It's all relative

(My 2nd annual) Cinco de "Mile" Beer mile Race Report!  (Semi-virtual race)

So this year was a bit different.  I was back to defend my beer mile title and keep the green jacket that the winner gets for the year.  I had gotten a local group of six runners together to compete with the virtual group on a zoom live conference.  Overall, there were probably about 75 total runners, and 100 total counting walkers.  As far as the jacket was concerned, the second place guy was with me running the same course as me, so at least if someone beat me in another location, I would probably doubt their success.  I'm pretty confident in my beer miling, even though it is only once a year.

The course was wicked easy.  We went to the now abandoned Clearwater Mall and set up an easy quarter mile loop around a crunch fitness and parking lot and puts cones at the four corners to turn at, but the course pretty much formed itself with the building, curbs, medians, and gate.  This really helped.  The actual beer mile for the "Cinco de mile" is a nightmare with pedestrians, cars, and a confusing course, so this was a cakewalk.

Fortunately, we were allowed to choose ANY beer we wanted this year.  Michelob Ultra it was.  I'm not a fool.  If someone is letting me pick, I'm going with the world's easiest drinking fuel.  At 4.2%, 100 calories, and a watery taste, this was the perfect choice.  The guys in my group made some odd decisions- Elia even drank black & tans- now that's crazy.

We set up a table, opened the five beers up in rows for each contestant, and jogged the course so everyone knew what was up.  The rules are pretty simple: drink a full 12-oz beer, hold it upside down over your head to show it is empty, toss it in the trash, run a quarter mile, and repeat for a total of four times.  Then at the end, you finish with a final 12-oz beer, giving you a total of five drinks and one mile to complete the challenge.

Elia, Jeremy, John, Jeremie, Brian, and myself got ready to go until it was time to start.  We had about 7 of our friends who were watching at the fence a bit away from us.  A brief "cheers" and off we drank!  Brian was the first one finished, and I struggled mightily, which was surprising.  I can usually drink the first one in seconds, but I needed to breath twice during the first one.  I was second out of the block followed by John, then Elia, then Jeremy and Jeremie.  Brian was a crazy man through lap one.  He had finished the first 200m in about 29 seconds flat and had actually gained on me.  Fortunately, I caught him before the end of the lap and was first to beer #2.  I finished before everyone on this one and took off.  This was my fastest lap by far.  63 seconds, and I was feeling pretty good.  I knew the next one is usually the hardest, but #3 went down easy.  The next lap was pretty quick, but I decided to slow myself to have more breath when it was time to down #4.  I hit #4 and struggled a bit drinking it, taking a lot of time to get it down and taking a breath every three gulps or so.  I had quite a big lead and was off on my final quarter before Brian (second) and John (third) came in to the table.  By the time I returned, Elia and Jeremy were still finishing their fourth one while I was starting my final drink!  With a huge lead, they set off on their last lap while I finished up my last one, just over six minutes in 6:04.  This was the fastest 5-beer beer mile I've ever done.  They're a bit more challenging than the normal 4-beer ones.  

Anyway, it was a ton of fun, and a nice way to break up these past two months, that's for certain!

PM: 5 miles

AM: 16.1 miles cruisin'

PM: 10.1 miles quick.  Felt great.

AM: 10 miles, 4x1 mile repeats with 3:00 recoveries.

PM: 10 miles, 3x1 mile repeats with extended recoveries waiting for the other to finish.  Still not ready to flip the "ON" switch with speed, but I am feeling close to changing gears.

I think I have shelved the 100-miler.  We'll see.

AM: 8.5 miles

PM: 5.2 miles

AM: 6.6 miles

PM: 9.6 miles, 3 fast doing a hill workout.

AM: 8.3 miles

PM: 5.2 miles

Noon: 10.5 miles including a mile of striders. Why did I decide to run at noon on a really hot, humid, sunny day? Well that's simple. I'm a moron.

No running.

No running.  No real reason, just... didn't feel like it.

AM: 10 miles, 4 fast doing timed intervals.

PM: 10 miles, 3 fast using the trails. 6x800 with long 3:00 recovery jogs.  I actually gave a good effort today.  I suppose it's time to start focusing on splits.  2:43, 2:39, 2:38, 2:39, 2:39, 2:41

PM: 10 miles

PM: 10 miles, 3 fast uphill/bridge, with recoveries down the other side.

PM: 10 miles

No running

AM: 20 miles.  Good group today- about 10 of us.  Made it feel like old times!  Really enjoyed it.   

AM: 10 miles

PM: 6 miles with Jeremie

AM: 10 miles, 4.5 fast doing timed intervals.  3x8:00, with 4:00 recoveries.  Big group for such an early session- about 16 of us.

PM: 10.2 miles, 3 fast.  3x1mile at 5:30-5:40ish pace on the trails.  I worked hard, but the speed just isn't there.  The mileage definitely doesn't help (yet!).  6 of us there, 4 stayed in our group.

AM: 10 miles

PM: 10 miles

Late PM: 6 miles

PM: 11.3 total miles, 3 fast doing hills at effort with Jeremy, John, and Steve.  Steve moved to Tennessee, so it was nice to see him recently!  Florida was balmy and about a thousand degrees today, so that was a nice change.  

AM: 10 miles

AM: run with Elia, Steve, and Brian.  Mile of striders at the end.  Had an absolute blast today!  Definitely a slow pace, but that's okay.  

On a second note, my mileage was a bit unreal this week, but I feel fine.  I suppose the doubles- now that I've done a full cycle of them last year, and have started them again now more recently- are really the way to go at least for marathon training.  The body just feels better than it does with the single run, even though it's more mileage overall.  I know Kipchoge does the 15k followed by a 10k, so I am trying to style it similar to that.  I just would like to work in the Saturday or Sunday progressive run that he does too. I'm a bit apprehensive, as that'll increase the likelihood of injury, but I suppose there's no better time than an era of zero races to just go for it.

I guess we'll see how next week pans out before I get ahead of myself.  
 

SOTD: nah, just playin', Eugene!  :)

AM: 20 miles, most with Steve, John, and Jeremy.

AM: 10 miles

PM: 6 miles

AM: Kind of a fun workout. 3 sets, first set was 6x1:00, second set was 6x1:00, but the third set was 2x1:00, 2x0:50, 2x0:40, 2x0:30, 2x0:20, 2x0:10 all with half rests. Was kind of like a slightly monolithic version of suicides.

Entertaining.

PM: 11 miles with Jeremy, John, and Steve. Workout on the trail: 12x400. Medium-hard effort.

PM: 14.2 miles.

AM: 6 miles, deathly slow.  I did not want to run at all.  Usually, by mile two, I'm into it somewhat, but today I just was not having it.  

PM: 12.1 miles, 3.5 hard up the bridges.  Ran with Marina, Elia, Jeremy, and John.  Felt much better than this morning.

AM: 6 miles

PM: 10.1 miles

AM: 11 miles with Elia and Brian (with a nice cameo from Mike!)

Super disappointed about the Boston Marathon.  I suppose I knew it would be cancelled, however I did have some semblance of hope.  I don't know what to move my focus to, but I do think I will take next week relatively light on then mileage.  I guess base building is the go-to focus for everyone around me, but what the heck?  That's no fun.  It's too hot/humid to do a time trial here, so I can't really even move the focus to something like that.  I did just join Stava, so maybe I can go run some segments.

AM: 14 miles, 8 of us running, so I went more than the planned 10 just to stay with people.  Going to be an easy week for running.