You may know rabbitPRO Curly Guillen as the "World's Fastest DJ". But, you may not know that Curly is a father of two, who works two jobs to support his kids and his dream, which up until a few weeks ago was to qualify for the Marathon Olympic Trials. After years of hard work, little sleep, solo workouts, and blood, sweat and tears, Curly did it. He ran a 2:17:33 at the US Marathon Championships on December 3rd to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Trials. Now, here is Curly's reflection on his race, and in honor of #workoutwednesday, Curly also shares his 16 week training log leading up to CIM. (You can also follow Curly on Strava.) Congratulations Curly! We are so very proud of you and we can't wait to see what's next from you!
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I’ve had some time to reflect on my recent performance at CIM a few weeks ago in which I qualified for the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon with my 2:17:33 clocking...
I went in confident that I had put in the necessary work not only leading up to the race but due to the mileage I accumulated over the course of the last 6 years. I trained with fellow rabbitPRO Seth Totten for several key workouts (he ran 2:19:30 at CIM). I never had a consistent training partner like that before and he helped me push myself through workouts I never would have been able to do on my own. I worked on getting more sleep. I also made sure to actually run slow on my recovery days for once. I tried not to stress over the missed week of training or the bad races I had early on in the buildup.
Also, my coach and I had all the data from my 2:21 performance at CIM last year.
We went over the elevation gains and losses for every mile. Last year I ran splits of 1:09:06-1:12:23. I knew I would be able to go through the half this year at about the same time if not a little faster and have the 2nd half tighter. I ended up running splits of 1:08:30-1:09:03 this year. I knew what to expect at every mile. I must give credit to the pack of runners around me for over 24 miles. This was the first time I ever had company for most of the race. All my previous marathons I was in “no man’s land” running alone. Having the pack pull me along felt effortless. When I saw my coach at mile 18 and gave him the thumbs up that I was feeling good I felt like I was out for a jog. I fell off the pack a bit at about mile 22 but my buddy Tyler Underwood snapped me out of the mental funk and I sprinted back to the pack. When I did that I woke up some different muscles in my legs and I found the energy to make a long drive to the finish line.
When I approached the finish line and could see the clock I was surprised to see I was going to finish under 2:18. Going into the race I felt that if everything went perfect I would barely be under the OTQ B Standard of 2:19:00. When I crossed the line to cement my place among other top athletes at the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon it was the happiest day of my life. 6 years of blood, sweat, and tears. The journey from the first step to crossing the finish line was 22,143.86 miles in the making.
Thank you to rabbit for supporting me and helping athletes like me achieve our dreams. My next goal is to attain the OTQ A Standard of 2:15:00. Without further ado, I present to you my 16 week CIM training log.
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August 13-19 [80.1 miles]
Long run: 18 miles (1:51:48, 6:13 min/mi pace)
Workout #1: 4x1000m with 200m recovery, 600m recovery, 1x2000m, 400m recovery, 4x1000m with 200m recovery. Splits: 2:57-2:58-2:58-2:59-6:06-2:58-3:00-3:01-2:59.
Workout #2: 1-3-1-3 mile intervals with 5 min recovery. Splits: 5:05, 15:38 (5:13-5:12-5:13), 4:55, 15:34 (5:11-5:14-5:09). -
August 20-26 [80.1 miles]
Long run/race: 18 miles (including 10k race 31:52, 5:05 min/mi pace)
Workout #1: 4x400m, 2x800m, 4x400m with 200m recovery in between reps and 400m recovery in between sets. Splits: 71-68-68-68-2:21-2:20-69-67-67-65.
Workout #2: 6x1 min with 2 min recovery (4:36 min/mi pace average).
Race: 10 mile race (51:24, 5:10 min/mi pace). -
August 27-September 02 [67.9 miles]
Workout #1: 6x1000m with 2 min recovery. Splits: 2:59-2:55-2:54-2:53-2:53-2:53.
Workout #2: 6x1 min with 2 min recovery (4:50 min/mi pace average), 4x30 sec with 1 min recovery (4:40 min/mi pace average).
Race: 8k cross country race (26:07, 5:15 min/mi pace). -
September 03-09 [3.16 miles]
Comment: 6 days off due to smashed toe. Dropped speaker on foot at wedding DJ gig. Got x-rays, no fracture. -
September 10-16 [80.1 miles]
Workout #1: 5-4-4-3-2-2-3-4-4-5 min (5:04 min/mi average).
