Well, that was some great race math on my part. Miles 1-4 (if that was the mile marker) in 20:47 is 6:56 pace, not 6:36 (19:47 is 6:36 pace). Would you believe I got a perfect score on my math SAT? Anyway, 6:31 for mile 1, 6:56 for miles 1-4, and 6:47 for the last 2.2 is fairly believable. This would have to be the race that my Garmin dies.
That being said, I checked the results from the most recent 10k (certified) I could think of and found some people who ran both. He are the matches:
28 Sep, 10 Aug
36:59, 35:54
47:58, 46:01
50:08, 48:08
51:49, 50:41
52:27, 54:50
54:47, 51:51
As you can see, everybody except one was over a minute slower at my race. I don't think that the course was long though. It was 64 deg/59 dp on 10 Aug believe it or not and it was 71 deg/67 dp on Sunday.
I almost think I need to do another race before the marathon to gain some confidence, but I don't want to jeopardize too many more long runs to do it. If I keep my mileage up and my weight down, I think I've got it. The latter is the tough part. I've lost a couple of pounds and am about 2 pounds from my spring marathon weight. I'd like to get at least a couple below that though.
***
Did 9.3 miles this morning. ~35'' easy, 25'' moderate, and 18'' easy. I worked the uphills to get the heart rate up because my quads are trashed. That's never happened to me in a 10k. Usually it's my hamstring with short races.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
props to Garmin and an easy 6 w/ 6 x hill sprints
Getting to tech support was a pain (the web form didn't work and I had to wait 30 minutes on hold), but once I did, they were great. The end result is that I'm sending mine back and they're sending me a refurbished unit under warranty even though I'm 10 days past the 1 year warranty, so I'm pretty happy with that. I'll be using the old Suunto T6 until then.
I did six in the neighborhood this morning on one of my usual routes. Pace was about 9:00. I finished with six 10-second hill sprints on a 6-8% grade hill (I could probably find out for sure with the accurate altitude from the T6). I've been loosely following Hudson's Run Faster and did 2 hill sprints last Mon, 4 last Th, and then 6 today. They serve basically the same purpose as strides, but they're also supposed to help leg strength.
I'm still scratching my head over the 10k.
I did six in the neighborhood this morning on one of my usual routes. Pace was about 9:00. I finished with six 10-second hill sprints on a 6-8% grade hill (I could probably find out for sure with the accurate altitude from the T6). I've been loosely following Hudson's Run Faster and did 2 hill sprints last Mon, 4 last Th, and then 6 today. They serve basically the same purpose as strides, but they're also supposed to help leg strength.
I'm still scratching my head over the 10k.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
week of 22 Sept -- 42:18 and a dead garmin
The remnants of some tropical storm laid a wet blanket over the area for the last three days or so and the overnight lows have steadily increased as the heat has been unable to escape during the dark hours. As a result, it was 70 degrees and humid as I left at 6 am this morning. Checking wunderground it was a steady 71 with a dew point of 67 during the race -- decent standing-around weather, but not so good for a race.
My Garmin has given me fits as I said on Friday and it hasn't stopped It's takes some kind of reset voodoo just to get it on and I couldn't even download my runs last night. I tried to fill in the customer service web form, but after detailing my wows, the submit button didn't work. Thinking it only worked with Internet Explorer, I retyped it again and still no joy. Ugh. It has a 1-year warranty. Looking trough my old email, I see Garmin shipped in on 9/19/2007. Double ugh.
So, I put it on before my warmup and after 30 secs of trying, I get it to start. 10 minutes later I see "low battery." (It was completely charged last night.) I figured it wasn't going to last for the race, so I went to plan B - my trusty Suunto T6. I jogged for 19', which I'll call 2 miles and by the second mile, my sweat confirmed the humidity. Still, it didn't seem horrific like the half marathon. I timed my jog perfectly for the 8am start, but not the 15 minute delay.
8:15 and we're ready to go. One of the nice things about the Garmin is that you get some pretty good pace feedback before that first mile marker. Well, I wouldn't have that today. The plan was to hit mile 1 at 6:30 and if the start aligned, run 6:25's the rest of the way to, by some miracle, break 40. If things weren't clicking, 6:30 wouldn't be too fast to ruin my day.
It's getting near 6:30 and I'm looking for a marker, but don't see one. The I hear some watches beeping. I look at the ground and see a 6-inch line with "G1." 6:30.7. Perfect. My heart rate is really good at this point -- 183 -- and I'm beginning to think, "Hell. I could do this." People are starting to fade and I have to consciously pass them to keep up my pace. Another 7 minutes and I don't see a mile marker. Great. We get on a bike path and go through some mud, take a few twists, etc. Things have kind of sorted themselves out and I'm about 30 meters behind a blonde woman with a pony tail who I hear is the first woman. I had a mental lapse and she started to pull away from me a little and a guy started to catch me from behind. I didn't let him go by though and we ran together for most of the rest of the race, trading the lead. I asked if he'd seen a mile marker. "Not a one." was his reply. I think maybe, I saw a "G 4" and 20:47 was the split. 6:36 pace sounds about right, I think, and probably the best I could have expected. [Of course, now I've figured I was off by a minute and that was 6:56 pace. I'm usually good at math while running, but not this time.] I still wasn't sure this was a course mark though because there were marks all over the trail. I know 6:26 is 40 flat pace, so I'm about on 41 maybe (if that was 4 miles).
Somewhere after mile 4, I say something like "let's catch the pony tail." She's pretty far ahead at this point (maybe 50 meters), but we start to pull her in. I start to lose my concentration and he took the lead back. I was surprised to see my HR drop from 188 to 185 after I started following him. Maybe this running together thing works. After about 5 miles (no marker of course), he put in a surge and made up half the ground in maybe 400 meters. I hung on with that one. Another effort and he dropped me. I finally saw the overpass and couldn't believe I was already at 39 minutes. WTF? I was well over 0.25 away from the finish. I really wondered if the course was long. I could see my running partner making up ground on the first female while I stayed about the same distance back. We got to the top of the hill and he tried to make up the last of the distance. They said something over the PA and she picked it up. I couldn't see who got there first. It was really close. I came in (according to my watch) at 42:18 -- only 35 secs faster than my Cherry Blossom 10k split.
I caught up with my running partner later and he said she beat him by a step. He also said he ran a 10k last weekend and ran 90 seconds faster. That made me feel a lot better about the result. I'm still scratching my head on the time though. If that were 4 miles, did I really lose 1:24 over the last 2.2? That seems impossible. I wasn't falling apart and I kept my HR nailed at 188. Three people passed me in the last mile. Two were young guys who looked like they were on a training run, picking it up the last mile. One was a guy who I think was 20 ft behind me the whole way. If I slowed 40 secs a mile, I would have expected a ton of people to pass. I guess those weren't the mile markers, but this was run on the George Washington Birthday 10k course, so "G" makes sense as the mile marker designator. I'm really confused. Gee, if only I'd had my Garmin...
Anyway, I think I'd have done better with a 20 miler today instead of a psyche-killing 42:18 10k. Here's the week. Another intensity fest w/ 12.2 miles at 10k pace and 3 at HM. Only 59 miles. Yikes. How we make money? Volume. I need to get the mileage back up. Yesterday was 9 weeks to go. This is really sneaking up on me and I haven't done enough work to finish that last 10k of the marathon strong.
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.01 0:28:36 9:30 131 (66%)
Tuesday 7.72 1:01:10 7:55 158 (79%)
Wednesday 12.12 1:47:28 8:52 137 (68%)
Thursday 6.72 1:02:10 9:15 132 (66%)
Friday 10.25 1:21:15 7:56
Saturday 10.05 1:31:22 9:05 136 (68%)
Sunday
- 7:34 AM 2.00 0:18:55 9:28 130 (65%)
- 8:14 AM 6.21 0:42:18 6:48 185 (92%)
- 8:58 AM 1.00 0:09:25 9:25 159 (80%)
This Week 59.09 8:22:39 8:30 144 (72%)
Last Week 72.13 10:59:16 9:08 137 (69%)
This Month 262.82 38:24:33 8:46 143 (72%) <-- mileage heading in the wrong direction!
