First, I took a big fat zero yesterday. I was only supposed to do 30 minutes and I could easily rationalize the additional sleep. I "made up" by doubling today as I'd been hoping to on Fridays, but this is the first time my schedule worked.
I did the "10-12" by "1k" at MP. Basically, I ran my 10.4 mile home route (to and around the lake, back home, and a half a neighborhood loop). The plan was to warm up and then run 4 minutes on and 1 minute off until I ran out of real estate (while leaving enough time for a cooldown). I warmed up and didn't start the first MP segment until 2.8 miles in. There's a very steep path down to the lake at about mile 2 and then there's another very short, very steep drop to the bottom of the damn. As a result, I was at the absolute bottom of my route so the rest of the run was net uphill. See if you can spot the hills in my splits. The MP segments were: 7:39/151, 7:26/156, 7:47/158, 8:08/161, 7:04/158, 8:54/163, 6:56/164, 7:47/165, 7:17/164, and 7:08/164. At these paces, 4 minutes was between .45 and .58 miles. 1k is .62 miles. What can I say? I'm slow. I got in 10, but it only left a little over 10 minutes for a cooldown. Rests were all 1:00-1:06 except once when I daydreamed and it was 1:15.
I did a 30 minute jog this afternoon and it was really awkward. The 9:20 pace felt like I was stumbling around after this morning. Plus it was hot, so the run was basically hot, sweaty, stumbling discomfort.
After the run, I thought about my state of semi-sleep deprivation after getting up at 5 am three times this week. I revisited my schedule and wondered if there was any way to work in running to and from work. One idea I had was shifting my long run to mid-week. Since it's only 2 hours now, this is easily doable. Sets of hill repeats are a little hard to work into the run to work, but if I move them to Sat or Sun, then that problem is solved. The 10-12 by 1k @ MP and 6-8 miles and 80% are a no brainer to do on the way. Still, I can't quite make it work.
Sa - 9 w/ hill repeats or 200s am, 3 pm
Su - 9 moderate
Mo - Rest or 30 min jog, drive in, drive home
Tu - drive in, 10.4 w/ 6-8 @ 80% home pm, leave car
We - 10.4 easy(?) to work, drive home
Th - drive in, 10.4 home very easy
Fr - 13+ to work
There' s not enough days to stick something between the long run and the hill repeats. I could just do an 8-day schedule and put something between Fr and Sa. This thread has some interesting ideas. I could do the hard runs on Wed and Sat. Putting the hills and long run back-to-back wouldn't be too bad I think. I could possibly do the tempo/MP run on the way home Wed and then run in the next morning. I'd rather have 24 hrs between though. I need to think this through a little more. Right now, it's not broken and I seem to be improving, but I'd sure like some more sleep. The easy option -- go to bed earlier -- just seem too easy :-)
By the way, there's a nice article in the post today on the guy who spanked me at Cherry Blossom.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
summer is here
I need to thank the weather gods for the extended spring we've had. It's just been unbelievable. Nearly ideal running weather for months -- way longer than we could expect or deserve. High have been running 10+ degrees below normal and I knew it couldn't last. This morning was the first sign. It was 65.3 degrees with a dew point of 64.9 at 6am this morning. When the dew point gets over 60, I know summer has arrived. I ran again this afternoon when it was 81 degrees (67 dew point).
The running for today: 9.8 w/ 3x3xhills am; 3.2 pm;
I hadn't read Joseph's comment on rotating 200s with hills before I went out, but I'm not sure it would have made a difference as I've become enamored with the hills. Still, I think I need to rotate workouts if for no other reason than to spread out the niggles among my various muscles and tendons more evenly.
The GPS shorted me on the distance. The hill I ran is a serpentine paved bike path down to the lake (kind of a semi-switchback) and I can see that it frequently cut off the turns so that I supposedly averaged 10 min/mi for my 20-minute hill session.
The running for today: 9.8 w/ 3x3xhills am; 3.2 pm;
I hadn't read Joseph's comment on rotating 200s with hills before I went out, but I'm not sure it would have made a difference as I've become enamored with the hills. Still, I think I need to rotate workouts if for no other reason than to spread out the niggles among my various muscles and tendons more evenly.
The GPS shorted me on the distance. The hill I ran is a serpentine paved bike path down to the lake (kind of a semi-switchback) and I can see that it frequently cut off the turns so that I supposedly averaged 10 min/mi for my 20-minute hill session.
Monday, May 26, 2008
week of 19 May
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. We just got back from Williamsburg, so I'm recapping the week a day late.
Mo - 6.2
Tu - 9.7 w/ 3x3xhills am; 3.2 pm
We - 8.6 a little easier than moderate 8:41/141
Th - 3.2
Fr - 10.4 w/ middle 6 154-159bpm
Sa - 6.2
Su -13.9 - 60 min out, 57 back
Week: 61 miles, 8:38 avg, 143 avg bpm
Overall a good week. Today, the 27th, I basically did a long recovery run instead of the maintenance run. The run went a little longer than I expected because I got lost :-) Anyway, I did 60 minutes and the 8:55 pace was only 131 bpm average! I don't think I've ever come anywhere close to that pace for that low a heart rate. I guess it was flatter than at home, but there were some hills.
Mo - 6.2
Tu - 9.7 w/ 3x3xhills am; 3.2 pm
We - 8.6 a little easier than moderate 8:41/141
Th - 3.2
Fr - 10.4 w/ middle 6 154-159bpm
Sa - 6.2
Su -13.9 - 60 min out, 57 back
Week: 61 miles, 8:38 avg, 143 avg bpm
Overall a good week. Today, the 27th, I basically did a long recovery run instead of the maintenance run. The run went a little longer than I expected because I got lost :-) Anyway, I did 60 minutes and the 8:55 pace was only 131 bpm average! I don't think I've ever come anywhere close to that pace for that low a heart rate. I guess it was flatter than at home, but there were some hills.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Good run today. Can I get a do over on that marathon?
I did my first Friday workout of the aggies plan today. I deferred it last week because I had the 5K on Saturday. The plan says 10-12 x 1k at MP or 6-8 miles at 80%. The first option sounded kind of complicated and I didn't know how much rest was needed, so I picked option 2. 80% for a 19:30 5k runner is 7:56 according to the chart so I shot for something around 8 minutes. Just as an aside, I noticed also that the percentages on the pace chart are pretty close to %MaxHR for me. He calls 85% marathon pace and miles 3-10 are about 85%Max for me in a marathon.
Did 2 miles warmup, 6 miles @ "80%," and 2.4 miles cooldown. I was surprised how easy the pace felt. My splits for the 6 miles were 8:10/139 (includes down very steep 0.3 mile hill), 7:47/154, 7:58/157 (uphill), 7:35/156 (downhill), 8:11/160 (up aforementioned very steep hill), 7:27/160 (net uphill with a big hill in the middle). I think the last one confirms I'm in better shape than I was for the marathon and I kinda wish I had a do over. I think I waited too long to start the fast training before the marathon. It's not entirely my fault though because that shin thing cost me my "month of hills" I planned for March. Oh, well.
I can't quite decide whether to run a 5k on 14 June or a 5-miler on 8 June. The 5M race is around the lake where I do my Sunday long runs so I think that would be fun. It's a slow surface (packed dirt and gravel with some uneven surfaces to negotiate) and there are some hills. I'm leaning towards the 5 miler because I don't want to keep chasing seconds on my 5k time. It is tempting though. The 5k is on the road and the course is supposed to be pretty fair.
Good luck to Mindi on the marathon.
Did 2 miles warmup, 6 miles @ "80%," and 2.4 miles cooldown. I was surprised how easy the pace felt. My splits for the 6 miles were 8:10/139 (includes down very steep 0.3 mile hill), 7:47/154, 7:58/157 (uphill), 7:35/156 (downhill), 8:11/160 (up aforementioned very steep hill), 7:27/160 (net uphill with a big hill in the middle). I think the last one confirms I'm in better shape than I was for the marathon and I kinda wish I had a do over. I think I waited too long to start the fast training before the marathon. It's not entirely my fault though because that shin thing cost me my "month of hills" I planned for March. Oh, well.
I can't quite decide whether to run a 5k on 14 June or a 5-miler on 8 June. The 5M race is around the lake where I do my Sunday long runs so I think that would be fun. It's a slow surface (packed dirt and gravel with some uneven surfaces to negotiate) and there are some hills. I'm leaning towards the 5 miler because I don't want to keep chasing seconds on my 5k time. It is tempting though. The 5k is on the road and the course is supposed to be pretty fair.
Good luck to Mindi on the marathon.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
running log program I've been writing
I've been messing around with writing a running log program for what seems like a couple of years. I mess with it every once in a while when the mood strikes. I like to change directions every 6 months or so in order to make sure I never finish. Anyway, I'm trying to make it look more like a runner's log book than something a computer programmer wrote to capture data.
The anal retentive entries are from when I first got my Suunto T6. The cal referred to calibrated the footpod used for measuring distance. Stram is "Suunto Training Manager" and after I downloaded the watch data, it would show mileage that differed by about one percent from what the watch displayed. This drove me crazy. I finally figured out what was going on. Both Stram and the watch internally stored the distance in meters, but the watch used a conversion factor of 1600 meters per mile instead of 1609.344 when doing to conversion to display it. I still can't quite get over that. At some point, some guy just said, "Ah. I think there are 1.6 kilometers per mile" and just typed it in.
Anyway, if you guys have any suggestions about how a running log program should work, please let me know. It will give me some motivation to change directions yet again :-)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
week of 12 May
Mo - 5.3/8:23/144 maintenance run
Tu - 9.8/8:35/144 w/ 3x3 hill reps am, 3.2/9:26/142 pm (HRM messed up in pm)
We - 9.3/8:24/146 moderate, hilly
Th - 3.0/9:28/134 recovery
Fr - 5.7/8:30/144 maintenance run
Sa - 5k in 19:47/188 (pr), 2 mi wup, 1 mi cdn
Su - 13.5/8:48/142 easy - 1 hr out, 1 hr back
Week: 56 miles, avg pace 8:35/mile, avg hr 145
Great week. I can check sub-20 5k off my list. I think I'm also starting to feel rather than think the "Kung Fu" of this schedule.
Of course, I've started scheming after my PR. I guess the 5k PR was soft and the calculators have that pretty much in line with my 8k (32:45) and 10M (1:08:49). Still, when you lop 45 seconds off your 5k PR, the wheels start spinning and you think of new goals.
I'm going to shoot for NCR as my goal marathon on 29 Nov, so I have some time before I get in marathon mode. I'd like to get a little faster at shorter distances over the summer and then build endurance in the fall. (Really this is just a scheme to avoid doing 20 milers in the middle of the summer heat.) 5-10k in the summer and the Parks half on 9/14. I ran 1:33 there last year. If things go great, I could take a shot at one of my long-term goals -- sub-1:30. That's a reach, but who knows. If I get antsy after that waiting for NCR (which I probably will), Baltimore is on 12 Oct and I could take a shot at 3:15 there.
I'll probably sign up for Carlsbad (24 Jan) as my backup to NCR since we'll be in San Diego. I'd love to just do the half, but I'm not sure it will still be open after 29 Nov and if something happens at NCR (like snow) I'd want to do the full at Carlsbad. If I already have the BQ in hand, a 4 hour fun run along the pacific ocean wouldn't be the worst thing in the world :-)
Tu - 9.8/8:35/144 w/ 3x3 hill reps am, 3.2/9:26/142 pm (HRM messed up in pm)
We - 9.3/8:24/146 moderate, hilly
Th - 3.0/9:28/134 recovery
Fr - 5.7/8:30/144 maintenance run
Sa - 5k in 19:47/188 (pr), 2 mi wup, 1 mi cdn
Su - 13.5/8:48/142 easy - 1 hr out, 1 hr back
Week: 56 miles, avg pace 8:35/mile, avg hr 145
Great week. I can check sub-20 5k off my list. I think I'm also starting to feel rather than think the "Kung Fu" of this schedule.
Of course, I've started scheming after my PR. I guess the 5k PR was soft and the calculators have that pretty much in line with my 8k (32:45) and 10M (1:08:49). Still, when you lop 45 seconds off your 5k PR, the wheels start spinning and you think of new goals.
I'm going to shoot for NCR as my goal marathon on 29 Nov, so I have some time before I get in marathon mode. I'd like to get a little faster at shorter distances over the summer and then build endurance in the fall. (Really this is just a scheme to avoid doing 20 milers in the middle of the summer heat.) 5-10k in the summer and the Parks half on 9/14. I ran 1:33 there last year. If things go great, I could take a shot at one of my long-term goals -- sub-1:30. That's a reach, but who knows. If I get antsy after that waiting for NCR (which I probably will), Baltimore is on 12 Oct and I could take a shot at 3:15 there.
I'll probably sign up for Carlsbad (24 Jan) as my backup to NCR since we'll be in San Diego. I'd love to just do the half, but I'm not sure it will still be open after 29 Nov and if something happens at NCR (like snow) I'd want to do the full at Carlsbad. If I already have the BQ in hand, a 4 hour fun run along the pacific ocean wouldn't be the worst thing in the world :-)
Saturday, May 17, 2008
19:47!
The race got off to an inauspicious start when the gun clicked but didn't fire. Somebody started yelling go, so after a couple of seconds, we went. I think I felt the need to "make up" for the lost time and I went out crazy fast, which is completely unlike me. I thought I had backed off after a couple of hundred meters. The garmin said 5:58 pace after maybe 4 minutes and I scoffed. I had lost reception in the crowd at the start and restarted it. I figured the GPS was just gooned up. I get to the mile 1 marker and they read "6:02, 6:03, ..." Oh, crap! (I'd alway figured my mile pace was about 6:00 based on my 5k.)
I look ahead and see a shirtless guy in blue shorts about 100m ahead and think it's an age group runner I know who usually runs about 19 flat. I think maybe I'm not far from where I should be. Maybe they put the mile marker in the wrong place? Then a few moments later, the real 19-flat guy passes me! I hung behind him until maybe a mile and a half and let him go.
The gave our places as we went by the school the first time. I was 19th. I finished 11th last year, but I think there were a lot more high school kids running this year. Before we did the little loop around the neighborhood, the leader came the other way and he was flying (finished 16:11 I think).
I saw my friend who was giving out the 2-mile splits. 12:30. 6:27 for the last mile. Not bad. My plan was to run 6:26 pace (which is 20:00). Some kids start to pass me here, but I don't care too much. Then the first female passes me. My pride stings a little, but then a guy passes me and I instantly think "he's in my age group."
I hung on maybe 5 meters behind the presumed M35-39. Then he opened. I closed a little, but on the track you finish on he pulled well ahead. My one regret is that I didn't try harder to go with him. Still, I crossed the line at 19:47! (19:44 on my watch after the "false" start and the 5 -10 feet to cross the line.)
The awards were kind of chaotic. They did all the first place awards first while they sorted out second place and of course the guy who passed me was in my age group. His time was 19:36. I hung around forever waiting for 2nd place, which I was sure was me. Then they said 2nd place was somebody else. Huh? They didn't announce any times for the second place awards. I said I wasn't sure that was right to the RD who said he'd check. Anyway, I hung around long enough that the race director who had shaken down the community for more stuff than he could give away gave gift certificates to everybody who broke 20 but didn't get an award, so I picked up $25 at Staples.
I'm thrilled about my time, but the confusion about the award thing kind of took the edge off. Now that I think of it though, it's possible that the guy who beat me nipped somebody at the line while I was in the turn and I didn't see it. Now I feel kind of bad saying anything to the RD, but it was so confusing when they were giving out awards and they didn't announce times, so I thought there was a high probability they screwed up. Hard to say anything bad about a 45 second PR! The course isn't certified, but I know the RD and he wheeled the course, so I'm pretty sure it's right. They might not have included the short course correction factor or something, but it's definitely an improvement. I ran this last year in 20:32, which was my old "PR."
I forgot to hit lap at mile 2, but I also forgot to turn off autolap. My Garmin splits are 6:01/180, 6:27/191, 6:24/191, 0:51/192 (.14 miles). The Garmin recorded 3.14 and 19:44 (3 second difference is about right for the "false" start. The Garmin is generally around 1% generous in all the certified races I've and this fell in line, which makes me pretty confident it's the correct distance. Despite going out way too fast, I still maintained a beat or two higher average than I have in other 5ks. If I can learn to suffer a little more late in races and don't go out stupid fast, I think I can improve on this.
