I really really like it, and in this - my 8th year running competitively, I think it finally hits all my weaknesses perfectly.
Here it is:
Day 1 - off
Day 2 - AM 4ish mile tempo. Usually pretty flat and ~5:15/5:20 pace. Tough but not too hard. ~6 all
told.
PM Base. 7-8 miles
Day 3 - Base (recovery): 8-10 miles
Day 4 - Short Long run: 11-12 miles
Day 5 - AM speed (30s 200s w/ 1min rest, 45s 300s w/ 2min rest, or 60s 400s w/ 3min rest) building
up to 400s after a few of these cycles. About 4 miles all told. +Plyos
PM Base. 7-8 miles
Day 6 - Base (recovery) 8-10 miles
Day 7 - Base +Plyos. 8-10 miles
Day 8 - 10hard. Long tempo. Usually ~5:45-5:50 pace unless I feel pretty good or pretty shitty. Goal is to run in the 57's comfortably. I'm not too far away from that.
Day 9 - Base +Plyos. 8-10 miles
Day 10 - Long run. 13-15 miles
----
Why a 10 day cycle? Because it makes sense. 7 days it too short to get everything in there with the proper amount of rest to really get at the workouts. So we just kept adding days until the cycle ended, which was 10 days. It's a nice round number, so fuck it.
The plyos are a combination of power drills (jumps, hops, burpies, etc) and core work. There are 2 different sets that work different shit.
I've been on this for a few cycles now and I really like it. When I really get into ACTUALLY doing my 2nd runs instead of just making the cool downs a little long.....(hey, school is hard this time of year) then I'll really see the benefits.
I have strength, now I need to turn it into power. I don't want to come into this year running 4:00 with room to grow. I want to come in running 3:55 with room to grow. Going for broke. Do I want to be able to run 3:50 and go to nationals? Absolutely. But I also want to be able to close out a 3:56/7 race in 55 if I have to.
Hey, if I felt flat speed-wise running 4:00 closing in 59/60, when I'm strong and sharp....
I dont think it's out of the question. I guess I'll find out.
I'm gearing up for the end of running for a team and teammates and legacy and with a true, close-by support system. How I do here will give me an indication of what I can do beyond college out in the big bad world all my myself, and I'm pretty fucking excited.
Tip: Always stay pretty fucking excited.
But just in case let's break the suspense -- it went pretty shitty.
At the end of track (two posts ago), my coach and I came to a consensus that I tired myself out with new over-distance work and that the long fatigue + no speed work hurt my track season.
So, the plan this summer was to back off the miles a bit and do a little more quality to maintain house, but not too much to make me tired. "Let the work come build itself" was the final word on the issue.
So that's what I did, and I came into the season out of racing shape. Well, I shouldn't say that. I ran okay throughout the season. High-25's to mid-26's consistently. I had developed strength so that instead of popping one fast time off now and then, I could consistently run pretty well day in and day out.
But I hadn't given myself room to grow with my summer training like I had in years previously, and I missed a glorious opportunity to help my team to the next level, but they got there anyway, because they're the shit and stepped up when the time called for it.
I'm not really that mad about the way the season ended. I was at our conference championships and stepped in a hole, over-extended my heel, and strained my achilles around the 2mile mark. I'm not really that mad that this happened at the perfectly wrong part of the season, so that this little injury put me out for 2 weeks, and that I could only start training again the week of nationals, which coach decided (and I agree with him) that I wouldn't be ready in time to race on the national level as I had been on the cusp of our varsity team all season. I'm not really mad about all that unfortunate-ness.
I'm mad that the reason that happened is that I was already so tired at 2 miles trying to hang on to the top group that I couldn't pay enough fucking attention to see a hole and avoid it. That I had to, again, fight to stay on varsity for XC. That in every season that I've ever run, I've ran an absolute PR in nearly every event I do, and this season I didn't. That I was just weak. I didn't feel strong running any XC race this season except pre-nationals, which we won (it was really awesome), and even then I ran a mediocre time.
The team went on to NCAAs to get 11th, our best finish in school history with a stellar team SO close to 10th, but that's the impetus for the young guys I suppose. It should be, they have the talent but we'll see if they have the drive.
I don't think I overdid miles leading up to last track season, I think I handled it well actually. I'm pretty confident now that it was just a speed work issue. It has always taken me a pretty long time to get my speed under me, but when I do, I really do.
So, I cast that season aside and pulled out a fresh pad of paper, torn from yellow standard to write what is to be my optimal base phase work routine. I really really like it, and in this - my 8th year running competitively, I think it finally hits all my weaknesses perfectly.
Here it is:
Day 1 - off
Day 2 - AM 4ish mile tempo. Usually pretty flat and ~5:15/5:20 pace. Tough but not too hard. ~6 all
told.
PM Base. 7-8 miles
Day 3 - Base (recovery): 8-10 miles
Day 4 - Short Long run: 11-12 miles
Day 5 - AM speed (30s 200s w/ 1min rest, 45s 300s w/ 2min rest, or 60s 400s w/ 3min rest) building
up to 400s after a few of these cycles. About 4 miles all told. +Plyos
PM Base. 7-8 miles
Day 6 - Base (recovery) 8-10 miles
Day 7 - Base +Plyos. 8-10 miles
Day 8 - 10hard. Long tempo. Usually ~5:45-5:50 pace unless I feel pretty good or pretty shitty. Goal is to run in the 57's comfortably. I'm not too far away from that.
Day 9 - Base +Plyos. 8-10 miles
Day 10 - Long run. 13-15 miles
----
Why a 10 day cycle? Because it makes sense. 7 days it too short to get everything in there with the proper amount of rest to really get at the workouts. So we just kept adding days until the cycle ended, which was 10 days. It's a nice round number, so fuck it.
The plyos are a combination of power drills (jumps, hops, burpies, etc) and core work. There are 2 different sets that work different shit.
I've been on this for a few cycles now and I really like it. When I really get into ACTUALLY doing my 2nd runs instead of just making the cool downs a little long.....(hey, school is hard this time of year) then I'll really see the benefits.
I have strength, now I need to turn it into power. I don't want to come into this year running 4:00 with room to grow. I want to come in running 3:55 with room to grow. Going for broke. Do I want to be able to run 3:50 and go to nationals? Absolutely. But I also want to be able to close out a 3:56/7 race in 55 if I have to.
Hey, if I felt flat speed-wise running 4:00 closing in 59/60, when I'm strong and sharp....
I dont think it's out of the question. I guess I'll find out.
I'm gearing up for the end of running for a team and teammates and legacy and with a true, close-by support system. How I do here will give me an indication of what I can do beyond college out in the big bad world all my myself, and I'm pretty fucking excited.
Tip: Always stay pretty fucking excited.
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