Re: Training Week Ending March 25, 2007

Quoted message said:

53 miles, including four 5K races.

Unreal! I'm not sure which would be more difficult, running the 4 races, or
the logistics of getting to each one on time. How did you mange it?

--
Phil M.

"MarkH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| 53 miles, including four 5K races.
| A week dominated by a 20 miler on Monday and a superfecta of four
| 5K races over 48 hours on the weekend. Needless to say, speed work
| was skipped for the week.
| ........
| blingy swag for a 2nd AG place. Doubtlessly due to the cash award,
| four of the top seven finishers were over 50. :-)

Those 'greedy' 50+ guys! :-)
Every weekend, just when we think you have done it all,
you do even more the following weekends, Congratulations.
How about some 10K HM PRs now? :-)

"Phil M." <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

53 miles, including four 5K races.

Unreal! I'm not sure which would be more difficult, running the
4 races, or the logistics of getting to each one on time. How
did you mange it?

They were all within 50 miles. As long as you've got a reliable
car and a loud alarm clock, that part's a piece a'cake. The toughest
part is having enough self-discipline to avoid all the post-race
food. :-)

MarkH said:

53 miles, including four 5K races.

M - 20 miler, mod. hard
T - 10 easy
W - 5 easy
Th - 5 easy
F - 5K race, 20:38, 2/78, 1st Master
Sa - 5K race, 20:03, 7/147, 1st AG
Sa - 5K race, 21:12, 2/38, 1st AG
Su - 5K race, 21:06, 7/144, 2nd AG

Mark, I'm truly impressed. I think I could run two on the same day
fairly close together but consecutive days at race pace would have me
too sored up to go. Way to go.

Quoted message said:

A week dominated by a 20 miler on Monday and a superfecta of four
5K races over 48 hours on the weekend. Needless to say, speed work
was skipped for the week.

Race #1 was the Torchlight Run 5K on Friday evening. The entire
hilly route was lined with paper bags with candles inside. The
idea was that these would picturesquely light the way in the
evening darkness. Unfortunately, due to the early DST clock
change, the run was made in full daylight and the candles were a
wasted effort. Ran a fairly slow 20:38 - but good enough for 2nd
OA and 1st Master.

Race #2 was the Spring Chicken 5K on Saturday morning. A flatter
course got me a decent 20:03, 7th OA and 1st AG, but I was
definitely feeling the previous evening's race in my legs.

Race #3 was a Saturday afternoon Hustle for Habitat 5K. Inaugural
year for the race with a course that consisted of four convoluted
loops around a large parking lot, plus a section of road. A 20-year
old former HS XC runner won it in a surprisingly slow 19:58, so we
concluded this course was likely long by about 0.2 mile, which put
my 21:12 in perspective. The 85 F weather made for some tough
going, but was able to hang in for a 2nd OA, and 1st AG in the very
small turn-out. Given the cumulative fatigue in my legs, I was
running largely on willpower.

Race #4 was a Sunday afternoon Run For Children 5K at Lake Lanier
near north Atlanta. This race was advertised as a "flat and fast"
course" along the lake, so I expected this to be the most friendly
course of the weekend. Perversely, this turned out to be the
hilliest course of them all, prompting an apology from the RD for
having the grossly misleading description. The only flat part of
the course was a section of a bridge.

This race had a prize purse with, paradoxically, the highest prize
of $100 for Grand Master 1st place. Naturally, this attracted some
of the area's best AG runners and with my by-now rubbery legs, I
had no chance at the cash. Still managed a 7th OA and snagged some
blingy swag for a 2nd AG place. Doubtlessly due to the cash award,
four of the top seven finishers were over 50. :-)

Frank Boettcher <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Mark, I'm truly impressed. I think I could run two on the same
day fairly close together but consecutive days at race pace
would have me too sored up to go. Way to go.

I find it's often a matter of a good warm-up. Even if the first
400m of a warm-up really suck and you feel like there's just no
frikkin' way you can race, the soreness is typically not very
noticeable in the subsequent couple of laps. Things tend to loosen
up fairly quickly.

But you do pay a penalty in overall speed in the race itself -- at
least 30 seconds/5K for me. And that's not due to any overt
soreness in the race, it's just that "stuff" ain't there like it
was in the first race.

"I2Run" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

"MarkH" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
| 53 miles, including four 5K races. A week dominated by a 20
| miler on Monday and a superfecta of four 5K races over 48 hours
| on the weekend. Needless to say, speed work was skipped for
| the week. ........ blingy swag for a 2nd AG place. Doubtlessly
| due to the cash award, four of the top seven finishers were
| over 50. :-)

Those 'greedy' 50+ guys! :-) Every weekend, just when we think
you have done it all, you do even more the following weekends,
Congratulations. How about some 10K HM PRs now? :-)

Thx. I just got my sub-40 10K PR a couple of weeks ago, so I'm OK
with that. Any other PR attempts will probably have to wait until
the fall. As I'm sure you've noticed on Sunday, it's beginning to
heat up around here. :-) BTW, good job in the half given the
conditions!

MarkH said:

F - 5K race, 20:38, 2/78, 1st Master
Sa - 5K race, 20:03, 7/147, 1st AG
Sa - 5K race, 21:12, 2/38, 1st AG
Su - 5K race, 21:06, 7/144, 2nd AG

Alright you ol' bugger, you win. I'm giving up fancy training and I'm
taking up dood racing in 9/2009 (when I hit 50-59 AG). You is da man, no
arguments.