week of 16 February

Monday, Feb 16 - 5 mile easy run

Really nice run. I'm running much more upright now and I felt very efficient. I was taking short strides, but had a decent pace (around 9:00 after the first mile) and a low 129, 130, 131, and 136 after the first mile. There were also unforecast snow flurries and half an hour later it was completely blue skies. Neat.

Tuesday, Feb 17 - 6-8 mile easy run including the Rock

Did 7.0. I felt very strong *except* my runner's knee (or whatever it is) that I have been struggling with off and on since last Sept bit me in the first mile or so (downhill). It's been flaring up some the last couple of weeks. My running feels qualitatively different than it did before the half. I credit the rock circuit as much as anything else. The hills also seem to be paying dividends.

Wednesday, Feb 18

AM: 10 mile total moderate run including 10 min @ LT effort. Full recovery then 8-10 x 3 min hills @ 10k feel w/2-3 min jog rests. Finish run w/10 strides

It was hard to pack all this in 10 miles. I did about 1.6 warmup, then 10 min at a semi-wimpy LT. I just squeaked the 10 minutes in a section for a stoplight and then jogged about a mile to the bottom of my hill. Sometimes it's hard to arrange these around the terrain. I did 3 minutes uphill and 3 down. I pushed the down ever so slightly above a jog just to get to the bottom and have enough hill.

PM: 4 mile easy run

I never feel very good doing afternoon runs and especially after a hard morning run, but I trudged through 4.06 miles at a scalding 10:08 pace.

Thursday, Feb 19 - 5-6 mile easy run

Travelling for work. 5 miles @9:08 in an office park. Back and forth on a half mile stretch of road. I didn't have the heart for a 6th mile of monotony. Plus I was late.

Friday, Feb 20 - 8-10 mile moderate run including 10 x 20 sec @ 800m race effort w/ 1 min recovery

Still on travel but drove to a nice 1.8-mile bike path around a lake about 10 minutes away. Had to get up at 5am after the guy in the room next to me was yelling at someone on the phone from 3:30am-4:30am. Got there and did the first lap in seclusion with a head lamp. I forgot how many 20 sec @800m pace I was supposed to do. I did 20. Oops! Plus I thought I was supposed to do 10 strides and threw some extremely half-hearted ones in at the end (the last was maybe 10 yards). I was probably nowhere near 800m pace though. I don't even no what that is. I just ran hard for 20 seconds. Anyway, I made this harder than it was supposed to be, but only average 8:25 pace, so it wasn't terrible.

Saturday, Feb 21 - 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock

I felt pretty stiff and it felt hard for the pace when I was warming up (this seems to be a Saturday theme), so I ran easy (135-139 bpm and low 9 pace). My knee was giving me trouble starting up on the strides during "the Rock," so they were more like jogs.

Sunday, Feb 22
- AM: 15-16 mile total moderate run including 5 miles total @ alternating paces: Mile 1 @ GHMP, Mile 2 @ GMP, Mile 3 @ GHMP, Mile 4 @ GMP, Mile 5 @ GHMP; 10 min recovery jog; then 2 miles @ alternating paces: 1 mile @ GHMP, 800m @ 10k feel. 800m @ 5k effort or harder. Finish w/10 strides

Pretty stiff, so I warmed up slowly and let the pace come to me. First couple of miles were 9:40, 9:30, then ~9:10 until I got to the track (5.4 miles). For the 5 "miles" (1600m splits) I did 6:53/164, 7:08, 6:48, 7:11, 6:47. I had planned on 7:20 pace for the MP sections, but I fell into ~7:10 and that felt right. 1800 meters in 10:01 rest (8:57 pace). My legs got stiff during the rest. It probably didn't help that it was snowing/raining and ~35 degrees. I had a little trouble ramping back up and the last part was 1600 in 6:54, 800 in 3:22, and 800 in 3:14. Jogged home and did the 10 strides (about 2 miles). Total was 15.6 miles.

