A High Intensity Week

This week has been a low volume and high intensity week for me. Though I prefer the high volume weeks myself, intensity is fun too. I will finish the week with only about 62 to 65 miles, but will have done three relatively intense workouts. On Tuesday I did 8x4 min at ANT (anaerobic threshold pace – the pace at which you are going fast enough that your body can no longer remove the lactic acid your muscles are producing) and felt strong through the entire workout despite the heat and humidity. On Thursday I did 3x3000m at ANT and felt so fast and light on my feet I was amazed. The first 3000m rep. was in 10:17, the second in 10:10 and the third in 10:05. To be sure, these were not race pace reps. I was very in control and comfortable the entire way. I was also sure to keep my heart rate on the low end of my ANT zone because I don’t want to be pushing it really high this early. My heart rate for all three put together averaged 168 BPM. I was really happy with the workout. On Saturday I will have one more intensity workout for the week, 5x800m at race pace. I am excited to test my self with this one because it will be my first track session in some months.

The Park Point 5 Miler

This past Friday I ran in the Park Point 5 miler. It is a great race on Park Point in Duluth, MN sponsored by Grandma’s. It had somewhere around 400 people racing in the 5 mile run, 2 mile walk, and numerous youth races. The evening start time and proximity to the lake provided some relief to the normal July heat and allowed for some fast times.
After a 20-minute 3 mile-ish warm up run and 3x400 race pace stride outs I lined up on the starting line with the other 5-mile racers. As the horn sounded we took off down the road toward the lift bridge. I started in third, and went through the first mile 5:10. Feeling strong I maintained the pace, but was passed by a small chase pack of 3 runners shortly after the 1 mile mark. After hitting the turn around I hit the 3-mile checkpoint in 16:27. Still feeling good, I maintained my pace as best as I could and cruised to a 27:26 (PR) - good for 7th place overall and second in my age group. The course and conditions could not have been better for a race.
All told, I am happy with the Park Point 5 miler results. I am currently training for cross country in the fall, and have not done more than 4 speed or tempo workouts yet, but my result is a good sign for things to come in cross country season.

The Start of Something Good

This would be the inaugural post on my inaugural blog, ‘Exploring the Limits…’ I really like that phrase because it best describes the way I live my life, always pushing things to the edge and testing myself. In this blog I will document my training, racing, and random adventures as well as training principles and other general information I learn along the way. i hope it proves to be educational and entertaining.