Back grinding, week that was in training and thoughts on NYC

Hey friends, this is going to be a quick one. Where I had to take last Monday off work and the previous Friday I'm battling to catch up so no long rants or anything today. But fear not, next week I'll ramble on as usual and make sure I've got a few decent pictures attached. Last week was a very solid one in terms of training. I'm surprised I came off the half as well as I did. By Wednesday I jumped back into workouts, though not large in volume or super intense they were really strong sessions. Anyway, before I get into a couple thoughts on NYC, head on over to my boy Jeff Consten's Blog here - http://jeffcostenrunning.blogspot.ca/2015/10/picking-up-pieces.html he talks about winning the Scotiabank half and his progress as he rounds into form for XC natties. Other quick housekeeping is to give a huge shout out to all the boys who killed it out at the BC XC champs last weekend. Luc took the win but Declan threw it down and pushed him right to the line. In other news my man Taylor won the Niagara Falls International Marathon, he has a much faster time coning once he gets a good day weather wise and another cycle of training under him. (My friend Aaron was giving me updates, go check out his blog which is linked on my sidebar, it's always a good read!) Congrats fellas, inspiring stuff!

Stories to follow during the NYC Marathon.

1 - Is Wilson Kipsang still the worlds best marathon runner not named Eliud Kipchoge? He's been super consistent over the last 5 years with the exception of that DNF at the world champs. In the spring he grinded it out until the finish with Kipchoge who's the top guy in the world right now. Kipsang was the worlds undisputed king of 26.2 from 2012-2014 as far as I'm concerned and I feel like he is still as the height of his powers as he looked really strong in London. I'm taking Kipsang for the win here in similar fashion to last year, breaking away at around 20 miles with 2-3 others like Desisa, Tsegaye and Biwott before dishing out a final blow over the last mile to take the win.

2 - How will 10000m/XC stud Geoffrey Kamworor look at the distance, he certainly couldn't do anything to touch Mo in the 10000 at worlds despite making it a fast race in hot conditions. Will we see him knock the marathon out of the park and stay on the roads from here on out or go back to the track and wait it out for mo to eventually move up to the marathon? He's the worlds second best 10000m runner and has great range as he displayed running a fast half and winning world cross but he lacks the devastating finishing speed of a true world beater in the 10k. The roads are where he will need to go so long as Mo plans to run the 10.

3 - Will Meb have another strong performance and solidify himself, with Dathan as the favorites to make the Olympic squad come the US trials in February? My gut tells me Meb will run well here and should easily be top American over the likes of Arciniaga and Leon. If a few east Africans try to go with a big move from Kipsang and blow up Meb could be top 5 once again this year.

4 - How will Mexico's Juan Luis Barrios do? Will he figure out the Marathon and run it at the next Olympics or will he go back to the 5k/10k. He produced a strong 60 minute half this year and he's very credentialed over the 5 and 10 so it's just a question of figuring out the marathon. He certainly has the ability to run 2:06/7 eventually on a Berlin type course. His goal here should be to stay in contact for 20 miles, then close strong when the break happens and pick up the carnage that's left behind when the Africans make the big push for home.

5 - Can Mary Keitany defend her title? On paper she's the best by a minute, but this race to me could go to one of 4 women, Keitany, Jeptoo (if she's in the form she was in 2013), Deba (Who should seriously apply for american citizenship!) or Tufa. I suspect it will be tactical early with a fast last half. I'm going to go with Keitany for the win but this really can go either way.

Week that was in training.

