6:26

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The big event was running the Carlsbad half.

Packet pickup

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

Getting to the race

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

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

The race

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

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

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

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

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

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

3) 6:51 1.00 6:51 179

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10) 6:55 1.00 6:54 179

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

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

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

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

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

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

Post race

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

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

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

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

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

week of 12 Jan

Scheduled

Monday, Jan 12
5-6 mile jog

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

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

Thursday, Jan 15
5-6 mile easy run

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

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

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

Executed

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

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

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

at the track

My prescription for yesterday was

Wednesday, Jan 14

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

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

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

Today was thankfully 5 easy.

week of 5 Jan

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

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

mid-30s and rain

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

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

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

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

Here's what Mr. Garmin read

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

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

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

week of 29 December

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

2008 quick review

Three goals for 2008:

- sub-20. Check. 19:49 at Atoms 5k in May.
- BQ. Check. 3:15:22 at NCR trail marathon.
- more than 3000 miles. Check. 3180 for the year at an avg pace of 8:54.

Goals for next year?

- sub-1:30 half marathon. I know it seems crazy for a guy who just ran a 20:12 5k. The 68:49 10 miles I ran is 6:53 pace though. 1:30 is 6:52. I plan to be in much better shape sometime this the year than I was then.
- Requalify at Boston. I'm not that committed to this frankly, but I don't like running a marathon without a goal.
- Finish the JFK 50. I really might rethink this, but there it is. I've never done an ultra and I kind of like the simplicity of running farther than I have before. I have no time goal. I've learned my lesson from my first marathon.

windy 5k, decent time

The graph tells the story. The race started at 4 pm at the "dip" :) It was only 25 mph gusting to 38 mph at that point. Wunderground said the wind was from the northwest although it felt more like the northeast to me (maybe the terrain affected it?) Add the wind to that a pretty tough course and I decided that I would be incredibly thrilled with breaking 20 if I could manage it. Well, I didn't.

They changed the course from last year (and re-certified it). One nice feature is that it is no longer a double loop, which means you don't have to negotiate walkers). I had hoped it meant half the elevation gain, but that wasn't quite the case.

Mile 1 starts on a downhill with a tailwind, but quickly turns to a climb mostly into the wind. My split was 6:33 (180 bpm) average, the next mile was mostly downhill and a net tailwind and I split 6:26 (188 bpm). I felt like I took a bit of a nap there. I usually hit 190-191 bpm on the second mile. Still I was only 7 seconds off 20:00 pace at mile 2. I knew it would take a miracle though since would be turning uphill and into the wind. I picked up the intensity, but the 3rd mile was 6:34 (191 bpm). I ran an even pace and didn't get passed by anyone. Still there were two guys 10-20m ahead I was constantly trying to close the gap on (and draft off of), but never could quite do it. Everybody else went out too fast and I went by them. One guy looked like he was really hurting when I passed him just short of the last right that leads to a downhill finish. I sprinted on the downhill and he sprinted right with me! I put a little extra kick in to hold him off and finished (by my watch) in 20:12.

It's really hard to say what my fitness is based on this race given the conditions. I talked to several of the usual age group faces that I see at races. One guy said he was 40-45 secs slower than his usual time. Another said he was about 30 seconds slower than his last race. A 19-flat runner I know finished over 19:40, so 30+ seconds doesn't seem crazy. I finished in 19:44 (by my watch) at the 5k in May, so I think I'm in decent shape. I'm also about 5 pounds heavier. If I ditch that, I think I'll post some good times soon.

forecast: windy

5k starts at 4pm. Hour-by-hour from weather.com

4pm

38°F
Partly Cloudy / Wind

25°F

0%

41%

From NW
33 mph

Ouch. There's a new course this year. Still a double loop. The high point is 25m higher than the low. Two 75' climbs in a 5k plus >30 mph winds doesn't sound fast to me!

week of 22 December

Mo      6.15    0:55:25    9:00  - easy
Tu am  12.63    1:47:41    8:32  - moderate, w/5 x strides
Tu pm   4.17    0:39:37    9:31  - jog
We     10.07    1:35:21    9:28  - long jog (tired)
Th      0.00                     - Xmas            
Fr     10.07    1:25:09    8:27  - moderate
Sa      6.99    1:02:03    8:53  - easy
Su     14.97    2:13:54    8:57  - easy (tired legs)
Wk     65.03    9:39:10    8:54

Good week. I could have hit near 70 if I had snuck out on Christmas. I actually had a shot when everyone was taking showers after present unwrapping and before guests arrived.

