Tim's and Steve's favorite British expression. Definition from Wikipedia as follows...
Adjective form from "ready for the knacker's yard" or "fit to be knackered", meaning "worn-out livestock, fit to be slaughtered and rendered".
That's how I felt this morning! Luckily Aaron was around to give me some company and we had a nice early morning run on the trails (8 miles at 7:45 pace). I'm hoping another little shakeout run tomorrow morning will have my legs back in some sort of shape for tomorrow evening's planned workout- especially as it is supposed to be 95 degrees and I'll be doing the bulk of it solo!
Interestingly my legs felt pretty decent for Sunday's 16.5 miler which I clicked off solo at 4.30 am at around a 6:50 pace. I'm looking forward to this next 'marathon specific' phase of my training. The mileage is going to rise and the length of the workouts increase. Bring it on!
Monday, August 30, 2010
Week in review
56 miles(goal 50), 6 runs including 16 mile 'long', a 2m/1m/4*400 workout, a 5k race and one day completely off
70-75 miles, a 10*800 workout, an 8k xc race and an 18 mile long run on the agenda next week.
70-75 miles, a 10*800 workout, an 8k xc race and an 18 mile long run on the agenda next week.
Greekfest recap
So in my preview to this race last week I mentioned that I had had two good and two bad performances here previously. I guess this time you could say I split the difference. Actually as soon as I finished the race I was slightly disappointed, by the end of the day I was content and now I'm feeling pretty satisfied with the performance.
I put myself in position to run a fast time and through two miles was still on schedule but I was already starting to slip at that point and the third mile was a struggle. Sub 16 was still on the cards at the 3 mile mark but somehow I managed to take 40 seconds to run the last 0.12 (36 at my last race). I definitely missed having someone to run with in this race. I gapped Aaron earlier than I expected I would and the guy who beat me into third came passed me as if I wasn't there during the second mile and I couldn't latch on to him so I spent most of the race on my own. Where was Jay when I needed him? Oh, that's right, the Bahamas!
On a side note there were a slew of excellent performances on view at the race. A bunch of guys improved their 5k PRs into the mid 16s, first time sub 18 efforts were aplenty and everyone generally seemd to have a good race. Another great event put on by Tim and his team. Next up in the Grand Prix is the Brixx 10k at the end of September. With that race coming just a week after what is likely to be a very strenuous effort at the Blue Ridge Relay and with second place in the Grand Prix pretty much sewn up now, my approach for this race has yet to be determined! Next up is a xc meet at the weekend when I go and visit the Budics in Cleveland!
I put myself in position to run a fast time and through two miles was still on schedule but I was already starting to slip at that point and the third mile was a struggle. Sub 16 was still on the cards at the 3 mile mark but somehow I managed to take 40 seconds to run the last 0.12 (36 at my last race). I definitely missed having someone to run with in this race. I gapped Aaron earlier than I expected I would and the guy who beat me into third came passed me as if I wasn't there during the second mile and I couldn't latch on to him so I spent most of the race on my own. Where was Jay when I needed him? Oh, that's right, the Bahamas!
On a side note there were a slew of excellent performances on view at the race. A bunch of guys improved their 5k PRs into the mid 16s, first time sub 18 efforts were aplenty and everyone generally seemd to have a good race. Another great event put on by Tim and his team. Next up in the Grand Prix is the Brixx 10k at the end of September. With that race coming just a week after what is likely to be a very strenuous effort at the Blue Ridge Relay and with second place in the Grand Prix pretty much sewn up now, my approach for this race has yet to be determined! Next up is a xc meet at the weekend when I go and visit the Budics in Cleveland!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Primed
I can honestly say I haven’t felt this decent going into a race for a long time. Weather is fairly decent, competition should be hot and to cap it off I picked up some new Fasttwitch flats from the store yesterday that I will be lacing up on Saturday. Of course it could all blow up in my face tomorrow but runners are often accused of sandbagging and playing down their fitness so I guess I’m bucking the trend here!
The week thus far has been day off Monday, decent enough, hard workout on Tuesday (1*2 mile,2*1 mile, 4*400m), 7 easy solo on the trails Wednesday, 8 plus strides yesterday with a big group from the Dowd including a couple of loops of the course and 4 plus barefoot drills, strides and stretching at CCS this morning. Wish I could fit more of what I did this am into my weekly routine as my legs felt great after it!
Anyways, hopefully I’ll get after it tomorrow and let’s see how it goes. Good luck all!!
The week thus far has been day off Monday, decent enough, hard workout on Tuesday (1*2 mile,2*1 mile, 4*400m), 7 easy solo on the trails Wednesday, 8 plus strides yesterday with a big group from the Dowd including a couple of loops of the course and 4 plus barefoot drills, strides and stretching at CCS this morning. Wish I could fit more of what I did this am into my weekly routine as my legs felt great after it!