Monday

7 miles easy on the treadmill at my hotel - AM

OFF/Travel - PM

Tuesday

10 miles easy - AM

10 miles easy - PM

Wednesday

Workout - 20 minute tempo at Lactate Threshold. I didn't want to do anything quick right off the bat after racing the half but my legs felt good so I figured this was a good one to do. I figure my LT pace is between 5:05-5:10 at this point based on my 10k and half so that's where I ran it. The 20 minutes went by in a hurry and it felt super smooth. I guess having done workouts like 2X35' made something like this much more manageable. I averaged 5:06/mile. I'll attach the garmin activity here - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/934020992

12 miles with workout - AM

8 miles easy - PM

Thursday

11 miles with 10X200m in 30 seconds off a 200m jog mid run - AM

9 miles easy - PM

Friday

14 miles easy - AM

6 miles easy - PM

Saturday

Workout - This was a cross country type session done on the Long Pond trail. It's a very hilly path on the outside of a pond that goes up into the woods on one side. The trail is about 3000m all the way around. I got this workout from Colin Fewer who was there with Art Meaney the coaches of the University Cross Country team here in St. John's. The session was 1 lap of the pond at tempo/LT pace then a 3 minute recovery followed by 5'-4'-3'-2'-1' with 1' active recovery between everything. I did the first lap in 9:18 which felt good, and then did the 5' and 4' also at tempo pace or around 5 minute pace effort which came out to 5:15 or so over the rolling hills and the final 3', 2', 1' at 10k race effort which was 4:50/55 effort that came out to being about 5:05ish pace. All in all this was a great session and built some strength for sure. Here is the garmin activity - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/936506912

10 miles with workout - AM

10 miles easy - PM

Sunday

16 mile long run with strides at the end - AM

4 miles easy - PM

So that was my week. I ran 128.4 miles I believe and had two good quality sessions. I'm really making a push in training from now until National Cross so let's hope the workouts continue to go well and the fitness improves a little more over the next 5 weeks. I had a nice little session today of 1km reps and fast 200's which I'll outline in next weeks blog, things are off to a great start this week and I'm crossing my fingers the weather stays the way it is for the next while.

Anyway, thanks ever so much for stopping by, keep those sticks on the ice.

Dave

New half marathon PB of 1:08 at STWM and what's next.

So, we did it folks! I pulled off the 1:08 I was looking for in Toronto this past weekend at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon (the half). I couldn't have asked for a better day weather wise, and I got the taper just right so I'm really happy with how that went. I'll break it all down in this post as well as my training leading into the race and what's coming up for the rest of the fall and leading into the new year. Before we start on all that though, I'll talk about a few notable performances from Scotiabank this past weekend.

Stand out performances from STWM weekend 2015

1 - Eric Gillis, what can you say about this guy? He's the beacon of consistency and he proved yet again why he's one of the best Canadian marathoners we've ever produced. The job for him was simple, not easy obviously, but strait forward. Punch a ticket to Rio by running under the Athletics Canada standard of 2:12:50. Well, he got that done no problem and rolled a 2:11:31 to secure a spot on his 3rd Olympic squad and to take the national marathon championship.

2 - Lanni Marchant, also a big time gamer. When Lanni is on she's going to run fast. I believe she split her fastest ever first half in this marathon in 1:12:24 or there abouts. She slowed a little after some calf cramping but still ran well under the Olympic standard and ended up only 7 seconds off her own Canadian record, running 2:28:07

3 - John Mason, this guy is a gem of a human being and he's as tough as they come. I'll attach a couple pictures below of me running with him during the first half. But John went out hard looking for that big breakthrough and was rewarded with a PB. I've got no doubt he will be running 2:17-2:18 this coming spring. He also ended up as 3rd Canadian which is a stellar achievement. Way to go pal, that beard is legendary!

4 - Jeff Costen, my boy Jeff won the half and really executed an awesome race from wire to wire. He ran 1:08 flat and beat some game opponents in the process. It seems like he's really peaking at just the right time. Now, 6 weeks out from cross country nationals he can put in another cycle of hard training and I think after that he's going to be ready to really shake things up in the top 20. Keep an eye on this guy folks.

5 - Leslie Sexton, now with most of the talk being on Lanni's run I feel like we are all overlooking the awesome performance that Leslie had. She came in with a 2:39 PB, but we all knew there was much more in the tank and for her to discover in the marathon. She rolled a perfect race, pacing wise, and dropped a 2:33. I think she's going to be the next one under 2:30 if the winter treats her well. Way to go Leslie!!