My legs felt beat up by Sunday's run and I tried to warm up to 8:30's but didn't quite feel like it.

My weight is getting to be a problem. I hit 164 after the marathon and it never went away. After a week of Christmas eating, I'm now up to 165.3. I haven't been there since the end of our week at the beach in August. I can't just up my weight by 3% and expect it won't affect me. We'll see how the 5k goes tomorrow. Last year I ran 20:32 at the Atoms 5k in May and 20:33 on New Year's. This year I ran 19:49 in May. I was hoping to scare 19:30, but with my weight and relative lack of miles of late, 19:50 is looking pretty good. Just checked the forecast and yikes! 40 degrees is awesome. But the wind is supposed to be 20 mph at 4pm (down from 27 at 1pm!).

week of 15 December

I'm out of town and can't seem to download the Garmin drivers to install on my laptop. http://www8.garmin.com/software/USBDrivers_221.exe hasn't worked for two days. What is the deal with Garmin? They have great hardware and the rest... not so much. Anyway, I've read the following off the 305 screen.

Mo - 6.45 @8:58 - easy
Tu - 7.00 @~8:40 - moderate including 1 x Rock Circuit
We - 10.26 @8:15 - moderate w/ 20'' alternating 5k/5k+60''
Th - 5.52 @9:08 - easy
Fr - 10.00 @ 8:32 - moderate including 3 x ABCs, 8 x 15'' hill sprints, and 5 x strides
Sa - travel to Atlanta for Christmas, no running
Su - 14.80 @ 7:59 - moderate + 8 @ 7:31, 7:25, 7:04, 6:52, 6:55, 6:46, 6:57, 6:54
Wk - 54 - wow, I need to do something about that

The Sunday run was intended to be 4+ moderate out to the 1-mile loop of leg-forgiving finely crushed gravel and then 7:40 for the first mile, cutting down 10 sec/mile with the 8th as fast as I liked. Then come home via the 2+ mile route.

Well, I hit the first at 7:31, but my garmin said it was 7:41 pace. So far, so good. Next was 7:25. Too slow. Ramp it up, to try and hit 7:10 -- 7:04. OK, I'll shoot for 7:00 and get back on track. 6:52. A little fast. I'll try for 6:50. 6:55 and this is getting hard. Shoot for 6:40. 6:46 and I wasn't sure I could race two more at that pace. Backed off to 6:57 on the next and then ran as hard as I felt like and only manage 6:54.

It's a little worse than this because after running a number of laps there, I believe the loop is about 5 seconds short of a mile based on my garmin. On the other hand, I used gmap-pedometer (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2450759 ) and found it .9978.

I have to make some excuses. Even though the loop has a perfect running surface and is 5 seconds short of a mile, it is not exactly flat. You can see from the link above that the high point is about 35 feet higher than the low. That sounds plausible. You gain than in a couple of tenths, which is a pretty good grade. The other excuse is the wind. The weather said it was 22 gusting to 30 as I walked out the door. Based on the kids kite that was about to be ripped off the string, I'd agree.

Anyway, that was a tough run and I held up pretty well. Even though I don't think I could have raced the last laps faster, the heart rates weren't at all crazy. and my heart rate splits were 162, 162, 170, 173, 176, 179, 177, and 178. I've averaged somewhere around 178-180 for a half marathon and 180-184 for a 10 miler.

The mileage is very week and I've learned by examing my mid-section that my weight is inversely proportional to weekly mileage. Ugh. Off to a good start this week. 6.17 yesterday and 12.65 + 4.17 today. I need another good day tomorrow before I take a zero on Christmas.

