10M Saturday Long

17 runners started with ChampionsFit this morning. The group was generally running 8. Bob and I went for 10. A new guy, Tony, went 10 too but took a different route so we didn't see him until the end. He came in ahead of us. I guy named Jamie cut his run short because he's just coming back. He's supposedly a sub 3:00 marathoner.

10.1 miles @ 9:07 (1:32.11)

THE Program

Most everyone knows there are dozens of marathon training programs. The different programs are generally founded on the same concepts but are surprisingly wide ranging in their approaches. I've been overwhelmed as I've sorted through the options trying to choose what's best for me and will help me achieve my goals. Of course that has meant defining my goals. Although I don't feel my marathon goals are definitive and I'm not convinced I've selected the best program (I don't think you can ever really know ... even after running several marathons ....), I'm using the SmartCoach Personal Training Program on the Runners World website. I used the same program (loosely) for the half marathon and it worked. The program is manageable for me from a scheduling standpoint. It also has 3 20-mile long runs in the schedule whereas most of the other schedules I saw only had 2.

The difficulty with this is that I have so many great running options. Doug Storey's Tuesday track workout group that Stephanie introduced me to is great. I like having the weekly speed work laid out for me and the synergy of doing speedwork with others.

There's Stephanie's newly formed hill and interval group on Thursday nights in the Bayou. Heaven knows I need the hills and intervals! I haven't run with them yet but I'm sure it's great since Stephanie is at the helm.

Jonathan has suggested dropping in for weekly early morning speed sessions with Kenyan Way. I'd love to give this a try. Jonathan has had great results and it seems very focused and disciplined. I also like the idea of getting my workout in early.

Stephanie (in conjunction with Houston Racing ???) has a Saturday morning long run group. They run around Memorial Park and the Bayou on some soft surfaces rather than entirely on asphalt or pavement.

I always enjoy running with Jonathan on the occasions we've met after work. Recently I like the fact that he's made sure I get my core exercises after running (when I'm alone, I've found justifications easy to come by!).

There's ChampionsFit. Their formal program starts in July. The convenience of being very close to home and starting the Saturday long runs very early is great. I met Bob through the group and enjoy running with him. The group is always on hard surfaces and their focus will be the Houston marathon in January rather than a fall marathon. The group is viable but I'm getting the sense it's not robust. I'm not 100% sure my running goals and objectives correlate exactly with their program.

On top of all this, I've found that I'm driven my the competition of racing. Since laying off the race circuit since Memorial Day, I've really missed it. I'm not a great racer but I truly get a motivation and sensation from it that I want on a frequent basis.

So what am I saying? Essentially that my training program really doesn't sync up with much of this. But, on the other hand, I don't want to go it alone so I guess I'll be stuck mixing and matching and hopefully accomplishing my objectives.

OBJECTIVES / GOALS:

Make it to October 6 healthy and ready to run the St. George marathon.

Come away from the marathon feeling I haven't cheated myself of the opportunity through poor preparation.

Enjoy the marathon.

Be pleasantly surprised with by my performance .... Target time = ?:??:?? (TBD)


McMillan suggests 3:34
Runners World suggests 3:35
Bayou VDOT suggests 3:32
AttackPoint suggests 3:30

Let's just say I would be thrilled with any of those times. I don't think they're possible now even though I'm using equivalent calculators. As input, I'm using my 5K PR (21:59) from April 28, 2007. However, I've found the calculators aren't reliable for me when they're extended to longer races (my 10K and half marathon). Both of my longer races have come in slower than the calculators suggested I should run. My conclusion is that my overall fitness and endurance conditioning isn't where it needs to be to run the projected times at longer distances. Hopefully the next 15 weeks with SmartCoach puts me on top of my game. I'd love a 3:35 my first time out at 26.2!

Got Lactate?

I really focused on staying "in the zone" for my 3-mile tempo run tonight. McMillan has my target zone for tempo runs at 7:26 - 7:46 / mile. Here's where I ended up on my quarter mile splits:

1:56
1:54
1:53
1:51 (7:34)
1:52
1:51
1:56
1:53 (7:32)
1:55
1:58
1:56
1:50 (7:39)

3M @ 7:35/M 22:45


I'm happy that I generally hit my splits and stayed "in the zone". Jack Daniels says a threshold run (tempo run) should be "comfortably hard" and should be run at about 88% of V02max. I don't know about my V02max but the run was comfortably hard.