I look ahead and see a shirtless guy in blue shorts about 100m ahead and think it's an age group runner I know who usually runs about 19 flat. I think maybe I'm not far from where I should be. Maybe they put the mile marker in the wrong place? Then a few moments later, the real 19-flat guy passes me! I hung behind him until maybe a mile and a half and let him go.
The gave our places as we went by the school the first time. I was 19th. I finished 11th last year, but I think there were a lot more high school kids running this year. Before we did the little loop around the neighborhood, the leader came the other way and he was flying (finished 16:11 I think).
I saw my friend who was giving out the 2-mile splits. 12:30. 6:27 for the last mile. Not bad. My plan was to run 6:26 pace (which is 20:00). Some kids start to pass me here, but I don't care too much. Then the first female passes me. My pride stings a little, but then a guy passes me and I instantly think "he's in my age group."
I hung on maybe 5 meters behind the presumed M35-39. Then he opened. I closed a little, but on the track you finish on he pulled well ahead. My one regret is that I didn't try harder to go with him. Still, I crossed the line at 19:47! (19:44 on my watch after the "false" start and the 5 -10 feet to cross the line.)
The awards were kind of chaotic. They did all the first place awards first while they sorted out second place and of course the guy who passed me was in my age group. His time was 19:36. I hung around forever waiting for 2nd place, which I was sure was me. Then they said 2nd place was somebody else. Huh? They didn't announce any times for the second place awards. I said I wasn't sure that was right to the RD who said he'd check. Anyway, I hung around long enough that the race director who had shaken down the community for more stuff than he could give away gave gift certificates to everybody who broke 20 but didn't get an award, so I picked up $25 at Staples.
I'm thrilled about my time, but the confusion about the award thing kind of took the edge off. Now that I think of it though, it's possible that the guy who beat me nipped somebody at the line while I was in the turn and I didn't see it. Now I feel kind of bad saying anything to the RD, but it was so confusing when they were giving out awards and they didn't announce times, so I thought there was a high probability they screwed up. Hard to say anything bad about a 45 second PR! The course isn't certified, but I know the RD and he wheeled the course, so I'm pretty sure it's right. They might not have included the short course correction factor or something, but it's definitely an improvement. I ran this last year in 20:32, which was my old "PR."
I forgot to hit lap at mile 2, but I also forgot to turn off autolap. My Garmin splits are 6:01/180, 6:27/191, 6:24/191, 0:51/192 (.14 miles). The Garmin recorded 3.14 and 19:44 (3 second difference is about right for the "false" start. The Garmin is generally around 1% generous in all the certified races I've and this fell in line, which makes me pretty confident it's the correct distance. Despite going out way too fast, I still maintained a beat or two higher average than I have in other 5ks. If I can learn to suffer a little more late in races and don't go out stupid fast, I think I can improve on this.
Friday, May 16, 2008
should have just gone back to bed
I woke up several times during the night, which means when I woke up for good I already had that I-didn't-sleep-enough-and-my-head-is-going-to-hurt-all-day headache. (Joseph, did I get the hyphenation right?) Got out of bed for good at 5:30 and ran. That part went fine. 5.7 at 8:30 pace, which my body has settled on as my "maintenance" pace. Started out at 9:30 and was at 8:10 for the last 1.7. Average heart rate was 145 versus a 200 max, so pretty easy. My legs felt a little stronger than normal.
Got home, showered, and got ready to leave. I said something to my wife like "My head hurts. I'm not going to get anything done. I might as well go back to bed." I wish I had. On the way to work, I got rear-ended on the interstate and pushed into the car in front of me, which buckled my hood pretty badly. Anyway, lots of calls to the insurance company, getting a rental, yada, yada. I swear I have to start from the beginning ever time I talk to the insurance company. You think they'd write this stuff down. I'm currently waiting for them to call me back so I can give them my "statement." I guess the first 20 times didn't count. I called at 5. They close at 7. It's now 6. What are the odds they call back. I'm gonna say 100 to 1.
I had the good fortune to be hit by a government vehicle. My agent said that I'll definitely get my $500 deductible back... eventually. This is the government we're dealing with. I also had a state trooper work the accident. They apparently don't give you that magic report number everybody seems to want. I call some number in a week and go to some out of the way place to pick up a copy.
Tomorrow I'm running a 5k -- 13 days after the marathon. It was only 6 day between races when I set a PR last year. Does that mean I'm more cautious? Last year, only 7 M30-39 showed up. It's a high school fund raiser and there's a nice gap between the kids and their parents. That gap got me 2nd in my age group, a $25 gift certificate last year, and a handshake with our congressman. That's too hard to resist. I'm afraid the word is out now though on the soft M30-39 competition.
Got home, showered, and got ready to leave. I said something to my wife like "My head hurts. I'm not going to get anything done. I might as well go back to bed." I wish I had. On the way to work, I got rear-ended on the interstate and pushed into the car in front of me, which buckled my hood pretty badly. Anyway, lots of calls to the insurance company, getting a rental, yada, yada. I swear I have to start from the beginning ever time I talk to the insurance company. You think they'd write this stuff down. I'm currently waiting for them to call me back so I can give them my "statement." I guess the first 20 times didn't count. I called at 5. They close at 7. It's now 6. What are the odds they call back. I'm gonna say 100 to 1.
I had the good fortune to be hit by a government vehicle. My agent said that I'll definitely get my $500 deductible back... eventually. This is the government we're dealing with. I also had a state trooper work the accident. They apparently don't give you that magic report number everybody seems to want. I call some number in a week and go to some out of the way place to pick up a copy.
Tomorrow I'm running a 5k -- 13 days after the marathon. It was only 6 day between races when I set a PR last year. Does that mean I'm more cautious? Last year, only 7 M30-39 showed up. It's a high school fund raiser and there's a nice gap between the kids and their parents. That gap got me 2nd in my age group, a $25 gift certificate last year, and a handshake with our congressman. That's too hard to resist. I'm afraid the word is out now though on the soft M30-39 competition.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
day three of the aggie plan
Well, I did a 5.3-mile maintenance run on Monday, 9.75 w/ 3x3 hills on Tues am and 30 min on Tues pm. This morning I did my hilly 9.3 route at a "moderate" pace -- 8:26 per mile, which I think qualifies.
I was sore in strange places after the hills. For instance, I could really feel it on the back of my arms just above my elbows. Weird. By "sore" I mean kind of a weightlifting burn and not a legs-full-of-lactic-acid sore like you get after 4x1600 with 2 min rest. I ascribe this to using muscles I'm not used to using, which is kind of the point of this hill exercise.
The moderate run went quite nicely. I could feel the Tuesday's hills a little but my legs were fine and a "moderate" romp through the hills seemed perfect. In a way, the hill repeats and moderate hill run are "orthogonal," if that makes any sense. They fatigue you in different, complimentary ways, so I can be recovering from the hill repeats while still getting a workout.
I also noted today that might pulse/heart rate was quite good. At one point near the end, I was doing 7:50 per mile at 150 bpm on a flat section. I wonder if my 26.2 at MP is reaping any benefits? It also makes me wonder if I added speed too late.
The one thing I'm not enjoying about this schedule is running at work. I'm not working, but I'm still at my work building very early and psychologically it feels like I'm at work longer. Plus, I've found that traffic in DC starts at 6am. Geez. When I left at 5:30 (to do my longer mid-week runs), I could travel full-speed the whole way. Leaving at 6am, it's bumper-to-bumper the last few miles and takes me 30-35 minutes to go 11 miles.
I'm considering trying to run commute again, but I'd need to run home (10.5) in the pm and run back in (another 10.5) in the am. The Rubio schedule doesn't seem to work with this. The only thing I can think to do is Gallowalk some crazy slow miles in the pm home and do my workout on the way to work. Tempo or 10x1k at MP is easy to fit in. I'd have to be more creative on the hill reps. There are plenty of hills, but I'm not sure they are long enough for 3x up. I'd probably have to double back and further increase the miles.
My wife is surprisingly in favor of the run commuting. She notes that I'd save some gas $$. I figure I'd save maybe $8 a week. I've also considered working a bike into the equation. Unfortunately, I don't own one now and I'm a little worried about the danger of bike commuting.
I was sore in strange places after the hills. For instance, I could really feel it on the back of my arms just above my elbows. Weird. By "sore" I mean kind of a weightlifting burn and not a legs-full-of-lactic-acid sore like you get after 4x1600 with 2 min rest. I ascribe this to using muscles I'm not used to using, which is kind of the point of this hill exercise.
The moderate run went quite nicely. I could feel the Tuesday's hills a little but my legs were fine and a "moderate" romp through the hills seemed perfect. In a way, the hill repeats and moderate hill run are "orthogonal," if that makes any sense. They fatigue you in different, complimentary ways, so I can be recovering from the hill repeats while still getting a workout.
I also noted today that might pulse/heart rate was quite good. At one point near the end, I was doing 7:50 per mile at 150 bpm on a flat section. I wonder if my 26.2 at MP is reaping any benefits? It also makes me wonder if I added speed too late.
The one thing I'm not enjoying about this schedule is running at work. I'm not working, but I'm still at my work building very early and psychologically it feels like I'm at work longer. Plus, I've found that traffic in DC starts at 6am. Geez. When I left at 5:30 (to do my longer mid-week runs), I could travel full-speed the whole way. Leaving at 6am, it's bumper-to-bumper the last few miles and takes me 30-35 minutes to go 11 miles.
I'm considering trying to run commute again, but I'd need to run home (10.5) in the pm and run back in (another 10.5) in the am. The Rubio schedule doesn't seem to work with this. The only thing I can think to do is Gallowalk some crazy slow miles in the pm home and do my workout on the way to work. Tempo or 10x1k at MP is easy to fit in. I'd have to be more creative on the hill reps. There are plenty of hills, but I'm not sure they are long enough for 3x up. I'd probably have to double back and further increase the miles.
My wife is surprisingly in favor of the run commuting. She notes that I'd save some gas $$. I figure I'd save maybe $8 a week. I've also considered working a bike into the equation. Unfortunately, I don't own one now and I'm a little worried about the danger of bike commuting.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
interpreting the aggie schedule
I've been looking at the 10k/marathon outline on the asics aggies page. I think I pretty much have it, but have a few questions.
Sun: Easier long run (20-25% of weekly mileage). 14-16 miles. Pretty simple although "easier" is a little vague.
Mo - Maintenance run -- How long? How hard? Based on the way the terminology is used on the other pages on the site, I think the answer is 40-60 minutes at 75-80% 5K effort. The chart only goes to 19:30 for 5K (they don't imagine someone as slow as me -- not even the women), but extrapolating, I think 8:20 - 8:40 is about the right pace. Intuitively, I did 5.3 at 8:30 pace on Monday, so I guess my intuition was "right."
Tu - 3 x 3 hill reps. The explanation from another page is pretty good on the workout. I did it this morning and liked it. I wondered how much warmup and cooldown I should be doing though. I've been doing workouts Benji Durden style in the past with pretty a long warmup up/cooldown (30 min wup + 30 min cdn). I'm guessing Rubio expects a little shorter warmup/cdn? Maybe 15 & 15 and then get the extra mileage with the "optional" 20-40 min pm run. Today I did the long warmup/cdn and a 30-minute pm run, so maybe that was too much. I wasn't sure I'd get to run this afternoon though and once I had a chance, I didn't want to give it up.
We - longer hilly run easy to medium effort. I'm not sure whether easy to medium is 70 (recovery effort) to 75 or 75 to 80. The mileage says 12-15% of the week, so for 70 miles, that would be 8.5 to 10.5. I was going to do one hill loop at work, which is 9 miles. Running to work would work also -- 10.5 miles. Unfortunately my ride home got a new job, so running to work isn't as easy as it used to be. I've taken the bus home a number of times but it's kind of a pain (~80 minutes versus a 30-minute car ride).
Th - 30-40 min easy or recovery or day off. Easy enough. I guess the "or" means that easy and recovery are different pace. Easy = 75%?
Fri: "10-12 x 1k’s at MP or 6-8 miles at 80%. Optional second run of 20-40 min easy. Can substitute race for workout if desired. Races during this stage should be CONTROLLED!" When it says "substitute race" does that mean a Friday race or a Saturday race? If Saturday, I guess this just becomes Saturday's maintenance run?
Sat: Maintenance run. Optional second run of 20-40 min easy.
Well, I think I've over-thought that now.
Sun: Easier long run (20-25% of weekly mileage). 14-16 miles. Pretty simple although "easier" is a little vague.
Mo - Maintenance run -- How long? How hard? Based on the way the terminology is used on the other pages on the site, I think the answer is 40-60 minutes at 75-80% 5K effort. The chart only goes to 19:30 for 5K (they don't imagine someone as slow as me -- not even the women), but extrapolating, I think 8:20 - 8:40 is about the right pace. Intuitively, I did 5.3 at 8:30 pace on Monday, so I guess my intuition was "right."
Tu - 3 x 3 hill reps. The explanation from another page is pretty good on the workout. I did it this morning and liked it. I wondered how much warmup and cooldown I should be doing though. I've been doing workouts Benji Durden style in the past with pretty a long warmup up/cooldown (30 min wup + 30 min cdn). I'm guessing Rubio expects a little shorter warmup/cdn? Maybe 15 & 15 and then get the extra mileage with the "optional" 20-40 min pm run. Today I did the long warmup/cdn and a 30-minute pm run, so maybe that was too much. I wasn't sure I'd get to run this afternoon though and once I had a chance, I didn't want to give it up.
We - longer hilly run easy to medium effort. I'm not sure whether easy to medium is 70 (recovery effort) to 75 or 75 to 80. The mileage says 12-15% of the week, so for 70 miles, that would be 8.5 to 10.5. I was going to do one hill loop at work, which is 9 miles. Running to work would work also -- 10.5 miles. Unfortunately my ride home got a new job, so running to work isn't as easy as it used to be. I've taken the bus home a number of times but it's kind of a pain (~80 minutes versus a 30-minute car ride).
Th - 30-40 min easy or recovery or day off. Easy enough. I guess the "or" means that easy and recovery are different pace. Easy = 75%?
Fri: "10-12 x 1k’s at MP or 6-8 miles at 80%. Optional second run of 20-40 min easy. Can substitute race for workout if desired. Races during this stage should be CONTROLLED!" When it says "substitute race" does that mean a Friday race or a Saturday race? If Saturday, I guess this just becomes Saturday's maintenance run?
Sat: Maintenance run. Optional second run of 20-40 min easy.
Well, I think I've over-thought that now.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
week of 5 May
Recovering from the marathon
Mo - 0
Tu - 0
We - 5
Th - 6
Fr - 0 (raining and I wimped out)
Sa - 5
Su - 9
Week - A whopping 25 miles! 9:01 min/mi, 139 bpm avg
I feel like I've lost some fitness. Oh, well. I guess that happens with a taper and a recovery week. I'm going to do a 5k on Saturday. I did this race last year. The dearth of M30-39s got me 2nd in my age group and a $25 gift certificate I used to take my honey out to dinner. It's not certified but I'm nearly certain the course is accurate, so I was thinking I'd take a stab at sub-20. After today's run, I'm not so sure I have a shot. I'm certain I could have at least scared 19:59 a few weeks ago (7x800 in 3:09 was pretty easy). We'll see.
I've been looking at various training plans and I *think* I'm going with Rubio or something like it. This makes me kind of nervous though. I'm almost certain 3:15 is a problem I can solve with more mileage and I'm not sure I'll be able to increase my mileage while doing more intensity, so that stuff has to pay off or I'm screwed.
One of the ingredients I think I've been missing are the short intervals/hills. Joseph annotated these with "just get in touch w/wheels." Well, I don't have any wheels to get in touch with (at least not as an adult). I was sedentary from after U14 soccer until I was a 33 year-old desk jockey. Maybe a little running like a 14 year-old at the start of a 5k would do me some good.
Mo - 0
Tu - 0
We - 5
Th - 6
Fr - 0 (raining and I wimped out)
Sa - 5
Su - 9
Week - A whopping 25 miles! 9:01 min/mi, 139 bpm avg
I feel like I've lost some fitness. Oh, well. I guess that happens with a taper and a recovery week. I'm going to do a 5k on Saturday. I did this race last year. The dearth of M30-39s got me 2nd in my age group and a $25 gift certificate I used to take my honey out to dinner. It's not certified but I'm nearly certain the course is accurate, so I was thinking I'd take a stab at sub-20. After today's run, I'm not so sure I have a shot. I'm certain I could have at least scared 19:59 a few weeks ago (7x800 in 3:09 was pretty easy). We'll see.