Last Month 299.35 45:24:38 9:06 140 (70%)
My Garmin has given me fits as I said on Friday and it hasn't stopped It's takes some kind of reset voodoo just to get it on and I couldn't even download my runs last night. I tried to fill in the customer service web form, but after detailing my wows, the submit button didn't work. Thinking it only worked with Internet Explorer, I retyped it again and still no joy. Ugh. It has a 1-year warranty. Looking trough my old email, I see Garmin shipped in on 9/19/2007. Double ugh.
So, I put it on before my warmup and after 30 secs of trying, I get it to start. 10 minutes later I see "low battery." (It was completely charged last night.) I figured it wasn't going to last for the race, so I went to plan B - my trusty Suunto T6. I jogged for 19', which I'll call 2 miles and by the second mile, my sweat confirmed the humidity. Still, it didn't seem horrific like the half marathon. I timed my jog perfectly for the 8am start, but not the 15 minute delay.
8:15 and we're ready to go. One of the nice things about the Garmin is that you get some pretty good pace feedback before that first mile marker. Well, I wouldn't have that today. The plan was to hit mile 1 at 6:30 and if the start aligned, run 6:25's the rest of the way to, by some miracle, break 40. If things weren't clicking, 6:30 wouldn't be too fast to ruin my day.
It's getting near 6:30 and I'm looking for a marker, but don't see one. The I hear some watches beeping. I look at the ground and see a 6-inch line with "G1." 6:30.7. Perfect. My heart rate is really good at this point -- 183 -- and I'm beginning to think, "Hell. I could do this." People are starting to fade and I have to consciously pass them to keep up my pace. Another 7 minutes and I don't see a mile marker. Great. We get on a bike path and go through some mud, take a few twists, etc. Things have kind of sorted themselves out and I'm about 30 meters behind a blonde woman with a pony tail who I hear is the first woman. I had a mental lapse and she started to pull away from me a little and a guy started to catch me from behind. I didn't let him go by though and we ran together for most of the rest of the race, trading the lead. I asked if he'd seen a mile marker. "Not a one." was his reply. I think maybe, I saw a "G 4" and 20:47 was the split. 6:36 pace sounds about right, I think, and probably the best I could have expected. [Of course, now I've figured I was off by a minute and that was 6:56 pace. I'm usually good at math while running, but not this time.] I still wasn't sure this was a course mark though because there were marks all over the trail. I know 6:26 is 40 flat pace, so I'm about on 41 maybe (if that was 4 miles).
Somewhere after mile 4, I say something like "let's catch the pony tail." She's pretty far ahead at this point (maybe 50 meters), but we start to pull her in. I start to lose my concentration and he took the lead back. I was surprised to see my HR drop from 188 to 185 after I started following him. Maybe this running together thing works. After about 5 miles (no marker of course), he put in a surge and made up half the ground in maybe 400 meters. I hung on with that one. Another effort and he dropped me. I finally saw the overpass and couldn't believe I was already at 39 minutes. WTF? I was well over 0.25 away from the finish. I really wondered if the course was long. I could see my running partner making up ground on the first female while I stayed about the same distance back. We got to the top of the hill and he tried to make up the last of the distance. They said something over the PA and she picked it up. I couldn't see who got there first. It was really close. I came in (according to my watch) at 42:18 -- only 35 secs faster than my Cherry Blossom 10k split.
I caught up with my running partner later and he said she beat him by a step. He also said he ran a 10k last weekend and ran 90 seconds faster. That made me feel a lot better about the result. I'm still scratching my head on the time though. If that were 4 miles, did I really lose 1:24 over the last 2.2? That seems impossible. I wasn't falling apart and I kept my HR nailed at 188. Three people passed me in the last mile. Two were young guys who looked like they were on a training run, picking it up the last mile. One was a guy who I think was 20 ft behind me the whole way. If I slowed 40 secs a mile, I would have expected a ton of people to pass. I guess those weren't the mile markers, but this was run on the George Washington Birthday 10k course, so "G" makes sense as the mile marker designator. I'm really confused. Gee, if only I'd had my Garmin...
Anyway, I think I'd have done better with a 20 miler today instead of a psyche-killing 42:18 10k. Here's the week. Another intensity fest w/ 12.2 miles at 10k pace and 3 at HM. Only 59 miles. Yikes. How we make money? Volume. I need to get the mileage back up. Yesterday was 9 weeks to go. This is really sneaking up on me and I haven't done enough work to finish that last 10k of the marathon strong.
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.01 0:28:36 9:30 131 (66%)
Tuesday 7.72 1:01:10 7:55 158 (79%)
Wednesday 12.12 1:47:28 8:52 137 (68%)
Thursday 6.72 1:02:10 9:15 132 (66%)
Friday 10.25 1:21:15 7:56
Saturday 10.05 1:31:22 9:05 136 (68%)
Sunday
- 7:34 AM 2.00 0:18:55 9:28 130 (65%)
- 8:14 AM 6.21 0:42:18 6:48 185 (92%)
- 8:58 AM 1.00 0:09:25 9:25 159 (80%)
This Week 59.09 8:22:39 8:30 144 (72%)
Last Week 72.13 10:59:16 9:08 137 (69%)
This Month 262.82 38:24:33 8:46 143 (72%) <-- mileage heading in the wrong direction!
Last Month 299.35 45:24:38 9:06 140 (70%)
Friday, September 26, 2008
workout without a watch
Well, I didn't intend this, but my 2 easy 3@HM, 1 easy, 2@10k, 2 easy went untimed. On the way out, I hit the mode button to check the time of day (make sure I had enough time to make it back to work) and when I hit mode again, my Garmin lost the satellites. This has happened before, so I turned it off and back on, but this time it wouldn't come back on. I thought I knew the reset button sequence, but I had it wrong and I could never get it to come back on. As a result, the run was totally by feel. I think I hit the 10k pace right and might have been a little slow in spots during the HM, but I wasn't too far off.
As for time/distance, I'll go with 10.25 and 1:21:15 (easy = 9:00; HM=7:00; 10K = 6:30).
As for time/distance, I'll go with 10.25 and 1:21:15 (easy = 9:00; HM=7:00; 10K = 6:30).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
6 easy and hill sprints
I didn't mention it, but I dipped my toe in the hill sprint water a couple of days ago, doing a whopping 2 hill sprints lasting ~ 10 secs each. Hudson recommends starting with 2 and adding a couple until you get to 10 (20 for middle distance runners). He also recommends starting with a 6-8% grade, which I did, instead of jumping into 10 hill sprints on a 15%(!) grade. I did 4 this morning and it felt good. When I was doing Rubio's 3 x (form, 3k effort, sprint; ~60s each), I was always felt the beginning of the sprint was the most beneficial. Now that's all I'm doing :-)
Of course, I registered for the 10k and the weather took a turn for the worse. It's supposed to be 68 at 8am, which is about 20 degrees higher than ideal for me, and 10 degrees higher than predicted when I signed up yesterday. It's also the warmest, I believe, since the day after the ridiculously hot/humid half I did a week and a half ago. Still, the dew pt should be below 60.
Of course, I registered for the 10k and the weather took a turn for the worse. It's supposed to be 68 at 8am, which is about 20 degrees higher than ideal for me, and 10 degrees higher than predicted when I signed up yesterday. It's also the warmest, I believe, since the day after the ridiculously hot/humid half I did a week and a half ago. Still, the dew pt should be below 60.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
signed up for a 10k
I signed up for a 10k today. It was kind of impetuous I suppose, but the schedule in Brad Hudson book had a 10k tune-up for this weekend, and that sounded like fun. Plus, I'm curious about how I'll do after yesterday's intervals.
What time will I run? I don't know. My official 10k PR is something like 47:21 believe it or not. I've only started three that I can recall: 50:XX, 47:21, and DNF. My 10k split from Cherry Blossom was 42:55 and I'm quite sure the marker was accurate. Mcmillan says my 10M PR at CB is worth 41:04.
