Doing What I Can

Wow...another PR and replacing one that is only 3 weeks old...needless to say, im ecstatic!! My level of fitness has been really high since coming to Germany, ive been putting up more mileage then ever plus i've had to walk everywhere, so my body is responding very positively. The Freiburg Marathon event is quite largee, we are talking approximately 4500-5000 runners for the half and another 1500 for the full. This was the event that I had originally hoped to PR at before I decided to jump in the mercedes hm 3 weeks back. My wife and I signed up before we left for this race and it was one of the focal points of the trip. After having PR'ed 3 weeks back, this race could have been an anti-climatic victory lap, but I decided to shoot for sub 6:00 per mile pace, something that has eluded me at longer distances..and frankly something I thought that was a year or more off at least. Turns out, it is something I can do  did. 

Pre-race

woke up without having to worry about too much travel. An 11 am start time meant sleeping in til a few minutes before 7. I love "hometown" races! Ate a piece of gluten-free bread...which was kind of a gamble but not really. I know you're not sposed to change things up on race day, but white bread (my normal pre-race food because of its low-fiber) has been given me indigestion lately, so I decided to switch to this prerace. About 9:45, my wife and I boarded a local bound train since the start was about 6km from where we are living. Apparently everyone and their dogs took advantage of the "sonderzug" or special train organized for runners...and as a result our train was literally packed with people, you could not move there so many stuffed into the train car. It was only a 3 minute ride, and everyone was in good spirits though, so definitely not a big deal (i love how runners in general are so happy-go-lucky, even here in Germany). Got to the race, warmed up, line for the bathroom was very long, so like everyone (well all the men here in germany), just went outside wherever there was a spot haha. On a side-note, my wife was participating in her first HM, a big deal for her, and so she had some pre-race jitters as well. Another side note, weather was near perfect, mid-40s, light to moderate winds later in the race, but overall, ideal racing conditions.

The race

Got to the start line after they let the handbikers go, standing there at the front of such a huge field is an awesome feeling. At first it kind of reminded me of the train ride since we were packed in the starting line, but then I could feel the energy of 6000 tapered, "raring to go" runners being held back for that magical but arbitrary time to start running. AWESOME!

gun went off and got out clean, settled in to a pace immediately and was initially surprised by the amount of runners at that pace, but I know a half is a long race and things would settle out. (all splits are in KM, goal was 3:43 per KM, which is roughly 1:18:30 pace)

1- 3:38.8 spot on

2- 3:40.0

3- 3:40.3 (10:59, 5:51 mile pace) settling in and weeding out some fast starters, always looking for new people to draft onto as the wind is decently strong today

4- 3:36.8 (a little faster as the pack started thinning and I had to go or get left in no-man's land, decisions that are important early in a race)

5k- 3:40.6 (18:16 for the first 5k, that is 5:52 mile pace, faster than i had hoped, but i was feeling good and had people to run with)

6- 3:48.1 marker was likely a touch off, not too worried by it

7- 3:42.2

8- 3:36.3 another mile where I had to move and find people to work with otherwise i was at risk of falling all alone, it may be faster than desired pace, but so often getting left alone is a death nail when shooting for good races, 8k in 29:23, 5:53 per mile

9- 3:41.7

10k- 3:42.8 (36:47, pretty decent 10k split, 5:53ish pace, probably one of the better 10ks ive run as i never race this distance it seems like)

11- 3:53.8 tough KM here, for whatever reason, my legs got heavy, in long races I know that sometimes you feel good but you get rough patches, this was a rough patch, i was worried I had maybe run the first 10k too fast, but i kept reassuring myself I had to go out that fast to hit my time goal, nonetheless, i slugged it out and got through this rough patch

12- 3:47.0

13& 14- 7:15.4 (3:38ish per K) missed the split cuz i was gettin water, by this point I had got back on the horse and was feeling better, 2 other factors also helped, 1. we had come to a part of the course I run almost daily and do ALL of my speedwork on, its a little downhill but its familiar, 2. I had by this point been running with more or less the same group and we were all encouraging each other, when they were feeling bad, i motioned for them to come with and vice versa, even over here with langauge gaps, running is about comraderie and that is awesome! some of those guys saved my race today in the 10-14k stretch

15k- 3:38.6 (55:22, a new PR for 15k as i dont really race this either, 5:54 mile pace) starting to string together a nice patch of kilometers here and this time was 38 seconds faster than my 15k split 3 weeks ago)

16 & 17- 7:34.3 (3:47ish per K) water stop again at 16k, but given that pace, my 10 mile split was likely around 59:20, which is around 5:56 pace)

18- 3:43.0 running right near where we live here

19- 3:46.5, feeling good knowing that a PR is about to be earned

20k- 3:39.2 (1:14:05, 5:58 avg mile pace, a new PR for 20k, which I dont run very often as well) also, 56 seconds faster than 3 weeks ago

last 1.1- 4:10, 5:57 mile pace for the final kick

HALF TOTAL-- 1:18:15, 5:58 avg pace, new PR!!!

post race thoughts

I love in Germany how after the race, all the runners are served water, bananas, and BEER! culture baby! (Side note- beer is actually a good recovery tool as I felt okay on my cooldown) another side note- I finished about the same exact time as the winning lady, so maybe in any videos you'll see me in the other chute as she breaks the tape, pretty neat, she ran a great race!)