I've been looking at various training plans and I *think* I'm going with Rubio or something like it. This makes me kind of nervous though. I'm almost certain 3:15 is a problem I can solve with more mileage and I'm not sure I'll be able to increase my mileage while doing more intensity, so that stuff has to pay off or I'm screwed.
One of the ingredients I think I've been missing are the short intervals/hills. Joseph annotated these with "just get in touch w/wheels." Well, I don't have any wheels to get in touch with (at least not as an adult). I was sedentary from after U14 soccer until I was a 33 year-old desk jockey. Maybe a little running like a 14 year-old at the start of a 5k would do me some good.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
lazy Saturday
I ran for the first time on Wednesday. A little sore, walked a little bit when I felt something. The hip thing was definitely there as I expected, but overall OK. Thursday I did my 10k out and back route just because I didn't want to do the 5-mile route yet again.
Friday, I woke up at my usual 5:30am, put on my stuff, opened the door and saw the pouring rain. I shut the door and decided to bag it. I'll take a recovery day. I don't think I've ever aborted that late before. I don't think there was much difference between 5 miles and zero though. I'm recovering. Bagging the run gave me some time to goof around on the computer. I've become an amateur genealogist this week. My son's reading a poem at school by a poet whose name we share. I've always been told we were related, but was never sure. Well, it turns out we are and my father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father came to America in 1638. Pretty neat. Anyway, the lack of running gave me some extra time and the genealogy project was a good excuse to talk to my dad and aunt.
I also perused the coolrunning board for the first time in forever. It's just about a ghost town. I did post though. Someone had run two 4-hr marathons and wondered if that meant they could never get down to 3:10. The narcissist in me had to post my story. Hell, it took me a while to just to get to 4 hours.
This morning, my daughter's soccer was canceled because the fields are swimming pools. I went for a stress free run in the light drizzle and 54 degree temps. I couldn't help but think this was perfect marathon weather.
Friday, I woke up at my usual 5:30am, put on my stuff, opened the door and saw the pouring rain. I shut the door and decided to bag it. I'll take a recovery day. I don't think I've ever aborted that late before. I don't think there was much difference between 5 miles and zero though. I'm recovering. Bagging the run gave me some time to goof around on the computer. I've become an amateur genealogist this week. My son's reading a poem at school by a poet whose name we share. I've always been told we were related, but was never sure. Well, it turns out we are and my father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father's father came to America in 1638. Pretty neat. Anyway, the lack of running gave me some extra time and the genealogy project was a good excuse to talk to my dad and aunt.
I also perused the coolrunning board for the first time in forever. It's just about a ghost town. I did post though. Someone had run two 4-hr marathons and wondered if that meant they could never get down to 3:10. The narcissist in me had to post my story. Hell, it took me a while to just to get to 4 hours.
This morning, my daughter's soccer was canceled because the fields are swimming pools. I went for a stress free run in the light drizzle and 54 degree temps. I couldn't help but think this was perfect marathon weather.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Goofy race photos, goals, and training strategy
I'll start with the goofy race photos. You can find all them here, and this one is me doing my best Roger Bannister impression. Looking at my form, I swear it looks better when I'm wearing the Nike Frees. I don't see the ridiculous heel strike. I didn't want to risk wearing them in the marathon though since I'd only run them for one long run and was pretty sore after that.
Well, I haven't run a step since the marathon and I'm already been plotting my revenge. Some goals I have (in order of likely achievement) are
So how and where do I get there?
I'm running a 5K a week from Saturday. It's not certified, but I'm call it a PR because I know the RD and he's as anal as I am. The training "plan" is to limit my runs to under an hour between now and then. I might double a day or two next week and I'll probably cave and break my rule on Sunday, but that's my plan!
For the all-consuming BQ, I'm considering the following options:
I'm thinking of doing either a Steamtown/Nov backup or a Nov marathon/Carlsbad backup. I'm leaning towards Steamtown/NCR and running the half at Carslbad for kicks. Even if I BQ at Steamtown, I might have to run a legit BQ at NCR for peace of mind.
Marathon training? Man am I confused on this. There are several ways I can go. I've thought of just following the program in Ron Daws's book, "Running Your Best," which is basically straight Lydiard. This is a 6-month plan. Not sure how I work the two marathons in, but I can figure that out.
I've also thought about doing something completely different like Matt Fitzgerald's "Brain Training" book. I think the book is full of it with regards to be revolutionary or anything, but the notion of doing drills, strength training, fast repeats, etc. makes some sense to me, because I think I'm an incredibly weak runner. I have pretty good endurance, but no power. I was a completely sedentary never-was in his 30s when I started running and I've taken the long slow distance approach from the beginning.
I've also thought of Summer of Malmo'ing it. Doubling as much as possible with runs under an hour except maybe 1.5 hours on Sunday. I'll have to look at the Joe Rubio chapter in "Run Strong" but I think it's pretty close to this philosophy. This is appealing, but doubling is tough on the schedule and running to work means running 10.5 miles, which takes me more than hour. I like running to work, which brings me to me last option.
Run to and from work a lot. I can fit this in with Lydiard mileage-building pretty easily and I'll save gas money, too! I also have this strange theory that back-to-back pm/am runs help with endurance with less injury risk than single long runs. The notional plan would be. Drive in Tu, run home; run in Wed, drive home; drive in Th, run home; run in Fr, drive home; run 10 miles Sat pm; run 15 Sun am; 5 miles Mon am. I figure that's about 75 in singles and I'd double if I went higher.
Ah, not running stuff makes you think too much. Maybe I'll run tomorrow morning.
Well, I haven't run a step since the marathon and I'm already been plotting my revenge. Some goals I have (in order of likely achievement) are
- sub-20 5K -- I think I can do this summer based on 32:45 8k and 7x800 in 3:09
- sub-7 minute pace HM
- BQ (3:15) -- I'll get there this Fall.
- 1:30 HM -- this is probably a ways off, but I have an outside chance in Sept
- sub-40 by 40 -- sub-40 10K by age 40. Maybe not achievable. I turn 37 next month, so I better hustle! Of course 41 minutes comes first. I have a soft PR of 47:21 in an actual 10K. I split 42:55 at Cherry Blossom. I figure I might be in 41:30 shape or better now based on the 8k.
So how and where do I get there?
I'm running a 5K a week from Saturday. It's not certified, but I'm call it a PR because I know the RD and he's as anal as I am. The training "plan" is to limit my runs to under an hour between now and then. I might double a day or two next week and I'll probably cave and break my rule on Sunday, but that's my plan!
For the all-consuming BQ, I'm considering the following options:
- 12 Oct - Steamtown. Can't beat -955', but it can be hot and I'd have to asterisk my BQ with the net drop. It's early enough though that I could run it and a backup race in late Nov.
- 15 Nov - Richmond. I understand it's supposed to be a pretty fair course. It was really hot a few years ago though and the route is exposed. Avg high 60. Record high 86!
- 23 Nov - Philadelphia. Supposed to be a pretty fast course. Couldn't be too hot. Avg high 51. Record for the day is 62. Record low of 21 might suck.
- 29 Nov - NCR trail marathon. Easy course. Last 2 are a bitch, but the first 24 are very easy. Pretty sheltered from sun and wind. Very unlikely to be hot. My only worry is rain/snow. Rain could cause trouble on parts of the course. Very convenient to home. Drive up that morning.
- 21 Jan - Carlsbad marathon. We're going to be in San Diego on vacation and I could run this. It looks beautiful. The weather should be good: avg low 46, avg high 61. It's San Diego, so the record high is only 73. The SD weather variance is very low. The course looks very difficult though.
I'm thinking of doing either a Steamtown/Nov backup or a Nov marathon/Carlsbad backup. I'm leaning towards Steamtown/NCR and running the half at Carslbad for kicks. Even if I BQ at Steamtown, I might have to run a legit BQ at NCR for peace of mind.
Marathon training? Man am I confused on this. There are several ways I can go. I've thought of just following the program in Ron Daws's book, "Running Your Best," which is basically straight Lydiard. This is a 6-month plan. Not sure how I work the two marathons in, but I can figure that out.
I've also thought about doing something completely different like Matt Fitzgerald's "Brain Training" book. I think the book is full of it with regards to be revolutionary or anything, but the notion of doing drills, strength training, fast repeats, etc. makes some sense to me, because I think I'm an incredibly weak runner. I have pretty good endurance, but no power. I was a completely sedentary never-was in his 30s when I started running and I've taken the long slow distance approach from the beginning.
I've also thought of Summer of Malmo'ing it. Doubling as much as possible with runs under an hour except maybe 1.5 hours on Sunday. I'll have to look at the Joe Rubio chapter in "Run Strong" but I think it's pretty close to this philosophy. This is appealing, but doubling is tough on the schedule and running to work means running 10.5 miles, which takes me more than hour. I like running to work, which brings me to me last option.
Run to and from work a lot. I can fit this in with Lydiard mileage-building pretty easily and I'll save gas money, too! I also have this strange theory that back-to-back pm/am runs help with endurance with less injury risk than single long runs. The notional plan would be. Drive in Tu, run home; run in Wed, drive home; drive in Th, run home; run in Fr, drive home; run 10 miles Sat pm; run 15 Sun am; 5 miles Mon am. I figure that's about 75 in singles and I'd double if I went higher.
Ah, not running stuff makes you think too much. Maybe I'll run tomorrow morning.
Monday, May 05, 2008
"memoir"
I was tagged by Mindi.
Rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play
It seems to me that Mindi and those who tagged her aren't using "memoir" in the dictionary sense, so I too will cheat and avoid the pain of writing a 6-word epitaph.
On the drive in to work, I was listening to Jackson Browne's Late For the Sky and heard the lyrics
From that, my brain pulled out my memoir: "Words don't mean much." I'll try not to make it auto-biographical.
Sorry, but Mindi tagged everybody on my running blogroll except hubitron and Joe Henderson. You think Joe would do it? I think I'll just be content to be a childless node on this social network graph. Hey, "childless node on the social network" has 6 words!
Rules:
1) Write your own six word memoir
2) Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you want
3) Link to the person that tagged you in your post, and to the original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4) Tag at least five more blogs with links
5) Leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play
It seems to me that Mindi and those who tagged her aren't using "memoir" in the dictionary sense, so I too will cheat and avoid the pain of writing a 6-word epitaph.
On the drive in to work, I was listening to Jackson Browne's Late For the Sky and heard the lyrics
Now for me some words come easy
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
But I know that they don't mean that much
Compared with the things that are said when lovers touch
From that, my brain pulled out my memoir: "Words don't mean much." I'll try not to make it auto-biographical.
Sorry, but Mindi tagged everybody on my running blogroll except hubitron and Joe Henderson. You think Joe would do it? I think I'll just be content to be a childless node on this social network graph. Hey, "childless node on the social network" has 6 words!
Sunday, May 04, 2008
not a day for a PR
... but I got one. No BQ -- not even close -- but still I'm pretty proud of this race. Mother nature and the course just weren't going to make a BQ possible.
I traveled up to Frederick the night before and stayed in a hotel. Halfway there I realized I left my Garmin, so I got a bonus hour of driving (and burned an extra $10 in gas). I didn't let it bother me though. Still, part of the motivation for getting a hotel was not having to drive 2+ hours on Saturday just to pick up my packet. How hard is race day pickup? Well, I got my stuff no problem at the expo.
At the expo, they had put little yellow stickies on the hilly part of the elevation map saying "it's not really that bad." I chatted with one of the pacers and got the "oh, it's the scale" response and I said something like "but that bump is over a 100 feet in mile 17." He smiled and say, "yeah, and in only half a mile." That's like a 4% grade. From the expo, I drove the hilly section of the course. Holy *****, are they **** kidding me? I figured I'd easily lose 3-5 minutes in here.
I checked the forecast and it was the same on Saturday night as it had been all week. A cold front was supposed to come through with some (possible thunder) showers, leaving low winds, low humidity, and temps in the low- to mid-60s.
I slept darn pretty well. I probably slept better than I did in California. (This marathon thing gets easier over time I think). I got my stuff on, went outside, looked up at the stars and said, "Where the *** are the clouds?" There was barely a cloud in the sky. Oh, crap. I think the cold front didn't come through overnight. The lack of cloud cover did bring lower temps though (it was 52 at the start). 52 or not, I knew with the hills, sun, and rising temperature in the second half though that I would slow considerably. If I wasn't running easily with the 3:10 pacer in the first half, I doubted I'd have a chance at 3:15.
I just decided to run my race. Before I got within shouting distance of a BQ, this was something I was pretty good at. I lined up between the 3:10 and 3:20 pacers and off we went. I started catching the 3:10 pacer in the first mile (and so did the 3:20 pacer), but I could tell he was slow. I hit the first mile at 7:35. After a couple of miles, the heart rate monitor had settled down and I stuck on 170 bpm. I kept steady at this effort in the first half letting my heart rate ease up to 172 at the half. The splits bounced around a little with the rolling hills (fastest 7:20, slowest 7:40).
A couple of things happened along the way in the first half. At mile 8, my right hip and upper quad starting to hurt. The pain didn't go away and started to grow. I very seriously considered dropping out at the half. The other thing that happened was wind came out of nowhere somewhere around mile 11? 12? Looking at wunderground, It went from "calm" at at 7:44am (race started at 6:30) to 11.5 mph gusting to 20.7 at 8:06 am (the next recording).
I hit the half at 1:38:39 (7:31 pace) and the real work began. It was getting pretty hot. It just got over 60 but there weren't many clouds and the sun was beating on our heads. We were also heading east with the wind at out back, which felt dead calm. I had some moments where I felt flush and realized I was going to have to manage my heat. I didn't let my my heart rate drift up quite like I normally would to keep pace at this point and my miles 13 through 16 were a little under 7:40. I also discovered a great trick. I would pour water on my head at each aid station which my semi-spongy Nike hat would soak up. It actually stayed pretty cold and I'd wipe my head and neck with when I felt hot. Worked great.
Mile 16. Uh oh. I just kept up the effort up the hills, but not letting myself red line. You just had to eat these minutes. At mile 18, the 3:20 pacer caught me. I thought I'd hold them off longer. They were running even splits, uphill and downhill. I'm glad I didn't run with them. I would put distance on them on the downhills and they'd catch me on the uphills. Finally at around 21 they left me for good on a long uphill. At a little shy of 22 we come back to the highway to head west back to the fairgrounds (map).
Holy crap, where did that **** wind come from? Checking wunderground, the 11.5 mph at our tail had turned into 20 gusting to 25 straight in our face! The rest of the race was just battling the wind and passing people. I got some miles in here back under 8, which I'm pretty proud of given the conditions. At mile 24, I witnessed the mile marker go down from the wind. This is one of those big wood easel-type markers. Boom. Down she goes. Running by the 24 mile mark at the time was coolrunner leitnerj, whom I subsequently passed about a half-mile later. I said hello and thought about running in with him just for grins, but my calves were starting to spasm and I thought they'd lock up if I slowed down. Plus, they call it a "race." I felt good to finish ahead of him since he's run 3:08, but of course he ran Boston 2 weeks ago, a 10K the day before Boston, and a tough 50-miler the week before that.
It was only 7:56, but I thought I ran mile 26 pretty nicely and even had a semi-sprint to get through the finish before it ticked over to 3:22.
This shows my time/place at the timing mats.
As you can see, I slowed down, but not as much as most people, and picked up places the whole way. I finished 75th last year, so I'll take it. 50th then was 3:17:47. I'd believe a 4 minute difference in course/conditions. It wasn't exactly easy last year either. They laid down all the mile markers before the race because of the wind. It was definitely windier but the course wasn't nearly as hilly and it was cooler and overcast.
Full splitsahol for my like-heart-rated friends.
7:35/157, 7:21/168, 7:31/170, 7:34/169, 7:26/170,
7:26/171, 7:23/171, 7:28/171, 7:34/171, 7:32/171,
7:26/172, 7:38/172, 7:43/172, 7:40/173, 7:31/173,
7:29/173, 8:04/173, 7:35/173, 8:14/174, 7:53/174,
7:42/173, 7:56/173, 7:57/174, 7:40/176, 8:10/176,
7:58/175, 2:24/180.