I'm not familiar with the 10k course. Last time I was supposed to run this course was Feb of 07 I think. It was covered in ice though, so they re-routed, and I DNF'd (pulled hamstring anyway). I think the course is pretty fair though. According to the magnificent course map drawn by the talented Robert Thurston, the high point is 21 meters and the low is 4. That's about 50 feet, which is not pancake flat, but pretty flat unless we roll up and down that a bunch. The forecast says 60 degrees, which is a little warm for my Swedish blood, but it's only 10k.
I think I can run sub-41 (gee, I'm ambitious), but based on those intervals I might do much better. I was hitting low 180s (bpm) on the last of the mile repeats at 6:31 - 6:34 per 1600. That's more like 10M heart rate, but the last couple felt a tad harder than that. I think I'm just more aerobically fit than fast at the moment. Anyway, I think 6:30 per mile is possible (40:23). Now, of course, the gears spin and I think "Gee. That's damn close to 40:00!" 40? No way. That's a distant dream goal. First BQ, then sub-1:30 HM, then sub-40. We'll see. I'll be happy with anything under 41 (ideal course and weather).
What time will I run? I don't know. My official 10k PR is something like 47:21 believe it or not. I've only started three that I can recall: 50:XX, 47:21, and DNF. My 10k split from Cherry Blossom was 42:55 and I'm quite sure the marker was accurate. Mcmillan says my 10M PR at CB is worth 41:04.
I'm not familiar with the 10k course. Last time I was supposed to run this course was Feb of 07 I think. It was covered in ice though, so they re-routed, and I DNF'd (pulled hamstring anyway). I think the course is pretty fair though. According to the magnificent course map drawn by the talented Robert Thurston, the high point is 21 meters and the low is 4. That's about 50 feet, which is not pancake flat, but pretty flat unless we roll up and down that a bunch. The forecast says 60 degrees, which is a little warm for my Swedish blood, but it's only 10k.
I think I can run sub-41 (gee, I'm ambitious), but based on those intervals I might do much better. I was hitting low 180s (bpm) on the last of the mile repeats at 6:31 - 6:34 per 1600. That's more like 10M heart rate, but the last couple felt a tad harder than that. I think I'm just more aerobically fit than fast at the moment. Anyway, I think 6:30 per mile is possible (40:23). Now, of course, the gears spin and I think "Gee. That's damn close to 40:00!" 40? No way. That's a distant dream goal. First BQ, then sub-1:30 HM, then sub-40. We'll see. I'll be happy with anything under 41 (ideal course and weather).
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
4x1600 @ 10K(?) w/400m rest
I've been reading again, which usually gets me in trouble. Anyway, I picked up Brad Hudson's "Run Faster" and I'm liking it. It's funny I'm reading this after Canova's book, because it's basically Canova For Mortals. It does have some minor irritations though. For one, the typesetting is awful. It's inexplicably double-spaced. Do they think I'm editing it? Also, there's a mis-match in terminology between the schedules and the text. He talks about 60', 90', and 2.5h tempo pace. Cool. But then the schedules have marathon/HM (guess that's 2.5), HM (90' maybe?), and 10k (huh?).
[Insert perfunctory transition here.] After being unable to focus long enough to decide what I was going to run this morning, I grabbed the workout from the schedule that's on Tuesday 10 weeks from the marathon. 1.5 wup, 4x1mile @10k w/400 jog, 1.5 cdn. Jeez, that sounded tough. (Actually I just re-read and it was supposed to be 2 mile wup/cdn and 3 min rest -- more like 600m for me.) I didn't think that hard about 10k pace. I remember using 6:40 pace in the spring, which round nicely to 100 secs/lap, so the math is easy. Here are the splits.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:15:18 1.54 15:18 1.54 9:56 137 (69%)
0:21:50 2.55 6:31 1.01 6:28 169 (85%)
0:24:03 2.80 2:13 0.25 8:51 157 (79%)
0:30:34 3.81 6:31 1.01 6:26 175 (88%)
0:32:49 4.06 2:14 0.25 9:10 160 (80%)
0:39:24 5.06 6:34 1.00 6:33 177 (88%)
0:41:39 5.31 2:15 0.25 9:04 163 (82%)
0:48:13 6.32 6:34 1.01 6:33 178 (89%)
1:01:09 7.72 12:55 1.40 9:13 147 (74%)
They went 6:31, 6:31, 6:34, and 6:34. The first lap was very easy and I just settled into that. The only reason the third interval is slow is that I took a nap on the third lap and didn't make up the time on the fourth. On the fourth one, my legs felt a little heavy and I couldn't figure out how to make my legs go faster despite a pretty low heart rate. Notice the average hrs are 169, 175, 177, and 178. That's nothing like 10k heart rate. The last one leveled off at about 182, although I tried to make up time on the last 200 and hit 184. I typically average 182 for a 10 miler, so I don't think this was 10k effort, but my legs are so unaccustomed to running fast that I think they just didn't quite know how to run faster on that last interval.
If I did another 1600 at 6:34, then that would add to 32:44 for the five. My 8k PR is 32:45. I think I have to be in at least that shape.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
week of 15 September
Monday 3.04 0:30:03 9:53 131 (66%)
Tuesday 6.06 1:00:34 10:00 131 (66%)
Wednesday 14.05 2:08:53 9:11 134 (67%)
Thursday 8.43 1:22:00 9:44 128 (64%)
Friday 10.31 1:32:14 8:57 137 (68%)
Saturday 10.08 1:30:54 9:01 137 (68%)
Sunday 20.17 2:54:38 8:40 147 (74%)
This Week 72.13 10:59:16 9:08 137 (69%)
Another 70+ week, so that's good. I really just had to chill all week to recover from last week's intensity-fest, including the "training run" I did at the half marathon. The hamstring seems to be recovered and I didn't feel it all on the 20 miler today. The knee thing just lingers and I walked the few very steep downhills. I think I need to get back to doing my easy days on the track or the treadmill (if I fix the squeak).
You can see just how chill Mon-Th were. 9:44/128? Come on! Friday I let the run come to me and used the uphills to get my heart rate up without stressing my legs. That felt right.
Today's 20 was a repeat of two weeks ago, but with better weather. It was 52 as I rolled out the door! It heated up pretty quickly though and was 69 and clear when I finished at 11 am. Still it was pretty dry and very nice. I finished the run very strong, running my last mile on the infamous 10 laps/mile track at ~180. I was shooting for 45 secs/lap (7:30 pace) but most came in around 43 (7:10) and then I stopped keeping track. The Garmin says 7:05 pace for the mile, which is probably fast, but not way off. Overall the pace for the run was 8:40 and hr 147. 149 is usually my magic number for these kinds of moderate (or progression) long runs, so that was a decent pace. I used to believe I could run a marathon 80 secs faster than 20 miles @149 bpm pace. It worked that way a couple of times, but I'm not sure that's the case. 7:20 pace would be pretty nice though! (3:15:59 is 7:28.)
Anyway, it was a good week and I set myself to put the intensity back in next week. I'm considering doing "something" with a 20 mile race next weekend. I love the race and wish there were more 20 milers (making me feel guilty about not doing it) and it's a great opportunity to do something that would be tough on my own. Last year I did 20 w/14 at MP. I thought about doing 20 at 8:15 (90% MP), but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do at this stage and it costs $40. I need to act quick if I'm going to do it, because the race usually fills up and they're advertising "limited entries."
Tuesday 6.06 1:00:34 10:00 131 (66%)
Wednesday 14.05 2:08:53 9:11 134 (67%)
Thursday 8.43 1:22:00 9:44 128 (64%)
Friday 10.31 1:32:14 8:57 137 (68%)
Saturday 10.08 1:30:54 9:01 137 (68%)
Sunday 20.17 2:54:38 8:40 147 (74%)
This Week 72.13 10:59:16 9:08 137 (69%)
Another 70+ week, so that's good. I really just had to chill all week to recover from last week's intensity-fest, including the "training run" I did at the half marathon. The hamstring seems to be recovered and I didn't feel it all on the 20 miler today. The knee thing just lingers and I walked the few very steep downhills. I think I need to get back to doing my easy days on the track or the treadmill (if I fix the squeak).
You can see just how chill Mon-Th were. 9:44/128? Come on! Friday I let the run come to me and used the uphills to get my heart rate up without stressing my legs. That felt right.
