Mile Attempt: #5

Hello Runners!,

A nice cold front moved in today, dropping temperatures by 15-20 degrees.  Jay and I showed up to the track around 5:30pm, ready to throw down another mile.  We were fortunate to recruit a friend and awesome runner, Eddie, to help pace us today.  Eddie is a sub-5 miler, has qualified for the Olympic Marathon Trials in 1996, and has many other runner accomplishments.  Needless to say, I'm quite happy to have a guy of his ability to pace me.  The goal for today was to try to get down to the 5:10-5:15 mark, trying to split around 78 second laps.  Eddie would go out in 78 and try to hold pace for all 4 laps.  My goal was to stay a stride behind Eddie the entire way.

Around 5pm we started to get some ran and the wind was picking up to 10-15mph.  We would have a headwind on the homestretch, with the wind aiding us on the backstretch.  After a 2 mile warm-up and a few stride-outs it was go time.

I immediately fell in behind Eddie after the start, with Jay right behind me.  It felt like Eddie was sprinting the first 200m, but I made sure to stick right behind him.  We came through the first lap in 78 sec.  Perfect.  Lap 2, 77 seconds.  Once again, perfect.  I was starting to feel the pace a bit and I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on but i was determined to stick with Eddie for at least a 3rd lap. I tried to stay relaxed on the backstretch, the wind aiding my pace.  When we hit the homestretch turn on the third lap I thought I was going to drop off the pace but I dug in and stayed just behind Eddie.  3rd lap, 78.  We were on pace to run under 5:15. At this point I was struggling but I was determined to stay with Eddie through the backstretch.  I was half expecting Jay to pass me on the backstretch but he never did.  I pushed hard the last 150m, finishing the last lap in 76 seconds for a final time of 5:09!!  Jay ended up around 5:20.  He let a small gap form on the first lap because he thought the pace as a little too quick and he was never able to make up the distance.  

I was stocked!  It was a great time, especially since it's still mid July, I hadn't done as much speed work as I'd have liked, and the conditions weren't great. I thanked Eddie for pacing me and he offered to pace the next time we were planning a time trial.

Final splits: 78, 77, 78, 76.  Total Time: 5:09

Another few weeks ahead of speed work and I'll do another time trial sometime in August.  Good night, and good luck... running that is!  

Speed in July - Finally!

Hello Runners,
Well, today was a planned timed mile day, but it was canceled.  As the norm in Wisconsin this summer, today was in the mid-90's all day - less than ideal temps for running.  We had planned to have one of Jay's friends, Eddie - a sub 5 miler, help pace us.  We called him up and canceled and decided to do a short track workout instead.  Well as things would have it, a nice thunderstorm popped up around 4:30pm and moved through the region, bringing with it some nice cool temperatures.  By the time we arrived at the track, it was near ideal temperatures.  We had a light rain and the temps were in the low 70's.  Although it was humid, there was little wind.  Since we wouldn't see Eddie until Thursday (the new planned timed mile day) we just went ahead with a track workout.  We ran 6x400 and 2x200 to finish the workout.  Add a 2 mile warm-up & cool-down and it was around a 7 mile day.


I felt great out on the track.  Today was the first day where I was able to push myself to the same level I was doing before my knee injury.  I still wanted to ease into the workout so my first 2 quarters were a little slower than planned.  Here are the splits:
Set 1: 83, 80, 76, 76
Set 2: 77, 72
2x200: 36, 38


I felt great doing the quarters.  They were fast and comfortable, I wasn't pushing myself too hard.  It was probably the best I've felt doing quarters all summer.  As for the 200's, I felt terrible.  Perhaps we took a little bit longer of a rest than we should have, but I felt lethargic on the 200's, especially the last one.  I was actually planning on doing 4x200 but since I wasn't feeling well for the first two, and since it was my first really challenging workout since my injury, I decided to forgo the final two.  No need pushing myself for those extra 200's, especially since I have a timed mile coming up on Thursday.  


My plan is to do an easy 5 miles tomorrow and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for cool, calm weather for the timed mile on Thursday.  Overall today was a good day as I feel my training is back on track.  Good night and good luck... running that is!