17 (8:04 mile) is the first "hill" mile. The mile markers must have been a little off because I was definitely better than 10 minute pace for the last 385 yards (definitely < 8 min/mi). My average heart rate was 172. I've raced 7 marathons with a HRM and I've average 172 or 173 in every one of them.
I traveled up to Frederick the night before and stayed in a hotel. Halfway there I realized I left my Garmin, so I got a bonus hour of driving (and burned an extra $10 in gas). I didn't let it bother me though. Still, part of the motivation for getting a hotel was not having to drive 2+ hours on Saturday just to pick up my packet. How hard is race day pickup? Well, I got my stuff no problem at the expo.
At the expo, they had put little yellow stickies on the hilly part of the elevation map saying "it's not really that bad." I chatted with one of the pacers and got the "oh, it's the scale" response and I said something like "but that bump is over a 100 feet in mile 17." He smiled and say, "yeah, and in only half a mile." That's like a 4% grade. From the expo, I drove the hilly section of the course. Holy *****, are they **** kidding me? I figured I'd easily lose 3-5 minutes in here.
I checked the forecast and it was the same on Saturday night as it had been all week. A cold front was supposed to come through with some (possible thunder) showers, leaving low winds, low humidity, and temps in the low- to mid-60s.
I slept darn pretty well. I probably slept better than I did in California. (This marathon thing gets easier over time I think). I got my stuff on, went outside, looked up at the stars and said, "Where the *** are the clouds?" There was barely a cloud in the sky. Oh, crap. I think the cold front didn't come through overnight. The lack of cloud cover did bring lower temps though (it was 52 at the start). 52 or not, I knew with the hills, sun, and rising temperature in the second half though that I would slow considerably. If I wasn't running easily with the 3:10 pacer in the first half, I doubted I'd have a chance at 3:15.
I just decided to run my race. Before I got within shouting distance of a BQ, this was something I was pretty good at. I lined up between the 3:10 and 3:20 pacers and off we went. I started catching the 3:10 pacer in the first mile (and so did the 3:20 pacer), but I could tell he was slow. I hit the first mile at 7:35. After a couple of miles, the heart rate monitor had settled down and I stuck on 170 bpm. I kept steady at this effort in the first half letting my heart rate ease up to 172 at the half. The splits bounced around a little with the rolling hills (fastest 7:20, slowest 7:40).
A couple of things happened along the way in the first half. At mile 8, my right hip and upper quad starting to hurt. The pain didn't go away and started to grow. I very seriously considered dropping out at the half. The other thing that happened was wind came out of nowhere somewhere around mile 11? 12? Looking at wunderground, It went from "calm" at at 7:44am (race started at 6:30) to 11.5 mph gusting to 20.7 at 8:06 am (the next recording).
I hit the half at 1:38:39 (7:31 pace) and the real work began. It was getting pretty hot. It just got over 60 but there weren't many clouds and the sun was beating on our heads. We were also heading east with the wind at out back, which felt dead calm. I had some moments where I felt flush and realized I was going to have to manage my heat. I didn't let my my heart rate drift up quite like I normally would to keep pace at this point and my miles 13 through 16 were a little under 7:40. I also discovered a great trick. I would pour water on my head at each aid station which my semi-spongy Nike hat would soak up. It actually stayed pretty cold and I'd wipe my head and neck with when I felt hot. Worked great.
Mile 16. Uh oh. I just kept up the effort up the hills, but not letting myself red line. You just had to eat these minutes. At mile 18, the 3:20 pacer caught me. I thought I'd hold them off longer. They were running even splits, uphill and downhill. I'm glad I didn't run with them. I would put distance on them on the downhills and they'd catch me on the uphills. Finally at around 21 they left me for good on a long uphill. At a little shy of 22 we come back to the highway to head west back to the fairgrounds (map).
Holy crap, where did that **** wind come from? Checking wunderground, the 11.5 mph at our tail had turned into 20 gusting to 25 straight in our face! The rest of the race was just battling the wind and passing people. I got some miles in here back under 8, which I'm pretty proud of given the conditions. At mile 24, I witnessed the mile marker go down from the wind. This is one of those big wood easel-type markers. Boom. Down she goes. Running by the 24 mile mark at the time was coolrunner leitnerj, whom I subsequently passed about a half-mile later. I said hello and thought about running in with him just for grins, but my calves were starting to spasm and I thought they'd lock up if I slowed down. Plus, they call it a "race." I felt good to finish ahead of him since he's run 3:08, but of course he ran Boston 2 weeks ago, a 10K the day before Boston, and a tough 50-miler the week before that.
It was only 7:56, but I thought I ran mile 26 pretty nicely and even had a semi-sprint to get through the finish before it ticked over to 3:22.
This shows my time/place at the timing mats.
| Distance | MAR |
| Clock Time | 3:21:57 |
| Chip Time | 3:21:50 |
| Overall Place | 50 / 923 |
| Gender Place | 44 / 581 |
| Division Place | 7 / 102 |
| Age Grade | 62% |
| Total Pace | 7:42/M |
| 6 5M Rank | 80 |
| 6 5M Time | 48:45 |
| 6 5M Pace | 7:30/M |
| 13 1M Rank | 70 |
| 13 1M Time | 1:38:39 |
| 13 1M Pace | 7:31/M |
| 21M Rank | 64 |
| 21M Time | 2:41:51 |
| 21M Pace | 7:42/M |
| 24M Rank | 56 |
| 24M Time | 3:04:25 |
| 24M Pace | 7:41/M |
| Finish Rank | 50 |
| Finish Time | 3:21:56 |
| Finish Pace | 7:42/M |
As you can see, I slowed down, but not as much as most people, and picked up places the whole way. I finished 75th last year, so I'll take it. 50th then was 3:17:47. I'd believe a 4 minute difference in course/conditions. It wasn't exactly easy last year either. They laid down all the mile markers before the race because of the wind. It was definitely windier but the course wasn't nearly as hilly and it was cooler and overcast.
Full splitsahol for my like-heart-rated friends.
7:35/157, 7:21/168, 7:31/170, 7:34/169, 7:26/170,
7:26/171, 7:23/171, 7:28/171, 7:34/171, 7:32/171,
7:26/172, 7:38/172, 7:43/172, 7:40/173, 7:31/173,
7:29/173, 8:04/173, 7:35/173, 8:14/174, 7:53/174,
7:42/173, 7:56/173, 7:57/174, 7:40/176, 8:10/176,
7:58/175, 2:24/180.
17 (8:04 mile) is the first "hill" mile. The mile markers must have been a little off because I was definitely better than 10 minute pace for the last 385 yards (definitely < 8 min/mi). My average heart rate was 172. I've raced 7 marathons with a HRM and I've average 172 or 173 in every one of them.
Friday, May 02, 2008
the travel grind
Just got back from San Diego. I ran 45 minutes on Monday before leaving for the airport. Did 45 on Tues, 90 on Wed, and 45 on Th. Early runs, all-day meetings, and unhealthy food at night while I caught up on the real work I wasn't getting done during the day -- life on the road. I managed to get to bed pretty early and felt good early in the week, but 8:45 on Monday slid to 9:30 last night before getting up at 4am for my 6:30 flight, on which I tried to rest as much as I could.
The forecast for Sunday hasn't changed -- low- to mid-60's and mostly cloudy. The wind has kicked up a little though and the cloud cover has dropped, which isn't good. My only real hope, and it isn't totally impossible, is that the speed work in the last few weeks has made me significantly faster.
Still though, I can run 35 secs per mile slower than Cherry Blossom and qualify. 35 secs slower than 10 mile pace seems like it should be pretty comfortable doesn't it? Of course, it's always comfortable at first until the miles wear away at you. You run harder but your splits are slower and you can't figure out why. It's such a strange race.
The forecast for Sunday hasn't changed -- low- to mid-60's and mostly cloudy. The wind has kicked up a little though and the cloud cover has dropped, which isn't good. My only real hope, and it isn't totally impossible, is that the speed work in the last few weeks has made me significantly faster.
Still though, I can run 35 secs per mile slower than Cherry Blossom and qualify. 35 secs slower than 10 mile pace seems like it should be pretty comfortable doesn't it? Of course, it's always comfortable at first until the miles wear away at you. You run harder but your splits are slower and you can't figure out why. It's such a strange race.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
the weather is looking...
...impossible. 59-65 degrees and 80% humidity. I don't see a BQ happening. Forget acclimating (not that I believe in it). It's been unusually cold for weeks and I haven't run in more than 50 degrees more than once or twice in the last couple of weeks. Ugh.
A little hope in the detailed forecast though. A front is coming through right during the race. The backside has cool weather and there's also the nugget below. Even though it's only a few days out, there seems to be a fair bit of uncertainty.
A little hope in the detailed forecast though. A front is coming through right during the race. The backside has cool weather and there's also the nugget below. Even though it's only a few days out, there seems to be a fair bit of uncertainty.
ACROSS NORTHERN MARYLAND...ESPECIALLY NORTH AND EAST OF BALTIMORE A
BACKDOOR FRONT MAY BUILD FAR ENOUGH SOUTH FOR SOMEWHAT COOLER
CONDITIONS. HOWEVER...GUIDANCE CONTINUES TO INDICATE THAT THE BULK
OF THE MARINE AIR BEHIND THIS FRONT WILL REMAIN NORTH AND EAST OF
OUR CWA.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
guess my time
I wasn't going to do it, but Adam suggested it, so what the hell -- guess my time for Sunday.
Here are the relevant data:
1. My marathon PR is 3:24:16. This was at last year's Frederick. The course has changed and will be significantly hillier. In that race, I went for the BQ for the first 3 miles before backing off (knowing it was undoable) and ran a positive split 1:38:54 (HM PR at the time!) first half and 1:45:22 second half. The weather was windy as hell (20 mph gusting to 30 at the end), but completely overcast and temps were great (50-57). I ran Cherry Blossom in 1:09:49 that year under perfect conditions, running a perfect race and not a second slower than I could have. My mileage leading up to that race was in the 55 mpw range.
2. Current weather forecast is 56 - 61 during the race, 70% humidity, 90% cloud cover, light winds, and a chance of rain (forecast seems to get better every day -- upper 60's and high cloud cover doesn't sound bad). I ran CB in 1:08:49 this year and didn't really kill myself doing it. I also ran an 8k in 32:45 on a similarly ideal course. The 8k was pretty damn windy though. CB was pretty windy, but the course only made it a factor for maybe a mile. My mileage this year is probably in the 65mpw range. I've had some low weeks for injury but a good number of 70+ mile weeks.
3. The only "indicator" workout I've done is 7x800 in 3:09 with 2:12-2:19 rest. This wasn't at all hard. I honestly think I've improved since CB. I had done nothing faster than MP until the week before CB except the aforementioned 8k. Last year, I started speedwork maybe 6 weeks before CB and improved dramatically over that time. I feel like I might be considerably faster than the 1:08:49 would indicate. Endurance and race day conditions are really the open questions.
4. My strategy is going to be to use feel, goal, and heart rate to find a pace. I'll push for goal pace if it doesn't make me hit 173 bpm (which I know won't work) or makes me feel like it's unsustainable. I'll go faster than goal pace if my heart rate is still 169/170 and I feel good. I really think I'm going to know 4 or 5 miles in whether it's possible and it will be a binary thing. I do believe there's a fair chance I'm going to look down and see 7:20 min/mi and 169 on the garmin at the same time.
5. Injuries. I picked up a twinge of the hamstring tendon thing again on Sunday and it's lingered through today, but I always have something taper week, so I'm not worried.
6. Optimism level. I honestly think I have about a greater than 25% chance of BQing, which is good enough to give myself a chance on race day mentally.
Guesses? Adam is in with 3:15:33. Mindi, the optimist, said 3:13 and change, which I'll call 3:13:30 unless she says otherwise. I'm not offended by non-BQ guesses (in fact, I think it's good motivation). Closest time -- no "Price is Right" scoring. Tie goes to the lower time.
What do you win? Any suggestions? I have some books I have two copies of. Does statistical mechanics or partial differential equations pique your interest? Maybe there's some other crap in my house I can get rid of :-)
Here are the relevant data:
1. My marathon PR is 3:24:16. This was at last year's Frederick. The course has changed and will be significantly hillier. In that race, I went for the BQ for the first 3 miles before backing off (knowing it was undoable) and ran a positive split 1:38:54 (HM PR at the time!) first half and 1:45:22 second half. The weather was windy as hell (20 mph gusting to 30 at the end), but completely overcast and temps were great (50-57). I ran Cherry Blossom in 1:09:49 that year under perfect conditions, running a perfect race and not a second slower than I could have. My mileage leading up to that race was in the 55 mpw range.
2. Current weather forecast is 56 - 61 during the race, 70% humidity, 90% cloud cover, light winds, and a chance of rain (forecast seems to get better every day -- upper 60's and high cloud cover doesn't sound bad). I ran CB in 1:08:49 this year and didn't really kill myself doing it. I also ran an 8k in 32:45 on a similarly ideal course. The 8k was pretty damn windy though. CB was pretty windy, but the course only made it a factor for maybe a mile. My mileage this year is probably in the 65mpw range. I've had some low weeks for injury but a good number of 70+ mile weeks.
3. The only "indicator" workout I've done is 7x800 in 3:09 with 2:12-2:19 rest. This wasn't at all hard. I honestly think I've improved since CB. I had done nothing faster than MP until the week before CB except the aforementioned 8k. Last year, I started speedwork maybe 6 weeks before CB and improved dramatically over that time. I feel like I might be considerably faster than the 1:08:49 would indicate. Endurance and race day conditions are really the open questions.
4. My strategy is going to be to use feel, goal, and heart rate to find a pace. I'll push for goal pace if it doesn't make me hit 173 bpm (which I know won't work) or makes me feel like it's unsustainable. I'll go faster than goal pace if my heart rate is still 169/170 and I feel good. I really think I'm going to know 4 or 5 miles in whether it's possible and it will be a binary thing. I do believe there's a fair chance I'm going to look down and see 7:20 min/mi and 169 on the garmin at the same time.
5. Injuries. I picked up a twinge of the hamstring tendon thing again on Sunday and it's lingered through today, but I always have something taper week, so I'm not worried.
6. Optimism level. I honestly think I have about a greater than 25% chance of BQing, which is good enough to give myself a chance on race day mentally.
Guesses? Adam is in with 3:15:33. Mindi, the optimist, said 3:13 and change, which I'll call 3:13:30 unless she says otherwise. I'm not offended by non-BQ guesses (in fact, I think it's good motivation). Closest time -- no "Price is Right" scoring. Tie goes to the lower time.
What do you win? Any suggestions? I have some books I have two copies of. Does statistical mechanics or partial differential equations pique your interest? Maybe there's some other crap in my house I can get rid of :-)
Monday, April 28, 2008
Let's obsess about weather
Yesterday, today, tomorrow, the day after -- isn't supposed to get above 60. 48 and raining when I ran this morning. Can you believe that? Marathon day? Oh, good old accuweather says the high is 77. Ugh. I shopped over at wunderground and they have a high of 67, so I'm buying from them. National weather service has the same basically (wunderground just republishes). 55 at 6am (start at 6:30) and 62 at 10am (hopefully, I cross before 9:45!). 67% sky cover. 62 degrees would feel damn warm after 26 miles I think. If it were a 5K, I'd say "great!" Unfortunately, it's not. Just run my race...
Sunday, April 27, 2008
week of 21 April
I went out for a 2-hour run today. Turned around at 59:30 because I didn't want to cross a big puddle and came back a little faster. Total was 1:56:45, 13.5 miles, 8:38 min/mi, 143 bpm average. I was feeling OK, thinking if the weather is like this next week that maybe I have a chance. Even 55 and humid didn't feel great. The winter makes you such a wimp. I haven't had much time to acclimate either, spending last week running in the desert (40 degrees and about 0% humidity). Accuweather predicts Saturday night to be 53 and overcast and marathon Sunday's high to be 73 with times of cloud and sun. Fortunately the race starts at 6:30am, so that might mean <60 and overcast, which I'd take (I really fear the sun as much as the temperature).