Reflection over coffee

I ran this one about as well as I could of, it hurt much of the time and I had to coax my body into not slowing down, but if its easy then you're not doing it right. My 5k splits tell the tale of my training in that they are very even: here they are in order: 

18:16, 18:21, 18:35, 18:43, (plus the 1.1 change afterwards, another 4 min)

I'm super happy with these splits, they are lightyears ahead of even where I was 3 weeks back. 2 10ks faster than my fastest 3 weeks ago, a 36:47 followed by 37:18, only a 31 second positive split compared to a 21 3 weeks ago. Overall, my training helped me and I am moving in the right direction,  but in the meantime, i am going to celebrate another 1 minute 5 second PR...in 3 weeks I took my PR (set in 2009 by the way) from 1:21:13 all the way down to 1:18:15, thats 3 minutes!

Sorry to all those who made it to here, that was a long RR, but its nice to reflect for later on, plus im pretty jacked up on coffee!! Here are my splits on the results page: First (and likely only) American! Click Here

Thanks for reading, happy running!

7 tonight, felt a little sore but overall not too bad for a post PR half run. 7 miles in 50:06, 7:09 pace, positive split slightly but it was also downhill out and up back. 

8 mile run tonight, weather was really nice, just done raining and it was cool and nice out. felt pretty good, my splits were rather even:

1- 6:58.0

2- 7:00.1

3- 7:04.9

4- 6:59.1

5- 7:05.5

6- 6:51.3

7- 6:58.8

8- 6:46.8

TOTAL-- 55:44, 6:58 avg pace

10 miles tonight in the pouring rain! its been raining nonstop here in freiburg lately, my legs didnt feel too horrible, 34:03 for the first 5 miles, 6:48 avg pace, 34:54, 6:59 on the way back, 1:08:58 total, 6:54 avg pace for the 10. ran the first 8 miles in somewhere in the vicinity of 54:30, 6:49 avg pace, then slowed it down to bring it in easy. Here in Freiburg on the bike trail they have meter markers every half kilometer...over one stretch, I hit 5 consecutive 500 meter markers in 2:10 exactly..i was in a zone.

5 easy recovery today. only including my splits because there were crazy even and I like that sort of thing in running, always has interested me. 

1- 7:08.7

2- 7:06.4

3- 7:03.4

4- 7:07.0

5- 7:07.4

total--35:33, 7:06.5 avg pace

some good speed work today. warmed up for 3 miles, then ran a fast mile, then did a recovery mile, then did another fast mile, then cooled down for 2.5. Splits on my 2 fast miles were:

1- 5:03.1

2- 4:59.5

pretty cool to dip below 5 for the 2nd mile, i havent really done that since college! getting into some pretty good speed shape, hopefully will be able to make an attempt at the 5k here next weekend.

legs were tired, felt tough today. 6 in 42:52, 7:08.5 avg pace

Was thinking anywhere between 12-20 today...actually to clarify, when i first woke up, i was like...im talking today off, my legs say stop..but after some coffee, i felt better and it was cooler and rainy (my favorite running conditions) so i decided to get out and hammer some miles. I had some crazy zen late in the run and hit 5 or 6 mile splits in a row all at the same exact pace...pretty creepy but cool! here are the splits:

1- 7:01.3

2- 7:06.1

3- 7:11.7

4- 7:08.8

5- 7:14.2

6- 7:10.8

7- 7:15.6 turn around

8- 7:02.8 after this, pretty flat to decline, a reversal of the uphill first 7

9- 6:51.0

10- 6:50.5

11- 6:50.0

12- 6:50.5

13- 6:48.2 (I was so close to 6:50 on this mile to be officially amazed at that steady pace...i was just in a zone)

14- 6:49.4, creepy streak of 6 miles...all almost identical, finished the out and back, then put 2 more down

15- 6:55.1

16- 6:51.1 (had to end it with a mile that was creepily close in splits to the previous 8 except for #15)

total-- 1:51:57, Just an absolute smidge under 7:00 mile pace. I turned around at about 7:09 pace, but then i dropped it into that steady pace, pretty cool run overall...my legs are now shot and I will indulge in some easter chocolate to recover...as well as take tomorrow off. 5k + 10k double this weekend...focus on the 5k for obvious reasons

5 in 35:47, 7:09 pace, felt very sore and not a fun run, but that is the point of shakeouts

6 miles easy. 42:37, 7:06 avg pace. Felt easy, my legs were still sore, but i tried to shake them out and i think i succeeded. Very even splits throughout. 