Injury Recovery - A Mental Game

Hello Runners!,
For those of us who have gone through major/significant injuries - or at least injuries that have kept us sidelined for a week or more - it would be obvious for me to say that injury recovery is as much mental recovery as physical.  The biggest questions that loom for runners recovering from injury is "How soon is too soon?" and "How much is too much?"  These perplexing questions can wreak havoc with a runners injury recovery attempt.


In my personal opinion, injuries can often be compounded by a runner starting to run too soon, or doing too much running before a full recovery.  The decision on when to come back from an injury and how soon to get back into full training mode is one that that I, as well as many runners I'm sure, struggle with.  For any somewhat serious runner who is training for a goal race or goal time, the decision on when to start training again and in what capacity that training entails is a fine line.  I want to both maximize my recovery time and minimize my time off.  Of course, these are opposing thoughts - repelling magnets, a contradiction of ideas - if I say so myself.


What percentage of recovery should a runner be at in order to begin training again?  100%?  90%  If I feel my knee is 75% recovered, is that enough?  It's my goal to rest long enough as to not re-aggravate my injury, yet get back to running as soon as possible as to minimize the amount of training I miss.  Sure I could wait until I feel my knee is 100% better, but is that necessary?  Would it be worth an extra 2-3 weeks of not running when I could probably be running on it at 85-90% without much worry of re-aggravation?  Taking off too much time can significantly affect a runners fitness and hurt ones chances of accomplishing a seasons running goals.  On the flip side, if a runner starts running again with an injury at only 60-70%, with slight pain or discomfort - is the runner risking a significant injury again?  Would I be best to just take an extra week off to get the injury to 90% so they can do more significant training instead of short, easy runs only 2-4 days a week?  Making these decisions aren't easy, and no one wants to be constantly sidelined because they repeatedly get injured.  Finding that fine line between recovering from an injury and maximizing your training is a key to finding success in accomplishing your running goals.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.  What are your thoughts on injury recovery?

Back on the Track - Part 2

Hello Runners!,
Today was my first day back on the track after my knee ailment.  With my knee still a little tender, I wanted to just "ease" into some speed work.  I started off with my normal, 2 mile warm-up.  I stretched a bit and had no knee pain so I decided to give the track a go.  My plans was to start off with 2x800 with ~3min rest between.  I wanted to start off with 800's instead of 400's because I run my 800's at a slower pace, thus putting less pressure on my knee.  I ran both 800's at around 6:40 mile pace, or in 3:50.  My legs felt pretty good so I ran 2x400 at 90 sec pace.  This pace was significantly slower than previous 400's, where I was running 75-80 sec quarters.  Regardless, I finally got back into some up-tempo running and my knee hasn't been acting up.  I made sure to ice and rest my knee immediately after the run.  My plans is to do a short run tomorrow (Friday), rest on Saturday and hopefully get out for a 7-8 mile run on Sunday.  Assuming all goes well I plan on being back on the track on Tuesday (7/17) for a timed mile attempt.  Here's to resting and recovering well!!

Knee Strengthening Exercises

Hello Runners!,
I'm back up and running!  On Monday I had planned to run 2 miles and instead ran 3 because I felt so good!  Ok, that's a bit of a lie as I didn't feel great but my knee felt better than I thought it would, therefore I upped the mileage a little but still wanted to make sure I'm not doing too much too soon.  Yesterday I did a nice, slow 4.5 mile run.  Today, REST!


On Monday and again today I did a few knee strengthening exercises.  I found this nie little video on knee strengthening exercises on the Runner's World web site. I've since incorporated some of these exercises into my workout, with plans to perform these 3 times a week.




Tomorrow I'm back on the track.  My knee is still a little weak but it feels miles better than it did last week.  Therefore, I'm going to see if I can do a moderate workout tomorrow.  I would like to get on the track and run a few 800's at around 6:30-7:00min pace to see how my knee responds.  Any sign of discomfort and I'm shutting it down.  In the meantime, I'm going to continue to do some strengthening exercises and hopefully will get back into some speed workouts next week.  Once again, keeping my fingers crossed.