AttackPoint has my threshold run target at 7:31. RunBayou VDOT has me at 7:33.

I added a mile warm up and a mile cool down at very s-l-o-w pace.

Total miles 5.1

6.3 Miles

Late evening ... two loops at Memorial + tacked on an extra half mile at the end.

Total miles = 6.3
Total time = 59:54
Pace = 9:30 M/m


This morning's weight workout was really good. It's the first time I've felt "strong" in while. However, the past couple weeks I've noticed that if I lift in the morning, the afternoon/evening run is much more difficult. My pace was slower than what planned.

June 18 - 24 Training Schedule

Monday - Easy 6M @ 9:02
Wednesday - 5M including 3M Tempo @ 7:34
Saturday - Long 10M @ 9:02

Today's Long Run = 12 miles

Turned

12 miles @ 9:00 (1:48:00)

this morning with Bob Bonds. I'm sure I slowed him down but I stayed with him to the end (more correctly stated - he stayed with me to the end!)

We started at 5:45 and the weather was cooler (thankfully) with a rain storm expected later today.

It always feels great to have completed a good long run. I ate a small bowl of oatmeal and slice of toast an hour before the run. I also drank water and ate/slurped GU along the way. I'm experimenting with my eating on the long runs so I hopefully know what works best for me and can implement it for races. I also drank Slim Fast afterwards (per MacMillan Racing); not for dieting purposes but it's supposedly the perfect balance of carbohydrates and protein for replenishing. I also read that it contains a particular amino acid helpful in nutrient absorption.

I used Cam's Nike+ Ipod sport kit too. I got a Lace Lid in the mail earlier this week and used it to strap the transmitter to my shoe. Since I don't listen to music while running (I know most people do but for some reason it seems like cheating to me ... I don't know ....), I attached the receiver to his Ipod Nano, put the Nano in a zip lock bag, and put the Nano in the pocket on my fuel belt. The results ... it worked great! Bob's GPS had our distance at 12.0 miles @ 9:00 pace. The Nike+ had us at 12.05 miles @ 9:00 pace. The technology fascinates me. I don't understand how it works. It's an accelerometer ??? ... supposedly measures the time between each foot strike and calculates distance from that .... How does it do that?

Finally in my last bit of running psychosis, I relaced my shoes last night using a special lacing technique I found on the New Balance website. Ever since getting my Mizuno Wave Rider 10's in March, I get a nickle-sized blister on the side of my right toe while running. The blister doesn't hurt but it sure looks nasty. The NB lacing technique was supposed to "raise the toe box" and take pressure off the toes. Didn't work. I've got the same big blister on my right big toe as usual.

I'm now propped up with ice bags on my knees. I'm considering popping some bootlegged, prescription-strength Ibuprofen but I think I'll hold off. I want to see how I feel tomorrow morning after a good icing.

Track Workout / Punishment

Work conspired against my speed workout last night. On top of that we received a call from Cameron's High Adventure camp that he was in the emergency room. He hadn't left home more than 16 hours earlier! To make a very long story short ... he's going to be fine as far as we can tell. Information is difficult to get but it sounds like he has a scratched cornea and bruised pride.

So I ran the speed workout tonight at Klein High.

PLAN

warmup
4 x 800 (3:26) - 400 (1:43) with 2 minute active recovery between
cool down

ACTUAL

warmup 1 mile
3:21 1:30
3:24 1:35
3:15 1:33
3:10 1:29
cool down 1 mile


My interval times were all over the place but I was happy to keep everything under my target times and run negative splits for the most part. I was stuck pretty close to only 2 minute recoveries ... after a very brief walk or water break, I jogged the rest of the time. It was a good workout. Now that it's over I'm questioning the target times. I used the VDOT times calculated off my April 28 5K PR of 21:59. It seems like running the VDOT times should push the limits more than I'm feeling ... now that it's over. Of course while I was on the track, it felt like I was giving it all I had!

