Twilight 5K PR

A few weeks ago I raced my second race of the year-- the Twilight 5K. It's a running event that is encircled by a big cycling event, the Twilight Criterium. There was also a $1000 mile later that afternoon, for the top 5 male and female finishers.

I felt like I was in decent short-distance shape, having had two decent months of training but not much speedwork. Since I don't race much, I never know what to expect.

The weather was nice-- not too hot and sticky, and not rainy/crappy like it was in 2015. So I toed up and took off. The first half of the course was relatively flat... the second half was not. I went out at 3:30 for my first half split. I was pleased, but I knew I couldn't hold that pace the whole time, especially with hills coming.

My splits stayed near 3:35, give or take a second, as this turned into a red-line event. I gave it what I had that day-- I left it all out there. There were two hills on the back stretch that gave lots of us trouble, myself included. After the second one, I found that I couldn't reach down for a deep breath. I didn't have any lung capacity to make it work. I guess that's what happens when you go full out.

I sprinted the last 10 or so yards and got it up to a 5:20/mile pace right at the very end as someone tried and failed to pass me right at the finish. I set a PR by about 25 seconds, so I was very happy with this. I wear a race belt and try to keep my number on my hip, so the pad didn't pick up my chip at the end. As a result I didn't make the official race results list, but Mr. Garmin said I ran it, so I'm counting it.

Now the training has become more sporadic, with no goal race and lacking the structure that the school year provides. Now that I got into better shape, the plan is to stay that way and even take it forward from there.

It has a name, but...

I think most people are on board with the fact that fast 400 meter repeats on the track aren't much fun but yield positive benefits.

Now I've never been a big speedwork guy-- I've never had a rigid schedule unless I've been in marathon training, and even then it was more about pouring on the miles. However when I was prepping for the 2014 Publix Marathon in Atlanta, I squeezed out 16x400 with some of my running friends. I was as surprised as anybody. Speed days since then have maxed out at 8x400, doing three-minute intervals. Run the 400, and recover for the time left over. For example, if I ran a quarter in 90 seconds, I'd have 90 seconds to rest before the next repeat. I found the rest period worked better than an easy 400 jog.

Recently, I read in Runner's World about Jonas Hampton of New Britain, Connecticut who runs 30x400 on his speed days as one of his key workouts during marathon training. My eyes about popped out of their sockets. 30? Quarter-mile repeats? Are we sure that's right?

Well, yes it is. Here is his session:

“It has a name, but you can’t print it.” Warm up with 3 miles followed by 10 minutes of dynamic stretches. Then run 30 x 400, with 200-meter recovery jogs. After every 5 repeats, recover with a 400-meter jog. Cool down with 2 easy miles.

I wonder if we could crowdsource a printable name for this workout. He runs three miles before he even gets to the fun part. Excluding the recovery jogs, he's sitting on a 12.5-mile workout. Yikes. Just saddling up for that distance requires a little extra prep for me. Obviously it's a bit different for him. 

I'm not arguing the methods-- I'm amazed at them. Hampton ran a 2:15 and won the Hartford Marathon in 2015 and competed at the Olympic Marathon Trials back in February. What makes this all the more remarkable is that he's got a day job as a highway design engineer.