6 - Rachel Hannah, after a busy spring and running her debut marathon in Ottawa of 2:33 then coming 3rd at the Pan Am games at the distance, Rachel got right back to work and toed the line in the half on Sunday. She ran a big time PB of 1:12 and this show's progress is definitely being made and that she's getting ready to threaten that 2:30 mark as well. Look for her to make a push to hit that standard for Rio in the upcoming months.

Thoughts on my half and new PB.

So, going into the race things had gone well as I had mentioned in my previous couple of blog posts. I was confident in my training and finally had a solid 10k result last weekend. The only thing on my mind was the fact that I hadn't ever really produced a good time at a distance over 10k. Even this year my 10 mile was pretty pathetic given the level I'd been training at. But I tried to put that out of my head and just focused on the fact that I'd been nailing long workouts as big as 2X35' at really quick paces. Anyway, after I got a shakeout in with Jeff and Ryan, we got on the start line ready to roll and the confidence was high. I saw Nick Senseri and he told me Mason was looking to go through in 1:08 so that was glorious and I made a note to find him right away. The gun goes off and as you would expect everyone takes off crazy fast. Knowing the first 2km are uphill I wanted to settle right away and just roll the first mile really controlled and not get too anxious about being so far back. I found John and Josh Bolton right away and we immediately settled in. Our first mile was 5:19 which was right on the money and after getting past that uphill section around the university it was go time. We locked into a good grove and started rolling every mile between 5:10-5:12. We came through 5km in 16:12 and the effort felt right. I made sure we didn't get in the way of John getting his bottles as he would need the fuel later in the race. Whenever I could, I'd try to do as much leading as possible, the last thing I wanted to be was that guy drafting off a marathoner and turn off half way leaving him by himself fighting it while starting to tire. Anyway, we rolled through 10km in 32:36 officially and it felt really easy so that made me feel good about things as last year I was already suffering at this point. We just kept it right there for a while and when we hit the turn around Mason moved up to run with another marathoner while Josh and I just kept working our pace together as we still had lots of running to go. At this point we were still clicking off 5:12/mile like clockwork. We split the 15km in 48:39 and I came through 10 miles in 51:48. All I could think about at this point was why am I so awful at the tely 10? Clearly I should run at least 50:45 or so given the nature of the course. Maybe I'm just better off racing the tely and going for the win regardless of who's there and get a PB that way. let's hope I finally put a decent tely race together next season and drop that ridiculously slow 52 minute PB of mine. Back to the race, things were going well. At that point I clicked off another 5:12 for the 11th mile and told myself I'd try to make a push to catch a guy about 100m up the road and ran a 5:08 up a little grade coming back into the city. This drained me but I got about a 20 second gap on Josh and had dragged myself up to a runner from England who was running the half as well. We battled that last mile and had a sprint to the finish for 3rd/4th. He edged me by a couple tenths of a second as the 12th mile really put a sting in my legs but at that point I didn't care. I crossed the line in 1:08:47, officially and it was good for 4th overall. I saw Jeff there with flowers and a medal so I was pretty pumped he had won. When the dust settled the top 4 were all in the 1:08's so I was competitve which was the main goal after setting a PB. Props to Jeff though for the win, he was by far the strongest runner out there on Sunday and I couldn't be happier for the guy. I'll attach the splits to my race here - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/931919599 and the official results here - http://www.canadarunningseries.com/results/2015/stwm/scotiah.htm .