Easy Run ... it felt easy too

Made the loop at Memorial Park for an easy run. Of course it was hot. Since the heat goes without saying and my commenting about it doesn't make it any different, I resolve not to take any more space on the blog discussing the temperature and humidity. Just know that for the next 4 months all of my runs are being completed in less than optimum weather conditions!

2.9 miles @ 9:02 (26:13)


(Put 25 extra pounds on my leg press this morning and was still able to go longer than I ever have before .... It's the running. I'm not noticing similar improvements in upper body strength..)

June 11 - 17 Training Schedule

Monday - 3 miles easy
Tuesday - speed: 4 sets of 800-400 all with 2 minutes rest
Wednesday - 3 miles easy
Thursday - 5 miles tempo
Friday - rest
Saturday - 12 miles long

Long, Hot One with Bob

Although I really wanted to run the Woodlands 5K this morning. I scratched it for a 10 mile long run with ChampionsFit. I wanted to try cracking my 5K PR in the Woodlands this morning and was feeling pretty good about it but more than that I need to continue building my endurance. So, it was off and running at 6 this morning.

I was happy to see Bob Bond in the group. There were a couple others who I hadn't met before. We started out with 7 in our group and the plan was for 10 miles.

I had decided I wanted to be around a 9:20 but figured Bob would be moving much faster since we ran something like 8:10 a couple weeks ago. We started with the group then there were four of us then, at about 2 miles, it was Bob and me. We were on a pace around 8:50. It was warm and humid this morning but I enjoyed covering the distance with Bob. After 8 miles and a 9:00 pace, I slowed and Bob continued. Those last couple miles were tough but I made it.

10.35 miles @ 9:04 pace (1:33.48)


Bob is a strong runner and good conversationalist. I looked up some running information about him after we ran together last time. In 2006, he finished the Boston Marathon in 3:49. He also completed the Houston Marathon 3 times and also ran the Top of Utah Marathon in 2006. His best marathon time (that I could find) is 3:37. Oh, another important fact, Bob is 60 years old!

I do enjoy running with him and as long as he's around ChampionsFit, I suppose I'll run with the group. I've been questioning how I fit with the group lately. The official "season" begins in early July and the focus is the Houston marathon in January. Of course, my focus is the St. George marathon in October. I'm concerned about how the training schedule is going to sync up with what I need to properly prepare for my first marathon experience.

As an alternative, Stephanie's triathalon group does Saturday morning long runs in the Memorial Park/Buffalo Bayou area (soft surfaces!). She's invited Jonathan and me to join them when we like. The only drawback for me is the drive to and from downtown where the runs start. After making the commute 5 days a week for work, I'm not excited about doing it to run Saturday. This is going to be my backup to ChampionsFit though. If I'm not getting what I need there, I'll make the drive to run with Stephanie's Houston Racing crew.

87° and 73%

You know when the title of the blog is the weather conditions that it must have been a bad workout! Of course, these are just excuses for what's to follow ... justification.

On today's schedule was a tempo run. When planning today's workout, I cut the distance and ramped up the intensity. So I ended up with 5.8 miles (two loops at Memorial Park) with a pace in the 7:25 - 7:45 range.

Reality wasn't anywhere close to the plan!

I did get to see Jonathan tonight and he let me use his Garmin Forerunner 305 for the run. Our schedules synced up for us to run together tonight. It was good to see him again. He's coming off a 5K PR last Saturday. He's been working hard in the Kenyan Way training program. I think I'll end up with Kenyan Way as soon as I get this marathon "nonsense" out of the way!

We started out fast ... too fast for the conditions. Both for us knew that it wouldn't last long. After gutting out a very challenging workout last night, Jonathan dropped back. (Of course, I had taken an easy run last night anticipating tonight's tough one.... That theory didn't sustain me for long!) With the Garmin pacing me, I was determined to keep the pace under 7:45 for as long as possible. The backside of Memorial was shady so that helped keep the sun off me. I stayed in the targeted zone for the second mile but felt it slipping during the third. I tried prodding myself along faster but there wasn't much there. The question of whether I could complete a second loop was already formulating before I had finished the first. I decided to pull it back and try quarter mile intervals (fast-slow-fast-slow). That helped until about the second rep to go fast. There was nothing there so I just slowed it down. I checked the Garmin and figured I'd go out until the return would make 5 total miles rather than the planned two loops for 5.8. I came back to the start ... slowing all the while ....