Not much doin today, just 4.5 more shakeout miles in 32:17, 7:10 avg pace. My legs are FINALLY coming back around...maybe I rushed the 16 miler on tired legs after the half PR week...but at least they are starting to feel better. 

For this weekend's race, I've done much debating, but I think I'm gonna focus on a fast 5k then probably run the 10k an hour later as an uptempo cooldown...its only 6 euro for the 10k (only 4 for the 5k) so racing is cheap enough over here.

2.5 typical pre-workout run today. Feeling pretty good. 18:13, 7:17 pace. 

2 different races today with 1 hour of each other. The first was a 5k and then a 10k, so not a 15k all at once. My plan was to go hard on the 5k and use the 10k as a cooldown tempo effort. However, I felt great during the 10k and set a new PR! (I dont usually race 10k). 

Got up early at 4:30 and took the 5:55 train to get to the race by 8:45. Warmed up and was ready to go for the 9:45 start for the 5k. This was called the "Einsteigerlauf" which means beginner lauf, but I wanted to run a 5k and the last years' times have been competitive. This year, there was no competition. It was basically a solo time trail from the gone and I led coast to coast. I still tried to make it an honest effort, but with no tactical racing, I really hit a hard rhythm and stayed there. Competition really does help times. Splits (In km's):

1-3:10.5 short

2- 3:32.2 long

3- 3:24.0 accurate

4- 3:20.8

5- 3:20.2

Finish time: 16:47, 5:23 pace. I won by over 2:10 and nearly a half-mile. Nonetheless, it was very cool to get to do a victory lap around the stadium (as the race finished with a 300 on the local track. They announced "ya-cob flawwws" kind of cool. Got done and had 2 reporters come talk to me (they said they'd mail me the paper when it comes out. Kind of unexpected. They quickly found out my German isn't flawless, but they switched to english for me. They were shocked to find I came from the USA and that I was also running the 10k. They joked over the loud speaker I had done this as a "warm-up".  I really felt like it was a good effort though. Interesting fact for this race is the evenness of pace. Assuming the 1 and 2 markers were off, if you slice the race in half I ran 8:24 for the first 2.5k and 8:23 for the 2nd 2.5k, a 1 second negative split. Just goes with my theory that I was in shape to run quite a ways better with some competition. I was happy with that time though.

Got done with the race about 10:00, got a 1.5 mile cooldown/stay warm run in, kind of a weird place to be in. Thankfully, I didn't have any major GI issues like I do sometimes after shorter fast efforts. Must have been somewhat hydrated. At 11 sharp the 10k took off:

I started a few rows deep as I wanted to not go out fast. I really did plan on using this as a moderate 37:30ish effort. Here were my splits and they tell the tale better than I can:

1- 3:40.8

2- 3:39.4

3- 3:34.6

4- 3:32.0

5- 3:29.1 (17:56 here at the first 5k, the trend was slowly negatively splitting. At about 3k I took a GU as I was a little taxed from the initial 5k and didnt wanna upset my stomach between races. This actually was one of the smartest things I did all day as that boosted me bigtime the last 5k by the time it kicked in) Also of note, at this point, I was within eyesight of the leaders and was visually gaining on them. I kept getting this crazy notion that I was gonna pull the double victory, but I tried to reign myself in and slowly pick people off , which I was doing in droves

6- 3:38.2 into stiff 15mph headwind, not a fun mile, but I pushed through it

7- 3:32, wind at our backs for the home stretch

8- 3:37.0, 28:44 for 8k, a pace I'm more than happy with

9- 3:31.3 sniffing 3rd place, almost ran the guy down but never did

10- 3:34.5, no victory, but a 4th place finish around the track (2nd 5k split -17:54, a 2 second negative split)

Finish time-- 35:49, 5:45 pace a new PR!

Pretty cool to enter the stadium for a final lap and have people telling me "Go Jacob" when I am in a foreign land. The announcer really played up the "yahh-cob" thing which is how they say it here, and I was clearly the only American in the field.

Overall thoughts:

Very happy with these efforts. I was amazed to have run a PR just an hour after one of my better 5ks to date. Makes me wonder how fast I'd of gone on fresh legs for the 10k. I'd of battled for the win no doubt. The people at the event were awesome, and I even made some friends. Overall, an awesome day of running! One I certainly will not forget! Funny story to finish. After I got done, I was chatting to a German guy who spoke good english. And he asked me "what was that racing strategy you did. You started so slow and then by 3k you passed me and everyone else." I had to have a good laugh as I explained to him was negative-splitting means and how this is a smart way to run. He had never heard of it before! Pretty interesting stuff.