I thought about what an absolute bitch the marathon is. It's easy to look at these tables and see what you should be able to run, but you actually have to go out there and run it. You only get a couple of cracks a year and to meet your potential everything has to go your way on that day. I'm not sure I'm up to another 6 months of this, so here's hoping it happens 4 May.
I've also become concerned, some might say obsessed, with those hills from miles 16 to 23. I know the graph distorts things, but that's rolling your way up 200 feet(!) in a couple of miles. Geez. Looking back at last year's elevation profile, it's nothing close. I've got to bank at least a little time before then, I think. How much? I think that section has to be worth *minutes.* I've even entertained the idea of going out with the 3:10 pacer. I think I've settled on just running by heart rate. I really had this down to a science before I started chasing BQs. Running 169/170 bpm early will probably lead to a nice even effort race. 173s will lead to losing 9 minutes in the last 8 miles like at MCM. The trouble is going to be the middle ground. If I'm running 7:25s at 170, do I push the pace a little to bank time or hope for a herculean effort in the second half through the hills? (By the way, I hope I don't read this in a week after 8:00s push me to 170 from the get go! That has happened before.)
Enough anxiety, here's what went down this week:
Mo - 5 easy
Tu - 10.4 - 28 wup, 3 x (9t/2e), 25 cdn
We - 5 easy
Th - 5 easy
Fr - 11.5 - 19 wup, 7x800 w/400m rest, 38 cdn - 800's in 3:09, rests in 2:12-2:19
Sa - 5 easy
Su - 13.5 pretty easy - 8:38/143
Week: 55 miles, 8:30 /mi, 148 bpm
I thought about what an absolute bitch the marathon is. It's easy to look at these tables and see what you should be able to run, but you actually have to go out there and run it. You only get a couple of cracks a year and to meet your potential everything has to go your way on that day. I'm not sure I'm up to another 6 months of this, so here's hoping it happens 4 May.
I've also become concerned, some might say obsessed, with those hills from miles 16 to 23. I know the graph distorts things, but that's rolling your way up 200 feet(!) in a couple of miles. Geez. Looking back at last year's elevation profile, it's nothing close. I've got to bank at least a little time before then, I think. How much? I think that section has to be worth *minutes.* I've even entertained the idea of going out with the 3:10 pacer. I think I've settled on just running by heart rate. I really had this down to a science before I started chasing BQs. Running 169/170 bpm early will probably lead to a nice even effort race. 173s will lead to losing 9 minutes in the last 8 miles like at MCM. The trouble is going to be the middle ground. If I'm running 7:25s at 170, do I push the pace a little to bank time or hope for a herculean effort in the second half through the hills? (By the way, I hope I don't read this in a week after 8:00s push me to 170 from the get go! That has happened before.)
Enough anxiety, here's what went down this week:
Mo - 5 easy
Tu - 10.4 - 28 wup, 3 x (9t/2e), 25 cdn
We - 5 easy
Th - 5 easy
Fr - 11.5 - 19 wup, 7x800 w/400m rest, 38 cdn - 800's in 3:09, rests in 2:12-2:19
Sa - 5 easy
Su - 13.5 pretty easy - 8:38/143
Week: 55 miles, 8:30 /mi, 148 bpm
Friday, April 25, 2008
Is 3:09 a lucky number?
No, that's not my marathon time! It's just what I was locked into at the track this morning.
My alarm went off on time at 5:00am. I turned it off and then the next thing I know I'm jolting myself awake at 5:29. Oh crap. I shave, brush, my teeth, use the "facilities," and am pulling away from the curb at 5:40 -- 10 minutes behind schedule but not a bad recovery.
I took the direct route to the track to make up some time. I had plenty of time before work started, but I was worried there might be some conflict (track practice or something) if I hung around later than I did last week. So after a relatively short 19 minute warmup I started my intervals. I wasn't sure what I was going to run until I got to the track. I read about a multi-paced workout from Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training book (it's not terrible if you ignore all the claims of originality) that was 3k at HM, 90 sec jog, 2k at 10k pace, 90 sec jog, 1k at 5k pace, 90 sec jog, and 800m at 3k pace. I thought it was pretty interesting, but I already did a tempo run this week and I figured this would give me a whole lot of VO2max time, which I felt like was the right thing to do at this stage. Also, I've done 800s before and had some history that might help me mentally if I had a good workout. Plus, Benji Durden has these in his plan and I'm not going to argue with Benji.
Other than not being able to count to 8 (I only did 7), the workout went great. The intervals (time/peak hr) were: 3:09/175, 3:09/177, 3:09/178, 3:09/179, 3:09/182, 3:08/183, 3:09/184. Pretty consistent. I actually hit the lap button early on the 3:08! I put my finger there to get ready and accidentally hit it (about 2 strides early). These weren't really hard and I feel I could have done another easily and probably 2 more with a little more difficulty. The rests were 400m in (time/min hr): 2:12/142, 2:14/144, 2:14/151, 2:15/150, 2:15/155, and 2:19/154. My heart rate recovered nicely, which is another indicator this wasn't killing me. I normally don't like to cooldown too long after intervals because I don't like the awkward feeling of running on "hardened" legs, but I felt find and went the long way home -- 4.33 miles/8:48 pace/150 bpm AHR. Again my heart rate was decently low for the cooldown considering I did intervals.
Does this mean anything? Well, I think it means I'm in sub-20 5K shape. I'm not sure what it means for the marathon though. Last fall I did 6x0.5 miles on a 10 laps per mile crushed gravel track in slower on average times (3:17/174, 3:13/179, 3:11/181, 3:09/183, 3:11/183, and 3:11/184) with similar peak heart rates, but much lower recovery heart rates (last was 146). My rests were considerably longer then though (2:36, 2:34, 2:23, 2:45, and 2:31). This overanalysis has been brought to you by the letter "A."
Continuing the obsessive compulsive trend, I'll note that Accuweather forecasts an overnight low of 50 and high of 63 and raining on marathon day. 50's and cloudy? I'll take it. Might be muggy though and running in wet shoes would suck. Still, it's better than 70's and sunshine. Of course, it's 10 days out and a magic 8 ball would do better than accuweather.
By the way, positive vibes going to Joseph for tomorrow's 5K. Remember to run 16:59 and not a second slower or faster. I must have those pictures.
My alarm went off on time at 5:00am. I turned it off and then the next thing I know I'm jolting myself awake at 5:29. Oh crap. I shave, brush, my teeth, use the "facilities," and am pulling away from the curb at 5:40 -- 10 minutes behind schedule but not a bad recovery.
I took the direct route to the track to make up some time. I had plenty of time before work started, but I was worried there might be some conflict (track practice or something) if I hung around later than I did last week. So after a relatively short 19 minute warmup I started my intervals. I wasn't sure what I was going to run until I got to the track. I read about a multi-paced workout from Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training book (it's not terrible if you ignore all the claims of originality) that was 3k at HM, 90 sec jog, 2k at 10k pace, 90 sec jog, 1k at 5k pace, 90 sec jog, and 800m at 3k pace. I thought it was pretty interesting, but I already did a tempo run this week and I figured this would give me a whole lot of VO2max time, which I felt like was the right thing to do at this stage. Also, I've done 800s before and had some history that might help me mentally if I had a good workout. Plus, Benji Durden has these in his plan and I'm not going to argue with Benji.
Other than not being able to count to 8 (I only did 7), the workout went great. The intervals (time/peak hr) were: 3:09/175, 3:09/177, 3:09/178, 3:09/179, 3:09/182, 3:08/183, 3:09/184. Pretty consistent. I actually hit the lap button early on the 3:08! I put my finger there to get ready and accidentally hit it (about 2 strides early). These weren't really hard and I feel I could have done another easily and probably 2 more with a little more difficulty. The rests were 400m in (time/min hr): 2:12/142, 2:14/144, 2:14/151, 2:15/150, 2:15/155, and 2:19/154. My heart rate recovered nicely, which is another indicator this wasn't killing me. I normally don't like to cooldown too long after intervals because I don't like the awkward feeling of running on "hardened" legs, but I felt find and went the long way home -- 4.33 miles/8:48 pace/150 bpm AHR. Again my heart rate was decently low for the cooldown considering I did intervals.
Does this mean anything? Well, I think it means I'm in sub-20 5K shape. I'm not sure what it means for the marathon though. Last fall I did 6x0.5 miles on a 10 laps per mile crushed gravel track in slower on average times (3:17/174, 3:13/179, 3:11/181, 3:09/183, 3:11/183, and 3:11/184) with similar peak heart rates, but much lower recovery heart rates (last was 146). My rests were considerably longer then though (2:36, 2:34, 2:23, 2:45, and 2:31). This overanalysis has been brought to you by the letter "A."
Continuing the obsessive compulsive trend, I'll note that Accuweather forecasts an overnight low of 50 and high of 63 and raining on marathon day. 50's and cloudy? I'll take it. Might be muggy though and running in wet shoes would suck. Still, it's better than 70's and sunshine. Of course, it's 10 days out and a magic 8 ball would do better than accuweather.
By the way, positive vibes going to Joseph for tomorrow's 5K. Remember to run 16:59 and not a second slower or faster. I must have those pictures.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Went to California (again)
After doing my 18 in the rain with 10 at marathon pace on Sunday, I was packing my bags to head out to the California desert again. Sitting on a plane for 6+ hours (laying over in Atlanta) is great right after a hard long run!
I did an easy 5 on Monday. Just an out and back along the road my hotel was on. Later in the day, I discovered a bike path that runs along a train track and decided to do my Tuesday run there. The plan was to do the Benji Durden tempo -- 28 minute wup, 3 x (9 minutes tempo/2 minutes easy), 28 minute cdn.
On Tuesday, I ran east the bike path and then turned north onto the bike path. It's generally windy as the sun rises in the desert and especially so in the spring. I looked at the garmin at saw low 8 minute pace and a low heart rate and knew the wind was at my back. At 28 minutes, I turned back south and into the wind for my first 9 minute tempo section.
I was running what I thought was tempo effort but only saw ~7:10 on the garmin and knew I ran 6:53 pace at the 10-miler, so I picked it up some. I looked to my left at the rising sun while I was running and authored this bit of doggerel:
The wind rises with the spring desert sun and I rise with it.
Pride being what it is I worked down to 6:58 pace for the interval and my heart rate hit 176 bpm -- not really that high. My heart rate recovered nicely to 145 before I started the next tempo section. Four minutes into the next section, I turned around and the wind was now at my back and I was flying. My 7 minute pace dropped to 6:43 for the interval. This interval was also a lot easier. The next one started with the wind, and was easily under my 6:50 pace with my HR only at 170. I increase the effort and got my heart rate up to 179 and pace down to 6:32(!) before turning into the wind after seven minutes. The next two minutes, I kept my HR at 179 and my average lap pace dropped to 6:40! They should run a point-to-point marathon on this bike path! The downwind legs were like doing downhill turnover work without the pounding -- very nice.
I did an easy 5 before driving to the airport. Got in late last night, so only did an easy 5 this morning. I'm planning to do a workout tomorrow -- probably 6-8 x 800 @5K w/ 400m rest. That will be my last workout except maybe 2 marathon pace miles next week. Not sure 800's are the best though. Maybe 1200's @5K? Or should I repeat last Friday w/1600's @ 10K pace? Any advice out there in blog land? I don't think it makes a big difference anyway at this point. My other thought was to do 14 @ 8:00 min/mi (MP + 30 secs).
I've begun my weather obsession. Even the little bit of heat this morning (just above 60 and high humidity) affected me. I looked at accuweather a couple days ago and the prediction was a high of 80 for marathon day. Of course, this far out, tea leaves might be more accurate, but if it's a high of 80, then I have zero chance. Who decided to run a hilly marathon in May? I guess that was me. (By the way, this hills aren't really my fault. They didn't announce the new course until a month or two ago after I'd already signed up. Last year, the course was pretty fair -- about like Marine Corps.)
I did an easy 5 on Monday. Just an out and back along the road my hotel was on. Later in the day, I discovered a bike path that runs along a train track and decided to do my Tuesday run there. The plan was to do the Benji Durden tempo -- 28 minute wup, 3 x (9 minutes tempo/2 minutes easy), 28 minute cdn.
On Tuesday, I ran east the bike path and then turned north onto the bike path. It's generally windy as the sun rises in the desert and especially so in the spring. I looked at the garmin at saw low 8 minute pace and a low heart rate and knew the wind was at my back. At 28 minutes, I turned back south and into the wind for my first 9 minute tempo section.
I was running what I thought was tempo effort but only saw ~7:10 on the garmin and knew I ran 6:53 pace at the 10-miler, so I picked it up some. I looked to my left at the rising sun while I was running and authored this bit of doggerel:
The wind rises with the spring desert sun and I rise with it.
Pride being what it is I worked down to 6:58 pace for the interval and my heart rate hit 176 bpm -- not really that high. My heart rate recovered nicely to 145 before I started the next tempo section. Four minutes into the next section, I turned around and the wind was now at my back and I was flying. My 7 minute pace dropped to 6:43 for the interval. This interval was also a lot easier. The next one started with the wind, and was easily under my 6:50 pace with my HR only at 170. I increase the effort and got my heart rate up to 179 and pace down to 6:32(!) before turning into the wind after seven minutes. The next two minutes, I kept my HR at 179 and my average lap pace dropped to 6:40! They should run a point-to-point marathon on this bike path! The downwind legs were like doing downhill turnover work without the pounding -- very nice.
I did an easy 5 before driving to the airport. Got in late last night, so only did an easy 5 this morning. I'm planning to do a workout tomorrow -- probably 6-8 x 800 @5K w/ 400m rest. That will be my last workout except maybe 2 marathon pace miles next week. Not sure 800's are the best though. Maybe 1200's @5K? Or should I repeat last Friday w/1600's @ 10K pace? Any advice out there in blog land? I don't think it makes a big difference anyway at this point. My other thought was to do 14 @ 8:00 min/mi (MP + 30 secs).
I've begun my weather obsession. Even the little bit of heat this morning (just above 60 and high humidity) affected me. I looked at accuweather a couple days ago and the prediction was a high of 80 for marathon day. Of course, this far out, tea leaves might be more accurate, but if it's a high of 80, then I have zero chance. Who decided to run a hilly marathon in May? I guess that was me. (By the way, this hills aren't really my fault. They didn't announce the new course until a month or two ago after I'd already signed up. Last year, the course was pretty fair -- about like Marine Corps.)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
week of 13 April
Saturday and Sunday made for a strange end to an otherwise positive week. I was really encourage by the mile repeats on Friday and then I ran in the mid-day heat (80 degrees) yesterday for my "easy" 5. The easy 5 was 9:05 min/mi and 154 bpm average. Ugh. Today I planned to do 8 warmup/easy, 8 at marathon effort, 2 cooldown. A thunderstorm came through though and scared the hell out of me (there weren't a lot of Mississippis between flash and boom as I'm running on an open bike path next to a highway), so I "booked" it up the steep last two miles to my house. The pace vs heart rate was pretty demoralizing although I had one nice 7:21/170 mile in there (I climbed over a hill in the middle, but it was a -50 feet net downhill). Without further ado,
Here's the week:
Two weeks to go. No more long runs!
- warmup/easy 8.00 miles/9:13/~138bpm
- 8:04/152, 7:33/166, 7:38/169, 7:25/168, 8:03/169, 7:41/168, 7:21/170, 7:45/171, 8:10/169, 8:01/170 (can you spot the hills?)
Here's the week:
- Mo - 5
- Tu - 6 am; 6 pm
- We - 5 @ 8:21/156
- Th - 5
- Fr - 11 w/ 4x1600m 400m jog am; 3 pm
- Sa - 5 @ 9:05/154 -- noon, 80 degrees, blue skies
- Su - 8 w/up, 1 at 8:04/152, 9 at 7:51/169
Two weeks to go. No more long runs!
Friday, April 18, 2008
Get thee to a track
The title comes (if I recall correctly) from a Chris Russell article that I can't seem to find a link to. The point of the article was about eating peas or doing speedwork to get faster. I can't remember which, so I decide to get try and get myself to a track. (By the way, I find this article of his hysterical and strangely noble. It's definitely one only a runner could sympathize with, especially the exchange with the doctor. I had this one recently: "Your muscle enzymes are high in you bloodwork. How far did you run yesterday?" "20." "Have you been taking advil?" "Like candy.")
