It looks like we will have a heat wave during my race - night temperatures around 75 F, probably close to 80 by the time we race. This makes a sub-20 all but impossible. Which means that I will have to go on and train for a fall race. Looking at the average expected temperatures, it looks like October 11-12 is the time when night temperature averages go below 50 F. So how about racing on October 8? There is a Susan G. Komen race for the cure in Louisville that day - which I would probably hate to run, because it is too big and slow/runners walkers won't understand that they shouldn't line up on the front - but there may be races around that date that pop up later.

Counting 12 weeks back from October 8:

Race week starts on 10/03.
Week -1: 9/26
Week -2: 9/19
Week -3: 9/12
Week -4: 9/5
Week -5: 8/29
Week -6: 8/22
Week -7: 8/15
Week -8: 8/8
Week -9: 8/1
Week -10: 7/25
Week -11: 7/18

This means I'll have about 1 week after coming back (and the jet lag is over) to start the cycle. It looks like I can't entirely stop running in Hungary.

Log: Wednesday, 7 miles from home in 57:02 in Saucony. 10:00 PM, 82 F (seriously).

Log: Sunday 11:20 am, track session. 85 F, sunny. Shoe: adidas. 3400 m warmup, 3200 m cooldown at ~8:20/1600 m. 3000 m time trial. Splits are:

200: 42.85 (started a bit fast, I should average 46 seconds on 200 m)
600: 1:32.94 (good)
1000: 1:33.85 (getting hard, it is too hot today)
1400: 1:33.99 (the black asphalt of this track seems to radiate the heat - I'm very hot)
1800: 1:35.56 (the heat - or whatever - is starting to affect my time)
2200: 1:40.40 (I'm trying to save this workout but cutting the speed, so I can still run)
2600: 1:40.92 (I switched to irregular breathing - I'm trying not to puke)
3000: 1:32.65 (fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-fuck-I'm-dying)
Total: 11:53.16. Pretty disappointing, as I was trying for 11:29. But maybe it was just the heat. I ran 11:33 in a similar time trial last April, and that training cycle didn't give me the sub-20.

BTW with this run I finished a 44-mile week successfully.

Race week:

M: 7 miles.
T: 6 miles.
W: 5 miles.
T: 4 miles (very easy)
F: rest.
S: 2 miles warmup + race + cooldown = 8 miles.
S: rest, beginning of my summer break.

Total: 30 miles.

Week -1: 36.5 miles.

Long runs: 9 and 7 miles.

Track: 2x2000 meters in 7:50 with 800 m recovery. With warmup and recovery 3200 m each, a total of 7 miles.

Easy runs: three times 4.5 miles.

Log: Saturday 6:00 pm, 7 miles easy in Saucony in 56:46. Temperature: 84 F, partly cloudy.

I think I'm going to make my students watch this:

http://www.ted.com/talks/leonard_susskind_my_friend_richard_feynman.html

We organized a conference in town this week and that killed my training plans. I only managed to get 34 miles in (instead of the planned 47). It's like one (really) long run short. I only ran 5 days of the week. Oh well. I consider my losses and prepare the next week like nothing happened. At least I had my VO2 max workout, which is probably the most important in this phase. I ran 5x1000 meters in 3:55, 3:56, 3:54, 3:54, 3:53.

Next week (-2) should be 43.5 miles. According to Pfitzinger, this is how it should look like:

Long runs: 9 and 8 miles.
LT run: 3K or 2 mile race. With warmup and cooldown this would be a 6-mile day.
Three easy runs: 7 miles each.

One change I'm contemplating is that the LT run could be a straightforward 4-mile tempo (plus warmup, cooldown) instead of the race. It is basically impossible to find a 3K race here, so I would have to make it a time trial, and a tempo might be more beneficial. Though the time trial has it's own advantages, especially because I don't do strides, so I may need more anaerobic training. I'll decide later.

Week -4 is finished with the planned 47 miles. This is cutback from last week, but the intensity is dialed up; in fact, probably the first time ever, my average pace was under 8 min/mile. Not that I planned for this, but I felt great for virtually all my runs (except maybe the Monday easy 7-miler). In fact, at the moment of writing this, I have run seven days in a row, 58 miles in those seven days (including last Sunday's 11-mile long run), just finished my 9-mile long run for this week, and I feel fresh. Nevertheless, I'll rest tomorrow, though I bet I will feel a little sluggish on Monday.

Plan for week -3: (47 miles)

Long runs: 10 miles and 9 miles.

Track: 3200 m warmup, 5x1000 m at race pace (1:33/lap, 3:53/interval - if this doesn't work, it is allowed to slow down somewhat, but all intervals must be strictly under 4 minutes). Recovery is 400 meters. 3000 m cooldown. Total of 8 miles.

Easy runs: 3 x 6 miles.

Edit: I should learn to add. This is only 45 miles. For this, and other reasons, I couldn't do this week as planned, see next post.

I ran 4x600 today, just two days after the time trial. I felt good, so I was aiming for 2:19/600 m. Everything went according to the plans. Splits were 2:20, 2:20, 2:19, 2:17. Recoveries were 1:11 each. (I covered 200 meters a little faster than that, then I was waiting until my watch turned 1:11, then I went on the next interval.)

I ran a 10000 meter time trial today at the local high school track. Guess what: 41:29. My goal was 41:33, because that is the 20:00 5K equivalent according to McMillan, but I wasn't sure if I could do it. I was fairly confident though that I could go under 42 minutes. So I decided to go out at 1:40/lap pace, which is 6:40/1600 m, 6:42/mile. Here are my 1600 m splits:

6:40, 6:40, 6:38, 6:41, 6:37, 6:42, 1:31 (for the last 400 m).

Before the last lap I was on pace for 41:38, and I was able to kick 9 seconds in the last lap.

I am more than satisfied. I know that track is easier than race, but this was in training! McMillan says this translates to a 19:58 5K. Also, my 5K splits were 20:50, 20:39.

Log: 7 miles in 54 F, and the fucking rain. In my Saucony. Five out of my seven most recent runs were all in rain. It looks like it barely stopped raining in Louisville in the last two weeks.

Unofficial log: Sunday, 11 miles, light rain, 65 F, adidas.