Today's 20 was a repeat of two weeks ago, but with better weather. It was 52 as I rolled out the door! It heated up pretty quickly though and was 69 and clear when I finished at 11 am. Still it was pretty dry and very nice. I finished the run very strong, running my last mile on the infamous 10 laps/mile track at ~180. I was shooting for 45 secs/lap (7:30 pace) but most came in around 43 (7:10) and then I stopped keeping track. The Garmin says 7:05 pace for the mile, which is probably fast, but not way off. Overall the pace for the run was 8:40 and hr 147. 149 is usually my magic number for these kinds of moderate (or progression) long runs, so that was a decent pace. I used to believe I could run a marathon 80 secs faster than 20 miles @149 bpm pace. It worked that way a couple of times, but I'm not sure that's the case. 7:20 pace would be pretty nice though! (3:15:59 is 7:28.)
Anyway, it was a good week and I set myself to put the intensity back in next week. I'm considering doing "something" with a 20 mile race next weekend. I love the race and wish there were more 20 milers (making me feel guilty about not doing it) and it's a great opportunity to do something that would be tough on my own. Last year I did 20 w/14 at MP. I thought about doing 20 at 8:15 (90% MP), but I'm not sure that's the right thing to do at this stage and it costs $40. I need to act quick if I'm going to do it, because the race usually fills up and they're advertising "limited entries."
Thursday, September 18, 2008
and the scale says...
8/27/2008 166.8
8/28/2008 165.8
8/29/2008 165.9
9/2/2008 165.3
9/3/2008 162.3
9/4/2008 163.4
9/5/2008 164.5
9/11/2008 165.5
9/12/2008 165.3
9/13/2008 164.4
9/15/2008 162.3
9/16/2008 162.3
9/18/2008 162.0
9/19/2008 163.3
I've been counting calories for a couple of weeks and running what I thought was about a 500 cal/day deficit. It bounces around, but I think I'm down a pound or two. I haven't felt well this week. I'm not sure if it's my run in the heat, whatever my son had that caused him to puke in the middle of the night at his friend's house, or something else. Anyway, I haven't felt like counting calories the last few days, so I haven't. I hardly slept last night and today I probably overate in an attempt to feel better. I ran 8.5 miles though, so I'll probably still break even.
The legs are kind of banged up from last week's intensity. I had a little pull or something in my hamstring from my 20 miler a week and a half ago and with the hard running it never went away. I've been letting my legs decide how fast to go this week and so far that's been really slow -- like 10 min/mi slow. I've looked down and seen heart rates under 120 on the downhills, so I think I'm in good shape. Hopefully, I'm not squandering it trying to recover, but getting injured would suck, so I'll keep shuffling until the legs come back around.
8/28/2008 165.8
8/29/2008 165.9
9/2/2008 165.3
9/3/2008 162.3
9/4/2008 163.4
9/5/2008 164.5
9/11/2008 165.5
9/12/2008 165.3
9/13/2008 164.4
9/15/2008 162.3
9/16/2008 162.3
9/18/2008 162.0
9/19/2008 163.3
I've been counting calories for a couple of weeks and running what I thought was about a 500 cal/day deficit. It bounces around, but I think I'm down a pound or two. I haven't felt well this week. I'm not sure if it's my run in the heat, whatever my son had that caused him to puke in the middle of the night at his friend's house, or something else. Anyway, I haven't felt like counting calories the last few days, so I haven't. I hardly slept last night and today I probably overate in an attempt to feel better. I ran 8.5 miles though, so I'll probably still break even.
The legs are kind of banged up from last week's intensity. I had a little pull or something in my hamstring from my 20 miler a week and a half ago and with the hard running it never went away. I've been letting my legs decide how fast to go this week and so far that's been really slow -- like 10 min/mi slow. I've looked down and seen heart rates under 120 on the downhills, so I think I'm in good shape. Hopefully, I'm not squandering it trying to recover, but getting injured would suck, so I'll keep shuffling until the legs come back around.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
week of 8 Sept
The Parks Half Marathon
The weather was tough as expected. From wunderground I found it was 69.8 deg/69.8 dew point at 6:55am, 73.4/73.4 at 8:35. Race started at 7:00am and I finished around 8:45. It was 100% humidity the whole way. How can it heat up and stay 100% humidity? Well, it was foggy. It's kind of weird when it's foggy and in the 70s.
Anyway, as I whined earlier, I knew I had no chance to run a good time, so I decided to run with one of the pacers. I was debating between the 7:45-8:00 pacer and the 8:00-8:15. I ran Annapolis at 7:52 pace, so I ran with the 7:45-8 pacer and decided I'd stick with him even though I'd probably be above MP with the tougher weather. Things went about as I expected through the middle of the race. By the end though, my heart rate was through the roof. Here are the splits. The pacer's plan was to run 7:53/mile. He did a pretty good job of that accounting for hills. I ran with him most of the way, but pulled ahead after the 11th mile was 8:04.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:15:21 2.03 15:21 2.03 7:33 161 (81%)
0:23:15 3.03 7:54 1.00 7:56 169 (84%)
0:31:27 4.04 8:11 1.01 8:06 170 (85%)
0:39:21 5.05 7:54 1.01 7:50 173 (86%)
0:47:06 6.06 7:45 1.01 7:39 175 (87%)
0:55:00 7.07 7:53 1.01 7:49 175 (88%)
1:02:49 8.08 7:49 1.01 7:45 177 (88%)
1:10:36 9.09 7:46 1.01 7:41 178 (89%)
1:18:30 10.10 7:54 1.01 7:50 180 (90%)
1:26:35 11.11 8:04 1.00 8:02 183 (92%)
1:34:35 12.12 8:00 1.01 7:56 185 (93%)
1:43:23 13.26 8:47 1.14 7:42 188 (94%)
Avg HR: 175
Check out how my HR skyrocketed. My fitness isn't *that( bad. It's just overheating and maybe dehydration. (I weighed 7 lbs less when I got home than I did last night, so I might have been dehydrated.) It's funny. Even though I could not have run the last mile any faster, I'm sure I could have run the first 8 or 9 faster and ended up with a faster time, if that makes sense. With better weather, I usually hit 180 bpm by the 3rd mile and have a flat heart rate the whole way. Here, I just couldn't cool fast enough with the humidity and the heat built up. That's my interpretation anyway.
The week
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.28 0:30:01 9:10 132 (66%)
Tuesday 7.07 0:58:50 8:19 146 (73%)
Wednesday 16.29 2:17:48 8:28 149 (75%)
-- 8:15 AM 12.00 1:38:25 8:12 155 (77%)
-- 9:04 PM 4.29 0:39:23 9:11 136 (68%)
Thursday 4.30 0:40:03 9:19 134 (67%)
Friday 9.30 1:19:00 8:30
Saturday 5.10 0:48:30 9:30 141 (70%)
Sunday 14.86 1:58:19 7:58 171 (85%)
-- 6:29 AM 1.60 0:14:55 9:18 139 (69%)
-- 7:01 AM 13.26 1:43:24 7:48 175 (88%)
This Week 60.20 8:32:31 8:31 151 (76%)
Only 60 miles this week, which makes me wince, but it was a tough week for intensity, and ultimately I think it will pay dividends. The biggest mistake I made this week was running Tuesday too fast. I was pretty sore for Wednesday MP run and never quite got my spring back before today. By the way, notice that on Tue morning I ran 12 miles at 8:12/155 versus 13.1 at 7:48/175 today!
The plan
Here's the guaranteed 3:15 qualifier plan
The weather was tough as expected. From wunderground I found it was 69.8 deg/69.8 dew point at 6:55am, 73.4/73.4 at 8:35. Race started at 7:00am and I finished around 8:45. It was 100% humidity the whole way. How can it heat up and stay 100% humidity? Well, it was foggy. It's kind of weird when it's foggy and in the 70s.
