Training Blog September 18 to 24, 2017

Monday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:57
PM road 5, 33:52, this was all I had time for before seeing Anna for some circuits and massage

Tuesday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:37
PM 3 warm up, drills and strides, Mona Fartlek, http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html, on my normal loop.  Covered 3.76 miles which isn't good but isn't awful 2.6 cool down, forgot that I needed to do a loop of side neighborhood to make the cool down 3 and wasn't going to add on once I got home.

Wednesday PM 15.3 miles in 1:47.  I have class after school on Wendnesdays so this run goes pretty late.  Nothing like finishing a run around 9pm knowing you'll be up before 5am for the next one...

Thursday AM 4 miles with Uta in 29:50
PM 3 mile warm up, drills, strides, 15x200 avg. 31.0 with 200 jogs, in around 65 for recovery. 3 mile cool down.  I have rarely felt as shitty for a workout.  Not very fun.  I also had a flat tire waiting for me at my car so that added to my enjoyment of this session.

Friday AM 4 with Uta, 30:08, crazy tired.
PM 10.6 at Phillips, first 6 with Melissa and Uta, took it very easy, 1:23.

Saturday AM road 8.1 with Uta, 55mins
PM 8 miles, first 5 with Melissa, 59:06.

Sunday AM 3 plus warm up, drills, strides, 30 second hard effort.  Race Lone Gull 10k, USATF-NE championship, very strong field including at least 5 guys other than myself who have sub 65 half marathon pb's. It was also hot, around 80.  finished 11th in 31:13, very nice step in the right direction. Pack went out slow so I hung onto the back of the lead group of around 25 in 4:56, stayed on the back of the pack as it steadily got smaller and ran 5:01 for the second mile, the third mile was much the same but I was a bit worried because I was starting to feel ragged at the end of it but we had actually picked it up and I ran a 4:48 so that got me pretty pumped up.  I fell off the pack as they drove on and I ran a 5:08.  I passed two more guys though.  I tried to go after three more guys who had come off the lead pack and managed a 5:00 but I wasn't able to run them down.  I ran another 5:08 for the 6th mile which finishes at the crest of a decent sized hill and I was finished.  The last quarter was a struggle!
  8 mile cool down with Ruben after.

Summary 103 miles for the week, two moderate workouts, one decent race.  For those not reading between the lines.  I had been a bit anemic at the end of summer.  I don't take feosol any more because my stomach can't handle it.  I take a food based supplement Melissa found that works and doesn't bother my stomach called ferrofood by standard process.  I starting taking the iron and it helped right away but I thought I had two bottles.  Well at the start of last week I ran out of bottle one only to realize I was mistaken.  Standard process sends out all orders on Monday so basically we ordered it but it didn't come in until Friday of this week.  In the intervening time I have been getting a bit more run down each day.  My resting hr was up about 10 bpm and my heart rate on runs has been through the roof. I took as much of the ferrofood as I dared on Saturday and just hoped that it would help a bit.  I was honestly afraid after how I ran on Friday and Saturday and I was going to struggle to run 33 at Lone Gull.   The heat in the morning did nothing to assuage those fears.  However the difference in how easy the first mile in 4:56 felt compared with the much more downhill 4:51 last weekend told me right off the iron had kicked in at least a little.  I was very surprised I didn't blow up in the second half but obviously in a good way.

 Hope you are running well.  Oh and for those who want to order some rabbit gear 10% off link below.

http://rabbit.refr.cc/nathanielj

Training Blog July 10 to 16, 2017

Monday AM 3.8 warm up, drills, strides. Attempted Aussie Quarters.  It was a bit windy, a good bit hot and I got kicked off the track, though I don't think the last two would have been pretty had I been able to stay. Goal was 50 for the rest 68 for the rep.  Went 49/67/53/67/50/68/50/69/51/68/51/69- total time 11:58 for 3600 meters, 5:20 mile pace. 3.8 mile cool down

Tuesday AM 5.2 miles solo, 38:53, was planning to go further but heard there was a bad traffic day going so I cut it short as we need to get to the airport.

PM travel to Bemidji, MN

Wednesday Off day Fishing all day with Dick Beardsley and Melissa.  Once in a lifetime experience gonna write a blog about it soon.

Thursday AM 9.7 miles, first 5 with Melissa, in 1:10:07
PM 6.1 miles solo, 39:08

Friday AM 3 mile warm up, first 1.5 with Melissa, then some drills and strides.  Mona Fartlek on awesome rail trail along the lake. covered 3.75 miles, 5:20 pace.  Which is about right for where I am fitness wise at the moment.  3 mile cool down.

Saturday AM 10.1 miles, 1:15, first 6 miles with Melissa.
PM travel back home, got back about 1am.

Sunday Noon 3 mile warm up, with Melissa, drills and a couple light strides.  3x2 miles with bit over 2 mins of drills recovery, very warm and humid. 10:26(5:15/5:11), 10:30(5:21/5:09), 10:24(5:13/5:11) 1 mile cool down, mostly with Melissa.

Summary not much in the way of miles this week but that was planned given that we were traveling and vacationing.  I was real happy to get in three good workouts.   We had an amazing trip. Really something every runner, or fisherman has to do.

