Yes, another year has ended, but this year was far from just another year. For me, this was “THE” year. It was easily the pinnacle of my running ambitions thus far. And, I feel the best is yet to come. I am positioning myself for an even better year in 2012. ..........
Last year, I ran my most miles ever. By the end of June, I had 1177 miles, which was a new 6-month best. Then, I went on a tear. I added another 1542 miles over the last 6 months. In all, I ran 2719 miles which is roughly 52 miles per week or 7.5 miles per day. December ended up being my all-time high for miles in a month. I ran 295.5 miles or 9.5 miles per day. Like I stated, I am putting myself in a great place for even bigger things in 2012.
All those miles paid huge dividends. In early April, I destroyed my 1500-meter PR by 10 seconds. Two weeks later, in actual freezing conditions (29F) and with a 22 mph NW wind, I competed with and beat several D-I athletes in another 1500-meter race. Not bad for a guy who is now in his 30s and did not compete in college at any level. I qualified for and ran the mile at the Drake Relays. I ran under my old 5K personal best 6 different times. I set 10k and 10-mile PRs as split times in the middle of a half-marathon race in which I also set a PR. Then, I ended the year dropping a couple minutes off my marathon best. I also had a great performance in a 50-mile ultra-marathon.
In all, I ran 26 races. I was the overall winner in 14 of them and runner-up in six more.
I had three highlight races I’d like to mention. The first was running 4:13.30 for 1500 on April 2nd at the Central College Invite in Pella, Iowa. That time put me nearly 7 seconds under the USATF Master’s standard to be named an All-America and was the fifth fastest submitted time for 30-34 year-old men in 2011. The second was running 16:06 for 5k on September 25th. I had even ran a 31-mile training run just 6 days before that race. I executed a perfect race plan that lead to the most even paced 5k I had ever ran. The third was running 50 miles in 5:50:59 on October 22nd. That performance was a top-10 in the nation for the year and was the culmination of 2.5 months of dedicated training.
Right now, I have just completed my third week of training leading into the Boston Marathon. I am mostly following the Pfitzinger 18/85 plan, which means 18 weeks of training peaking at 85 miles a week. The plan is intense and has several sustained efforts at or below goal race pace. It also includes a few races before the marathon, which I hope will start a string of PRs for this year.
Here are the training paces my plan prescribes based on my goal of running the marathon under 2:40. Fast tempo runs have a goal of 5:30-5:45 per mile and goal-pace tempos are ran at 5:55-6:05 per mile. Long runs and semi-long runs have a goal of 6:40-7:20 per mile. Aerobic runs have a goal of 7:00-7:30 per mile. Recovery runs are 7:30-8:00 per mile.
Here is my training for the past week.
Sunday was Christmas Day. I managed to get out for a semi-long run of 12 miles. After spending Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday morning in Ida Grove, I was back home in Ames and able to run a targeted route. I went down Stange, a slow 1-mile descent, then up Ontario, a slow 2-mile ascent. Next, I ran North and South Dakota; which includes a pretty steep hill then I ran Mortensen eventually turning around on the trail behind the middle school. Throughout the whole run, I was under goal pace, but it was so easy. So, I kept at it, while also consciously refusing to “push” myself. I just let the miles come to me. Total: 14 miles – 1:17:54 (6:29 pace).
Monday was my long run for the week. The goal was 17 miles with a 7-mile goal-pace tempo at the end of it. I have done a few long runs with pushing the final 2-3 miles, but I have never attempted such an ambitious workout before. In the end, it may have been the hardest workout I have done with the exception of track intervals. The first 10 miles were on a purposefully hilly 10-mile loop NE of Ames. I call it the Stagecoach loop because it includes a 2-3 mile stretch on Stagecoach Road that includes much of the hills. The first 10 miles were with Courtney and they took 1:14:18 (7:26 pace). Then, I ran 7 more miles around Ada Hayden. They were 5:46-5:57-6:01-5:56-5:44-5:57-5:46 for a 5:53 average. I ended with a half-mile cool down. Total: 17.5 miles – 1:59:07 (6:48 pace).
Tuesday was a recovery day and very windy and cooler. In the morning, I dropped my car off in SouthEast Ames. Then, we ran a diagonal route eventually picking up Dayton Avenue and arriving at Theisens, the local farm supply store. Daphne and I also decided it was the best place to buy Christmas presents. It had all the good stuff like tractors, play food, doll houses, wagons, etc… Anyhow, the wind helped make for an easy recovery day. Total: 7 miles – 51:13 (7:19 pace).
Wednesday was my aerobic day with an addition of 10x100 meter strides. I set out to do a quick 3-miles including all of the strides before running the last part with Courtney. Today was her hard tempo day. It’s been interesting to balance my workouts to also match up with her schedule of hard and easy days. It has led to some back-to-back hard days for me, a few runs too fast, and others too slow. Ultimately, I think it has been balancing very well. I ran the first 3 miles with the strides in 6:11 pace. She ran her 4-mile hard tempo in 6:22-6:23-6:19-6:15 (or 6:20 pace) and there was some warm-up and cool down mixed in there as well. Total: 10 miles – 1:06:46 (6:41 pace).
Thursday was a nice, easy recovery run. We ran down Stange and out Ontario and turned around just before the big hill on North Dakota. Total: 8 miles – 1:00:23 (7:33 pace).
Friday was a long run that started at 5:45 AM for me to accommodate for a skiing trip and my brother leaving to visit in-laws. I ran the first 4 miles solo in 6:43 pace, then joined with Courtney for the last 10 miles in 7:48 pace. This was definitely slower than the goal, but was also pretty predictable based on the early hour. In the end, I got back in time to visit my brother for a half-hour before he headed on his way. Also, I cannot believe I was able to run a 14-miler OUTSIDE in Iowa on December 30th before the sun came up. Total: 14 miles – 1:45:04 (7:30 pace).
Saturday was another recovery run. We ran down the center of Ames on Eisenhower, past the high school, and into Brookside Park. I was a little out of sorts from the early wake-up the day before, but the end went pretty well regardless and was within the goal zone. Total: 8 miles – 1:01:25 (7:30 pace).
For the week (Sun-Sat), I hit 76.5 miles in 9:01:52 or 7:05/mile.
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