Anyway, as I whined earlier, I knew I had no chance to run a good time, so I decided to run with one of the pacers. I was debating between the 7:45-8:00 pacer and the 8:00-8:15. I ran Annapolis at 7:52 pace, so I ran with the 7:45-8 pacer and decided I'd stick with him even though I'd probably be above MP with the tougher weather. Things went about as I expected through the middle of the race. By the end though, my heart rate was through the roof. Here are the splits. The pacer's plan was to run 7:53/mile. He did a pretty good job of that accounting for hills. I ran with him most of the way, but pulled ahead after the 11th mile was 8:04.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:15:21 2.03 15:21 2.03 7:33 161 (81%)
0:23:15 3.03 7:54 1.00 7:56 169 (84%)
0:31:27 4.04 8:11 1.01 8:06 170 (85%)
0:39:21 5.05 7:54 1.01 7:50 173 (86%)
0:47:06 6.06 7:45 1.01 7:39 175 (87%)
0:55:00 7.07 7:53 1.01 7:49 175 (88%)
1:02:49 8.08 7:49 1.01 7:45 177 (88%)
1:10:36 9.09 7:46 1.01 7:41 178 (89%)
1:18:30 10.10 7:54 1.01 7:50 180 (90%)
1:26:35 11.11 8:04 1.00 8:02 183 (92%)
1:34:35 12.12 8:00 1.01 7:56 185 (93%)
1:43:23 13.26 8:47 1.14 7:42 188 (94%)
Avg HR: 175
Check out how my HR skyrocketed. My fitness isn't *that( bad. It's just overheating and maybe dehydration. (I weighed 7 lbs less when I got home than I did last night, so I might have been dehydrated.) It's funny. Even though I could not have run the last mile any faster, I'm sure I could have run the first 8 or 9 faster and ended up with a faster time, if that makes sense. With better weather, I usually hit 180 bpm by the 3rd mile and have a flat heart rate the whole way. Here, I just couldn't cool fast enough with the humidity and the heat built up. That's my interpretation anyway.
The week
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.28 0:30:01 9:10 132 (66%)
Tuesday 7.07 0:58:50 8:19 146 (73%)
Wednesday 16.29 2:17:48 8:28 149 (75%)
-- 8:15 AM 12.00 1:38:25 8:12 155 (77%)
-- 9:04 PM 4.29 0:39:23 9:11 136 (68%)
Thursday 4.30 0:40:03 9:19 134 (67%)
Friday 9.30 1:19:00 8:30
Saturday 5.10 0:48:30 9:30 141 (70%)
Sunday 14.86 1:58:19 7:58 171 (85%)
-- 6:29 AM 1.60 0:14:55 9:18 139 (69%)
-- 7:01 AM 13.26 1:43:24 7:48 175 (88%)
This Week 60.20 8:32:31 8:31 151 (76%)
Only 60 miles this week, which makes me wince, but it was a tough week for intensity, and ultimately I think it will pay dividends. The biggest mistake I made this week was running Tuesday too fast. I was pretty sore for Wednesday MP run and never quite got my spring back before today. By the way, notice that on Tue morning I ran 12 miles at 8:12/155 versus 13.1 at 7:48/175 today!
The plan
Here's the guaranteed 3:15 qualifier plan
- get my weight under 155
- keep my mpw over 70
- don't get injured
Friday, September 12, 2008
thedailyplate.net and some more half marathon angst
Two posts in a day -- I'm prolific. I've tried to use on-line calorie trackers before and found it just too painful. For instance, I tried sparkpeople but it didn't seem to have anything in its database and I didn't want to do all that typing. Well after searching for nutritional info and having thedailyplate.com come up with the answer several times, I decided to try it. It actually has the stuff I eat in there! Also, I figured I needed to eat about 2500 calories a day to lose weight (2000 + the ~1000/day I burn on average running - a 500 calorie deficit). Thedailyplate came up with the same answer. Nice. The bummer is that I only have 25 calories left today.
By the way, it's crazy humid outside right now. The forecast for Sunday has worsened to 74 with a dp of 70! Geez. I'm thinking that there's no point in beating myself up for this race. Maybe I should just do a MP run like I did at annapolis. The weather is actually supposed to be worse! I can run a 5/10k later for a better fitness indicator. The goal is the marathon and I think I'll just interrupt my training and damage my psyche if I run this thing all out. Thoughts?
By the way, it's crazy humid outside right now. The forecast for Sunday has worsened to 74 with a dp of 70! Geez. I'm thinking that there's no point in beating myself up for this race. Maybe I should just do a MP run like I did at annapolis. The weather is actually supposed to be worse! I can run a 5/10k later for a better fitness indicator. The goal is the marathon and I think I'll just interrupt my training and damage my psyche if I run this thing all out. Thoughts?
half weather - adjusting goals
I just checked the forecast and the overnight low on Saturday is only 70. Wunderground says 72 with a dew point of 68 at 8am. Well, I'm not going to run very fast in that. I'm throwing sub-1:30 completely out the window. My waistline was enough to rule that out, but the weather seals it. 1:31:30 sounds nice (6:59 pace), but that would be tough on a perfect day. 1:32:28 (7:04 pace) is what mcmillan calls equivalent to a 3:15. That might be something to shoot for, but with a dew point near 70, I wouldn't bet on it. My PR (last year's race) is 1:33:28.
I was hoping to get a good fitness check, but this won't be it. Now I'm not sure what to do with this thing. I guess I'll still race it, but what's the point. I might run a small PR over last year (when the weather was perfect). Is that worth the impact on training and potential for injury? Blech.
I was hoping to get a good fitness check, but this won't be it. Now I'm not sure what to do with this thing. I guess I'll still race it, but what's the point. I might run a small PR over last year (when the weather was perfect). Is that worth the impact on training and potential for injury? Blech.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
running in Anaheim
On Monday, I jogged 40' or so before heading to the airport. On the plane, I read Canova's IAF marathon book I got in the mail on Saturday (more on the later). The plane was late and I ended up getting about 5.5 hours of sleep before getting up early to run before my meeting. The good news was that I had a great place to run. When I checked in, I asked whether there were any recommended running routes nearby (which almost always gets a blank stare), but in this case, I got a "sure!" It turns out the hotel is on one side of the Santa Anna "river" (man-made waterway) and on the other side was the Santa Anna River bikeway. According to the markings, I was about 16 miles from Huntington beach on the path. You could run forever uninterrupted because you went under all the bridges. These dips under the bridges were also the only "hills" to speak of.
I set out on Tuesday morning to do my 60' -- 30' out and 30' back. I thought about Canova's book and particularly what he says about slow running when I was warming up. Basically he says under 80% MP (~9:15 for me) is useless *if* you're in good condition. I'm not in good condition by Canova's standards (the examples he gives are all for a 2h08' male marathoner or 2h28' female!), but still I kind of had this sense to run a little faster. So I did.
On the out, my heart rate was only in the low- to mid-140's but it seemed like I was moving and the pace was in the low 8s. I should have noticed that I was running in the same direction that the river was flowing and that probably meant I was going downhill! I found out soon enough when I turned back for the hotel. I was 10-15 secs slower per mile. Overall it was only 146 bpm average and 8:19 pace, but my legs weren't completely fresh for the next day.
On Wednesday, I picked Canova's "long run with pace variations" (or something like that). The example he gave was 30' wup/80%MP, 7k at MP, 10' at 80% MP, 5k at MP, 10' at 80% MP, 3k at MP, and 20-40' 80% MP. His example runner is 3' per k(!), so I figured 7k was 21' or about 3 miles at MP for me, so I did 2M wup, 3 at MP, 1 slow, 2 at MP, 1 slow, 1 at MP, 2 slow for 12 total. I would have padded the beginning and end to reach my usual 14, but didn't have time. I ran 40' in the afternoon and then 40' again on Th morning (on the treadmill) before leaving for my flight.
Now I'm back and have to set my alarm for 5 am tomorrow. Not sure what I'll do considering I have the half on Sunday. Probably just 9 or 10 easy.
I set out on Tuesday morning to do my 60' -- 30' out and 30' back. I thought about Canova's book and particularly what he says about slow running when I was warming up. Basically he says under 80% MP (~9:15 for me) is useless *if* you're in good condition. I'm not in good condition by Canova's standards (the examples he gives are all for a 2h08' male marathoner or 2h28' female!), but still I kind of had this sense to run a little faster. So I did.