PM: 4 mile easy jog

4.26 at 9:44 per mile

Total: 67.4 miles

week of 9 Feb

Endurance/ General Strength Phase 1-2x this week – Core Plank - Begin face down elbows bent, lift entire body off ground in a pushup position except for hand to elbow touching ground. Hold position for up to 2 minutes. Back should not slouch. Suck in your abdominal muscles. If you start slouching immediately stop! Forearm Plank w/Alternating Leg Lifts – Same position as above but lift one leg up off the ground approx. 1 1/2 foot or until it is level with your head. Hold for 30 sec, place foot back down and repeat with opposite leg. Foam Roller Exercises 1-2 x this week 5 Weeks to goal Half Marathon race MPW 66 Monday, Feb 9 - rest Rested. I'm good at this. Tuesday, Feb 10 8-10 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit 8.8 miles I think. Great run. Woke up early (4:45) and there were less people out there when I ran. Wednesday, Feb 11 AM 12-14 mile moderate run including 10 x 10 sec steep hill sprints w/full recoveries and 10 x 2 hill min @ 5k effort w/2 min jog rests. Full recovery then 10 strides Underestimated my route and ended up with 14.7. 8+ on warmup loop (including the 10x10'' hills). Did the 10 x 2 min @5k hitting 180-181 bpm at the end of the last couple. Did 2 min rest between except after the 5th I did 3+ min rest to get back to the bottom of the hill as I was inching my way up until I ran out of hill. Did 10 "strides" on the way back. The strides were kind of short and half-hearted. PM : 3 mile moderate w/ 5 strides Did 2.75 miles at 10+ min/mile. Forgot to do the strides. Argh. Thursday, Feb 12 6 mile easy run Did 5 miles at lunch. I was quite sore and did maybe 10 min/mi. It was also *incredibly* windy. Airport reported 50 mph gusts. Was literally knocked off my feet once. Friday, Feb 13 9-10 mile moderate run over rolling hills w/ 30 sec @ 5k effort/30 sec jog rests x 15 This went very well except that I tweaked the same place from last Friday on one of the 5k efforts ["sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee."] It had been slowly getting better and hadn't interfered with running. Anyway, it didn't stop me from completing the intervals. I hit the lap button every 5 min just to keep count and keep the mile auto-lap from triggering. The paces for the 5 min segments (includes 5k and jog) were 7:58, 7:57, and 7:51, but they were all quite uphill (gained 120 feet in the first 5 minute segment). Just for the hell of it, here's the elevation profile for my standard 9+ mile work route. From mile 2 - 5.5 actually looks like a pretty nice Boston simulator. Saturday, Feb 14 6-7 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit I could feel the tug on the back of my leg at first, but it subsided. I felt kinda tired and I believe we talked about going easier on Fri/Sat to be more recovered for Sunday, so I kept around 140 bpm. Rock circuit was fine, but passers by always come buy when I'm doing lunges or supermans and never when I'm doing push ups or something normal looking. I went to home depot procured a 2x8 for the treadmill. The deck is 60 inches long which makes the math nice since one radian is about 60 degrees. A 2x8 is actually 1.5'' thick, this should be about -1.5 degrees. Sunday, Feb 15 15-16 mile moderate run including 15 min run down a slight grade hill (try to run down the same grade as Boston) @ marathon effort then 45 min run up a hill @ LT effort Finish run w/10 strides I did my old run around the lake I used to do all the time and got back to my house after 8.6 miles. Jogged a few minutes on the treadmill with the board underneath (neg incline) and had a few sharp pains in my runner's knee. It was OK after I got up to speed though. I did

week of 2 February

Monday, Feb 2

Rest. Still sick and happy for a scheduled rest day. Fever was down to 99.6 before I went to bed Monday night and I still didn't feel well, so I didn't set the alarm.

Tuesday, Feb 3

Scheduled. 7-8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit. Slept in. Glad I did. I wasn't over the bug yet.

Wednesday, Feb 4

Scheduled AM: 12-13 mile total moderate run including 4 x 2 miles @ 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:40 w/3-4 min jog rests
PM: 4 mile jog

6:29 AM 9.63 1:22:41 8:35 143 (71%)

On the two mile warmup to the track, I felt like my old self, like I'd finally caught my breath after the HM. I shot for 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, and 6:50 w/600m rest. The first two miles (1600 actually) were 7:39, and 7:39. My heart rate averaged something like 148 on the second mile, which I thought was very good for the pace. I felt a twinge in my hamstring on the 3rd laps, but it quickly went away and I forgot about it. I stepped up the pace for the second two miles and could start to feel my hamstring. After the first mile (7:26), it started to build (tugging sensation) pretty quickly and I could tell I was favoring it, so I decided to shut it down and jogged away from the track. I took the long way home from the track (4+ miles) and ended up at 9+ instead of the scheduled 12-13. Bummer.

5:00 PM 4.00 0:38:00 9:30. Four boring miles on the treadmill. Hamstring was stiff but OK for jogging.

Thursday, Feb 5

Scheduled 6 mile jog.

