Moving Forward

Now that the training for the Half Marathon has come and gone it is time for me to refocus and head in a new direction. Only for the time being.

I know in my heart that I want to run hard half marathons and marathons, but the build ups are just killing me. I went into long island half marathon slightly over trained and with a bit of heaviness in the legs. I need to learn from this and twist a few things in my training before I get out there again.

In the short term I am going to work on my overall base. I am going to log miles with some long hard efforts twice a week. Get my body used to running long and hard. During this time I will jump into a few road races here and there, with nothing specific coming to mind at the moment. These will be to just test my overall fitness.

Since the half I have been doing a good job of letting my body recover. They say that when you race it takes the body the same number of days to recover for the miles you raced. Thirteen days is a long time, especially when you are itching to get back after it. I know I have to be patient because I have made the mistake before and I don't want to be a repeat offender.

The recovery has looked like this:
Week 1 - 5/3 - 5/9
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday - 25 minutes of easy jogging
Sunday - 6 miles running

Week 2 - 5/10 - 5/16
Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday - 40 minutes easy running
Tuesday - 8 miles running
and the rest of the week is yet to happen but the plan is Friday and Saturday 40 minutes running, then Sunday 10 miles.

I will check back with the audience(Is there even an audience for this blog?) as the weeks go by with updates in training and plans. Till the next time!

Taper Week One

April 19th - Easy 8 miles in the PM.
April 20th - AM 4 miles PM 8 miles w/strides
April 21st - WO Fartlek 6,5,4,3,2,1, w/ half rest. Avg. 5:18 5:14 5:15 5:03 4:50 4:20, felt good legs got going halfway through the workout.
April 22nd - Cruisey 8 miles
April 23rd - AM 5 miles PM 3 miles with 6x100 meter strides.
April 24th - 6 miles with Pollard and Jacobs @SRC Prediction run, a little faster then would of liked.
April 25th - WO 20WU/CD 27 min hard effort 7 minute float 11 min hard effort. Rain and wind, tough to judge pace but averaged 6:15 pace for the whole 14 mile run.

67 miles for the week and YTD 1350 miles.

We are exactly one week out from the half marathon. It has been my lowest weekly mileage since November 2009 and the legs are coming around. The workout on Wednesday went according to plan which was nice. Got this last week to put the finishing touches on my fitness and then look out LI Half Marathon.

Two Weeks Out

Okay so it has been awhile since you last heard from me. I am two weeks out from my goal race at the Long Island Marathon. Training has been up and down for me over the past three weeks. I am starting to taper and get a little more intensity into my running schedule before I really cut the mileage next week for the big race.

Here is how it has been going ...

Race Simulation Week

March 29th - AM Easy 4 PM Cruisey 8 mile run
March 30th - 10 miles averaging 6:40's @SRC group run.
March 31st - Fartlek WO 25 min WU and 20 min CD, 6x 2:15 w/ 2 min rest and 5x45sec w/ 60 rest. Averaged 6:30 for the whole fartlek, went well in my opinion got stronger and faster with each rep.
April 1st - 10 mile plod.
April 2nd - 6 miles with 6 strides.
April 3rd - Race Simulation Run - 7 miles at 5:23 pace, 5:17 last mile...went well but not great. Got a few more weeks to sort my shit out.
April 4th - Easter Sunday - Run from Bayport to West Babylon - 20 miles at 6:35 pace.

81 miles for the week and YTD 1129 miles.

Regrouping the Troops

April 5th - 10 miles with Soltan, B and Leo.
April 6th - AM Easy 4 PM WO 3wu/cd 10x65 seconds, felt good , smooth and strong.
April 7th - AM 4 PM 8 after being at a track meet with the kids, legs are a little heavy.
April 8th - 13 miles, started out shitty and finished well.
April 9th - WU 3 CD 2, 1 mile 514, 2 mile 10:23, 2 mile 1030, 1 mile 4:58 with 3 minutes rest. Felt good and got stronger as the WO went on.
April 10th - 9 w/ soltan and b after work.
April 11th - 14 miles at 7AM at a 715 overall pace, got faster as we moved along.

83 miles for the week and YTD 1211 miles.

Princeton Week

April 12th - 10 miles at a decent clip.
April 13th - 20 min WU 30 min CD - WO 800 1k 1200 1k 800 w/ 2 min rest - 224 300 335 259 221, felt good, got the pace in my legs for the race Friday night. 72's...
April 14th - AM 4 PM 8 done as recovery runs, legs were heavy.
April 15th - 40 min running with strides.
April 16th - Race at Princeton 15:20-15:25, do not have an official time was not in the results for some reason.
April 17th - easy 6 miles recovery.
April 18th - 16 miles with 30 second surges every 3 miles, 6:45 pace for the run.