Training Blog February 13 to 19, 2017

Monday AM snow removal, about 3 hours of it, after a large storm.  School was canceled so I also slept in.
               PM road 10 with very snowy, 1:09:41

Tuesday AM 5 miles with Melissa and Uta in 40:30
               PM 5k warm up, drills, strides, Moneghetti Fartlek,roads much improved but definitely not great, almost fell twice and had to be very careful on the turns.  Covered 3.75 according to the garmin, exact same as two weeks ago but in tougher conditions so another improvement. 3.6 mile cool down

Mona rates this fartlek an "atta boy.  Keep moving forward"

Wednesday PM medium long run of 16 miles- felt like shit on a stick at the start but started feeling ok around 7 or 8 miles.  The coordination leg also felt off very early on and I was sure I would have to stop and do drills, not all that uncommon last week on the same loop I stopped at around 11.5 miles, but as I approached 11.5 I was ok but not great so decided to work to 12 or 13 but as I continued on it felt better and better so by the last couple miles it felt perfectly normal and I never did drills. 1:47:38 running time, roads still improving but certainly still stretches that are not so hot- I purposely run a lot of side streets and culdesacs to avoid traffic but sometimes they don't get as cleaned up as the main streets. 

Thursday AM snow removal.  I had school so I didn't have much choice had to do this rather than the morning run. 

                 PM 5.8 miles with Uta.  Now if you haven't caught on I hate winter.  I would move to Hawaii in a second if Melissa would let me but she likes the seasons.  That said this was an absolutely beautiful run.  The sun was setting and shining through the branches of the trees and every single branch was still covered in a couple inches of fresh pure white snow and every other surface was covered in that perfect white blanket as well.  The soft setting sunlight setting off it just gave me a feeling of being happy to be alive. 

  Dropped Uta off and did 15 short hill sprints.  I didn't time them though I would guess they were about 10 to 12 seconds based on doing hills in the same spot in the past. 

Friday AM road 4 with Uta, 29:34

            PM road 10 solo, 1:08:32, very tired, 6x6 squats starting at 95lbs up to 145lbs.

Saturday AM road 10 solo, 1:05:03, footing mostly ok but a couple miles were a good bit icy and slushy.
                PM 6 and change solo, 43:03

Sunday AM 3.5 or so warm up, some on track 2.75 on 1200m loop around Harvard facilities with a group. Drills, strides and a bit under 200m hard effort.  Race 5000m at USATF-NE Indoor Championships. 1st place 14:41.78.  So that makes 15 straight years of at least one sub 15 5k race which makes me happy.  This was much faster then the same race last year, 14:55, and again I felt really strong for most of it so I'm very happy.  Obviously I have run much faster but a more apples to apples comparison is that my fastest 5k without specific track work is only a 14:20 so being only 20 seconds off of that makes me very happy and I feel I could certainly go 20 seconds faster with 6 to 8 weeks of specific work.  Now the weather and my schedule doesn't have me doing that just yet but it really does have me getting excited for the racing to come later in the year.  Post race I went for a long cool down with a large group, 10.25 miles in 1:11:40.  Mostly around the Charles.  Mixed in some of Dan V's 5/55 sprints that he loves for cool downs.

Summary 97 miles for the week.  One good hard workout, one nice moderate session and one nice race.  Another solid but not spectacular week.  I though for sure I was finally going to get a hundred mile week in but the snowy morning on Thursday killed that. To be honest I'm not sure I have ever run a 5k much under 15 before without at least some 100 mile weeks in the months before.  Now that is a bit of a misleading stat because there are very few times in the last 20 years when I haven't run a number of 100 mile weeks in any two month stretch.   Anyway very nice to be back racing in a normal range at last.  It is even nicer to be feeling good and running feeling free and loose.   I ran basically 3 seconds per K faster then at the same race last year.  If I can do the same at New Bedford I would be looking at being a minute faster.  I'm not sure I'll see the same improvement and I'm still have a lot of coordination stuff but it is really nice to be going in with an honest reason to have some bigger better goals.  Hope your week went well.

  

January 30 to February 5, 2017

Monday AM road 4 with Uta, 30:42 tot. 4
               PM drills and massage with Anna

Tuesday AM road 4 with Uta, 30:51 tot. 4

Wednesday PM road 14.3, medium long run, 1:32:56

Thursday AM road 4 with Uta, 30:23
                 PM Moneghetti Fartlek, did 3 mile warm up with Uta in 21:11. dropped her off at the house, jogged another quarter mile or so, did drills- a skip, b skip, a+c skip, fast exchange, side shuffle, side shuffle with cross, karaoke, 3 hop fast exchange and sensory hops, 4 strides.  Did a Mona fartlek on my normal glendale loop.  Covered 3.75 miles, .05 more than 2 weeks ago and this got me back up to the area I was finishing in last year, albeit barely, but still nice to be back in the normal range.  Basically I have a 2/10th of a mile window that I finished all but one of my Mona's in prior to last years stress fracture. I was into that zone by about 30 or 40 yards.  I mean on gmaps this is 3.9 which is right in the zone I was very happy with last winter.  So I'm very happy now to be back in that range. 3.6 mile cool down.  I did 6x6 dead lifts after starting at 135 lbs up to 185lbs.

Steve Moneghetti rates this Mona a "good job" showing steady improvement and working back to competitive fitness.

Friday AM road 4 miles with Uta, 30:08

            PM road 10 miles solo, 1:05:03, felt pretty good for a Friday night normally I feel like death warmed over.  I did 6x6 squats after starting at 95lbs up to 145lbs.

