I am starting to get nervous for my race on Saturday. I ran an easy four last night and I felt very herky-jerky the whole time. It was in the 70s with a nice cool wind and that is about all I know about the temp. I started off with an 8:34 mile but I didn't feel loose. I felt a little tight from my track workout but that wasn't it. I felt more disjointed than anything and even after running my second mile in 8:35 I still felt awkward. My knees felt like they needed to pop. I ran my last two miles in 8:23 and 8:25 and felt slightly better but still felt off. I ran my four in a total time of 33:58 which is a little faster than I should have run but not too bad.
I never used to get nervous before a race after my freshman year of high school. I got nervous as a freshman because I ran varsity alot and I was intimidated by the seniors. In my second indoor track meet of my freshman year I somehow ended up in the fast heat of the mile. I think I would have been okay with that except the guy who had just won the State Cross Country title was in the fast heat too. His name was Christian Natusch and he was a German foreign exchange student attending school at Rushville. I had just watched him run the two mile in 9:40 or so and I wasn't feeling good about my chances of not getting lapped once or twice by this guy. My best mile time was only about 5:35 or so and I new that he would probably lap me with about two laps to go if I was lucky. My coach just looked me in the eye and told me to hold him off as long as I could. I have no idea of my splits in the race I just know that I actually started passing people after the first two laps and I knew I was going to run a decent time. I was coming around the last curve on my 7th lap and I heard footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. I just knew it was Natusch and I started to sprint as hard as I could. I held him off until about 50 feet from his finish line and I went into my last lap and finished my race in 5:18. I had just run a 17 second PR for the mile. I didn't care that I got lapped. Natusch ended up running a 4:27 or something.
After that race I quit getting nervous until I started running again when I was 26. I have discovered that I get so nervous that I can't sleep the night before a freaking 5k run. I don't get it but it annoys me. It isn't like I'm running for a State championship or anything, I'm just running a Turkey Trot.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Last tune-up before Saturday
I got home from work today about 1630 and was dog tired. I went to the bedroom and stretched out on my bed for a few minutes and almost fell asleep. I checked the Weather Channel, changed into my running attire and went across the street to the high school track.
It was 86 with 14mph SSE winds gusting to 21. I forget what the humidity was but the Heat Index was 84. The wind was nice and annoying during the workout. I ran my warmup in 16:21 with my first mile easy in 8:31 and my second mile of strides done in 7:50. I took a minute to stretch out, pop my back, retie my shoes and get a sip of water and I was off.
I ran my first 200 in :44.59. 200s really irritate me because I just can't seem to run the pace I'm supposed to but when I check my 200 split during a 400 rep I hit :43 right on the nose. It really hacks me off something fierce. I jogged my 200 m. recovery in 1:16 and hit the next 200 rep in 43.30, which was a lot better. I ran a 400 recovery in 2:30 and ran my 800 in 2:55.94. I hit the 400 of my half in 1:30 and had to drop the hammer a little to make up some time. The wind really became a factor during the 800.
I ran my 400 recovery lap in 2:36 stopping for a sip of water and ran my next 200 in :41.12. I have no idea what happened there. Took 1:29 to run the 200 recovery and hit my next 200 in :42.35. 400 recovery in 2:57 and nailed my 800 in 2:54.25. I hit the 400 in that one in 1:29 and had to pick it up again that last lap. I ran another 400 easy in 2:31 and stretched for a minute before running my cool-down mile in 8:28.
Aside from the incredibly irritating 200s I am pretty happy with this practice. When I did the math I realized that I am disgusted with 600 meters of my 2400 meters worth of quality work. That's 25% of my workout. If I had to give myself a letter grade for today I would only give myself a B minus. I only ran one of my 200s on pace and I didn't run an even pace on my 800s even though I hit my time goal for them. I still feel pretty good about Saturday though.
This weekend was the IHSA Boys' State Track and Field Meet. I wished I'd been there to see the 3200 meter run for both A and AA. In the AA race the top-three finishers were all under 8:58. That is pretty frickin' awesome! My high school alma mater placed 8th in the 3200 meter relay in 8:12 but they were within a second of 5th place. A kid from my hometown that I remember from when I worked at the movie theater, he used to come in all the time with his mom, placed 4th in the 3200 with a time of 9:42. That goes pretty nice with his 4th place finish at the State CC meet last fall where he ran 15:18. My friend, Jordan Patterson, placed 12th in the 3200 in 10:03, only two seconds out of 9th place and the last all-state spot. I think he'll be up there in the top-5 next year, especially if he puts in a good winter. He ran 15:30 last CC season but had an off day at State and ran 15:47 for 30th place. He has the talent to be a top-ten finisher in CC next fall, if not top-five.
Time for bed.
It was 86 with 14mph SSE winds gusting to 21. I forget what the humidity was but the Heat Index was 84. The wind was nice and annoying during the workout. I ran my warmup in 16:21 with my first mile easy in 8:31 and my second mile of strides done in 7:50. I took a minute to stretch out, pop my back, retie my shoes and get a sip of water and I was off.
I ran my first 200 in :44.59. 200s really irritate me because I just can't seem to run the pace I'm supposed to but when I check my 200 split during a 400 rep I hit :43 right on the nose. It really hacks me off something fierce. I jogged my 200 m. recovery in 1:16 and hit the next 200 rep in 43.30, which was a lot better. I ran a 400 recovery in 2:30 and ran my 800 in 2:55.94. I hit the 400 of my half in 1:30 and had to drop the hammer a little to make up some time. The wind really became a factor during the 800.
I ran my 400 recovery lap in 2:36 stopping for a sip of water and ran my next 200 in :41.12. I have no idea what happened there. Took 1:29 to run the 200 recovery and hit my next 200 in :42.35. 400 recovery in 2:57 and nailed my 800 in 2:54.25. I hit the 400 in that one in 1:29 and had to pick it up again that last lap. I ran another 400 easy in 2:31 and stretched for a minute before running my cool-down mile in 8:28.
Aside from the incredibly irritating 200s I am pretty happy with this practice. When I did the math I realized that I am disgusted with 600 meters of my 2400 meters worth of quality work. That's 25% of my workout. If I had to give myself a letter grade for today I would only give myself a B minus. I only ran one of my 200s on pace and I didn't run an even pace on my 800s even though I hit my time goal for them. I still feel pretty good about Saturday though.
This weekend was the IHSA Boys' State Track and Field Meet. I wished I'd been there to see the 3200 meter run for both A and AA. In the AA race the top-three finishers were all under 8:58. That is pretty frickin' awesome! My high school alma mater placed 8th in the 3200 meter relay in 8:12 but they were within a second of 5th place. A kid from my hometown that I remember from when I worked at the movie theater, he used to come in all the time with his mom, placed 4th in the 3200 with a time of 9:42. That goes pretty nice with his 4th place finish at the State CC meet last fall where he ran 15:18. My friend, Jordan Patterson, placed 12th in the 3200 in 10:03, only two seconds out of 9th place and the last all-state spot. I think he'll be up there in the top-5 next year, especially if he puts in a good winter. He ran 15:30 last CC season but had an off day at State and ran 15:47 for 30th place. He has the talent to be a top-ten finisher in CC next fall, if not top-five.
Time for bed.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Cruise Intervals and Memorial Day
I set out to run my cruise interval workout Sunday afternoon after getting home from work and giving my poor wife an hour or so to get herself cleaned up after spending all day at home with Nathan. Apparently Nathan was a little freak who wouldn't let mommy out of his sight all day and cried all the time. Nathan acts differently for mommy than he does for daddy. He is hardly ever fussy for me when I'm with him. I don't get it.
My goal for my 1.5 mile intervals was to run them in 10:15 or 6:50 pace. After a two mile warm-up, completed in 16:42, I started my intervals. I hit the first mile mark in 6:44.71 which happens to not be 6:51 pace. I slowed down the last 800 and hit the finish in 10:07.96, with my last half in 3:23.25. I took two minutes to walk around and started my next interval. I thought I started off slow but I hit the half mile point in 3:12.86 and knew that I was in trouble. I reined myself in the last mile and crossed the line in 10:01.48 with the last mile being covered in 6:48.62.
Aside from running alot faster than I was supposed to I feel good about this practice. The intensity wasn't too bad and I felt like I probably could have run another interval at the same pace. I could tell that I was a little tense and my shoulders were tight but that may have been from the Core Secrets workout I did the night before. All in all, I know that I am more than likely training at a VDOT that is slower than I am capable of and after I see how this race goes I may start training at the more intense VDOT. The only concern I have about that is that I will start running faster than the times called for in that VDOT.
I covered 31 miles last week and I feel like I had a pretty quality week all together. My long run was a bit of a drag but gastrointestinal distress will do that. Last year at this time I imploded because the temps got a little hot. I'm not exactly sure what happened because it looks like I stopped writing in my logbook after Wednesday that week. I ran a four mile tempo run in 30:03.90 with splits of 7:21.53, 7:27.25, 7:42.14 and 7:32.98. I covered eight total miles that day with a two mile warm up and cool down. Tuesday that week I ran an easy four in 37:06 and Wednesday looks like it was an easy eight miles in 1:14:17. Thursday was to have been 6x800 but all I did was 45 minutes of yoga. I covered 20 miles that week.
I have a total of 554.25 miles for the year and am 116.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. I hope I continue to stay injury free and improve this year. Last summer I took about 1:10 off my 5k best from the year before. I doubt I'll take quite that much time off this year but I think I can easily drop 40-45 seconds from my 5k and I think I'm capable of getting my 10k time down into the low 41:00 to high 40:00 range. If I can drop under 41:00 I'll be within a minute or so of my all time best for 10k. I have only run three 10k races in my 28 years and my best one was when I was 19. I probably could have run faster that day but I had a few cervezas the night before and was probably a little dehydrated during the race. I'm pretty sure I didn't run very intelligently the first mile or two but I still managed to run 39:46. I think that time is in reach for me in the near future. If not this season then next.
I ran an easy four this morning in 34:11 with splits of 8:47, 8:31, 8:33 and 8:20. My legs were a little tight the first mile but I loosened up and ran comfortably the rest of the way. Tomorrow is another ladder type workout. I will run my two mile warm-up followed by a 200 in :43, a 200 jog, another 200 in :43, a 400 jog and an 800 in 2:54 followed by another 400 jog. I will do another set like that followed by a mile cool-down and then I'm just going to run easy the rest of the week.
