signed up for a half

Another one hour run this morning. So humid it felt like swimming. Temp was 72 at 6am, but so was the dew point. As of 8 am the dew point is 73.9 here. Anything over 70 is, for me, where I just laugh and slog through. I threw in about a half dozen short, half-hearted striders.

I signed up for a half on 9/14 last night. I ran it last year. My pace then was 7:08/mile compared to my 2007 Cherry Blossom 10-mile pace of 6:59. I ran 6:53 pace at CB this year, so 7 min/mi seems like a good goal. If I run out of my mind 1:29:59 (6:52 pace) might happen. The course is a net downhill, but if you look at the elevation map in the link, you'll see you lose most of the elevation in the first 2+ and gain in the last 2+. It's a pretty fast course, but not as fast as something like CB. The climb at the end will be good preparation for NCR, which has a ridiculous last couple of miles (after being about as easy as you could imagine for the first 24).

59:59.91

I went for a one-hour run today. I went out and checked my watch at the ~5k point and saw 30:XX, so I turned around. I hit stop when I got home, looked down, and saw 59:59:91. Close enough.

the trail tougher than the sidewalk?

I do about 80% of my running during the week on concrete sidewalks. On Saturday, I do mostly sidewalk and pavement with maybe a mile on a trail. Sunday, including last Sunday, on a mostly firm dirt or fine crushed gravel trail. I swear I was more sore after Sunday's 13.6, which followed an easy 5-mile day, than I was after any of the 14-, 10-, or 12-mile runs I did back-to-back-back last Mo, Tu, and Wed. Well, anyway I thought I felt better after yesterdays 10 miler than before it and that proved to be true this morning when I did 13 on concrete sidewalks. No niggles today.

Today was also the first day in a while I had that "I can run forever" feeling. I think I'm beginning to turn the endurance corner. Runs of about 1 hour apiece are on the menu for the next three days.

week of 21 July

Mo - 14.08 2:10:07 9:14 139 (69%)
Tu - 10.37 1:37:04 9:22 136 (68%)
We - 12.18 1:53:08 9:17 137 (69%)
Th - 7.15 1:05:24 9:08 134 (67%)
Fr - 8.43 1:16:26 9:04 135 (68%) - 60 degs, 60 dew point
Sa - 5.29 0:51:52 9:49 143 (71%) -- ran at 2pm in the broiling sun
Su - 13.71 2:15:46 9:54 135 (68%) -- 74-80 degs and dewpoint 69-71

Week: 71.2, 11:09:47, 9:24, 137

(I upgraded my version of SportTracks and you can cut and paste from it, which makes me appear a little more anal than usual in my reporting of statistics above.)

This week went pretty well. I've been doing well enough with this 3 high days and 3 low days pattern that it felt like discovering plutonium with Th and Friday's pace/heart rate. The heat took that out of me this weekend though. I was going to run 15, but after desperately needing, and thankfully reaching, a bathroom, it felt silly to run another 1.3. My heart rate was also starting to climb by that point.

beautiful clouds

It was pretty hot and humid (72 degs and 69 dew point at 6am) as it has been the last couple of days. When I glanced at my heart rate it seemed lower than I expected though. I was even thinking, gee maybe a sub-1:30 half is in the cards. After about an hour of patting myself on the back (mostly on the downhills), I looked up and realized it was completely overcast. It's amazing what I a difference the lack of direct sun makes between this morning and the last two mornings.
Still, I think the 3 days "high" mileage, 3 days "low" mileage thing is working well.

I seem to be holding up well. I have one persistent niggle though that I've had for a couple of weeks. I occasionally overextend my left knee as if the "stop" isn't there and get a sharp pain in the back. It never happens when I run though. I did feel a little soreness back there at the end of today's run. I think it might be because I wore the precisions instead of the Frees (my foot was a little sore) and I think I overstride in them.

week of 14 July

Mo - 6/9:13/138
Tu - 12.2/9:08/136
We - 9.4/9:12/132
Th - 12.2/9:11/137
Fr - 7/9:41/136
Sa am - 3.3/9:38/132
Sa pm - 8k/8:29/157
Su am - 7/9:43/142

Week: 62/9:13/138, 9 hrs 32 minutes.