Here are the mile splits:

• 7:35
• 7:37
• 8:12
• 8:53
• 9:46

5 miles @ 8:25 pace

After I finished, I really felt like I was overheating. I went to the car for water. The run seemed like it had really overstressed my body. Fortunately, Jonathan was there. We had planned to do core exercises after the run. I had pretty much convinced myself that I wasn't up for that routine. However, I knew I wanted to go through them again so I can get the routine down better. Jonathan took me through the cycle. My core strength is absolutely pathetic. There's just about nothing there. I really need to work on this. It's so bad it's embarrassing. Anyway, Jonathan was patient and we finished them off.

Should note that I saw Stephanie on the trail. She did at least 3 loops while I was there. I think she may have been with some of the Tornados running club since I saw some of their members too.

Too Fast...Easy Run...Yes, I've done this before!

Took the tour at Memorial Park in 25:45. Yes, this was supposed to be a recovery run from last night's track workout. And, yes, the fastest I should have finished was 27:24. Probably doesn't bode well for tomorrow's tempo run!

2.9 M @ 8:53

Yasso 800's

Okay, the plan was to join Doug Storey's group at the Lamar High track for a speed workout tonight. That was scheduled for 6:30. I planned to get there between 6 and 6:30. So much for the plan. My car got new tires today. After spending the day in the shop that was supposed to be completed at 4:30 .... didn't happen. I picked the car up at 7. Of course, I missed the workout with the group. I drove home and, not surprisingly, the longer I was at the house, the less I felt like going back out to run. The Astros game had started .... Cameron was home .... There were things to do .... Finally, refusing to be pulled in by that tractor beam, I pulled away around 9:30. I figured this was a good opportunity to try Yasso 800's. I've been wanting to do this workout for over a month but it hasn't ever fit nicely into my schedule so I figured now was as good a time as any. On top of that, instead of driving to the Klein High track, I decided I'd run over there for a warm-up.

Here's how the workout broke down:

Total miles - 6.75

Warm up - 2.25 miles @ 9:01 (20:18)

4 x 800 (target time 3:40 w/3:40 recovery jog between)

• 3:28
• 3:19
• 3:17
• 3:15

Cool down - 2:25 miles @ 9:39 (21:42)

This was a tough workout but I liked it lot. I think I'll work it into my regular schedule. The theory is that Yasso 800's are a good predictor of your marathon time ... if you do 10 x 800 and keep the in-between recovery period the same as the running times. Since my next comment is buried so deep in this entry and no one reads my blog anyway ... I'm going to say it now ... for the record. Before the St. George marathon, I want to be able to run 10 Yasso 800's at 3:20 (my Boston qualifying time).

Easy ... My Own Style ...

Okay I put in an easy 2.9 miles at Memorial Park tonight. No big deal. After a couple weeks off my weight training (half recovery and Memorial Day holiday), I started lifting again this morning. It felt like I'd taken too much time off especially on the upper body! I just felt pathetically weak. However, my leg press was very good. I'm sure it's the running.

Anyway back to my easy run, to date my workouts have always been based on something I've read or something a "coach" has suggested. Today I just "made up my own thing". It's an easy run so I'm sure it's no big deal but I decided to force myself to run negative splits. I have no idea if this does any good or not but it seems one of my problems is that I great into a rhythm at one pace and it's extremely difficult for me to pick it up. The odd thing is that the pace is never the same. I can bounce around between 8:00 and 9:30 per mile and "feel" comfortable". Maybe this is hurting me in races ...??? So here's what I ended up with for mile splits:

10:27
08:58
07:23 (this was .9 mile for an equivalent of 8:12)

So my overall pace for the 2.9M was 9:14 per mile. (Remember this was an easy run which was scheduled for a 9:27 pace) Who knows if there's any benefit in approaching the easy run this way ... ? At a minimum, it gave me a mental game to play while running.