My goal for my 1.5 mile intervals was to run them in 10:15 or 6:50 pace. After a two mile warm-up, completed in 16:42, I started my intervals. I hit the first mile mark in 6:44.71 which happens to not be 6:51 pace. I slowed down the last 800 and hit the finish in 10:07.96, with my last half in 3:23.25. I took two minutes to walk around and started my next interval. I thought I started off slow but I hit the half mile point in 3:12.86 and knew that I was in trouble. I reined myself in the last mile and crossed the line in 10:01.48 with the last mile being covered in 6:48.62.
Aside from running alot faster than I was supposed to I feel good about this practice. The intensity wasn't too bad and I felt like I probably could have run another interval at the same pace. I could tell that I was a little tense and my shoulders were tight but that may have been from the Core Secrets workout I did the night before. All in all, I know that I am more than likely training at a VDOT that is slower than I am capable of and after I see how this race goes I may start training at the more intense VDOT. The only concern I have about that is that I will start running faster than the times called for in that VDOT.
I covered 31 miles last week and I feel like I had a pretty quality week all together. My long run was a bit of a drag but gastrointestinal distress will do that. Last year at this time I imploded because the temps got a little hot. I'm not exactly sure what happened because it looks like I stopped writing in my logbook after Wednesday that week. I ran a four mile tempo run in 30:03.90 with splits of 7:21.53, 7:27.25, 7:42.14 and 7:32.98. I covered eight total miles that day with a two mile warm up and cool down. Tuesday that week I ran an easy four in 37:06 and Wednesday looks like it was an easy eight miles in 1:14:17. Thursday was to have been 6x800 but all I did was 45 minutes of yoga. I covered 20 miles that week.
I have a total of 554.25 miles for the year and am 116.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. I hope I continue to stay injury free and improve this year. Last summer I took about 1:10 off my 5k best from the year before. I doubt I'll take quite that much time off this year but I think I can easily drop 40-45 seconds from my 5k and I think I'm capable of getting my 10k time down into the low 41:00 to high 40:00 range. If I can drop under 41:00 I'll be within a minute or so of my all time best for 10k. I have only run three 10k races in my 28 years and my best one was when I was 19. I probably could have run faster that day but I had a few cervezas the night before and was probably a little dehydrated during the race. I'm pretty sure I didn't run very intelligently the first mile or two but I still managed to run 39:46. I think that time is in reach for me in the near future. If not this season then next.
I ran an easy four this morning in 34:11 with splits of 8:47, 8:31, 8:33 and 8:20. My legs were a little tight the first mile but I loosened up and ran comfortably the rest of the way. Tomorrow is another ladder type workout. I will run my two mile warm-up followed by a 200 in :43, a 200 jog, another 200 in :43, a 400 jog and an 800 in 2:54 followed by another 400 jog. I will do another set like that followed by a mile cool-down and then I'm just going to run easy the rest of the week.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
A Kink in My Plans
I took my brand new iPod Shuffle out for a run on Friday night after my wife got home. I stayed home with Nathan on Friday because he had a bad cold with a low grade fever and a runny nose that wouldn't quit. Nate doesn't like his nose messed with on a good day and I got my butt kicked by a ten month old everytime I came at him with the booger sucker.
I had my Shuffle loaded with some Radiohead, Tom Waits, Modest Mouse and Wilco and I grooved my way through a 4 mile run. I hit my splits in 8:31, 8:39, 8:36 and 8:30 and was pretty proud of myself for running a fairly even pace. Most of the stuff I loaded up was of a slower tempo and I didn't get pumped up enough to run fast. I think I'll load up some of the Clash for a tempo run. Maybe "Clash City Rockers" or "Train in Vain." I think I still have some Static-X and System of a Down from my metal days but I think that stuff would give me a headache now. I must be getting old or something.
I was going to run some 1.5 mile cruise intervals tonight after work but I forgot that Kim was going to work as soon as I got home. Instead of cruise intervals I did the 45 minute Core Secrets workout while my son napped in his crib. When he woke up we spent the rest of the evening playing, listening to this CD I bought him that has Radiohead songs made into lullabies, and watching the Cardinals whip on the Nationals. He ended up taking a bottle and going to sleep about 2100hrs.
If it isn't storming I am going to get up at 0430 to get my cruise interval practice in before I go to work. I already have my coffee pot set up to make me two cups of coffee so I won't be a pain in the rear to work with.
Having my cruise practice has me in a bit of a conundrum for my training this week. I was going to take it easy leading into the 10k on Saturday because my back and right butt cheek have been tight and I don't want to exacerbate that at all. I originally intended to do another ladder type workout on the track Monday with an easy four on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo on Wednesday, zero miles on Thursday and four on Friday with the race on Saturday. Due to my buttcheek flaring up I was going to eliminate the 4 mile tempo but now I'm not sure what day to do my track workout. I don't want to do it Monday since I'm doing the cruise intervals tomorrow so it is either Tuesday or Wednesday.
This 10k race isn't super important to me, I'm just using it to gauge my fitness. I would still like to have legs that aren't too beat up so that I can run a decent time and maybe improve on my dreadful showing at Abe's Amble last year. I ran 44:05, which isn't bad, it was just 35 seconds slower than I knew I was capable of. My tactics for Abe's were not sound and I suffered for my stupidity. I had never run the course before and I didn't realize that the hills were as bad as they were miles 4 and 5. They probably wouldn't have killed me as bad as they did if I hadn't run my first mile in 6:35 followed by a 6:45 second mile. Before I came to my senses and made myself slow down to a 7:01 third mile it was already too late. I ran miles 4 and 5 in 7:39 and 7:44 before I regrouped and ran a 6:58 6th mile.
Any suggestions for my training schedule this week?
I had my Shuffle loaded with some Radiohead, Tom Waits, Modest Mouse and Wilco and I grooved my way through a 4 mile run. I hit my splits in 8:31, 8:39, 8:36 and 8:30 and was pretty proud of myself for running a fairly even pace. Most of the stuff I loaded up was of a slower tempo and I didn't get pumped up enough to run fast. I think I'll load up some of the Clash for a tempo run. Maybe "Clash City Rockers" or "Train in Vain." I think I still have some Static-X and System of a Down from my metal days but I think that stuff would give me a headache now. I must be getting old or something.
I was going to run some 1.5 mile cruise intervals tonight after work but I forgot that Kim was going to work as soon as I got home. Instead of cruise intervals I did the 45 minute Core Secrets workout while my son napped in his crib. When he woke up we spent the rest of the evening playing, listening to this CD I bought him that has Radiohead songs made into lullabies, and watching the Cardinals whip on the Nationals. He ended up taking a bottle and going to sleep about 2100hrs.
If it isn't storming I am going to get up at 0430 to get my cruise interval practice in before I go to work. I already have my coffee pot set up to make me two cups of coffee so I won't be a pain in the rear to work with.
Having my cruise practice has me in a bit of a conundrum for my training this week. I was going to take it easy leading into the 10k on Saturday because my back and right butt cheek have been tight and I don't want to exacerbate that at all. I originally intended to do another ladder type workout on the track Monday with an easy four on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo on Wednesday, zero miles on Thursday and four on Friday with the race on Saturday. Due to my buttcheek flaring up I was going to eliminate the 4 mile tempo but now I'm not sure what day to do my track workout. I don't want to do it Monday since I'm doing the cruise intervals tomorrow so it is either Tuesday or Wednesday.
This 10k race isn't super important to me, I'm just using it to gauge my fitness. I would still like to have legs that aren't too beat up so that I can run a decent time and maybe improve on my dreadful showing at Abe's Amble last year. I ran 44:05, which isn't bad, it was just 35 seconds slower than I knew I was capable of. My tactics for Abe's were not sound and I suffered for my stupidity. I had never run the course before and I didn't realize that the hills were as bad as they were miles 4 and 5. They probably wouldn't have killed me as bad as they did if I hadn't run my first mile in 6:35 followed by a 6:45 second mile. Before I came to my senses and made myself slow down to a 7:01 third mile it was already too late. I ran miles 4 and 5 in 7:39 and 7:44 before I regrouped and ran a 6:58 6th mile.
Any suggestions for my training schedule this week?
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The 4th is . . .
An iPod anniversary. I got home from work today and completely walked by my brand new iPod Shuffle that my lovely wife bought me and left on the counter because I was distracted by my new issue of "Sports Illustrated." I got the orange one and have already downloaded my favorite album of all time, "OK Computer" by Radiohead, onto it. I am, in fact, listening to it as I type.
Nathan had a bit of a fever this afternoon at daycare but it was because he was cutting his fourth tooth. Talk about irony, his fourth tooth on our fourth anniversary. Weird. He cheered up after a nap and we dressed ourselves up and went to Red Lobster with our little man. He was charming the waitresses and smiling at the old man seated next to us and was pretty fun to hang about with tonight.
I may totally dig the orange iPod shuffle that my wife gave me tonight but my son is the absolute best thing she ever gave me.
I'm sure you won't read this, but I love you Kim. Thanks for FOUR good years and I hope we have many, many more.
Nathan had a bit of a fever this afternoon at daycare but it was because he was cutting his fourth tooth. Talk about irony, his fourth tooth on our fourth anniversary. Weird. He cheered up after a nap and we dressed ourselves up and went to Red Lobster with our little man. He was charming the waitresses and smiling at the old man seated next to us and was pretty fun to hang about with tonight.
I may totally dig the orange iPod shuffle that my wife gave me tonight but my son is the absolute best thing she ever gave me.
I'm sure you won't read this, but I love you Kim. Thanks for FOUR good years and I hope we have many, many more.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Distress
I managed to pull myself out of bed despite only getting about five hours of broken sleep last night. Since my son has started sleeping through the night I have started thinking that he isn't breathing and I get up and check every 60-90 minutes to make sure he's alive. He's alive every time I go in there but he's usually in a new and more interesting position than he was on the previous inspection. My son is a mobile one. He's a belly sleeper and a roller so I usually find him at one end of the crib or the other and usually with his head 180 degrees from where it was earlier.
I got up, put on my shorts and shoes, checked the Weather Channel, stretched and took off. The intent was to run a ten miler because I'm working all weekend. I live on the northeast side of Chatham about a block from the cornfields and my course took me out that direction. I was running along, minding my own business, about a half mile into my run when I heard a snorting sound like something was surprised and angry about it. In my peripheral vision I saw a very large mass make a sudden movement in my direction, or so I thought, and I almost evacuated my bladder. If I had hair on my head long enough it would have stood on end, as it was my arm and chest hair probably made up for it. As it turns out, the deer was more afraid of me and took off for the open country perpendicular to my trajectory. I got my heart rate back to normal and a block down the road I noticed something in a developing subdivision looking at me as I ran by. It was three more deer that rapidly left the scene but didn't scare the crap out of me.
