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.
Friday, May 11, 2007
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