10 miles w/20'' alternating 5k/5k+60

I've been sampling from the workouts on my future schedule like a Chinese menu. I want to make sure I know how to execute them. This includes fitting them into the very hilly terrain of my running routes. Today's run was 10 mile moderate 20-minute continuous alternating 5k/5k+60sec pace (roughly 6:25/7:25). I figured I should cover about 3 miles in the 20 minutes, so I'd start when the Garmin hit 5 miles, which would leave me 2 miles to "cooldown" (or at least go back to moderate). Unfortunately, 5 miles in puts me at the lowest elevation point in the routeThe first 90 sec MP/90 sec 5k was on the flat and I hit it pretty well (6:26/7:14). Then I went up a comically steep section (steeper than where I do hill sprints) and my 5k pace was 7:58. The rest of the splits times are barely correlated between fast and slow as I went up and down over hills. The graph above shows the terrain roughly although gps elevation completely stinks. I miss wearing my Suunto with the barometric altitude. If they can fit that in a reasonably sized wristwatch, why didn't they put one in the 305?

I did the rock circuit yesterday, but only did one circuit instead of two and cut down the number of pushups. I'm searching for some sort of equilibrium the lets me get through the week in one piece.

week of 8 December

Mo -  5.99  0:58:03  9:41  140 -- 133 excl miles 1-2
Tu -  9.32  1:25:47  9:12  141 -- 134 excl miles 1-2
We -  9.33  1:27:50  9:25  134
Th -  6.99  1:01:42  8:49  143 -- the new easy?
Fr -  7.88  1:07:06  8:31  154 -- moderate w/ABCs, 8x15'' hills
Sa -  6.43  0:57:47  8:59  155 -- "easy" + rock circuit
Su - 13.53  1:57:02  8:39  149 -- last 9.5 moderate
Wk - 59.48  8:55:17  9:00  145

I tried some new workouts this week and tried easy = 145 bpm and moderate = 155. Friday's runs was hard though and it seemed to carry into yesterday and today. I was given a range for easy (140-150) and moderate (150-160) and after today I really think I need to stick to the low end of that range. I also ate like crap the last few days. Lunch and dinner on Fr and Sa was pizza, fried chicken, PBJ, and pizza. Ouch. On top of that I didn't get much sleep.

No wonder today's run was crap. Compare today to 5 weeks ago

12/14 - 13.53 1:57:02 8:39 149 (75%) -- 3 lake laps
11/09 - 22.54 3:12:58 8:34 148 (74%) -- 5 lake laps

My heart rate rises during long runs and three weeks ago, I averaged low 140s through 3 laps versus 149 and at a faster pace. The highest mile split in those three laps was 146 compared to 155 today. Wow, I have totally jumped the shark.

the rock circuit

This kicked my butt today. (It looks so easy on the video.) The last 30 seconds of elevated pushups turned into just 5 followed by me jogging away with my tail between my legs. The knee was also a problem. The strides were preceded by some limp-jogging to get things in a groove before the strides. I'm not so great at the starting and stopping.

Oh, well. We have to crawl before we run.

The new easy is harder than the old easy

Max HR: 200 bpm

Recovery <140
Easy 140-150
Moderate 150-165
Marathon Effort 166-172
Sub LT 173-175
LT 176-184

Above are my training zones. Marathon and LT look right in the neighborhood based on my races. I'm a big weenie though and "easy" above is harder than how I normally run easy, which is way too easy. Got that?

Anyway, I did 7 this morning, average 142 bpm and 8:42 per mile. After the first couple, the miles were basically 8:30/145. Really not that hard and a bit more fun that my usual 9:15/134 slog. This past go around, I basically only had three types of runs: workout, recovery, and long. The long run was at the 140-150 easy effort above. "Brain Training," which I was loosely following, had lots of base/recovery pace runs, and weenie that I am, I opted for recovery every time.

I feel recovered except my butt/hips are *still* sore. I sill have three weeks before my official training schedule starts. I'm planning to do more easy runs and try out some of the supplementary training (core routines, etc.) that's in my schedule.