I made it through my first mile in 9:48 which was a surprise because I thought I was running faster. I always did have a hard time gauging my pace in the dark. I ran my next two miles, deer free, in 8:46 and 8:38. Heading to the four mile mark I spaced out and forgot to hit my split but ran miles 4-5 in 17:09. About a half mile past the four mile mark I got hit by a bad case of gastrointestinal distress and I'm glad I was near trees. I continued on incident free after that but called my run a seven miles so I could get home and get ready to work. I ran my last two miles in 8:20 and 8:01 for a total seven mile time of 1:00:44, minus the pit stop. The temp was 73, SSE 10 and 43% humidity.
I got my son ready after I showered and we ate cereal and strawberries before I took him to daycare. I went to work, did some stuff and decided to go home at about 1100 because I wasn't going to be able to get a day off before my work weekend. I picked up Nathan and since he had a full belly from his lunch and a clean diaper we went for a short 3 mile run. I have a jogging stroller that we've only used twice before so I put sunscreen on both of us, put him in the stroller, pulled the canopy down to cover him and off we went.
I left my water bottle on the counter and I started wishing I hadn't about halfway through the run. The wind was coming out of the south pretty hard and I realized that I hadn't checked the weather before I left. We completed our jaunt in 25:17 with splits of 8:38, 8:23 and 8:17. The interesting thing about the stroller is that it caught the wind real well and was hell to push when we were heading south most of the first two miles of the run. Upon checking the Weather Channel when we got home I discovered that if was 89 with 25% humidity and 24mph winds out of the SSW that were gusting to 34mph. I got a nice workout pushing the stroller today and I'm looking forward to not running tomorrow on my wedding anniversary. Four years ago tomorrow I watched my wife walk down the aisle and bluddered like an idiot. I almost couldn't say my vows I was crying so hard. It was a good cry, not a "what-the-hell-am-I-doing" cry. It has been a good four years.
I got up, put on my shorts and shoes, checked the Weather Channel, stretched and took off. The intent was to run a ten miler because I'm working all weekend. I live on the northeast side of Chatham about a block from the cornfields and my course took me out that direction. I was running along, minding my own business, about a half mile into my run when I heard a snorting sound like something was surprised and angry about it. In my peripheral vision I saw a very large mass make a sudden movement in my direction, or so I thought, and I almost evacuated my bladder. If I had hair on my head long enough it would have stood on end, as it was my arm and chest hair probably made up for it. As it turns out, the deer was more afraid of me and took off for the open country perpendicular to my trajectory. I got my heart rate back to normal and a block down the road I noticed something in a developing subdivision looking at me as I ran by. It was three more deer that rapidly left the scene but didn't scare the crap out of me.
I made it through my first mile in 9:48 which was a surprise because I thought I was running faster. I always did have a hard time gauging my pace in the dark. I ran my next two miles, deer free, in 8:46 and 8:38. Heading to the four mile mark I spaced out and forgot to hit my split but ran miles 4-5 in 17:09. About a half mile past the four mile mark I got hit by a bad case of gastrointestinal distress and I'm glad I was near trees. I continued on incident free after that but called my run a seven miles so I could get home and get ready to work. I ran my last two miles in 8:20 and 8:01 for a total seven mile time of 1:00:44, minus the pit stop. The temp was 73, SSE 10 and 43% humidity.
I got my son ready after I showered and we ate cereal and strawberries before I took him to daycare. I went to work, did some stuff and decided to go home at about 1100 because I wasn't going to be able to get a day off before my work weekend. I picked up Nathan and since he had a full belly from his lunch and a clean diaper we went for a short 3 mile run. I have a jogging stroller that we've only used twice before so I put sunscreen on both of us, put him in the stroller, pulled the canopy down to cover him and off we went.
I left my water bottle on the counter and I started wishing I hadn't about halfway through the run. The wind was coming out of the south pretty hard and I realized that I hadn't checked the weather before I left. We completed our jaunt in 25:17 with splits of 8:38, 8:23 and 8:17. The interesting thing about the stroller is that it caught the wind real well and was hell to push when we were heading south most of the first two miles of the run. Upon checking the Weather Channel when we got home I discovered that if was 89 with 25% humidity and 24mph winds out of the SSW that were gusting to 34mph. I got a nice workout pushing the stroller today and I'm looking forward to not running tomorrow on my wedding anniversary. Four years ago tomorrow I watched my wife walk down the aisle and bluddered like an idiot. I almost couldn't say my vows I was crying so hard. It was a good cry, not a "what-the-hell-am-I-doing" cry. It has been a good four years.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tired boy
We started taking my son to a new daycare place and we've been getting up early to get him ready the last few days. Ironically, he has been sleeping through the night the last few nights and Kim and I are both more tired than usual.
I ran a ladder workout on the Glenwood High School track Monday night because the Middle School track was locked up. I have only run a workout on the high school track twice before because they keep it locked up tighter than Fort Knox. This irritates me because I live right across the street from the high school track and I pay about $4,000 a year in property taxes and I can't run on the track that I am funding because it is locked up.
Anyway, I ran my ladder workout that consisted of 2x200, 400, 2x800, 400, and 2x200. Each workbout was follwed by a recovery jog the distance of the repeat. I ran a two mile warm-up in 15:50, which was too fast. It was 82 with winds 14mph out of the south and 18% humidity. Heat Index was 80. My times were as follows: 44.62 (1:10), 44.00 (1:11), 1:27.43 (2:36), 2:56.69 (6:08 changed into flats), 2:54.86 (5:00), 1:26.14 (2:46), 42.05 (1:30), 41.58 (1:26). I jogged a mile cool down in 8:53 and went home.
Tonight I ran an easy four miles in 84 degrees, SSE 20 gusting to 27mph, and 27% humidity. I ran splits of 8:42, 8:31, 8:27 and 8:25 for a total time of 34:05. I followed the run with some easy stretching and only one rep of my circuit training routine. I didn't feel up to it today.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to run 10 miles before work but I think getting up at 0400 is going to kill me. I may run seven and then do three more in the afternoon.
I ran a ladder workout on the Glenwood High School track Monday night because the Middle School track was locked up. I have only run a workout on the high school track twice before because they keep it locked up tighter than Fort Knox. This irritates me because I live right across the street from the high school track and I pay about $4,000 a year in property taxes and I can't run on the track that I am funding because it is locked up.
Anyway, I ran my ladder workout that consisted of 2x200, 400, 2x800, 400, and 2x200. Each workbout was follwed by a recovery jog the distance of the repeat. I ran a two mile warm-up in 15:50, which was too fast. It was 82 with winds 14mph out of the south and 18% humidity. Heat Index was 80. My times were as follows: 44.62 (1:10), 44.00 (1:11), 1:27.43 (2:36), 2:56.69 (6:08 changed into flats), 2:54.86 (5:00), 1:26.14 (2:46), 42.05 (1:30), 41.58 (1:26). I jogged a mile cool down in 8:53 and went home.
Tonight I ran an easy four miles in 84 degrees, SSE 20 gusting to 27mph, and 27% humidity. I ran splits of 8:42, 8:31, 8:27 and 8:25 for a total time of 34:05. I followed the run with some easy stretching and only one rep of my circuit training routine. I didn't feel up to it today.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to run 10 miles before work but I think getting up at 0400 is going to kill me. I may run seven and then do three more in the afternoon.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Weekly Report
I finished up my week with some nice easy workouts, a bit of sleep, a lot of coffee, some weight lifting and some quality time with my wife and son.
Friday morning I got up early and ran 4 miles around town in 34:33. I had splits of 8:58, 8:28, 8:33 and 8:34. It was a cool morning and I wore a jacket for the first time in about a month. The Weather Channel said is was 39, calm, with 87% humidity. I felt pretty good except for a big knot in my right butt cheek from my circuit training routine. I do squats, lunges, hamstring presses and hip bridges and my rear end isn't used to it. It got better during the day and using "The Stick" on it helped out alot. If you don't have a "Stick" I recommend it because it is pretty cool. Here's the website: http://www.thestick.com/.
I had a leadership class at the hospital Friday morning and then worked on the floor in x-ray the rest of the day. I'm getting my x-ray skills back now that my students are on break. I don't get much chance to actually take a radiograph of a patient when they're around because they are all over the work when it comes in. I had a pretty good group of students to start off with but they are all rotating out in July and I'm getting a new group. I'm sure the next group will be good too but I'll be sad to see this group depart.
Friday night my mother-in-law watched Nathan and Kim and I went to dinner and a movie. We ate at some sports bar on the west side of Springfield and it was decent for the money. After I ate my cheeseburger, good runner fuel, we went to see Spider-man 3. We both loved it. If you haven't seen it and like the other two you'll probably dig the latest installment.
Saturday morning I ran a 10 milers on the Interurban Trail. I start at my driveway and run towards Springfield and when I hit the I-72 overpass it is exactly 5 miles from my house. I generally turn around there, although when I was training for my marathon I did run all the way to Old Navy a few times during my 18 and 20 mile runs. I like the trail because I don't have to worry about cars and if I hit the trail early enough I generally don't have to worry about bikers, walkers or other runners. I have run up on deer, raccoon and opossum a few times and the birds are usually pretty. I see geese by the lake, an occasional heron and other assorted song birds which I detail to Nathan when I get home. Last summer when Nathan was born I would go on my long runs and count things so that when I got home I could tell him that I saw 3 walkers, 5 runners, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 7 trucks, 8 SUVs, 9 cars, 5 bicyclists, a motorcycle and a choo-choo train. He seemed interested but my wife made fun of me for being able to remember all that stuff. "Is that all you do on your runs? Count things? Running sounds real exciting!"
I ran my 10 miler in 1:22:18, which is faster than the 8:32 pace I'm supposed to run on my easy days. It was 50, with SW winds at 6mph and 56% humidity and it was a pleasant day. I ran to my turnaround point in 42:22 and ran the last 5 miles in 39:55. I ran 2-3 two-minute surges miles 6-7 and got into such a nice rhythm the last few miles that I just went with it and made sure I was running comfortably without too much strain. It felt nice.