On the out, my heart rate was only in the low- to mid-140's but it seemed like I was moving and the pace was in the low 8s. I should have noticed that I was running in the same direction that the river was flowing and that probably meant I was going downhill! I found out soon enough when I turned back for the hotel. I was 10-15 secs slower per mile. Overall it was only 146 bpm average and 8:19 pace, but my legs weren't completely fresh for the next day.
On Wednesday, I picked Canova's "long run with pace variations" (or something like that). The example he gave was 30' wup/80%MP, 7k at MP, 10' at 80% MP, 5k at MP, 10' at 80% MP, 3k at MP, and 20-40' 80% MP. His example runner is 3' per k(!), so I figured 7k was 21' or about 3 miles at MP for me, so I did 2M wup, 3 at MP, 1 slow, 2 at MP, 1 slow, 1 at MP, 2 slow for 12 total. I would have padded the beginning and end to reach my usual 14, but didn't have time. I ran 40' in the afternoon and then 40' again on Th morning (on the treadmill) before leaving for my flight.
Now I'm back and have to set my alarm for 5 am tomorrow. Not sure what I'll do considering I have the half on Sunday. Probably just 9 or 10 easy.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
week of 1 Sept
The stats:
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.38 0:31:39 9:21 127 (64%)
Tuesday 6.57 1:00:01 9:08 133 (67%)
Wednesday 14.09 1:58:59 8:27 150 (75%)
Thursday 6.57 1:00:11 9:10 133 (67%)
Friday 10.56 1:25:10 8:04 157 (78%)
Saturday 10.16 1:41:07 9:57 134 (67%)
Sunday 20.07 2:53:00 8:37 149 (75%)
This Week 71.40 10:30:07 8:49 144 (72%)
Last Week 70.75 10:37:10 9:00 143 (71%)
This Month 71.40 10:30:07 8:49 144 (72%)
Last Month 299.35 45:24:38 9:06 140 (70%)
A bit belated, but I just noticed I hit a mileage PR last month. 299.35 -- shoulda run another 0.65 :-) My pace/hr for August was 9:06/140 versus 9:17/139 in July.
OK, today I did 20 miles as you can see. I figured that Hanna left my lake trail under water, so I did a big loop around town for 4.5, made a pitstop at home, then did an out and back to the lake trail (about 6.5 each way), filling up at the water fountain at the lake. I'm glad I didn't run around there. I thought I wouldn't see any water in the 1-mile section I took to get to the water fountain, but the south end of the lake actually overflowed its banks. I had to tiptoe around (not too bad) to make it to the water fountain.
Before I ran, I decided I would try to do like last week and run at a decent pace. This usually somehow turns into a 149 average. I felt a groove and picked it up on the way back, even charging up the steep hills at the end and then do about 5 laps on the 0.1-mile track at 45 seconds per lap (goal MP). Still, I averaged 149. My pace was 8:37. Not bad.
I looked back to April and I did a 20-miler in 8:40/150, so about the same. The weather had to be warmer today though. I did this run in direct sun about 70% of the time and it was pretty dry (58 dew pt), but not exactly cold -- 65 at 8:30 am and 73 at 11:30 when I finished.
Here are the splits (you can see the hills from the pace/hr variation)
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:24 1.00 9:24 1.00 9:25 142 (71%)
0:17:56 2.00 8:31 1.00 8:32 134 (67%)
0:26:47 3.00 8:50 1.00 8:51 136 (68%)
0:36:04 4.00 9:16 1.00 9:16 138 (69%)
0:45:27 5.00 9:22 1.00 9:21 136 (68%)
0:54:08 6.00 8:41 1.00 8:40 138 (69%)
1:03:28 7.00 9:20 1.00 9:21 140 (70%)
1:12:22 8.01 8:53 1.01 8:48 145 (72%)
1:20:55 9.01 8:33 1.00 8:33 148 (74%)
1:29:22 10.01 8:27 1.00 8:28 145 (73%)
1:38:00 11.01 8:38 1.00 8:37 147 (74%)
1:46:49 12.01 8:48 1.00 8:50 148 (74%)
1:55:36 13.01 8:45 1.00 8:45 145 (72%)
2:04:01 14.02 8:25 1.01 8:23 151 (75%)
2:12:52 15.02 8:50 1.00 8:52 157 (79%)
2:20:49 16.02 7:56 1.00 7:56 161 (81%)
2:28:36 17.02 7:46 1.00 7:46 161 (81%)
2:36:34 18.01 7:58 1.00 8:00 166 (83%)
2:44:51 19.01 8:16 1.00 8:17 174 (87%)
2:52:28 20.00 7:37 0.99 7:45 178 (89%)
2:52:59 20.07 0:30 0.07 7:32 182 (91%)
Date Distance (mi) Time Avg. pace (min/mi) Avg. HR
Monday 3.38 0:31:39 9:21 127 (64%)
Tuesday 6.57 1:00:01 9:08 133 (67%)
Wednesday 14.09 1:58:59 8:27 150 (75%)
Thursday 6.57 1:00:11 9:10 133 (67%)
Friday 10.56 1:25:10 8:04 157 (78%)
Saturday 10.16 1:41:07 9:57 134 (67%)
Sunday 20.07 2:53:00 8:37 149 (75%)
This Week 71.40 10:30:07 8:49 144 (72%)
Last Week 70.75 10:37:10 9:00 143 (71%)
This Month 71.40 10:30:07 8:49 144 (72%)
Last Month 299.35 45:24:38 9:06 140 (70%)
A bit belated, but I just noticed I hit a mileage PR last month. 299.35 -- shoulda run another 0.65 :-) My pace/hr for August was 9:06/140 versus 9:17/139 in July.
OK, today I did 20 miles as you can see. I figured that Hanna left my lake trail under water, so I did a big loop around town for 4.5, made a pitstop at home, then did an out and back to the lake trail (about 6.5 each way), filling up at the water fountain at the lake. I'm glad I didn't run around there. I thought I wouldn't see any water in the 1-mile section I took to get to the water fountain, but the south end of the lake actually overflowed its banks. I had to tiptoe around (not too bad) to make it to the water fountain.
Before I ran, I decided I would try to do like last week and run at a decent pace. This usually somehow turns into a 149 average. I felt a groove and picked it up on the way back, even charging up the steep hills at the end and then do about 5 laps on the 0.1-mile track at 45 seconds per lap (goal MP). Still, I averaged 149. My pace was 8:37. Not bad.
I looked back to April and I did a 20-miler in 8:40/150, so about the same. The weather had to be warmer today though. I did this run in direct sun about 70% of the time and it was pretty dry (58 dew pt), but not exactly cold -- 65 at 8:30 am and 73 at 11:30 when I finished.
Here are the splits (you can see the hills from the pace/hr variation)
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:24 1.00 9:24 1.00 9:25 142 (71%)
0:17:56 2.00 8:31 1.00 8:32 134 (67%)
0:26:47 3.00 8:50 1.00 8:51 136 (68%)
0:36:04 4.00 9:16 1.00 9:16 138 (69%)
0:45:27 5.00 9:22 1.00 9:21 136 (68%)
0:54:08 6.00 8:41 1.00 8:40 138 (69%)
1:03:28 7.00 9:20 1.00 9:21 140 (70%)
1:12:22 8.01 8:53 1.01 8:48 145 (72%)
1:20:55 9.01 8:33 1.00 8:33 148 (74%)
1:29:22 10.01 8:27 1.00 8:28 145 (73%)
1:38:00 11.01 8:38 1.00 8:37 147 (74%)
1:46:49 12.01 8:48 1.00 8:50 148 (74%)
1:55:36 13.01 8:45 1.00 8:45 145 (72%)
2:04:01 14.02 8:25 1.01 8:23 151 (75%)
2:12:52 15.02 8:50 1.00 8:52 157 (79%)
2:20:49 16.02 7:56 1.00 7:56 161 (81%)
2:28:36 17.02 7:46 1.00 7:46 161 (81%)
2:36:34 18.01 7:58 1.00 8:00 166 (83%)
2:44:51 19.01 8:16 1.00 8:17 174 (87%)
2:52:28 20.00 7:37 0.99 7:45 178 (89%)
2:52:59 20.07 0:30 0.07 7:32 182 (91%)
Saturday, September 06, 2008
Go Adam!