Obviously, I'm really stoked about the race but I also feel even more hungry to get that PB down even further into the 1:06 range. There's so much room for improvement over a race that long and I've decided to go to Huston in January to take another crack at a fast time. Huston is a great course that attracts lot's of fast guys so it will give me the motivation to train hard after cross country and make sure I stay focused. Running a decent half also gives me hope for when I do eventually move up to the marathon. Now, I've got no interest in running one until I can produce a 1:06 half but when the time comes at least I'll be able to run something somewhat quick. My half converts to 2:24 flat and that's about where I'd expect to be if I trained with one in mind right now but I'll hold off until I get my 5, 10 and 21.1k times down to where I want them and then make the jump up to the big show.

Week that was in training.

Monday

10 miles easy - AM

10 miles easy - PM

Tuesday

15 miles easy with Fraser + Strides - AM

OFF - PM

Wednesday

Workout - Just a small workout to keep the tension in the legs 2X2km off 3' at 10km race pace. I went 6:10 and 6:09. And it felt super smooth and effortless so I figured this was a good sign as I was only 2 days removed from a 31:07 10km race effort.

8 miles with workout - AM

6.2 miles easy - PM

Thursday

5.5 miles easy + strides - AM

OFF - PM

Friday

OFF - AM

3.2 miles easy on the treadmill in my hotel with 3X1' at 4:45/mile pace - PM

Saturday

4 miles easy on the treadmill with 3 minutes of 5:00/mile pace at the end - AM

OFF - PM

Sunday

Race - Felt great, did a 15 minute warm up with Jeff and Ryan followed by some drills and strides, raced the half in 1:08:47 then cooled down with Jeff and watched the end of the marathon after spotting our buddy Garrett.

18.5 miles with warm up, race and cool down - AM

OFF - PM

So, that's my little recap of the weekend. Like I said, I'm really pleased with the race and I feel that I've finally started to post some times reflective of my fitness. I'll jump right back into training and will look to build upon this for cross country nationals and then into the new year for Huston in January.

Thanks for reading friends, I'll catch you next week, same bat time, same bat place,

Dave

Helping out at the booth with my Saucony family. That's Tyler, back on helping someone get into the new Everun Triumphs and Ben in back.

Blue Jay Fever!

Shakeout at the hotel, beauty facility.

They had a pool up on the upper level of the hotel so it was awesome just hanging there and relaxing all Saturday before the race.

Ready to rock and roll.

Picture from a scary moment on my way home, our plane started smoking and we made an emergency landing. I was thinking "You can't go out like this, your PB's are still too slow..." :p

Rolling with Josh and John Mason. We all ran PB's. I was 1:08, Josh was 1:09 and John ran a 2:22 marathon good for 3rd Canadian overall.

John draws great power from that epic beard. But on a serious note, he's an awesome dude! Congrats on the run man.

Early on, trying to get settled.

 

New 10km PB, STWM next weekend and Chicago without pacemakers.

What's up friends? I hope your all getting great weather like we are here in Newfoundland. I was out today on the trails and it was absolutely gorgeous. Fall is definitely the best time to train, you get that smell in the air, you guy's know what I mean. It's cross country weather. Speaking of cross, things are really heating up both here in the CIS and in the NCAA. I'm pretty pumped to see how the next few weeks play out. After I get back from Scotiabank I'm going to have to get some workouts in on the grass and make sure I'm ready to go for nationals in Kingston. Anyway, in this post I'll quickly rant about the Chicago Marathon, my race last Sunday where I managed to run a 10km PB and break down last week's training. I'm 5 days out from the Scotiabank half so things are definitely lower this week mileage and intensity wise. I feel like I'm peaking at just the right time and I gained some confidence from my run Sunday clicking off 5 minute miles or slightly faster under control. If all goes well I should be able to come through 10km in 32:10-32:20 and then keep working through the rest of the course and try to come out with a big time PB.