The rest of Saturday involved going to the mall so Kim could do some shopping and getting some stuff at Sam's. We ate steak and wine for dinner and sat on the patio with the rest of the wine and our little fire pit going and went to bed about 2300 hours.
Nathan and I woke up around 0630, we ate breakfast, he had oatmeal and I had coffee. When his mommy woke up I did a 25 minute Core Secrets workout and then swept and mopped the hardwood in the kitchen, dining room, sun room and foyer. I just realized that I am a very boring man.
I covered 30 miles this week and brought my yearly total up to 523.25 miles which is 105.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. Week 20 of last year I covered 33.5 miles with my key workouts being a 4 mile tempo run that I completed in 30:43 with splits of 7:49, 7:44, 7:31 and 7:37. What a difference a year makes, I ran my 4 mile tempo run almost 3 minutes faster this week. I also did 8x400 in an average of 1:29.4 with 200m. recovery jogs between instead of the 400m. jogs I did this week. I also did a nice ten miler in 1:26:13 where I ran 44:01 on the way out and 42:12 on the way back in.
Next week calls for a ladder type workout on the track tomorrow where I will run 2x200, a 400, an 800, a 400 and 2x200. The times I expect to hit are: 200=43, 400=1:27 and 800=2:55. Tuesday calls for an easy 4, Wednesday is 2x2400 in 10:16 with a 2 minute break between them. Thursday is an off day, Friday an easy 4 and Saturday 10. I may shuffle the order this week because I have to work in CT over the weekend and I don't relish the though of getting up at 0330 Saturday morning to complete my long run before work. I'll cover another 30 miles this week in preparation for a 10k I'm going to run in Jacksonville on June 2nd.
Before I close, my friend, Jordan Patterson qualified for the State Track Meet in the 3200 by taking another seven seconds off his time and running a 10:02. He won by over thirty seconds and came back with a 4:44 mile to just miss qualifying for the 1600 as well. A 10:02/4:44 double is pretty darn awesome. I think he has an outside shot of making all-state next weekend, the competition is pretty stiff but if Jordan keeps running smart he could drop another 10 or 15 seconds and sneak into the top-nine. I think 9:45 will get it.
Friday morning I got up early and ran 4 miles around town in 34:33. I had splits of 8:58, 8:28, 8:33 and 8:34. It was a cool morning and I wore a jacket for the first time in about a month. The Weather Channel said is was 39, calm, with 87% humidity. I felt pretty good except for a big knot in my right butt cheek from my circuit training routine. I do squats, lunges, hamstring presses and hip bridges and my rear end isn't used to it. It got better during the day and using "The Stick" on it helped out alot. If you don't have a "Stick" I recommend it because it is pretty cool. Here's the website: http://www.thestick.com/.
I had a leadership class at the hospital Friday morning and then worked on the floor in x-ray the rest of the day. I'm getting my x-ray skills back now that my students are on break. I don't get much chance to actually take a radiograph of a patient when they're around because they are all over the work when it comes in. I had a pretty good group of students to start off with but they are all rotating out in July and I'm getting a new group. I'm sure the next group will be good too but I'll be sad to see this group depart.
Friday night my mother-in-law watched Nathan and Kim and I went to dinner and a movie. We ate at some sports bar on the west side of Springfield and it was decent for the money. After I ate my cheeseburger, good runner fuel, we went to see Spider-man 3. We both loved it. If you haven't seen it and like the other two you'll probably dig the latest installment.
Saturday morning I ran a 10 milers on the Interurban Trail. I start at my driveway and run towards Springfield and when I hit the I-72 overpass it is exactly 5 miles from my house. I generally turn around there, although when I was training for my marathon I did run all the way to Old Navy a few times during my 18 and 20 mile runs. I like the trail because I don't have to worry about cars and if I hit the trail early enough I generally don't have to worry about bikers, walkers or other runners. I have run up on deer, raccoon and opossum a few times and the birds are usually pretty. I see geese by the lake, an occasional heron and other assorted song birds which I detail to Nathan when I get home. Last summer when Nathan was born I would go on my long runs and count things so that when I got home I could tell him that I saw 3 walkers, 5 runners, 4 dogs, 2 cats, 7 trucks, 8 SUVs, 9 cars, 5 bicyclists, a motorcycle and a choo-choo train. He seemed interested but my wife made fun of me for being able to remember all that stuff. "Is that all you do on your runs? Count things? Running sounds real exciting!"
I ran my 10 miler in 1:22:18, which is faster than the 8:32 pace I'm supposed to run on my easy days. It was 50, with SW winds at 6mph and 56% humidity and it was a pleasant day. I ran to my turnaround point in 42:22 and ran the last 5 miles in 39:55. I ran 2-3 two-minute surges miles 6-7 and got into such a nice rhythm the last few miles that I just went with it and made sure I was running comfortably without too much strain. It felt nice.
The rest of Saturday involved going to the mall so Kim could do some shopping and getting some stuff at Sam's. We ate steak and wine for dinner and sat on the patio with the rest of the wine and our little fire pit going and went to bed about 2300 hours.
Nathan and I woke up around 0630, we ate breakfast, he had oatmeal and I had coffee. When his mommy woke up I did a 25 minute Core Secrets workout and then swept and mopped the hardwood in the kitchen, dining room, sun room and foyer. I just realized that I am a very boring man.
I covered 30 miles this week and brought my yearly total up to 523.25 miles which is 105.75 miles ahead of last year at this time. Week 20 of last year I covered 33.5 miles with my key workouts being a 4 mile tempo run that I completed in 30:43 with splits of 7:49, 7:44, 7:31 and 7:37. What a difference a year makes, I ran my 4 mile tempo run almost 3 minutes faster this week. I also did 8x400 in an average of 1:29.4 with 200m. recovery jogs between instead of the 400m. jogs I did this week. I also did a nice ten miler in 1:26:13 where I ran 44:01 on the way out and 42:12 on the way back in.
Next week calls for a ladder type workout on the track tomorrow where I will run 2x200, a 400, an 800, a 400 and 2x200. The times I expect to hit are: 200=43, 400=1:27 and 800=2:55. Tuesday calls for an easy 4, Wednesday is 2x2400 in 10:16 with a 2 minute break between them. Thursday is an off day, Friday an easy 4 and Saturday 10. I may shuffle the order this week because I have to work in CT over the weekend and I don't relish the though of getting up at 0330 Saturday morning to complete my long run before work. I'll cover another 30 miles this week in preparation for a 10k I'm going to run in Jacksonville on June 2nd.
Before I close, my friend, Jordan Patterson qualified for the State Track Meet in the 3200 by taking another seven seconds off his time and running a 10:02. He won by over thirty seconds and came back with a 4:44 mile to just miss qualifying for the 1600 as well. A 10:02/4:44 double is pretty darn awesome. I think he has an outside shot of making all-state next weekend, the competition is pretty stiff but if Jordan keeps running smart he could drop another 10 or 15 seconds and sneak into the top-nine. I think 9:45 will get it.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Windy Tempo
I ran my 4 mile tempo this afternoon because I couldn't drag my butt out of bed this morning. It was 69 with winds 9mph out of the WNW and 29% humidity. I warmed up with a mile in 8:20 and after some stretching started my run. I ran into the wind for the first 1200 of my tempo and it felt a little stronger than 9 mph. I also got chased by a dog. I hit mile one in 6:57.06 which felt okay despite already being parched from the wind drying my mouth out. I got chased by two more dogs and actually had to stop twice to slap the little ankle-biters and get them to leave me alone. Instead of easing back into my pace I surged hard for a block or two out of anger until I made myself slow down. I hit mile two in 6:54.02 (13:51.08). Mile three was thankfully mostly with the wind or in a cross wind and I crossed three in 6:55.98 (20:47.06). Mile 4 was with the wind for the first 800 or so and then I turned west again and ran the last 800 into the teeth of the wind. I started to strain a little there and finished up in 7:00.92 (27:47.98). I ran into the house to check weather.com and discovered that the wind had actually picked up to 13mph with 17mph gusts. That explained why it felt hard the last half mile. I cooled down with an easy mile in 8:24, stretched out and ate turkey tacos for dinner. Turkey tacos are good.
I am reasonably pleased with my workout today. I was a little sluggish but not too bad. I ran a fairly even pace for the tempo and didn't deviate too much off pace. The 7:00 mile hurt but was into some pretty stiff winds and the 6:54 was irritation fueled. I think today was a good character building run. I was forced to concentrate on my form, my pace and my motivation. I hit three and was already beginning to dread the last four blocks of my run and I just made myself run from light post to light post to stop sign. I just kept telling myself, 5 minutes to go, 4 minutes to go and by the time I hit the 3 minute mark I felt better.
Tomorrow is an off day. I will probably do my circuit training routine, which may have contributed to some of the sluggishness I felt today, and then I'm going to watch "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," and "Scrubs."
I am reasonably pleased with my workout today. I was a little sluggish but not too bad. I ran a fairly even pace for the tempo and didn't deviate too much off pace. The 7:00 mile hurt but was into some pretty stiff winds and the 6:54 was irritation fueled. I think today was a good character building run. I was forced to concentrate on my form, my pace and my motivation. I hit three and was already beginning to dread the last four blocks of my run and I just made myself run from light post to light post to stop sign. I just kept telling myself, 5 minutes to go, 4 minutes to go and by the time I hit the 3 minute mark I felt better.
Tomorrow is an off day. I will probably do my circuit training routine, which may have contributed to some of the sluggishness I felt today, and then I'm going to watch "My Name Is Earl," "The Office," and "Scrubs."
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Storms
I woke up this morning at 0500 to complete my easy run for the day because of the threat of storms this afternoon. I ran an easy for in 34:16 with mile splits of 8:56, 8:34, 8:19 and 8:27. It was a pretty nice morning with a temp of 69, winds SSW at 8 mph and 56% humidity. I decided to go shirtless and wished I had put one on because the wind was a cool one and prevented me from breaking much of a sweat like I expected it to. I felt nice and loose this morning with no stiffness and very little sluggishness during the first mile.