The pain around my ankle has become less widespread and I decided to see how I felt after a warmup mile. I could hardly feel it at all, so I continued on to a track a friend told me about. It was perfect. A very nice surface and I had it all to myself. The plan was to do 4 x 1600m w/400m rest. I figured I'd do something a little slower than 10k pace. My 10k pace around 6:40 now (41:30) based on my 10-mile time. That's conveniently about 100 secs a lap. I ran the 10-miler at 6:53, so I didn't want to go that slow.
The whole thing went like this
I snuck in another 30 minutes tonight during my daughter's soccer practice and discovered a new trail! I was running on a popular bike path and saw this sign, saying "Nature Trail." I scampered down the hill and there was this paved path along a nice stream with flowers and even some benches. How cool is that? The path only ran about a little more than mile, but it felt like finding hidden treasure.
The pain around my ankle has become less widespread and I decided to see how I felt after a warmup mile. I could hardly feel it at all, so I continued on to a track a friend told me about. It was perfect. A very nice surface and I had it all to myself. The plan was to do 4 x 1600m w/400m rest. I figured I'd do something a little slower than 10k pace. My 10k pace around 6:40 now (41:30) based on my 10-mile time. That's conveniently about 100 secs a lap. I ran the 10-miler at 6:53, so I didn't want to go that slow.
The whole thing went like this
- 37 minute warmup -- ~8:45 pace, which is a little faster than normal for a warmup
- 1600m repeats were 6:32/181 MaxHR, 6:35/184, 6:34/187, 6:36/186 and the 400m recoveries were 2:13/154 MinHR, 2:13/159, and 2:20/156.
- 20 minute cooldown
- Total was 90 minutes, 11.1 miles, 160 bpm average. Is it me or does 90 minutes seem like the perfect time for a workout run?
I snuck in another 30 minutes tonight during my daughter's soccer practice and discovered a new trail! I was running on a popular bike path and saw this sign, saying "Nature Trail." I scampered down the hill and there was this paved path along a nice stream with flowers and even some benches. How cool is that? The path only ran about a little more than mile, but it felt like finding hidden treasure.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
I wish I hadn't read this
I was worried about the hilly second half of the marathon course after looking at the elevation profile. I reasoned though that the climbs were similar to the beginning of Marine Corps. Still, I was worried that maybe these weren't the steady climbs of MCM, but maybe it was rolling hills up and rolling hills down. Well, I found this on the marathon's message board,
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
didn't want to plod...
...but didn't want to hurt myself. I figured too many completely easy runs were bad for the soul, so I ran a little faster. About 1.3 miles in, I decide to do one loop (2.9 miles) a little faster. I didn't have a pace in mind and didn't want to hurt myself, but I felt like I just eased up to marathon effort up the last hill. Looking at my downloaded hr, I see that I did indeed hit 169 at the top of the last hill. Anyway, the mile splits for today run were 9:16/???, 8:12/146, 8:02/153, 7:48/160, and 8:25/152. Only the 8:02 and 7:48 are completely within the "fast" loop. It felt very easy and the heart rate was relatively low, so I'm happy about that. The whole thing is hilly also and the 7:48 is a net uphill.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
6 easy am; 6 easy pm
I would normally do 12 today and was hoping to do 12 with 5:00 hard/5:00 easy in the middle. Unfortunately, my body wouldn't cooperate. I decided to limit myself (again) to < 1hr runs. I ran 6 in the morning and 6 at night -- both easy. The "ankle" seems to be whatever muscle/tendon you stretch when you pull up on the pinky toe-side of your foot. Fortunately it isn't my achilles, but you use whatever those muscles are to either side to stabilize and also put some load on them with each step. I *think* I'll be all right.
I'm bummed I can't get a good workout in, but I'm happy to be running at all. I only have a little more than 2.5 weeks until the marathon. I was hoping for some final sharpening to get me over the hump, but I'm not sure that will happen.
I'm bummed I can't get a good workout in, but I'm happy to be running at all. I only have a little more than 2.5 weeks until the marathon. I was hoping for some final sharpening to get me over the hump, but I'm not sure that will happen.
Monday, April 14, 2008
5 easy - ice on my ankle
I failed to mention that I tweaked some tendon/calf muscle/who the hell knows what on Sunday. It's behind my "inside ankle." I'd say it was peroneal tendonitis if it were on the outside, but it's not, so it isn't. I did it at about mile 10 yesterday and instead of being smart and thoroughly walking it off yesterday, I took a couple of steps and pressed on. The pain dulled and I thought I was OK.
I felt it with the first step this morning but decided to give it a mile. It "dulled" again and I didn't have a problem finishing the run. Hopefully this is one of those things. I have to retake my cholesterol test on Thursday and have been told not to run for 3 days before (I laughed out loud) because I flunked the muscle enzyme portion. I'm taking this to mean 5 miles on We and Th and my normal 12 w/ something fast on Tuesday. With this injury I'd love to shift my workouts to We/Fr, but then I'd flunk again and the doc will be pissed. Instead I'll attempt my 12 tomorrow. I'll leave out the hard stuff if I don't feel up to it. Doctors...
I felt it with the first step this morning but decided to give it a mile. It "dulled" again and I didn't have a problem finishing the run. Hopefully this is one of those things. I have to retake my cholesterol test on Thursday and have been told not to run for 3 days before (I laughed out loud) because I flunked the muscle enzyme portion. I'm taking this to mean 5 miles on We and Th and my normal 12 w/ something fast on Tuesday. With this injury I'd love to shift my workouts to We/Fr, but then I'd flunk again and the doc will be pissed. Instead I'll attempt my 12 tomorrow. I'll leave out the hard stuff if I don't feel up to it. Doctors...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
week of 7 April
I did my standard "20 mile" run plus a little tacked on to get to 2h58m. (I was doing an out and back to get to 3 hours, but turned early when I decided this exercise was silly.) I thought about driving to Frederick for the group run, but getting up at 5am to drive up lost its luster last night and I decide not to.
It turned out to be a great day to run around the lake. The temperature was very nice -- a steady 55 degrees for the whole run. Spring officially arrived for runners as the water fountains are back on. Spring arrived for the little kids as the miniature train is running again. There were lots of cute kids out. I smiled at one two-year-old who responded, "Hi girl!"
I planned to do this at "Benji pace." He gives long run paces based on 10K times. My 8k is worth about a 41:30, which put me between 8:40 and 8:52 on his chart. According to SportTracks, my pace was 8:45 and avg hr 150. I have a strange history of running, without trying, my last 20-miler at ~149 bpm average. It gives a nice point of comparison. Here are the last 3 pre-marathon 20-milers (3 weeks before the race, all on the same route).
I'm going to declare the above analysis my official kickoff to taper madness.
The week that was
It turned out to be a great day to run around the lake. The temperature was very nice -- a steady 55 degrees for the whole run. Spring officially arrived for runners as the water fountains are back on. Spring arrived for the little kids as the miniature train is running again. There were lots of cute kids out. I smiled at one two-year-old who responded, "Hi girl!"
I planned to do this at "Benji pace." He gives long run paces based on 10K times. My 8k is worth about a 41:30, which put me between 8:40 and 8:52 on his chart. According to SportTracks, my pace was 8:45 and avg hr 150. I have a strange history of running, without trying, my last 20-miler at ~149 bpm average. It gives a nice point of comparison. Here are the last 3 pre-marathon 20-milers (3 weeks before the race, all on the same route).
- 3:05:23/148 (9:16 pace) -- at Frederick 07, ran 3:24:16 (7:47 pace)
- 2:54:19/149 (8:43 pace), 70 degrees, 90% humidity -- at MCM 07, ran 3:27:34 (7:55 pace), but 3:15 pace through 18 miles.
- 2:53:17/150 (8:40 pace), 55 degrees -- ????
I'm going to declare the above analysis my official kickoff to taper madness.
The week that was
- Mo - 5.0/9:02/140
- Tu - 5.0/9:02/136
- We - 12.0/8:20/??? - forgot Garmin, fartlek with sections of 0.9, 1.4, 0.4 and 1.0 miles at between 10k and 10-mile pace
- Th - 5.0/9:02/138
- Fr - 14.0/8:22/146 w/ last 5 at MP
- Sa - 8.7/9:43/140 -- 3:30 pm, 74 degrees, gallowalked 10 on/1 off
- Su - 20.4/8:45/150
Saturday, April 12, 2008
74 degrees
I waited until the afternoon to run because I'm planning to do the same 8 pm; 20 am "double" I did a couple of weeks ago. I gallowalked the 8 miles this afternoon but it was still a little more than I bargained for since it was 74 degrees and pretty humid, too (dp of 56). It was 68 at 6am. Anything like that on 4 May and I'm screwed. It really makes me wonder if I just would have been better running a mid-March marathon. I certainly haven't improved enough to make up for the likely difference in weather. At least they moved the start up to 6:30 this year. I looked at 4 May temp at 9:45 for the last few years: 61, 73, 52, 52, 54. I'll take one of those 52s. Please, no 73!
By the way, Michael Wardian won the Mad City 100k today in 6:56:57 which is 6:46 per mile. I'm happy to say I think I could run 1 of those 10k loops at that pace. 10 would be a little tough though.
Joseph ran a PR 10K today.
I've been hitting refresh on the Chippewa50k but no results. We need to know about our man Adam!
By the way, Michael Wardian won the Mad City 100k today in 6:56:57 which is 6:46 per mile. I'm happy to say I think I could run 1 of those 10k loops at that pace. 10 would be a little tough though.
Joseph ran a PR 10K today.
I've been hitting refresh on the Chippewa50k but no results. We need to know about our man Adam!
Friday, April 11, 2008
14 miler fitness test
I did 14 miles with the last 5 at marathon effort today. I've done this 4 times.
.............7 Feb....15 Feb...6 Mar....11 Apr
Mile 10.... 7:49/150 7:31/160 7:28/166 7:32/158
Mile 11.... 7:41/160 7:41/164 7:38/169 7:31/163
Mile 12.... 7:37/157 7:27/167 7:21/168 7:23/165
Mile 13.... 7:30/169 7:46/170 7:52/171 7:39/169
Mile 14.... 7:23/167 7:24/171 7:45/172 7:46/169
Miles 10-14 7:38/161 7:34/166 7:36/168 7:34/165
Miles 1-14. 8:40/145 8:27/149 8:19/153 8:22/149
(I threw out mile 1 in calculating avg hr for miles 1-14 since it's screwy in the first mile before I break a sweat.)
What does this say? I'm not sure. 7 Feb blows away the others to the extent that I wonder if my HRM was working (or maybe I was on EPO). Today was much better than 6 March and better than 15 Feb as well. I ran this more like I would the first 5 miles of a marathon. This was a sustainable pace. I can't get hit 170 that early like in the previous runs or I'd end in a death march.
The overall result is somewhat discouraging because I need my Garmin pace to be ~7:22 to run 7:27 and I only averaged 7:34. My route is quite hilly though. I'll shoot the race director if Frederick is that hilly. I'd show you the Garmin data but GPS altitude absolutely sucks. (My T6 had an awesome baro altimeter.) Besides the hopefully better terrain, I think I still have some room for improvement with my little bit of sharpening planned. Still if the weather is the least bit warm then I'm screwed. You have to love the marathon.
.............7 Feb....15 Feb...6 Mar....11 Apr
Mile 10.... 7:49/150 7:31/160 7:28/166 7:32/158
Mile 11.... 7:41/160 7:41/164 7:38/169 7:31/163
Mile 12.... 7:37/157 7:27/167 7:21/168 7:23/165
Mile 13.... 7:30/169 7:46/170 7:52/171 7:39/169
Mile 14.... 7:23/167 7:24/171 7:45/172 7:46/169
Miles 10-14 7:38/161 7:34/166 7:36/168 7:34/165
Miles 1-14. 8:40/145 8:27/149 8:19/153 8:22/149
(I threw out mile 1 in calculating avg hr for miles 1-14 since it's screwy in the first mile before I break a sweat.)
What does this say? I'm not sure. 7 Feb blows away the others to the extent that I wonder if my HRM was working (or maybe I was on EPO). Today was much better than 6 March and better than 15 Feb as well. I ran this more like I would the first 5 miles of a marathon. This was a sustainable pace. I can't get hit 170 that early like in the previous runs or I'd end in a death march.
The overall result is somewhat discouraging because I need my Garmin pace to be ~7:22 to run 7:27 and I only averaged 7:34. My route is quite hilly though. I'll shoot the race director if Frederick is that hilly. I'd show you the Garmin data but GPS altitude absolutely sucks. (My T6 had an awesome baro altimeter.) Besides the hopefully better terrain, I think I still have some room for improvement with my little bit of sharpening planned. Still if the weather is the least bit warm then I'm screwed. You have to love the marathon.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
5 easy
In this letsrun thread, malmo mentions the "magneto loop" -- a route you can run in your sleep and probably have. Mine has always been the 2.93-mile loop in my neighborhood. I've become comfortable with a route that has me run it one and a "half" times for 5.0 miles. I ran it Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (today) this week. My times: 45:08, 45:09, and 45:07. I never planned on a particular pace and only glanced at the Garmin occasionally. Now that's magneto. (Heart rate comparison from the last two above. My HRM is always messed up the first mile before I sweat and I couldn't put the third run on there because Garmin training center only lets you compare two at a time.)
Tomorrow's kind of a big run I think. I'm doing 14 with the last 5 at marathon pace. I've done this a few times before I'm curious to see how my pace/heart rate will compare.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
only 30 miles in 5 days
I decided to take an extra easy day after the race. Normally, I'd do 12 on Tuesday, but I just did another 5 and plan to do 12 on Wed and 14 on Fri (sliding by a day). With the two easy days before the race and the two easy days after, I've only done 30 miles over 5 days. I feel like a complete slug, but I think it was probably a wise decision.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm thinking of doing something like a set of 5 hard/5 easy in the middle or some kind of fartlek. I'm still a little concerned about my hamstring tendon/knee thing though, so I'll play it by ear.
They're having a supported 20-mile run on part of the marathon course on Sunday, so I'm planning on doing that. I hope to do the 20 a little faster than I have my other long runs -- maybe something like 8:45 pace. That would be easier with some company.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm thinking of doing something like a set of 5 hard/5 easy in the middle or some kind of fartlek. I'm still a little concerned about my hamstring tendon/knee thing though, so I'll play it by ear.
They're having a supported 20-mile run on part of the marathon course on Sunday, so I'm planning on doing that. I hope to do the 20 a little faster than I have my other long runs -- maybe something like 8:45 pace. That would be easier with some company.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Cherry Blossom 10 miler -- Fenty is one fast mayor
The weather forecast didn't look to good, calling for showers and 14 mph winds at the start, but it wound up being nearly ideal. The rain stopped right before the gun, leaving us with temperatures in the upper 40's and overcast. According to wunderground, the winds were from the north and10 mph at the start and 13 from NNE at the finish. There was only a few sections where I felt the wind was a factor and I thought things were nearly ideal. Basically conditions were probably a hair better than the 8k and on a very similar course. McMillan says that 8k in 32:45 equals 1:09:10 (6:55 per mile) and age-grading says 1:07:56 (6:48 per mile). I planned to hit the first mile in 6:50 and see how it felt.
I got to start in the first wave this year which was kind of a thrill. I was in the "near seeded" section C of the first wave. (Like my 69:49 I submitted is anywhere "near" the 54 you have to run to be seeded in my age group.) I know the first corral was for times less than 1:12 last year, so I lined up around the back, which might have been a mistake. The new course starts at the base of the Washington monument and makes it's way around the tidal basin to Hains Point on some pretty narrow streets. I was worried about getting sucked out fast by all the fast first wave people, but the opposite happened. I was boxed in and it was very frustrating. I was pretty calm, but I did waste some energy trying to get around people and hit the first mile mark at 7:06.
The second mile opened up some, but I still had to pass people before I found an opening and settled into a rhythm. Last year I think it was less crowded at this point because I had outrun my corral and ran in between waves. The second mile felt kind of easy but my heart rate was at 180 and my split was 6:45. I decided to settle in at the 180 heart rate for the next mile and see how I did and see how hard it was. Last year I averaged 180, but I've averaged as high as 184 in a 10 miler. The big factor is how well rested I am. If I'm tired, my heart rate is lower for a given level of effort. The third mile was 6:47/180 avg. After that I just kind of settled in and ran. Sort of took a nap here I guess. 4th was 6:55/181. 5th was 6:57/183.