Saturday AM boxford road 10, 1:03:29, felt a little heavy.
                2PM 6.4 miles road, 42:24
                4PM bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga

Sunday AM Race Super Sunday 5 mile, Cambridge, MA.  3+ warm up, 22:15, full drill set, Strides, 30 second hard effort, Race, did most of the leading which I didn't mind.  I really just wanted a sub 25min time and didn't care much about place today.  Not my normal attitude but for today that is where my goals were at.  At 4 miles the pack just rolled by me and I didn't have a gear to shift to.  I ended up at 24:50 in 4th.  I'm really happy with this for a bunch of reasons.  first 14 straight years with at least one sub 25. Second this is one second faster than I ran last year which is a huge return to running in my normal range.  The low end of normal but normal all the same.  Third I split 15:25 which is about what I raced a month ago in very similar conditions. Fourth John Schilkowsky, I raced him in early December or late November and he beat me and today he was 1:34 behind me.  Now maybe he has been hurt or he doesn't run in the winter.  That's ok it is just very nice to be the one moving in the right direction for a change.  Splits 4:55, 9:54, 14:50, 19:49.  Then did a 3.5 mile cool down in 25:31. Total 12.5ish

Summary 81 miles for the week.  One good workout, one good race.  Good week with a rough start, not feeling very well, not sick just run down and feeling like I was going to get sick and played it safe. Feeling very optimistic about being back into regular shape and having a chance to build up to some good racing in the coming months.  Hope you are running well. 

Training January 2 to 8, 2017

Monday AM boxford 10 mile, 1:03:00
               PM road 4, 30:00

Tuesday AM 4.2 with Melissa and Uta, 32:23
               PM in hard cold rain, poor footing, 3 mile warm up, drills, strides, Mona Fartlek- 3.65 miles- about as short as I have ever done.  I was pretty tired and I'm pretty out of shape and it was not nice out there so I wasn't too bothered by that. 1.4 mile cool down, really 1.4 miles of getting freezing trying to get back to the house as I was soaked to the bone and it was about 35 degrees.

Mona rates this fartlek a very un-impressed but at least you got it done. 

Wednesday PM raliegh tavern 10 mile with Uta, 1:09:32, crazy tired even though I skipped the AM run

Thursday PM 3.5 mile warm up with Uta, felt like death warmed over, so I decided to scrap the workout

Friday Off stomach bug

Saturday AM 2 warm up with Melissa and Anna in Boston, drills 6x mile(full miles on 220yd track), at Harvard with 3mins recoveries including drills, started with 4x200, first 3 with Melissa in 39 then one solo in 34.  Miles were 4:59, 5:00.0, 4:58, 4:58, 4:58, 4:58, about a half mile jogging with Melissa and Anna, bit of stretching then 3 miles solo.  

  Working out today was not ideal but I had already missed my Thursday session and I knew I was too weak after yesterday for the 4x2 mile I had scheduled.  Also with our forecast, snow, I knew that this would be my only shot at a workout over the weekend.  I'll obviously switch out the mile repeats on Thursday this week. 

Sunday AM snow removal

             Noon 13 miles, slowly.  First 8 with Melissa and Uta, very slow.  Footing was not great, 1:39:41

             PM bikram yoga, 90mins hot yoga.  It was really nice to be too hot after 2 hours of very cold snow removal and an 1:40 minutes of running in temps that had only come up to about 18 degrees. 

Summary only about 67 miles this week but given how poorly I felt and getting sick I'm not bothered by that at all.  I was very happy to get in two workouts and I was suprised that I was able to do the 6x mile without leaving sort of a tempo/controlled effort.  So given everything I'm pretty happy.  I'm not happy I got sick and I feel run down.  I may just not be fit enough to train like this yet.  I'll get a better sense this week and I'll adjust from there. 

  Hope your training is going well. 

My Current Training Plan

  This is an outline of my training schedule for the near future.  Basically until I get really fit or come up with a goal race.  This is a base phase or general fitness schedule.  This is not targeting racing well.  It is targeting improving my overall fitness.  It isn't too different from good half marathon specific training but I'm not doing it with a specific half marathon race in mind though I will likely run the New Bedford Half Marathon in March as well as the Jones 10 mile in February and a 15k in early April.

  This schedule is designed around four main goals.  In no order to return general aerobic fitness, to improve lactic threshold, to improve muscular power and efficiency, and to touch on every major training speed and effort in each two week cycle.  The workouts I selected were selected based on two main criteria.  First did they accomplish the training goal and second they had to work with the training resources and limitations I have currently.  Ie, I need to be able to do them without a track, in a New England winter, and in the dark as 11 out of 13 of my runs each week from early November until March are generally run in the dark.

  I like repeating a similar or even identical micro cycle a few times through a phase of training.  Partially because I can gauge how my body is progressing but also I'm just a very habital person who if I didn't give a damn about performance would probably do the same double every day over the same routes at the same effort. I like what I'm doing to be a bit mindless so I can focus entirely on doing it well.  Or at least that is the excuse I give myself.  

  Without further B.S. here is the schedule

For both week one and two I do an easy morning run, almost always 4 miles because of time constraints, Monday through Saturday.  On Saturday the run maybe done as the afternoon session and it maybe longer.

Week 1

Monday in the afternoon I'll do 10 miles at a steady effort- generally between 6:00 and 7:00 per mile, depending on conditions and how I'm feeling.  This is a fairly hilly run as there are a lot of hills around here.  After the run I'll do either Squats, dead lifts or box jumps.  The run is for recovery and general aerobic fitness, the exercises are for range of motion in my hips, power in my ankles and glutes and to increase strength as a means of increasing efficiency.