After my run I stretched out a little, started the coffee pot and read the newspaper while I waited for my coffee to brew. I was mistaked about Jordan McCarty's time and placing at the track meet last night. I said he got 4th in 10:35 and he actually got 5th in 10:39. Either way I am impressed with the time from a freshman. He brings to mind a freshman phenom from my days in high school by the name of Clint Lafary. Clint ran the 3200 in the 10:30 range and the mile in the 4:50s as a frosh but never seemed to improve too much after that. It was unfortunate because most of us thought that he could probably win the state CC title by our senior year. I'm not 100% sure of his PRs but I'm pretty sure he never broke 10:00 for the 3200 even though he ran low 4:30 and 2:01 or 2:02 for the 1600 and 800. He went on to run at Monmouth College and is now coaching at Limestone High School up by Peoria. He scratched from the 1600 at the Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll Meet our senior year enabling me to fill in as an alternate. I made the most of his scratch and earned the 5th place medal as the 12th seed. I ran a 4:41 and helped the single A guys take three of the top five spots in the 1600. Ironically, and impressively, the other three class A runners who medaled at that meet were from my high school conference, the Prairieland, and we finished in the exact order we had in our Conference meet 1600 a week earlier. One of them went on that weekend to place 2nd in the 3200 at the State track meet in 9:31 and the other placed 3rd in the 800 in 1:58. I got 17th in the mile at 4:40.96 and didn't make the final. Oh well, the Honor Roll Meet medals were MUCH bigger than the State medals anyway.
I had intended to do a bit of circuit training tonight after work but haven't mustered up the motivation quite yet. I may head out that way soon because a strong runner is a fast runner. Tomorrow calls for a 4 mile tempo run at 6:56 or 7:00 minute pace. Daniels recommends adjusting the pace of your tempo runs based on the length of time you expect to be out running. For instance: If I am going to be running about 25 minutes I am to add 5 seconds to my tempo pace which is 6:51 + 5 = 6:56. If I am going to be out for 30 minutes add 9 seconds for 7:00. A four mile tempo run will take me anywhere from 27:44 to 28:00. I'm not sure what pace to go for but I think 6:56 will be closer to what I actually run. For all intents and purposes I am actually training at a lower VDOT than I am capable of and I should probably be trying to run the thing at 6:49 to 6:52 pace. Maybe I'll just see how I feel tomorrow.
After my run I stretched out a little, started the coffee pot and read the newspaper while I waited for my coffee to brew. I was mistaked about Jordan McCarty's time and placing at the track meet last night. I said he got 4th in 10:35 and he actually got 5th in 10:39. Either way I am impressed with the time from a freshman. He brings to mind a freshman phenom from my days in high school by the name of Clint Lafary. Clint ran the 3200 in the 10:30 range and the mile in the 4:50s as a frosh but never seemed to improve too much after that. It was unfortunate because most of us thought that he could probably win the state CC title by our senior year. I'm not 100% sure of his PRs but I'm pretty sure he never broke 10:00 for the 3200 even though he ran low 4:30 and 2:01 or 2:02 for the 1600 and 800. He went on to run at Monmouth College and is now coaching at Limestone High School up by Peoria. He scratched from the 1600 at the Peoria Journal Star Honor Roll Meet our senior year enabling me to fill in as an alternate. I made the most of his scratch and earned the 5th place medal as the 12th seed. I ran a 4:41 and helped the single A guys take three of the top five spots in the 1600. Ironically, and impressively, the other three class A runners who medaled at that meet were from my high school conference, the Prairieland, and we finished in the exact order we had in our Conference meet 1600 a week earlier. One of them went on that weekend to place 2nd in the 3200 at the State track meet in 9:31 and the other placed 3rd in the 800 in 1:58. I got 17th in the mile at 4:40.96 and didn't make the final. Oh well, the Honor Roll Meet medals were MUCH bigger than the State medals anyway.
I had intended to do a bit of circuit training tonight after work but haven't mustered up the motivation quite yet. I may head out that way soon because a strong runner is a fast runner. Tomorrow calls for a 4 mile tempo run at 6:56 or 7:00 minute pace. Daniels recommends adjusting the pace of your tempo runs based on the length of time you expect to be out running. For instance: If I am going to be running about 25 minutes I am to add 5 seconds to my tempo pace which is 6:51 + 5 = 6:56. If I am going to be out for 30 minutes add 9 seconds for 7:00. A four mile tempo run will take me anywhere from 27:44 to 28:00. I'm not sure what pace to go for but I think 6:56 will be closer to what I actually run. For all intents and purposes I am actually training at a lower VDOT than I am capable of and I should probably be trying to run the thing at 6:49 to 6:52 pace. Maybe I'll just see how I feel tomorrow.
Monday, May 14, 2007
400s and Capitol Area Classic
It was a little warm and windy when I left work today and I wondered if it was going to be warm enough to run a good practice tonight. I think that soon I am going to have to get up early to get my quality practices instead of doing them after work. When I decided to drive to the middle school track around 1700hrs tonight it was 88 with SSW winds at 19mph gusting to 26. The humidity was only 30% and the dreaded heat index was only 86. I decided to go for it.
I drove to the track, did my customary mile warm-up with a mile of strides in 8:26 and 7:39 (16:06) and stretched for a few minutes. I kept the t-shirt on through my warm-up and into my 400s before I ditched after rep #2. The goal today was to run 6x400 in 1:27 with 400 meter recovery jogs. The HR monitor, despite having a new battery, decided not to work today so I hung the damn thing from my bedroom door and have decided to leave it there from now on. I think it has become a superfluous piece of equipment and I refuse to let it dominate my runs anymore. I was actually not paying attention to it 90% of the time and calling it a "damn thing."
I digress. The goal was 1:27 per repeat and I led off with a picture perfect 1:27.17 followed by a 2:30.81 jog around the track. Throughout the workout I was actually making it around the track in about 2:15 on the recovery laps but was taking a few seconds to get a little water in the mouth and to spritz myself with a spray bottle. Spritzing was a good idea that I think I may incorporate into other workouts. I ran rep #2 in 1:27.50 (2:30.92), #3 in 1:27.90 (3:30.37 to change into my new flats and jog my recovery lap), #4 in 1:26.30 (2:37.20 took to long spritzing), #5 in 1:27.55 (2:30.62) and #6 in 1:26.88 (2:19.76). I took a few minutes after the last 400 jog to stretch, change into my P.F. Flyers and spritz and then I ran a cool down mile. The last lap of my cool down I ran barefoot around the infield and ran my c/d in 8:27.
When I got home I walked across the street to the high school track and watched my friend Jordan Patterson run the 3200 at the Capitol Area Classic. Jordan has been struggling with laps 5 and 6 of his race and his mom thought maybe if I was there he would try harder to improve those lap times. Jordan likes to run from the front and tends to go out too fast. I can't say too much because that would be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
Jordan took the race out in 1:11.56 and then settled back and let a few other guys take over from there. He hung in 4th or 5th place until the mile mark and ran splits of 1:15.42 (2:26.98), 1:17.80 (3:44.78), 1:19.58 (MILE: 5:04.36), 1:17.18 (6:21.54), 1:19.08 (7:40.62), 1:18.61 (8:59.23) and 1:09.87 (10:09.10, MILE: 5:04.74). He ran 800 meter splits of 2:26.98, 2:37.38, 2:36.26 and 2:28.48. If you take those middle 800s and add them he ran a "middle" mile of 5:13.64. Not shabby, but if he could drop those lap times a second or two from laps 4, 6, and 7 he's looking at closer to 10:00. In fairness to Jordan, he caught the leader on lap 5 and powered away from him the last three laps and won by about 12 seconds. Another Jordan, this one from Auburn and named McCarty, finished in 4th place with a time of 10:35.11. Not bad for a freshman. Actually, not too bad for anyone.
I drove to the track, did my customary mile warm-up with a mile of strides in 8:26 and 7:39 (16:06) and stretched for a few minutes. I kept the t-shirt on through my warm-up and into my 400s before I ditched after rep #2. The goal today was to run 6x400 in 1:27 with 400 meter recovery jogs. The HR monitor, despite having a new battery, decided not to work today so I hung the damn thing from my bedroom door and have decided to leave it there from now on. I think it has become a superfluous piece of equipment and I refuse to let it dominate my runs anymore. I was actually not paying attention to it 90% of the time and calling it a "damn thing."
I digress. The goal was 1:27 per repeat and I led off with a picture perfect 1:27.17 followed by a 2:30.81 jog around the track. Throughout the workout I was actually making it around the track in about 2:15 on the recovery laps but was taking a few seconds to get a little water in the mouth and to spritz myself with a spray bottle. Spritzing was a good idea that I think I may incorporate into other workouts. I ran rep #2 in 1:27.50 (2:30.92), #3 in 1:27.90 (3:30.37 to change into my new flats and jog my recovery lap), #4 in 1:26.30 (2:37.20 took to long spritzing), #5 in 1:27.55 (2:30.62) and #6 in 1:26.88 (2:19.76). I took a few minutes after the last 400 jog to stretch, change into my P.F. Flyers and spritz and then I ran a cool down mile. The last lap of my cool down I ran barefoot around the infield and ran my c/d in 8:27.
When I got home I walked across the street to the high school track and watched my friend Jordan Patterson run the 3200 at the Capitol Area Classic. Jordan has been struggling with laps 5 and 6 of his race and his mom thought maybe if I was there he would try harder to improve those lap times. Jordan likes to run from the front and tends to go out too fast. I can't say too much because that would be a bit of the pot calling the kettle black.
Jordan took the race out in 1:11.56 and then settled back and let a few other guys take over from there. He hung in 4th or 5th place until the mile mark and ran splits of 1:15.42 (2:26.98), 1:17.80 (3:44.78), 1:19.58 (MILE: 5:04.36), 1:17.18 (6:21.54), 1:19.08 (7:40.62), 1:18.61 (8:59.23) and 1:09.87 (10:09.10, MILE: 5:04.74). He ran 800 meter splits of 2:26.98, 2:37.38, 2:36.26 and 2:28.48. If you take those middle 800s and add them he ran a "middle" mile of 5:13.64. Not shabby, but if he could drop those lap times a second or two from laps 4, 6, and 7 he's looking at closer to 10:00. In fairness to Jordan, he caught the leader on lap 5 and powered away from him the last three laps and won by about 12 seconds. Another Jordan, this one from Auburn and named McCarty, finished in 4th place with a time of 10:35.11. Not bad for a freshman. Actually, not too bad for anyone.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Recap and Preview
Since today was Mother's Day I got up at 0530 with my son and took care of him so my wife and mother-in-law could sleep. He got pretty fussy around 0630 and my mother-in-law woke up and took him from me. She took him to the spare room with a bottle and put him back to sleep. I put coffee on and when she came back out we drank coffee and read the paper. Everyone was wide awake an hour later when Nathan let out a blood-curdling scream. I think he woke up in a room he usually doesn't wake up in and was a little disoriented.
