A Special Block For A Hack Runner

As the 4 or 5 people who read this blog know - I primarily keep up with two running blogs. The first is Obi Jon Waldron's protege Tyler Andrews, and the second is the comeback kid Nate Jenkins.  They are both crazy fast, and put their training out there in a very readable and entertaining way. (This story, in particular, is a great read.)

One of the things I've seen pretty frequently from both of them is that every so often they will include a 'special block' in their training. In the latest issue of Level Renner, they have an article that does a good job of summarizing the what and the why of the 'special block', but essentially it is this: do two hard workouts in one day that add up to a lot of quality, and follow that up with adequate rest.

And so I've been thinking to myself, "shit man, this sounds like fun!" The next step was to find a day that seemed to work with my schedule and then...I dunno, wing it!

It just so happened that yesterday worked well. With a plumber scheduled to do some work in the building basement, I needed to take a half day anyways - so after giving him instructions, I went upstairs, grabbed my shoes and went outside.

AM: At around 8:45, with minimal warm up, I started my 10 mile tempo run along my neighborhood route. The route is ~6 laps utilizing Lexington/Brattle/Sparks/Huron and is solid in terms of elevation change.  By 10am, I was back inside chugging water, and getting ready for work.

10 miles averaging 6:20/mile complete.


PM: At 5:45, Elizabeth got home from work, and I went out for a 2 mile warm up.  I stopped at home after the w/u for a quick pit stop and shoe change, and then went out the door to get in another tempo on my way to the BU Indoor Track.  After adding in 4 loops around the BU facility, I stopped at just under 6m and went inside to change into shorts and a clean pair of shoes (thanks to Elizabeth for bringing all that stuff to the track!).

~6m averaging 6:30/mile complete.

As I jogged towards the locker room to change, I crossed paths with Terry and asked for permission to run my own workout (which I had devised earlier that afternoon!), "do what you gotta do!" Permission granted!

After that quick break I hit the track and got right to it, electing to skip drills & strides in order to keep the break as short as possible.  The next 'planned' phase was to run 1k repeats 'stop when you drop'...

1 - 3:32
2 - 3:35
3 - 3:36
4 - 3:34
5 - 3:34
6 - 3:33
7 - 3:31
8 - 3:34
9 - 3:33
10 - 3:34
11 - 3:34
12 - 3:33

Avg: 3:34 (5:42/mile pace)
Avg Rest: 2:04

Total Miles for the day: 27.61

I almost stopped at 10 repeats, but I felt like I had a little more to give...not much, but a little. Once I finished the 12th rep, Elizabeth walked over and mentioned that my face had the gaunt and pale look that I frequently have after a marathon.  That was a good sign in my opinion.

Conclusion: I don't really have one. I don't know what this all means leading up to New Bedford or the Marathon. I had not given enough thought to the paces of each section, and I was surprised at the paces of the 1k reps.  Maybe I should have done the 10m run a bit faster or longer or both?  What pace are the 1k reps? 10k? I don't know. It was a pretty kick ass day though. So I got that going for me, which is nice.