Our friend Adam, who is clearly insane, is running or has already run the Superior Sawtooth 100. Either way he is in incredible pain. Good luck!
I thought of him this morning as I went for a run this morning. I managed to be the heavy rain from Hanna, but it was *steamy*. The dew point was 75. Ouch.
Speaking of ouch, I jinxed myself with my positive post yesterday. My knee is not doing nearly as well now. I ran on the trail and I think it's the surface (gravel mostly) that does much of the damage. My normal trail is going to be soaked tomorrow. I'm thinking about heading out to a bike path (paved).
I thought of him this morning as I went for a run this morning. I managed to be the heavy rain from Hanna, but it was *steamy*. The dew point was 75. Ouch.
Speaking of ouch, I jinxed myself with my positive post yesterday. My knee is not doing nearly as well now. I ran on the trail and I think it's the surface (gravel mostly) that does much of the damage. My normal trail is going to be soaked tomorrow. I'm thinking about heading out to a bike path (paved).
Friday, September 05, 2008
another Friday, another workout
I hardly slept last night and felt like crap when I turned off the alarm at 5:15 (before it went off). I just had too much on my mind. When I'm working on some problem, I often have a hard time shifting gears and getting to sleep. But off to run I went...
I drove in to work with the plan of running the 2 miles to the high school track, doing something, and then running back. I checked one of Joseph's comments and grabbed a workout -- 3 miles @ MP, 800m, and 3 miles @ tempo. (Don't let it go to your head Joseph, I figure anything marathon pace and/or tempo-ish would do.) I mulled it over on the drive in and damn that sounded hard. I was figuring 400m splits for 7:30 pace were when the news guy said "currently 75 degrees" on the radio. (Looking at wunderground, it was indeed 75 deg with a 67 dew point.) Hmmm. I'll start off at 7:30 or a little slower and see how it feels.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:37 1.00 9:37 1.00 9:38 142 (71%)
0:18:45 2.00 9:06 1.00 9:07 132 (66%)
0:19:57 2.13 1:11 0.13 9:26 134 (67%)
0:27:32 3.16 7:35 1.03 7:20 154 (77%)
0:35:01 4.18 7:29 1.02 7:22 161 (80%)
0:42:28 5.20 7:26 1.02 7:17 165 (82%)
The 3 miles (1600m actually) were 7:35, 7:29, and 7:26 and went very smoothly. It actually felt like a reasonable marathon pace. The heart rates even look a bit conservative (although I was at 168 on the last lap). Too bad I can't run this thing on a track!
0:46:53 5.70 4:25 0.50 8:55 150 (75%)
OK, Joseph. 800 meters rest? Man, you're generous. During this, I started negotiating with myself. Do I really want to run 3 miles at tempo? Well, I'm supposed to run 13.1 in a week. How about doing HM pace? Well, maybe dream HM pace (6:52 = sub-1:30).
0:53:54 6.70 7:00 1.01 6:57 170 (85%) -- a little slow out of the gate
1:00:45 7.72 6:51 1.01 6:46 179 (90%) - perfect
1:07:37 8.72 6:51 1.00 6:49 183 (91%) - perfect again
This was definitely faster than HM pace. After the first mile, I decide to find my threshold by feel and run just below it, which is basically 10-mile pace. The 183 seems a little high for mile three, but then again I did 5.5 with 3 at MP as a warmup! My cherry blossom 10-miler splits were 163, 178, 180, 182, 183, 182, 183, 184, 182, 184, so 183 is basically my steady-state 10 mile effort. I think it's reasonable to say that was 10-mile pace. Given the weather, I'm pretty happy with that. On the other hand, I was thinking, "Good lord. I have to do 13.1 like that in a week. Holy ****!"
1:25:09 10.56 17:31 1.84 9:32 154 (77%)
Warmdown. Stopped at a light near work and just felt like walking in from there. (I don't walk enough after running. I really think it helps.
There seems to be kind of a gap between my MP and my 10-mile pace right now. After how easy 7:30 felt, I thought I might do much better at the 3 tempo miles. I guess it makes sense though considering I haven't work LT at all. Also, the weather might have been a factor as I got hotter.
***
I haven't updated the status on the knee, which of course means it's improving -- I'm more prone to complain, I guess. I've been icing and taking vitamin-I about half the time (when I remember) after my runs.
I think the big improvement has been in avoiding hills as much as possible. For instance, yesterday's easy run was at the high school track. I have to mention this... While I'm there, a guy walks onto the infield, stretches about 10 minutes and then does four, maybe six, laps at about 8-8:30 pace and then runs one lap at what must have been flat out because he bends over and grabs his shorts when he finishes. Then he walks off and leaves. What was he doing? Maybe he was just curious to see how fast he could run 400 meters.
***
Man, I'm feeling chatty today. Since I complain so much, I have to mention how incredibly lucky I am with running options. I have so many routes to choose from it's ridiculous. I have two beautiful lake paths 2.25 and 6.5 miles from my house. I'm 3 miles from the cross county trail and theoeretically I think I could run to Pennsylvania on that. I can run 10.5 miles to work entirely on sidewalks on trails and there's a shower there. I have a HS track 2 km from my house and 2 miles from my work (the one near work is *very* nice). I have a 0.1-mile track 0.25 miles from my house and a 0.25-mile grass field loop there as well. I have treadmills at home and at work and an elliptical at work if I'm injured. That's a pretty damn sweet deal.
I drove in to work with the plan of running the 2 miles to the high school track, doing something, and then running back. I checked one of Joseph's comments and grabbed a workout -- 3 miles @ MP, 800m, and 3 miles @ tempo. (Don't let it go to your head Joseph, I figure anything marathon pace and/or tempo-ish would do.) I mulled it over on the drive in and damn that sounded hard. I was figuring 400m splits for 7:30 pace were when the news guy said "currently 75 degrees" on the radio. (Looking at wunderground, it was indeed 75 deg with a 67 dew point.) Hmmm. I'll start off at 7:30 or a little slower and see how it feels.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:37 1.00 9:37 1.00 9:38 142 (71%)
0:18:45 2.00 9:06 1.00 9:07 132 (66%)
0:19:57 2.13 1:11 0.13 9:26 134 (67%)
0:27:32 3.16 7:35 1.03 7:20 154 (77%)
0:35:01 4.18 7:29 1.02 7:22 161 (80%)
0:42:28 5.20 7:26 1.02 7:17 165 (82%)
The 3 miles (1600m actually) were 7:35, 7:29, and 7:26 and went very smoothly. It actually felt like a reasonable marathon pace. The heart rates even look a bit conservative (although I was at 168 on the last lap). Too bad I can't run this thing on a track!
0:46:53 5.70 4:25 0.50 8:55 150 (75%)
OK, Joseph. 800 meters rest? Man, you're generous. During this, I started negotiating with myself. Do I really want to run 3 miles at tempo? Well, I'm supposed to run 13.1 in a week. How about doing HM pace? Well, maybe dream HM pace (6:52 = sub-1:30).
0:53:54 6.70 7:00 1.01 6:57 170 (85%) -- a little slow out of the gate
1:00:45 7.72 6:51 1.01 6:46 179 (90%) - perfect
1:07:37 8.72 6:51 1.00 6:49 183 (91%) - perfect again
This was definitely faster than HM pace. After the first mile, I decide to find my threshold by feel and run just below it, which is basically 10-mile pace. The 183 seems a little high for mile three, but then again I did 5.5 with 3 at MP as a warmup! My cherry blossom 10-miler splits were 163, 178, 180, 182, 183, 182, 183, 184, 182, 184, so 183 is basically my steady-state 10 mile effort. I think it's reasonable to say that was 10-mile pace. Given the weather, I'm pretty happy with that. On the other hand, I was thinking, "Good lord. I have to do 13.1 like that in a week. Holy ****!"
1:25:09 10.56 17:31 1.84 9:32 154 (77%)
Warmdown. Stopped at a light near work and just felt like walking in from there. (I don't walk enough after running. I really think it helps.
There seems to be kind of a gap between my MP and my 10-mile pace right now. After how easy 7:30 felt, I thought I might do much better at the 3 tempo miles. I guess it makes sense though considering I haven't work LT at all. Also, the weather might have been a factor as I got hotter.
