Emily was some sort of sick this weekend and I know I must be battling whatever it is she has. I have good incentive to leave the apartment whenever possible, including to go for my third run of the day, to get fresh air. But I'm not sure that a throat-searing mile on Tuesday would do me any favors.
I'm almost glad to be at work. I need zinc. I wonder if I have anything at my desk with edible zinc in it...
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They put Dibaba in the 5000; I just saw her on the starting line.
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
Well how do you like that. Following Phil's postulations in the Training thread, I here wrote a lengthy treatise that examined all the factors predicting by how much or how little I should hope to improve come the Chaptico Classic 10k. I even delved into a historical cross reference between my Crofton-to-Chaptico training arcs from 2010 (in which I was strong at Crofton but then fell into a summer slump) and 2011 (in which I was weak at Crofton but then launched an unprecedented mileage revamp over the summer). Yet then when I finally went to click post, I got an "Internet Explorer cannot display" page. I quickly hit back, hoping that all I'd been writing would still be there waiting but ... there was now nothing but a blank text box.
The gist of it all was that, though I feel I may be nearing sub-35:00 10k potential, the tough Chaptico course, the likely warm and humid weather, and a possible lack of compelling competitors could all greatly diminish that potential. Then my ultimate conclusion was that merely besting my 35:30 10k PR on an arguably tougher course would be a relieving achievement.
As far as I can tell based on August training logs, I should run this year's Chaptico Classic with a similar performance to last year. My mileage isn't far off. Each month started with good volume and finished with so-so workouts. The only difference is I seem so much slower this year. Last year I ran the track 5k in 17:51. This year I ran an August 5k in 19:03. My mile time in the track series is about 10 seconds slower than last year. I've reconciled the difference in volumes between years by matching August mileages, but I carried more speed through last year than I have during this year.
In this final week during the race I need to do a couple of obvious things.
-Drop weight or at least watch my weight. The danger in dropping weight is that it backfires if I don't get my full amount of necessary nutrition.
-Address basic speed with some sort of striding, sprinting, or hills.
What I do besides that depends a lot on my goals for the race. Do I want to beat last year's time or am I happy enough to just give it a good effort? If I hope to beat last year's time, then I have to taper this week. If all I concern myself with is an honest effort, then I am free to race without tapering. I'm already resolved to give it an honest effort on Saturday. So the biggest factor determining my performance now may not be at all what I do Saturday, but instead what I do the next couple of days.
That is more or less why I decided not to run Chaptico. Its so hard not to want to taper for a race if you know you are going to race it. Remember the Crofton 10K this year was originally just going to be a race I trained through, but I ended tapering anyway and making a big deal out of it. A month ago as I got back into running, I started focusing on the marathon distance and I knew I didn't want to deal with the distraction of Chaptico. Its sounds really harsh to call a race a distraction, but I kind of felt I would lose a whole week of training if I started to think of Chaptico as a race. For Crofton the temptation was too much, mostly because I was in PR shape (and would have had a lifetime PR if I hadn't hurt my hamstring and walked a large portion of the last mile). Chaptico thankfully was a lot less tempting because rather than trying to beat 38 minutes or even 37 minutes (which if you asked me the day after Crofton what would be a good goal is what I would have told you), I'd be realistically battling the 39 minute mark which doesn't draw any excitement for me. Hence I'd rather stay focused on the marathon. Do the 4 X 1600 workout on Tuesday, do strides on Thursday, and hopefully do a 20 mile long run with Perry on Sunday (if he doesn't go back to Delaware aft the Chaptico 10K)
Rather than so intensely scrutinizing August 2011 vs. August 2012, perhaps Joe would be better served by comparing how he felt in early June 2012 to how he's doing now. Going into the Crofton Kiwanis 10k 2012, there was every indication (mainly, much lower mileage in May 2012 than May 2011) that he would be slower than his Crofton effort from the previous year --- yet not only did he match his 2011 time, he surpassed it by 10 seconds. Thus a similar surprise could very well happen in Chaptico this year. That is, he just might improve to 37:21 on Saturday.
Thankfully I'm free from the turmoil of whether or not to taper this week. There's not a doubt in my mind about what I should be doing until Saturday (except figuring out what exactly my sprinty Fartlek Friction will be tomorrow evening ... probably either 6 X 400 or 3 X 800). Why would I worry about training through this week when I've trained through the past two months? And it just so happens that a brief reduction in running volume is coming at the perfect time for me, as I'm still sore from Saturday (and the 19 consecutive days of running that preceded it) following taking yesterday off.