Anyways, hopefully I’ll get after it tomorrow and let’s see how it goes. Good luck all!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Greekfest Musings
The Greekfest 5k is probably the most popular and renowned 5k race held in Charlotte. The main reason for this is its reputation for being one of the fastest courses you can find locally. As any Charlotte runner will attest, almost all the local races have to negotiate a significant hill at some stage during the race. Not so Greekfest. Apart from one gradual rise as you turn on to Kingston from Park just after the mile mark, there are no hills of note. However it must be underlined that by no means is the course flat. You start off charging down East which is very slightly downhill and you end up running back up this direction for the finishing few hundred meters. Sections during the second and third miles run parallel to East and have its same grade. Still, all in all, Greekfest is definitely a course you can target a good time on. And everyone always does. You hear people back in April saying they are aiming to PR at this race.
However, for all the PRs and fast times that are set here, I would bet that there are an equal amount of disappointing results. As is often the way with something that is ‘over-hyped’, people often come away from Greekfest disappointed, “How can I not have run faster on this course?!”. Three main reasons for this I feel. First, people seem to assume all they need to do to run fast here is turn up. Wrong, this race needs just as much attention and focus as any other race, particularly during the second mile where there is a slight downhill section down Worthington that people tend to just coast down and get themselves prepared for the finishing stretch. Second, the course isn’t as flat as it is made out to be and the finish is on a very gradual uphill that can sap your time if you are not focused and fit enough. Third, the weather is often a factor, the late August humidity neutralizing the positive scenario of a fast course layout.
Speaking from personal experience, I have done this race 4 times and can say I have raced well twice and ‘badly’ twice. Greekfest will always have a soft spot in my heart as it was actually the first ever race I ran on Charlotte and American soil in 2005. We had signed the lease on our new apartment the previous Saturday and I looked immediately to get in a race to get a feel for the running community here. After a PR laden last few months in England, I had spent the previous month on ‘down’ time and was not in very good race shape. That combined with the ridiculous heat that I wasn’t used to (!) led to an 11th place finish in 16:33.
Next year was a different matter. My parents were in town, Sophie was 5 days old and I was in a training cycle for my first marathon. I ran well in 15:55 for third place and some cash if I remember rightly.
2007 was disappointing again. I had been running fast that summer and had spent a month in Australia with work where I was able to carry on my good form and training. However, Greekfest proved to be a race too far. I was burnt out, came home 7th in a disappointing 16:21 and immediately took some down time for a few weeks. Looking at the results for this race, a couple of notable performances. Coach Budic took second in 15:33, ten seconds ahead of local road legend Marchinko and 8th overall female was a certain young lady by the name of Alana Hadley, ten years old at the time, running 19:37!!
Back to the good the year after, when, deep into my training for the 2008 Richmond Marathon and having done no specific 5k training, my strength saw me home to a 2nd place in 15:53. A few weeks later I ran a Half Marathon PR but also got struck by a bout of plantar fasciitis and had to pull the plug on Richmond!
Last year I was unable to race. My stress fracture was just healing up so I jogged around the course before the race but was happy to watch everyone else do the race itself.
So here we are a year on and I’m ready to tackle Greekfest for a 5th time. I think I’m fit, I think I’m ready, just need to execute correctly. Even the weather seems to be taking a turn for the better.
A group of us are doing a course preview from the Dowd Y tomorrow at 6am if anyone wants to come along…
Sunday, August 22, 2010
More hay in the barn
Another week, another solid week of training. 70 miles on 7 runs including long run of 16 today and 2 good workouts. Friday I headed to PDS to do 8 400s with 200m walk recovery. Having done 16 the previous week with half the rest, this was supposed to be a fairly light workout in comparison focussing on developing cadence and getting some speed in the legs. All 8 were sub 70 and I closed with a 64.9. It was pleasing to be able to hit the target times fairly comfortably. It was also nice to be sharing the track with Billy, B Mac, Spada and Jordan. At 6am the more company the better!
Next week is another down week with hopefully a good performance at Greek Fest at the end of it. I have tomorrow off, a 2 mile, 2*1 mile, 4*400 workout on Tuesday and easy running the rest of the week. If the weather complies I'm feeling in pretty good shape for a sub 16 attempt on Saturday. After that the focus on Richmond will be intensified, as I head into the more marathon specific section of my training.
If I can hold everything together leading into Richmond I'm pretty excited I can run well there. After all, this time last year I was still out with a stress fracture and came back to post a good effort at Thunder Road. In fact, looking back at my training log for last year, I was over 1,000 miles below my current year's total at the same time last year. My barn certainly has a lot more hay in it this year.....
Next week is another down week with hopefully a good performance at Greek Fest at the end of it. I have tomorrow off, a 2 mile, 2*1 mile, 4*400 workout on Tuesday and easy running the rest of the week. If the weather complies I'm feeling in pretty good shape for a sub 16 attempt on Saturday. After that the focus on Richmond will be intensified, as I head into the more marathon specific section of my training.
If I can hold everything together leading into Richmond I'm pretty excited I can run well there. After all, this time last year I was still out with a stress fracture and came back to post a good effort at Thunder Road. In fact, looking back at my training log for last year, I was over 1,000 miles below my current year's total at the same time last year. My barn certainly has a lot more hay in it this year.....
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