Running Around 4-30-06

All right! Spring racing season is now officially in full swing. Looks like the conditions were favorable at Dogwood since there were some fast times posted. I wish I could be out there racing with you all. I'll be back in the fall after I've spent the summer strengthening and rebuilding my base.

There are some good races coming up between now and Expo with Run for the Deaf 5k this coming weekend and Lakeway 5k the week before Expo. I always like racing the week before a big race since I think it helps me get sharp mentally. However, I think this sharpening and taper this is more art than science. If anyone has something in particular that works well for you, I'd love to hear it.

Your mileage should be a little off your peak, but hold off on really cutting back until after this week. Unless you have some longer racing coming up, you might consider dropping the mileage on your long run. I wouldn't go less than 10 miles (or 90 minutes -- whichever is less), though.

This week we'll do some stuff to target 10k race pace plus some short stuff to get those legs turning over. If you haven't run a 10k recently, you can get a reasonable pace prediction here: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm

I'll be doing an easy road run of about 5.5 - 6 miles if anyone wants to join me.

Now for the workouts ... Week #17 in the training cycle and 4 weeks to Expo:

1. 3-4 x 2000m w/ 2:00 jog rest. Pace is 10k race pace + 4 seconds per mile. So, if your 10k pace is 6:30, run these at 6:34 pace. Don't drop below 10k pace. Then, 5 min light jogging. Then, 3-6 x 200m @R w/ 200m jog.

2. Striders TWO times this week. 6-8 x 100m

3. Optional second workout: 2x200 @R w/200m recovery + 2 x 1000m @I pace w/2 min jog + 2-4x400m@R w/400m jog.

Get your paces here ... http://www.panix.com/~elflord/vdot.html