Chicago Marathon thoughts

1 - Deena Kastor is amazing! Deena ran a fantastic race and came out with a 2:27 and a new American Master's record. After that performance I'm really liking her chances at the trials. Obviously baring injury Shalane and Desi are a lock for the top two spots and the third will be a battle between Deena and Amy Craig (Hastings). There's a good few american women who've run between 2:28-2:32 but they did that in a time trial type race and don't have that killer instinct to take the race by the scruff of the neck and impose their game plan. Deena won't be nervous being in a pack of 5-6 fighting for that last spot and won't crack under pressure. Amy has also been there before and even tho she couldn't pull it all together at the trials in 2012, she came back and threw down on the track to make the Olympic team in the 10k. Don't be surprised when the dust settles to see Deena on the Rio squad come February folks.

2 - Luke Puskedra!!! What a gutsy race and a feel good story. Luke stuck his nose in the mix and looked like a seasoned veteran covering moves and staying at the back of the pack out of trouble. He was rewarded with a 2:10 performance in a race that was won in 2:09 and established himself as a front runner for the 3rd spot on the men's side at the trials behind Dathan and Meb. We knew he had this in him, the guy ran a 61:38 half while in College. It's great to see him back at it and running well.

3 - Chumba is LEGIT. I seriously thought Kitwara was a lock to win this but Chumba used superior tactics and looked super strong out there getting the win. 

4 - This race, at least in my mind, was way worse without pacemakers. I mean, in this day and age on a flat fast course like Chicago nobody wants to see a 2:09. I think it's a mistake and that the race organizers might be trying to save some money on time bonuses. That's how they attracted more east Africans, as long as they ran under 2:06 even if they placed outside the podium these guys got a great paycheck for their efforts but now it's just ridiculous. To say this was as entertaining as when Kimetto and Mutai battled it out both running 2:03, or last year Kipchoge running 2:04 low in a tactical affair is just insane. I know I won't be getting up and watching the race from start to finish from now on if this is what I'll be watching. And I suspect they will loose a lot of the top talent to Berlin who ensures good pacemaking or NYC who make sure the athletes are paid big dollars in appearance fees. Let's face it, these athletes have a small window to make their money. They should negotiate to the best of their abilities and go where they will get paid the most. Maybe I'm wrong 100% here but that's how I feel. If we want the sport to grow it needs to be marketable and I'd venture to say selling advertising against a marathon with guys duking it out running 2:03-2:05 with hype of a world record attempt might be worth slightly more then a 2:09 race. But again, I'm no expert in this regard.

31:07, a new 10k PB.

Last Sunday I ran the turkey tea 10k here in town and we got a good day for it with winds that weren't too bad and a crisp cool morning. I knew I was ready to go under 31 but if I had to go it alone I wasn't going to be running that fast. Thankfully my Saucony Canada teammate, Colin Fewer decided to jump into the race as a workout. Colin is a 30:26 10km guy so he wanted to roll a nice tempo effort at 5 minute mile pace which worked great with me. So we set out and ran a 5:06 for the first mile into the wind just getting settled and then a 5:13 over the next mile with a pretty good uphill portion and then we got in the grove and started clicking them off. We ran together, exchanging some words about the beauty weather, the markers on the course and the splits we were hitting. At 4 miles I figured I'd push the pace a little as there's a nice downhill mile there so I dropped a 4:50 and then a couple 4:57's to close out the race and came in at 31:07 feeling super good. I'm sure if we got after it from the start we would have run around 30:45 but Colin was keeping it a controlled effort and I was super pumped to have him there with me. So it was a good day. I took 10 seconds off my PB and Colin got a nice 10k tempo in at 5 minute mile pace. I'll attach some pictures at the end of this post. I'd like to give a shout out to the NLAA and to the New World Running Club, they put off such amazing events and the atmosphere at the races are second to non. This year saw so many runners out it was awesome. I highly recommend jumping into one of their races if you ever get the chance, Carved by the sea 10k, the turkey tea 10k, the run to remember 11k etc....Thanks again guys, I had an awesome time and you can expect me back next year to defend the title for the fourth time! Results can be found here - https://sites.google.com/site/newworldrunningclub/results/2015/turkey-tea-10k

Week that was in training.

