Today's assignment was to run a 10k. There were no local races that I knew of, so I decided to run a 10k course that I have raced once before, that I had set my PR. But that was almost 3 years ago. It is the Layton "Classic" 10k course. The Course is relatively flat for the first mile, then climbs about 300 feet over the next 2 miles. Not horrible, but still a climb and that would average between 3-4% grade over that distance. The part I love is that after you get to the half-way point, it is basically all downhill from there.
I set another PR today. My time was 43:43. I was really happy about this for several reasons. First, just setting a PR after a really strenuous workout week is fabulous. Second, I was really trying to focus on not going out too fast. My goal for the first mile was to run it in 7:15. With the long gradual uphill starting after that mile, it is important to feel strong on that climb. I did a warm-up first, just like I would for a race. I was really glad I did that as my legs did not feel very fresh when I first started running. I did go out faster then it felt I was running, which was a 6:45 min/mile pace. I slowed down and hit the one mile mark at 7:12. I did the next mile in 7:31, which I felt really good about. That second mile usually takes me 8:30 to do. The third mile I did in 7:42. Again, I felt quite good as that third mile usually takes me 9:00 to do. I hit the half-way point at 22:49. Now it was basically all downhill, and that first mile of the downhill felt particularly sweet. I finished the second half in 20:54, which means I averaged a 6:48 mile. I looked at my GPS watch more than usual, and I kept seeing that I was running under 6:30. If that had been in the first half I would have been nervous, wondering if I was going to have enough left in the tank, but since it was the second half I just kept on going. A very good day! : )
If you are new to running or you are what is referred to as a "recreational runner", this may all seem a bit obsessive to you. Well, it is : ) To be competitive you have to have some obsessiveness about you. It really won't work any other way. A guy I work with, who is 14 years my junior and normally is very laid back, is quite a runner. And the thing which motivates him is that I am older than him and he doesn't want me to catch him (in speed). He is just a little ahead of me, but his sense of competition keeps him going. Additionally, you have to know your times to understand where you need to improve. I hate hills, but now smaller hills are tolerable. The two mile climb today was not horrendous, though I was very glad when it was over. Last, you need to know your split times (what specifically one refers to as a "split time" varies - could be laps among other things, but a common split time is the first half of the distance vs. the second half). Research shows that people who set PRs usually have a negative split, meaning the second half is faster than the first. Some people do set split times with a positive split time (meaning the second half was slower than the first), but they are in the minority.
Why is this important? The SLC half-marathon is downhill almost the first 6.5 miles. Then it levels out for the next 4.5-ish miles, and then about mile 11 it starts a gradual uphill for nearly a mile, with the last ~300 meters a good climb. After that it is a gradual descent. That is where I got a cramp last year, and I never get cramps when I run. That made it so I could not run that last mile like I wanted to. So I have to PR with a positive split time. Of all courses to do it on, this is the one. I will have to hit the half way point at least at 42:15 (a 6:30 min mile) if I am to have any hope of breaking 1:30, and that doesn't give me much room to spare. I cannot exceed a 7:13 pace the second part of the half if I hope to get below that 1:30 mark. Let's just hope the weather cooperates.
Total miles for week = 44.99 (with the warm-up today I ran 6.49 miles)
Saturday, March 26, 2011
3/24/11 (Friday) Run
Today was just an easy run of 4 miles that I did in 30:40.
It was so nice to have an easy run to do today. This is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, weeks of training I have had so far. Remember I said previously to never do two hard workouts in a row? Well, this training plan had me do four hard workouts in a row this week. It is something I normally would never do and it goes against all I have read (and some of my running friends echo my sentiments). But, I need to have faith that whoever put this plan together knew what they were talking about. The really good "sign" about this is that I have done four hard workouts in a row and no injuries.
It was so nice to have an easy run to do today. This is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, weeks of training I have had so far. Remember I said previously to never do two hard workouts in a row? Well, this training plan had me do four hard workouts in a row this week. It is something I normally would never do and it goes against all I have read (and some of my running friends echo my sentiments). But, I need to have faith that whoever put this plan together knew what they were talking about. The really good "sign" about this is that I have done four hard workouts in a row and no injuries.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
3/24/11 (Thursday) Run
I ran 8 miles in 57:22. The assignment was to run 2X3 miles with a 2 min recovery between them. I wasn't sure how much I had left in the tank after the past two days of hard running. But I managed to maintain an 8.6 mph (6:58) for the first 3 mile set and the for the second one I ran the first 2 miles at 8.6 mph and then increased it by .1 mph each quarter mile in the final mile. Sort of surprised myself. A lot of this is psychological.
