6:26

I’ve been kicking goals around in my head for a while and was inspired to write this after walking into my hotel room and seeing 6:26 on the clock. 6:26, you see, happens to be the pace required for a 20:00 5k, which I finally did in 2008. 40:00 10k is one of my long-term goals – sub-40 by 40 years old – and is, of course also 6:26 per mile or 4:00 per kilometer pace. I’m thinking about shorter distances lately because I finally got my BQ (3:15) and there aren’t a lot of nice round numbers I can hit in the marathon any time soon. 3:05 at 40 would let me side step the lottery for New York. Sub-3 is one I’ll probably never achieve.

So what is the longest distance for which I’ll ever be able to sustain 4 min/k pace? What does that translate to for other distances? Well, with a little time in the St Louis airport and some help from the McMilllan calculator, here’s what I came up with.

5k	8k	10k	10M	HM	Marathon
20:00	32:58	41:33	1:09:37	1:32:27	3:14:58
	32:00	40:19	1:07:33	1:29:42	3:09:10
		40:00	1:07:01	1:29:00	3:07:43
			1:04:20	1:25:26	3:00:11

The diagonals represent 4 min/k. Where am I now and what row can I make it to? Well, my 1:29:48 gets me pretty close to 8k, which will be a nice goal for the St Patty’s 8k (in addition to the rematch with Fenty). I’ll have to stretch it to 10 miles before I can even think about trying to run a sub-3 marathon though. Funny enough, a 3:00 marathon is only worth about a 3:06 1000m, a pace that elites sustain for an entire marathon.

week of 18 Jan -- Carlsbad half in 1:29:48!

• Monday 5.83 0:55:11 9:28 132. Easy
• Tuesday - 7.88 1:24:27 10:43 138 -- Includes Rock circuit. Running pace was low 9s.
• Wednesday 12.11 1:38:32 8:08 146. Forgot the 10 x 10'' hills. Did the 3 x mile @GHMP (6:54, 6:57, 6:47) and 5x45'' at 3k. Misjudged route and went a little long (supposed to be 9-11 miles total)
• Thursday 5.41 0:49:43 9:11 142
• Friday 8.15 1:08:52 8:27 140
• Saturday. 1 mile w/ my daughter in the kid's race. They didn't have a clock but it felt like about 9 minutes! Was supposed to be 3-4 miles easy
• Sunday
  
• -- 9:59 AM 0.46 0:04:19 9:28. My pitiful warmup. It took 30 minutes to park and I only had time to jog to the porta potty line and then get in the corral for the start.
• -- 10:30 AM 13.18 1:29:56 6:49 179. Woohoo! The time is a little long because I forgot to hit my watch when I crossed.
• -- My hamstring was strained (more below) and it felt like I was doing more harm than good in trying to do a cooldown run. Was supposed to do 4 miles
  

This Week 54 miles -- way under the 64 scheduled. The gap came from the 6.5 less I ran today and the 2-3 yesterday.

The big event was running the Carlsbad half.

Packet pickup

They put me in wave 7 (the slowest wave) when I transferred from the full to the half. Ugh. They told me they couldn't change it, but they didn't police the corral. Um, OK.

Getting to the race

Our hotel was 5 miles away and the race started at 7:30. I left at 6:15 and went 4.9 miles in about 10 minutes. The last 0.1 took 35 minutes. My warmup jog consisted of 0.5 miles to the porta potty line. I got in the corral 10 minutes before the start. Because of my bib situation, I want to make sure I got lined up. I got some stares in my corral (probably imagined) but no problems. I put myself a few feet in front of the 1:35 pacer.

The weather is fantastic. Overcast and low 50s. It stayed overcast and low- to mid-50s the whole race.

The race

I felt good right away at the start. My form felt great. My HRM hadn't quite settled, but I was seeing 6:4x on the garmin and I felt good. The1:35 pace kept catching me. I knew he was going too fast but it motivated me. We hit a big climb at the end of the first mile. My garmin clicked off at 7:00. Where's the mile marker? It came up about 20 seconds later. 7:20? Was it just the hill? Was it long?

1) 7:00 1.00 7:00 172 -- mile marker was at ~7:20

There's a big downhill I think and I'm moving. The mile marker is short and I see 6:18 (from the 7:00 lap), but Garmin pace is still 6:28! Holy cow. I feel good though and the HR is good.

2) 6:18 0.98 6:28 176 -- marker short, but garmin still said 6:28 pace!