Tuesday in the afternoon I'll do a Mona Fartlek (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2015/01/monaghetti-fartlek.html) This is most importantly a bounce threshold or alternation session.  I would actually prefer to do Aussie quarters, (http://nateruns.blogspot.com/2014/12/workout-wednesday-australian-quarters.html) right now to be able to focus on specific paces but with no indoor track option that isn't happening.  The secondary focus of this session is to touch on a bunch of quicker paces 5k down to perhaps mile.   After this session I'll do either squats, deadlifts, or box jumps.

Wednesday in the afternoon I'll do a medium long run.  Right now that is only 12 miles I'll build it up to 16, I should go up to 18 but frankly 18 miles after work in the dark is a tall order particularly when sandwiched between two workout days. Physiologically this workout is for basic aerobic fitness and there is a time on the feet efficiency training effect for the leg muscles but for me it is much more plainly about building up my ability to run longer without coordination problems.  Finally you guessed it I plan on doing either squats, deadlifts or box jumps after the run.

Thursday in the afternoon, short hill sprints- max effort very short, 10 seconds give or take. I'd prefer to keep with the 100's and the like but without a track that isn't an option and I don't have much for flat areas with good footing so short hills it is.  To be honest as a general rule I like short hills better anyway but right now I want to focus on my form on the flat so I'm sorry to lose that.  These are obviously a muscular exercise though they do also help increase the stroke volume of the heart.  I will start the winter only doing about 10 of these but I'll increase that by 2 or 3 sprints each time.  In the past I have done 30 or more sprints though I doubt I'll get to that many.  It will be key for me to keep good form on these which is a struggle for me on hills but I have been improving so hopefully it will be good practice. squats, deadlifts or box jumps after

Friday 10 miles, same as Monday.

Saturday 4x2 miles at Half marathon pace. with 3min recoveries with drills.  This is for lactate threshold and muscular endurance at speed.  The drills help with the latter and with improving form.

Sunday Long run- I'm around 13/14 miles now will try to push out to 20 to 22.  Long run is for basic aerobic fitness, efficiency and muscular endurance. I may do squats, deadlifts or box jumps after this.

Week 2

Monday same as last week

Tuesday 3 mile tempo, half marathon to marathon pace, 10x30 second hill repeats at a good effort, but not max, focus on form putting weight of stride on glutes and quads. Try not to hunch at shoulders. This is for lactate threshold and muscular power and efficiency.

Wednesday same as last week

Thursday 6 x mile at 10k pace with 2 to 3 mins recovery with drills- bit of threshold, lot of muscular efficiency and muscular endurance.

Friday same as last week

Saturday 20 to 30 x 20 second sprints fartlek style, meaning I'll just put them in on a run where the footing looks good. Full recovery.  This is for muscular efficiency and endurance.  Though it is also good for stroke volume but not as good as the hills.

Sunday fundamental tempo run in the 5:25 to 5:50 per mile range over rolling hills.  Hopefully as the coordination improves I'll be able to increase the volume on these.  This is my single favorite type of workout.  I have since beginning the form work I have been able to to up to 22 miles like this but only on soft surfaces.  So on the road I've been stuck in the 12 to 15 mile range on a good day.  I'm going to start in the 9 mile range and try to build up.  I may play with stopping for drills and continuing on in an attempt to 'teach' the body to hold the form that doesn't lead to coordination issues.  This is for aerobic fitness.  Sessions like this can lead to huge jumps in general aerobic fitness as well as your threshold.  I actually don't know exactly why perhaps it is simply that it is an under trained area or it is that threshold is impacted well by not going over it but by testing it from below.  I can tell you that these workouts changed my life as such for me I simply believe in them as an article of faith.  Also as I mentioned I love doing them.  Running for a long time at a quick pace is to me the single most enjoyable training experience.

Odds and Ends

 In weeks that I race I'll just drop the hard effort from the weekend.  If I race on a Sunday I'll skip the long run as well.  I'm planning a few races over the winter.  A 5k on the 1st.  A 5 mile, a 10 mile and a track 5k in February and a half marathon in March.  Hopefully by that point the winter is coming to an end and I'm getting fit and I'll be able to move onto a new training program with more specific goals. 

Training Blog December 19 to 25, 2016

Monday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta, 32:41 tot. 4
               PM Massage with Anna-

I'm pretty sure Anna approached massage like this overhead lift and is intent on causing maximum pain.

Tuesday AM 4 miles with Melissa and Uta, 32:14 tot. 4
               PM 3.1 miles warm up with Uta, 1/4 mile jog to start after dropping her off, drills, strides, Monaghetti Fartlek, covered 3.85 miles in the 20 minutes. 5:11 pace. Pretty nice to run the same pace as last time but to go for twice the time. 3.2 cool down, squats after 6x6 starting at 75lbs up to 125lbs.

Mona rates this mona a "toughen up buttercup" --- sure it is a step in the right direction but there are no participation awards around here.