After getting ready and making themselves prettier my wife and M.I.L. left Nathan and me asleep on the bed and went out to buy flowers. Four hours and a walk around the sub-division later they came home. I left Nathan with them and went to Shop-Ko to buy my wife a rose tree that she wanted for her anniversary present. Nevermind that I'm about 11 days early, I wanted to make sure I got her what she wanted. I got pictures of me and the boy with a nice frame for her Mother's Day present. I'm hoping that she gets me an iPod Shuffle for me for our anniversary, Father's Day or my birthday because I've been dropping hints for a few days. I want an orange one. Since all three of those days are within four weeks of each other I would be happy just getting the Shuffle as my combo present for all three. Although a "World's Greatest Dad" baseball hat would be cool too.
I covered 29 miles this week and have a total for the year of 493.25 miles. Which is 109.25 miles further than last year at this time. Week 19 of last year I covered 33 miles with 4 mile tempo run (8 miles total) at 85% in 31:12 with splits of 7:47, 7:42, 7:54, and 7:48. Keep in mind I was coming off an injury last year and hadn't revved my engine for awhile. The damn HR monitor was a ball-and-chain too. I also did 5x800 in 3:17.92, 3:17.54, 3:15.84, 3:15.55, and 3:08.83 for an average of 3:14.95. I also had a 10 mile long run in 1:26:25 where I ran the first five in 43:55 and the last five in 42:30. It was frigid last year at this time compared to the present with the hottest day I ran being 60 as opposed to 82. Looking ahead in last years log, when it finally did heat up my training crashed for a week or two as I adjusted to the heat. It was pretty ugly.
This week's outlook calls for 6x400 at 1:27 tomorrow, an easy 4 miles on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo at 6:51-7:00 pace on Wednesday, a goose egg on Thursday, an easy four on Friday and a nice 10 mile jaunt on the Interurban Trail on Saturday. If all goes well this week I will cover 30 miles and have gotten in some good quality work. I have 20 days until the Passavant/Powerade 10k in Jacksonville and I would like to run MUCH faster than my showing at Abe's Amble. I'm not going to make any predictions but I'm hoping for a considerable time drop.
After getting ready and making themselves prettier my wife and M.I.L. left Nathan and me asleep on the bed and went out to buy flowers. Four hours and a walk around the sub-division later they came home. I left Nathan with them and went to Shop-Ko to buy my wife a rose tree that she wanted for her anniversary present. Nevermind that I'm about 11 days early, I wanted to make sure I got her what she wanted. I got pictures of me and the boy with a nice frame for her Mother's Day present. I'm hoping that she gets me an iPod Shuffle for me for our anniversary, Father's Day or my birthday because I've been dropping hints for a few days. I want an orange one. Since all three of those days are within four weeks of each other I would be happy just getting the Shuffle as my combo present for all three. Although a "World's Greatest Dad" baseball hat would be cool too.
I covered 29 miles this week and have a total for the year of 493.25 miles. Which is 109.25 miles further than last year at this time. Week 19 of last year I covered 33 miles with 4 mile tempo run (8 miles total) at 85% in 31:12 with splits of 7:47, 7:42, 7:54, and 7:48. Keep in mind I was coming off an injury last year and hadn't revved my engine for awhile. The damn HR monitor was a ball-and-chain too. I also did 5x800 in 3:17.92, 3:17.54, 3:15.84, 3:15.55, and 3:08.83 for an average of 3:14.95. I also had a 10 mile long run in 1:26:25 where I ran the first five in 43:55 and the last five in 42:30. It was frigid last year at this time compared to the present with the hottest day I ran being 60 as opposed to 82. Looking ahead in last years log, when it finally did heat up my training crashed for a week or two as I adjusted to the heat. It was pretty ugly.
This week's outlook calls for 6x400 at 1:27 tomorrow, an easy 4 miles on Tuesday, a 4 mile tempo at 6:51-7:00 pace on Wednesday, a goose egg on Thursday, an easy four on Friday and a nice 10 mile jaunt on the Interurban Trail on Saturday. If all goes well this week I will cover 30 miles and have gotten in some good quality work. I have 20 days until the Passavant/Powerade 10k in Jacksonville and I would like to run MUCH faster than my showing at Abe's Amble. I'm not going to make any predictions but I'm hoping for a considerable time drop.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Going Long
I got up this morning at 0600 for a nine mile run. It was a pleasant 56 degrees and I had to wear a shirt for the first time in over a week. I did an out-and-back on the Interurban trail and a three mile loop through town and had a very nice time zoning out.
I ran splits of 8:43, 17:15, 16:57, 8:06, 8:23, 8:23 and 8:17 for a total time of 1:16:04. I was pretty stiff my first two miles, like I usually am when I run in the morning but I loosened up soon after and felt great the rest of the way. I actually had to hold myself back the last three miles because I felt so good.
I drove to Elmwood today and hung out with my sister and my mom. My sister turns 24 today and tomorrow is Mother's Day. My sister made me scrambled eggs and some of the coffee I got her and she put Bailey's Irish Creme in it even though it was only 1130 in the morning. I shrugged and figured that it was 5 o'clock somewhere and drank up. I left about 1400 because my mom and sis had to drive to Macomb for my sister's boyfriend's graduation from WIU.
I drove to Peoria and hung with my dad and step-mom for awhile. They drove me to Running Central and I bought a pair of Adidas racing flats. The employees running the shop today weren't very helpful and I just tried on flats until I got a pair that felt good on my feet. I remember Running Central being a more helpful place when I was in high school. How the times have changed. There is a 95% chance I won't go back, I'll buy my flats online next time.
After my great shopping experience we drove to Joe's Crab Shack and ate shrimp. After that I drove home and hung out with my wife, my son and my mother-in-law. They are in the other room playing with his basketball game. I think I'm going to join them!
I ran splits of 8:43, 17:15, 16:57, 8:06, 8:23, 8:23 and 8:17 for a total time of 1:16:04. I was pretty stiff my first two miles, like I usually am when I run in the morning but I loosened up soon after and felt great the rest of the way. I actually had to hold myself back the last three miles because I felt so good.
I drove to Elmwood today and hung out with my sister and my mom. My sister turns 24 today and tomorrow is Mother's Day. My sister made me scrambled eggs and some of the coffee I got her and she put Bailey's Irish Creme in it even though it was only 1130 in the morning. I shrugged and figured that it was 5 o'clock somewhere and drank up. I left about 1400 because my mom and sis had to drive to Macomb for my sister's boyfriend's graduation from WIU.
I drove to Peoria and hung with my dad and step-mom for awhile. They drove me to Running Central and I bought a pair of Adidas racing flats. The employees running the shop today weren't very helpful and I just tried on flats until I got a pair that felt good on my feet. I remember Running Central being a more helpful place when I was in high school. How the times have changed. There is a 95% chance I won't go back, I'll buy my flats online next time.
After my great shopping experience we drove to Joe's Crab Shack and ate shrimp. After that I drove home and hung out with my wife, my son and my mother-in-law. They are in the other room playing with his basketball game. I think I'm going to join them!
Friday, May 11, 2007
180 a minute revisited
I woke up this morning at 0430 hours to complete a 4 mile easy run. I actually made it out of the house at 0453 because I didn't really want to run. It was 68 with about 78% humidity and I forget what the wind was doing, I'm sure it was blowing out of some direction or another, either way I didn't care too much that early. I ran my first mile in a very stiff and crabby 9:13, mile 2 was a little more loose, but still reasonably pedestrian, 8:58. Mile three was better because I was a little more awake and loose and I covered it in 8:42. Mile 4 was 8:34 for a total time of 35:28. I went inside, started my coffee pot and read the newspaper. After that I took a shower and woke up my son, fed him and took him to the babysitter. I was a much happier boy after I got my coffee and played with Nathan for a bit.
My pal Nate left a comment on my original post about running 180 strides a minute and he said a lot about stride length and frequency and other things that I can't properly articulate right now for some reason. I think the whole 180 a minute thing is a bit of hooey when you're running easy days. I think that if you concentrate on it when you're doing faster practices it will help your running efficiency because you teach yourself to spend more time moving forward and less time on the ground.
I agree that I have gotten more efficient than when I first started running. My cross country coach told me that I took long loping strides and had a considerable amount of vertical movement. Vertical movement is bad because you're wasting your energy going up-and-down instead of forward. He made me work on it and I got better but he always nagged me about my turnover rate. I don't know that my turnover is any better and I don't concentrate on counting it in speed workouts because oxygen debt makes it hard to remember what number I'm on.
I think that my turnover rate suffers in the late stages of a race and that if I was able to remember what comes after 19 I would find that I'm not very close to the golden land of 180. I think that just counting to four, like in a double-time marching cadence from BMT, would help me to increase stride rate in the late stages of a race. Counting to four isn't very hard.
I need to close because my son is tearing the computer room apart. I'm glad he can only army crawl because the mayhem he is creating is confined to one room instead of the whole house.
My pal Nate left a comment on my original post about running 180 strides a minute and he said a lot about stride length and frequency and other things that I can't properly articulate right now for some reason. I think the whole 180 a minute thing is a bit of hooey when you're running easy days. I think that if you concentrate on it when you're doing faster practices it will help your running efficiency because you teach yourself to spend more time moving forward and less time on the ground.
I agree that I have gotten more efficient than when I first started running. My cross country coach told me that I took long loping strides and had a considerable amount of vertical movement. Vertical movement is bad because you're wasting your energy going up-and-down instead of forward. He made me work on it and I got better but he always nagged me about my turnover rate. I don't know that my turnover is any better and I don't concentrate on counting it in speed workouts because oxygen debt makes it hard to remember what number I'm on.
I think that my turnover rate suffers in the late stages of a race and that if I was able to remember what comes after 19 I would find that I'm not very close to the golden land of 180. I think that just counting to four, like in a double-time marching cadence from BMT, would help me to increase stride rate in the late stages of a race. Counting to four isn't very hard.
I need to close because my son is tearing the computer room apart. I'm glad he can only army crawl because the mayhem he is creating is confined to one room instead of the whole house.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Cruise miles
Yesterday I ran 3x1600 at tempo pace (6:51). It was hot. It wasn't super hot but it was hot enough that I was nervous about over-heating like I did two weeks ago at the track. I was so worried that I turned on the gargen hose and pulled it out to the road where I was doing my repeats. I even allowed myself 2 minutes between reps instead of 1 minute just to make sure I didn't hurt myself.