I fall in with a group of pretty serious looking female runners and decide to hang with them. I always stick with age group runners and the leading females. Young guys are the worst for pacing off of. We see the ocean shortly after mile 2 and it is spectacular. The view is gorgeous for most of the rest on the race (see picture above).

There's a significant breeze. We decide it's a cross breeze. Maybe slightly in our faces.

3) 6:51 1.00 6:51 179

This feels like it's flat, but it must be a downhill, because I'm flying. It doesn't occur to me that maybe the cross breeze is at our backs.

4) 6:34 1.00 6:34 178 -- 6:34 @ 178? downhill and a tailwind?

There were lots of bands and the music was great. We hit the turnaround at beand I hit the gas a bit before I realize

5) 6:53 1.00 6:52 179
6) 6:46 1.01 6:42 178

There's a considerable climb in here and I feel a knot in my hamstring. Uh oh. As the miles go on, I start to feel a string start to develop in my hamstring like some muscle fiber is strained -- if you've felt this, you know what I mean. The pain grows over the course of the race.

When we turn around, it's very clear that the wind is in our face. I comment to the woman next to me about the oncoming runners, "Think they know it's a tailwind?" She responds, "I didn't."

The course has some climbs in it. It's nothing crazy and they are mostly gradual, but still I find the websites claim that this is one of America's fastest halfs a little dubious.

7) 6:59 1.00 7:01 179 -- big hill in here. 75' in about 0.2 miles
8) 6:53 1.01 6:50 180 -- back into the wind
9) 6:54 1.01 6:50 179

Somewhere a mile or so ago, a woman say "beat the hill, honey" to her husband and I, not really joking say, "what hill?" He laughs. Well, it's at the end of mile 10. It's not really that big (50 feet maybe), but at this point, any bump matters.

10) 6:55 1.00 6:54 179

I never quite get half marathons right. It seems like I can nail the pacing on a 10 miler every time (back a little off LT), but I'm always a little short in the half. I start to fade a bit. I think I have a decent pad, but the math is getting hard. The hamstring is really bothering me and I can tell it's affecting my form. I'm out of gas, too.

11) 7:01 1.01 6:58 181 -- starting to fade
12) 7:02 1.01 7:01 182

I hit 12 at 1:22:12. I think, 0.1 at 7:30 pace is 45 seconds, so I need mile 13 in 7:03 plus or minus. I'm still fading, but there's a great downhill, and the Garmin says I'm doing 6:50. I'm thinking I'm golden but then the Garmin trips over at 6:48, 13 seconds short of the mile 13 mark. Crap! Have I blown it?

13) 7:01 1.03 6:48 180 -- I retrospect, I think this marker was long

I turn the corner and run as fast as I can. I see the clock tick over 1:30:00 and see 1:30:01 when I cross. I forgot to hit my watch as I crossed. Then 2 seconds later I forget that I forgot to hit it. I'm cursing myself at not finding 4 more seconds. My watch say 1:29:56, but I've been off with the chip time before and I'm worried I'll end up at 1:30:00. Like I said, I totally forgot that moments earlier I let the watch run some after the finish.

13.1 + ???) 0:42 0.12 5:49 186 -- forgot to hit at finish, 8 secs after? (watch - chip). 34 secs is too fast for 0.1, so this was probably short the distance that 13 was long.

Post race

I had to run the car back to the hotel, so my wife could get the kids to Legoland at 10 when the park opened. I was going to do my warmdown, but I took a few steps and the hamstring really bothered me. I probably could have gutted out a few miles, but I decided that I'd just be doing damage. I ended up going to Legoland with the family and walking a bazillion miles. After we got back I checked the results and found

Overall: 186 out of 7148
Men: 160 out of 2864
M 35-39: 23 out of 472
Age/Grade: 67.16% Place: 436
Finish: 1:29:48 Pace: 6:51
Tag Time: 1:29:48
Gun Time: 1:30:01

: Pace:
6.6 Mile: 45:12 Pace: 6:51

1:29:48? Oh yeah, I let my watch run after the race for probably 8 seconds. Duh. Yea! This is by a long shot my best PR now. I'm amazed at how much better I do at races compared to workouts. The 3 x 1 mile at goal HMP were hard, short of goal pace, and on a flat course. My heart rates were very good though and from that perspective, it was the best I've done since last October. This seems like a huge jump, but I really believe I had an off day at the marathon and just hit it perfect today.