15.43 total miles

7 tonight in 49:17, 7:02.5 avg pace. felt very easy and the weather was very nice. mid-50s with a nice breeze. went out in 24:27 downhillish, and came back slightly uphill in 24:49, very even splits given the elevation difference. Strides after.

9 easy tonight. My stride felt awful. Not really sure what the deal was. Tried slowing it down on the 2nd half, but it was downhill and that makes it easy to keep rolling unfortunately. Will take it easier tomorrow. 9 in 1:03:55, 7:06 avg pace. First half, 32:14, 2nd half 31:49, a 25 second negative split, but I definitley attribute it to the elevation drop and in reality, I didnt feel that great today.

disappointing day. 6 miles on a day when i was sposed to go 8-9 cuz of bad GI issues. Such is life though, ill get up earlier tomorrow and run a little farther to make up for it. 42:56, 7:09 avg pace.

6 early this am as the sun was coming up over Germany. Kind of cloudy and cooler, but i definitely overdressed for the conditions and was sweating big time. 44:46 for 6 miles, 7:28 avg pace. Always amazing how much more mentally tough a 6 miler right after waking up is compared to a normal run in the afternoon.

Pretty awesome workout today. The goal of it was to develop a kick for late in races..a pretty important concept for obvious reasons. The plan was to run 6 miles to warmup easy, then to turn around and drop some 6:00 ish miles for 3, then give it all I had left for the next 2 miles. then cool down. Hit the first 6 miles really easy paced, uphill-ish 43:29, 7:15 pace on the way out, then turned around and started the progression part of the run, this was downhill for the most part, but thats ok, I felt like the paces i hit were pretty honest. splits on the 5 mile progression (8k):

1- 6:04.2

2- 5:59.0 (surprised at how easy this pace felt)

3- 5:54.8 (17:58)

4- 5:45.7 (felt like 5:20 effort at this point)

5- 5:38.8, may have stopped the watch a touch early.

total-- 29:22 for 8k, 5:52 pace

Closed the last 2 miles in 11:24, which is 5:42 pace. That felt pretty difficult though considering I had already run 9 miles, 3 at HMP, before even starting the faster 2. So the times werent super fast on those (yet) but the effort was good and I am happy with putting down that kind of 8k during a longer run after a high mileage week. Plus, I want to start doing more of these kinds of workouts to build that kick so that at the end of shorter races, I have that extra gear to pull out the win., 3 miles afterwards to cooldown for 14 total on the day.

Legs are pretty beat up, but I want to get a good mileage week next week before May-June racing season peaks in Iowa.  Probably do a lot of easier mileage earlier in the week to absorb the training.

very slow and easy today.

Quality run tonight. Got out just feeling pretty normal and just snowballed it into a good run. The amazing part of this run was that I ran 34:14 for the first 5 miles and that was all pretty much downhill (as this trail follows the river). Then turning around and running against the river direction, so uphill for the last 5 miles on the out and back. I ran this uphill portion in 33:53, a 21 second negative split! Not super fast by any means, all within GMP, but pretty cool nonetheless because I usually positive split this route. 1:08:07 for the 10 miles, 6:49 avg pace, one more run in freiburg tomorrow then we leave for Prague for 1 day then must fly home early on the 25th back to the USA. Im gonna miss running here for sure...

7 very slow and painful miles. pretty much served as a shakeout run, also my last run here in freiburg. Kind of sad...o well, i'll carry this fitness back home and get some good races in! 

8 today back in america, felt pretty sluggish and was pretty jet lagged, 56:36, 7:04.5 pace, most coming in the form of the final mile hill that I had forgotten about! 

Got some speed going today. Did a mile warmup then dropped right into it, 2x1600 at very hard effort. did a mile cooldown easy between the 2 mile repeats, had a little tailwind that helped, but for the most part the efforts were true. mile splits were quite good:

1- 4:59.4

2- 4:56.5

Haven't hit mile repeats like that since college, definitely a positive sign going forward. Cooled down for 3 and change. All told, a great effort workout and a nice marker of my current fitness. Hoping for some fast races in May and June starting next weekend with a local 5k I won last year.

even paced recovery run today, my legs were pretty sore throughout though.7.6 in 54:28, 7:10 pace. Originally had a LR planned, but I had to move into my new apartment all morning/afternoon and was pretty tired.

10 in heavy rain the whole time, my body gave up on me today, just didn't have anything. 1:13:30, 7:21 avg pace. Ice bath after plus day off tomorrow, need to get some pop back into my legs as may racing season is here!