Did 6.04 0:59:56 9:55 130

Friday, Feb 6

Scheduled 8-10 mile moderate run including 5 uphill then 5 slight downhill strides. Run over rolling hills

Did 9.20 1:19:33 8:39 144

My hamstring was a little stiff, but felt pretty good and then about 0.5 miles in, I had a sharp twinge in a muscle (or maybe tendon) on the medial side of my left knee between the knee and that big hamstring tendon. I also had some pain at the very, very top of my right calf, below the back of my knee. Ugh. Well, it subsided pretty quickly and I did the rest of the run. I had to stop at a light though without about 2 miles left and it stiffened up and I could really feel it as I jogged the rest.

Saturday, Feb 7

8 mile moderate run including the Rock Circuit

Did 7.77 1:19:38 10:15 147

Slow pace is from the rock circuit. Splits were 9:08, 8:24, 8:43, 8:37, 8:32, 8:30 with HRs between 142 and 153. After the rock circuit, HRs/paces were 9:11/150, 8:55/153. My heart rate always goes up after the rock circuit. I could still feel the weird twinge from yesterday but it was muted and didn't get worse. I've been doing these on the upper end of easy recently but was a little more rambunctious with this one. It felt good to run off my frustration after losing to go 0-5 in basketball. (I'm the coach of my son's team.)

Sunday, Feb 8

Scheduled. 19-20 mile total moderate run including 3 x 3 miles (run the first 2 miles @ GMP then run the last mile @ 10k effort). 5 min jog rest between reps

Sunday 19.81 2:53:38 8:46 153 (76%)

The plan was just to pick it up for the 3 x 3 and not press. The good news is that my hamstring was completely fine and my new niggle didn't cause a problem. I was "off" from the start though and my 8 miles before the fast parts were at right around 9:00 pace, but my hr was kinda high for that pace (138-143).

The first segment went 8:22/153, 1:42/158 -- bathroom break :-). After the break I jogged 5 minutes rather than restart immediately and did the other two miles in 8:07/155, 8:11/162. 5 min jog. 8:04/162, 8:06/166, 7:43/172, 5 min jog, 8:15/171, 8:22/172, 8:08/176. On the second intervals, I tried to up it a little in the last mile. Not 10k effort, but harder than MP. I was very tired and it was pretty tough just to jog that last cooldown mile. As you can see, my heart rates were pretty marathon-like even though the paces were snail like. I just didn't have it today. Also, the trail was very slow. The snow melted and the normally firm dirt/crushed gravel was very spongy and there were lots of muddy spot. It started out at a pleasant 47 degreses, but got to 69 degrees by the end of the run!

In summary Mindi totally kicked my ass on long run pace today. I had an accounting error for January mileage though. I was looking at the 216 in December. I actually did 229 in January. Not even close. So, there!

Week - 56.5. Scheduled for 69. Ouch.

Thinking back, I'm kind of hoping my tough run today was for lack of endurance. If it was then I did my half on something else and maybe I have room to improve? There has to be a silver lining :-)

This could be you!

Hey, look, I'm a success story! It was a 3:39 PR, but my last half (that I raced) was Sept 2007. Still, my best age-graded PR before that was 10 miles at 6:53 pace and I did 6:51 for 13.1. Not too shabby.

week of 26 January

Monday - Rest
Tues 8:15 PM 0.00 0:07:04 - 97 (48%)  -- elliptical
     8:25 PM 3.00 0:29:37 9:52 139 (69%) -- treadmill
Wednesday 6.00 0:58:45 9:48 134 (67%) -- treadmill
Thursday 7.00 1:21:13 11:36 134 (67%) -- treadmill/rock circuit
Friday         8.31 1:17:35 9:20 144 (72%) -- easy, skipped workout
Saturday 6.74 1:12:20 10:44 148 (74%) -- rock circuit
Sunday         4.37 0:39:17 8:59 140 (70%) -- bailed because of stomach bug
This Week 35.41 6:05:51 10:08 139 (70%)
Last Month 216.54 32:45:08 8:56 147 (73%)

I can't remember the last time I only ran 35 miles in a week. I did manage to squeak by Mindi for the month though (216 to 215).

Traveling to St Louis and back made it tough (hence the PM run on Tuesday and the treadmilling). I was still sore most of the week. As the general soreness has worn off, the hamstring isn't quite right yet. Finally, I got some sort of stomach bug overnight. I was supposed to do 13-14 w/ 40-45, alternating 4' MP/1' 5k, plus 3x200m cutdowns. I figured I'd do 4 miles to warmup and see how I felt. After 2 bathroom breaks in 4 miles, I felt like going home. Given how I feel at the moment, I'm glad I did.

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.