Hi Folks,
Update Saturday, 4/15/23: five days into the Covid and with the help of PlaxLovid I’m pulling out of the worst effects effects of the virus. f you catch a full hit of this virus; you can’t fool around with it, but to address it and take care of yourself. Very important because if it lingers it can likely go to long Covid with a host of debilitating effects.
BOSTON MARATHON 4/17/23 will be televised on ESPN 8;30 ET – 1 PM: be sure to tape it. This is quite the year with about the strongest field ever assembled with six former Boston Marathon winners – and Eliud Kipchoge, the two time Olympic Gold Medalist and world record holder, first man to break two hours with a 4:34 per mile pacing. His running his first Boston as part of the Abbot Majors series and going for his 11th marathon win. He wants to also run NYCM; he’s already won London and Berlin Marathons more than once. This will be his first hilly marathon which will provide him with an additional challenge. There109 elite men from 21 countries with 8 under 2:05 and 25 under 2:10.
Evans Chebet, the 2022 winner is the best marathoner not named Kipchoge in the world, and has an instinct to know when to make his break from the lead pack – and pull it off. Last year we all watched him make his 35K-40K split in 13:55, i.e., 3 x sub 4:30 miles; that’s absolutely amazing: the last thing I’m thinking about is picking it up after mile 20. His week is a 10 day cycle including a long of 40K with a gradual increase of pace; 25-30K per day with twice per day workouts. He does 12-16K strong aerobic speed-work, one marathon prep longer one with 16-25K of distance. Twenty -five days before the race he’l run a 35K (21.75 miles) hilly terrain and finishes with last 10K in 30:15.
The Women’s Elite field is also loaded with the most talent ever: 5 under 2:18, 9 under 2:30, 34 under :2:30. Featuring Joyciline Jepkosgi who ran 2:17:43 at London Marathon, won the 2019 NYCM and London in 2021. A notable and very smart competitor who has raced for many years is Edna Kiplagat, 43. She won in 2017, 2021 and 4th in 2022. Both fields should prove to produce very competitive races, and without the benefit of pacers – Boston Marathon style.
Perfect mirror image of Black Mtn on Nicasio Reservoir water as I headed out from home at 8:30 AM on Easter Sunday morning towards Rancho Nicasio, around the reservoir, Samuel Taylor Par then Woodacre – and back.
Dipsea training is in full swing; getting in the long runs to develop the endurance foundation so you can push the pace on this hilly 7+ miler on race day is a priority this month. We’ll have you run the longer runs on rolling hilly trails to reduce chances for injury and to acclimate the legs to the up and down running.
Thursday, we’ll have you run a 5K time trial on Thursday for the track workout. The 5000 is an excellent test of fitness and a predictor for the 10K (double your 5K time plus a minute) and helps improve your half marathon time. I’ve found that after working with a good number of clients they set their best 10K time after setting their best 5K time. Just running the 5000 meters is an excellent workout that tests your distance running speed and if you have the endurance to continue strongly from mile two to three. It’s similar to the time period of running the treadmill test in the lab which lasts 12-20 minutes to max out the human body; yet allows for fairly quick recovery.
4/11/23 TUESDAY. Working the 4′ uphill repeats drill to improve fitness, prepare for Dipsea and improve leg turnover speed for road racing. After a mile or so of warm-up and 6 x 30 meter pickups get in 3 x 4′ of uphill on a that’s a steady uphill you can run at 5K effort without struggling, i.e., not too steep. Recover with a couple of miles of steady running.
4/12/23 WEDNESDAY. STRENGTH TRAINING CIRCUIT /SWINGS & TRAP BAR DEADLIFTS. 8:15 AM start at Warren’s gym. Arrive a bit earlier to get in mobility exercises and a row on the erg machine. If you haven’t rowed your baseline 2000 meters; get it in this morning. We’ll be repeating last week’s Circuit to fine-tune some of the exercise stations.
Deficit KB Sumo Deadlift/ BB or KB Front Squats -5 reps
Left, Half Kneeling KB Windmill Rotation
Right, Half Kneeling KB Windmill Rotation
Flat Bench, Right One-Arm DB Rows x 6-8 reps
Flat Bench, Left One-Arm DB Rows x 6-8 reps
Wipers / Hanging Knee Tuciks
Left, KB Kneeling Press
Right, KB Kneeling Press
Landmine 180 degree Rotations / Landmine Squat to Presses x 6
Weighted Plank / X 16 total “Russian Twists
4/13/23 THURSDAY. SPEED-WORK at your local track. Today’s workout will be the 12.5 lap 5000 meter run for time as mentioned above. We’ll have you run it again on June 1, 2023 to see the improvement on your time. The challenging part of the time trial is to keep track of your laps! Most of you will recognize your mile and two mile splits to help with the counting.
Make good use of an exact distance 400 meter track by glancing at your first 200 splits, then the 400 splits to try and stay within 1-2 seconds of each lap; the 200 split allows you to quickly correct your pace because by the time you have run 400 or 800 the damage done by running a too fast a pace is too difficult to recover from and affects your final finish time. Practice your accurate pacing is key to establishing your best time
4/15/23 SATURDAY.….No Saturday Hill Repeats: a group of us will be away riding either the 20,40 or 70 miles courses at the Bike Around the Buttes in Sutter area.
KeesTraining 