Wednesday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 29:09 tot. 4

                    PM Raleigh Tavern 10, 1:07:04, deadlifts after 6x6 starting at 115lbs up to 155lbs tot. 10.1

Thursday AM 4 miles road with Uta, 29:31, light snow tot. 4

                 PM 4 miles and box jumps, supposed to do hill reps but I was foiled by ice, crazy icy and no salt or sand on the roads, 3x10 at 20in, 24in, 30in on the box jumps tot. 4

Friday AM 4 miles with Uta, not as icy, they had salted, but corners were still touch and go tot. 4

            PM Raleigh Tavern 10 mile, 1:07:47, normal Friday night exhaustion, tot. 10.1

Saturday AM cold hard rain, 3.1 mile warm up with Uta, drop her off, change to dry top, 1.2 miles out to course, 4x2 miles on lightly rolling road loop, at tempo effort.  I figured with the tougher course, compared to the rail trail, that I would be hard pressed to run much under 5:20 pace but was pleasantly surprised.  So I did 4 drills, then 2 miles-10:26(5:14/5:11), 2:59 recovery with 4 new drills, 2 miles- 10:18 (5:06/5:11), 3:00 recovery with 4 new drills, 2 miles- 10:16(5:05/5:10), 3:02 recovery with 3 new drills, 2 miles- 10:10(5:03/5:06)  As you can tell from the splits the 2nd mile was a bit tougher, sort of a lolly pop loop and the biggest hill is in the first 600m and last 600m.  I think it is fairly equal both ways but there is a difference between doing it on fresh legs at the start and in the last 1/3rd of the rep. 1.2 cool down 7:58 

PM Christmas Eve festivities

Sunday AM 13 miles on road, bit icy, but the sun was shining and it was a glorious morning, 1:22:19 tot. 13

Summary 82 miles for the week, two good workouts. Fighting the weather a bit but I'm very happy with this week.   Keeping my head up and moving forward. 

Weekly Training Blog December

 Alligator from an awesome boat tour in Wakulla State Park during which we saw a bunch of these guys and a few Manatees.

 Monday AM 4 miles with Uta, 30:15, tot. 4
                3:30PM cross training and massage with Anna, mostly did handstands and variations of jerks
                6:30PM raliegh tavern 10 mile, total ice skating shit show, 1:10:38, dead lifts after 6x6 start at 95lbs up to 155lbs tot. 10.2

Tuesday AM out and back on Dale with Uta and Melissa, 33:45, it was icy again but not nearly as bad as last night but Melissa HATES ice so we went pretty slow tot. 4
                PM 3+ warm up, drills, strides, half Mona fartlek on Glendale loop, not as icy as last few runs but there were a couple spots, averaged 5:12 pace for the 10mins and felt much better. 3+ cool down

I thought this would get a Steve Moneghetti "Atta Boy" rating but…

Instead I actually got a "what the hell are you talking about?" because it is only the 2nd Mona of the cycle and it was still only a half mona.

Wednesday AM road 4 with Uta in mix of snow, freezing rain and rain. 30:37 tot. 4

                     PM raliegh tavern 10 mile, 1:08:38, box jumps after 3x10 at 20in, 24in, 30in tot. 10.2

Thursday AM road 4 with Melissa and Uta, 31:57

                  PM off I had a very long day at work, it was getting late and I knew I had to be up at 2:30am the next morning for our flight so I had dinner and went to bed.

Friday AM off for travel to Tallahassee 

            PM 41mins of jogging around the course and drills, tot. 5++

Saturday AM 10min warm up with Melissa before her race.  Then 18min warm up after she started the race, drills, 4min jog to start, wait in check in line then forced in 5 strides in the 5mins before the start.  Race USATF club xc championships.  I finished 119th and ran 32:10.  Splits 5:02, 10:11, 15:15, 20:43(long), 25:36(short), 30:55.   I finished about 15 seconds and 17 places in Front of John Schilkowsky who beat me by about 15 or 20 seconds last weekend so I felt good about that.  I followed my race plan pretty much perfectly and I competed well over the last couple miles.  I'm super unfit so this was about as good as I could hope for.  In 2005 I was really fit and ran club cross but raced like an idiot and though I had a shot at the top 10 I ended up 85th or so.  The field is much deeper now and I got 119th in awful shape so I feel pretty good about how I approached things.

  Now the story….  So let me be clear.  I started it.  I was moving up through the field and after 2 miles I was cutting across on the tangent and I cut a guy off.  Not on purpose but I was cutting across the field and there was contact and we both got a good stumble in.  A few seconds later the other guy rushes up next to me and gives me a good elbow. Ok fair enough.  Then he keeps leaning into me and elbow pushing me over to the edge of the course, which at this spot was some heavy bushes.  I probably should have said something but I didn't.  I have a temper when I race, and yes I know I was in the middle of the pack with no shot at doing anything but that doesn't have any impact on my competitiveness.  Anyway I sort of used my right arm and threw the guy to the ground.  That wasn't really my intent.  I just wanted to give him a good enough jolt that he would cut the shit and we'd move on but down he went.  Now his teammates around him were none too happy, for obvious reasons and were shouting and stuff.  I was moving faster so I was out of range fairly quickly but when someone tells you I'm an a-hole, keep in mind sometimes I'm an a-hole.   I actually sort of figured I'd be dq'd but either they never ended up complaining to the officials or the officials were like Umm you all finished a 100 and what? and blew them off.

Sunday AM 14 miles solo out and back on St. Marks rail trail, 1:30:22. Awesome place to run would love to do tempo's on this.  We do have the Chelmsford rail trail now which is very similar, though has more road crossings and obviously living up here it is out of commission for fast running for the next 4 or 5 months. tot. 14

Summary 75 miles, one decent workout, one decent race. I'm happy with this.  The race is poorly placed in the overall scheme of things, So I end up not increasing to the 90's this week and with a travel nightmare that ended up in Melissa and I getting back to our house Monday morning at 5:20AM and me at work at 7:20AM after that I didn't run yesterday or this morning so this week will not be an increase week either.