It was 80 degrees with NW winds at 7mph and 26% humidity. I ran two miles as a warm up. The first mile was 8:34 and the second mile, in which I did a few little 30 step pick-ups, was 7:55. My average HR for the warm up was 160.
I ran my mile reps on a loop through my sub-division that starts and finished right in front of my house. I ran the first one in 6:39.38 which was 12 seconds faster than I really wanted to be. I realized that I actually started further forward of the real starting point. That was small comfort because the real starting point was only about 10 feet back. I took 2:00 rest, a sip of water and a squirt of water to the head and started rep number 2. I completed my second mile in 6:42.58 which was still about 10 seconds fast. I gave myself another 2:00 break to sip some water and douse my head and took off on number three. I ran number three in 6:43.04.
I never felt like I was straining during the workout and I felt comfortable in spite of the heat. My heartrates at the end of my reps were 181, 192 and 193 and my HR at the end of my rest breaks were 131 and 133. I need to replace the battery in my monitor because it gave me a "no signal" warning a few times but I think it was being accurate when it was working. I ran my mile reps, with 2 minute breaks included, in 24:05.92. I averaged about 6:42 pace for my reps and am pretty happy with my workout. I think my VDOT is higher than 50 or 51 or whatever it is but Daniels recommends running at your current VDOT for three weeks before going to a higher level. I will go one more week and see how it feels to run a level higher. My rationale is that I am basing my current VDOT on my two mile time trial I ran about a month ago in 12:25, which gives me a VDOT of 50. I ran a 1600 time trial in 5:46 about two weeks ago which actually puts me closer to a VDOT of 51. If I had been training at a VDOT of 51 I would have run my cruise 1600s in 6:44 which is a heckuva lot closer to 6:42 pace.
I ran a mile cool down in 8:41 and went in to eat dinner. Tomorrow, Friday, is an easy four miles.
It was 80 degrees with NW winds at 7mph and 26% humidity. I ran two miles as a warm up. The first mile was 8:34 and the second mile, in which I did a few little 30 step pick-ups, was 7:55. My average HR for the warm up was 160.
I ran my mile reps on a loop through my sub-division that starts and finished right in front of my house. I ran the first one in 6:39.38 which was 12 seconds faster than I really wanted to be. I realized that I actually started further forward of the real starting point. That was small comfort because the real starting point was only about 10 feet back. I took 2:00 rest, a sip of water and a squirt of water to the head and started rep number 2. I completed my second mile in 6:42.58 which was still about 10 seconds fast. I gave myself another 2:00 break to sip some water and douse my head and took off on number three. I ran number three in 6:43.04.
I never felt like I was straining during the workout and I felt comfortable in spite of the heat. My heartrates at the end of my reps were 181, 192 and 193 and my HR at the end of my rest breaks were 131 and 133. I need to replace the battery in my monitor because it gave me a "no signal" warning a few times but I think it was being accurate when it was working. I ran my mile reps, with 2 minute breaks included, in 24:05.92. I averaged about 6:42 pace for my reps and am pretty happy with my workout. I think my VDOT is higher than 50 or 51 or whatever it is but Daniels recommends running at your current VDOT for three weeks before going to a higher level. I will go one more week and see how it feels to run a level higher. My rationale is that I am basing my current VDOT on my two mile time trial I ran about a month ago in 12:25, which gives me a VDOT of 50. I ran a 1600 time trial in 5:46 about two weeks ago which actually puts me closer to a VDOT of 51. If I had been training at a VDOT of 51 I would have run my cruise 1600s in 6:44 which is a heckuva lot closer to 6:42 pace.
I ran a mile cool down in 8:41 and went in to eat dinner. Tomorrow, Friday, is an easy four miles.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
200s and 400s
I ran my track workout on Monday at the Glenwood Middle School track in 81 degree temps with 12mph winds from the south and 56% humidity. Supposedly the wind was gusting to 16 mph but it seemed that every time I wanted it to blow and cool me off I got nothing.
I ran a mile warm-up in 8:29 and a mile worth of strides in 7:53, I jogged the curves and accelerated on the straights. The workout consisted of 3 sets of 2x200 meters in 43 seconds, each followed by 200 meter recovery jogs, plus a 400 meter run in 1:27 followed by a 400 meter recovery jog, rinse and repeat. I ran my first set in 39.61, 43.20, and 1:27.92. Set number two was: 44.26, 42.21, and 1:28.09. The last set was 42.09, 42.89 and 1:27.85. It was a strange practice in that you really had no way of telling if you were going to run a 39 second 200 or a 44 second 200. You really had to pay attention to what pace felt right. I'm sure that the object of the practice was just that.
I ran my recovery 200s anywhere from 1:11 - 1:31 and my 400s in 2:19 - 2:39. It got hot in the late going and I was trying to get my HR down under 170 before I started my next rep. I cooled down with three laps around the track and a lap around the infield with my shoes off. The grass on my toes felt pretty nice.
I woke myself up at 0430 on Tuesday morning for a nice 4 mile recovery run. It was 62 with no wind and 86% humidity. I ditched the HR monitor because it was dark and I couldn't find it and I think the battery is dying in it anyway. I ran my 4 miles in 34:21 after a very sluggish first mile of 9:05, followed by an 8:18, 8:20 and 8:37. I made myself slow down the last mile since I'm supposed to be running 8:32 miles on my easy days. I ended up averaging slower than that but I think I need to keep it slow on easy days to be more recovered and ready for my hard days.
Tomorrow is going to be a rough workout. It is supposed to be in the low 80s with a chance of thunderstorms and I am going to do cruise intervals of a mile in 6:51 pace with one minute breaks. I plan on doing 3 mile intervals with a two mile warm-up and a 1 mile cool-down. Last week's three mile tempo run at about that pace felt pretty easy but it was only 67 with 89% humidity and 9 mile winds to cool me down. Tomorrow might not be as kind and gentle.
I ran a mile warm-up in 8:29 and a mile worth of strides in 7:53, I jogged the curves and accelerated on the straights. The workout consisted of 3 sets of 2x200 meters in 43 seconds, each followed by 200 meter recovery jogs, plus a 400 meter run in 1:27 followed by a 400 meter recovery jog, rinse and repeat. I ran my first set in 39.61, 43.20, and 1:27.92. Set number two was: 44.26, 42.21, and 1:28.09. The last set was 42.09, 42.89 and 1:27.85. It was a strange practice in that you really had no way of telling if you were going to run a 39 second 200 or a 44 second 200. You really had to pay attention to what pace felt right. I'm sure that the object of the practice was just that.
I ran my recovery 200s anywhere from 1:11 - 1:31 and my 400s in 2:19 - 2:39. It got hot in the late going and I was trying to get my HR down under 170 before I started my next rep. I cooled down with three laps around the track and a lap around the infield with my shoes off. The grass on my toes felt pretty nice.
I woke myself up at 0430 on Tuesday morning for a nice 4 mile recovery run. It was 62 with no wind and 86% humidity. I ditched the HR monitor because it was dark and I couldn't find it and I think the battery is dying in it anyway. I ran my 4 miles in 34:21 after a very sluggish first mile of 9:05, followed by an 8:18, 8:20 and 8:37. I made myself slow down the last mile since I'm supposed to be running 8:32 miles on my easy days. I ended up averaging slower than that but I think I need to keep it slow on easy days to be more recovered and ready for my hard days.
Tomorrow is going to be a rough workout. It is supposed to be in the low 80s with a chance of thunderstorms and I am going to do cruise intervals of a mile in 6:51 pace with one minute breaks. I plan on doing 3 mile intervals with a two mile warm-up and a 1 mile cool-down. Last week's three mile tempo run at about that pace felt pretty easy but it was only 67 with 89% humidity and 9 mile winds to cool me down. Tomorrow might not be as kind and gentle.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Weekend Runs
I had to work this Saturday over in the CT department. The ER kept us busy so the day passed quickly. I got home from work a little after 4:00 and headed out for my long run. It was 77 degrees with winds 13mph from the East with 65% humidity. I had intended to run 9 miles but about 4 1/2 miles in I started to get hot with a nice case of cottonmouth so I decided to cut it short at 7. I ran pretty conservtively and when I felt myself pushing the pace I slowed it down to avoid crashing from the heat. I ran splits of 8:42, 8:35, 8:13, 8:27, 8:33, 8:30 and 8:41 for a total time of 59:41, just a little over 8:30 pace.
Our friends came over later that night for pizza. The husbands stayed inside with the babies and the beer while the ladies sat on the porch and chatted. I popped in some of my Tom Waits Cds and danced with the babies. Our friends' little girl really liked "Get Behind the Mule" and shook her little butt to the song. Watching a 14 month old girl shake her butt is pretty funny, especially when your 10 month old son is bobbing his head to the music at the same time.
I got up Sunday morning to run an easy three miles to make oup for cutting my long run short the day before. I ran three because two miles wasn't worth getting out of bed for. It was pretty nice this morning with a 59 degree temp but with 21mph winds that gusted to 30mph out of the ESE but only 44% humidity. I ran easy again with splits of 8:53, 8:41, and 8:14 for a 25:48. I didn't wear the HR monitor either day because I jsut didn't feel like wearing the damn thing. Sometimes I feel like I spend too much time looking at it, and ignoring it, than listening to my body.
Tomorrow is a hard day. I am going to go to the track, run a two mile warm up and then do 3 sets of 2x200 with 200 recovery jogs + 400m with a 400m recovery jog. This workout came out of "Daniels' Running Formula." I am supposed to run the 200s in 43 seconds and the 400s in 1:27. It should be a fun workout.
The rest of my week looks like an easy 4 on Tuesday, 3x1 mile at tempo pace(6:51) with 1 minute recovery on Wednesday, an off day on Thursday, easy 4 on Friday and 9 on Saturday. I had planned to go to Peoria and do the Race for the Cure but there is no way I could get up there to do packet pick-up on Thursday since they don't take race day entries. I wanted to do a 5k this weekend as a tune-up for the Passavant-Powerade 10k in Jacksonville on June 2nd but I guess I'll just have to do without a race this month.
I ran 29.25 miles this week to bring my total for the year to 464.25 which is an average of 25.79 miles a week. I am 113.25 miles ahead of where I was at this point last year. This week last year I had an aborted attempt at a 3 mile time trial that I covered in a blazing fast 24:04. Apparently I thought is was a good idea to run my first mile in 6:53 but only ran mile two in 7:10 and walked/jogged mile three in 10:00. I have come a long way in a year. I did, however, run 8x400 in an average of 1:31.15 two days after my disasterous three mile and I ran a 10 mile long run at 75% of my max HR in 1:26:14 through the hills south of Chatham. Looking at the temp and humidity last year it was considerably cooler last year. The hottest day I ran in was 70, as opposed to 88.