My run was very good today (except it was 45, raining, and windy) and I have some hope that I'm not far from where I was pre-marathon. Of course, I'm going to lose some fitness recovering, so we'll see where I am at the New Year's 5k. I'll be happy with anything sub-20. 19:30 would be very, very nice.

I got me a coach

In a semi-impulsive move, I decided to hire me a coach. Today, I got my schedule that starts on 12/31 and I am psyched! I get to do all kinds of crazy stuff besides just running. I'm not talking Adam-running-up-hills-with-a-sandbag crazy, but more like your basic core strength stuff that I neglect. Best of all somebody tells me what to do without me fretting over whether I'm doing the right thing or not. Until 12/31 though, I'm still making it up as I go.

Today I did 9.3. Pace was 9:12 min/mi and heart rate was 135. I've gone from 9:57/133 to 9:40/133 to 9:12/135 in the span of three days. I think I'm getting over the marathon. After the run I did some weights. 2 x [ 10 x (adductor, leg extension, leg curl, lat pull, row pull, bench press)]. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm kind of hoping I can fix my runner's knee which is still biting my in the... knee. Hip thingy is a distant memory.

The forecast for tomorrow is incredible. 54 degrees at 7am. Are you kidding me? It snowed last Saturday and was about 20 and windy on Sunday. Now it's going to be 54!? I'm planning on another 9.3 very, very easy -- in shorts.

Oh yeah, after freaking out about my weight yesterday, it was 161.6 today, about a pound above my low over the last three months. Perhaps the post-marathon water weight lingered longer this time? I need to watch what I eat anyway, so the day-to-day weight doesn't really matter.

164.5 lbs

Egads! OK, I rationalized the 164.0 on the scale the night before the marathon as water/glycogen put on in the last few days when I cut my mileage. I rationalized the 163.5 a few days later as water retention from muscle damage (inflammation). Now that I weigh in at 164.5 and can see it on my waistline, I have to accept that it's just fat. This might explain some of my "fitness" loss in the last month. Looking at the bright side, this means I have more room to improve.

Today was the 2 times the neighborhood loop. 9:40 min/mi, 133 bpm average. The breathing and heart rate were in sync finally (140 felt hard on the uphills). The pace dropped about 20 seconds/mile from yesterday, so thumbs up there -- only another 20-40 seconds to go. I felt a little more spring in my step. I think a lot of the post-marathon loss in pace must be due to inefficiency resulting from soreness/muscle damage. I like to assume that at least.

week of 1 December

Mo - Rest
Tu - Rest
We - Rest
Th - Elliptical 30:11 134 (67%)
Fr - 4.95 0:46:23 9:23 140
Sa - 5.42 0:50:06 9:14 143
Su - 8.98 1:29:24 9:57 138 -- ~134 if you throw out first lap
Wk - 19.35 3:36:04 9:36 139

Today I reached the acceptance phase in mourning my lost fitness. I finally reached rock bottom and settled in for 90 minutes of shuffling along at 9:57 per mile. That was slow enough to keep me around 133 bpm. It felt hard when I crept up to 140 on some uphills, so it feels like my breathing has finally reconnected with my heart rate.

The prescription now is oxygen. I'm planning to consume as much of it as I can with slow runs that concentrate on time on my feet and minimum impact to my legs. I'll probably even use the elliptical. When my muscles don't ache anymore, I'll throw in some weights, hill sprints, core work, etc. I want to get stronger. Not Adam strong, but I'm hoping to work up to a single pull up by the end of the year :-)

second run back

Went for my second easy run since the marathon last Saturday. My heart rates are still wacky. I can easily shoot over 150 without batting an eye. My breathing doesn't pick up like it normally would and I don't notice until I look at the watch. My last half mile was actually 9:50 pace and 140 bpm average. On the exact same run 4 weeks ago, I ran 9:08 at 125 bpm. Yikes!

Of course, I've been on a long slide since 4 weeks ago and I think I lost a lot even before the marathon. I'm still scratching my head as to why.