  That said it was a nice trip and I was very happy with the race for the shape I am in.  I executed my race plan perfectly.  I really would have loved to be sub 32 and top 100 but honestly I thought those goals going in were wildly unrealistic so to come as close as I did I'm very happy.

  Generally speaking I am feeling strong and moving freely.  I am still having coordination issues but I could see those being wiped out in the coming year if I continue to make the muscular progress I have been making.  Additionally I feel that the improved muscular power, and more importantly range of motion, have made me MUCH more efficient at speed and so I am noticing very fast improvement with little work and I think I could end up running quite well in the coming months with some good training.

  That said I have some concerns about moving training forward in the winter. I have to lay out a training schedule that will be balanced and effective but can be accomplished without access to a track or much in the way of extended flat ground.  Where footing will be to varying degrees a problem on nearly every run.  That will work with 10 out of 13 runs being completed in darkness each week.  All of these issues can be overcome but it means that planning becomes very important.  I have my schedule to a point that I'm pretty happy with it and I should have it pretty well squared away by the end of this week.  There are some small things about running in the dark and on the ice that annoy the hell out of me that I'll simply need to such it up and deal with but other than that the biggest hurdles were making a plan that would accomplish my goals within the constraints of a New England winter, my schedule, and my current training resources.


Lastly, and I think this is pretty obvious, Mona is not judging my workouts, I don't know him, He certainly doesn't know me.  I'm just a fan, of him and his fartlek.  I don't own the pics.  I just stole them offline.  I don't have ads on the blog.  I don't make any money for this as such I don't feel guilty doing that.  If you own one of the pictures and don't want me to use it just post a comment or message me.  If you are Steve Moneghetti, first thank you for checking out my blog!  I'm honored!  Loved your book by the way.  Second I'm guessing you know it is all in good fun but if for whatever reason you don't want me to continue just message me or comment.  Getting a cease and desist note from one of my running hero's will rate right up there with my other odd life accomplishments like taking an ice bath with Teg and Solinsky and Frank Shorter saying "Hi, Nate." to me.

Weekly Training Blog March 23 to 29- Duck Tape and Bubble Gum

Monday

PM 7.2 miles on road, first 3.2 with Melissa and Uta in 22:33 rest solo, 48:08

XT whartons, rubber bands, Thoracic Bridge

Tuesday

PM Barker farm 16 at fundamental pace, 1:34:10, this felt VERY easy, I was fighting the coordination a good bit but it held all the way which was the point of doing this run.  Trying to get the form back to where I'm again holding the coordination for 20 miles plus.  This run was at 5:53 pace but this loop is very hilly and tends to be about 10 seconds per mile slower than my regular loop which is about 10 seconds per mile slower than flat running.  I have run this fast on this loop but not with this ease it felt like 7min pace plus.  Just walking. total 16 miles

XT whartons, YTI, rubberbands, thoracic bridge

Wednesday

PM Regular 20k, 1:16:30, with temps in the mid 40's this was far and away the warmest run I have had in quite some time, of course there are still a couple feet of snow on the ground so it isn't summer just yet…

XT whartons, YTI, thoracic bridge,  My left heel/ankle spasmed when I was running some errands around 8:30pm and I did some ankle drills when I got home, very tight at the solues attachment.

Thursday

PM 11miles first 2 miles with Uta in 16mins.  It was raining hard and she didn't want to run when she didn't perk up I just swung back and dropped her off, she was happy about that, rest solo in cold driving rain.  1:14:38, left heel was very sore and week was actually limping for most of the first two miles with Uta until it loosened up some.

XT went right to Bikram Yoga after the run, also did whartons, YTI, ankle drills, some wharton stretches for the foot and ankle and rubber bands

Friday

PM bearhill 4.2 with Uta for a warm up, 26:53, dropped her off then did skipping warm up, light drills, and strides.  Then a Moneghetti fartlek around my 'block'.  Covered 4.114 miles in the 20 minutes.  Just about one house further than on the same session last week so a new Mona PR.  Average pace was 4:51.6/3:01.2.  This was a very good session.  The heel, soleus attachment, still very sore but was able to get it loosened up enough to do this. 2+ mile cool down, 14:45.

XT ankle drills, YTI, whartons, rubberbands, wharton stretches for ankle and foot

The loop I was doing this workout on is just over 1500m and goes around the roads that surround our town home complex.  Melissa could see me going by from our living room and noticed that though my shoulders were back I had my head "really far forward, like awkwardly far forward"  so we are assuming that has been part of my recent struggles with the coordination again.

Saturday

PM 6.3 first 4.2 with Melissa, got a bit of a sore throat last night and hoping to get in a good workout tomorrow so I decided to take it real easy today, 43:30 

XT Bikram Yoga- interestingly ran into 1:03:30 half marathoner Eric Ashe who had been dragged to his first class by his girlfriend. also whartons, wharton stretches for ankle and foot, YTI, rubber bands, eccentric calve raises

Sunday

PM I slept in and then had a lazy morning hoping the throat would clear up but I ended up deciding to scrap the workout.  I have done marathon workouts a few times when feeling a bit off or a bit of a sore throat at the start and by bedtime that night I've been sick as a dog and I didn't want to risk that.

