The Life and Times of Sam Luna

Over the winter break after the Brickhouse Triathlon I decided to mix up my winter training and work on some running speedwork. I found the USATF Masters was hosting their regional meet at UH, so of course that sounded perfect. Training I created a training plan that had 1 speed workout and 1 strength run a week; a couple recovery runs and a couple days of easy cycling. Core speed work focused on repeats at mile pace, or just slightly under. My goal was to get to a 5 min mile. Most of my speed work ended up at a 5 min mile pace, which set me up race day for a 5:08-5:10 goal mile. Assuming 1 sec slowly per 400, plus another 1.5-2 for the full distance. Race Day I decided race day to give the 5 min mile a go, fully knowing that my times didn't reflect it. Warm up consisted of about a mile and half jog, 4x100 strides a bit faster than mile pace, lots of stretching and waiting. I went out at goal pace and held on through 1009(first lap of the mile is 209m), with 2 laps to go the wheels

  This is a HARRA staple race over the years. 4 runners, each run approx. 2 miles. I ran this back in 1998 in Sugar Land around Fluor Daniels, at Rice, Barker Cypress, the Bayou, Stude Park and now TC Jester Park. I run with the Al Lawrence Running club over the years (when I get the call for an extra runner).  This year I ran in the open category for the Mens team from ALRC. We finished 4th Overall. The course was just over 2 miles, about 2.2; and a simple loop. I was pretty consistent; running 5:53, 6:10.