Still, I believe it was an improvement and I was very surprised to make this goal on relatively low mileage since the marathon. I definitely felt like I was more efficient. My form felt better and running at that pace wasn't as awkward as it usually is for me. The hamstring thing put a dent in that and made me even more aware of how important efficiency is. I'm excited to see what I can do with more mileage.

week of 12 Jan

Scheduled

Monday, Jan 12
5-6 mile jog

Tuesday, Jan 13
7-8 mile easy run including Rock Circuit

Wednesday, Jan 14
10-12 mile total moderate run including 8 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 25 min @ LT effort then without rest run 1 mile @ 10k effort then 400m @ 3k effort. Full recovery then 3 x 150m cutdowns

Thursday, Jan 15
5-6 mile easy run

Friday, Jan 16
8 mile easy run including the Rock Circuit

Saturday, Jan 17
9-10 mile moderate run including 10 x 30 sec’s @ 3k effort w/30 sec jog rests. Run over rolling hills

Sunday, Jan 18
15-16 mile moderate run including 5 x 100m ABC’s (~33 m of high knees then 33m of butt kicks then 33m of bounds). 10 sec recovery between sets . Full recovery then 7-8 x 3 min hills @ 10k effort w/2 min jog recoveries. 5 min recovery then 5 x 45 sec on flat ground @ 3k effort w/1 min jog rests. Finish run w/10 strides.

Executed

Monday    5.39   0:52:31   9:44  131
Tuesday    7.10   1:19:59  11:15  137
Wednesday 12.03  1:34:56   7:53   159
Thursday   5.34   0:49:53   9:21  150
Friday    7.89   1:24:27  10:42  139
Saturday   9.11   1:21:16   8:55  145
Sunday   15.81   2:12:16   8:22  146
This Week 62.69   9:35:18   9:11  145

I basically did everything as schedule except I forgot the ABCs on Sunday. I also didn't have any hills, so I did the 10k intervals on flat terrain. The picture shows my route on Sunday and gives a hint as to why I didn't have any hills :-) My splits are below. I guess my 10k was closer to LT pace. The first 4 (of 8) were on somewhat uneven gravel on the island though and it was hard to go very fast.

Split time Split distance Split pace Avg. HR
9:41 1.00 9:41 128
9:08 1.00 9:10 129
8:30 1.00 8:33 136
8:31 1.00 8:31 138
8:28 1.00 8:28 136
6:06 0.73 8:24 138
3:05 0.44 7:00 155
2:00 0.24 8:26 148
3:01 0.45 6:44 161
2:23 0.25 9:38 148
3:03 0.45 6:47 157
2:02 0.22 9:10 152
3:06 0.45 6:51 162
2:00 0.20 9:53 148
3:02 0.43 7:09 159
0:30 0.05 10:14 162
2:01 0.22 9:02 138
3:17 0.48 6:51 163
2:08 0.24 8:54 153
3:00 0.44 6:49 161
2:04 0.25 8:21 149
3:00 0.44 6:49 165
2:13 0.25 8:46 157
3:01 0.46 6:35 170
5:04 0.56 9:02 150
0:47 0.12 6:39 152
0:49 0.09 9:05 162
0:49 0.13 6:19 161
0:47 0.09 9:04 166
0:47 0.13 6:03 165
0:47 0.09 8:47 169
0:48 0.13 6:14 168
0:51 0.10 9:01 170
0:46 0.13 6:01 168
9:18 1.00 9:19 146
6:01 0.64 9:26 141
9:08 0.92 9:57 150

at the track

My prescription for yesterday was

Wednesday, Jan 14

10-12 mile total moderate run including 8 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 25 min @ LT effort then without rest run 1 mile @ 10k effort then 400m @ 3k effort. Full recovery then 3 x 150m cutdowns

Did about 4.5 on the way to the track including the hill sprints. The workout went very well. I always have a hard time cranking it up past 10k pace though. Did 2 miles back. Worked out perfectly to a hair over 12 miles. Check out how even my splits were on the LT - 6:49, 6:50, 6:48, and 5:05 (1200m - 6:47 per 1600 pace)

