New Bedford Half Marathon, Weeks 5&4 Recap

Oh so busy the last few weeks, and peak training for a marathon does not help to produce compelling running blog content! I guess I have another blog "IOU", this time for a half marathon race writeup. Week 5 was basically about pain management in my left hip, then racing a half marathon in New Bedford, MA. Right on the heels of that race I was at the airport at 5:00 the next morning, for a brief business trip. Hip issues mostly behind me I was able to get in a track workout while traveling.

Fist pump at the finish line in New Bedford, photos courtesy of Jimmy Lee Shelton

Training partner Matt Story is pumped too! 

Training partner Joe Loureiro at mile 8 of New Bedford. Just wait and see what he was wearing in this race on St. Patrick's Day!

In the days leading up to New Bedford I was dealing with a sore left hip, with some discomfort on the outside bone, and then also in the joint. So I opted to skip thursday's workout and spent a good deal of time strengthening my hip flexors and glutes with a variety of XT exercises. This was done to the point that I felt some muscle tightness in my lower back while racing the 1/2 marathon on Sunday, so I think I did it right!

Both weeks were just short of 50 miles so given the circumstances I'm happy with the consistency of my training.

Week 5:
M: 4mi easy, midday with Matt, 33:23
T: 8 miles early a.m. with Joe; after 1-2 miles of easy running, drills and 6x100m strides, then do 5 x 1200m at tempo effort, with 2:30 of easy running between intervals. Ran the 1200m intervals at 6:07/mi, 6:06, 6:06, 6:06 and 5:49!

W: 2 miles in 1:25. very early a.m. 5:00 start. First 10K with Joe. Final 5 miles were sub 7:00.
T: (SKIPPED) - planned 7 miles, with 15 x 20 second uphill runs at the end of the workout
F: Off
S: 4.4mi easy in 33 minutes
S: 3mi warmup, New Bedford Half Marathon 13.1mi in 1:22:57, 2.4mi cooldown

Week 4:
M: (SKIPPED) - planned 3 miles. Busy with work travel
T: Herndon, VA: 10K in 43:37, 7:00/mi average for the workout; after 1-2 miles of easy running, do 20-24 x 200m with 200m jog at 5K to 10K pace. On Google Maps, I found a nearby middle school with a track - but discovered in the early morning darkness and wet/soggy conditions that it was a dirt (no, mud) track. So I ran some loops on the paved roads around the school for the first part of the intervals. Finished the intervals on the run back to the hotel.

W: Back in Massachusetts, 5:00 a.m., 12.3mi in 1:34 with Joe. Roads back home were still in various states of snow, ice and dry pavement after tuesday's winter storm dropped about 8-9 inches of heavy snow. Slower pace, but more effort required on the varied surfaces to achieve that pace. And, it was a hilly course too.

T: 7 miles; after 1-2 miles of easy running, do 2 x 2 miles at tempo effort with 1-3 minutes of easy running between intervals
F: Off
S: 4 miles
S: 15mi tot in 1:43:47, 6:57/mi for the workout: 2K warmup, then 20K alternations {1k at 6:34/mi pace, 1k at 7:07/mi}, 2K cooldown. Pretty much nailed the paces on the alternations meeting or exceeding the targets, with one exception - a 200 foot hill climb that fortunately was situated during one of the "rest" intervals. Joe loves to include this hill in our training runs -- sometimes spontaneously! This time its inclusion was planned. Managed an interval on the hill climb at 7:30/mi pace and was safely out of the climbing zone when it was time to start the next, fast interval. Last year I had to cut this particular workout short with soreness in one of my feet.

Summary after 19 weeks, just 3 weeks to go (and 1 week to go until tapering!):