Monday

Workout - 3 X Long Pond with Peter and Kate. Long Pond has a hilly trail on the outside of it and all the way around is 3km. So it's very much an effort based workout. We took 2 minute recoveries and I made sure to run it right around my half marathon effort. My splits were 9:24 (A little quick), 9:37, 9:27. I was pumped with this workout as it didn't feel like I was straining at all and I was running 5:15 pace over a hilly route.

16 miles with workout - AM

OFF - PM

Tuesday

16 miles easy with strides - AM

OFF - PM

Wednesday

Workout - 10km race pace workout. Just 5X1km off 90 seconds to feel some race pace and get the legs going. I was 3:00, 3:03, 3:02, 3:02, 2:59. Felt super smooth and I knew I'd roll a good one on Sunday. It's amazing how one month can make all the difference. I didn't feel nearly this good going into the 5km champs. My last 5km on Sunday was 15:18.....I guess over the course of the season that type of thing tends to happen your going to have patches of feeling good and others where you feel flat.

7 miles with workout - AM

10 miles easy with Lodgy and Marsh - PM

Thursday

5 miles easy with Jason - AM

OFF - PM

Friday

OFF - AM

4 miles easy with a couple fast 200's - PM

Saturday

4 miles easy on the treadmill with 3 minutes at 4:50/mile pace - AM

OFF - PM

Sunday

Race - Turkey Tea 10km (31:07) - 2 miles warm up and 3' of steady state followed by some strides then the race. Splits 5:06, 5:13, 5:02, 4:50, 4:58, 4:57. 2 mile cool down.

10 miles with race and WU/CD - AM

10 miles easy - PM

So that was my week, the confidence is high folks. I'm heading to Toronto on Thursday and I'll be at the Saucony booth on Friday so be sure to stop by and say hey if you are around. You can track me on sporstats.ca and I'll post something on twitter or facebook after the race.

Until next time, go Jays!!

Dave

Beauty day for a race, thanks Biped for the pics. 

Colin and I around 2 miles in.

I pushed a little here around 4 miles and Colin just kept his workout going at 5 minute pace. Watch for him at XC nationals....he's a beast!

Motoring along near the 8km mark.

Part of me wishes we went harder earlier and I'd run 30:45 or so but better to save the big one for next weekend.

Happy with the effort.

Thanks New World Run Club! I'll be back!

Week that was in training and the Chi Town Marathon

Hey friends, I trust your week's are off to a great start and your logging some miles in these great fall running conditions. I had a good week in training the past 7 days but picked up a flu that's just starting to clear up now so that wasn't fun. Thankfully I invested in a really good treadmill for my house so when I feel under the weather or it's bad out I can get a run in without even going to the gym. Anyway I'm pressed for time as I've got a proposal to write up for work so I'm going to make this super quick and talk briefly about the upcoming Chicago Marathon and then recap my training for last week. I'm jumping into a 10km this Sunday and even though the flu was poorly timed I think I'll roll a really solid race and be primed for a big breakthrough at Scotiabank in 12 days.

Chicago Marathon pre race thoughts.

1 -  Don't expect the winning time to be as fast as the last two years. Firsly because there isn't anyone on the start lists with the abilities of a Kimetto or Kipchoge. I suspect without pace makers and with a lack of really decorated runners that we will see a winning time around 2:05 mid to 2:06 low. Still an awesome time of course.

2 - The three to watch on the men's side are Chumba, Kitwara and Negesse, these guys are a class above and I suspect by 30k they will drop all the pretenders and things will heat up fast. All of these runners own 2:04 personal bests so we are in for a treat.

3 - Florence Kiplagat should run away with this as long as she's fit. The only other women I see putting up a fight would be Birhane Dibaba, and it would take a jump up in class to run with the talented Kiplagat but don't rule it out. Keep your eye's on these two at the 20 mile mark.

