8-Miler

Well, this morning was the last long run before next Saturday's half marathon.

I met eight people from ChampionsFit this morning at 6 for an 8-miler. They're in "maintenance" mode until July. The only person I knew was Susan, who I ran with for the first time last Sunday.

I stayed with the group for about a mile then Susan told Len to take me with him if he was ready to go. So, Len and I broke from the group. Len had an "old style" Garmin. I told him I wanted to be around 9:15 pace. We ended up running negative splits for almost the entire 8 miles and ended with an average pace per mile of 9:02. I felt really good this morning which was nice since I haven't had that for a while.

After finishing and while waiting for the rest of the group to come in, I did butt kicks and high knees. I read something earlier in the week suggesting this would improve form. I definitely need form improvement! I also tried to imagine tacking another 5 miles on today's run. That was next to impossible so I abandoned the thought before I became discouraged. I'll be in uncharted territory for about 4-5 miles next week. I'm hoping the "race environment" can lift me but that seems like a long distance to ride on emotion.

I'll rest tomorrow and chart out this final week's workouts. I've got weight training on Monday then I'll probably just go out a couple times during the week.

Lackluster 5K

Ran my first evening 5K tonight. Although I clocked one of my slower times, I feel like I learned some things about myself.I clocked in at 22:54 on the out-and-back course on Allen Parkway. Jonathan graciously let me use his Garmin so I should be getting all kinds of feedback on my run. Having so much information available on-demand seems like a double-edged sword. I found that having the constant ability to see how I was doing both deflating and encouraging ... at different times.After last night's workout, I didn't expect to pop off a PR. I felt tight pretty much throughout the day. I was also concerned about the evening heat and humidity. The weather wasn't a problem. The start time was actually delayed for lightning as light, intermittent rain passed through. There was a surprising amount of heat radiating from the road along the course. I noticed it through the first half but not so much during the return leg.Hoping to save energy for later in the race, I was really trying to reign in my typical fast start. That was really my sole focus. I was hopeful of running the race like a fast tempo run ... negative splits would even be nice if I was feeling good. Well, that effort led to a 6:52 first mile. I think I was around 14:08 at the second mile. If I've got it right (the Garmin data dump will confirm later) that yields splits of:1.0M 6:522.0M 7:163.1M 8:47So much for negative splits!From this, it seems to me that without realizing it I have already been doing what the Runners World article suggested. Going out fast in order to get better 5K times.Even with a slower start tonight, the falloff in my splits is consistent with the falloff I usually have with a faster start. So I think for me, going out fast then gutting it out is probably the approach to achieve better times. (This also seems consistent with my 10K result [i.e., my 10K was slower than the time "equivalent" charts suggest I should be able to run given my 5K times].) Of course, tonight's effort could be tainted by last night's workout. But I think this is my tentative conclusion until my overall conditioning improves markedly.I'll summarize the Garmin details when I have them later.

Okay, here are the 1/4 mile splits from the race:
0.25 1:39
0.50 1:42
0.75 1:42
1.00 1:44
1.25 1:45
1.50 1:55
1.75 1:51
2.00 1:47
2.25 1:54
2.50 1:54
2.75 1:56
3.00 1:50
3.10 1:10

So even though I started at a moderate pace ... I really slowed down from the 2 mile mark to 2 3/4. I don't know what it means ... should I slow down more at the beginning to save strength and energy for the end or will that just result in a slower time overall? I'm still searching for the key ....

Goodbye to PIM

Tonight was the last run for Power in Motion. It's hard to believe ten weeks have already passed! Joining PIM was a great decision as it is an excellent organization and just what I needed to get running.

There was a "treasure hunt" tonight but the instructions were lengthy and convoluted so Joe led us on a loop at Memorial. We covered the 2.9 miles in 25:52 for an 8:55 pace. Stephanie was assigned a different group tonight. There were only three of us who stayed with Joe.

After the loop, Jonathan and Julie joined us (after their Kenyan Way workout) and we gave small tokens of appreciation to Stephanie and Joe. I'm very impressed by the time and commitment they made to help us. Clearly they could easily have spent their time on their own training or other personal pursuits but they gave their time and experience to us each Wednesday night for the past 10 weeks.

After the goodbye's, I took a loop on my own. I optimistically programmed my watch for 1/4 mile splits that would put me on a 7:40 pace. That was aggressive on my part after already running then cooling down but I wanted to see how long I could "gut it out". Here are the 1/4 mile splits I ended up with:

0.25 1:55
0.50 1:51
0.75 1:51
1.00 2:00
1.25 1:58
1.50 2:00
1.75 2:01
2.00 2:01
2.25 2:00
2.50 2:03
2.65 1:18 (note only .15 mile rather than .25 due to quirky 2.9 total distance)
2.90 2:00

I was happy with my consistency. At least for me this was a very consistent run which is the point of a good tempo run. My average pace for the 2.9 miles was 7:55 - only slightly outside of the optimal "McMillan training zone" of 7:30 - 7:50.

Of course while making the loop, I realized that I'm running a 5K race tomorrow night. I'm sure that by pushing my tempo run that I hurt my chances at a strong performance tomorrow. Hopefully weather is comfortable for the evening race.

We Have a Winner!!!!

The results of the St. George marathon lottery were announced today. Of the 8,850 applicants, I found my name among the 6,900 chosen!

This is exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

I entered in a group along with Alex Thurman and some of his friends. I'm not sure if they've cracked the lottery winning code but diversity seems to be a common theme. This will be Alex's third run at St. George (2003 and 2006). Each time he's applied as part of a group. They've always included a first-timer and a woman in their group and they've always been selected. Our group had my Texas address as the first-timer and one of the guy's sister-in-law from Utah. The other three are from California.

This should be good!

Memorial Park for an Easy Run

Clocked an easy loop at Memorial tonight on the way home from work.

2.9 miles @ 9:10 pace

... much better at keeping the pace in the proper training zone. I was feeling the impact of Sunday morning's long run and this morning's weight lifting.

Tomorrow is a much deserved rest day!

May 7 - 13 Training

Monday - 2M easy @ 9m/M
Tuesday - Rest
Wednesday - PIM mystery run ??? - (need 5M @ 7:45 +2M warm & cool)
Thursday - HYLF 5K
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 9M long @ 9:15/M
Sunday - Rest

9.3 Long Run

I went out for an early morning long run with some of the people at Champions Fit. Generally, it ended up being pretty good. They meet and run very close to where I live. It also seems that they're organized and focused on their running. This morning I met Susan, Jay, Pauline, and Kelly. We covered 9+ miles. The pace was varied as Jay and I took a diversion early on and went faster and longer. We were on something around an 8:30 pace through 5 miles but slowed when we met up with the rest of the group. Jay and Susan kept going for 12+ and Kelly, Pauline, and I turned for the cars at around the 7 mile mark. I think my overall pace ended somewhere just under 10:00. That's outside my training zone. However on the upside, I'm feeling pretty good (at the moment) considering this was my longest run to date and that I raced yesterday. This also built some more confidence for the upcoming half ... in less than two weeks!