Solid Long Run

OBJECTIVE
10 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

ACHIEVED
12.48 mi.@ 8:10/mi.

6:58 AM 61F 91% 5 mph

Turned in a solid run today thanks to getting back with the group for a run. It almost didn't happen. I was a little late getting away from the house for our scheduled 6:30 meeting at the Memorial Park pool. As I was speeding to the meeting, I was surprised to find 290 was closed! How this happens around 6 AM on a Saturday morning, I don't understand. I did a bit of car texting (never okay for others but fine for me) to let the group know to start without me. I know I don't like waiting for others and don't feel anyone has to do the same for me. In a decisive maneuver, I took the Jetta off-roading to get off the freeway and on to the feeder road. The feeder was slow too. Anyway, long story - short. I made it about 10 minutes late but another guy, Adam, was coming in the same way and was behind me. The group started running at 7.

Today's iteration consisted of Stacey, Laurie, Randy, Jonathan, Adam (invited by Stacey and known by Jonathan), and me. The group was chippy and fast today. Pulled along by Stacey and Adam. Randy and Jonathan took turns at the lead too. Group dynamics are strange. It's hard to tell who's pressing the group along. I was actually pretty happy. The pace was even and about exactly where I wanted to be for the day. Laurie is a couple weeks from Boston and says her training has been bad. I'm not exactly sure if she wanted to be that fast today while in tapering mode but she did hang in there. At the end she commented, it was a marathon pace run for her. Maybe in the end she was fine with the pace.

Adam was fast and effortless. I could see this was a very easy run for him. The same could be said of Jonathan although his ankle was bothering by the end. It was good to see him. He and Julie will be new parents in about 3 weeks.

I'm glad to have this good run in the books and hope the group gets together again next Saturday. I'm wondering about my training schedule only calling for 10 mile long runs as I lead up to the half in Ogden. It seems a bit short ....

PRE RUN
water, oatmeal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

POST RUN
SlimFast & Clif Bar

Test Marketing a Non-running Feature

Okay, I'm trying something new. It's a non-running poll. Periodically I'll pick a song that I like and put it on the blog. I'll also add a cover of the original. Your mission should you choose to accept it - choose the version you like best. There's a polling feature to the right.

I'm starting off with Seasons in the Sun originally released by Terry Jacks in 1973. More recently Blink 182 and Nirvana reworked the original. Which do you like best?

For some reason as a young kid, my good friend Curt Poll and I always used to sing this while riding along in the hay hauling truck. The things that stay in a person's mind!

Tri-directional Wind?

OBJECTIVE
5 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

ACHIEVED
5.11 mi.@ 8:06/mi.

5:55 AM 68F 94% 8 mph mist

The wind was blowing from all directions this morning. While going
south early in the run it was in my face. I figured that's fine, it
will be at my back later. When I turned west, much to my surprise, a
stronger wind was in my face. This was a long stretch and I was trying
to determine if the wind was swirling or just getting funneled by trees
and buildings. No conclusion before turning back north. Still in my
face! Shortly after I finished, I big rainstorm broke loose. I suppose
I was just feeling the front moving in with its shifting winds.

My legs were a bit tight today but nothing too bad. Tomorrow's rest day comes at a good time. I'll work in a bit of an upper body routine and PT for my IT band. Then it will be on to Saturday's run. I'm hopeful Steph's group will make a comeback so I can run with the crew again.

PRE RUN
weight = 161.5

POST RUN
Apple juice, multivitamin & GrapeNuts w/1% milk

First True Tempo Run in a Long Time

OBJECTIVE
1 mi. Warmup
4 mi. Tempo @ 6:51/mi.
1 mi. Cooldown

ACHIEVED
1.00 mi.@ 8:34/mi.
6:55 / 6:49 / 6:45 / 6:45
1.14 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

6:04 AM 51° 50% 12 mph

This was one of those “you never know what you can do until you try” runs. I haven’t had one of these for a while …. Actually since my Wednesday runs under Tom Schwartz’ training program. A four-mile tempo run at 6:51 seemed rather daunting but I was able to get it done. I even held the mile consistent which is an important element of a good tempo run. It was challenging but do-able. At one point during the run, I reminded myself that I get Friday off as a rest day so there’s no reason not to push it. Under this training cycle, I’m running 5 days a week rather than the 6 days a week that I was running in the prior two cycles. I am hopeful this gives my body better recovery time.

Tomorrow is another easy 5-miler.

PRE RUN
Weight = 161.5
Water

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin & 5-grain hot cereal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

Thinking about my next Race ....