72 miles for the week and YTD 1283 miles.

Had good workouts during the last span of training, just the race didn't go as planned. I have a few more days to get the rust out of my system and get ready to rock n roll at the LI Half Marathon.

I will see you in a week with an update before the LI Half.

Back Half of March

March 15th - AM Easy 8 Wind & Rain PM Windy 4

March 16th - 14 miles twice over the SRC loop followed by 5x50's, 650 pace for the last 7.

March 17th - AM WO 4 x (2min-90sec-60sec) with 60 sec rest in between each rep. Still heavy from race, but good to get the efforts in. PM Easy 5 with the SJB kids.

March 18th - Easy 10

March 19th - Villanova distance clinic, 40 minute run during lunch. 5 miles

March 20th - AM Cruisey 8 PM Easy 4

March 21st - 20 miles with 1 minute bursts every 2-3 miles (8 total) 645 pace, felt real smooth.

89 miles for the week and YTD 966 miles.

Video of Me Heading towards the Finish ASPIRE 10K

March 22nd - AM Easy 3 PM 8 in some rain with B and Soltan.

March 23rd - 13 miles 7 min pace, 2 x the SRC loop.

March 24th - WO 3WU/CD 3xmile (513 510 513) 2x5min fartlek 2 minute rest. Windy heavy run on trails near SJB, legs a bit heavy will get through it.

March 25th - easy relaxed 12 mile run, 715 pace.

March 26th - easy 5 miles.

March 27th - ASPIRE 10k 32:40, 3rd Overall 1st Age Group - Fast start (450 mile) hills and wind, little bit of a chill. After the fast start I settled in nicely over some hills and inclines 1610 at 5k, continued to push to 4 miles (21:00) mile 5 was 90% downhill (455) up and down over the last mile for a final 5k of 16:30 and a 32:40 total time. It is a personal record and I will take it. Wasn't feeling that great heading in but very positive coming out of the race.

March 28th - Relaxed 16 miles with Leo.

82 miles for the week and 1048 YTD.

I am 5 weeks out from the Long Island Half Marathon and really looking forward to it. It will be another solid 2 weeks of training. 3 weeks from now I am looking at getting on the track and running a fast 5k. We are getting down to the nitty gritty and I am dropping my head and grinding ahead!

GLIRC News

Email from the Greater Long Island Running Club March 17th 2010

March March March

March 4th Week

March 1st - AM Easy 3 PM 8 at a cruise pace with strides afterward.
March 2nd - 14 mile run with the SRC group, 6:53 pace.
March 3rd - WO 4WU/CD 2 sets of 10x30 seconds with 30 seconds off, 4 minutes between sets. Tough weather and a tough workout make for a solid day.
March 4th - Easy 10 miler
March 5th - AM 7 in a snowy sloppy mess PM 6 in shorts and a long sleeve.
March 6th - AM 8 in really nice weather for the first time in a long time PM 4 miles with B&Leo.
March 7th - Baller Workout - 18 mile cut down starting the 1st 6 miles at 6:38 pace, the next 6 miles at 6:13 pace and the final 6 miles at 5:51 pace. 6:14 average pace for the whole 18 miles, until mile 16 I was running smooth and effortless it felt like, the last two miles I felt like I was starting to work. All in all a very solid workout if I must say.

90 miles for the week and YTD 797 miles.

KINGS PARK
15 KILOMETER RUN
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Kings Park, New York

    TOT DIV                                                                FIRST 10K          LAST 5K          TOTAL
  PLC PLC    NAME                    CITY                 ST AGE S   plc   time  pace  plc    time  pace    TIME  PACE
  === ====   ======================= ==================== == === =  ================= ================== =============
   1   1/12   Michael Petrina         Bayport              NY  24 M    1   34:12  5:31    1   17:21  5:35   51:33  5:32
  2   2/12   James Barracca          Center Moriches      NY  23 M    2   34:13  5:31    4   17:41  5:42   51:54  5:34
  3   1/12   Brendan Barrett         Sayville             NY  26 M    3   34:53  5:37    2   17:31  5:38   52:23  5:38
  4   3/12   Christopher Green       Stony Brook          NY  24 M    6   35:02  5:39    5   17:46  5:43   52:48  5:40
  5   4/12   Billy Holl              North Babylon        NY  23 M    4   34:57  5:38    7   18:29  5:57   53:26  5:44
  6   5/12   Brian Mongeon           Long Island City     NY  24 M    7   36:28  5:53    3   17:36  5:40   54:03  5:48
  7   2/12   Felipe Garcia           Brooklyn             NY  27 M    5   34:58  5:38   15   19:15  6:12   54:13  5:49
  8   1/17   Shaun McGrath           Lynbrook             NY  31 M    9   36:34  5:53    8   18:36  6:00   55:10  5:56
  9   2/17   Doug Boyer              Coram                NY  30 M   10   37:18  6:01    6   18:24  5:56   55:42  5:59
 10   6/12   Angel Confesor          Brooklyn             NY  24 M    8   36:34  5:53   22   19:55  6:25   56:28  6:04
 11   3/12   Chris Koegel            Malverne             NY  26 M   11   37:47  6:05    9   18:49  6:04   56:35  6:05
 12   4/12   Michael Marrone         Hauppauge            NY  25 M   12   37:53  6:06   11   19:00  6:07   56:52  6:06
 13   7/12   Matthew Eble            Ridge                NY  20 M   14   38:06  6:08   10   18:57  6:06   57:02  6:08
 14   1/19   Mark Carbone            Bellerose            NY  38 M   13   37:56  6:07   16   19:25  6:15   57:20  6:10
 15   1/7    Michael Brannigan       E.Northport          NY  13 M   16   38:42  6:14   12   19:04  6:09   57:45  6:12