June 4 - 10

Here's the general schedule I'm planning on following this week:

Mon - Easy 3M
Tue - Speed @ LHS
Wed - Easy 3M
Thu - Tempo (mileage TBD...5-8M...)
Fri - Rest
Sat - Long 10M
Sun - Yasso 800's or Rest

Hard 8

I put in an 8 mile long run this morning. There were only 3 ChampionsFit members who met this morning at 6:30. I ran with Len for the first half. We averaged 9:19 for the first four miles. I closed the second 4 miles with an 8:52 pace. It was getting very warm by the time we finished. My legs were heavy today.

8 miles 1:12 for 9:00/M pace

Easy Run ... After the Rain

Things sure were quiet at Memorial Park this evening. A strong, late-afternoon storm rolled through today. I had planned an easy loop but talked myself out of it due to the rain. I figured the trail would be under water and I didn't have my "mudders". But as I went to the parking garage to drive home around 7 pm, the storm had broken. After a brief session of waffling, I quickly changed clothes in the car and decided to at least drive over to Memorial to see what it looked like. Very few people were there and there was water on the trail but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

I took the tour and added a little extra since I was feeling good.

3.4 miles in 32:03 for a 9:26 pace (the Jack Daniels table I'm currently using suggests I should be at 9:27).

Speed with Doug at Lamar High

Thanks to Stephanie, I met Doug Storey tonight at Lamar High School's track for a speed workout. Doug is a coach who works with dozens of Houston-area triathletes and runners. I'm planning to follow his program for 4-5 weeks and possibly incorporate it in with the ChampionsFit workouts once marathon training begins in earnest.

Tonight's workout for "short distance" (I will conquer my 5K PR!) was 4-6 sets of 2 x 400 with 100 jog between and 300 jog between sets.

I arrived a few minutes late and put in a mile warm up then stretched. Everyone was pretty much on their own but some informal groups were working together. Since I started late I run alone (several other runners were on the track though).

My targeted time for the 400 intervals was 1:44. This is based on the Jack Daniels VDOT values (link). Here are my times:

1:28 1:44
1:38 1:37
1:36 1:36
x:xx 1:40
1:37 1:36
1:35 1:34

I will confess that I may have defeated the benefits of the workout somewhat by walking instead of jogging between 400's. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to maintain the times if I had jogged ... since walking (and talking to Stephanie and Doug) allowed for a longer recovery. There seems to be wisdom in this approach and I'm looking forward to continuing with it. I appreciate Stephanie for introducing me to Doug.

Frustratingly Close!

Cam and I are in Utah for tonight's Jazz-Spurs playoff game.

We found a 5K to run this morning in Syracuse. Cam clocked a PR and said he felt really good. I didn't feel very and came in at 22:00. One second off my PR. Very frustrating! Of course while running I felt like I gave it my all. But after the fact, I'm absolutely convinced I could have found 2 seconds on the course somewhere if I would have known the end result. I'm sure there's a lesson in all of this. The next time I'm in the situation will determine if I learned it.

Earlier in the week I read that a runner has to have courage to 'go for it'. 'It' can be a PR or anything that will push the limits of your current conditioning. I had not thought about it like this before but believe it's absolutely true. Today I didn't show the courage to go for it. Instead I settled for something less than my best.

Mile splits:

6:31
7:25
7:23
0:41

10 Mile Tempo Run !?!!!?!!!?!?!

Met with members of ChampionsFit this morning at 5:45 am. The group was scheduled for 12 miles but broke into different groups for shorter distances and varied paces.

I ended up with Bob Bond, an experienced runner and marathon veteran. He was running 10 miles which sounded good to me.

I felt good the first couple miles and we were on a pace around 8:10. The conversation was good and Bob was a smooth and efficient machine. It was great to be with someone who was such good runner.

I was really feeling beat with a couple miles to go. I suggested he drop me if he needed to but he stayed with me for awhile longer offering encouragement. With something around a mile left he slowing pulled away from me.

I finished the 10 miles in 1:22:44 for an 8:16 pace! This was only 10 seconds off last Saturday's race pace for the half ... minus the hills plus high humidity. I am happy with the effort ... now it's over!

I look forward to running with Bob again. I need to put together next week's training schedule.