Road Mile in FOUR DAYS!

If you've been following me and Coach Jen on twitter, you've seen our back-and-forth about some nasty workouts leading up to this race on Wednesday evening. Jen is NOT my "full-time" coach, but she just gave me 4 track workouts to do over the last few weeks to help me go for a sub-5:00 road mile. (As many of you know, she was the coach I worked with back in 2010 for 8 weeks when I went for a sub-60 TC 10 Mile - click that link to see how that went down.)

A few months ago, I thought I'd maybe make this upcoming "Richard A. Hoska Midsummer Mile" close to an "A Race." In the past, my mile races have just been races that "happened" - I'd MAYBE do a few shorter, harder workouts to get ready for them, but I didn't train too specifically for them. I was always afraid of getting injured running so hard. I didn't train SUPER specifically for this, but Coach Jen DID have me do some of the shortest, hardest intervals that I'd ran since track in high school.

I've done 7 mile races since late 2008 (all of them indoor on a 200 meter track except for one), and here's how they all looked:

Dec 2008: 5:00.70
Jan 2009: 4:54.60
Dec 2010: 4:53.01
Jan 2011: 4:49.53 (PR)
Jan 2012: 4:53.86
July 2012: 4:55.90 (My only other "road mile," and they called it a fast course.)
Jan 2013: 4:56.60

I've been slowing down over the last 2.5 years. Dang. I turned 30 and it's been all downhill since.

I finished my first mile in 5:00.70 in December of 2008:

Being I was SO CLOSE to sub-5, I had to try it again 2 weeks later. Having one 1-mile under my belt gave me the knowledge I needed to shave off a few seconds, and I finished that one in 4:54.6:

"Meet of the Miles" 18 months ago.


In the purple at my only road mile: the 2012 Rice Street Mile.

I've been posting about the workouts that Jen has given me over the last 3 weeks: first it was 12x200, then it was 8x400, and finally, it was a big ole' 16x200 (4x4x200) this past week (click the links for more workout details). Tomorrow I'm going to try to do a final "easier" set of intervals: 6x200 descending.

Working with Jen has probably made me faster over a mile, but potentially the biggest help is that she's given me the confidence to push extra hard at the race. I don't feel like I need to do well because I OWE it to her... but at the same time, I sort of don't want to let her down. She'll be the extra push that I might need near the middle of this race!

Wednesday night is race night! Stop by the State Fairgrounds by 6:30 if you're in the area! The race is 2 loops (click here for the race map - it's near the main entrance to the State Fairgrounds), so it's easy to spectate. I want to keep this sub-5, and I'd love to break my slowing-down streak that I've been stuck in over the last 2 years. We'll see how it goes!!!!!

Oh, and make sure to follow Coach Jen on twitter! Harass her as you see fit. :) I sure do.