3/23/11 (Wednesday) Run
I ran 13 miles in 1:36:37 today. The goal was to do it in 1:33:00. I was nearly on pace to do it by the end of mile 9, but the last 4 miles were very difficult. This run was very tiring.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
3/22/11 (Tuesday) Run
Today I ran 7.5 miles in 51:51. The goal was to do 16X400 meter intervals with a one minute recovery between each interval. I did all intervals at 10.0 mph (6:00 min mile pace). There is no doubt this was a very hard workout and one I would not recommend unless you have properly trained for it. It is easy to injure yourself doing this workout without the proper training, something I have done in the past.
I must admit, I did not have the confidence going into this workout. Still somewhat fatigued from yesterday, I knew it would be hard. I made it through by concentrating on just doing 3 sets of 5 with a "bonus" one at the end. That helped tremendously. My mind tried to talk me into going slower for the last 8, but I just practiced "not thinking about it" and doing just one at a time. I am recovering pretty good, but still a little tired. The good news is I am pretty sure one year ago I would not have been able to do this workout.
Update: While my sweetheart was running tonight I took my bike out and rode 10 miles. It felt great! Just a nice ride and pushed myself a couple of times just for the fun of it. I did the 10 miles in about 40 minutes, which is a 15 mph average. The thing that I was thinking while riding, and that amazes me, is that is just a little faster than the professional marathoners run a marathon. Amazing!
I must admit, I did not have the confidence going into this workout. Still somewhat fatigued from yesterday, I knew it would be hard. I made it through by concentrating on just doing 3 sets of 5 with a "bonus" one at the end. That helped tremendously. My mind tried to talk me into going slower for the last 8, but I just practiced "not thinking about it" and doing just one at a time. I am recovering pretty good, but still a little tired. The good news is I am pretty sure one year ago I would not have been able to do this workout.
Update: While my sweetheart was running tonight I took my bike out and rode 10 miles. It felt great! Just a nice ride and pushed myself a couple of times just for the fun of it. I did the 10 miles in about 40 minutes, which is a 15 mph average. The thing that I was thinking while riding, and that amazes me, is that is just a little faster than the professional marathoners run a marathon. Amazing!
3/21/11 (Monday) Run
I ran 7 miles in 48:39. That is an average of 6:57 min/mile pace. I was a little surprised I did so well after pushing myself on Saturday.
3/19/11 (Saturday) Run
I ran 12 miles in 1:29:51 (7:29/mile pace average). The goal was to do it in 1:23:00, but I definitely did not want to exceed 1:30:00. Right now I am running on pace with my PR half-marathon time of last year. That is important because I don't have the adrenaline of the race pumping through my veins (meaning it helps me go faster) and what I ran today was flat for 7 miles and then a .5-1% grade for the remaining 5 miles. The race is mostly downhill for the first half and then levels off with a climb in the 11th mile of about .5 miles.
I am cautiously optimistic at this point of breaking the 1:30:00 mark. I am confident I will PR this race, but am not 100% confident about the 1:30 mark. We'll see. Today I concentrated most on the first 7 miles, averaging a 7:14 mile. While not spectacular, that is pretty good for 7 miles.
Total mileage for the week was 38 miles.
I am cautiously optimistic at this point of breaking the 1:30:00 mark. I am confident I will PR this race, but am not 100% confident about the 1:30 mark. We'll see. Today I concentrated most on the first 7 miles, averaging a 7:14 mile. While not spectacular, that is pretty good for 7 miles.
Total mileage for the week was 38 miles.
Friday, March 18, 2011
3/18/11 (Friday) Run
I ran yet another 5 miles today in 37:44. I felt really good and it was difficult to hold back. But I have to remember I have a hard run tomorrow.
