FIRST FARTLEK IN FIVE YEARS (PLUS OTHER SPEEDWORK)

Time for some updates on what has been happening since my relatively successful race on the Fourth of July. Marathon training is ticking along pretty well! I did end up skipping my long run last weekend. I had planned for a down week (11 miles) because of going to the Umpqua River to camp for a mini-vacation. While there, I just could not bring myself to run. Eff that. So, I ran six miles Sunday night when I got home and called it good. I'll hit 18 this weekend as planned and we'll be back on track.

6 x 800m Intervals on 7/11
I did this workout exactly one week after the Independence Day Half Marathon as my speed workout for the week. Unlike my 400s, I wasn't quite as fast as back in the day, but I was pretty close, only a couple seconds off each interval.

They went as follows: 3:23.1, 3:24.7, 3:24.1, 3:27.2, 3:25.9, 3:25.1. That's an average between 6:46/mi and 6:54/mi. I used to do these between 6:30 and 6:45. So not quite as quick, but in the ballpark. I definitely gave these my all given I had to do 6 of them and pace myself appropriately, so all told it was a pretty good workout.

6mi Tempo Run on 7/18
The next week I decided to do a tempo run. I think I'll be alternating between tempo runs and an interval type workout each week. This tempo run went off pretty well. I did my "home loop," which makes for a difficult tempo course because of over 400 feet of elevation gain over the course of six miles. Now, you get some downhills too, but those are typically after you've hoofed it uphill and thus can't take full advantage.

Anyways, I averaged 7:45/mile, which was pretty good! It was a really difficult workout and I definitely wasn't slacking on the pace. I think on a flat course that is equivalent to about 7:30 or so, which is a pretty decent speed and about where I would expect to be given my recent half time. As long as I keep running tempos on the course they will be apples to apples comparisons. Hopefully by the end of the cycle maybe I can do one at 7:30 despite the hills?

5.5mi Fartlek Run 7/24
Turns out this was my first fartlek since February of 2014. 2014! Crazy. I really didn't plan on doing this until a few hours before the run. I knew I needed to do some sort of speedwork but I couldn't decide what. For whatever reason a fartlek sounded "fun" so that's what I did. Gotta mix the speedwork up! So off I went for a slightly abridged version of my home loop.

So, it turns out fartleks, when done properly, are really hard! Holy hell! This thing was as hard as my famous pyramid interval. The "intervals" were anywhere from 150m to 1400m. It ended up being a really good variety of shorter and long intervals. At one point I did 320m at 5:30ish pace. I tried to time it so most of my "rests" were the uphill portions. That seemed to work pretty well but it also meant my rests weren't as restful as they could have been. Definitely wore out a little toward the end.

Overall I think this was the most difficult speed workout I've had in years. I was breathing hard for over five minutes after the run was over. I could not have gone any longer, I really gave it my all. Once I came back to reality though I felt pretty good. That is the kind of workout that results in measurable gains. Overall I averaged 7:57/mi, and that includes the rest periods!

My paces during the farlek run a few night ago.

2019 INDEPENDENCE DAY HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

At the finish!

Year two of the Independence Day Half at Champoeg Park started at 6:45 with my alarm blaring. Unlike last year, I wasn't second guessing my decision to wake up early on a holiday and run my butt off. I was excited to see where I was with my training. It would give me a good baseline for my current fitness level and inform me for the second half of my marathon training.

Breakfast was a Clif bar and a cup of coffee. I've been doing a cup of coffee before my longs runs as well and it seems to really help out. Luckily I was able to "go" this time around at my house and didn't spend the whole run with a slightly rumbly tummy. Getting there was a breeze traffic wise and I parked my car with about a half hour until gun time. I had picked my bib up the day before, so there was nothing to do but wander to the start line and wait.

THE FIRST 10K (7:36, 7:59, 7:52, 7:58, 8:03, 7:50)

I ran into a couple people I knew at the start line, so that was fun to chat with them and pass time until the race started. Eventually I wandered toward the front of the chute and before I knew it the race was off! For whatever reason I wasn't a ball of nerves, I think this time around I was much more sure in my abilities compared to last year. I had to weave around some people at the beginning but nothing too hateful. Within the first quarter mile or so I was in a pocket of people going just about the same speed.

The split times you'll see aren't necessarily accurate. For example, that 7:59... that was not my mile time. It was more like 7:45. This course has some twists and turns in the forest, and when you couple that with all the trees, sometimes the splits aren't quite accurate. Some probably are... the 7:58 is the turnaround with the hill and I can totally believe that time. 8:03 on that next mile though? No way. I was being very steady all all these miles were in the 7:50 range. I was keeping tracking of how far off the mile markers were, so when it said I was running 8:03 but only recorded .96 between the mile markers, I knew not to panic.

Luckily I do have a pretty good sense of pacing so I relied on that a lot since this course just isn't the best in terms of accurate GPS results. It's not terrible, far better than being in a big city with buildings, but just not the best. Anyways, for this first half I was running my target of 7:50s and feeling pretty good. It felt like the correct half marathon pace... you never really know until the later miles if that is true, but I was feeling pretty good about things. If I could just complete the first lap at 7:50ish, then I only needed to average 8:05ish on the next one to stay under 8:00/mile, which was my ultimate goal.