Workout #2: 3x12 min with 6 min jog recovery (5:06 min/mi average). -
September 17-23 [85.4 miles]
Long run/race: 16 mile trail race (2:29:06).
Workout #1: 10x1200m with 1 min recovery. Splits: 3:49-3:47-3:47-3:47-3:47-3:49-3:48-3:48-3:48-3:46 (5:04 min/mi average).
Workout #2: 7 mile tempo (5:17 min/mi pace). -
September 24-30 [100 miles]
Long run: 18 miles (1:55:30, 6:25 min/mi pace).
Workout #1: 10x800m with 2 min recovery. Splits: 2:23-2:24-2:24-2:20-2:22-2:22-2:20-2:23-2:23-2:19 (2:22 average).
Workout #2: 20x1 minute with 1 minute recovery (4:50 min/mi average). -
October 01-07 [100 miles]
Long run: 16 miles (1:40:07, 6:15 min/mi pace).
Workout #1: 4k-3k-2k-1k with 400m recovery. Splits: 12:59 (5:13 pace), 9:31 (5:06 pace), 6:11 (4:58 pace), 2:57 (4:44 pace).
Workout #2: 12x2 min with 1 min recovery (4:52 min/mi average).
Race: -
October 08-14 [100 miles]
Long run: 18 miles (1:56:20, 5:46 min/mi pace).
Workout #1: 20x400m with 1 min recovery. Splits: 72-71-71-71-71-71-71-70-71-71-70-71-70-69-69-69-69-68-68-65 (70 average).
Workout #2: 2.5 mi tempo (5:05 min/mi pace), 7 min recovery, 7 hill repeats (5:02 min/mi pace for .34 mi), 5 min recovery, 2.5 mi tempo (5:00 min/mi pace). -
October 15-21 [100 miles]
Long run: 23 miles (2:27:38, 6:25 min/mi pace).
Workout #1: 3x2k, 2x1k with 2 min recovery in between intervals, 3 min in between sets. Splits: 6:10-6:13-6:14-2:54-2:54 (4:54 min/mi average for 8k total).
Workout #2: 6x3 minutes hill repeats on Farren Road (11% grade). -
October 22-28 [80 miles]
Long run: 20 miles (1:59:29, 5:58 min/mi pace). 6-4-2 mi tempos with 5 min jog recovery (5:17 avg for 6 mi, 5:11 avg for 4 mi, 5:03 avg for 2 mi).
Workout #1: 2x400m with 1 min recovery, 8x1km with 2 min recovery, 2x400m with 1 min recovery. Splits: 66-68-2:54-2:57-2:56-2:55-2:55-2:56-2:55-2:55-67-66 (66 avg for 400s, 2:55 avg for 1ks).
Workout #2: 8 mile progression tempo. Splits: 6:00-5:59-5:50-5:49-5:41-5:30-5:20-5:10 (5:39 min/mi average). -
October 29-November 04 [80.1 miles]
Long run: 22 miles (2:21:45, 6:26 min/mi pace).
Workout #1: 3x3 mi with 3 min recovery. Splits: 5:02-5:02-5:05 (15:09), 5:04-5:01-5:01 (15:06), 5:05-5:04-4:59 (15:08). (5:02 min/mi average). -
November 05-11 [60.2 miles]
Long run: 14.3 miles (1:30:00, 6:17 min/mi pace). 10x3 min with 1 min recovery (4:58 min/mi average).
Workout #1: 3x400, 2x800, 3x400. Splits: 66-66-66-2:17-2:16-67-66-66. -
November 12-18 [80.1 miles]
Workout #1: 3x2k with 2 min recovery. 1st 1k at marathon pace, 2nd 1k at half marathon pace). Splits: 6:21 (3:14/3:06)-6:22 (3:15/3:06)-6:22 (3:15/3:06).
Race: Monterey Bay Half Marathon (1:07:11, 5:07 min/mi pace). 18.5 miles for the day. -
November 19-25 [68.7 miles]
Long run: 19.1 miles (1:59:29, 6:15 min/mi pace). 15x1 min with 90 sec recovery (5:00 min/mi average).
Race: Thanksgiving 4 miler (19:31, 4:53 min/mi pace).
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November 26-December 02 [42.1 miles]
Workout #1: 6x400m with 90 sec recovery. Splits: 68-67-68-67-67-66
Workout #2: 5x200m with 200m recovery. Splits: 33-33-32-31-31.
