October 6th-12th Training

Monday: 5.5 miles (7:07); 8 miles (6:56)

Tuesday: 10.6 miles (6:35); 4.5 miles (6:30)

Wednesday: 9.4 miles with attempted workout. Plan was a 6400m progression starting at 5:10 and dropping down 5s per mile, followed by a couple 400s.  Ran 5:07, 5:03 and then came through 1200m in 3:45 before stopping.  The first two were insanely easy but I was getting really dehydrated even though it wasn't that hot. Was going to just add on some extra 400s but I was dumb and didn't realize the increased intensity would make me even more dehydrated, so I stopped after 300m in 48 on the first one.; 5.3 miles fartlek with 4 miles of .15 on/.35 off. Jogged to the 4-way stop (.70 miles) and straight into the workout without any drills or strides.  Wanted to turn it over without pushing too hard to make up for the slack workout a few hours prior.  6:09 pace for the four mile fartlek and averaged 4:12 on the fast portion.  Felt smooth.

Thursday: 9.1 miles (6:39); 6.1 miles (7:00ish)

Friday: 6.3 miles with strides (6:55)

Saturday: 18 miles with half-marathon in 67:29.  Ran The Middle Half and since I'm doing another half next weekend, my goal was to place as well as I could without much damage.  I was hoping to finish second since Patrick Cheptoek was there.  Justus David was there again, as well as a couple other Kenyans, Brandon York and Nashvillian Joey Elsakr.  Festus Chemoi shot out and we all let him go and I hung in a pack with Patrick, Justus and some Kenyan I didn't know. We were pacing machines because other than a 5:02, we ran 5:05-5:06 the first six miles.  I got dropped in the seventh mile but still split 5:04.  I didn't want to go home penniless, so I tried to stay focused and caught back up to the three man pack around 8-9 miles. The tenth mile was the slowest mile yet with a 5:10 and then Patrick surged and the newbie Kenyan dropped.  Justus ran off my shoulder and I was hoping to break him but he was persistent and it wasn't worth killing myself to potentially win a little bit more money and fry my legs for next week.  I let him go the last two miles and finished with a 5:29 and 5:25.  Legs didn't feel very snappy at all today but it was a little humid and the roads were wet from the rain.  The early pace felt really smooth but my legs lost all their pop the last 5k.  Maybe if I ran this flat out, I could have run 66:30 or so, which isn't too bad for where I am right now I guess.

Sunday: 9.4 miles (6:56)

Week Total: 92.2 miles. I'm at an awkward point in training right now.  I'm using these next two races to race and get a little bit of money (hopefully), so it's almost like a mini peak or something even though I haven't really been training that hard or am I very fit.  After the races, I'll go into a high mileage mode before starting to hit it pretty hard in December.  So this week will be relatively light as I freshen up.

I was looking forward to seeing all of the Americans duke it out in Chicago.  I thought for sure, there would be a ton of sub 2:15s, with a lot of guys in the 2:11-2:12 range but a lot of guys struggled home that last 10k.  It was a bummer to see that happen but that's the nature of the beast sometimes.

I had three runners I coach in there. Kevin was shooting for 2:50ish and ran 2:47, Leigh was shooting for sub 3:40 and ran 3:37 and Tom was shooting for a sub 2:50 and struggled home with some cramping in 3:09.