Split dist pace Avg. HR  
8:42 1.00 8:43 138 (69%)
8:46 1.00 8:46 144 (72%)
7:48 1.00 7:50 144 (72%)
7:14 0.75 9:37 154 (77%) - includes 8 x 10'' hills
7:40 0.89 8:38 149 (74%)
6:49 1.02 6:40 168 (84%) - start LT, 1600
6:50 1.02 6:42 175 (87%) - 1600
6:48 1.02 6:42 178 (89%) - 1600
5:05 0.76 6:41 180 (90%) - 1200m, 6k in 25:32
6:40 1.00 6:42 183 (92%) - 1600 @ 10k
1:37 0.25 6:31 185 (92%) - 400 @ 3k, (little slow)
0:27 0.08 6:02 186 (93%) - 3x150 cutdown, 1st
0:33 0.09 6:29 187 (93%) - 2nd
0:41 0.11 6:12 188 (94%) - 3rd, don't know distances
9:20 1.00 9:21 160 (80%)
9:18 1.00 9:19 150 (75%)
0:26 0.05 9:08 142 (71%)

Today was thankfully 5 easy.

week of 5 Jan

• Monday 5.47 easy run. 9:17/136 bpm
• Tue AM 7.25 moderate including rock circuit
• Tue PM. Foam roller
• Wed 10.05 @ 8:06 156 - 20 minutes 5k/5k+60''. 10 x strides. Hit paces. See this post.
• Thursday 6.28 easy. 9:01/136 bpm
• Friday 7.74 moderate w/ 4xABCs and 8 x 15'' hill sprints. 5 x strides. 8:53/147.
• Saturday 5.81 moderate including rock circuit. Had to pause after rock circuit to bring a dog who got loose back home. Sweet, old chocolate lab. Heart rate was kind of odd after that. Very high for the pace. On the plus side, I upped the push-up part from 8 to 10 for each time. I was surpised at how much easier the pushup were on the first circuit.
  
• Sunday 13.91 w/8 mile progression. Barely slept the last two days and felt terrible. This was on a lake trail (not the same one as last week) with varying terrain and the Garmin is a little wonky it spots. Even with the excuses, I was still slow. Not counting on the Garmin pace, I picked up the effort and tried to average a higher heart rate each mile. The splits for the 8 miles were: 7:48/160, 7:54/164, 7:27/169, 7:13/175, 7:15/177, 7:07/179, 7:01/178, 7:24/178. I really went as hard as I could, but I seemed to be leg-limited. I couldn't generate the force to drive my heart rate up -- that or I was courage-limited :-)
• Sunday PM. I realized I hadn't done the 10 push-up/10 ab, 9 p-up/9 ab, etc. thing. I still only got to 7, but I think I was sore from yesterday. Need to remember to do this in the middle of the week.
  
• Week: 56.50

I'm still really not sure how to do strides properly. If I'm fresh, I can run get up to speed and run the all out 3-4'', but after a hard run, I end up just going through the motions for the first 3 or 4. I tend to treat them as just stretching out and I'm not sure that's right.

mid-30s and rain

Yesterday morning was supposed to be sleet and freezing rain, but it was just a tad too warm, so I enjoyed my "rock circuit" in light rain and 33 degrees. The circuit involves a lot of being on the ground doing pushups, abs, supermans, etc. I even stuck my butt in a puddle doing the tricep dips. I was sopping wet.

Today was the same weather but about a degree warmer and the light rain was exchanged for rain/heavy rain. I wore a nylon jacket so the soaked shirts were from sweat. My soaked shoes, socks, and tights were courtesy of the rain though.

Anyway, today was supposed to be 9-10 miles moderate with 20' alternating 5k (on) and 5k+60'' pace (off) like so -- 2 x (90 on/90 off), 4 x (60 on/60 off), 4 x (30 on/30 off), 4 x (15 on /15 off). I was supposed to do about 6:25 on and 7:25 off based on 20:00 for 5k.

I did the first lap in lane 1 (and about an inch of standing water on one of the curves) to get a reading on the first 5k pace, figuring one lap should be 96-97'' to hit 6:24-6:28 pace. Well, I hit it right at 97 seconds, so that was nice. After that I scooted into lanes 3 and 4 (switching to avoid deep puddle) and ran by feel, letting my Garmin get the distance.