It cooled off Tuesday, Wednesday and Thurday. It was only 63 degrees (although 100% humidity). Things really clicked on these runs. I started to run out of gas in the last couple of miles on Th, which is pretty much what I expected and a good indicator to cut the mileage for a few days.

My timing was pretty good as the weather just sucked Fr, Sa, and Sunday.

• I ran at 6am on Saturday morning before the swim meet. Just a quick jog around the neighborhood
• On Saturday night I ran a big local 8k. With an 8:45pm start time, it's kind of a fun race. I didn't want to race though, so I ran with a friend. He had done a three hour bike ride that morning, so he wasn't really taking it seriously either. At 9 pm, it was 84 degrees with a dew point of 64. (Sadly, one runner died.) I thought we'd do a little faster than 8 min/mi and I'd get my heart rate into the 170s. We did 8:29 pace though. My avg heart splits were 152, 158, 157, 159, and 160. It turned out to be a Joe Rubio 80% run, but without the warmup or warmdown (I did get the 3 miles in the morning). I warmed down with a free Michelob Ultra. I'd never drink it under normal circumstances, but it hit the spot after the race.
• I didn't get home until 10:30 and after taking a shower it was pretty late before I went to bed. I also inexplicable woke up twice in the middle of the night just drenched in sweat. It was bizarre. I checked the thermostat and it was 72 degrees. Weird. I ended up sleeping in and dawdled enough that I didn't step out until about 9:30. 84 degrees and a dew point of 73. Not a cloud in the sky either and the sun was blazing. I wasn't ashamed to jog at nearly 10 min/mi.

meandering

In May/June, I gave up my long run (meaning >17 miles) in an effort to make it easy to get my mileage back up without too much strain. It seemed to work in January, but for one reason or another, my long run is gone, but my mileage is still hovering ~60 (about my average for the year). I've been doing some harder running, which is probably part of it. The moderate runs definitely take more out of me and the hills especially require a little recovery.

This week I started trying something a little different. (I think I own too many running books.) I was looking at John Kellog's chapter in run strong and he talks about doing block of 2-4 days at a higher mileage and then backing off for 2-4 days. The example he gives is for a 40-45 mpw runner: 5, 6, 5, 10, 7, 10, 8, 6, 5, and 6. (That's from memory but it's close.) He says the higher mileage block should be 10-20 percent higher than the average weekly mileage, which doesn't fit hit example. (10 + 7 + 10 + 8)/4 = 8.75. 45/7 = 6.4. 8.75/6.4 = 1.38. 38 % >> 20%. OK, I know. Feel "kung fu" don't think it.

Anyway..... This week so far has been 6, 12, 9, 12. I was going to do something like 7, 8, and 7 for the next three days. I've already messed that up though by signing up for an 8k on Saturday night. My plan is to run it with a friend of mine, which I think should be a little below 10 mile pace. He's been running more though, so who knows. Tentative plan for the next three days is 7, 3 am/8k pm, and 7.

There's so many possible ways to go that I've thought about getting a coach so I don't have to think about it anymore. I know Joseph will suggest Will, but I've looked at distancecoach.com also. $99 a month for a minimum 5 months. Eh, I don't know. The kids probably want to go to college and the market has been killing their college savings. In my heart I know if I run over 70 miles a week for a decent period of time and lose 5-10 pounds, 3:15 will be a no-brainer. Do I need a coach to tell me that?

week of 7 July

Mo - 5.7/8:50/140
Tu - 12.2/?/? -- no watch, HRM; think 9 min/mi
We - 12.2/8:39/146 - moderate
Th - 5.5/9:26/134
Fr - 8.6/9:35/133
Sa - 8.6/9:21/137
Su - 8.6/9:07/140

Week: 61/9:06/139, 9 hours 15 minutes

Various aches and pains along with feeling like crap this morning and the dread of running in the heat were my excuse for not doing a long run today.

It was my groin but now it's my knee

It sounds like the punchline to an old joke. Anyway, the groin thing is gone, but it's been replaced by more disturbing knee funkiness. The lateral (think that's the term) side of my left knee bothers me sometimes on uphills and the back of my knee seems too lose. I'll occasionally hyper extend my knee, like when standing on my left leg to put on my pants, and get a sudden sharp pain. I did a really slow 8.6 miles today as a result. 9:38 pace and 132 bpm avg heart rate.