I hope that Joe will take the nobler path and treat Chaptico with the utmost sincerity. Sure, the odds are stacked against him --- but in the past those are the situations in which he's pulled off his biggest surprises (I'm mainly thinking of his debut marathon). The weather for Saturday is looking great, with a likely temp in the low 70s and perhaps even low humidity since there's such a low chance of rain that day (i.e., it could be quite similar to what we had in Crofton this year). Who knows, with some proper tapering Joe just might end up feeling great as he commences the 10k. Maybe grrrreat enough to break 37:00! Then as for Philly phocused Phil, I still hope that even he will have a change of heart, recognizing that a strong 10k race would be a boost to his marathon quest, not a distraction. He did, after all, do a solid 2 X 5k workout last Wednesday (via Lancaster). And though he dismisses shooting for a sub-39:00 10k as being a none too exciting race goal, the unfortunate fact is that he doesn't have a sub-39:00 10k time on the books (well, he purports to have run a sub-38:00 10k back in high school at Gilbert Run of all places, but that might as well have been in a different running lifetime). If I were him, I would be eager to rectify that post haste.
This is a cruel twist. While up until just a couple days ago the forecast was calling for a race time temperature in the upper 60s and possibly crisp air, the projection for 8 a.m. tomorrow is now 70 degrees, 81% humidity, and rain. That sounds better than last year, though, when it was probably upper 70s with even higher humidity and hurricane-presaging winds that drove the rain.
We will not be at Chaptico Saturday. Hope you all have a great race! Looking forward to the race reports.
Joe & Phil - when you complete the 5K, if you run it, think about asking Vic and/or whoever is at the finish line if they would like some help. Even doing it tempo, you guys finish so early that all the real finish line work will be after you're done -- when the crowds hit.
Phil was not seen this morning and Joe was a 10k runner.
I'll admit I was starting to run away with the notion of "pinching Piney Point" --- but now it looks like I'll be lucky if I can temporarily "pace Piggott".
My personal observation a year ago was that I believed you would be poised possibly within the next year to beat Piggott. I think you can finish close to him. If not this year, I think at your rate of improvement you should surely be ahead of him next year.
My revised race schedule is not something I can bind myself to, but is shaping up as follows6 October 2012: Walk the Blaine Whorl 5k
7 October 2012: Run the Metric Marathon
14 October 2012: Run the LPR 10 Miler
I'm not committed to "racing" any of the three. If I can turn my running around in two weeks, I may, but I'm skeptical that I will be running consistently by then.
My one advantage might be that, from what Liza said, Piggott will be racing in the Baltimore Running Festival the day before the LPR10. That could conceivably make the difference between him running 56:55 (were he fresh) and 58:05 (were he recovering). Last year --- when he'd apparently run a hard half-marathon the weekend before --- he finished just ahead of John Urban (57:41 to 57:54), the latter of whom I'd kept up with for the first couple miles of the race and then kept in my sights way up ahead for most of the remainder. Urban is most definitely someone I'll want to defeat if he shows up again this year.
I'd recommend that you treat the Metric Marathon as a long tempo run and then give the 10-miler your best shot. That would certainly make the most sense, as the MM may be way longer than what you're geared toward racing right now, and apparently it has hills. The 10-miler, meanwhile, isn't really all that incredibly longer than a 10k, and it's as fast and flat as can be.
That's more or less my goal. I think my best strategy would be do a ridiculous 200s workout this week and then the Metric over the weekend. I'd be addressing speed and endurance at their extremes, but it's probably about all I can do with just two weeks left to prepare for a 10 miler.
Blaine:
Turns out that we're doing the Blaine 5K after all. I shouldn't race it, b/c I'd like to race metric well. Maybe I'll pace Crystal.
Blaine 5K course note -- just go around the flagpole (at the wharf) -- do not run around the waterfront boardwalk.
Metric:
Josh Dawson is racing metric and says he'd like to break 1:48. My PR last year was 1:49, so I don't know if I can stay with him, but I might try if it doesn't feel too fast. He is probably racing it with a friend and both of them hope to break 3 at Marine Corps this year.