Here's what Mr. Garmin read

dist pace Avg. HR   Max. HR
1.00 8:39 132 (66%) 154 (77%)
1.01 8:43 144 (72%) 154 (77%)
1.00 7:48 147 (74%) 156 (78%)
1.00 8:34 152 (76%) 161 (81%)
0.24 8:30 149 (74%) 154 (77%)
0.26 6:12 171 (85%) 178 (89%) - first 90 on
0.21 7:21 172 (86%) 178 (89%)
0.25 6:15 175 (87%) 179 (89%)
0.21 7:24 173 (86%) 177 (88%) - last 90 off
0.17 6:13 175 (87%) 180 (90%) - first 60 on
0.14 7:42 173 (87%) 179 (90%)
0.16 6:27 175 (87%) 179 (90%)
0.15 7:26 176 (88%) 180 (90%)
0.16 6:28 177 (88%) 179 (90%)
0.14 7:17 178 (89%) 180 (90%)
0.15 6:43 177 (88%) 179 (89%)
0.15 7:25 176 (88%) 179 (90%) - last 60 off
0.10 6:48 175 (87%) 176 (88%) - first 30 on
0.07 7:48 176 (88%) 177 (88%)
0.08 6:40 174 (87%) 177 (88%)
0.09 7:03 177 (89%) 179 (89%)
0.09 6:45 177 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.07 7:23 182 (91%) 186 (93%)
0.08 6:18 177 (89%) 179 (90%)
0.08 7:34 176 (88%) 179 (89%) - last 30 off
0.05 6:40 174 (87%) 176 (88%) - first 15 on
0.04 7:38 177 (88%) 177 (88%)
0.04 6:51 176 (88%) 176 (88%)
0.04 7:48 177 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.05 6:46 175 (87%) 177 (89%)
0.04 8:14 178 (89%) 178 (89%)
0.05 7:01 177 (88%) 177 (89%)
0.04 8:01 176 (88%) 177 (88%) - last 15 off
1.00 8:46 157 (79%) 174 (87%)
1.00 8:44 154 (77%) 166 (83%)
0.64 9:32 156 (78%) 165 (82%) - includes 10xstrides

Of course since these intervals are so short that the Garmin isn't going to give an accurate pace for each. I figured I should average about 6:55 = (6:25+7:25)/2 for the whole thing though. I covered 3.14 in 21:46, so that's 6:56 pace. Not bad!

I did the 10 strides, but I haven't quite got the hang of them yet. I tweaked my knee on the third one, backed off a bit, and then finished them out just trying to stretch my legs.

week of 29 December

• Monday 6.50 @ 9:32 jog.
• Tuesday PM 4.14 @ 9:42 jog. Drove all day from Atlanta to home and got in a quick jog before dinner. Sore from car ride.
• Wednesday PM 9.44 w/5k race. 3.7 @9:12 warmup including 5 x strides. 5k in 20:12, 186 bpm avg. 2.5 @ 9:27 cooldown. Extremely windy (25 mph gusting to 40) and pretty tough course.
• Thursday 5.14 @ 9:55 jog.
• Friday AM 7.42 miles including rock circuit (2 circuits). 3+ miles warmup jog (never quite warmed up to the scheduled easy pace). Last 3+ miles were at easy pace (~9:00). Rock circuit went well. I cut the pushups down to 8 pushups rather than 30'' continuous. I just can't hack that yet.
• Friday PM. Foam roller. Went OK. I think I'll get better. The front shin was awkward and I'm not sure I was doing it right.
• Saturday 8.07 @ 8:43 moderate including 3xABCs and 10 x 30'' hills. The ABCs slowed the overall pace. Excluding that it was more like 8:30 over a very hilly route. Definitely moderate.
• Saturday PM. Push-up/ab ladder. 10 push-ups, 10 crunches, 9 push-up, etc. down to one. Started at 10 and made it to 7 before my arms gave out. Did I mention I was weak?
• Sunday 13.23 @8:11 w/20' MP, 5 min recover, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 at 10k w/1-2min jog rest. 3+ warmup w/ 5 strides. 21' at marathon effort -- 7:36/166, 7:43/171, 5:01(7:41)/170. Definitely marathon effort (at least) but slow splits because of hills. I was about 7:25-7:30 on the one flat part. Next was 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 @10k with 2 min/jog rests. I'm not sure these were at 10k effort. The first were maybe too fast, and the last probably too slow. My legs were pretty heavy and I pushed the second-to-last interval (which was uphill) to try and get my HR up and felt a pull in a hip musle (tensor fasciae latae??). I still finished the last one and did 5 half-hearted strides. Cooldown + strides was only 1.1 miles because I mis-judged the distance I'd cover with the marathon pace and 10k fartlek. I put ice on my hip and took 600mg ibuprofen. I think it should be fine.
• Wk 54 miles