JRags - Week 6 - Phase 1: Complete...

The one-day-late Sunday update:

Monday:
AM - home to BI easy for once.
PM - T to home to the track, west med, back rev lakes to the burren 5k fun run, slow 2 miles, then slightly sub 6 last mile, jog back to the track with nick. felt really good this run. burren 5k was a joke. averaged right around 7 for the whole run.
pedemyrtle after, not getting any easier, but its been a long 2 days in miles, so that could be it.

Tuesday:
AM - home to work very easy. nick fucking threw a banana peel at my eye.
PM - to the track, then bike path with nick cliff and ana. some strides, then pedemyrtle. felt a lot better than yesterday. post tib bothering me.

Wednesday:
AM - davis to BI. post tib is hurting again, icing at work.
PM - long res from the fells very easy with steph. post tib felt way better after icing.

Thursday:
AM - home to BI with steph. ankle alright. icing at work.
PM - short res from baronian (6.44) with nick, and a couple 200s on the track. felt very tired most of the day, didnt eat much other than 2 pieces of cake at work. felt a lot better once we got 3 miles in or so. pedemyrtle back at the track, felt a little bit easier.

Friday:
AM - home to work a little faster.
PM - mid res from the fells with steph. felt alright. amazing steak and rice bowl with veggies for dinner.

Saturday:
AM - easy around kraft field by baronian. its fucking hot.
PM - cloop at night. felt really good after a solid nap. i was peaced the fuck out as greg would say. fast pace probably because of adizeros. 2 strides.

Sunday:
AM - great long run on triple peaks. both soleus pretty tight and painful for the first 5 or so miles, but once they loosened up, i felt awesome. obviously went short yesterday.
7:20
7:20
7:00
7:14
6:52
7:25
6:25
7:22
6:52
6:53 70:50
6:26
6:22
6:13
6:04
~7:30 66:54 last 10 miles
felt awesome, but need to sleep well.

Biggest week of the summer so far, 83 total with a 7 mile give-up on saturday. A pretty large proportion of junk though. A few really easy runs in to work, some running with Steph (her first week back), and a very easy short res with Nicolas. A little banged up in my ankles and lower shins, but nothing too bad. Awesome Sunday run I'd say. Averaging 6:40 pace for the last 10 miles of triple peaks is nothing to scoff at regardless of what time of year. With that, I finished the last week of Phase 1: Getting fit at 7:00 pace. After a down week this week going into a 4th of July race, I'll start Phase 2: Getting fit at 6:00 pace.
I'm famous for drawing connections between running and car engines, just ask Steph. Here's how I see my "phases" for the summer and fall.
Phase 1 - fuel efficiency - pretty much what I mean by getting fit at 7:00 pace
Phase 2 - building a big engine - also known as getting fit at 6:00 pace (these numbers are all round estimates, of course). Once I have the fuel and recovery efficiency from June, I can start working on the minimally invasive aerobic base development. I don't really consider 7:00 pace day in and day out as "base" per se, I think that's more just getting your body used to running so you can handle the year's work load. "Base" development (base training) in my mind revolves around those handful of runs we have every few weeks when things just click. We feel fresh, we started the run slow, we're well fueled, and we get rolling about halfway through and hit a smooth just-slower-than-tempo pace (perhaps half-marathon for us longer guys) stride for the last 2-5 miles. If there's any "workout" to focus on at this point in the year, this is it. Track workouts can cloud our vision of what we're trying to do in running. Largely, the goal is to get oxygen to our legs and use it efficiently in order to run fast. No workout (at this point for an 8ker) is as effective as HM pace uptempo running, in my opinion. It's gentle enough on the body (if done right and conservatively) that you can safely work up to touching your uptempo pace 3, maybe even 4 times a week. It's also the most sustainable workouts we do. You can't do an 45-60 minutes of repetitions, intervals, or even tempos in a given session. The "bigger aerobic engine" developed from HM training trickles down to make really anything easier. Mechanically, it will improve efficiency at near-top-end speed, it will slightly improve VO2 max, and prolongs the high end effort you can sustain without tiring. Basically, that's what's going to comprise my July. Starting with 1-2 and progressing to 3 days a week, roll into a progression run by starting very easy for the first 3 (my calling card), dropping to 6:00-6:15 effort (slower in the fells) for 4 miles to start, 8 or 9 miles by August, and backing it down to coast in for a landing the last 2 miles. That's Phase 2
Phase 3 - maximize aerobic output - incorporate shorter faster tempo runs and tempo intervals to pick up on the intensity where the HM up tempo's left off. I think this phase has been either overlooked or overworked a lot in the last 2 years. In cross country, we crush the tempo runs and the mile repeats on and off the track (Franklin Park, Fresh Pond), then during track, this zone doesn't exist. We never run between 6:30 and 5:00. What about a 4 mile tempo run or 6-8xmile off 60 seconds rest both around 8-10-mile race pace, maybe 5:20-5:30? We'll figure it out.
Phase 4 - touching on the aerobic/anaerobic threshold - these are the workouts around 8k race pace or a smidge faster. For example, 5xmile at race pace as both and indicator and confidence boosting workout, and something like 8x800 off 60 sec jog rest at 5000m pace. The benefits of race pace training are obvious, mechanical developments, finding a pace, dealing with how you'll feel running that pace when things start to go back door just in case. Workouts can get a little faster near the end of the year, like the COMFORTABLE 800s we did near the end of cross last year around 2:20-2:22 or so for our group. I don't even know if training this fast is necessary for a strictly cross country runner. We spend like 5-10% of our race running this fast (<3000m race pace), and by that point in the race, there are so many other factors affecting how we will be running. These reps are at least good for mechanics though.
Anyway, that's sort of how I've seen in lately. I've just finished phase 1, and phase 2 involving mostly uptempos and easy runs starts next saturday. Before then, though, I have a very important classic Wilton road race to focus on. I've won it three times in a row, but I have no intention of letting the streak end this decade.

Keep Running.