12 is greater than 9 plus 3

Instead of doing 9 in the morning and 3 at lunch, I did 12 in the morning. I forgot my Garmin, so I'll have to guess that it was ~9 min/mi pace. I have kind of a weird feeling in the groin area (stop that snickering!), so I didn't want to do a workout. I decided to do 12 because frankly doubles are a pain.

I could really tell the difference after the distance was over 9 miles. I ended up "pleasantly tired" as Lydiard would say. 12 miles was cake in the spring when I was doing 12 every Tue, 14 w/ last 5 at MP on Th, and 20+ on Sunday.

week of 30 June

Mo - 5.8/8:33/143 maintenance, easy-moderate
Tu am - 10.0/8:44/1:47 w/ 3x3 hills
Tu lunch - 3.0/10:12/145 slow and hot on trail
We - 9.3/8:22/149, moderate
Th - 0
Fr am - 3.2/9:04/141
Fr mid-day - 8.6/8:36/154, moderate; 85 degrees and 64 dew point
Sa - 3.2/9:18/135, didn't feel like anything more
Su - 15.3/9:12/147

Week: 58.5/8:53/147, 8hrs 40 minutes

I ran harder than normal on Monday through Wednesday and then didn't sleep much We, Th, and Friday. I didn't really feel like running on Saturday and just jogged for 30 minutes.

I'm not sure what happened today. It was much harder at the end than it should have been for the pace. I guess it was humid. It was overcast and only 73 degrees, but the dew point was 70. My splits were

9:58/125, 9:22/134, 9:27/137, 9:24/140, 9:26/137,
9:20/141, 9:12/142, 9:03/147, 9:00/148, 8:56/145,
8:56/152, 8:54/156, 9:00/161, 9:11/161, 8:54/165

I didn't look at heart rate (or pace really) until the end and was astonished to see my heart rate so high. I'm not sure how to explain it. I'm wondering if I've really lost my endurance. I was doing 18 milers nearly every week for about two years and now I haven't run that far since the marathon. I've also thought that maybe I need more than just water when it's hot. Maybe I should be taking some salt tablets. Or maybe I should be logging more miles.

We've reached midway through the year and it's time to add up some mileage. Through 30 June, I ran 1532 miles. My goal for the year was 3000, so it looks like I'm on pace.

Clifford, 1994 - 2008

It's been a rough day today. The ancient lab passed away. We got him for our first wedding anniversary 14 years ago, and as you can see from the pictures above, he isn't the only one to have aged in that time. Our kids, now 8 and 10, wouldn't even be born for 3 years after we brought him home. In many ways, he was our first born. We'll miss him.

week of 23 June

• Mo - 5.5/9:13/139
• Tu am - 9.3/8:52/141 -- 57 deg
• Tu pm - 3.6/11:03/142 -- lunch, hot and on trail at lunch
• We - 9.3/8:42/145 -- another pretty good weather day
• Th - 3.2/no watch or HRM -- heat, humidity back
• Fr am - 9.3/8:41/149 -- middle 6 at "80%", hrs - 146, 148, 155, 160, 159, 161; pace between 8:03 and 8:54 because of hills
• Fr pm - 3.2/9:34/143
• Sa - 5.6/9:00/140
• Su - 15.3/10:03/141 -- dew point 70. 'nuff said.
  

Week: 64.5/9:20/142, went over 10 hours: 10:01:43

It was hot and humid for my long run today. I think the humidity affects me as much or more than the heat. I really start to feel it when the dew point gets above 60 and when it's 70, like today, then forget about it.

Anyway, I started way slow for the first lap (4.6 miles), hoping to at least make it comfortable. I'm such a weeny. On the second lap, I bumped into a friend. I ran with her for 3/4 of a lap, which included a 2 or 3 walk breaks. It was very nice to run with somebody. The conversation and slow pace made the second lap go quickly. I "picked it up" for the last lap, "running" a little under 9:30 pace I think. I tacked on an out and back for another 1.9. The Garmin credited me with 10:03 pace (did I mention I'm a weeny). I think I really went 0.4 longer than it said, but for some reason it cheats me on that course. (The certified 5 miler was 4.9 according to Mr. Garmin.) I only think about it because of the magic of the 10 min/mi. The fact we have 10 fingers and 10 toes has a powerful effect.