3/17/11 (Thursday) Run
I ran 5 miles again today in 37:13. Ran it faster than yesterday just to mix it up a bit (I can't help myself : ) )
3/15/11 (Tuesday) Run
Today I ran 4 miles in 28:13. The real assignment was to run 10X200 meter intervals with a 30 second recovery between each interval. I ran the first five intervals at 10.3 mph (5:49 min/mile pace), the next four at 10.4 mph (5:45 min/mile pace) and for the last one I ran it at 10.5 (5:41 min/mile pace) but I ran it for 400 meters. Having only 30 seconds between intervals is exhausting, but good for stamina strengthening (I hope!).
Monday, March 14, 2011
3/14/11 (Monday) Run
Today I ran 7 miles in 53:22 (7:37 min/mile pace). This was an easy run. Except for tomorrow and Saturday, all my runs this week are at an easy pace. I could feel the effects from Saturday's long run. I did not have any pain or problems, I just did not have the stamina I usually have. It is a great reminder to me to follow the schedule instead of bolting out faster "just because you know you can." I have not always been good about being patient in this regard but I am glad I did not force myself today.
I also ran in my new shoes for the first time. The shoes are Saucony Kinvara. They are designed as a light-weight shoe, I think about 8 ounces per shoe, but with some mid-sole support. They are designed for mid-foot runners (i.e., those who land on their mid-foot). I could definitely feel myself landing on my mid-foot. It was not uncomfortable and I am a mid-foot runner, it just felt different, more like it was encouraging me to land on my mid-foot. I will review them once I have about 75-100 miles on them.
I also ran in my new shoes for the first time. The shoes are Saucony Kinvara. They are designed as a light-weight shoe, I think about 8 ounces per shoe, but with some mid-sole support. They are designed for mid-foot runners (i.e., those who land on their mid-foot). I could definitely feel myself landing on my mid-foot. It was not uncomfortable and I am a mid-foot runner, it just felt different, more like it was encouraging me to land on my mid-foot. I will review them once I have about 75-100 miles on them.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
3/12/11 (Saturday) Run
Today was the longest run of my training schedule. I was suppose to run 18 miles in 2:09:00. That is a pretty fast sustained speed, and I already doubted I could do that, especially on legs that are not well rested. I ended up running 19.25 miles in 2:42:13. I hit the 18 mile mark in 2:30:31 and the 30k mark (18.64 miles)at 2:36:24.
I had already decided that I would run 30k just because I have raced twice at that distance and was wondering what I could do it in. When I got to the 30k point I still was far enough away from home I did not want to walk so I just kept going.
I ran outside today. My most wonderful life partner dropped me off on Antelope Island, just a couple miles north of Garr Ranch. I choose this route because it is the route of the Layton Marathon that I plan to run in October. Though I have driven that road many times, I had never run it and I need to start familiarizing myself with it. I am glad I did. It is billed as a mostly flat course with one "good hill" at mile 7. I started a little further north of the official marathon start so I hit the "good hill" at about mile 5. While I have been on worse, it is a "really good hill". My GPS reads at its most steepest, which is not too long before the top, and to be fair, not for a long distance, is 10%. Given approximations of GPS that might be as low as 8%, but that is still a good hill. The overall hill is almost a mile long, but most of the grade I would say (going off the Garmin GPS and how it felt) was probably in the 2-4% range. The best part is getting to the top and having an equally long downhill : ) After you get past this hill the course is mostly flat (after the downhill part), but the five first miles I ran it had a lot of rolling hills. Not bad, but still a presence and deceptive of a "mostly flat course." Just to be clear, once you get across Antelope Causeway it is actually a 1/2-1% grade in many places. You are still climbing from the ultimate low of the the Great Salt Lake. That is not bad but to me "flat" = 0% grade.
The bad news is that it took me considerably longer to run it then what I was supposed to do it in. The good news is I believe I was very close to my PR and I was not running on rested legs.