THE SECOND 10K PLUS (7:50, 8:14, 8:02, 8:19, 8:13, 8:16, 8:06)

Again, these splits don't really tell the whole story. I did not run an 8:14 8th mile. That was more like 8:00... again, it missed a lot of back and forth in one area like the lap before. I did slow down though. So while the splits might not be correct, they are instructive in that I slowed by about 20 seconds per mile the last four miles or so. Perhaps I went out a little hot.

Sunstone peeps!

Not much to report on this second loop, just trying to hold on. Some of these lap times were concerning when they flashed, but again, I was keeping track of the beeps in relation to the mile markers and adjusting accordingly. Toward the end the average pace on my watch climbed above 8:00/mi (it actually finished at 8:02), however, I knew this was inaccurate and didn't let it deter me. I was going to end about a quarter mile short on my watch, which translated into something like 8/sec mile. Yes, I was doing this math in my head as I ran, it was good distraction!

As with last year, the second loop is extended a little bit to help us hit 13.1, and that extension is basically a giant hill you have to go up and down. So that's the 8:19 mile. By the time I had finished this part I was ready to be done. My legs were officially tired. In terms of the lung/leg debate, it was my legs letting me down. Maybe I would have felt a little better if I wasn't running this in the middle of marathon training. Who knows. All I knew was that I had to grind those last few miles out.

And grind I did. Based on my math, I knew I would finish below 8:00/mile as long as I could finish them out in 8:15 or less. So that's what I focused on. The final part of the course leaves the shade of the trees and it was actually kind of hot with the sun beating down on me. Regardless, I just kept trucking. In a way this part of a race is kind of fun. When you are struggling a bit but just focus and grind it out. Maybe I'm just weird like that.

THE FINISH AND AFTER PARTY

I rolled through the finish and stopped my watch. Probably a shade under 1:44, meaning I was for sure below 8 per mile. Score! My total distance was also something stupid like 12.89 or something. The course wasn't short, my watch was just cheating me, as expected. Anyways, I was tired but not in terrible shape. I was able to walk around and be normal. Exhausted, sure, but feeling very accomplished.

The after party was fun, because unlike last year, I knew a bunch of people there and we were able to hung out and eat our burgers and drink our beers. I didn't check my results until after I got home, but it pretty much confirmed everything I suspected. 7:46 on the first lap (look at my splits again, I told you they weren't accurate) and 8:04 on the second lap. So even better than I thought. Overall a 7:55/mile pace. Sweet! Not quite the 7:49 of Boring last year, but still early enough in the cycle after a really lazy winter.

Official Results: 1:43:58, 7:55/mile. 21/127 overall, 15/61 male, 5/7 M30-34.

INDEPENDENCE DAY HALF MARATHON YEAR TWO

Will I win the race? Answer: no.

Thursday, I am running the Independence Day Half Marathon again at Champoeg Park. I ran this race last year for the first time and generally enjoyed it, so I signed up again for another round. I have not had a dense year of racing, only three races so far, so it'll be good to get out there again. I wanted to sign up for more, but it is hard to fit them into my marathon training schedule without blowing out an entire week.

Since I've built this one into my schedule and want to make sure it counts, I'll be "racing" it. Like last year, running a half during marathon training isn't ideal, but with today and tomorrow off my legs should be in reasonable shape. It will be a good baseline for my fitness after running 1:47:33 a year ago. Obviously, I will want to beat that time at minimum. While my winter was really poor in terms of maintaining my fitness, I do feel like I am a touch faster than last year. So it will be good to run this to the best of my abilities and see how that shakes out.

Weather this year looks pretty decent. It is going to be a sunny day but it should be high 50s when the race kicks off at 8am, and low 60s by the time I finish. The course also has a decent amount of shade, so while not ideal, the weather shouldn't be a factor. The course also isn't the fastest, but also isn't too bad. There are a couple rolling hills and one decent climb on the second loop, but overall these will maybe add a minute or so over a completely flat course. Besides, it will be a good "apples to apples" comparison to last year.

As for an update on training in general... it is going well! I have been very good about my new "easy or fast" distinction, and if I am not doing speedwork, all my runs have basically been truly easy at 9:30 or slower. Last week I did a 5 mile tempo run on a HILLY course and got 7:41/mile overall. I was shocked I was able to do that given the route. Regardless of course, it was my fastest tempo run in training since August 2015. Almost four years! So that was a shot of confidence. I am also able to run my long runs (17 miles last week) without any issue. They don't even really feel hard. So I'm feeling like I'm in a good spot.

I've thought about my goals on Thursday and I basically have two. The first, and most important, is to beat last year. If I don't do that, I am going to be feeling pretty down on myself. So that's the goal at minimum. However, I would also really like to get under 8 minutes a mile. I feel like that is back in me (after losing it over the winter and spring), so that will be my main focus. I'm going to pace myself at 7:50/mile and try to hold onto it as long as possible. I feel like with race day adrenaline I can hold this for at least 8 or 9 miles. We'll see about the final few as it will depend on my how legs feel.

So that's the update! As always, I will post a race report with the results. Really hoping I can get under 8:00/mile. That would put me ahead of last year, and the main goal at Portland will be to beat my time at MCM, so that would mean I'm on track.