Long overdue running update

I've been neglecting the running portion of this blog for too long, so here's a long overdue update. My training has been solid since early March, averaging 25-30 miles on 4 workouts per week with a decided, dare I say Bannister-like specific focus on the 5K. A typical week now is one easy 60 minute run, one easy 30 minute run and two hard efforts. Workout A is a track session -- my favorite at the moment is 10 x 400 w/ brief 100 meter jog recoveries. I learned about this workout from an article by renowned Portuguese coach Antonio Cabral. I find this to be a perfect 5K simulation. In fact, it adds up to exactly 5K on the track. On paper ten 400's doesn't look too difficult but if you do the first few reps too fast, you'll suffer due to the brief recoveries. It really teaches even pacing. Workout B is either a short, hard tempo run of 3-4 miles or a 5K race. Speaking of, I've done two in the past few weeks. On April 18 I ran 18:51 (6:04 pace) and found it to be a good rustbuster. Today I ran far better, hitting 18:18 (5:53 pace) with some solid negative splits (last mile was 5:48). My goal for the Spring is to get as close to 18:00 as I can before ramping it up again for some fast races in the fall. A long shot goal is 17:40 which is the USATF All-American standard for the 50-54 age group. Next up are 5Ks on May 23 and June 6; both on flat, fast courses, so we'll see what I can do.

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