Papa John's 10 Miler

Hey blogosphere,

It's been a while. My bad.

So last weekend I went down to Louisville for the Papa John's 10 Miler. There was also some basketball game going on later that day? Something about the Final Four and teams from Kentucky or something? Yeah the atmosphere was definitely crazy with a Louisville vs. UK showdown.

Anyway, about the race: I ran 52:05 (about 5:12 pace) and got fifth (and 100 bucks!).

5th, behind 3 Africans and an Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier.

And $100? Yeah I'll take it.

So even though my pace was basically the same as 2 weeks ago (on a much flatter course), I was a lot happier with the race this time around.

5:12s felt a lot more comfortable this time around. Especially over the last 4 miles, I felt like I was able to finish much stronger than two weeks ago. I wasn't struggling just to finish; I was ratcheting the pace down trying to reel in 4th place. In fact, I felt like I could have kept going at that pace for at least 3 more miles.

So I'm taking all of that to mean that I'm in pretty good aerobic shape. Which is a good thing, since the marathon is a wholly aerobic race. I'm just not in fast VO2max shape. Which I haven't done much work on, since the marathon isn't much of a VO2max race.

All things considered, I'm a lot more pleased with this race than I was with the Heart Mini. Now it's just one more month (one month!?) til the Pig.

Comments

Base Training the Lydiard Way

This is a post I've been meaning to write for a while, but just haven't really gotten around to it. This is for anyone using the summer to gear up for a fall season of racing, whether that's a marathon, road races, or cross country. That said, this is especially for you high school and college athletes. Summer is the most important time of the season. It's when you build your base -- everything that's to come later in the fall is determined by the quality of this base. In fact, some might even say that your end-of-season peak is limited by how well you trained over the summer. Arthur Lydiard believed this. And his philosophies still form the foundation of modern-day distance training. You've probably heard (and maybe internalized) many of the common critiques of Lydiard-style training: it's old and outdated , or it's too hard, or, most common, it's just a lot of long slow distance. And low slow distance makes for long slow runners . The lat...

Why I Love Running At Withrow

One of my favorite places to do workouts and strides and general fast stuff is the track at Withrow High School in Hyde Park. No, it's not because of the newly renovated surface. No, it's not because it's a perfect 10-minute warmup and cooldown jog from my house. No, it's not because I'm a nerd and it has markings for both a 1600 and a mile. No, it's not because the school building forms a perfect "L" around the homestretch and first turn, sheltering the field from any drastic wind. No, it's not because I spent four years during college running workouts there. Actually, wait, that is part of it. The reason I love Withrow's track so much can be summed up like this: it's a true public track. If you've ever been to the track, then you know how packed it can get with people using it. And it's not just Withrow High School teams and random individuals -- the track is also regularly used by many other local high schools witho...

On Track #1: Bill Bowerman (and Frank Shorter, Too)

Bill Bowerman, the man who deserves much credit for America's elite track success in the 1960s and '70s, is also responsible for its subsequent decline in the 1980s and later. Yes, I am putting some blame on the single most legendary American track coach. Here me out: If you're reading this blog, I'm assuming you're coming in with some basic knowledge about the legacy of Bowerman and his storied U. of Oregon Ducks teams. (And if you want more info, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon is a great read) But there's more to his story than track and field. In the 1960s, he visited New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard (proponent of high-mileage training and coach to several world record holders), where they showed him this new craze called jogging . Basically, Lydiard took the principles of training for elite athletes and applied it to everyday people, establishing jogging clubs as a means to general physical fitness for anyone. After stumbling through several run with th...

Running Shorts

Search This Blog