Before mile 6 I looked for Fenty at the short out and back (see map above) and didn't see him. Not good, but maybe I just missed him. 6th mile was 6:52/182. At the 10K mat I looked at my watch and I set a new 10K PR at 42:56 (for some reason I haven't run an actual 10K in over 2 years). Before mile 7 there's a longer out and back stretch and I make sure I found Fenty. Holy cow, is he that far ahead! I looked at my watch and timed how long until I got to the turnaround -- 1:20. He was ~2:40 ahead of me. No chance I'll catch him. 7th mile was 6:54/183. At the turnaround, I thought I'd try and pick it up some. 6:50/184 for the 8th. 6:51/182 9th.
The last mile was pretty tough. You go back up a hill you went down in the first half mile. I knew I was around 1:09 pace and couldn't make out the total time because the readout is obscured after you press the lap button. I though it was something like 1:02:10 which meant I would have to run under 6:50 to break 1:09. (It was actually 1:02:01.) I picked it up as best I could. I found if I thought "light and quick" I suddenly got out of grinding and made up some ground. One thing I should say is that this is a world class race. All the mile markers were perfect and they had something I very much appreciated at this point -- an "800 meters" sign. I glanced at my watch and knew I had something like 3:30 (> 7 min pace) for the last 800, but still this was uphill, so I had better hustle. At 400 meters, I had 1:54 left which is over 7:30 pace, so I knew I could make it. I ran it in pretty well and saw the clock. It just ticked over 1:09 and looked so far away. I'm still confused about this, but I remember seeing 0:23 when I crossed the start so I though I needed to get in under 1:09:23. I sprinted to get it at ~1:09:20. I wondered if I made it or not (somehow my gun is always a couple of seconds slower than what I see on the clock), but I looked at my watch and saw 1:08:49? Strange. My watch has always agreed with chip time within a few seconds, so hopefully that was the case today. [Results are up and my time was indeed 1:08:49 (6:53). 10k split was 42:55 (6:55). Fenty ran 1:05:32!]
Full splitsahol for Adam: 7:06/160, 6:44/178, 6:52/180, 6:55/181, 6:57/183, 6:52/182, 6:52/183, 6:50/184, 6:51/182, 6:48/184.
By the way, the above should give you an idea of my attitude during the race. I just killed myself to run 69:49 last year, but I guess I just didn't feel like it today. No doubt it was very hard the last mile, but I had that hurt that badly at about mile 8 or even earlier last year. I didn't really have a big milestone to break and Fenty was too far ahead, so I couldn't quite commit to the suffering necessary to run the few seconds per mile faster that I think I could have.
What does this mean for the marathon? Most of the calculators say I can do it, but I think I'm on the hairy edge of 3:15 and maybe on the wrong side after adjusting for the course. One thing that encourages me though is that I've run these times almost exclusively off base-type training. The only running I've done at tempo or harder so far is: today, last Thursday, hills on March 4th, and the 8k on March 9th. That's it. Last spring I was doing tempo intervals on Thursday and 5k-pace intervals on Tuesday for about four weeks before Cherry Blossom. I think I'm going to do something like that (maybe not that intense though) between now and the race to sharpen. What do you guys think about about sharpening? The other sharpening I need to do is losing a couple of pounds. I think I'm about two pound heavier than I was at last spring's race.
I'm also considering finding a certified, semi-flat 5k to try and break 20 minutes. The best I've found so far though is 11 days before the marathon (and it's not as flat as I'd like). Good idea or no?
Saturday, April 05, 2008
2008 Frederick Marathon elevation profile
I'm posting this because someone might find it useful. The marathon web site points you here, to mapmyrun, to see the elevation. From mapmyrun you can export the course in csv format, which is what I did. I imported it into openoffice calc (like excel) and produced the chart above.
It looks like 16 to 23 are going to be fun-filled. Oh boy!
5 miles jinxed myself
The plan was to do another easy 5 miles this morning. About a half a mile in, I got a pretty significant twinge from the knee/hamstring tendon thing after having nothing all week. I walked about thirty seconds and it didn't come back, so I was able to finish the run. I could feel it just a little bit at the end. I think I'm OK. I guess I shouldn't have declared "healed" yesterday.
I can't decide what shoes to wear tomorrow. I got a nice new pair of wave precision I wore this morning. It's between the Frees (sore quads) and the precisions (sore hamstrings). I've never pulled a quad, so I think I might go with the Frees.
I can't decide what shoes to wear tomorrow. I got a nice new pair of wave precision I wore this morning. It's between the Frees (sore quads) and the precisions (sore hamstrings). I've never pulled a quad, so I think I might go with the Frees.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Healed
I'm declaring myself healed. All I have now are a couple of big toe blisters/hot spots that aren't worth mentioning (and yet I did!).
Yesterday, I couldn't quite decide to do with my normal Thursday run. I had been doing 14 miles with the last 5 at marathon pace in late January and through February. March was supposed to be the "month of hills" but injury and some good judgment put the kabash on that. Now what to do? I'm four and a half weeks from the marathon. I think I peaked too early by switching over to the Benji Durden plan too soon (800m intervals on Tues and tempo intervals on Th) during the last marathon training cycle. Here I am though staring the marathon in the whites of its eyes. Should I do some faster stuff? Well, despite there being nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos, I compromised.
The route was out from my house, twice around the lake (3.8 miles a lap), and back for a total of 12.2 miles. I planned to do some marathon pace running on the first lap and some tempo (10 mile race pace) intervals on the second lap. I ran this in my wave precision because my quads are just beat up and I think the Free's are part of the reason. (It's probably good for me, but I don't want it to disrup
On the first lap I did 3 miles at 7:37, 7:27, and 7:27 pace according to the Garmin. I'm really not sure on the gps accuracy. There was a lot of uphill on the first mile, but even so, it felt too hard. The last also felt tougher than marathon pace. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not in shape or a distance accuracy problem. The surface also has a lot of loose gravel, so it's not exactly a mondo track.
On the second lap, I did 2x1 miles + 0.65 miles (how it fit in the terrain). I was shooting for 6:50 but the times went 7:15, 2:02 rest, 7:29, 3:19 "rest" (actually overran last interval by 30 secs first), and 7:08 (0.65 miles). The gps seemed wonky. The 7:29 was quite hard although it looks OK on the map. I just don't think I'm in *that* bad a shape. The 7:08 was on a gentle downhill. It felt very easy. I got down to 6:52 before I daydreamed and slowed down. This was all hard enough to call it tempo effort even though the time sucked. Of this is the day I forgot to strap on the HRM belt.
This morning was just a very easy 5 miles. I noticed again a phenomenon I've seen often. My heart rate is "suppressed" the day after a tempo run. The first mile was screwed up but the last 4 were between 132 and 136 bpm and averaged a little better than 9:00 min/mi.
Perhaps it's laziness, but I've cut my usual 6.2 mile run (55 minutes) down to 5.0 miles (45 minutes). I'm thinking I should make my hard days a little harder and my easy days a little easier as the marathon approached.
I'm really not sure what to expect on Sunday. I don't think the times above are indicative though. The weather looks great. 47 degrees and 8 mph winds. I guess we could lose a few mph, but I'll be drafting off Fenty anyway :-)
Here are my goals/expectations.
Yesterday, I couldn't quite decide to do with my normal Thursday run. I had been doing 14 miles with the last 5 at marathon pace in late January and through February. March was supposed to be the "month of hills" but injury and some good judgment put the kabash on that. Now what to do? I'm four and a half weeks from the marathon. I think I peaked too early by switching over to the Benji Durden plan too soon (800m intervals on Tues and tempo intervals on Th) during the last marathon training cycle. Here I am though staring the marathon in the whites of its eyes. Should I do some faster stuff? Well, despite there being nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos, I compromised.
The route was out from my house, twice around the lake (3.8 miles a lap), and back for a total of 12.2 miles. I planned to do some marathon pace running on the first lap and some tempo (10 mile race pace) intervals on the second lap. I ran this in my wave precision because my quads are just beat up and I think the Free's are part of the reason. (It's probably good for me, but I don't want it to disrup
On the first lap I did 3 miles at 7:37, 7:27, and 7:27 pace according to the Garmin. I'm really not sure on the gps accuracy. There was a lot of uphill on the first mile, but even so, it felt too hard. The last also felt tougher than marathon pace. I'm not sure if it's because I'm not in shape or a distance accuracy problem. The surface also has a lot of loose gravel, so it's not exactly a mondo track.
On the second lap, I did 2x1 miles + 0.65 miles (how it fit in the terrain). I was shooting for 6:50 but the times went 7:15, 2:02 rest, 7:29, 3:19 "rest" (actually overran last interval by 30 secs first), and 7:08 (0.65 miles). The gps seemed wonky. The 7:29 was quite hard although it looks OK on the map. I just don't think I'm in *that* bad a shape. The 7:08 was on a gentle downhill. It felt very easy. I got down to 6:52 before I daydreamed and slowed down. This was all hard enough to call it tempo effort even though the time sucked. Of this is the day I forgot to strap on the HRM belt.
This morning was just a very easy 5 miles. I noticed again a phenomenon I've seen often. My heart rate is "suppressed" the day after a tempo run. The first mile was screwed up but the last 4 were between 132 and 136 bpm and averaged a little better than 9:00 min/mi.
Perhaps it's laziness, but I've cut my usual 6.2 mile run (55 minutes) down to 5.0 miles (45 minutes). I'm thinking I should make my hard days a little harder and my easy days a little easier as the marathon approached.
I'm really not sure what to expect on Sunday. I don't think the times above are indicative though. The weather looks great. 47 degrees and 8 mph winds. I guess we could lose a few mph, but I'll be drafting off Fenty anyway :-)
Here are my goals/expectations.
- upset if I don't PR
- expect to break 1:09
- ecstatic if I break 1:09 and beat Fenty
- super ecstatic if I get my finish photo with Bill Rodgers (not likely: he ran 1:07:16 last year)
Monday, March 31, 2008
soreness and shoes
I noticed my right bicep was sore after my run on Saturday. I laughed because the same thing happened to me when I first wore the Nike Frees last December. I run differently in them. I instantly start carry my arms lower, which initially causes the soreness in my right bicep. I think I normally carry that arm high and swing it across my body as you can see in this embarrassing photo. (I think the guy to the right of me is saying, "That goofy dude is passing me?")
I noticed the other difference after Sunday's 20 miler. My quads are more sore. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad. I *think* it's good because using a major muscle group when you run. I'm not sure it's good though and I'm a little concerned about wearing the Frees in a marathon. Quadriceps fatigue has to be one of the mechanism for slowing down in the last 10K I would think. After all, you can't walk down stairs after the event. (Joseph, see all the marathon fun you're missing!)
I might end up running in the Mizuno's since they've got me through a couple of marathons already. I need new ones though. I have almost 600 miles on my current pair. I thought they were feeling a little dead.
Training: Did 5 slow miles this morning.
I noticed the other difference after Sunday's 20 miler. My quads are more sore. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad. I *think* it's good because using a major muscle group when you run. I'm not sure it's good though and I'm a little concerned about wearing the Frees in a marathon. Quadriceps fatigue has to be one of the mechanism for slowing down in the last 10K I would think. After all, you can't walk down stairs after the event. (Joseph, see all the marathon fun you're missing!)
I might end up running in the Mizuno's since they've got me through a couple of marathons already. I need new ones though. I have almost 600 miles on my current pair. I thought they were feeling a little dead.
Training: Did 5 slow miles this morning.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
week of 24 March -- bad runs and alibis
Despite the title, I'm quite happy about the week. I got in 71 miles and I'm healthier than I was when I began the week. The title refers to the slow pace versus the high intensity. Despite averaging 150 bpm (75% MHR -- a pretty intense week by my standards), my pace was pretty slow (8:54 min/mi). I have lots of great alibis though.
Week: 71.3 miles, 10h35m, 8:54 min/mi, 150 bpm avg
A couple of notes.
Positive vibes out to Joseph who had a scare during his 10K.
I got my new size 10 Nike Free 5.0's in the mail Friday night (right after my run). Wore them Saturday and Sunday. Perfect.
Michael Wardian placed third in the Knoxville marathon today in 2:29:50 after winning the National Marathon yesterday in 2:24:59. Holy cow. Talk about residual fatigue. My 8-miles-last-night alibi is looking pretty silly. Oh yeah, Wardian also finished second in 2:24:55 at the Shamrock marathon in Virginia Beach last Sunday!
Doing his best Wardian impression, Mayor Fenty ran 3:40 yesterday at the National Marathon. But did he beat 11 year olds in basketball? Huh? He did both the marathon and Cherry Blossom on back-to-back weeks last year. He jogged a 4-something though last year in the marathon before running 1:08:47. 3:40 had to take a little out of him though. I imagine he can't get in that many miles, so 3:40 couldn't have been a walk in the park.
The Traveling Wilburys rock. I just thought you should know. (I listened to them during today's run.)
- Mo - 5.85/8:53/144 -- hamstring tightened up at the end
- Tu - 6.13/8:57/146 am, 4.96/8:40?/??? pm (forgot to hit start! estimated pace and knew the distance) -- tightened up again each time (5-6 miles seems to be the limit)
- We - 6.13/8:33/146 -- decent pace, heart rate, tightened up again at the end, but improving
- Th - 7.05/7:54/168 am, 7.00/8:42/157 -- went a little nuts on the am run. It was dead flat which sucked me into the faster running, but my pace/heart rate was dreadful. I average less than 168 for the first 7 miles of a marathon. 7:54 ain't even close. I'm writing it off on the altitude. I ran Thursday in Albuquerque (5200 feet). You think Fenty's training at altitude? The dude has no chance. I developed a knot in my left calf at the end of the second run.
- Fr - 6.17/9:07/140 pm -- It was 70 degrees and I just flew cross country. I never do well with afternoon runs. The calf knot continued. Hamstring tendon not bad at all.
- Sa - 8.25/9:50/140 pm -- Cool temps, but I gallowalked (10 min run, 1 min walk) trying to nurse my calf. It officially overtook the hamstring tendon as my main concern. My real alibi for this run was the more than an hour of basketball I played with 5th and 6th graders (about half that time was full court). I had that feeling in my chest you have when doing a warmdown after running intervals. I worked on the knot with "the stick" and my fingers. Ouch!
- Su - 19.76/9:03/153 -- Terrible hr versus pace, but I expected that. This was a planned pseudo over-distance run (8 pm followed by 20 am). Hamstring tendon was no problem! I could feel the calf, but it wasn't an issue. It seems like the time with the stick really helped. I was really gassed at the end of this run. One of the hardest long runs I've ever done. I really didn't recover from the basketball and 8 miles yesterday. I think "residual fatigue" in training is the way to go in getting overcoming that last 10K of the marathon. I really needed this long run. I hadn't been over 8 miles in two weeks before today.
Week: 71.3 miles, 10h35m, 8:54 min/mi, 150 bpm avg
A couple of notes.
Positive vibes out to Joseph who had a scare during his 10K.
I got my new size 10 Nike Free 5.0's in the mail Friday night (right after my run). Wore them Saturday and Sunday. Perfect.
Michael Wardian placed third in the Knoxville marathon today in 2:29:50 after winning the National Marathon yesterday in 2:24:59. Holy cow. Talk about residual fatigue. My 8-miles-last-night alibi is looking pretty silly. Oh yeah, Wardian also finished second in 2:24:55 at the Shamrock marathon in Virginia Beach last Sunday!
Doing his best Wardian impression, Mayor Fenty ran 3:40 yesterday at the National Marathon. But did he beat 11 year olds in basketball? Huh? He did both the marathon and Cherry Blossom on back-to-back weeks last year. He jogged a 4-something though last year in the marathon before running 1:08:47. 3:40 had to take a little out of him though. I imagine he can't get in that many miles, so 3:40 couldn't have been a walk in the park.
The Traveling Wilburys rock. I just thought you should know. (I listened to them during today's run.)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
6 & 5
Normally today would be 12 miles at about 8:30 pace, but I'm injured of course. I keeping my runs under an hour until the demons are gone or I just get impatient. The plan for today was a 6 & 6 double because hitting my normal mileage for the day would make me happy.
