Thursday, July 26, 2007

week of 23 July

Mo - Rest

Tu - 10.45
I ran home from work tonight. 85 degrees when I left, but a little cooler when I got home. Did 9 minutes at near MP and then another 11. wp7-1

We - 13.35
Went to work the long way around the lake. Holy cow, this was not easy. The last two miles felt like miles 17&18 rather than 13&14. PM followed by AM definitely brings some residual fatigue. I'm pretty sure this is good for me. wp7-1

Th - 4.68
1.5 easy around the neighborhood. Forgot to stop the HRM, so it's got an extra minute on it. wp7-2

Fr - 12.0
Not sure this 12, but it's close. I did my usual CCT out and back but went farther. I took a wrong turn and ended up at a dead end after 4m14s. 8:30 was probably short of .9m at my anemic pace (it was pretty hot and humid) but I'll call it close enough. wp7-1

Sa - 4.68
Ugh. My legs are dead. I really want to quit this recovery run. Only 5 miles and I wanted to quit? wp7-1

Su - 18.4
I set out to do 20, but I have a load of excuses. The dog kept me up, I did a lot of miles (for me) in a short period of time this week and it was hot and humid. 79/68 at 8:30 when I started, and 84/71(!) when I finished. My shin really hurts. I could feel it during the first lap and it got progressively worse. It hurts to point my toe. Had a lukewarm bath afterwards. I used all cold tap water, but it wasn't that cold. Ice my shin with an ice pack. wp7-2

Cut back week this week. I desperately need it. Unfortunately, I only get to cut back to 55! I believe I'll bag doing the 5K Saturday unless I'm feeling unusually chipper.

week
64 miles, 10h13m
shoes
wp7-1: 315 + 41 = 356
wp7-2: 215 + 23 = 238

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

week of 16 July

Mo - Rest
Didn't feel like getting up and my legs were stiff anyway (especially my !@##$@!# hamstrings). Also, I believe I'm going to try and pick up the Pfitzinger 18/70 schedule at week 14, which began, easily enough, with a rest day. Now, if I can only survive the rest of the week (14 miles on a Wednesday?). After my lack of improvement yesterday, I've decided that I'll have to do more to get faster and mileage is my best weapon. This means peaking at 70 mpw instead of 60. The difference with Benji's plan is basically that I'm exchange the interval day and an easy day for an 8-10 and a 11-15 mile run. A tempo/interval day is every other week instead of every week.

Tu - 9.08
Schedule calls for 9 miles with 10x100m strides. I did the lake A loop + a Grn-???-Grl loop (.78 miles). I put in 8 strides because I couldn't remember how many I was supposed to do (already off track!) in there with lots of jogging in between to get hr down to 135-138. I also doubt I went 100m. I go until my breathing starts to catch up and the slow down, wanting to avoid generating oxygen debt. I doubt I go more than 70 meters. My hamstrings are still sore from the 5K. wp7-2

We - 13.35
corrected: this route is 13.35, not 13.8.
Schedule was 14 mile medium long run. I went to work but went the long way around the lake. I'm calling this 13.8, which should be within a tenth. I took it *very* slowly and even took 4 walk breaks. I didn't want to do any damage to my already sore legs. That part seems to have worked out. I know I was supposed to do long run effort, but better safe than sorry I think. Ended up at 9:31 pace and 139 bpm average, which actually isn't too bad. My usually long run route happens to have me at 13.8 miles through 3 laps. During my last long run on that route, I was at 2:09:11 at 13.8 versus 2:11:08 today, so pretty close when you include the stop lights. Still my heart rate averaged 143 at that point versus 139 today, so definitely not quite long run effort today. wp7-2

Th - 4.68
1 nbrhd loop plus the long half. I was pretty slow for the heart rate. 139 bpm for 9:27/mi. Makes sense after the last two days. wp7-2

Fr - 11.1
Out and back up the CCT. I got pretty tired just before the turnaround. I hadn't felt that way that early in a run in a while. It looks like the residual fatigue thing is working. 141 bpm for 9:19 per mile. I really feel like this schedule is the way to go if I survive. I feel something on top of my right knee and have lots of tweaks, but nothing terrible. wp7-2

Sa - 5.05
1 nbrhd loop (2.86), veer off to school track (.19 miles), and do 20 laps around trying to hit 145 bpm. Unfortunately, my HRM didn't record the heart rate (read 0 at the start and when I reconnected after the start, it didn't record the data). MAF mile 1 was 8:37 and mile 2 was 8:40. Weather was unbelievably good. 68 deg. 49(!) dew point. wp7-2