Road hazards...Right before the two mile mark I was approaching a bison that was about 80 yards off the road. Initially I thought nothing of it but when I was still about 300 yards away from him (not being sexist here, it was a him ; ) he looked up at me. I thought he would just look at me and go back to grazing, but he continued to watch me. He was all alone and obviously disturbed by my presence, even being far away. I know nature and this is unusual for these bison. He was also alone, and bison are a herd animal, so there is some reason he is on his own. No other bison were even in sight. I looked around in case he charged. No rocks, no trees, not even big bushes. No way I could out run him. I slowed my pace and kept him in sight out of the corner of my eye. No direct eye contact and slowing down was an attempt to be less intimidating to him (no quick movements). I was wearing sunglasses, but bison aren't exactly known for their intelligence and he could easily mistake them for me just having big eyes. Once I got past him I sped up for about a 1/4 mile to make sure he was far behind me where I no longer would be a threat or worth the effort.
About two miles later I came across some other bison that were about 25 yards off the course. I did have to slightly modify my course this time. I ran out in the high dead grass to afford them a wide berth. These actually did not seem very intimidated by me but too close to take any chances.
Total mileage for the week = 51.25
I had already decided that I would run 30k just because I have raced twice at that distance and was wondering what I could do it in. When I got to the 30k point I still was far enough away from home I did not want to walk so I just kept going.
I ran outside today. My most wonderful life partner dropped me off on Antelope Island, just a couple miles north of Garr Ranch. I choose this route because it is the route of the Layton Marathon that I plan to run in October. Though I have driven that road many times, I had never run it and I need to start familiarizing myself with it. I am glad I did. It is billed as a mostly flat course with one "good hill" at mile 7. I started a little further north of the official marathon start so I hit the "good hill" at about mile 5. While I have been on worse, it is a "really good hill". My GPS reads at its most steepest, which is not too long before the top, and to be fair, not for a long distance, is 10%. Given approximations of GPS that might be as low as 8%, but that is still a good hill. The overall hill is almost a mile long, but most of the grade I would say (going off the Garmin GPS and how it felt) was probably in the 2-4% range. The best part is getting to the top and having an equally long downhill : ) After you get past this hill the course is mostly flat (after the downhill part), but the five first miles I ran it had a lot of rolling hills. Not bad, but still a presence and deceptive of a "mostly flat course." Just to be clear, once you get across Antelope Causeway it is actually a 1/2-1% grade in many places. You are still climbing from the ultimate low of the the Great Salt Lake. That is not bad but to me "flat" = 0% grade.
The bad news is that it took me considerably longer to run it then what I was supposed to do it in. The good news is I believe I was very close to my PR and I was not running on rested legs.
Road hazards...Right before the two mile mark I was approaching a bison that was about 80 yards off the road. Initially I thought nothing of it but when I was still about 300 yards away from him (not being sexist here, it was a him ; ) he looked up at me. I thought he would just look at me and go back to grazing, but he continued to watch me. He was all alone and obviously disturbed by my presence, even being far away. I know nature and this is unusual for these bison. He was also alone, and bison are a herd animal, so there is some reason he is on his own. No other bison were even in sight. I looked around in case he charged. No rocks, no trees, not even big bushes. No way I could out run him. I slowed my pace and kept him in sight out of the corner of my eye. No direct eye contact and slowing down was an attempt to be less intimidating to him (no quick movements). I was wearing sunglasses, but bison aren't exactly known for their intelligence and he could easily mistake them for me just having big eyes. Once I got past him I sped up for about a 1/4 mile to make sure he was far behind me where I no longer would be a threat or worth the effort.
About two miles later I came across some other bison that were about 25 yards off the course. I did have to slightly modify my course this time. I ran out in the high dead grass to afford them a wide berth. These actually did not seem very intimidated by me but too close to take any chances.
Total mileage for the week = 51.25
Friday, March 11, 2011
3/11/11 (Friday) Run
Today I ran 8 miles in 1:09:31. The assignment today was to run 20X2 min hills with a one minute recovery in-between each hill. I had no idea how steep they wanted the hill to be, so I set the treadmill at a 6% incline. I did the first one at 7.5 mph. I did the next four at 7.0 mph, then the next 10 at 6.6 mph. For the last five I started at 6.7 mph and increased it by .1 mph for each interval, finishing the last one at 7.5 mph.
I really don't like hills. They are quite exhausting and no matter how fast you run, it just doesn't seem to be fast enough. But it is good that I am working them since they are my weakness. I have gotten better at hills the past couple of years. The small ones no longer have a negative psychological effect on me. Now for the big ones....
