1/24/16 to 1/30/16: Big Mileage and GBTC Invitational Race Report

On Sunday, I made my way over to the Harvard indoor track for the GBTC Invitational for yet another 3k & mile double.  I ran there from home, and met up with Jon and Amory where we continued to warm up along the outskirts of the Harvard facilities.  Amory was the first to race and she ran her 3k (ahem...2 miler) in a very solid 10:21 to take 3rd place in the women's open section.  A strange race for her since the timers miscounted the laps, but a good result nonetheless for her debut 3k (2 mile).

Shortly after that, I made my way onto the infield to start doing drills and strides.  I lined up next to Joe Rand and another gentleman from SISU, and once the gun went off, I stuck to what seems to be my normal race strategy of going to the back of the back.  Stephen, Jon, and Amory were on the turn yelling out splits for me, which I always find helpful and I think I was clipping off steady splits of roughly 39s.  With 1000 to go, I started to push the pace just a bit, and I was able to pass a group of runners.  Two guys from that group re-passed me with maybe 600 to go, and I kept them within shouting distance as the race progressed.  My final 200, I caught back up to those two guys and re-passed them with probably a 34s final lap.  It wasn't an all out kick until maybe 50 meters left.  I felt it was a solid race, and I was ~2s faster than the 3k at BU.

I ran 4+ miles in between the 3k and the mile to stay loose, and add some mileage for the day.  On the start I felt ok, but not great.  Oddly, I wasn't as tired as I was at BU, but I also felt like I had much less bounce in my stride.  And this time around, I feel like my race strategy was stupid.  I seeded myself at 4:50, and by going to the back of the pack I ended up starting out too slow.  I'm in good enough shape to run a solid PR at the mile, and this strategy won't pay off unless I seed myself into a faster heat or go out at the front in a race like this.  Long story short, 4:52 and a meh result.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the week, training was really packed in there.  A GBTC double, a medium long run, hill repeats, and a track workout that was part of a BIG volume day all added up to my highest weekly total yet.

The numbers:

24-Jan		GBTC Invite		2:00:00		15.32		3k/mile double.  9:34 and 4:52.  Not bad.
		Off		0:00:00		0		A good deal of stretching.
25-Jan		Easy		0:55:49		7.05		AM: Commute at 7:55/mile.  Slippery.
		Moderate		1:40:32		13.1		PM: Ran longer tonight.  Averaged 7:40/mile, but it was a good effort with the slippery sidewalks.  Tried to be careful and ended up biffing it hard at the very end of the run.
26-Jan		Easy		1:03:47		8.02		AM: 8+ at around 7:55/mile.  Felt totally lethargic about 3 miles in, and took a tiny tiny bit of GU and was OK.
		Workout		1:19:00		10.42		PM: Commute home w/5m at ~6:35/mile.  Followed that up with 10 hill repeats on Appleton with Tom and Eli.
27-Jan		Easy		0:54:56		7.05		AM: Commute at 7:45/mile.
		Easy		1:00:53		7.64		AM: Commute home, then over to Trader Joe's to pick up stuff for homemade pizza.  7+ at 8per.
28-Jan		Easy		0:54:00		7.05		AM: Commute to work at 7:40/mile
		BU Track		2:19:23		19.74		PM: Commute home and to BU ~10m.  Workout - 800, 600, 800, 1200, 800, 600, 200x3. 1200 @ >5K, 800 @ 5K, 600@<5K, 200@ ~Mile pace. Easy 200m jog rest, 400 after the 1200.  Ran home from the track ~3.5.  Just under 27tot for the day!?!
29-Jan		Easy		0:55:48		7.05		AM: 7+ commute at 7:55/mile.  Good lord, I am tired…and hungry.
		Easy		0:38:42		5.02		PM: 6.2 at whatever
30-Jan		Workout		0:31:35		4.03		AM: Easy run with Eli and Raleigh.
		Easy		0:00:00		0		Off. Dinner with the Delaney's.

Thursday Splits:

800-2:39.64

600-1:53.09

800-2:39.95

1200-4:09.33

800-2:39.16

600-1:53.84

200-33.89

200-35.96

200-30.70 (NOTE: This was the easiest a 30.x 200 has ever felt.)

Total: 111.49