I again noticed the 10 min/mi summer compression phenomenon today. What's that, you ask? Every summer, everybody slows down, but nobody wants to go over 10 min/mi so everybody ends up at that pace even if it's going to kill them. In the spring, I run about 9 min/mi or a little faster and the people passing me look like they should be passing me (cross country kids, age group runners, etc.) . In the summer, it's open season on Greg, with me getting passed by pot-bellied, middle-aged guys in near cardiac arrest.

All in all, I think the week went about right. I do wonder about my easy pace though. Should I really be running *that* slow? I've been looking at Jack Daniels and thinking I'm being to easy on myself, but his easy pace has to be a bit too hard. He also seems to discount heart rate as an indicator of effort and he doesn't give any alternative. He goes in great detail about the effects of altitude, but for heat and humidity says, "Ah, you might be a little slower." All his tables for R, I, T, M, and E pace don't help when it's 80 and 80 outside.

a weather reprieve

The running has been going better this week.

I got in 5.5 on Monday morning. I ran a different route, which I think helped my spirits. Even better on Tuesday was the cooler weather -- 57 degrees. I ran 9.3 at under 9 min/mi and a reasonable heart rate (140 I think). I snuck in a run at lunch time, which I've never done before. It was nice to get out of the office and it only took 70 minutes to change, run 40 minutes, shower, grab lunch, and get back to my office. I ran through a nature preserve zig-zagging on paths up and down hills. My garmin record 11 min/mi!

The weather was good again this morning and I got in another 9.3. The pace was about 8:45 although I kept the pace on the steep uphills and touched 159 bpm once or twice. It felt very nice. I was actually itching to run again at lunch, but didn't.

After vacillating and thinking way too much, I've come back to the Rubio plan for no other reason than I'm tired of thinking about it and it roughly matches what I think about marathon training. I've reformatted from the horrible skinny column on the asics aggies site to this using google documents.

Adjusting the dates for my target marathon on 11/29 gives

• 7/21 - 9/14 - Transition period (8 weeks)
• 9/15 - 11/9 - Race prep period (8 weeks)
• 11/10-11/29 (race Sat) - Marathon taper (3 weeks)

week of 16 June

Mo - 9.3
Tu - 0, sick
We - 0, sick
Th - 5.0
Fr - 5.3 am; 5.3 pm -- park midway and run to work and back
Sa - 5.0 at 2:30 pm (very warm), 20 minutes swimming at 6pm
Su - 15.1/9:44/143 - harder than it should have been?
Week: 45/9:35/140

I thought the weather wasn't going to be that bad, but today was much tougher than expected. 69-76 degrees and dp 65 (that's pretty humid). It was also cloudless and I ran 10+ of the miles in direct sun. Anyway, the last three miles were 10:14/150, 10:23/154, 9:32/163! There was a lot of uphill in that, but still! I drank about 10 oz on the way out and 20 on the way back and downed a 32 oz bottle of gatorade, but was only 157.1 when I weighed myself. I haven't seen below 160 for weeks, so I was likely dehydrated.

This is the end of the 25th week of the year (starting on 12/31). I've run 1467.7 miles and averaged 58.7 miles. Below is a stem and leaf plot of my weekly mileage, and shows my median weekly mileage is 61.

8|0
7|0012
6|12456788
5|01566778
4|55
3|
2|57

I just want to get in a good rut where I'm just getting in the miles and not thinking about it, but I haven't quite settled on my approach to the marathon, which is now 23 weeks away. I'm far enough out that I could follow either the pfitz or daniel's 24 week programs, which would be nice, because I'd have things pretty settled. I don't really believe in pfitz though. I think threshold early and intervals late might be backwards. Following Daniel's would involve me figuring a few things out. I'm not sure how to structure the week beyond the Q1 and Q2 workouts. Ah, I don't know. There's just too much "information" out there. If I just run enough miles things should work out.

park n run

5:30 - alarm went off
5:55 - driving away from my house
6:08 - reach train station parking lot and start walking
6:16 - reach my pre-determined 0.5 mile point and start running
6:16-7:08 - run 5.3 miles/48:46/9:12 pace/134 bpm avg (extra time was stoplights)
7:08 - pick a nice landmark to stop running and start walking
7:14 - arrived at my building and head up to my office to get my bag
7:18 - back down to the locker room for a shower
7:35 - in my office

I managed to leave my Garmin at work and so I used my Suunto HRM, but got the distance on the way home. The heart rate wasn't bad for the pace. The weather was spectacularly good though -- 55 degrees.