I really don't like hills. They are quite exhausting and no matter how fast you run, it just doesn't seem to be fast enough. But it is good that I am working them since they are my weakness. I have gotten better at hills the past couple of years. The small ones no longer have a negative psychological effect on me. Now for the big ones....
3/9/11 (Wednesday) Run
I ran 8 miles in 55:16 today. The assignment was to do it under 56:00 minutes. Since this included my warm-up I had to compensate for that. I did a faster than normal warm-up and took it to 8.1 (7:24 min/mile pace) at the 1/2 mile mark. At the one mile mark I increased it to 8.6 mph (6:58 min/mile pace). Then after running for 20 minutes I increased it to 8.7 mph (6:53 min/mile pace). After 35 minutes I increased it to 8.8 mph (6:48 min/mile pace) and then at 45 minutes I increased it to 8.9 mph (6:44 min/mile pace). At 52 minutes I increased it by .1 mph every minute and finished the last 100 meters at 10.5 mph.
3/8/11 (Tuesday) Run
I ran 6 miles in 41:18 today. For today's assignment I did 12X400 meters intervals with a one minute recovery jog between each interval. I did the first 11 intervals at 10.1 mph (5:56 min/mile pace) and the last one at 10.3 mph (5:48 min/mile pace). This was a difficult workout. While I knew I could do the intervals that fast, I wasn't sure about only having one minute of recovery time in-between each interval. When I had done this previously without this training plan, I had done only 6-8 intervals with a two minute recovery time. I was successful and felt really good about the run.
Monday, March 7, 2011
3/5/11 (Saturday Run
The target today was to run a 10k. I did not have any races that I wanted to run and so I figured I would just run at race speed. This is difficult to do because though you might be running at what feels to be all out, NOT actually being in a race cannot take into account the nerves, adrenaline and just overall excitement that tends to make the runner go faster than they normally would on the same course (of course, the opposite has been known to occur also).
I figured I would just pick a flat course, something that would just show how I am doing and nothing to slow me down such as grueling uphills, or speed me up unrealistically, such as down hills, which I love. So my highly lovable partner dropped my off on the Syracuse trail (well, we were up in Clinton officially) and she was going further south to do a little shorter run. The intent was that we would just meet up after our runs.
I admit, I had some fears as soon as I started my warm-up. My legs just were not feeling right. They were not feeling refreshed, which I have not tapered down at this point so there is no reason for them to feel rested. So I warmed-up just a little more than usual. Very soon after I started my actual run I could feel my legs feeling much more normal. I decided I would just hold it around a 7:00 min mile pace for as long as I could. The interesting thing was, the longer I got into it the more I felt I could hold that for the entire distance (thank you mitochondria!). I finished at 43:48 and went exactly 6.22 miles ( I say that because it is not at all uncommon for races to be just slightly shorter due to the logistics). That is a 7:02 minute mile pace. I was very happy with that, but just became even happier about that because what I thought initially to be 5 seconds slower than my 10k PR was actually 8 seconds faster than my PR. So, I set a 10k PR today without setting out to do or even realizing it at first.
Other reasons I was encouraged by this is that this was basically a flat course. That means it was all me, no help or hindrance from anything. The second reason is what I mentioned before, these were not true race conditions, which I do tend to perform better in. Third, which I also mentioned, my legs are not fresh like they would be on race day. Fourth, I was actually running into a headwind. Not overly strong, but more than a breeze.
I figured I would just pick a flat course, something that would just show how I am doing and nothing to slow me down such as grueling uphills, or speed me up unrealistically, such as down hills, which I love. So my highly lovable partner dropped my off on the Syracuse trail (well, we were up in Clinton officially) and she was going further south to do a little shorter run. The intent was that we would just meet up after our runs.
I admit, I had some fears as soon as I started my warm-up. My legs just were not feeling right. They were not feeling refreshed, which I have not tapered down at this point so there is no reason for them to feel rested. So I warmed-up just a little more than usual. Very soon after I started my actual run I could feel my legs feeling much more normal. I decided I would just hold it around a 7:00 min mile pace for as long as I could. The interesting thing was, the longer I got into it the more I felt I could hold that for the entire distance (thank you mitochondria!). I finished at 43:48 and went exactly 6.22 miles ( I say that because it is not at all uncommon for races to be just slightly shorter due to the logistics). That is a 7:02 minute mile pace. I was very happy with that, but just became even happier about that because what I thought initially to be 5 seconds slower than my 10k PR was actually 8 seconds faster than my PR. So, I set a 10k PR today without setting out to do or even realizing it at first.