I did ~6 this morning without any real problem and let my legs decide on the 8:52 pace. Somehow I accidentally ran home during the run and cut off the last loop. Seeing 4.96, I realized what I did and had to decide whether to go back for the last mile. My legs felt great at this point, so of course I risked fate and of course my hamstring tendon (or whatever this is) tightened up, but I got in the scheduled miles. I felt a little worse for wear and worried this might be a setback.
Went out tonight for the other 6. Hardly a hint of the injury for the first 4+ miles! Then it started to get really tight, so I headed home, doing the same route I inadvertently did this morning for 4.96 miles. Near the end of the run, I wanted to check my pace because I thought I was running this pretty quickly. I saw "00:00:00." I guess you have to hit the start button. Glad I wore this chest strap and gigantic thing on my wrist. I put down 43 minutes for 8:40 pace.
Side note: It is not possible to play Visions of Johanna loud enough.
I did ~6 this morning without any real problem and let my legs decide on the 8:52 pace. Somehow I accidentally ran home during the run and cut off the last loop. Seeing 4.96, I realized what I did and had to decide whether to go back for the last mile. My legs felt great at this point, so of course I risked fate and of course my hamstring tendon (or whatever this is) tightened up, but I got in the scheduled miles. I felt a little worse for wear and worried this might be a setback.
Went out tonight for the other 6. Hardly a hint of the injury for the first 4+ miles! Then it started to get really tight, so I headed home, doing the same route I inadvertently did this morning for 4.96 miles. Near the end of the run, I wanted to check my pace because I thought I was running this pretty quickly. I saw "00:00:00." I guess you have to hit the start button. Glad I wore this chest strap and gigantic thing on my wrist. I put down 43 minutes for 8:40 pace.
Side note: It is not possible to play Visions of Johanna loud enough.
Monday, March 24, 2008
sub-seeded, baby
I got my Cherry Blossom info today and my bib number is 1392, which means I'll be in the Yellow corral, Section C for "sub-seeded" runners. I get to start in the first wave. Pretty cool! Fenty won't get a head start on me. I have to get better now.
6 passable miles
I ran 5.85 this morning at 8:52 pace. I could feel the tugging on the tendon for the first mile, but then didn't feel anything at all for the second mile. After that I felt it progressively more throughout the run, but it wasn't too painful. I don't think I did any damage and I'm walking fine.
My tentative plan is
Tu - 6 am, 6 pm
We - 6 am
Th - 6 am, 6 pm
Fr - 6 am
adjusting to how I feel of course.
I'm not doing well on the diet and need to make more of an effort on that front. If I could shed some pounds, that might make up for some of the training hit. I relaxed some after the good result at the 8k.
My tentative plan is
Tu - 6 am, 6 pm
We - 6 am
Th - 6 am, 6 pm
Fr - 6 am
adjusting to how I feel of course.
I'm not doing well on the diet and need to make more of an effort on that front. If I could shed some pounds, that might make up for some of the training hit. I relaxed some after the good result at the 8k.
week of 17 March
Mo - 6.12
Tu - 10.36
We - 10.40 -- hamstring tendon(?) behind right knee
Th - 0 - injured, no running
Fr - 0
Sa - 0
Su - 0.2 miles + 22 min elliptical -- didn't feel great so I cut off running, then cut off elliptical
Week - 27 miles + 22 min elliptical
We spent Th through Su at Williamburg and Jamestown as part of a 4-day spring break vacation. One positive result of my injury is that running didn't get in the way that much (except for my incessant whining!).
Tu - 10.36
We - 10.40 -- hamstring tendon(?) behind right knee
Th - 0 - injured, no running
Fr - 0
Sa - 0
Su - 0.2 miles + 22 min elliptical -- didn't feel great so I cut off running, then cut off elliptical
Week - 27 miles + 22 min elliptical
We spent Th through Su at Williamburg and Jamestown as part of a 4-day spring break vacation. One positive result of my injury is that running didn't get in the way that much (except for my incessant whining!).
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
OK, a lot worse for wear
Running home and leaving your car at work is quite an obligation. This morning I was obliged to run the 10.5 miles in. I started out with my knee/hamstring thingy as sore as it was on Monday and by 6 miles in it was pretty painful. By 8 miles it was very painful. Well, crap. I guess I'll take couple of days off and hope it goes away.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A *little* worse for wear
Joseph commented, "Don't know if I'd go to that well too often, but if you're no worse for wear, than I'd say a long overdistance run can help..."
Well, I'm a little worse for wear. I had some weird sensation in my hamstring tendon (the one behind the medial side of my right knee) going into the 8k. Didn't bother me at all during the race and I felt it just a little bit the rest of the week. It flared up about mile 25 of my run on Sunday and I could feel it some on a 6 miler yesterday morning. I didn't feel it a bit on the 10-miler home from work tonight until about mile 8.5 when it flared up again. I think it will go away again over the week.
The 32:45 8k convinced me that I have enough speed if I can just keep from fading. I think the speed work I need now is shoving less food in my mouth. I'm still working on getting that "I can run forever" feeling and I think Sunday was a step in that direction (if this niggle goes away!).
On the overdistance running, I have no scientific proof of anything, but I do feel like I need to get that "tired purely from the distance" feeling in order to stretch my ability in that direction. A friend of mine ran 2:48 on sunday long runs increasing up to 30 miles and 4 40-45 minutes during the week. Doesn't that make you sick? Of course he probably could have run faster with more training during the week, but I do think the first job in the marathon is to be able to handle the distance. Thinking it over though back-to-back long runs might do me just as well without as much injury risk -- something like 10-13 on Sat and 20 on Sunday. Well, I've run 27 miles now.
On today's run, I have to say I love running home from work. Just get up from your desk and literally run away from work. Take that!
Well, I'm a little worse for wear. I had some weird sensation in my hamstring tendon (the one behind the medial side of my right knee) going into the 8k. Didn't bother me at all during the race and I felt it just a little bit the rest of the week. It flared up about mile 25 of my run on Sunday and I could feel it some on a 6 miler yesterday morning. I didn't feel it a bit on the 10-miler home from work tonight until about mile 8.5 when it flared up again. I think it will go away again over the week.
The 32:45 8k convinced me that I have enough speed if I can just keep from fading. I think the speed work I need now is shoving less food in my mouth. I'm still working on getting that "I can run forever" feeling and I think Sunday was a step in that direction (if this niggle goes away!).
On the overdistance running, I have no scientific proof of anything, but I do feel like I need to get that "tired purely from the distance" feeling in order to stretch my ability in that direction. A friend of mine ran 2:48 on sunday long runs increasing up to 30 miles and 4 40-45 minutes during the week. Doesn't that make you sick? Of course he probably could have run faster with more training during the week, but I do think the first job in the marathon is to be able to handle the distance. Thinking it over though back-to-back long runs might do me just as well without as much injury risk -- something like 10-13 on Sat and 20 on Sunday. Well, I've run 27 miles now.
On today's run, I have to say I love running home from work. Just get up from your desk and literally run away from work. Take that!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
week of 10 March -- biggest week ever
Mo - 6.27/8:31/146
Tu - 4.00/8:55/147 am, 14.10/9:25/152 pm
We - 8.02/8:53/140
Th - 0
Fr - 14.04/8:33/144
Sa - 6.19/9:06/146
Su - 26.94/9:50/142
Week - 79.56/9:03/145
That's not a typo for today -- 26.94 miles, which is my longest run ever. I did a 6 lapper at the lake. I've had vague thoughts of doing at least 26.2 sometime before the marathon. I figured out that it's not going to happen next weekend because of other plans, so I thought I'd do it this week. It was surprisingly easy actually and felt like I had a second wind on the last lap. I was conscious of staying hydrated and also drank gatorade, which, I think, prevented my usual swift rise in heart rate after a couple of hours. You can see the gradual rise in the graph above. I also ran each lap a little faster than the last. I know that almost nobody thinks this kind of run is good for you, but I just followed my intuition.
By the way, I'd like to tip my cap to you ultra runners (aka aharmer). I can't imagine doing a hundred miles. Despite taking it very easy today, it's hard to imagine running another 23 or even 63 miles!
Friday, March 14, 2008
Ramblin' man
Another week of travel. I got home from the race at 10:30 and was leaving for the airport at noon -- another trip to LA. Oh joy. I did 6.3 on Monday and after reading the malmo doubles thread on letsrun, I was inspired to get up for 4 on Tuesday. Tuesday night was a great run. I ran from the airport to the beach and then up a bike path to Marina del Ray and ran by the UCLA crew team while they were practicing -- all while the sun was setting. Very nice. I ended up extending it to 14 miles after running 4 in the morning. 8 miles on Wed evening and a zero for travel back on Thursday (landed at 4:15 and coached a basketball game at 5:45). Got up this morning at 5 to run my usual 14. I was had a few niggles and I want to be good for my long run on Sunday, so I skipped the last 5 at MP and did a steady 8:34 per mile. No way Fenty is training this hard. He has some lame excuse about running a city.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
I'll get him at Cherry Blossom
It was freezing out there this morning. I was shivering and had trouble keeping my arms still enough to pin on my number. I felt a little better after warming up for 2.5 miles, but damn it was cold. The wind was 20 mph sustained and temps were in the 20's.
I chatted with a young guy who was wearing the same half marathon cap as I was. He was planning on running 6:40's. Perfect. I was hoping to break 33 (6:38) pace. After the start, I realized I couldn't keep up with him so I let him drift ahead of me. I hit mile 1 at 6:39. Perfect. The garmin was reading 6:33 pace which is just about the 5 seconds differential I expect in a race. (I also actually hit my watch a few seconds before the start line.)
I found a nice big guy to draft off in the second mile. The second mile was 6:14? The mile marker had to be short. The garmin was reading about 6:29. The big guy pulled away. He was speeding up and the garmin was at about 6:30. I never saw mile 3.
At a turnaround, a volunteer saw "you can't the mayor beat you." Damn, he's ahead. I felt really strong and still kept the garmin solidly at 6:33 despite running by myself back up Pennsylvania Avenue straight into the wind. I passed a number of people but still couldn't see the mayor. I crossed a white line on the ground and looked at a blown over sign -- must have been the 4 mile marker. I had plenty in the tank and kept chugging away. In the final straight away a couple of girls and a couple of guys pass me. I felt great, but I just have no wheels. I'm near the finish where the streets lined with barricades. I hear the announcer, "Congratulations on a great finish Mayor Fenty!" Crap. I crossed the line with the clock reading 32:45. Nice PR, but the mayor got away. I saw the mayor with his foot on a chair, removing his chip. I shook his hand and said, "I had one goal, which was to beat you. You got me."
Fenty ran 1:08:47 at Cherry Blossom last year. I think I can take him.
The week:
Mo - 6.21/9:01/146 - wt: 162.1
Tu - 10.2 miles w/ 6 x hills- wt: 162.0
We - 6.14/8:49/145
Th - 14.03/8:19/152 w/ last 5 at MP- wt: 161.1
Fr - 6.18/8:59/141
Sa - 6.34/6:44/153 - wt: 162.0 - HR always high in afternoon
Su - 2.72/8:56 w/up, 8K race in 32:45
totals: 57.0/8:33/153
I chatted with a young guy who was wearing the same half marathon cap as I was. He was planning on running 6:40's. Perfect. I was hoping to break 33 (6:38) pace. After the start, I realized I couldn't keep up with him so I let him drift ahead of me. I hit mile 1 at 6:39. Perfect. The garmin was reading 6:33 pace which is just about the 5 seconds differential I expect in a race. (I also actually hit my watch a few seconds before the start line.)
I found a nice big guy to draft off in the second mile. The second mile was 6:14? The mile marker had to be short. The garmin was reading about 6:29. The big guy pulled away. He was speeding up and the garmin was at about 6:30. I never saw mile 3.
At a turnaround, a volunteer saw "you can't the mayor beat you." Damn, he's ahead. I felt really strong and still kept the garmin solidly at 6:33 despite running by myself back up Pennsylvania Avenue straight into the wind. I passed a number of people but still couldn't see the mayor. I crossed a white line on the ground and looked at a blown over sign -- must have been the 4 mile marker. I had plenty in the tank and kept chugging away. In the final straight away a couple of girls and a couple of guys pass me. I felt great, but I just have no wheels. I'm near the finish where the streets lined with barricades. I hear the announcer, "Congratulations on a great finish Mayor Fenty!" Crap. I crossed the line with the clock reading 32:45. Nice PR, but the mayor got away. I saw the mayor with his foot on a chair, removing his chip. I shook his hand and said, "I had one goal, which was to beat you. You got me."
Fenty ran 1:08:47 at Cherry Blossom last year. I think I can take him.
The week:
Mo - 6.21/9:01/146 - wt: 162.1
Tu - 10.2 miles w/ 6 x hills- wt: 162.0
We - 6.14/8:49/145
Th - 14.03/8:19/152 w/ last 5 at MP- wt: 161.1
Fr - 6.18/8:59/141
Sa - 6.34/6:44/153 - wt: 162.0 - HR always high in afternoon
Su - 2.72/8:56 w/up, 8K race in 32:45
totals: 57.0/8:33/153
Saturday, March 08, 2008
wind advisory
I went to check on the weather for tomorrow's 8K and found the words "wind advisory." It's also supposed to be 29 degrees. I hope the mayor runs with some bodyguards that I can use as a wind screen.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Am I getting any faster?
I did my 14-miler with the last 5 at MP again yesterday. There's one flattish mile in the middle of the 5 mile MP loop that I use as my fitness indicator. The last three times I've run it has been 7:37/157 (7 Feb), 7:27/167 (15 Feb), and 7:21/168 (6 March). The first one looks by far the best, but maybe 15 seconds per mile is worth 9 bpm in that part of the curve.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Goal: Beat the Mayor
I've been thinking about my goal for the 8K this weekend, and I think it's pretty simple. My 5 mile PR is 34:20, so I'd definitely like to beat that. I looked at the results from last year and this guy popped up in that time range.
Not only is he faster than me, but he's only a year older than me and he's the mayor of DC. Yes, I'm jealous. He's goin' down.
125 9/287 Adrian Fenty 36 WASHINGTON DC 33:52 33:49 6:49
Not only is he faster than me, but he's only a year older than me and he's the mayor of DC. Yes, I'm jealous. He's goin' down.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
The 90-minute caveman run
Was it 6 or was it 7? To tell you the truth, in all the excitement, I kind of lost track myself.
Forgot the Garmin, forgot the heart rate monitor, so it was a caveman run today. I have declared March the month of hills, so it was caveman in more than just than lack of gadgets. It took 30 minutes to find a nice good hill. I jogged down and run up six times (or maybe 7), jogging a little on the flat part at the top each time. It took about 5 minutes a cycle and I ran back the way I came. I ran something like 5K effort on the uphills. My decidedly uncaveman-like use of satellite imagery (gmap-pedometer.com) indicates they were .23 miles, which I think is a nice distance. A very rough estimate of the my run was 10.2 in ~1:31 wall clock time (registered on my analog Seiko -- this caveman had a meeting). 8:55 pace? Well there were some stoplights and I might have actually done seven hills. Ah, I did what I did. The math isn't going to make me faster.
I think this is a nice idea for a run. Warmup 30 minutes. Do something hard for 30 minutes (like hill intervals or chasing down mastodons). Cool down for 30 minutes. I'll probably shorten the w/up and cdn to 20 minutes over the next few weeks to get in 10 hills.
Forgot the Garmin, forgot the heart rate monitor, so it was a caveman run today. I have declared March the month of hills, so it was caveman in more than just than lack of gadgets. It took 30 minutes to find a nice good hill. I jogged down and run up six times (or maybe 7), jogging a little on the flat part at the top each time. It took about 5 minutes a cycle and I ran back the way I came. I ran something like 5K effort on the uphills. My decidedly uncaveman-like use of satellite imagery (gmap-pedometer.com) indicates they were .23 miles, which I think is a nice distance. A very rough estimate of the my run was 10.2 in ~1:31 wall clock time (registered on my analog Seiko -- this caveman had a meeting). 8:55 pace? Well there were some stoplights and I might have actually done seven hills. Ah, I did what I did. The math isn't going to make me faster.
I think this is a nice idea for a run. Warmup 30 minutes. Do something hard for 30 minutes (like hill intervals or chasing down mastodons). Cool down for 30 minutes. I'll probably shorten the w/up and cdn to 20 minutes over the next few weeks to get in 10 hills.
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