  So I did my regular 20k, with a fast last mile.  I ran 1:14:00 for the 20k with a final mile of 4:51.2.  The idea was to run marathon pace for the last mile this was a good bit faster than that but I was feeling good.  Putting more focus on head position seemed to help with the coordination though it was feeling a bit off from the recent tests of it. 

XT whartons, YTI, rubberband, ankle drills, eccentric calve raises

Summary

I'm very fit.  I would like a few more marathon specific workouts and obviously I would love to have the coordination thing 100% gone and just a memory but after 8 years it is unrealistic to think it would just disappear overnight.

  Looking back at some of my past cycles for comparison this one is a bit more spread out and the miles are lower but in terms of workouts it isn't bad.  Before the Olympic Trials I ran  5 good marathon workouts and had two workouts that were aborted part one, one for coordination, one because I was hurting.  

  Before New York City 2008 (the best fitness I have ever had going  into a marathon) I had 7 moderately good workouts basically I would get through about 1/2 to 2/3 of a marathon and then lose coordination then in the afternoon I would do 3 to 6 miles at marathon pace.  I was super fit but not surprisingly I lost coordination at about 10k into the marathon and limped in to a mid 2:20's finish.

  Before my debut at Austin in 2006 I ran 2 good marathon workouts and 1 good not specific workout as well as 1 good half marathon race.  I ran 2:15:28 there but I had not done enough specific work and I ran out of glycogen and ran 5:15, 5:40 (uphill), 5:15(downhill), 5:28 for the last four miles. After averaging 5:07 pace for the first 22 miles that is a pretty bad bonk.  

  This year I have 4 good marathon workouts and 3 moderately good ones and a number of good non-marathon specific sessions.  I would really like to get in at least one and possibly two marathon workouts before tapering.  I am very fit and that can be maintained without specific work but I would like to make sure I am still specifically prepared for marathon.  Fitness is only half the battle in the marathon you must be ready for the specific challenge of the marathon or you will just be another fit runner shaking your head wondering what happened out there and mumbling about fueling better or carbo loading.  

  My plan is to do a specific workout next Sunday and then maybe take a personal day the following Wednesday to do one last session.  Now before you judge me too harshly this is my third year back teaching and I worked part time for a year before that and in that time I have taken one day off, I got stuck at an airport in L.A. so I'm not some lazy ass who skips work willy nilly. 

  Other than that I want to mix in one weekly longish run at fundamental pace focusing on coordination.  this is not specific to marathon racing but it is specific to my holding control of my right leg which will be the biggest limiting factor in my race performance.  I'll probably do 16 to 18 again this week then go for an 18 to 20 about a week out from Boston. 

  As for the sore throat and the heel.  I still have the sore throat.  Hopefully it doesn't become anything more.  The heel was improved quite a bit by the yoga.  I'll try and go again tomorrow and the eccentric calve raises help a lot so I think that will come around real quick.

  Hope you are holding together better than I am and you have a great week.

  

Moneghetti Fartlek

 Steve Moneghetti, for whom the Moneghetti Fartlek is named, is an Australian distance runner who came very directly from great tradition that started with the Pat Clohessy coached group that produced other australian distance legends like Rob de Castella, Shaun Creighton and Simon Doyle.  Steve himself was coached by the great Chris Wardlaw, a 2:11 marathoner. Steve invented this fartlek and did it pretty much every week for years, in fact he still does.  Steve was a bronze medalist at the 1997 IAAF World championships in the marathon. He competed in 4 Olympic Marathons with 3 top 10 finishes and a best of 5th.  His marathon PB is 2:08:16, he ran a half marathon best of 1:00:06.  He is in many ways most notable for his incredible longevity at a very high level. He came onto the seen as an Australian junior national champion in 1982 and soon had his first world class performance, a bronze medal at the 1986 commonwealth games in 2:11:18 and then remained consistently among the worlds best through his 10th place finish at the 2000 Olympic marathon. He first broke 29:00 for 10k when he was 19 years old and last did it when he was 42!  In between there was never a year where he failed to best the mark at least once on the road or track.  Recently he ran a 1:09:43 half marathon which compared to the rest of this may not seem to impressive until you realize the man is now 52 years old!

Steve Moneghetti running on the 6k "Moneghetti Track" around the Lake that he so regularly used for his famous fartlek.

  The Moneghetti Fartlek itself is at once simple to perform and yet beautifully complex in how many systems it stresses and improves.  It takes a mere 20mins to perform and yet it can be one of the hardest all around sessions you do.

   You run 2x90seconds, 4x60seconds, 4x30seconds, 4x15 seconds. Each hard effort is followed by a QUICK recovery jog of the same time.  You should run the 90 second reps at about 5k effort and as the reps get shorter try to run them a bit faster so that by the 15 second reps you are ATTEMPTING to sprint at near max. The max will be easy but making that a sprint is a real job.

 The real key to the workout, and the real devil of the workout, is that the recoveries are a QUICK jog. The quick jog means that in addition to the benefits of a normal anaerobic interval workout, i.e. increased latic tolerance, improved vo2max, increased efficiency at quicker speeds and greater muscular power this workout is also a GREAT aerobic tempo workout.  In fact because you have to flush out the acid from the faster reps there is some evidence that this workout and others like it do more to improve your latic threshold, the single most important marker of fitness for races of 5k to marathon, than regular tempo runs or any other type of training.