Su - 18.4
I set out to do a Pfitz type long run. He says 20% below MP increasing to 10% below and a heart rate range of 73-83%. I did my usual 4x4.6-mile lake loops. I checked real quick before I left and saw that 10-20% above 7:30 per mile as 41:30 to a little over 38. In retrospect, I don't know what I was thinking. I shouldn't have used any better than my 7:47 marathon pace from May. I got a little out of my comfort zone on the first lap, which means not jogging and getting in the 135+ range in the first 10 minutes. This is what I was doing in the spring. Unfortunately, it turns my leisurely Sunday jog into a bit of a workout, but I think that's what it will take. Here are the splits
  • 41:25, 139 bpm, 9:00 min/mi = 7:30 + 20%, 70% MHR
  • 39:53, 148 bpm, 8:40 min/mi =7:30 + 16%, 74% MHR
  • 39:17, 156 bpm, 8:32 min/mi = 7:30 + 14%, 78% MHR
  • 38:20, 170 bpm, 8:20 min/mi = 7:30 + 11%, 85% MHR
Well, it went great except 170 bpm is near my marathon average of 172-173, so that's not good for 8:20 pace. The weather was again incredible for August. The humidity was very low (~40%), but still it was 73 degrees when I started and 81 when I finished. This run is almost entirely in the shade and it actually felt pretty pleasant. If I keep up weeks like this and stay healthy, I should improve. wp7-2

week
62 miles, 9h30m
shoes
wp7-1: 315 + 0 = 315 (where are these?)
wp7-2: 153 + 62 = 215

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

week of 9 July

Mo - 4.1
nbrhd loop. wp7-1

Tu - 10.5
Ran to work. It was very hot and humid. It was 78 with a dewpoint of 70(!) at 6am. Did two tempo intervals. I did the first one two long and probably too hard and had trouble recovering my heart rate, so I ended up running my cooldown at about 160. First interval was 1.86 miles in 14:10 @166bpm (7:37 min/mi). About 9 minutes rest including a minute at a stop light and then 1.14 in 8:38@169bpm (7:35 min/mi). I was shooting for MP, but realistically, this was probably faster than that. On one of the uphills I hit 179. Still my legs didn't get that hardened feeling like they did during the tempo intervals in the spring. Average was 155 bpm, which is very high for one of these runs and the average pace was on 9:09 min/mi. wp7-1

We - 4.1
Cooler, but just as humid. 70 with a dew point of 70. You can't see out our windows because of the moisture on them. HRM was kind of haywire for the first 20 minutes. My right quad still hurts from Sunday. wp7-1

Th - 10.3
Lake A loop with 2 mile spur. Sorta tried 3x8 min faster, but legs felt heavy and only got in the upper 140s in the first and low 150's for the last (except a few hills where it went higher). wp7-2

Fr - 4.1
nbrhd loop. 38:32, 9:23 pace, 134 average. Pace/heartrate is in the ballpark of spring runs I think. wx was cool and not too humid. 64/56. wp7-2

Sa - 0
Slept in thinking I could run after the swim meet, but it was 2pm before we got back and very hot and well I'm kinda tired and...

Su - 8.9
35 minute warmup, 5K in 20:38/187, 17 minute cooldown. I'm calling the wup and cdn 9 min/mi pace so today was 8.9 total. wp7-2

Last 5K in May was 20:31/188. It's hard to compare these. This was a modified cross country course on a pretty humid July morning. I really don't know what the distance was today, but a friend ran this 12 seconds slower than the one in May and I was 7 seconds slower. I think I'm about in the same shape as I was then, which isn't good when you need to drop 9 minutes off your marathon time. I'll know more in 3 weeks when I run a certified 5K. wp7-2


week
42 miles, 6h20m
shoes
wp7-1: 296 + 19 = 315
wp7-2: 130 + 23 = 153

Saturday, July 07, 2007

week of 2 July

Mo - 4.1
ndbrhd loop. wp7-1???

Tu - 11.1
CCT out and back. Missed the turn to the flagpole and turned around at the marker. Might be 11.0, but who cares. Mixed in 3x8min at slower than tempo w/ 4 mins rest. Nice run. At the end of the last tempo it felt like my form clicked, standing tall and having my femurs swinging symmetrically likely pendula below my pelvis while not really thinking about my lower legs. Wx was like a spring day. wp 7-1??? need to keep better track of shoes.

We - 4.1
nbrhd loop wp7-2

Th - 10.66
In Atlana. wx was pretty cool, but a little humid. parents to 1-mile loop (2.33 miles, 22:01). 1 mile easy around (9:29), 1 mile "tempo" (7:26, avg 165 bpm), 0.5 miles easy (4:30, 151), 1 mile tempo (7:22, 167), 0.5 easy (4:39, 152), 1 mile tempo (7:19, 172), 1 mile easy loop (9:37, 153), back home (2.33 miles, 22:18, 147). Very nice run. Tempos were probably a little faster the MP today and slower than 10-mile race pace I'd normally call tempo. wp7-1

Fr - 4.1
nbrhd loop. wp7-2

Sa = 4.1
nbrhd loop. wp7-1?

Su - 16 miles
Did a double out and back on the Bull run trail, which is "moderately strenuous" according to the sign. My watch had 3800 feet ascent + descent and it took 2:45 @ 151 bpm average, so this was about as hard as my normal 18-miler. It was also 86 degrees at 10am when I finished. Thankfully, it was shaded. I felt very good after the run. wp7-1

Good week. Really felt like my form improved over the week and my hamstrings aren't bothering me.

week
54 miles, 8h33m
wp7-1: 250 + 46 = 296
wp7-2: 122 + 8 = 130