3 - I'm curious what Chicago has in terms of Appearance fee budget because they didn't attract any really big names. Granted, Kebede was supposed to be in the field and he's a complete stud but other then that the top dogs are all at NYC or raced Berlin. I don't think they have near the same budget as some of the other majors, especially ones like London and NYC who are dropping half a million on some athletes to get them to toe the line.

4 - How will our Canadian squad make out? Can Watson put things together and run a PB? How will Brandon Lord look for his debut at the distance? Can my boy Kevin Coffey run a 2:16-2:18? I'm pretty excited for this portion of the race. I feel like Kevin is ready to pop a super fast one and Lord has all the makings of a fine marathoner. With Rob, you never know, I follow his training on strava and he's training at a 2:12 level for sure so it just comes down to execution on race day. I'm pulling for all the boys and am sending fast vibes from out east.

5 - The American men and women.......who's worth the hype that's behind them and who isn't? From the outside looking in some would say put your money on Fernando Cabada. I'm going to go with Luke Peskedra though. He's the type of guy who if he hit's it right could be a sub 2:10 performer. I don't expect it here but I suspect he will be the top american and will run around 2:11. On the women's side I'm not high on any of the women other then Deena Kastor. I don't think the others have a shot at making the Olympic squad and they certainly aren't on the level Deena is even into her 40's. I'll take Kastor as the top American women in a new masters WR of 2:27 high. 

My week in training.

Monday

16 miles easy - AM

5 miles with 10X200m in 30" - PM

Tuesday

Workout - 3X2miles at Half Marathon race pace + 2x2miles at Marathon pace. This was a strait forward workout and I just wanted to get it done feeling smooth. I'll attach the Garmin activity below. The two mile reps at HM pace I averaged 5:07/mile which is a couple seconds faster then race pace but it was hard to go slower then that when the reps are only about 10 minutes long. Then the 2X2miles at Marathon pace were just under 5:30/mile pace. Here is the HM paced 2mile reps - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/913562975 and here's the Marathon effort 2X2miles + cooling down back to my house - https://connect.garmin.com/activity/913563000

13 miles with workout - AM

7 miles easy - PM

Wednesday

14 miles easy - AM

7 miles easy - PM

Thursday

Workout - 2 mile time trial on the track then a 10 minute recovery followed by 8X200m with a rolling 200 between each hard 200. I was doing this on my own and it was windy. I thought I'd be able to dip just under 9 minutes but it was not to be haha. I ended up being 9:14 and it felt super hard. I guess it was just the wind and some fatigue in my legs. I was 4:35 through the first mile and ran 4:39 for the second and suffered. The 200's I just rolled nice and smoothly at 30/31 seconds/rep. I'll attach the Garmin activity, it shows the miles of the time trial being 4:23 and 4:21 but the GPS gets fooled up running around in circles. I didn't run that fast, it was like I mentioned 4:35 and 4:39. As much as I'd love to write I ran an 8:44 two mile there's no way I can run that at my current fitness ha. https://connect.garmin.com/activity/915363604 

14 miles with workout and extended cool down - AM

5.5 miles easy - PM

Friday

10 miles easy on the treadmill (Raining like crazy) - AM

10 miles again on the treadmill - PM

Saturday

10 miles easy - AM

10 miles on the treadmill (feeling super sick with the flu) - PM

Sunday

10 miles on the treadmill (flu was still bad) - AM

OFF - PM

Anyway, that was my week. I'm over the flu now, I did a great workout yesterday in the middle of a long run so we are back rocking and rolling. Before I clue this up a huge shout out has to go to my boy Alex Cyr on his 6th place finish on the Plains of Abraham at the interlock meet and same goes to Cal "the legend" Dewolf. Dude ran strong as hell and will be rolling for the big show at AUS and CIS no doubt. Keep it going fellas.

Alright, that's it for this kid, I'll have a better post next week and hopefully a new 10km PB to talk about. There will also be pictures ha. I'm rushing this like crazy. But thanks for reading I appreciate it big time.

Stay frosty,

Dave