  Steve says that he normally would end up averaging around 3:05 per kilometer, 4:57 mile pace, for this session. Roughly around his marathon pace.  That is with the rest included, obviously. It should be noted that this was mixed in to regular 130 mile weeks with 3 OTHER hard efforts.  He also said that his fastest performance he covered exactly 7 kilometers in the 20 minutes.  That is 4:35 mile pace with the RECOVERIES INCLUDED!  My personal best session for this so far is averaging 4:55 per mile.  I generally run between 5:00 and 5:10 per mile when I do it.

  Why do this workout?  It improves your latic threshold greatly which makes it a super session for general fitness for everyone from the miler to the marathoner. It is quick, simple and can be done anywhere; this is my staple workout when I am traveling.  It touches on a number of paces and effort levels which means it really covers a lot in just one session.  It is not so anaerobic that it will break you down or increase the risk of illness or injury if done regularly.  Most importantly it teaches you to recover at a quick pace which in my experience is the single most important thing to teach your body in order to be a fast distance runner.

  When to do this workout? Whenever!  This is one of the few sessions you can be well justified in doing in any and all phases of your training.  It is a jack of all trades workout that fits as well in a base phase as a specific phase and does wonders for the high school runner working towards a mile best or the Olympic hopeful looking to keep his latic threshold and muscular efficiency up well prepping for a 2:12 marathon.

  So the next time you need a great workout to improve your threshold and your efficiency at pretty much all your racing speeds and perhaps time is tight do yourself a favor and dive into a Moneghetti Fartlek.  It won't be the easiest session you ever do but it will likely be one of the best.

Traditional Fartlek

 Around 1937 swedish coach Gosta Holmer, a retired decathlete who had won bronze at the 1912 Olympics in that event, invented a new type of workouts for his charges. Fartlek. Roughly translated it means speed play.  This simple yet profound type of training would become the mainstay of his most famous proteges, Gunder Hagg and Arne Andersson, who would shatter dozens of world records and bring the mile world record from the mid 4:06's down to 4:01.  Hagg would also become the first man ever to run under 14:00 for 5k producing a 13:58.2 in 1942.  All this with the insanity of World War 2 roaring around them.  Though 4:01and 13:58 are not nearly world class times today they are still, seventy years later, extremely exceptional times and when one considers they were achieved in the days before mondo tracks, before running shoes, heck before sneakers! It is really remarkable that two athletes could have reached the level they did.

 There are now dozens of different structures of fartlek that have become famous.  It is a type of training that has been part of nearly all the great coaches, from Lydiard and Bowermann to Canova and Salazar, recommended schedules.  I will do many posts on fartlek but for this one we will focus on it in its most pure and simple state.  The original speed play.

  Fartlek done in its most basic and pure form needs no timing, no measurement, no plan and no specific surface, though I would suggest the most beautiful you can find and some decent footing for fast running. You do not need a watch. Heck if you really want to get in touch with your forerunners and be a full purist you can go without shoes.  I often would do this on rainy days sneaking on a golf course for a barefoot fartlek on the grass.

 Effort? The name tells it all, speed play, it is a game!  You can play hard or play easy.  Go how you feel.  I have heard fartlek referred to as running animal style it could just as easily be called running like a child.  Lydiard and Canova both like it as a light workout to transition into harder more specific sessions but for others, Steve Monaghetti comes to mind, it was a serous part of their hardest training.  I suggest you use it in three different ways.

 First Very light. Need to get in some strides and loosen up after a hard effort or in the days prior to a major race. Just let it rip a few times on a light run on soft surfaces. Open up and fly along but when it starts to get hard simply let up and recover fully before moving fast again.  Your jogs between the efforts on these days should be light and slow.

Second moderate. Perhaps you want to mix in one more workout in a week but know if it is a real killer you won't be able to do your more important focus sessions for the week.  Perhaps you are early in a cycle of training or you are returning from a layoff. Fartlek is perfect.  You can vary the speeds and distances as well as the total time running.  Easily stopping long before you are fully exhausted.  Best of all you have no watch to tell you you aren't running fast enough or long enough.  Your breaks between the fast efforts on these days should be at the pace of a fast training run. Not super fast but not shuffling along either.

Finally Hard.  Go get it run short savage bursts.  Long killing drives.  Attack every uphill you see. Imagine yourself a cross country god or an ancient man hunting deer on foot.  Whatever inspires you and push each effort until your lungs sear and your legs quiver. Then settle back into a jog until you are back in control enough to attack again.  Go on like this until you can't go no more.  Much like the moderate your pace between fast efforts on these days should be rather quick about as fast as you go on your fastest regular training runs.

 How long? Until you FEEL you are finished.  In future blogs we'll get into all sorts of structured fartleks but for this the pure fartlek you should not be wearing a watch or checking your distance.  You are trying to communicate with your body. To tests its limits and to let it tell you how much is just right.  How fast is fast, how long is long enough.

How fast? I do have a bit more direction for you here. DO NOT do just one speed!  Mix it up. Your efforts should be all sorts of different distances and speeds. Vary from full out mad blitzes to just quick floating efforts, from short sprints to the next tree to long killing drives over significant distance. Really mix it up. Variety is the name of the game.  Okay fartlek is really the name of the game but you know what I mean!

The fartlek in its pure wild form is not for everyone but it can be an amazing workout.  You can never get the pace or effort wrong and you can develop a powerful connection with your body which is one thing you need to push it to great performances.