KP 15K Week

March 8th - Easy 10 miles
March 9th - 14 miles at 6:55 pace
March 10th - AM WO 3WU/CD Fartlek 4x6:15(3 min rest) then 5x50's. Really Nice out, got faster as the efforts went on. Felt real smooth! PM Easy 3
March 11th - Easy 8 miles
March 12th - 5 miles during the start of what would become the shittiest rain storm so far.

March 13th - Kings Park 15k, what a glorious morning, 2 reasons why. 1) For the result above and 2) the weather was so nice, Rain, Wind and Cold! 2WU 3CD 1st overall after a nice battle with JB for 7 miles. The race went out quickly and then settled into a pace and myself and JB found ourselves shoulder to shoulder til around mile 7 with no one breaking a stride. Around mile 7 I put in a surge and I felt a gap grow and I just continued that surge all the way to the finish. It was definitely one of the best races I have been involved in so far in my running career. Congratulations to the other SRC guys as well!

March 14th - Easy EAsy EASy EASY 14 at River Road.

80 miles for the week and 877 YTD miles.

The next two weeks is lining up to be another solid block of training and racing. The Aspire 10k is March 27th, be there or be square! A train through race but definitely going to be a good one. Til next time...

End of February Recap

Photo from the Alumni Mile on February 13th 2010.

Back to Work Week

February 15th - AM Easy 3 PM 8 at a nice solid pace
February 16th -12 mile run in a crazy shitty snow storm, averaged 7 minute pace through that crap.
February 17th - AM Easy 3 PM WO 3 WU/CD 7 x 3 min with 2 min rest Windy and Cold but the WO went well in my opinion.
February 18th - 10 miles at a relaxed pace
February 19th - AM 4 Easy PM 7 at a cruisey pace, had a bathroom issue so cut that run a little short.
February 20th - WO 3.25 WU/CD 5 mile Tempo at 522 per mile pace then 6x50 meter strides.
February 21st - RiverRoad 20 miles with Henderson and Nettuno, rolled the last 5 miles at a 640 pace.

89 miles for the week and YTD 625 miles.

Track 5000 Meters Week

February 22nd - 8 miles w/ Soltan & B with 6 x strides
February 23rd - AM 4 easy PM WO 20 min WU/CD 5 x 220 with 2 min rest and then 5 x 50 with 1 min rest. Another crappy weather workout, but it felt solid to me.
February 24th - 14 mile mid week long run in the rain and wind. Solid 651 pace for the whole run.
February 25th - Crap day, easy 10 miler.
February 26th - Snow Day from Hell. AM easy 3 miles in snow and slush.

- PM travel to the armory in NYC for 2 hours, sit there for 6 hours and then run my first indoor track 5k in over two years. Ran 15:28, not too sure of the splits but I got out there and raced. Kept an even pace throughout and picked people off one by one. Really happy with the race considering the long day I had. Oh Yeah, the race went off at 10 to 10pm, I am almost always in bed at that time. Then long travel back home.

February 27th - 7 miles easy peasy.
February 28th - 16 miles over the Kings Park 15k course, several different ways.

82 miles for the week, 331 miles for the month of February (11.9 miles per day average) and 707 YTD miles. 2010 is shaping up to be a solid year of training. Lets see what March has to offer.


Next up on my plate is the Kings Park 15k, it is over a challenging 9.3 mile course through the hilly roads of Kings Park. Here is a look at a Course Map. I am really looking forward to this race, it will be a good indication of where my fitness is as I head towards the Long Island Half Marathon at the beginning of May. I have no goals for the race other then to run hard and get out there and compete.

I will check back after the Kings Park 15k which is Saturday March 13th. Check here on the day for the Results.