***
I haven't updated the status on the knee, which of course means it's improving -- I'm more prone to complain, I guess. I've been icing and taking vitamin-I about half the time (when I remember) after my runs.
I think the big improvement has been in avoiding hills as much as possible. For instance, yesterday's easy run was at the high school track. I have to mention this... While I'm there, a guy walks onto the infield, stretches about 10 minutes and then does four, maybe six, laps at about 8-8:30 pace and then runs one lap at what must have been flat out because he bends over and grabs his shorts when he finishes. Then he walks off and leaves. What was he doing? Maybe he was just curious to see how fast he could run 400 meters.
***
Man, I'm feeling chatty today. Since I complain so much, I have to mention how incredibly lucky I am with running options. I have so many routes to choose from it's ridiculous. I have two beautiful lake paths 2.25 and 6.5 miles from my house. I'm 3 miles from the cross county trail and theoeretically I think I could run to Pennsylvania on that. I can run 10.5 miles to work entirely on sidewalks on trails and there's a shower there. I have a HS track 2 km from my house and 2 miles from my work (the one near work is *very* nice). I have a 0.1-mile track 0.25 miles from my house and a 0.25-mile grass field loop there as well. I have treadmills at home and at work and an elliptical at work if I'm injured. That's a pretty damn sweet deal.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
a half workout and a question on calorie allocation
My car is in the shop again. I paid $400+ when the check engine light came on a month ago and I was diagnosed with a bad oxygen sensor. Six days later in came back on, but because of work travel and vacation, we waited until last night to drop it off. The good news is that I can run in. Ain't that convenient? The bad news is that I'm out another $350 for the *other* oxygen sensor. Methinks they replaced the wrong one last time.
Anyway, I took the long way in, which means going the long way around the lake. I had to take on a loop around a block to get to 14.0 because, well, 13.7 or whatever just wouldn't do. I started off with a plan to do a moderate run like last week (~8:30 pace), but then I started thinking about slipping in some slightly harder stuff. The Hansons' program has MP on Th (I think) and "strength" on Tu. Strength is MP - :10 run in something like 2x3mi. Well 2x3 mi sounded like a little much. I ended up throwing in a mile here and there and ended up with 3x1 w/2 mi "rest" in between. Here's what it looked like.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:58 1.00 9:58 1.00 9:56 132 (66%)
0:18:30 2.00 8:33 1.00 8:34 138 (69%)
0:27:15 3.01 8:44 1.01 8:39 137 (68%)
0:35:54 4.02 8:39 1.01 8:34 143 (72%)
0:43:17 5.03 7:22 1.01 7:19 161 (81%)
0:52:07 6.03 8:50 1.00 8:51 151 (75%)
1:00:22 7.09 8:14 1.06 7:49 153 (76%)
1:07:38 8.08 7:16 1.00 7:17 163 (82%)
1:16:10 9.09 8:31 1.00 8:30 158 (79%)
1:24:43 10.09 8:32 1.00 8:31 148 (74%)
1:31:50 11.09 7:07 1.00 7:08 168 (84%)
1:40:45 12.09 8:55 1.00 8:55 153 (76%)
1:50:06 13.09 9:21 1.00 9:20 150 (75%)
1:58:56 14.09 8:50 1.00 8:51 152 (76%)
1:58:59 14.09 0:02 0.00 14:52 154 (77%)
The funny thing is that I ended up running almost the same pace heart rate today (8:27/150) as last week (8:29/150). That surprised me a little because I thought the even effort of last week would have been more efficient. Of course I ran different routes and the weather was probably different. The somewhat wild variation of pace and heart rate is a reminder of how hilly northern virginia is. Early in the run, when I was running a steady 8:30 (both uphill and downhill), I noticed that my HR was 149 at the top of a hill and reached 130 at the bottom. Weather was pretty nice today -- 60 and dew pt of 60.
***
Counting calories stinks by the way. I was quite hungry today and ate about 200 more calories then yesterday before leaving work. I guess that make sense, having run 14 miles at a good effort today verus 6 easy yesterday. I wonder whether my daily caloric intake should be roughly the same day-to-day or whether it should vary with my expenditure. My guess is somewhere in the middle -- intake varies, but not as much as expenditure.
I've been weighing myself at the same time everday when I change clothes after work. Here's the tally
Date Weight
8/27/2008 166.8
8/28/2008 165.8
8/29/2008 165.9
9/2/2008 165.3
9/3/2008 162.3
I think I must have been dehydrated today!
Anyway, I took the long way in, which means going the long way around the lake. I had to take on a loop around a block to get to 14.0 because, well, 13.7 or whatever just wouldn't do. I started off with a plan to do a moderate run like last week (~8:30 pace), but then I started thinking about slipping in some slightly harder stuff. The Hansons' program has MP on Th (I think) and "strength" on Tu. Strength is MP - :10 run in something like 2x3mi. Well 2x3 mi sounded like a little much. I ended up throwing in a mile here and there and ended up with 3x1 w/2 mi "rest" in between. Here's what it looked like.
Time Distance Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
0:09:58 1.00 9:58 1.00 9:56 132 (66%)
0:18:30 2.00 8:33 1.00 8:34 138 (69%)
0:27:15 3.01 8:44 1.01 8:39 137 (68%)
0:35:54 4.02 8:39 1.01 8:34 143 (72%)
0:43:17 5.03 7:22 1.01 7:19 161 (81%)
0:52:07 6.03 8:50 1.00 8:51 151 (75%)
1:00:22 7.09 8:14 1.06 7:49 153 (76%)
1:07:38 8.08 7:16 1.00 7:17 163 (82%)
1:16:10 9.09 8:31 1.00 8:30 158 (79%)
1:24:43 10.09 8:32 1.00 8:31 148 (74%)
1:31:50 11.09 7:07 1.00 7:08 168 (84%)
1:40:45 12.09 8:55 1.00 8:55 153 (76%)
1:50:06 13.09 9:21 1.00 9:20 150 (75%)
1:58:56 14.09 8:50 1.00 8:51 152 (76%)
1:58:59 14.09 0:02 0.00 14:52 154 (77%)
The funny thing is that I ended up running almost the same pace heart rate today (8:27/150) as last week (8:29/150). That surprised me a little because I thought the even effort of last week would have been more efficient. Of course I ran different routes and the weather was probably different. The somewhat wild variation of pace and heart rate is a reminder of how hilly northern virginia is. Early in the run, when I was running a steady 8:30 (both uphill and downhill), I noticed that my HR was 149 at the top of a hill and reached 130 at the bottom. Weather was pretty nice today -- 60 and dew pt of 60.
***
Counting calories stinks by the way. I was quite hungry today and ate about 200 more calories then yesterday before leaving work. I guess that make sense, having run 14 miles at a good effort today verus 6 easy yesterday. I wonder whether my daily caloric intake should be roughly the same day-to-day or whether it should vary with my expenditure. My guess is somewhere in the middle -- intake varies, but not as much as expenditure.
I've been weighing myself at the same time everday when I change clothes after work. Here's the tally
Date Weight
8/27/2008 166.8
8/28/2008 165.8
8/29/2008 165.9
9/2/2008 165.3
9/3/2008 162.3
I think I must have been dehydrated today!
Monday, September 01, 2008
half or full
OR
The family is going to San Diego in January and I'm planning to run either the half or the full. I haven't signed up yet because I can't decide which. If I qualify on 29 Nov, then I'd just want to run the half. If I don't, then it would be nice to have a backup. Now if I don't qualify on the 29th, it seems unlikely I will on the course above, but if there's something crazy like snow or maybe I just have a bad day, it would be nice to have a backup.
I could run the half and then use the local George Washington birthday marathon (mid-Feb) as a backup but that race is notoriously cold and windy (and fairly hilly). Plus you have to run by yourself (most likely) while Carlsbad has a 3:15 pace group.
The B&A trail marathon is pancake flat, but it's in the beginning of March . I think Boston filled up in at the end of February this year, so this is out and mid-Feb might even be pushing it.
OK, I think I've just talked myself into signing up for the full at Carslbad! (And now I look at the website and you can transfer from full to half until January 4th! -- not sure this applies if the half fills though.)
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