Other reasons I was encouraged by this is that this was basically a flat course. That means it was all me, no help or hindrance from anything. The second reason is what I mentioned before, these were not true race conditions, which I do tend to perform better in. Third, which I also mentioned, my legs are not fresh like they would be on race day. Fourth, I was actually running into a headwind. Not overly strong, but more than a breeze.
3/4/11 (Friday) Run
I ran five miles today in 38:36. I was off work so I ran outside, and what a pleasure that was! Nothing exciting about the run, but it was a beautiful day for a run.
3/3/11 (Thursday) Run
I ran four miles today. I forgot to note the time but it was between 27:00 and 28:00.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
3/2/11 (Wednesday) Run
Today I ran 10 miles in 1:11:17 which is an average of 7:07 minutes per mile. I did it by doing a little faster than normal warm-up mile and then starting at mile 2 increased the speed to 8.1 mph (7:24 min mile). I continued to increase it by .1 mph at the beginning each mile, finishing the last mile at 9.0 mph and the last 1/4 mile of that at 9.5 mph.
The goal today was to run the 10 miles in 1:22:00 but then gave a conflicting speed to run it at. The 1:22:00 did seem much too slow, but the recommended speed (it was 6:44 min mile pace) seemed much too fast. So I started out thinking if I did it in 1:15:00 I would be happy, sort of half-way between the two. But as I was running not only did I feel better than the past couple of days but I felt I had something to prove to myself. That being, depites all this hard training I can still "step it up" a notch when needed. And I did feel quite good. If I would have kept it around 8.3 or 8.4 mph I could have easily done the half-marathon mileage.
Oh, and the most likely reason I have not been feeling good the last couple of days and why it took so long to recover yesterday is that I was coming down with Strep throat. It was bound to happen with my daughter, Bekah, and granddaughter having it. But if I going to get it, I might as well get it from family : ) Luckily had some antibiotics on hand to thwart it early in its tracks.
BTW, officially that is the fastest 10 miles I have ever ran (and that includes the slower warm-up mile). I beat my PR I set 2 1/2 years ago. Not bad for an old guy ; )
The goal today was to run the 10 miles in 1:22:00 but then gave a conflicting speed to run it at. The 1:22:00 did seem much too slow, but the recommended speed (it was 6:44 min mile pace) seemed much too fast. So I started out thinking if I did it in 1:15:00 I would be happy, sort of half-way between the two. But as I was running not only did I feel better than the past couple of days but I felt I had something to prove to myself. That being, depites all this hard training I can still "step it up" a notch when needed. And I did feel quite good. If I would have kept it around 8.3 or 8.4 mph I could have easily done the half-marathon mileage.
Oh, and the most likely reason I have not been feeling good the last couple of days and why it took so long to recover yesterday is that I was coming down with Strep throat. It was bound to happen with my daughter, Bekah, and granddaughter having it. But if I going to get it, I might as well get it from family : ) Luckily had some antibiotics on hand to thwart it early in its tracks.
BTW, officially that is the fastest 10 miles I have ever ran (and that includes the slower warm-up mile). I beat my PR I set 2 1/2 years ago. Not bad for an old guy ; )
3/1/11 (Tuesday) Run
Today I ran 5 miles in 34:49. The real goal was, after a warm-up mile, to run 200, 400, 800, 400, 200 meters with a 30 second recovery in-between each, then repeat it once with a 90 second recovery in-between sets. I ran them all at 10.0 mph (6:00 min mile). That was pretty hard and I confess I had my doubts going into it and while I was running it. I knew with each set if I could just finish that 800 meter (or 1/2 mile) then I would be fine.
Today was a real struggle and it took me much longer post-run to recover than usual.
Today was a real struggle and it took me much longer post-run to recover than usual.
2/28/11 (Monday) Run
Today I ran 7 miles in 49:19. It seemed a little tougher than usual for a Monday.
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