My thought about the Ogden half marathon is that I'd like to run 1:30. I've based that on my 1:33:38 in the Houston half marathon in January. I figure knocking 3:30 off my time is aggressive but thought it was a worthwhile goal. Another reason to go after 1:30 is that it's the masters' qualifying time for the New York City marathon. I haven't had a strong desire to run in NYC but Continental Airlines is a big corporate sponsor and it may be fun to “say I did it”. The NYC marathon, like many marathons selects participants via a lottery. However, by running a certain qualifying time you can bypass the lottery. (Speaking of lottery, the St. George marathon lottery opens tomorrow.) I suppose I'm stupid enough to think I can run a 1:30. After all, the course starts above 5,000 feet in elevation and has steep hills (mostly downhill). So I've been giving myself a prep talk about training seriously, doing all the right things, etc. So I think with discipline I can do it.

Well, today I took a few minutes to look at race equivalent converters. Based on my fastest recent races, 1:30 is out of reach. On top of that, I get slower (by converters standards) the longer the distance. This is all very disappointing. However, I'm not giving up on 1:30. That's what I'm training for. I also hope to finish in the top 5 of my age group.

[turn on sarcastic voice] “It's good to have goals.”

DOMS

OBJECTIVE
5 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

ACHIEVED
5.11 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

5:40 AM 70° 88% 4 mph

Experiencing delayed onset muscle soreness today. I suspect it's from the race on Sunday. Most likely, I either didn't cool down and replenish properly or the warm up routine hit a few unused muscles. I am guessing the latter.

Other than that this morning's 5-miler was much like yesterday's. I tried reining it in a bit so the last half wasn't quite as fast as yesterday. I can handle the 8:09 pace but it's definitely on the fringe of an “easy” run for me.

Tomorrow's 4-mile tempo run looms ahead as a big challenge. The pace seems quite fast for where I'm at right now.

PRE RUN
weight = 161.5
water

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin & corn flakes w/1% milk

Half Marathon Training Begins in Earnest

OBJECTIVE
5 mi.@ 8:09/mi.

ACHIEVED
5.12 mi.@ 8:06/mi.

5:31 AM 46° 97% 0 mph

My legs felt pretty good today given the race yesterday. I started slowly then picked it up over the last half of the run. It looks like this is going to be my basic run now that I'm training for the half. The goal pace of 8:09 per mile is a bit brisk for an “easy” run but I suppose I'll get used to it. I think the pace drops to 8:04 in a few weeks.

The official times from yesterday were posted last night. I came in at 18:58. The time sheet lists the course as a USATF certified 5K. However, I checked USATF's website and it wasn't listed. Two other courses used for Run for the Rose in prior years were certified but not this one. I also looked at the run website for any information on the course and it said certification was pending. I'm sure it wasn't a certified 5K. I'm still very happy with my time and feel like I can be faster.

I mailed my entry for the Peachtree Road Race last week. I doubt I'll get pulled. There are only 10,000 spots left. The race is in Atlanta on July 4.

PRE RUN
nothing

POST RUN
water, multivitamin, 2 whole wheat toast w/cinnamon sugar & honey & 5-grain hot cereal w/brown sugar & 1% milk

Short

The course was short . The course was different than it was in the past and wasn't certified. I had the distance at 3.02 miles on my Garmin. My 19:00 translates to a 19:30 5K which I believe would have been possible based on how I felt finishing.

I ran the Go-Zone strategy a lot better than a couple weeks ago. I still have some refining to do with the strategy but was happy to be passing several other runners over the second half of the run. And I felt strong doing it.

Ed Eyestone's 3-2-1 speed training plan is the way to faster running over shorter distances. I'm 100% convinced even though I only worked with it for a week or so. The unfortunate thing is that I won't be able to get back with it now for about 7 months. My training is shifting back to endurance building starting tomorrow. The half marathon is in 7 weeks.

Mar 29 – Apr 4 Training Schedule

Sun: Run for the Rose 5K
Mon: Easy 5 mi.@ 8:09
Tue: Easy 5 mi.@ 8:09
Wed: 6 mi. w/4 mi. Tempo @ 6:51
Thu: Easy 5 mi.@ 8:09
Fri: Rest
Sat: Long 10 mi.@ 8:09

19:00 !!!

Okay ... before getting too excited (like I did) there's more to the story.

Gotta go run a cool down.

I'll be back with the story later today ....

Run for the Rose

I'm at Reliant Stadium for the beginning of the race. This is a major Houston event for brain cancer fund raising. The medical community gets out in a big way to support it. The focus isn't necessarily the competition but participation. This is my third time to run. Continental is a corporate sponsor and as such my entry is paid along with a small contingent of CAL runners.

This past week has been horrific but I'm forgetting about that and focusing on the race plan. Which is:

first - .4 mile @ 3:04
next 1 mile relaxed 6:20
next 1 mile work hard 6:20
final .7 see what I've got left, kick with .3 to go.

It's a cool morning. The course isn't fast due to a U turn and ups and downs of viaducts. We'll see shortly how I'm feeling.