16:50 - left my office to change and stash stuff in the bike room
17:04 - started walking
17:09-18:02 - ran 5.3/50:44/9:34/140, 80 degrees
18:02 - stopped running, walked to car
18:10 - reached car
18:25 - arrived home, showered
18:37 - drove away from home on the way to the pool to join up with the family

Let's see how this compares in terms of efficiency

1. park n run (above) costs 232 minutes to travel to work and back, shower, and run 10.6 miles total
   
2. If I drive in first and run 10.6 in the morning I could leave at 5:50 and be in my office at 8:30 based on experience. Driving home in traffic is 30-35 minutes, so 190-195 total. Of course I get 28 minutes of walking in the first option. Of course running 1 x 10.6 every day is tougher on the body than 2 x 5.3
3. Another option is driving in, running at work, driving home, and running again at home. I think the time would be about the same as option 1 except I'd spent the 28 minutes walking in extra drive time.

One consideration is that I save a little gas - ~12 miles per day I run. With my car, that's about half a gallon. The thought also crossed my mind that they have bike racks at the park n ride lot. If I ever got a bike...

On the running side of things, I think options 1 and 3 are the best. My legs don't feel bad at all tonight. Doubling is a lot easier than running the same mileage in singles.

OK, next week I start piling up the miles

I was sick the last couple of days, and my good start to the week (9.3 on Monday) was followed by zeros on Tu and We. The worst part is I missed some great running weather. I did get out there tonight for a quick 5 miles and it was quite nice. 72 degrees and 57 deg dew point. I thought it would be a dreadful run, but it wasn't that bad. 9:24 pace and 136 bpm avg hr.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to "park n run." I've found a park and ride lot that's ~10k from work. My plan is to drive there and walk the first and last 10 minutes, leaving about a 5-mile run each way. I'm not sure it's worth the hassle, but we'll see. If I don't save time, at least I'll save some gas.

acceptance

This is becoming an annual rite. I have to grieve the loss of my speedy spring self and eventually (after denial, anger, bargaining, and depression) accept my slow summer self. I did the same thing last year. I started doing two weekly workouts (and reducing mileage) leading up to Frederick and found myself getting faster. I tried to continue with that type of training post-marathon and through in a couple of races for good measure. Both times I was slower than expected in the second race, but the heat and course (hot, XC) helped me to rationalize away my time. Subsequent training then eventually has me accepting that I was just slower.

Why am I slower? Well, the main factor I think is that it's just hot and humid. I also haven't been getting nearly enough sleep, which is probably part of it. I can't overlook the fact, however, that I'm just running less. Why shouldn't I be slower? Less is less, right?

The marathon just kills your mileage with sharpening, tapering, and recovering, you lose about 8 weeks of good mileage. 62 is the longest week I've had in the last 8 weeks (since I began tapering). I ran 64 or more for 11 of the 16 weeks before that and 5 of those were 70 or more mile weeks.

I need to get my mileage back up and I'll worry about the rest later. Here's the relevant quote from Ron Daws's Running Your Best that describes his building to peak mileage phase: "Go for as much mileage as is comfortable. Try to run every day, with more or less the same efforts and distances. You need miles, so sacrifice whatever else for that."

This period is only supposed to last a month. That was a long-winded way of saying, "Joseph, don't expect to see any workouts here for a little while." I might throw in some strides or charge the occasional hill if I'm feeling frisking, but probably not.

week of 9 June

I took a 3 on Monday and a big fat zero on Friday (work), which put a dent in the mileage.

Mo - 3.2
Tu - 8.6
We - 10.4
Th - 10.4
Fr - 0
Sa - 12.0
Su - 12.8
Week - 57 miles, 9:35 avg pace, 140 avg bpm

out of gas

I ran home from work (10.4 miles) last night in the heat (87 deg). I went very slowly (9:48 min/mi) but it still wiped me out. Ran back in again this morning. It was much cooler (60 at the start, 73 at the end) but still muggy (60-65 dp). The effect of these back-to-back runs, I feel, is like a long run. The last mile of the morning run feels at least as hard as mile 16 of a long run.

I realized this morning that my endurance is really in the tank these days. The marathon was 5 weeks ago and I think it's time to stop messing around. Of course tomorrow I have to take a big fat zero. No way around it.