I will write the details of my track workout tomorrow night. Have a good Monday!
Our friends came over later that night for pizza. The husbands stayed inside with the babies and the beer while the ladies sat on the porch and chatted. I popped in some of my Tom Waits Cds and danced with the babies. Our friends' little girl really liked "Get Behind the Mule" and shook her little butt to the song. Watching a 14 month old girl shake her butt is pretty funny, especially when your 10 month old son is bobbing his head to the music at the same time.
I got up Sunday morning to run an easy three miles to make oup for cutting my long run short the day before. I ran three because two miles wasn't worth getting out of bed for. It was pretty nice this morning with a 59 degree temp but with 21mph winds that gusted to 30mph out of the ESE but only 44% humidity. I ran easy again with splits of 8:53, 8:41, and 8:14 for a 25:48. I didn't wear the HR monitor either day because I jsut didn't feel like wearing the damn thing. Sometimes I feel like I spend too much time looking at it, and ignoring it, than listening to my body.
Tomorrow is a hard day. I am going to go to the track, run a two mile warm up and then do 3 sets of 2x200 with 200 recovery jogs + 400m with a 400m recovery jog. This workout came out of "Daniels' Running Formula." I am supposed to run the 200s in 43 seconds and the 400s in 1:27. It should be a fun workout.
The rest of my week looks like an easy 4 on Tuesday, 3x1 mile at tempo pace(6:51) with 1 minute recovery on Wednesday, an off day on Thursday, easy 4 on Friday and 9 on Saturday. I had planned to go to Peoria and do the Race for the Cure but there is no way I could get up there to do packet pick-up on Thursday since they don't take race day entries. I wanted to do a 5k this weekend as a tune-up for the Passavant-Powerade 10k in Jacksonville on June 2nd but I guess I'll just have to do without a race this month.
I ran 29.25 miles this week to bring my total for the year to 464.25 which is an average of 25.79 miles a week. I am 113.25 miles ahead of where I was at this point last year. This week last year I had an aborted attempt at a 3 mile time trial that I covered in a blazing fast 24:04. Apparently I thought is was a good idea to run my first mile in 6:53 but only ran mile two in 7:10 and walked/jogged mile three in 10:00. I have come a long way in a year. I did, however, run 8x400 in an average of 1:31.15 two days after my disasterous three mile and I ran a 10 mile long run at 75% of my max HR in 1:26:14 through the hills south of Chatham. Looking at the temp and humidity last year it was considerably cooler last year. The hottest day I ran in was 70, as opposed to 88.
I will write the details of my track workout tomorrow night. Have a good Monday!
Friday, May 4, 2007
Never Trust a Man In a Blue Trench Coat
I've had a Tom Waits' song stuck in my head all day. It is "Telephone Call From Istanbul" from "Frank's Wild Years." It is a pretty good song and gives you the good advice to "never trust a man in a blue trench coat/never drive a car when you're dead."
Today was a long boring day at work. I spent most of the day deciding which techs worked with my students most during their rotations the past two months and should fill out the students' semester evaluations. It took me most of the day and I'm still not done. I need to implement an easier way of doing this so that it doesn't take me as long next time. I'm still new at my job so I haven't worked the kinks out.
I've been sitting in my office chair so much this week that my lower back has been tight and I've had to take breaks to stretch it out a few times during the day. I usually get it warmed up pretty well before I run and I feel much better when I'm active.
Tonight was an easy night. It was 65 degrees with 6mph winds out of the East along with 95% humidity. I ran an easy five miles in 42:31. I hit my splits in 8:41.05, 8:31.65, 8:28.62, 8:32.64, and 8:17.84. I ran relaxed and had an average HR of 156. The humidity was no fun, especially when the wind was at my back.
A junior high kid playing a pick up game of baseball with his buddies by the bike trail called me a jack-off as I ran by. I think he needed to get glasses because I was running, not doing what he yelled at me. I must not look mean and intimidating anymore. I need to work on that.
Today was a long boring day at work. I spent most of the day deciding which techs worked with my students most during their rotations the past two months and should fill out the students' semester evaluations. It took me most of the day and I'm still not done. I need to implement an easier way of doing this so that it doesn't take me as long next time. I'm still new at my job so I haven't worked the kinks out.
I've been sitting in my office chair so much this week that my lower back has been tight and I've had to take breaks to stretch it out a few times during the day. I usually get it warmed up pretty well before I run and I feel much better when I'm active.
Tonight was an easy night. It was 65 degrees with 6mph winds out of the East along with 95% humidity. I ran an easy five miles in 42:31. I hit my splits in 8:41.05, 8:31.65, 8:28.62, 8:32.64, and 8:17.84. I ran relaxed and had an average HR of 156. The humidity was no fun, especially when the wind was at my back.
A junior high kid playing a pick up game of baseball with his buddies by the bike trail called me a jack-off as I ran by. I think he needed to get glasses because I was running, not doing what he yelled at me. I must not look mean and intimidating anymore. I need to work on that.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
3 mile tempo
Tonight was tempo run night. It was 68 with winds 13mph out of the west and 88% humidity. I ran two miles in 16:54 to warm up, stretched for a minute or two, ditched my shirt and took off. The plan was to run a 2-3 mile tempo run at 6:51 pace. The 6:51 pace is per "Daniels' Running Formula." Apparently if I am capable of running a 2 mile race in 12:25, in this case a time trial, then I have a VDOT of 50. With a VDOT of 50 I should run my easy and long run pace at 8:32, my marathon pace runs at 7:17, and my tempo pace at 6:51. I'm only a few chapters into the book so I'm not exactly sure how this all fits together and the book isn't easy reading. It is REAL dry.
Anyway, I started my tempo run and hit the first mile in 6:52.34. I was running relaxed and wasn't straining but I was worried abous slowing down the second mile so I surged a little and ended up surging my way to a 6:43.72 mile and a 13:36.06 split. I reined myself in the third mile and ran a 6:49.08 with a three mile time of 20:25.14 which is the fastest I have run three miles in practice since I started running again. I really felt like I could have run another mile as I wasn't straining at all. My HR at each mile was: 174, 184, and 189. I had an average HR of 177. I set my Max HR at 188, which is aproximately 90% of my max, and spent 19:34 of my run under my Max HR. I think the only reason I went over is because there is a bit of an incline as you run out from under the railroad bridge and toward the high school that lasts 200-300 meters before it levels out again.
All in all I was quite pleased with my workout. I ran a mile cooldown in 8:17 and did some easy stretching when I got home. As soon as I post this I am going to sit in a cold bath for 15 or 20 minutes before heading to bed.
I want to congratulate one of my young rivals from the running club for winning the mile at his fresh-soph conference track meet. He covered 1600 meters in 5:13 as a freshman. I ran 5:11 as a frosh so maybe Jordan Bartolazzi can smoke that before the season is over. Jordan may not realize who I am but we go back and forth in races. The first race I beat him in was at the AMA 5k back in 2005. I ran the last .1 of the race in 28 seconds to pass him and Jeff Surbeck and then I bent over in the chute and threw up on my shoes. We've dueled a few times since then and I think that he may just pull ahead completely pretty soon and leave me WAY behind. Congrats Jordan on a good race!!
Anyway, I started my tempo run and hit the first mile in 6:52.34. I was running relaxed and wasn't straining but I was worried abous slowing down the second mile so I surged a little and ended up surging my way to a 6:43.72 mile and a 13:36.06 split. I reined myself in the third mile and ran a 6:49.08 with a three mile time of 20:25.14 which is the fastest I have run three miles in practice since I started running again. I really felt like I could have run another mile as I wasn't straining at all. My HR at each mile was: 174, 184, and 189. I had an average HR of 177. I set my Max HR at 188, which is aproximately 90% of my max, and spent 19:34 of my run under my Max HR. I think the only reason I went over is because there is a bit of an incline as you run out from under the railroad bridge and toward the high school that lasts 200-300 meters before it levels out again.
All in all I was quite pleased with my workout. I ran a mile cooldown in 8:17 and did some easy stretching when I got home. As soon as I post this I am going to sit in a cold bath for 15 or 20 minutes before heading to bed.
I want to congratulate one of my young rivals from the running club for winning the mile at his fresh-soph conference track meet. He covered 1600 meters in 5:13 as a freshman. I ran 5:11 as a frosh so maybe Jordan Bartolazzi can smoke that before the season is over. Jordan may not realize who I am but we go back and forth in races. The first race I beat him in was at the AMA 5k back in 2005. I ran the last .1 of the race in 28 seconds to pass him and Jeff Surbeck and then I bent over in the chute and threw up on my shoes. We've dueled a few times since then and I think that he may just pull ahead completely pretty soon and leave me WAY behind. Congrats Jordan on a good race!!
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
180 a minute?
I ran an easy 4 miles tonight in town. It was about 78 with a 17 mph wind out of the West and 59% humidity. I was reading in Runner's World that most elite runners average in the neighborhood of 180 strides per minute. If I'm out slogging I generally can make about 167 or so and I decided to periodically check my stride rate today. I checked it three or four times and seemed to get between 172 and 178 but couldn't hit that sweet 180. I think the trick is to barely lift your feet off the ground and take shorter strides, duh. I wonder if I looked like a huge dork? I bet if I'd been running earlier the high school guys would have let me know as they were leaving track practice.
I ran my 4 miles in 32:48 with mile splits of 8:11, 8:15, 8:12 and 8:10. I spent 32:24 in zone and had an averge HR of 158. Tomorrow is a tempo run. I'm going to warm up a mile or two and then run two miles at about 6:50 pace followed by another mile or two to cool down. I think my lower back is starting to get a little out of whack from sitting at my desk so much. I'm going to have to hit the yoga and core exercises a little more consistently.
I ran my 4 miles in 32:48 with mile splits of 8:11, 8:15, 8:12 and 8:10. I spent 32:24 in zone and had an averge HR of 158. Tomorrow is a tempo run. I'm going to warm up a mile or two and then run two miles at about 6:50 pace followed by another mile or two to cool down. I think my lower back is starting to get a little out of whack from sitting at my desk so much. I'm going to have to hit the yoga and core exercises a little more consistently.
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